Professional English Practice · Phrasal Verbs
8 · OUT: visibility, distribution, and thoroughness
Discovering things, announcing them, and getting them done.
ACCESS
Read the scene and notice the moves in bold. One of them, spell out, you may not have met. Before you read on, let the particle show you what it means.
A national retailer's analytics team, the night before they present to the regional directors.
Dana We finally found out why returns spiked in March. It wasn't the packaging.
Marco So the fix worked out in the two test stores. Do we roll out the change to every store at once, or stage it?
Layla Let's spell out the plan before we point out anything to the directors.
Dana Agreed. But sort out the regional numbers first. Two of them still don't turn out clean.
Marco I'll hand out the draft deck tonight so everyone reads it. And we hear the store managers out before the meeting, right?
Dana Yes. Send the agenda out by nine. If the Midwest turns out the way I expect, we point out the vendor, not the staff.
ANALYSIS
ONE QUESTION RUNS THIS WHOLE UNIT
What comes out, and how far?
Unit 7 used out for things leaving or being taken away. This unit takes the same movement in the other direction: what comes out is meant to be seen, spread, or carried all the way through. Ask what the coming-out is for.
The structure
Out is the same hub you met in Unit 7: away from an enclosure. That unit used it for things leaving or being removed. This one takes the other direction of the same movement, when what comes out of the enclosure is meant to be seen, spread, or carried all the way through.
In the visibility sense, information comes out of hiding into view: you find out a cause, point out a risk. In the distribution sense, something moves outward from one center to many: you hand out a deck, roll out a change. In the thoroughness sense, out marks a job taken to the end: you sort out a mess, hear someone out before you answer.
Visibility
- Sense
- information comes out of hiding into view
- How you know
- before the verb, somebody did not know; after it, they do
- Use it to
- report that a thing became known
Distribution
- Sense
- something moves outward from one center to many
- How you know
- there is one source and several receivers
- Use it to
- report a release or a rollout, not a single handover
Thoroughness
- Sense
- the job is carried all the way to its end
- How you know
- out is doing the work of “fully”, not of a direction
- Use it to
- say a thing was done thoroughly, not merely done
Nothing about the particle changed since Unit 7. Only which half of its map this unit works on.
Coming out to be seen, and coming out to be gone
The two out units are the same particle pointed at two different results, and one pair shows it cleanly.
Cut out a line item, from Unit 7, and the item is gone. Point out a risk, from this unit, and the risk is still there: what changed is that people can see it. The movement out of the enclosure is identical; what waits on the other side is not.
Hear someone out shows the third sense doing something the other two do not: nothing leaves at all. Here out means to the end, and that is why it attaches to verbs that were already complete: hear, sort, work.
The test you can run with no book
Ask: after this, who can see it, and how many of them?
One person learns something and it is visibility. Many people receive something and it is distribution. Nobody receives anything and the verb simply went all the way: that is thoroughness.
The third sense is the one worth checking for first, because it is the one that does not mean out at all. Try replacing the particle with fully: sort out the mess, hear him out, work it out. If fully fits, you are in the thoroughness sense.
The mechanical half: distribution needs more than one receiver. You hand out decks to a room. You do not hand out a deck to one person: you hand it to them.
One idea covers them all: out means into the open, and the only question left is what comes out. A fact comes into view, a delivery goes out to many, or a job gets carried all the way through. Visibility, distribution, thoroughness: three things emerging from the same enclosure, and the verb tells you which one.
ACTIVATION
Work down the page: the form first, then the strangers, then the particle choices, then the words, then say one out loud.
Complete the form
Use the verb in brackets plus out, in the correct form.
Spot and fix the error
Each sentence has one mistake. Rewrite it correctly.
1. Let me hear you out before I respond.
2. She pointed out the biggest risk in the plan to us.
3. I'll send it out to the directors tonight.
4. We hand out the revised deck to every regional lead on Friday.
5. We rolled out the fix, then found out that the totals were wrong.
Rewrite with a phrasal verb
Replace the formal verb with a verb plus out that carries the same meaning.
1. We finally found out why returns spiked.
2. I want to point out one risk before we continue.
3. We will roll out the new policy to every store.
4. Please sort out the regional discrepancies before the meeting.
5. Hear the store managers out before you decide.
Match the halves
Join each opening to the ending that completes it.
Meet a Stranger
These three are not taught anywhere in this book. Reason from the particle, then reveal the key.
1. “The two teams spent a week trying to thrash out the last disagreements before signing.”
2. “Communications wants to put out a short statement before the story breaks.”
3. “The report singles out one vendor as the source of the defect.”
thrash out: to argue through a problem thoroughly until it is resolved. Thoroughness sense.
put out: to issue or release something to the public. Distribution sense.
single out: to pick one thing from a group and make it the one everyone sees. Visibility sense.
Particle swap
Same verb, three particles, one right answer. Choose the particle the situation needs.
Vocabulary: discovering and announcing
Match each expression to its meaning.
Vocabulary in context
Complete each sentence with an expression from G.