Speaking – High Frequency Language (1) – Phrasal Verbs

Last week, one of the students commented to the teachers, “I wish those guys outside would extinguish their cigarettes.” A nice piece of spoken English you might think?

The only native speakers you would probably hear saying “extinguish their cigarettes” are flight attendants, or other people dealing directly with the public.

Why? Because it is too formal for spoken English.

We use phrasal verbs when we are having conversations with each other.

We would probably say, “I wish those guys would put out their cigarettes.”

Most British kids under 10 years old would probably know this expression, only a small few would understand “extinguish”, even fewer would actually use it.

Phrasal verbs are what children grow up listening to their parents, friends and family using – natural spoken English.

We’ll bring you more on phrasal verbs in future posts.