Learn 15+ Phrasal Verbs + "The Hollow House" Creative Story
- Nick Nantais NEWN
- Feb 8, 2021
- 6 min read
Most Difficult Words and Expressions
To get ripped off: to be made to pay more than something is worth
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To get kicked out: to be forcibly removed from somewhere or told to leave
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To get laid off: to be temporarily suspended from your job
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To get laid (vulgar): to have sexual relations with someone
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To get around: to transport yourself from one place to another by means of transportation
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To get a glimpse of: to have the opportunity to take a quick look at something.
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To get a promotion: to receive a wage increase at your job; to be moved to a more favourable position.
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To get a loan: to receive a sum of money from the bank upon request with which you have to pay back with interest.
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To get out: to leave a place.
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Get out! ( happy intonation): no way! that’s crazy, cool, I can’t believe that.
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To get out of the way: to watch out, to make sure you don’t hurt yourself.
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To get some sleep: to sleep.
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To get the flu: to contract the flu, or a disease.
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To get to go somewhere: to have the opportunity to go somewhere.
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To get good marks: to earn good marks in school.
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To get: to understand ( informal, slightly aggressive)
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Hollow House: Story
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NARRATOR: Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood awakened on October 17, 2008 after a night of tosses and turns,( when you are in bed and you can’t sleep) cold sheets and flickering (fluttering) eyelids, the sky is ominous with an orange-like tint (shade) that seems to spread across the sky like a slab( a portion) of marmalade on flax toast. The wind shook the window shutters that sent a whistle through the room like a morning kettle. Mr. Blackwood walks down stairs, pours himself a coffee and opens a newspaper and begins to read the headlines. Mrs.Blackwood washes her face and follows him into the kitchen only moments later.
MR.BLACKWOOD: Honey, honey did you hear the news? Mayor Shawn Thornton finally got kicked out of (to be dismissed from) office after 4 years of terrorizing this little town we call home. He ripped off everyone (cheat someone financially) from humble taxpayers, good hearted law-abiding ( people who do not break the law) citizens to civil servants alike. And remember when I got laid off ( temporarily lost my job) last august. The cuts he made, the people he screwed, ( synonym of rip off, more vulgar) I tell you, that crooked bastard ( corrupt bad person, vulgar) never showed an ounce of sympathy for the backs that built this town let alone for the countless hours of unpaid labour his subordinates ( people who work for someone else) had to go through during the recession last March. It seems like young people nowadays get the flu and quit their jobs like that! Many hard workers can’t even afford to get the car of their dreams, a house with a deck, even to have kids and get a dog. What happened to the American dream? In our day, you could find a skilled contractor like that! It was easy, easier than sitting at a desk and getting a cheque, an all too common trend in todays It’s hard to even get some sleep in this time of uncertainty. If you can't get money, you can get things and therefore you will never be happy. How could you! You can’t get anywhere in this life without money. Money is like the lubricant of the gears of society. It will loosen the lips of politicians, make you work a little harder to keep everything going, keep you in that office a little bit longer, keep the world in balance and keep you happy. I can’t believe these people nowadays that willingly work minimum wage and aspire to be nothing more. What happened to a good day's work doing something meaningful, that helps your neighbour and your community. Not to mention this new generation of stiff suit (corporate) graduates, they just don’t get that a degree isn’t a lottery ticket, that a slip of paper ( a small piece of paper) won’t give them the life of their dreams. If you want things, you have to work for them. It's as simple as that, look at us! That degenerate ( incompetetent) Thornton is letting them off scot-free ( allow them to get/ do something without consequence), I mean how are they even supposed to commute to their fast food jobs anyway, there is no taxpayers money left in the budget to even get them around town.
NARRATOR: Mrs. Blackwood nodded and said MRS. BLACKWOOD: Well Mayor Thornton had definitely had his less than proud moments in this town and his reputation has suffered for them. But I met him twice down at the city hall bake sale last summer and he was always a pleasant and soft spoken man. Last year, He even gave a third of his earnings to the local homeless children’s fund that had seemed to have been forgotten given the joblessness last year’s recession brought us. You can’t pretend we are living poorly dear, our fence is twice that of our neighbours, our roofs stretch high into the sky, with its* (their) dramatic peaks and slants that seem to pierce the evening sky, our porch’s extravagance is unmatched (unbeatable, the best) and even unimaginable to our neighbours on Pembroke. Remember dear, that you were once a young man. A man who had doubts, took risks and was daring enough to show his imperfections, compromise his growing, indefinite self image for what he wanted, what he thought was right. Remember when you got your first loan in ’79 (1979) and how ecstatic you were, how that extra offering was nothing less than unworldly (unimaginable) for the times, was yours and you had the power to do what you wanted with it. How about when you got your first promotion after getting that job in Maryville, you sacrificed everything, the kids, me, the life we had made with each other for your vision. Maybe Thornton had a vision, maybe Thornton is yet another flawed, misunderstood young man whose age has not yet caught up with him (his age does not yet reflect his attitude), who still is strong-willed, determined and fiercely breathing in his own ego every step of the way.
NARRATOR: Mr. Blackwood was stunned ( surprised) beyond words. Mrs.Blackwood had not said more than 10 words in a row in the last 20 years of their marriage. Ever since the kids moved out, ever since it wasn’t about making sure the kids were getting good marks, going down to the market to get groceries to fill their seemingly deprived stomachs, a suffering that had never truly known, everything had changed. Things became more systematic, passionless at every turn of the four corners of the single front room in which they spent nearly all their time. At that moment, Mr. Blackwood realized the grandiose display for which he longed but could never satisfy, the house he had built on slabs of powered concrete was crumbling (was disintegrating) before his eyes faced with the reality that his life had been nothing more than a game of chase for which he self declared himself as “it” ( a game kid’s play, it’s called tag where you chase each other around) and the childhood of his kids is nothing more than a faint ( not clear, distant memory) archive of bike rides, bedtime stories and birthday cakes.
For the first time in his life, he felt an eerie ( unsettling, creepy) sense of freedom, as though a wave of existential carelessness swept him into depths of a sea of his own choosing, and even though the tide never lets up ( to let up: to stop), Mr. Blackwood immerses himself in the sick passion of the present as if treading ( an exercise used to stay afloat) water was the addiction, not chasing ( to pursue) the boats that create the waves. The calm water will surround you when you stop flailing ( violently wave your arms) your arms and let your intuition guide your efforts and sacrifice. Mr.Blackwood, flooded with these thoughts ( consumed by), says nothing and slams ( to put down with force) the paper down on the table and leaves the room. Mrs. Blackwood slips some fine gin into her coffee, sighs ( to exhale) and sits on the mahogany chair at the dinner table facing the window, she sips ( to drink something) and plans her next move.
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