How I wrote Amazingly Easy Phrasal Verbs

Well, it wasn't easy, but it was quite ambitious. Having taught phrasal verbs successfully to people who'd previously hated them, I was confident that my method worked and that I could put it into book form. Put simply, I don't split the stem verb and particle or provide a list of alternatives, as other books tend to. E.g. put - off, up, out, back etc. This seems only to maximise confusion. I present them just like any other verb.

The next question was how to organise them in a way that would be memorable - a list maybe? No, too obvious and rather unengaging. The inspiration arose from when I wrote English for Human Resources for Cambridge University Press. This book was divided into 10 topic areas with vocabulary, templates, tasks and dialogues. I had this crazy idea that the dialogues should be authentic and that each chapter would fit together like a mini-soap, in a company. In fact, I wanted to follow one set of characters in one company throughout the book but CUP rejected that idea. I can understand this because my HR book was part of a series and they needed it to be the same as the other titles on marketing etc, but in itself, I think the idea was sound.

Liberated by self-publishing, I could use the narrative approach for Amazingly Easy Phrasal Verbs. It would be a story, a love story or romantic comedy set in a company. The book would feature our accident prone and hapless hero, Alan, and an office romance, not without its problems.

I storyboarded the whole book and then divided it into chapters, each featuring six phrasal verbs, presented in 6 or so paragraphs. I got a big list of phrasal verbs and started to write the story. At first, it was easy because there was every phrasal verb to choose from but as the book went on, it got trickier to find the right match for the scenario. Two hundred and ten phrasal verbs later, the book was completed and published. It's been on the market for a little over two years and is still selling well. It's had great reviews and people kindly say that it really is amazing and has helped them to learn phrasal verbs easily.

I'm starting work on the next volume that tracks the progress of our characters through the use of more phrasal verbs. It won't be easy but I'm sure I'll pull through. Look out for progress reports in which I'll keep you filled in.

If you'd like to buy it, you can get it on all Amazon sites.

Amazingly Easy Phrasal Verbs

Amazingly Easy Phrasal Verbs is one of the most ambitious books that I (George) have written.

When teaching, I found that many students hated learning phrasal verbs and found them very difficult to remember and learn so I set about trying to understand why and to do something about it.

Firstly, the problems that I identified were:

Typically, phrasal verb books:

• introduce a lot of phrasal verbs at one time
• mix similar looking phrasal verbs with very different meanings - e.g. put off, put down etc.
• separate the core verb from the particle - e.g. put __.
• give only unconnected, single sentence examples of use
• list hundreds, if not thousands of phrasal verbs

Amazingly Easy Phrasal Verbs does it differently by:

• focussing on the most important, modern and used phrasal verbs
• placing phrasal verbs within a single, ongoing story - one of the oldest and best learning techniques known to man! (and woman)
• introduces one new phrasal verb per paragraph
• repeats this showing its different uses and collocations
• introduces just 5 -7 phrasal verbs per chapter (the optimum number of pieces of new information that can be learnt at once)
• provides chapter by chapter tests to reinforce and check understanding

What’s more:

• Phrasal verbs in this book are always shown in their complete form - e.g. run up, put down.
• Never, ever mixed with other similar looking or sounding phrasal verbs that have totally different meanings and uses - what’s the sense in doing that?

• Using the radical yet highly practical learning method provided in this book, you’ll learn like a native, remembering naturally and always use them correctly.

Here’s a sample:

Put up with - tolerate

Alan could put up with almost anything. He could put up with toothache. He could put up with the neighbour’s dog barking. He could put up with having no money or car; he could even put up with Terry’s awful jokes but he didn’t know for how long he would be able to put up with Demetrius. Well, thought Alan, no point getting stressed, I’ll just have to put up with him until I can create a plan to set him up and send him back.

Are you very tolerant? What things do you find it hard to put up with?

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