Do you like “exercise”?
What does an exercise “warm-up” do?
Do you enjoy walking, dancing or running?
Nowadays everyday grammar, we will see how we can express the method of exercise. Learn common phrasal verbs to describe our actions and gerunds for kind practice.
Let’s start with phrasal verbs.
phrasal verb
A phrasal verb has a verb and either a preposition or an adverb called a. particle. Particles is a short word. A phrasal verb can consist of one or two particles. Phrasal verbs have a different meaning than the verb alone. Phrasal verbs can often be separated from their particles by nouns or pronouns.
Some of the most common practice phrases in English are phrasal verbs.
Let’s look at some of them.
“Work out” is a transitive verb. It means exercising to make the body stronger and healthier. Transitive verbs can take direct objects.
She trains her legs at the gym every day.
“Warming up” means doing light exercise to get your heart rate up and warm up your body to prepare for exercise.
Emily walks on and warms up treadmill.
A “cool down” is the opposite of a warm up. After strenuous exercise, your body needs to cool down to naturally lower your heart rate.
I like to stretch my muscles and cool down.
“Work off” means quitting your job stressemotions, energy, or even food in doing physical activity.
i need to put away that apple pie I ate it on Thanksgiving. Go to the gym!
I’ve had a stressful day at work and can’t wait to de-stress with tonight’s dance class!
“Try it out” means compete for a spot on a team.
Tatiana tried soccer August team. She’s playing her first game this weekend!
“Faint” means to feel sick, to fall down, or to faint.
If I don’t drink enough water before strenuous exercise, I always feel like passing out.
She passed out near the end of the finish line. dehydrated.
To “give up” means to stop doing what you’re doing and not keep doing it.
He had to quit basketball last year because he hurt his knee.
gerund
A gerund is formed from a verb, but functions like a noun in a sentence. Create gerunds with -ing at the end. A gerund expresses an action or a state of being. There are several gerunds we use to describe types of movement.
For example, “walk” is a gerund.
Take the base form of the verb and add -ing.
walk + end -ing = walk
Walking is one of the best activities for your health.
Other common gerunds for working out are:
“jogging” Similar to running, but easier paced.
Tyler enjoys jogging on weekends.
“running” There could be more purpose behind it, such as planning a race.
running marathon It’s a lot of work.
“Lifting” is a type of strength training that uses muscles to lift heavy objects.
Taylor started lifting weights last year.
“Dancing” means moving your body to music.
I love dance that is creative and heart-rate.
“Training” means exercising in preparation for an event or goal.
In addition to strength training, Jo also trains in dance.
“Spinning” is indoor cycling.
This gym has rotation.
training
Combine phrasal verbs and gerunds to form sentences describing motor activity.
For example:
Warm up with a dance.
Here we use the preposition “by” to show how to warm up.
You can also say:
Dancing warms me up.
Here the phrasal verb is split by the personal pronoun “me”.
final thoughts
Today we have seen a general representation of exercise. Phrasal verbs such as “workout” and “cool down” can be used to describe actions. Use base verbs and prepositions to create phrasal verbs that can be split by nouns or pronouns.
Another verb-like structure we examined is the gerund. A gerund functions like a noun in a sentence, but is formed by adding an ending to a verb. The gerund is action-oriented, so it’s a great way to describe the exercise you do to stay happy and healthy.
Let’s finish this report by doing our homework.
Are there other phrasal verbs or gerunds you use to describe your exercises?
Use phrasal verbs or gerunds to describe how to exercise. Try to make sentences by combining both!
Share your results in the comments!
I’m Faith Pirlo.
Faith Pirlo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.
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the words of this story
treadmill – nA machine with moving parts that allows you to walk or run for exercise
stress –n. A physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes physical or mental tension and may contribute to some diseases
pie – n. Food consisting of pastry and filling such as fruit or meat
dehydrated – adjective Denotes the removal of water or liquid from food, etc.
marathon –n. Long run of about 42 km, long hours of hard work
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