by Alan Townend20. Phrasal verb break or «Breaking up»
As you already know, phrasal verbs are an essential part of the
language. They are also and I don't really need to tell you this, very
difficult to guess the meaning of. Occasionally the same phrasal verb
can have two different meanings. Take the verb break and the two
meanings of break into. Someone who breaks into your house is
called a burglar but you could also say: It's very difficult to break
into journalism, meaning it is very difficult to get into a career in
journalism. The same is true of break up. It can mean make into
small pieces as in break up a bar of chocolate to give a piece to
several people. And it can also mean that people especially a couple
are no longer together if they are described as having broken up.
And it's on that theme I have written a short story about two young
lovers who apparently have decided to break up and not get married.
Read the story and see what happens and also all the other phrasal
verbs you can make from break:
«Breaking up»
Locally they were known as Romeo and Juliet in the small village
where they had lived all their lives. Actually they were Dave Owen
and Maggie Stevens. It was generally assumed they would get
married as they had been inseparable since they were children.
When therefore the news broke out in the local pub, appropriately
called the Lovers Arms, that they were breaking up, nobody could
believe it. After all they had been engaged for five years. Old Mrs.
Swenderbin, the celebrated cake maker who had been commissioned
to make the wedding cake, broke down and wept openly when she
heard about it. No-one was quite sure whether this was through
sadness or at the thought of losing the cake commission. Everyone
was talking about it wherever you went in the village, the pub, the
shops, the park - everywhere. It wouldn't have been a surprise to
anyone if the announcer on the radio had suddenly broken into the
middle of a piece of music and informed the nation that Dave and
Maggie had broken off their engagement. It still remained a mystery
why it had happened. There was a wall of secrecy surrounding the
whole affair which it was virtually impossible to break through. One
reporter on the local paper however was determined to break down
the barriers and get to the bottom of the matter.
Andrew had known the couple since schooldays and hadn't been long
as a reporter but had already made himself a name by discovering
things that the rest of the reporters would never have found out
mainly because they would never break with tradition and use the
unconventional methods Andrew employed. There was the occasion
when Andrew caught a burglar breaking into the local bank. He had
had a tip-off about the burglary and had managed to persuade the
local manager to let him spend the night in the bank so that he could
get pictures of the man actually as he broke in. Then there was the
time he had actually got a picture of a man breaking out of a prison
situated about ten miles away The editor had tried in vain to break
Andrew of his unconventional habits but gave up because in the end
he realised his stories helped sell the paper. On this occasion too he