Unit 4b Book
3. Reading and Grammar: How the Damage to the LHC Was Repaired
Now, you will have a chance to read about the procedure of the LHC repair. You can see to what extent your answers to the forum questions were correct. Scan the article on p. 29 in your coursebook (Bonamy, D. (2013). Technical English Level 4 Coursebook. Pearson Longman) and mark the statements in this quiz True (t) or False (f).
Then focus on the bold-faced expressions in the same text. They are nouns derived from phrasal verbs. Match them to their one-word more formal synonyms in this task. You will see that basically, there are three possible forms of the compound nouns derived from phrasal verbs:
- Verb + particle: build-up, roll-out, set-up, start-up, shutdown, take-off, touchdown, takeover, clean-out, check-up, warm-up, break-in
(Be careful about the plural of these nouns: it is formed by adding -s to the end of the noun, not the verb. For example: break-ins).
- Particle + verb: input, output, inflow, outflow, overflow, upthrust, downthrust, inlet, outlet
- In some cases, the noun takes the same form as the verb: overhaul, upgrade, downgrade
Unfortunately, there are no general rules regarding the compound nouns derived from phrasal verbs. Some of them are hyphenated, while some others become one word as compound nouns. Moreover, they are subject to change depending on how the language develops. There is a strong tendency for hyphenated forms of phrasal nouns to evolve into single words. For example, the compound nouns “set-up” and “take-off” seem to be no longer hyphenated these days: “setup, takeoff”. If both versions are current, the hyphenated form is usually the more formal one.
Now practise changing phrasal verbs into corresponding phrasal nouns in this task. Finally, if you want to learn and memorize more phrasal nouns apart from those listed in your coursebook, you can use these links: