GIVE ANSWERS - English

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GIVE ANSWERS

AussieInBg profile picture AussieInBgAugust 2020
”I can’t keep up with it” - comes via the phrasal verb

"to keep up with sth / sb / doing sth" - to maintain the same rate as something that is moving. It could be something moving physically such as someone running, it could be more metaphorical such as changing knowledge in a field or the amount of work you must do in a certain time.

So, take for example, there is a lot of work each day, but you can't do it all. You might say "There is too much work, I can't keep up with it."

Here, "it" refers back to "too much work".

If, for example, you are in a race. Someone is going faster than you and there is more and more distance between you and this person - no matter how hard you try to run faster. You might have a sentence like this:

"That woman is running too fast for me, I can't keep up with her."

So, instead of "it" like in the previous example, you are using the pronoun "her" to refer back to "That woman".



AussieInBg profile picture AussieInBgAugust 2020
No worries!

"to catch up with sth / sb/ doing sth" has a similar meaning to "to keep up with sth / sb / doing sth". However, there is a very big difference.

"to keep up with" means that you have to put in extra effort to be up-to-date or at the same position and you have to continue putting in effort to maintain being up-to-date or in the same position. "

"to catch up with sth / sb / doing sth" - you initially put in extra effort to be up-to-date or at the same position. But, once you are up-to-date or in the same position, then you require no effort or much less effort to maintain this.

e.g. "I saw my friend walking in front of me. I ran quickly to catch up with her". = There was effort to run to the same position as her, then I walked with her - less energy to maintain the same position as her, running -> walking.

Our lecturer had given us a lot of homework last Monday. Yesterday evening, I finally caught up with it = I put in effort to complete the homework, the homework is now complete and I no longer (for now at least!!!) have to put in more effort.

Yes, there are a lot of phrasal verbs. Generally, in English courses - and even in "good" dictionaries - they only give the gist of the meaning of most phrasal verbs and not the true one. In general, phrasal verbs are very badly taught - even by native speakers - and the course materials which cover them are abysmal.