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Understanding and having ideas A
Understanding
As a maths teacher I find it interesting to see how pupils cope with my subject. Some pick up every new topic very quickly, while others take rather longer to catch on1. Some have to grapple with2 the topic for a long time but eventually understand it very well. Some find it goes in better if they are presented with the whole picture right from the beginning, whereas others like me to break a topic down into small bite-sized chunks. Then they gradually piece it all together for themselves. Although some find it harder than others to keep up3 with what I tell them, everyone usually cottons on4 in the end. 1
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(informal) understand try hard to deal with
B
C
be able to understand something that is happening or changing fast (informal) begins to understand
Having ideas phrasal verb
definition of phrasal verb
example
occur to sb
come into your mind
It suddenly occurred to me that he hadn’t told me his name.
hit on (an idea)
have a good idea (especially one that solves a problem)
We weren’t sure how to celebrate our anniversary until James hit on the idea of spending the weekend in Paris.
rough out
write or draw the outline of an idea without going into details
The novelist said he always roughs out several plots before he decides which one to use.
reflect on
(slightly formal) think very hard about something
We all need to take some time to reflect on what has happened.
think up sth or think sth up
create an idea or plan using your imagination and intelligence
Can you help me think up an idea for my presentation?
play with (an idea)
consider an idea but usually do not do it
The headteacher played with the idea of introducing compulsory lessons in good manners.
leap out at
be immediately obvious
I couldn’t solve the crossword clue last night, but this morning the answer leapt out at me.
Discussing ideas
I have some great colleagues. Whenever I have a problem at work, I talk it through1 with my supervisor. She always comes at2 problems from a slightly different angle, and thrashing an issue out3 with her helps me to see the problem more clearly and to find a solution. Then there is my marketing team. I am very proud of them. In our regular meetings to discuss new promotional activities, we bounce our ideas off4 each other until we find something that we all like. We find that batting our ideas around5 like this is really productive and results in great campaigns. 1
4 discuss something in order to understand it better 2 5 approaches 3 discussing something in order to find a solution
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English Phrasal Verbs in Use Advanced
(informal) tell someone about an idea to find out what they think of it (slightly informal) discussing different ways of dealing with an issue
