This post continues the extensive list of phrasal verbs that you can use when you speak and write English.  There are a lot of others that you can find in our previous blog posts.  We invite you to take our ESL classes at PC TECH to learn these and many more:

“When will your flight take off?”  [Depart; leave]

“The new Broadway show really took off!”  [Became popular or successful]

“Please take off your coat and stay awhile.”  [Remove]

“I’m hungry and we have only a short break.  Let’s get something to take out.”  [Eat away from the restaurant; for example, fast food]

“The children took their parents out for their wedding anniversary.” [Paid for their dinner, entertainment, etc.]

“He tore into his friend when he discovered that he was cheating.” [Became very angry with]

“After they sang “Happy Birthday’, they tore into the cake.”  [Started to eat greedily]

“Please tear up that document when you have finished reading it.” [Destroy by ripping]

“The city is going to tear down that old building next year.” [Remove; demolish]

“Many people think back on their childhood when look at old photos or get married.”  [Remember]

“You should think it over carefully before you make a decision to buy a car in New York City.” [Consider]

“Don’t throw away your glass bottles; you can recycle them.” [Place in the trash]

“Her life turned around when she came to New York and learned to speak English fluently at PC TECH.” [Improved greatly]

“Turn around and look at the beautiful sunset!” [Look in the opposite direction]

“How did your party turn out?  Did a lot of people attend?” [Result]

PC TECH: English Language School in New York City

What do you think about living in a city, a suburb, or the countryside? Why or why not?  Aki, who comes from Iwate, Japan, shares her thoughts on this topic.  (Her ESL teacher has checked her spelling, grammar, and punctuation and has offered corrections with light editing):

I grew up in the countryside.  When I was a child, I didn’t like my setting [environment].  If I didn’t have a car, I couldn’t go  anywhere.  No entertainment, no shopping, no restaurants…

[It] seemed to be boring when I lived there.

Now I am reconsidering.  In the spring, all of Japan is [filled] with cherry blossoms.  In the summer, Iwate, my [home] town is nice, cooler.  We can enjoy [barbecue], fishing, insect collecting, etc.

In the fall, my grandfather’s rice plants become [mature].  Fruit, seeds, lots of crops, fish…all become tasty.  In the winter, [Iwate] is covered with snow.  There aren’t many buildings, so you can see [snow all around].  I love the view of snow.

 I can enjoy all the seasons.

 [But] such a nice place was [struck] by the earthquake and tsunami.  Many towns were swallowed up by [this] tsunami.  I couldn’t understand [grasp] that it was my town.  [Within] several hours, 30,000 people died and a lot of people have not yet returned.

But their [spirits] were so strong.  Their neighborhoods helped [one] another.  Three years passed; [many] live in the same place again.  I think that I have the same [spirit] as such strong-minded people.

[Iwate] is my pride, and my home town is eternally only there.

PC TECH instructors will help you improve your English skills in every area: speaking, listening, spelling, punctuation, grammar, reading, and – perhaps the most challenging of all – writing!

 PC TECH: English Language School in New York City

Do you like living in a city, suburb, countryside? Why or why not?  Manuella, who comes from Natal, Brazil, shares her thoughts on this topic.  (Her ESL teacher has checked her spelling, grammar, and punctuation and has offered corrections with light editing):

I love living in a city, especially my city.  It is very special because it has many attractions such as tours with dromedaries on the dunes.  There is transparent water in Maracajaui, corals, and especially local food such as crab, shrimp, green beans, fish broth, acai… This is all part of Natal.  It still has more:  it is a very developed city with big supermarkets and malls where people “solve” their problems.  It has also a big center with large stores and buildings where people work and study.   Natal has 800,000 inhabitants and is growing more.  A lot of tourists are coming; it is becoming a great city in which to live; it has a lot of natural beauty.  Also at night there are many things to do.

I would like all to visit Natal; you will love it.

Daniela from Chile expresses her feelings about this topic:

I have always been in the city; I haven’t lived in any other kind of place.  I was born in Santiago, Chile, and then I studied at the school and the university in that same city.

I’m now living  in [another] city, but it is a little different because this is a big city with more development.  However, in [both] Santiago and New York, there are a lot of people.  [They] are crowded, [among] other characteristics!

When I began to study for my law career, my family went to live in a small town near the beach on the Pacific coast.  That place is Algarrobo, popular for free days like weekends, holidays, or vacations because it is a beautiful and wonderful town far from the noisy city.  This town has pure air, beaches, houses, hotels, condominiums, and cabins.  Mostly in the summer, it is a fun place; [also] it is relaxing (and sometimes boring!) too.

Last week I was in Hudson, a suburb of Boston.  I realized that in the future, when I have my family, I would like to live in one of these [communities].  It would be perfect for me and my family.

PC TECH instructors will help you improve your English skills in every area: speaking, listening, spelling, punctuation, grammar, reading, and – perhaps the most challenging of all – writing!

 PC TECH: English Language School in New York City

Rocio has come to PC TECH from Cusco, Peru and was thinking for a while about her own tour business.  She shares her ideas with us.  (Her ESL teacher has checked her spelling, grammar, and punctuation and has offered corrections with light editing):

When we have dreams, our spirit, our mind, will start building a project.  Sometimes it is not easy to accomplish your dreams when you work for others.

When I was young, I had many dreams, but my main dream was to buy a big [piece of] land in the countryside to do a “spirit center” for older people and for volunteers, and my other dream was to travel around the world.

My skill was in art.  I was a good painter and a good designer.  At that time, I was thinking of studying architecture, but my father disagreed.  He told me that if I studied art of architecture, I would be a poor person and will not accomplish my dreams.  I was very confused, but my dreams remained in my mind.

Finally, I decided to assemble tours to accomplish my dreams.  For this reason, I started my own travel agency, but it wasn’t easy.  I am  working a lot of hours a day and the responsibility is very hard, but I travel around the world.  Now, I am thinking about my future.

Why not?  No, I don’t want to own a business because I don’t have management skills.  I’m very happy working for others.  Every month I receive my salary and I have vacation for one month each year.  Umm!  Sometimes I can travel in my country or I can travel outside.

PC TECH instructors will help you improve your English skills in every area: speaking, listening, spelling, punctuation, grammar, reading, and – perhaps the most challenging of all – writing!

 PC TECH: English Language School in New York City

Do you like living in a city, suburb, countryside? Why or why not?  Federica, who comes from Messina, Sicily, shares her thoughts on this topic.  (Her ESL teacher has checked her spelling, grammar, and punctuation and has offered corrections with light editing):

I like in a small town in the South of Italy.  Sometimes I think that is perfect for me.  I know all of my neighbors; the stores are [very] close to my house; there isn’t [much] traffic; and there is a great sense of community.  But often I have thought that it is so boring because nothing happens.  Maybe this is the reason [for me] to move myself [interesting expression!] from a small town to a metropolis like New York.  I like meeting different people from many countries and [hearing] different languages.

I love the architecture of [New York City].  It isn’t clean [the author’s opinion], I know, and it is noisy, but it is called “the city that never [sleeps]” for this reason!  I love walking in the street and raising my eyes to the sky to see the tall buildings.  It offers something new to do at all hours.  It’s so big, but there is a lot of public transportation to move [around] every part of the city.  It is [sometimes] not safe, especially in [certain] areas.  All big cities have [positive and negative aspects]; you have to take the best things!  At this time, I prefer to live in a big city.  Maybe, when I am old and tired, I will move to an isolated and quiet place like the countryside!

PC TECH instructors will help you improve your English skills in every area: speaking, listening, spelling, punctuation, grammar, reading, and – perhaps the most challenging of all – writing!

PC TECH: English Language School in New York City

1) Know where you want to study and what is your desired field of study. Also do your research on which state in the United States you would like to study.
PC TECH in Manhattan New York should be a brighter choice.

2) What type of student visa you would need to attend the school and program of your choice?
PC TECH students can apply for F-1 visa, which is the student visa for academic study.

3) What should you do in order to enroll?
Contact PC TECH and begin the admission process. Transfer in students will need to get a transfer form and acceptance letter from PC TECH to submit to the previous school before starting the registration process to get an I-20. this also gives you a chance to meet with your international students advisor to get some tips and help to make the process of applying for an I-20 easier.
Once you are accepted the school will generally issue an I-20 document.

For International students once the I-20 is issued you then go to apply for a students visa.
Follow the instructions to apply for a student visa at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate. Generally you will need to apply by filing Form DS-160 (Online Nonimmigrant Visa Electronic Application) and show evidence of a passport and submit two photos. You must also submit an MRV fee and a SEVIS I-901 fee receipt along with the I-20 document the school sends you.

Go on and make travel plans to come to the USA to study at PC TECH and start your program. Keep in mind that you will generally be able to enter the US no more than 30 days before the start of your program.

Fall: September – December full booking is required

January – August: minimum 30 night is required

92 Y residence is one of the most popular housing options for PC TECH students! Convenient location, safe and easy access to school and no curfew! However, there is a specific requirement for booking in fall semester. They only accept students who will stay entire fall semester(9/1 – 12/31) while a minimum 30 night booking is allowed between January and August.

Independence Day, July 4, is a national holiday in the United States.  Here are the words of our national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner:

Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

PC TECH: English Language School in New York City

This is our final section of the Declaration of Independence, offered to PC TECH blog readers.  Many of the words and expressions may be somewhat difficult to understand because they are rarely used in modern English, especially in conversation.  However, we invite you to consider coming to the United States and taking part in our ESL courses to increase your English language skills and to learn about American customs and cultures. Then even this Declaration will not be all that hard to understand!

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms:

Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

PC TECH: English Language School in New York City

This is our fourth section of the Declaration of Independence, offered to PC TECH blog readers.  Notice the British-style spelling of neighboring and complete.  Also, you will see that many common nouns are begun with a capital letter, words that are especially important:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat [complete] the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy of the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

 [To be continued]

PC TECH: English Language School in New York City