The Adventures of Lara Cruft

Episode 2: Phrasal verbs with get

She finally arrived in Egypt. On the first day Lara hired a car to get to know the city. She wanted to get to know the other archaeologists, so she suggested they all get together that evening, for dinner. During the dinner Lara sat next to a very depressing man called William, who worked for the British government. All he talked about was his girlfriend who had just left him. He said he had only come to Egypt to help get over the pain. He wasn’t interested in archaeology. Listening to him really got her down. She tried to cheer him up, to tell him that there were plenty more fish in the sea, but it was very difficult to get across her ideas because he didn’t listen. The next day Lara decided to get down to some work. She wanted to work hard because she wanted to get ahead, she was very ambitious. Unfortunately she had to work with Mr depressing, William! He was very lazy. He tried to get out of doing work by saying he was ill, heart broken! He didn’t get away with it. One time Lara and Mrs Bluebottle found him secretly reading a book in his tent. They had a look at the book, it was called “The legend of the Lost City of Gold” and as they were reading it she came across* a strange map. A map to the lost City of Gold! Maybe there was another reason William had come to Egypt.

* come across something = find unexpectedly

Match the phrasal verb with the definition

1. Get to know someone or somewhere

2. Get across an idea

3. Get together

4. Get someone down

5. Get out of doing something

6. Get away with doing something

7. Get ahead

8. Get down to work

9. Get over an illness or bad experience

a. Make progress

b. Come together for a social event

c. Make someone feel depressed

d. Communicate an idea to someone clearly

e. Recuperate from an illness

f. Know someone or somewhere better

g. Avoid doing something you don’t want to do (e.g. washing up)

h. Finally start to work (after chatting or putting it off)

i. Do something bad and not get caught

Read through the story with a partner and see if you can remember which verbs go in each gap. DO NOT WRITE ANYTHING! Then you can reuse it again and again.

She finally arrived in Egypt. On the first day Lara hired a car to get ______the city. She wanted to get ______the other archaeologists, so she suggested they all get ____ that evening, for dinner. During the dinner Lara sat next to a very depressing man called William, who worked for the British government. All he talked about was his girlfriend who had just left him. He said he had only come to Egypt to help get ___ the pain. He wasn’t interested in archaeology. Listening to him really got ___ . She tried to cheer him up, to tell him that there were plenty more fish in the sea, but it was very difficult to get ____ her ideas because he didn’t listen. The next day Lara decided to get ____ to some work. She wanted to work hard because she wanted to get ___, she was very ambitious. Unfortunately she had to work with Mr depressing, William! He was very lazy. He tried to get ______ doing work by saying he was ill, heart broken! He didn’t get ______it. One time Lara and Mrs Bluebottle found him secretly reading a book in his tent. They had a look at the book, it was called “The legend of the Lost City of Gold” and as they were reading it she came ___ a strange map. A map to the lost City of Gold! Maybe there was another reason William had come to Egypt.

Ask your partner these questions. Use the phrasal verbs in your answers.

1. Do you find it easy to get to know people?

2. What things really get you down?

3. When you and your friends want to get together, where do you meet?

4. Are you good at getting out of doing things in the house, like washing up? How do you get out of doing

it? Do you hide?

5. Do you know anyone at school who always gets away with being naughty? (i.e. they never get caught!)