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What happens to dining-hall leftovers? Phrasal verbs with up, away and out

This B1 ESL lesson plan teaches phrasal verbs with up, away and out through the Food Recovery Network, which University of Maryland students started in 2011.

Grammar
Eight phrasal verbs and their meanings, from give away and use up to run out of and find out, with a pronoun in the middle (throw it out) and run out of never split.
Topic
Food recovery in college dining halls, with words such as surplus, food bank, container, tongs and stale.
Activities
Jade's story to read, a closing-time shift and a listener's message to hear, self-checking drills, a chat to plan a pickup, a good-or-bad sort and open boxes.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: what's left on your plate?

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: food that nobody eatsVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: good food on the move

    • Look at the photo: food on the movePictureUnlock
    • Read Jade's story on the show's websiteArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: closing time at the dining hall

    • Listen to Jade and ElliottListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Listener's Take: Rosalind's messageListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: give it away, don't throw it out!

    • Study the scheme: phrasal verbs with up, away and outGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the words in bracketsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Drag the phrasal verbs into the gapsDrag and dropTry it
    • Fill in the table: the noun in the middle, then it or themFill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: plan a pickup

    • Choose the right replies: plan a pickupChatTry it
    • Sort the phrases into the correct columns: good idea or bad idea?Sort into columnsUnlock
    • Open a box and answerOpen the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: words and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the words in bracketsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the sentence with the same meaningQuizUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Elliott's sign-up postDrag and dropUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: Jade answers RosalindChoose the optionUnlock

33 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • surplus
  • hairnet
  • food bank
  • container
  • foil
  • tongs
  • produce
  • baked goods
  • stale

Grammar: phrasal verbs with up, away and out

A verb + up, away or out often has a new meaning: give away means give for free, and use up means use all of something. A dining hall at closing time needs many of them, so learners learn eight phrasal verbs with their meanings, put a pronoun in the middle and keep run out of together.

Use it up, give it away!

A verb + up, away or out often has a new meaning. A pronoun goes in the middle: throw it away. Run out of never splits.

Eight verbs, eight meanings

Throw away and throw out mean put in the trash, give away means give for free, and pick up means collect. The little word often adds its own meaning: up is all of it (use up, eat up), away is gone, and out can mean nothing left.

Eight phrasal verbs and their meanings

Phrasal verbMeaningExample
throw away / throw output something in the trashThe dining hall threw out good bread.
give awaygive something for freeWe give away the food to a shelter.
pick upgo and get something from a placeElliott picks up the leftovers at eight.
use upuse all of something, so none is leftWe used up all the foil.
eat upeat all of somethingDarius ate up all the cookies!
clean upmake a place clean and neat againLet's clean up the kitchen.
run out ofhave no more of somethingWe ran out of containers.
find outlearn something new, get informationI found out about the group from a poster.

What do up, away and out add?

Often, up means “all of it, until it's finished”: use up, eat up, clean up. Away means “gone, to another place or person”: throw away, give away. Out means “out of a place” or “nothing left”: throw out, run out of. Learn pick up and find out as whole words.

A noun in either place, a pronoun in the middle

A noun goes after the little word or in the middle: throw away the bread = throw the bread away. A pronoun goes only in the middle: throw it away, never throw away it. After find out, use about or a question word: find out where the food goes.

ObjectWhere it goesExample
a noun: the bread, the boxesafter the little word OR in the middleThrow away the bread. = Throw the bread away.
a pronoun: it, them, me, him, her, usONLY in the middleThrow it away. Give them away. (Not: throw away it)
run out of + noun or pronounafter of: the three words stay togetherWe ran out of boxes. We ran out of them.
find out + about / what / where / whenafter outLet's find out where the food goes.

Run out of: three words together

Run out of never splits, and the thing comes after of: We ran out of milk. We ran out of it. Without of, the thing becomes the subject: The milk ran out. So We ran out the milk is wrong.

Run out of: three words, never split

Run out of has three words, and the thing always comes after of: We ran out of milk. We ran out of it. Not: We ran out the milk. Not: We ran the milk out of. You can also make the thing the subject, with no of: The milk ran out.

Verbs that need an object

Use up, throw away, give away and pick up need an object: Sorry, I used it up, not Sorry, I used up. Clean up and eat up can stand alone: Let's clean up! Come on, eat up!

Does it need an object?

Use up, throw away, give away and pick up need an object: “Where's the foil?” “Sorry, I used it up.” (Not: Sorry, I used up.) Clean up and eat up can stand alone: Let's clean up! Come on, eat up!

At the dining hall with Jade and Elliott

  • We pick them up every night and give them away to a local shelter.
  • What if we run out of containers?
  • If we use them all up, we'll cover the trays with foil.
  • That's stale, so we throw it out.
  • How did you find out about this group?
  • Darius would eat it all up!

Common mistakes

Most mistakes put the pronoun at the end: throw out it, give away them, pick up them. Move it or them before the little word: throw it out, give them away, pick them up. And run out + a thing needs of.

  • This bread is stale. Throw out it.

    This bread is stale. Throw it out.

    a pronoun goes in the middle

  • The muffins are fresh. Let's give away them.

    The muffins are fresh. Let's give them away.

    it / them in the middle

  • We ran out the milk.

    We ran out of milk.

    run out of: don't forget of

  • The boxes are ready. Can you pick up them?

    The boxes are ready. Can you pick them up?

    it / them in the middle

More lessons on this grammar: Phrasal verbs lessons and exercises

Try the phrasal verbs with up exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 19 auto-checked exercises
  • 5 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • use phrasal verbs with their meanings: We pick them up every night and give them away to a local shelter.
  • put a pronoun in the middle: That's stale, so we throw it out. Can you pick them up?, not pick up them
  • keep the three words of run out of together: We ran out of containers. We ran out of them.
  • give an object to verbs that need one: Sorry, I used it up, not Sorry, I used up
  • ask and tell how people learned something: How did you find out about this group? I found out about it from a poster.

Lesson 12 closes Food for the future, unit 3 of English B1.2 · Changemakers. It goes beyond A2.2 lesson 7, where turn it on and plug it in put it and them in the middle, to the meanings of up, away and out and to run out of. Lesson 13 opens unit 4, Memory and learning, with reported statements. A dining hall at closing time is full of food to pick up, give away or throw out, so every verb has a real job.

Students spin a wheel of questions about leftovers, lunch and volunteering, then learn twelve words, from throw away to stale, with pictures and audio. They read Jade's story about the Food Recovery Network, then hear Jade pack leftovers with Elliott at her university's dining hall and Rosalind, a listener from Maryland, describe the food thrown out in her dorm, both AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking drills, among them a table that moves the noun, then the pronoun. In the speaking chapter, students plan a pickup with Elliott in a chat, sort good and bad ideas for volunteers and open boxes.

All ten homework tasks are self-checking: four on the words (a match, an anagram, a gap-fill and a memory game), then a choice of forms, gap-fills with a pronoun, word order, a same-meaning quiz, Elliott's sign-up post for volunteers and Jade's plan for Rosalind's dorm, both with gaps.

Grammar:
phrasal verbs · up, away, out · pronoun in the middle · run out of
Topic:
Food Recovery Network · University of Maryland · food waste · dining halls · college life · volunteering · Stories That Travel

Teaching tips

  • Mime the verbs first: throw a paper away, pick up a bag, give a pen away, clean up a desk. The class calls out each phrasal verb before they see it written.
  • Before the reading, ask what happens to leftovers in a school cafeteria or a restaurant students know. Collect guesses, then read to find out what the Maryland students did.
  • Play the closing-time shift twice: first for Jade's jobs, then for every phrasal verb. Students note whether the object is a noun, it or them, and where it goes.
  • Use real objects for the pronoun rule: hold up an empty bottle and ask What should I do with it? Students answer Throw it away! or Give it away!, never throw away it.

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The whole course: English B1.2 · Changemakers

32 lessons for adults at B1 in American English, about people and ideas that changed things: start-ups, future cities, food, memory, customs, art, volunteers and adventure. The podcast team of English B1.1 is back for a season called Changemakers. Learners use the second conditional, the passive, reported speech, the past perfect, relative clauses and verb patterns, and the practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Start-up stories

    the second conditional, If I were you, the first vs the second conditional, also, too, as well and besides

    1. Lesson 1The garage where Silicon Valley beganThe second conditional for imagined situations
    2. Lesson 2Would you sell lemonade to save bees?Second conditional questions and If I were you
    3. Lesson 3Pitch it to the Sharks!First vs second conditional: a real plan or a dream?
    4. Lesson 4A bakery that hires anyone?Adding ideas: also, too, as well, either and besides

  2. Unit 2 Cities of tomorrow

    the passive in the present simple and the past simple, with modals, and in the present perfect and present continuous

    1. Lesson 5Can you cross a city without going outside?The present simple passive
    2. Lesson 6A park on top of a freeway?The past simple passive
    3. Lesson 7Can a desert city catch the rain?The passive with modals
    4. Lesson 8Can an old railroad become a park?The present perfect and present continuous passive

  3. Unit 3 Food for the future

    comparative and superlative adverbs, the future passive, verbs with prepositions, phrasal verbs with up, away and out

    1. Lesson 9Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts?Comparative and superlative adverbs
    2. Lesson 10Lettuce from space?The future passive with will be
    3. Lesson 11Why do corn, beans and squash grow together?Verbs with dependent prepositions
    4. Lesson 12 · you're hereWhat happens to dining-hall leftovers?Phrasal verbs with up, away and out

  4. Unit 4 Memory and learning

    reported statements with say and tell, tense changes, time and place words, reported questions, requests and commands

    1. Lesson 13Can you train your memory?Reported statements with say and tell
    2. Lesson 14He got better but never rememberedReported statements about the past
    3. Lesson 15Can a TV show teach the alphabet?Reported questions
    4. Lesson 16Can you learn a new skill at 70?Reported requests and commands

  5. Unit 5 Customs and manners

    degree adverbs such as quite and pretty, the past perfect, the past perfect vs the past simple, make vs do

    1. Lesson 17To tip or not to tip?Adverbs of degree before adjectives and adverbs
    2. Lesson 18They'd already started without me!The past perfect: had + past participle
    3. Lesson 19What should you do at a powwow?Past perfect vs past simple
    4. Lesson 20How do you accept a lei?Make vs do: collocations to learn

  6. Unit 6 Art and design

    relative clauses with whose, non-defining relative clauses, relative clauses without a pronoun, when and why

    1. Lesson 21Art that moves in the airRelative clauses with whose
    2. Lesson 22A heart that sells a stateNon-defining relative clauses
    3. Lesson 23What would you paint on a city wall?Relative clauses without who, which or that
    4. Lesson 24Why does the sign say Hollywood?Relative adverbs: when, why and where

  7. Unit 7 Volunteers and changemakers

    verb + -ing or to, -ing as a subject and after prepositions, stop, remember, try and forget, prefer and would rather

    1. Lesson 25A day on, not a day off?Verb + -ing or verb + to
    2. Lesson 26The house that welcomed a neighborhoodGerunds as subjects and after prepositions
    3. Lesson 27A walk that lasted 24 hoursStop, remember, forget and try + to or -ing
    4. Lesson 28Head, heart, hands and healthPrefer, would rather and would prefer

  8. Unit 8 Adventure and challenge

    possessive 's vs of, must and can't for deduction, might, may and could for possibility, the meanings of get

    1. Lesson 29Could you climb a fourteener?Possessive 's, s' or of
    2. Lesson 30It must be here somewhere!Must and can't for deduction
    3. Lesson 31How did Houdini get out?Might, may and could for possibility
    4. Lesson 32A capital with no road inThe meanings of get

Questions about this lesson

What are phrasal verbs with up?
Phrasal verbs with up join a verb and up, and here up often means all of it: use up, eat up, clean up. Darius ate up all the cookies! Some have their own meaning, like pick up (go and get something): Elliott picks up the leftovers at eight. The B1 lesson What happens to dining-hall leftovers? on edio.ai teaches them in a college dining hall at closing time.
What are phrasal verbs with out?
Three useful ones are throw out, run out of and find out. Throw out means put in the trash (That's stale, so we throw it out), run out of means have no more (We ran out of containers), and find out means learn something new: How did you find out about this group? All three come up in What happens to dining-hall leftovers?, a B1 lesson on edio.ai.
Where does the object go in a phrasal verb?
With these verbs and a noun, both orders are correct: throw away the bread or throw the bread away. A pronoun goes only in the middle: throw it away, give them away, pick them up. Run out of is different: its three words stay together, and the object comes last: We ran out of it. A table in What happens to dining-hall leftovers? on edio.ai moves each noun, then swaps it for it or them.
What's the difference between "use up" and "run out of"?
Use up is the action, run out of the result: you use something up, and then you've run out of it. We used up all the foil says who finished it; We ran out of foil says there's none left. Use up splits for a pronoun (We used it up), but run out of never does (We ran out of it). In What happens to dining-hall leftovers? on edio.ai, Elliott's chat uses both.
Is it "throw it out" or "throw out it"?
It's throw it out, with the pronoun before the little word. The same rule gives give them away, pick them up and clean it up, never give away them or pick up them. With a noun, both orders work: throw out the pizza or throw the pizza out. Drills and a chat in What happens to dining-hall leftovers? on edio.ai set each wrong order beside the right one.
What is the Food Recovery Network?
The Food Recovery Network, or FRN, is a national nonprofit for student food recovery: it helps students give surplus food to local nonprofits. Students at the University of Maryland, College Park, started it in 2011, and by November 2015 students at more than 160 colleges and universities were part of it. Jade's story in What happens to dining-hall leftovers?, a B1 lesson on edio.ai, tells how it began.
How did the Food Recovery Network start?
In 2011, students at the University of Maryland saw good food from their dining halls thrown away every day. With help from campus Dining Services, a different student group picked up the leftovers each night, and the students drove the food to shelters and food banks in the Washington, D.C. area. Other colleges started groups soon after. On New Year's Eve 2011, one Maryland basketball game gave 727 meals from leftover concession-stand food.
How do I teach phrasal verbs with up, away and out to B1 students?
Teach a handful in one real situation, with a clear meaning for each: in a kitchen, you use up the foil, throw out stale bread and give away good food. Then practice where the pronoun goes, and treat run out of as one three-word verb. What happens to dining-hall leftovers? on edio.ai moves from a feature on food recovery to a closing-time shift, then the scheme and five drills.
What's a good game for practicing phrasal verbs?
A good-idea, bad-idea sort gets students using them fast: they read phrases like give away stale bread or clean up after the pickup, put each one in a column and explain why. In What happens to dining-hall leftovers? on edio.ai, open boxes follow, with prompts such as Name three things that you use up very fast at home.
What's good homework for phrasal verbs with up and out?
Good homework practices meaning and word order together: gap-fills such as The milk smells bad. ___ (throw out / it)!, a choice between clean it up and clean up it, and a quiz that turns We have no more containers into We've run out of containers. All ten homework tasks in What happens to dining-hall leftovers? on edio.ai check themselves.
How do you practice phrasal verbs one-to-one?
Talk through the student's own week: what did they use up, throw out, give away or run out of? Ask What do you always run out of at home? and follow up with Did you throw it out? The chat in What happens to dining-hall leftovers? on edio.ai works alone: Elliott plans a pickup, and the right reply is I can pick them up after class, not pick up them.
Are there interactive exercises for phrasal verbs with up, away and out?
Yes: drag-and-drop gaps and a chat that check every answer. This page plays three parts of What happens to dining-hall leftovers?, a B1 lesson on edio.ai, without an account: Jade and Elliott packing leftovers at closing time, a drag-and-drop of phrasal verbs about Elliott's Tuesday night and the chat to plan a pickup. The rest unlocks with an account.
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