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The comeback of Jim Thorpe: nouns from phrasal verbs: comeback, setback, outcome

This B2 ESL lesson plan teaches nouns from phrasal verbs such as comeback, setback and outcome through Jim Thorpe, the Sac and Fox athlete who won two Olympic golds in 1912.

Grammar
Nouns built from phrasal verbs, written as one word and stressed on the first part: come back → a comeback and, with the particle first, come out → the outcome.
Topic
Thorpe's pentathlon and decathlon wins, the titles taken away in 1913 and the decisions of 1982 and 2022, with words such as reinstate, amateur and rightful.
Activities
An explainer, a museum argument and a reader's voice memo, self-checking drills, a trivia chat and a question wheel.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: comebacks and setbacks

    • PictureUnlock
    • Open a box and answerOpen the boxUnlock
    • Study the words: a story of gold, lost and foundVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: two golds, lost and found

    • Look at the photo: a stadium from another centuryPictureUnlock
    • Read Isaiah's explainer on The Why DeskArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Match the paragraphs and the headingsMatchUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: can a record be set right?

    • Listen to Isaiah and BrennaListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Reader's Rebuttal: Santiago's voice memoListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: a comeback, not a come back

    • Study the scheme: nouns from phrasal verbsGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct option: which noun fits?Choose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: make a noun from the phrasal verbFill in the gapsTry it
    • Choose the correct answer: spelling, stress and meaningQuizUnlock
    • Sort the words into the correct columns: correct or wrong in American English?Sort into columnsUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: our coach's season reportDrag and dropUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: trivia night

    • Choose the right replies: practice for sports trivia nightChatTry it
    • Spin the wheel and answer: setbacks, comebacks and fair playSpin the wheelUnlock

  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: the phrasal verb or the noun?Choose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the table: say it with the nounFill in the tableUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Brenna's museum labelDrag and dropUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: Isaiah answers SantiagoChoose 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

  • setback
  • breakthrough
  • outcome
  • turnout
  • title
  • amateur
  • mismatched
  • rightful
  • decathlon

Grammar: nouns from phrasal verbs

Many phrasal verbs have a noun partner: a team comes back, and that's a comeback. Thorpe's story runs from a setback to a breakthrough and a final outcome, so learners build the noun from a verb they already know, write it as one word and move the stress to the front.

Nouns from phrasal verbs: a comeback, a setback, the outcome

Many phrasal verbs have a noun partner. In American English, the noun is one word, and its first part is stressed.

The particle goes last

Most of these nouns keep the order of the verb: set back → a setback, break through → a breakthrough, line up → a lineup, break down → a breakdown. Turnout counts the people who came: The turnout for the opening was high.

Phrasal verbNounExample
come backa comeback (a return to success)Thorpe's comeback in the record books took 110 years.
set backa setback (a problem that slows you down)Losing his titles was a huge setback.
break througha breakthrough (a big step forward)The breakthrough came in 2022.
turn out (come to an event)the turnout (how many people came)The turnout for the opening was high.
line upa lineup (the players or events, in order)The coach changed the starting lineup.
take offtakeoff (a plane leaving the ground)Please stay in your seat during takeoff.
break downa breakdown (a machine stops working)Our bus had a breakdown on the highway.

The particle goes first

A few nouns swap the parts: come out → the outcome, bring up → upbringing, break out → an outbreak. Learn these as new words, since the out come and the come out are both wrong.

The particle goes first

Phrasal verbNounExample
come out (how things end)the outcome (the final result)The outcome: Thorpe is the sole champion.
bring up (raise a child)upbringing (the way you were raised)She had a happy upbringing on a farm.

One more: outbreak

Like outcome, this noun puts the particle first: break out (start suddenly) → an outbreak (the sudden start of something bad): an outbreak of flu at summer camp.

Stress: noun or verb?

The noun stresses its first part, and the phrasal verb stresses its particle: The team came BACK. What a COMEback! The stress tells a listener which one they heard, so say both aloud.

Stress: noun or verb?

In the noun, stress the first part: a COMEback, a SETback, the OUTcome, an UPbringing. In the phrasal verb, stress the particle: come BACK, set BACK, turn OUT. So you can hear the difference: The team came BACK. → What a COMEback!

One word, no hyphen

In American English, the noun is one word with no space and no hyphen: setback, not set-back. Keep the noun and the verb apart: write a comeback, not a come back, and The team came back, not comebacked.

Spelling: one word

In American English, write these nouns as one word, with no space and no hyphen: setback, not set-back. In writing, never use the two-word verb as a noun: a comeback, not a come back. And never use the noun as a verb: The team came back, not The team comebacked.

Words that go with them

The nouns have their own partners: make a comeback, suffer a setback, make a breakthrough, a high turnout, the starting lineup. A preposition often follows: the outcome of the race, a setback for the team, a breakthrough in science.

Words that go with them

  • make a comeback, suffer a setback, make a breakthrough
  • the outcome of the race, a setback for the team, a breakthrough in science
  • a high / low turnout, the starting lineup, a strict upbringing

Thorpe's story in nouns

  • Losing his titles in 1913 was a painful setback.
  • His comeback in the record books came in two steps.
  • The breakthrough came when Wieslander's family backed Thorpe.
  • The outcome: Thorpe is the sole gold medalist.
  • His lineup of events in Stockholm was long.
  • The turnout for the museum's new exhibit was high.

Common mistakes

Four mistakes split the noun or add a hyphen: his come back, a set-back, the out come, a break through. Close the gap and the mistake disappears: comeback, setback, outcome, breakthrough.

  • His come back took 110 years.

    His comeback took 110 years.

    the noun is one word

  • It was a big set-back.

    It was a big setback.

    no hyphen in American English

  • Nobody knew the out come.

    Nobody knew the outcome.

    one word, particle first

  • The team made a break through in May.

    The team made a breakthrough in May.

    the noun is one word

More lessons on this grammar: Phrasal verbs lessons and exercises · Word formation lessons and exercises

Try the nouns from phrasal verbs 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:

  • turn a phrasal verb into its noun: come back → a comeback, break through → a breakthrough, turn out → the turnout
  • put the particle first where the noun needs it: the outcome of the race, a happy upbringing on a farm
  • write the noun as one word and stress its first part: a COMEback, a setback, not a come back or a set-back
  • choose between the verb and the noun: We'll come back stronger. Their comeback in the second half was the best I've ever seen.
  • tell a story of loss and return: Losing his titles in 1913 was a painful setback.

Lesson 24 closes Sport and society, unit 6 of English B2.2 · Culture and Society. It turns the phrasal verbs of lesson 22 into nouns and adds a new pattern to the word formation of lesson 1 and of B2.1 lessons 26 and 31. Lesson 25 opens unit 7 with past participle clauses. A story told as a setback, a slow comeback and a final outcome needs these nouns at every turn.

Students open boxes of questions about lost things, paid athletes and old records, then learn twelve words, from reinstate and disqualify to mismatched and decathlon, with pictures and audio. They read Isaiah's explainer on Thorpe's two golds, then hear him argue with Brenna, a museum curator, whether a record can ever be fully set right, and Santiago, from Oklahoma, question the word comeback; both are AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking drills, among them a coach's season report with nouns to drag in. In the speaking chapter, students practice for trivia night with Garland by chat and spin a wheel about setbacks and fair play.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, an anagram, gaps with the lesson's words and a memory game, then a choice between each phrasal verb and its noun, a table that says it with the noun, word order, a quiz on the correct sentence, Brenna's museum label with words to drag in and Isaiah's answer to Santiago with nouns to choose.

Grammar:
nouns from phrasal verbs · comeback, setback, breakthrough · outcome, upbringing, turnout · compound noun stress · one word in American English
Topic:
Jim Thorpe · the 1912 Olympic Games · the decathlon and the pentathlon · sports records · fair play · sport and society · The Why Desk

Teaching tips

  • Say each pair with its stress: come BACK, a COMEback; set BACK, a SETback. Students clap on the stressed part, then tell you whether they heard the verb or the noun in a sentence you read.
  • Ask for a famous comeback before the reading, from any sport. Then students read to find what Thorpe lost in 1913 and why his comeback needed two decisions, in 1982 and 2022.
  • Split the museum argument: half the class listens for Isaiah's reasons, half for Brenna's. Then pairs compare notes and list every noun from a phrasal verb they heard, such as setback and turnout.
  • Turn headlines into nouns: write Team comes back in final minute and Bus breaks down on highway, and students rewrite each one with comeback or breakdown.

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The whole course: English B2.2 · Culture and Society

32 more lessons for adults at B2 in American English, with the same Why Desk team in Pittsburgh. Each lesson answers one question about how Americans learn, work, travel and remember, from the law behind the 40-hour week to the oral histories of StoryCorps. Learners link ideas in formal writing, report what is said and believed, and pack more into a sentence with participle and relative clauses. The practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Learning reimagined

    adjective suffixes and negative prefixes, mixed conditionals, provided that and on condition that

    1. Lesson 1College for farmers' kids?Adjective suffixes and negative prefixes
    2. Lesson 2One cousin, one video, millions of learnersMixed conditionals: a past cause, a result now
    3. Lesson 3A college that says yesConditional linkers: provided that, on condition that, assuming, otherwise
    4. Lesson 4School in the woodsMixed conditionals: a present state, a past result

  2. Unit 2 Work-life balance

    be required to and be entitled to, present and perfect participle clauses, participle clauses after conjunctions

    1. Lesson 5Who decided a week is 40 hours?Formal rules: be required to, be entitled to, be exempt from
    2. Lesson 6A paid year off: rest or research?Present participle clauses for time and reason
    3. Lesson 7Was the coffee break born in Wisconsin?Perfect participle clauses: having done and having been done
    4. Lesson 8Why is the first Monday of September a day off?Participle phrases after conjunctions

  3. Unit 3 Turning points

    reduced relative clauses, preposition + which and whom, which for a whole clause, noun + preposition

    1. Lesson 9The keyboard that opened the officeReduced relative clauses: -ing and the past participle
    2. Lesson 10Earthrise: the photo that changed how we see EarthPreposition + which and whom
    3. Lesson 11A city of white palaces for six monthsSentence relative clauses: which for a whole clause
    4. Lesson 12The count that took eight years?Noun + preposition: a need for, a solution to, access to

  4. Unit 4 News and truth

    although, whereas and while, the impersonal passive, despite and however, is said to have

    1. Lesson 13A newspaper of their ownLinkers of contrast: although, even though, whereas and while
    2. Lesson 14Bat-people on the Moon?The impersonal passive: It is said that…
    3. Lesson 15Read like a fact-checkerLinkers of contrast: despite, in spite of, however and even so
    4. Lesson 16Did George Washington really chop down a cherry tree?Passive reporting verbs: is said to have done

  5. Unit 5 Travel that gives back

    so as to, in order to and so that, modifying comparatives, linkers of reason and result, verb + object + preposition + -ing

    1. Lesson 17Seven rules for the wild?Linkers of purpose: to, in order to, so as to, so that
    2. Lesson 18A lottery to see firefliesModifying comparatives and superlatives
    3. Lesson 19Sunrise with the turtlesLinkers of reason and result
    4. Lesson 20Volunteer on vacation?Verb + object + preposition + -ing

  6. Unit 6 Sport and society

    verb + noun collocations, what phrasal verb particles mean, a for-and-against essay, nouns from phrasal verbs

    1. Lesson 21The college team that changed disability sportVerb + noun collocations
    2. Lesson 22When women played pro baseballPhrasal verbs: what the particles mean
    3. Lesson 23Who needs a referee?The for and against essay: plan and linkers
    4. Lesson 24 · you're hereThe comeback of Jim ThorpeNouns from phrasal verbs

  7. Unit 7 Buildings and heritage

    past participle clauses, quantifier + of which and of whom, report language, turn out and prove

    1. Lesson 25Homes built into the cliffsPast participle clauses with a passive meaning
    2. Lesson 26A house over a waterfallQuantifier + of which and of whom
    3. Lesson 27From factory to art museumReport language: headings, impersonal style, recommendations
    4. Lesson 28The towers the city tried to pull downTurn out and prove + to-infinitive or that clause

  8. Unit 8 Generations

    adverb + adjective collocations, three-part phrasal verbs, negative and echo questions, prepositional phrases

    1. Lesson 29Who decides where a generation ends?Adverb + adjective collocations
    2. Lesson 30Music students living in a retirement home?Three-part phrasal verbs
    3. Lesson 31Conversations kept for historyNegative questions and echo questions
    4. Lesson 32A day for grandparentsFixed prepositional phrases

Questions about this lesson

What are nouns from phrasal verbs?
They're nouns made from a phrasal verb's two parts, usually written as one word: come back gives a comeback, set back gives a setback, and break through gives a breakthrough. Some put the particle first: come out gives the outcome. They're sometimes called phrasal nouns. The B2 lesson The comeback of Jim Thorpe on edio.ai teaches them with the story of two Olympic golds lost and given back.
How do you make a noun from a phrasal verb?
Join the verb and the particle into one word and stress the first part: turn out → the TURNout, line up → a LINEup. In a few nouns, the particle moves to the front: come out → outcome, bring up → upbringing, break out → outbreak. Not every phrasal verb has a noun, so check a dictionary. The scheme in The comeback of Jim Thorpe on edio.ai lists both kinds.
What are some examples of nouns from phrasal verbs?
Six from The comeback of Jim Thorpe on edio.ai: Losing his titles in 1913 was a painful setback. His comeback in the record books came in two steps. The breakthrough came when Wieslander's family backed Thorpe. The turnout for the opening was high. The coach changed the starting lineup. Our bus had a breakdown on the highway. Each noun names the event its verb describes.
What's the difference between “come back” and “comeback”?
Come back is the verb, two words with the stress on back: We'll come back stronger next week. Comeback is the noun, one word with the stress on come: Their comeback in the second half was amazing. Don't use the noun as a verb (will comeback) or the verb as a noun (a come back). The comeback of Jim Thorpe, a B2 lesson on edio.ai, drills the choice in its homework.
Is it “setback” or “set-back”?
In American English, it's setback, one word with no hyphen: The storm was a big setback for the farmers. The same goes for comeback, breakthrough, outcome and turnout, and writing them as two words, like a come back or the out come, is a mistake. The scheme in The comeback of Jim Thorpe on edio.ai lists these slips, and one drill sorts correct and wrong spellings.
Who was Jim Thorpe?
Jim Thorpe was a member of the Sac and Fox Nation, born in what is now Oklahoma, who starred in football and track at Carlisle Indian Industrial School. At the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, he won the pentathlon and the decathlon. He then played major league baseball from 1913 to 1919, and in 1920 he became the first president of the group that grew into the NFL. The comeback of Jim Thorpe on edio.ai tells his story.
Why did Jim Thorpe lose his Olympic medals?
In January 1913, a Massachusetts newspaper reported that he had played semi-pro baseball in 1909 and 1910, for small pay, and at the time only amateurs could compete in the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee took away his titles and records. In 1982, it agreed to name him co-champion, and on July 15, 2022, it named him the sole gold medalist in both events. The comeback of Jim Thorpe on edio.ai explains what is still debated.
How do I teach nouns from phrasal verbs to B2 students?
Start from phrasal verbs students already use, then show the noun next to each one and say both aloud, so the stress shift is heard. Spelling comes next: one word, no hyphen. The comeback of Jim Thorpe on edio.ai moves from Isaiah's explainer and a museum argument to the scheme, a choice of nouns, typed gaps, a quiz on spelling and stress, a correct-or-wrong sort and a coach's season report.
What's a good game for practicing nouns from phrasal verbs?
Play “verb or noun?”: read a sentence aloud, and students hold up a card for the verb (The team came BACK) or for the noun (What a COMEback!), judging by the stress. For speaking, the wheel in The comeback of Jim Thorpe on edio.ai asks questions like What setback taught you the most?, in pairs or as a class.
What's good homework for nouns from phrasal verbs?
Good homework makes students choose between the verb and the noun: We'll ___ (come back / comeback) stronger, plus a table that rewrites sentences with the noun. All ten homework tasks in The comeback of Jim Thorpe on edio.ai check themselves, including Brenna's museum label and Isaiah's answer to Santiago, a reader from Oklahoma.
How do you practice nouns from phrasal verbs one-to-one?
Tell each other about a setback and a comeback: the teacher asks What was the outcome? and When did the breakthrough come?, and the student answers with the nouns, then asks back. The chat in The comeback of Jim Thorpe on edio.ai is done alone: Garland practices for sports trivia night, and the student picks the replies with the right noun and the right facts.
Are there interactive exercises for nouns from phrasal verbs?
Yes. This page plays three parts of The comeback of Jim Thorpe, a B2 lesson on edio.ai, with no account: Isaiah's visit to Brenna's museum, a gap-fill that turns each phrasal verb into a noun and Garland's trivia chat. Everything else needs an account.
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