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When women played pro baseball: what phrasal verb particles mean: off, on, out, up

This B2 ESL lesson plan teaches phrasal verbs and the meaning of their particles through the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which played in small Midwest cities from 1943 to 1954.

Grammar
Six particles as clues: off starts (kick off), on continues (carry on), out ends (die out), back returns (bounce back), down lessens (wind down) and up adds (build up).
Topic
How the league moved from softball to baseball, why its crowds fell after 1948 and the Rockford Peaches, with words such as franchise, doubleheader and underhand.
Activities
An explainer, an office argument and a reader's voice memo, self-checking drills, a chat about a friend's softball season and boxes to open.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: play ball!

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: when women played pro baseballVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: twelve seasons in the Midwest

    • Look at the photo: a small-city ballparkPictureUnlock
    • Read Harper'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: TV or the empty office?

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

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: it took off, then it wound down

    • Study the scheme: what the particles meanGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct particleChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: the verb in brackets + the right particleFill in the gapsTry it
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Harper's notes for her videoDrag and dropUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: what does it mean?QuizUnlock
    • Sort the phrasal verbs into the correct columns: more or less?Sort into columnsUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: how did your season go?

    • Choose the right replies: a friend's softball seasonChatTry it
    • Open a box and answer: why do leagues take off or die out?Open 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: the verb in brackets + the right particleFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: a team historyDrag and dropUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: Harper answers JuanitaChoose 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.

Baseball 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

  • league
  • franchise
  • doubleheader
  • spring training
  • underhand
  • overhand
  • publicity
  • shortage
  • Hall of Fame

Grammar: phrasal verbs: what the particles mean

In many phrasal verbs, the particle carries much of the meaning: up points to more, down to less, back to a return. A league that kicked off with four teams, took off and then wound down gives each particle a job, so learners read the particle first, then the verb, and new phrasal verbs stop looking random.

It took off, then it wound down

In many phrasal verbs, the particle (off, on, out, back, down, up) gives you a clue to the meaning. Learn the clue, and new phrasal verbs get easier.

Six particles, six clues

Off starts or leaves, on keeps going, out ends or shows up, back returns, down lessens or stops, up grows or uses everything. Out has two sides: a tradition that dies out is gone, but fans who turn out come to the game.

Six particles and what they mean

ParticleMeaningPhrasal verbs
offstart, leavetake off, kick off, set off
oncontinue; attach, stay withcarry on, keep on, catch on, live on
outend, disappear; appear, comedie out, run out, turn out
backreturn, againbounce back, come back, win back
downdecrease, stopwind down, slow down, close down
upincrease; finish, all of itbuild up, speed up, use up

The particle is a clue

Look at the particle first. up often means more (build up, speed up) or all of it (use up); down means less or stopping (slow down, wind down); out means gone (die out, run out) or showing up (fans turn out for a game); back means again (bounce back, come back); on means still going (carry on, keep on); off means away or starting (set off, kick off).

Off, on and back: start, continue, return

League play kicked off in 1943. The game caught on in small cities. Good teams bounce back after a bad start. Keep on is followed by an -ing form: The rules kept on changing for years.

off, on and back: start, continue, return

Phrasal verbMeaningExample
take offleave the ground; become popular fastAfter a slow start, the league took off.
kick offstart a game, season or eventLeague play kicked off in 1943.
set offleave on a tripWe set off for the game at noon.
carry oncontinueThe Peaches carried on for twelve seasons.
keep on + -ingcontinue doingThe rules kept on changing for years.
catch onbecome popularThe game caught on in small cities.
live oncontinue to existTheir story lives on.
bounce backget strong again after a problemGood teams bounce back after a bad start.
come backreturnThe players came back after the rain.
win backget again something you lostOur team needs to win back its fans.

The league in phrasal verbs

  • The league kicked off in the spring of 1943.
  • After a modest start, the idea took off.
  • The game caught on first in small cities.
  • The Rockford Peaches carried on for all twelve seasons.
  • By 1952, the league was winding down.
  • The league died out after 1954, but its story lives on.

Out, down and up: end, less, more

Die out, run out, wind down, slow down and close down mean less or none; build up and speed up mean more. The scheme sorts them into going up and going down: Crowds built up. The league wound down.

out, down and up: end, less, more

Phrasal verbMeaningExample
die outdisappear completelySome old traditions die out.
run out (of)have none leftWe ran out of peanuts.
turn outcome to an eventThousands of fans turned out for the game.
wind downslowly come to an endBy 1952, the league was winding down.
slow downbecome slowerThe tired pitcher slowed down.
close downstop doing business for goodThe old movie theater closed down.
build upgrow bigger or stronger over timeCrowds built up from 1943 to 1948.
speed upbecome fasterThe runner sped up near second base.
use upuse all of somethingWe used up all the new balls.

More or less?

Going up: start, grow, return

  • The season kicked off.
  • The idea took off.
  • The game caught on.
  • Crowds built up.
  • The team bounced back.
  • The runner sped up.

Going down: slow, stop, end

  • The pitcher slowed down.
  • The league wound down.
  • The tradition died out.
  • The store closed down.
  • We ran out of time.
  • We used up the hot water.

One verb, many meanings

Take off can be a plane leaving the ground or an idea becoming popular fast, so read the whole sentence. A new particle makes a new verb: carry on means continue, carry out means do a job or a plan, and bounce off is not bounce back.

One verb, many meanings

Read the whole sentence: a plane takes off (leaves the ground), and an idea takes off (becomes popular fast). And a new particle makes a new verb: carry on (continue) is not carry out (do a job or a plan), and bounce back (get strong again) is not bounce off (hit something and fly away from it).

Common mistakes

The usual slip is the wrong particle: the idea took up, the team bounced off, carry out! for “keep going” and slowed off. Ask what the particle should add: success is took off, strong again is bounced back, slower is slowed down.

  • After a slow start, the idea took up.

    After a slow start, the idea took off.

    off: a fast start and success

  • The team bounced off after two bad games.

    The team bounced back after two bad games.

    back: strong again

  • Don't stop now, carry out!

    Don't stop now, carry on!

    on: continue

  • The pitcher slowed off in the last inning.

    The pitcher slowed down in the last inning.

    down: less, slower

More lessons on this grammar: Phrasal verbs lessons and exercises

Try the phrasal verb particles exercises

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

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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:

  • guess a phrasal verb from its particle: up for more (Crowds built up.), down for less (The league wound down.)
  • tell a rise in three verbs: The league kicked off in 1943, took off and caught on in small cities.
  • keep two particles on one verb apart: carry on (continue) vs carry out (do a plan), bounce back vs bounce off
  • read one phrasal verb in two ways: The plane took off. After a slow start, the league took off.
  • argue why a league took off or died out: I think the league wound down because nobody was running it.

Lesson 22 is the second lesson of Sport and society, unit 6 of English B2.2 · Culture and Society. A2.2 lesson 7 put it and them inside phrasal verbs, and B1.2 lesson 12 met up, away and out; now each particle gets a meaning of its own. Lesson 23 turns to the for and against essay, and lesson 24 builds nouns like comeback from phrasal verbs. A league that started, grew, carried on and wound down tells its story in particles.

Students spin a wheel of questions about ballparks, rules and old traditions, then learn twelve words, from die out and kick off to doubleheader and Hall of Fame, with pictures and audio. They read Harper's explainer on the league, then hear Harper and Isaiah argue whether TV or the missing central office ended it, and Juanita, 81, from Rockford, answer back in a voice memo; both are AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking drills, among them Harper's video notes with phrasal verbs to drag in. In the speaking chapter, students chat with Bernadette about her softball season and open boxes about why leagues take off or die out.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, an anagram, gaps with the baseball words and a memory game, then particles to choose, verbs to complete with a particle, a quiz on the correct sentence, word order, a softball club's history with phrasal verbs to drag in and Harper's answer to Juanita with options to choose.

Grammar:
phrasal verbs · the meaning of particles · off, on, out, back, down, up · take off, catch on, die out · bounce back, wind down, build up
Topic:
the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League · women's baseball · the Rockford Peaches · Philip K. Wrigley · baseball history · sport and society · The Why Desk

Teaching tips

  • Draw the league's crowds as a line before the scheme: low in 1943, higher in 1945, the peak in 1948, then down to 1954. Students label the line with took off, built up, wound down and died out.
  • Ask how a softball and a baseball are thrown before the reading: underhand or overhand? Then students read to find how the league's ball and pitching changed between 1943 and 1954.
  • Listen once for the two theories: who blames TV, and who blames the missing central office? On the second listen, students catch each phrasal verb and say what its particle adds.
  • Test the clues on new verbs: write sell out, calm down and cheer up on the board, and pairs guess each meaning from its particle before checking a dictionary.

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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 22 · you're hereWhen 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 24The 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 do phrasal verb particles mean?
In many phrasal verbs, the particle gives a clue to the meaning: off often means starting or leaving, on continuing, out ending or appearing, back returning, down less or stopping, and up more or finishing. So wind down means slowly come to an end, and build up means grow. The B2 lesson When women played pro baseball on edio.ai teaches all six with a women's league from the 1940s.
How can you guess the meaning of a phrasal verb?
Look at the particle first, then the whole sentence. Die out has out, so something disappears; bounce back has back, so something returns to how it was. The sentence settles the rest: a plane takes off from the ground, but an idea takes off when it gets popular fast. It works for many phrasal verbs, though not all. The scheme in When women played pro baseball on edio.ai sorts them into going up and going down.
What are some examples of phrasal verbs with off, on, out, back, down and up?
Six from When women played pro baseball on edio.ai, one per particle: League play kicked off in 1943. The game caught on in small cities. The league died out after 1954. Good teams bounce back after a bad start. By 1952, the league was winding down. Crowds built up from 1943 to 1948. Each particle keeps its meaning in other verbs: set off, carry on, run out, come back, slow down, speed up.
What's the difference between carry on and carry out?
Carry on means continue: Don't stop now, carry on! Carry out means do a job or a plan: The team carried out the coach's plan. The particle changes the verb: on keeps something going, so Don't stop now, carry out! is wrong. When women played pro baseball, a B2 lesson on edio.ai, lists it among its common mistakes, next to bounce back and bounce off.
Is it “the team bounced back” or “bounced off”?
After a bad start, a team bounces back: back means it got strong again. Bounce off means hit something and fly away from it, like a ball off a wall. The same kind of slip gives the idea took up (say took off) and the pitcher slowed off (say slowed down). Every wrong reply in the chat of When women played pro baseball on edio.ai uses a wrong particle like these.
What was the AAGPBL?
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was a women's professional league in the Midwest, from 1943 to 1954. Philip K. Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs, helped start it during World War II with four teams and softball rules; overhand pitching came in 1948. That year, ten teams drew 910,000 paid fans, the league's peak. More than 600 women played, and the Rockford Peaches played all twelve seasons. When women played pro baseball on edio.ai tells its story.
Why did the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League end?
The players' association lists four causes and doesn't rank them: after the 1950 season, the team directors ran their teams alone, with no central office for publicity or finding players; other entertainment grew; major league games came on TV in the early 1950s; and few players were trained in baseball. By 1952, six teams were left, and the league ended after 1954. In When women played pro baseball on edio.ai, Harper and Isaiah argue about it.
How do I teach phrasal verbs to B2 students?
Group them by particle, not by verb: kick off, set off and take off together, then wind down, slow down and close down. Once students know what each particle adds, they can guess new verbs. When women played pro baseball on edio.ai moves from Harper's explainer and an office argument to a particle table, a choice of particles, typed gaps, her video notes, a meaning quiz and a more-or-less sort.
What's a good game for practicing phrasal verbs?
Try particle charades: a student acts out a phrasal verb such as slow down, speed up or run out, and the class guesses it, naming the particle first. For speaking, the boxes in When women played pro baseball on edio.ai ask questions like Can a team win back its fans after a few bad seasons?, in pairs or as a class.
What's good homework for phrasal verbs?
Good homework asks for the particle in new contexts, not only in the baseball story: Our plane took ___ an hour late, a quiz on the correct sentence and a short text to complete. All ten homework tasks in When women played pro baseball on edio.ai check themselves, ending with a softball club's history and Harper's answer to Juanita, an 81-year-old reader from Rockford.
How do you practice phrasal verbs one-to-one?
Talk through a season, a project or a year: the teacher asks How did it kick off? and Did you bounce back?, and the student answers with the right particle, then asks back. The chat in When women played pro baseball on edio.ai is done alone: Bernadette's softball team lost four games, then won nine in a row, and the student picks the replies with the right particle.
Are there interactive exercises for phrasal verb particles?
Yes. Without an account, this page plays three parts of When women played pro baseball, a B2 lesson on edio.ai. They are Harper and Isaiah's argument about the league, a gap-fill that adds the right particle to each verb and Bernadette's chat about her softball season. The rest needs an account.
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