Saturday, January 22, 2011

Ease off and Go through the motions


Today’s phrasal verb is ease off.  It has two meanings:
To reduce pressure 

She eased off of the accelerator to let the car slow down.


To decrease in size, extent, or range

The amount of homework eased off towards the end of the semester
Ease off of the ice cream and candy or you’ll get fatter.
Senate sponsors have eased off a bill aimed at cracking down on online piracy after an outcry from Internet engineers who say the proposal would effectively censor the Web. 

Often this phrasal is used to express a reduction in desire, as in the third and fourth examples.  


The idiom for the day is go through the motions, which means
To make a feeble effort to do something; to do something insincerely or in cursory fashion. 

Jane isn't doing her best. She's just going through the motions.
Bill was supposed to be raking the yard, but he was just going through the motions.
The team had a very losing record and just went through the motions during the last game of the  season.

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