Vocabulary
Run
Study the following vocabulary.
One day I went up to the attic to look through some old boxes. In one of the boxes I ran across an old diary that belonged to my grandmother. The diary contained some very interesting stories about her childhood. As it turns out, she tried to run away fromhome when she was only seven years old because she got angry with her mother. Her father had run out on her mother when my grandmother was still a baby, and since that time, her mother had to work and take care of the children. One day my grandmother realized they had run out of her favorite food-cookies, and she got very upset with her mother. My grandmother believed that if sheran after her father everything would be better because he would give them the money they needed to buy her cookies. On the day she ran off to find him, she got as far as the street; then she remembered that she was not allowed to cross the street without her mother so she would not get run over by a car. At that point she had to go back home. At times I have also done dramatic things to get my mother’s attention, I never knew that it ran in the family though.
run for – to offer oneself for election
The current economic crisis has resulted in an unusually high number of people running for office.
run after – to make efforts to gain the company or attention of
The teenage girls were all running after the pop star when he came to town.
run across – to find something or meet someone by chance
I ran across an old friend when I went to New York last month.
run against – to compete with someone in an election
Who do you think will run against the president in the next election?
run away from – to escape from
The child was so upset that he decided to run away from school.
run in – to be characteristic of (usually within a family)
Heart disease runs in the family, so make sure you take extra care of yourself by eating healthy foods and exercising often.
run off – to escape; to make or print copies
Our family dog liked to run off to the neighbor’s yard, so we had to build a fence to prevent that from happening.
Can you run off 200 copies of the document before the meeting this afternoon?
run out of – of to have no further supply of, to lack
I’ve run out of coffee, would you like tea instead?
run out on – to leave or desert
Don’t run out on us now, we need you more than ever.
run over – to knock down and wound / damage someone or something with a vehicle
The driver of the car felt awful when he ran over the neighbor’s cat.