Throw food (away)

Posted by Pak Guru on April 2nd, 2018 | 0 comments | buang, EAP, IELTS, lempar, phrasal verb, speaking, vocabulary, writing

Since there are many starving people in the world, it is better not to throw food.

The featured image for this post shows a man retrieving a pizza from a roof. This is how it got there:

Obviously the man doesn’t want to eat the pizza. However, most people in that situation would either give it someone else or throw it away:

So that’s two different ways to get rid of a pizza in English, each using a slightly different verb:

1. If I throw food I send it flying through the air, often without too much thought for where it’s going to land.
2. A straightforward verb – throw ( lempar).

2. If I throw food away, I dispose of it in a place designed for waste collection – a dustbin, for example.
3. A phrasal verb that includes a preposition – throw away ( buang). As with many phrasal verbs, the preposition can move, and so I can throw away food, or I can throw food away

If you’re talking about people starving in the world, it’s more normal to use the second of these meanings!

• Since there are many starving people in the world, it is better not to throw away food.