Give Away, Throw Away, Take Away and Get Away: A Ready-to-Use Phrase Kit for Clearing Out a Room

You are standing in a spare room with four sticky labels. Three of them go on things: GIVEAWAY, BIN and COLLECTION. The fourth goes on a travel bag, and it is for you: WEEKEND.

Written for this page. That is the whole kit. Each label matches one English phrase, and each phrase tells the listener something different about what is happening. If you only say that something “went away,” people do not know whether it was given, thrown out or just carried off. The kit below lets you say which one in a few words. It comes from an episode where two friends clear a storage room, and the question that runs through it is simple: “What is happening to the person or thing?” (01:09)

Four labels, four lines

Label	What is happening	The line to say	Heard in the episode
GIVEAWAY	A useful thing goes to another person for free	I’m going to give it away.	“I’m going to give these books away.” (00:20)
BIN	You decide to discard it	We should throw it away.	“I’m going to throw it away.” (02:39)
COLLECTION	It is removed or carried from this place	Could you take it away?	“Could you take the chair away?” (03:26)
WEEKEND	You leave for a short break	We want to get away.	“We want to get away for the weekend.” (02:07)

Notice that three of the lines have the same shape and the fourth is different. We will come back to that after the three object labels.

Giveaway: when someone else can use it

Use give away when the thing still works and you want another person to have it, without payment. In the episode, Emily is about to bin some books. Paul stops her because they are in good condition, and says that if another person can use them, he would say “I’m going to give these books away.” (00:20) Emily agrees and repeats it with her own reason: she does not read them anymore, but they are still good.

Ready lines (written for this page):

• I’m going to give the jacket away. My cousin wants it.
• We gave the plant pots away to a neighbor.
• Do you want these notebooks? I’m giving them away.
• I don’t want to throw it away if someone can use it.

The last line is the best habit in the kit. Before you bin something, ask whether somebody could use it. The episode has the same idea in Emily’s rule: “Useful thing goes to another person for free.” (02:27)

Bin: when you decide it is finished

Use throw away when you treat something as rubbish. The reason is often a broken or unsafe thing. Emily says about the fan: “It doesn’t work and I don’t plan to repair it.” (09:17) In the cupboard role-play the two cracked mugs go in the bin because “the sharp edges could be a problem.” (11:03)

Paul adds a point that is easy to miss: “The item does not have to be broken.” (02:56) A thing can be perfectly fine and you may still decide it has no use for you. The word throw away shows your decision, not only the condition of the object. Because the decision is yours, a reason makes the sentence sound complete:

• We should throw it away because it’s broken.
• I’m going to throw the empty box away. Nothing useful is left in it.
• The banner is torn, so we’ll throw it away if we can’t reuse it.

Collection: when you only know the removal

Take away is the quiet one. It says that something leaves this place and that is all. Paul explains: “It does not automatically tell us whether the chair will be donated, recycled, repaired, sold or thrown out later.” (03:35) That is why it is the right phrase when a collection service, a mover or a delivery crew carries something out and you do not know the rest.

Because it asks someone to do something, take away often sits inside a request. Paul prefers the full, softer form: “Could you take this box away when you leave?” (18:11) or “could we take these boxes away now?” (18:14) A bare Take that away can sound direct, depending on the relationship and tone.

More ready lines (written for this page):

• The movers took the old sofa away.
• Could the driver take the table away on Friday?
• I need to take these boxes away before six.

Weekend: get away belongs to the person

Get away is the odd one out. It is not about an object at all. In the episode Paul says it is “about a person leaving their normal place for a short break.” (02:03) Emily’s first guess, “So I don’t get the boxes away?” (02:10) is exactly the mistake the kit prevents. Boxes are taken away. People get away.

• We’re trying to get away for the weekend.
• I’d like to get away for a couple of days.
• Once the room is clear, I can get away.

The pronoun goes in the middle

Three of the lines above have the same shape, with it or them between the two words: give it away, throw it away, take it away. Paul says that with a short pronoun “these three are very useful patterns.” (05:59) So:

Say this	Not this
Can you take it away?	Can you take away it?
I’m going to give them away.	I’m going to give away them.
We threw them away yesterday.	We threw away them yesterday.

Get away does not work like this in the meaning of today’s kit, because there is nothing to put in the middle: “No object is being placed between “get” and “away.”” (06:28) If you want a fuller look at the position of pronouns with other phrasal verbs, read Turn It On or Turn On It? Where the Pronoun Goes in Phrasal Verbs.

One chair, two phrases

Here is the part that stops the kit from becoming four rigid boxes. One object can need two phrases, because giving and removal are two different moments. In the episode Paul imagines that a neighbor wants the chair. “I gave the chair away.” (04:06) Then the neighbor puts it in a van and drives off: “they took it away.” (04:12) Paul calls this “Two different parts of the event.” (04:16)

A little timeline helps (written for this page):

When	What happens	What you can say
Monday	You agree the neighbor can have the chair	I gave the chair away.
Tuesday	The neighbor carries it out	My neighbor took it away.
Later, if it is damaged	You put it in the bin instead	I threw it away.

The same pair appears in the episode’s table example: “I gave the table away to the community center.” (08:20) and “they took it away in their truck.” (08:23) And when the charity driver cannot come today, the giving is still true, but the removal comes later. So when you are not sure which phrase to use, ask what exactly you are trying to say. Paul’s answer is short: “Meaning first.” (08:46)

A clear-out you can read aloud

Here is a short conversation (written for this page) with all four phrases. Read it twice, once as each speaker.

A: What are we doing with the old bookshelf?

B: It’s not broken, but it’s too big for the new flat. Could the charity shop take it away?

A: They might. If they want it, we can give it away and they’ll take it away on Saturday.

B: And the cracked plant pots?

A: Those we should throw away. I’ll put them in the bin outside.

B: Good. Then, if we finish by four, I’d love to get away for the evening.

What it shows: the shelf gets two phrases (give away for the decision, take away for the removal), the pots get one, and the speaker, not the object, is the one who gets away.

Other meanings of give away and take away

Both phrases have more meanings than the kit uses. The episode says it plainly: give away can also mean reveal something, and take away has other common meanings too. “Today we are choosing one practical use for each expression.” (06:54) If you see give away a secret or a takeaway meal, you have met a different use. Keep this kit for a clear-out and for things that move.

Twelve things to sort

Write your answers first, then check. Each sentence needs one of the four phrases, in the right order.

1. Your cousin wants your old bike and you do not want any money. You will ______.
2. A pen has no ink left. You should ______.
3. The delivery crew carries the old fridge out of your kitchen. You say, “They ______ yesterday.”
4. After a busy month, you want to leave town for two quiet days. You want to ______.
5. A display stand belongs to the library, so you cannot give it away. You need to ______ from the fair and return it to the library.
6. Fix this: She took away it on Saturday.
7. Fix this: We need to get away these boxes.
8. The lamp cannot be repaired and it is not safe. I’m going to ______.
9. A charity has accepted your table and its driver comes on Friday. Use two phrases: “We’re ______ the table ______, and the driver will ______ it ______ on Friday.”
10. You are asking the movers to carry the sofa out. Make a polite request.
11. Fix this: I threw my good coat away to my sister.
12. A friend says, “Did you throw the books away?” You gave them to a school. Answer in one sentence.

Answers

1. give it away (a useful thing, free, to a person)
2. throw it away (nothing useful left)
3. took it away (the crew only removed it)
4. get away (a person’s short break)
5. take it away (it is returned, so it is only removed from this place)
6. She took it away on Saturday. (the pronoun goes in the middle)
7. We need to take these boxes away. (get away is for people, not boxes)
8. throw it away (you are discarding it)
9. giving … away and take … away: “We’re giving the table away, and the driver will take it away on Friday.”
10. Could you take the sofa away? (or Could you take the sofa away when you leave?)
11. I gave my good coat away to my sister. (she receives it for free, so throw away is wrong)
12. No, I gave them away to a school. (or No, I gave them away.)

Say it out loud

Pick a drawer, a shelf or a cupboard near you. Speak for 60 to 90 seconds. Say why you are clearing it, name one thing you could give away and say who could use it, one thing you would throw away and why, and one thing someone needs to take away. If you can, finish with a plan to get away. Try to use at least four of the four phrases and put each it or them in the middle.

A model (written for this page): “I’m clearing the bottom drawer in the hall because I’d like to get away for a few days. There is a good scarf I never wear, so I’m going to give it away to my sister. There are some old keys that don’t open anything. I should throw them away. And the broken umbrella stand is too heavy for me, so I’ll ask my brother to take it away on Sunday. I don’t want to throw anything away if someone can use it.”

If your first try sounds like a list, add one because. If you used get away with a thing, change the verb.

The four phrases at a glance

Phrase	It tells the listener	Remember
give it away	A useful thing goes to another person for free	Ask: can someone use it?
throw it away	You discard it	Give a reason
take it away	It is removed from this place	It does not say what happens next
get away	You leave for a short break	Nothing goes in the middle

Hear it in a real conversation

To hear Paul and Emily use these phrases while they clear a room, a charity cupboard and a book fair, listen to the episode and use the practice on Give Away, Throw Away, Take Away and Get Away: Hear the Difference in a Room Clear-Out.