§ If you don’t wear those clothes anymore, you should give them away.
§ The radio station is giving away two tickets to a rock
concert.
= reveal a
secret, or expose hidden knowledge (especially details of a book/movie)
§ I don’t want to tell you too much about the movie because I don’t want to give
away the ending.
GIVE WAY = when a
physical structure collapses under too much weight.
§ When I tried to cross the old wooden bridge, the boards gave way and
I fell into the river.
It can also
mean withdrawing/yielding/retreating, to go away and open space for something
else:
§ This weekend, the clouds will give way to sunshine.
§ The opposition to the law gave way to overwhelming popular
support.
GIVE OUT = distribute
§ The teacher gave out the worksheets on Friday.
§ The store is giving out coupons for 10% off.
In some
situations you could use either “give away” or “give out” – ex) The store
is giving away / giving out samples of the product. The
difference is that give away puts more emphasis on the “free”
aspect, and give out puts more emphasis on distribution to
many people.
In a few
specific cases (especially with machines and internal organs), give
out can mean to fail / stop functioning:
§ He was an old man, and his heart eventually gave out.
§ We were stranded in the middle of the lake when the motor of our boat gave
out.
GIVE IN = to yield
to social pressure – someone tries to convince you for a long time, and finally
you accept it / agree to do it
§ The kids asked their mother for ice cream over and over, and she finally gave
in.
§ If your friends pressure you to try drugs, don’t give in.