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We have a project to help Brazilians learn Phrasal Verbs (TIM AND TAMMY TEACH). In one of my texts I wrote that I would help them DOMINATE phrasal verbs. Someone wrote and said that I couldn't use the word "dominate"; I could only use the word "master". What do you think? Is it permissible to use the word "dominate" when speaking about mastering a very difficult subject? I sort of meant it as "conquer", "command", "gain control of", etc.
No: "to dominate" means literally "to rule over" or "to govern"; as a metaphor, it can mean "to overshadow" to "to characterize" -- for example, "The cooling towers of the power station dominated the landscape."
In the sense you want it to mean, "to master" is the correct choice.
Both those meanings refer to the literal meaning of "dominate": to rule over, as a lord rules over his subjects. In the first case it really is a lord or some other ruler, and in the second case it is person acting like a lord.
A domineering person is a person who orders other people around.
Can I use the word DOMINATE? 
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