Hi everyone. Welcome! This is Lesson 5 of Jennifer's Phrasal Verb Challenge.
In the last video, I asked you about anger management. This time we'll be talking about injustice.
Do you usually expect life to be fair and get upset when it isn't?
Some things we just have to accept because we can't get our way all the time.
But there are situations when we need to speak up
because unless we say something, an unfair situation won't change.
A famous example is Martin Luther King, Jr., the civil rights activist.
He spoke up for others like him.
He spoke up because he believed in doing the right thing, and he worked to gain equal rights for all Americans.
Martin Luther King, Jr. wasn't merely interested in bettering his own life.
He was looking out for others for his fellow Americans who also wanted equal opportunities.
"To speak up," first of all, can simply mean to talk louder.
"Hey Vicki. I can't hear you. There's too much noise. Can you speak up?"
But often "to speak up" means to voice an opinion and make sure it's heard.
"To speak up" is intransitive. It doesn't take an object.
But we can also speak up for someone: you can speak up for others.
You can speak up for people who have been wronged in some way.
This means to speak in support of someone.
A very similar phrasal verb is "speak out." Both phrasal verbs mean to express an opinion.
"Speak out" suggests you do this in a very public way.
You speak out against things you disagree with, perhaps as part of a public protest.
So we can say that Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke out against inequality.
But it's also correct to say that he spoke up for civil rights and for better conditions.
Right now, I'm going to focus more on "speak up." I think you can use this phrasal verb in a lot of situations.
"Look out for someone" means to take care of them. You want to make sure that no one treats them badly.
"Look out for" always takes an object.
A parent may ask an older sibling to look out for a younger child on their first day of school.
Don't confuse this phrasal verb with another: look after.
"Look after" is also to take care of someone, but it's more like a job. A nurse looks after patients.
A babysitter looks after children.
"Looking out for someone" means you're taking care of them, but you're trying to protect them from harm or offense.
Here's a question. Do you think it's selfish to look out only for yourself and not for others?
Have you ever spoken up in someone's defense?
Practice using these phrasal verbs and answer my questions in the comments.
We'll end here.
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