hi everybody welcome back to know your
verbs my name is alicia and in this
episode we're going to talk about the
verb bite let's get started
let's talk about the basic definition of
the verb bite it means to use your teeth
to cut or tear something examples
i hate it when i bite my tongue
you shouldn't bite your nails
let's look at the conjugations for this
verb
present bite bites
past
bit
past participle bit
progressive biting
let's talk about some additional
meanings for this verb the first one is
one that we use when we go fishing which
means for fish to eat bait we use the
verb bite for this examples
the fish aren't biting today
i think something bit my lure
so bite refers to fish eating bait so
bait meaning edible things or lure as in
the second example sentence kind of a
shiny metal or plastic object that
attracts fish it looks like food but
there are hooks in it
so we use bite to talk about the fish
trying to eat that thing or actually
swallowing that thing
so the reason i introduced that
we'll talk about with the second
additional meaning for this verb so this
leads into the second additional meaning
for this verb the second additional
meaning for this verb is to show
interest in something to show interest
in something examples
all right i'll bite what's the secret
the new clients didn't bite on the deal
so here bite means show interest so the
reason that i introduced this as the
second meaning after the fish bait
eating introduction
is because we can imagine that when
we're showing our interest in something
it's similar to the way fish bite a lure
or fish try to bite food so when we're
interested in some information like a
secret as in the first example or a
special deal as in the second example we
want to bite it we want to get that
thing so this means to show interest yes
but it means we're kind of going after
we're trying to chase that thing so we
can get it and enjoy it perhaps so to
bite can mean to show interest in
something
the third additional meaning for this
verb is to be bad or to be unappealing
examples
this lunch bites
your boss bites so here we're using
bites in the first example your lunch
bites it doesn't mean your lunch like a
sandwich physically bites you it means
your lunch is not very good your lunch
is bad your lunch is unappealing in the
second example your boss bites it
doesn't mean your boss is a person who
bites people it means your boss is bad
your boss is not a good person your boss
is not a good boss for example this is a
slang term that means not good
unappealing
however the fourth additional meaning
for this verb is to have a habit of
biting so someone or something that has
a habit of biting things we can use the
verb bite to talk about that examples
watch out for that dog he bites
careful i heard that kid bites generally
this use of the verb bite is used for
animals and for kids so in other words
creatures or small people who have not
yet learned or don't know that it's
wrong to bite someone so
this is not used for adults so you
probably won't confuse this meaning with
meaning number three like your boss
bites because your boss as an adult has
learned not to bite people so
this is probably only going to be used
with animals and maybe kids so people or
creatures who don't know
let's move along to some variations of
this verb the first one is to come back
to bite somebody to come back to bite
somebody this refers to a problem that
if not handled now could cause a bigger
problem in the future examples
i didn't put gas in the car yesterday i
hope that doesn't come back to bite me
she didn't stay updated on the project
progress and it came back to biter
so these examples refer to a problem
that's not properly handled at the right
time in the first example sentence a
person did not put gas in his or her car
yesterday
so the idea is that perhaps they're
going to run out of gas in the future
they should have put gas in the car
yesterday but they did not they should
have and it might cause a bigger problem
in the future in the second example
sentence it's a past tense situation a
person the she in the situation did not
stay updated on the project progress and
thus there was a negative effect in the
future because she did not properly
handle the situation so for something to
come back and bite you means you didn't
take care at the present time and in the
future it caused a bigger problem so be
careful of this one let's go on to the
second variation which is to bite
someone's head off this is quite a
strange expression but to bite someone's
head off means usually to quickly and
angrily say something and it can often
be for something very very small not
necessarily for a huge problem but maybe
just a quick show of anger sometimes
over a small point examples
my mom bit my head off for coming home
10 minutes late last night
he made one small mistake you don't have
to bite his head off
so of course this doesn't literally mean
biting someone's head off of their body
but it just means making a really quick
and angry comment or series of comments
to somebody because of something small
usually in the first example sentence
it's a 10 minute delay so one person is
10 minutes late getting home and the
speaker's mother
bit his or her head off meaning was very
angry at them for a short period of time
for that mistake in the second example
sentence he made one small mistake you
don't have to bite his head off that
means that you don't need to be so angry
at this person for a small mistake so to
bite someone's head off is a quick show
of anger refers to that the third
variation is to bite the bullet to bite
the bullet refers to doing something
that you don't want to do but maybe
you're forced to do it or it's really
not appealing you don't want to do it
but you decide you have to or there's
some other reason that you're pushed to
do it you bite the bullet and do it so
examples
i think i have to bite the bullet and
take the boring day job
we bit the bullet and applied for a
mortgage
so these are maybe examples of things
the speakers don't want to do but they
decide they need to do for some reason
or they're forced to do for some reason
so those are a few new ways i hope that
you can use the verb bite there are
quite a few interesting meanings to this
verb for sure of course if you know a
different meaning if you want to try to
make an example sentence or if you have
any questions please let us know in the
comments section of this video of course
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too thanks very much for watching this
episode of know your verbs and we'll see
you again next time bye bye
time to bite time to bite
let's bite hopefully most adults know
that we should not use we should not use
our teeth on people
unless you're a cannibal so perhaps
there are some exceptions to this rule
all right how about let's see
it's fish
fish is the secret to my special scent
what what what
you didn't hear anything
yeah verbs are fun
verbs aren't fun this verb is bite okay