Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Verb Phrase 134. The verb phrase today is to
water down. Okay. We have three meanings and we have three examples. So
the first meaning is to dilute a liquid usually by adding water. Yeah. So you
really you can water down anything, but we especially use it for alcohol. So
let's look at a example number one here. You should water down that alcoholic
drink for her. She cannot handle it, if it is too strong. So people often can water
down alcohol. If the alcohol is too strong for them to make it like less
strong. Or yeah basically. But you could water down anything by adding some other
liquid to it. So we often say to water down. All right. Let's look at number two
here. To weaken or make something less effective or not as strong. Okay good. So
let's look at again the second example. By the time that bill passed through
Congress it got so watered down that it didn't do
half of what he was supposed to do. So maybe whoever wrote it it started off as
very strong bill but remember you know in Congress the politicians they have to
try to get the other side to agree to it so they get enough people to sign it.
Sometimes they won't sign it unless you know , they may they compromise some and
they lower it so then maybe they're making the bill a lot less strong or a
lot less effective because they have to try to compromise with the opposing
party. So in that sense we often say that the bill got watered down or somebody
speech could, could have gotten watered down, if it was very strong. But maybe
somebody didn't like some of the things in it so they might water it down. So in
this way, we say that something could get watered down. It becomes less strong or
possibly less effective. All right. Let's look at the third one here. To water
something thoroughly like go to like rinse something or spray water over
something. You can water it down. Sometimes it could be because something
is too hot and you want to cool it down or sometimes it could be because you
want to rinse or wash something off. So let's look at the third example here.
Let's water down the driveway to get rid of some mud that got on it. So maybe this
is somebody's driveway you know , usually it's some sort of you know , concrete or
tar on it. But you know, maybe for somebody maybe a storm or something
swept some mud on it or somehow mud got on it. So you might water it down . to
rinse or wash the mud away, especially a lot of driveways sometimes are or
could or might be on a slight slope or slant. It might be easier to you know, to
water it down that way. Or like I said if something was too hot and you wanted to
cool it down you might spray water on it you might water it down in that sense. Or
if it was too dry, you needed to make it more moist. You might spray water on
it just to water it down in that sort of sense. Okay. Anyway, I hope you got it. I
hope it's clear. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.