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hi everybody my name is alicia welcome
back to know your verbs in this episode
we're going to talk about the verb open
let's go
let's look at the basic definition for
this verb the basic definition is to
move something so that it is not in a
closed position to open something to
open something so
examples
open the door
it's hot in here you should open a
window
okay let's look at the conjugations for
this verb
present
open
opens
past
opened
past participle opened
progressive opening
now let's talk about some additional
meanings for this verb
first one the first additional meaning
is to remove from a container or part of
a container like to reveal something so
some examples of this
open your birthday presents
this box is really hard to open
so in both of these we're talking about
revealing something from inside a
package or inside a container in the
first one the first example sentence i
said open your birthday presents meaning
like reveal your birthday presents
they're in a bag or in a box or
something so open the box open the
container to reveal what's inside in the
second one this box is really hard to
open means this container this box in
this case is difficult to like remove
the top from or difficult to get to the
inside it's difficult to open this box
okay the second additional meaning is to
be ready as in to be ready for business
or to be ready for service some examples
i think the department store is opening
right now
the cafe opens at 9 a.m
so
this use of open refers to the time that
a business or a service starts so in the
first example sentence i said i think
the department store is opening right
now in that case i'm using the
progressive or the continuous tense the
department store is opening right now we
would use opening only in like very
specific situations where for example we
are standing in front of the department
store and we can see the staff unlocking
the door or maybe opening the doors
so we can see the staff actually
opening the shop to customers so that
process of unlocking doors or maybe
pulling up the blinds the the curtains
uh that process is called opening the
store so in that case if we're seeing
that process happen we can say i think
the department store is opening right
now so and that's maybe one of the only
cases where we would use the progressive
tense of this verb in the second
sentence the cafe opens at 9am it means
the cafe starts its business at 9 00 am
we use opens to do that instead let's go
to the third meaning meaning three for
this verb is to make something on the
computer ready so the second meaning was
to make something ready like a business
or a service we can also use this for
computers things on computers examples
i couldn't open the file you sent
can you open the slideshow please
so both of these mean opening something
preparing something on a computer so a
file we could use it for software if you
want as well you could use it for email
like open your email whatever
anytime you need to prepare something on
a computer and like start that thing or
you need to look at like a new document
you need to look at a webpage or
whatever you can use the word open to
describe that open your browser open a
web page open a file all of these we can
use the word open to do
so the fourth additional meaning for
this lesson is to begin an activity to
begin an activity so this typically
refers to activities where people gather
for something let's look at some
examples
she opened the conference with an
inspiring speech
i'd like to open today's meeting by
thanking you all for attending
so in these sentences we're using open
to mean start or i'd like to begin
something by the first example sentence
was she opened the conference with an
inspiring speech meaning she began the
conference so that means she as the
first item of business i suppose in the
conference the first thing she did was
give an inspiring speech that was the
start of the conference the beginning of
the activity that is the conference she
opened the conference with an inspiring
speech same thing in the second sentence
i'd like to open today's meeting by
thanking you all for attending so i'd
like to i would like to open meaning i
would like to begin today's meeting or
the first thing i would like to do in
today's meeting is say thank you so open
means like starting the activity by
doing something
let's go along to a couple of variations
of this verb now the first variation is
to open someone's eyes to open someone's
eyes this does not literally mean like
to walk over to someone and like
physically open their eyes i suppose you
could do that like open your brother's
eyes that's sort of weird like that's
not really an expression that we have
this expression to open someone's eyes
though means to make someone realize
something something they didn't realize
before so it was kind of like shocking
or surprising something like that
examples
you really opened my eyes to how
delicious thai food is
i think the experience of planning a big
event really opened his eyes to how
difficult it is
so in both of these example sentences
the speaker or someone involved in the
sentence was caused to realize something
and we use the expression open your eyes
or to open someone's eyes meaning to
cause them to realize something special
so the second variation i want to talk
about is to open up to open up to open
up means to share your feelings or to
share your emotions to talk about
yourself to open up to people that's
often what we say like ah i wish she
would open up to me that sort of thing
examples of this
i wish you would open up and tell me
about yourself
it's really hard for her to open up
before she trusts people
so open up to open up means to share
yourself like to be relaxed and be
able to easily talk about yourself and
talk about your emotions so we don't
have
actually we do have the opposite closed
down like oh no she closed down like she
stopped sharing about herself so open up
would mean to share openly the opposite
would be to close down so opening up uh
typically at least in western culture is
regarded as quite a positive thing to be
able to share about yourself and to have
kind of enough trust established with
another person that you can be open to
use it as an adjective those are a few
variations and a few different meanings
of the verb open i hope that you learned
a few new things and maybe you can use
these in your everyday life too of
course if you have any questions if you
know a different way to use the verb
open please let us know in the comments
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good english study resources thanks very
much for watching this episode of know
your verbs and i'll see you again soon
bye
[Music]
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