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hi everybody my name is Alisha in this
lesson I'm going to talk about some
phrasal verbs that use the word push so
these are expressions that feature the
verb push but have a slightly different
meaning from the basic meaning of push
let's take a look okay let's begin with
the first expression which is push off
to push off means to begin moving
usually we use this with a boat when we
say push off it's like we're pushing
away from some kind of like safety or
some kind of support we typically use
this for boats to mean moving away from
like a dock moving away from land moving
away from the part of the boat that's
connected to some safety on land so we
use this like to refer to moving away
from a safe place but it tends to be
used a lot in boats an example of this
we pushed off at 8 a.m. so here it's the
past tense we pushed off and the time we
pushed off at 8 a.m. means probably the
boat left the safe place at the dock at
8 a.m. so to push off means to begin
moving away from something away from
something some kind of support okay
let's move along to the next expression
the next expression is to push by to
push by something or to push by someone
means to use a pushing motion to move
past someone or something we use this a
lot with people in a crowded situation
where you're near someone else but you
would like to move past that person you
can use a slight pushing motion a gentle
pushing motion to move past that person
so you don't want to maybe push them a
lot but you can alert the other person
you can tell the other person you're
going to pass them with this expression
for example
I'm gonna push by you I'm gonna push by
your shows I'm going to push myself or
I'm maybe going to push something close
to you or I might push you a little bit
it refers to making a pushing motion to
move somewhere so to push by someone in
this case to push by you in other words
I'm going to make a pushing motion and
move past you it's usually a small
pushing motion not a big one so this is
just a quick kind of alert phrase you
can tell someone as you move by them
okay let's move along to the next
expression which is to push someone
around to push someone around means to
bully someone to bully someone so you
can imagine this is in a situation where
there is someone maybe higher level and
someone lower level this could be at
school it could be at work it could be
in groups of friends when you push
someone around you are unkind to them
you make unkind comments to them you ask
them to do lots of things for you for
kind of no reason just to use your power
over that person we use the expression
to push someone around to talk about
bullying someone like this an example
don't let your boss push you around so
in other words don't let your boss bully
you don't let your boss make you do so
many things or don't let your boss be
rude to you so to push someone around
it's like you're using them or you're
not treating them with respect it's not
a good thing it's a negative expression
okay let's move on to the next phrasal
verb the next phrasal verb is to push
limits to push limits you'll hear this a
lot in technology news business perhaps
as well this expression means to work at
the extremes so you can imagine that
there's some kind of boundary some kind
of limit in your field at your job in
your life so to push those limits means
to work there and try to expand those
boundaries you're working it like the
extreme part of your job
or the extreme part of your industry
your knowledge or whatever it is in your
case and you're trying to make that like
bigger you're trying to expand that so
we use the expression push limits to
refer to that kind of thing a very
common example is we're pushing the
limits of Technology
so here it's the progressive tense we're
pushing the limits of Technology in
other words we're trying to make the
limits of Technology a little bit bigger
or we're trying to go to the next step
kind of so we're pushing the limits this
is an expression we use to talk about
like next generation things they're kind
of evolution of some kind another way to
think of pushing limits is like doing
the impossible or working to do the
impossible so something that's not
possible now may become possible through
your efforts so it's like you're trying
to do something that's not possible in
the present but you want it to become
possible in the future you're pushing
the limits of what's available to you
now okay let's move along to the next
phrasal verb then the next phrasal verb
is to push ahead I want to group this
with the next one in the list as well to
push ahead and to push along these have
quite similar meanings push ahead feels
a little more like to make efforts to
create forward progress to push ahead
like to the next step with something to
push ahead in a project to push ahead in
your business idea to push along is kind
of like to cause someone else to make
that forward progress so you can use it
for a project as well like you try to
push along a project but when we use
push along it's like you're trying to
kind of help something or help someone
else make forward progress so they tend
to be used in very similar ways but
perhaps there are some slight
differences in nuance we might use push
along more with people than push ahead
so as I said push ahead kind of feels
like making efforts to make for
progress to move to the next step with
something and then we can think of push
along as like moving something forward
or causing another person to move
forward as well so let's take a look at
some example sentences first let's push
ahead to the next step so let's make
efforts to move to the next step in the
thing we are doing in the second example
sentence with push along I've used a
person here can you try to push him
along so can you try to motivate him to
encourage him try to push him along
meaning get him
motivate him to do his tasks or to do
the things he needs to do so we can go
to the next step so you're trying to get
someone moving here so quite similar
ideas but maybe slight differences in
how they are used
okay let's move along to the next
expression which is push back to push
back means to resist something to resist
something or to oppose something so this
is used a lot in politics and in
business in any kind of like discussion
where there's a lot of disagreement to
push back against something usually
you're opposing an idea opposing a
person opposing a policy so to push back
is to resist that or to oppose that an
example management pushed back against
our proposal so we made a proposal for
something in the office and management
opposed that they did not want to do
that thing they resisted so they pushed
back you might also hear this used as a
noun
push back push back so not to push back
but there was pushback against our
proposal so you can hear this used as a
phrasal verb or as a noun but they both
refer to resisting or opposing something
okay one more then for this lesson it is
to push for something to push for
something means to try to persuade
someone of something so if you really
really want to get something you're
trying to convince someone
something is a good idea or you're
trying to convince someone to give you
something we can use the expression push
for that thing to describe that so in
this example sentence it feels kind of
like you're persuading yourself a little
bit like you're trying to motivate
yourself making efforts for yourself for
your future you could also use this in
talking to other people and trying to
convince other people like trying to
push your boss for a raise for example
so it means you're trying to convince
your boss or persuade your boss to give
you a raise a raise is increased salary
increased money at your job so pushing
for something is like you're trying to
make efforts in order to achieve
something or to get something or to
convince someone of something so to push
for a thing okay so those are a few
examples of some phrasal verbs that use
the word push I hope that you found
something new here so keep an eye out
for these the next time you see them in
writing of course if you have any
questions or comments or want to
practice using one of these phrasal
verbs please feel free to do so in the
comment section of this video if you
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watching this lesson and I will see you
again next time bye bye
you
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