Hi there, welcome back. This is Harry and welcome to my English
lesson where I try to help you to get a better understanding of the English language. Okay.
And before I forget to tell you make sure you listen to me on the podcast, okay, you can
listen to it on Spotify or indeed if you go to my
web page, you'll find lots and lots of material there a one-stop shop to help you to
improve your English language. And of course, these lessons which we continue to produce
on videos, you support me, so I'm very, very happy to support you. So what are we
going to talk about in this lesson? Well, we want to talk initially about hobbies.
Specifically, we want to talk about phrasal verbs about hobbies.
Any of you who have a hobby will know what enjoyment you get from it. So we're going to
talk about phrasal verbs about hobbies, okay, so I'm going to give you the list of them,
and then I'll go through them with you give you some examples. And then hopefully, you'll be able
to understand those, you'll be able to practice them and try to introduce them into your English.
And perhaps if you want to send me a note and tell me what your favourite hobbies what the hobbies
of your parents were, what your hobbies are, and compare them so
always happy to hear them, always happy to see if you got any unusual hobbies.
So here we go the phrasal verbs to be into something,
or you could emphasise it to be really into something,
take up,
join in,
sign up,
get into something,
turn up for something,
keep up,
back out,
pack in and give up. Okay, so all phrasal verbs directly connected
with a hobby or hobbies. Okay, so let me go through them one by one.
So when we say you're into something, or you're really into something,
it means you're really, really enjoying it. So when I was young, as I said,
I had a stamp collection and I was really into my stamp collection, I took it really seriously.
And any time a relative was going abroad, and I heard about it, I'd always ask them to send
me back some stamps. So to write me a letter put stamps on the letter, so they'd have a
watermark on them, so I could show them off in my collection. And lots of uncles, thankfully,
I had lots of uncles, they went to different places like China, and you know, in the 1960s,
and 70s. That was quite amazing. So I got these wonderful, wonderful stamps back. Unfortunately,
I lost the collection many years ago. But when you're into something you're really enjoyed, okay.
He's really into his football.
He's really into ballroom dancing, so it doesn't matter what it is, is if you're really into it,
you really enjoy it. And so we can use the expression he's into,
or he's really into his particular hobby.
Take up. So when we want to start a hobby, we take it up, or he's taken up Taekwondo,
or he's taken up mixed martial arts. So this is his latest pastime, or sport, or hobby. So when
you take up, you go to a club, you join the club, you get involved, and you take up that particular
activity. So we can ask the question or pose the question, why don't you take up a hobby?
So one of the kids is hanging around the house, the weekends have nothing to do I'm bored,
nobody to play with or whatever, nowhere to go. Why don't you take up a hobby? Meaning Why don't
you start? Why don't you begin? Why don't we go out there and find something that's interesting?
Take that camera you got for your birthday and go out and start taking photographs. Why
don't you look up on the internet, and join a photography club, lots of different interests,
lots of ways to find other people with similar interests. And so you can take up that activity
and meet new people. So take up a sport, take up a hobby to find yourself a new pastime.
Join in. Well, when you join in, you join with other people. So you're walking along
the park and the footpath.
You see some guys playing football. Do you mind if I join in? Meaning Can I come and play
football with you? Yeah, come along. The more the merrier.
Or you join a fitness club in the gym. And you ask them Can I join in the
spin class? Can I join in this small group of people
who are training because you don't want to train on your own and let's face it, it's
a little bit boring training on your own. If you can join in with other people, you egg each other
on, you support each other, you encourage each other, and you get better and better.
So to join in means people come together to join in.
Sign up is another way of joining in, because if you go to the club,
you know, the other gym, the guy will show you around and say,
Oh, these are the changing rooms, these are the machines, this is what we do. You know,
are you interested? Yeah, well sign up here. So you have to fill in an application form,
and you have to pay your money and one of the details, they give you
the key to get in and off, you go, you've signed up, and you're a member of the gym,
or you see something on the internet for that photography club. So you sign up for that.
Or you go to university, and they have lots of different
activities there. So you go on the open night when they talk about these activities. And you sign up
to john join the mountaineering club or the club that they use to climb these rocks on the walls is
special indoor, mountain climbing activities that they have whatever it happens to be,
you sign up for that particular activity. So literally, you sign your name on an
application form, you pay money if you have to pay an entrance fee, or it might be free,
you just put your details, your mobile number or your email address, whatever it happens to be,
and therefore you become a member of that particular club or that particular activity.
To get into something, well, a bit like being into when you're really into something you're
really interested to get into something is to start Yeah, I'm getting into kayaking,
or some water sports, I'd like to get into these activities, because I've seen it on
the Olympics, for example. And it looks really, really interesting.
So I think I go to the local club one Saturday, see if I can find anybody to talk to and ask them,
How do you get into water sports? So how do I begin? That's literally what it means.
How do you get into running in the marathon? Is there a club that I can join or a group of people
who are training for the next marathon and a few months? So I would really like to get into some
type of sport because I spend all my days sitting at a desk like like me, and by the time I get to
the end of the day, I'm tired, but I go out and I have some activity, then I get a bit more energy,
and perhaps I can do it at the weekends as well. So I'd really like to get into something.
You might like to get into cooking. Yeah, you fancy cooking, or all these days when we've been
locked down and we can't go to restaurants or we can only go to the supermarket. And when
we go to the supermarket, we see all these wonderful ingredients. So we'd like to get
into cooking to try and see what we can do. It can't be that difficult to get a recipe,
you get the ingredients, you read the recipe, you do the measurements. And slowly
step by step you can get into that new activity of cooking or baking,
whatever you want to do. Okay, so get into something to start begin.
Turn up. Well, of course, the big thing about getting a new hobby,
or getting into something or being into something, you need that motivation,
something that gets you out of bed in the morning, something that gets you to the gym,
after work in the evening, something that gets you out for that walk at lunchtime, whatever it is,
you need some personal motivation, and you have to turn up. So you have to have to turn up
literally. That training starts at 5:30, 6:30. So you have to be there you have to turn up.
Or mentally you have to turn up for the event. So yeah,
I'm going to do it. So when am I going to start? I'm going to start next Tuesday at No,
we're going to start today. Okay, so you get yourself motivated,
don't put it off. Don't delay it. Turn up now in body, in spirit and in mind. Okay, so to turn up.
To keep up this is another phrasal verb connected with hobbies. So what does keep up mean? Well,
when we keep up something, it means we continue the action that we've started. So as we said
before, you have to have motivation. So initially, we always have a lot of motivation to start
a new activity or a hobby so it's not difficult to be full of enthusiasm.
You get down to the gym on Monday, Wednesday, the Friday and after a couple of weeks
or no cannot say for sure tonight, I'm a little bit tired. I'm a little bit
sore. And the interest starts to wane as we say out to drop off. So you have to keep
up your interest, okay? So you'd need to be motivated. And that's why it's really important
perhaps, to have a gym buddy somebody that's going to get you out, or you are going to get him or her
out so that you get to the gym together, and you motivate each other so you don't drop off.
So when we want to keep up, it means to continue that action that we decided,
yeah. Okay, so you have to keep up your interest, you have to keep up your interest
in photography have to continue to take photographs to continue to go to places to
get that really perfect picture or image. So keep it up means to keep your interest alive,
keep like the capital or the pan on the stove, keep it boiling here. So to keep your interest
in your new activity and your new hobby, keep it alive, keep the interest there, keep it growing.
Back out will be the opposite of keep up. Okay, so
again, a phrasal verb to back out means to leave. Yeah, so you're not
probably too happy perhaps with the gym, the equipment may be a little bit older,
maybe you don't get along so much with the people there. So you decide to stop or to back out.
To back out means to lose your interest, to move backwards.
So when you back out of something,
you withdraw, or you stop. Okay, so backing out, not such a good thing to do.
But if you're not happy and you're not enjoying it, well, it's better than just giving up and
losing the money. Or you might just go off and decide to go to another gym. So when you
back out of something, you tend to stop. Okay, so you could find you have a new hobby,
you could find that you're really interested in kayaking or canoeing. But when you get down to it,
and you tried a couple of times, it's not for you as much as you thought so you back out,
you withdraw or you decide No, I try something else to back out.
And then the last two, I'm going to take them together to pack in and to give up because really,
they mean the same thing. So when we pack in a hobby, we stop when we give up a hobby,
we stop so they really have the same meaning we might use them in a slightly different way.
Okay, so somebody your parents or your friends might say to you,
why did you pack it in? Meaning why did you stop? Ah, it's a long story, but I really
couldn't afford the time that I thought I could and it's a long way to the gym and blah blah
blah blah blah. So you have lots of excuses to say why you packed in that particular hobby.
But you might use the expression give up. Yeah, oh, I gave up because of this.
So your mother says Why did you pack in the gym? or Why did you pack in the photography?
I gave it up because it was boring, I gave it up because there was nobody there my own age. I gave
it up because I've got a new interest, I've got a girlfriend or I've got something else to do. Okay,
so pack in, give up mean exactly the same, means you stop something you've started,
you stop the hobby, you give it up you pack it in. Like to pack in means to put it in a box and put
it in the wardrobe. So that's the literal meaning but to pack in means to stop, give up completely.
Okay, so they're all the phrasal verbs connected with hobbies.
So let me go through them one more time to be into something or as I said,
to be really into something really interested. Take up something means to start that new hobby.
To join in means to come together with other people to have a similar interest. Sign
up literally sign on the dotted line. To get into something means to begin, I'm going to get into it
from next week. Turn up means physically turn up there. So you start the activity.
Keep it up, to keep up means to continue to have that ongoing motivation that gets you out of bed
gets you out of the office chair gets you into that gym when you want to get there. Back out
of something means to withdraw to stop and the last two which is to pack in and to give up mean
the same to come to a complete stop and continue or not continue with some other type of hobby.
Okay, so all of them are phrasal verbs. All to do with hobbies and remember when you
use a phrasal verb there is a specific verb like take or join. Usually, a simple verb
followed by a preposition or sometimes two prepositions, okay? And they can always be
replaced by one verb. So give you an example to take up a hobby is to start a hobby you'll always
find a more formal verb to replace those phrasal verbs. And phrasal verbs are important in
the English language, particularly when it gets beyond that intermediate level people
expect particularly in an exam situation that you can use them but don't overdo it. You don't
have to use phrasal verbs in every sentence, some of them come automatically, but I've given you a
list of them, practice them, see what you can do. And if you have any problems, come back to me.
As I always say, I really appreciate the time you give to learn English with me, there are lots of
people out there trying to do the same thing. And I'm trying to help you in my way to get better at
it. And if you want to contact me, well, you can do so on www.englishlessonviaskype..com.
If there are any of your colleagues or friends or you yourself, if you fancy lessons on a one
to one basis, it won't always be with me, but we can certainly help you because we've got
lots and lots of teachers, really professional teachers that can help you so drop me a line, drop
me an email, and we'd be happy to help you. As always, thanks for listening. Join me again soon.