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hi everybody welcome back to know your
verbs my name is alicia and in this
episode we're going to talk about the
verb follow let's go
so the basic definition of this verb is
to move behind someone or something and
to go to the same place that that person
or thing is going to examples i'll
follow you to the park follow me i know
where we're going
the conjugations of this verb now
present follow follows
past followed
past participle followed
progressive following
now let's talk about some additional
meanings of this verb okay the first
additional meaning is to understand to
understand examples i don't follow you
do you follow
so we can really just replace the word
follow with understand here in the first
example sentence i don't follow you we
can say i don't understand you it means
i don't understand what you're saying or
i don't understand what you're thinking
i don't follow you it sounds more casual
like i don't follow your train of
thought train of thought means like the
path you took to arrive at your
destination thinking wise follow you
just sounds more casual it's like i
can't understand i can't follow uh the
path of your logic in other words so i
don't follow you in the second sentence
it's a question do you follow meaning do
you understand do you understand what
i'm saying so follow can mean understand
quite simply okay let's go to the second
meaning for this verb so the second one
is to happen after something else to
come after something else examples of
this a delicious dessert followed the
roast chicken
a luxurious hot spring experience
follows a massage on this one day tour
in these example sentences we see follow
is used to describe something that
happens after something else in the
first example sentence i mentioned a
dessert that followed a roast chicken so
yes dessert
is being presented first in the sentence
so i said a delicious dessert followed a
roast chicken so that means a delicious
dessert came after a roast chicken
so followed yes followed shows the thing
that came after the other thing so we
see the same thing in the second example
sentence a luxurious hot spring
experience follows a relaxing massage so
yes luxurious hot spring experience is
first in the sentence however we're
using the verb follows so that means it
comes after a massage in this case so
yes it's presented first in the sentence
but
this use of follow means come after so
that means we're presenting a sequence
in this way let's go to the third
meaning which is
to obey to obey so to obey something
okay examples of this to obey did you
follow the instructions on the instant
ramen she decided to follow her
manager's advice
so in both of these sentences we're
meaning obey with the verb follow so we
could say did you obey the instructions
on the instant ramen but obey sounds
quite strong we use obey for like people
who are in positions of power above us
so in this case with ramen it's
packaging so we usually say follow the
instructions on the packaging so meaning
obey the instructions on the packaging
but obey is quite a strong word we use
follow instead in the second sentence
she followed her manager's advice it's
like she obeyed her manager's advice so
yes a manager is in a position of power
above you sure obey is typically used
when we are given like strict orders for
something like like military or like
something from the president something
from very high up and like very strong
orders like
like obey your
commanding officer or something like
that in this case it's advice meaning
that it's probably not so serious it's
like a suggestion and it's a manager so
she has probably like a workplace
relationship so we would probably use
follow someone's advice in this case so
follow means obey but it's not quite as
strong not nearly as strong much softer
so the fourth meaning is to be very
interested in something and to watch
that thing closely examples of this i
don't really follow sports she's been
following the news very closely so the
first example sentence is a negative i
don't really follow sports meaning i
don't really have much interest in and
therefore i don't really watch much
sports in the second example sentence
she's been following the news very
closely it means she's been very
interested in and watching a lot of news
lately so
this use of follow is quite convenient
it it includes meanings of being
interested in something and watching
something uh carefully or closely so to
follow a topic or to follow an activity
so this means being interested in that
activity and doing or seeing or reading
about a lot of it
variations let's look at some variations
of this verb the first variation is to
follow suit to follow suit this means to
do the same thing as the person
previously mentioned in the sentence or
in the situation
examples my manager just quit the
company i think i'm gonna follow suit
her boyfriend decided to leave the party
so she followed suit
so in both of these examples we see one
person makes a decision or takes an
action and the other person does the
same thing we show that with the
expression follow suit so in the first
example my manager quit the company i
think i'm gonna follow suit so i think
i'm going to do the same thing as the
person i just mentioned so my manager
quit the company i think i'm going to do
that as well i think i'm going to follow
suit in the second example sentence her
boyfriend decided to leave the party so
she followed suit so he left the party
she decided to do the same thing he did
she followed suit past tense she did the
same thing he did so follow suit means
to do the same thing as the person
previously mentioned the next variation
is to follow through to follow through
we often use to follow through on or to
follow through with something this means
to keep a promise or to do something you
said you were going to do examples i
hate it when people don't follow through
with their plans that's true that's
called flaking okay example sentence
number two i'm going to follow through
on my resolution to find a new job okay
so here we see a couple examples so the
first one is sort of a negative
statement i hate it when people don't
follow through with their plans meaning
i hate it when people don't do the
things they say they're going to do so i
hate it when people
make a plan and break the plan or make a
suggestion and don't do that thing so
they don't follow through with their
plans in the second example the speaker
previously made a resolution a
resolution is a kind of goal so the
speaker previously made a resolution the
speaker has decided to follow through
meaning to
uh to try to achieve that resolution to
try to
uh
do that action so that means that the
speaker is going to find a new job so
the speaker is going to do the thing he
or she promised to do the last variation
for follow today is to follow in
someone's footsteps to follow in
someone's footsteps this is kind of an
easy one to imagine so to follow in the
same footsteps as someone who walked
before you however that person who
walked before you is typically a parent
or maybe a grandparent or someone senior
to you that you admire example sentences
he's following in his father's footsteps
and becoming a lawyer
she decided not to follow in her
mother's footsteps after all
so to follow in someone's footsteps
typically refers to a career choice so
in the first example sentence we saw
lawyer so he decided to follow in his
father's footsteps meaning he decided to
do the same thing his father did as a
career
become a lawyer so meaning chose the
same thing as his parent in the second
we see a different situation she decided
not to follow in her mother's footsteps
meaning she chose a different career
path from her mother or she chose a
different life path from her mother so
to follow in someone's footsteps means
to do the same thing usually the same
career as their parent or their
grandparent so those are a few new ways
to use the verb follow i hope if you
have any questions if you want to try to
make a sentence or if you know some
other ways to use follow please feel
free to try it out in the comments great
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study tools thanks very much for
watching this episode of know your verbs
and we'll see you again next time bye
bye
good
for some uh
i really have to sneeze
[Music]
you