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hi everybody my name is alicia welcome
back to know your verbs in this lesson
we're going to talk about the verb pull
let's get started
the basic definition of the verb pull is
to move something usually towards your
body
this motion to pull
examples of this he pulled his coffee
mug across the table
she pulled the lampstring
okay now let's look at the conjugations
for this verb
present
pole
poles
passed
pulled
past participle pulled
progressive
pulling
so now let's talk about some additional
meanings for this verb
the first additional meaning is to
remove something from its place some
examples
my brother and i used to pull weeds
every summer
i pulled out a few gray hairs this
morning
so to pull in this case is to remove
something from its original place
in the first example sentence my brother
and i used to pull weeds it means we
removed weeds from the ground we pulled
weeds from their original place in the
ground and took them out in the second
example sentence it's about pulling gray
hair so removing gray hairs from their
original place to pull we use to pull to
describe this okay let's go on to the
second additional meaning now
the second additional meaning is to
remove something from a publication this
can mean tv it can mean magazines
newspapers to remove something usually
because that thing is offensive or it's
incorrect or it's inappropriate there's
some problem with it examples
pull the story from the newspaper
the tv show pulled the controversial
photos from its segment
so in both of these examples content is
being removed from some kind of media
source or some kind of publication
because there's a problem with it in the
first example sentence it's pull the
story so that means the story the entire
story there's some problem with it it
needs to be removed in the second
example sentence it's about
controversial photos controversial
photos are pulled from a segment so that
means there's some problem there's some
issue
they have to be removed we use the verb
pull to refer to this usually in media
situations let's go on to the third
additional meaning for this verb
to attract a person or people meaning to
draw people in
examples big celebrities always pull big
crowds
we pulled in a lot of new customers at
the event
so here it means attracted or drew
people so in the first example sentence
big celebrities always pull big crowds
means attract pole means attract big
celebrities always draw in or attract a
lot of people in other words in the
second example sentence which was we
pulled in a lot of new customers
it means we drew we attracted a lot of
new customers you'll also notice that
i've used pulled in there so you can use
pulled in
to refer to attracting people as well to
pull in so you might see that or you
might see as in the first example
sentence to pull big crowds okay let's
go on to the fourth additional meaning
of this verb the fourth additional
meaning is to get information like from
researching something examples
pull all the files about the criminal
investigation
i pulled this photo from his website
so this means to get information but
usually with the kind of feeling of
doing some research so in the first
example sentence pull all the files
about the criminal investigation it
means go and get all the files or go do
some research find all the files and get
them
so we're doing some kind of research or
some sort of investigation and we need
information we can use the verb poll to
refer to getting that information
in the second sentence i pulled this
photo from his website it means i got
this photo from his website but it
sounds like i went to his website for
some kind of research purpose and i got
the photo there
so now let's move along to some
variations and other ways to use this
verb
the first expression is to pull oneself
together to pull oneself together it
means to regain your composure to become
calm once again examples
pull yourself together it's just a small
mistake
he needs to pull himself together and
get back to work
so in both of these examples there's
someone who's kind of panicking maybe or
they're having trouble staying calm and
composed we can use the expression pull
yourself together to mean like imagine
pulling yourself pulling all the parts
of yourself together again to make like
this calm composed person
in the second example sentence he needs
to pull himself together and get back to
work it means he needs to regain his
calm composed manner and go back to his
job so to pull yourself together means
just to regain your calm state i guess
you'll also notice that this is commonly
used reflexively he needs to pull
himself together reflexive means that
the subject and the object of the verb
are the same person so he needs to pull
himself you'll see there or
you should pull yourself together so the
subject and the object are the same
person
the next variation is the expression to
pull one's weight to pull one's weight
this means to do your fair share of a
job or a task to do the things that you
are assigned to do your parts okay uh so
this could be for work it could be for
another activity a job a project
whatever examples
everyone needs to pull their weight on
the team
he's not pulling his weight on this
project what happened
so in the first example sentence
everyone needs to pull their weight on
the team it means each person needs to
do his or her job each person needs to
do his or her tasks each person has some
responsibilities
it's their job to do those things that's
pulling their weight in the second
example sentence he's not pulling his
weight on the project what happened that
means because it's negative he's not
doing his part in the project he's not
doing the things he was assigned to do
why what happened what's the problem so
to pull your weight is typically uh
something you should do at work you want
to pull your weight you're fulfilling
your tasks you're doing the jobs that
are assigned to you it's your
responsibility okay let's go on to a
third variation another way to use this
verb the expression is to pull rank to
pull rank this means using your power or
using authority to make someone do
something examples
my supervisor tried to pull rank on me
to get me to write fake customer reviews
but i refused
seems the ceo pulled rank on the
department manager they're working on
his new project
so to pull rank means to use your rank
to use your position
in order to make other people do
something so in the first example
sentence where a supervisor tries to
pull rank on the speaker it means the
supervisor tries to use his or her power
to get this person the speaker in this
case to write customer reviews that are
not real customer reviews so they're
trying to get this person to do
something they don't want to do because
of their position of power or authority
we see this in the second example
sentence too but it was a successful
situation so the ceo pulled rank on the
department manager we know this because
the people in the department presumably
are working on the ceo's new project so
that means the ceo was successful in
convincing the department manager to
work on this project so to pull rank
means to use your power or use your
authority to make something happen
so those are a few new ways i hope to
use the word poll if you have any
questions or comments or if you know
some other ways there are lots of using
the verb pull let us know in the
comments section of this video of course
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watching this episode of know your verbs
and we'll see you again soon bye bye
pull
pulling
oh
pulling my hair
out
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