Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Verb Phrase 144. The verb phrase today is to prey
on. You know to prey on somebody or something/ All right. Let's take a look at
the note. We have two meanings here. The first one is the more common one that maybe a
lot of students may already know. Let's cover that one first. So if an animal
preys on another animal, it hunts kills or eats that animal. So you could just use
the word PREY as a noun too. You know, someone could be the prey.
The predator is the one that hunts the prey. So the prey is the victim. So if
you prey on someone it's like you're putting them in the victim category. All right.
This would be the second one. This is the one that maybe students may want to know
more here. If a person or group preys on others, he or she takes advantage of them.
Victimizes then basically. To victimize them or exploit them. Okay good. Let's
look at the first example. This one goes to the animals. Lions often like to prey
on deer and zebra. So they like to hunt them, kill them, and eat them. So that's,
that's pretty straightforward. Let's look at the second one. Many phone scammers
will prey on senior citizens because they think they are more likely to have
saved money. You know since they become a senior citizen maybe they have a pension.
They're more likely to have some extra money saved up over many, many years. So
they're a good source to try to trick out of money. And be more feeble-minded.
Maybe they're you know, because they're older maybe they think their brain might
be getting slower. They might be able to double-talk them or scam them easier. So
a lot of times they prey on them and we hear this in in the US a lot. A lot of,
especially a lot of senior citizens keep getting these phone calls that try to
trick them into doing something to get money from them. Okay good. Let's look at
number three here. Pickpockets will often prey on tourists because even if they
get caught the victim is unlikely to press charges.
Yeah. So usually the victim does not want to come back for a court date. They're
just usually there on vacation. They're only there for a few days or a week. They
don't want to come back to a court case that may be many, many months later . They
don't want to fly all the way back to the country just for that case. So in
most cases they'll ... they just won't press charges. So the pickpocket gets away
scot-free, That's another adjective phrase that I
did too. He gets away completely free. Even if he gets caught. So that's why they're,
that's why tourists are very good to prey on. Also tourists tend to carry
more cash too. That's another good reason why pickpockets like to prey on them.
They like to choose them, especially to victimize or take advantage of. Anyway I
hope you got it. I hope it was clear. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.