Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer from English with Jennifer. Do you know the movie Sister Act
with Whoopi Goldberg? For me, it's one of those entertaining films I can watch again and again.
I love the combination of humor and music. Whoopi Goldberg plays a Las Vegas nightclub singer
who has to hide in a convent for a while. She is a witness to a violent crime,
and the police want to keep her safe. A convent is a religious community for women.
It's a quiet place of prayer. It's not the kind of place you'd expect to see a nightclub entertainer.
Whoopi Goldberg's character, Dolores, is holding up pretty well considering that the mafia -- the
bad guys -- want to have her killed. To help her pass the time in the convent, she
joins and then takes over the choir. The choir was really struggling, but Dolores teaches them
to sing well. She also teaches them to combine traditional church hymns with upbeat songs -- soul
music. And soon the choir sounds like a girl group from the 1960s. They become popular,
and Dolores has to make a choice before a big performance: will she stay and perform with her
new friends? Or will she pull out early and return to her real life outside the convent?
Hold up, take over, and pull out are three of the most common phrasal verbs in English.
Did you understand them when I used them? In this lesson, we'll study these three phrasal verbs more
closely. Then you can go back and listen to my plot summary again and you'll understand better.
"Take over" can be a transitive or intransitive phrasal verb. With an object,
it's separable. When you take something over, you gain control of it. Dolores took over the choir.
Dolores took over and taught the ladies new songs. Dolores took over for the old choir director.
Guess what we call the act of taking something over? A takeover. At first,
the old choir director resisted the takeover, but then she gave Dolores a chance.
"Takeover" is a compound noun. In business, there are takeovers. One company takes control
of another. The people involved usually try to make it a smooth transition. However,
in the context of government and politics, there can be a military takeover, a hostile takeover.
One person can ask another to take over in a variety of situations.
Roger. Take over. Take over for me. Take over. "Hold up" can be a transitive or
intransitive phrasal verb. Literally, when you hold something up, you put it in a high position
so that people will notice it. For example, you can hold up a sign.
There are other more figurative meanings. Look at these examples and guess the definitions.
Dolores had been through a stressful situation, but she was holding up rather well.
Services can be held up by supply shortages;
if a company doesn't have certain parts, they can't provide their service on time.
The police caught the man who held up a local convenience store.
Here are the answers.
So, if you're holding up well, it means you're staying strong. We don't have to
refer only to people, though. A pair of boots can hold up well in the cold winter weather,
meaning they're warm, dry, and durable.
A theory may or may not hold up over
time. If it doesn't hold up, it means that something proves it wrong.
When we talk about a delay, we often use "hold up" in the passive: be held up,
get held up. You can get held up in traffic or on a phone call, and then you're late for a meeting.
We can also use hold up as an informal request to pause for a moment. It's like saying wait a
second. Wait. Hold up. Hold up. Hold up. Hold up. Is this a real concern? As for a robbery,
to hold up a place implies that the robber had a gun. The compound noun
"hold up" makes me think of a western movie with armed robbers on horseback.
This is what they call a holdup. "Pull out" can be a transitive or intransitive phrasal verb.
If someone pulls out, they quit or leave unexpectedly. In the movie Sister Act,
Dolores invests a lot of time and effort in the choir, and they become really good. For
that reason, she hesitates to pull out before a big concert. She doesn't want to disappoint
the other women by leaving too soon, but she also needs to return to her real life.
Anyone can decide to pull out of an undesirable
or dangerous situation. Army troops can pull out of battle in order to save soldiers.
We save and protect him. Pull him out. In another context, you leave or pull out
because you don't want to be involved in something anymore. You no longer want to commit.
A buyer can pull out of a deal. A business person may try to pull out of an agreement.
So, "pull out" can refer to leaving or quitting. Similarly, we can talk about removing something.
You can pull someone or something out of a place. You can pull weeds out of your garden.
If you find a gray hair, you might pull it out.
It's interesting and probably a little confusing
that another meaning of "pull out" has to do with entering rather than leaving. As a driver,
when you pull out, you join other cars. You pull out into traffic.
Do you know the traffic rules, by the way? What do you need to do before you pull into traffic?
You turn on your signal. I'm happy to report that my son is now a licensed driver. He passed
his driving test recently. He knows how to pull into traffic, parallel park, and everything. Pull
out slowly into traffic. Just pull out into traffic. Okay. Try a short quiz to review.
Do you think you remember other phrasal verbs that we studied earlier in this series?
Let me quiz you just a little.
That's all for now. Remember to go back and listen to the beginning of my lesson.
See if you understand the plot summary of Sister Act better. Watch the movie if you can find it.
I hope you like it. As always, thanks for watching and happy studies! Hey! Did you
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