Here I am...
Hi everyone. In this video we're going to look at movement verbs. To make it a bit easier and
hopefully a bit more interesting, I'm going to act out these verbs. Some of them are transitive verbs,
in other words, they take an object, and some are intransitive - they don't take an object. For native
speakers these are very basic words (we usually learn them as children), but non-native speakers
often don't learn these words or they'll learn them after many years of studying the language.
Just a couple of quick things before we start. If you'd like to expand your vocabulary even more,
remember that I also send out free advanced English email lessons every two weeks. If you
would like to subscribe to those, you'll find the link in the description. And if you want to make
fewer mistakes in English, I also have a course on common mistakes. To receive my discount for that,
you'll also find the link in the description. Okay, guys we're going to start with
a very easy one. I'm sure most of you know this one already. This one is jump.
For example, I am jumping. You can jump on the spot like this or you can jump to a different place.
The next one is leap. "Leap" is very similar to "jump", but it means to jump very high or a long way.
For example, you could say: The dolphin leapt out of the water.
But you can also leap from one place to another. For example: I am leaping.
The next one is hop. This is hopping. So it's jumping on one leg.
Now if i just stand here like this, I'd say: I am standing on one leg or on one foot. You could
also say: I am balancing on one leg or on one foot. The next word is skip. This word makes me think of
um... physical education classes when I was in primary school. This is skipping.
So yeah... it's something that we often do when we're kids. Next we have march. Marching is the sort of
stiff walking that soldiers often do. You also have marching bands. A marching band is a group of
people playing instruments while they march. Now we have stamp. To stamp means to
walk using very heavy movements like that. This can be transitive. For example, you could say: He
stamped his feet. Um... Often we say that for children when they throw a tantrum.
He was stamping his feet. But it can be intransitive. So you can just say, for example:
He stamped out of the room. A similar word is "stomp". Now we have tiptoe. To tiptoe means to walk very
carefully (normally slowly) on your toes or on the balls of your feet. This is tiptoeing.
The next word is slide. To slide means to move smoothly across a surface. This is grass... uh...
and yeah... it's dry, so it's difficult to actually slide on this.
But if it were wet, I could probably slide on the grass... For example...
Yeah, you can slide very easily on
wet floors or ice, but not really on grass. Now we have a very similar one and this is slip.
Lots of people get "slip" and "slide" mixed up. To slip means to slide, but then to fall - or at least
lose your balance. For example, if I go like this
and then fall over or lose my balance, you could say I slipped. This word is trip. To trip means to
lose your balance. Usually because you've hit something with your foot. For example, if I'm
not looking where I'm going, I could do that and trip on the brick. You could also say to trip
over the brick. Now if I trip and hurt my foot or my leg, afterwards I might be limping.
To limp is to walk in a way that's not very even, usually because you've hurt yourself.
For example, something like this. Now we have to squat. To squat is to do this.
Um... to squat is the movement of getting into this position,
but it's also being in this position. So right now, I can say that I am squatting.
You might know the word "squat" from exercise videos. To do squats is to do this. These are squats.
And now we have crouch. "Crouch" is very similar to "squat". The main difference is squatting is
always being like this - being very close to the ground.
Normally your back is straight. The word "crouch" is a bit more flexible, I guess.
And usually when you crouch, your back is a little bit like this. So crouching could be like this
or crouching could be like this. And next we have kneel. To kneel is to do this.
It's to get onto your knees or to be on your knees. You can kneel on both of your knees or
just on one knee. Next we have crawl. Crawling is an action that we normally associate with babies.
It's moving on your hands and knees like this.
The next one is actually a phrase. It's to sit cross-legged.
It's the movement, but also the position. It's doing this.
Now I am sitting cross-legged. You can say "cross-legged" or "cross-legged". Both pronunciations
are acceptable. We're now going to look at some hand movements. The first one is to wave.
That's waving. I am waving at the camera. A common phrase that you might hear is to wave hello to
somebody. I am waving hello to my neighbours. And now we have point. We normally point with
one finger. For example, I am pointing at the plant. I have heard that in some cultures it's considered
rude to point, particularly at people, but most of the time it's fine in English-speaking cultures.
As long as you do it in a respectful and pleasant way. The next one is flick. To flick means to
do that or maybe with one finger... For example, if I had a mosquito on my arm, I might flick it away.
This word is slap. To slap means to hit something with an open hand. For example, I could slap the
mosquito if I wanted. Now if you hit something with a closed hand (with a fist), that's punching. To punch.
Now obviously I'm not advocating violence, but this is something that is obviously done in the
sport boxing, and people often punch when they're exercising. Next we have to pinch. Pinching is this.
People sometimes pinch baby's cheeks. I'm sure they love it. Now we have bounce. Bounce.
For example: I am bouncing the ball. It's also intransitive, so you could say: The ball is bouncing.
Now if it were really cold - today it's not really cold, it's the opposite - but
if it were really cold, I might shiver. So to shiver is when you shake sort of quickly because it's
cold or perhaps you're scared. That's shivering. The next word is stretch. To stretch is to do things
like this. It's basically making your muscles long. You might stretch when you get out of bed in the
morning, or you might do some stretches before you play sport to warm up. The next word is kick.
Kicking is basically any movement you do with one of your legs that involves some force.
For example, that's kicking, that's kicking, that's kicking. Now I am going to kick the ball.
Next we have shake. To shake means to move or to move something quickly. For example,
if I do that, I could say I'm shaking my hands. Or if I take the cocktail shaker and do that
or that, I could say I'm shaking the cocktail shaker. We also have the expression "to shake hands",
but usually we don't do that too quickly. And now we have knock. I am knocking on the door.
We normally knock ON something. I could say: I'm knocking on the cabinet. But for doors you can also
use the preposition "at". For example, you could say: Someone was knocking at the door. This word is lean.
Lean. It means to put your weight against something. For example, I could say that I am now leaning
on the cabinet (or against the cabinet). You can also lean something on something. For example: I can lean
the umbrella against the cabinet (or on the cabinet). The last word for today is drag. I'm sure you know
the word "lift". It's to do that. But because this chair is rather heavy, I might choose not to lift it
if I want to move it, but drag it instead. That's when you pull something along the ground.
You can also drag a suitcase, for example. But now Monty's stealing the show.
That's it, everybody. I hope you found this useful. If you did, don't forget to
hit the thumbs up. I'd also like to say thank you again to my mum for helping me film this, and
I would like to extend a very special thanks to Monty for his participation in this video.
Thanks very much for watching, everyone. I'll see you next time. Bye!
... a different place.
Plane!
To stamp is to walk with your feet... well, of course you walk with your feet...
I'm not advoca...
It's hot today!
Another common...
For example...