okay i think i am going to do a little bit now about phrasal verbs because i
was asked last week to talk about phrasal verbs
so why not have a look at them now what are phrasal verbs?
oh look at that as if by magic, popping up on my screen in front of me
we have some information about phrasal verbs it also gives me a chance to tidy
up my studio whilst I'm off-camera. phrasal verbs. A phrasal verb is a verb
that is made up of a main verb together with an adverb or preposition or both of
course typically their meaning is not obvious from the meanings of the
individual words themselves for example she has always looked down on me in that
sentence it seems as if we are talking about a situation where one person is
high up maybe on a rooftop or on a mountain and they are looking down at
someone else but it isn't, it's nothing like that it is what we call a
figurative expression or figurative use of words
so in other words to look down on someone means to think that you are
better than someone else or maybe you look down on everyone
maybe you think you are better than everyone around you
so in this sense to look down means to feel superior or better than other
people
fighting broke out among a group of 40 men fighting broke out among a group of
40 men you can see here but they broke out sound as if something is being
broken as a as a thing is leaving or exiting but in this case it means to
start something started so fighting broke out among a group of 40 men
fighting started fighting began or began the thing started something broke out we
can also use this to describe a fire that starts a fire has broken out or
fire broke out to start to begin I'll see to the animals 'see to' now that's a
interesting one because it doesn't really mean anything else except for
what it does mean which is attend to
if you see to something it means you will attend to it i'll see to the
animals
I will attend to the animals or I will take care of the animals i will go and
see if the animals are ok I will see to them
don't put me off i'm trying to concentrate
don't put me off I'm tryin to concentrate put me off means to distract
another person or distract them all maybe another person is distracting you
so to put someone off is to distract them
to the point where they make a mistake to put a person off the report spelled
out the need for more staff to spell something out is to clearly explain or
Express something clearly the report spelled out the need for more staff to
spell something out is to express or explain something very clearly so you
can see that these are not literal they are used in a way that we call
figurative so they are figurative uses there are of course many phrasal verbs
and many types we have transitive and intransitive a phrasal verb can be
intransitive in other words they have no object so we can say we broke up two
years ago we finished two years ago the relationship ended two years ago we
broke up two years ago they set off early to miss the traffic set off means
leave you leave the house you set off
to begin a journey is to set off he pulled up outside the cottage this
phrasal verb pulled up it means you drive up to a place and stop normally
outside normally outside a house you pull up outside
it means you drive and stop and of course there are trends to phrasal verbs
which include the police were called to break up the fight to break up something
means to stop or to bring something to an end you break up the fight
so if two people are fighting you intervene you break up the fight when
the door is opened it sets off an alarm when the doors opened it sets off an
alarm to set off is to trigger to trigger something to start something by
activating it is to set off so if you set off an alarm
it means you trigger it or you make it begin doing the thing it does you set
off an alarm
they pulled the house down and read out we developed the site
they pulled the house down and redevelop the site pulled down to pull something
down is to destroy it to bring it down to the ground to pull something down is
to demolish you knock something over or you knock it down
they pulled the house down they demolished the house they ripped the
house down
they pulled it down
you can see here briefly i won't go into too much detail here because you can
always freeze the video you can always pause the video later if you want
so the word order is quite clearly explained we broke up two years ago not
we broke two years ago up we broke up there are many phrasal verbs around
these are just a few there are actually hundreds of phrasal verbs and of course
new ones are being created all the time so phrasal verbs come in all shapes and
sizes and all different types i will keep the list on the screen for a few
moments you can always pause the screen later you can always pause it or of
course you can pause it now of course if you want to pulls and look at it so
phrasal verbs include for example abide by ask after agree with back away bash
up blow up clothes off
countdown cuddle up dip into dive into look down calm down crawl over creeper delve
into dive in cut-up drop off
carry off deal with do without draw up eat up elbow out enter into feel up
follow along for sin to go away grind up gun for hang-up hideout hold against so
that's just a few phrasal verbs there
do you want to see some more do you want to see some more phrasal verbs I think you do don't you
yes because you're very curious now about phrasal verbs
tell i can feel the vibrations iron out issue forth Jabbar away jazz up jump off
keel over key in that's an interesting one key in that means to enter a number
or a code quite often when you log on to a computer or if you have to use a
combination lock on a door you have to key in lock down lap up laptop can mean
drink or eat very quickly in a very hungry or thirsty way you lap up lean on
look over makeup max out max out
that's a good one that means to spend all of your money so if you spend all of
the money that's available on your credit card you max out
do you ever max out mess about about nail down nip out without means to to go outside
for a short time you get out
note down open up opt-out own up pass away pass away that means to die
pay back pencil in pencil in means to write something down temporarily quarrel
with quieten down rack up real in run over run over that means to go over
something in a in a vehicle such as a car you run over your neighbor's dog
save up save up that's something I like to do sometimes save up maybe you are
saving up or maybe you will save up some money sell up shut down stay away tag
along take away try on urge on urge on means to encourage to urge on to
encourage someone to do something you urge them on use up vacuum up that means
to do the vacuuming if you are using your vacuum cleaner you vacuumed up
venture forth
wake up we're off right down
yama on some people say that I yama on sometimes yama on it means to talk and
talk and talk
you Yammer on mr. Duncan you don't half yammer on yield off finally the
Zeds we have not many not many phrasal verbs with Z at the beginning zero in
on that means to focus on one place to focus in or to concentrate on one thing
you zero in on zip up like your trousers maybe use zip up your trousers zip the
action of zipping up you zip up zoom in and zoom out so just a few phrasal verbs
there there are many many many in fact i could probably sit here for three hours
just talking about those phrasal verbs that I've read their just those I could
literally sit here for three hours talking about them but i can
understand why some people would get a little confused by phrasal verbs I think
the main reason is that phrasal verbs aren't literal they are figurative in
other words you use the words figuratively
so that's the reason why that that phrasal verbs can be very confusing for
those learning English because they are not literal they are figurative so that's
the reason why they can be very confusing.