Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Verb Phrase 175. The verb phrase today is to
smother someone or something with something. Of course meaning with
something else. Okay. We got three meanings to cover today and we give a
couple of examples for each meaning. So let's look at the first one here. If a
person smothers one thing with another, he or she covers or spreads something
over it in a thick way. We especially use it with food. So let's look at the
examples here. He loves to smother his pancakes with
syrup. He makes sure to cover every visible spot on the surface. Usually it's
when somebody's like looking at someone else eating and they've really gone far.
and say, " oh my God" you're going to eat that. Boy you smothered it in in syrup. You
know , that's the way usually we would hear it used. Or number two here. He
always smothers his pudding with whipped cream. So that's another one that we
could say. And I'm I know myself as a kid I used to like to put whipped cream all
over things too. So we could say somebody could smother something in whipped cream.
So whatever it is. You're putting something on the surface of something in
a very thick way like covering all of it. And then we could say somebody smothered
something in something or with something. Okay. Good.
Well, let's look at the next one here. Or number two. To use something to suffocate
someone. So this is the literal meaning. Like of smother, if you smother someone
you put something over their face or it could be an animal too he could smother
an animal. So that they can't breathe and they die from being unable to breathe.
Remember we can't go very long without air. So they could be the quickest way to
kill someone. So let's let's look at some examples here. The character he played so
you know, hopefully we only see this in movies. The character he played in that
movie smothered a woman with a pillow. Yeah. It's a typical one. I've probably
seen that in a lot of movies over the years. I've seen that scene
where somebody smothering somebody with a pillow. Okay. Or number two. They
smothered him by putting a plastic bag over his head. Yes. This also seems like
it's from a movie maybe somebody from the Mafia or something put that over
somebody's head and tried to kill them that way. So this is the way that
somebody could be smothered. They were smothered by something. Yeah. Okay. Number,
number three here. To give someone something in abundance. Meaning a lot of
it , especially some sort of affection. Okay. And let's look at a couple examples
here. Example number one. When they found her missing child the mother smothered
her son in kisses. Yeah. Maybe she's so happy that she thought oh my God ( kissing sounds ) kind of
like that. Maybe she kissed him about 50 times or something. She smothered him in
kisses. Okay. Or number two. When our grandparents come to visit, they always
smother us in hugs. You know, maybe they hug everybody a lot and maybe these
parents like to hug a lot. So they smother you in hugs. So this is another
way that we often use it. Anyway, I hope you got it. I hope it was informative. Thank
you for your time. Bye-bye.