Welcome to this video. Today, you're going to learn the top 10 Phrasal Verbs in English. And
adding these Phrasal Verbs to your vocabulary is going to help you sound very natural,
it's going to help you understand native speakers and it's going to help you sound very advanced in
English as well. So you definitely want to take notes, and make sure you really understand how to
use these phrasal verbs. Of course I'm Jennifer from JForrestEnglish.com and this channel is
dedicated to helping you feel confident speaking English in public, so you can take your career
and your life to the next level. Now before we go any further, make sure you subscribe and hit that
bell icon so you're notified every time I post a new lesson. Now, let's dive in with this lesson.
Are you ready to add the top 10 phrasal verbs to your vocabulary? And make sure you watch right to
the end because I'm going to quiz you. You're going to have to complete a quiz at the end to
make sure you really do understand all your new phrasal verbs. Let's get started with number one,
to back down. When you back down, it means you retract, or you withdraw from your original
position on a topic or on an argument. So you have an opinion. And then when you back down, you
change your position. You change your opinion to something different, usually because your opinion
is different from what other people think. So there's pressure on you to back down.
Let me give you an example. Let's say that you feel like you deserve a raise, of course you
deserve a raise, why wouldn't you deserve a raise. So you've done some amazing work, you go into your
boss's office, and you let your boss know that you feel like you deserve a 10% raise. Now,
that's your position. I deserve a 10% raise, that's your position. And you might feel very
firmly about this decision, and you might say, and I won't back down. I won't back down. Now,
notice how we commonly use this phrasal verb in the negative to say, I won't change my position,
I won't retract from my position. So my position is, I deserve a 10% raise and that is what
I'm keeping. Now your boss, on the other hand, maybe your boss is talking to other management,
and they're discussing this 10% raise. And they might say something like, Oh, give her a week
and then offer her 5%. She'll back down. She'll back down. So your boss is making a prediction
that you will retract from your original position 10%. And you'll accept something less,
5%. So notice you're using it in the negative. I won't back down, but then your boss is using it in
the positive she will back down. So obviously we could have ourselves a conflict here. Our
next phrasal verb is to phase out. When you phase something out, it means you gradually
stop using it. So it doesn't go from using it to not using it overnight. It's a process,
a gradual process where every day, you're reducing the use of it slightly, slightly slightly
until the use of it gets to zero. Now, we do this with many things. We can do this with products,
services, because technology changes, and we don't need that product or service anymore, for example.
But rather than just eliminating it overnight. We phase it out. So here's my personal prediction,
whether or not you agree with it is different you can let me know in the comments, but I think
cash, the use of cash is going to be phased out. So I think right now we're at a point where we're
gradually, gradually reducing our use of cash, paper money, right.
Cash, who pays anything with cash anymore. We use credit cards, we use Pay Pal, we use etransfers,
and now we're using Bitcoin even. so I personally think that physical money, cash, is going to be
phased out. But here's the thing. How long will this take? It could take 10 years, it could take
20 years, it could take 30 40, 50 years. But all of our products that aren't so substantial
in the economy, for example, like let's say, a software application, it can be phased out
over one week or two weeks, or 30 days. So the phasing out could be a lot faster. So when you
face something else you can do it slowly. You can imagine how big of a process, it would be to face
cash out of the economy, that would be a huge job right, so we could take 20 years. So do you agree
with my prediction that cash is going to be phased out. And what about you. Do you have a product or
a service or something that you predict will be phased out in the future, if you do let us
know your prediction in the comments. Our next phrasal verb to point out. Now just think about
pointing, when you point at something, is because you want someone to pay attention to it, right,
you want someone to work out whatever you're pointing at. So we use it in the same meaning,
but in this case we use it with information. When I point something out. I want you to become aware
of or pay attention to specific information. So once say I'm giving a presentation, and there's
a chart. Now as I'm presenting, I might say, I should point out that this chart is 10 years old.
So, I want to make you aware of specific information, I want you to pay attention to
specific information. I should point out that this chart is 10 years old. Another great
expression you can add to your vocabulary is, as I pointed out, or as he pointed out as the
documentary pointed out, and then you summarize the information, as I pointed out, our sales are
down from last year, or as the documentary pointed out, cash is becoming phased though, so that's a
great transition word to add to your vocabulary. Our next phrasal verb is a nail down when you
nail something down, it means like you make a firm decision on something, so a firm decision,
you can think of it as a permanent decision. I'm not going to change my mind. It's a firm decision.
We often use this phrasal verb in the planning stage, when we haven't made firm decisions on
topics. So let's say you're planning a conference, you have to make so many decisions on the date,
the time the guests at the conference, the food the venue so many decisions you need to make.
So in the planning process, you might talk about how we need to nail down the date. We need to make
a firm decision on the date, so we can talk about it as an obligation, or let's say you were doing
your PhD, and you have many different topics that interest you and you're not sure which one
to choose. Now you might discuss this with your professor and he might help you nail down a topic,
so he might help you make a firm decision on which topic to choose for your PhD.
Our next phrasal verb to pay someone back when you pay someone back, it means that you repay them
for money you borrowed. So let's say your friend lent you $20 Now when you give your friend $20
out a future day, you're paying her back, you're paying her back. You're giving her the money
that you borrowed from her in the first place. Now you can use this socially when you borrow a small
amount of money from a friend, but you can also use this when you borrow a large amount of money
like when you take out a loan from a bank, so you might be talking to a friend, and you might say,
Jill hasn't paid me back yet. And it's been months. So you let your friend Jill some money,
and she didn't give you the money back. And obviously there was an obligation that she would
give you the money back, you weren't just giving her the money. It was expected that she would give
it back at a future date. It was expected that she would pay you back. Now on the other hand,
maybe you lent her friend money, and a week later she pays you back, and gives you interest,
that's a great friend, right. So maybe you could say thanks so much for paying me back so quickly,
and you didn't have to pay the interest but thanks I appreciate it. Our next phrasal verb to
get ahead. When you get ahead, it means you make progress, and we usually use this in the context
of a career. Now if you're a student, you could think of your career as your academic career,
as well. Or, if you play sports as a hobby you could think of it as your sports career,
even though it's more of a hobby. Well, we use it in a very specific field with
fields but it could be your professional career. It could be an academic career or
it could even be more of a hobby, and when you do that when you get ahead, you're progressing.
So if you're new to a company, you might want to ask one of your co workers, or even your manager,
what's the best way to get ahead in this company. How can I get ahead. What would you recommend
I do in order to get ahead, and your boss might reply back and say, if you want to get ahead,
you better be willing to work long hours. Our next phrasal verb to bear with someone when you
bear with someone, it just means you're patient with them, this expression is used most in a
customer's service environment. So when you're asking for patients. When you're dealing with
customers. So for example, very common let's say you call a company to get support, they might say,
please bear with me while I look up your file, please bear with me,
please be patient with me, and then they might put you on hold, and they look up your file,
and then they come back and they might say thanks for bearing with me. Thanks for being patient, or
maybe you're a new employee, and you're providing support to a customer for first time, so you might
just say please bear with me. Today's my first day. So you're just letting them know you're new,
So you'd really appreciate it if their patient. Our next phrasal verb to pop in, you pop in
somewhere, a location, and it means that you visit that location for a short period of time. Now this
is commonly used when we're going from location A to be, but you want to make a quick stop
at another location. So maybe you're on your way to the airport, but you might say, Oh,
can we pop in the pharmacy. On the way, I need to pick up some Tylenol or can we pop in the bank.
on the way, can I go to the bank, quickly, so it's just an emphasis on quickly. Our next phrasal verb
to narrow down when you narrow something down, it means that you reduce your choices
or options to the most important or the best ones. So you start with many many options, and then you
narrow it down to just the best options. And why would you do that well because it's easier to make
a decision when you only have a limited number of options. So you might say, we haven't nailed down
the date yet. Remember we haven't made a firm decision, we haven't nailed down the date,
but we've narrowed it down to the first week of April. So remember in your planning process,
you have all options, it could be, April, May, June, July, August, all the months and you need to
nail it down, choose a specific date and then be firm in your decision, but you haven't done
that yet but you have taken all those options and you've narrowed them down. Our last phrasal verb
to give something up. When you get something off, it means that you stop doing something or you
eliminate something that was part of your daily routine. So something that was a habit. And now,
you stop doing it or you eliminate it, you give it up. So, generally, we give up things that are
negative, that don't add any value to our lives. for example, smoking, eating junk food. Those are
the two that come to my mind. So maybe you're talking to a friend, and then they light up a
cigarette and you say, I can't believe you haven't given up smoking yet given up smoking, yet so I
can't believe you haven't stopped smoking. I can't believe you haven't eliminated smoking
as a habit. So that's the thing we just really only use this with things that are habitual,
whereas you can stop doing something that you only did one time, like stop whistling. You're
whistling right now, and I want you to stop, but that doesn't mean you have to give it up because
you only give something up when it was a habit, something you did as part of your daily routine.
So if you always start your day with a chocolate chip muffin, which is not very good for you right,
you might say, I really need to give up eating sugar or eating sweets, eating bad food, eating
junk food, whatever it might be. So now you have the top 10 phrasal verbs in your vocabulary. So
it's time for your quiz. I am going to quiz you to make sure you know how to use all of these
phrasal verbs confidently. So you're going to see the questions on the screen. I'll only leave
the questions for 10 seconds, obviously there's not enough time to complete the quiz. So just
hit pause, answer all the questions, and then hit play, and I'll show you the answers for another 10
seconds. And of course just hit pause when you see the answers and you can compare your own,
and then let us know in the comments what your score was. So let's start your quiz now.
How did you do with that quiz? Let us know your score in the comments. And if you found this
video helpful, please hit the like button, share it with your friends and of course subscribe.
And before you go, make sure you head on over to my website, JForrestEnglish.com
and download your free speaking guide. In this guide I share six tips on how to
speak English fluently and confidently. And until next time, happy studying.
Awesome job adding these phrasal verbs to your vocabulary and I'll see you my next video, bye.