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10 ways to improve your writing so let's
go
don't use text speak
okay so the first tip to improve your
writing is don't use text speak text
speak by that i mean for example like
brb or lol or
those kinds of words the words that you
use on the internet like sns or in text
messages with your friends those very
short like slang words ttyl
or lmao or those sorts of acronyms do
not use those in your formal writing if
you are writing a letter a
a business email whatever do not use
those the only one that you can use in a
business email so not in a letter of
recommendation not in a formal letter
but the only thing you can use that's
sort of text
speakish is the acronym fyi which means
for your information you can use fyi in
a mail to your colleagues in an email to
your colleagues or your co-workers
but usually it's with somebody you have
a good relationship with you can say fyi
in those cases other texts speak other
acronyms like that don't use them you
you will sound
immature you will sound
too casual
not a good idea
use proper punctuation
the next hint is to use proper
punctuation proper punctuation
punctuation for example we have commas
we have periods semicolons colons
apostrophes quotation marks parentheses
all of these are punctuation marks the
little points in our writing that tell
readers where to stop reading or how
sentences are connected using proper
punctuation in your writing will help
your reader understand you and if your
reader understands you well and you've
used proper punctuation you will also
look a bit smarter too if you're not
using proper punctuation like for
example if you forget to use an
apostrophe in a word it's going to look
kind of bad honestly for example if you
use the word
your y-o-u apostrophe r-e if you leave
out the apostrophe if you just write
y-o-u-r-e
it looks lazy it looks lazy so make sure
to use proper punctuation to avoid
appearing lazy so don't forget your
little periods comma semicolons all that
don't repeat the same vocabulary words
the next tip is don't repeat the same
vocabulary words don't repeat the same
vocabulary words she says repeating the
same sentence but don't repeat the same
vocabulary words means if you are using
like an adjective a specific adjective
in a sentence
don't use that same adjective in every
other sentence like try to use different
adjectives to describe your points if
you always using exactly the same words
to describe your point like if for
example i want to write about
cake if i want to write an article about
cake and i just say this cake is
delicious this cake is so delicious i
loved this cake because it was delicious
this was so delicious
it's boring for the reader to read the
same word every single sentence or and
also you're not really communicating
very much if i just use the word
delicious to describe a cake the reader
doesn't understand why the cake is
delicious so give more detail when
you're sharing your opinions of course
this time it's a very simple opinion
about delicious cake but use a variety
of different adjectives
support your arguments with statements
that use different vocabulary words so
don't always say the same word to
describe something try to use a lot of
different vocabulary words and think a
lot about different adjectives you can
use if this is difficult for you there
is a tool you can use
the english word for it is thesaurus
thesaurus so many of you know what a
dictionary is a book or a resource to
check the meaning of a word but you can
also use what's called a thesaurus with
a thesaurus you can search for synonyms
words which have the same or similar
meaning as other words so if i look for
the word like delicious i might get
let's see some synonyms for the word
delicious might be yummy tasty good um
delectable for example so there are a
whole range of other words that you can
use if you find that you are using the
same word in every sentence try to find
a different word you can use a thesaurus
to help you do that so avoid using the
same word in every sentence or avoid
using this repeated vocabulary words
avoid use of very and really
okay the next tip is to avoid the use of
very and really by this i mean
instead of saying to go back to my cake
example the cake was very delicious the
cake was really delicious very and
really are sort of lazy words of course
they're very very useful
they're very very useful when we're
speaking casually and when we're
thinking quickly but if you're writing
and you have some time to think about
what you're writing instead of using a
word that's
common like delicious and just attaching
very like this cake is very delicious
what's a different word that means very
delicious so can i replace very and
delicious with one different word like
scrumptious for example this cake is
scrumptious scrumptious means very
delicious it's only one word so if you
can do this if you apply
a
a word that means the same thing as very
or really plus another word it's going
to level up your vocabulary and you're
going to reduce the number of words in
the sentence so if i say this cake is
very delicious or if i say this cake is
scrumptious scrumptious has a much
stronger meaning than just very
delicious so avoiding the use of very
and really can level up your speech
quite significantly so give it a try
use transition words and
phrases the next tip is to use
transition words and phrases use
transition words and phrases so
transition words are words and well and
phrases we use to move from one idea to
the next idea so continuing in my cake
example if i want to introduce my
scrumptious cake and then i want to move
on to a description of the store that
sells that cake i might use a transition
phrase or some kind of sequence phrase
to help me do that so if in paragraph a
i'm talking about my scrumptious cake
and how much i enjoyed it and the
chocolate flavors and the amazing
frosting i could use a transition phrase
for example by the way if you're
interested you can purchase this cake at
abc store for example so in that case my
transition phrase was by the way a very
casual transition phrase depending on
the kind of thing you're writing you can
use different transition phrases if
you're writing an academic paper for
example
when you want to add information you can
say additionally moreover furthermore
you can also use plus if you'd like to
add information in addition is another
one that you can use so when you want to
add information there are some
transition phrases or some ways to give
more information
you to describe a sequence you can say
next then following that you can use
your words like first second third
fourth depending on the sequence you can
say
subsequently or
consequently as well so think about the
relationship between the points you're
introducing think about all these
different relationships how do you want
to connect these ideas so instead of
just listing your points each point try
to think about how to connect those
points naturally
so depending on what you're writing the
words you use will change which is fine
but just think about the way you'd like
your reader to understand your
information and choose transition words
and phrases accordingly
organize your writing intro body
conclusion
okay the next one is a tip about
organization so the next tip is organize
your paper or organize your writing into
an introduction a body and a conclusion
so these are the three basic elements of
an academic paper or of an essay perhaps
an article as well introduction is as it
sounds it's introducing the main points
what are you going to talk about what is
your opinion what is your argument we
introduce that in the introduction then
the next part is the body of the paper
in other words the main points the
your real arguments everything you would
like to say about the things you
introduced in your introduction this is
where you get into the details of that
so the body of the paper is typically
the longest part of the paper or the
longest part of the essay so there's a
lot of information in the body section
finally the conclusion the conclusion of
the paper concludes or finishes the
paper in the conclusion you will
summarize your points from the body of
the paper and you should connect those
points to the items you introduced in
the introduction of your paper so all of
these elements these three elements
should connect together so if you are
finding that it's difficult to organize
your thoughts or you don't know how to
approach your paper or this item maybe
even an email you're writing you can try
to separate it into three sort of
categories introduction body conclusion
so introduce idea explain idea summarize
idea this can be very helpful in writing
avoid use of second person
okay the next hint is avoid use of
second person second person this is
going to take a little explanation so in
english writing we have three sort of
ways that we can write we can write in
first person which means for example i
went to the store i wanted to buy
something i met a friend so first person
i am the person sharing the story
sharing the information
in second person which is kind of rare
actually except in very casual styles of
writing uh the subject of the sentence
is you like you go to the store you buy
some milk you call your friend this is
kind of rare we see this in children's
books and like i say in sort of informal
articles online
third person style writing is using he
she and character names like he went to
the store she called her mother they
needed to see a doctor so there are
these three types of writing in english
language so first person second person
third person generally when you are
writing especially an academic paper
you'll use first person or third person
to do that if you're writing something
formal you should probably not use
second person sometimes you'll see
like a person describing an experiment
for example like you should submerge the
item in water or you should bake this at
350 degrees using you is fine in casual
situations when you're giving
instructions for example
if you find it in a recipe fine it's
kind of sounds a bit more casual it's
very informal not so important however
if you find that you are using
you you you in an academic paper it
sounds a bit uh too casual too informal
so please avoid use of second person so
reminder second person is the subject of
the sentence is you you so it sounds
like you're kind of commanding the other
person commanding the reader or giving
advice to the reader or telling the
reader what to do it sounds very odd so
avoid use of second person in your
writing
consider the tense you're using
the next tip is to consider the tense
you're using consider the tense you're
using so i'm just going to talk about
two tenses here really uh present tense
and past tense um so we can use the
present tense uh and the present
continuous tense really to explain a
story or to tell a story like it's
actually happening so if i say like i go
to the store i see a friend of mine
she's buying milk for example if i use
the present tense and i use the present
continuous tense it sounds like the
listener or if it's in writing it sounds
like that's actually happening it's
easier for the listener or the reader to
kind of experience the story in that
moment so if you want to create some
tension in your writing if you want to
create some excitement you can use the
present tense and its associated tenses
to kind of heighten the energy level if
you use past tense however you might
create more of a report nuance so for
example when you watch the evening news
or you read the newspaper
you might find that it's written in past
tense it's just reporting information
what happened so simple past tense is
used past tense and the other associated
tenses in past tense are used so when
you're writing consider what do you want
the reader to feel or what do you want
the reader to experience are you writing
a report maybe you should just use past
tense are you writing about general
facts
then if you're writing about a general
fact you should probably use present
tense but if you want to create like a
fiction story for example and you want
your reader to experience the story and
kind of feel enthusiastic or energetic
about your story
present tense and maybe continuous tense
um with present would be a better choice
so just think about which tense you're
using for your writing
consider appropriate vocabulary
the next tip is to consider appropriate
vocabulary consider appropriate
vocabulary so depending on the type of
thing you're writing there are words
that are good to use and there are words
that are not so good to use if you're
writing an academic paper for example
don't use casual words don't use curse
words in your paper don't use anything
that could be interpreted or could be
understood as informal if you're writing
something very casual on the other hand
it's fine to use casual words it's fine
to be informal to be a little bit funny
and it might sound strange if you do use
informal words or extremely polite words
so consider the appropriate kinds of
vocabulary words to be using depending
on what you're writing learn to use
references
okay the last tip is maybe the most
difficult tip the last tip is learn to
use references learn to use references
this is especially important if you are
writing academic papers or if you are
writing something
you're going to publish in like a
journal or maybe even a magazine using
references means you are using
references reading references and
writing about them and including what's
called a citation in your writing so
you're taking a piece of something that
someone else has written putting it in
quotation marks perhaps depending on the
way you choose to cite it and then
adding a reference list at the end of
your document to show
which documents you referenced which
documents were important to you in
making your argument so if you can use
references in your writing to support
your argument it can be a very very good
tool so if you
have just kind of an opinion piece you
want to write an article even for the
internet for example it can be very very
helpful to support your argument with
links to other
references with links to other
information about your opinion so yes
i'm it's most important it's most
focused on in academics uh in academia
really but if you're writing even for
the internet learning how to reference
properly learning how to include others
works properly in your work can be
extremely valuable so try that out it's
it's a big topic it's a difficult topic
but learning how to use references can
really help you improve your writing 10
phrasal verbs for eating and drinking so
let's get started
drink up
the first phrasal verb is drink up drink
up drink up is a happy is a cheerful
phrase we use that means let's start
drinking or let's enjoy drinking or
please drink so you can use it when
everybody gets their drinks uh you can
say all right our beers are here let's
drink up it means it has the nuance of
drink a lot like you can also use it
like as a challenge to someone like
someone who loses a bet or loses like a
an argument you can say drink up is kind
of a challenge it's sort of like a
friendly command for drink so in a
sentence our beards are here everybody
drink up
take down
the next phrasal verb is take down take
down as in take down an order take down
is a phrasal verb that the staff like
waiter or waitress will use at the
restaurant they may come to your table
and say can i take down your order they
may also say can i take your order of
course but to take down is like to take
your order and write it down on a
notepad for example in a notebook so
take down your order you might hear this
so in a sentence when you're ready i can
take down your order
ring up
the next word is ring up ring up we use
ring up to mean total to total something
uh to total a bill to total the amount
of something at a restaurant or shopping
too for example um so again this is a
word that waits staff the staff the
restaurant may use so when you finish
your meal
they will ring up your bill they will
ring up your total and you will pay that
amount at the end of your meal so in a
sentence i'll ring up your bill at the
cash register
set down
the next phrasal verb is set down set
down so we use set down
for items which we are carrying and then
we set or we place on a table so usually
there's like a downward motion if you're
carrying something like you can use it
for a backpack if you want to like to
set down to to drop something to leave
something but to put it it like on a
table to put it in a place specifically
there so
we can use set down at a restaurant like
please set the plate down on the table
or
can you set down my drink over there or
i'll set down your order over here so
set down means to place something
something you were carrying to place it
on a table or to place it on a desk so
set down in a sentence please set down
the plates carefully
cut up the next phrasal verb is cut up
cut up we use cut up to mean cut but cut
up usually means to cut all of something
so if you receive like
i don't know chicken or beef or pork or
some large item you need to cut
we say cut up to mean cut
the entire piece to cut everything you
receive so in a sentence make sure to
cut up steak into small pieces for
example it's easier for children to eat
or i take a long time to cut up my meat
for example so cut up means cut
everything
cut into
the next phrasal verb is cut into so to
cut into means just to make one slice
into something usually we use cut into
for like the first slice like we use it
maybe to check that a
something is properly cooked sometimes
so like to cut into a chicken or to cut
into turkey
we usually use this for the first slice
so the first experience like when i cut
into the chicken all the juices came out
it looked delicious i'm excited to cut
into my thanksgiving turkey this year or
i'm i'm really looking forward to
cutting into
that steak later it looked great so cut
into is kind of that first cut that
initial cut where you can see maybe what
the what the meat looks like or you get
you get a sense of how the rest of your
meal is going to taste so cut into the
first slice i want to cut into my dinner
later
stop up
the next phrasal verb is sop up sop up
so to stop means to soak with liquid to
soak with liquid to sop up therefore is
like to to soak to soak liquid from like
a bowl or from a cup or something but we
use this with bread usually so
if you're eating soup for example and
there is leftover soup in your bowl you
can take bread and sop up soak up the
liquid from your soup with bread so to
sop up liquid so to soak and pick up
something is the image here so to stop
up bro so for example i like to sop up
my soup with bread or i like to sop up
extra sauce with a biscuit for example
so usually there's some bread and some
sauce or liquid we use with this phrase
cool down
the next phrasal verb is cool down cool
down means to let something
become lower temperature
naturally so to let something cool down
really means to allow something to
gradually go to a lower temperature if
you make a pie for example it's very hot
when it comes out of the oven so
oftentimes the recipe will say allow to
cool down and serve for example so
meaning after the pie is taken from the
oven you should let the temperature cool
you should let the temperature come down
before eating so to cool down is like
reducing the temperature but just
naturally over time so in a sentence
make sure to let your mashed potatoes
cool down before you try to eat them
heat up
so the next phrasal verb is heat up heat
up we use heat up usually to talk about
microwave use or oven use so it's taking
a cold food or maybe a frozen food
usually just a cold food kept in the
refrigerator put it in the microwave and
turn it on to heat the food to make it
warm again so to heat up is like to
move the heat level up to increase the
temperature of the food we use the
phrasal verb heat up to do this so for
example i like to heat up my pizza
before i eat it my leftover pizza or you
should heat up
yesterday's soup it would be really good
to have that tonight or maybe we should
heat up uh something quick for dinner
tonight so heat up means to increase the
temperature of a cold thing
chow down
so the next phrasal verb is sort of a
slang expression it's chow down chow
down means like to eat really excitedly
it's uh it's not a phrasal verb i
personally use very much but um you can
use it to express your enthusiasm
for something so um it's typically used
for like uh sort of junk food type
things or like really really um everyday
foods like in in the usa it's like
sandwiches or hot dogs or like something
you might get at like a sporting event
we'll say like i want to chow down on a
sandwich later or i want to chow down on
some pizza after this so to chow down is
like enthusiastically eat like you're
not thinking about being polite you're
not worried about looking nice while you
eat you're just enjoying eating very
enthusiastically so like oh let's chow
down on some pizza later for example so
or for example like we're gonna chow
down on some barbecue this weekend it'll
be great and phrasal verbs for sports
and exercise so let's go
go long
the first word is go long go long we use
this word when we're playing catch or
when we're throwing a ball so go long
means we combine the word go
with the word long meaning run
far away from me run a long distance
away from me so go is travel move and
long is a long distance away so go long
we'll usually shout this before we pass
a football for example or before we
throw a ball go long means i want to
throw this
a long distance so please run far far
away and i will throw the ball to you
it's a nice one
in a sentence i'm gonna pass this next
one to you so go long
try out for
uh the next phrasal verb is try out for
try out four we use try out four to mean
audition like in sports but to audition
for a team to apply to be a member of a
team when you do that you usually have
to show your sports uh your your sports
sporting experience or you have to show
your athletic ability so to try out for
is like a test to join a team like i
want to try out for the volleyball team
next year or she says she's going to try
out for golf next year or have you
thought about trying out for the swim
team for example so to try out for a
team to try out for a sport this is how
we can use try out four
work up
the next phrasal verb is work up as in
work up a sweat work up a sweat we use
work up a sweat to mean cause your body
to sweat because of exercise so by doing
something active like doing sports or
running for example anything active with
your body we cause our bodies to sweat
and we use the expression work up a
sweat to express that we use work
because we are working we are moving our
bodies we're active we are working our
bodies our bodies are working they're
moving they're functioning so we use
work up a sweat our bodies are working
and the temperature maybe increases so
our body starts to sweat to try to cool
us down so we say work up a sweat to
describe this
in some example sentences
i try to work up a sweat
at least twice a week or how often do
you work up a sweat or it feels really
good to work up a good sweat now and
then yeah
root four the next expression is root
four root four we use root four at
sporting events so root four means
support a team so to root for like i'm
going to root for the football team or
i'm going to root for my country's team
or i'm going to root for my cities team
route 4 means support so i like to root
for my college team every year or i like
to root for my college football team
every year that's true
or
which team do you want to root for this
weekend
work off
the next phrasal verb is work off work
off so we talked about work up like work
up a sweat but here the word is work off
we usually use this to talk about
calories so
i want to work off the cheesecake i ate
for a dessert last night or i want to
work off the burrito i had for lunch
today work off means a food you ate and
we we use the word work off to mean work
our bodies as in work through exercise
and work off so we want to take off from
our bodies the calories we added to it
by eating so example sentences would be
yeah i want to work off the cheesecake i
ate last night i want to work off all
the pizza that i ate last weekend or um
do you want to come with me i'm going to
go work off all these
ice creams i've been eating lately for
example so work off means to
exercise
with the intention of taking off or
taking away calories from food so if
you're dieting or if you're trying to
become healthy or you just want to
exercise away
some extra calories you can use the
expression work off to work off a food
to work off some calories okay cheer on
cheer for
the next expression or maybe pair of
expressions is cheer on or cheer 4. so i
talked about the word root for and cheer
on and cheer 4 are very similar we use
them in pretty much the same way so we
use cheer on uh usually before a team
name like i'm going to cheer on my high
school team or i'm going to cheer on my
son or daughter's team this weekend we
can also use cheer 4. i'm going to cheer
for my high school team i'm going to
cheer for my college team because we're
using the word cheer it sounds like
we're going to use our voice or use our
bodies to support that team you can
maybe see a great example of this among
cheer leaders
so you see cheerleaders a lot in movies
especially from the usa
they're men and women actually but they
wear a
uniform and their role their purpose is
to
help the audience cheer for that team to
cheer for the the team
that they are connected to so a cheer
leader is a person who leads cheering at
a sporting event so to cheer for someone
or to cheer on someone a team we can use
cheer on and cheer four to talk about
supporting with your voice or with some
kind of dance for example so uh cheer on
and cheer for uh are really fun things
that you can talk use to talk about uh
supporting your favorite teams
knockout
uh the next expression is knock out
knock out or you might see ko as well
knock out means to usually through a
punch or through some kind of physical
action to cause someone to lose
consciousness so it doesn't mean to kill
someone it doesn't mean someone dies for
example
it means to cause someone to become
unconscious so unconscious it's like
going to sleep but it's kind of it's
dangerous like because of a head injury
usually a person goes unconscious or
they um they fall asleep it appears they
fall asleep but you see this in boxing
for example a knockout a ko
is someone yeah becomes maybe
unconscious so they they fall down for
example and they don't get back up
that's a ko to knock out your opponent
so we we see this a lot in boxing
perhaps in other sports occasionally but
i think primarily it's used in boxing so
to knock out your opponent or uh like
he's going to try to knock out his
opponent in the last round or did you
see that guy get knocked out last night
you can use knockout outside of sports
but it's usually used for fights like
i saw a guy get knocked out outside a
bar last night so
we can use this outside of sports but
it's usually for like fighting
situations okay workout
the next phrasal verb is work out work
out this is one that many people seem to
struggle with when they see it so it
does not mean it has no connection to
actually working
to work out means to exercise to
exercise we use this as a set phrase
work out it means exercise that's it so
i want to work out three times a week or
i went to the gym for a workout last
night or do you want to work out with me
this weekend workout means exercise
always
warm up
the next expression is warm up warm up
so warm meaning warm your body so
increase your body's temperature and up
meaning to increase something again so
warm becoming warm and up uh temperature
like increasing temperature so before
you begin a
some kind of exercise or some activity
it's common to begin with a warm-up a
short kind of easy exercise to prepare
your body to work out to exercise so a
warm-up is often included in an exercise
routine warm-up is the phrasal verb we
use so example sentences i like to do a
five-minute warm-up before i go jogging
or what do you usually do for your
warm-up or i think it's really important
to do a warm-up before you start working
out
cool down
all right the last one for today is cool
down cool down is really the opposite of
warm-up so we use warm-up to explain
raising our body's temperature before we
do a workout cool down is used to
explain cooling the body's temperature
after a workout reducing our energy
levels after a workout
for example i think it's important to
take five minutes to cool down after
your workout or what kind of things do
you recommend for cooling down after
your exercise
hi everybody my name is alicia in this
lesson we're going to talk about some
expressions you can use to talk about
your abilities so i'm going to introduce
some expressions you can use for the
past for the present and for the future
these are just a few examples of some
ways you can talk about the things you
can could and will be able to do so
let's take a look with a few examples of
each pattern okay let's start with the
first one i can
plus a verb so here the subject in the
sample pattern is i but we can replace i
with for example he or she or it or they
the same is true for all of the other
patterns i'm going to introduce in this
lesson
so we use i can plus a verb as sort of
the basic uh most simple way to express
something we are able to do so example
sentences
i can speak english my verb here is
speak in this case so
this could be something many of you can
use
another example here i've changed the
subject to she she so she can my verb is
run she can run
5k 5k meaning 5 kilometers
in 30 minutes so these are just some
simple very basic ways to express
something we can do we are able to do
of course we can use the negative for
this i can't speak english i can't speak
chinese for example or she can't run 5k
in 30 minutes we can make the negative
with this pattern too so this is maybe
the most basic way to express something
you can do you are able to do
let's look at another one
this expression is i know how to plus a
verb i know how to do something so we
can use uh the same verbs we used in the
first pattern
in this pattern if you like for example
i know how to speak english is fine
however we use know how to do something
for something that requires like study
or something that requires maybe a
process there are rules for that thing
so
a sentence like i know how to run 5k
it's not quite so natural because
running isn't really necessarily a topic
of study running requires practice yes
but it's not really something we study
so we use know how to do something for
something we have learned how to do so
not necessarily physical practice of
something but we have learned this thing
so some examples i know how to use
photoshop so photoshop is a piece of
software
something we can study something we
learn how to use
another example he knows how to bake
cookies so here this is something we
need to study in other words so there's
a process
to baking cookies he knows how to bake
cookies so please keep in mind as we see
in this example
when we change the subject from i to for
example he she or it
the following verb no needs to change we
need to modify the verb so it has an s
at the end he knows how to bake cookie
so don't forget this s
however this verb does not change he
knows
how to
bake cookies so we don't need to modify
this verb we'll only modify the first
one which is attached to he the subject
okay
so this is for a process something we
study to become able to do
now let's talk about a couple of past
tense examples so these two uh are maybe
present tense expressions
let's talk about some past tense example
sentences the first one when i was a kid
i could and are verb so here i've said
when i was a kid you can change this of
course when i was a student when i was
an elementary school student
when i lived in a different city for
example so this part can change to a
different time period in your life
however here i'm using the past tense
could i could so this implies this
suggests
that maybe this action is not possible
for you now let's look at some examples
so when i was a kid
i could swim all day long so this
sentence sounds like now i can't really
um it's it's just a simple expression
with past tense i could i could um so
maybe the speaker is going to share some
more information about their current
abilities um but here i've used when i
was a kid again you can change this to
like when i was uh in swimming club for
example i could swim all day long so
there are a lot of different variations
you can use with this pattern anyway
let's look at another example
when you were a kid so maybe if a parent
wants to talk to their son or daughter
about their childhood they can use this
expression so when you were a kid
you could sleep for 12 hours straight so
it's 12 hours straight means 12 hours
non-stop
so
you
is my subject here when you therefore
was in my example pattern changes to
were when you were a kid you could sleep
for 12 hours straight
so again this is a past tense expression
let's look at one more past tense
expression maybe you're familiar with
used to used to so i used to
be able to
do something so where the action is a
verb here so here we have used to
so maybe you know i used to followed by
just a simple verb so like i used to
cook every day or i used to exercise
every day
here
we introduced i used to be
able to
this expression allows us to explain an
ability we had in the past so let's look
at some examples
i used to be able to speak spanish
here's my verb to speak spanish
used to shows a long time ago in the
past i had this ability but now i do not
so remember the nuance of used to
is that something was true in the past
and it is not true now i used to also
please consider the pronunciation here
so not used to but native speakers
connect the d and the t sound at the end
of used and to so it's not used to but
used to used to there's just one sound
there used to so think of it as dropping
the d used to i used to do something
one more example
she used to be able to babysit meaning
her schedule maybe has changed now she
cannot babysit so here we have some
expressions with used to to a talk about
a past ability okay finally let's end
with one example a pattern that you can
use to talk about future possibilities
or future abilities um so you can use
this when you want to make a guess about
the future so something you think you
might be able to do in the future so
the base pattern is in the future
we'll be able to verb so here i have we
in my example we will so wheel is the
contracted form of we will and i've used
we in this case we means all people all
people all members of society we
together so some examples of this
in the future
we'll be able to use ai technology ai so
artificial intelligence ai technology in
the future we'll be able to use ai
technology
so
um you might wonder why am i using will
here instead of like going to for
example we use will when we're making a
guess about the future that we can't
really see so we can't see what's going
to happen in the future and maybe we
don't have such a strong level of
confidence we don't have a super high
level of confidence about our guests in
those cases we can use will so these are
nice to talk about capabilities things
we are able to do or in this case things
we might be able to do in the future
so this is a sentence you can use to
make a prediction to make a guess let's
look at one more example sentence okay
in the future we'll be able to travel to
space so here again i'm making a guess
about space travel so i don't have a
high level of confidence because i don't
know very much about space travel but i
want to make a guess in the future we'll
be able to travel to space if you want
to decrease the level of confidence of
your guess you can include i think for
example in the future i think we'll be
able to travel to space so you can
change the level of your confidence of
your guess
by introducing some other phrases like i
think or maybe
all right so these are a few ways that
you can express your abilities in the
past the present and in the future these
are just a couple of different patterns
to do that um but please be careful some
things that i've noticed are that
often students will mix up the present
tense can and past tense could
so make sure to use past tense when
you're talking about your abilities in
the past
and make sure to use present tense for
the things you are able to do now
okay the basic definition of the verb
pass is to move beyond someone or
something
examples
let's pass this car
i passed you on campus earlier
so let's talk about the conjugations of
this verb
present
pass passes
past
past past participle past
progressive passing
okay so now let's talk about some
additional meanings for this verb the
first additional meaning is to decline
something so for example let's imagine a
conversation between two people
a want some cake
b
i'll pass
second example
i'm gonna pass on drinks tonight
okay so in both of these example
situations we see someone declining
they use the expression i'll pass or i'm
going to pass so to pass means like to
refuse or to decline something it's kind
of gentle
but it's just quick also so it's very
clear but rather gentle too like ah do
you want to go for drinks
i'll pass or i'm going to pass on that
for tonight something like that it's
very quick and easy to understand but
also
a casual no in other words okay let's go
to the second meaning for this verb
the second meaning is to go beyond an
amount or to go beyond a specific day
some examples of this
our channel passed 1 million subscribers
this year
don't eat that i think the expiration
date is passed
so in both of these example sentences we
see that some amount or some date
has been moved beyond so in the first
example sentence our channel passed 1
million subscribers this year it means
our channel went beyond 1 million
subscribers so there was some goal or
some point one million in this case and
we went above that or beyond that in the
second example sentence it's a date
specifically the expiration date for a
product or you might know like the best
buy date it's sometimes it's different
but the expiration date is like the last
day
that the product can be eaten or the
last
safe day to consume the product so the
expiration date has passed means that
the product is beyond that date so
in both of these examples we're seeing
some amount or some specific day
and then we're talking about going
beyond that so this is another meaning
of the verb pass the third meaning is to
be successful as in a test or an
application something like that examples
of this
i passed the test
if the house passes inspection we can
move in next week
so both of these are referring to
successfully completing something or
like successfully uh like achieving
something so in the first example i
passed the test it means i finished the
test and i had an acceptable score but
we use past it's much easier to explain
with pass in the second example sentence
about a house inspection
the situation is if we pass the
inspection so meaning if the house is
inspected and it's considered acceptable
we can move in next week so this means
like there's some kind of check some
kind of like uh grading or inspection or
examination and if that's okay
great like we're successful so this is
another meaning of pass the fourth
meaning is to give something this is
usually within like the range of our
bodies so some examples of this
can you pass me the salt
passed him 100
so in both of these examples we're kind
of imagining situations where people are
pretty close to each other so can you
pass me the salt is a request like maybe
you're sitting at the same table with
someone and you can reach them with your
arm or you can reach pretty close to
them anyway
in the second example sentence she
passed him 100 it's like they they must
be pretty close they're probably pretty
close there's some object they could
pass so they could give to the other
person
within arm's reach within a distance of
their arms so pass can just mean to give
something like this motion usually it's
like passing something it's kind of this
image
so those are a few additional meanings
of the verb past let's go on to some
variations now
the first one is to pass something off
as something else so this expression
means to make something seem like
something else or to pretend that
something is something else this sounds
like quite a long expression but let's
look at some examples of how it's used
he tried to pass off his dog as a wolf
the criminal was trying to pass off one
dollar bills as 100 bills
so in both of these examples we see
someone is pretending object a is object
b in the first example sentence there's
a guy who's trying to pretend his dog a
is a wolf so it's not really a wolf he's
pretending it's just a dog in the second
example sentence a criminal is trying to
pass off is pretending that one dollar
bills aren't 100 bills so
trying to pass off means like maybe
they're making some kind of effort to
persuade people that oh object a really
is object b but in many cases it's
pretty easy to see it's not really
object b so to pass something off as
something else okay let's go on to the
second variation for this verb the
second variation is the expression to
pass out to pass out
this expression means to fall asleep but
it means to fall asleep because you're
extremely tired you're sick or you're
drunk usually so there's it's not quite
a usual it's not like
it's not like the typical fall asleep
kind of gently calmly pass out is like
you're just so tired or it's like you
have no control it's just ugh it's it's
like a strong kind of rough version of
falling asleep it's passing out so
examples of this
i almost passed out on the bus
one of my co-workers passed out at her
desk today
yeah so as we talked about these are
both examples of situations where it's
kind of like a rough way to fall asleep
like almost passed out on the bus like
the image is i was so tired i was
sitting on the bus and i just almost
completely fell asleep i didn't plan to
really in the second example a co-worker
passed out at their desk it's like
someone was so tired they're sleeping at
their desk so it's kind of a rough image
of falling asleep the third variation
for this verb is to pass up to pass up
this means to not take advantage of a
chance or an opportunity so it means
like to let something go to let an
opportunity go
examples
you passed up a raise why
for some reason he passed up a full
scholarship
okay so both of these are examples of
situations that seem to present a big
chance or a big opportunity but we're
using the expression passed up in the
first example we saw pass up a raise you
passed up a raise why like why would you
not
take the raise so why would you let go
the chance for a raise so you have the
chance to earn more money a raise means
more money you have the chance to earn
more money why would you let it go
that's the speaker's question here you
said no you declined or refused why in
the second example sentence he passed up
a full scholarship the expression full
scholarship means your college or your
university tuition the money you pay to
take classes at university a full
scholarship means everything is paid for
you get free university education
essentially so in the sentence he passed
up a full scholarship the speaker is
probably confused why would he uh
decline such an opportunity that's a
huge opportunity free education free
money essentially why would you do that
so to pass up is to let an opportunity
go
let's begin with the basic definition of
this verb so the basic definition of the
verb to take is to remove something but
often without permission to remove it
some examples of this
you took the last cookie
your dog is about to take your lunch
now let's look at the conjugations for
this verb
present take
takes
past
took
past participle taken
progressive taking
now let's talk about some additional
meanings for this verb the first one the
first additional meaning is to receive
or to accept something some examples
does this restaurant take credit cards
all the teachers took a five percent pay
cut so in the first example sentence
does this restaurant take credit cards
take here means accept in other words
this sentence means can i use a credit
card at this restaurant but we use the
verb take in an expression like this
instead does this restaurant take credit
cards does this restaurant accept credit
cards we use the verb take here in the
second example sentence it also means
accept or receive
but in this case it means like probably
that the teachers are not willing or
they're not happy about a five percent
pay cut but they have to accept it they
have no choice but to accept it so they
took a five percent pay cut so the
expression all the teachers took a five
percent pay cut shows they received it
or they accepted this five percent pay
cut but maybe uh they weren't really
happy about it or they didn't want to
but they accepted it so the second
additional meaning of this verb is to
cause something to go to another place
so examples of this
i should have taken an umbrella to the
office
that bus will take you to the airport
okay so here we see take being used to
describe maybe an object or a person
moving to another location because of
something else in the first example
sentence it's a person like i should
have taken an umbrella to the office so
i should have moved my umbrella from
probably my house to my office i should
have done that myself in the second
example sentence that bus will take you
to the airport it means via that bus
using that bus your body you as a person
will cause to be moved to the airport so
we use the verb take to do that that bus
will take you to the airport move you to
the airport let's move on to the third
additional meaning for this verb the
third additional meaning for this verb
is to grasp to hold or to grip something
examples of this
can you take my bag for a second
take this pen and write your name
so here we see take being used to mean
like hold something or grip something in
the first example we see a very common
expression can you take my bag for a
second you're asking someone else please
hold this for a moment please just carry
this for a moment
so please take this bag please take this
phone please take my keys or something
for a short period of time is sort of
the feeling here in the second example
sentence take this pen and write your
name it's two commands actually take
this pen one meaning put this pen in
your hand hold this in your hand and
after that write your name probably with
the pen so we're meaning uh hold or
carry or grasp something but we use the
verb take here instead in most cases we
use take just for quick everyday
expressions like these okay let's move
on to the fourth additional meaning for
the verb so the fourth additional
meaning is quite open it's to do or to
perform something so examples of
this i've taken that test five times
let me take a look at that email
so i said this means like to do or to
perform something but when i say perform
i don't mean like to perform
entertainment i mean like to do an
action i mean perform as like the formal
version of do something so in the first
example sentence i've taken the test
five times it means like i have
done essentially i have registered and
written the test the act of test taking
i have done that i've performed the test
five times in the second example
sentence let me take a look at that
email we could say let me look at that
email but saying take a look it sounds a
little bit more casual uh kind of a
little bit quicker i suppose too if you
say let me look at that email and maybe
it sounds more focused take a look
sounds like maybe a quick a quick look
only or it sounds a little bit faster i
suppose so take a look means to do
something okay
let's move on to some variations for the
verb take of course actually with this
verb there are a lot of idioms and a lot
of phrasal verbs so these are just a few
you can check a dictionary online to see
some more examples as well but these are
some that might be useful to you right
away the first variation for this verb
is to take after someone to take after
someone to take after someone means to
resemble someone or meaning to look like
someone but not just an appearance this
can be in terms of personality in terms
of your behavior maybe in terms of your
career choices so some examples of this
she takes after her father
i hope the kids don't take after their
grandmother
okay so the first one she takes after
her father means she does something that
is similar to her father in the second
example sentence i hope the kids don't
take after their grandmother the speaker
hopes the children don't have the same
behavior or don't have the same
something maybe personality or maybe
looks appearance they don't do something
similar to their grandmother so to take
after someone means to resemble someone
in some way okay let's move on to the
second variation for this verb so the
second variation is to take someone or
something on so we can use to take
someone on to take something on both of
these kind of have the image of a
challenge of some kind so we're
accepting a challenge this can be a
physical challenge or it can mean like a
career challenge a project challenge a
conceptual challenge example
if you threaten him he'll take you on
i'm taking on some new responsibilities
at work
in the first example sentence it could
be a physical challenge if you threaten
him he'll take you on this could mean a
physical fight so accepting a physical
fight he'll take you on he will take you
on means he will accept your challenge
so that could mean
having a physical fight it could mean
having some kind of like legal fight we
don't know it's quite an open expression
but it means he will accept your
challenge and try to win in the second
example sentence and taking on some new
responsibilities at work we see that the
speaker has received new
responsibilities or maybe has agreed to
take new responsibilities has agreed to
accept new responsibilities and they're
going to try to
achieve those things like achieve new
goals for example so i'm taking on i'm
accepting and trying to work hard on a
new challenge okay let's move along to
the third variation the third variation
is to take something back to take
something back actually has two
different meanings depending on the
context let's start with the first one
the first meaning of to take something
back is to return something to a store
examples
i need to take back that sweater
have you taken back those shoes
so here to take back just means to
return an item to a store something you
purchased you want your money to be
returned to you so you return the item
and you receive your money we say take
back i need to take this item back to
the store i need to return this item is
what it means however there is a second
meaning for to take back it means like
to cancel or to nullify something that
you previously said or previously wrote
usually because there was a mistake or
there was something wrong or you
offended somebody there was some problem
with what you said examples
you should take back what you said about
her
our manager took back her comments about
our design when she saw how successful
it was
all right so in these examples we see
people in situations where someone
should uh sort of cancel or someone
should like
agree that the thing that they said in
the past was wrong in the first example
sentence you should take back what you
said about her it means you need to
recognize that you said something
incorrect or inappropriate about her and
you should
recognize that and like uh try to sort
of fix the problem fix that situation so
you can't of course
not unsay words if that makes sense you
can't just
physically remove your words from
someone's memory but you can recognize
that you made a mistake and say that
like you can say okay i take it back i'm
sorry like i cancel what i've said
before in other words in the second
example sentence we see it in past tense
our manager took back her comments so
meaning the manager recognized that she
made a mistake so her previous comments
were probably negative about the design
she took back her comments meaning she
recognized her mistake and she admitted
she had been wrong when she saw that the
design was successful so we see to take
back or in this case past tense took
back refers to recognizing in the past
that you made a mistake in your speech
or in your writing
and saying so to people so i made a
mistake i take it back
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