Today you're going to add the top 10 phrasal verbs to your vocabulary. Now first I'll explain
what the phrasal verb is how you can use it and I'll give you some example sentences. And at the
end of the lesson, you're going to complete a quiz to make sure you really know 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 get started with this lesson.
Are you ready to add the top 10 phrasal verbs to your vocabulary? Number one, to tune out. This
is a very useful phrasal verb because it's used to say you stop listening to someone. You
stop paying attention to them, because you don't like what they're saying, basically. So you tune
someone out. This is something that kids do all the time with their parents, right? If your parent
is giving you advice, and you don't want to hear it, you just tune them out. So your parent is
talking but you're just not really listening. So you might say, I always tune out my mom when she
gives me relationship advice. Now this can also happen a lot in a workplace situation.
Let's say the coworker that sits beside you is just a very negative person and complains a lot.
You might just simply tune them out. So you stop listening to them because you don't want to hear
all that negativity and complaining. So you just tune them out. They're talking but you're
not listening. Number two, tick off. This is a useful one because it means to annoy to anger or
to irritate. Now we use this in two very specific sentence structures. It ticks someone off,
it takes me off when my coworker doesn't help. So 'it ticks someone off' and then you explain the
situation that causes the anger or the frustration or the irritation. Now the other sentence
structure is just to say that someone or something ticks me off. John really ticks me off. He's so
negative. John really irritates me, frustrates me, annoys me. John really ticks me off. He's so
negative, but I just tune him out. Number three, to talk up. And you talk someone or something up.
And then that means you speak in a way that makes that someone or something sound really beneficial,
really positive, really amazing, maybe even more so than the reality. So let's say you're in sales
and you're trying to sell this piece of software to a company. Well, you're going to talk up that
software, you're going to talk about that software in a way that really highlights all of its
positive features and you probably won't mention any negative features. You're going to talk it up.
Or let's say that your really close friend applied for a job in your company. Well, you're probably
going to talk up your friend. You're going to speak about your friend very enthusiastically,
very positively because you want your friend to get the job. You're going to talk up your friend.
Number four, to pile up. This means simply to increase in amount and we generally use this
with work. So in general, you can say work is really piling up. Work is increasing in amount.
You can use this with specific work. So you might say, my expense reports are piling up. Or even
with household chores. You might say, the laundry is piling up. The dirty dishes are piling up.
They're increasing in amount. Number five, to mope around. To mope around. This is when someone moves
from one location to another, but they do it in a very unhappy way, a lazy way, a disappointed way.
And it's generally because something is wrong. Something specific is wrong. So maybe they
just lost their job, or they just broke up with their girlfriend, so they mope around the house
all day. They go from the couch to the kitchen back to the couch, but they look really upset
and lazy and no energy. So this isn't really a positive thing. We generally
say, stop moping around! You need to stop moping around and start looking for a job, if that's the
reason why you're moping around, because you lost your job. Stop moping around and look for a job.
Number six, to loosen up. This is a great one. It means to be more relaxed,
more comfortable or less serious. So you might say, she was very shy at first, but then she
loosened up. So she became more relaxed, more comfortable. Now we often use this as
advice to someone, if someone is just being too serious. You might say, loosen up. It's similar
to saying relax a little, relax a little. Loose up. You need to loosen up. Oh, just loosen up.
Number seven, to kick off. This is a great one. Because when you kick something off,
it means you start. But we use this in the context of a sports event, a meeting, a conference or even
a party. So some form of events with people. So in sports it's very common to say, the game, the
match kicks off at...and then you say the time. The match kicks off at three. The game kicks off
at seven. And that's just when the game starts. Now you could also say, let's kick off the meeting
by...and then you can explain how you're going to start the meeting. Let's kick off the meeting by
introducing the new CFO. Or let's kick off the meeting by sharing the good news. Number eight,
this is a fun one, to horse around. When you horse around, you behave in a silly or
noisy way. So basically what children do all the time. They horse around. But you might say,
the kids were horsing around and they broke my favorite vase. Now although this is commonly
used with children, it can of course be used for adults as well. Because adults act in
silly and noisy ways all the time, right, even in workplace contexts. So you might be talking
about how your team is constantly horsing around. And as a bonus, you can also say
goof around. It's an alternative, but they're both very commonly used. So horse around
or goof around. Number nine, to get by. This is when you have just enough money to live on,
but not very much extra. So you can basically pay all your bills, and that's about it.
So you might say, since our twins were born, it's been more difficult to get by. You have two new
babies in the house. Well first congratulations. But of course that's very expensive. So now you
only have enough money to pay your bills, to buy the food, buy the diapers, buy the groceries,
pay your mortgage, things like that. We're getting by. We're getting by. You're just surviving.
So if someone knows you're going through a tough time financially, maybe you lost your job,
and they asked you, how's it going? Is everything okay? You could say, well, I'm getting by. I'm
getting by. Which lets them know you're surviving. You have enough to pay all your core expenses.
And finally, number 10, to flip out. Now this can mean to become very excited. But it can also mean
to become very angry or agitated. So it's when you have a very strong emotion, but that emotion can
be positive, excitement, or it can be negative, anger. And it will be obvious based on context.
So if you just won a competition or a prize or the lottery, you might flip out and become very, very
excited, right? The sports team flipped out when they won the gold medal. Or the team flipped out
when they lost the game. The team became very angry. So you can use it in both situations.
And for this expression. You can also say, freak out. Freak out or flip out, they mean the same.
Again, the positive, excitement, or negative anger. And now you have 10 new phrasal verbs
added to your vocabulary to help you sound fluent and natural. And now it's time for your quiz.
So here are the questions. Of course, hit pause. Take as much time as you need and
when you're ready, hit play and I'll share the answers. So you can go ahead and hit pause now.
How'd you do on that quiz? Well, let's find out. Here are the answers. Go ahead and hit pause
and figure out how you did. So how did you do with the quiz? Make sure you share your score
in the comments below. And if you got any wrong, don't worry,
that just means you need to practice those. So do some example sentences in the comments below
as well. 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!