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hi everybody welcome back to know your
verbs my name is alicia and in this
lesson we're going to look at the verb
watch let's get started
so the basic definition of the verb
watch is to focus the eyes on something
that is moving usually we expect it to
move so like now you're watching this
video in a sentence
let's watch a movie later can i call you
back i'm watching a baseball game
so let's look at the conjugations for
this verb
present
watch
watches
passed
watched
past participle watched
progressive watching
now let's talk about some additional
meanings of this verb the first
additional meaning is to stay with
someone or to stay with something to
ensure safety like to kind of guard that
thing or to protect that thing examples
i have to watch my neighbor's kids for a
couple hours
can you watch my plants for a while next
month
okay so in both of these sentences we
see the verb watch is used to mean
ensure the safety of something in the
first example sentence it's i have to
watch my neighbor's kids so we're
ensuring the safety of the kids in the
second sentence we use plants can you
watch my plants it doesn't mean like
forever like watch the plants grow it
means just make sure my plants are okay
while i'm out of town for something
similar it doesn't mean watch my plants
forever it just means to make sure my
plants are safe like to take care of my
plants while i'm out of town for example
so also the nuance here the feeling here
is that this is just a temporary
situation so when we're watching
someone's kids or like watching
someone's pet while they're away it's
just a temporary situation okay let's go
to the second extra meaning for today uh
the second one
the second meaning of watch is to be
careful of something to be careful of
something examples
watch your language
he needs to watch his weight
so in both of these we could replace be
careful with
watch so in the first one we could say
be careful of your language in the
second one be careful of your weight so
in other words
there's some kind of danger or you need
to be careful because
something about your behavior or
something you've said something you've
done
is maybe not a good idea so be careful
of that thing but we say watch instead
watch that thing instead of be careful
of that thing in addition so we can also
just use watch out as a set phrase which
means be careful in general so if we're
in a situation where we quickly want to
warn someone of something like danger
something bad might happen we can say
watch out really quickly so watch out
doesn't mean like look or watch
something it means be careful we always
say watch out if you have time and if
you want to be specific you can say
watch out for something like watch out
for that car or watch out for that child
watch out for those
bees watch out for your computer it's
going to fall something like that we
always say watch out for or just in
quick situations watch out just means be
careful as well
all right let's go on to the first
variation so the first variation is
watch it watch it so watch it also means
be careful like watch out or just the
regular watch your something but watch
it is very casual and actually kind of
aggressive so watch it implies like if
you don't take care i might do something
bad to you like it's so it's quite an
aggressive phrase examples
watch it i'm walking
you better watch it kid
you better
watch it or else i'm gonna do something
bad to you i don't know so it's
aggressive it's an aggressive phrase
and you should not use it with people
who
are above you you should not use it in
polite situations
i would not really recommend using this
but you might see this in tv shows in
other media watch it it means be careful
but it's aggressive okay let's go to the
next variation the next variation is to
keep watch to keep watch this means like
to stand guard to guard against like to
protect something this expression means
like to guard against danger and it
often means alone like often you're
doing it by yourself while someone else
like sleeps so examples
i'm going to keep first watch tonight
you keep watch i'm going to get some
sleep
so to keep watch means like to stay
awake or to stay alert looking for
something that might be dangerous so you
can see this in
movies where like people are traveling
somewhere they're camping out on the
side of the road like maybe in lord of
the rings or something where
everybody's sleeping but one person is
awake near the fire watching to see if
anything dangerous happens and then they
wake up other people if something
dangerous is coming so they're sort of
the guard in that case so to keep watch
in that case okay let's go to the last
variation ah
the last variation okay the last
variation is to watch one's back to
watch one's back
so to watch your back let's use that to
watch your back means to be cautious
about your safety to be cautious about
your safety so to be careful about
yourself
not because of some like physical object
like a bus is gonna come and get you i
don't know no it means like someone uh
an enemy might try to do something bad
to you so watch your back examples of
this
you'd better watch your back stevens
uh one more example hey watch your back
you're making enemies
so in these cases watch your back is
said rather seriously and with the
meaning that you need to be careful
someone might try to hurt you in the
future it could be physically it could
be financially it could be like your
reputation whatever
watch your back mean be careful like
someone might try to hurt you in some
way
however be careful
um this expression watch your back is
totally different from got your back so
watch your back and got your back
totally different got your back is a
support phrase like i've got your back
means i'm supporting you no problem i
will try to help you or i'll try to
support you i'll try to keep you safe
i've got your back no problems watch
your back means be careful
you might be in danger
you should be careful you have enemies
so quite different watch your back got
your back alright so i hope that you got
a few new meanings for the verb watch
that you can use there if you have any
questions comments or if you want to try
to use the verb watch please feel free
to do so in the comments section of this
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resources thanks very much for watching
this episode of know your verbs and
we'll see you again next time bye
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