13 English PHRASAL VERBS with "cut"

hi everybody welcome to engVid.com I'm Adam in  today's video I'm going to give you some more  

phrasal verbs for you guys to add to your  collection of your understanding vocab etc  

so again what is a phrasal verb it's a combination  of a verb with a preposition and again as with  

most phrasal verbs they will mostly have more than  one meaning and some of these meanings you can't  

really guess because they're completely unrelated  to the words that are combined so today we're  

looking at phrasal verbs with cut so cut like with  a knife or cut with scissors and whatever other  

prepositions and what they mean so let's begin  we'll cut out so now there's always the literal  

meaning most phrasal verbs have a literal meaning  which is the two words as they mean individually  

put them together they keep their meaning but they  work together somehow so if you cut something out  

you're literally cutting a piece out of a bigger  piece so think about a coupon you want to go  

shopping and you have for some groceries and you  see coupons in a magazine so you take scissors and  

you cut out the coupon cut out the little piece  very straightforward now a few other meanings  

cut out if you want to cut something out you  want it to stop right so generally we will say  

to someone cut it out or cut out your spending  so stop basically and when we say cut it out  

we often use with a exclamation mark cut it out  stop it's a bit of a command right now what else  

does cutout mean how does other meanings if  something stops working especially when we're  

talking about an engine or a machine so the car  is running and then suddenly the engine cuts out  

it just stops working or if you're on a telephone  call and you're talking talking and then the  

call cuts out it means the transmission suddenly  stopped okay so that's another meaning of cut out

another meaning that's a little bit trickier to  explain is basically have an ability and we're  

talking about people so some people are cut out  for some professions and some people are just not  

cut out for that profession so for example  I'm not very good with numbers so I'm not  

cut out to be an accountant or I'm not cut out  for accounting I'm not really able to do it  

I'm not suited for this profession right  some people are cut out for it some people  

are not cut out for it so those are the  main meanings of cut out let's move on  

cut in again also has a few meanings you can  cut into something with a knife very literal  

but then the other meanings you have to be careful  about let's start with a lineup you go to the bank

you go to the bank and there's a long line to  the teller but you're in a hurry you don't want  

to wait so you go a little bit to the front  of the line and you try to cut into the line  

means you're going in ahead of your place you're  joining the line where it's not your place usually  

people will be very angry and kick you out of the  line anyway and send you to the back same with  

speech or some any sort of process or development  of something if you cut in you interrupt  

so I am speaking to a friend and somebody  cuts in means they they join the conversation  

uninvited and they start talking and they disturb  or they interrupt mine in my friend's conversation  

in the same way if I'm speaking too much like  let's say I'm giving a presentation and I'm  

talking talking talking and then my boss will cut  in means he will just interrupt my speech and tell  

me okay too much I could also use cut off in this  case my boss will just cut me off he will just  

stop me from speaking and my speech is finished  before it's finished really it's interrupted okay  

I will get to cut off in a moment another meaning  of cut in if two people are dancing together like  

the man and the woman or dancing or whoever is  dancing and somebody wants to cut in means they  

want to take one of the dance partners and  dance with him or her so if I see my friend  

and his his girlfriend dancing and I say can I  cut in and I take my friend's girlfriend and I  

started dancing with her but we're friends so it's  all good he's he's not angry with me so it's okay  

uh that's more or less cut in now keep in mind I'm  not giving you all the different meanings of all  

the prepositions because there's there really  are a lot of them I'm giving you the main ones  

that you can use in everyday situations cut  down let's move to the next one cut down so  

the most literal meaning the more straightforward  is if you're talking about a tree and you take an  

axe and you ch and the tree goes down so you cut  it down right very straightforward if something is  

hanging let's say on a wall or from the ceiling  and you take a knife and you cut the string  

and you cut it down you bring it down so very  straightforward if you cut down on consumption  

so you can use on or not if you're using on you're  talking about something specific if you're using  

just cut down the idea is already mentioned so  for example somebody drinks too much alcohol  

and he's maybe he got sick so he went  to the doctor and the doctor said  

your the amount of alcohol you're drinking is  dangerous you need to cut down or you need to  

cut down on your drinking very specifically  right if it's mentioned before cut down if it's  

mentioned after cut down on something reduce  the consumption of okay now a good expression

you can this is so means someone

you can cut someone down to size this is a bit  of an idiom but it uses the phrasal verb to begin  

with if you cut someone down to size it means you  you bring them to the level where they're actually  

at so some people have a big ego and they think  they are the best or they think they are the  

strongest or the fastest or the most successful so  you can say something or do something to show them  

that they're not as good as they think right so  you're cutting them down to size you're bringing  

them down to a realistic level and this is a  little bit of an attack they won't like you for  

doing that obviously but some people need to be  cut down to size because they have too much ego  

okay uh let's stop with that one let's go on  to cut up so cut up you can't cut a tree up  

so there's no actual literally literal meaning  if you cut something up you just chop it into  

pieces for example with a knife so you can cut  it up that's a more literal meaning of cut up  

if you cut someone up you can take a knife and  injure them with uh like put slices into them  

and cuts don't do that it's not very nice but if  you cut someone up you can also be insulting them  

so instead of using a knife you're going to be  using your tongue and you're going to cut their  

ego or you're going to cut their emotions so  you're insulting them you're attacking them  

but not physically it could be emotionally  uh as well now when if we're talking about  

comedy somebody cut me up means made me laugh  very hard I was laughing so hard that my stomach  

got cut and I was I spilled out so that person  that comedian is a cut up okay just again not  

very common but nice to know anyway so that's  cut up let's move on cut across the more the most  

common use of this is to basically take a shortcut  so let's say I i work in this building and my uh  

my company has an office in the building across  the park on the other side of the park I could  

walk around the park or I could just cut across  basically make a straight line for right through  

cut through can mean the same thing instead of  going around you're going through but if you're  

talking about a specific area like a park or a  field or a street you just cut across instead of  

going around you can cut through a building  means you go in one entrance you go out the  

other entrance instead of going around you can't  cut across a building a building is a structure  

only open open areas you can cut across cut  across can also mean that it's something affects  

uh many groups or many different types of people  or groups or companies etc so the government let's  

say introduces a policy that will stop people  from smoking but the new rules cut across many  

areas or affects many areas for example businesses  if a lot of bars if people can't smoke in the bars  

then the bars will lose a lot of business so this  policy cuts across many sectors of the economy not  

just smokers bar owners club owners restaurant  owners other people who attract that type of  

customer so this policy cuts across many economic  areas many economic sectors okay so that's it for  

cut across cut through as I mentioned you can go  through like a straight line instead of around  

in the same way you can cut through things to get  to the main point now I'll give you an example  

in a government again there's a lot of  bureaucracy so if you want something done  

you need to go to this office get a signature  or a stamp then take that paper go to the other  

office get a stamp stamp stamp stamp by the  time something is done maybe 20 people have  

touched this piece of paper so some politician  realized we're wasting time we're wasting money  

so he changed the system he just cuts through all  the bureaucracy he cuts through all the steps just  

to make it a very straight line from what you  need to how to get it right I'm going to give  

you an expression now it's not very nice it uses  some bad language but it's very commonly used

people often say they try to cut through the  crap now crap is not a very good word but it's  

not a very bad word either so if somebody's  telling you a story like let's say I came late  

to work and my boss is saying why are you late to  work I said oh you know I had there was traffic  

and then I had to go stop here to drop off this  and my child was sick and I so the boss said  

let's cut through the crap don't come late  here again basically get rid of all the  

useless things and get to the point so very  good expression cut through let's move cut into  

so again very literally you can cut into something  with a knife with a saw with scissors whatever  

or you can cut into someone is very similar  to cut up if you cut into someone means you  

go right into the heart of where it matters  to them you it doesn't necessarily mean insult  

but you you affect them in a way that makes them  very nervous or very scared or very angry okay  

you cut into them you mostly it means attack but  it doesn't have to mean attack you can get right  

to the heart of who they are and it makes them  a little bit nervous not the most commonly used  

thing but you can also cut into a situation means  you analyze very quickly what's the issue and  

then you take care of it again be careful with  that one in using it cut off cutoff also has  

quite a few user uses let's start with to cut off  means to stop also but it's not like cut out stop  

cut off means a very sudden interruption like so  I said before like with this speech if my boss  

cuts me off he just makes me stop speaking so if  you cut someone off or if you cut something off  

you just suddenly make it stop cut out can stop  by itself cut off means you force it to stop  

especially a process if somebody cuts you off on  the street means they drive right in front of you  

very suddenly and very quickly and you have to  slam your brakes so they that person cut you off  

if you're I guess if your parents or if you're  somebody who gives you money suddenly decides to  

cut you off it means they stop the flow of money  they're not going to give you any more money so  

the the income stream was cut off okay and you  can say the same thing about a relationship  

so I have a friend and this friend is always  very negative and always complaining and always  

saying very nasty things and I realize  that this person is not really my friend  

so I cut him or her off means I break the  relationship I separate the relationship and  

speaking of separate you can also isolate someone  you can cut them off from the group you can  

separate them or isolate them so in a classroom  if there's one student who's very disruptive  

if I'm the teacher I cut him off I move him  to the back of the class to sit by himself  

and be quiet and not disturb the other  students so he's cut off he's isolated  

okay so that's it for cut off let's move on  cut back cut back is very similar to cut down  

but cut down means you reduce the  consumption of something cut back just

means also reduce but reduce the amount so cut  back the number of staff you don't cut down on  

staff you cut back the number of staff so if  I'm a company and I'm trying to save money  

one of the things I can do is reduce the salary  so how do I do that I cut back on payroll  

and cut back on you can be more specific when  I use cut back on it's more specifically about  

spending about expenditure cut back on uh let's  say meat like I let's say I eat a lot of steak  

steak is very expensive I want to save money I  cut back on steaks means I reduce my spending on  

steaks but I cut back the number of steaks I eat  the amount of steaks cut back on for the money  

cut back for the amount of the thing itself  you can also cut back means basically just  

go back so you're going something and  then you cut back very straightforward  

I think that's it for cut back for now now this is  not a phrasal verb but what I want to mention is  

that sometimes you'll see verbs and prepositions  joined this is called just a simple call location  

these are also collocations but because they're a  specific type we call them phrasal verbs this is a  

collocation where there's no phrasal verb because  this is not a verb you'll notice the article  

this is a noun this expression means better than  average so if someone is a cut above means he's a  

little bit better than other people around him  right or if the thing is a little bit better  

than the other things in the category it's  a cut above slightly better than its peers  

or its competitors or comparable things right  so you can buy two cars from the same company  

but this one has a few extra features which  makes it a cut above this one in terms of quality  

or in terms of value for the money okay so  keep in mind it's not always a phrasal verb  

it could just be a simple collocation as  well so I hope these are a little bit helpful

if you have any questions about any of these  phrasal verbs please go to engVid.com in  

the comments section you can ask all the  questions you like I'll be happy to answer  

them there's also a quiz where you can test  your understanding of all these phrasal verbs  

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and come back to see those future videos  where I'll give you some more phrasals  

other vocab grammar etc okay  I'll see you again soon bye