15 PHRASAL VERBS for Business and the Office

Hi.

Welcome to www.engvid.com.

I'm Adam.

In today's video, I'm going to talk to you about some phrasal verbs, but the phrasal

verbs we're going to look at are actually very useful for business situations.

Whether you work in an office or for some big company, you're going to probably hear

or even use a lot of these phrasal verbs.

So, again, just to review, a phrasal verb is a verb in connection, in conjunction with

a preposition, and together, the two words mean something other than the individual words,

in most cases.

Again, remember that phrasal verbs often have more than one meaning, but I'm just going

to give you the business context meanings for each of these phrasal verbs.

So, we're going to look at "deal with", "get ahead", "bring up", "think through", "point

out", "chip in" or "pitch in", they actually mean the same thing, "put off", "count on",

"do something over", I left a blank, here, because you're usually going to put a word

noun in between, "end up", "sort out", "go up against", "ask around", and "spell out".

Okay?

So, these are the phrasals.

So, let's start with "deal with".

When you deal with something, you basically have to face it and manage it, whatever it

is.

It could be a situation, it could be a problem, it could be a schedule, etc.

So, managers and CEOs of companies have to deal with many problems throughout their work

day and the work week.

So, when you deal with something, you're able to handle it, there's another word for it,

"handle" is "deal with".

You can make sure that you do what is necessary to do to accomplish your goal or fix whatever

problem you have.

Okay?

When you "get ahead", that's the next one.

Get ahead, in terms of promotion and advancement, that's when we use this.

So, if you work for a company, you don't want to stay in the same position for many years.

You work really hard, that way you can get ahead.

Get ahead means get a higher position or get more money or be transferred to a different

location where you can do more work.

So, get ahead, in terms of business, get a promotion, advance, progress, etc.

Bring up.

So, when you bring something up, you're introducing it into the conversation.

Okay?

So, while I'm making my presentation, if you have any ideas you'd like to bring up, please

do so.

Right?

So, say it.

Introduce it into the conversation and then we can discuss it a little bit more.

Again, all of these are just the business context.

There are other meanings to these phrasal verbs.

Think through.

Usually, think something through or think through a problem, for example.

So, you can have something in between or something after this phrasal verb.

So, when you think through something or you think something through, you consider it,

you work through it very, very carefully.

It's very similar to what the actual words mean, but again, the main idea here is that

you're looking at something very carefully before you make a decision, before you take

an action, etc.

So, for example, think through your options before you decide where to invest your money.

Okay?

Think through the proposition very carefully before you sign the contract, etc.

Lots of different examples you can use it for.

"Point out".

So, if somebody points out something or points something out, they are calling attention

to it.

So, somebody's giving a speech and you put up your hand and you say, "Yeah, I'd like

to point out that _______", right?

So, you're bringing attention or you're...

You can say it's a little similar to "bring up".

Point out, you're pointing to something specifically, you're introducing something specific into

the conversation.

Okay? So, you point it out.

If you make...

If somebody's speaking or if somebody wrote something and they made a mistake, maybe you

can point out that mistake to the person.

Yeah? Right?

You can draw attention, call attention to it.

Next, this is very, very important...

This is a very important phrasal verb because if you're going to be working in a company

and you're going to have a team, your team members will expect you to chip in or to pitch

in.

Basically, this means contribute, add something, be helpful.

Now, in a lot of situations, another very business context you can use this expression

in is when, let's say, somebody in the office has a birthday and all the staff want to put

money together to buy this person a birthday present.

So, everybody needs to chip in $5 or pitch in $5.

So, again, this means contribute.

You can contribute ideas, you can contribute money, you can contribute time, effort, etc.

Put off.

This is a very common one.

I'm sure a lot of you already know it, but "put off" means to delay or postpone something.

I said "postpone" just so you know the word, but we don't generally pronounce the "t".

"Postpone" is the correct pronunciation.

So, if you...

You can't make the meeting, like, let's say I have a meeting scheduled for 12 o'clock

and I'm stuck in traffic and it's 11.45 and I know that I won't be able to make it.

I call the office and I say "I'm not coming.

Can you put off the meeting till 1 o'clock or till tomorrow?"

Means delay it, postpone it to another time.

Count on.

Hopefully, your manager, your boss, your co-workers, etc. can count on you.

What does that mean?

Another word for it is "rely".

You can actually say "rely on" as well.

"Rely on" means that you are dependable.

If you can count on someone, that someone is very dependable.

You can trust them.

So, for example, I give my employee some task and I know that I can count on him or her

to complete the task.

If I can't count on this person, if I can't trust this person to complete the task, this

is not a person that should be working for me.

I should fire him or her, hire somebody who is more dependable, someone I can count on.

Okay?

Do something over.

You could say "do over" as its own expression.

Okay?

You can have a do over, but I'll talk about that in a second.

Do something over, basically "do" means do, "over" means again.

So, if you did something and it wasn't the best quality, or you made a mistake, or you

just didn't like the way it came out, you can do it over.

You can do it again in a better way.

Okay?

Now, a very common thing people say is "Can I have a do over?"

A "do over" is a noun, means can I have the opportunity to do it over...

To do it over.

A lot of people will say "do over again".

The "again" is redundant, you don't need it.

You'll hear it a lot, technically not correct, so just be careful about that.

End up.

This one is very useful, and it's not only business.

You can have it in any situation, but when you end up with something, and it's often

"with", you can add the "with", I know some capitals, some small, but that's okay.

When you end up with something means this is the final result that you reach.

Okay?

So, if you work hard, you will end up as the manager of the company.

If you try real hard, you will end up with a successful project, etc.

So, "with", "with", or "without", "with" are okay.

But "end up" means reach the final result.

Could be good, could be bad.

Okay? So, if you don't study for your test, you'll end up getting a bad score, and you can follow

it with an expression or a gerund as well, all kinds of things.

Sort out.

To sort out basically means to organize.

Actually, two meanings, I'm going to tell you both of them, business context.

You can sort out the papers, means you can organize them alphabetically or by priority,

what's more important, what's less important.

You can also sort out a problem, which basically means a little bit like fix.

So, if two of your employees are arguing or fighting, you can go in there and try to sort

out the problem.

Try to fix the problem, find out what this person thinks, what this person thinks, and

then try to find a solution that works for both of them.

So, both of these meanings can be very much used in business situations.

Next, go up against.

When you go up against someone or a company, basically means you're competing with them.

Okay?

So, I want to get the contract, a government contract for my product.

I make guns, and I want the government to buy my guns, but another company is making

the same or a very similar gun a little bit cheaper, so I'm going up against them in my

bid for the government contract.

Okay?

Go up against, compete, or basically have an adversary.

It doesn't have to be money competition.

Ask around.

If somebody tells you to ask around, it means do some research.

Ask many different people until you get to the decision or the final result that you're

looking for.

So, before you buy a car, you should ask around.

Ask all your friends, ask family, ask anybody who knows anything about cars, which is the

best car to get.

Once you've gotten all the information, make an informed decision that way.

Spell out.

I love this expression.

A lot of people don't use it.

I think a lot of people don't actually know what it means, but spell out, so s-p-e-l-l.

So what did I just do?

I spelled out the word "spell", but in a grander context, what does this mean?

It means explain in detail something.

So, spell it out or spell out the process.

And a lot of times what you're going to hear, like on TV or movies, "Do you want me to spell

it out for you?

Basically, do you want me to explain everything in little details because you're not understanding

it?"

When somebody says that, it means they think you're a little bit dumb, but not necessarily.

To spell out, to explain very, very, very clearly so somebody can understand without

any mistakes.

Okay? So, very useful phrasal verbs in business, but not only in business.

You can use these in lots of different situations, but especially for business, you must know

these.

Okay?

Now, if you want to practice these phrasal verbs, please go to www.engvid.com.

There's a quiz under the video.

You can practice these expressions.

You can also ask me questions there, and I'll be happy to answer them.

And if you like the video, give me a like.

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel, and come back for more videos on phrasals,

vocab, grammar, all kinds of good stuff.

Okay?

I'll see you again soon.

Bye.