Common phrasal verb mistakes: hear of? hear from? hear about? | English Vocabulary Lesson

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Hello and welcome everyone to this lesson,  which is about some confusing words,  

and this time I've chosen some phrasal verbs for  you. Let's have a look at what they are. We're  

going to look at the difference between 'hear  of', 'hear about' and 'hear from'; 'come up with',  

'come down with', 'come up against'; 'come across'  and' bump into'; 'take on' and 'take up'. So,  

let's start with the verbs with 'hear': hear  of: the first one. 'to hear of' is 'to know that  

someone or something exists', for example: Have  you heard of Lenny Henry? That means: Do you know  

who Lenny Henry is? Or: Have you heard of Rubik's  Cube? Do you know what it is? This verb is mainly  

used with Present Perfect and occasionally  Past Perfect. For example, you can say:  

I hadn't heard of Lenny Henry until last week.  Now what are the common questions [mistakes] that  

happen about this verb. The first one is just  using the verb 'know' instead of 'hear of', so  

saying to someone [something] like: 'Do you know  Lenny Henry?' If you say that to someone, you're  

asking them if they know Lenny Henry personally,  not whether they know he exists. But, if they  

actually know him as a person, the other mistake  is using the preposition 'about' instead of 'of'.  

If you say: Do you know about Lenny Henry? you're  really asking the person if they know what's  

just happened to him. There's a story around him  because 'hear about' is to learn about an event or  

situation. So for example, you can say: Have you  heard about Lenny Henry's new TV series? Yeah,  

he's done something, and you're asking if you've  heard about his news, his latest news. Or:  

Have you heard about the demonstrations in Paris?  So, you hear about an event or a situation.  

And there's one third word, phrasal verb, with  'hear', which is 'hear from', and 'to hear from'  

is 'to receive news from'. For example: Have  you heard from your dad recently? means Have  

you received any news from him? So, [it's] really  important not to mix these three up because you  

will give your listener a completely different  idea of what you're asking or saying. Now, let's  

look at the verbs I mentioned earlier with 'come'.  The first one was 'come up with'. 'come up with'  

is to find and suggest an idea a plan, etc. Jenny  has come up with a great idea. Now, 'come down  

with' is not the opposite of course. 'to come down  with something' is actually to catch an illness,  

something completely different, but we usually use  this expression for catching an illness that's not  

serious, so: a cold, the flu, sore throat, things  that go away quickly. So for example: I think I'm  

coming down with a cold. Now, going back to 'come  up', but this time changing the preposition to  

'against': 'come up against' is to encounter  a difficulty. It is very specific; it is about  

encountering a difficulty, so for example: We keep  coming up against obstacles. Then still staying  

with 'come', we have the verb 'come across', which  is a very common verb. I hear many of you use it  

correctly, and it's to come across something, to  find something by chance. For example: While I was  

browsing, I came across an interesting website. I  occasionally hear the mistake 'come across with'  

because of the other verbs with 'come'. It's just  'come across'; there is no 'with': come across  

something. What's important to remember about  this verb is that we don't often use this for  

people. You don't say: I came across John, or  I came across Harry. The correct expression to  

use for people is to 'meet by chance' to keep the  exact idea, for example: I met Karl by chance at a  

party. A verb that you can use for just meeting  people by chance is 'to bump' or 'to run into',  

but usually we use bump or run into' - not usually  - we must only use 'bump or run into' with someone  

you know, not someone you meet for the first time,  obviously. For someone you meet for the first  

time, you can use the previous expression: I met  this person by chance at this event. But if it's  

someone you know, then say: I bumped into Jason  at the bank last week. Or: I ran into Jason at  

the bank last week. Right, that takes care of all  the verbs with 'come' that you have to be careful  

with. And then finally two with 'take': 'take on'  and 'take up'. So, 'take on' has two meanings. The  

first one is to accept responsibility, task,  work, something like that, like: He has taken  

on too much work; I don't think he can cope by  himself. The second meaning of 'take on' is to  

hire or employ someone: He needs to take on more  staff. 'take up' means to start doing an activity  

or a job. It's a bit different from 'take on'.  'take on' is to accept a job, or a responsibility,  

or work. 'take up' is to start doing something.  You can use it for an activity or a job as well:  

He has recently taken up yoga (activity). Or:  He's taking up a new position as a quality  

manager. Right, that's the end of the lesson. I  hope it has helped you to review some important  

phrasal verbs and also make sure that you don't  mix them up with each other. I hope you enjoyed  

this lesson. For more on this topic, click here.  Remember to also check out my complete online  

course, and don't forget to like and subscribe.  Thank you for watching and happy studies!