Learn the English Phrases TO RAMP UP and TO SCALE BACK

In this English lesson,

I wanted to help you learn the English phrase, to ramp up.

This is actually a phrasal verb

that means to increase production.

Probably the best example of this in the world right now

would be the companies that are making vaccines.

They are trying to ramp up their production.

They are trying to increase their production.

They're trying to make as many vaccines

as they possibly can each and every day.

A long time ago, they were producing

a certain number every day,

but because they've been able to ramp up their production,

they can now produce more vaccines every day

than they could last fall or late last fall,

or that they could just a few months ago.

So they have definitely been able to

ramp up their production.

The other phrase I wanted to teach you today

is the phrasal verb, to scale back.

Which actually means exactly the opposite.

Eventually, I'm going to assume that these companies

will need to scale back their production.

When you scale back your production

or when you scale something back,

it means you reduce the amount that you are producing.

For Jenn and I here on the farm, just to review,

in the spring and summer we ramp up

our production of flowers.

We grow more and more flowers all the time.

And as fall approaches, and the cold weather approaches,

we tend to scale back.

We tend to reduce the number of flowers

that we are producing.

Actually, we don't choose to scale back.

The weather just sort of causes that to happen.

So again, to review quickly.

To ramp up means to increase the production of something,

and to scale back

means to reduce the production of something.

Now, this doesn't always have to do with producing things.

You could ramp up the amount of exercise

you're doing every week.

You could scale back the amount of exercise

you're doing every week.

So, both phrases do apply in other situations as well.

But hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video.

This comment is from Mohd Ags.

And it's from the lesson

where I talked about cracking a joke,

and his response or his comment is this.

"He cracked a smile.

Then cracked a joke thinking

it'd crack the audience up.

Unfortunately, nobody laughed,

and he instantly realized his joke

is not all it's cracked up to be."

And my response was, "Nice work, Mohd. That's perfect."

So, Mohd Ags, that is a great example

of using a whole bunch of different phrases

with the word cracked in it: cracked up,

not all it's cracked up to be.

You obviously learned a lot in the last lesson

or it was at least a good review for you.

So thanks for that comment.

Hey, so, I was just gonna mention a couple of things.

Winter went away again.

So, I know last week I was making videos

and it was quite cold.

Last Friday, I didn't even go outside to make a video

because it was so cold.

Now I'm outside again.

And the world has returned to its beautiful green color.

So, the snow melted.

It's actually 14 degrees Celsius right now.

So, a little warmer than I was expecting.

So, a little bit of an update on the weather.

And then here's an update on what I do for work.

As you know, I am a high school teacher.

I have been teaching from home for about three weeks now.

Initially I got sent home because a student

in one of my classes tested positive for COVID,

but then we had spring break.

So I had a week off.

But then, the government decided

that all schools would remain closed

for about five or six weeks.

So, I taught from home last week.

Students learned remotely last week.

I taught from home.

And I'm going to be doing that for the next,

at least three or four weeks, probably.

I'm not 100% sure what the government will decide,

but at this point in time,

I will just get to enjoy being home with Jenn

and the kids, working from home,

as most of you around the world are probably doing.

Anyways, Bob the Canadian here.

Thanks for watching this short English lesson.

I'll be back in a couple days with another one.

Have a good day.