Learn the English Phrases TO BREAK IT DOWN and TO BREAK UP

4,436 views ・ 2021-04-09

Bob's Short English Lessons


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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In this English lesson I wanted to help you learn
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the English phrase, "To break it down."
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If you say to someone that you're going to
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break something down for them,
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or if you're going to break it down for them,
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it means you're going to explain how to do something
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in smaller steps.
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Let's say you wanted to get your driver's license.
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I could break it down for you in the following way.
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The first thing you need to do is get the booklet
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that tells you how to be a good driver.
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Then you need to take a written test,
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in Ontario we call it your Beginners,
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and once you've passed your written test,
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you're allowed to drive
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with someone else in the car for awhile.
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And then eventually you go and take your road test.
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So if you wanted to get your driver's license in Canada
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that's how I would break it down.
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That's how I would explain to you how to do it
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in a bunch of smaller steps.
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Hey, the second phrase I wanted to teach you today
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also has the word break in it,
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and it is the phrase, "To break up."
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This has a completely different meaning.
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This means that you and someone that you like
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are romantically involved,
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you are dating and you've decided to go your separate ways.
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You've decided to break up.
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You've decided to end the relationship.
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So a completely different meaning compared to our first one,
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but also a phrase that has the word break in it.
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So if you break up with someone,
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it means that you are dating,
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it means that you are seeing each other,
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but you've decided to end the relationship.
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You have broken up.
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Sometimes it's sad.
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Sometimes it's a good thing.
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Anyways, let's review.
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When I use the English phrase, "To break it down,"
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it means that I'm going to explain something
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in a series of smaller steps
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so it's easier for you to understand.
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And when I use the English phrase, "To break up,"
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if I say that I think that couple is going to break up
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it means that I think they're going to stop dating.
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They're going to stop seeing each other
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some time in the future.
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Hey, let's look at a comment from a previous video.
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This comment is from Alex.
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And Alex says, "At the timestamp 3 minutes and 27 seconds,
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"that was a wasp."
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And my response was, "I think so.
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"At first I thought it was a bee,
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"but now that you mentioned it, it was probably a wasp."
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So I will put the video up here in the corner,
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or maybe I already did.
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In my last video, Alex is talking about a part in the video
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where something flew past me and I thought it was a bee
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but when I watched the video again,
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I think it was probably a wasp.
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I think when I look around the farm
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there are a lot of wasps nests.
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(geese honking)
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There's a lot of geese still, too.
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There's a lot of wasp nest.
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And I think that the wasps are starting to come out
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of their little nests after a long winter,
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and I think that's what it was.
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I couldn't zoom in far enough to see exactly what it was.
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But I think Alex, that you are probably right.
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I think it is a wasp.
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In fact, this past week almost all of the insects
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that come out in April decided to come out.
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There are little flies everywhere right now.
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Sometimes when I walk out in the field,
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there's a cloud of these little black flies
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flying around me.
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They don't bite or sting, so that's kind of good.
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There are no mosquitoes yet so I'm very happy about that.
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But we do have little insects on the farm called ticks,
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and I did find a tick actually crawling
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on my shoe the other day.
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We don't like ticks because they do bite you
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and they do stay on you for quite a while
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and you have to take them off quickly.
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So yes, definitely, the farm is coming back to life
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and one of the first things we see is a lot of insects,
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and you'll hear a lot more birds in my videos
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if I'm quiet for a moment.
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I don't see any birds
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but I can hear quite a few birds around me.
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Definitely, I think some of the birds have returned
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from the South and it's definitely changing here.
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There's definitely a lot more life on the farm right now.
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Anyways, I'll see you in a few days
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with another short English lesson.
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Have a great weekend.
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