10 Essential Phrasal Verbs for WORK

Eat Sleep Dreamers I know that so many of you are learning English for work and for

your careers. You have lots of English speaking clients and colleagues and you want to understand

them and you want to communicate with them. And they are using every day natural English

vocabulary. Well that's why I'm doing this lesson. This is the ten essential phrasal

verbs for work. Phrasal verbs are by definition informal phrases and so you have to be careful

about the context in which you use them. For example in an official written document or

contract you're not going to use phrasal verbs but if you are working in a small team of

colleagues and you have regular meetings you're going to use phrasal verbs all the time. So

you have to think about the context in which you use them. Now I have done a lesson teaching

you how to use phrasal verbs and if you haven't seen that lesson before I suggest that you

stop and watch it now before continuing with this video. Alright, the link is just above

me. It will teach you how to use phrasal verbs perfectly. Alright, if you are ready, let's get started

Right, our first phrasal verb, 'set up'. Now set up has different meanings, we are going

to look at two of them. The first one is to start something like an organisation or a

business. For example 'I set up the company in my twenties'. If we have a look at that

sentence, we've got set up, means to start and then the company , that's the object,

ok? Now with set up you can put the object either after the verb and the particle or

you can put it in between the verb and the particle. So I could say 'I set the company

up in my twenties' or I could say 'I set up the company in my twenties'. So this is a

phrasal verb that can be split. You can put the object in the middle or afterwards. Now

the other meaning of set up that we're going to look at is to organise or to arrange. For

example a meeting or a conference call, things like that. So my example sentence would be

'Can you set up a meeting for tomorrow?' And that means can you organise or can you arrange

a meeting for tomorrow. Number two 'to run something past someone'. This is brilliant,

I love this one. So the meaning is to show someone an idea or a proposal and you want

to get their advice or their feedback. So if I wanted your advice or your opinion about

my work I would say 'Can I run my idea past you?' or 'Can I run my idea by you?' And that

is saying can I show it to you, this idea or proposal and can you give me some advice,

can you look at it and give me some advice or some feedback. Can you tell me what I need

to improve or can you tell me that you like it. So to run something past someone. So you

run an idea past someone or you run a proposal. Can I run my email past you? or can i run

my project past you? It could be past or by so can I run my project by you, it's the same

meaning. So run something by or past someone. So this is particularly good if you are working

on a project or you are working on something that you want to get some advice about before

you show it to your boss or you present it. So it's a nice one with colleagues and people

that work around you.

Number three, 'to copy someone in' or 'to copy in someone'. This is referring to emails

so this is to include someone on an email that you are sending to other people. Now

as you saw there you can put the object in between copy and in or afterwards, copy in

somebody. Now in my example sentence you are going to notice that I'm going to put it in

between. So 'I'll copy you in on all the team's emails'. Now the reason why I've put you in

between the verb and the particle is because it's a personal pronoun and if it's a personal

pronoun like you or me then it has to go in between the verb and the particle. I can't

say 'I'll copy in you' it doesn't work, alright? I have to put it in between. So 'I'll copy

you in on all the emails.' Remember with the grammar of phrasal verbs, it all goes in the

verb, ok? So if you want to talk about the past tense, you'll say 'I copied you in'.

If you want to do it in the present perfect you'd say 'I have copied you in'. So it's

all in the verb, the grammar goes into the verb.

Number four, 'to pencil in' or 'to pencil something in'. Now this means to arrange something

in the future but you re aware that the plan might change. So that's why you are doing

it with a pencil instead of a pen, because it's less permanent. So you are arranging

something in the future that could be changed.

So maybe the time could change or the day or to be honest even the event might change.

But you are saying to someone that yeah let's make an arrangement in the future but it might

change. So for example 'Let's pencil in a meeting for next Friday'. Again, pencil something

in or pencil in something, so the object, in this case the meeting, can going between

the verb and the particle or afterwards, it doesn't matter. So 'let's pencil in a meeting

for next Friday.'

Number five, 'go over'. This means to review something. So you might go over a contract

or a presentation or anything to be honest. So in this example sentence 'Let's go over

the presentation one more time'. So we're saying let's review it, let's have a look,

see if we can change it, make any additions, any improvements. So let's go over it one

more time, let's review it.

Number six 'deal with'. Now deal with means to handle or to work on. So for example 'The

HR team deal with all the interviews' that means they handle it, they take responsibility

for it. You might talk about your responsibilities in your job 'I have to deal with a lot of

client complaints' for example so I have to be responsible for, I have to handle, I have

to work on them. You might also say 'I have to deal with a lot of phone calls'. So again,

I have to handle them, I have to be responsible for them. It's a part of my job.

Number seven, 'to take over' this means to begin to do something that someone else was

doing. For example 'Who is going to take over your job when you leave?' It can also be a

temporary thing for example 'Can you take over the project whilst I'm on holiday?' and

so that means can you take responsibility for it for a short time, I'll go away and

then I'll come back. So yeah, to take over something. Or you can take something over.

So it can be split. So 'who is going to take over your job when you leave?' or 'who is

going to take over your job when you leave?' Your job is the object, it can go either in

between the verb and the particle or after.

Number eight, 'to fall through'. If a business deal or plan or arrangement falls through

it doesn't happen, it fails. So for example 'Google's plan to buy Amazon fell through'

it means it didn't work, it didn't succeed. So if something falls through, it doesn't

work, it doesn't succeed.

Number nine, 'pick up'. Now pick up can have lots of different meanings, the one we're

going to look at here is to suddenly increase or improve after a bad period. If we are talking

about number or results or sales, if they pick up, that means they have improved after

a bad start. So maybe the sales weren't very good to begin with, we weren't selling enough

and then if they pick up, they improve, the curve kind of goes upwards and that's a good

thing, a positive thing. So if you said 'I hope the sales are going to pick up' it means

you hope that the sales are going to increase or improve.

And the final one 'report back'. If you report back to someone you are telling them information

that you have discovered, that you have researched, that you have found out. So usually it's to

someone in authority like your boss for example but it can just be to your team, to your colleagues.

So for example I might say 'After the conference I'll report back with anything interesting'.

And I'm saying there that I'll go to the conference, I'll learn new things or discover new things,

I'll come back and if there's anything interesting that I think you would like, I will tell you,

I will report back. So to report back.

Alright guys, that was ten phrasal verbs for work. Did you find those useful? Let me know

in the comments below. Which ones are you going to be able to use at your work? And

would you like another one of these phrasal verb lessons? We could do phrasal verbs for

travel or phrasal verbs for studying. Anything like that, so let me know. If you would like

another phrasal verbs lesson, tell me in the comments below.

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