PHRASAL VERBS explained - How do I use phrasal verbs? - Learn English

okay i think i am going to do a little bit now about phrasal verbs because i

was asked last week to talk about phrasal verbs

so why not have a look at them now what are phrasal verbs?

oh look at that as if by magic, popping up on my screen in front of me

we have some information about phrasal verbs it also gives me a chance to tidy

up my studio whilst I'm off-camera. phrasal verbs. A phrasal verb is a verb

that is made up of a main verb together with an adverb or preposition or both of

course typically their meaning is not obvious from the meanings of the

individual words themselves for example she has always looked down on me in that

sentence it seems as if we are talking about a situation where one person is

high up maybe on a rooftop or on a mountain and they are looking down at

someone else but it isn't, it's nothing like that it is what we call a

figurative expression or figurative use of words

so in other words to look down on someone means to think that you are

better than someone else or maybe you look down on everyone

maybe you think you are better than everyone around you

so in this sense to look down means to feel superior or better than other

people

fighting broke out among a group of 40 men fighting broke out among a group of

40 men you can see here but they broke out sound as if something is being

broken as a as a thing is leaving or exiting but in this case it means to

start something started so fighting broke out among a group of 40 men

fighting started fighting began or began the thing started something broke out we

can also use this to describe a fire that starts a fire has broken out or

fire broke out to start to begin I'll see to the animals 'see to' now that's a

interesting one because it doesn't really mean anything else except for

what it does mean which is attend to

if you see to something it means you will attend to it i'll see to the

animals

I will attend to the animals or I will take care of the animals i will go and

see if the animals are ok I will see to them

don't put me off i'm trying to concentrate

don't put me off I'm tryin to concentrate put me off means to distract

another person or distract them all maybe another person is distracting you

so to put someone off is to distract them

to the point where they make a mistake to put a person off the report spelled

out the need for more staff to spell something out is to clearly explain or

Express something clearly the report spelled out the need for more staff to

spell something out is to express or explain something very clearly so you

can see that these are not literal they are used in a way that we call

figurative so they are figurative uses there are of course many phrasal verbs

and many types we have transitive and intransitive a phrasal verb can be

intransitive in other words they have no object so we can say we broke up two

years ago we finished two years ago the relationship ended two years ago we

broke up two years ago they set off early to miss the traffic set off means

leave you leave the house you set off

to begin a journey is to set off he pulled up outside the cottage this

phrasal verb pulled up it means you drive up to a place and stop normally

outside normally outside a house you pull up outside

it means you drive and stop and of course there are trends to phrasal verbs

which include the police were called to break up the fight to break up something

means to stop or to bring something to an end you break up the fight

so if two people are fighting you intervene you break up the fight when

the door is opened it sets off an alarm when the doors opened it sets off an

alarm to set off is to trigger to trigger something to start something by

activating it is to set off so if you set off an alarm

it means you trigger it or you make it begin doing the thing it does you set

off an alarm

they pulled the house down and read out we developed the site

they pulled the house down and redevelop the site pulled down to pull something

down is to destroy it to bring it down to the ground to pull something down is

to demolish you knock something over or you knock it down

they pulled the house down they demolished the house they ripped the

house down

they pulled it down

you can see here briefly i won't go into too much detail here because you can

always freeze the video you can always pause the video later if you want

so the word order is quite clearly explained we broke up two years ago not

we broke two years ago up we broke up there are many phrasal verbs around

these are just a few there are actually hundreds of phrasal verbs and of course

new ones are being created all the time so phrasal verbs come in all shapes and

sizes and all different types i will keep the list on the screen for a few

moments you can always pause the screen later you can always pause it or of

course you can pause it now of course if you want to pulls and look at it so

phrasal verbs include for example abide by ask after agree with back away bash

up blow up clothes off

countdown cuddle up dip into dive into look down calm down crawl over creeper delve

into dive in cut-up drop off

carry off deal with do without draw up eat up elbow out enter into feel up

follow along for sin to go away grind up gun for hang-up hideout hold against so

that's just a few phrasal verbs there

do you want to see some more do you want to see some more phrasal verbs I think you do don't you

yes because you're very curious now about phrasal verbs

tell i can feel the vibrations iron out issue forth Jabbar away jazz up jump off

keel over key in that's an interesting one key in that means to enter a number

or a code quite often when you log on to a computer or if you have to use a

combination lock on a door you have to key in lock down lap up laptop can mean

drink or eat very quickly in a very hungry or thirsty way you lap up lean on

look over makeup max out max out

that's a good one that means to spend all of your money so if you spend all of

the money that's available on your credit card you max out

do you ever max out mess about about nail down nip out without means to to go outside

for a short time you get out

note down open up opt-out own up pass away pass away that means to die

pay back pencil in pencil in means to write something down temporarily quarrel

with quieten down rack up real in run over run over that means to go over

something in a in a vehicle such as a car you run over your neighbor's dog

save up save up that's something I like to do sometimes save up maybe you are

saving up or maybe you will save up some money sell up shut down stay away tag

along take away try on urge on urge on means to encourage to urge on to

encourage someone to do something you urge them on use up vacuum up that means

to do the vacuuming if you are using your vacuum cleaner you vacuumed up

venture forth

wake up we're off right down

yama on some people say that I yama on sometimes yama on it means to talk and

talk and talk

you Yammer on mr. Duncan you don't half yammer on yield off finally the

Zeds we have not many not many phrasal verbs with Z at the beginning zero in

on that means to focus on one place to focus in or to concentrate on one thing

you zero in on zip up like your trousers maybe use zip up your trousers zip the

action of zipping up you zip up zoom in and zoom out so just a few phrasal verbs

there there are many many many in fact i could probably sit here for three hours

just talking about those phrasal verbs that I've read their just those I could

literally sit here for three hours talking about them but i can

understand why some people would get a little confused by phrasal verbs I think

the main reason is that phrasal verbs aren't literal they are figurative in

other words you use the words figuratively

so that's the reason why that that phrasal verbs can be very confusing for

those learning English because they are not literal they are figurative so that's

the reason why they can be very confusing.