How to Sound More Fluent and Native with Just 1 English Word

Hi there! I'm Drew Badger, the world's

number one English Fluency Guide and in

this video we're going to be helping you

sound more native, natural and

conversational by just adding one simple

word to your verbs. Now this is a phrasal

verb lesson will be covering phrasal

verbs in in this video and a phrasal

verb if you're not familiar already this

is a great phrase anyway if you're not

familiar with something so if you don't

know about something already a phrasal

verb is when we take a complicated word

like dismount which you might not know

to dismount but it just means to get off

of something else

so if you're riding a horse and you

leave that horse you get off of that

horse you were dismounting that thing so

instead of taking a more complex

complicated word like this mount we can

use a few simple words like get and off

and make a phrasal verb so we can

express the same thing but in a more

casual conversation away now often

phrasal verbs something like get off has

a specific meaning by itself so to get

off of something again is to leave

something or I'm trying to get something

off of me like there's a fly on my head

I want to get it off of me but in this

video we're going to talk about verbs

whose meanings or verbs with meetings

that don't change even when we add this

one word up

so a lot of people maybe they hear some

phrasal verbs like clean up or fix up

and they're wondering why doing you know

net wider native speakers use these when

really there's no change in meaning now

just like any other thing people are

people and we kind of have almost like a

club when we're speaking to each other

so to join the club of native English

speakers you have to use the language

native speakers use and often we want to

make our language sound a bit more

friendly so we'll add a word like up two

verbs even though it doesn't really

change the meaning but the kind of

general meaning of that thing changes

just to make it a little bit more fun so

in this video let's cover a few more of

those so you can make your

conversational language I guess make

your regular language sound a bit more

conversational the first one is clean so

you want to clean something and you can

just use the word clean by itself but

often native speakers will say clean up

so we're talking

about cleaning up your room now you can

think about this as maybe you've got

some dirt on the ground and you're

trying to pick that dirt off trying to

move it in an upward direction so that's

why we get clean up but really logically

there's no difference between cleaning

your room and cleaning up your room but

native speakers will use it like this

when you're speaking with people and you

have to say oh I have to clean up my

room or can you clean up the table or

something like that you're asking people

to clean something but it's a little bit

more kind of casual and natural to say

it that way it sounds a little bit more

direct like you're ordering someone if I

say clean your room that usually a

parent will say that when they're a bit

more angry so there you can see we're

just saying we're kind of commanding

someone or ordering someone hate

cleaning your room but if I'm being a

bit more polite where I'm just trying to

be a bit more friendly I'm talking to my

daughter is a clean up clean up your

toys now listen to how this blends

clearly nup cleanup so we're not saying

clean up these are like the last end

from clean and the you from up they

blend together

clean up clean up your room clean up

your room so i used fixed up earlier and

to fix something up is really the same

thing as fixed now there is a specific

phrasal verb to fix something up which

means to make something but if I'm just

going to try to like fix my computer i

might say let me like fix up my computer

right quick so I'm just trying to repair

it in some way but adding the up doesn't

really change the meaning of the word

fix we're just trying to repair

something or maybe build something next

one we have a similar one is wipe so we

can wipe a table i can wipe a window or

I can wipe something up typically again

like clean we've got something maybe on

a flat surface on a table and we're

trying to remove that thing in an upward

direction so if I spill some milk or

some water or something on a table

I want to pick that thing up so I'm

going to wipe it up wipe it up if I just

wipe the table I'm maybe kind of moving

something around but to wipe up a little

bit more implies that we're trying to

pick something up from you know what

we're doing so usually if we spill

something as i explained a second ago

we're trying to remove something or take

something move

in upward direction to wipe something up

but still if I wipe the table or I wipe

up the table logically there's no real

difference to that these phrasal verbs

again they're very conversational and

natural but they don't really change the

meaning next one is cook now you can say

i will cook dinner or you can ask

someone hey can you cook some dinner but

again it's much more casual and friendly

if I say hey I'm going to cook up

something

hey I'm going to cook up something so

I'd like to cook up something for dinner

or I say hey like while I go to the

grocery store could you cook up

something for dinner next we've got to

eat up so after you've cooked something

and you want to eat it up

often parents will be sitting with their

kids at the dinner table and they say

heat up your food heat up your food or

after i ate up my food this is again a

little bit more of a casual and polite

thing maybe not too polite but your

again trying to be a bit softer with

your language when you're adding up

so this is why native speakers use this

especially when they're trying to be

friendly

so it's still kind of polite but at the

same time it's really just a casual and

friendly way of saying to do something

so if i say hey heat up your food eat up

your food again we've got this blended

sound e up eat up your food heat up your

food i can tell my child hate Aria can

you just eat your food eat your food if

I may be a little bit angry or something

like she is playing with their food and

not just dating and already eat your

food eat your food but if I'm in a

happier mood and i am sitting down with

her aria heat up your food heat up your

food next to start something to start

something if I want to maybe start up

the car so here I am instead of starting

a car which I can use in the verb is

correct i can start up a car as well so

i put in the key i turn the ignition or

in maybe some modern cars you push a

button to start the car so you can start

up the car again it's that same thing

but it's sounding a bit more

conversational and natural next is to

close up close up now if i want to close

up something maybe I'm closing a box or

even i'm closing my store if I have a

regular store maybe I have a donut shop

in my local neighborhood and at the end

of the

hey I have to close up shop so I'm just

closing the store maybe I have like a

door that I lock in some other window

shades or something that I pull down but

this is called closing up so you can

close at the end of the day or you can

close up close up next you can pay up

pay up

I can just pay someone if I owe the

money let's say friend of mine and I

were making a bet on who would win a

basketball game and I say hey if they

win like you will owe me some money and

I 1 and I say hey man pay up pay up

so again in this way I don't want to say

like hey man pay me like it's kind of a

friendly friendly bet I'm not angry with

that person i'm the same and pay up pay

up and the last one will cover is to mix

up another cooking way of explaining

that we're mixing something but often

work again taking something when you

when you mix it you add air into that

object like if I have some whipping

cream if you have a bowl maybe have a

little bit of whipping cream at the

bottom but if you whip it you actually

increase the volume of that thing so

we're whipping something up or mixing

something up now it doesn't matter again

if you say hey can you mix the whipping

cream or if I say can you mix up or can

you whip up again the same same idea of

taking something and slightly increasing

the volume of that so you're moving it

up mixing it up or whipping that thing

up now all of these things again it's

just I want to repeat this it's really

important to repeat this but when you're

thinking about a verb you might say if

you try adding up to that or you're

listening for what native speakers are

using listen for if it's a regular verb

and they're just adding up if it changes

the meaning of that and if you can't

really tell the difference

it's probably just because it's being

used in a casual conversation away but

the ones that i introduced today are

some of the most common that you will

hear most frequently so do Prague to

prepare for these and conversations go

back and watch this video again and you

will be paying attention to them

well if you have enjoyed this video do

like this and let me know in the

comments section below if there are

other things you'd like to review i look

forward to reading those comments we

read every single comment even though we

just don't have

I'm unfortunately to go back and respond

to everyone but we love getting all the

great comments and seeing the people are

improving especially learning with this

new series of videos where people are

able to learn things visually anyway

have a fantastic game and i look forward

to seeing you in the next video bye bye