The Most Powerful Verb in the English Language... And How to Master It

hi there I'm Drew Badger the world's

number one English Fluency Guide and in

this video we'll be talking about the

most powerful verb in English especially

for English language learners and how to

master it will begin by talking about

the top four verbs and then we'll review

this number five is the most powerful

one that's really the one we want to be

focusing on and that's because the top

four are quite self-explanatory

now this just means that they're easy to

understand and use so these are be do

have and say now you might listen or

look at different lists of verbs online

and say okay like maybe this verb is

maybe number two or number three

it doesn't really matter the actual

specific frequency that these appear

there will be in conversations i've

already used both of these are all of

these when I'm speaking right now but be

do have and say these are all things

that are quite easy to talk about so be

this is just identity like this is a pin

we're talking about what is this is that

a pen or is it not

this is just to be now do is something

that we use it just means to have some

action take place so when we're doing

one thing and want to do something else

often when we can't explain it like i do

karate or I do some other thing if we

can't really explain what the particular

verb is it just means to do some kind of

actions who do something to make a

motion or to move in some way now if you

have something this also has a number of

different uses but typically have just

means a to physically have something or

to figuratively have something so i

might maybe have this pin but the idea

in my mind i also have that thing so I

can't physically hold the idea but i

have that thing as well and also to say

something this is commonly used as well

but really there are a lot of different

meanings that are confusing for people

so what I'm saying hello I'm just again

some words are coming out of my mouth

and I am saying something to say

something so be do have and say these

are all maybe like the top four most

common verbs that people use in

conversations and none of them is really

too difficult to understand but the next

one the most powerful one

most important one that really you

should focus on again because the others

are so easy is get get really is one of

the most common again it's probably

number five Number six but it doesn't

really matter like how frequently it

appears the thing is that it's really

the number one verb that can be tricky

for people because of its many different

uses

so if you don't really understand what

all of these uses mean together the verb

can be really tricky for people but if

you understand what they do mean and

that's what we'll cover in this video

then you develop much more confidence

about using them so let's look at a

couple of different uses of get first we

have the idea of just receiving

something so maybe I get a present from

my friend for Christmas or I get a new

car or even i get an idea so it can be a

physical thing that we received from

someone or it could be even just like a

like a non-physical things like I

receive again an idea I got a great idea

when i was at my friend's house

yesterday or I got a present from my

grandmother for my birthday so we're

talking about moving from one place to

another but now i am holding that thing

I got something I got this pan i got

this you know particular thing because

someone gave it to me i received this

thing now we can also talk about another

meaning of get as buying something so if

i buy something from a store it's also

moving from the store to me it's moving

from one place to another but now I hold

that thing because I paid some money

from him

so yesterday I got this pan at a store

or maybe I got like an even bought a new

car i was able to receive something from

somebody else but I paid money for that

thing

so again you're talking about receiving

something either because you paid for it

or because someone just gave it to you

as a gift

next we can also get the opportunity to

do something or get the chance to do

something so when you have the

opportunity right now that this is

something you have and this is easy to

understand so right now you have the

opportunity to practice speaking or to

practice something to learn more about

English with me but if you're talking

about getting the opportunity usually

means you haven't received it yet you

might get the opportunity to take a nice

vacation or you might get the

opportunity or get the chance to work at

a different office

get a new job now you yourself can also

get from one place to another

maybe I'm getting from my house to my

job so i just got home where I just got

to work we're talking about arriving at

a particular location maybe I need to

get to the airport after school or I

need to get home where I need to get out

of the rain

I'm getting from one location into

someplace else so it's raining outside

right now and I need to get out of the

rain and into my house to get out of the

rain

next you can even get an idea from

someone else that you're trying to

understand

so let's say a friend of mine is

explaining to me and I say well I get

yeah I guess I get that I understand

what you're saying so instead of saying

you understand it's a more native and

conversational and faster way to say

that you get an idea haha i got what

you're saying

so you can even very quickly to say I

got it so for friend of yours is

explaining something we're at the

factory and he's trying to show me how

to do a particular thing and i can say

oh yeah yeah I got it

so do you understand how to do something

do you get it do you get it so he's

trying to transfer something from

himself to me so he's trying to teach me

something or he's trying to explain the

explain to me how to do something do you

get it

yes i got it and the last example we'll

look at with get is to get someone to do

something for you

now this is even more complicated but

it's still the same idea you're

receiving the opportunity for someone

else to provide something for you so

this is a really great way of describing

instead of you cutting your own hair

maybe I got my friend to cut my hair for

me so I got someone to do it again i

paid them or I convinced them somehow i

asked them nicely or I said hey if you

cut my hair I will cut your hair in any

of these cases again we're convincing

someone else to do something for us i

got my friend to do that maybe I got my

friend to fix my car so I asked him to

fix my car or I got my friend to teach

me surfing or I got my my mother to

teach me how to do some cooking so I got

my mother I really wanted to learn how

to make her special dish that she makes

every friday so i said hey can you teach

me and if I want to describe that I can

see all i got my mother did

teach me something now here's the tricky

thing instead of trying to remember all

of these different uses

typically you would see this in a text

book it's like okay you're the different

uses of ghetto i'm going to write these

down on a white board behind me you can

get this and you can get that now get

means by get means to arrive at a

particular place get means to to get an

idea or to understand something or to

have another person do something for you

if you try to remember all of these

different uses it will just confuse you

in conversations but I want you to get

excited again to receive that excitement

to to understand this and really the way

to master this here's the simple way to

master this really powerful verb and

it's just to understand the idea of

possessing something so it's like have

it's actually like have very similarly

but you're thinking about getting to a

particular place or possessing a

particular thing now the easiest way to

think about it is if I get a pin the pin

is not with me right now but it's moving

into my possession and now I hold it so

i have got the pin i got this pen

yesterday

it doesn't matter how I got the pin so

you don't have to remember okay can use

it for buying something or if you find

something on the street or whatever it

doesn't matter how it comes to you

you've got it now I've got the pin so

right now I've got the pin

maybe I could get something else I could

get an idea from somebody or i could

understand something again it still

means it's coming to me and now I hold

that thing now I possess it but get it

kind of implies like it's moving from

one place to another but now you possess

it now in the same way you can think

about you

possessing a location now just like when

you're arriving at a particular place

maybe I arrived at an airport I got to

that Airport so it just means i'm

getting that location where i am so I'm

possessing that little place where I

happen to be even if i don't own the

airport

it doesn't matter because my physical

body is taking up that space so that's

why we use get and we'll cover this a

little bit more now very quickly with

some phrasal verbs

the first one is to get at if you're

trying to get at the meaning of

something maybe the meaning is almost

like in a different location even though

it's a figurative

idea so I'm here and I don't quite

understand something but I ok now i

understand something i get at the idea

i'm moving to something and now I

possess it so that idea of moving to

something or approaching something

traveling and then taking that position

again this is something i possess now so

i get a tour I'm trying to understand

the meaning of something now I get at

what you're trying to say next to get

down now this is a very simple one if

you think about being in a position up

here so right now I'm standing on a desk

or somebody is standing maybe on a beach

and then they moved down to a lower

position they're getting down into some

other location they are getting down

getting down so instead of descend I

want to get from the second floor down

to the first floor

so if i call a friend of mine i say hey

can you get down here

I really want him to come down quickly

so I'm saying can you take the position

down here with me

can you get down here next another

common one to get over someone to get

over someone now if you think about

maybe in your own life you have a

relationship with something at first the

relationship is going really well but

then maybe something happens and you

break up with that person this is

another phrasal verb that doesn't use

get but it just means two separate to

break up like you're breaking something

into two different pieces so we're

breaking something up and i'm moving

away from that person in some way like

usually mentally and physically but i

can't forget about that person i'm not

able to get over them in that way we

take an idea like trying to jump over

something that's in your path trying to

pass something but you can't get over

that thing to you you're here but you

want to take this position here so you

can't get over it to get over that thing

and finally to get thrown by something

or to be thrown by something now this

just means that again you're confused by

a particular idea maybe I was thinking

about something I got thrown by it so

you got you you received something you

received an action of being thrown I got

thrown by something so i'm trying to

hold onto an idea but the idea was too

difficult i couldn't understand it was

too confusing and it threw me so I got

thrown by that particular thing always

remember

that with get it's actually a really

simple verb but it's so powerful for the

for the learners that know how to use it

and this just means understanding that

it's the idea of possessing something so

it's not just by or find or do anything

it's the idea of receiving something

however you have it but now you have

this thing whether it's a physical thing

a figurative thing or even a space that

you occupy well I hope you have enjoyed

this quick lesson and I hope you feel a

bit more powerful now understanding what

get really means if you have enjoyed

this lesson and you'd like to learn more

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great day and we'll see in the next

video bye bye