10 Advanced Phrasal Verbs to Understand Native English Speakers

- Here are 10 advanced phrasal verbs for any topic

that will help you understand native English speakers.

(upbeat music)

Hello, it's Keith from "English Speaking Success"

and the website Keith Speaking Academy,

where you become a confident English speaker.

Now, if you want to understand

native speakers or proficient speakers,

you must know lots of phrasal verbs.

We use them all the time.

Phrasal verb is a verb plus a preposition

or an adverbial particle,

or sometimes two actually.

For example, to switch on.

To switch on the light.

To switch off the light.

Many, not many, some phrase of herbs can be idiomatic,

like to turn up, meaning to appear.

I'm happy that you turned up today.

Thank you. Yes.

Now, as I said, native English speakers

and proficient speakers of English use phrasal verbs a lot,

especially in these everyday conversations.

Oh, and if you're preparing for IELTS speaking test,

then these 10 advanced phrasal verbs today

might help you stand out from the crowd.

So in this video,

I'll give you 10 advanced phrasal verbs

in the context of work.

And also at the end of the video,

I'll give you a story using all of them

to see how much you've learned.

Oh, and as a bonus, if you download the PDF,

you can review all of these,

but also get a story of these phrasal verbs

in the context of study, schools, and teachers.

The truth is these phrasal verbs are really flexible

and I think can be used for many different topics.

Sounds good?

Are you ready?

Let's jump in.

Okay, phrasal verb number one,

to drum into.

Okay, now a drum is this.

Right, now,

to drum something into someone

is to teach something again and again, persistently,

until they remember it.

It's a bit like the idea of drumming.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

You continually drum the information.

You beat the information into somebody, right?

For example, our boss always drums

the importance of deadlines into our team,

but we still miss them.

Great.

Number two.

Number two, to stir up.

To stir.

Well, to stir is this.

I can stir my tea,

but to stir up is to cause a problem to grow.

For example, my colleague Jim

likes to stir things up in meetings.

Often he says things

that he knows people will disagree with.

Hmm.

Number three, to settle down.

To settle down means to become calmer

or to calm down,

like, it's been busy at work,

but things are settling down now.

There's a similar phrasal verb, which is to settle in,

but with a different meaning.

To settle in means to get used to a new place.

For example, if you start a new job,

your boss might say, "Oh, today's your first day.

How are you settling in?"

"I'm settling in very well. Thank you."

Next.

Number four, to crack up.

To crack someone up means to,

well, to make someone laugh uncontrollably,

or to crack up, if I crack up,

I laugh a lot, uncontrollably.

For example, my boss is so funny, he cracks me up.

Be a bit careful, 'cause to crack up, I crack up,

can have two meanings.

It can be to laugh or to break down,

like an emotional breakdown,

So be careful.

If your boss cracks up,

it may be that they're laughing,

but it may be that they are stressed

and emotionally breaking down.

Two very different things. How do you know?

The context, look at the context, and you'll know.

Number five, to stand in for.

So you've got two adverbial particles here.

To stand in for someone

means to replace someone temporarily.

Often you can stand in for somebody at work.

If they're sick and they're off,

maybe you stand in for them.

For example, Jack is off work today,

so I am standing in for him.

Great.

Listen, if you're enjoying and finding this useful,

do remember to subscribe and like the video.

Let's go in now to number six.

Number six is to fend for yourself,

to fend for yourself.

The for becomes fur,

to fend for yourself,

to fend for myself.

I fend for myself,

and it means to take care of yourself.

Do you know, when I was a teenager and I lived at home,

my mum used to do the cooking,

do the washing, do the tidying.

When I went to university, suddenly,

I had to fend for myself.

Another example, after I became a freelancer,

I had to fend for myself,

finding clients, negotiating contracts, and so on.

Another expression, an idiom that is similar in meaning

is to stand on your own two feet.

When I went to university,

I had to stand on my own two feet.

Nice expression.

Next.

To delve into,

and often here we link.

To delve into.

There's a v sound, right?

Vrum.

So delve into means to examine something

and find out more information about it.

For example, I know these reports are really important,

so I will delve into them as soon as I can.

You could also say, "I've got a new book.

I can't wait to delve into my new book."

Let's move on, another phrasal verb.

Okay, number eight, to dive into.

Again that v the sound, to dive into.

To dive is this, right?

If you like swimming, you might dive into the water,

but, idiomatically, it can also mean

to start doing something with lots of energy.

For example, similar to the last one, I've got a new book.

I'm going to dive into this book

straight after I've recorded this video.

Or, after the meeting,

we immediately dived into developing

the strategy for the upcoming campaign.

Great if you're in marketing.

Next.

Okay, number nine, to reckon on.

Now, you may know the verb to reckon.

I reckon, you reckon, meaning I think, right?

I reckon it's a good idea.

I think it's a good idea.

But to reckon on something

means that you feel something is likely to happen,

and so you make plans depending on that.

For example,

we're having a party after the meeting

and we are reckoning on about 50 people coming,

so make sure there are enough snacks.

You could use it in the negative as well, like,

"Well, we didn't reckon on this product being so popular.

We need to produce more."

This is a tricky one to learn.

It can be used in different context,

so try and expose yourself as much as possible

to different context.

Remember, at the end of this, there's a PDF,

and there's a story about study and school,

which will give you new context as well.

Let's move on to the last one, number 10,

which I hope doesn't happen.

You'll find out why in a minute.

Number 10 is to drift off, to drift off.

To drift is just when something moves slowly,

like if it's a leaf on the water is drifting.

Something being moved by the water or the air is drifting.

To drift off means to fall asleep,

but not usually on purpose.

I mean not intentionally.

So to drift off, maybe when something is really boring,

then you might drift off.

For example, the meeting was so boring,

I began to drift off

or I drifted off.

That's why I hope, in this video, you haven't drifted off.

I hope it's been useful

and you've found out lots of new phrases.

You can start practicing, but also listening for

so you can understand native speakers

and proficient speakers a lot better.

Now, don't leave me just yet

because I'm about to tell you a story in the context of work

using all of these phrasal verbs.

Okay, let's see how much you have picked up

to learn informally.

The story is called, "Sophie's Big Break."

If you're sitting comfortably, let's begin.

"Sophie's Big Break."

Sophie had just started a new job at a marketing company.

She was nervous but excited.

On her second day, her manager

asked her to stand in for Tim,

who was on vacation.

Sophie wasn't sure if she could handle the responsibility,

but she accepted.

At first, it was difficult to manage all of Tim's tasks,

but after a few days, things began to settle down.

The office was busy,

but she learned how to keep things under control.

Her colleagues were very supportive

and they helped her when she felt overwhelmed.

One day during a team meeting,

somebody told a funny story about a client

and everybody started to crack up.

Sophie laughed so hard that she almost cried.

It was nice to see the team having fun together,

even when work was stressful.

After the meeting, the team had to dive into a new project.

Sophie felt a bit lost at first and quickly realized

that there was a lot of data to go through,

so she actually needed to work overtime

to delve into the reports

so she could understand everything.

As the project deadline approached,

Sophie had to long hours,

and sometimes she would drift off at her desk.

She was so tired.

Aw.

It wasn't easy fending for herself.

Now, Tim wasn't there to help her.

It was challenging,

but she managed to get everything done on time.

However, the project had stirred up

some confusion among the clients,

and Sophie had to explain things again and again.

Her manager was very patient

and kept repeating the same instructions

to Sophie and the team.

"I need to drum this into you," he said.

"With every new project,

we must follow the operating procedures

and brand guidelines,

otherwise clients get confused," he said.

Sophie listened carefully

and made sure to follow every detail.

At the end of two weeks,

Tom hadn't come back to work.

He had decided to go and work for himself

as a ski instructor.

Great.

Sophie was quickly promoted, no surprise,

and took over his job

as she had done such a good job during his absence.

And that was "Sophie's Big Break."

Big break is a big opportunity,

the promotion and everything else.

Did you understand the story?

Did you catch all of those phrasal verbs?

Ooh.

Did you notice which phrasal verb was not in the story?

Let me know in the comments below.

Now, here's a bonus learning strategy for you.

The reason I share this story with you is quite simple.

When you learn new vocabulary,

in order to learn it deeply,

you have to see it in several contexts.

It's not enough to watch a YouTube video with one example.

That's not learning really.

A great way to give the context is stories,

and that's why in my online courses,

like the Gold Course and the Vocabulary Vault,

I use stories a lot to give the context

to help students like you understand more deeply.

But I understand not everybody

can get a course or an online course,

so here's something extra for you.

If you download the PDF of all these 10 phrasal verbs,

you'll also get the story of "Sophie's Big Break,"

but as an extra bonus,

you'll get another story using the phrasal verbs

in the context of study, school, and teachers.

I hope that can help you on your learning journey

to become a confident speaker of English.

Thank you so much for watching.

And listen, I can't wait to see you in the next video.

Take care, my friend.

Keep studying.

All the best.

Bye-bye.

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