PHRASAL VERBS: 5 ways to use “take off” in English

"Yeah, I took two weeks off for vacation."

Yep.

"I took off from work just a little while ago, and my plane takes off in about three

hours."

Mm-hmm.

"It should be good.

I'm very excited."

Yeah.

Okay, I've got to take off, so yeah, I'll call you when I get there, okay?

All right.

Yep.

Bye.

I'm excited to go on vacation.

Hey, everyone.

I'm Alex.

Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on five ways to use the phrasal verb "take

off".

Now, phrasal verbs have multiple meanings in many cases, and this is one of them.

So, what I'm going to do in this video is give you five definitions, five usages, and

give you some very clear example sentences so that you can tell the different contexts,

the different ways that you can use this very common phrasal verb.

Now, if you enjoy this lesson, and if you want to improve and learn even more about

phrasal verbs, you can check out EnglishAlex.com.

I have a lot of resources there.

Many are free, some you can purchase, and one of the books that you can purchase on

that website is "100 Practical English Phrasal Verbs".

This includes phrasal verbs like "take off" as well as 99 other phrasal verbs, over 900

examples, only the most common usages, and 20 context-based lessons, so you will be given

a context and not just, you know, here's the definition, figure out how to use it.

I give you tons of examples to make sure that you really internalize the knowledge that

you get from that book.

So, once again, EnglishAlex.com, and if you want a copy of "100 Practical English Phrasal

Verbs" or another resource, just check out the link that is attached to this video.

So, let's begin.

So, "take off".

The most common meaning of "take off" is to remove something, so especially something

you are wearing.

I'm going to step off the screen so you can see very clearly.

For example, "Please take off your shoes."

You can use any article of clothing, any piece of jewellery, and you can use "take off" to

mean to remove that thing, so "take off your shirt", "take off your necklace", "take off

your socks", "take off your shoes", okay?

Now, this phrasal verb is also separable in this case, so you can say "take your shoes

off".

Now, it's, again, especially something you are wearing, but it does mean to remove something

from somewhere, so usually off your body, but "take that picture off the wall", so you

can remove a picture from a wall, right?

Even a virtual wall, like if you have a social media account, you can say "Take that off

your wall.

I don't want that picture there."

Okay?

Remove it from the wall.

"To leave a place often suddenly", so if I say, "Sorry, guys, I need to take off.

I have work in the morning, I need to leave", and usually it's something that you decide

in the moment, it's like, "Yeah, I got to take off", you can do it with a plan.

You can say, "Just so you know, I need to take off at 7 o'clock", and let's look at

two examples that I wrote here on the board, so you can see clearly, "She took off after

dinner."

This simply means she left after dinner, and you can ask a friend, a colleague, "Hey, when

are you taking off?

What time are you taking off?

What time are you leaving?"

Okay?

Next, "take off" can also mean to suddenly become popular or successful.

So, if there is a pop song on the radio that suddenly becomes popular or successful, you

can say, "That song is taking off."

Okay?

So, let's look at these examples.

So, oh, I missed one.

All right, we'll go back to that.

So, while I'm talking about this, this is number four, "Her career is really taking

off."

So, her career is really starting to become successful.

She has been in her industry for several years, and now she is really starting to make money,

gain prestige, her career is really taking off.

And if one of your work colleagues has a new business plan, a new idea, and they're really

excited about it, and you say, "I don't think that idea will take off.

That idea will never take off, will never, you know, become successful or become popular."

All right, so that was number four.

I missed number three.

I know how to count, I promise.

So, this is very common, "the act of a plane leaving the ground and starting to fly".

So, let me give you some space here.

"My flight takes off in an hour."

Okay?

So, the plane takes off in an hour.

It's like, oh, did I miss my flight?

Yeah.

The plane took off already.

So, when a plane leaves an airport or wherever you can fly a plane, right?

So, the plane took off.

My plane takes off in an hour.

It's kind of like the opposite of it lands.

Okay?

And finally, we have number five.

So, "to take time off", this means to obtain time off, to take a break, or to take a vacation.

Let's look at the two examples.

"He took a week off for his wedding."

So, you can put the time period between "take" and "off", here I'm using the simple past

tense.

He took a week off.

You can also say, "He took off a week for his wedding, he was getting married, he needed

to make a lot of arrangements, so he needed to take some time off."

Next, lastly, "Are you taking any time off this summer?"

So, this is a very common question that you can ask your colleagues, your co-workers,

your friends, because maybe you want to make plans with them, or they seem like they're

very tired and you say, "Are you taking any time off this summer?"

You look like you need a break.

It would be good for you to have a break.

So, as you can see, this is a very versatile phrasal verb that can be used in a number

of contexts.

And if you want to check your understanding of this material, as always, please go to

www.engvid.com, do the quiz, make sure you understand this stuff.

And once more, if you enjoyed this lesson and you think, "Wow, I didn't know that 'take

off' had so many different meanings.

I thought it was only to remove something, like take off your jacket, take off your shoes",

well now you know five ways to use it.

And if you want to learn about other phrasal verbs, like I have mentioned already, check

out EnglishAlex.com right there, or just click the link that is attached to this video, pick

up a copy of 100 Practical English Phrasal Verbs, or another resource, and just check

it out.

Let me know what you think.

Until next time, thanks for clicking.