Transportation Vocabulary & Phrasal Verbs - GET ON, GET OUT OF, RIDE, GO

Hello. How are you? Today, we're going to learn about getting around. This means taking

public transportation or talking about how you got somewhere or how you're going to go

somewhere. All of the examples I've written in the past tense because somebody might ask

you, "How did you get here?" "What? I flew because I have a magic carpet. That's how.

Why?"

We have different ways of getting places. Verbs: You can say, "I took a 'bus', a 'train',

a 'cab', or a 'taxi'." "Cab" and "taxi" are the same. Or you can take a "plane". So with

all of these nouns -- "plane", "cab", "taxi", "train", "bus" -- you're going to use the

verb "took". There are no exceptions. You cannot say, "I rode a bus. I rode a train."

It's wrong. "Rode" means that you were on top of the bus or on the train doing some

bus surfing -- didn't happen.

I hear people say this a lot, "How did you get here?" "I ride car." "Wow. What were you

doing on top of the car?" If you "ride" something, you're always on top of it. What can you -- what

can you ride? I can ride a bicycle. So "ride" literally means you're on top of something.

Tell me what you can ride. You can ride a bicycle, a motorcycle, a scooter, a moped.

If you're on top of it, you're riding it -- a horse.

"I go by car." No, no, no. These, unfortunately, are wrong. We don't say, "I go by car" or

"I ride car." We say, very easily, past tense of the verb "drive": "drove". "How did you

get here?" "I drove." You do not need to say, "I drove by car" because you're not driving

a bus; you're not driving an airplane; you're not driving a train. Very simply, you can

say, "I drove."

Another thing that I hear people say is, "I go by foot." "One foot? You have one foot?

Did you hop here the whole time? You must be tired. You go by foot? Wow." Maybe you

only have one foot. That's cool. You should drive or take a bus. Another thing: "I walk

on foot." This means that you take your hands, and you literally put them underneath your

feet and you walk -- if this is your foot -- you walk on your hands. This is painful.

I do not recommend this. I would not literally want to walk on my hands. Please don't walk

on your feet. Do not walk on your hands. "I walk on your foot" would be, "I'm sorry" -- walk

on hands, walk on feet. You'd be stepping on your feet, and you would never get anywhere.

You just want to say, "I walked." "How did you get here today, Ronnie?" "I walked."

Another thing that's really confusing in English -- and I understand why -- is when to use

the phrasal verb "got on" or "got off", and when to say "got in" or "got out". So as an

example, we would say, "I got off the train." Let's write that down. Or you can say, "I

got on the train." Also, we use this with a bus. So you can say, "I got on the bus"

and "I got off the bus." You don't need to use extra words. Like, you don't want to say,

"I got off on the bus." You don't want to say, "I got the train off." Unnecessary. Please

do not use extra words when you say this. You're just going to say, "I got on" -- the

verb -- the noun. Or "I got off", the noun.

"Train", "bus", and the "plane", or an "airplane". So think about this: What does -- or what

do trains, buses, and airplanes have in common? No? Nothing? No? Okay. A train, a bus, or

an airplane has many people. You can think of it as something that is public or very

large. So a train, a bus, or an airplane, you have to pay. It's really big, and you

can fit many people on it. So you're going to get on or get off something that is very

big. You're going to get off something that's very big. Or if it's public transportation,

you can fit many people.

"In" and "out". So "I got in" or "I got out." You're going to say, "I got in the taxi."

Or you can say -- same word -- "I got in the cab." Also, you can say, "I got in 'a', 'my',

or 'the' car." So what does a taxi and a car or a cab have in common? Do you know the answer?

They are private; there aren't a lot of people in your car or in your taxi; and they're small,

which means they can't have as many people as on a train, a bus or an airplane. So you're

going to say, "I got in the taxi, and I came to school." Or "I got out of the taxi, and

I went to the bar."

What about "subway"? What do you think? Do you think the subway is big and public, or

do you think it's private and small? It's big and public. So when you use "subway",

you say "I got on" or "I got off the subway."

How do you get to work? How do you get to school? Do you drive? Do you walk? Do you

bicycle? I bicycle. I love my bicycle. As I told you before, when we use "bicycle",

we ride it. So I can say, "I ride my bike" -- it's unnecessary to say "bicycle". We can

just say "bike". And the past tense -- does anyone know the past tense of "ride"? It's

a little strange. We'd say, "I rode." "I rode my bike here today."

How did you get here today? Tell me. Bye.