BEST Phrasal Verbs in English (MUST KNOW)

Welcome back to JForrest English  Training, your place to become a fluent,  

confident English speaker. Of course I'm Jennifer  and in this lesson you're going to add the top 10  

phrasal verbs to your vocabulary. Now make  sure you watch right to the end because I'm  

going to quiz you to make sure you know how to  use your new phrasal verbs. Let's get started.  

Number one, aim at. And you aim at a target.  And when you aim at a target this means you  

intend to achieve that target. So you just try.  To try to achieve that target. For example,  

they're aiming at reducing their costs by  10%. So what's the target? In this sentence,  

reducing their cost by 10%. That entire clause is  the target. Now notice we have a gerund verb. So  

you can absolutely have a gerund verb. You can aim  at doing something, so a gerund verb. You can also  

use a noun. For example, his sling shot was aimed  at his neighbor's garage. So the target in this  

example is the neighbor's garage. And his sling  shot was aimed at, because that's the target he's  

attempting to achieve. Number two, this is a great  one, to shrug off. When you shrug something off,  

you disregard it. You don't consider it important.  So I could say. His insult. An insult is something  

negative you say to another person. His insult was  aimed at me, to use our first phrasal verb. His  

insult was aimed at me, but I shrugged it off. I  said, I don't care. I'm not going to let it bother  

me. I'm not going to let it hurt me. It's not  important. I'm going to disregard it. I'm going  

to shrug it off. Now notice, shrug your shoulders.  And we generally do that when we want to say,  

meh whatever. We tend to shrug our shoulders.  So that's where this expression comes from.  

Number three, egg on. That's right, egg on.  This is a fun one. When you egg someone on,  

you encourage them to do something, but  that something isn't in their best interest.  

For example, let's say a student is arguing  with their teacher. Now that probably isn't in  

the student's best interest. To argue with the  teacher. But if the other students are saying,  

Yeah, keep going. You're doing great. They're  egging him on. They're egging that student on.  

They're encouraging that student to keep  arguing, even though arguing isn't in his  

best interest. Or let's say you're considering  doing something a little risky, like jumping off  

a high cliff when you don't know what's beneath  you. And maybe you're not really serious about it,  

but the crowd eggs you on. Oh do it. You can do  it. You should do it. They're encouraging you,  

even though it can have a really negative outcome.  The crowd egged him on to jump off the cliff. Now  

most likely you won't use this in your everyday  vocabulary. But you'll commonly hear this on TV,  

in movies or when you're reading. So I wanted to  share it with you, so you're not confused when you  

see this egg on and you have no idea what they're  talking about. Now you do. Number four, to turn  

down. When you turn something down, it means you  reject that something. And we use this in the  

context of an offer or an invitation. For example,  they offered her the job, but she turned it down.  

She said 'no' to the job. So of course you can say  she rejected. But it's very common, more common,  

to say 'she turned it down'. So you can turn down  something like a job offer. You can also turn  

down an invitation from someone else, a social  invitation or a romantic invitation. For example,  

I asked Marissa out but she turned me down. When  you ask someone out, it means you invite them to  

dinner or a coffee for romantic purposes. I asked  Marissa out but she turned me down. She rejected  

my offer. Number five, to zoom in or the opposite  to zoom out. If there are any photographers here,  

you already know what this means. Because  when you zoom in, the object becomes closer,  

and when you zoom out, the object becomes farther  away. And I'm just sharing this with you because  

everyone is meeting on video conference now.  When you're having a video conference, you have  

a camera that's focusing on you. And it's really  important you have the correct zoom. You don't  

want to be too close. If you're too close to the  camera, you need to zoom out. If you're too far,  

you need to zoom in. So you might ask a colleague,  Hey, I can't see you very well. Can you zoom in?  

Or a colleague might tell you, your picture's  all blurry. You need to zoom out. So now you  

know what that means for your next video call.  Number six, to wiggle out of. This is a great  

one. When you wiggle out of something, you avoid a  situation, a task, a chore, a responsibility that  

you don't really want to do, and you avoid it in  a cunning way. So let's say that tomorrow you're  

supposed to clean out the garage. And you don't  really want to, but your wife or your husband,  

your sister, your brother, whoever,  wants you to clean out the garage.  

Now tomorrow when you're supposed to clean out  that garage, maybe you get an urgent phone call  

just at the right moment and you have to go to  work and finish something. But you planned that  

phone call. You planned that phone call to take  place right as you needed to clean the garage.  

So you did that in a cunning way. So you try to  wiggle out of cleaning the garage. So basically  

when you're asked to do something, and then you  try to avoid it by creating a scenario where you  

have another responsibility. Or maybe a friend  asked you to move, but you tell them oh you have a  

back injury. So you hurt your back and now you  can't help them move. So you try to wiggle out  

of that. Number seven, to hold up. This is a must  know phrasal verb because we use it when you're  

delayed. And you're delayed specifically while  you're traveling. This could be traveling on a  

flight or a train for more long distance travel.  But it can also just be traveling from your office  

to another board room. Or from your house to the  car. So it can be a very short distance travel  

or a more longer travel as well. For example,  my kids always hold me up when I'm trying  

to leave. So you're trying to leave the house  and then your kids say, Mom, Mom, I need this,  

help me find that, do this for me. And they delay  you. They delay you when you're trying to leave,  

you're trying to travel. My kids always hold me  up. Now we commonly use this in the passive form.  

So you might have an appointment that you're  trying to get to and you're late and when you get  

to that appointment, you can say, sorry I'm late.  I was held up. To be held up. I was held up by  

my kids. Oh, I was held up. Number eight, to hit  it off. This is a great one. When you hit it off,  

it means you have a very positive relationship  with someone right from the first time you meet  

them. So let's say you have a new coworker. And  the first conversation you have you realize you  

have a lot in common. You really like the person.  They're nice, they're funny, they like you,  

the conversation's going really well. You can say,  wow, we really hit it off. Hit it off. That 'it'  

is just our relationship. We hit our  relationship off, but we always use 'it'. We  

really hit it off. Now notice how I said, we.  We almost always use this expression with the  

subject 'we'. My coworker and I. Or 'we'. My  coworker and I hit it off. I would not say,  

I hit it off with my coworker. That sounds  unnatural. We say, we hit it off. Number nine,  

to get through. When you get through  something, it simply means you finish it,  

but that something is usually a chore or an  unpleasant task, something that isn't enjoyable.  

For example, I have 10 reports I need  to get through by the end of the day.  

I have 10 reports I need to finish by the end  of the day. But when I use the phrasal verb  

'get through' it implies there's going to be  some effort, some struggle. I don't really  

enjoy the task. Number 10, to freshen up. When you  freshen up, you quickly improve your appearance.  

So before you go into a meeting or to a social  events you can freshen up. You can go into  

the bathroom and you can brush your hair. You can  put on fresh lipstick. You can check your makeup.  

Now if you're a guy, maybe you put on deodorant  or cologne, things like that. So you quickly  

improve your appearance, you freshen up. So  let's say you're going out for a nice dinner,  

you might say, oh just give me five minutes to  freshen up. So now you have 10 new phrasal verbs  

added to your vocabulary. Are you ready  for your quiz? Here are the questions.  

Hit pause. Take as much time as you need and  when you're ready, hit play to see the answers.  

So how did you do with that quit? Let's find  out. Here are your answers. So hit pause,  

take as much time as you need to review the  answers. So how did you do? Make sure you share  

your score in the comments below. And why don't  you do a few example sentences with your favorite  

phrasal verbs from this list. And if you found  this video helpful, please hit the like button,  

share with your friends and of course subscribe.  And before you go make sure you head on over to my  

website, JForrestEnglish.com and download your  free speaking guide. In this guide I share six  

tips on how to speak English fluently and  confidently. And until next time, Happy studying!