BEST Phrasal Verbs in English (MUST KNOW)

19,177 views ・ 2022-08-04

JForrest English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
Welcome back to JForrest English  Training, your place to become a fluent,  
0
80
4240
00:04
confident English speaker. Of course I'm Jennifer  and in this lesson you're going to add the top 10  
1
4320
6320
00:10
phrasal verbs to your vocabulary. Now make  sure you watch right to the end because I'm  
2
10640
4560
00:15
going to quiz you to make sure you know how to  use your new phrasal verbs. Let's get started.  
3
15200
5120
00:23
Number one, aim at. And you aim at a target.  And when you aim at a target this means you  
4
23680
8400
00:32
intend to achieve that target. So you just try.  To try to achieve that target. For example,  
5
32080
8640
00:41
they're aiming at reducing their costs by  10%. So what's the target? In this sentence,  
6
41440
7360
00:49
reducing their cost by 10%. That entire clause is  the target. Now notice we have a gerund verb. So  
7
49760
8800
00:58
you can absolutely have a gerund verb. You can aim  at doing something, so a gerund verb. You can also  
8
58560
8240
01:06
use a noun. For example, his sling shot was aimed  at his neighbor's garage. So the target in this  
9
66800
10880
01:17
example is the neighbor's garage. And his sling  shot was aimed at, because that's the target he's  
10
77680
8320
01:26
attempting to achieve. Number two, this is a great  one, to shrug off. When you shrug something off,  
11
86000
8720
01:34
you disregard it. You don't consider it important.  So I could say. His insult. An insult is something  
12
94720
9360
01:44
negative you say to another person. His insult was  aimed at me, to use our first phrasal verb. His  
13
104080
8240
01:52
insult was aimed at me, but I shrugged it off. I  said, I don't care. I'm not going to let it bother  
14
112320
8640
02:00
me. I'm not going to let it hurt me. It's not  important. I'm going to disregard it. I'm going  
15
120960
7280
02:08
to shrug it off. Now notice, shrug your shoulders.  And we generally do that when we want to say,  
16
128240
11840
02:20
meh whatever. We tend to shrug our shoulders.  So that's where this expression comes from.  
17
140080
7280
02:27
Number three, egg on. That's right, egg on.  This is a fun one. When you egg someone on,  
18
147360
9680
02:37
you encourage them to do something, but  that something isn't in their best interest.  
19
157040
8480
02:46
For example, let's say a student is arguing  with their teacher. Now that probably isn't in  
20
166320
8800
02:55
the student's best interest. To argue with the  teacher. But if the other students are saying,  
21
175120
6880
03:02
Yeah, keep going. You're doing great. They're  egging him on. They're egging that student on.  
22
182000
7760
03:09
They're encouraging that student to keep  arguing, even though arguing isn't in his  
23
189760
6400
03:16
best interest. Or let's say you're considering  doing something a little risky, like jumping off  
24
196160
7680
03:23
a high cliff when you don't know what's beneath  you. And maybe you're not really serious about it,  
25
203840
8400
03:32
but the crowd eggs you on. Oh do it. You can do  it. You should do it. They're encouraging you,  
26
212240
7040
03:39
even though it can have a really negative outcome.  The crowd egged him on to jump off the cliff. Now  
27
219280
7600
03:46
most likely you won't use this in your everyday  vocabulary. But you'll commonly hear this on TV,  
28
226880
8000
03:54
in movies or when you're reading. So I wanted to  share it with you, so you're not confused when you  
29
234880
5680
04:00
see this egg on and you have no idea what they're  talking about. Now you do. Number four, to turn  
30
240560
8080
04:08
down. When you turn something down, it means you  reject that something. And we use this in the  
31
248640
7120
04:15
context of an offer or an invitation. For example,  they offered her the job, but she turned it down.  
32
255760
11280
04:27
She said 'no' to the job. So of course you can say  she rejected. But it's very common, more common,  
33
267040
8880
04:35
to say 'she turned it down'. So you can turn down  something like a job offer. You can also turn  
34
275920
8560
04:44
down an invitation from someone else, a social  invitation or a romantic invitation. For example,  
35
284480
8720
04:53
I asked Marissa out but she turned me down. When  you ask someone out, it means you invite them to  
36
293920
8960
05:02
dinner or a coffee for romantic purposes. I asked  Marissa out but she turned me down. She rejected  
37
302880
9040
05:11
my offer. Number five, to zoom in or the opposite  to zoom out. If there are any photographers here,  
38
311920
9840
05:21
you already know what this means. Because  when you zoom in, the object becomes closer,  
39
321760
7120
05:28
and when you zoom out, the object becomes farther  away. And I'm just sharing this with you because  
40
328880
7360
05:36
everyone is meeting on video conference now.  When you're having a video conference, you have  
41
336240
6000
05:42
a camera that's focusing on you. And it's really  important you have the correct zoom. You don't  
42
342240
6880
05:49
want to be too close. If you're too close to the  camera, you need to zoom out. If you're too far,  
43
349120
6800
05:55
you need to zoom in. So you might ask a colleague,  Hey, I can't see you very well. Can you zoom in?  
44
355920
7280
06:03
Or a colleague might tell you, your picture's  all blurry. You need to zoom out. So now you  
45
363920
5840
06:09
know what that means for your next video call.  Number six, to wiggle out of. This is a great  
46
369760
7840
06:17
one. When you wiggle out of something, you avoid a  situation, a task, a chore, a responsibility that  
47
377600
9440
06:27
you don't really want to do, and you avoid it in  a cunning way. So let's say that tomorrow you're  
48
387040
8000
06:35
supposed to clean out the garage. And you don't  really want to, but your wife or your husband,  
49
395040
5600
06:41
your sister, your brother, whoever,  wants you to clean out the garage.  
50
401200
4640
06:45
Now tomorrow when you're supposed to clean out  that garage, maybe you get an urgent phone call  
51
405840
6400
06:53
just at the right moment and you have to go to  work and finish something. But you planned that  
52
413120
8480
07:01
phone call. You planned that phone call to take  place right as you needed to clean the garage.  
53
421600
5920
07:07
So you did that in a cunning way. So you try to  wiggle out of cleaning the garage. So basically  
54
427520
8000
07:15
when you're asked to do something, and then you  try to avoid it by creating a scenario where you  
55
435520
7120
07:22
have another responsibility. Or maybe a friend  asked you to move, but you tell them oh you have a  
56
442640
7520
07:30
back injury. So you hurt your back and now you  can't help them move. So you try to wiggle out  
57
450160
7360
07:37
of that. Number seven, to hold up. This is a must  know phrasal verb because we use it when you're  
58
457520
8240
07:45
delayed. And you're delayed specifically while  you're traveling. This could be traveling on a  
59
465760
6720
07:52
flight or a train for more long distance travel.  But it can also just be traveling from your office  
60
472480
7040
07:59
to another board room. Or from your house to the  car. So it can be a very short distance travel  
61
479520
9840
08:09
or a more longer travel as well. For example,  my kids always hold me up when I'm trying  
62
489360
8720
08:18
to leave. So you're trying to leave the house  and then your kids say, Mom, Mom, I need this,  
63
498080
5440
08:23
help me find that, do this for me. And they delay  you. They delay you when you're trying to leave,  
64
503520
7040
08:30
you're trying to travel. My kids always hold me  up. Now we commonly use this in the passive form.  
65
510560
10400
08:40
So you might have an appointment that you're  trying to get to and you're late and when you get  
66
520960
6880
08:47
to that appointment, you can say, sorry I'm late.  I was held up. To be held up. I was held up by  
67
527840
10160
08:58
my kids. Oh, I was held up. Number eight, to hit  it off. This is a great one. When you hit it off,  
68
538560
9280
09:07
it means you have a very positive relationship  with someone right from the first time you meet  
69
547840
6720
09:14
them. So let's say you have a new coworker. And  the first conversation you have you realize you  
70
554560
7520
09:22
have a lot in common. You really like the person.  They're nice, they're funny, they like you,  
71
562080
7360
09:29
the conversation's going really well. You can say,  wow, we really hit it off. Hit it off. That 'it'  
72
569440
10320
09:39
is just our relationship. We hit our  relationship off, but we always use 'it'. We  
73
579760
7600
09:47
really hit it off. Now notice how I said, we.  We almost always use this expression with the  
74
587360
8480
09:55
subject 'we'. My coworker and I. Or 'we'. My  coworker and I hit it off. I would not say,  
75
595840
8720
10:04
I hit it off with my coworker. That sounds  unnatural. We say, we hit it off. Number nine,  
76
604560
10960
10:15
to get through. When you get through  something, it simply means you finish it,  
77
615520
6160
10:22
but that something is usually a chore or an  unpleasant task, something that isn't enjoyable.  
78
622240
10880
10:33
For example, I have 10 reports I need  to get through by the end of the day.  
79
633680
7440
10:41
I have 10 reports I need to finish by the end  of the day. But when I use the phrasal verb  
80
641680
6240
10:47
'get through' it implies there's going to be  some effort, some struggle. I don't really  
81
647920
7680
10:55
enjoy the task. Number 10, to freshen up. When you  freshen up, you quickly improve your appearance.  
82
655600
10480
11:06
So before you go into a meeting or to a social  events you can freshen up. You can go into  
83
666080
9520
11:15
the bathroom and you can brush your hair. You can  put on fresh lipstick. You can check your makeup.  
84
675600
7680
11:23
Now if you're a guy, maybe you put on deodorant  or cologne, things like that. So you quickly  
85
683280
7920
11:31
improve your appearance, you freshen up. So  let's say you're going out for a nice dinner,  
86
691200
6640
11:37
you might say, oh just give me five minutes to  freshen up. So now you have 10 new phrasal verbs  
87
697840
8240
11:46
added to your vocabulary. Are you ready  for your quiz? Here are the questions.  
88
706080
5760
11:51
Hit pause. Take as much time as you need and  when you're ready, hit play to see the answers.  
89
711840
6240
11:59
So how did you do with that quit? Let's find  out. Here are your answers. So hit pause,  
90
719760
5520
12:05
take as much time as you need to review the  answers. So how did you do? Make sure you share  
91
725280
7680
12:12
your score in the comments below. And why don't  you do a few example sentences with your favorite  
92
732960
6720
12:19
phrasal verbs from this list. And if you found  this video helpful, please hit the like button,  
93
739680
5360
12:25
share with your friends and of course subscribe.  And before you go make sure you head on over to my  
94
745040
4720
12:29
website, JForrestEnglish.com and download your  free speaking guide. In this guide I share six  
95
749760
5920
12:35
tips on how to speak English fluently and  confidently. And until next time, Happy studying!
96
755680
16160
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7