Master English Phrasal Verbs for Fluent Conversations

How well do you know phrasal verbs?

Today, you'll learn 10 phrasal verbs that  native speakers use every single day,  

and you'll quiz your knowledge to  see if you can really use them.

Welcome back to JForrest English, Of course.

I'm Jennifer.

Now let's get started.

Number one, to dish out.

This simply means to criticize.

So when you criticize someone or something,  you say something negative about it.

For example, she really dished  it out to Tom at the meeting.

She really criticized Tom at the meeting.

Now notice I said dished it out.

What's the IT?

the IT represents the criticism she dished  out the criticism she dished it out to Tom.

And we always use this expression with  criticism, so you don't need to specify that it.

I'm sharing this phrasal verb with you because  we have a very common in expression in English.

You can dish it out, but you can't take it.

You can dish it out, which means you freely  give criticism to others, but you can't take it.

Which means if somebody tries to criticize you,  

you do not accept that you  become very upset or very angry.

So if someone is being very  critical, you might say,  

well, you can dish it out, but can you take it?

Can you receive the criticism that you're giving?

It's a way to remind someone that  maybe you shouldn't criticize others.

You can dish it out, but you can't  take it #2 to muddle through.

This is when you do or achieve something  accidentally without a specific plan.

For example, I muddled through making the cake,  so maybe I had no idea how to make this cake.

I didn't know the procedure.

I didn't feel prepared.

I muddled through making the cake,  but it was actually quite delicious.

So sometimes when you muddle through something,  

the result isn't very positive because  you don't actually have a plan.

Other times it can be positive.

In the end, #3 to nerd out.

Oh I love this one.

When you nerd out on something, it  means you discuss it in great detail.

Greater detail than the average  person would normally do.

For example, I can nerd out  on sentence structure all day.

I can discuss sentence structure, English  sentence structure all day, but my friends who  

are native English speakers have no interest  in discussing English sentence structure.

To them, that is boring.

But to me as an English teacher, and  most likely to you as an English learner,  

we can nerd out on the English language all day.

I can also nerd out on plants.

Talking about plants, different  types of plants, looking at plants.

I really love plants as well,  but the average person probably  

doesn't want to discuss it  in as much detail as I do.

What about you?

What's something that you could nerd out on?

Nerd out on this specific topic all day?

Share that in the comments #4 to stick around.

This is a very common phrasal verb and it simply  means to remain in a place for a period of time.

Let's say you just finished dinner with  a friend at a restaurant and you drove,  

but your friend took the bus.

So you can just get in your car and leave.

But your friend has to wait until the bus comes.

So you could say, oh don't worry,  I'll stick around until the bus comes.

I'll stay with you at this specific location, the  restaurant or the bus stop, until the bus comes.

Or let's say you're in the  mall and it's raining outside.

You might say, well, let's just  stick around until it stops raining.

So let's stay at this specific  location until it stops raining.

You'll absolutely use this  in your daily speech and  

hear native speakers using this  one all the time #5 to wash up.

This simply means to clean your hands, to  wash your hands and or to wash your face.

So before dinner you could say,  

oh I just need to wash up and most  likely you're going to wash your hands.

And I commonly say this in the  evening before I watch a movie.

I could say to my husband, oh just give me 5  minutes to wash up before we start the movie.

And for me it's to wash my face because I love  taking off my makeup before I watch a movie.

It's a lot more comfortable so women might  use the wash up for our face more frequently,  

so it can be for both hands  and face number six to lock up.

This is when you securely close your windows and  doors or entrances to your house or building.

So it's another way of simply saying lock.

For example, make sure you lock up before  bed, and in that case it's in your home.

And that's of course good advice.

But if you work in a building,  

someone is likely responsible for  locking up at the end of the work day.

So one person might be responsible for  making sure that all the entrances to  

that building are securely closed or locked.

So for example, Sally is responsible  for locking up #7 to Yammer on.

This is when you talk  continuously in an annoying way.

For example, I ran into Kate at the mall and  she yammered on for hours and I missed my bus.

So I ran into Kate.

I saw Kate, but I wasn't expecting to see her.

I saw her accidentally.

I ran into Kate at the mall and  she yammered on oh hi Jennifer,  

I'd love to tell you about my vacation.

And then 10 minutes later, she's  still talking about her vacation  

and she doesn't realize that I'm not  that interested in her vacation or  

I'm just busy and need to leave  to Yammer on #8, to mouth off.

When you mouth off to someone, you speak to that  person in a disrespectful way or in an angry way.

So this is something that kids,  especially teenagers, do to their parents.

And when I was a teenager, if I mouthed  off to my parents, I would be grounded.

When you're grounded, this means that  certain privileges are taken away from you.

So if you're grounded, maybe you can't go to the  movies with your friends, you can't use the car,  

you can't use the computer privileges  you would normally have in the house.

You're grounded, You're grounded.

And as adults, we also don't want to mouth off  to certain people like our boss or an authority  

figure like a police officer is definitely  not a good idea to mouth off #9 to Max out.

When you Max something out, it means  you take that something to a limit.

For example, I maxed out my  credit cards on vacation.

So your credit card has a limit, maybe $10,000.

If you maxed out that credit card, it means  that you spent $10,000 the maximum amount.

The limit of that credit card.

Likely not the best idea.

Then finally #10 to load up on.

When you load up on something, it means  you consume a lot of that something,  

or you purchase a lot of that  something for a specific purpose.

So let's say you're an athlete right before a  race or a competition, you might load up on carbs.

Carbs are carbohydrates, energy for your body.

So you want to consume a lot of carbs.

Jim loaded up on carbs before the race.

Or you could say we loaded up on  toilet paper because it was on sale.

So we purchased a large amount of  toilet paper because it was on sale.

Now you have the top 10 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 to see the answers, hit play.

Amazing job.

Now make sure you share  your score in the comments.

And I don't know about you, but my favorite  phrasal verb from this lesson is to nerd out on.

So let's give this a try.

Let's nerd out on and.

I want you to complete the  sentence in the comments.

And you're going to share something that  

you really enjoy discussing and  you love discussing in detail.

So put that in the comments below and who knows,  

maybe you'll find another student who wants  to nerd out on your specific interest.

And of course, make sure you like this video,  

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And you can get this free speaking  guide where I share 6 tips on how  

to speak English fluently and confidently.

You can click here to download it or  look for the link in the description.

And you can keep learning phrasal  verbs with this lesson right now.