TOP 10 PHRASAL VERBS IN ENGLISH - Most Common Phrasal Verbs (with QUIZ)

Welcome back to JForrest English. I'm Jennifer.  And today you're going to add the top 10 phrasal  

verbs to your vocabulary to help you sound just  like a native English speaker. And at the end,  

I'm going to quiz you to make sure you really  understand these phrasal verbs. 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'm 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'm 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 plans, 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.

So how did you do with that quiz? Well,  let's find out. Here aren't the answers. Hit,  

pause and take as much time as you need to  review them. And when you're ready, hit play.

So how did you do with that quiz? Make sure you  share your score in the comments below and share  

your favorite phrasal verb from this list.  And why not try an example sentence with your  

favorite phrasal verb? Do that in the comments  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 or look for  

the link in the description below and you  can keep improving your vocabulary with.

This lesson right now?