Learn English Phrasal Verbs - Most Common Phrasal Verbs in English

Today you're going to add the top 10 phrasal  verbs to your vocabulary. Now first I'll explain  

what the phrasal verb is how you can use it and  I'll give you some example sentences. And at the  

end of the lesson, you're going to complete a  quiz to make sure you really know how to use  

these phrasal verbs. Of course, I'm Jennifer from  JForrestEnglish.com And this channel is dedicated  

to helping you feel confident speaking English in  public so you can take your career and your life  

to the next level. Now before we go any further  make sure you subscribe and hit that bell icon  

so you're notified every time I post a new  lesson. Now let's get started with this lesson.  

Are you ready to add the top 10 phrasal verbs to  your vocabulary? Number one, to tune out. This  

is a very useful phrasal verb because it's  used to say you stop listening to someone. You  

stop paying attention to them, because you don't  like what they're saying, basically. So you tune  

someone out. This is something that kids do all  the time with their parents, right? If your parent  

is giving you advice, and you don't want to hear  it, you just tune them out. So your parent is  

talking but you're just not really listening. So  you might say, I always tune out my mom when she  

gives me relationship advice. Now this can  also happen a lot in a workplace situation.  

Let's say the coworker that sits beside you is  just a very negative person and complains a lot.  

You might just simply tune them out. So you stop  listening to them because you don't want to hear  

all that negativity and complaining. So you  just tune them out. They're talking but you're  

not listening. Number two, tick off. This is a  useful one because it means to annoy to anger or  

to irritate. Now we use this in two very specific  sentence structures. It ticks someone off,  

it takes me off when my coworker doesn't help. So  'it ticks someone off' and then you explain the  

situation that causes the anger or the frustration  or the irritation. Now the other sentence  

structure is just to say that someone or something  ticks me off. John really ticks me off. He's so  

negative. John really irritates me, frustrates  me, annoys me. John really ticks me off. He's so  

negative, but I just tune him out. Number three,  to talk up. And you talk someone or something up.  

And then that means you speak in a way that makes  that someone or something sound really beneficial,  

really positive, really amazing, maybe even more  so than the reality. So let's say you're in sales  

and you're trying to sell this piece of software  to a company. Well, you're going to talk up that  

software, you're going to talk about that software  in a way that really highlights all of its  

positive features and you probably won't mention  any negative features. You're going to talk it up.  

Or let's say that your really close friend applied  for a job in your company. Well, you're probably  

going to talk up your friend. You're going to  speak about your friend very enthusiastically,  

very positively because you want your friend to  get the job. You're going to talk up your friend.  

Number four, to pile up. This means simply to  increase in amount and we generally use this  

with work. So in general, you can say work is  really piling up. Work is increasing in amount.  

You can use this with specific work. So you might  say, my expense reports are piling up. Or even  

with household chores. You might say, the laundry  is piling up. The dirty dishes are piling up.  

They're increasing in amount. Number five, to mope  around. To mope around. This is when someone moves  

from one location to another, but they do it in a  very unhappy way, a lazy way, a disappointed way.  

And it's generally because something is wrong.  Something specific is wrong. So maybe they  

just lost their job, or they just broke up with  their girlfriend, so they mope around the house  

all day. They go from the couch to the kitchen  back to the couch, but they look really upset  

and lazy and no energy. So this isn't  really a positive thing. We generally  

say, stop moping around! You need to stop moping  around and start looking for a job, if that's the  

reason why you're moping around, because you lost  your job. Stop moping around and look for a job.  

Number six, to loosen up. This is a  great one. It means to be more relaxed,  

more comfortable or less serious. So you might  say, she was very shy at first, but then she  

loosened up. So she became more relaxed,  more comfortable. Now we often use this as  

advice to someone, if someone is just being too  serious. You might say, loosen up. It's similar  

to saying relax a little, relax a little. Loose  up. You need to loosen up. Oh, just loosen up.  

Number seven, to kick off. This is a great  one. Because when you kick something off,  

it means you start. But we use this in the context  of a sports event, a meeting, a conference or even  

a party. So some form of events with people. So  in sports it's very common to say, the game, the  

match kicks off at...and then you say the time.  The match kicks off at three. The game kicks off  

at seven. And that's just when the game starts.  Now you could also say, let's kick off the meeting  

by...and then you can explain how you're going to  start the meeting. Let's kick off the meeting by  

introducing the new CFO. Or let's kick off the  meeting by sharing the good news. Number eight,  

this is a fun one, to horse around. When  you horse around, you behave in a silly or  

noisy way. So basically what children do all  the time. They horse around. But you might say,  

the kids were horsing around and they broke my  favorite vase. Now although this is commonly  

used with children, it can of course be used  for adults as well. Because adults act in  

silly and noisy ways all the time, right, even  in workplace contexts. So you might be talking  

about how your team is constantly horsing  around. And as a bonus, you can also say  

goof around. It's an alternative, but they're  both very commonly used. So horse around  

or goof around. Number nine, to get by. This  is when you have just enough money to live on,  

but not very much extra. So you can basically  pay all your bills, and that's about it.  

So you might say, since our twins were born, it's  been more difficult to get by. You have two new  

babies in the house. Well first congratulations.  But of course that's very expensive. So now you  

only have enough money to pay your bills, to buy  the food, buy the diapers, buy the groceries,  

pay your mortgage, things like that. We're getting  by. We're getting by. You're just surviving.  

So if someone knows you're going through a  tough time financially, maybe you lost your job,  

and they asked you, how's it going? Is everything  okay? You could say, well, I'm getting by. I'm  

getting by. Which lets them know you're surviving.  You have enough to pay all your core expenses.  

And finally, number 10, to flip out. Now this can  mean to become very excited. But it can also mean  

to become very angry or agitated. So it's when you  have a very strong emotion, but that emotion can  

be positive, excitement, or it can be negative,  anger. And it will be obvious based on context.  

So if you just won a competition or a prize or the  lottery, you might flip out and become very, very  

excited, right? The sports team flipped out when  they won the gold medal. Or the team flipped out  

when they lost the game. The team became very  angry. So you can use it in both situations.  

And for this expression. You can also say, freak  out. Freak out or flip out, they mean the same.  

Again, the positive, excitement, or negative  anger. And now you have 10 new phrasal verbs  

added to your vocabulary to help you sound fluent  and natural. And now it's time for your quiz.  

So here are the questions. Of course, hit  pause. Take as much time as you need and  

when you're ready, hit play and I'll share the  answers. So you can go ahead and hit pause now.  

How'd you do on that quiz? Well, let's find out.  Here are the answers. Go ahead and hit pause  

and figure out how you did. So how did you do  with the quiz? Make sure you share your score  

in the comments below. And if  you got any wrong, don't worry,  

that just means you need to practice those. So  do some example sentences in the comments below  

as well. And if you found this video helpful,  please hit the like button, share it 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!