Top 10 Phrasal Verbs in English - Most Common Phrasal Verbs

Welcome to this video. Today, you're going to  learn the top 10 Phrasal Verbs in English. And  

adding these Phrasal Verbs to your vocabulary  is going to help you sound very natural,  

it's going to help you understand native speakers  and it's going to help you sound very advanced in  

English as well. So you definitely want to take  notes, and make sure you really understand 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 dive in with this lesson.  

Are you ready to add the top 10 phrasal verbs to  your vocabulary? And make sure you watch right to  

the end because I'm going to quiz you. You're  going to have to complete a quiz at the end to  

make sure you really do understand all your new  phrasal verbs. Let's get started with number one,  

to back down. When you back down, it means you  retract, or you withdraw from your original  

position on a topic or on an argument. So you  have an opinion. And then when you back down, you  

change your position. You change your opinion to  something different, usually because your opinion  

is different from what other people think.  So there's pressure on you to back down.  

Let me give you an example. Let's say that you  feel like you deserve a raise, of course you  

deserve a raise, why wouldn't you deserve a raise.  So you've done some amazing work, you go into your  

boss's office, and you let your boss know that  you feel like you deserve a 10% raise. Now,  

that's your position. I deserve a 10% raise,  that's your position. And you might feel very  

firmly about this decision, and you might say,  and I won't back down. I won't back down. Now,  

notice how we commonly use this phrasal verb in  the negative to say, I won't change my position,  

I won't retract from my position. So my position  is, I deserve a 10% raise and that is what  

I'm keeping. Now your boss, on the other hand,  maybe your boss is talking to other management,  

and they're discussing this 10% raise. And they  might say something like, Oh, give her a week  

and then offer her 5%. She'll back down. She'll  back down. So your boss is making a prediction  

that you will retract from your original  position 10%. And you'll accept something less,  

5%. So notice you're using it in the negative. I  won't back down, but then your boss is using it in  

the positive she will back down. So obviously  we could have ourselves a conflict here. Our  

next phrasal verb is to phase out. When you  phase something out, it means you gradually  

stop using it. So it doesn't go from using  it to not using it overnight. It's a process,  

a gradual process where every day, you're  reducing the use of it slightly, slightly slightly  

until the use of it gets to zero. Now, we do this  with many things. We can do this with products,  

services, because technology changes, and we don't  need that product or service anymore, for example.  

But rather than just eliminating it overnight. We  phase it out. So here's my personal prediction,  

whether or not you agree with it is different  you can let me know in the comments, but I think  

cash, the use of cash is going to be phased out.  So I think right now we're at a point where we're  

gradually, gradually reducing our  use of cash, paper money, right.  

Cash, who pays anything with cash anymore. We use  credit cards, we use Pay Pal, we use etransfers,  

and now we're using Bitcoin even. so I personally  think that physical money, cash, is going to be  

phased out. But here's the thing. How long will  this take? It could take 10 years, it could take  

20 years, it could take 30 40, 50 years. But  all of our products that aren't so substantial  

in the economy, for example, like let's say,  a software application, it can be phased out  

over one week or two weeks, or 30 days. So the  phasing out could be a lot faster. So when you  

face something else you can do it slowly. You can  imagine how big of a process, it would be to face  

cash out of the economy, that would be a huge job  right, so we could take 20 years. So do you agree  

with my prediction that cash is going to be phased  out. And what about you. Do you have a product or  

a service or something that you predict will  be phased out in the future, if you do let us  

know your prediction in the comments. Our next  phrasal verb to point out. Now just think about  

pointing, when you point at something, is because  you want someone to pay attention to it, right,  

you want someone to work out whatever you're  pointing at. So we use it in the same meaning,  

but in this case we use it with information. When  I point something out. I want you to become aware  

of or pay attention to specific information. So  once say I'm giving a presentation, and there's  

a chart. Now as I'm presenting, I might say, I  should point out that this chart is 10 years old.  

So, I want to make you aware of specific  information, I want you to pay attention to  

specific information. I should point out that  this chart is 10 years old. Another great  

expression you can add to your vocabulary is,  as I pointed out, or as he pointed out as the  

documentary pointed out, and then you summarize  the information, as I pointed out, our sales are  

down from last year, or as the documentary pointed  out, cash is becoming phased though, so that's a  

great transition word to add to your vocabulary.  Our next phrasal verb is a nail down when you  

nail something down, it means like you make a  firm decision on something, so a firm decision,  

you can think of it as a permanent decision. I'm  not going to change my mind. It's a firm decision.  

We often use this phrasal verb in the planning  stage, when we haven't made firm decisions on  

topics. So let's say you're planning a conference,  you have to make so many decisions on the date,  

the time the guests at the conference, the food  the venue so many decisions you need to make.  

So in the planning process, you might talk about  how we need to nail down the date. We need to make  

a firm decision on the date, so we can talk about  it as an obligation, or let's say you were doing  

your PhD, and you have many different topics  that interest you and you're not sure which one  

to choose. Now you might discuss this with your  professor and he might help you nail down a topic,  

so he might help you make a firm decision  on which topic to choose for your PhD.  

Our next phrasal verb to pay someone back when  you pay someone back, it means that you repay them  

for money you borrowed. So let's say your friend  lent you $20 Now when you give your friend $20  

out a future day, you're paying her back, you're  paying her back. You're giving her the money  

that you borrowed from her in the first place. Now  you can use this socially when you borrow a small  

amount of money from a friend, but you can also  use this when you borrow a large amount of money  

like when you take out a loan from a bank, so you  might be talking to a friend, and you might say,  

Jill hasn't paid me back yet. And it's been  months. So you let your friend Jill some money,  

and she didn't give you the money back. And  obviously there was an obligation that she would  

give you the money back, you weren't just giving  her the money. It was expected that she would give  

it back at a future date. It was expected that  she would pay you back. Now on the other hand,  

maybe you lent her friend money, and a week  later she pays you back, and gives you interest,  

that's a great friend, right. So maybe you could  say thanks so much for paying me back so quickly,  

and you didn't have to pay the interest but  thanks I appreciate it. Our next phrasal verb to  

get ahead. When you get ahead, it means you make  progress, and we usually use this in the context  

of a career. Now if you're a student, you could  think of your career as your academic career,  

as well. Or, if you play sports as a hobby  you could think of it as your sports career,  

even though it's more of a hobby. Well,  we use it in a very specific field with  

fields but it could be your professional  career. It could be an academic career or  

it could even be more of a hobby, and when you  do that when you get ahead, you're progressing.  

So if you're new to a company, you might want to  ask one of your co workers, or even your manager,  

what's the best way to get ahead in this company.  How can I get ahead. What would you recommend  

I do in order to get ahead, and your boss might  reply back and say, if you want to get ahead,  

you better be willing to work long hours. Our  next phrasal verb to bear with someone when you  

bear with someone, it just means you're patient  with them, this expression is used most in a  

customer's service environment. So when you're  asking for patients. When you're dealing with  

customers. So for example, very common let's say  you call a company to get support, they might say,  

please bear with me while I look  up your file, please bear with me,  

please be patient with me, and then they might  put you on hold, and they look up your file,  

and then they come back and they might say thanks  for bearing with me. Thanks for being patient, or  

maybe you're a new employee, and you're providing  support to a customer for first time, so you might  

just say please bear with me. Today's my first  day. So you're just letting them know you're new,  

So you'd really appreciate it if their patient.  Our next phrasal verb to pop in, you pop in  

somewhere, a location, and it means that you visit  that location for a short period of time. Now this  

is commonly used when we're going from location  A to be, but you want to make a quick stop  

at another location. So maybe you're on your  way to the airport, but you might say, Oh,  

can we pop in the pharmacy. On the way, I need to  pick up some Tylenol or can we pop in the bank.  

on the way, can I go to the bank, quickly, so it's  just an emphasis on quickly. Our next phrasal verb  

to narrow down when you narrow something  down, it means that you reduce your choices  

or options to the most important or the best ones.  So you start with many many options, and then you  

narrow it down to just the best options. And why  would you do that well because it's easier to make  

a decision when you only have a limited number of  options. So you might say, we haven't nailed down  

the date yet. Remember we haven't made a firm  decision, we haven't nailed down the date,  

but we've narrowed it down to the first week  of April. So remember in your planning process,  

you have all options, it could be, April, May,  June, July, August, all the months and you need to  

nail it down, choose a specific date and then  be firm in your decision, but you haven't done  

that yet but you have taken all those options and  you've narrowed them down. Our last phrasal verb  

to give something up. When you get something off,  it means that you stop doing something or you  

eliminate something that was part of your daily  routine. So something that was a habit. And now,  

you stop doing it or you eliminate it, you give  it up. So, generally, we give up things that are  

negative, that don't add any value to our lives.  for example, smoking, eating junk food. Those are  

the two that come to my mind. So maybe you're  talking to a friend, and then they light up a  

cigarette and you say, I can't believe you haven't  given up smoking yet given up smoking, yet so I  

can't believe you haven't stopped smoking. I  can't believe you haven't eliminated smoking  

as a habit. So that's the thing we just really  only use this with things that are habitual,  

whereas you can stop doing something that you  only did one time, like stop whistling. You're  

whistling right now, and I want you to stop, but  that doesn't mean you have to give it up because  

you only give something up when it was a habit,  something you did as part of your daily routine.  

So if you always start your day with a chocolate  chip muffin, which is not very good for you right,  

you might say, I really need to give up eating  sugar or eating sweets, eating bad food, eating  

junk food, whatever it might be. So now you have  the top 10 phrasal verbs in your vocabulary. So  

it's time for your quiz. I am going to quiz you  to make sure you know how to use all of these  

phrasal verbs confidently. So you're going to  see the questions on the screen. I'll only leave  

the questions for 10 seconds, obviously there's  not enough time to complete the quiz. So just  

hit pause, answer all the questions, and then hit  play, and I'll show you the answers for another 10  

seconds. And of course just hit pause when you  see the answers and you can compare your own,  

and then let us know in the comments what  your score was. So let's start your quiz now.  

How did you do with that quiz? Let us know your  score in the comments. 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.  

Awesome job adding these phrasal verbs to your  vocabulary and I'll see you my next video, bye.