Take Over, Hold Up, Pull Out ✨Most Common Phrasal Verbs in English (37-39)

Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer from English with  Jennifer. Do you know the movie Sister Act  

with Whoopi Goldberg? For me, it's one of those  entertaining films I can watch again and again.  

I love the combination of humor and music. Whoopi  Goldberg plays a Las Vegas nightclub singer  

who has to hide in a convent for a while.  She is a witness to a violent crime,  

and the police want to keep her safe. A  convent is a religious community for women.  

It's a quiet place of prayer. It's not the kind of  place you'd expect to see a nightclub entertainer.  

Whoopi Goldberg's character, Dolores, is holding  up pretty well considering that the mafia -- the  

bad guys -- want to have her killed. To  help her pass the time in the convent, she  

joins and then takes over the choir. The choir  was really struggling, but Dolores teaches them  

to sing well. She also teaches them to combine  traditional church hymns with upbeat songs -- soul  

music. And soon the choir sounds like a girl  group from the 1960s. They become popular,  

and Dolores has to make a choice before a big  performance: will she stay and perform with her  

new friends? Or will she pull out early and  return to her real life outside the convent?  

Hold up, take over, and pull out are three  of the most common phrasal verbs in English.  

Did you understand them when I used them? In this  lesson, we'll study these three phrasal verbs more  

closely. Then you can go back and listen to my  plot summary again and you'll understand better.

"Take over" can be a transitive or  intransitive phrasal verb. With an object,  

it's separable. When you take something over, you  gain control of it. Dolores took over the choir.  

Dolores took over and taught the ladies new songs.  Dolores took over for the old choir director.

Guess what we call the act of taking  something over? A takeover. At first,  

the old choir director resisted the  takeover, but then she gave Dolores a chance.

"Takeover" is a compound noun. In business,  there are takeovers. One company takes control  

of another. The people involved usually try  to make it a smooth transition. However,  

in the context of government and politics, there  can be a military takeover, a hostile takeover.

One person can ask another to take  over in a variety of situations.  

Roger. Take over. Take over for me. Take  over. "Hold up" can be a transitive or  

intransitive phrasal verb. Literally, when you  hold something up, you put it in a high position  

so that people will notice it. For  example, you can hold up a sign.

There are other more figurative meanings. Look  at these examples and guess the definitions.  

Dolores had been through a stressful  situation, but she was holding up rather well.

Services can be held up by supply shortages;  

if a company doesn't have certain parts,  they can't provide their service on time.

The police caught the man who  held up a local convenience store.

Here are the answers.

So, if you're holding up well, it means  you're staying strong. We don't have to  

refer only to people, though. A pair of boots  can hold up well in the cold winter weather,  

meaning they're warm, dry, and durable.

A theory may or may not hold up over  

time. If it doesn't hold up, it  means that something proves it wrong.

When we talk about a delay, we often use  "hold up" in the passive: be held up,  

get held up. You can get held up in traffic or on  a phone call, and then you're late for a meeting.

We can also use hold up as an informal request  to pause for a moment. It's like saying wait a  

second. Wait. Hold up. Hold up. Hold up. Hold  up. Is this a real concern? As for a robbery,  

to hold up a place implies that the  robber had a gun. The compound noun  

"hold up" makes me think of a western  movie with armed robbers on horseback.  

This is what they call a holdup. "Pull out" can  be a transitive or intransitive phrasal verb.  

If someone pulls out, they quit or leave  unexpectedly. In the movie Sister Act,  

Dolores invests a lot of time and effort in  the choir, and they become really good. For  

that reason, she hesitates to pull out before  a big concert. She doesn't want to disappoint  

the other women by leaving too soon, but  she also needs to return to her real life.

Anyone can decide to pull out of an undesirable  

or dangerous situation. Army troops can pull  out of battle in order to save soldiers.  

We save and protect him. Pull him out.  In another context, you leave or pull out  

because you don't want to be involved in  something anymore. You no longer want to commit.

A buyer can pull out of a deal. A business  person may try to pull out of an agreement.

So, "pull out" can refer to leaving or quitting.  Similarly, we can talk about removing something.  

You can pull someone or something out of a  place. You can pull weeds out of your garden.  

If you find a gray hair, you might pull it out.

It's interesting and probably a little confusing  

that another meaning of "pull out" has to do  with entering rather than leaving. As a driver,  

when you pull out, you join other  cars. You pull out into traffic.  

Do you know the traffic rules, by the way? What  do you need to do before you pull into traffic?

You turn on your signal. I'm happy to report  that my son is now a licensed driver. He passed  

his driving test recently. He knows how to pull  into traffic, parallel park, and everything. Pull  

out slowly into traffic. Just pull out into  traffic. Okay. Try a short quiz to review.

Do you think you remember other phrasal verbs  that we studied earlier in this series?  

Let me quiz you just a little.

That's all for now. Remember to go back  and listen to the beginning of my lesson.  

See if you understand the plot summary of Sister  Act better. Watch the movie if you can find it.  

I hope you like it. As always, thanks for  watching and happy studies! Hey! Did you  

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