Unusual Phrasal Verbs with PUT | Study English advanced level

Hi there, guys, this is teacher Harry here and welcome back to my English lessons where

I try to help you to get a better understanding of the English language so that you can prepare

in a better way for those job interviews with an international company perhaps. Or indeed

you can prepare for IELTS exams or CAE. Whatever your objective is, whatever your target or

goal is for English, we're here to help you. Okay, so what are we going to look at today?

Well, we're going to look at some expressions, and particularly phrasal verbs with the word

put. P-U-T. Put, okay. Now, to put it has no change. So it's one of those irregular

verbs. Put, put, put. A bit like one of these little bikes around when you go to Asia put

put on it boom, boom, putt, putt, putt, putt, putt, putt. So to put no no change in its

construction. So let me go down through each of these phrasal verbs. There are many phrasal

verbs you can use with pots, I'm taking probably the the ones that are a little bit trickier,

or the little ones that you might not use so often. And I'll give you an explanation

as to each one. I'll give you some examples. And again, if you have any problems, come

back to me, and I'll explain them to you. Okay, so here they are, put something about

or put something around,

put something across,

to put aside or put by and use them both in the same way

to put down to,

to put forward,

put off,

put someone out,

put someone through something,

put together and then finally

put someone up to something, put someone up to something. Okay, so I'm going to go through

each one of them and give you some examples.

So to put something about or around and about and around are the preposition and they're

exactly the same. Yeah, when we go around in circles, or we go about and circles, it

means the same. So to put something about or put something around means perhaps, to

put a rumour about that, you know, or did you hear that? David is getting divorced,

you might not know it, you might have heard some gossip. So you put a rumour about now,

it might be malicious, meant to hurt somebody, or you might have done it accidentally, because

you got the wrong information. Or as we say in English, the wrong end of the stick. The

wrong end of the stick means you you've got something you picked it up wrong. Somebody

mentioned something and you You misunderstood it. So you could put something around or put

something about deliberately or you could do it accidentally. It wasn't intentional.

Okay, so we put a rumour about or we put a rumour around. Okay, so to put around and

about. And usually when we're talking about gossip, or rumours, yeah. There's a rumour

being put about by some people that the internet is going to be closed down. Or there's a rumour

has been put around that the country is going to increase the taxation by 50%. Okay, so

people get really, really worried. And of course, when we have all this, these issues

with social media these days, it's very easy for us to get information or misinformation

or false information, or as they call it, fake news. So gossip and rumours are easily

put around or put about, okay.

Next to put something across? Well, when we want to put across our point where it means

we want people to understand and this very definitely comes in from a business perspective,

when you're at a meeting or you're making a presentation. Or indeed, even if you're

in a classroom environment, you want to put your point across Yeah, or your message across.

So how do we do it?

So if we're organising the launch of a new product, how do we put across to the people

that we want them to buy this product? Well, we have to make it sexy and cool and really

interesting to buy. So we we deliberately form our programme or launching a product

based around that. So to put it across, or if somebody is very angry or annoyed, then

they want to put across the message that you cannot do it. So as a parent, talking to your

children, and you want to tell them the difference between right and wrong. What they can do

and what they cannot do, then it's really important to put your message across in a

very stern way so you put on a stern face. You know, you're not supposed to do that.

You know what it means when you do that. So you speak to them in a stern manner. And hopefully,

they recognised by your body language or your facial expression that you're a little bit

annoyed. So you put the message across. Okay. To put across. Good.

Ok, next put aside or put by now, as I said these two prepositions aside, and by in this

situation exactly the same, usually when we use put aside put by, it means that we are

going to save something, okay? So literally we put it aside. So aside meaning over here

or put by, with, we put something here, so we can do it physically, okay, so if you've

got a nice chocolate cake, for example, you might not eat at all, hopefully not. And you

put aside some of the cake for later, or you put aside some of the cake to share with the

family. So you put it aside, and then you will enjoy another slice with a cup of coffee

later in the afternoon. When we are saving something, perhaps money, we don't physically

take it out of our pocket pocket and put it aside or take it out of a pocket and put it

by okay, but we do save it perhaps in the bank. So we can put aside a little money every

month to save for a holidays, or we put a little money by every month for what we call

it in English, the rainy day. And the rainy day is when you really need it, some problem

will happen, the washing machine breaks in a few months, and the other car breaks down.

Whatever happens, you need some money and you are here we go again. But luckily I have

put some money by and therefore it's not going to cause too much of a problem. Okay, so to

put something by us put something aside is to save it for some situation, the rainy day,

the holiday, whatever it might be the kids education, okay, and we can put aside a little

bit of cake that we can enjoy later on. So physically, we leave it on the table, and

we try not to be tempted to eat it. So put aside and put by.

Next to put down to. Okay, so when we put down to something, it means we believe this

is the reason why something happened. Okay, so this heavy rain, and these these tropical

type, weather effects have been put down to climate change. Okay, so this is what has

been blamed. So they're blaming the fact that there's so much pollution that blaming the

fact that the ice cap is melting, they're blaming the fact that we haven't done enough

to protect the environment. And therefore, these abnormal weather patterns are being

put down to the whole aspect of climate change. So

governments are now saying, 'Oh, we must do more about stopping cars in our streets. Oh,

we must do much more about car pollution.' So they'll push forward the whole issue of

electric vehicles so that we can avoid hopefully, these sort of patterns happening in the future.

So when you want to blame something, or you want to apportion the blame, then you put

it down to something, okay. So if the kids are misbehaving, and they are doing things

that you you don't want them to do, and you say,

I just put it down to excitement, you know, they're getting ready for the holidays. We've

been planning this and they're a little bit bored at home. So I just put it down to normal

children excitement, and as soon as we get to wherever we're going, there'll be fine

to put down to. Okay,

to put forward. Well, when we put forward something, it often is, by way of a suggestion.

Okay, could I put forward a suggestion? So this is something you might ask at a meeting.

Would you mind if I put forward some ideas? Meaning, would you mind if I give you some

ideas that might help so a business perspective or something you're planning, you would like

to put forward your own ideas, so you'd like people to think about them, you'd like people

to consider them. And you'd like people, hopefully, to accept that these ideas are good. So you

put forward your ideas. Now, you might do it in a note, you might do it in an email.

So you tell your, your boss or your colleagues will look, I'll think about it, I'll go back

to my desk, it'll take me a day or so but I'd put forward my suggestions or put forward

my ideas in a document in an email and as circulated to everybody, copy the boss, whatever

you have to do, okay.

Put off when when we put off something we postponed. So, the the match has been put

off for a couple of weeks due to COVID. Okay, so classic situation at the moment that sporting

events around the world are being cancelled or postponed for a period of time because

of the COVID situation. So the match next week has been put off until the following

week. Okay, or the game that was scheduled for today has been put off until tomorrow

due to heavy rain and the pitch has been waterlogged. So they have to wait until the pitch dries.

But the match will go ahead, but it's just been postponed by several hours or several

days so it has been put off.

Another way we can use put off is when we When we don't like something, or we are not

so sure, okay, so we could be put off travelling abroad, because of the extra cost of getting

these PCR tests and other tests that we have to get so off, I don't really want to travel

and like to go on holidays. But the cost, the additional cost has put me off, it's meant

that I'm thinking twice about whether I will travel at all. So I really don't feel like

spending another 150 Euro, those extra costs, those extra charges, those extra delays, have

really put me off. So I don't feel like travelling, or a bad taste or a bad smell might put you

off. So you go into a restaurant and you see some nice food and you're feeling a little

bit hungry. When you walk into the restaurant. You get a strange smell or a bad odour. And

we'll put you off eating immediately. Okay, so your friend says, Well, what would you

like to audit? Oh no, I don't really feel so comfortable here. That smell has put me

off my lunch and my dinner or my appetite. So not you go ahead, I just have a coffee

or have a small snack, but I don't really feel like eating eating at the moment. So

that experience or that smell or that taste has really put me off.

Okay, now we can be also put off somebody by some action or something about them some

mannerism that you you don't like, yeah, so somebody is a little bit arrogant, it might

put you off that person. Okay, so

Oh, I don't really like him. His manner has put me off. You know, I, I thought he was

okay. And, you know, when I spoke to him, the first time wasn't so bad. But the more

I got to know him, the more I dislike him. So I've really been put off by his actions

or his mannerisms, or the way he talks or the way he he acts. Okay, so to put off.

Next, we have to put someone out, but we could literally pick somebody up, if we could put

them out the door, that would be one way of doing it sort of one of the children is misbehaving,

you put them out of the room. So you pick them up, or you take them by the hand, you

put them out, or you might put the cat out or the dog out into the garden, so they can

do what cats and dogs do. Okay, so you've, you've put them out. So that's a very literal

meaning of it. But if we want to use it in another way, when we can say, to put someone

out means to disturb them, or to, in some way interfere with what they were doing, okay?

So when you put someone out, it means temporarily or for a period of time, you might feel that

you're disturbing them from something else that they are doing. Okay, so your boss might

ask you to prepare some document for an important meeting. And you say, okay, look, I'm a bit

busy at the moment. And but I'll get it done. When is the deadline? And he says, Oh, it's

next week, I hope we won't put you out. I have... Well, no, no, I'll finish what I'm

doing. It'll just take me a few hours, and then I'll get started on that. It won't disturb

me at all. So to put someone out

Put someone through something. So when we put someone through something, it's usually

means something difficult. Okay. So the illness puts you through some difficult times. So

you're, you didn't feel well, at the beginning, you had to get some treatment yet some medication.

So it really puts you through a difficult situation, physically and mentally because

of the illness. Okay. So if there are changes that take place in our life, that can be another

situation when someone is put through something, okay, so let's say the company you work for

has decided to relocate. They're going to relocate somewhere in the suburb, because

the price of office space is much cheaper there. So they send a memo round to the staff

to advise people that, you know, as in from the first of January next year, we're going

to relocate to the suburbs. And we are really, really sorry and apologetic for having to

put you through this, okay? We're apologetic for having to put you through this. But it's

something that we have to do to save costs. The alternative is that we stay in our city

centre offices, but then we'd have to reduce the workforce. So we have a choice. We hate

to put you through it, but we think it's something that you will understand is in the best interests

of everybody. So to put someone through something is some change that perhaps they won't like.

Perhaps it will take a while for them to adjust to, but it's something they have to do so

to put them through it.

Okay, there's an expression in English to put you through the mill. Now, a mill is one

of these windmills so when you put someone through the mill, it's a really difficult

situation. Or I've been through the mill I've been put through the mill by my, my boss,

I've been put through the mill by my ex husband or ex wife, or there's a bad breakup in a

marriage. So we can use it in that context. Again, it's not something you wanted to go

through. But you did go through it. So you have been put through something very, very

difficult. Okay,

put together. When we want to put something together. We join us. Yeah, so we're building

Lego, we put this together with this, this together with that, and yeah, we build up

the Lego, we've all done it with our kids. And some people actually enjoy doing it even

with if they don't have kids. So to put something together, is to build it or connected, okay,

we can put together a presentation, we can put together a slideshow, we can put together

videos as I do with you on a regular basis, I put them together bit by bit and build up,

okay, so when we want to put things together, we physically glue them, we get a bit of glue,

put this, this and then we stick them together to put together or we can put together a presentation,

okay? Or he's put together a really wonderful meal. Yeah, so he's prepared, this is prepared

that he's got the best of wine. So if you get an invitation to his home, he always puts

together a wonderful celebration of a wonderful presentation of food, okay, put together.

And then finally, we want to put someone up to something, okay. And when we put someone

up to something, it means we persuade them to do something, perhaps that they didn't

want to do. Maybe it's a little bit cheeky. And so somebody might say, oh, Who put you

up to that? Okay, so, example, a good example would be the kids. Okay, so one of the kids

tries to play a trick on you. So they put a bucket of water or something above the door.

So when you open the door, the water falls down on top of you. And everybody laughs except

you, of course, because you're very, very wet, but the kids are laughing. And then you

say, who did this? Who did this? Yeah. And so little Johnny comes forward and says, I

did it. I did it. And mother said, Well, you couldn't have thought of that, yourself. Who

put you up to this? Meaning who persuaded you that it was a good idea to do it, and

Johnny says, oh, Jennifer, she told me that I should do it. And it would be very funny.

So somebody puts somebody up to something, okay. So to put somebody or someone up to

something means to persuade them against their will, or to get them to do something that

you don't want to do, but you want them to do it, put somebody up to it.

Okay, so let me run through those again. Put something about or put something around and

about and around exactly the same preposition. Put something across yet to get your point

across, put aside or put by means to save perhaps, put down to to blame or to describe

or accept how something happened. To put forward means to suggest something to put off to postpone

or cancel. Put someone out means to inconvenience them in some way perhaps, to put someone through

something means give them a difficult time that really they you didn't want to do but

you had no choice. Put together to build up connect. And put someone up something means

to persuade them to do something that they didn't really or shouldn't have, have done.

Okay, so all of these are phrasal verbs with put there are many, many more, some very,

very simple ones. These are some that are a little bit more difficult. Hopefully, you've

understood those. And don't forget to subscribe to my channel. And as always, you can listen

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