18 USEFUL Speaking Phrasal Verbs for BETTER Communication

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Okay, so let's get back to our lesson. As  I said, it's an advanced English lesson.  

We're looking at phrasal verbs, we've got 18  in total. And these phrasal verbs are split  

into different groups and they are all about  better communication. Speaking phrasal verbs to  

improve or to give you or help you with better  communication. Okay, so let's go through them.

First, we're looking at  negative speaking, okay. So  

first one is go on, okay. So when somebody goes  on, it means they go on, and on and on. So this is  

why we talk about negative speaking because it's  something you don't want to hear. You don't want  

to hear people going on. Okay, so that's going  to talk about a topic that you're bored about,  

they just go on and on. For example, he went  on and on about his new car. He went on and on  

about his new job. So kept talking about  it. So you got really, really bored, not  

very interested. And you would wish that he could  please be quiet. So when somebody goes on. Okay.

And the next one is when somebody harps  on. So to harp on about something is  

very similar. To harp on is about  talking repeatedly about something,  

okay. Repeatedly. Somebody was harping on about  the lack of money that they have just kept saying,  

Oh, I have no money, pay too much tax and  never have any money. I can't do this,  

they can't do that. They just harp on. They go  on. Like playing a harp, the musical instrument.  

They harp on about this ad nauseam, they  just will not stop. So again, very negative.

And then the third one is to ramble on. Now, this  is slightly different when somebody rambles on,  

they talk for a long time, but nothing seems to be  connected. And then they miss the point or they go  

off the point. And they ramble on from one topic  to another. Okay, so, Oh, he rambled on at that  

presentation. Really, I thought we were going to  be there for 15 minutes, we ended up being there  

for 30 or 40 minutes. And he rambled on about such  nonsense. But, you know, what these old people are  

like, they can ramble on. You have to keep them  focused. Okay, so to ramble on is about talking  

for a long time, but not very interesting to  the other people. And you're talking about  

lots of points that are usually disconnected  or not connected to each other. To ramble on.

So when we talk negative issues about speaking,  

we can say somebody goes on and on. Somebody  harps on continuously talking about some issue  

that you're just fed up with. And to ramble  on to go on without getting to the point.

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Okay, now when somebody speaks quickly, let's  look at a couple of examples of those. Somebody  

can rattle something off, okay. So they speak  quickly. He can rattle off the name of the the  

last 20 winners of the World Cup. They can  just, you know... some guy's an expert on,  

as we call them eggheads, they're the experts  on football topics so they can rattle off the  

list of the last 20 winners of the World Cup.  And this has been can be very impressive. Yeah,  

you could be impressed with the amount of  knowledge that they have. It might not be  

so important, there's a little bit of trivia  there, but you know, World Cup winners, but  

it's very impressive that somebody can rattle them  off without even having to take breath. They just  

go one one one and whoever won it Brazil, Brazil,  or whoever, yeah. And they rattle the list off.

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Somebody can also reel something off. Now, to reel  something off again means to go through a list  

with... not taking breath, without having really  to think about it. Okay, so he can reel something  

off all of his friends or all of his school  friends and what they are now doing. So it's like  

rattling something off. To reel something off, the  meaning is almost identical. Okay, so if he reeled  

off all the guys that he met in his class or in  his university, and exactly what they have or  

where they're working now. So he knew the intimate  details of all them, you'd be very impressed with  

something like that. Okay, so when somebody is  speaking quickly, they can rattle something off,  

they can reel something off, the meaning is  scroll through a list of related information.  

Might be interesting, might not be interesting.  Might be trivia, might be important, but they can  

rattle or reel them off,. Like the name of all of  the planets. Yeah, as I said, they're the names  

of all the previous World Cup winners, the last  20 presidents of France, you know, somebody has  

all of that sort of information, quite impressive.  And we would normally refer to them as "eggheads."

The next would be about interrupting. So these  are phrasal verbs connected with interrupting.  

So one of the most popular is to butt in. Now,  have a look at how that is spelled, you'll see  

it here on the screen B-U-T-T, okay. So when  somebody butts in, they interrupt without being  

asked or without asking permission, so they they  enter into the conversation quite rudely. Now,  

they might ask, do you mind if I butt in? Then  somebody says, No, go away. Or they just butt  

in and they give their comment or give their  opinion, and everybody has to listen to it.  

So they butt in. We were having a conversation  around the coffee table. And this guy who knows  

everything about everything decided to butt in  on the conversation. Well, my opinion is... Well,  

nobody wants to listen to your opinion. So  you know, don't butt in. So don't interrupt.

The same interrupt you can chip in. Now, chip in  is slightly different. So you can chip in with  

some ideas. So if you're sitting around the table,  and you have an a meeting, the boss might say,  

Well, look, if somebody wants to chip in and  give some ideas, please feel free to do so. So  

you're invited as part of the group around the  table to chip in with any ideas that you think  

are worthwhile. So if you're having one of those  brainstorming sessions, and the boss or whoever  

is chairing the meeting, will expect you to chip  in with some ideas. After all, that's why you've  

been invited. And that is why you're there. So  when you butt in, you do it uninvited and quite  

rudely. When you chip in, you add some additional  information that people might find useful.

Now, we can also chip in when somebody is  making a collection, and we all add some  

money into the collection, so we get a better  presence. So we chip in but here we're talking  

about conversations. And when somebody chips  in, it's to add something important or relevant  

or something that might be useful. Okay, so  it's a specific point in the conversation.

Next, is when we talk... people are speaking very  suddenly, okay. So that something may be a little  

bit unexpected, or something that we wanted to  talk about but it's just comes in quickly. So  

somebody's speaking suddenly, so I've got two  examples of that. The first is to blurt out  

okay. So be careful with the pronunciation  and the and the spelling of this to blurt  

out. So when somebody blurts out something, they  something... say something very quickly, okay.  

And they also say something very suddenly, and  usually without thinking, okay. So if you're at  

a pub quiz, and the person who's reading out the  questions is halfway through the first question,  

and one of your colleagues blurts out the answer,  Oops, I'm really sorry. I'm not supposed to do  

that. So they blurt out the answer. They speak  very suddenly. And everybody laughs of course,  

because he's given away their... the answer to  the question. He wasn't supposed to do that.  

So you shouldn't blurt out the answer in the pub  quiz. Not something that you... you should really,  

really do. So blurt out, speak very  suddenly, and quickly without thinking.

But you can also come out with a remark.  Now it could be a funny remark. It could  

be a casual remark. It could be an insult.  To come out with something quite funny. Oh,  

you can always rely on Harry to come out with  something quite funny. So if somebody says  

something, you'd have a quick remark to reply, or  some little joke or some little ironic witticism,  

yeah. Okay, so to come out with something. So  when you come out with a remark again, you say it,  

suddenly. You blurt out, you do it without  thinking, you come out you... you... maybe you're  

just a little bit quicker at thinking than other  people, or a little bit wittier than other people.  

So you come out with a particular remark. Oh, you  should have seen the looks on people's faces last  

night when Michael came out with his joke. It  was really quite funny, but a little bit rude,  

but really, really quite funny. So you're never  quite sure what he'll come out with next. Okay,  

so you're not sure what he'll say. But you can  be guaranteed that it'll probably witty and very,  

very funny. Okay, so they're about speaking  suddenly to blurt out or come out with something.

Okay, so when we're speaking, we can also  contribute to the conversation. So when you're  

contributing, the type of phrasal verbs you would  use would be like come up with something. Okay,  

come up with something. Alright. So when you  come up with something, you're adding a new idea,  

some new suggestion that hasn't been thought  of before. So can anybody come up with a good  

suggestion as to what we'll do for this  year's Christmas party? We seem to have  

tried everything in the last few years. And  of course, we had COVID, that that stopped us  

having a party. So now we would like to have  something really special. So can anybody come  

up with an idea if you can, because you email  me by next week. So to come up with good ideas.

At the same time, when we're contributing, we can  go along with other ideas, okay. So when you go  

along with ideas you agree with them. Okay, so  come up with an idea, you introduce a new idea.  

And when you go along with an idea, you agree with  some idea that somebody else has introduced. Okay,  

so you're sitting around the table, the boss  has asked for some suggestions relating to the  

Christmas party, as we mentioned, so somebody  comes up with a good idea. I know, why don't  

we have a themed party relating to horror? Or  why don't we have a themed party relating to  

80s music? Okay, so, Oh, yeah, that's a really,  really good idea. I like that. That's... we could  

play 80s music, so everybody could dress as their  favourite character from the 80s. So you go along  

with the idea, and this way you're contributing  by underlining or endorsing the suggestion that  

somebody else has made. So we could come up with  an idea and then go along with an idea. Okay.

Now, next is if we look at something about not  speaking. Okay. So let's, let's look at that.  

And we've got some phrasal verbs that I have  here, let me just get them up on the screen.  

Okay, so first is to shut up, okay. So if  you don't want somebody to speak or you're...  

they've said enough, or they're talking a lot of  rubbish, you might just simply ask them, Look,  

would you please shut up? Or you might even  be so polite with the "please" and you say,  

Shut up. And you... you put some intonation in  your voice that will get the message across that  

you really want them to zip it. Okay, so to shut  up. Now, it can be a little bit rude depending  

on how you say it. And when you tell somebody  to shut up, I don't think there's a really a  

polite way to say. Please shut up might be the  slightest, it is... But generally people get a  

little bit insulted. So you have to be very,  very careful. But it can be taken as very,  

very rude. But it is a phrasal verb to encourage  or persuade, or to ask somebody not to speak. So  

shut up. Please shut up. Shut up, please. Or  just simply shut up or why don't you shut up.

Somebody can break off. Now when you're in  a conversation. Somebody breaks off it means  

they suddenly stopped, they stopped speaking. So  perhaps somebody was in mid-sentence and then they  

broke off, perhaps to allow somebody else make  a comment. Or they broke off because they lost  

their train of thought. They'd mentioned something  and then they're staring into space. They said,  

I've forgotten what I was going to say now. So  they break off and they stop quite suddenly. And  

people are sort of waiting, they're waiting for  the next comment to be made. So to break off.

Some people can clam up. You know what a clam  is, it's a shellfish, okay. And it's very hard  

to open them. Okay. So when somebody clams up,  they shut completely. They shut their mouth,  

and they don't say anything, okay. So to  refuse to speak, or to become very silent  

during the conversation. Some kids who  can be very, very shy at an early age,  

they clam up when they're in the presence of  maybe their school teacher, or in the presence  

of their grandparents or somebody they see as  a authoritarian figure, they just clam up. Or  

if you're trying to find out from the kids who  broke the window, they just clam up, nobody's  

going to tell you anything. And you're just won't  get any information from them, they clam up.

And then finally, in that section dry  up. When somebody dries up, they stop  

speaking because they either run out of words  to say, or they forget what they want to say,  

or because they are nervous. They can't remember  the line. So an actor or actress on the stage  

can dry up very suddenly because they... they  just... their mind has gone blank. And they  

can't remember the lines. And so somebody  from the... the wings of the theatre might  

be trying to prompt them as to what to say  next because it's a disaster when they dry up.  

Or somebody who's a little bit nervous, when  they're making a presentation to their peers  

can dry up because they get a bit nervous, and  they can't remember what's next. And that's why  

it's a good idea to have like me a laptop in  front of you that you can glance up and you  

can look at the screen, have something there that  you can read or glance at okay. To... to dry up.

So if we go to the next one is when people are  speaking rudely, we already used one here about  

to shut up. And that would be very rude to  tell somebody to shut up. Some... so some other  

phrasal verbs connected with speaking rudely to  talk at somebody. It's nice to have a conversation  

with people. So we're talking as equals to  talk with somebody. To talk with your family,  

to talk with your friends. But if you talk  at somebody, you're sort of taking a dominant  

position, and you're talking at them a  bit like a lecture, You should do this,  

you should do that. If I was you, I would do  this. If I was you, I would do that. That's when  

somebody is talking at you. Okay, so if you're  perhaps not listening, you've closed your ears,  

but this person will continue to talk at you  in a dominant way. Okay. I don't like it when  

people talk at me. I like it when people talk with  me, but I don't like it when people talk at me.

And to talk down to somebody. Well, this is really  bad as well. Talk down to people is when you treat  

someone as inferior or subordinate to you, you  talk down to them. Oh, is that where you live? Oh,  

is that what you do? Well, I would do this. So  you talk down to them. Again, extremely rude.

And then finally, to go off, okay, okay...  When you go off, Oh, he got into a real mood,  

he just went off and the... and started shouting  and screaming. So to go off means to be rather  

angry or to speak angrily about something, about  someone, about anything else. You know what he's  

like, when he gets something in his mind. He  just goes off on one of these rants. So he's...  

he went off on a rant today about overheads and  costs. And, you know, we have to be careful with  

this and have to be careful that. He just went off  on one of these rants that he likes to do. Okay,  

so that's when we're talking about speaking  slightly rudely. Okay. So to talk at someone  

without letting them contribute, to talk down to  someone to make them feel a little bit inferior.  

And then to go off on one or to to go off means to  rant about something that you feel is important,  

but other people might not feel it's so  important, but it's said in an angry way.

Okay, so these are all phrasal verbs connected  with speaking. And if you look at them, I mean,  

the phrasal verbs of course, you're going  to have a verb and you're going to have a  

preposition. Lots of them have other meanings,  but here we're talking about phrasal verbs,  

particularly with speaking, so about  negative speaking, contributing. So let  

me give you the titles again so that you'll  have an idea what we're looking at. Okay, so  

the first one that we spoke about was negative  speaking. Okay, so we had to go on. And to harp  

on. And to ramble on. Then we looked at  speaking quickly. When somebody rattles  

something off or reels something off. Then  about interrupting to butt in or to chip in.  

Then somebody's speaking suddenly, to blurt out or  to come out with something. Then more constructive  

contributing to come up with, to go along with.  Then about trying to get people not to speak,  

to tell somebody to shut up, to break off what  you're saying, to clam up or to dry up. And  

then finally, when he was speaking rudely, talk at  someone, talk down to someone, and then to go off.

Okay, so all phrasal verbs try and practice those  that said there are advanced phrasal verbs in the  

way that we're trying to use them here. See,  can you introduce them into your conversations,  

into your writing. If you need any help, you  know, where I am. Very happy to help you further,  

just takes a little bit of practice. So  whatever you do, practice, practice and a  

bit more practice. Thanks for listening and thanks  for watching. Join me again for the next lesson.