English Phrasal Verbs: Pull Off and Screw Up

Yo yo yo, what is up ladies and gentlemen? Chad here from RealLife English and today

I have another video lesson for you all teaching you two more commonly used English phrasal

verbs. So the two phrasal verbs that you will learn today are the phrasal verbs to...

So first let's look at the verb to pull. You all know pull like in the literal sense like

to pull a rope for example. And the conjugation of pull is a regular verb so it is...

So remember that when we add the ED to a regular verb it doesn't always add another syllable,

so if the verb is pull I am not going to say...

It still remains one syllable.

So the phrasal verb to pull off can be a figurative or a literal phrasal verb. So in this case

I have my roll on deodorant and I can literally pull the lid off, to pull the lid off my deodorant.

But in this case I want to explain the figurative meaning. To pull off can mean that you manage

to do something that is very difficult, something that people wouldn't expect you to do. So

for example if you are a skateboarder, or a surfer or something like that and you are

trying a new maneuver, and new trick and when you actually do that trick someone might say,

"wow, you pulled it off!" You pulled it off, you pulled the trick off. It means that you

managed to do that, it was really difficult but you did it. Another situation could be

if you have to give a presentation at work or at university and you are not prepared

but you present something and it's really really good you can say "wow I can't believe

I pulled that off!" It means you can't believe that you did that even though you were not

prepared at all, you really pulled it off.

And to pull something off can also be used in a, with clothes or the way you are dressing,

or something like that. It means that you managed to look good wearing it. So maybe

if you bought a new T-shirt and you showed the shirt to a friend and you say "hey, do

you think I can pull this off?" It means do you think that I will look good wearing this

shirt. Maybe it's a shirt that typically people don't wear so commonly. So you can pull off

a difficult skateboarding trick, you can pull off a presentation which you are not prepared

for, you can pull off a crazy looking T-shirt, and remember literally you can pull the lid

off something.

And the next phrasal verb today is to screw up, screw up. So screw is also a regular verb

so it is...

A screw is also a actual object which is used to drill into walls to hold things up etc.

And screw you will also hear in the participle all the time when people say "ahh man I am

screwed." It means that you are in a very very difficult situation. So to screw something

up can mean a few different things. Firstly it generally means that you made a mistake

"I really screwed up at work." To screw up can also mean to ruin something "I screwed

up the dinner," maybe I put too much salt while I was cooking dinner and I really screwed

it up, It doesn't taste good. It can also mean to confuse something, maybe if you are

late to a party and some asks "hey why are you late?" You might say, "oh damn, I screwed

up the time," I screwed up the times, I confused the times. And screwed up can also mean that

you hurt yourself. If you did a skateboarding trick and you landed badly you can say damn

I screwed up my arm, I screwed up my arm, It means that you hurt your arm. So to screw

something up can be to make a mistake, to ruin something, to confuse something, and

also to hurt yourself.

So they are the two phrasal verbs from this video, right now like in all of my videos

I am going to say a phrase that has both of those phrasal verbs and I want you to really

imitate exactly how I'm saying it work your pronunciation and try to pay close attention

to these aspects of connected speech.

So that is another two phrasal kickass phrasal verbs you guys can add to your RealLife vocabulary.

I also hope you are really developing your pronunciation with this mimic exercise, mimicking

and imitating how I am say it. I does take a little bit of time but trust me if you keep

doing this you are going to be so surprised at how much better your pronunciation gets,

and how much you start to flow with your English.

So thank you for watching this video, I hope you enjoyed it, if you have any questions

or suggestions just leave it in the comments below the video here in Youtube. Also, subscribe

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is also a free ebook right there. The ebook is 101 expressions from Friends, which is

a resource we developed from our fluency course, Fluent with Friends. So just get that Ebook

if you want to find out more about that.

Thank you all so much for joining me today and I'll see you on the next video lesson

here at RealLife English. Awwww yeahhhh!!