Phrasal Verbs: Give Something Up - Definition and Examples

Hello, this is Jack from tofluency.com, bringing you another English lesson that's going to

have a look at the following phrasal verb: give up. So, to give up something or to give

something up.

Now, I used this phrasal verb in one of the episodes of Ask Jack, where I answered a question

about making English part of a daily routine. So, let's have a look at how I used that,

and then we'll look at the definition and some more examples.

"However, it's also important to know that if you introduce more English into your life,

then you have to give up other things."

During the video, I said, "However, it's also important to know that if you introduce more

English into your life, then you have to give up other things."

So, to give something up means to stop doing something. There are other ways to use this,

but in this example, it means to stop doing something or to replace one thing with another.

An example I gave was that if you want to do more pronunciation drills or if you want

to work more on your grammar, then you need to give something else up. An example of what

you might need to give up is spending time on the sofa watching television; or spending

time with family; or playing sports.

So, it means that there's always something that you need to give up if you want to do

something in English. However, like I said in the video, you can do English while doing

other things too.

So, let's have a look at more examples now.

"My dad gave up smoking a few years ago." So, I could also say, "My dad stopped smoking

a few years ago." "I need to give up working so hard." So, this means I'm working all the

time and I need to stop working so hard.

This last one is a little bit different: "I give up. I can't continue doing this." So,

this is to stop doing something but it also means to admit defeat. I give up. So, this

might be when you're climbing a mountain and you're just so tired you have to stop. Or,

for example, if you're like me, and you're working on a project at home, and you're not

very good at doing that, then you might say, "I give up. I can't continue doing this."

So, my question for you in this video is this: Do you know someone who has tried to give

up smoking? If so, was it difficult for them?

So leave your comments below this video, thanks for watching, and see you next time!