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MY TOP TIPS! Learn & Use More Phrasal Verbs | English Lesson


[Music]
okay you’ve been asking for this video
for a long time so here it is
phrasal verbs in English I’m Emma from
English now why are phrasal verbs so
difficult to learn because there are
many of them because they’re so commonly
used that they can become overwhelming
because one phrasal verb can have
multiple meanings for example the
phrasal verb put down can mean to place
something down on the ground or a
surface to humiliate or criticize
someone or to kill an animal that was
sick or suffering many phrasal verbs are
idiomatic as well so their meaning is
not always as the individual words
suggest for example to look up to
someone can mean that you respect them
you don’t actually have to be shorter
than someone and physically looking up
to them to be able to use this phrasal
verb hmm no wonder phrasal verbs are so
frustrating if you’re determined to
understand more about phrasal verbs then
this lesson is for you I’m going to
teach you six things that you need to
know about phrasal verbs starting with
is a phrasal verb actually a phrasal
verb is a standard verb such as put go
or take plus one or two particles now
don’t let that confuse you a particle in
a phrasal verb is either a preposition
or an adverb go out go after go together
go away these are prepositions and these
are adverbs but of course there are many
many more phrasal verbs
hang out look after bring together put
away hang up look out for bring out put
up with now once you know how to
recognize a phrasal verb you need to
learn how to use it correctly and one of
the first things that you need to find
out is is it a transitive or an
intransitive phrasal verb if it’s
transitive you need something or someone
after the verb if it’s intransitive it
stands on its own take the example from
before the phrasal verb look up to which
means to respect or admire someone but
this phrasal verb always has to be
followed by a person by someone you
can’t just say I really look up to the
first thing that I would have to ask
them is who who do you look up to look
up to is a transitive phrasal verb you
need to have someone after the phrasal
verb to make it make sense but some
phrasal verbs are intransitive which
means they work fine on their own for
example to grow up means to mature and
you never need to add an object here
here are a few examples of how this
works he grew up in Singapore your
children are growing up so fast
what do you want to be when you grow up
now some phrasal verbs are either
transitive or intransitive depending on
the meaning so take the example come
over which has two meanings the first is
an intransitive phrasal verb and it
means to visit someone in the place
where they are usually their house why
don’t you come over it stands on its own
but come over can also be transitive if
a feeling suddenly comes over you or an
emotion that affects you in a strong way
you would say that that emotion came
over you a wave of anger came over him
so whether a phrasal verb is transitive
or intransitive it’s important to know
because it helps you to understand how
to use it correctly now in addition to
knowing if a phrasal verb is transitive
or intransitive you also need to know if
it’s separable or inseparable and this
is as simple as it sounds
separable means that the verb and the
particle are able to be separated in the
sentence so for example the phrasal verb
take on which means to become
responsible for something it’s a
transitive phrasal verb it doesn’t make
sense on its own I’m going to take on
the project but we can also say I’m
going to take the project on we can
separate the words in the phrasal verb
so it’s separable now an inseparable
phrasal verb means that we can’t
separate the main verb from the other
words in the phrasal verb no way let’s
go back to the example look up – so we
know that this is a transitive phrasal
verb it’s also an inseparable phrasal
verb you can’t separate the words in the
phrasal verb it’s not possible to say
look someone up – or look up someone –
it just doesn’t work because it’s
inseparable here’s an example of how it
could work though I really look up to
your dad now learning whether a phrasal
verb is transitive or intransitive or
separable or inseparable
right from the start we’ll help you to
use it correctly from now on so when you
learn a new phrasal verb it’s really
important that you write it down write
down a few awesome sentences of your own
just to practice using the phrasal verb
and applying the rules that I’ve just
mentioned now phrasal verbs are just
multi-word verbs so they need to be
treated like any other verb in a
sentence they need to show us which
tense is being used and they need to
match the subject that they’re being
used with I give up it’s too hard he
always gives up without really trying
we’re not giving up yet I thought you’d
given up see how the verb changes each
time with the tense next tip find the
right phrasal verbs to practice firstly
don’t type phrasal verbs into Google and
then wait for a big list to appear and
try to memorize them this will
completely overwhelm you you need to
look for and find the phrasal verbs that
are relevant to you and that are
commonly used because there are
thousands of phrasal verbs in English
but you will never need to know all of
them but you will need to know the ones
that are coming up in your life right
the important ones for you so you need
to look for them read the news we blogs
that you love read the transcripts of
TED Talks read magazines and articles
that are related to your profession for
example take a blog post from your
favorite English blog about English or
just written in English go through it
and highlight all of the phrasal verbs
that you see study how they’re used
another great way to look for how
phrasal verbs are used is to use Google
or any other search and
to search for specific phrasal verbs in
the news search tab so I’ll type in the
phrasal verb
let’s try put up and that’s gonna bring
up a whole list of current examples
where that phrasal verb has been used in
context
look Breaking Bad house owners put up
fence so they built a fence here
someone will be put up for sale so he’s
made available for sale
another signs will be put up women don’t
have to put up with something these are
all different ways that this phrasal
verb can be used anyway the point is
you’re exploring which phrasal verbs are
commonly used in recently written
documents online you’re learning them in
context and often in a context that’s
interesting to you now practice using
phrasal verbs in the right way
focus on topics not on alphabetical
lists because that is how you’re going
to use phrasal verbs while writing or
talking about a topic or issue for
example if you’re planning to take a
holiday soon think about all of the
phrasal verbs you might use on your trip
get on the bus take off in the plane
pick up the higher car
pack up your suitcase go out for dinner
hang out with friends and if you don’t
know all the phrasal verbs that you
might need then try looking at a blog
post about the topic to inspire you or
search YouTube for a lesson that can
help you to learn this vocabulary or go
to a list of phrasal verbs and see which
ones will be helpful to talk about
travel but don’t forget to pay attention
to whether they’re transy
or in transient separable or inseparable
another great way to practice is to
start with a list of phrasal verbs about
ten would be perfect they could be the
ones that you highlighted earlier from
the blog post remember now try to write
your own story using the phrasal verbs
so use a dictionary if you need to and
check the meaning and to check if they
are transitive or intransitive or
separable or inseparable
because the dictionary will tell you
that now let me show you with an example
take these phrasal verbs as the example
hang out look after take over put away
clean up on Thursdays I look after up my
nephew in the evening because my sister
works late I only live over the road so
I usually take over dinner and we have a
picnic in the back garden he’s very cute
but very cheeky I spend most of my time
putting away his toys and cleaning up
after him but I love to hang out with
him so I just built a really simple
story about this list of phrasal verbs
now it doesn’t have to be true and it
doesn’t have to be really intelligent
but it challenges you to think
creatively and to use these phrasal
verbs so those are my top tips for
learning and using English phrasal verbs
do you have any other tips that you want
to share with everyone here add them to
the comments I’d love to see your
suggestions I’ll be making more videos
about phrasal verbs soon but for now why
don’t you check out these lessons right
here and make sure you subscribe to the
YouTube channel just here so that you
never miss a lesson thanks for watching
and I will see you next time bye for now
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