All about PHRASAL VERBS and HOW TO LEARN THEM

today on let them talk I'm answering question from a viewer to this channel now recently I posted a video 101 really useful phrasal verbs and if you haven't seen it yet then you should definitely have a look at that the link is somewhere up here and in the comments of that video I received a question from Kier Neil Mozgov and he said this good morning Gideon thanks a lot for another useful lesson everybody knows how important phrasal verbs are please make a video dedicated to how to learn phrasal verbs learning phrasal verbs is a great challenge share your experience with us tell us about the most efficient methods to get it many thanks in advance good question good question okay so let's look at that today so first of all we need to define what a phrasal verb is okay so frozen verb is a verb followed by one or more prepositions or and adverbial particle but let's just call them prepositions here and what's specific about phrasal verbs as opposed to an ordinary verb with a preposition is that in a phrasal verb adding the preposition will completely change the meaning of the verb to that if it's used on its own so let's look at an example of that listen to okay so that's not a phrasal verb is a verb and preposition so listen to still has the meaning of listening okay so I listened to the radio it's not a phrasal verb let's have a look at an example of a phrasal verb give that's a normal verb but if I add the preposition in we have give in which means to surrender or admit defeat so for example there's no way I can win this tennis game so I give in now it would be difficult or impossible to understand and give in from the give alone okay so it's a phrasal verb so you have to learn give in as a separate word to give sometimes you get a verb and a preposition which can have more than one meaning okay so let's have it to that look down he's not a phrasal verb when I'm looking to something below me look down okay but when I say he looked down on people who didn't have his level of education it's quite a different meaning it means to consider someone inferior okay so a phrasal verb has a completely different meaning to the verb on its own so you need to be very careful about that when you are reading and listening because you can completely misunderstand the meaning so if you if you read the King looked down on his subjects well actually could mean literally look down from the top of his castle or a phrasal verb meaning he considered his subjects inferior okay so you need the context is very important let's have a look at one more example to turn okay so let's add the preposition down now turned down has two phrasal verbs turned down means refused I asked her out to dinner but she turned me down okay and turn down can also mean reduce the sound the music is too loud can you turn it down now there are thousands of phrasal verbs that's the bad news but the good news is they are just vocabulary every language has vocabulary your language has lots of vocabulary and these are just words will be in two or three parts but they are just words and once you realize that then it's a little less intimidating so big question how do we learn them it's a good question and different teachers will take different approaches and at the end of the day you have to decide what's best for you so one way of teaching them and learning them of course is to bundle all the phrasal verbs with the same preposition together okay so and see how the preposition indicates a similar meaning okay so let's look at some examples of that of that so take the preposition up okay up can have the meaning to move to a higher level to increase greater intensity so for example speak up speak up means speak more loudly so to a greater intensity turn up can mean make it a greater intensity turn up the music go up okay so prices went up this month here up means increase okay up can also mean finished completely so for example tidy up the room okay so tidy to the end eat up your food okay so that means eat it completely finish up okay I have to finish up my my work okay so finish to the end okay up could also mean destroy break completely smash up means yes mash completely he smashed up the room he smashed everything break up our relationship has broken up it's finished definitively blow up my engine blew up okay so completely destroyed okay with other prepositions on/off down in you you can you can also recognize similar patterns and the things that they have in common and many to many teachers teach phrasal verbs in this way and some really ex excellent teachers here on YouTube used this method to teach phrasal verbs and you should definitely check out their videos however for me personally I prefer a different approach the problem I have with this grouping method is that there are too many exceptions too many irregularities I'll show you what I mean so now I know that if I see a verb followed by app it means add to intensity completely add to a higher level increase okay yeah all right but what about cue up what does that mean cue up it's the same as to cue isn't it okay and same with wait up and wait what does the up mean they're not quite sure okay what sharp all right so you wash up the dishes alright wash up completely is that right yeah so you can wash up your clothes can't you know you can't you wash your clothes but you wash up the dishes why I don't know okay so talk and speak have similar meanings so so speak at means increase the volume okay that's because that cool that fits into the pattern but what that talk up should have a similar meaning shouldn't it but it doesn't talk up means to speak about something in a favorable way so for example the companies just launched a new product and they're trying to talk it up in the media okay all right look up we look up in the word look up a word in the dictionary why the other thing about this method is at least to sue some false assumptions so for example plug in means insert an electoral electrical device into an electric electricity supply so logically the opposite of in is out so it should be plug alright I plugged out the computer No the opposite plug-in is to unplug I unplugged my computer you pick up the phone right you pick up and the opposite should be no pick down turn it well no it's hang up you pick up it then you hang up that's illogical there might be a pattern to it I can't see it's it's so complicated that by the time you've and if you're reading an article by the time you finish it you're pulling out your hair you've taken eight power city moles and you're still got a headache and you need some need some psychotherapy language is not a science so the method I suggest is to learn phrasal verbs in a more natural more organic way you come across a phrasal verb in the process of your everyday life when you're listening to someone or reading or watching a TV show whatever then make a note of it make a note of it write it down on a spreadsheet or whatever whatever suits you check the meaning in the dictionary write down the definition and especially make a note if there is a non phrasal verb equivalent and this is often the case so you write down the structure as well okay what type of phrasal verb is it is it a transitive phrasal verb that's a verb that takes a direct object such as makeup which means to invent or lie he made up a story okay that's transitive is it an intransitive phrasal verb one that is not followed by a noun for example grow up children grow up fast okay is it a separable phrasal verb these are phrasal verbs that can be separated so that you can put words between the verb and preposition for example throw away I threw the rubbish away or I threw away the rubbish it's a separable phrasal verb the non phrasal verb equivalent by the way is disposed I die I'm going to dispose of the rubbish and then there are inseparable phrasal verbs look into for example two means to investigate I'll look into the problem or I'll investigate the problem would be there non phrasal verb equivalent next write an example very important write an example if you saw the video of 101 phrasal verbs I did I had 101 examples next again very important use the phrasal verb in conversation or in writing okay so you must use it that helps you helps you remember it so now let's look an example let's take sign up so what's the definition it means to put your name down for something to join something to register okay what type of phrasal verb is it it's an intransitive phrasal verb and it's inseparable let's have an example I signed up for the newsletter okay another example cool off to cool off which means to cancel it's a transitive phrasal verb and it's separable okay i cooled off the meeting or I called the meeting off can you use cancer in these examples yes you can it has an equivalent I canceled the meeting okay so do the same for all the new fav phrasal verbs that you come across okay come across that's another Faisel verb build up your spreadsheet of phrasal verbs listen I'm sorry this is not like a magic solution you're hoping for the requires little or no work no this does require of work and effort but I never said it would be easy but this is a very effective method I promise you okay well that's it thank you for watching I hope I haven't put you off learning phrasal verbs and as always stay mellow more english-language videos coming soon [Music]

Channel: LetThemTalkTV

Views: 78,710

Keywords: phrasal verbs, how to learn phrasal verbs, what are phrasal verbs?, yt:cc=on, learn English, English teacher, LetThemTalkTV, Gideon, British pronunciation, really useful

Id: QDNiLKIGcPI

Length: 14min 10sec (850 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 14 2018