Welcome to this video. Today, you're going to
learn the top 10 Phrasal Verbs in English. And adding these Phrasal Verbs to your vocabulary
is going to help you sound very natural, it's going to help you understand native speakers
and it's going to help you sound very advanced in English as well. So you definitely want to take
notes, and make sure you really understand how to use these phrasal verbs. Of course I'm Jennifer
from JForrestEnglish.com and this channel is dedicated to helping you feel confident speaking
English in public, so you can take your career and your life to the next level. Now before we go
any further, make sure you subscribe and hit that bell icon so you're notified every time I post a
new lesson. Now, let's dive in with this lesson. Are you ready to add the top 10 phrasal verbs to
your vocabulary? And make sure you watch right to the end because I'm going to quiz you. You're
going to have to complete a quiz at the end to make sure you really do understand all your new
phrasal verbs. Let's get started with number one, to back down. When you back down, it means you
retract, or you withdraw from your original position on a topic or on an argument. So you
have an opinion. And then when you back down, you change your position. You change your opinion to
something different, usually because your opinion is different from what other people think.
So there's pressure on you to back down. Let me give you an example. Let's say that you
feel like you deserve a raise, of course you deserve a raise, why wouldn't you deserve a raise.
So you've done some amazing work, you go into your boss's office, and you let your boss know that
you feel like you deserve a 10% raise. Now, that's your position. I deserve a 10% raise,
that's your position. And you might feel very firmly about this decision, and you might say,
and I won't back down. I won't back down. Now, notice how we commonly use this phrasal verb in
the negative to say, I won't change my position, I won't retract from my position. So my position
is, I deserve a 10% raise and that is what I'm keeping. Now your boss, on the other hand,
maybe your boss is talking to other management, and they're discussing this 10% raise. And they
might say something like, Oh, give her a week and then offer her 5%. She'll back down. She'll
back down. So your boss is making a prediction that you will retract from your original
position 10%. And you'll accept something less, 5%. So notice you're using it in the negative. I
won't back down, but then your boss is using it in the positive she will back down. So obviously
we could have ourselves a conflict here. Our next phrasal verb is to phase out. When you
phase something out, it means you gradually stop using it. So it doesn't go from using
it to not using it overnight. It's a process, a gradual process where every day, you're
reducing the use of it slightly, slightly slightly until the use of it gets to zero. Now, we do this
with many things. We can do this with products, services, because technology changes, and we don't
need that product or service anymore, for example. But rather than just eliminating it overnight. We
phase it out. So here's my personal prediction, whether or not you agree with it is different
you can let me know in the comments, but I think cash, the use of cash is going to be phased out.
So I think right now we're at a point where we're gradually, gradually reducing our
use of cash, paper money, right. Cash, who pays anything with cash anymore. We use
credit cards, we use Pay Pal, we use etransfers, and now we're using Bitcoin even. so I personally
think that physical money, cash, is going to be phased out. But here's the thing. How long will
this take? It could take 10 years, it could take 20 years, it could take 30 40, 50 years. But
all of our products that aren't so substantial in the economy, for example, like let's say,
a software application, it can be phased out over one week or two weeks, or 30 days. So the
phasing out could be a lot faster. So when you face something else you can do it slowly. You can
imagine how big of a process, it would be to face cash out of the economy, that would be a huge job
right, so we could take 20 years. So do you agree with my prediction that cash is going to be phased
out. And what about you. Do you have a product or a service or something that you predict will
be phased out in the future, if you do let us know your prediction in the comments. Our next
phrasal verb to point out. Now just think about pointing, when you point at something, is because
you want someone to pay attention to it, right, you want someone to work out whatever you're
pointing at. So we use it in the same meaning, but in this case we use it with information. When
I point something out. I want you to become aware of or pay attention to specific information. So
once say I'm giving a presentation, and there's a chart. Now as I'm presenting, I might say, I
should point out that this chart is 10 years old. So, I want to make you aware of specific
information, I want you to pay attention to specific information. I should point out that
this chart is 10 years old. Another great expression you can add to your vocabulary is,
as I pointed out, or as he pointed out as the documentary pointed out, and then you summarize
the information, as I pointed out, our sales are down from last year, or as the documentary pointed
out, cash is becoming phased though, so that's a great transition word to add to your vocabulary.
Our next phrasal verb is a nail down when you nail something down, it means like you make a
firm decision on something, so a firm decision, you can think of it as a permanent decision. I'm
not going to change my mind. It's a firm decision. We often use this phrasal verb in the planning
stage, when we haven't made firm decisions on topics. So let's say you're planning a conference,
you have to make so many decisions on the date, the time the guests at the conference, the food
the venue so many decisions you need to make. So in the planning process, you might talk about
how we need to nail down the date. We need to make a firm decision on the date, so we can talk about
it as an obligation, or let's say you were doing your PhD, and you have many different topics
that interest you and you're not sure which one to choose. Now you might discuss this with your
professor and he might help you nail down a topic, so he might help you make a firm decision
on which topic to choose for your PhD. Our next phrasal verb to pay someone back when
you pay someone back, it means that you repay them for money you borrowed. So let's say your friend
lent you $20 Now when you give your friend $20 out a future day, you're paying her back, you're
paying her back. You're giving her the money that you borrowed from her in the first place. Now
you can use this socially when you borrow a small amount of money from a friend, but you can also
use this when you borrow a large amount of money like when you take out a loan from a bank, so you
might be talking to a friend, and you might say, Jill hasn't paid me back yet. And it's been
months. So you let your friend Jill some money, and she didn't give you the money back. And
obviously there was an obligation that she would give you the money back, you weren't just giving
her the money. It was expected that she would give it back at a future date. It was expected that
she would pay you back. Now on the other hand, maybe you lent her friend money, and a week
later she pays you back, and gives you interest, that's a great friend, right. So maybe you could
say thanks so much for paying me back so quickly, and you didn't have to pay the interest but
thanks I appreciate it. Our next phrasal verb to get ahead. When you get ahead, it means you make
progress, and we usually use this in the context of a career. Now if you're a student, you could
think of your career as your academic career, as well. Or, if you play sports as a hobby
you could think of it as your sports career, even though it's more of a hobby. Well,
we use it in a very specific field with fields but it could be your professional
career. It could be an academic career or it could even be more of a hobby, and when you
do that when you get ahead, you're progressing. So if you're new to a company, you might want to
ask one of your co workers, or even your manager, what's the best way to get ahead in this company.
How can I get ahead. What would you recommend I do in order to get ahead, and your boss might
reply back and say, if you want to get ahead, you better be willing to work long hours. Our
next phrasal verb to bear with someone when you bear with someone, it just means you're patient
with them, this expression is used most in a customer's service environment. So when you're
asking for patients. When you're dealing with customers. So for example, very common let's say
you call a company to get support, they might say, please bear with me while I look
up your file, please bear with me, please be patient with me, and then they might
put you on hold, and they look up your file, and then they come back and they might say thanks
for bearing with me. Thanks for being patient, or maybe you're a new employee, and you're providing
support to a customer for first time, so you might just say please bear with me. Today's my first
day. So you're just letting them know you're new, So you'd really appreciate it if their patient.
Our next phrasal verb to pop in, you pop in somewhere, a location, and it means that you visit
that location for a short period of time. Now this is commonly used when we're going from location
A to be, but you want to make a quick stop at another location. So maybe you're on your
way to the airport, but you might say, Oh, can we pop in the pharmacy. On the way, I need to
pick up some Tylenol or can we pop in the bank. on the way, can I go to the bank, quickly, so it's
just an emphasis on quickly. Our next phrasal verb to narrow down when you narrow something
down, it means that you reduce your choices or options to the most important or the best ones.
So you start with many many options, and then you narrow it down to just the best options. And why
would you do that well because it's easier to make a decision when you only have a limited number of
options. So you might say, we haven't nailed down the date yet. Remember we haven't made a firm
decision, we haven't nailed down the date, but we've narrowed it down to the first week
of April. So remember in your planning process, you have all options, it could be, April, May,
June, July, August, all the months and you need to nail it down, choose a specific date and then
be firm in your decision, but you haven't done that yet but you have taken all those options and
you've narrowed them down. Our last phrasal verb to give something up. When you get something off,
it means that you stop doing something or you eliminate something that was part of your daily
routine. So something that was a habit. And now, you stop doing it or you eliminate it, you give
it up. So, generally, we give up things that are negative, that don't add any value to our lives.
for example, smoking, eating junk food. Those are the two that come to my mind. So maybe you're
talking to a friend, and then they light up a cigarette and you say, I can't believe you haven't
given up smoking yet given up smoking, yet so I can't believe you haven't stopped smoking. I
can't believe you haven't eliminated smoking as a habit. So that's the thing we just really
only use this with things that are habitual, whereas you can stop doing something that you
only did one time, like stop whistling. You're whistling right now, and I want you to stop, but
that doesn't mean you have to give it up because you only give something up when it was a habit,
something you did as part of your daily routine. So if you always start your day with a chocolate
chip muffin, which is not very good for you right, you might say, I really need to give up eating
sugar or eating sweets, eating bad food, eating junk food, whatever it might be. So now you have
the top 10 phrasal verbs in your vocabulary. So it's time for your quiz. I am going to quiz you
to make sure you know how to use all of these phrasal verbs confidently. So you're going to
see the questions on the screen. I'll only leave the questions for 10 seconds, obviously there's
not enough time to complete the quiz. So just hit pause, answer all the questions, and then hit
play, and I'll show you the answers for another 10 seconds. And of course just hit pause when you
see the answers and you can compare your own, and then let us know in the comments what
your score was. So let's start your quiz now. How did you do with that quiz? Let us know your
score in the comments. And if you found this video helpful, please hit the like button, share
it with your friends and of course subscribe. And before you go, make sure you head on
over to my website, JForrestEnglish.com and download your free speaking guide.
In this guide I share six tips on how to speak English fluently and confidently.
And until next time, happy studying. Awesome job adding these phrasal verbs to your
vocabulary and I'll see you my next video, bye.
