Hello and welcome to this video. Today you're going to learn the top 10 phrasal
verbs in English. 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 get started with this lesson.
Are you ready to learn the top 10 phrasal verbs in English? Now make sure you watch right to the
end because at the end, I'm going to quiz you to make sure you know how to add all of these to your
vocabulary. Now let's go with number one. Number one: to take up. This means to occupy or to fill.
Now we use this specifically with two different nouns. You can take up time
and you can take up space. And they're both very commonly used. For example, I could say
this meeting took up my whole morning. So it occupied or filled the amount of time. Now
we can also use this with space. For example, I need a new couch because my couch takes up
too much space. So it occupies or fills space. So remember, you can use this with both time and
space and they're both very commonly used. Number two is to branch out. Now this means
to expand and we use a specifically in a business context. So let's say you're in a meeting and
you're discussing how to increase your profits, you might suggest branching out into new markets.
So if you only sell in North America, you can branch out, expand, and sell in Europe or in Asia,
Africa, for example. We need to branch out into new markets. Number three, this is a fun one,
to jot down. Now you would probably understand this from context. In the meeting I jotted down
a few notes. I jotted down a few notes. So it's the exact same thing as write down. I wrote down a
few notes. But it's very commonly used. So someone might ask you, maybe your boss or a colleague even
might say, Hey, can you jot this down. And then they might give you a number or a date or a
location and you write it down. Now, of course not many people use pen and paper anymore, right? We
take electronic notes, but if your colleague asked you to jot something down, you can absolutely
take out your phone and make a note in your phone. Jot it down in your phone. Write it down in your
phone. So this still applies even though we don't really use pen and paper much. Number four,
to carry out. This means to perform or to conduct. And we use this specifically in a business
content. For example, next week we're carrying out our customer surveys, our student surveys.
We're carrying out our surveys. We're conducting them, we're performing them, So I'm just going to
do this survey. That's the simplest way to say it. Next week we're doing the surveys. We're carrying
out the surveys. Number five, this is an important one so make sure you jot it down. Number five,
to keep up with something. This means to make sufficient progress on. Let's say that you have
this many orders and it's your job to fulfill those orders. If you fulfill this
many, you've kept up with the orders. You've made sufficient progress. But if you fulfill this many,
or this many, or this many, or anything less than the total number of orders, then you haven't kept
up with the orders. You haven't made sufficient progress on. Now of course you can use this with
many things other than orders. You can use it with your studies, your reading list, your chores, your
performance reports, your filing, your scheduling. You can use it with many, many, many other tasks.
Number six, to fill out or to fill in a form. Now this is one that confuses a lot of students and
they ask me, do I fill out a form or do I fill in the form? What's the difference? The reality
is there is no difference, specifically when we're talking about a form. Now when you have to
fill out an application, you could also fill in an application. Fill out your passport renewal,
you can fill in your passport renewal. In this specific context, there's no difference. Number
seven, to drop in. This is a great phrasal verb because you can use it both in a business context
or a social context. Now to drop in simply means to visit. So if you're talking to a friend and
you're planning to visit that friend, you can say, how about I drop in Saturday morning? How about I
visit Saturday morning. Now in a business context you might have a client that wants to drop in,
that wants to visit. Or you might drop in on a client just to say hello and to keep that
relationship going. So you can use this in both a social and a business context. Number eight,
to push back. This means to delay or postpone in the context of a scheduled event.
So a scheduled event, like a meeting. Let's say the meeting was scheduled for Monday, but
everyone is really busy on Monday. Well then push the meeting back until Wednesday,
postpone it until Wednesday. Now you can use this in a social context. So you might be planning your
wedding anniversary and it's your 10-year wedding anniversary. And the actual date is March 30. But
everyone is busy, so you might push it back until the middle of April so more people can attend.
Well, everyone's busy so let's push back the party until next week, until two weeks from now,
so you can push back a scheduled event which means to delay or postpone. Number nine is to call off.
Now this means to cancel a scheduled event. So remember in our last one,
to push back, you delay or postpone. But the other alternative is simply to cancel it. But generally
when you call something off, it's because there were some problems or issues associated with it.
But the problem or issue could be a scheduling conflict and just people couldn't attend. So let's
say you were planning a conference for the summer, but nobody registered because everyone's really
busy in the summer. So you might discuss it with your team and say, let's call off the conference.
Attendance is too low. So let's call it off. Let's cancel it. Now, you can also use this
in a social context. You might call off your wedding. But if you canceled your wedding, then
most likely there was a problem, an issue, a big one, right. So in that context, in a social event,
most people will wonder what happened. Why did they call off their wedding? Why did they
call off their anniversary? They're going to assume that something is wrong. And number 10,
to sort out. This means to organize or to fix, if there's a problem. For example, I need to
sort out my travel plans. So it could mean I just need to organize them. So I need to decide
when I'm going to travel, what airline I'm going to use, what hotel I'm going to use. I need to
sort out my travel plans. But I can also use it if there's some sort of problem and I need to fix it.
For example, my flight was canceled so I need to sort out my travel plans. I need to fix this
problem with my plans. So to sort something out, you can organize it or you can fix it
if there's a problem. And now you have 10 new phrasal verbs added to your vocabulary. So it's
time for your quiz. Now feel free to go back and watch the video again to make sure you're really
comfortable with all these phrasal verbs before you take the quiz. But if you feel you're ready,
well then let's start the quiz now. So I'm going to show you 10 questions and you need to decide
which phrasal verb best completes the sentence. So I'll show you the questions. Make sure you hit
pause because I'll only show you for about five seconds. And then once you complete it, you can
hit play and you can see the answers. So here are the questions, hit pause and complete a quiz now.
Welcome back. Now I'm going to show you the answers. I'll only show them for five
seconds. So again, hit pause, compare these answers to your own. So here are the answers.
So how did you do with the quiz? Put your score in the comments below. And also I want you to take
three of these phrasal verbs and practice them with some practice sentences
in the comments below, so you feel really comfortable adding them to your vocabulary.
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!