BEAR and BARE. Do you know the difference? I don't think you do. So let's learn it together!
Let's start with BEAR. b-e-a-r. BEAR. BEAR is a horrible verb because it's
delexicalized. Yeah it's delexicalized. For example what does HAVE mean? Well
that's easy right? HAVE means to possess something. For example, I have long hair.
Okay but what if I am having a coffee? Or if my partner and I are having a baby? Or if last
year I had a hard time? The verb to have has many meanings. It could mean to drink,
or that my girlfriend is pregnant, or that last year I had a very difficult experience. The verb
to have then means nothing on its own. It is the collocations, the nouns that go with it,
that give have its meaning and this is what we mean by delexicalized and BEAR b-e-a-r is
like this. It is delexicalized. So then let us look at some expressions with BEAR. b-e-a-r.
You can bear a burden and this means to tolerate or deal with something unpleasant.
Uh Bruce what are you doing? What do you mean "what am I doing" Toby, you said we were doing
a lesson about beer today. No, no Bruce I said BEAR. BEAR. Not beer. Oh Toby you say bear I say
beer. The Americans say tomato the English say tomato. It's the same thing, init. No, no, Bruce
they're not. They're completely different. Jesus Christ! I cannot bear the burden of working with
you sometimes. Oh shut up Toby stop complaining, yeah? I can't bear it. Yeah well I can't bear you!
Oh hi guys! You can also grin and bear something. The verb to grin means to smile. So if you grin
and bear something it means you tolerate it whilst not showing your negative emotions. Like
for example when Johnny left me and broke my heart I didn't cry instead I just grinned and bore it.
Yeah... Monica, you liar! You cried like a baby! Shut up Bruce I did not! To be fair
Monica you you did cry a bit. Okay well only because it took me by surprise okay!
He was bearing flowers! I thought he wanted to take me out or something! If you come bearing
flowers then you are holding flowers. You can also bear a weapon. Yes! Like this! Duke is
bearing a gun! Yes! And he's bearing a knife! You can bear the responsibility for something.
You can bear the blame for something. And you can bear the costs of something. Oh my God,
Toby! Duke is in the office and he's shooting again take some responsibility! Who are you!?
Well I'll bear the responsibility for that okay? I shouldn't have invited him.
He's shot all the windows! All right fine. SMASH English will bear the costs all right? I'll pay.
You can also be the bearer of bad news. we usually say this in a chunk with "I hate to
be" or "I am sorry to be" so you can say I hate to be the bearer of bad news but or I'm sorry
to be the bearer of bad news but... For example Johnny said "Monica I'm sorry to be the bearer
of bad news but I don't like you so can you please stop following me and uh leave me alone,
all right!?" Shut up, Bruce that is not what he said! Okay so what did he say then? He said
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news. I even thought you would better my child one day today.
Your beauty Beauty, it's just too much for me to bear so it's over."
Uh really? Yeah that's exactly what he said. Word for word. Come on, Monica! Grin and bear it. It's
gonna be fine! Look at this language. What do you think it means to bear a child?
It means to carry a child from conception through pregnancy to birth. Please remember that this
is a very formal way of putting it. We use it to distance ourselves from the process of conception.
For example we would say Queen Elizabeth II bore four children and that's because there
is no way that Queen Elizabeth II could have been involved in all of that disgusting stuff
that is involved in pregnancy, right? So we say that she bore children to remove ourselves from
The Facts of Life. Yeah and that's exactly why Johnny used it too. I was like a queen for him.
You can bear something in mind and that means to keep something in mind. To keep it under
consideration. Something can bear fruit and this means that it produces a good result. For
example you study really hard for an exam and then you pass the exam and you say to yourself
"wow all of that studying finally bore fruit". The studying produced a good outcome, which was you
passing the exam. Well done. And that must have been because you were watching SMASH English.
And oh my God, Duke.... What are you doing? Stop it! You're unbearable!
Fine then! I will go to America because I hear that there you have the right to
bear arms. Oh my God Duke you are so stupid! You have that right here! Look! Oh my days,
Monica are you stupid? Duke wants to bear arms b-e-a-r and Monica has
bare arms b-a-r-e and this is the crucial difference. Oh my god! Well actually I knew
that! My arms are so beautiful that actually they're kind of like a weapon, you know...
And luckily for you BARE b-a-r-e is not delexicalized. It has a relatively fixed
meaning. If something is BARE is exposed or empty and if you BARE something you expose it either in
a literal way or in a figurative way. So then let's look at some examples. A dog can BARE
its teeth. Or you can BARE your soul and this means to reveal your true self, your deepest,
most innermost feelings to somebody. Oh my God Johnny! Just shut up okay! I bared my
soul to you and this is how you repay me!? Yeah I did like the flowers but I want to bear your
child Johnny! Not your flowers, okay!? However BARE b-a-r-e is most common as an adjective so
let's look at some collocations. For example the fridge is bare so uh I'm gonna go to the shop
to buy some more beer because I can't bear a bare fridge with no beer, you know what I mean? We can
talk of something being Bare Bones and this means it is in its most basic form. For example if you
watch this video here you can learn all about the bare bones of a C1 Advanced essay! Oh you
will learn a lot and I'll be very happy because I will have got an extra view! So see you there!
You can also do the bare minimum and this means to do the smallest amount
of work necessary to complete a task. Yeah that's what I do! I do the bare minimum!
No, Bruce you don't do the bare minimum you do nothing there's a difference... Oh shut up,
Toby! That is a bare-faced lie! A bare-faced lie is like a really obvious lie so if you're a
bare-faced liar it means you lie all the time and everyone knows and you don't even care. You can
talk about having bare feet or being barefooted and this means that you're not wearing shoes. You
can also talk about doing something with your bare hands and this means you do it without gloves or
without tools. For example my great-grandfather built this house with his bare hands...
yeah. And finally you can be bare-chested and this means you're not wearing a t-shirt or a bra. Yeah
like this! No! And with that we are finished! Those were the differences between BEAR b-e-a-r
and BARE b-a-r-e. If you liked the video don't forget to SMASH that like button, subscribe if
you haven't already, leave a comment down below! My name is Toby and this was SMASH English...