Useful Study Phrasal Verbs to Improve Fluency

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- Today we are going to study study phrasal verbs.

I'll explain that in just a moment.

What's up everyone?

My name is Wes.

This is Interactive English

which is all about trying to help you guys

practice and improve your English skills.

In today's lesson we are going to talk about phrasal verbs,

but phrasal verbs that are related to study,

so that's what I meant when I said

we are going to study study phrasal verbs.

So the first phrasal verb

that I have for you is think through.

And this just means to carefully consider

the possible outcomes of some situation,

and you might say,

you know I just need to think it through.

You need to think something through,

and really consider it before you make a decision.

- I just want you to think it through.

- Still thinking things through.

- What is there to think through?

- Just try and think things through.

- Let us think this thing through logically.

- I don't want to decide just yet.

I really want to consider things.

You want to think it through.

Its always good to think things through

before you make a decision.

The next phrasal verb is pick up,

and you can pick up something

or you can pick something up,

and it just means to learn something.

And often I think we use it when we're talking

about a language or a musical instrument

or even an activity.

So for example, I would say

that I am trying to pick up Romanian right now.

I am trying to learn Romanian,

and many of you are trying to pick English up,

which is why you're here.

- You can't just walk up to those guys.

You have to get out there, and learn the moves,

get into their head, pick up the speech.

- Picked up English faster than I could teach it.

- I got bored, I thought I'd pick up a new language.

- I'll be back, I've never seen anyone

pick it up that quickly.

- Do you have a special tool for these?

- If it has to do with my hands,

The next phrasal verb is a pretty common one,

and that is cheat on.

You cheat on something, and this just means

to act deceptively or unfairly

when you are completing a task.

So you can cheat on a quiz.

You could cheat on a test or cheat on an exam.

I don't recommend that you cheat on anything at school,

but it does happen from time to time,

to cheat on something.

- What, you're cheating on your conversion test?

(audience laughing)

- When I was a kid, I always played by the rules.

I never cheated on a test.

- I regret to announce that someone in this class

cheated on yesterday's exam.

- Then we have a three word phrasal verb, read up on,

and when you read up on something,

then you are increasing your knowledge about a topic

by reading about it.

So you might read up on history

if you want to learn more about that.

You might read up on a person.

If you're trying to find out more information about them,

you would read up on something.

- I read up on my history, thanks for the tip.

- [Instructor] This will all be on next week's midterm,

so I suggest

you read up on it.

- I've been reading up on your family's culture.

- I've been reading up on this whole Iraq War situation.

- Then we have go through,

and this is a great study phrasal verb

because when you go through something,

it just means that you are scrutinizing it.

You are looking at it very carefully,

so you might go through a paper

or you might go through a report

that you wrote and you're looking for mistakes.

So when you go through something,

you are looking at it carefully.

I always hope that you guys go through the comments

and read them because it's another great way

to practice English and practice your reading skills

as well as learn more about each other.

- I could go through the Panama papers.

- We have to go through those documents.

- I took the liberty of going through your address book.

- We still have the books of Pherian to go through.

- Then we have two phrasal verbs

that actually have the same meaning,

and those phrasal verbs are hand in or turn in.

So when you hand in something or you turn in something,

it just means that you submit something.

You give it to the teacher.

You hand in your homework.

You turn in the paper.

You hand in the essay.

You turn in your presentation.

So when you hand in or turn in something,

you are just giving it to either your teacher or professor.

- Do you realize what would happen

if I hand in my homework in your handwriting?

- Anyone failing to turn in any homework assignment

will be penalized one point off their final grade.

- Hey, I want to email you my paper before I hand it in.

- This is the first paper she's had to turn in.

She's bound to falter a little.

- The next study phrasal verb is fall behind,

and this is a good one

even though it's not a good thing.

You don't want to fall behind

because when you fall behind it means

that you are not current or up-to-date with some information

or even some task, and you're really lacking

in comparison to the other students,

so when you fall behind it's not a good thing.

But sometimes it happens, and you might say,

yeah, I just fell behind, or I've fallen behind.

- Boys are falling behind in every subject!

- You need to make school more challenging

or else my son will fall behind.

- We're falling way behind.

- You haven't exactly been helping.

- Is there any company

that doesn't have a product in production?

- And I hope that you guys have not fallen behind

and that you understand every one of these phrasal verbs,

but if you have fallen a little behind, that's okay,

because then you can just go through the lesson again

and again and again until you have picked up

every single one of these phrasal verbs,

and I'm just gonna keep saying them and repeating them

over and over because that's just another great way

for you to remember them.

The next phrasal verb is drop out,

and when you drop out that means that you leave an activity

or a program without completing it.

And often people use it and they talk

about dropping out of school.

When you drop out of school,

you just leave and you don't complete it.

- Everything else, I fail.

I dropped out of school.

- So you're dropping out.

- No, I'm going to public school.

- You dropped out of college?

- I heard you dropped out of school.

- I went to university for a year as well

before I dropped out, so I'm a quitter.

- Don't drop out of school.

I definitely don't recommend it.

I think you should work hard and turn in everything

that your teacher asks you too (chuckles).

At least that's what I would want from my students.

I always want them to hand in their assignments.

The next phrasal verb is hand out,

and this is a common study phrasal verb

because you hear it a lot in the classroom.

To hand something out just means to distribute something.

You are passing something

to the other students in the class.

So oftentimes, teachers would hand out an assignment

or they would hand out a test

or they'd hand out a quiz,

or, yeah, most of the stuff that they hand out,

it's not stuff that (chuckles) learners are excited to get.

Nobody wants a quiz or a test,

but we gotta do them, and as long

as you read up on all the information,

then you should be fine.

- True, I've been handing out assignments,

and the kids turn them in and everything.

- What kind of homework

are they handing out in the first grade?

- Why don't you hand out the schedules?

- That means we have to hand out the preparedness packs.

- The next study phrasal verb is catch on,

and to catch on means that you understand

what is meant or that you understand how to do something.

So maybe somebody might have a difficult time

catching on, and they have trouble

understanding some material.

- And you're not going anywhere.

- Of course not, I'm already there.

- You'll catch on.

- But all our professionals have college degrees.

- I catch on pretty quick.

- You've got to wait until your contracts are up, I get it.

- You catch on slow, you'll fit right in here.

- I'm sure that you guys catch on quickly

and you understood these phrasal verbs,

but if you didn't catch on, that's okay.

Just go through the lesson again,

and just think it through.

Think through these phrasal verbs,

and try to understand them.

Maybe you might want to read up on them

so you have a better understanding

and hopefully the fact that I've been repeating

all of these phrasal verbs helps you

remember their meaning a little bit better.

So now I have an assignment for you,

and I want you to turn it in,

and the way that you're going to turn it in to me

is by writing a comment.

And all I want to know is something very simple.

I just want to know if you caught on to this lesson.

So if you understood all of these phrasal verbs,

if you understood my explanation of these phrasal verbs,

then in the comments write, I catch on quickly.

That way I know you understood these phrasal verbs

and maybe feel a little more confident the next time

that you are studying with others,

or the next time you find yourself in a classroom.

These phrasal verbs can be used in many different contexts.

Thank you guys so much for watching.

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