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Eat Sleep Dreamers I know that so many of you are learning English for work and for
your careers. You have lots of English speaking clients and colleagues and you want to understand
them and you want to communicate with them. And they are using every day natural English
vocabulary. Well that's why I'm doing this lesson. This is the ten essential phrasal
verbs for work. Phrasal verbs are by definition informal phrases and so you have to be careful
about the context in which you use them. For example in an official written document or
contract you're not going to use phrasal verbs but if you are working in a small team of
colleagues and you have regular meetings you're going to use phrasal verbs all the time. So
you have to think about the context in which you use them. Now I have done a lesson teaching
you how to use phrasal verbs and if you haven't seen that lesson before I suggest that you
stop and watch it now before continuing with this video. Alright, the link is just above
me. It will teach you how to use phrasal verbs perfectly. Alright, if you are ready, let's get started
Right, our first phrasal verb, 'set up'. Now set up has different meanings, we are going
to look at two of them. The first one is to start something like an organisation or a
business. For example 'I set up the company in my twenties'. If we have a look at that
sentence, we've got set up, means to start and then the company , that's the object,
ok? Now with set up you can put the object either after the verb and the particle or
you can put it in between the verb and the particle. So I could say 'I set the company
up in my twenties' or I could say 'I set up the company in my twenties'. So this is a
phrasal verb that can be split. You can put the object in the middle or afterwards. Now
the other meaning of set up that we're going to look at is to organise or to arrange. For
example a meeting or a conference call, things like that. So my example sentence would be
'Can you set up a meeting for tomorrow?' And that means can you organise or can you arrange
a meeting for tomorrow. Number two 'to run something past someone'. This is brilliant,
I love this one. So the meaning is to show someone an idea or a proposal and you want
to get their advice or their feedback. So if I wanted your advice or your opinion about
my work I would say 'Can I run my idea past you?' or 'Can I run my idea by you?' And that
is saying can I show it to you, this idea or proposal and can you give me some advice,
can you look at it and give me some advice or some feedback. Can you tell me what I need
to improve or can you tell me that you like it. So to run something past someone. So you
run an idea past someone or you run a proposal. Can I run my email past you? or can i run
my project past you? It could be past or by so can I run my project by you, it's the same
meaning. So run something by or past someone. So this is particularly good if you are working
on a project or you are working on something that you want to get some advice about before
you show it to your boss or you present it. So it's a nice one with colleagues and people
that work around you.
Number three, 'to copy someone in' or 'to copy in someone'. This is referring to emails
so this is to include someone on an email that you are sending to other people. Now
as you saw there you can put the object in between copy and in or afterwards, copy in
somebody. Now in my example sentence you are going to notice that I'm going to put it in
between. So 'I'll copy you in on all the team's emails'. Now the reason why I've put you in
between the verb and the particle is because it's a personal pronoun and if it's a personal
pronoun like you or me then it has to go in between the verb and the particle. I can't
say 'I'll copy in you' it doesn't work, alright? I have to put it in between. So 'I'll copy
you in on all the emails.' Remember with the grammar of phrasal verbs, it all goes in the
verb, ok? So if you want to talk about the past tense, you'll say 'I copied you in'.
If you want to do it in the present perfect you'd say 'I have copied you in'. So it's
all in the verb, the grammar goes into the verb.
Number four, 'to pencil in' or 'to pencil something in'. Now this means to arrange something
in the future but you re aware that the plan might change. So that's why you are doing
it with a pencil instead of a pen, because it's less permanent. So you are arranging
something in the future that could be changed.
So maybe the time could change or the day or to be honest even the event might change.
But you are saying to someone that yeah let's make an arrangement in the future but it might
change. So for example 'Let's pencil in a meeting for next Friday'. Again, pencil something
in or pencil in something, so the object, in this case the meeting, can going between
the verb and the particle or afterwards, it doesn't matter. So 'let's pencil in a meeting
for next Friday.'
Number five, 'go over'. This means to review something. So you might go over a contract
or a presentation or anything to be honest. So in this example sentence 'Let's go over
the presentation one more time'. So we're saying let's review it, let's have a look,
see if we can change it, make any additions, any improvements. So let's go over it one
more time, let's review it.
Number six 'deal with'. Now deal with means to handle or to work on. So for example 'The
HR team deal with all the interviews' that means they handle it, they take responsibility
for it. You might talk about your responsibilities in your job 'I have to deal with a lot of
client complaints' for example so I have to be responsible for, I have to handle, I have
to work on them. You might also say 'I have to deal with a lot of phone calls'. So again,
I have to handle them, I have to be responsible for them. It's a part of my job.
Number seven, 'to take over' this means to begin to do something that someone else was
doing. For example 'Who is going to take over your job when you leave?' It can also be a
temporary thing for example 'Can you take over the project whilst I'm on holiday?' and
so that means can you take responsibility for it for a short time, I'll go away and
then I'll come back. So yeah, to take over something. Or you can take something over.
So it can be split. So 'who is going to take over your job when you leave?' or 'who is
going to take over your job when you leave?' Your job is the object, it can go either in
between the verb and the particle or after.
Number eight, 'to fall through'. If a business deal or plan or arrangement falls through
it doesn't happen, it fails. So for example 'Google's plan to buy Amazon fell through'
it means it didn't work, it didn't succeed. So if something falls through, it doesn't
work, it doesn't succeed.
Number nine, 'pick up'. Now pick up can have lots of different meanings, the one we're
going to look at here is to suddenly increase or improve after a bad period. If we are talking
about number or results or sales, if they pick up, that means they have improved after
a bad start. So maybe the sales weren't very good to begin with, we weren't selling enough
and then if they pick up, they improve, the curve kind of goes upwards and that's a good
thing, a positive thing. So if you said 'I hope the sales are going to pick up' it means
you hope that the sales are going to increase or improve.
And the final one 'report back'. If you report back to someone you are telling them information
that you have discovered, that you have researched, that you have found out. So usually it's to
someone in authority like your boss for example but it can just be to your team, to your colleagues.
So for example I might say 'After the conference I'll report back with anything interesting'.
And I'm saying there that I'll go to the conference, I'll learn new things or discover new things,
I'll come back and if there's anything interesting that I think you would like, I will tell you,
I will report back. So to report back.
Alright guys, that was ten phrasal verbs for work. Did you find those useful? Let me know
in the comments below. Which ones are you going to be able to use at your work? And
would you like another one of these phrasal verb lessons? We could do phrasal verbs for
travel or phrasal verbs for studying. Anything like that, so let me know. If you would like
another phrasal verbs lesson, tell me in the comments below.
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out with me again guys. This is Tom, the Chief Dreamer, saying goodbye.