In today's lesson we're going to look at phrasal verbs for investigating.

In case you forgot, a phrasal verb is an expression with a verb and a preposition.

You hear them used all the time by English speakers.

In fact I just used one: “to look at,” meaning to examine something.

And in this lesson, we'll be looking at other phrasal verbs related to investigating

or examining an idea or situation.

Later, you can check out some of our other lessons on phrasal verbs.

Woa!

I just did it again!

I said you can “check out” some other lessons.

Now I bet you've heard this phrasal verb “check out” before.

It's a very common one for talking about examining or investigating something.

If you “check” something, you're looking at it to see if it's correct.

But if you “check out” something, it means you're just looking at it out of interest.

Maybe you want to check out a new part of town or check out what a colleague's working

on.

Let's try some practice with this phrasal verb “to check out.”

Listen to each example, then repeat it yourself.

Ready?

 Let's go to the trade show and check out some new machines.

 Hey, check out this new website I found!

One thing to note here is that the object comes after “check out” unless you use

the word “it” or “this.”

Then we say “check it out,” not “check out it.”

Now, sometimes you want to explore something not just out of interest but more carefully

to see if it's good for your purposes.

Like if you want to buy a new computer, you might “scope out” some new machines online.

You could say “check out” in this situation, but “scope out” tells us more clearly

that you're looking carefully at something.

How about some practice using “to scope out?”

Remember to repeat the examples after you hear them.

 We met with Allan to scope out whether he'd be a good partner for us.

 We scoped out the new office space before we bought the furniture.

As you can see, “to scope out” is useful when you're looking at something to make

a decision.

Like if you're choosing a business partner or a new office location.

But there's another expression we can use to talk about collecting information or facts.

And that expression is “to look into.”

It's quite similar to some meanings of “to look at,” but is more specifically used

to talk about gathering information or doing research.

Let's try some more examples with “to look into.”

Once again, repeat the examples after you hear them.

 Charlie, could you look into flights to Chicago for next week?

 I'm going to the factory to look into the problems that have been reported.

From these examples, you can see that “look into” can be used for basic information-gathering

activities.

But sometimes you want to talk about looking very deeply into something.

Maybe that's some kind of secret which requires more effort.

Or maybe it's something that's not so simple to understand.

In these situations, we can also use the phrasal verb “to dig into.”

You probably know that “to dig” is to make a hole in the ground.

And you can use “dig into” to talk about making a serious effort to uncover information.

Let's practice “to dig into” with a couple of examples.

Repeat the examples after you hear them.

 All right everyone, let's dig into this sales report together.

 Anne, I'd like you to dig into the website issues this afternoon.

Okay, so we've practiced several phrasal verbs for talking about investigating or examining.

But how do these expressions sound in a conversation?

Let's listen to a short dialog between Jack and Dora.

Dora has asked Jack to speak with her about something.

Jack: Hi Wendy, you wanted to talk with me?

Dora: Yes, did you check out the latest report?

Jack: I did, and it looks like there were some problems.

Dora: Indeed.

And I'd like you to look into those for me.

Now it's your turn to practice.

We'll repeat the dialog, but this time we're going to beep out the second speaker's words.

You will have to say those parts yourself.

Remember to start by asking whether Jack “checked out” the latest report.

Then tell him you want him to “look into” the problems.

Ready?

Here we go!

Jack: Hi Wendy, you wanted to talk with me?

Dora: Yes, did you check out the latest report?

Jack: I did, and it looks like there were some problems.

Dora: Indeed.

And I'd like you to look into those for me.

Okay, that's all for this lesson about phrasal verbs.

We've looked at several expressions about investigating, including “to check out,”

“to scope out,” “to look into,” and “to dig into.”

We'll be back soon with some more useful English expressions.

Until then, so long and happy learning!