I'm Ronnie, here to teach you English.

It's the purpose.

Phrasal verbs, oh, everyone hates them because they're so confusing, and they have a couple different meanings sometimes, and they're just kind of weird and awkward and difficult.

A phrasal verb is a verb with a preposition.

Up, by, for, to, oh, down.

And I'll tell you how this lesson came about, or how I thought of this lesson.

I was riding my bicycle on a beautiful day, and I was riding next to the lake, Lake Ontario, not that beautiful, and I saw a sign that said, we are cleaning up Lake Ontario.

And if you've ever been to Lake Ontario, not Ontario Lake, it's the lake in Toronto, in the surrounding area, it's pretty dirty, it's polluted, it's not really safe to swim in it.

We cannot eat the fish from it.

I mean, we could, but you might die or get really sick.

I don't think that I've ever put my body in the lake, just because it's so dirty.

Like, yeah, you be the judge, though.

You can go and have a look.

And when you're there, come visit me and I give you some lessons.

You can take private online lessons with me, englishwithronnie.com, www.englishwithronnie.com.

Hit me up for private online lessons.

But let's get back to this.

So I'm riding my bike, and the sign says, cleaning up Lake Ontario.

And I thought, hmm, why did the sign say cleaning up and not clean-ing Lake Ontario?

Why does it say cleaning up Lake Ontario and not cleaning Lake Ontario?

Or we want to clean Lake Ontario.

We want to clean up Lake Ontario.

Why do they use a phrasal verb, up?

So I thought about it, and this is what I came up with.

And it is confusing.

So, to clean something, the base verb, we clean dirt.

We can dust something, you know, dust.

We can wipe something, use some toxic chemicals, get that really shiny there.

Mm-hmm.

But if we clean something up, like an object, we're not necessarily just removing the dirt or the dust.

We're actually putting things away.

We're removing things, like garbage.

So it's kind of hard to clean a lake, you just, like, get some spray, it's clean.

But if we clean up the lake, we're taking the bad shit out of it, we're taking out all the chemicals.

They're never going to get this done.

They're taking out the chemicals, they're taking out the garbage, all the crap that's in there that doesn't belong.

You can clean your room, you can dust it, you can get the dirt out.

But if you clean up your room, you're taking the garbage out, making your bed, making sure it's all beautiful.

So you're cleaning up your room, or cleaning your room is very different.

You can't clean the lake.

You can clean up the lake because you take stuff out of it.

Okay?

Next one...

Oh, I forgot, we can also use the past tense.

So I can say, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, hey, guess what?

I cleaned my room.

Woo-hoo.

Or if you're doing it now, in the process, I'm cleaning my room.

Okay?

I cleaned up the area, or I'm cleaning up the area.

The next one is to find.

Do you know the past tense of find?

The past tense is found, f-o-u-n-d.

So, if we find something, we look for something specific, like, oh, look, I found my red marker.

Purple marker, red marker.

So, we look for something.

But if we add find out, or the past tense found out, it means we discover information.

We discover something that we didn't know before.

It can be through observation or through learning.

You can say, oh, I found out through this video that there's a difference between phrasal verbs and just regular verbs.

It was great.

Next one, pick.

The past tense is easy, it's just picked.

But the pronunciation's kind of weird.

We have to say it like a T, we have to say picked.

I picked this one.

So, we write it like an E-D, but it sounds like a T sound, so we say picked.

Can you do it?

Picked.

Pick or picked means you choose something.

Oh, I picked this shirt today because it's a beautiful colour.

But if you pick up something, it's different.

Maybe if you're ordering food, people will say, oh, do you want delivery or pick up?

Choose.

I'm not choosing.

I've already chosen.

So, pick up means you retrieve, or less formal, get something.

So, I can go and pick up a takeout order, or get.

I can lift something, like, oh, hold on, let me pick up the marker off the table.

So, you're physically lifting something.

You've already chosen it, you're just physically actually lifting it.

What are some other things?

You can pick up people.

Oh, yeah.

So, you'll hear people say, oh, yeah, I went to the bar and I picked up a guy last night.

Like, damn, you're strong.

But it doesn't mean to lift.

This has two meanings.

One of them means, like, get, the other one means lift.

So, if you pick up somebody at the bar, it means that you've lured them into your bedroom.

What are you going to do?

Are you going to play chess?

Mm-hmm.

Bring.

Past tense is weird.

Brought.

That's even a hard one to say because the spelling looks so weird.

B-r-o-u-g-h-t.

So, if I brought something or I bring something, I mean I physically carry it with me to another place.

Oh, look, I brought some markers today.

But this one, bring up or brought up, has three completely different meanings.

So, bring up means to talk about.

I can say, hey, don't bring up the fact or don't talk about the fact that I'm wearing a yellow shirt today.

Shh, don't, don't, mm-mm, mm-mm.

Or, oh, please talk about, please bring up the issue of the black curtains.

We want to talk about it.

It also means mention.

Okay?

Oh, let's talk about the red cup.

Please mention the red cup in your speech.

Oh, you might hear people say, oh, I brought up dinner.

It's like, you talked about dinner?

No, it means I barfed or I vomited.

Vomit's a very formal word.

I prefer barf.

Oh, I brought up my lunch.

Oh, I had a sandwich.

Mm, yum.

And it can also mean that you raise a child.

Okay?

We don't grow children.

Mm-mm, we raise children.

So, you, if children are misbehaved, who brought you up?

It means basically who educated you, who raised you.

Were you brought up...

Oh, there's an expression.

Were you brought up by wolves?

My mother brought me up.

My mother raised me, cared for me, educated me.

So, there's one, two, three different meanings for this one.

Be careful.

And the last one, show.

Past tense, showed.

That pronunciation's easier, at least.

So, if I show you something, it's like display, like...

Markers.

Now, let me show you my pet hamster.

But if I show up, you'll hear people say, oh, hey, where's Ronnie?

She didn't show up for the shoot.

Where is she?

I don't know.

Oh, hey, you didn't show up last night.

You're like, I didn't display?

Was I supposed to display something?

Did I forget?

But show up means attend.

So, if you don't show up for something, it means you didn't go.

Okay?

So, hey, please show up for the classes.

Englishwithronnie.com, I have private online classes to help you with all of this confusion about phrasal verbs.

So, if you show up or you attend your class, you're going to be amazing at English.

You're going to learn so much and have fun.

If you have questions, write them in the comments.

I hope that you enjoyed everything, and maybe you can go to the bar and pick up some.

Wouldn't it be beautiful?

Bye.