Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles Hi. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam. In today's video we're going to look at phrasal verbs using the verb: "bring". Once again, phrasal verbs: A verb and a preposition that together have a very different meaning than the words by themselves, sometimes more than one meaning, as we're going to see here. So we're going to look at: "bring up", "bring about", "bring around", "bring back", "bring down", "bring in", "bring on", "bring off", and "bring to". These are the ones we're going to look at today. And again, each of them has at least one meaning, sometimes... More often than not, more than one meaning. So: "bring up", a few meanings to this one. The most commonly used one is to bring up something means to raise, but not raise like physically, raise in terms of conversation. So if we're going to talk... We're going to have a conversation and I want to talk about something specific, I'm going to find an opportunity to bring it up in conversation. So I'm going to raise that topic, and we're going to talk about it, and it's going to be the focus of the conversation. So if you're going to a meeting with your boss and you're thinking: "Oh, it's time for my promotion", somehow you'll find a way to bring it up into the conversation and eventually talk about it. You can also bring up a child. So you can raise a child, that's the one... The verb most people use about children, you raise children, but you also bring them up. Now, it doesn't mean that you physically lift them. It means you educate them, you feed them, you teach them about life, you prepare them for the world they're going to live in. Okay? So you bring them up. Another thing sometimes people use "bring up" is to throw up, puke, vomit. So, today I had a really bad lunch. I hope I don't bring it up all over this video. But I won't. Don't worry, I'm okay. I had a nice lunch. So: "bring up" sometimes used as vomit. There's too many slang words for vomit. "Bring about", two meanings for this one. One is to cause to happen. Okay? So something... One situation exists, this situation will likely bring about this result. Okay? If we talk about military spending, so the government has decided to go to war in this part of the world, but all the major economists are warning that this war will bring about the destruction of our country economically. Okay? The war will bring about economic hardships to this country. We can't afford it. So: "bring about". Now, a little side note, not really anything to do with phrasals, but I know all of you think of the words: "effect" and "affect". A... "A" is the verb, "e" is the noun, but "effect" with an "e" is the same as "bring about", it means cause to happen. This is a verb. So "e" can be a verb and a noun, "a" can be a verb and a noun, but that's a whole other lesson. "Bring about", "effect", same meaning. Okay. "Bring around". Oh, sorry. Another "bring about". If you're ever on a ship and you need to turn that ship and bring it back to the port, then you have to bring it about. Basically means turn around. But we use this mostly with ships, bring about. Okay. "Bring around", a few meanings to this as well. "Bring around" basically means to revive someone. So somebody is passed out, they fainted or whatever happened, they're lying on the ground, they look like asleep. You're trying to bring them around, means recover consciousness. Okay? "Bring around" means also bring a friend over to meet other friends, like a casual visit. And the most common use: If you have a very set opinion about something and I have a very different opinion, I will do my best to bring you around to my opinion. So I want to persuade you, I want to make you change your mind and bring you around to view the situation from the way I view it, from my perspective. So I'm going to bring you around to my point of view. That's the most common use of "bring around". "Bring back", so, again, there's the literal bring back. So you bought something from a store, you took it home, like a shirt, you tried it on, you realize: "You know what? I don't like it." So you bring it back to the store. Now you can also say: "take it back", but technically you're taking it with you, so you're bringing it back to the store. Now, sometimes, people, especially celebrities, they try to bring back something that used to be very popular. So if I started wearing, like, fur coats, and everybody thinks: "Oh, this guy is so cool and so popular", then everybody starts to bring... To wear fur coats. So I brought back the fur coat. Okay? So, try to make something old popular again. For example, for many, many years people have tried to bring back disco, but you can never bring back disco. Disco died when it died, and that's where it's going to stay. "Bring down", a few meanings here. First of all we're going to talk about collapse. Now, it can be a physical thing, it can be a person. So if you bring down a building, means you maybe blow it up and the whole building comes down so you bring it down, you blow it up. You can also bring down a person. So if you create a scandal, let's say especially politicians, celebrities, they're in a very high position, very high level, if you tell them: "Oh, this man cheated on his wife with 20 women", you're bringing him down, you're destroying his reputation and his position, and his stature, status, etc. "Bring down" means also to depress. So we're all having a good time, I'm with my friends, we're at a bar, we're having a few drinks, and somebody starts talking about politics. We say: "Oh, you're bringing us down. Leave it alone. We're here to have a good time. Not to be too serious." So to bring people down or to bring someone down means to be depressing. Okay. You can also bring someone down to earth, but this is more of an idiom. If somebody thinks very highly of themselves, you... You tell them the reality, that they're not that special. They're just like everybody else, so you bring them down from their high position. "Bring in", a few meanings here as well. "Bring in", so my friend is outside or my dog is outside and he's really cold, so I bring him in. Inside. So that's the literal, bring indoors. "Bring in" can also mean arrest. So the police are chasing the suspect, somebody committed murder, the police chase him, and they want to bring him in. It means they want to arrest this person. I hope you know this word: "arrest". So: "to bring in" means to arrest. Another meaning of "bring in", I work at a very good company and my friend just lost his job, so I want to bring him in. It means I want to bring him into my company and get him a job at the same company as me. So sometimes they... My bosses will let me bring somebody in who's good, sometimes not. "Bring in", okay. "Bring on", now, this can also mean you can bring someone... I'm going to put it in a bracket, here. Now, the same meaning as "in", "bring someone in" means introduce them into the company. You can bring someone on board. So I'm the boss, so this time I don't have to ask anybody, I can just take my friend and bring him on board. It means I give him a job, I introduce him to the company, and that's how he gets employed. Now, a more common expression is: "bring it on". Now, I'm not sure if any of you used to watch the news when President Bush, the younger Bush was president and he said: "If anybody's going to... If anybody wants to threaten America, bring it on." So he's very tough, yeah, like: "I'm going to fight you". "Bring it on" means basically I'm not afraid of you. Bring whatever challenge you want to me, and I will face it. Okay? So this is a very common expression: "bring it on". Quite often people will just say: "Bring it". "Bring it" means "bring it on", means: "Challenge me. I will fight you. I will win. I'm the best", because that's how they think. "Bring off", to bring something off means to do it successfully. Okay? So, I hired my friend again to organize my party and she really brought it off. The party was amazing, everybody loved it, and a few of my friends asked me for her number so they... She can plan their party as well. So she really brought it off. She did something successfully. Now, you can also talk about, like, when somebody's dressed, so... Like let's say Lady Gaga. I think everybody knows Lady Gaga. Sometimes her clothes are a little bit, you know, crazy, but somehow she's able to bring it off, means she's able to wear it so it actually looks good and people think she did a very good job of it. Okay, so now we're going to look at "bring to". Now, "bring to" mostly is used with other words. By itself, "bring to" means to try to revive someone. So, again, somebody passed out, you're... They're lying there fainted, so you're trying to wake them up, give them... Regain consciousness. More commonly we use "bring to" with other words. So, for example: "bring to mind". So: "bring to mind" means you're trying to get an idea into someone's head. You want them to start thinking about it, so you bring it to mind, or you remind them or you hint at it. Or something brings something to your mind, means it makes you remember or makes you think about something you haven't thought about in a long time. We also have another expression: "bring to light". If you bring something to light, means before it was in the darkness, it means nobody knew about it. It was, like, hidden. If you bring it to light you reveal it, you expose it. You make everybody aware. So a newspaper journalist, for example, a newspaper reporter, their job is really to bring secrets to light. They want people to see what's going on. And one more expression, just like I'm doing right now, if you "bring someone to his knees" or someone to... Some people to their knees, means that you dominate them. You beat them. So if you have a contest and you bring someone to their knees, like they're down, they're weak, they're subservient, so you weaken them at the end of the day. Okay. I hope these were clear. And if you have any questions, please go to www.engvid.com and you can join the forum there and ask all the questions you have. There's also a quiz, you can test your knowledge of these words. And, of course, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and see us again soon. Bye-bye.
A2 US raise meaning arrest vomit disco conversation Learn English Phrasal Verbs with BRING: bring on, bring about, bring forward... 234 57 Darren posted on 2017/02/19 More Share Save Report Video vocabulary