Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • So, we got to hold on to what we got.

  • It doesn't make a difference if we...

  • E, what are you doing?

  • Want to fill me in?

  • Oh, thanks: Today's lesson.

  • Hi. James from engVid.

  • Today's lesson is on "fill", a common verb that we use in English and has many different

  • meanings when we put it with prepositions.

  • In other words, this lesson that I'm going to fill you in on is on phrasal verbs with

  • "fill".

  • Okay?

  • I'm going to use three prepositions to show you the different ways we use it, and give

  • you, you know, the bonus and that a little bit later on.

  • Let's go to the board.

  • So: "Fill in the blank" is the first one.

  • Some of you, if you've been to English-speaking countries, have heard this before; maybe not.

  • But let's look: What does the word "fill" mean?

  • First of all, it's a verb, and it means to put somebody or something in a space, a situation,

  • or a container so it is completely or almost completely full.

  • So, an example is: If you were to have a cup of coffee and you said: "Fill it up", they

  • would take the coffee from here and put it in this space or container, and make it go

  • up.

  • Okay?

  • Cool.

  • Let's go to the board and see what else we can do.

  • I'm going to start with "up".

  • "Up" is a direction, and it means to increase.

  • Right?

  • So when someone, for instance, says: "Fill up"-in this case: "Fill up my car"-it means

  • make it completely full.

  • If you are going on a long journey or destination and you are taking your car with you, you

  • might want to fill up the gas.

  • In this case, make it full.

  • Right?

  • Now, "fill up" also could be for food.

  • "I don't want to fill up on French fries before I get my salad", that means be completely

  • full.

  • Right?

  • "I'm going to fill up my schedule for next week", make it completely full.

  • Now, another one with "up" is to "fill up on".

  • It means to have as much of something, as much of something as possible.

  • The example I gave you with French fries: "I need to fill up on fruits today; I didn't

  • have enough yesterday."

  • That means to have one thing and be completely full of it.

  • Cool?

  • All right.

  • So, we could say: "We need to fill up on groceries before we go on vacation", completely, right?

  • Get as much as possible of this thing.

  • The next one we'll do is "out": "fill out".

  • "Fill out" can be complete the needed information.

  • When you go to the government and you have to do a form, and they say: "Please fill this

  • out", they will give you a piece of paper and there will be places where you might have

  • to put your name, your address, and all sorts of information that they require in order

  • to help you.

  • So: "Fill that out, please."

  • When you go to the doctors the first time, usually they say: "Please fill out this form",

  • and you put down all of your information.

  • So, "to fill out" means to completely put in...

  • Complete needed information for a form or paper.

  • Okay?

  • Another one for "fill out" is this: To grow or get larger.

  • When you're young, say you're a young boy, you're usually very small.

  • And when you become a man, we say you fill out; you get your muscles, you get bigger,

  • and you get stronger.

  • Also, when you go to the gym, sometimes you need...

  • You will fill out.

  • You will go to the gym for one month, two months, three months - nothing happens.

  • And then one day, people will say: "You filled out.

  • Look at your big, wonderful muscles."

  • They've gotten bigger.

  • Cool?

  • So, in this case: Complete the form; and this one: To grow larger - we grow.

  • Cool?

  • Third one.

  • "Fill in".

  • Now, you will notice that "fill in" and "fill out" are similar for the first ones; complete

  • needed information and complete needed information.

  • In this case, when someone says: "Please fill in the form" they usually are referring to

  • the blanks, the empty spaces; while in "fill out", they mean the whole form.

  • Think of "larger", they want the big thing completed; while in "fill in", they're saying:

  • "Fill in each blank."

  • All right?

  • Next: "fill someone in".

  • To fill someone in is to give them information.

  • Let's say Mr. E went to a meeting.

  • Okay?

  • He went to a meeting last week and I wasn't there, and then I come back: "Oh, Mr. E, I

  • missed the meeting.

  • Can you fill me in; tell me what happened?"

  • He'll go: "Okay.

  • First what happened is Bob over there, he had some coffee, got a little too high off

  • the coffee.

  • You know what I'm saying?

  • Was really excited.

  • Really excited.

  • And then Janet, Janet, you know, from dah-dah-dah", he will fill me in; give me information.

  • That's not the same as fill out a form.

  • "To fill someone in" means they don't have information, you go and speak to them and

  • let them know what was going on.

  • "Fill me in.

  • Let me know."

  • Okay?

  • "Fill in for someone", this is to act as a substitute.

  • It doesn't always have to be a person.

  • Let's just say, for example, Tommy is sick.

  • "I can't work.

  • Can someone fill in for me?"

  • I need a substitute or replacement.

  • I need someone who can come and work for me.

  • Yeah?

  • Okay?

  • So: "I need a fill-in for tomorrow because I won't be here."

  • Or: "Can you fill in for John?

  • He's sick today."

  • You can also use something: "to fill in for".

  • We don't have this coffee anymore.

  • We can use this coffee to fill in instead, as a substitute or a replacement.

  • And the last one for "fill in" I have for you is: "fill in", and that's to complete

  • something.

  • All right?

  • So when we say: "I need to fill in a hole in the wall", for example...

  • Let's just say there's a crack right here...

  • Okay, and there's a hole.

  • Well, I need to fill that in, so I'm going to get some glue or some paper, and I'm going

  • to fill it in, so now the crack is filled in and complete; there's no more hole.

  • Right?

  • If you shave your eyebrow by accident, you need to fill it in with some pen and paper.

  • Don't do it; it's not good.

  • It's not a good look.

  • Okay?

  • Anyway, so you can fill in an eyebrow.

  • Some ladies do that.

  • They cut too much hair off their eyebrow, and they fill it in with mascara or something,

  • I don't know.

  • Right?

  • Or when you're fixing your house, you need to fill in the holes; complete.

  • Cool?

  • All right.

  • So, I filled you in with today's lesson.

  • I think it's time for us to...

  • You might be...

  • Go...

  • Have your fill of this...

  • And get ready for the quiz and bonus.

  • Are you ready?

  • [Snaps]

  • And now to my favourite part: Let's fill you in on the bonus, the homework, and the quiz.

  • All right, so bonus for this one is I'm going to give you an idiom and a word...

  • Actually probably two idioms and a word for you that use "fill".

  • If you remember at the beginning, I told you "fill" means to put something into something

  • else to make it full or, you know...

  • Or completed.

  • That's what these idioms have to do with.

  • Okay?

  • The first one, for instance: "You'll have your fill of something", "You have your fill

  • of something", or "Have your fill of something".

  • It means you don't want any more.

  • Example: somebody is talking to you about things you don't want to hear, you've had

  • your fill: "Enough.

  • Stop talking.

  • I don't want to hear you anymore."

  • Or if you've had too much beer, and you go: "Oh, I've had my fill of beer for the evening.

  • No more, please.

  • I don't want anymore", because it means to be almost completely full, that there is no

  • room for anymore.

  • Cool?

  • So, if you have your fill of something...

  • "I've had my fill of bad news for today.

  • Don't tell me anymore bad news.

  • I'm done.

  • Finished", "I've had my fill of this conversation.

  • It's now finished."

  • Cool?

  • All right.

  • Number two: "a filling".

  • I have beautiful teeth, as you know; however, I do have a filling back here.

  • That means my tooth...

  • I ate too much chocolate, it went bad, and the dentist had to fix it and put something

  • in there.

  • Do you remember when I talked about filling in a crack if there's a hole?

  • Well, when you get a filling, it means there is a hole in your tooth and they have to put

  • something in.

  • Sometimes it's material or some people have gold, some people have porcelain, but they

  • fill the hole in your tooth so you don't have more problems, or

  • any more problems.

  • "Fill your face".

  • Cookie Monster.

  • It means to put food in your mouth, a lot at one time.

  • "I need to fill my face."

  • Sometimes you might look like an animal when you fill your face.

  • Right?

  • So that's for eating a lot of food at once.

  • Cool?

  • Let's go to the board, yeah, yeah, yeah.

  • Okay, so the first one we're going to do is, on our little quiz:

  • "Mr. E asked James to __________ for him at work because he was sick."

  • Now, this is from the first part of the lesson.

  • What did James do for Mr. E?

  • That's right: "fill in".

  • Remember?

  • "Fill in" means to be a substitute for someone or something.

  • The next one: "James likes to __________"-and it means to

  • eat a lot at one time-"with chocolate bars".

  • This one is a very difficult one.

  • Look over here, look over here.

  • That's right: "fill your face".

  • "James likes to fill his face".

  • Sometimes I have two or three at the same time.

  • Now, next one: "If you take your car on a long trip, you

  • should __________ the gas tank."

  • You should what the gas tank?

  • Oh, I know when I go to the gas tank or a gas station, say: "Fill up.

  • Fill up the gas tank.

  • Put gas in there.

  • Fill up the gas tank."

  • Number four: "After three months of going to the gym, her

  • muscles are really starting __________." ...to grow.

  • What's another word for "grow"?

  • Muscles.

  • Remember we talked about "fill out"?

  • Her muscles are filling out, getting bigger.

  • "Fill out" means to get larger.

  • And what is the last one we're going to do?

  • "I went to the dentist last week and I had to get two __________."

  • Two what?

  • This is a noun.

  • So it's not quite a phrasal verb, and we talked about it earlier, so which one is a noun?

  • That's right.

  • Remember we talked about the hole in the tooth?

  • "Fillings".

  • If you have two fillings, you have two holes that need to be fixed in order that you don't

  • get sick, because if you don't get tooth decay-that's a hole in your tooth fixed-you can actually

  • get very, very sick.

  • Now, hope you enjoyed the lesson.

  • I wonder how you did out of the five.

  • As you know...

  • Well, I'm going to tell you where to in a second or two, but before I do, I want to

  • make sure you do your homework for the week.

  • This week's homework: I gave you one, two, three, probably 10, 11 variations of using

  • the word "fill" from using it as a phrasal verb, a couple of idioms, and one noun.

  • I would like you today to take five of them and use it, or use one five times.

  • Try and use what you've learned at least five times today, after you hit that video.

  • Hopefully not...

  • You're not going to bed; or the next day when you wake up, go out, use it.

  • "I need to fill up the bathtub.

  • I'm going to fill out this form.

  • I had a filling last week.

  • I want to fill my face with ice cream."

  • Just use five.

  • Okay?

  • And mark it down.

  • Write down when you used it and why you used it.

  • And if you have a problem, check the video; come back and see: "Did I use that correctly?

  • I'm not sure."

  • All right?

  • You're not finished.

  • Homework for one day.

  • The day after, so after today, the next day: Try and use it three times.

  • Okay?

  • So it's a little easier, but you haven't seen the video in 24 hours so it might be harder

  • to remember, but you want to force your brain to start using that English about filling

  • in something.

  • "Can you fill in for me tonight?

  • I've got a date.

  • I have to do something."

  • All right?

  • And then next week, the week after: Try and use each...

  • Well, one of the phrasal verbs twice in a day.

  • In Canada...

  • Or English-speaking countries, we use "fill in" for...

  • "Fill" for a lot of different things; usually forms, government forms, any kind of credit

  • card - you're always filling something in or filling out.

  • If you're going to the gym, you want to fill out your biceps or your back.

  • You need someone to work for you, you need them to fill in for you.

  • If you love, you know, filling your face with beer - all of these things, right?

  • So it's possible for you to find at least one or two ways to use it each day.

  • The first day might be the most challenging, but I promise you: If you do this for at least

  • one week, you will not be able to forget the verb "fill" and how to use it as a preposition.

  • I hope you enjoyed the lesson.

  • Now, as always, thank you very much for watching; we appreciate you at engVid.

  • I would like to make sure you go to www.eng, as in engVid, as in English.com (www.engvid.com)

  • to complete the quiz that we have there for you.

  • Don't forget to subscribe; it's somewhere around here.

  • Also, there's a little bell.

  • So, when you do the subscribe thing, hit that bell.

  • That is special because when some of you say: "I don't get to know when the new videos come

  • out", that bell will come on your cellphone, on your laptop, on your digital whatever you

  • have and say: "New video from JamesESL", or any of our other great teachers at engVid.

  • Anyway, thanks for watching; see you soon.

  • Got to fill out my timecard now.

So, we got to hold on to what we got.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it