Episode 6 - Coming to Grips With Phrasal Verbs - The Verb "Come"

Hey, well hello, and welcome to the Learn Everyday English Podcast, your road to English proficiency. You've come to the right place to improve your listening comprehension skills and mastery of the English language. Hey, my name is Gary and I will be your host today. I'm a native English speaker, born and raised in the United States, and a retired engineer living in a small Texas town. I'm also a language learner. I'm studying Spanish, so I know what it is like to learn a new and different language. So now let's jump right in to today's episode. Well hello listeners. Hey and welcome to the episode number five of the Learn Everyday English Podcast. We're going to be talking about coming to grips with phrasal verbs and especially using the verb come. I've gotten a lot of comments from people saying that they struggle with this area of learning English. So we're going to be talking about phrasal verbs. But before we get started, I want to remind you that you can follow me at my web page. Just go to www.learneverydayenglish.com and you can check out what's going on. At the web page, you'll find links to all the podcasts that we have. You can listen directly to the podcast from the web page. There's also a link that will take you to our YouTube channel. The Learn Everyday English YouTube channel. We could find and watch interesting and engaging videos about culture and life here in the US while you learn English. And again, listening to podcasts is a great way to practice your listening comprehension skills. So that's enough of that for now. Let's jump right into today's episode. Today's episode is about coming to grips with phrasal verbs and the title coming to grips with is an expression in English and it is using the verb come. I don't know if you've heard this expression before, but to come to grips with something is an expression that we use in English and you might hear it quite a bit. And it means to make an effort to understand and deal with a problem or situation. So for example, I found out I have a very bad or incurable disease. And I can say, well, after maybe six months, I have finally come to grips with my health condition. That means I have finally come to an understanding or I have finally come to a point where I can deal with the situation. I also study Spanish and I can say I'm having a difficult time learning the subjunctive form. And I can say maybe after three months of studying Spanish and the subjunctive, I have finally come to grips with this part of the Spanish language. That means I have finally come to an understanding or I have come to accept the subjunctive and my ability or perhaps inability to use it correctly. But hey, you might be asking, what is a phrasal verb? So phrasal verb or phrasal verbs or multi-word combinations, which can include either a verb and an adverb, a verb plus a preposition, or even a verb plus an adverb and a preposition. And these function like one word verbs. But one of the most important and challenging characteristics of phrasal verbs is that the meaning of the combination is often quite different and not obvious from the meaning of the original verb used by itself. So what does that mean? Hey, well, I'll give you an example. The word break. So you probably know what break means. It can mean to either break something into pieces or a break can also mean like taking a rest or a pause from something. But if we use the expression or the phrasal verb break down that has a totally different meaning. So to break down can mean to say if you're driving your car, your car can break down. That means your car can stop running and have problems and stop working correctly. So that breakdown can mean that. But break down can also mean like if somebody we say loses it emotionally or they just start having some uncontrolled emotional issue or problem, we can say they broke down or perhaps they had a nervous breakdown. Another example is the word look and we can use a phrase look down on. So we know look is like to see something, but to look down on something has a totally different meaning. It can mean to have a negative view of somebody or something so I can say they rich people look down on the poor people. That mean they have a poor impression of people that are poor or to look down on can mean to look down at or on something if you are at a higher location. Maybe I'm up on a tower and I'm looking down on the people below me. But why are phrasal verbs important? Well they are extremely important and because they are extremely common in informal English and unless you are familiar with the meaning, understanding informal language can be somewhat difficult. In addition, learning to use phrasal verbs correctly will help you sound natural or more natural, in casual conversation. And the problem is there are over 3000,000 phrasal verbs in English, but I'll give you some advice. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. This is an expression in English which means hey, don't panic. Don't panic. Don't worry. And finally another challenge of phrasal verbs is that they have multiple meanings. So for example, the phrasal verb pass out can mean to like to fall asleep, but it can also mean like to distribute something. So this is where the confusion can come in. But now we're going to talk about the word or the verb come in English, which you probably know what that is. But there are 37 different phrasal verbs using the word come. I'm going to just go over some of these. So what I'm going to do, I'm going to give you the phrasal verb and give you an example with the word come in the sentence and then kind of give you a translation of what that actually means. For example, the first phrasal verb is come to. And the sentence is I hope you come to my party on Saturday. So what does this mean? This means I hope you attend my party on Saturday. So come to can also mean to attend. Also, I can say he finally came to his senses, which means he finally started thinking rationally or normally again. So that's what come to your senses can mean to start thinking normally or rationally again. Also, he came to after being in a coma for three months. He came to. That means he regained consciousness after being in a coma for three months. And finally, I can say it just came to me. I have a meeting in 15 minutes. This means I just realized or I just remembered I have a meeting in 15 minutes. So don't worry about maybe trying to write all these sentences and examples down. Just go to the every learn every day English web page and go to the link or the page that says podcast resources. Look for episode five. And there you will have a button you can click to download the episode notes, which I'm using. And you can just follow along with me here on the episode. The next phrasal verb is come on to, for example, I can say she was coming onto me. And this means that she was flirting with me or she was trying to become more acquainted with me and wanted to get to know me better. That's what flirting means. The next phrasal verb means is come out. We will be at the park this weekend. So come out and see us. And this really means we will be at the park this weekend. So go to the park and see us. So come out can mean go to or another sentence. He recently came out about a year ago or what I'm really saying is he recently came out of the closet about a year ago. And we use this term or phrase when somebody is, we say gay and they are making their presence known or they're letting everybody know about their sexual orientation. So we say they come out of the closet. So an example sentence is he recently acknowledged or made it known that he was gay about a year ago. And that's what it means when I say he recently came out or came out of the closet about a year ago. The next phrasal verb is come over. You can come over to my house on Thursday, which means you can come to my house on Thursday. Another sentence would come over. Something came over me and I just started crying. This means I can't explain it. I had a feeling and I just started crying. So some emotional thing or emotions came over me. The next phrasal verb is come at. So John will come at 2 p.m. for his doctor's appointment, which means John will arrive at 2 p.m. for his doctor's appointment. But another sentence with come at is he came at me with a knife. And this means he attacked me with a knife or he moved toward me with a knife. So as you can see, come at can mean arrive at or to attack somebody or move towards somebody. The next phrasal verb is come along. Example you want to come along when we go to the beach this weekend, which means you want to go with us to the beach this weekend. Or also I can say the construction of the new house is coming along very nicely. And this means the construction of the new house is progressing or advancing very nicely. So as you can see, come along can mean to go with or to progress or advance. The next phrasal verb is come again. For example, I can say come again. I didn't quite hear that, which means can you repeat that? I didn't quite hear what you said. Also, I can say or thanks for visiting. Please come again, which means thanks for visiting. Please return another time. The next phrasal verb is come across. Example sentence. I came across an old camera at the flea market, which means I found an old camera at the flea market. But I can also say he came across as very arrogant, which means he seemed to be very arrogant. Or I thought he appeared to be very arrogant. So come across can mean to find something or to appear or seem to be in a certain manner or a certain way. The next phrasal verb is come down. Example. We plan on coming down to visit you next weekend, which means we plan on going to visit you this next weekend. But we can also use come down and the verb with in the form of come down with. So example, I can say I don't feel good. I think I'm coming down with something. This means I don't feel good. I think I'm getting sick. The next phrasal verb is come into example. Look who just came into the room, which means look who just entered the room. Or I can say he recently came into a lot of money, which means he recently received a lot of money. So come into can mean to enter or to receive something. The next phrasal verb is come around. Example. He never comes around anymore. That means he never visits anymore. But I can also say give her time. She'll come around. She's still hurt and angry right now, which means give her time. Her feelings will change and she will see things differently. She's still hurt and angry right now. So to come around can mean to visit or can mean just to change your mind and perception about something to see things differently than how you see them right now. And finally the last phrasal verb is come on. And we use this a lot in English example. Come on. You can do it. And this means let's go. You can do it. Or I can say come on. We don't have much time, which means hurry up. We don't have much time. And finally I can say come on. That's ridiculous, which means are you serious? That sounds ridiculous. So here come on. Can mean let's go. Can mean hurry up. Or it can also mean are you serious? So again, don't try to maybe write all these words and example sentences down. Just go to the learn every day English website. Again, click on the podcast button and podcast resources button and just download this file. Then you can follow along with me with these notes. So now what I'm going to do I have a small story I'm going to read to you called John's birthday party where I'm going to use a lot of these phrasal verbs. So see if you can understand what I'm saying and follow along with the story. Here we go. My friend John invited me to come to his birthday party on Saturday and said I could come over around 6 p.m. I asked John if my brother could come along and he said sure no problem. I asked John how the planning was coming along for the party and he said things were going great and he expected a lot of people to come out. On Friday evening I called my brother and told him he could come down to my place on Saturday around 5.30 p.m. and we could leave from here to go to John's house. My brother didn't sound like his normal self and I asked what was wrong. He said he thought he was coming down with something and didn't feel very good and wouldn't be able to go to the party tomorrow. Well I was disappointed because I was looking forward to spending some time with my brother as he doesn't come around much anymore since he got his new job and has been quite busy. On Saturday I went to John's house by myself and went to the front door and rang the doorbell. A young lady answered the door told me to come on in, led me down the hallway and told me to come into the kitchen where I could get something to drink and some snacks. I then went out into the backyard to mingle with the other guests. I began talking to another young lady and after a while I could tell she was coming on to me as it was obvious she liked me. I didn't want to give her the wrong impression and told her that I made the decision about a year ago to come out and be the real me and I have never felt so free before. She said something but I couldn't hear what she said because it was loud music playing. I replied and said come again and this time I understood what she said telling me that she was proud that I made the decision to come out. We didn't talk for a long time but she came across as a very nice person. It was now almost 7 p.m. and I had not seen John anywhere. I asked John's mother where John was and she said he had gotten delayed but would come at 7.30 p.m. to meet everyone. Finally the time arrived for John to come out and greet his guests and we could wish him a happy birthday. Behind me I heard someone say come on hurry up everyone is waiting on you. I turned around and saw John making his way to the front of the crowd. John apologized for being late and then we all saying happy birthday to him and he began to open all of his birthday presents. Overall I had a very nice time and I finally left around 10 p.m. John greeted me as I was leaving and said don't be a stranger and please come again to visit whenever you want. So how did you find that story were you able to understand what I said and were you able to follow it using all of the different phrasal verbs with the verb come? If not go back and review the different phrasal verbs and their usages and again listen to the story again several times until you feel comfortable with what was being said and you can understand everything that was going on. Finally I'm going to give you some tips or hints what are the best ways to learn phrasal verbs but you know as English speakers we learn phrasal verbs in a natural context we don't really try to memorize them and that's it. is not something I advise you to do either. So for example in your own language you learn different verbs and perhaps you have phrasal verbs but you learn them naturally just over time in a natural context by hearing them and that's what you really need to do when you try to learn phrasal verbs in English. So the important thing is to read and or listen to the conversations. So again that's why I stress a lot. It is very important to practice your listening comprehension, listen to podcasts like this in stories and when you do listen, learn the context but learn the context of the verb or word or phrasal verb in an entire sentence not just by itself and try to learn the topic or situation. So an even better way to learn phrasal verbs is to organize them by subject rather than by verb. So for example don't try to group all the phrasal verbs using the word or verb come and try to memorize those all together. Maybe group phrasal verbs into categories or themes like maybe expressing emotions, describing friends or talking about love and relationships. So but we don't want to group them by the specific verb because then you're trying to memorize just a bunch of words that look all the same or look very similar but have completely different meanings and that's very confusing. And also when you see a phrasal verb or hear phrasal verbs and we're again just don't write it down but write the whole sentence so that you can understand the context and how the word is being used. Number two find out the meaning in the specific context. This is where maybe a native English speaker can help but if not try to look it up in a dictionary or online because this for phrasal verbs as we have seen there's often more than one meaning for each phrasal verb. So try to find if there are the alternative meanings and try to like I did as an example have the phrasal verb used in a sentence and then try to find another sentence which explains what that phrasal verb means without actually using that phrasal verb. I'll give you another example. Here's an example sentence in English using the phrasal verb chicken out or specifically chickened out which is very common in English so we can say everyone was jumping off the bridge into the water but Joey chickened out. So the explanatory sentence described in the meaning would actually say everyone was jumping off the bridge into the water but Joey decided not to do it because he was scared. So you can see to chicken out means to become scared and not do something. So try to group the phrasal verbs into different sentences like that. Number three do exercises to practice using the phrasal verbs. What is really can be helpful is to write a story like I did about the birthday party but write a story yourself and use yourself as the character and use the phrasal verbs in the story. This is a very good way to learn to use phrasal verbs and that you will be able to remember them a lot more easily then finally step number four is create a list of phrasal verbs and study them and keep adding to the list as you come across phrasal verbs but the bottom line is this there is really no magic method to learn phrasal verbs it just takes time patience and commitment. If you want to sound more natural when speaking English you need to take the time to practice phrasal verbs and get more confident with using them and that's with any language. So again this lesson went over phrasal verbs using the word come but there are a whole lot of other verbs in English as you know so there are a whole lot of other phrasal verbs but again like I always say hey don't worry about it too much just relax don't panic don't freak out as I said earlier things will come with time just give it time just expose yourself to the language keep reading keep listening keep writing and keep practicing and the more and more you do that because consistent and persistent and things will come to you naturally. Okay well listeners I hope you enjoyed that episode about phrasal verbs it's something that I've gotten a lot of comments about like I said before and English language learners have said it is something that they struggle with a lot. I would love to hear from you and what you thought of this episode if you have any questions for me let me know and or if you have any suggestions for top specific topics you would like me to discuss on this program all you need to do is just go to the learn every day English home page on the web page and at the bottom there will be a contact form where you can contact me and send me a message so I'd really like to hear from you your comments and thoughts and again let me know if there are any specific categories or topics you would like me to do a podcast about or even a YouTube video you can watch on our learn every day English YouTube channel. Hey well that's it for now I think be sure to check out our upcoming episodes and thanks for listening and we'll check you later goodbye.