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Hi.
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Welcome to www.engvid.com.
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I'm Adam.
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In today's video I want to talk to you about academic writing.
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So this is especially for those of you who will be taking the IELTS or TOEFL, or any
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English exam where you have to write an essay.
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Okay?
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Now, before I get into this, a lot of you have been told by teachers, by classmates,
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by whoever that you should not use phrasal verbs in your academic writing, in your essays,
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because you think that they are too informal.
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Well, what I want to tell you today is that not only can you use phrasal verbs, you should
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use phrasal verbs in your writing.
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Phrasal verbs are part of the English language.
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We use them in everyday situations, as well in very formal situations; in academics, in
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business, etc.
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So what I have here, I have a few phrasal verbs to show you that are very common, but
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are very useful for academic writing.
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And some of them are a little bit more rare, but if you can use them properly in your essays,
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your scores should go up; you'll actually impress the graders a little bit.
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But, again, if you're using them correctly.
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Okay?
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So just before we begin, what is a "phrasal verb"?
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You have a verb in conjunction with a preposition; and together, the two words have a slightly
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different meaning or slightly different meanings - most of them have more than one.
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So, today we're going to look at: "account for", "take into account" or "take into consideration",
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but the actual phrasal is: "take into".
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Okay?
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With something else.
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"Carry out"; "look into" or "find out" - these are kind of synonyms, you can use them one
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or the other.
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"Cut down" or "cut back on" - these are also generally synonymous; you can use them in
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certain...
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In same situations; slightly different usage.
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And...
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Just so you know, "cut back" can also become a noun: "cutback" or "cutbacks".
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"Do without", "follow through", "frown upon" which is a little bit one of the rare ones,
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"resort to" which should be used more but people don't use it enough, "rule out", and
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"put off".
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Okay?
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So, let's go through each one separately.
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"Account for".
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"To account for something" means to consider it; to make it part of your thought process
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when you're thinking about something, especially making a plan or maybe making a budget, etc.
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And basically it means the same thing as: "Take into account".
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Now, you have "account" and "account".
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This is a noun; this is a verb.
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So, be very careful not to mix the two expressions up somehow.
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So, "account for", and it's also part of your calculations.
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That's why we have "account", like accountant does.
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"Take into consideration" and "account" - same idea.
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When you're making a plan or you're thinking about something, don't forget to include whatever
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it is...
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Whatever the topic is into that thinking process.
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Right?
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So, if you're creating a budget...
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Let's say you have limited money, and you have to make yourself a budget for each month.
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So, make your budget for, like, school, work, going out, food, rent, etc. but don't forget
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to take into account or don't forget to account for emergencies or surprise expenses; things
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that you weren't planning for that inevitably happen.
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So: "Account for surprises in your budget calculations."
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Okay?
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Put a little bit extra money aside.
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Now: "carry out".
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"Carry out" essentially means do.
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Okay?
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But we use it with specific collocations.
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And "collocations" are groupings of words that generally go together to create a particular
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expression.
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So, for example, you would carry out an experiment.
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You don't do an experiment; you carry out an experiment.
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Okay?
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So, it means do or make happen.
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So, for example, you have plans, you create plans for the weekend, and then the weekend
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comes and now it's time to carry out those plans; make them happen, do them.
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Okay?
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"Look into" or "find out" is essentially the same meaning.
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"Look into" means more, like, investigate; "find out" means get some more information.
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So, you investigate in order to get the information.
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So, in many cases you can use one or the other; but, again, don't mix them.
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Don't "look out" or "find into"; don't mix them, which happens quite a bit.
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So, the police, they don't look into every complaint that they get on the telephone.
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Sometimes people call the FBI, let's say, or just the police, and they want to make
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a complaint of something.
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So, the police, they get so many of these phone calls that they can't look into everything;
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they can't investigate everything.
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They can't find out if all of these complaints are real.
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Okay?
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So, they investigate.
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"Cut down" or "cut back on".
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So, let's start with "cut down".
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"Cut down" basically means reduce.
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Okay?
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So, a company wants to cut down its...
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Its expenses.
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It wants to reduce its expenses, so maybe it has to let go of some staff.
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Okay?
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It has to fire some staff.
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"Cut back on" means also reduce, but basically do less of something.
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"Cut down" - spend less; "cut back on", basically you're moving backwards.
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You're still going to spend on this particular something, but you're just going to spend
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less on it.
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Right?
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So, "cut back on expenses" or "cut down the company's expenses".
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Okay?
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Or: "the company's expenditures" is more correct.
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"Cutbacks" are the situation.
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When a company is experiencing cutbacks, generally it means people are going to lose their jobs
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because the easiest cutback to make is staff salaries.
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So, the company wants to cut back on expenses; it's going to let go a few people and salaries
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go down, and they save money.
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"Do without".
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So, "do without" basically means be able to succeed or survive without something.
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So, if you can do without it, means you'll be okay if you don't have it.
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Okay?
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So: "These days, people, like young people are learning math, and science, and art at
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school, but a lot of the bigger tech companies and a lot of the bigger international companies
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are warning parents and young people that in the future they will not be able to do
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without some programming skills."
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Okay?
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Now, you can use this at the beginning, like, you can do without something, or you can put
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it after the something.
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Something that you cannot do without.
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So: "Programming skills are something that young people cannot do without if they want
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to get a good job in the future."
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Okay?
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So, if you're talking about employment.
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If you can do without it, great; if you can't do without it, make sure you get it - whatever
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"it" is.
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Okay?
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"Follow through" has a couple of meanings.
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One is to complete.
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If I started a project, I will follow it through to the end.
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And notice I say: "Follow it through to the end" means I will continue until it's finished.
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"Follow through" can also means to, like, keep a promise.
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So, if I promised my friend that I will help him move this weekend, then I have to follow
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through on that promise; I have to go and actually help him move to his new apartment.
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So, keep a promise or complete a task.
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Follow through on a project, follow through on one's plans, follow through on a promise.
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Notice the collocations, there.
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"Frown upon".
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Now, first of all, what does "frown" mean?
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So, the opposite of a smile is a frown.
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So, we always say...
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This is a smile; this is a frown.
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Right?
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So: "Turn that frown upside down", and you get a smile.
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That's just for the kids, anyway.
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So, "to frown upon" means to basically not accept something or to think something is
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not a good thing.
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Now, generally speaking, when you frown upon something, means that technically it's okay
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or it's legal, or whatever, but it's frowned upon - means people don't want you to do it.
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It's not really accepted.
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Okay?
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So, let's say in politics.
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Realistically and legally, a politician can attack another politician, like, verbally;
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not physically, obviously.
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Verbally and in terms of ads or campaigns, etc.
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But in many countries, this is frowned upon.
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If you do that, people look badly at you and it's actually going to hurt you more than
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help you.
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You're allowed to; nobody can stop you, but it's frowned up, so better not to do it.
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"Resort to".
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When you resort to something, you're using this option, or this tactic, or this thing
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that you can do as the last option.
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So, for example, if you want to...
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If you need to resort to something, it's usually something that you don't want to do, but you
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have no more options.
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So, people resort to legal action, or people resort to violence when they have nothing...
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There's nothing else they can do.
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Right?
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So, for example: I live in a building and my neighbour, every weekend has a party and
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it's really loud, and lots of people come.
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Come to the apartment, and it really bothers me.
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So I've gone to the neighbour and I've spoken to him, and I've asked him many times to please
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turn down the music and invite fewer people - that didn't work.
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I went to the landlord, I complained, I said: "This person is making too much noise."
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Nothing changed.
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So, finally, I resorted to calling the police.
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I resorted to legal action.
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I had no other choice.
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I was trying to be nice, talking to my neighbour, but finally I had no choice; I resorted to
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calling the police to come and do something about it.
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"Rule out".
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"To rule out" is to say: "Impossible.
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This is not going to happen."
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Okay?
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So, especially when you're talking about negotiations, for example, in business.
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"We're going to negotiate with you, but we're not ruling out legal action."
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So, again, I'm using legal action.
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I'm keeping this option available.
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So: "not rule out" means to leave something...
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An option available.
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"To rule out" means to make an option not available; impossible.
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Okay?
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So, a lot of...
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A lot of companies rule out the op-...
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The opportunity to be bought out, or to pay more, or to do whatever.
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So, I have a company and I say: "Okay, the minimum wage is $15 per hour, and I will rule
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out any...
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Any opposition or anybody who wants to pay less for whatever reason."
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Okay?
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So: "rule it out" - not going to happen.
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"Put off".
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I think many people know this one; it's a bit more common.
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"To put off" basically means to postpone; to schedule for a later date.
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So, we were supposed to have a meeting at the company today, but the...
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The weather has been terrible, and many people are stuck in traffic or just can't get to
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the office because of the weather, so we will put off the meeting until next week; we will
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postpone it, we will do it again next week.
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Now, very common phrasal verbs.
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And yes, use these in your writing.
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In your IELTS and TOEFL writing, use these for the essays; don't be afraid of them.
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There's no such thing as bad English.
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Right?
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It's all English.
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There are informal or slang phrasal verbs - those you should avoid.
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Otherwise, if they're formal or neutral, absolutely use them; you're going to get a higher vocab
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score.
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Okay?
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Now, if you have any questions about this, please ask me in the comment section at www.engvid.com.
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There's a quiz as well, if you want to practice and make sure you understand the meanings
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of these.
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And don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel if you like the channel, and give
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me a like.
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And come back next week.
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Oh, and don't forget: If you want more help and more ideas about writing for the IELTS
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or TOEFL, don't forget to check out my site: WriteToTop.com or "Write to Top" at YouTube,
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and you'll get a lot more help there as well.
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Okay.
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I'll see you next time for another lesson.
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Bye-bye.