Are you ready to expand your vocabulary?

Let's do it.

Vanessa: Last week I shared a special conversation video with you where my husband Dan and I

played a board game called Codenames.

Throughout this game, you learn some new vocabulary, but we didn't really explain the vocabulary

as we were playing the game.

We were just playing the game naturally.

So today I'd like to take 20 of those vocabulary words and explain them in detail, give you

some examples and help you to integrate them into your own conversations.

As I was creating this lesson for you, I realized that most of these expressions we used in

the Codenames board game video were phrasal verbs.

I guess phrasal verbs are commonly used, of course in daily conversation, but especially

in games.

So I hope that this will help to expand your phrasal verb vocabulary and help you feel

comfortable.

Vanessa: All right, let's get started with the first expression, number one, to pick

up.

There are a lot of different meanings for this phrasal verb, to pick up.

In fact, there are several meanings for all of the expressions that we're going to talk

about today, but I'd like to focus on specifically how it was used in the conversation.

This means to learn something naturally without studying.

This could be in a good way or it could be in a bad way.

So let me give you some sample sentences.

In the conversation lesson I said, "You'll pick it up."

That means that you'll learn naturally without studying.

Dan was trying to explain some of the rules of the board game and I said, "Ah, you'll

pick it up."

That means you'll learn the rules as we're playing without studying them.

This is in a positive way.

You want to be able to pick up new ideas in English, new expressions.

When you're listening to my videos or when you're listening to the radio, you'll probably

pick up new expressions.

You didn't study them.

You just simply learned them naturally.

Vanessa: This is positive, but we could also use this in a more negative way.

My five year old daughter picked up some bad habits when she visited our neighbor's house.

That means that maybe our neighbors were using some bad words or they were fighting with

each other.

Well, these are bad habits, so she picked up the bad habits when she visited the neighbor's

house.

This is a negative thing.

You don't want to naturally learn bad behavior, but you know, it happens.

So what we're going to do with each of these expressions is you're about to see a clip

from the original conversation where we used the expressions.

You're going to see Dan and I having that board game conversation, and I hope that it

will help you to just see how they're used in the original context.

All right, let's watch the clip.

Dan: Give each other a one word hint to guess the right word or the word we're trying to

think of.

Vanessa: Yeah, you'll pick it up.

Dan: Give each other a one word hint to guess the right word or the word we're trying to

think of.

Vanessa: Yeah, you'll pick it up.

Vanessa: Number two, to be a stretch.

You might know that stretching is the kind of exercise that you do before you go running.

You need to stretch your muscles.

This expression though, it's a little bit different, but it has a similar idea.

This means that it's far from reality.

We used this expression a lot in the conversation lesson.

We were specifically talking about connecting words together and sometimes the words didn't

exactly connect so easily, so we said some words are a stretch.

This means that they might not connect so easily.

If you've already watched that lesson, then you know what I'm talking about, but it's

still interesting and useful to use.

Vanessa: We can also say, I know that it's a stretch, but could you walk my dog for the

next two weeks while I'm gone?

This is kind of a lot to ask of somebody.

Two weeks walking your dog, that's a lot of extra work.

You're also assuming that your friend is available, that your friend has time, that your friend

wants to do it, so you're adding the expression, I know that it's a stretch, but could you

help me with this big task?

So you're already letting them know, I know it's a big deal.

I know that this is a lot to ask you and you're adding that expression, I know that it's a

stretch.

Vanessa: Or if you have a business meeting and your boss says, "Okay, I need all of the

reports finished by three o'clock."

Well, if there's a lot to do, you might say, "Well, it's going to be a stretch to finish

the reports by three o'clock."

It's going to be kind of far from reality.

It's going to be pretty difficult.

It's not impossible, but it's a little difficult.

It's going to be a stretch to finish the reports by three o'clock.

All right, let's see the original clips that you can see how to use, to be a stretch.

Vanessa: There are three cards here on the table that relate to that word.

Some of them might be closely related, some of them might be a stretch.

Vanessa: There are three cards here on the table that relate to that word.

Some of them might be closely related, some of them might be a stretch.

Vanessa: The next expression is, to mark off.

This is another phrasal verb and it means you're noting something as completed.

It's the same as to check off something, you are marking it off.

So let's take a look at some sample sentences.

In the conversation I said, "I'm going to mark it off."

That means that I had a list of words and I'm simply going to check that word or cross

it off.

As you can see, there are a lot of phrasal verbs that have a similar meaning ... to mark

off something, to check off something, to cross off something.

This means that I'm just noting this word is finished, this word is completed.

Vanessa: You can also say, "I feel satisfied when I mark off items from my to do list."

If you're the kind of person who likes to make lists in the morning of every day, you

say, "Today, these are the three things I want to accomplish."

Well at the end of the day, hopefully you will be able to mark off, I did this, I did

this, I did this.

You'll be able to mark them off and you'll feel satisfied because you accomplished what

you wanted to accomplish.

All right, let's watch the clips so you can see how to use this.

Vanessa: So that means that this word is finished.

All right, I'm going to mark it off on my paper.

Vanessa: So that means that this word is finished.

All right, I'm going to mark it off on my paper.

Vanessa: The next expression is, to give away.

There are a couple of different ways to use this expression, but in the conversation we

were talking about revealing a surprise.

So I said, "I can't give it away."

When you are the person who is giving a clue to someone else in this game, you can't give

away what the answer is.

You need to keep it a secret.

You can't reveal the secret.

I can't give it away, I need to keep it a secret.

Or you might say, it was amazing that none of my students gave away the Christmas surprise.

Vanessa: So many years ago when Dan and I were teaching English to elementary school

kids in Korea, for Christmas I wanted to give him a special Christmas present.

I went to all of his students and each student said something special to him.

A lot of them said, "Oh, you're so kind, teacher.

Oh, you're so funny.

I love your class."

Just a little comment like this, and I filmed all of them.

There were probably 50, 60, 70 students.

Usually kids aren't good at keeping secrets, but do you know what?

I couldn't believe that none of the students gave it away.

So when I actually gave him that video as a Christmas present, he had no idea.

I was pretty shocked because I thought that for sure one of the students will say, "Teacher

Daniel, we filmed a video for you."

But no, everyone kept their mouth shut.

No one gave it away.

So this is a great way to use this expression, to give away something.

Another phrasal verb.

All right, let's watch the video so you can see how to use this and its original context.

Dan: Well, cheese comes in a wheel.

You call it a cheese wheel.

You call it a cheese wheel.

Vanessa: Don't make me make a facial expression, I can't give it away.

Dan: Wheel.

Dan: Well, cheese comes in a wheel.

You call it a cheese wheel.

You call it a cheese wheel.

Vanessa: Don't make me make a facial expression, I can't give it away.

Dan: Wheel.

Vanessa: The next expression, another phrasal verb, is to clash with something.

This means that it doesn't go with or it goes against something.

In the conversation I said, "It's not going to clash with the other words."

I wanted to make sure that my word, my hint, or my clue, it went well with the other words.

So I used the expression, to clash with.

It didn't clash with the other words.

Vanessa: Let's take a look at another example.

The green striped shirt and the yellow polka dotted pants clashed with each other.

So this means they don't look good together.

If you wore those two things together, it would look a little bit strange.

So we can say in this situation, they don't go well together.

They clash with each other.

All right, let's take a look at how this is used in the original conversation.

Vanessa: Another hint.

Dan: Another hint.

Vanessa: I have another hint ready.

Dan: Okay.

Vanessa: Let me make sure that it's not going to clash with any of the other words.

Vanessa: Another hint.

Dan: Another hint.

Vanessa: I have another hint ready.

Dan: Okay.

Vanessa: Let me make sure that it's not going to clash with any of the other words.

Vanessa: The next expression, the next phrasal verb, is to start out with.

This is used when you're starting a series of events.

So other things are going to happen after that first event.

I said, "I'm going to start out with gear."

Gear was the word that I chose, so I pointed to that word.

This means I'm going to choose other words after the word gear, but that's just the first

one.

So that's why I use this phrasal verb, start out with.

Vanessa: Let's look at another example.

When you make bread, you need to start out with all of the ingredients.

This is a simple thing.

Of course, you need to start out with a good recipe, and of course you need to start out

with all of the ingredients.

Ideally put all of the ingredients on your table, and then you can start the process

of making bread.

So this is the first thing in a series of events.

Start out with all of the ingredients and then you are at least on the right path.

All right, let's watch the original clip.

Dan: So I'm going to start out with gear.

Vanessa: Good work.

Dan: That's easy.

Vanessa: All right, we got gear.

Dan: So I'm going to start out with gear.

Vanessa: Good work.

Dan: That's easy.

Vanessa: All right, we got gear.

Vanessa: The next expression is a little slang and it is, to be lame.

Lame usually refers to someone who can't walk and it's not a very kind expression, but in

this situation it just means something that's not cool.

This is very casual.

So in the conversation, Dan said, "It's lame of me to do this."

He just simply meant it's not cool of me to do this.

In the board game, you're trying to think of a clue for multiple words, but he only

made a clue for one word.

This is kind of easy, kind of simple.

It's not very amazing.

So he said, "It's lame to do this."

It's not so cool to do this.

Vanessa: Well, let's take a look at another way that we commonly use this.

If your friend is telling you about her date that she had last night, she might say, "My

boyfriend said he was going to come at 6:00 PM, but he didn't come until 7."

You can reply, "Wow, that's lame."