Hey English learners, welcome to another phrasal verb episode.
I hope you're doing great and that you're ready to practice your English and learn a couple new phrasal verbs today.
In this episode we're going to learn two phrasal verbs.
The first one is cater to and the second one is check up on.
So first, let's hear the definition of these phrasal verbs and an example of each one.
Cater to means to satisfy or provide what is needed or wanted by a particular person or group.
For example, this store caters mostly to men.
In that sentence, I'm saying that the store has products and items that are more for men.
Perhaps they have women's clothes or items too, but the store caters mostly to men, so they provide items for what men want or need, so that's catered to.
And then check up on means to see how someone is doing, how they're progressing, or to see if someone is doing what they're supposed to be doing.
So it could mean a few things, but basically you are checking on someone to see if they're doing okay or if they're doing what they need to be doing or for some kind of reason like that.
For example, I could say you don't need to keep checking up on me.
I'm fine.
In this example, I'm saying that the person doesn't need to keep asking me how things are going, how I'm doing, if I'm okay, because I'm fine, nothing is gonna happen, I'm okay, don't worry, or whatever.
So you don't need to keep checking up on me.
Alright, now let me talk about a couple different things, so I can use these phrasal verbs again and again.
And by the end of this episode, hopefully you'll feel comfortable using these phrasal verbs in your own sentences.
So first, let me talk about my content and my audience.
I cater to a wide demographic, meaning a lot of people from different walks of life can benefit from my content.
When we say from different walks of life, we're saying with different backgrounds, from different places and cultures and ages and different backgrounds, backgrounds in general.
So people from all over the world listen to my content.
So my content caters to a very wide demographic.
It caters to people from a bunch of different countries, because there are people in every country that are trying to learn English.
Even in English-speaking countries, there are immigrants or people who grew up in that country but didn't learn English, and they are trying to learn English.
So I cater to a lot of different countries.
My content caters to learners of all different ages.
Young people listen.
Older people listen.
I'm sure people might even allow their kids to listen.
So people of all different ages use my content.
My content caters to people of all ages.
My content caters to men and women.
There's no difference, of course.
And I think an important one is that my content also caters to people of different backgrounds, opinions and ideas, because I don't talk about a lot of controversial topics, so it doesn't matter what you think or what you believe or your political views.
I'm sure any of you can find my content helpful and hopefully not irritating, because I don't talk about controversial topics.
I've used content as a language learner and I had to try not to get irritated or annoyed because that content is very opinionated, very political.
So I started my podcast with the intention of making content that doesn't really irritate people because they don't agree with me or my views.
So I cater to people of different views and opinions.
And my content caters specifically to learners who can't yet understand native speakers.
So it doesn't cater much to people who can already understand native speakers well, except for maybe my US Conversations podcast, because that podcast is is at a native level.
It's me talking to other English teachers at normal speed.
So even someone who can already understand me when I speak fast will still benefit from using that podcast.
But my other content is caters to learners who can't yet understand native speakers.
And so they use my content to train their listening so that they can eventually understand native speakers.
And my content doesn't cater to absolute beginners, not people who can't understand a word of English.
Of course, nowadays, many people, even if they've never studied English in their life.
They might even know a few words, a few phrases.
They might not be starting from zero because English is everywhere.
It's hard to avoid English in many countries.
But still my content doesn't cater to absolute beginners because I speak in English the whole time and I talk about different topics and I don't only focus on helping people who can't understand anything to understand.
My content is made more for people that have at least a very basic understanding of English.
But I'm sure there are some absolute beginners who have used my content before.
But in general, my content doesn't cater to people that are literally starting from zero.
And my content also caters to people who want to practice their listening with authentic, real content, in the sense that I'm not just creating some simulation of a conversation at a grocery store or things like that.
Those things can be useful.
I'm not saying those things are bad.
There's definitely a place for that type of content, but people that listen to my content, They want to spend a lot of their practice time listening to me talk about different topics without a script, and they just want to hear me talk and give my ideas and things like that.
And my content also caters to people who want to practice their pronunciation, who really want to understand more about the sounds of English.
My content caters to learners like that as well.
All right, let me talk about one other thing.
Let me talk about when you want people to check up on you and when you don't want this.
So usually people appreciate when other people check up on them when they're sick.
So if someone is sick, they usually appreciate that when their friends, their family members check up on them to see how they're doing, to encourage them maybe bring them some food or a Gatorade or something like that.
People often appreciate when their friends and their family members check up on them when they're sick.
Also when people are depressed.
Oftentimes, when people are depressed, They appreciate when someone genuinely cares about them and how they're feeling, and they check up on them and send them messages saying.
Hey, I'm here for you.
Let me know if you need to talk, etc.
So when people are depressed, they might appreciate when other people check up on them.
If someone is just going through a hard time in general maybe things aren't going well for them they might appreciate their loved ones checking up on them to see how things are going and if they can help them for any reason.
And maybe when someone is grieving, Maybe they've lost a loved one.
Someone has passed away that they loved.
This person might appreciate when other people check up on them and show them that they care for them, that they're thinking about them and they care how that person is doing.
Sometimes people don't want this when they're grieving.
I think it just depends on how the person is feeling at that time, but sometimes they do appreciate this.
And then also, people probably appreciate when they have like, a coach or a trainer and that coach checks up on them and sees how they're doing with whatever it is they're being coached on, like at the gym or a specific sport.
People appreciate when their coach checks up on them, because we want to get our money's worth when we pay for a coach.
We want our coach to see if we're doing well and see if we're progressing how we should be.
So that's important.
And then maybe you have a good relationship with your doctor and you appreciate when your doctor checks up on you to see how you're doing with a specific condition.
That can be nice as well.
However, there are times when you might not want people to check up on you.
For example, if you have a boss who likes to micromanage meaning they like to control every little detail then you probably don't like when that boss keeps checking up on you all day.
That might bother you if you're doing a good job, yet they don't trust you.
They keep checking up on you or teenagers with their parents.
Teenagers often get irritated when their parents continuously check up on them and they make sure that the teenager is not getting into trouble, not doing bad things.
But teenagers tend to do bad things not every teenager, but teenagers can get into a lot of trouble.
So it's understandable that their parents want to check up on them, And people don't like when nosy people constantly check up on them.
Someone who's nosy is someone who always wants to know other people's business.
They want to know everything that's happening and going on.
It's annoying when someone who you know is nosy wants to check up on you because they you know they might not have good intentions.
The same thing goes for gossips.
People who are known to gossip.
We don't want those people checking up on us and pretending that they just want to see how we're doing, because we know that they want information and they want to gossip about us.
We probably don't appreciate when people like that constantly check up on us and ask us about our lives and how things are going.
And also if you're going through a hard time, if you're grieving, if you're depressed.
Sometimes you want to be alone for a while, even if it's not good for you.
You feel like you just need to be alone.
And sometimes people need some time alone if they're grieving, if they're going through a hard time.
But sometimes, when people are depressed, they don't realize that they need other people and they don't want people checking up on them.
But really, those people just care about them and want them to improve and feel better.
So this depends on the person.
All right.
I hope that as I was talking, you were able to hear me use those phrasal verbs over and over again and hopefully you feel comfortable with them now.
And I want to encourage you to check out my advanced podcast episodes, in which I speak fast so you can improve your listening and get better at understanding when people speak at normal speed.
So if you want those, the link to sign up is down below in the description below this episode.
All right, thank you all for listening to this phrasal verb episode and I'll talk to you in the next one.
