Hey English learners, welcome to another phrasal verb episode.
I hope you're doing great and that you're ready to learn some new phrasal verbs today.
We're going to look at three phrasal verbs in today's episode.
Creep in, crop up, and cut down on.
So first, let me define these phrasal verbs and give you an example of each one.
So creep in means to gradually start to become noticeable.
And this is usually with negative things.
For example, I could say feelings of dissatisfaction started to creep in.
So here I'm saying that gradually, these negative feelings, these feelings of dissatisfaction started to become noticeable apparent, right.
Maybe at the beginning, the person didn't really notice that they felt this way.
But over time, they started to notice these feelings of dissatisfaction.
So these feelings started to creep in.
Next, we have crop up.
This means to appear suddenly and unexpectedly.
For example, I could say that type of error crops up a lot in writing.
So what I'm saying here is that people, when they write, Often make this error.
For some reason, it appears in different places in their writing.
It crops up a lot.
Maybe native speakers just have trouble with this specific rule in writing or something, so this type of error can crop up.
And then lastly, cut down on
This means to reduce the quantity of something in order to save money, time, or improve your health.
For example, I could say, you need to cut down on the energy drinks.
What I'm saying here is you need to reduce the number of energy drinks you drink because it's not good for you to have that much caffeine or sugar or whatever it is.
So that's cut down on.
So now I'm going to talk about a couple of different things and I'm going to use these phrasal verbs again and again so you can hear them used in natural contexts in different sentences.
And you have the transcript available below if you need it.
These phrasal verb episodes are also great practice for your listening.
So click on that if you need it.
Okay, let me talk first about some different issues that affect companies, some negative things.
Over time, some negative trends can creep in to different companies.
For example, employees might become relaxed or too relaxed, I should say and become complacent, like they're not really motivated to do more or improve things.
They're satisfied with the work they're doing, the minimal effort they're putting in, and so they don't try to improve things.
This feeling of complacency can creep in.
This is very common, especially after companies have had some success.
Maybe a feeling of complacency creeps in and people think that they can just do the work they've been doing and do this forever and things will be great.
But that doesn't usually happen.
Companies need to innovate and do new things and compete with other companies.
So this can be a negative thing if complacency creeps in.
Employees might also start to come in late.
Maybe when they first got hired They always showed up on time or early, but then tardiness, like not coming in on time things like tardiness can creep in.
Slacking like slacking off.
This means when you don't do what you're supposed to be doing, you're a little bit lazy and you're On social media or watching videos when you're supposed to be working.
Laziness creeps in.
People start to work in a less effective or dedicated way maybe.
Maybe they do subpar work like it's below average.
All of this can creep in and boredom can creep in as well.
If people do the same thing again and again, employees can become bored and Boredom creeps in.
Dissatisfaction creeps in over time if there aren't many challenges and stimulating types of work and tasks to do.
These can creep in as well.
And doubts can creep in about the success of the company, like future success or the success of a specific project project maybe things aren't going very well and doubts start to creep in.
People start to doubt the viability of some product or project that they're working on.
There might be self-doubt.
Employees might doubt their own abilities.
These feelings can creep in as well.
And then there are also specific problems that can suddenly crop up When it comes to companies, for example, budget issues.
Companies have specific budgets for different types of things that they need to spend on.
And suddenly issues can crop up with budgeting.
Maybe they go over budget.
They're spending too much money.
And this can be a big problem because it affects profitability.
Companies need to make money.
So if they're going over budget, this can be a big issue.
Disputes can crop up among employees.
Maybe there are disputes that crop up due to clashing personalities or work styles.
And disputes might crop up between management and employees.
Maybe the employees aren't satisfied with the management.
And they argue or whatever.
Different disagreements can crop up even among different managers or even the owners.
Maybe two brothers own a company and then a disagreement crops up.
And now they're fighting.
They don't agree on different topics related to the company.
That can be very bad.
Costly mistakes can crop up.
Unforeseen issues crop up.
Things that weren't planned for.
Little annoyances can crop up and cost the company money or time.
Or major problems can also crop up when least expected.
And that can do a lot of damage to a company and it might affect the company's future and all of that.
So there are many different issues that either creep in over time or crop up suddenly that can negatively affect a company.
Now let me talk about one other thing.
Let me talk about things that people might need to cut down on.
And some of these apply to me as well.
So The first thing is caffeine.
So I know many people that drink energy drinks.
I have a lot of friends who are possibly addicted to energy drinks.
I don't know, but they drink a lot of energy drinks.
And I honestly think they need to cut down on the energy drinks because it's a lot of caffeine that they're consuming.
And some people will say well, coffee has a lot of caffeine, even more than some of these energy drinks.
I don't know but I think that this applies to coffee as well.
I think some people need to cut down on the coffee.
Some people rely too much on caffeine.
I don't need caffeine at all in my life, and I'm not saying that I'm better than other people, but I'm just saying that it's possible to live a life without caffeine.
I'm an example of that.
My wife too.
She doesn't drink any caffeine.
And we're fine.
We can do the things we need to do.
Sure, we get tired and sometimes we might need an energy boost, but still we live perfectly good lives without caffeine.
And I'm not saying caffeine is bad.
I'm not an expert on this, but I do know that some people need to cut down on their caffeine intake because it's affecting them physically.
It's affecting their mind, their anxiety. all of these things.
So I know many people that should probably cut down on caffeine, energy drinks, coffee, etc.
Another thing is sugar and sweets.
This applies to me.
I can go overboard when it comes to consuming sugar.
I have a sweet tooth, meaning I love sweet foods and I need to cut down on the sugar.
I don't consume as much as I used to.
I used to have a really big problem with this when I was younger.
Would consume just crazy amounts of sweets and sugar and cookies, things like that.
Now I'm significantly better, but...
I think I still need to cut down on sugar and sweets.
I would like to reduce the amount of sugar that I consume.
In the US.
We have a lot of sugar in our food products here, so it can sometimes be hard to cut down on sugar because It's in everything.
Not everything, but you get my point.
It's all over the place.
So I and many others need to cut down on sugar and sweet food.
Another thing is fast food.
So I consume more fast food now than I used to when I was younger, but I usually just go to one or two, but usually just one specific fast food place called In-N-Out, which I love.
But admittedly, I go pretty often.
Not as often as some people.
I know some people that eat In-N-Out very frequently.
I eat it pretty often.
So maybe I could cut down a little bit on fast food, but I know other people that should definitely cut down on fast food.
And I'm not someone who's addicted to fast food like I am.
I don't really like McDonald's or Burger King or these other places.
I just like In-N-Out.
I just like this one restaurant, but I don't have a problem in general with fast food.
But many Americans really love fast food, and so it might be something different that they need to cut down on.
Another thing that people should cut down on is social media and screen time.
In general, I do not have this problem in terms of social media.
I am not really on social media.
I don't consume any social media.
I don't even follow the news on social media or anywhere else.
I get my news from other people who tell me what's happening.
So I don't have this issue.
And let me tell you, it's great to not have social media in your life.
I know many of you can't imagine this, but I never even think about social media and I can spend this time doing nothing.
Tons of other things that I like to do.
I can spend more time with my family.
I'm not trying to make you feel bad if you use social media.
I'm just saying that it might be good to cut down a little on this, because you can use that time to do other things.
And I already mentioned news consumption.
I think that's something that people need to cut down on as well.
People get very anxious and angry and and they are just constantly looking to argue with other people about current events and what's happening in the world.
I don't think that this is the healthiest thing to always be thinking about all the bad things that are happening and all the crimes and all the terrible events that are taking place.
I think that it would be good for many people to cut down on their news consumption so that they're not constantly thinking about these things.
And lastly, I think some people need to cut down on impulse spending, impulse purchases where they just buy something in the moment because they want it.
It makes them feel good.
Of course, sometimes this is fine, but some people do too much of this and they get into debt.
They spend too much money, etc.
So this might be something that certain people need to cut down on.
All right, I hope that as I was talking, you were able to hear these phrasal verbs used many times and hopefully you feel more comfortable with them now.
Remember to sign up for my membership if you want my help to understand English better and to improve your pronunciation in English.
That link is down below.
And you can also check out my US Conversations podcast, in which I talk to people from all over the US about different topics.
It's fun and it's great practice for your listening.
That link is also down below.
Okay, thank you for listening to this phrasal verb episode, and I'll talk to you in the next one.
