But it's gross.
It's gross.
No, no.
Hello, lovely.
I'm Maria.
And my name is Rory.
And we're the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast, the podcast that aims to help you improve your speaking skills, as well as your listening skills along the way.
We started this podcast to give you joy happiness, gorgeous grammar and fabulous vocabulary for your high IELTS score.
Midnight score.
So, Rory, there's no coincidence.
There's no joke.
I know.
That is quite the coincidence.
Because we don't need a coincidence for this episode.
Oh, it's a special episode.
And dear listener, in every episode we give you the latest IELTS speaking topics, right?
But the thing is that fresh topics will come out on the 1st of May.
Okay, so we are waiting for the super latest freshest IELTS speaking topics.
And today is gonna be a special episode for you.
And with what, Rory?
What are we discussing?
Oh, is it something beginning with P that I like to advertise?
P-p-p-pre-pre...
Phrasal verbs.
It begins with a P, but it starts with a F sound.
Yes, this week's episode is all about phrasal verbs.
If you would like to hear and would like to learn more about phrasal verbs, you're very welcome to check our full course, where we've created a framework that will help you learn and understand what phrasal verbs are, how they work and how you can use them to improve your fluency when speaking English.
All while having fun along the way.
The link is in the description, but it's also in my head.
SuccesswithIles.com forward slash podcourses.
So why do you need phrasal verbs, dear listener?
Because we've run out of topics.
That's why you need those.
Phrasal verbs can help you improve your vocabulary.
Okay?
Phrasal verbs are idiomatic.
They are cool.
They might be difficult to use, but believe me, they are natural.
Native speakers do use phrasal verbs.
So this episode is for you to give you cool phrasal verbs to use in your IELTS exam and also in your English life.
So, here's what we'll do in this episode.
I'm going to test Rory's knowledge of phrasal verbs.
That's my favorite part of this episode.
Testing, and I just pick up.
And it's a real test because I have no idea what's coming.
Yes, dear listener, Rory has no idea what phrasal verbs are in there.
I know what they are, though.
And we're going to give you 11 really useful phrasal verbs.
All right?
So, 11 sentences, 11 phrasal verbs in a form of a test.
So, keep listening till the very end.
Okay.
So, Rory, I'm going to give you a sentence without a phrasal verb.
Okay?
Okay.
And you should think what phrase or verb you can use in this sentence.
Okay?
Are you ready?
Okay.
No.
Number one.
Let's imagine that we discussed conditional sentences.
Your favorite.
Oh, God.
Hold on.
You never said there would be imagining involved.
You said there would be a test.
So I have to do the test and imagine.
That is not fair.
Yeah, so context, context.
We discussed conditional sentences with you, this if I were, and Rory, you were wrong.
You made a mistake about this conditional sentence.
It was the third conditional, but you said it was the second.
That does sound like me.
So, you need to deal with it more bravely and admit that you were wrong.
There's a couple here, so I have to toughen up and admit I was wrong?
Okay, very close.
What else?
I have to man up or I have to harden up.
Yeah.
Well done, well done.
You have to man up.
But you will notice, all of these have the word up in them, which is like a symbol of rising to the occasion.
Oh, that was difficult.
Yeah, so man up.
To man up, like behave with courage, behave with conviction, behave bravely.
Basically the opposite of how I'm behaving right now.
Could you give us some examples?
Where can I use this man up?
We could use them in different forms.
So... I was terrified of taking the IELTS exam, but I just had to man up and deal with it.
Yeah.
Or if, for example, you see that your friend is weak and your friend is like I don't know what to do.
You say, like, okay, you should man up.
Man up, come on, like, man up and do stuff.
And Roy told us that this phrasal verb is with up.
We grouped the phrasal verbs according to this particle or proposition up.
So we have a lot of groups with different propositions.
And the first phrasal verb is «mena».
The next one, the second one is going to be with a different preposition.
So, Rory, you do too much exercise.
You go to the gym, you do too much exercise, you should do less.
Well, since the last time we had something with up, this might be with something going down.
Is it calm down?
Calm down?
Not really, no.
Try again.
Sounds like to spend less or do less of something or use less of something.
It's not cut down on exercise.
Is it cut down on?
Yes, a little bit any other proposition that i can use cut down on exercise or cut back on exercise.
Why can't I say cut down on?
That's really mean.
What's the difference?
Yeah, you can.
Yeah, yeah.
Cut down on.
So if you want to reduce something, reduce the consumption of something.
So I exercise too much or I drink too much coffee.
So I need to cut down on coffee.
So cut down on would be for physical things, like food and drink.
But cut back would be activities like exercise or spending money.
The third phrasal verb for you, dear listener, you can also think what phrasal verbs you can use here.
So, Rory writes IELTS essays.
Okay.
And I say, Rory, your essay is massive, it's really big.
You should reduce the information so it has only one page, only the most important parts.
Why do you pick the most obscure phrasal verbs?
What could this possibly be?
Like, to put something all in one, like, to summarize.
Like, we're talking about a word for summarize here.
Or a phrasal verb meaning summarize.
Well, that's cut it down.
No, what else can I say?
Focus on the main points.
Focus on is a phrasal verb, probably.
Nah, boring.
No, we need more sophistication.
We need more sophistication.
Focus on is actually quite high level, but never mind.
The water.
What are you talking about?
The water.
Boil.
Oh, right.
Okay.
You need to boil it down to the main features.
Well done.
That was not clear at all.
You should say you need to to the main features or to the main points.
So you should reduce the information in the essay.
So the essay has only the most important parts and we can say that you should boil it down to one page.
This one is about our YouTube channel.
And you know that we started our YouTube channel, which now has, what, thousands of loyal followers?
And at first, I refused. to record all these videos for our YouTube channel.
But then I agreed.
Rory frightened me, I was scared, and then I agreed.
Oh, were you frightened into doing it?
Or scared into doing it?
In is correct, but what's another verb I can use?
I don't know.
Coerced into doing it.
It starts with C, yes.
Oh, you caved into it.
Yay!
Bravo!
I would like to point out that all of the other suggestions I made were also adequate.
So, like, being coerced into something is the same thing.
It's like someone talks you into doing it.
Yeah, coerced in, into, yeah, or in?
Coerced into something.
Into something.
So to cave in, what does it mean to cave in?
Well, to cave in or to cave in to someone's demands just means that you... Oh, that you give in.
It's another phrasal verb.
It means that you accept it after pressure is applied.
Romi, could you give us an example?
Maybe a situation when you caved in.
I have caved into your demands to do this ridiculous phrasal verbs episode.
There we go.
Are you still annoyed about Boiled Down?
No, now I'm annoyed about the whole thing.
Okay, here's another one, dear listener, are you ready?
Our Rory enjoys talking about science, so I listened to Rory's explanations about the planets stars, the freaking nebula, and then I fell asleep while we were recording.
So you didn't really fall asleep.
You were just being rude.
So I would say that you switched off.
But really, what you probably meant was by falling asleep, you nodded off during the conversation.
Yay.
Well done.
Superb.
Yes, nod off.
Nod off means to fall asleep.
But to fall asleep not in your room, not in your bed, but maybe at work or in a cafe, at the cinema, the theater.
When you are listening to the opera, when you listen to Rory's voice or my voice, sometimes you can nod off.
For example, after my busy day, I sat down and nodded off in front of the TV.
You know, dear listener, and also Rory, you might remember that I've been to Malaysia.
I started enjoying squash when I was in Malaysia.
Squash is not a vegetable, it's a kind of sport.
It's not like tennis now, dear listener.
It's a different kind of sport game.
So squash if you don't know what squash is, check it out now squash.
So i started enjoying squash when i was in malaysia.
I wanted to play squash as much as possible, so i i got some squash.
Oh, is it hooked on Yay?
Nail on the head!
I got hooked on squash.
Or I got hooked on playing squash.
Rory, tell us the meaning.
It's like you developed a very strong interest in squash or in playing it.
So it's to develop a strong interest in something.
Yes.
For example, if you enjoy our podcast and you listen to it all the time.
So I got hooked on listening to IELTS Speaking for Success podcast.
So, Rory, I'm reading your IELTS essay.
Oh, God.
So, Rory has written some essays.
And, Rory, I'm reading your essay and I can't understand what you mean.
Oh, I can't make out what you're trying to say.
Yay!
So, I can't make out what is going on at work.
I can't make out what's going on.
I can't understand what's going on.
Or, for example, the numbers are too small.
I can't make them out.
Or I can't make it out.
Can you say, I can't make out your writing?
No, it's more like an idea or something that you can see.
Because you can see the writing.
So it would be like, I can't make out what you're trying to say from your writing.
I can't make it out.
I can't understand it.
What about people?
If I don't understand a certain person, so this person is a bit strange and I can't understand them.
So what do you say?
I can't make her out?
No, no, I can't make out what you were saying.
Because you have to be very careful when you're talking about people, because make out is also a phrasal verb, meaning to kiss someone romantically.
Yeah.
Yeah, it has to be made out.
Do not.
Well, no, do that, as long as you have consent.
But probably not a great idea to talk about in terms of you know, when you're talking about your IELTS exam, I think the examiner would probably get distracted.
Rory, you seem to be a responsible person.
So you make an impression of being a responsible person.
You're a responsible person.
Come across as?
Yes, come across.
Or come across.
Come over?
Yay, come over.
I never would have guessed that.
I would always say come across.
I think come across is more common.
Yeah, but also come over, dear listener, if you want to be super cool and full of awesome and to be different from other people.
Yeah, so he comes across as smart, or he comes across as a responsible person.
I don't like being told what to do.
I don't like being ordered what to do.
I don't like being bossed around.
Yay, well done.
Yes, that's my educated native speaker.
Yeah, so boss around.
So when another person bosses you around, This person acts in a bossy manner with you.
So if I boss Rory around, I act in a bossy manner.
I order Rory what to do.
I tell him what to do as if I was his boss.
But you have never done...
Okay, good to know.
You haven't noticed.
One of my favorite phrasal verbs.
First of all, the sentence.
Rory, I wish you'd stop spending your time doing a lot of things that are not important instead of the thing that you should be doing.
So stop all this nonsense, all these silly little things and do something useful.
So stop.
Bapping around?
Yeah.
Or plastering around?
Yeah, faff around or faff about.
It's a UK phrasal verb, so it's used in the UK and it's really informal, so faff about.
Spend your time doing a lot of things that are not important instead of doing something useful.
So, for example, you can say, I was faffing about all day.
I was faffing around all day.
So kind of like being disorganized and not achieving very much.
Rory, could you give us an example?
I couldn't because I'm very organized and everything I do is important.
Yeah.
What about other people?
That's their problem, not mine.
I'm not faffing around giving an answer to this question.
There we go.
Or giving an example to this question.
It was annoying to watch them faffing about.
Or I wish you'd stop faffing about and do something useful.
Right, and the last phrase up for today.
So i do ielts tests sometimes just, you know, like to keep me in the game, and yesterday i completed the test easily and successfully.
So I the test.
Was it difficult to do?
No, no, it was easy.
Oh, you breezed through the test.
Yes.
Well done.
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Because if it was difficult, then you would have to get through the test.
Yeah, I got through the test.
It was difficult.
But if you say I breezed, breeze, like a... Like a wind.
I breezed through the test.
It was easy for me.
I did it successfully.
And it's like, no problem.
Rory, give us examples.
Please.
Well, I didn't exactly breeze through all these phrasal verbs, did I?
Some were difficult, but other phrasal verbs were easy.
If you want to learn more about phrasal verbs and how they're used, you should definitely sign up for our pod course or podcast course.
It's all very original.
In the course we go through more than 250 phrasal verbs, group them in a way that's easy to remember, explain the mechanics, which is how they work, give context and examples and help you sound more like an educated native speaker.
Well, or an uneducated one.
They all use phrasal verbs.
But only educated native speaker sounding people will get a band name.
And that is what you want.
Successwithielts.com forward slash podcourses.
See you soon.
Sweet.
Thank you very much for listening, dear listener.
Do check out our phrasal verbs course.
The link is in the description.
And the first episode is for free.
So we'll see you in our next episodes.
Bye.
Bye.
