10 GET Phrasal Verbs: get down, get off, get through, get up, get away...

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Hi again. Welcome to engvid.com. I'm Adam. Today's lesson is about phrasal verbs using

the verb: "get". Now, before I dive into this lesson, I just want to explain a few things.

I've gotten many comments on engvid.com, and many people tell me that phrasal verbs are

very difficult. And I understand that, I appreciate that, but I want you to start thinking of

phrasal verbs as vocabulary; it's just extra words you have to study. It's not fun, I understand

that, but it's not that difficult either. You just have to remember and use, and practice,

practice, practice like any other vocabulary you're learning.

So today's verb is: "get". Let's look at some of these prepositions we have. "Get up", "Get

down", "Get away", "Get over", "Get off", "Get on", "Get in", "Get through", "Get between",

"Get along" or "Get along with". So we're going to go one by one. I'll explain basically

what they mean. Sometimes they have more than one; sometimes two, sometimes three different

meanings. And if necessary, I'll give examples. Oh, sorry about that.

Okay, let's start with: "Get up". "Get up", two general meanings you're going to need

to know. One is get up; if you're sitting down, if you're lying down and someone says:

"Get up", it means: stand up, stand. Get off the floor, get off the chair, whatever. "Get

up" also means to get dressed in a certain way. If you're going to a club, you want to

get up all fancy and put a nice dress or a nice suit for the guys. If it's Halloween,

you're going to get up in a nice costume. We can also use "getup" as a noun. "Getup"

means what you're wearing. "Nice getup" means: "I like your clothes.", "Nice suit.", "Nice

costume.", "Nice" whatever it is you're wearing. "Get down", opposite of "Get up". If you're

standing, "get down" or "sit down", for example, so get down. If... If a baseball is flying

your way: "Get down!" Duck, get underneath it. "Get down" in a slang way means like get

down, like enjoy the music, enjoy the party. You know, like get down, dance, do whatever

gets you down. We'll get to "Get off" in a second. You'll understand.

"Get away". "Get away" means leave. But in a more colloquial way - "colloquial" means

like everyday street English, not necessarily slang but common English - "Get away" means

go on vacation. And when you go on vacation, you choose a nice getaway. A getaway is a

vacation, like a planned vacation or a nice vacation destination, the place you're going

to. So Hawaii is a great getaway in winter in Canada because it's cold; Hawaii: beautiful.

"Get over". One, there's a... one meaning: get over something physical like there's a

wall and you need to get to the other side, so you get over the wall. Okay? But that wall

could also be a problem or an obstacle; it doesn't have to be a physical thing. Right?

So you have a problem, get over it, move on, as they say. So you and your girlfriend had

a fight, okay, get over it, move on. Continue on like nothing happened. Make up, kiss, whatever

you do. Next day everything's good; get over it. Okay? That's the most common meanings

of: "Get over". "Get off", a few meanings. You're sitting

on a chair or... Or you're sitting on the table - excuse me - in my classroom, we don't

allow that. "Get off the table" means get off the table, remove yourself from the table.

"Get off" in terms of criminals. So let's say somebody killed 200 people, a mass murderer

and he is sent to jail for one month. Okay? So he got off very lightly. So "Get off" means

avoid punishment. Okay? Even though he got one month in jail, for what he did that's

almost no punishment, so he got off very lightly. "Get off" in slang means to get really excited

by something. It could be sexual if you get off, you know, whatever you do... your boyfriend/girlfriend,

whatever you do to each other to get each other off, go for it - it's all good. But

sometimes it could be anything, anything that gets you excited. Okay? So some people get

off on Jazz music, they listen to Jazz and they... They really start to get down. You

know? They really enjoy themselves, they get off, it's almost like being high like on a

drug. Okay? That's the slang. "Get on". "Get on" is very basic, it means

get on, on something, on top of something. Usually, we use it for like a train: "Get

on the train.", "Get on the bus.", "Get on the ship." But we get in a car, we get in

a boat. So anything that is like a container or that is closed, we usually say: "Get in".

Anything that is big and has a big floor you can walk on like a train or a plane or a ship,

you would "Get on". Okay? "Get in", all right, we'll leave that actually

for now. "Get in". "Get through" means finish or complete all

the things that need to be completed. So for example: I'm a teacher, I give you this much

homework. When you get through this homework, I will give you more because practice makes

perfect. I want you to be good English speakers. Yes? So when you get through this assignment,

I'll give you another. Okay. "Get between". "Get between" usually means

like physically you put yourself between two things, so get between the door and the wall

if that's... If that's what you do. But "Get between" can also be more like an idea. So

don't... If you're married, for example, don't let your mother-in-law get between you and

your wife or you and your husband. Never a good idea. Okay? So "Get between" means create

a problem between two people or two things or whatever the situation.

Now, we also have: "Get along". "Get along" by itself and "Get along with" mean the same

thing. It means to be friendly with or to cooperate with. Okay? So if I get along with

all my friends, it means that we... when we are together, we have fun, we enjoy each other;

nobody argues. And me and my friends get along. So depends where it is in a sentence, you

can use: "Get along" or "Get along with". Okay? Another one, sometimes you can use:

"Get on with". This is a bit more of a British meaning. "Get on with" and "Get along with"

mean the same thing. "Get along with" is more American, "Get on with" is more British English,

but they mean the same thing. Now, another expression, one last one.

If somebody wants you to get on board, sometimes they'll say: "Come on board", but: "Get on

board" means they want you to join, they want you to agree with what's going on and be part

of the team. So for example: if a president of some country wants other countries to support

him, he wants them to get on board with his plan. Will it happen? Did it happen? Who knows?

But that's what it means. Okay so, let me get... Actually go back to:

"Get in". Another way we can use "Get in"... So we said we can get in to a car, we can

get in to a boat, means enter a contained thing. We can also use "Get in with", this

is a bit more of a slang. You get in with a crowd, get in with a group. Okay? So for

example: if I get in with the popular kids at the school then I mean I am part of that

group. Okay? So it's a little bit more of a slang. Oh, sorry. "Get in with". Okay, now

we have it. Okay, if you need more practice on these,

of course, go to www.engvid.com. There is a quiz there that you can try out. And of

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