Phrasal Verbs: Add “OFF” to change the meaning of these 8 verbs

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Now, in this lesson, we will look at eight regular verbs, which you probably do know

the meaning of, and see how they change in meaning when they become phrasal verbs.

In this case, they are all going to become

phrasal verbs by adding the word "of", alright?

So, let's have a look at the regular words

first, and then look at the new meanings with

So, are you ready?

Let's get started.

Okay, so we have eight phrasal verbs on the board here, and there we have the meanings,

but what we're going to do first, I'm just going to explain to you and review with you

the basic verb itself before it becomes a phrasal verb, alright?

So, the first one is "to hold".

What does it mean to hold something?

It's like this, like I am holding this marker in my hand.

You might hold a baby, okay?

So, that's "to hold" by itself.

This is "to lay".

What does it mean to lay something?

It means to put something down.

For example, oh, the groceries are very heavy,

I need to lay them on the table, alright?

Or I need to lay my backpack on the table, alright?

To put something somewhere.

That's the verb by itself.

To break, well, if somebody's mad, they might

break their pencil or something might break

If something is glass and you drop it, it will break, right?

That's the meaning of "break".

And "to doze", do you know that one as a regular verb?

To doze means to take a short nap, okay?

Kind of fall asleep, you're not planning it, but it's a short nap, alright?

Now, let's see what happens when we make these

into phrasal verbs and let's look at how the

meaning changes completely, alright?

So, repeat after me, just first the way it sounds.

"To hold off", "to lay off", "to break off", and "to doze off", alright?

Do you know the meaning of any of these already?

Perhaps you do.

All of these are used in regular, everyday life, in business situations, in academic

context, in all aspects of life, alright?

So, it's really good to know them.

So, what we're going to do is this, I'm going

to read the first meaning and then you tell

me if you know what - which one that describes, alright?

So, here we go.

So, the first meaning is "to fall asleep briefly".

Which phrasal verb do you think means "to fall asleep briefly"?

Which of these four?

If you need a little time, just pause the video, no problem, figure it out, and then

come back and join me, or let's continue.

So, "to fall asleep briefly" is "to doze off".

So, what's the difference between "to doze" and "to doze off"?

Well, "to doze" is what happens after you doze off, alright?

So, let's suppose I'm watching a movie, and I really want to watch it, but I'm tired,

so by mistake, I kind of, or without planning, I doze off.

So, when you doze off, you're starting to fall asleep for a short time, okay?

That's the meaning here, "to fall asleep

briefly", so we're going to match these two.

When I doze, that's what happened after I fell asleep briefly, okay?

Then I'm dozing, I'm just taking a short nap, but it wasn't planned, alright?

That's the meaning.

Let's look at the next one, "be".

It means "to end or stop an activity".

So, what do you think that one is?

What could it be?

So, this basically means "to break off".

So, you could break off a relationship, you could break off a negotiation in business

or a discussion, okay?

It means you end it, you stop it.

So, it could happen that you break off something

with someone or with something or with a company

or with an organization, okay?

So, "to break off".

It's not the same as physically breaking something,

but it is severing something, cutting something,

Let's look at the next one, "to delay or to postpone something".

So, which of the ones that's left means that?

Is it "to hold off" or "to lay off"?

So, this is like a "to delay or postpone", not

just a meeting, but maybe a bigger decision

like buying a house or moving to another city, okay?

So, "to delay or to postpone" is "to hold off".

Well, we were considering buying a new house,

but I think we're going to hold off for now.

We're going to postpone it.

We're going to wait, okay?

We're going to delay that, alright?

That's the meaning of "to hold off".

So, the last one, which you have now figured

out, means "to stop employing people".

Now, let me explain.

It has a very specific and important meaning,

especially considering what's been going on

around the world.

So, "to stop employing people" here is "to lay off", but there are many ways in which

you could stop employing people.

In this case, it usually refers to not one

person, could be 30 people, could be 300 people,

could be 3,000 people, okay, unfortunately,

because when we lay off people, we are stopping

their employment, but not because they did something bad or they did something wrong,

but because the economy is bad or the company's

business is down, and they just don't have

enough money to continue going and continue employing all those people, so people are

laid off, okay?

We'll be looking at the present and past forms

of these words, okay, the regular and irregular

So, you've got those four.

Let's go to four more.

First, let's look at the basic meaning, okay,

of the verb itself before it becomes a phrasal

"To stop", right?

It's like now I stop talking, okay, to not do something anymore.

The opposite of "to start", "to stop", alright?

That's the meaning of "stop".

"To call by itself", oh, I'm going to call

my friend, I need to talk to her, okay, it's

like to phone someone, right?

"To drop", well, if this fell, then it would drop to the ground, right?

That's "to drop".

It can be something physical, it can also be a price, like, oh, the prices dropped,

that means they fell.

They were here, now the prices went down, wouldn't that be great if prices dropped?

And "to rush", what does it mean, "to rush"?

"To rush" means to hurry, okay?

Sorry, I can't talk to you right now, I'd love to talk to you, but I've got to rush.

I have to get to this meeting on time, okay?

That's the meaning.

Those are the regular words.

Now, let's look at the phrasal verbs.

So, first, repeat after me, "to stop off", "to call off", "to drop off", and "to rush

Now, let's do the same thing, let's match them up.

So, which of these phrasal verbs means "to cancel"?

Which of these?

So, it is actually this one, "to call off".

Now, here, we could say, "They called off the meeting."

It means they cancelled.

It can be anything.

"They called off the meeting", it could be a

social event, they called off the reception,

or they called off the wedding, or they called off the ceremony, okay?

They called off the conference, anything.

It just means to cancel an event, alright?

Next, "to leave in a hurry".

Which of these means "to leave in a hurry"?

There's a little clue in there because we

have the word "hurry", but "to rush off" means

"to leave in a hurry".

Sorry, I would love to stay, but I have to rush off right now.

So, "rushing" is what you're doing in general.

Let's say that person is rushing all day, they're in a hurry, okay?

They have a lot to do.

But "to rush off" means at this point, now, I have to leave you and I have to rush off

because I have to get to that meeting.

So, it means "to leave in a hurry", not just

to be in a hurry, but to leave in a hurry.

Next, "to visit briefly".

What do you think that one is?

So, there are only two options left here.

Is it "to stop off" or "to drop off"?

So, "to visit briefly" means "to stop off".

So, for example, let's say somebody needs

something and they say to their friend, "Oh,

I really need some formula for my baby or some diapers for my baby, and I can't get

to the store right now.

Could you please stop off on your way back from work and pick up some diapers, or pick

up some milk, or pick up whatever?"

"Stop off" means don't go and spend a lot of

time there, just go there, go quickly inside,

pick it up, and come back.

So, you're just going to stop off there, you're going to visit a place.

Could be like a store and pick up something,

or you could stop off to meet somebody briefly

It's not that you're always picking up something,

you're just visiting that particular place

or that particular person briefly.

I'm really busy today, but I'm going to stop

off and see how you are and meet you or meet

your parents or whatever.

So, that's the meaning of that.

So, the one that's left is this one, "to drop off".

So, that means to take something or someone and leave it somewhere.

For example, let's say you're tired today

and you don't feel like cooking, so you order

food from your favorite restaurant, and they

say they are going to drop off your order

or your food after 30 minutes.

They're going to drop it off means they're going to take it and leave it at - leave it

somewhere at your place.

So, you could drop off an item, okay, such

as this, or you could also drop someone off.

For example, your friend needs a ride, they don't have a car today, so you say, "Hey,

I'll drop you off.

It's on my way home."

So, you could drop off someone or you could drop off something.

Those are the basic meanings.

You've got it now.

We're going to be checking what they mean, and if you've really understood it by doing

a little quiz in a bit, but before that, I'm

going to explain another short grammatical

So, now, on this board, I've divided our eight phrasal verbs into two sections.

The first five phrasal verbs are all regular

verbs, and these three are irregular verbs.

So, therefore, when you use them, you need to make sure you're using the correct form,

whether it's in the present, in the past, or whether you're using one of the perfect

So, as you know, regular verbs have basically two forms.

When we use them with a perfect tense, like "have been", "have done", etc., then we use

the same form with regular verbs.

So, "doze off" becomes "dozed off".

"I dozed off" or "I have dozed off", it's the same verb.

This second form.

There is really no third form, and if you

say that there is a third form, it's the same

as this for regular verbs.

"Rush off", "rushed off".

You can repeat it after me.

The more you say it, the more chances are

that you're going to actually use these verbs.

Alright? Don't be afraid of them.

"Call off", "called off", "stop off", "stopped off", "drop off", "dropped off".

I dropped off my laundry at the laundromat, for example.

I stopped off to pick up some bread.

They called off the meeting.

He rushed off because he had to rush, he had to get to the airport.

And I dozed off while watching the movie.

You can say these things, you can use these phrases every day.

Let's look at the next three.

So, these, as I mentioned, are irregular verbs, so they have three forms.

This is the basic verb, right?

Present tense, past tense, and these are with the perfect tenses.

So, "hold off", "held off", and in this case, "held off".

They need to hold off on making a decision.

They held off on applying for a loan.

They have held off.

And this one, "lay off", "laid off", also "laid off".

They have laid off many workers.

Or last year, they laid off many workers.

Or they may lay off many workers.

And the last one has three different forms, "break off", "broke off", and "broken off".

They broke off contact.

They have - sorry, they break off contact sometimes during negotiations, sides break

They broke off the negotiations, or they have broken off the negotiations.

So, make sure when you're using them, you're aware of these various forms.

Now, let's see.

Do the quiz and see where you are.

Did you get it?

Did you understand them?

Can you identify them?

Let's find out.

Now, let's match up the phrasal verbs with the sentences, alright?

Number one, "John just cancelled the webinar."

Which phrasal verb of the four written above could we use to say the same thing?

"John just called off", okay?

"John just called off the webinar" means the same thing as "cancelled it".

Number two, "Mary fell asleep while studying."

Which of those four phrasal verbs?

Which of those three phrasal verbs says the same thing?

"Mary dozed off while studying."

Again, if you need a little time, pause the video, figure it out, and then join me.

Let's do number three.

"Sorry, I need to leave in a hurry."

How do we say that with the phrasal verb?

"Sorry, I need to rush off."

Yes, I heard you.

Good, you've got it.

And so, the last one is number four, "We decided to delay moving to New York."

So, the answer would be, "We decided to hold off on moving to New York."

To hold off, meaning to delay.

Let's go to the next four.

Number five, "The union ended talks with the management."

Which one of these phrasal verbs could you use to say the same thing?

We have to change the tense because of the sentence.

The union broke off talks with the management.

Number six, "They'll deliver the order by 8 o'clock."

They will drop off, right?

They'll drop off the order by 8 o'clock.

Number seven, "I'll go briefly to the mall later."

I'll stop off at the mall later.

And therefore, the last one is, "Unfortunately,

200 workers lost their jobs because business

has been so bad."

What happened to the 200 workers?

Unfortunately, 200 workers were laid off because business has been so bad.

So, good for you.

Did you get them?

One thing you could do is, you know, use them yourself.

Don't necessarily have to start using all of them, but choose one or two.

Start using them already in your real life.

And if you like learning phrasal verbs, which

are so important, please check out my other

video on phrasal verbs, which I will give you

a link to in the lesson description below.

Thanks very much for watching.

I can see you're a serious student, and I wish you all the best with your English.