12 Emotional English Phrasal Verbs: lash out, storm off, sink in...

0:00 Today's video is about phrasal verbs,

0:01 which I think you're all very familiar with by now.

0:04 I've made many videos about phrasal verbs,

0:07 but in the past I used to present the phrasal verbs to you in sets,

0:12 like put on, put in, put out, put through,

0:15 and so on, to make sure you understand all the different uses of it.

0:19 What I want to do today, I want to start showing you phrasal

0:23 verbs in particular contexts that they're used.

0:26 And the reason it's important to know this is because native speakers,

0:30 we use phrasal verbs all the time.

0:32 It's just part of everyday vocabulary, right?

0:35 And I know that it's very difficult to learn

0:38 phrasal verbs without actually knowing their meaning first,

0:40 and then just memorizing them.

0:42 So, again, just in case you're not familiar with phrasal verbs,

0:46 it's a verb with what looks like a preposition, it's actually a particle,

0:50 but a verb and preposition that together create

0:53 a different meaning than the two words individually.

0:58 Okay?

0:59 Let's start with "lash out".

1:02 What does it mean to "lash out"?

1:03 So, if somebody hears some bad news or somebody...

1:08 You did something bad to somebody, their reaction,

1:11 their emotional reaction to that situation

1:14 or that action might be to attack you.

1:17 Right?

1:18 Okay?

1:18 They will...

1:19 And not only you, they will attack everybody.

1:22 But "lash out" basically means, like, lash out everywhere, in all directions.

1:27 They don't care who they attack, and it could be a physical attack,

1:31 like they'll hit you, or it could be a verbal attack.

1:34 They'll yell at you, they'll swear at you, they'll curse you,

1:38 and they'll most likely do it to everybody who comes in contact with them.

1:43 It's a very emotional, very rage reaction to whatever happened.

1:49 Okay?

1:49 So, next we're going to look at "shut down".

1:52 Now, some people, they lash out, they get very angry, they get very responsive.

1:57 Other people go the complete opposite direction.

2:01 Something bad happens, or they get bad news,

2:03 or somebody did something bad to them.

2:05 For example, kids who are bullied, often they just shut down.

2:11 Right?

2:11 They're like a robot that turns off and does nothing.

2:15 They don't want to react in any way, they become very quiet,

2:18 they don't go out, they don't socialize with people,

2:21 they don't really do much of anything.

2:24 So, we say that this person just shut down,

2:27 just stopped behaving like a regular person would.

2:31 Right?

2:32 Other people, and I have to admit,

2:34 this has happened to me many times, but I sometimes zone out.

2:40 So, somebody's speaking to me, and maybe I'm not that interested,

2:44 or maybe I've heard it a million times

2:46 from this person and I don't want to hear it anymore,

2:50 my mind starts wandering off and I have no idea what's in front of me.

2:55 I don't hear anything, I don't see anything,

2:57 my mind is in a completely different place.

2:59 I'm in a different zone, a different area, a mental area.

3:03 Right?

3:04 So, we say this person's just zoned out, just doesn't know what's going on.

3:08 Another way you might hear this expression, some people tune out,

3:14 they just stop hearing whatever's being said to them, they don't pay attention.

3:19 They can see you talking,

3:20 but they're not listening to you anymore, so they tune out.

3:23 Some people, their mind just goes somewhere else, they zone out.

3:28 Other people, and again,

3:29 there are all kinds of emotional reactions to all kinds of situations.

3:33 Some people take things well, some people take things very badly.

3:38 So, if somebody storms out, for example, storms out of the room,

3:42 they get all angry, they make a big noise about leaving.

3:46 Maybe they'll shut the door really hard, they'll slam the door,

3:49 they'll just make some noise as they're going out,

3:52 they'll throw a bottle at you as they're leaving the room,

3:55 but overall what they're doing is they're storming out.

3:58 That's the expression that we use to describe that.

4:01 Some people melt down, right?

4:04 So, some people shut down, they basically close off.

4:09 Other people melt down, which is a little bit different,

4:12 they basically lose all self-control.

4:15 It's like their brain melts inside their head,

4:18 and there's nobody controlling the system anymore, right?

4:22 So, we can also use this often as a noun.

4:26 "She or he is having a meltdown" as one word, compound.

4:31 A meltdown or that person melted down and started yelling at everybody,

4:37 and you see this on news channels these days a lot,

4:41 where you have people from different opposing views,

4:44 and one person says something and the other person just melts

4:47 down and starts yelling and doing all kinds of craziness, then.

4:50 If that happens, if somebody's having a meltdown,

4:54 what you might want to say to them is pull yourself together, right?

4:59 Gain control of yourself.

5:01 So, you're basically...

5:02 You've fallen apart, which is actually not on my list.

5:05 Fall apart is another one of these good phrasal verbs.

5:08 If somebody is falling apart,

5:10 if somebody's having a meltdown or if somebody's lashing out,

5:13 just tell them, "Relax.

5:16 Pull yourself together and continue on as before." Right?

5:21 So, gain control of yourself.

5:25 "Sink in".

5:26 Sometimes people don't react right away.

5:29 They may hear bad news or somebody

5:31 may insult them or something happens and they're...

5:34 That's a bad thing, but they don't react right away, and you...

5:38 You know, maybe you're looking at them,

5:39 like, you know, "Why aren't you reacting?

5:41 You should be very angry.

5:42 You should be very upset." Or "You should be very

5:44 happy." It could be the other way around as well.

5:47 That's because the information has not sunk in yet.

5:52 They heard it in their ears; it hasn't gotten into their brain yet.

5:55 They haven't processed it.

5:57 So, if some...

5:58 When something sinks in, it means they absorbed it and they processed it.

6:03 If it hasn't sunk in yet, it's still coming and the shock is

6:07 still coming and the reaction is still coming.

6:10 "Dwell on".

6:10 Some people tend to dwell on things for a long time.

6:15 "Dwell on" means keep in mind; they stay in the same place,

6:19 basically, in the same state of mind.

6:22 So, if I insult somebody and they get very angry- and that's fine,

6:27 they storm out of the room and I go on with my life- a week later,

6:32 they're still angry at me.

6:33 They're still thinking about it.

6:35 They still want to lash out, but I'm not around so they can't,

6:39 but they are still dwelling on that moment that I insulted them.

6:44 Right?

6:45 So, they're still very angry and they hold

6:47 on to that emotional reaction that they had a week ago.

6:51 Whenever something bad happens in life- this is

6:53 just a life tip- don't dwell on it.

6:56 Let it go and go on with your life and let things happen,

7:01 because things will happen.

7:03 Now, if, again, you're having this emotional reaction

7:06 and if you're dwelling on some bad news,

7:09 a friend- hopefully a good friend- will come to you and say,

7:12 "Snap out of it." It means basically stop thinking about this stuff.

7:16 Stop being depressed.

7:17 Stop being angry.

7:19 Snap out of it.

7:20 Wake up and go on with your life and let things go.

7:25 And if you're really angry,

7:27 somebody eventually will come to you and say, "Go away.

7:30 Get out of the room.

7:31 Go cool off." So, it basically means you're very hot now.

7:36 You're hot with anger.

7:37 Go somewhere else, cool off, calm down, come back and we can have a discussion

7:43 again and fix whatever the problem may be.

7:46 Okay?

7:46 So, all of these are just everyday phrasal verbs.

7:49 Some of them you can guess at in context,

7:52 some of them you need to know what they mean in order to be able to use

7:56 them well and to understand them when you hear them or see them in writing, etc.

8:01 Okay?

8:01 So now, if you want to make sure you

8:04 really understand these, go to www.EngVid.com and take the quiz.

8:06 There's a quiz making sure you understand all of these.

8:10 You can also ask questions in the comments section below.

8:13 And come back next time for more useful vocabulary tips,

8:16 grammar tips, writing tips, test tips, and so on and so forth.

8:20 Okay?

8:20 See you then.

8:21 Bye-bye.