This is an all year English podcast episode 1501 don't slack off English brazel verbs for work.

Welcome to the All Ears English podcast downloaded more than 150 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American hosts. Aubrey Carter, the Eilts Whiz, and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA. And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to all ears. English dot com forward slash subscribe.

Today you'll get six new phrasal verbs to use at the workplace. Learn nuanced and interesting ways to communicate with your colleagues at work.

Hey, Aubrey, how's it going? Today, we are on video. This episode is going on YouTube. Very exciting. Yes, I know. I love of kind of love doing video. I feel like I'm I share more of my real personality.

Maybe when I can see you and I can see Mehcad, something about audio, maybe I get a little more boring.

So interesting that some people are just the opposite. Like they'd be much more likely to share more just via the microphone because they're not facing the audience. I don't know. I like both. I think it's adding a new element to our show. So, guys, if you do like YouTube, go over and check out this episode on YouTube.

So good. Yes, definitely. Anyway, it's fun to be here with you. I'm excited. We today are going to share the next part of our Phrasal Verb series, and I feel like it's been fun to see on social media students really loving the series because you guys are you're sometimes stuck with phrasal verbs like how do I learn these?

How do I figure this out?

And I think this is a good way to do it right. To take the situation that, you know, you'll be in eventually and learn all the phrasal verbs you're going to face.

Oh, so I think this has been a great series.

Yeah, this has been great. Have people been saying things on Instagram about it? Obree over there. Have you been cool.

OK, I have I've seen I've seen a few comments and it's always fun to go in for me and to see feedback from especially when we have the videos. Right. We can see on YouTube feedback. So definitely guys leave us comments. We'd love to see your feedback. We'd love to see the episodes that you're learning from and enjoying, and that helps also to help us know what to do in the future. So definitely comments coming for sure.

We're starting a New Year 2021. So exciting. We need to be learning the right way. Guys, let's learn together. Let's learn based on situations. That is the key. So, Aubrey, what is today's situation for phrasal verbs then?

So today we're going to talk about work. If you're at work, some of the verbs that might come up while you're talking about projects or some of the types of things you would do in like the business world, which is appropriate because not long ago we launched a new business class, Lindsays.

That was so cool. Oh, my gosh. It was so nice to be able to finally build this business course that we have wanted to build for years. And the way you guys responded, you guys are loving this course.

So go over and check it out.

We interview native speakers in the course and you get direct English from the real business world, not from any textbook abroad.

Where can our listeners go to go ahead and get into that course, by the way?

Yes, this one's easy to remember, guys, all in English dotcom business. Easy, so go check it out. I know, right? That's an easy one.

And yes, like you said, so many business courses are just very outdated, kind of old, like what you'd learn in a textbook. This one is not this is exactly what you need to know if you're working in the business world today. So technically. Exactly.

I mean, the key and just to say one more thing about that, the key is that in the business world, you don't just need formal English, right? You need informal, semiformal and formal English. And we show you all of that.

Right, Obra? We want to be ourselves at work. We don't want to be some stiff, boring version of ourselves. Yeah, that's exactly right.

So and that's what we give you as really how natives speak today when we speak informally, even in pretty formal situations at work. Exactly.

Yes. So then let's talk about phrasal verbs in the business world then. Yeah. So what about this here? So this is funny.

One of the ones we're going to talk about today is to fill in for someone. And if you just take the verb fill, I love doing this every time this list there are so many phrasal verbs just for that verb.

Fill up, fill up on, fill out, fill in, fill in for fill in on.

There are so many and they all have a totally different meaning. They're used use really different ways.

It can be so confusing if you just take one verb and try to learn all the iterations. So like we were saying, don't do it that way, right?

Yes. Don't do it that way. Don't get overwhelmed, guys. Learn it based on the situation.

Right, Obree. That's the case. Yeah, exactly right. So we have six today that we're going to teach you that you could use at work or when you're talking to someone about your job, about work and we'll give you a example sentences so that you'll be ready next time you'll be able to have all of these right at the tip of your brain.

Exactly.

So just to make sure our listeners, the the verbs, the phrasal verbs, we just spat out, don't worry about them.

That's just to give you an example to show you how crazy and stressful phrasal verbs could be if you did the wrong way.

Right. If you hand them the wrong way, let's get into the real ones for today. Yes. Yes.

OK, so let's start with that one actually fill in for right. Just that sounds great. It means to perform someone's job while they're away. You're filling in for them. So you might say, oh, I'm filling in for Maria while she's out this week.

Exactly. Exactly.

And sometimes here at all in English, if someone is on vacation, someone else will do our social media stuff right for our team.

Maybe I have to fill in for Jessica if she's out. Yeah. And she does the same for you. Exactly. Exactly. Sort of fill in for so good.

So good. And but it can be a little tricky, Aubrey, this one, because we've got the four and the end is two prepositions.

And how can we remember this. Yeah. So there is the other one is fill in which is a verb if you're talking a. Out filling or fill out like a questionnaire or a survey saying, like, I'm I fill in the blanks, so associate that one with writing.

OK. And when you have in four fill in for associate this with work for substituting for someone.

And so whenever you hear both of those prepositions fill in for, then, you know, that has nothing to do with writing.

And it's all about covering for someone for someone's away doing their job for another person. OK, so we're thinking about people versus just a piece of paper would be the feeling.

OK, that's a good way to remember it.

Yeah. Yes, I like it. All right. So our second one is run by what does this one mean, Lindsay?

OK, this one is casual and I like it. So basically to tell someone an idea in order to get their opinion. So you're not trying to convince them of anything, you're just throwing it out there to see what comes back. For example, I've got something I need to run by you like.

Right. This is such a good example of what were you were saying this informal way we speak in business.

It would be so formal, you might see it in a textbook to say, I have something I want to show you so I can get your opinion super formal.

We don't speak like that.

Even at work where it's kind of a formal situation, we're much more likely to say, I got to run this by you.

I got that I need to run by you. I love it. And actually, it kind of makes me in some way. Sometimes I wish that we were in a physical location altogether because we'd be able to just knock on someone's door at their office and run an idea by each other. Right. I mean, sometimes this can get into another conversation. But being an online company, you know, sometimes I wonder if we missed something by not being able to do that.

What do you think?

You know, it's true because sometimes we will email something back and forth like, oh, I want to run, but run this by you and then you'll get feedback.

But there is something lacking sometimes in just being able to quickly have a face to face and ask someone for for advice or feedback can be so much faster and more effective sometimes.

Totally, totally. There are some tradeoffs. Either way, there are tradeoffs for sure.

I think a lot of you out there listening who have started working from home are finding the same thing. Like there are different pros now.

You don't have to commute time savings more time with your family, but also some cons. If a job, a task takes a little bit longer or isn't quite as easy to accomplish. Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely. All right. So we've got run by and we've got fill in for. And what else, Aubrey? Do you have another one?

Yes, OK, our third one. We have two separate meanings that we use in the working world.

It's take on and there are two separate meanings. We're going to talk to you about both of them. OK, first one means to employ someone to take responsibility for someone in some way will say to take them on like OK, was taken on as a trainee, OK?

Or she asked me to mentor her. So I took her on as my student. And that is kind of more the responsibility piece, right? Yeah, exactly.

You'll hear this a lot for interns or students.

Pupils you're taking them on, sort of like taking them under your wing is an idiom that we use to take responsibility for helping them learn something.

Yeah. And, you know, finding a mentor, that's always a challenge right out in the world as adults, I think a lot of successful people in the world have found mentors, but it can be hard to find a mentor. Right.

So sometimes you have to be direct and ask them to take you on as your as their mentor. As your their mentee. Yes.

You're such a good native way to ask instead of saying, will you be my mentor. Right. To say, could you take me on in this capacity?

Right. It's a very native, a little bit less formal way of asking the same thing.

Exactly. Because I don't know what else you would say without this phrasal verb. That's where English gets tricky, right? Phrasal verbs become so important. They're so critical to what you're trying to communicate because you're communicating a nuance.

Exactly right. If you don't use it, then it's kind of an outdated, formal way of speaking as your only other choice. Yeah, definitely practice using these phrasal verbs so that you can sound more native and natural.

Exactly. But there is a second way to use this verb, OK? And that is when someone accepts additional responsibility in some way.

So, for example, you could say when my co-worker quit, I had to take on her duties totally.

Or, for example, in a in a bad economy, companies are having layoffs. Right. So maybe one person is getting the work of two employees in some cases for is very common these days.

Yes. Yeah, sure. And then our next one is very similar.

It's a parallel, a synonym for take on, take over. You can use them in the same way it's to accept responsibility or to take control of something really similar to take on. Right. When my coworker quit, I had to take over her duties. Has the same meaning. Yeah.

Or even like a business like she's expected to take over the family business when her parents retire. That could be or even taking over a meeting. If the person leading the meeting has to leave, they might ask someone, can you take over? I'll be back in ten minutes or something. Right.

This is this one's really common, I think, actually. Yes, we use it all the time, but it is it's important to note how it does have to sort of nuance meanings like you were saying, because the first one means the exact same as take on.

Yet you're taking over or taking on some kind of responsibility and then take over can also mean, like you were saying, taking responsibility for a company to and you wouldn't say, I'm going to take on this company. In that case, you have to use that specific phrasal verb, take over because it's something bigger.

It's something more concrete that you are taking over, you're taking control of.

Right. Because that mentor relationship isn't really a big concrete thing. It's just kind of a relationship. Right. Operation takes over is a more physical structure type thing.

Oh, that's tricky. Actually.

Going to want to listen into the role play in a few minutes here on this episode and then go back, maybe review the transcripts for this episode.

Definitely tricky. OK, what I get two more. OK, today we have Obree on the podcast. Aubrey is also a certified Eilts teacher with all ears. English go over and catch her three days a week with Jessica on the ILD Energy podcast. If you are taking ILD any time in the next few years, go over and hit. Subscribe to the Energy podcast and we'll see you over there.

Yes, our next one is slack off, this is really fun. Yes.

So it just means to give less effort or energy than is needed or required, right? Yeah. So, for example, my kids love to slack off when they're supposed to be doing their chores and I find them playing video games instead. Oh no, that's not good. That's not right. And it could happen in the business world. You know, if you if you have a coworker, you know, who could get a project done faster than they do, maybe even hourly employees.

So they're trying to take out something like that, you could call them a slacker or if they slack off for sure, you've got to call people out on these things or it makes me think of the last three weeks of school when I was in school, like in June, the entire month of June for summer vacation or even, you know, when you're in college.

I guess when you're in college, you're doing your final exam. So you're not really slacking off and then you just leave campus. But in school and middle school, high school, everyone's just slacking off. The last month of school for sure.

I do associate this more with students than employees, maybe because I haven't had a lot of colleagues or coworkers that I think slacked off. Definitely students like I as a student slacked off sometimes. And I've always known, you know, you get away with what you can when you're young.

Oh, for sure. Especially as a kid doing chores or in school. Absolutely. So that's a that's a great one. OK, we have one more. And this one is very important. I think we've done some episodes on this concept, actually.

Yes, definitely right. It's burn out. And so this means to be really tired, mentally exhausted, especially to the point where you are lacking motivation or even caring about something.

This is drastic when this happens to you at work.

Yes, very drastic. I know on our team this has happened a few times over the last five years. And, you know, we've gotten more more invested in setting very clear goals every year. So this doesn't happen as much anymore. But it can happen if you don't know your limits, right? Definitely right.

Anyone can burn out if they work too many hours. I can definitely see myself doing this because I you know, I have goals for myself and I want to be the best I can at my job. And so sometimes I'll spend more time than I should or, you know, it can happen to anybody if you don't set those limits for yourself, especially for people who are achievers.

Right. They want to do big things in the world, good things they want to do well, do their job well. That's such a noble thing. But we have to protect ourselves. We have to I wonder if our guys, our listeners, you guys should come back to the blog. Let us know if you've ever burned out at the workplace. Right. This is episode one oh one. So come back. Tell us a little information about your work life.

Definitely. I know for me and my husband, because he doesn't always get an official like lunch break. So he whenever he gets a chance, he'll just take a little break throughout the day. And if not, he will totally burn out just by the end of the day. His brain is mush. He can't think, he can't focus. He doesn't want to do anything. But if he can at least take a little break, walk around the house a few times during the day, it's amazing how much that will help.

Kind of give you a little energy. Definitely let your brain not think about work for just a minute. So, yeah.

And it's so different now because we're all working from home. So I think we're actually more susceptible to burnout because we could work more. So much more. Yeah, exactly.

So there's no time card for most of us. You know, there's no clear end to the day you like your office is your bedroom in Zurich.

So you have to decide I'm done. I'm not looking at work emails anymore. You have to make that more of a conscious decision.

That's so true. Everything's changed. Everything has changed. So do we have any sample sentences? Did we do those already? Maybe we did those, yes.

Yeah, we did one count each year, but we're definitely going to do a role play so you guys can see more example sentences and see it in kind of a conversation about work. Right. OK, yes. Here we go.

Are you ready, Aubrey? Yes. All right. So, all right. I'm worried I'm going to burn out. I've taken on so many extra tasks this week.

Oh, now, are you filling in for someone at work or something?

Yeah, one of my colleagues is sick, so I had to take over all of her tasks. Plus, we took on a couple of interns and I'm training them. Oh, wow.

That makes me feel like I'm really slacking off. I have had a pretty easy week. I don't know if I can get it all done. I made it. I may need to ask someone to take over a few things.

Well, I was going to run something by you, but it can wait until next week since you're so buried.

Oh, I love that expression at the end to say someone's buried. Yeah. Just imagine them buried in books and papers when they've got so much on their plate, like physically buried. I love that.

It's a good it's a nice visual idea. You can with English, you want to be creating visuals for people. You know, we like to exaggerate. We like to paint a picture in our conversation. It makes it more interesting, honestly.

Yeah, for sure. OK, let's go through these. OK, so I guess the first one.

Yeah. So I said I'm worried I'm going to burn out. I've taken on so many extra tasks this week, so we had burnout out there. Guys write these down, make sure you write them down. And I've taken on so many extra time, meaning I've started doing. I've taken responsibility for it.

Yes, exactly right. And then I asked, are you filling in for someone at work? Meaning. Maybe somebody is out and you've had to take over their tasks and do extra work to cover for them. Yeah, exactly. And then I said, yeah, one of my colleagues is sick, so I had to take over all of her tasks again. I've now I've used take on and take over. OK, so good. And then I said, plus we took on a couple of interns meaning we hired them, we made them a part of our company.

Right. Yes.

Right. So you've used both instances of take on and it is interesting to see what a different meaning they have, which is so frustrating. Same words, but in a different context, entirely. Right. One meaning to hire a person and take responsibility for training them, and the other one to take responsibility for tasks or project. Tricky, really tricky.

Guys, we need to know there's nuances here. This is high level English. Definitely. And then I used slacking off.

I said, oh, you're busy week. Makes me feel like I'm slacking off your feet up on the desk, drinking a margarita or something. Right. I've all I've done is comment on Instagram post. What an easy week this has been. Something's not right. Oh, God, I love it.

Then you used take over saying I may need to ask someone to take over a few things. And this is such it's an interesting concept to think like if you have too much on your plate, you have this crazy long To-Do list and you feel like you might burn out. There likely is someone that you could ask to take over something.

So in this role play, if you and I were working for the same company or on the same team, I would be a good person to ask to take over a couple of tasks.

I'm sure I have such an easy week. If you have so much time, then yes. Right. Oh, God. Give you a task or two.

Yeah, it's true. I think we all if we want to do well, we want to think that we can take it on ourselves. Right. And but the key is to get our teammates involved. And that's such an important lesson to learn, I think.

And if that's a little bit of humility sometimes to recognize if I can't do this on myself, even though I want to seem like I can to reach out, ask for help, that's a yes.

That's a life skill. That's definitely a life skill for sure. And then one last thing. And then you said, well, I was going to run something by you, but it can wait until next week because you're buried. So again, to run. So you were going to come by and ask me about something or throw out an idea, right? Yep, exactly.

Just to get your feedback, your advice. But it's clearly something that is either not very urgent or something that can wait.

Right. It could wait. It could wait. So what should we leave our listeners with? We have a really rich role played today. We've got a couple learn a couple of phrasal verbs. What should we leave our listeners with today?

Yeah, I think it's just so vital to figure out what works for you when it comes to learning something very high level, like phrasal verbs.

And if you have tried some things that didn't work, like learning the same verb with all of the different particles that can be added. Yeah, and it's not working.

Try this way. Right. Try to pick a situation like we were on our fifth one here.

So we have lots of options here for you right now and learn all the verbs that can come up in that situation.

And you might find that it really works because once you're in that situation, they're all all those related verbs are going to come to you.

Definitely. I love that.

And guys, again, you know, if you memorized words as a kid in your education when you were young, don't use that method to learn English. Try something new, try it different, differently by the situation.

That's the key right there. Exactly right. I love it.

I love it. And everywhere.

Can they go to check out the business course as you guys, if you are working in English or plan to work on English in the future, go to English dotcom slash business and check out our business course with twenty five native interviews and so much high level information that you need in order to build relationships today at work so that you can be successful.

Yeah, it's really cool. Guys, go to all the English dot com slash business and we will see you there, Aubrey.

We'll see on the next episode in this series on Krayzelburg. All right. See you next time, Lindsey. Take care. Bye bye.

Thanks for listening to all ears English. If you are taking ILT this year, get your estimated band score with our two minute quiz. Go to all ears English dotcom slash my score. And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit. Subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.