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Hi. Welcome again to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam. In today's lesson, we're going to look at
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phrasal verbs again. I know everybody likes these. I've heard all the comments. So again,
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what are phrasal verbs? Phrasal verbs are a combination of a verb and a preposition
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that together have a very different meaning than the two words by themselves. Today's
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phrasal verbs are going to be with the verb "fall". "fall apart", "fall out", "fall behind",
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"fall for", "fall through", "fall in", "fall in with", "fall back", "fall back on". Different
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meanings to "in" and "in with", "back, and "back on". So let's start.
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"Fall apart" -- two meanings we're going to look at today. The first one is, basically,
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come apart or disintegrate or break off. So if any of you have ever cooked ribs -- do
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you like ribs? You know, like, big stack of ribs. Boil them. Put them on the barbecue.
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Cook them really, really well. Then, the meat just falls apart, just falls off the bone.
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Very, very delicious. Another meaning of "fall apart" is to have a nervous breakdown. Excuse
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me. A "nervous breakdown" would be -- when someone has a "nervous breakdown" -- I'm sorry
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-- we say they have "fallen apart". They have lost control of themselves emotionally. So
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an example. When does a person fall apart? For example, if I had a girlfriend for a very,
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very long time, and one day she comes home and she says, "Bye. I'm leaving." Maybe I'll
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go crazy. I'll fall apart. I won't be able to work. I won't be able to sleep. I won't
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be able to do anything. That's not necessarily the way things would happen, but for some
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people, that's how it happens. They just fall apart.
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Okay. "Fall out" -- so I'm walking down the street. I'm happy. I'm bouncing around. Something
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falls out of my pocket. Basically, it comes out and falls to the ground. That's the very
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basic term, "fall out". Another meaning for "fall out" is when you have a fight or a quarrel
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with someone. You talk about something; you get into a disagreement; you fight; and then,
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you don't speak to each other anymore. So basically, you had a "falling out" -- if you
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want the noun of it. A "falling out", a fight. Okay? So a "falling out", a fight. Another
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meaning -- a third meaning -- is basically consequences. For example, in a war, there's
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a big bomb dropped somewhere, and then all the fall out -- all the things that fell out
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-- then, all the results. "The fall out for this attack was that many people were left
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homeless or that many people were killed or that the fight extended." So the "fall out"
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means the result or the consequence of something that happened, usually something bad. And
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then, the consequences, of course, are also bad.
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"Fall behind" -- again, more than one meaning. The first meaning of "fall behind" means to
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be a little bit behind. All my friends are walking. I'm walking with my friends. They're
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walking fast, and I start to fall behind. So another word is "lag". "Lag" means to be
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behind, not keep pace with. We also use this when we talk about debts. Like, for example,
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you have to pay bills. Every month, the phone company sends you a bill. Then you pay it
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and you pay it. But one month, you missed. So then, the next month, you have to pay the
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last month's bill and this month's bill. But you don't have enough money, so you let a
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little bit more go. Now, you're starting to fall behind on your payments. Eventually,
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the bank will come and take your phone, take your car, take your puppy -- whatever you
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have that's worth any money. That's basically "fall behind". Of course, if I drop this here,
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it will fall behind me. But that's too simple.
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"Fall for" -- a couple of interesting meanings. "Fall for" -- one, when you "fall for something"
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or "fall for someone" means you basically fall in love. Okay? I went to the bar. I met
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this girl. I just "fell for" her right then and there. I fell in love. I lost control.
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I wanted this person. But then, her friend came and told me that for $50, he will give
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me her phone number. So I gave him $50, and he ran away. I "fell for" his trick. Okay?
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So "fall for" means believe something that is not true. Okay? If you are that type of
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person, you are gullible. I think I spelled that right. I'll have to check that later.
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"Fall for" means believe in a trick or believe in something that is not true, or fall in love.
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"Fall through" -- "fall through" means when you have a plan or you try to do something,
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but then at the end, it just didn't work. Your attempt failed, so it "fell through".
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So last month, I made vacation plans to go to Florida. And then, at the last minute,
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my boss told me, "No. You have to come into work because there's an emergency. We need
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you to do something." So my plans "fell through" -- fell through the floor, basically, and
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didn't come out. Now, if you're walking along the street again and there's a sewer where
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the water goes in after the rain and you drop your key and they "fall through" the hole
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-- so "fall through". That's a simple explanation.
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"Fall in" -- this is more, like, military. When a drill sergeant says, "Fall in", everybody
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stands in line in a straight line. We all fall in line. It also basically means "get
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with the program" or do what you're supposed to do. In a company, a boss, for example a
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supervisor, wants all his staff to "fall in line" with the program. He wants everybody
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to understand and follow what is needed to be done. "Fall in with" -- basically, it's
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the same idea. It means you follow something, but you do it unintentionally. Okay? So for
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example, if you fall in with the wrong people, you somehow joined these people that you didn't
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really want to, but somehow, it happened. So when you hear about gangs in America, for
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example, a lot of these kids who join gangs basically fell in with these people because
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that's what was around them, and now, they're part of the gang; they're gangsters. They
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didn't want to be, but they fell in with the wrong people who pulled them into the gang.
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"Fall back" -- again, I could fall back or backwards -- both okay. "Fall back" and "fall
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back on" are two different things. "Fall back on" -- for example, I'm a teacher. But if
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for some reason, I couldn't teach anymore, I also went to chef school. I know how to
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cook. So I can always fall back on my cooking skills to get a job. So it's like "rely",
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"rely on something". I always have a backup, something that I can do if something else
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doesn't work. I can fall back on that. "Fall back" also means, like, get behind, for example
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in bills, payments, or bills. "I fell back on my payments. I have to catch up now."
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So there you go. Some phrasal verbs for "fall". By the way, this was a request -- a couple
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of requests for this. And that's why we have them here. If you have any questions, please
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ask in the comments section on EngVid. Do the quiz, and I'll see you again soon.