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  • Hi. Welcome back to EngVid. I'm Adam; nice to see you again. Today's lesson is for Suhaib,

  • who requested this lesson from Facebook. We're going to look at phrasal verbs with the verb

  • "knock". I know all of you know this verb, "knock" – "Who's at the door?", etc. When

  • we combine it with other prepositions to get phrasal verbs, the meaning is completely different.

  • We're going to look at a few of these. We're going to look at "knock down", "knock over",

  • "knock up", "knock out", and "knock off". These are verbs. Of course, we have "knockout"

  • and we have "knockoff" as nounscould be adjectives as well. Let's start.

  • "Knock down": What does it mean to "knock down"? Well...

  • I have a domino, let's say, standing

  • up here on the table. I "knock it down", I topple it, I make it fall. Very simple, "knock

  • down" – make it fall. Easy.

  • "Knock over" is basically the same thing. You can "knock something over". For example,

  • you're walking in a restaurant, you're not paying attention, you bump into a table, you

  • "knock over" their wine glass, spill it on their dress. Not very happy, don't do that.

  • Be very careful. "Knock down" and "knock over" – the difference is that this is on purpose.

  • This could be accidental. So try not to do that.

  • "Knock up": This is a little bit different than what you may expect. It doesn't have

  • anything to do with lifting, with raising, anything that you can imagine. Some of you

  • may have heard this in movies and in Hollywood. There's actually a movie called 'Knocked Up'.

  • This means make someone pregnant. Yes, make someone have a baby. To "knock someone up

  • is to get a girl pregnant. If she is "knocked up", that means she is pregnant. Very, very

  • much slang, not an everyday word that you're going to use.

  • "Knock out": Some of you might like sports. If you like boxing, you know this word. If

  • you like hockey, you know this word. To "knock out" means to punch and put unconscious; that's

  • one meaning. Another meaning basically means to put out of order. For example, there's

  • a lightning storm. Lightning comes down from the sky, it hits the electrical wires of a

  • city, it "knocks out" electricity to many houses. So to "knock out" – to put out of order,

  • to put out of commission.

  • "Knockout" has a completely different meaning from "knock out". You have to be very careful.

  • Notice there is no space between the words. It's one word. "Knock out" – two words.

  • Verb -- and adjective or noun. If you say about someone, usually a woman, you don't really

  • say this about men, although you could. If you see a woman walking down the street and

  • you say, "Wow. What a knockout.", what that means is she's gorgeous. She's so beautiful

  • it's like getting a punch in the face. You want to fall down because you're in love,

  • or lust, or whatever you are in. A "knockout" – a very gorgeous person, or gorgeous. Good.

  • "Knockoff": Again, you can "knock" something off the table, but it could also mean steal.

  • There are some countries that specialize in "knocking off" other countries' products.

  • These fake products are called "knockoffs". So basically "knockoff" means fake. You could

  • go, for example, traveling in some country and you see a Louis Vuitton bag, but this

  • Louis Vuitton bag is only $50. You're thinking, "Wow. What a bargain. I'm very lucky today.

  • I get a Louis Vuitton bag for $50, or a Gucci bag for $50." Be carefulit's probably

  • a knockoff. That's a noun. It means fake, not real. You don't actually have a Louis

  • Vuitton bag, you have a Joe Schmoe bag with Louis Vuitton written all over it. You're

  • luckybut not so lucky. Very simple; very easy words. My example is gone. Sorry. I'll

  • come back to it.

  • I bumped into the table and knocked over someone's wine. I didn't want to, but I knocked up my

  • girlfriend, now I have to marry her because I'm a responsible guy. The lightning knocked

  • out electricity to the entire city. Be careful that you don't get a knockoff, because some

  • countries like to knock off other countries' products. "Knock down": If you're really angry,

  • you can knock me down and I won't fight back. Not the best example, but it'll work.

  • Okay, if you want more examples, go to www.engvid.com. We have a quiz for you there. You can practice

  • all of these, and hopefully use them well down the road. Okay. Thank you very much.

  • See you next time.

  • Learn English for free www.engvid.com

Hi. Welcome back to EngVid. I'm Adam; nice to see you again. Today's lesson is for Suhaib,

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