Name: PHRASAL VERB CRACK
Uploaded: 2017-05-15T12:17:02.000Z
Duration: 5 min 50 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

This is the Rachel’s English 30-day challenge: Learn 30 phrasal verbs in 30 days: jumpstart

Today is day 1, the first day of your 30-day challenge.

We’ll be studying ‘crack’ phrasal verbs.

Since this is day 1 of your challenge, let’s start with a brief definition.

A phrasal verb is a two-word, sometimes 3-word combination of a verb plus another word, usually

an adverb, like break up, or a preposition, like sleep on: Let me sleep on it.

These phrasal verbs have so many different meanings, and idiomatic meanings, figurative

They’re important to know because they pop up in conversation all the time.

I like this one because we have down and up.

But ‘crack down’ and ‘crack up’ are not opposites, they simply have two totally

‘Crack down’ means to be more forceful, more severe in the enforcement of a punishment,

For example: The police are cracking down on underage drinking.

Or: The university is cracking down on plagiarism.

When you put the two words together, they become a compound word, a noun.

Same idea: a ‘crackdown’ is a severe or stern enforcement of rules, laws, or regulations.

‘Crack up’ has nothing to do with rules, regulation, or enforcement.

If you are not well, depressed or under pressure or anxious, and you have an event like a mental

breakdown or a psychotic break, you ‘crack up’.

She cracked up because of the pressure of her new job.

This can also be a one-word noun: He had a crackup during finals.

Or, he’s a crackup, he’s mentally ill.

Now, when you use it as a noun, “He’s a crack up”, it’s more harsh than saying

There’s no sympathy for the illness when you call someone a crackup.

But it also has a meaning that’s very different: when something is hilarious, very funny, and

you laugh and laugh, you are cracking up.

It’s also used in the phrase ‘cracked up to be’, meaning, supposed to be, or expected.

“He’s cracked up to be the greatest pitcher of all time.”

But usually the phrase is used in the negative, when something or someone doesn’t meet expectations,

Fame isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be.

The word ‘crack’ starts with the CR consonant cluster.

Your lips can form the R as you make the K sound with the back of the tongue, kr.

The front part of your tongue can also be in position, pulled up and back, for the R,

Then all you have to do is release the back of the tongue, cr-, cra-.

The back of the tongue lifts, the tip of the tongue stays down.

And another K sound at the end, back of the tongue lifts up to touch the soft palate and

To review, you can crack down on something when you’re serious about the rules.

When you crack up, it can either mean you’ve had a bit of a mental break down, or the complete

opposite, you’ve laughed really hard at something.

It can also mean expected, and is usually used in the negative: making YouTube videos

It looks simple, but each video takes so much time!

To catch all of the videos in this 30-day challenge, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube

channel and like Rachel’s English on Facebook.

This 30-day challenge is leading up to a phrasal verbs course that will be available in my

Rachel’s English Academy is a collection of online courses focusing on English conversation,

pronunciation, and listening comprehension.

You will understand Americans better, and speak better English, with these courses.

Visit RachelsEnglishAcademy.com to sign up and get started today.

See the 30-day challenge playlist here and be sure to subscribe to my channel.

Keep in touch with details like my online school and courses by signing up for my mailing