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  • Hi guys. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on seven ways to use:

  • "Make out". Today, we're going to look at seven different ways that we can use this

  • very common phrasal verb. So, let's look at the top.

  • The first sentence says: "I can't make out what you're saying."

  • In this situation: do you think you can understand what the person is saying or you can't understand

  • what the person is saying? Well, if you look at the negative, it means that you can't understand.

  • So one meaning of "make out" is to hear or see what a person is saying. Or if you see

  • an object in the distance and you can't really tell very clearly what it is, this means that

  • you can't make it out or you can make it out. So imagine you're watching a YouTube video

  • and there's a person speaking in the background, and maybe they're speaking very low and you

  • have to listen very carefully to understand what they're saying. So you listen, listen

  • and you say: "Oh, I don't... No, I can't make out what he's saying, like I can't hear it."

  • Okay? Also, if you're looking at a picture and in one corner of the picture, maybe there's

  • a small little object and you don't know what it is. And somebody tells you that it's maybe

  • a laptop, and you look at it, you say: "No, I can't make it out. I can't... I can't see

  • it properly." Okay? So this is one meaning. The second sentence says:

  • "I made the check out to the president." Now, a check is a piece of paper that you

  • give to someone when you want to pay for something. Right? You write your name, you write the

  • amount of money you're going to give to the person, the company, the organization. So

  • in this situation, you can make a check out to a person which just means you make the

  • check payable to a person. Okay? So this means to make a check payable - okay? - to someone.

  • And you always... Usually we make out a check to a person. Okay?

  • The next one says: "Don't make out like you know the answer!"

  • So imagine you're in a math class and you have a student who thinks that they know the

  • answer to a difficult question so they pretend like they know the answer, but they really

  • don't know the answer; they're just trying to look smarter than the other students. So

  • don't make out like you know what I'm talking about or don't make out like you know the

  • answer; don't pretend. Okay, the fourth way we can use "make out":

  • "How is your son making out at school?" So we can use this to mean: how is your son

  • progressing? Okay? So "make out" can also mean to progress or: "How is he doing?" as

  • well. Okay, so to progress, do or perform. So for example, I can ask you: "Hey, how did

  • you make out on your driving exam?", "How did you make out on your final exam for history?"

  • So: how did you do, how did you perform, how did you progress? Here you notice we're actually

  • using it in the progressive tense, right? So how is he making out, how is he progressing

  • or performing? Okay, number five:

  • "I saw them making out at the party." Now, in this situation... This is usually

  • the most common way that we use "make out", and if you've seen it taught in schools, if

  • you've seen it taught in other videos, basically it means to kiss passionately. Okay, so to

  • kiss with lots of passion. Not just a normal, regular, soft kiss, but really passionate

  • with the other person. Okay? Number six:

  • "I can't make out what it says at the bottom." So this is actually similar to number one

  • where you can't hear or see or understand, but this refers to very small details. So

  • you're reading, you're reading, you're reading and maybe you need glasses so at the bottom...

  • You look at the bottom and you say: "No, I can't make out what it says on the bottom",

  • if you're reading a document or a book or something like this. Okay? So in this situation,

  • "make out" means to decipher small details. Okay, to notice a very small detail. "Like

  • I can't make it out, I can't see it", in this situation.

  • Okay, and: "We can't make him out." So if you can't make

  • a person out... Again, it's not very, very common to use it in this way, but basically

  • it means you can't understand this person; you can't figure out what type of personality

  • they have. Okay? So this means to understand someone's character or someone's personality.

  • Okay guys, so as you can see, there are many ways that we can use just one single phrasal

  • verb. Today, that phrasal verb was: "make out". Now, let's just quickly review the different

  • meanings. So:

  • "I can't make out what you're saying." Like I can't understand you correctly, I can't

  • hear you correctly. Maybe you have food in your mouth or maybe the audio quality of a

  • video I'm watching is really bad. "I made the check out to the president."

  • So I wrote the president's name on the check; I made the check out to him or her.

  • Number three: "Don't make out like you know the answer."

  • Don't try to pretend. Right? Don't pretend that you know the answer.

  • "How is your son making out at school?" How is he performing? How is he doing?

  • "I saw them making out at the party." I saw them kissing passionately at the party.

  • "I can't make out what it says at the bottom." I can't see the very small detail.

  • "We can't make him out." We can't understand his character.

  • So if you'd like to check out your understanding of this material, you can go to the quiz on

  • www.engvid.com. As always, guys, good luck and take care. And don't forget to subscribe

  • to my YouTube page. See ya.

Hi guys. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on seven ways to use:

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