8 Phrasal Verbs with BREAK: break in, break up, break through...
Native English speakers use phrasal verbs all the time! A phrasal verb is a phrase with a common verb that often means something you might not expect. Take a break for a few minutes, and watch this lesson on phrasal verbs with "break". Whether you need to "break up" with someone, "break into" a new career, or "break up" a fight, these expressions will help you "break away" from the pack. Start using these common expressions today after testing yourself in the quiz at https://www.engvid.com/8-break-phrasal-verbs/
Watch more PHRASAL VERB lessons here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7_QXVcvcfQ&list=PLs_glF4TIn5YwzZX0WkcvWbipolVN7VCm
TRANSCRIPT
Hi. Welcome to engVid. I'm Adam. In today's video we're going to look at phrasal verbs. Well, one phrasal verb in particular using the verb "break". So, again, just to refresh our memories: A phrasal verb is a verb and a preposition that when put together sometimes have completely different meanings than the two words, and sometimes they have multiple meanings.
So we're going to start with: "break". First of all: "break" means to basically make somebody whole not whole. So you can break your bone, means it's, like, snap in half, or you break your glass. You drop the glass on the floor and it breaks, it comes into pieces, so that's what "break" means. And most of these words you can a little bit guess their meanings, some of them you will not guess at all.
We're going to start with "break out". Okay, "break out" has a few meanings, and we have the noun "breakout". Okay? "To break out", so the first meaning we're going to look at is a rash, r-a-s-h. Actually I'll write this down for you. If you break out in a rash, it basically means you ate something that you're allergic to. So, some people, for example, are allergic to chocolate. So they eat a piece of chocolate, or... By accident and suddenly on their skin they see little, red dots everywhere. Okay? That is called a rash. It's itchy, it's not very pretty, but it's an allergic reaction. So you break out in a rash, usually. Okay? That's one.
The same thing, on the same idea, when we talk about a disease. So, a disease or a virus, for example, starts somewhere and then it just breaks out. It spreads. So: "to break out" means to spread. So, some diseases, like for example, SARS, I don't know if everybody remembers that disease, it started in one little place, and then it suddenly broke out and travelled all over the world, and it was an epidemic, and everybody was really scared.
Another meaning of "break out" and similar to the idea of spread, when we talk about artists, especially like actors or musicians, they break out, it means they suddenly become very popular or very famous. So, some singers or some bands, they make an album, for example. And, you know, the sales are so-so and not that many people hear about them. Then their next album, so-so, maybe a little bit better, maybe not. Their third album suddenly they break out, suddenly everybody knows who they are, they're very famous, everybody's buying their album, so we also call this their "breakout album". That's the album that spread their name and made them famous. Okay?
And lastly: "to break out" means to escape. So if you break out of jail, that means you escape from jail. So a little bit like, you know, you have... You're handcuffed or you have that ball with a chain on your leg, so you break it and you get out, so you escape. You break out of jail. So that's "break out".
"Break in", a few meanings. One, and again, "break-in" is a noun with the hyphen. "To break in" basically means to enter illegally and using force. So, if someone has a break in in their house, means that the burglar broke the lock or the window, or whatever and came in and stole their things. So: "to break in" means to enter forcefully. Usually we use it with "break into", you break into someone's house, you break into the office, etc. But "break into" has another meaning, we'll get to that. So that's "break in".
Another meaning of "break in": "to break in" means to make something basically more suited to your style, to your comfort. Okay? So think about jeans. When you buy your first pair of jeans or when you buy a new pair of jeans, I should say, they're a little bit stiff. You know? They're not that comfortable, you're not sitting too well in them, so you do a few squats. Okay? Or you do some stretches, or you put it in the laundry, and after a few washes, it becomes a little bit softer, a little bit more flexible, so now your jeans are broken in. You've broken in your jeans. If you take a baseball glove-okay?-this is a very common thing that you need to break in. When you buy a new baseball glove it's very stiff, so if somebody throws you the ball, you can't catch it because you can't close the glove. So, what do you do? […]