Grammar and Cleaning, Part 2

2023-08-25

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1
  • Cleaning is one of those activities that we have to do.
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  • But what kinds of words and structures do we use to talk about this common activity?
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  • In today's Everyday Grammar, we will explore a few ways to talk about cleaning.
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  • This lesson builds on the ideas of a recent lesson that explored verbs and objects.
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  • Today we will explore phrasal verbs that connect to cleaning.
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  • Phrasal verbs are groups of words. They include a verb and another short word or words.
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  • Together, these groups of words take on a different meaning from what the individual words suggest.
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  • There are many phrasal verbs in English.
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  • But we only use a small number of these when we talk about cleaning.
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  • In this lesson, we will explore three phrasal verbs that connect with cleaning.
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  • All of them involve the short word "up."
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  • The phrasal verbs are "clean up," "pick up," and "wash up."
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  • Let's explore each of these in turn.
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  • "Clean up" has a few closely related meanings.
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  • It means to remove dirt or waste.
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  • It also means to make a room clean and orderly.
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  • "Clean up" comes in a few different forms.
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  • Sometimes we use clean up without a noun or noun phrase after it, as in:
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  • "Let's take some time to clean up."
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  • But we often use a noun or noun phrase with clean up, as in "clean up something."
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  • So, you might say:
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  • "I need to clean up the kitchen."
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  • Or,
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  • "He needs to clean up his room."
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  • In our example, the noun phrases "the kitchen" and "his room" come after the phrasal verb.
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  • But you should know that sometimes we use the noun or noun phrase in between "clean" and the short word "up," as in "clean something up."
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  • So, you might hear a person say:
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  • "She needs to clean this mess up."
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  • You might be worried about these two forms - the one in which the noun or noun phrase comes in the middle of the phrasal verb and the one in which the noun or noun phrase comes after it.
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  • The good news is that your meaning will still be understood regardless of which form you choose.
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  • In other words, these two statements have the same basic meaning in most situations:
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  • "She needs to clean this mess up."
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  • And,
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  • "She needs to clean up this mess."
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  • Our second phrasal verb is "pick up."
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  • "Pick up" has a few different meanings in different situations.
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  • But when we are talking about cleaning, we use it to mean the action of lifting something from the floor, ground, or other low surface.
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  • Once again, we use "pick up" with a noun or noun phrase.
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  • And just like "clean up," "pick up" can have the noun phrase come after the phrasal verb or in the middle of the phrasal verb.
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  • So, you might hear a person say:
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  • "Could you pick up those toys?"
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  • Or,
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  • "Could you pick those toys up?"
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  • Once again, the two forms have the same meaning although the grammar - the noun phrase placement - is a little different.
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  • Here is another example.
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  • Imagine a situation in which a little baby has thrown some toys on the ground.
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  • A person might say:
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  • "I will pick up the toys."
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  • Or,
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  • "I will pick the toys up."
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  • Our final phrasal verb is "wash up."
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  • When we talk about cleaning, we generally use "wash up" in the sense of washing your hands, face, or dishes.
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  • So, you might hear a person say:
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  • "I need to wash up before we go to the concert."
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  • Or,
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  • "We need to wash up the dishes before we go to bed."
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  • An important point about phrasal verbs.
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  • The short word at the end of the phrasal verb determines the meaning.
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  • So, by paying careful attention to the short word or words, you will improve your ability to use the correct phrasal verb at the right time.
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  • That is why we chose to use phrasal verbs only with "up" for this lesson.
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  • Now, whenever you talk about cleaning, you will remember that you can use several phrasal verbs that end in "up," - clean up, pick up, and wash up.
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  • I'm John Russell.