English Phrasal Verbs: Hold Off and Give In

What up dudes? Chad here from RealLife English, and today I have another very quick video lesson teaching you two more awesome, opposite phrasal verbs.

So today's two new phrasal verbs are HOLD OFF and GIVE IN.

And remember the reason I am teaching you these phrasal verbs, these two phrasal verbs as opposites it is because it really helps you to memorize the phrasal verb. And I'm going to put it into context at the end of the video so don't miss that.

So first the verb to hold, hold means just to grab something tightly with your hand. To hold on to something. Hold can also be used to say wait, it's common maybe a receptionist will answer the phone and say 'please hold' she means to say please wait a second.

And today's phrasal verb to hold off means to not do something immediately, it means you are going to wait a while until you actually make a decision. And the structure of this is always to hold off on something, or if it's a verb it would always be hold off on doing something, using the gerund it's the 'ing.'

Hold off on traveling, hold off on the meeting, I'm gonna hold off on buying that car, he held off on going out with that woman. So it just means to wait a little while before doing something.

The next phrasal verb is to give in. Obviously give is to give someone a present you know to give something. Give, gave, given is the conjugation of that verb. But to give in does not mean to give someone something, like to give someone a present, the phrasal verb to give in means that you are admitting defeat, or you agree to do something that you do not want to do.

So it's commonly used if I ask you a question and I say 'hey guess how many countries there are in the world? Do you give in?' When I say 'do you give in?' It means, do you accept that you don't know that so I can tell you the answer, do you give in? And give in can also be to do something that you don't want to do.

For example, my girlfriend really wanted me to go to the ballet, I did not want to go but she kept asking and I eventually gave in, I gave in. I said yes.

In a business meeting for example I can say 'that guy was such a good negotiator that we eventually gave in.' We gave in, we accepted his offer, whatever he was negotiating.

So as you can see these two phrasal verbs are opposite, to hold off on something, or to give in, ok to give in. So let me give you the very quick phrase to help you memorize the two phrasal verbs, but also use this as an opportunity to mimic how I am saying, what I am saying, and really trying to work your pronunciation.

So that is it for today's very quick phrasal verb video lesson. That is two more phrasal verbs you can add to your RealLife vocabulary. If you enjoyed this video just subscribe to our channel, and if you guys want to learn more about RealLife English just go to RealLifeGlobal.com, there you are going to see a lot of our articles, podcasts, more videos, and some really awesome fluency courses that will show you how to connect your English learning to your life a make it a much more fun and enjoyable process.

So thank you all so much for watching and I'll see you all on the video here, at RealLife English. Awwwwwwww Yeahhhh 🙂