CALL Basic Verbs Learn English Grammar

hi everybody welcome back to know your

verbs my name is Alicia and in this

lesson we’re going to talk about the

verb call let’s get started

let’s look at the basic definition for

this verb the basic definition of the

verb call is to use a phone or other

device to communicate with someone like

an iPhone or maybe video call with your

computer example sentences call me maybe

I tried calling but nobody answered now

let’s look at the conjugations for this

verb present call calls past

called past participle called

progressive calling

so now let’s talk about some additional

meanings for this verb

so the first additional meaning is to

give someone a name or to address

someone with that name examples please

call me Alfred let’s go to that new

restaurant called TGI Thursday’s so we

use call to refer to people’s names or

to names of like restaurants locations

whatever you can say a place called a

person called or he’s called she’s

called to refer to the name or to refer

to like a nickname as well let’s go on

to the second additional meaning for

this which is to think of someone or

something as something else so this is

sort of a vague hard to understand

definition let’s look at some examples

she let you stay at her house that’s

what I call a friend he’s smart but I

wouldn’t call him a genius so here we’re

thinking of someone as something else in

the first example that’s what I call a

friend so when the person speaking uses

the verb call they mean that’s what I

consider a friend so I consider a person

like that to be a friend but we use call

to make that a shorter expression in the

second example sentence I wouldn’t call

him a genius we’re seeing I would not

say that he is a genius I would not

consider him to be a genius so that

doesn’t seem appropriate to me so we

shorten this by saying I wouldn’t call

him a genius I wouldn’t call him a

genius

the third additional meaning for the

verb call is to use a loud voice like to

get someone’s attention the attention of

a person the attention of an animal

maybe a crowd you’re calling something

you’re calling out for something you

might hear call out or call for or call

to perhaps even examples call the dog

over here she called her son’s name as

she searched the crowd so in both of

these we’re using a big voice to get

someone’s attention so call the dog over

here means like use your voice like call

the dog’s name for example or do

something to get the dog’s attention and

make the dog come over here in the

second example sentence

a woman is maybe searching for her son

and she’s calling his name as she

searches through a crowd so using a loud

voice in the hopes of getting someone’s

attention let’s go on to the next

additional meaning which is to request

an event or an action so this is when we

want something to happen and it usually

sounds a little bit formal examples the

CEO called a board meeting we call for

new Parks regulations in our

neighborhood okay so this means we want

something we’re demanding something

we’re requesting something the CEO

called a board meeting means the CEO

demanded or strongly requested a board

meeting so it’s like the CEO made this

request and everybody came to the

meeting so in the second example

sentence we call for new parks

regulations in our neighborhood there we

see the demand is for a regulation the

people we want something in the

neighborhood they’re requesting new

regulations so they use the expression

we call for something so you can use

both of these like to call an event like

to call a meeting to call a board

meeting to call a conference or you can

call for something to happen or some

kind of change to happen call for bla

bla bla

let’s move on to some variations for

this firm the first one is actually sort

of two expressions in one it’s call it a

day and call it a night this is an

expression we use when we are ready to

finish working or finish like enjoying

ourselves finish playing as well we

typically use these as adults children

don’t really use these expressions we

use call it a day at the end of a

working day we use call it a night when

we’re ready to be finished like spending

time with friends or ready to come home

after being out late at night for

example examples it’s 8:00 I think I’m

gonna call it a day

it’s been fun but I’m gonna call it a

night so on both of these you can see

I’m gonna call it a night means I’m

gonna say that I’m ready to be done for

the day is essentially what this means

so I’m finished to say this very very

quickly I’m finished for today I’m gonna

call it a day

means I’m calling today finished or I’m

calling tonight finished I’m considering

it finished so you’ll hear it call it a

day for work and call it a night for fun

activities okay let’s go on to the

second variation the second variation is

to call someone or something off this

expression means to cancel something

like an event or to stop someone’s

behavior this can be for well a person

or as opposed for an animal as well

examples call your dog off oh no it’s

gonna rain we have to call off the BB Q

so in both of these situations there’s

something that must be cancelled so in

the first example call your dog off it

means your dog is maybe too aggressive

someone’s dog is too aggressive it’s

barking it’s making noise it’s attacking

someone maybe so call your dog off means

stop your dog’s behavior in the second

example sentence we’re gonna have to

call off the barbeque means we’re going

to have to cancel the barbecue because

of rain in this case so to call off an

event or to call off a person to call

off an animal it means to stop or to

cancel that thing so those are a few new

ways I hope that you can use the verb

call I hope that that was helpful for

you of course if you know some other

ways to use the verb call there are

quite a few please feel free to give it

a try or let us know

in the comments of this video of course

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thanks very much for watching this

episode of know your verbs and we’ll see

you again soon bye bye

let’s go on to yeah I see you you are

orange okay I was so deep I’m gonna call

you seagull face from now on I’m on the

seagull thing yeah I’m gonna call you

donut but what I’m gonna call you

Facebook friend Kyle weird no this is

very this is just getting worse isn’t it