KILL Basic Verbs Learn English Grammar

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hi everybody welcome back to know your

verbs my name is Alicia and in this

episode we’re going to talk about the

verb kill let’s get started

the basic definition of this verb is to

end the life of someone or something

examples the murderer killed four people

I hate killing cockroaches okay let’s

look at the conjugations for this verb

present tense kill kills past tense

killed past participle tense killed

progressive killing

all right so now let’s talk about some

additional meanings for this verb the

first one is to put an end to something

to put an end to something or to cause

something to finish examples our poor

sales killed our chance of success

the CEOs decision killed our project

alright so in both of these examples we

see something coming to an end

something finishes because of something

else so in the first example sentence

poor sales killed our chances of success

meaning the poor sales resulted in or

caused an end to our chances of success

so that means there was no more chance

of success because of poor sales the

poor sales killed it in the second

example sentence the CEOs decision

killed our project there the CEO made a

decision that caused the project to end

that caused the project to stop so we

use kill to explain this okay the second

traditional meaning for the verb is to

cause pain to cause pain examples my

head is killing me

he says his back has been killing him

for two weeks so in these sentences we

see kill in the progressive tense this

is quite common so something is killing

me something is killing him it doesn’t

actually mean that person’s life is

going to end

it means the pain is very strong the

pain is extremely bad and it feels like

they’re dying it’s like it’s so bad it’s

so uncomfortable we use the expression

killing like I said we tend to use this

in the progressive tense we don’t really

say my head killed me that sounds

strange or my head kills me but rather

my head is killing me because it’s like

a temporary situation remember we use

the continuous or the progressive tense

for temporary situations and pain in

most cases is temporary so we say this

is killing me the next meaning is to

become very angry to become very angry

with someone let’s look at some examples

first oh man my boss is going to kill me

for this mistake

your mom is gonna kill you for making

such a mess this expression doesn’t

really mean that someone’s life is going

to end

instead this use of kill me it means

that someone is going to become very

very angry so in the first example

sentence oh man my boss is gonna kill me

for this mistake it means I made a

mistake and my boss is going to be very

very angry with me because of my mistake

so it doesn’t mean the boss is going to

end this person’s life just the boss is

going to be very angry in the second

example sentence your mom is gonna kill

you for making such a mess

again it means the mother is going to be

very very angry at the other person in

the conversation the mother is going to

be so mad because of the mess but we use

the expression your mother is gonna kill

you she’s gonna kill you so quite

extreme level of anger in casual casual

expressions only oh also we show the

reason for this anger with 4 2 so my

boss is gonna kill me for making a

mistake

my mother is gonna kill me for making a

mess so we show the reason with 4 the

fourth meaning here is to consume

something completely this is often used

with drinks examples we killed three

bottles of wine at dinner the students

killed the keg in an hour this it’s a

very very casual expression that

suggests kind of a surprising amount and

like I said it’s usually used for drinks

like you consumed more drinks than you

expected like oh wow we drank a lot we

killed three bottles of wine at dinner

last night two of us so that seems like

quite a lot I think that’s an extreme

example but to say killed something

means you completely finished everything

was gone so to kill a drink

means to finish it completely okay

let’s take a look at some variations for

the verb kill the first one is to kill

time to kill time

this means waste time to waste time

examples I’ve got about 15 minutes to

kill before my next meeting

we’re just killing time until the movie

starts

so yeah this just means to waste time so

I’ve got 15 minutes to kill means I’ve

got 15 minutes to waste I’ve got 15

minutes to destroy like I have 15 extra

minutes I have no plan for these 15

minutes so I’m going to kill them just

do nothing waste of time

second example sentence is the same

thing until the movie were just killing

time so this is our current status just

wasting time until the movie the second

variation is the expression to kill it

to kill it this is a very positive and

casual expression which means to do

something with a high level of skill

like sports or entertainment or your job

to kill it examples you’re killing it

lately Serena Williams killed it at the

tournament last week killing it in

progressive tents in the first sentence

you’re killing it means you’re doing a

great job or like you’re doing awesome

or your work is so great lately and it’s

a very casual but very like positive

phrase it’s encouraging like wow you’re

killing it great work so it’s like it

sounds like your level of ability is

quite high in the second example

sentence it’s a sport example Serena

Williams killed it at the tournament

last week means her performance at the

tournament in the past was really really

good she did a fantastic job she won all

her matches for example she killed it in

past tense the next variation is to kill

off something or to kill something off

both are okay this means to destroy

something over time so it’s it’s

different from to kill like killing

something to kill a spider for example

is in one moment one motion may be to

kill off something or to kill something

off means over a period of time

something is destroyed examples big

companies are killing off small

businesses

Ellucian is killing off sea life so both

of these examples show destruction or

like death happening over a period of

time so maybe not like death of a person

or death of an animal but rather like a

business goes away or like an

environment is destroyed for example so

in the first example big companies are

killing off small businesses means big

companies are growing bigger and bigger

and destroying small businesses over

time in the second example sentence it’s

about the environment pollution is

killing off sea life gradually over time

sea life is dying alright so those are a

few perhaps new ways to use the verb

kill I hope that you found something new

and useful of course if you want to try

to make a sentence if you have any

questions or comments please feel free

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study tools thanks very much for

watching this episode of know your verbs

and we’ll see you again next time bye

bye

okay now let’s look at some what okay

let’s look at the cup here okay let’s

look at the conjugate conjugations

conjugation okay kill we’re going to

talk about the verb kill I look like a

killer killer that’s the knife sound

which is weird because knives don’t make

that sound if anything

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