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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 follow let’s go so the basic

definition of this verb is to move

behind someone or something and to go to

the same place that that person or thing

is going to examples I’ll follow you to

the park follow me I know where we’re

going

the conjugations of this verb now

present follow follows past followed

past participle followed progressive

following

now let’s talk about some additional

meanings of this verb okay

the first additional meaning is to

understand to understand examples I

don’t follow you

do you follow so we can really just

replace the word follow with understand

here in the first example sentence I

don’t follow you we can say I don’t

understand you it means I don’t

understand what you’re saying or I don’t

understand what you’re thinking I don’t

follow you

it sounds more casual like I don’t

follow your train of thought

train of thought means like the path you

took to arrive at your destination

thinking wise follow you just sounds

more casual it’s like I can’t understand

I can’t follow the path of your logic in

other words so I don’t follow you in the

second sentence it’s a question do you

follow meaning do you understand do you

understand what I’m saying so follow can

mean understand quite simply okay let’s

go to the second meaning for this verb

so the second one is to happen after

something else to come after something

else

examples of this a delicious dessert

followed the roast chicken a luxurious

hot spring experience follows a massage

on this one date or in these example

sentences we see follow is used to

describe something that happens after

something else

in the first example sentence I

mentioned a dessert that followed a

roast chicken

so yes dessert is being presented first

in the sentence so I said a delicious

dessert followed a roast chicken so that

means a delicious dessert came after a

roast chicken so followed yes followed

shows the thing that came after the

other thing so we see the same thing in

the second example sentence a luxurious

hot spring experience follows a relaxing

massage so yes luxurious hot spring

experience is first in the sentence

however we’re using the verb follows so

that means it comes after a massage in

this case so yes it’s presented first in

the sentence but this use of follow

means come after so that means we’re

presenting a sequence in this way let’s

go to the third meaning

which is to obey to obey so to obey

something okay examples of this to obey

did you follow the instructions on the

instant ramen she decided to follow her

managers advice so in both of these

sentences we’re meaning obey with the

verb follow so we could say did you obey

the instructions on the instant ramen

but obey sounds quite strong we use obey

for like people who are in positions of

power above us so in this case with

ramen its packaging so we usually say

follow the instructions on the packaging

so meaning obey the instructions on the

packaging but obey is quite a strong

word we use follow instead in the second

sentence she followed her managers

advice is like she obeyed her managers

advice so yes a manager is in a position

of power above you sure obey is

typically used when we are given like

strict orders for something like like

military or like something from the

president something from very high up

and like very strong orders like like

obey your commanding officer or

something like that in this case it’s

advice meaning that it’s probably not so

serious it’s like a suggestion and it’s

a manager so she has probably like a

workplace relationship so we would

probably use follow someone’s advice in

this case so follow means obey but it’s

not quite as strong not nearly as strong

much softer so the fourth meaning is to

be very interested in something and to

watch that thing closely examples of

this I don’t really follow sports she’s

been following the news very closely so

the first example sentence is a negative

I don’t really follow sports meaning I

don’t really have much interest in and

therefore I don’t really watch much

sports in the second example sentence

she’s been following the news very

closely it means she’s been very

interested in and watching a lot of news

lately

so this use of follow is quite

convenient it it includes meanings of

being interested in something and

watching something carefully or close

so to follow a topic or to follow an

activity so this means being interested

in that activity and doing or seeing or

reading about a lot of it

variations let’s look at some variations

of this firm the first variation is to

follow suit to follow suit this means to

do the same thing as the person

previously mentioned in the sentence or

in the situation examples my manager

just quit the company I think I’m gonna

follow suit

her boyfriend decided to leave the party

so she followed suit so in both of these

examples we see one person makes a

decision or takes an action and the

other person does the same thing we show

that with the expression follow suit so

in the first example I manager quit the

company

I think I’m gonna follow suit so I think

I’m going to do the same thing as the

person I just mentioned so my manager

quit the company I think I’m going to do

that as well I think I’m going to follow

suit in the second example sentence her

boyfriend decided to leave the party so

she followed suit so he left the party

she decided to do the same thing he did

she followed suit past tense

she did the same thing he did so follow

suit means to do the same thing as the

person previously mentioned the next

variation is to follow through to follow

through we often use to follow through

on or to follow through with something

this means to keep a promise or to do

something you said you were going to do

examples I hate it when people don’t

follow through with their plans that’s

true

that’s called flaking okay example

sentence number two I’m going to follow

through on my resolution to find a new

job okay so here we see a couple

examples so the first one is sort of a

negative statement I hate it when people

don’t follow through with their plans

meaning I hate it when people don’t do

the things they say they’re going to do

so I hate it when people make a plan and

break the plan or make a suggestion and

don’t do that thing

they don’t follow through with their

plans in the second example the speaker

previously made a resolution a

resolution is a kind of goal so the

speaker previously made a resolution the

speaker has decided to follow through

meaning to to try to achieve that

resolution to try to do that action so

that means that the speaker is going to

find a new job so the speaker is going

to do the thing he or she promised to do

the last variation for follow today is

to follow in someone’s footsteps to

follow in someone’s footsteps this is

kind of an easy one to imagine so to

follow in the same footsteps as someone

who walked before you however that

person who walked before you is

typically a parent or maybe a

grandparent or someone senior to you

that you admire example sentences he’s

following in his father’s footsteps and

becoming a lawyer she decided not to

follow in her mother’s footsteps after

all so to follow in someone’s footsteps

typically refers to a career choice so

in the first example sentence we saw

lawyer so he decided to follow in his

father’s footsteps meaning he decided to

do the same thing his father did as a

career become a lawyer so meaning chose

the same thing as his parent in the

second we see a different situation she

decided not to follow in her mother’s

footsteps meaning she chose a different

career path from her mother or she chose

a different life path from her mother so

to follow in someone’s footsteps means

to do the same thing usually the same

career as their parent or their

grandparents so those are a few new ways

to use the verb follow I hope if you

have any questions if you want to try to

make a sentence or if you know some

other ways to use follow please feel

free to try it out in the comments great

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know your verbs and we’ll see you again

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