BITE Basic Verbs Learn English Grammar

hi everybody welcome back to know your

verbs my name is Alicia and in this

episode we’re going to talk about the

verb bite let’s get started

let’s talk about the basic definition of

the verb right it means to use your

teeth to cut or tear or something

examples I hate it when I bite my tongue

you shouldn’t bite your nails let’s look

at the conjugations for this verb

present bite bites past bit past

participle bit progressive biting

let’s talk about some additional

meanings for this verb the first one is

one that we use when we go fishing which

means for fish to eat bait we use the

verb bite for this examples the fish

aren’t biting today I think something

bit my lure so bite refers to fish

eating bait so baits meaning edible

things or lure as in the second example

sentence kind of a shiny metal or

plastic object that attracts fish it

looks like food but there are hooks in

it yeah so we use bite to talk about the

fish trying to eat that thing or

actually swallowing that thing so the

reason I introduced that we’ll talk

about with the second additional meaning

for this firm so this leads into the

second additional meaning for this verb

the second additional meaning for this

verb is to show interest in something to

show interest in something examples

alright I’ll bite

what’s the secret the new clients didn’t

bite on the deal so here a bite means

show interest so the reason that I

introduced this as the second meaning

after the fish bait eating introduction

is because we can imagine that when

we’re showing our interest in something

it’s similar to the way fish bite a lure

fish tried to bite food so when we’re

interested in some information like a

secret as in the first example or a

special deal as in the second example we

want to bite it we want to get that

thing so this means to show interest yes

but it means we’re kind of going after

we’re trying to chase that thing so we

can get it and enjoy it perhaps so two

bites can mean to show interest in

something the third additional meaning

for this verb is to be bad or to be

unappealing examples this lunch bites

your boss bites so here we’re using

bites in the first example your lunch

bites it doesn’t mean your lunch like a

sandwich physically bites you it means

your lunch is not very good your lunch

is bad your lunch is unappealing in the

second example your boss bites it

doesn’t mean your boss is a person who

bites people it means your boss is bad

your boss is not a good person your boss

not a good boss for example this is a

slang term that means not good

unappealing however the fourth

additional meaning for this verb is to

have a habit of biting so someone or

something that has a habit of biting

things we can use the verb bite to talk

about that examples watch out for that

dog he bites careful

I heard that kid bites generally this

use of the verb bite is used for animals

and for kids so in other words creatures

or small people who have not yet learned

or don’t know that it’s wrong to bite

someone so this is not used for adults

so you probably won’t confuse this

meaning with meaning number three of

like your boss bites because your boss

as an adult has learned not to bite

people so this is probably only going to

be used with animals and maybe kids so

people or creatures who don’t know

let’s move along to some variations of

this verb the first one is to come back

to bite somebody to come back to bite

somebody

this refers to a problem that if not

handled now could cause a bigger problem

in the future

examples I didn’t put gas in the car

yesterday I hope that doesn’t come back

to bite me she didn’t stay updated on

the project progress and it came back to

bite er so these examples refer to a

problem that’s not properly handled at

the right time in the first example

sentence a person did not put gas in his

or her car yesterday so the idea is that

perhaps they’re going to run out of gas

in the future they should have put gas

in the car yesterday but they did not

they should have and it might cause a

bigger problem in the future in the

second example sentence it’s a past

tense situation a person the she in the

situation did not stay updated on the

project progress and thus there was a

negative effect in the future because

she did not properly handle the

situation so for something to come back

and bite you means you didn’t take care

at the present time and in the future it

caused a bigger problem so be careful of

this one let’s go on to the second

variation which is to bite someone’s

head off this is quite a strange

expression but to bite someone’s head

off means usually too quickly and

angrily say something and it can often

be for something very very small not

necessarily for a huge problem but maybe

just a quick show of anger sometimes

over a small point examples my mom bit

my head off for coming home ten minutes

late last night he made one small

mistake you don’t have to bite his head

off

so of course this doesn’t literally mean

biting someone’s head off of their body

but it just means making a really quick

and angry comment or series of comments

to somebody because of something small

usually in the first example sentence

it’s a ten minute delay so one person is

ten minutes late getting home and the

speaker’s mother bit his or her head off

meaning was very angry at them for a

short period of time for that mistake in

the second example sentence he made one

small mistake you

don’t have to bite his head off that

means that you don’t need to be so angry

at this person for a small mistake

so to bite someone’s head off is a quick

show of anger refers to that the third

variation is to bite the bullet to bite

the bullet refers to doing something

that you don’t want to do but maybe

you’re forced to do it or it’s really

not appealing you don’t want to do it

but you decide you have to or there’s

some other reason that you’re pushed to

do it you bite the bullet and do it

so examples I think I have to bite the

bullet and take the boring day job we

bit the bullet and applied for a

mortgage so these are maybe examples of

things the speakers don’t want to do but

they decide they need to do for some

reason or they’re forced to do for some

reason so those are a few new ways I

hope that you can use the verb bite

there are quite a few interesting

meanings to this verb for sure of course

if you know a different meaning if you

want to try to make an example sentence

or if you have any questions please let

us know in the comment section of this

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for other good stuff too thanks very

much for watching this episode of know

your verbs and we’ll see you again next

time bye bye time to bite let’s bite

hopefully most adults know that we

should not use we should not use our

teeth on people unless you’re a cannibal

so perhaps there are some exceptions to

this rule all right ohm but let’s think

it’s fish fish is the secret to my

special scent what what what you didn’t

hear anything yeah verbs are fun okay