RETIRE 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

retire let’s get started

let’s start with the basic definition of

the verb retire

to retire means to stop working due to

advancing age or it can mean to stop

working because of an illness

some examples my grandfather retired

last year

when do you think you’ll retire

let’s look at the conjugations for the

verb retire

present retire retires past

retired past participle retired

progressive retiring

now let’s talk about some additional

meanings for this verb

the first additional meaning is to go to

bed to go to bed

this is a very old-fashioned meaning but

let’s look at some examples

she retired early last night we should

retire soon

so this is a rather old-fashioned use of

the verb

retire we don’t use retire in this way

in everyday american english

at this point in time if you watch

movies from

a couple hundred years ago by that i

mean the setting is a couple hundred

years ago

you might hear people using the word

retire to mean

go to bed we don’t use that in everyday

english now

if i told my friends i’m going to retire

now it sounds

really really strange it sounds too

formal too stiff

not good but if you’re interested in

historical movies or historical media

you might see this used so in the first

example sentence

she retired early last night it means

she went to bed early last night

in the second example sentence we should

retire soon

it means we should go to bed soon that’s

all so this is quite a simple way to use

retire but it’s just not used that much

nowadays

let’s go on to the next additional

meaning for the verb retire

retire can mean to leave a professional

position to leave a professional

position let’s look at some examples

he retired from soccer at 34.

i’m retiring from military service next

year

so this use of the verb retire means to

leave

a specific position we see this use of

retire

a lot in sports and in the military

the reason that it’s used more in

something like sports

is because the length of time that a

person can compete

effectively as an athlete is rather

short

so depending on the sport athletes can

continue playing or can continue

participating into maybe their 20s or

perhaps their early to mid

30s depending on the sport again this

might change

depending on the sport but then there’s

a certain age

where players might have difficulty

continuing or their skills

just aren’t the same as they used to be

in those cases

we say that the athlete retires from

that sport which means the athlete

chooses to stop competing in that sport

and maybe they move on to a different

profession

or like for example they become a coach

in that sport

or they start teaching other people

about that sport something related to

their original position

but to retire from soccer as in the

first example sentence

means to stop being a soccer player only

so it doesn’t mean retiring from working

life completely it means to stop that

position

in the second example sentence about

retiring from

the military it means that when a

person’s military term

the period of time they’re required to

a military service member when that time

has finished maybe they can well they

can people can choose to continue in

some cases

but uh in some cases depending on age or

depending on other situations

people might retire from military

service meaning they

end their career doing military service

and move on to another kind of

profession or

move on to something else if that’s not

like retirement

at like a specified retirement age so i

should say

there are some cases where people

continue military service

until reaching a required age of

retirement yes

but some people choose to retire from

military service

prior to that so they conclude their

term of service and retire

from military service they finished

their job for the military

so a lot of information there but to

retire essentially it means to stop that

specific position and go on to something

else not to retire from working

overall let’s go on to the third

additional meaning for this verb which

is to go

back or to move to a quieter location

examples they retired to the lounge

after dinner

she retired to her room to read a book

this use of retire

sounds very formal this is quite formal

it’s not used a lot in everyday speech

if you want to sound extremely polite

if you want to sound like extremely

important i suppose to or if you want

someone else to sound extremely

important you can use retired to mean

like moved to a quieter location

like you retreated from something in the

first example sentence they retired to

the

lounge after dinner it sounds like the

lounge is a more

like quiet or intimate space and they

moved to the lounge

after they finished their dinner in

another room

so they retired there it sounds like

they’re relaxing they’re moving to the

lounge to relax

specifically or to find a quiet space in

the second example sentence

she retired to her room to read a book

the same thing

we have the same kind of feeling it’s

like she moved from maybe

a busier or noisier location she moved

from that place

to her room a quiet place to read a book

so there’s something kind of like

intimate and quiet and nice about that

to retire could mean to move to a

quieter place

so now let’s look at a variation in the

use of the verb retire

to retire can be used in the expression

to retire a jersey or to retire

a number this means to put away a famous

athlete’s jersey

jersey means shirt or to put away a

famous athlete’s

number their player number when the

player retires

some examples michael jordan’s jersey

has been retired by teams he hasn’t even

played for

major league baseball retired jackie

robinson’s number 42.

so in the first example sentence michael

jordan’s jersey has been retired by

teams he hasn’t even played for

that refers to his jersey his shirt his

number

as well um being put in a place of

honor so that means when a player’s

number or when a player’s jersey is

retired it means

other players on that team cannot use

that number

so that means that michael jordan’s

number is forever his number for that

team

no other player on that team can use

that number because

it’s michael jordan’s the number has

been retired the jersey the number has

been

retired it cannot be used so this is

actually a story about the heat he never

played for the heat but they retired his

jersey

interesting the second example sentence

major league baseball

retired jackie robinson’s number so

jackie robinson’s number was 42

so 42 being his number was retired

across

all of the league so that means no

player in the league is allowed to use

the number 42.

jackie robinson was a very significant

baseball player because he broke um

color boundaries uh as a black player of

baseball

so he was a very significant person in

the baseball league

um for this reason and for like his

contributions to the sport

um they retired his number 42. so these

are examples of very famous individuals

who participated in sports

when they concluded their period

as players the league or

in some cases teams choose to retire

their numbers retire their

jerseys as a sign of respect so those

are a few i hope

new ways of using the verb retire if you

have any questions comments or know a

different way of using retire

or just want to practice making some

example sentences

please feel free in the comment section

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thanks very much for watching this

episode of know your verbs and we’ll see

you again next time bye

you