FLY 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 fly let’s get started

okay let’s talk about the basic

definition of the verb fly the basic

definition is to travel through the air

to travel through the air some examples

we flew to Moscow from London a bird

flew into my window now let’s look at

the conjugations for this bird present

fly flies past flew

past participle Sloane progressive

flying

okay so now let’s talk about some

additional meanings for this verb the

first additional meaning is to wave in

the air while being attached to

something else so this is like flags or

well we’ll see some other examples

example sentences that boat is flying a

French flag let’s fly kites this

afternoon so in both of these examples

sentences we see objects which are

waving in the air in some way but

they’re attached to something else in

the first example sentence it’s a flag

the boat is flying a French flag which

means the boat is displaying a French

flag the flag is attached to the boat

but it’s waving in the air in the second

example sentence let’s fly kites this

afternoon

a kite is a toy that waves in the air

but it’s attached to a string that a

person holds so we use the verb fly to

talk about this activity let’s fly kites

this afternoon okay let’s go on to the

second additional meaning for this verb

the second additional meaning is to move

very quickly to move very quickly some

examples of this his sports car flew

past us on the highway she flew down the

hall to turn in her paper before the

deadline okay so in both of these

examples sentences we see the word fly

or a conjugated version of it however it

doesn’t mean traveling through the air

it just means moving super fast so in

the first example it’s a sports car the

sports car flew past us on the highway

means the sports car went past us very

very quickly so we use the verb flew I

think because flying like in order to

fly you have to move quickly there’s not

really slow flying so we use the verb

fly or in this case flew past tense to

express that the car was traveling very

fast in the second example sentence she

flew down the hall it means probably she

was running so she was traveling really

quickly to turn in her paper before the

deadline so when we want to talk about

moving fast like extra extra fast we can

use the verb fly instead of like move or

run or drive so it’s kind of like an

extra level of speed

so you can try that out okay let’s go on

to the third meaning for this verb the

third meaning is to escape to escape

some examples my bird flew its cage he

had to fly from the city to save his

life

okay so fly is used in these sentences

to mean escape you won’t really hear

this used so much in everyday

conversation you may however see this in

novels or in other writing it’s a little

more common these days to see that in

written English especially when telling

stories or maybe when reading things

from a long time ago we don’t use it

that much in everyday conversation in

American English these days but it does

have this meaning to escape the fourth

meaning is to pass information quickly

like gossip or rumors or accusations

passing information quickly examples

accusations of mismanagement are flying

rumors flew that they were dating so the

idea here is that information is moving

so quickly it’s like the information is

flying from one person to another it’s

so fast in the first example accusations

of mismanagement were flying so here

it’s a passive expression we’re flying

presumably among people in the company

or in like among people who are related

to the situation but accusations were

flying means like all these accusations

were going around at very fast speed in

the second example sentence rumors flew

that they were dating it’s like all

these people have rumors have ideas

about this couple are they dating aren’t

they dating what’s the story so all of

those are rumors that people are passing

quickly among one another

okay so now let’s look at some

variations some other ways to use this

room the first variation is to fly at

someone to fly at someone this means to

move quickly at someone like an attack

examples the murderer flew at the hero

she flew at me shouting about my

mistakes when when someone flies at

someone else the key preposition there

is at someone else it’s like one person

doesn’t move but another person usually

because they’re feeling extremely

emotional like kind of moves quickly

towards them usually like because

they’re angry I think and maybe they’re

gonna attack this other person but they

move very suddenly and very quickly to

another person so again we use the verb

fly to talk about that it’s like very

quick very sudden motion in the first

example sentence the murderer flew at

the hero it’s like the hero was standing

somewhere and a murderer tried to attack

the hero flew at the hero moved quickly

the second example sentence is the same

she flew at me shouting about my

mistakes so there’s some anger some

unhappy feeling that’s happening there

but we use the verb fly to talk about

quick motion like attacking motion to

the next variation is to fly blind to

fly blind this expression means to do

something without being able to see the

way forward it means to do something by

guessing when I was researching this

actually it’s said that this phrase

originated or started in world war ii

actually pilots in World War two when

like their radio controls or are their

communications stopped working they had

to fly their planes using only like the

controls they had in the plane so they

couldn’t contact anyone outside the

plane so flying blind actually come the

flying part comes from that apparently

blind means unable to see unable to see

so flying blind now these days doesn’t

only mean flying a plane without having

communications it means doing something

without being able to have like outside

help or outside guidance or knowing

exactly what

so examples our radios are down we’re

flying blind I have no idea how to fill

out these forms I’m flying blind so in

the second example in particular it’s

kind of a modern-day situation where I

don’t know what to do I’m doing my best

with these forms but I’m flying blind I

have no idea what to do I’m guessing so

those are a few new ways I hope that you

can use the verb fly there are some

other ways too so if you know some other

ways or if you have any questions or if

you want to try to make an example

sentence please feel free to do so in

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for other good study tools thanks very

much for watching this episode of know

your verbs and we’ll see you again soon

bye Mike

[Music]

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