ACT Basic Verbs Learn English Grammar
hi everybody my name is Alisha welcome
back to know your verbs in this episode
we’re going to talk about the verb act
let’s get started acting
it was hard to choose like a basic
definition of this verb because I think
depending on the person there are a
couple different meanings that you might
think is the basic definition of fact so
I’ve kind of picked one for this lesson
okay so the basic definition for this
lesson is to take action to do something
examples act now and save money we need
to act quickly okay now let’s look at
the conjugations for this verb present
act acts past acted past participle
acted progressive acting
so now let’s talk about some additional
meanings for this verb the first one is
to perform as a character to perform as
a character some examples he acted in a
musical last summer I love to act okay
so in the first example sentence he
acted in a musical last summer means he
performed as a character in a musical
last summer so to act means like to
perform in some way in a production so a
musical or a theater production by the
way musicals are the performances with
singing and dancing usually a play is
the same thing but no singing and no
dancing really just talking so a play is
just talking musicals singing and
dancing so he acted in a musical last
summer the second example sentence was I
love to act in other words I love to
perform as a character so this may be is
a common hobby for many people I think
okay let’s go on to the second meaning
for this verb to behave to behave so
this is a very open meaning to behave in
some way it means like your manners are
like the way that you present yourself
or the way that you show yourself
examples she acts like she’s angry but
she’s actually happy
my dog is acting strange
okay so in these examples we’re talking
about a person’s behavior in the first
example sentence she’s acting like she’s
angry it means she’s behaving in a way
that makes it seem like she’s angry so
something about her behavior maybe her
facial expression or her body language
or something like that we think she’s
angry she seemed angry but she’s
actually happy in the second example
sentence my dog is acting strange
there’s something about my dog’s
behavior that is strange so maybe my dog
is behaving in a way that is not typical
for my dog so maybe my dog is running in
circles but he doesn’t usually do that
that’s strange I could say my dog is
acting strange so my dog is behaving in
a strange way okay let’s go on to
another additional meaning for this verb
the third additional meaning is to
perform a function to perform a function
some examples my phone case acts as a
credit card holder she’s acting as
liaison with the new clients okay so on
both of these sentences we see one thing
or one person is behaving or performing
a specific function in the first example
sentence it’s a phone case my phone case
acts as a credit card holder so it has
the function of a phone case yes but
there’s also this other function I can
use my phone case to put credit cards
inside so it acts as a credit card
holder to in the second example sentence
she’s acting as a liaison with the new
clients it means she is performing the
function of a liaison a liaison is a
person who’s kind of a go-between for
communication between two groups so she
is the go-between she’s performing the
function of the go-between she’s acting
as a liaison for the clients the fourth
additional meaning for this verb is to
have an effect to have an effect some
examples the poison acted quickly
the sad story acted on the audience’s
emotions okay in the first example
sentence the poison acted quickly we see
the poison had an effect quickly that’s
what acted means here we’re seeing it in
the past tense and it means to have an
effect in this case so the poison had an
effect quickly in the second example
sentence however we’re talking about an
effect on people’s emotions not like a
medicinal effect like we saw in the
first example sentence the second
example sentence was the sad story acted
on the audience’s emotions in other
words the sad story had an effect on the
audience’s emotions so that means
probably that the audience felt sad or
the audience felt maybe disappointed or
something the audience’s emotions were
affected by the story by the sad story
so we say the sad story acted on the
audience’s emotions so this means to
have an effect
okay let’s move on to some variations in
how we use this verb the first variation
is act up to act up this means to
exhibit negative behavior to have bad
behavior some examples my asthma is
acting up the kids acted up at the
dinner party last night
okay so in the first example sentence I
mentioned asthma actually asthma is a
sickness it’s a disease asthma asthma is
very common it’s a lung problem or kind
of a breathing related problem where it
becomes difficult to breathe depending
on different situations for different
people so if I say my asthma is acting
up it means my asthma is behaving in a
negative way my asthma is there’s some
problem with it my condition is not good
because of my asthma my asthma my
illness in other words is kind of strong
right now it’s acting up so I’m having
problems because of my asthma right now
in the second example sentence however
it’s a person in this case kids so kids
acting up at a dinner party means kids
were displaying bad behavior negative
behavior at a dinner party so acting up
means something negative is happening
some kind of negative behavior is
occurring okay so the next variation is
to act out to act out also does mean to
behave in kind of a negative way but the
difference between act out and act up is
act out has the feeling of doing this
bad behavior in order to get attention
so you act out because you want to be
noticed some examples of this your son
has been acting out in school
she’s only acting out because she wants
attention so acting out is like you’re
making some kind of extreme behavior or
maybe it’s like kind of scandalous or
maybe it’s really rude or maybe it’s
like too sexy there can be lots of
different ways to act out but the idea
is that the action happens because this
person wants to get some attention
whether negative or positive doesn’t
matter just wants attention but we
should be careful because this is
different from to act something out to
act something out is different from to
act out to act something out means to
represent an activity with your body so
that means to showcase a scene or to
explain a scene in a movie or to kind of
show somebody a gesture with your body
so examples we acted out our favorite
movie scene she acted out the story so
acting something out means using your
body like physically using parts of your
body to act out to show something so for
example like a simple action if I want
to act out making a phone call I would
do this like making the gestures of
making a phone call we could say this is
acting out a phone call hello that’s
acting something out I’m using my body
and I’m using gestures to explain
something to explain a behavior so this
is different to act something out and to
act out have very different meanings so
be cautious to act something out takes a
direct object to act out does not so
please be careful of this there are some
grammatical hints for you there all
right that’s everything so I hope that
you got some new ways of using the verb
act of course there are other ways to
use this verb check out a dictionary if
you want to see some other information
of course if you have something you want
to share or if there’s an example
sentence you would like to try to make
please feel free to do so in the comment
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much for watching this episode of know
your verbs and we’ll see you again soon
bye bye