CALL Basic Verbs Learn English Grammar
hi everybody welcome back to know your
verbs my name is Alicia and in this
lesson we’re going to talk about the
verb call let’s get started
let’s look at the basic definition for
this verb the basic definition of the
verb call is to use a phone or other
device to communicate with someone like
an iPhone or maybe video call with your
computer example sentences call me maybe
I tried calling but nobody answered now
let’s look at the conjugations for this
verb present call calls past
called past participle called
progressive calling
so now let’s talk about some additional
meanings for this verb
so the first additional meaning is to
give someone a name or to address
someone with that name examples please
call me Alfred let’s go to that new
restaurant called TGI Thursday’s so we
use call to refer to people’s names or
to names of like restaurants locations
whatever you can say a place called a
person called or he’s called she’s
called to refer to the name or to refer
to like a nickname as well let’s go on
to the second additional meaning for
this which is to think of someone or
something as something else so this is
sort of a vague hard to understand
definition let’s look at some examples
she let you stay at her house that’s
what I call a friend he’s smart but I
wouldn’t call him a genius so here we’re
thinking of someone as something else in
the first example that’s what I call a
friend so when the person speaking uses
the verb call they mean that’s what I
consider a friend so I consider a person
like that to be a friend but we use call
to make that a shorter expression in the
second example sentence I wouldn’t call
him a genius we’re seeing I would not
say that he is a genius I would not
consider him to be a genius so that
doesn’t seem appropriate to me so we
shorten this by saying I wouldn’t call
him a genius I wouldn’t call him a
genius
the third additional meaning for the
verb call is to use a loud voice like to
get someone’s attention the attention of
a person the attention of an animal
maybe a crowd you’re calling something
you’re calling out for something you
might hear call out or call for or call
to perhaps even examples call the dog
over here she called her son’s name as
she searched the crowd so in both of
these we’re using a big voice to get
someone’s attention so call the dog over
here means like use your voice like call
the dog’s name for example or do
something to get the dog’s attention and
make the dog come over here in the
second example sentence
a woman is maybe searching for her son
and she’s calling his name as she
searches through a crowd so using a loud
voice in the hopes of getting someone’s
attention let’s go on to the next
additional meaning which is to request
an event or an action so this is when we
want something to happen and it usually
sounds a little bit formal examples the
CEO called a board meeting we call for
new Parks regulations in our
neighborhood okay so this means we want
something we’re demanding something
we’re requesting something the CEO
called a board meeting means the CEO
demanded or strongly requested a board
meeting so it’s like the CEO made this
request and everybody came to the
meeting so in the second example
sentence we call for new parks
regulations in our neighborhood there we
see the demand is for a regulation the
people we want something in the
neighborhood they’re requesting new
regulations so they use the expression
we call for something so you can use
both of these like to call an event like
to call a meeting to call a board
meeting to call a conference or you can
call for something to happen or some
kind of change to happen call for bla
bla bla
let’s move on to some variations for
this firm the first one is actually sort
of two expressions in one it’s call it a
day and call it a night this is an
expression we use when we are ready to
finish working or finish like enjoying
ourselves finish playing as well we
typically use these as adults children
don’t really use these expressions we
use call it a day at the end of a
working day we use call it a night when
we’re ready to be finished like spending
time with friends or ready to come home
after being out late at night for
example examples it’s 8:00 I think I’m
gonna call it a day
it’s been fun but I’m gonna call it a
night so on both of these you can see
I’m gonna call it a night means I’m
gonna say that I’m ready to be done for
the day is essentially what this means
so I’m finished to say this very very
quickly I’m finished for today I’m gonna
call it a day
means I’m calling today finished or I’m
calling tonight finished I’m considering
it finished so you’ll hear it call it a
day for work and call it a night for fun
activities okay let’s go on to the
second variation the second variation is
to call someone or something off this
expression means to cancel something
like an event or to stop someone’s
behavior this can be for well a person
or as opposed for an animal as well
examples call your dog off oh no it’s
gonna rain we have to call off the BB Q
so in both of these situations there’s
something that must be cancelled so in
the first example call your dog off it
means your dog is maybe too aggressive
someone’s dog is too aggressive it’s
barking it’s making noise it’s attacking
someone maybe so call your dog off means
stop your dog’s behavior in the second
example sentence we’re gonna have to
call off the barbeque means we’re going
to have to cancel the barbecue because
of rain in this case so to call off an
event or to call off a person to call
off an animal it means to stop or to
cancel that thing so those are a few new
ways I hope that you can use the verb
call I hope that that was helpful for
you of course if you know some other
ways to use the verb call there are
quite a few please feel free to give it
a try or let us know
in the comments of this video of course
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thanks very much for watching this
episode of know your verbs and we’ll see
you again soon bye bye
let’s go on to yeah I see you you are
orange okay I was so deep I’m gonna call
you seagull face from now on I’m on the
seagull thing yeah I’m gonna call you
donut but what I’m gonna call you
Facebook friend Kyle weird no this is
very this is just getting worse isn’t it