KILL 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 kill let’s get started
the basic definition of this verb is to
end the life of someone or something
examples the murderer killed four people
I hate killing cockroaches okay let’s
look at the conjugations for this verb
present tense kill kills past tense
killed past participle tense killed
progressive killing
all right so now let’s talk about some
additional meanings for this verb the
first one is to put an end to something
to put an end to something or to cause
something to finish examples our poor
sales killed our chance of success
the CEOs decision killed our project
alright so in both of these examples we
see something coming to an end
something finishes because of something
else so in the first example sentence
poor sales killed our chances of success
meaning the poor sales resulted in or
caused an end to our chances of success
so that means there was no more chance
of success because of poor sales the
poor sales killed it in the second
example sentence the CEOs decision
killed our project there the CEO made a
decision that caused the project to end
that caused the project to stop so we
use kill to explain this okay the second
traditional meaning for the verb is to
cause pain to cause pain examples my
head is killing me
he says his back has been killing him
for two weeks so in these sentences we
see kill in the progressive tense this
is quite common so something is killing
me something is killing him it doesn’t
actually mean that person’s life is
going to end
it means the pain is very strong the
pain is extremely bad and it feels like
they’re dying it’s like it’s so bad it’s
so uncomfortable we use the expression
killing like I said we tend to use this
in the progressive tense we don’t really
say my head killed me that sounds
strange or my head kills me but rather
my head is killing me because it’s like
a temporary situation remember we use
the continuous or the progressive tense
for temporary situations and pain in
most cases is temporary so we say this
is killing me the next meaning is to
become very angry to become very angry
with someone let’s look at some examples
first oh man my boss is going to kill me
for this mistake
your mom is gonna kill you for making
such a mess this expression doesn’t
really mean that someone’s life is going
to end
instead this use of kill me it means
that someone is going to become very
very angry so in the first example
sentence oh man my boss is gonna kill me
for this mistake it means I made a
mistake and my boss is going to be very
very angry with me because of my mistake
so it doesn’t mean the boss is going to
end this person’s life just the boss is
going to be very angry in the second
example sentence your mom is gonna kill
you for making such a mess
again it means the mother is going to be
very very angry at the other person in
the conversation the mother is going to
be so mad because of the mess but we use
the expression your mother is gonna kill
you she’s gonna kill you so quite
extreme level of anger in casual casual
expressions only oh also we show the
reason for this anger with 4 2 so my
boss is gonna kill me for making a
mistake
my mother is gonna kill me for making a
mess so we show the reason with 4 the
fourth meaning here is to consume
something completely this is often used
with drinks examples we killed three
bottles of wine at dinner the students
killed the keg in an hour this it’s a
very very casual expression that
suggests kind of a surprising amount and
like I said it’s usually used for drinks
like you consumed more drinks than you
expected like oh wow we drank a lot we
killed three bottles of wine at dinner
last night two of us so that seems like
quite a lot I think that’s an extreme
example but to say killed something
means you completely finished everything
was gone so to kill a drink
means to finish it completely okay
let’s take a look at some variations for
the verb kill the first one is to kill
time to kill time
this means waste time to waste time
examples I’ve got about 15 minutes to
kill before my next meeting
we’re just killing time until the movie
starts
so yeah this just means to waste time so
I’ve got 15 minutes to kill means I’ve
got 15 minutes to waste I’ve got 15
minutes to destroy like I have 15 extra
minutes I have no plan for these 15
minutes so I’m going to kill them just
do nothing waste of time
second example sentence is the same
thing until the movie were just killing
time so this is our current status just
wasting time until the movie the second
variation is the expression to kill it
to kill it this is a very positive and
casual expression which means to do
something with a high level of skill
like sports or entertainment or your job
to kill it examples you’re killing it
lately Serena Williams killed it at the
tournament last week killing it in
progressive tents in the first sentence
you’re killing it means you’re doing a
great job or like you’re doing awesome
or your work is so great lately and it’s
a very casual but very like positive
phrase it’s encouraging like wow you’re
killing it great work so it’s like it
sounds like your level of ability is
quite high in the second example
sentence it’s a sport example Serena
Williams killed it at the tournament
last week means her performance at the
tournament in the past was really really
good she did a fantastic job she won all
her matches for example she killed it in
past tense the next variation is to kill
off something or to kill something off
both are okay this means to destroy
something over time so it’s it’s
different from to kill like killing
something to kill a spider for example
is in one moment one motion may be to
kill off something or to kill something
off means over a period of time
something is destroyed examples big
companies are killing off small
businesses
Ellucian is killing off sea life so both
of these examples show destruction or
like death happening over a period of
time so maybe not like death of a person
or death of an animal but rather like a
business goes away or like an
environment is destroyed for example so
in the first example big companies are
killing off small businesses means big
companies are growing bigger and bigger
and destroying small businesses over
time in the second example sentence it’s
about the environment pollution is
killing off sea life gradually over time
sea life is dying alright so those are a
few perhaps new ways to use the verb
kill I hope that you found something new
and useful of course if you want to try
to make a sentence if you have any
questions or comments please feel free
to let us know in the comment section of
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study tools thanks very much for
watching this episode of know your verbs
and we’ll see you again next time bye
bye
okay now let’s look at some what okay
let’s look at the cup here okay let’s
look at the conjugate conjugations
conjugation okay kill we’re going to
talk about the verb kill I look like a
killer killer that’s the knife sound
which is weird because knives don’t make
that sound if anything
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