FALL Basic Verbs Learn English Grammar
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hi everybody and welcome back to know
your verbs my name is Alicia and in this
episode we’re going to talk about the
verb fall let’s get started
the basic definition of the verb fall is
to move towards the ground by accident
though so like your body or an object
moves towards the ground but it’s not on
purpose it’s an accident examples I fell
on the stairs be careful don’t fall down
let’s look at the conjugations of this
verb present tense fall falls past tense
fell past participle tense fallen
progressive falling okay so now let’s
talk about some additional meanings for
this verb the first additional meaning
is to decrease like to decrease in size
to decrease in the amount of something
the number of something the capacity of
something so to get smaller in some way
examples temperatures fell to freezing
overnight wages have fallen over the
last 10 years
so in these example sentences the
subject of the verb has reduced in some
way in the first example sentence it was
temperature so temperatures fell meaning
the temperatures in this case we’re
using the plural temperatures so there
were many temperatures from maybe like
day to night but we’re talking about
like the range of temperatures overnight
so temperatures fell or temperatures
decreased to freezing so freezing was
the lowest point for the temperature so
temperatures fell to freezing overnight
that was the reduced like the most
reduced point in the second example
sentence wages have fallen over the last
10 years it means over a 10-year time
period wages have continued to fall so
I’m using the I’m using the present
perfect tense their wages have fallen
which means that something started in
the past and continues up to the present
so wages have fallen which means
starting from like 10 years ago
wages have continued to fall over the
last 10 years so have
and shows us that they have reduced in
like so in other words people are
getting less and less pay gradually
let’s go on to the second meaning for
this verb meaning to to move from a
higher position to a lower position
examples a leaf fell on my shoulder she
fell to her knees and begged okay so in
the first example sentence a leaf fell
on my shoulder it’s like the leaf was
attached to a tree and it just fell to
my shoulder so it was kind of just
naturally falling the leaf fell on my
shoulder here in the second example
sentence though I’ve used the expression
she fell to her knees and begged so the
image is that a person moves from a
standing position to a position this is
begging like doing this but on your
knees so meaning you’re not standing on
your feet your your body becomes much
smaller on your knees like in this
motion your knees are like this we use
this expression to fall to your knees as
like to refer to someone taking this
position as like it’s a sign of respect
or as a way to sincerely ask for
something so we only use fall to your
knees we don’t say like fall to your
stomach or fall to your arms or anything
like that only fall to your knees we can
however say fall on your face so that’s
slightly different to fall on your face
means to move from a standing position
and fall and your face touches the
ground so the fall is very extreme this
is very hard so walking walking walk and
you fall on your face so your face
touches the ground
however in fall to your knees it’s on
purpose so you drop to your knees from a
standing position slightly different so
fall to your knees is a set expression
for a request a sincere request okay
let’s go to the third meaning the third
meaning is to belong to a group or to a
category so we use this for like
responsibilities for maybe like analysis
perhaps so let’s look at some examples
of this this task falls outside my job
too
scription our work falls into two
categories so in the first example
sentence this task falls outside my job
description we can imagine that the
person’s job description is here in one
circle but the task belongs to something
that’s not in this person’s job
description circle the task is something
outside of the person’s job description
so we can say the task falls outside the
job description the task in other words
the task belongs to a different category
the task is a different group from this
person’s job description so we use fall
it falls outside my job description in
the second example sentence our work
falls into two categories means our work
belongs to two categories or basically
there are two styles of things we do or
two types of things we do so their style
a and style B so our work falls into one
of two categories so our work belongs to
one of two categories category a
category B we use false for that the
fourth meaning for this verb is to
happen to happen so we use this a lot
for like holidays birthdays celebration
you’ll see let’s look at some examples
my birthday fell on a Sunday this year
our meetings keep falling on Fridays
okay in the first example sentence my
birthday fell on a Sunday it means my
birthday happened on a Sunday that’s all
we just used the word fell in this case
past tense to talk about that because
the birthday has finished the birthday
was in the past
so my birthday fell on a Sunday this
year in the second example sentence our
meanings keep falling on Fridays
we’re using the pattern keep plus the
ing form of the verb which means that
repeatedly something is happening our
meetings continue to fall so our
meetings continue to happen on Fridays
okay so it just means happen in this way
let’s move along to some variations of
this verb the first variation is to fall
behind to fall behind to fall behind
means to have a delayed schedule or to
take longer than you expect to take
let’s look at some examples I’ve been so
busy I’m falling behind on my studies be
careful not to fall behind on the
housework so in the first example I’m
falling behind on my studies means there
are things I should do but I’m so busy I
can’t take care of it I’m delayed or I’m
not able to do the things I know I need
to do I need to study I should be at
this point but I’m falling behind I’m
falling behind my like pace I’m falling
behind schedule so I need to fix it
somehow so fall behind my studies is one
common example the other sentence was be
careful not to fall behind on housework
so meaning maybe you’re not falling
behind now but just this is like a
warning phrase like make sure to always
do your housework so don’t fall behind
on housework otherwise your house will
be dirty No ah the next one I included
two in the next one because they are
very similar in terms of the way they
sound but they are very different in
terms of meaning first to fall for
someone to fall for someone means to
fall in love with someone like to become
in a state of love with someone is to
fall for someone examples don’t fall for
him too soon he fell for her right away
fell or fall means become in love with
that person so don’t fall in love with
him too soon or he fell in love with her
right away but we were move in love from
the expression we can just use fall or a
past tense fell to explain that now
let’s compare this expression to to fall
for some thing to fall for some thing
has a very different meaning to fall for
something means to believe something but
that thing is not true so it’s like a
lie for example example sentences don’t
fall for it I can’t believe you fell for
my dumb story so this means that some
one in the first example sentence don’t
fall for it means don’t believe that
story it’s not true
so maybe it sounds good or it sounds
like a nice idea but don’t believe the
story don’t fall for it
in the second example sentence I can’t
believe you fell for my dumb story it
means I can’t believe you actually
believed my story was true I’m shocked
sure that you believed my dumb story so
it means something was not true in other
words and you fell for it you believed
it was true so this has a negative
nuance about it you fell for that like
it sounds like how could you fall for
that how could you believe something
that ridiculous so kind of a negative
expression so to fall for someone to
fall for something quite different to
fall in love to believe something that’s
not true
to fall apart is the last variation to
fall apart to fall apart means to become
disconnected or to break apart let’s
look at some examples of this my jacket
is falling apart she looks like she’s
about to fall apart in the first example
sentence I said my jacket is falling
apart that means physically so like my
clothing my piece of clothing the the
fabric is breaking so it’s falling apart
so it’s becoming separated the physical
items that make up the jacket are
becoming separated in the second example
sentence I said she looks like she’s
about to fall apart here we’re not
talking about this person’s body we’re
talking about the mental state so the
person a person who looks like they’re
about to fall apart means they mentally
seem about to break so maybe they have a
lot of stress and they’re really really
tired it means their mental state is
about to break it’s gonna be like it
maybe I don’t know their life is really
tough right now so they’ve seemed like
they’re about to fall apart so those are
a few hopefully new ways to use the verb
fall I hope you got something new from
this lesson of course if you have any
other ways that you like to use fall or
that you’ve heard of or if you have any
questions or comments or just want to
try to make an example sentence please
feel free to do so in the comments
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for watching this episode of know your
verbs and we’ll see you again soon
I might fall I’m gonna fall off this
chair
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