PLACE 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 place let’s get started
the basic definition of this verb is to
put something in a specified location
examples I placed my cup on the desk
she placed her earrings next to the bed
let’s look at the conjugations for this
verb present place places past placed
past participle placed progressive
placing
now let’s talk about some additional
meetings for this verb so let’s look at
the first additional meaning of this
it’s to make to make this is commonly
used as to make an order or to make a
bet let’s look at some examples of this
place your bets she placed an order for
50 plates of fried rice so here we see
place being used to mean make the first
example sentence place your bets that’s
an example of a sentence you’ll hear at
a casino
so dealer’s card dealers inside casinos
will often begin a card game by saying
place your bets to the people who are
playing which means make your bet or
decide on an amount of money you want to
play for this game they use the verb
place place your bets maybe you’ll hear
make your bet but I think place your bet
it’s probably the most common expression
used in the second example we see placed
an order she placed an order
you can substitute make here you can say
she made an order for but to place in
order this is just a different way to
say it to me place an order sounds a
little more polite than making order
like you could use both on the phone I
suppose like I’d like to make an order
for I’d like to place an order for both
would be okay to me place sounds maybe a
little bit more polite but it means to
make something to make an order or in
the first example to make a bit
the second additional meaning is to
recognize to recognize this meaning as
you’ll see in the example sentences is
often in the negative form let’s look at
some examples I feel like I’ve seen that
guy somewhere before
but I just can’t place him
I can’t place this quote who said it so
here we see place being used to mean
like recognize or we can’t quite
understand the origin of that person or
that thing in the first example sentence
we see I just can’t place him we’re
talking about someone’s face so if you
know someone’s face but maybe you can’t
remember the name or in this case you
don’t remember where you met that person
or your connection to that person you
can say I just can’t place him meaning I
don’t know why I know this person but I
recognize his face so here we see the
negative this is commonly used in the
negative I can’t place him in the second
example sentence I can’t place this
quote means I don’t know where this
quote originated from or I don’t know
where this quote came from so maybe it’s
a famous person who said the quote but I
just can’t remember who that is I can’t
like recognize I can’t recall where this
information came from I can’t place this
quote so this means to recognize in
these cases okay
the third additional meaning is to put
in a certain condition or state examples
the court placed him under arrest she
was placed on a strict contract so in
both of these examples sentences we see
some condition being set in the first
example we see placed under arrest
placed under arrest means the person
involved was put in the condition of
arrest placed under arrest in the second
example sentence she was placed on a
strict contract it means she was put
into a condition of a strict contract so
we use placed to refer to that so to
place can mean to put someone or
something into a state or into a
condition the fourth additional meaning
is to find someone a location to live or
work examples we haven’t placed the
young man yet
they’re placing the family next week so
in these examples sentences someone is
looking for a spot to live or a spot to
work for another person there are two
groups or two parties involved here in
the first example sentence we haven’t
placed the young man yet it means the
speaker or the group involved with the
speaker is looking for a location for
the young man in the situation to live
or work so what is this situation this
does seem kind of strange perhaps but in
some countries maybe it’s similar in
your country there may be kind of like
protection services especially for
children and for families who have had
like legal trouble or trouble with like
dangerous people in their lives and they
need to be relocated to a new city or to
a new workplace so there are services
for families like that for individuals
like them that’s a situation where we
might use this word we also might see
this in like schools for example if you
are looking for a location looking for a
classroom looking for a dorm or
something for a student so one person is
responsible for finding a place for
finding a location for another person we
can use place to talk about that in the
second example sentence they’re placing
the family next week it means they’re
completing the placing process so that
means they have found a place they have
found a location for a family and are
going to take the family to that
location next week so two place is to
find a location for somewhere
let’s move on to some variations for
this verb the first variation is to find
one’s place to find one’s place this
means to determine how to fit in
socially ok examples of this I think I
finally found my place she’s having
trouble finding her place at school so
here we’re seeing examples that involve
someone finding their social position so
to find one’s place means to find a nice
position a position that’s appropriate
for them in their society or within
their life in the first example I think
I finally found my place we see past
tense found my place which means I’ve
discovered this position is best for me
in the second example sentence she’s
having trouble finding her place at
school it means she’s having trouble
positioning herself within the society
that is her school like she has her
school life and she hasn’t quite
discovered yet the best location for her
the best way to fit in with the people
around her so this refers to your
societal position in your small or big
society the next variation is to know
one’s place to know one’s place this
refers to understanding your status in
society and it’s typically used to refer
to people who are below others as well
like we typically don’t use this to talk
about people who are above us we might
use it to talk about ourselves in
reference to being below someone or
someone from a higher position might
talk about the people below them
oftentimes with the kind of disrespect
let’s look at some examples he made sure
his workers always knew their place
I know my place that restaurant is way
too nice for me to visit so here we see
examples of people behaving or being
expected to behave in accordance with
their social status in the first one he
made sure his workers always knew their
place the nuance here is that he is like
some kind of boss or like authority
figure and the others the workers which
we see workers indicates there below him
they know their place so in other words
they know that their role they know that
their status in society is lower and he
wants to make sure they know that so
this has a bit of an air of disrespect
about it in the second example sentence
it’s a person talking about himself or
herself I know my place that restaurant
is too nice for me meaning I know that I
am societally of a level below the level
required to visit that restaurant so in
other words I shouldn’t go there it’s
too nice it’s too expensive it’s too
fancy for me I know my place is below
that restaurant so interesting very
interesting so I hope that that was
helpful for you and I hope you got a new
way to use the word place of course if
you have any questions comments example
sentences whatever please feel free to
let us know in the comments section of
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well thanks very much for watching this
episode of know your verbs and we’ll see
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