RETIRE 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
retire let’s get started
let’s start with the basic definition of
the verb retire
to retire means to stop working due to
advancing age or it can mean to stop
working because of an illness
some examples my grandfather retired
last year
when do you think you’ll retire
let’s look at the conjugations for the
verb retire
present retire retires past
retired past participle retired
progressive retiring
now let’s talk about some additional
meanings for this verb
the first additional meaning is to go to
bed to go to bed
this is a very old-fashioned meaning but
let’s look at some examples
she retired early last night we should
retire soon
so this is a rather old-fashioned use of
the verb
retire we don’t use retire in this way
in everyday american english
at this point in time if you watch
movies from
a couple hundred years ago by that i
mean the setting is a couple hundred
years ago
you might hear people using the word
retire to mean
go to bed we don’t use that in everyday
english now
if i told my friends i’m going to retire
now it sounds
really really strange it sounds too
formal too stiff
not good but if you’re interested in
historical movies or historical media
you might see this used so in the first
example sentence
she retired early last night it means
she went to bed early last night
in the second example sentence we should
retire soon
it means we should go to bed soon that’s
all so this is quite a simple way to use
retire but it’s just not used that much
nowadays
let’s go on to the next additional
meaning for the verb retire
retire can mean to leave a professional
position to leave a professional
position let’s look at some examples
he retired from soccer at 34.
i’m retiring from military service next
year
so this use of the verb retire means to
leave
a specific position we see this use of
retire
a lot in sports and in the military
the reason that it’s used more in
something like sports
is because the length of time that a
person can compete
effectively as an athlete is rather
short
so depending on the sport athletes can
continue playing or can continue
participating into maybe their 20s or
perhaps their early to mid
30s depending on the sport again this
might change
depending on the sport but then there’s
a certain age
where players might have difficulty
continuing or their skills
just aren’t the same as they used to be
in those cases
we say that the athlete retires from
that sport which means the athlete
chooses to stop competing in that sport
and maybe they move on to a different
profession
or like for example they become a coach
in that sport
or they start teaching other people
about that sport something related to
their original position
but to retire from soccer as in the
first example sentence
means to stop being a soccer player only
so it doesn’t mean retiring from working
life completely it means to stop that
position
in the second example sentence about
retiring from
the military it means that when a
person’s military term
the period of time they’re required to
be
a military service member when that time
has finished maybe they can well they
can people can choose to continue in
some cases
but uh in some cases depending on age or
depending on other situations
people might retire from military
service meaning they
end their career doing military service
and move on to another kind of
profession or
move on to something else if that’s not
like retirement
at like a specified retirement age so i
should say
there are some cases where people
continue military service
until reaching a required age of
retirement yes
but some people choose to retire from
military service
prior to that so they conclude their
term of service and retire
from military service they finished
their job for the military
so a lot of information there but to
retire essentially it means to stop that
specific position and go on to something
else not to retire from working
overall let’s go on to the third
additional meaning for this verb which
is to go
back or to move to a quieter location
examples they retired to the lounge
after dinner
she retired to her room to read a book
this use of retire
sounds very formal this is quite formal
it’s not used a lot in everyday speech
if you want to sound extremely polite
if you want to sound like extremely
important i suppose to or if you want
someone else to sound extremely
important you can use retired to mean
like moved to a quieter location
like you retreated from something in the
first example sentence they retired to
the
lounge after dinner it sounds like the
lounge is a more
like quiet or intimate space and they
moved to the lounge
after they finished their dinner in
another room
so they retired there it sounds like
they’re relaxing they’re moving to the
lounge to relax
specifically or to find a quiet space in
the second example sentence
she retired to her room to read a book
the same thing
we have the same kind of feeling it’s
like she moved from maybe
a busier or noisier location she moved
from that place
to her room a quiet place to read a book
so there’s something kind of like
intimate and quiet and nice about that
so
to retire could mean to move to a
quieter place
so now let’s look at a variation in the
use of the verb retire
to retire can be used in the expression
to retire a jersey or to retire
a number this means to put away a famous
athlete’s jersey
jersey means shirt or to put away a
famous athlete’s
number their player number when the
player retires
some examples michael jordan’s jersey
has been retired by teams he hasn’t even
played for
major league baseball retired jackie
robinson’s number 42.
so in the first example sentence michael
jordan’s jersey has been retired by
teams he hasn’t even played for
that refers to his jersey his shirt his
number
as well um being put in a place of
honor so that means when a player’s
number or when a player’s jersey is
retired it means
other players on that team cannot use
that number
so that means that michael jordan’s
number is forever his number for that
team
no other player on that team can use
that number because
it’s michael jordan’s the number has
been retired the jersey the number has
been
retired it cannot be used so this is
actually a story about the heat he never
played for the heat but they retired his
jersey
interesting the second example sentence
major league baseball
retired jackie robinson’s number so
jackie robinson’s number was 42
so 42 being his number was retired
across
all of the league so that means no
player in the league is allowed to use
the number 42.
jackie robinson was a very significant
baseball player because he broke um
color boundaries uh as a black player of
baseball
so he was a very significant person in
the baseball league
um for this reason and for like his
contributions to the sport
um they retired his number 42. so these
are examples of very famous individuals
who participated in sports
when they concluded their period
as players the league or
in some cases teams choose to retire
their numbers retire their
jerseys as a sign of respect so those
are a few i hope
new ways of using the verb retire if you
have any questions comments or know a
different way of using retire
or just want to practice making some
example sentences
please feel free in the comment section
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thanks very much for watching this
episode of know your verbs and we’ll see
you again next time bye
you