This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2425. Your English will take off with this phrasal verb. Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing... on Connection Not Perfection with your American hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Colorado and New York City.
USA. To get real-time transcripts right on your phone and create your personalized vocabulary list, try the All Ears English app. For iOS and Android, start your seven-day free trial at allearsenglish.com forward slash app. Do you hear native speakers use the phrasal verb take off all the time? Today, we tackle the five meanings of this phrasal verb and show you how you can deploy it immediately for connection.
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Hit the follow button on All Ears English Now and we'll see you in the next episode. Hey there, Michelle. How's it going? Good, Lindsay. How are you? Excellent.
talking about on the show today well so lindy when did all ears english really start to take off well i don't know michelle i don't want to say this because i feel bad saying it but really early on don't feel bad that's good the first couple of months it just started taking off uh we noticed the downloads were quite high um i think people liked what we were doing right from the start in 2013.
Awesome. That's great. That's great that it took off so quickly. Lindsay, actually, today we are going to spend time discussing this phrasal verb, take off. We've spoken a little bit about it in previous episodes. but today we just want to focus on it because it's so useful and you guys are going to see that today. There are a bunch of different ways you can use it.
Yeah, I love when we have an entire episode dedicated to a phrasal verb because this kind of unlocks a high B2, a low C1 level moving into C2, being able to drop these phrasal verbs naturally.
especially with one like takeoff where it has multiple oh my gosh yeah there are a lot yes there are a lot of meanings yeah so I mean there are even more than what we're doing today and we can always do a follow-up we're gonna focus some of the main ones um yes so should we go for it should we do the first one
let's do it but first guys don't forget to go ahead and hit that follow button maybe there's other things we could say tap the follow button push the follow button michelle there's a lot of ways we could say it but you need to make sure you are following all ears english good point lindsay yeah that way you get all the episodes you don't miss a single bonus you don't miss a sassy saturday episode right that's right yeah we love those we love hanging out with you guys on saturdays
yeah for sure so hit that follow button right now to be part of our philosophy of connection not perfection okay love it all right michelle let's dive into it we're ready Ready to go. Here we go. Flight. Okay. This is one of the most common ones, right? So the plane takes off. um so yeah the what time does the plane take off right interestingly you can't say take the plane off
right? So this is one that is inseparable, right? We can't put it on the inside. So it has to be take off. So for example, what time are you taking off? Yes, I love it. What time are you taking off? I just flew last weekend over to Salt Lake City. It's a quick jaunt. That's a bonus word for today, Michelle. Jaunt.
yeah yeah quick jaunt from denver over to slc salt lake city because my stepbrother was graduating so how was that it was really fun they invited us all the families like grandparents parents and the kids were invited to a frat party not really a frat party but a party in his frat house so we had a truck we had a band in the
backyard playing games i felt like a college kid again oh that's fun oh that's really fun but one thing that i know that is true when you take off from different airports it's a very different experience right yes and there's there's like a lot of
problems now i think at one of the airports yeah newark i know we we actually canceled our flight we actually changed our flight we were going to lay over in newark for our trip to europe and we changed that to avoid newark airport yeah yeah lots of problems So.
Yeah. Go ahead, Michelle. Yes. Sorry. No. Yeah. The next thing you could say is the flight took off late because of the snowstorm. So yeah, lots of delays. Always. I was watching the news last night and I felt so bad when I heard them say. about the delays and what everybody's going through. There's like, oh, there's lots of parents here with small children. And I just thought, oh, my goodness. Yeah.
it's hard when the plane takes off on time i can't imagine that yeah going through that i hope they work this out yeah you can really empathize with them i mean one thing that we know is just any time we book uh flights to the east coast in the winter we always expect issues right i mean this is not the newark issue the newark issue is a bigger problem with
uh traffic control staffing um but in the winter we always make sure to leave an extra day for error that it won't be able to take off because of snow or de-icing the plane or all this this whole all these things michelle yep Yep, exactly. So, and just so you know, you can also use takeoff in this context, but it's as a noun. So, for example, I chew gum during takeoff so my ears don't hurt.
Oh, interesting. Is that you? Do you do that? Yeah, I used to do it more. I used to get very painful ear pain.
okay yeah um when i was flying so i would always be chewing gum and opening my mouth it still happens from time to time but my son got it this time and i felt so bad because you're so helpless there's nothing you can do do you ever get that no it doesn't really happen to me that much thankfully um but i know it does happen to some people so but it's interesting though that we are using this as a noun here during takeoff during an event so it becomes an event it's no longer a phrasal verb it's a
in that case and it becomes one word right instead of two yep yeah exactly so take off good to know that um so let's let's uh head away from flying for a second and do another example of how this is used so this one is to take a break right so for example like it's like to take off from work so i'm going to take off tomorrow to get my eyes checked yeah and it's interesting that we don't always have to say take off from work or from my job we understand that that's what it means
right that's true that's true or what's another way that another example is it okay if i take off four days next week it's an emergency okay so take off four days so take off an amount of time take off a day take off wednesday take off friday very common Right. What do you think about this one? Can you separate this in this context? Take the day off, for example? Yeah, I think you can. So you might say something like, hey, you've been working hard. Take the day off. You need a rest.
right or like in these examples so is it okay if i take off four days next week you could have said is it okay if i take four days off right yes or i'm going to take tomorrow off so these ones you can separate all right so this one is a separable phrasal verb unlike the other one when we're flying that we can't separate it good to know good to know okay is there still another one michelle that we would use another meaning of take off let's do another one
So this one is to leave somewhere sometimes when you're in a rush. So for example, okay, I think I'm going to take off. It's getting late. I love it. It's a very casual way of saying you're going to leave, right? Casual. It's not.
don't know there's something kind of harsh when you say i'm going to leave it doesn't have to be but sometimes there is kind of direct when we use the actual verb and we've talked about this on the show before michelle we can use phrasal verbs to be a little more socially integrated or socially soft. Yeah, right. It's true. It's true. And so I'm going to leave, right? I'm going to take off. Sounds much better. Or what's another sample sentence?
She took off without even saying goodbye. I think she was in a rush to pick up her dog. Okay. Yeah. What do you think about the separation here? Could you say? Yeah. to me i don't think you can really separate these ones no we can't this one in this meaning of leaving it's not separable right we would not put a pronoun or anything in between take and off here okay exactly okay michelle is there still another way oh my gosh
we have two if you want but we don't have to do both let's do it let's do this let's do this next one what is this okay this one is to excel quickly so this goes back to what i asked you in the beginning so how long did it take all your english to take off right so another example could be she had a hard time at first but once she learned the ropes she really took off so she excelled quickly
mm-hmm exactly exactly so she took off again this one i think is inseparable too right we can't we wouldn't put anything in between took off for this meaning either nope nope And then the last one for today, it is separable. This last one, this means you're moving something. So take your jacket off. Stay a while. What did I put in the middle? Your jacket. Yes. Yes. Right? You could say, or can you take that paper off the table? It looks a little messy.
Yes. Excellent. All right. Good. Oh my gosh, Michelle. So we've gone through, what is it? Five or six different meanings for this one simple phrasal verb.
wow yep yep exactly um so there is a lot here guys we basically did five ways so again i'm just gonna review them so again we did to fly what time does your plane take off um what was the next one lindsay to take a break the to take a break to take time off right take off from work um the next one is to leave maybe in a rush so oh i'm gonna take off now i'm exhausted
yeah and then the next one to excel quickly right to so for example to take off to become successful oh her her brand really took off okay and then the next one is to remove something right um i'm gonna take off my sweatshirt because i'm really hot Yes, I love it. Oh my gosh. All right. So don't fret, guys. We always have a good role play for you to show you how these all integrate and come together for connection. So what's happening here?
Well, we are friends and we're getting coffee. So let's discuss. All right. I'm so excited for you to finally go on vacation, Lindsay. Oh, same. I really needed to take some time off and get a break. You deserve it. So what time is your flight taking off? 4 p.m. So I'll probably try to leave at 1.30. Awesome. Do you still have to take off your shoes to get through security? Make sure you don't wear your big boots, Lindsay.
Yes. Oh, wow. You're right. That would take up way too much time. Thanks for the reminder. Exactly. Well, I'm glad to hear you have some time for lunch still. I thought you were going to have to take off right when we got our food. nope i have time so i can't wait to hear about how your business is taking off yes finally things are getting moving great
Wow. Okay. We've got a lot of usages here. Lots of taking off. It's funny because it sounds, I mean, of course it does start to sound a little bit repetitive, but it's also so common and the meanings are different that.
it yeah i don't know like i don't know if you would notice that it's being used so much i don't know what do you think think you wouldn't necessarily notice yeah because like we said i mean it's got five six and probably there are meetings of takeoff that we didn't even cover today oh yeah we've covered the most common ones so it is everywhere in our language this phrase take off um So, all right, let's start with the first one I said.
i said oh so you said i'm excited for you to finally go on vacation and i said oh same i really needed to take some time off and get a break and you could have said i really needed to take off some time right or Or you could have just said, I really needed to take off, right? You could have said that for sure. And then what did you say, Michelle? I said, so what time is your flight taking off?
this is about the airplane literally i and we really only and that's the interesting part right for that we it's only really about airplanes it's not about boats what time does the boat take off no no i guess the rocket ship maybe or yeah if you're going to space if you're lucky enough to be going to space but i have a feeling maybe one or two of our listeners who knows but yeah maybe one day
but it's not about the bus. It's just about an airplane. So that kind of simplifies it a little bit for our listeners here. Okay. Yeah, that's true. Um, and then I said, oh do you still have to take off your shoes to get through security because i'm worried because apparently lindsay's known for her big boots and that could take a very long time to take off
Yes, exactly. I wear big boots, I guess. Right. To remove your shoes, right? Remove a jacket, remove shoes, that kind of thing. And then you said, well, I'm glad to hear you have some time. some time for lunch still i thought you were going to have to take off right when we got our food and in this case i mean to leave to exit the restaurant the cafe right right because i knew you're going away um and i kind of thought we were meeting
for just a really quick lunch. And so I was happy to hear that we can have a little bit of a sit down, a little bit of a chat. Nice. Love that. Yeah. And that's nice to acknowledge that it's a connection moment. Hey, you want to spend more time with the person, you make it clear that you're glad they can stay.
That's right. And then you're showing me that you're really not in a rush by changing the topic to really start something new. So you're saying, oh, I can't wait to hear about how your business is taking off. So excelling. Love it. So good. It's incredible how many different meanings we went through today. But Michelle, it's integrated in our language. It's a key phrase, right? Key phrasal verb. So guys, the phrasal verb take off, try to take one of these meanings and use it today.
Okay. Yeah. Yep. Go for it. So Lindsay, I hope that when you go on your trip, your flights take off on time. Yeah, we really hope so. Now that we changed our plans for to not go to Newark, that should help a little bit, but we'll see. We'll see what happens. Michelle, another episode our listeners could go to is 2412 when go means said in English. Wow. Interesting.
check that out guys that's about yep definitely listen to that so takeaways for today lindsay takeaway for today i think it's a really smart approach to learn phrasal verbs like take off where essentially once you learn them you know that they can be used essentially all over the english language in many different connection moments so this would be a good one to focus in on it's kind of an 80 20 approach michelle
Yeah, I agree. I think this one is just so huge. I mean, look at it. It's for daily life. This is not some sort of fancy schmancy, oh, we may never use it, right? This is very, very useful. You can start using it today, I'm sure. one of these you're like oh well yeah actually i could use this one later today right so yes decide which one that is go out try it later today and again to lose and as we're experimenting with these phrasal verbs
don't forget that the goal here is always human connection yep so you can still if you if you mess it up if you use if you separate it when you shouldn't separate it the person's going to understand and they're going to understand that you're trying to connect with them and that's what we're doing okay that's the ultimate
goal. So never forget our philosophy here, connection, not perfection. Okay. Absolutely. Love it. All right, Lindsay, thanks for chatting about this with me today. And I guess I'm going to take off. All right, Michelle, have a good one. All right. Bye. You too. Thanks for listening to All Ears English. Would you like to know your English level? Take our two-minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com forward slash fluency score. And if you believe in connection, not perfection,
then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.