Phrasal Verbs - Success

How to reach success

We all want success, but what’s the secret? How can you become successful?

On TED.com (a great website for practicing your English listening skills), Richard St. John gives a 3-minute presentation to explains the 8 secrets to success. It is a topic that has created a lot of interest among our students, and it gives us a lot of positive vocabulary in English. 

Listen to the video to learn what the 8 secrets to success are:

Now here are some of the most useful phrasal verbs and vocabulary used in this presentation:

PHRASAL VERBS

1. Cut down

Reduce. If you write on twitter, you will know that you need to cut down what you want to write to 140 characters. 

We can also use cut down + noun/gerund if we reduce the frequency of doing something, or the quantity of something we consume. For example, if you want to lose weight, you should cut down on chocolate, and cut down on drinking beer.

2. Get off

When you leave a means of transport, you get off. You get off a train, get off a bus, get off a plane, get off a bike, get off a horse… The only exception is that you get out of a car.

The opposite of get off is get on, whereas the opposite of get out of is get into.

3. Pass (something) on

When information is given from one person to another, the information is passed on.

4. Come up with

When you invent a story, an idea or an invention, you come up with it.

VOCABULARY

1. To make something of yourself / your life 

Manage to do something good with your life, something of which you can be proud.

2. A workaholic

Someone who is addicted to his job, and who works far too much.

3. Put your nose down

Ignore the distractions, and focus on your job / studies.

4. Self-doubt

When you are not confident, you suffer from self-doubt, and you don’t believe in your ability.

5. Gotta

Gotta is the contraction of got + to. We can also hear “You gotta” as a contraction of “You have got to”. This is informal, and should never be written in a formal context. 

Now watch the video again and listen out for the new phrasal verbs and vocabulary.

Questions about phrasal verbs

Preguntas:

Fill the gaps below, using the new phrasal verb or vocabulary from above. You will need to conjugate the phrasal verbs to put them in their correct form.

1. My teacher loved ________ her knowledge ____ to her students.

2. Instead of going out with your friends every night, you should ____________________ and study for your exams.

3. Sandra's really _________________________  how much she smokes. She only smokes one cigarette a week now.

4. The Spanish ____________________ the idea of table football last century.

5. Andrew wished he was more self-confident, but he's full of ________________.

6. "If you wanna be successful, you ___________ work hard!"

Write your answers in the comments section, and we will reply with corrections and feedback as soon as possible.