1

MAIRO VERGARA
ADVANCED PHRASAL VERBS COURSE
Lesson 31¦ Transcript
Hi, this is Melissa Faulkner coming to you from Durham, North Carolina.
Today we’re going to talk about three phrasal verbs ‘look after’, ‘look
out’ and ‘look up’. Now each of these phrasal verbs has the word ‘look’ in
it. Now ‘look’ normally means to see you with your eyes – to look at
something or to look around you. But today we’re going to talk about it
in a different way. It will also mean to look at something as in to be aware
of something. So we’re going to take a look at these three phrasal verbs.
For each one I’ll give you three sentences and then I’ll explain how to use
that phrasal verb in those sentences and in other sentences beyond.

So let’s take a look at our first phrasal verb ‘look after’. Now ‘look after’
normally means to take care of something or to be responsible for
something. If you’re looking after something, you’re going to make sure
that you take care and you’re responsible for that thing or that person.
Let’s take a look at sentence number one:

Ms Johnson had a meeting after work and asked Sally to look after
her son Johnny for a few hours until she got home.

Now in this case, Ms Johnson has a meeting. She’s called Sally – maybe
Sally is a next door neighbor. She needs Sally to look after Johnny for a
few hours. So Sally is not just going to look at Johnny or watch Johnny.
She probably is but she’s also going to look after him. She’s maybe going
to make sure he gets a snack or finishes his homework. She’s taking care
of him and taking responsibility for him. She’s looking after Johnny.

Let’s take a look at sentence number two:

MAIRO VERGARA ADVANCED PHRASAL VERBS COURSE

 2

Jesamin was going out of town for the weekend so she called her
brother Tim to see if he could look after her dogs.

Now this is similar, Jesamin is going out of town; she needs someone to
look after or to take care of her dogs while she’s gone. Tim is not only
going to look after the dogs or watch the dogs but he’s also going to
take care of them and take responsibility for them. So he’ll feed them,
maybe take them on a walk – he’s looking after the dogs while Jesamin is
gone.

Let’s take a look at sentence number three:

Who is going to look after the Arts Organization while Samantha is

away for the summer?

Now in this case, Samantha normally looks after the Arts Organization.
She takes care of it or she’s responsible for it. Now this could mean that
she’s the president or that she’s the main organizer. But in any case she
looks after the program and makes sure that it runs correctly. So in this
sentence, people are asking while Samantha is gone, who is going to look
after the program or make sure that it continues to run correctly.

Let’s take a look at our next phrasal verb ‘look out’. Now there’s a few
different versions of this phrasal verb ‘look out’. The first is sort of a
warning. To ‘Look out’ for something means to watch out, to look out for
danger or something that might come to harm you. So it’s sort of a
warning. Let’s take a look at sentence number one:

If you’re going in the swamp, swimming in nearby lake, look out for
snakes and alligators in the water.

So in this case some people are maybe going swimming in the lake and
someone is warning them to look out for snakes and alligators. Watch
around you, literally look but also be aware of snakes and alligators that
might be in the water. So in this case it’s sort of a warning. Look out.

MAIRO VERGARA ADVANCED PHRASAL VERBS COURSE

 3

Sentence number two:

Jenny’s mum asked her to look out for any good gift ideas for her
dad when she went to the mall this afternoon.

So Jenny was going to the mall, maybe she’s going to be shopping just
for herself but her mum has asked her to look out for, while she’s going
through the stores, literally look for and be aware of any good gift ideas
that might be good for her dad. So while she’s looking for things for
herself, she also wants Jenny to be looking for things for her dad. Being
aware of things that would be good gift ideas. Looking out for those
good gift ideas.

Sentence number three:

Kara’s older brother was always looking out for her at school;
especially since she was only a freshman.

Now in this case Kara is a freshman in high school, she’s young. Maybe
she’s a little intimidated by other students but her older brother is always
looking out for her. So he’s not just watching her, he’s being aware of
how she’s doing. So maybe he’s helping her find her books or find her
classes but he’s helping her and making sure that she feels more
comfortable at school. He’s looking out for her.

Let’s take a look at our third phrasal verb ‘look up’. There’s a couple of
different versions of ‘look up’. One of them is to literally look up; to use
your eyes to look up above you. The other is to look up information. So
to research or to find out information about something. Let’s talk about
these different sentences.

Sentence number one:

James wanted to know how late the pub was open so he looked up
their number in the phone book and gave them a call.

MAIRO VERGARA ADVANCED PHRASAL VERBS COURSE

 4

Now in this case, James wants some more information about the pub so
he needs to research it. He needs to find that information. So he looks it
up, probably in a phonebook to find the number to phone the pub to find
out that information. So he’s looking up or finding out information about
the pub.

Sentence number two:

After such a hard year financially, Jim felt like things were finally
looking up for his carpentry business.

So in this case, ‘look up’ means to become better or to have a positive

outcome. So Jim’s carpentry business last year had a hard year. Maybe he
didn’t have that many clients; maybe he didn’t make that much money.
But it was a really hard year. This year, things are looking up. Things are
getting better. Maybe he has more clients; maybe he’s making more
money. But in this case, things are looking up for him; they’re getting
better.

Sentence number three:

When the airplane came zooming over their heads, Jake and Sam
looked up to see which direction it had come from.

So in this case Jake and Sam heard an airplane above them and they
literally looked up to see which direction the airplane had come from. So
in this case they’re using their eyes to look up and see where the airplane
has come from.

So you can see in all three of these phrasal verbs the word ‘look’ means
not only to see but to be aware of. I hope these explanations have helped
you with these phrasal verbs and I look forward to talking to you about
more phrasal verbs in the future.

MAIRO VERGARA ADVANCED PHRASAL VERBS COURSE