Learn 15 English Phrasal Verbs about CRIME!

Do you like police shows or movies? This lesson is all about the phrasal verbs we use to talk about crime, the police, and criminals. You'll learn fifteen expressions that will help you understand what the police and criminals are talking about. I'll tell you a story and we'll talk about planning a crime, committing a crime, and what happens afterwards. Try to listen out for these phrasal verbs the next time you're watching your favorite detective show!
TAKE THE QUIZ: https://www.engvid.com/phrasal-verbs-...

TRANSCRIPT

Hi there. Welcome back to engVid with me, Benjamin. How are you today? Hope you're well wherever you're watching this from. In today's lesson we are looking at phrasal verbs to do with crime. Why might this be of interest to you? Well, I don't know. If you watch a TV detective series, which are becoming increasingly popular, then you will start to understand more if you're watching American or English series. God forbid you might come to the UK or America and find yourself in a situation in which you are needing to speak to the police. Maybe some of the words here will help you get out of that situation smoothly. Or you may just be able to use these phrasal verbs to help your overall conversational fluency. Today's section is... Today's lesson is organized into three sections. We have before a crime, an incident; we have during; and we have what happened after.

So, a few years ago I had a German student who came to visit me here in London, and I showed him around for a week. Lovely guy called Robert. And I took him to the law courts, so I took him to the most famous courts in London called the Old Bailey, which is where some quite nasty crimes where the... Where the people accused go to court. I'll just write that down, people accused. So if you're accused of a crime it means someone says you have done something bad, you need to be punished. So they go to court. They go to court. Okay?

So, this particular story, I was there with Robert listening in the court to what had happened. Somebody had been put up. "To put somebody up to". Okay, so let's just... We have... We have a group of people. This person here, he is the boss of the group and he is putting pressure on, he wants this person to carry... Carry out a crime. Okay? To carry out a crime, to do something bad. So he starts putting somebody up to, so he starts going: "Come on, so-and-so, you can do this. It would be a really good idea. You'll get lots of money." Okay? So, "to put somebody up to", to put them up. You're putting them up, you're helping them be able to do it, to put somebody up to, to encourage, to help them to do it. "Put somebody up to", to make them think they can do it.

Next phrase: "To lead somebody on". So, here we have boss, and we'll call this man Gareth. Boss says to Gareth: "Come on, Gareth, come with me. We're going to go and do something. It's a great idea." So, Gareth is following boss. Yes? He is taking the lead from the boss. He is leading him on. "Lead somebody on" is to give... Is to give a bad example.

Next verbal... Phrasal verb: "Get mixed up in". Gareth has found that he is with the wrong people. Yeah? If you think of a box of sweets, they all get mixed up. Gareth, here, has got mixed up with some bad people. "To get mixed up in" means to hang out with... To get mixed up in, to hang out with the wrong people. Okay.

"Lean on". Gareth has started saying: "Mm, not sure, boss, if that's what I want to do. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to go into a shop with a gun and ask for all of their money." But boss starts leaning on Gareth. Yeah? He starts leaning on Gareth and says: "Come on, Gareth, you know it's a good thing to do." Okay? So he leans on. "To lean on" means to put pressure. And to lean on someone, you could use that in a business context as well, meaning to put a bit of pressure on someone to do something.

Gareth says yes. He agrees to go into this gambling shop with a gun and ask for all of their money. So, he comes into the shop with a balaclava, with a hat with just eyes, and he says: "This is a hold up. I'm going... This is a hold up." Okay? A "hold up" means, you know, hold your hands up. Okay? It's a hold up. Everyone's going to put their hands up, and Gareth is going to come and take the money. Okay? To... To do a hold up, to give a hold up, to make a hold up, to create a hold up. A hold up. A hold up.

Now, if Gareth went home and said to boss: "I got a little bit scared. I didn't do it", then boss might beat Gareth up. "To beat up" means to attack, to hurt. Okay? To cause physical pain. Okay. Gareth comes back from the boss, says: "Okay, okay, I'll go back into this shop and continue with what I was doing." He finds that the doors have been locked, so now he needs to break in. "Break" means to damage something. He has to break the doors to get in. It's a break in.