AEE: Rev Up Your Brain With These Phrasal Verbs

Summary

Podcast Summary: All Ears English Podcast – "Rev Up Your Brain With These Phrasal Verbs"

Release Date: May 27, 2025

Hosts:

• Lindsay McMahon – The English Adventurer
• Michelle Kaplan (Aubrey Carter) – The IELTS Whiz

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Introduction to Phrasal Verbs

In this engaging episode of the All Ears English Podcast, Lindsay McMahon and Michelle Kaplan delve into the dynamic world of phrasal verbs, focusing on the versatile phrase "rev up." Aimed at intermediate to advanced English learners, the hosts aim to enhance listeners' fluency and confidence by exploring everyday vocabulary and natural expressions used by native speakers.

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Understanding "Rev Up"

Lindsay: "00:30"
"I'm going to gather energy to do something big and exciting. Right? To rev up."

Michelle explains that "rev up" conveys the notion of increasing activity or energy, similar to revving an engine. This metaphorical usage adds a sense of forward momentum and excitement to various contexts.

Key Points:

• Meaning: To become more active or to increase the intensity of an activity.
• Usage: Applicable in both personal and organizational contexts.

Example Sentences:

• "The company is revving up for its launch."
• "I revved up my brain with a cup of coffee."

Michelle adds a grammatical insight about the spelling of "rev up" in different tenses:

Michelle: "03:28"
"When you use it in present continuous like this, you double the V. It looks kind of strange. Very rare in English. So it's R-e-v-v-i-n-g up Revving up."

Lindsay concurs, noting that native speakers might often misspell "revving up" due to the double 'v.'

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Origin and Usage in Courses

Aubrey: "04:12"
"Ever since then, I hear it everywhere."

The phrase "rev up" gained prominence through the hosts' C1 English fluency course, particularly in Module 3: Connect Over Shared Experiences. It emerged from native speaker interviews, showcasing authentic language usage beyond textbook examples.

Lindsay: "04:29"
"We aspire to the highest levels of English. We're trying to make our language more precise, nuanced, and sophisticated."

The hosts emphasize that their courses aim to equip learners with nuanced and sophisticated vocabulary drawn directly from real conversations, enhancing the practicality of their language skills.

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Exploring Related Phrasal Verbs: "Fire Up" and "Get Fired Up"

The discussion naturally transitions to related phrasal verbs, "fire up" and "get fired up," which share similar meanings but with distinct nuances.

Definitions:

• Fire Up: To make something more active or intense.
  • "Let’s get fired up for the big game!"
• Get Fired Up: To become very excited or motivated.
  • "After meeting with her therapist, she was fired up about making some changes."

Notable Quote:

Michelle: "08:55"
"What's really tricky about this phrasal verb is there's a second meaning that's very different that means to get really upset."

Here, Michelle highlights that "fired up" can also mean becoming angry, demonstrating the versatility and complexity of phrasal verbs in English.

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Real-Life Examples and Role Play

To illustrate the practical application of these phrasal verbs, Lindsay and Michelle engage in a role play centered around fitness routines.

Role Play Highlights:

• Lindsay: "I need to rev up my workout routine. I might get a gym membership." (10:40)
• Michelle: "I feel like you revved up your routine when you started going to Orange Theory." (11:00)
• Lindsay: "Their classes are really good at revving up my motivation." (12:00)
• Michelle: "I'm fired up, and I'm gonna go right now and sign up for a membership." (12:30)

Insights:

• "Rev up" is used to indicate intensifying a routine.
• "Fired up" expresses a high level of motivation and excitement.

This interactive segment not only demonstrates the correct usage of the phrasal verbs but also reinforces learners' understanding through practical examples.

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Practical Application and Learning Tips

Towards the episode's conclusion, Lindsay and Michelle offer valuable tips for learners to effectively incorporate these phrasal verbs into their vocabulary.

Tips Include:

1. Learn Vocabulary Strategically: Focus on phrasal verbs and expressions that native speakers frequently use.
2. Engage with Real Conversations: Utilize the hosts' courses, which draw from authentic dialogues, to enhance learning.
3. Maintain Energy in Learning: Keep the learning process dynamic and engaging to stay motivated. Lindsay emphasizes, "Always be questioning your methods. If you're doing something that's kind of feeling kind of meh, like kind of average, change the method. Do something different." (14:18)

Conclusion: The hosts reiterate the importance of connecting with the language through real-life usage and maintaining enthusiasm to achieve fluency. They encourage listeners to stay "fired up" about their learning journey and to leverage innovative tools, such as AI conversation guides, to bolster their speaking practice.

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Notable Quotes

• Lindsay: "00:30"
  "I'm going to gather energy to do something big and exciting. Right? To rev up."

• Michelle: "03:28"
  "When you use it in present continuous like this, you double the V. It looks kind of strange. Very rare in English. So it's R-e-v-v-i-n-g up Revving up."

• Michelle: "08:55"
  "What's really tricky about this phrasal verb is there's a second meaning that's very different that means to get really upset."

• Lindsay: "14:18"
  "Always be questioning your methods. If you're doing something that's kind of feeling kind of meh, like kind of average, change the method. Do something different."

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Final Thoughts

This episode of All Ears English not only breaks down the phrasal verb "rev up" and its related expressions but also provides listeners with actionable strategies to integrate these terms into their daily conversations. Through engaging discussions, practical examples, and insightful tips, Lindsay and Michelle empower English learners to elevate their language skills with confidence and enthusiasm.

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Disclaimer: This summary excludes promotional content and focuses solely on the educational aspects discussed in the episode.

Transcript

[A]

This is an All Ears English episode. Rev up your brain with these phrasal verbs. 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 host, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, and Lindsey McMahon, the English adventurer, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, usa. Are you fired up about phrasal verbs? Today? Let's insert some energy into your English. Plus find out how to get access to our brand new AI conversation templates.

[B]

Ready to push your English to the advanced level? Want to have fast back and forth conversations with native speakers where the conversation doesn't hit a dead end? Announcing a special offer on our C1 English fluency course packed with tons of ways to practice your speaking. Special offer this week only you can save up to $100 off the normal price. Plus get our new AI conversation guides to continue with the conversation and get unlimited speaking practice. Enroll [e-mail] C1 offer ends June 1st at midnight.

[A]

Hello, Aubry, how are you today?

[B]

I'm great, Lindsay, how are you?

[A]

Good. I'm glad to be here. Aubrey, what is your morning routine? How do you rev up your brain and your mind in the morning?

[B]

Definitely coffee. I'm probably. There are probably a lot of our listeners that are like, yes, coffee, you got to rev up your brain.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I'm excited to dive into this vocab. Rev up. I hear it a lot. It's funny, I. It was recently reminded in one of our courses and after that I started hearing it everywhere. Do you hear this a lot? Rev up. Not just with engines, but like rev up your brain, rev up your mission.

[A]

Yeah, I like it because it has a, a notion of forward moving activity. Right?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

I'm going to gather energy to do something big and exciting. Right? To rev up.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. And it's fun because it kind of sounds like when you rev an engine, that word rev, it's sort of. Is that onomatopoeia where it's sort of the sound that it makes?

[A]

Yeah, exactly. And our listeners who come to open Conversation Club, they know at the 7am time, I always have my coffee right when we're, when we're on the call, I'm always revving myself up with coffee.

[B]

Right? Coffee. To rev up your brain. Totally.

[A]

For sure. For sure. So what are some sample sentences with this phrase? Rev up.

[B]

Yeah. So this means become more active. Like we said. You could say the company is revving up for its launch. And this is interesting, to rev up the phrasal verb, just one V, R, e, v. Two words up. But when you use it in present continuous like this, you double the V. It looks kind of strange. Very rare in English. So it's R e, v, v, I, n, g. And then up. Revving up.

[A]

Yeah. I honestly feel like a lot of native speakers wouldn't know that. They wouldn't know how to write revving up.

[B]

They might spell it incorrectly. Right. And when we see it written, it's like, that looks strange. Two V's in a row.

[A]

Yeah, it looks weird. And here's another one. I. I revved up my brain with a cup of coffee. I mean, yeah, for sure.

[B]

Same tense. When it's the past participle, 2V. It does look a little strange.

[A]

So, Aubrey, where did this phrase come from? You said it came from one of our courses.

[B]

Yes, right. It's in Module 3 of our C1 course, connect over shared experiences. And when we're helping create the courses and we're pulling this vocabulary from native speaker interviews, the interesting vocabulary that they use that we actually use in conversations. And one of them said this Rev up. Ever since then, I hear it everywhere.

[A]

Yeah, that's the connection method. That's what I love about the connection method. Our courses, what you learn comes directly from our non scripted conversations with native speakers. Right. And what I love the most about C1 is that it's where we aspire to the highest levels of English.

[B]

Exactly right. We're trying to make our language more precise, nuanced, and sophisticated. This is where I am in French too. And it's an exciting place to be. We're excited for all of our listeners that are there as well.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. Speaking of French, Aubry, I took a French lesson this morning because I'm getting ready for a trip to Belgium. It was a disaster. Things have gotten real bad. Real bad.

[B]

You're gonna need to spend some time working on your friends.

[A]

There are some real gaps. And that's the value of taking a course. Honestly, it's what I need in French is taking a focused study plan, a curriculum that has been created for your level. I would need at this point, like an A2 curriculum for French.

[B]

But Lindsay's not at C1 like a lot of you guys are. That's okay. We gotta start somewh.

[A]

Yeah, but I love it. But we're talking about C1 today, guys, because we have a special offer on the C1 fluency course. This week only. Aubry tell us about it.

[B]

Yes. You can save up to a hundred dollars on our regular price if you sign up before June 1st at midnight. So this is a limited time offer. Go to allearsenglish.com C1 and we have something exciting here. We have new AI conversation guides.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So that you can extend what you learn in the course and get unlimited speaking practice. So this is very exciting.

[A]

It's super exciting. This is the very first time. One of the. This month is the first time we're launching these. We give you the exact prompts of what you've learned in the course to put into AI to create essentially a conversation partner for yourself, to practice what you've already learned from the interviews and the lessons from the course.

[B]

It is so cool. Yeah, we both tried it. Right. We're taking people we interviewed in the course, and we're sort of creating this AI robot of someone very similar that would have the same background that you can continue the conversation with. What amazing practice.

[A]

Exactly. But they work together beautifully. You learn the fundamentals in the course and then you extend with that unlimited speaking practice with the conversation guide. So we'll give you a little more information at the end of the episode today, but think about it, guys, because this is how you get better. Okay, Good.

[B]

Absolutely. All right, let's dive into the second meaning of rev up, which is very similar, but it's interesting because the first one is a verb. Right. The company is revving up. I revved up my brain. And then we use it just slightly differently that it means to make someone or something more active or effective. So we're just changing it a little, Changing the direct object. You could say the coffee revved up my brain. Right. Or we are hoping these new policies will rev up the economy.

[A]

Right? Exactly. Or they're trying to get customers revved up for the launch of this new product. So they're maybe teasing the launch. They're surveying the audience, dropping hints of what's coming, getting them revved up and ready. Right?

[B]

Exactly. And this happens a lot with phrasal verbs. This is kind of a little insider look into English grammar, that sometimes a phrasal verb will have these very similar meanings but be used grammatically different in a sentence. So one is means become more active, and the other means to make something else become more active. Very similar in use. But if you're diagramming sentences, you would notice a difference. Interesting.

[A]

Super interesting. I love it. And then a similar related phrasal verb, fire up or get fired up. Also a fun one to use I think.

[B]

Yes. Right. This means to make something more active or intense. We hear this a lot in sports. Right. Let's get fired up. Or the coach is trying to fire up her players. But we hear it other ways, too. Right, Lindsay? Well, yeah.

[A]

It really makes me think of. And here's a. Here's a question from high school. Did you used to go to pep? Rall. Aubrey, do you remember Pepper?

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yes. Get the whole school fired up for the big game. Right.

[A]

I wonder if that's a thing anymore. I hope it is, because usually, yo. Right. You come and there's the band playing. There's loud music. There's someone.

[B]

Cheerleaders are flipping around. Yeah.

[A]

Yep. Yep. Rallies. But it would usually happen during class time, I think. So we would take class time off to all go to the gym and get our school spirit on.

[B]

Right, Right. Yeah. It's fun. I have a feeling they still. I'll have to ask my teenagers if they still do it usually. You did hear this in other contexts besides sports. For examp. You might say after meeting with her therapist, she was fired up about making some changes. So this means, you know, really driven, really ambitious, like, I'm gonna set some goals. I'm excited to make some changes. Okay.

[A]

And here's another example. The coach is trying to fire up her players.

[B]

Yes, Right. Exactly. Trying to motivate, get people fired up. What's really tricky about this phrasal verb is there's a second meaning that's very different that means to get really upset. So you might hear someone say, like, oh, he got really fired up when she lied to him.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And that has this totally different meaning of being really angry, but also still.

[A]

Kind of related because it means emotions are increasing.

[B]

Right, Exactly. Right. Emotions are more intense.

[A]

Yeah. They're on their way up. Right, exactly. So it is kind of related. It just has kind of two manifestations, Right?

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Yes. Yeah. And then let's get fired up. Yeah. Interesting. On a related note, one place people are often very fired up is at a graduation. But you know what I learned, Aubrey, at the last. When I went to a graduation in Utah last weekend. Kids don't throw their hats anymore. They don't do that. That's not a thing anymore.

[B]

They don't want to lose it.

[A]

I was so shocked. We were all shocked. We're like, okay, now they're gonna throw it. Oh, they're gonna do it. They're gonna do it. And then we asked my stepbrother after, like, why didn't you throw your hat? He's like, oh, we don't really do that anymore.

[B]

Yeah, they didn't at my daughter's graduation either. They kept their hats, but they had these sort of puppers where they pulled it and, like, confetti flew up. Instead of throwing their hats, the. The confetti went. So it's still a great photo with the confetti, but I didn't even think about it, and I didn't ask, but they didn't. They didn't throw a hat.

[A]

But it's just so iconic, this whole, like, this idea of all you have in the air. I don't know. I. I'm sad when.

[B]

If you want your hat, you can go find it after.

[A]

Just grab one.

[B]

It's such a fun tradition, so.

[A]

All right, good stuff. Anything else we want to say about these three phrasal verbs? Aubry.

[B]

Yeah, these are super interesting. All of these phrasal verbs are. Let's do a quick role play to show how we'd use them in a conversation. You and I are chatting about our fitness routines here.

[A]

Okay, here we go. Yes.

[B]

I need to rev up my workout routine. I might get a gym membership.

[A]

Oh, good idea. That's a good motivator.

[B]

I feel like you revved up your routine when you started going to Orange Theory.

[A]

For sure. Their classes are really good at revving up my motivation.

[B]

Okay, that's it. I'm fired up, and I'm gonna go right now and sign up for a membership.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, are you able to. For me? The whole key of for me Orange Theory is that there's a coach saying, run.

[B]

They're right there firing you up the whole time. They're keeping you fired up.

[A]

They make you run. For me, if I just joined a gym, I would just go and walk on the treadmill for half an hour and watch the news, you know, someone pushing you.

[B]

Totally.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Well, we want you guys to be fired up about this new course. Right, C1. Especially about these new AI conversation guides. This is a very exciting addition. What a great way to give yourself a lot. Unlimited practice speaking.

[A]

Yeah, it's super cool. First, let's just go through the role play real quick, Aubrey. And then we'll come back to just reminding our students about the course. Yeah. Should we review the role play real quick? So first I said I need to rev up my workout routine. Yeah.

[B]

Yes. And that rev up. Just meaning to get. Get more serious about it. Right. More intense with your motivation to increase it.

[A]

Right. Increase it. And then what did you say, Aubrey?

[B]

And then you. I said I feel like you revved up your routine when you started going to Orange Theory. So this means, like, whatever routine you had before, like you said, walking on a treadmill at the gym when you went to Orange Theory, you revved it up. You were able to intensify it, improve it.

[A]

Exactly. I love it. And then I said, for sure. Their classes are really good at revving up my motivation. And that is that weird way of spelling where we have a double V. Okay, exactly.

[B]

Both revved up that I said. And revving up both of these. You're gonna double that V. Keep an eye out for. That's tricky spelling.

[A]

And then what? Aubry, what's the last thing we said?

[B]

And I said, I'm fired up. And I'm gonna go right now and sign up for a membership. And I will say this right, If I get excited about something, I get motivated. Like, okay, that's it. I'm fired up.

[A]

Let's do it. Then you have to take action right then, right? To make sure it happens. Yeah, for sure.

[B]

Exactly. Totally.

[A]

Yeah. And the cool thing about this new AI piece that we've added to the courses is it's not just about speaking with the AI forever. It's about building your skills. So when you come to our live community speaking events, you are ready. Right. So that's the beautiful combination of the curriculum, the community events, and the AI operator.

[B]

Absolutely. AI is never going to be able to replace people. Right. This is great conversation practice, but you're going to get to the point where there's just not as much creativity. Right. It's still a robot in the end, but it's going to give you that practice. You need to build fluency and confidence so that you're ready to practice with people. Over.

[A]

Over.

[B]

Zoom. Or with those. For those in person conversations.

[A]

Exactly. So we've got all the bases covered. So, guys, to get access to these brand new AI conversation guides and to save a hundred dollars on the course, go to allersenglish.com C1. That's letter C number one before June 1st at midnight. All right.

[B]

Awesome. Yes. Don't miss out. We are excited to see you in our community and for you to take advantage of all that we have in that C1 course.

[A]

So cool. Aubry, where should we leave our listeners today?

[B]

Yes. Well, the best way to rev up your English learning is learning vocabulary strategies, grammar, grammar structures that native speakers actually use. Right. We often say this. We're teaching something that you won't find in a textbook. Right. A lot of the language we actually use in real conversations. What we use in our courses from native interviews is not what you'll find in a textbook.

[A]

Yeah. And I would say also to make sure there's energy in your learning, always be questioning your methods. Right. If you're doing something that's kind of feeling kind of meh, like kind of average, change the method. Do something different. We want to keep life in our learning. Okay.

[B]

Absolutely. You want to stay fired up about what you're learning? Totally. Love it.

[A]

All right. Good stuff. We hope to see you guys inside the C1 course. Aubry, I'll talk to you very soon. Have a good day.

[B]

Awesome. Talk to you soon. Bye. Bye.

[A]

Thanks for listening. To all ears. English. Would you like to know your English level? Take our two minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com fluencyscore and if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.