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Hi there, and welcome
back to engVid.
Today we are going to be looking at
eight highly useful words and phrases
that you could use in the world of
business English, for negotiations,
etc. but we're going to be applying them to a
real-life situation. You may want to watch,
after this video, my video about asking
for someone's permission to do something.
Today we're looking at phrases once we've got
someone's permission and they are watching us to make
sure that we are doing
things properly.
Okay, so: Have you watched
the film Meet the Parents?
It stars Robert DeNiro, and it's
about a highly controlling father-in-law who
works for the CIA, and he is out to get the
future son-in-law, and makes sure that he is exactly
how the father-in-law, Robert DeNiro, wants him to be.
So these are all words and phrases
that Robert DeNiro's character might
say to the young man who
wants to marry his daughter.
So, DeNiro might say: "I will be keeping a
close check on you." Okay? "A close check",
there used as a... As a noun.
Or he might say, as a verb:
"I will be checking that your financial
statements are in order. I will be checking".
On to "control", he's a controlling character.
Now, a couple of ways you can use "control".
"To have control over
someone", so he might say:
"Remember, I will always be controlling you"
or "I will always have control over you."
As a noun: "to show some control".
So as some advice, he might say:
"Now, you must show some control in terms of
the way you converse around the dinner table."
"Monitor", again, this
means sort of "to watch".
"I will be monitoring you. I will be
watching you. I have my eyes out on you".
"I want..." Or if it's the
other way around and he wants
the future son-in-law
to do something:
"I want you to monitor. I want you to look at,
I want you to monitor your spending habits."
Next phrase: "to keep an eye on". "I've got my eye
on you. I will be keeping my eye out on you."
That means I am
watching all the time.
Again, we're looking at words and verbs to do
with sight. "Oversee", so over, on top of,
looking down, so we are looking down... "I will be overseeing...
I will be looking to make sure that you are in the right."
Don't know if you know any
Latin, but "video" means
"I watch" in Latin, so again, this is to do
with the idea of sight. Super, over, I will
be looking over. I will be making sure that
everything is just right. So we have the verb:
"to supervise", and we have the noun: "supervision",
to make sure that there is proper supervision
in place. Supervision, looking
down, making sure all is well.
"To ascertain", now, if I remove the prefix
you'll see the word "certain". "Ascertain"
simply means to make certain of. Okay? So, to
ascertain whether you are the right customer
for me, to ascertain whether you can
actually be a good husband or not.
And lastly: "to keep a tab on". Now, this
is a phrase you would find more in British
English rather than American English: "to
keep a tab on". "Tab" has associations with
a pub. You would go into a pub and they would
say to you: "Would you like to start a tab?"
"A tab" means kind of a running list
of what you have spent in that place.
"To keep a tab on", so the idea here is that Robert
DeNiro's character is writing down every single thing
that Ben Stiller's character does wrong, keeping
a tab on, keeping a running list, a document.
So, hopefully you have learnt eight new phrases
that you can use either in the world of work,
or to impress your friends
with your fantastic English.
Maybe you'd like to do the quiz now just to make sure
that you've got these words in the exact correct usage.
That would be great if you did give it
a go. Until next time, see you soon.
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