This is the Rachel’s English 30-Day Challenge! Learn 30 phrasal verbs in 30 days! Jumpstart your vocabulary in 2017. Today is Day 6 and we’re studying phrasal verbs with “grind”.

Grind up, grind down. These two phrasal verbs don’t have anything to do with direction. If you grind something up, you crush it into tiny little pieces. Grind up the cloves for the cookie recipe. She has a special machine to grind up the chicken.

Grind down means to wear away by pressure and movement. The stone was ground down over centuries. We also use it figuratively. When something grinds down on you, it makes you tired, it wears you out. Another phrasal verb! To wear out. Just like to grind down. The stress of this 30-day challenge is grinding me down. Or is wearing me out. We can also use ‘grind on’ this way. The stress of this project is really grinding on me.

Grind on can also mean to take a long time, and it has a negative feeling about it. This house renovation is just grinding on.

Grind out: this is to produce something. This is like ‘bang out’, which you learned on day 2 of the challenge. You don’t necessarily focus on skill or quality, but on getting it one. I have to grind out that report. I’m going to grind out another article by the end of the day.

Grind away is the opposite, it means to work at something over time. Are you studying for the GRE? Yep, I’m grinding away every day.

Grind up, grind down, grind on, grind out, grind away. You know, now that I think of it, there is a bonus grind on phrasal verb. And that is when someone is doing some dirty dancing on you. Then you would say “That person is grinding on me all night.” Like if you were in a dance club or something.

Grind begins with the GR consonant cluster. Your lips will round for the R, rr-, gr-, as you make the G sound. Grind. Make the G with the back of the tongue touching and pulling away from the soft palate, gg. Make the R with the front of the tongue, pulling it back and up a bit. Rr—grr— The tip shouldn’t be touching anything. Gr-ind. Then the AI as in BUY diphthong. Drop your jaw at first, grrriii—- then bring the front of the tongue towards the roof of the mouth, leaving your tongue tip down. Aii— Grrii— Griiinn—Then just flip the tongue up so the top is at the roof of the mouth for the N. Ggrrriiiinnn—dd– And finally the D. And finally the D. Your tongue is already in position, you just need to make the D sound with the vocal cords, d- d- d- Grind. Grind. If the next word begins with a consonant, you might drop the D. We sometimes drop the T and D when it comes between two other consonants. Grind me down. Grind me— There, the D comes between two consonants and I’m not saying the D. Grind me down. Grind me down. Grrriinnme down.

If the next word begins with a vowel or diphthong, you definitely want to make the D. Use it to connect the two words together. Grind away, d- d- da- way… da way. Griinnddaway. Grind away.

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Click the links in the description. This 30-day challenge is leading up to a phrasal verbs course that will be available on my online school on February 1. Rachel’s English Academy is a collection of online courses focusing on English conversation, pronunciation, and listening comprehension. You will understand Americans better and speak better English with these courses. Visit rachelsenglishacademy.com to sign up and get started today.