This is the Rachel’s English 30-Day Phrasal Verb Challenge! Learn 30 phrasal verbs in 30 days! Jumpstart your vocabulary in 2017. Today is Day 30 and we’re studying phrasal verbs with “sign”.
Today is the final video, the final video of our 30-day challenge. Be sure to watch all the way through to the end to know what you can do to keep working on your vocabulary, American English Pronunciation, and English conversation skills.
To sign away. If you sign something away, that means you give up your right to something, usually in a contract. You signed away your right to sue them in the agreement. That means, sorry, you can’t sue them. You no longer have the right to. Sign over has the same meaning. She signed over the right to her story when she sold it to the publishing company.
When you sign for something, that means that you write your name, acknowledging that you received something. You usually have to sign for packages that are being delivered.
Sign in and sign out. These are opposites. You might do this at the security desk when you enter a building. You have to sign in at the front desk before coming up. That means, you write down your name on a list, maybe the time you entered. And then when you leave, you can sign out. Sign in at the reception desk for your doctor’s appointment.
Sign on. This is like sign in or log in with a website. Enter your username and password. At Rachel’s English Academy, you have to sign on before you can access the lessons.
It can also mean to start to do something or to agree to do something. She signed on as the new CEO in June. He signed on for another year as department chair.
Sign up: this means to agree to do something. I need volunteers for Saturday, but no one signed up. Or, I signed up for classes at the community college. Or, he signed up to join the army. Or, today, a bunch of new people signed up to Rachel’s English Academy. If you say sign me up, that means you’re excited to do something. I need people to help me move next week. I’m going to buy everyone dinner. Really? Sign me up. We also use this a lot with adding your email to a list. Be sure to sign up for the Rachel’s English mailing list.
Sign off. Well, just like you sign into a website, you can sign off of log off. If you’re working on a public computer, be sure to sign off.
If you sign off on something, that means you approve it. She signed off on the budget cuts. Or, we need a manager to sign off on the schedule change.
Sign off can also mean to end something. You might here it at the end of a show or video, or a 30-day challenge. I hope you’ve enjoyed the 2017 30-day challenge, this is Rachel’s English signing off.
Except, not yet, because we have to go over how to pronounce sign. It’s not tough. The S sound. Teeth are together, ss. Tongue tip just behind the teeth. The AI as in BUY diphthong. Si-. Jaw drops for the beginning of the sound, back of tongue lifts. Then the front part of the tongue arches towards the front of the roof of the mouth while the tongue tip stays down, si-, sign. Then simply bring the tongue to the roof of the mouth. Sign n- n- n- The back of the tongue needs to be relaxed or it will sound like an NG. N– sign, sign.
Well, that’s the end of our 30-day adventure. Were you up to the challenge? Did you watch all 30 videos? If not, here’s the link to the playlist. Go back and watch them, there are so many useful phrases in these videos. Studying all the meaning will increase your vocabulary. If you liked these lessons, be sure to sign up for my mailing list. You’ll get free lessons sent to you every week. And if you’re new to my list, when you sign up, you get a 10-day mini-course in accent reduction free. It will introduce you to my style of teaching and some of my videos. And I hope that you’ll study with me for a very long time, so sign up so we can stay connected.
If you’re not already a subscriber on YouTube, the link is in the description, along with a link to my Facebook. Be sure to go there to like the page.
And finally I want to tell you that today, February 1st, I started a new phrasal verbs course in my online school, Rachel’s English Academy. It takes some of the videos from this challenge and gives you lots of extra sample sentences to help you fully understand the meanings. There’s also audio to train with, and quizzes to test how well you know how to use this new vocabulary. Rachel’s English Academy is available by subscription only, and new lessons are added each month. I have a lot of fun making those lessons, and I’d love to see you there.