Learn how to use the verb "Check"
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| Hi, everybody! Welcome back to Know Your Verbs. |
| My name is Alisha and in this episode, we're gonna talk about the verb, check. |
| Let's get started! |
| Let's start with the basic definition of the verb "check." |
| The basic definition of the verb "check" is "to make sure something is correct by looking at it carefully." |
| Some examples… |
| "Can you check my homework?" |
| "I checked your application." |
| Now, here are the conjugations for this verb: |
| Present: check, checks |
| Past: checked |
| Past participle: checked |
| Progressive: checking |
| Okay, now, let's talk about some additional meanings for this verb. |
| The first additional meaning is "to get information to confirm something." |
| Examples: |
| "Can you check what time the movie starts? |
| "I checked with HR and they said it's ok to change the schedule." |
| So, here we see examples where the verb "check" is used to mean getting information to confirm something. So we need information to see if something is correct or not or something is okay or not. |
| In the first example sentence, "Can you check what time the movie starts?" It means can you go find some information to determine or to find the time that the movie begins or the time the movie starts. So get information and determine the correct time. |
| In the second example sentence, "I checked with HR and they said it's ok," it means in past tense, I went to HR or I contacted HR. HR means "Human Resources" by the way, Human Resources Department. I went to HR or I contacted HR and I confirmed it is okay to change the schedule. So it means contacting or getting information to make sure something is okay or something is correct. To check, okay. |
| Let's go on to the second additional meaning. |
| The second additional meaning is "to give someone items to keep for a specific period." |
| This is usually at like a hotel or an airport. |
| Examples: |
| "We checked our luggage before boarding." |
| "You can check your bags at the hotel reception desk." |
| So here, "to check" means to give your luggage, usually luggage or maybe it's like your coat or something, to check your coat. There's something called a coat check like nice restaurants or in certain hotels. So to check your coat or to check your bags, to check your suitcase means to give that item to staff at that location to keep for a short period of time, like the time of your flight, the time that you're eating a meal there, the time that you are going to be out shopping, away from the hotel, for example. So, you check an item for a short period of time and you receive the item later when you come back or when your flight has finished, for example, to check. |
| The third meaning is "to mark as complete or OK." |
| So, if you'll imagine that you're filling out an application form or there's a checklist that you need to complete, you can imagine making the check motion. We use the verb "to check" for that motion which means to mark something as OK or complete or finished or good or whatever, something kind of like a confirmation. |
| Examples: |
| "Check the boxes on the form." |
| "He checked the correct answer on the test." |
| So, in the first example sentence, "Check the boxes on the form," it doesn't mean look carefully at the boxes. It means physically mark the boxes with a check mark or something else similar to show you confirmed that item. |
| The second example, "He checked the correct answer on the test," refers to this motion again, confirming or marking the correct answer on a test, so using your pencil or your pen to mark the correct answer. It doesn't have to be a check symbol, it can be, but we used "check," the verb "to check" to refer to this action. |
| Let's go on to the fourth additional meaning here which is "to stop some kind of behavior" or "to stop something continuing" or "to restrain something." |
| Examples: |
| "We should try to check our spending." |
| "You should check his behavior before it gets worse." |
| So here, "to check" means like to restrain something or to stop something from happening, to stop a behavior like from spreading or getting worse as in the examples. So, "to check your spending," for example, that refers to restraining yourself, like try not to spend so much money, for example. |
| In the second example, "checking someone's behavior" means restraining or holding someone's behavior back or stopping bad behavior from continuing. So, "to check" has that feeling of restraint or stopping someone's progress or stopping the progress of something, usually negative. |
| Let's continue on to some variations in use of this verb. |
| The first variation is "check out." |
| Actually, there are two different meanings for "check out." |
| Let's start with the first one. "To check out" is used to mean to finish a transaction. We use it at, like supermarkets or hotels, for example, usually when you pay the bill or you pay the total amount due for the items you are buying. |
| Examples: |
| "I need to check out of the hotel by 11." |
| "I'm checking out at the supermarket right now." |
| So this means you are completing your transaction. So, "checking out of the hotel" means like you returned your room key, you've repaid like mini-bar expenses, if you bought a movie, I don't know, whatever. You complete everything you need to finish. All the procedures are completed at the endpoint of your stay, that's called "checking out." |
| In the second example sentence, "checking out at the supermarket," that means paying your bill at the supermarket. You go shopping, you take everything to the checkout or the register and you pay for all your items. That's called "checking out." |
| However, there is a second meaning for "check out." |
| "To check out" can mean "to carefully look at someone you find physically attractive." |
| Examples: |
| "I think that girl just checked you out." |
| "He checked her out from across the room." |
| So, "to check someone out" means to look at them because you find them physically attractive like you're looking carefully like their face, their skin, their clothes, their hair, like there's something that you find physically attractive about them, so you look kind of carefully. There's kind of a special, I suppose, look about someone when they're checking out another person, I guess, like they're sort of like the higher level of interest than usual when you check someone out, like it's, and it's usually kind of like secretive, a little bit. Like if you check someone out and you're like really obvious about it, it's kind of weird. Most people will check someone out kind of quietly, so kind of keep it to themselves, at least I hope so, I don't know. Don't, don't be weird about this. If you find someone physically attractive, check them out quietly and respectfully. This is not like a typical, I don't know, don't make the other person uncomfortable. |
| The next variation, there are actually two ways to say this next variation. |
| They are "check up on" and "check in with." |
| This means to see what the status of a person or a process is. |
| Examples: |
| "When was the last time you checked up on your brother?" |
| "Check in with me later, please." |
| So both of these sentences refer to seeing the status of another person or like a project, for example. In the first one, it's a person, like "When was the last time you checked up on your brother?" means when was the last time you contacted your brother or saw your brother or checked his status or saw his condition, for example, but we use "checked up on." |
| In the second example sentence, "Check in with me later," it means please give me some status information later. Please tell me what the status is later. So you can use "check up on" or "check up with" if you want so. They both mean like it's a status issue. |
| Those are a few new ways to use the verb "check." I hope that you found something new. Of course, if you have any questions, comments, whatever, you can feel free to let us know in the comment section of this video. Thanks very much for watching this episode of Know Your Verbs and we'll see you again soon. Bye-bye! |
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