Learn how to use the verb "Pull"
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| Hi, everybody. My name is Alisha. Welcome back to Know Your Verbs. In this lesson, we're going to talk about the verb "pull." Let's get started. |
| The basic definition of the verb "pull" is to move something, usually towards your body, this motion, to pull, to pull. Examples of this, "He pulled his coffee mug across the table." "She pulled the lamp string." |
| Okay. Now, let's look at the conjugations for this verb. Present, pull, pulls; past, pulled; past participle, pulled; progressive, pulling. So, now, let's talk about some additional meanings for this verb. The first additional meaning is to remove something from its place. Some examples, "My brother and I used to pull weeds every summer." "I pulled out a few gray hairs this morning." So, "to pull" in this case is to remove something from its original place. In the first example sentence, "My brother and I used to pull weeds," it means we've removed weeds from the ground. We pulled weeds from their original place in the ground and took them out. In the second example sentence, it's about pulling gray hair. So, removing gray hairs from their original place. "To pull," we use "to pull" to describe this. |
| Okay. Let's go on to the second additional meaning now. The second additional meaning is to remove something from a publication. This can mean TV, it can mean magazines, newspapers. To remove something, usually because that thing is offensive, or it's incorrect, or it's inappropriate. There's some problem with it. Examples, "Pull the story from the newspaper." "The TV show pulled the controversial photos from its segment." So, in both of these examples, content is being removed from some kind of media source or some kind of publication because there's a problem with it. In the first example sentence, it's pulled the story. So, that means the story, the entire story, there's some problem with it. It needs to be removed. In the second example sentence, it's about controversial photos. Controversial photos are pulled from a segment. So, that means there's some problem, there's some issue. They have to be removed. We use the verb "pull" to refer to this, usually in media situations. |
| Let's go on to the third additional meaning for this verb, "To attract a person or people." Meaning, to draw people in. Examples, "Big celebrities always pull big crowds." "We pulled in a lot of new customers at the event." So, here, it means attracted or drew people. So, in the first example sentence, "Big celebrities always pull big crowds," means attract. "Pull" means attract. Big celebrities always draw in or attract a lot of people, in other words. In the second example sentence which was, "We pulled in a lot of new customers," it means we drew, we attracted a lot of new customers. You'll also notice that I've used "pulled" in there. So, you can use "pulled" in to refer to attracting people as well, "to pull in." So, you might see that, or you might see as in the first example sentence, "To pull big crowds." |
| Okay. Let's go on to the fourth additional meaning of this verb. The fourth additional meaning is to get information like from researching something. Examples, "Pull all the files about the criminal investigation. I pulled this photo from his website." So, this means to get information, but usually with the kind of feeling of doing some research. So, in the first example sentence, "Pull all the files about the criminal investigation," it means go and get all the files, or go do some research, find all the files and get them. So, we're doing some kind of research or some sort of investigation and we need information. We can use the verb "pull" to refer to getting that information. In the second sentence, "I pulled this photo from his website," it means I got this photo from his website. But it sounds like I went to his website for some kind of research purpose and I got the photo there. |
| So, now, let's move along to some variations and other ways to use this verb. The first expression is "to pull oneself together." It means to regain your composure, to become calm once again. Examples, "Pull yourself together! It's just a small mistake!" "He needs to pull himself together and get back to work." So, in both of these examples, there's someone who's kind of panicking maybe, or they're having trouble staying calm and composed. We can use the expression "pull yourself together" to mean like imagine pulling yourself, pulling all the parts of yourself together again to make like this calm composed person. In the second example sentence, "He needs to pull himself together and get back to work," it means he needs to regain his calm composed manner and go back to his job. So, "to pull yourself together" means just to regain your calm state, I guess. |
| You'll also notice that this is commonly used reflexively. "He needs to pull himself together." Reflexive means that the subject and the object of the verb are the same person. So, "He needs to pull himself," you'll see there, or, "You should pull yourself together." So, the subject and the object are the same person. |
| The next variation is the expression "to pull one's weight to pull one's weight." This means to do your fair share of a job or a task, to do the things that you are assigned to do, your parts. Okay. Oh, this could be for work, it could be for another activity, a job, a project, whatever. Examples, "Everyone needs to pull their weight on the team." "He's not pulling his weight on this project. What happened?" So, in the first example sentence, "Everyone needs to pull their weight on the team," it means each person needs to do his or her job. Each person needs to do his or her tasks. Each person has some responsibilities. It's their job to do those things that's pulling their weight. In the second example sentence, "He's not pulling his weight on the project; what happened?" That means, because it's negative, he's not doing his part in the project. He's not doing the things he was assigned to do. Why? What happened? What's the problem? So, "to pull your weight" is typically something you should do at work. You want to pull your weight. You're fulfilling your tasks. You're doing the jobs that are assigned to you. It's your responsibility. |
| Okay. Let's go on to a third variation, another way to use this verb. The expression is "to pull rank." This means using your power or using authority to make someone do something. Examples, "My supervisor tried to pull rank on me to get me to write fake customer reviews, but I refused." "Seems the CEO pulled rank on the department manager. They're working on his new project." So, "to pull rank" means to use your rank, to use your position in order to make other people do something. So, in the first example sentence where a supervisor tries to pull rank on the speaker, it means the supervisor tries to use his or her power to get this person, the speaker in this case, to write customer reviews that are not real customer reviews. So, they're trying to get this person to do something they don't want to do because of their position of power or authority. |
| We see this in the second example sentence too, but it was a successful situation. So, the CEO pulled rank on the department manager. We know this because the people in the department presumably are working on the CEO's new project. So, that means the CEO was successful in convincing the department manager to work on this project. So, "to pull rank" means to use your power or use your authority to make something happen. |
| So, those are a few new ways I hope to use the word "pull." If you have any questions or comments, or if you know some other ways, there are lots, of using the verb "pull," 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. |
| Pull, pull, pull. I'm pulling. Pulling my hair out. |
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