Learn how to use the verb "Match"
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| Hi, everybody! Welcome back to Know Your Verbs. |
| My name is Alisha and in this lesson, we're going to talk about the verb "match." |
| Let's get started! |
| The basic definition of the verb "match" is "to combine well with something else." |
| Examples: |
| "The new product lineup matches our customer's needs." |
| "His shirt matched his pants nicely." |
| Now, let's look at the conjugations for this verb. |
| Present: match, matches |
| Past: matched |
| Past Participle: matched |
| Progressive: matching |
| Now, let's talk about some additional meanings for this verb. |
| First one, "to be equal to another thing or person." |
| Some examples: |
| "Our products match our competitor's quality at a lower price!" |
| "She matched her boss, drink for drink!" |
| So, in the first example sentence, the speaker's product and the competitor's product have the same level of quality. They match in terms of quality. However, the price of the speaker's product is cheaper, it's a lower price. So, that's the point of the speaker's statement. Same quality, but our product is cheaper, maybe a common sales tactic. |
| In the second example sentence, we see, "She matched her boss, drink for drink!" It means for each drink her boss took, she also had a drink, so matching drinks is like doing the same thing as someone else, drinking the same amount as someone else, so she matched her boss, she matched her boss. So, she was equal. She was at an equal level to her boss in this respect. |
| Okay. Let's go on to the second additional meaning. |
| The second additional meaning is "to give the same amount of money that has been collected or offered." |
| Examples: |
| "We'll match donations: $1 for $1." |
| "The store offered to match competitor prices!" |
| So this is a specific use of the word "match." It's related to money. So, if like a charity organization is trying to raise money for something, oftentimes, other organizations or individuals will agree to match a certain amount or match the amount of money raised. |
| We see that in the first example sentence. So, "We'll match $1 for $1" means for each dollar that is donated, this, whoever is speaking, this organization or this person, will donate $1 also. So, if $100 is like the total amount that's raised, then the speaker's organization or the speaker themselves will also give $100. So this amount and this amount will be the same. That's called matching donations. |
| In the second example sentence then, about matching competitor prices, this means that if a competitor has a lower price for a product, this shop will offer the same price. So that means that the shop is changing its price to match the competitor's price, so they're trying to match the amount offered by the competitor there. So, matching prices in this way means that they will change prices to offer the best price possible for the customer. |
| So, the next additional meaning is "to be the same as something else." |
| To be the same as something else |
| Examples: |
| "Her outfit matched one worn by a model in a magazine." |
| "Your hairstyle matches my dog's!" |
| So this means not to be similar or not to combine well, but to be the same as something else, exactly the same of something else. |
| So, in the first example sentence, "Her outfit matched one worn by a model in the magazine," it means her outfit is the same as the one that's in this magazine. So maybe she was inspired by this outfit in the magazine, so she matches. They are wearing the same thing. |
| The second one is kind of a joke sentence, "Your hairstyle matches my dog's (hairstyle)," so I've dropped "hairstyle" from that sentence. "Your hairstyle matches my dog's." It means your hairstyle and my dog's hairstyle are the same, so it's probably a joke. I can't think of many situations where this would be a compliment, but just an example sentence. So this means that these two things are the same, they are the same. You match! You match, so this is common if you happen to wear like the same clothes as someone else if, just accidentally though, like you didn't plan it, you arrived to something and you're wearing the same thing as someone else, we can say, "Oh my gosh, you match! You guys match!" You're wearing the same thing. |
| Okay! Let's move on to some variations for this verb. |
| The first variation, I have two included for this is "to match up" or "to match somebody up." This means to introduce somebody for dating, to introduce two people for dating. |
| Examples: |
| "My friend tried to match me up with someone." |
| "A coworker matched up two acquaintances quite successfully." |
| So, this "matched up" refers to combining two people. So we talked about the basic definition of this verb, like two things that combine together well. In this case, when we say "to match up" or "to match somebody up," it refers to finding two people who are a nice fit, they combine together well. So you might hear this, like to match you up with somebody. I want to match you up with somebody, so this means dating, trying to set up a date. |
| The next variation is "to match somebody against somebody else." |
| This means to put two people of equal ability levels in competition against one another. So that means these two people have about the same level of ability. It shouldn't be out of balance, ideally. It should be about the same level. |
| Examples: |
| "Serena Williams was matched against Anna Kournikova." |
| "Let's match the top Japanese chef against the top French chef for the competition." |
| So, these example sentences are intended to show situations where there's a pair of people that are evenly matched, but maybe they have different abilities like different specialties, so their abilities themselves are maybe at the same level, but maybe they have some kind of different details in there somewhere. So, to match in this way, to match one person against another person is for like competitive reasons, for some contest or sport or something like that. |
| Okay! So, those are a few new ways I hope that you can use the word "match." If you have questions, comments, or want to leave an example sentence, please feel free to do so 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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