Learn how to use the verb "Cross"
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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 "cross." Let's get started. |
| Let's start with the basic definition of the verb "cross." |
| To cross means to move from one side of something to the other. |
| Some examples: Look both ways before you cross the street. Look at the ducks crossing the road. |
| Now let's look at the conjugations for this verb. |
| Present: cross, crosses |
| Past: crossed |
| Past participle: crossed |
| Progressive: crossing. |
| Now let's talk about some additional meanings for this verb. The first additional meaning is to cause plants or animals to breed. These are animals or plants of like the same species, but perhaps they are not typically bred together. |
| Some examples: |
| A Labrador crossed with a poodle creates a labradoodle. |
| Some growers spend years crossing. |
| So this use of cross refers to plants and animals that are usually not bred together. And when we're talking about animals, especially it's for animals that are of the same species. So this means just different types of dog, different breeds of dog, for example, are bred together to create different combinations. Like in the example sentence of a labradoodle, which is a combination of the two dog types names. With plant crossing, however, it's cross breeding. As we could understand it, a slightly different word for it. It's putting together different kinds of plants to create different characteristics in new plants in the future. So to cross animals and to cross plants refers to joining different breeds. |
| The next additional meaning of cross is to make the sign of the cross. This is used in religious situations. |
| Some examples: she crossed herself when she entered the church. |
| The priest crosses each person who visits. |
| This use of the verb cross is used in religious situations, particularly in the Christian religion and the other religions, the smaller parts of Christianity. To cross in this sense means to make the shape of a cross, which is an important symbol in Christianity. This is done by using the hand or perhaps by using the finger as well. So this is an important symbol for Christianity and it can be used in churches and in similar, related meetings, gatherings. And so. In the example sentence, we see this verb used reflexively. She crossed herself when she entered the church. That means she made a motion where she touched parts of her body to create a cross like symbol. |
| So we used the verb cross reflexively here in the second example, sentence, the priest crossed each person. It means the priest made the gesture of a cross or created a cross- like shape in the air toward each person. So cross doesn't actually mean like moving across anything here. When used in religious situations, it refers to drawing a shape in the air that's similar to a cross. |
| The next variation is to cause someone to be angry or unhappy because you did not do what you promised. |
| Some examples: Don't cross her, she won't forget it. |
| Why did he cross us? |
| So this use of cross is actually not so common in today's American English, but you might hear it from time to time. It's especially used in warnings. Like in the first example sentence here, don't cross her, it means like don't get on her bad side. Don't do anything that's going to make her angry because she won't forget it. So when you cross someone, it's like, you make an agreement, you make a promise to do something, for example, but you don't actually do it, or you choose to do something different from what you agreed. So we use the verb cross to explain this sometimes. In the second example sentence, it's a question. Why did he cross us? In other words, why did he choose to do something different from what we agreed upon? And the speaker is probably unhappy or is upset about the situation? |
| You might also hear the expression to double cross someone. This is sort of a variation here to double cross someone is to like, make two deals at the same time. So you make one agreement with one person, another agreement with a different person and you benefit from the agreement. But probably one person or maybe both people are losing something because of your decision. |
| So to double cross someone is typically regarded as a bad thing, or it's a negative thing. It's kind of evil betrayal. |
| Now let's move along to some variations with the word cross. |
| The first variation is to cross one's arms or to cross one's legs. This means to fold your arms over each other, or to do the same thing with your legs, crossing your legs like this when sitting. |
| Some examples: She crossed her arms and shook her head. |
| He hates crossing his legs. |
| All right. So this is just a simple motion of putting one appendage, one, like arm or leg on top of the other one and folding them together into a comfortable position. |
| Okay. Now let's move on to the next variation. The next variation is to cross something or somebody off. |
| This means to mark complete or unnecessary or no longer of interest as on a list in particular. |
| Some examples: Cross me off the guest list. I have to work and I can't come to your party. |
| I'm crossing Paris off the list of vacation ideas. It's too expensive. |
| So cross someone off or to cross something off is like to mark something complete or to remove something often from a list. |
| In the first example, it's a person cross me off your guest list means remove me from your guest. The image here is physically drawing a line through someone's name or through words on a page. We use the expression to cross something off. When we talk about making this motion in writing. So when we cross someone's name off of a list, we remove them, or we mark them complete. |
| If a person arrives to a party and you want to mark on your list, that person has arrived, or you don't need to worry about that anymore. You can cross someone off the list. Of course, in this case, it's a person's request to be removed from a list. Please cross me off your guest list means don't worry about me anymore. |
| Like you don't need to think about. In the second example sentence, it's about a vacation. So cross Paris off the list of vacation ideas. Like let's not think about it anymore. It's done. Let's move on. It's too expensive. So to cross something off means to market as complete or as unnecessary, we don't need to think about it. |
| Okay. So I hope that you found a new way of using the verb cross. Of course, if you have questions, comments, or, you know, a different way of using this verb, please let us know in the comments of this video. Thanks very much for watching this episode of know your verbs and we'll see you again soon. Bye bye. |
| Cross, cross, cross, cross, cross, cross. |
| Well, I'm crossing my arms. These are all very good examples. |
| Okay. let's begin. |
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