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Lesson Transcript

Hi everybody, welcome back to Know Your Verbs.
My name is Alisha and in this lesson we're going to talk about the verb dig.
Let's get started.
Let's start with the basic definition.
The basic definition of dig is to move dirt with a tool or hands.
Some examples.
We dug holes in the garden for flowers.
Let's dig in the sand and make a sandcastle.
Now let's look at the conjugations for this verb.
Present, dig, digs, past, dug, past participle, dug, progressive, digging.
Now let's take a look at some additional meanings for this verb.
The first additional meaning is to search for something hidden.
These can be objects or information.
Examples.
He's digging for his keys in his bag.
I dug up some important evidence about the case.
To dig for something in this sense is used when we're searching for something that we cannot see.
This can be objects like we see in the first example sentence.
The first example sentence is he's digging for his keys in his bag.
This suggests that he's making a digging motion in his bag.
He's searching for his keys, but he can't see his keys.
We use digging to show that it's like a difficult kind of digging motion we're making in order to find something.
In this case, it's an object.
In the second example sentence, however, we see past tense, dug up some important evidence.
To dig something, like to dig information, or in this case we're using dig up or past tense, dug up, it's like we're uncovering something, like we're using almost like a digging motion or like a digging feeling, like we're really, really searching through lots of unnecessary information to find something important.
When we're using this meaning with information gathering, we often use dug up, in this case past tense, or to dig up in the present tense when we talk about the thing we found.
I need to dig for information about something is okay.
When you find the information, you can say, I dug up some information about the case, for example, or I dug up some important evidence about the case.
We often will use to dig up or dug up in past tense to reveal the information.
Before that, we might just use the regular dig without the preposition up, so kind of an interesting point, but we can use this for objects or for information.
The next additional meaning is to understand or approve of something.
This is a slang usage.
Let's look at some examples.
I dig the jacket.
She's digging the music tonight.
So this is kind of a cool word.
It's not something that your everyday average person would use.
This is a word that's kind of associated with artists to some degree, like poets or musicians or singers, for example, maybe people who are interested in fashion.
We don't really pronounce the word digging in the progressive.
We often will make it sound kind of cool by saying, she's digging, digging.
That kind of like sort of cool way of speaking is used with this sort of slangish word, which means I approve of that or like I see that and I understand it.
Like in the first example sentence, I dig the jacket, it's like I see your jacket, it's really cool, I like it, like I approve of that.
So it's like some kind of understanding and some recognition that that is like cool or good in some way.
You can use this in the negative, like I'm really not digging the vibe here tonight.
So vibe means like the feeling and I'm not digging means I'm not approving or I don't feel like this is good for me right now.
So this is a kind of cool slang word that people use like artists.
So just kind of listen to the people who are around you and the way that they speak and listen to see if they use this word before you use this word.
If you use dig and you think it sounds kind of cool, it could be okay, but if you use dig in like, I would say like a political situation or something that's kind of in a business situation, it might not sound so appropriate.
So this tends to be something used more in like artistic situations or somewhat more casual situation.
We can say like, yeah, I dig it or I dig that, that's fine to use in most cases, but if you want to get more specific, I would say use this word more for artistic conversations.
So now let's continue to some variations with this verb.
The first variation is to dig something into something or someone.
This means to push something into something else.
Examples, he dug his fingers into the cookie dough.
I can feel a rock digging into my foot.
So to dig something into something means that like there's a digging motion or there's this kind of like pushing motion from one like object or one person into something else.
In the first example, he dug his fingers into the cookie dough.
It's like his fingers are pushing into dough for cookies, cookie dough.
So it's this kind of pushing motion of a hand in this case into dough.
We describe this by saying he dug his fingers into the cookie dough.
So you can also kind of imagine a digging motion a little bit here, but it's like pushing his hand into dough.
In the second example sentence, I can feel a rock digging into my foot.
This is probably a case where there's a rock inside the speaker's shoe.
So like if you can imagine a small rock in your shoe and every step you take that little rock, if we imagine this is a rock, every step you take, you feel the rock digging, so pushing into your foot.
We express that with it's digging into my foot.
So when you have something in your shoe or there's maybe like, I don't know, something digging into your arm, like on a crowded train or something like that, it's pushing into you.
You can say something is digging into you.
It really shows that it like it's painful, it hurts, it's uncomfortable.
So to dig into something else.
Something is digging into something else.
It sounds like a negative situation in those cases.
So it kind of helps us share pain a little bit, this expression does.
To dig into something.
The next variation is to dig someone or something out.
This means to free or rescue someone or something by digging.
Examples.
The rescue team dug the earthquake survivors out of the destroyed building.
She dug a piece of broken glass out of the dirt.
So these uses show us that there's something kind of hidden or there's something trapped in a situation and we use a digging motion to free or to help the person escape.
In the first example, it's about people.
In this case, an earthquake situation, a destroyed building is like the key here.
The rescue team dug the earthquake survivors out of the destroyed building.
You see in this sentence, we're using the past tense dug out, but it's separated.
The rescue team dug the earthquake survivors out.
Here the earthquake survivors are being rescued.
They are the ones that are trapped inside the destroyed building.
The rescue team makes a digging motion in the destroyed building parts in order to free, in order to rescue the earthquake survivors.
So they are the people who are being dug out, they're rescued in this case.
In the second example, it's an object.
In this case, there's a broken piece of glass in dirt.
So she dug a broken piece of glass out of the dirt.
It's like she dug and dug and found this broken piece of glass and removed it from the dirt.
So by making a digging motion, again, she was able to release something or free something that was there.
So we can use this to talk about, like in the first example, helping people, rescuing people, or like removing something from like a hidden or like a trapped location.
All right, so I hope that you found a few new ways of using the verb dig.
If you have any questions or comments, or if you know a different way of using the verb dig, please feel free to let us know in the comment section of this video.
Thanks very much for watching this lesson, and we will see you again soon.
Bye-bye.
Yeah, I dug that lesson.
Little joke, little joke.

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