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Lesson Transcript

Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Know Your Verbs. My name is Alisha.
And in this episode, we're going to talk about the verb go. Let's get started.
Let's start with the basic definition of the verb go.
The basic definition of go is to travel to another location. Let's look at some examples.
I'm going to the beach this weekend.
He went to work at 8am today.
Now, let's look at the conjugations for this verb.
Present, go, goes, past, went, past participle, gone, progressive, going.
Now, let's talk about some additional meanings for this verb.
The first additional meaning of go is to say, to say. It's like using said, but an informal setting.
Let's look at some examples. I go, how are you? And my boss goes, not good.
She goes, I can't believe it. And I went, me neither.
So, this use of go shows us how people report speech.
We use go or the past tense went to communicate the same thing we do when we use the verb say or said.
So, in these example sentences, I've used go or goes or went to report speech.
So, when you're reporting speech, which means you're sharing something someone else has said, you can use go, goes or went to describe that instead of say or says or said.
So, when I say something like my boss went or I went, it means I said or my boss said.
We just use go, we choose to use go to make the situation sound a little bit more casual.
So, it's an informal way to report speech.
You can use this in exactly the same way you would use say or said in past tense.
The next additional meaning is to combine well or to commonly be found together.
Some examples, sweet and spicy flavors often go together.
I don't think that shirt goes with those pants.
So, this use of go means to combine two or more things together or like to combine them together well.
Some of you might think this means match, but actually match and go are a little bit different.
We see this in the second example sentence, like I don't think that shirt goes with those pants.
Actually, this does not mean match. To go is different from to match.
To match refers to two things that are exactly the same.
To go does not mean that these two things are the same. It means these two things combine well.
So, when we say those pants and that shirt go together or those go, for example, that just means that they combine nicely. They combine well together.
So, when you use go in this way, those things go together, it means that they are nice together.
They combine in a nice or pleasant or pleasing way.
The next additional meaning is to be called by a name.
Some examples, his name is William, but he goes by Bill.
Her name is Elizabeth and she went by Beth when she was in school.
So, this is a very common way of explaining someone's name or someone's nickname.
We see this in the first example sentence.
His name is William, but he goes by Bill, meaning he is called the name Bill.
So, we use go to talk about the way that we refer to another person, like what should I call you or what do you go by.
Those two expressions have the same meaning. So, in this case, he goes by Bill.
So, we use that by there to show the name that we use to refer to a person. He goes by Bill.
In the second example sentence, we see a past tense example of this. So, when she was in school, she went by Beth.
So, we use past tense there because it refers to a past situation. She went by Beth.
So, you can use this if you have a nickname or if you want to introduce someone who has a nickname.
So, for example, William and Bill are very common in terms of names and nicknames. William is the proper name. Bill is the nickname. Elizabeth and Beth are another common combination.
So, if you have a nickname, you can use this to talk about how you prefer to be named or how you prefer to be called, I suppose.
So, you can say, I go by plus your nickname. So, this go means to be called something or to be named something.
The next additional meaning is to belong in a specific place. Some examples.
Where do the office supplies go? All the kitchen tools go in this cabinet.
So, this use of go refers to usually items that belong somewhere specific.
So, in your home or in your workplace or in the place where you study, you probably have some locations where there are just kind of like designated areas for things.
So, when you want to talk about where like your kitchen supplies are supposed to be placed, you can say, for example, plates go in this cabinet or glasses go in that cabinet or office supplies go in the desk drawer.
So, when you want to talk about the specific location for an object, you can use go to describe that here. This goes in that location.
Now, let's move along to some variations with the verb go.
The first variation is to go through with something.
This means to complete something, often challenging or scary as planned. Some examples.
Are you going to go through with this haircut? She went through with her plans to quit her job.
So, we use go through with something when we want to describe a situation that's difficult or maybe unpleasant or it's challenging.
The first example sentence is a little bit funny. It's about a haircut.
Are you sure you want to go through with this haircut means are you sure you want to do this thing as you have planned to do? So, the speaker is expressing his or her doubts in this case.
So, perhaps the haircut is like something crazy.
It's like maybe not work appropriate, whatever.
So, the speaker is saying, are you sure you want to do this? You've made this plan but are you sure you want to go through with it? Are you sure you want to complete this thing that you have planned? In other words, the speaker is questioning, is this a good idea or not? So, to go through with means to complete that thing.
In the second example sentence, it's going through with quitting a job.
So, she went through with her plans to quit her job means she completed that task or she completed that challenge as she had planned to do.
So, you can use go through with when you want to kind of give the feeling of something that's difficult or maybe it's kind of challenging, kind of tough or maybe the situation could be a little uncomfortable in some way.
So, to go through with something. The next variation is to go through.
This means to experience something but usually for a hardship, something difficult.
Let's look at some examples. It's hard for us to understand what he's going through.
You went through some really hard times last year.
Okay, so please note to go through and to go through with something are very different expressions.
So, to go through with something was the first variation we talked about.
To go through, however, refers to just experiencing a hardship, experiencing a life challenge.
To go through with something refers to completing a plan but that's related to a challenge.
So, to go through something does not have any nuance.
There's no like feeling of a plan at all.
It's just a kind of negative or tough life experience.
In the first example sentence, it's hard for us to understand what he's going through.
Another way of saying going through there is it's hard for us to understand what he is experiencing with a very negative feeling about it.
It's hard for us to understand his negative life experience right now.
So, you can think of this going through as showing that someone is experiencing difficulty.
In the second example sentence, you went through some really hard times last year.
It shows that a person did have difficulties in the past.
They had a troubling or a challenging experience in the previous year but they were able to overcome that or things improved since that time.
So, to go through refers to kind of passing through or continuing through some kind of negative or difficult life experience.
So, that's everything for this lesson. I hope that you found a new way of using the verb go.
There are actually a lot of different ways of using the verb go, a lot of different phrasal verbs.
So, if you want to know more about this verb, I highly recommend checking a dictionary.
Of course, if you have any questions or comments or if you want to practice making some sentences with this verb, please feel free to do so in the comment section of this video.
Thanks very much for watching this episode and I will see you again soon. Bye-bye.

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