Uploaded November 2018 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Expand your English vocabulary by learning 20 business verbs that are also opposites. Learning antonyms is a fun, effective way to understand, remember, and increase your business English vocabulary. Learn verb pairs such as deposit & withdraw, expand & contract, save & spend, and more. Press play to watch, and 15 minutes from now, you will be speaking more fluently and communicating more powerfully.
Test your understanding with the quiz at engvid.com/speak-like-a-manager-verbs-2-opposites .
Make sure to subscribe to get all the lessons in my Speak like a Manager series (youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxSz4mPLHWDamTa4xW7tkb-roADpiT5Jf).
WATCH NEXT:
How to change basic English into business English:
youtube.com/watch?v=_2ZDNgtAsbw&t=0s&list=PLxSz4mPLHWDb5ilkSD089gY2UwKiP72S7&index=4
TRANSCRIPT
Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid, back with another "Speak Like a Manager" lesson. All of these lessons are designed to help you improve your level of business English so that you can sound more professional in the workplace. All right? Now, in this particular lesson, we're going to focus on a very important part of any English sentence, which is the verb. And we're going to look at business verbs that are opposites. All right? So, first I'm going to give you the opposites, and then we'll play a little game to help you make sure that you actually know them when you need them, because in speaking, you can't think too much. Right? You've got to work fast and think on the spot. So, let's get started. All right.
So, the first pair of words and verbs is: "increase" and "decrease". All right? Say it after me: "increase", "decrease". So, "to increase" means to go up - prices went up, prices increased; prices decreased. Okay? So, "decreased" means to go down. All right.
The next pair: "promote", "demote". Say it after me: "promote", "demote". So, what does that mean? When somebody gets a higher position, he is promoted or she is promoted; when somebody gets a lower position, that means they had a certain position and now they have been sent down. Okay? They lost that higher position and they've been given a lower position, then that person is demoted. Now, that often happens... For example, you might hear about it happening in the army; somebody had a higher-level position and now they have a lower-level position. They were demoted. All right? Doesn't happen all that often, but it does happen, and you want to make sure that you have the vocabulary to express that situation. All right? "Promote", "demote".
Next: "hire" and "fire" or "dismiss". So, "hire", you know, is like "recruit"; when someone is given a job. When a company takes a person on and gives him a job or gives her a job, they hire that person. And when that person is told to go away, they no longer have their job, the slang for that is "fire". So, lots of people know the opposite: "hire" and "fire", but "fire" is actually slang. Okay? "Hire" is not slang; "hire" is a proper business word. Another business word, here, is "recruit", but let's stay with "hire".
"Fire" is slang, so instead of... Maybe you don't want to use the slang term; you want to use the proper businesslike term, and the proper word for that is to "dismiss". Okay? Somebody was dismissed. That means they were told to go away; their job was not there anymore. Okay? They didn't have their job anymore. They were dismissed.
Now, you might hear the word "dismissed" in a slightly different context. Sometimes you might see it in a movie where they're showing somebody in the army, and the General is telling the soldier: "Dismissed. You are dismissed." So that also has the idea of being told to go away, but it doesn't mean that person... That soldier has lost his or her job; it just means they're telling them: "Okay, you have my permission to go away." All right? So there's a slightly different meaning of to dismiss someone. But in the business context, usually to dismiss someone means to no longer... To tell them you no longer have your job. Okay? All right.
Let's look at another pair of words: "to deposit money"-okay?-or "deposit a cheque in the bank", and then you "withdraw" or "take out money or cash from the bank". All right? So, "to deposit" means to put into the bank; "to withdraw" means to take out. All right. Good.
The next thing also has to do with money, which is you can "save" your money, keep it-all right?-not use it; or you can "spend" your money. All right? You can buy lots of things. When we buy things, we spend money. When we don't buy, we just keep the money, then we save the money. All right? We might save it under our mattress, or usually nowadays we save it in the bank. All right? But to save or spend. Repeat it after me: "save", "spend". Let's repeat some of the other ones: "deposit", "withdraw". Good. "Hire", "fire", or: "hire", "dismiss". Good. And: "promote", "demote". Good. All right. We already said the first one. […]
Expand your English vocabulary by learning 20 business verbs that are also opposites. Learning antonyms is a fun, effective way to understand, remember, and increase your business English vocabulary. Learn verb pairs such as deposit & withdraw, expand & contract, save & spend, and more. Press play to watch, and 15 minutes from now, you will be speaking more fluently and communicating more powerfully.
Test your understanding with the quiz at engvid.com/speak-like-a-manager-verbs-2-opposites .
Make sure to subscribe to get all the lessons in my Speak like a Manager series (youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxSz4mPLHWDamTa4xW7tkb-roADpiT5Jf).
WATCH NEXT:
How to change basic English into business English:
youtube.com/watch?v=_2ZDNgtAsbw&t=0s&list=PLxSz4mPLHWDb5ilkSD089gY2UwKiP72S7&index=4
TRANSCRIPT
Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid, back with another "Speak Like a Manager" lesson. All of these lessons are designed to help you improve your level of business English so that you can sound more professional in the workplace. All right? Now, in this particular lesson, we're going to focus on a very important part of any English sentence, which is the verb. And we're going to look at business verbs that are opposites. All right? So, first I'm going to give you the opposites, and then we'll play a little game to help you make sure that you actually know them when you need them, because in speaking, you can't think too much. Right? You've got to work fast and think on the spot. So, let's get started. All right.
So, the first pair of words and verbs is: "increase" and "decrease". All right? Say it after me: "increase", "decrease". So, "to increase" means to go up - prices went up, prices increased; prices decreased. Okay? So, "decreased" means to go down. All right.
The next pair: "promote", "demote". Say it after me: "promote", "demote". So, what does that mean? When somebody gets a higher position, he is promoted or she is promoted; when somebody gets a lower position, that means they had a certain position and now they have been sent down. Okay? They lost that higher position and they've been given a lower position, then that person is demoted. Now, that often happens... For example, you might hear about it happening in the army; somebody had a higher-level position and now they have a lower-level position. They were demoted. All right? Doesn't happen all that often, but it does happen, and you want to make sure that you have the vocabulary to express that situation. All right? "Promote", "demote".
Next: "hire" and "fire" or "dismiss". So, "hire", you know, is like "recruit"; when someone is given a job. When a company takes a person on and gives him a job or gives her a job, they hire that person. And when that person is told to go away, they no longer have their job, the slang for that is "fire". So, lots of people know the opposite: "hire" and "fire", but "fire" is actually slang. Okay? "Hire" is not slang; "hire" is a proper business word. Another business word, here, is "recruit", but let's stay with "hire".
"Fire" is slang, so instead of... Maybe you don't want to use the slang term; you want to use the proper businesslike term, and the proper word for that is to "dismiss". Okay? Somebody was dismissed. That means they were told to go away; their job was not there anymore. Okay? They didn't have their job anymore. They were dismissed.
Now, you might hear the word "dismissed" in a slightly different context. Sometimes you might see it in a movie where they're showing somebody in the army, and the General is telling the soldier: "Dismissed. You are dismissed." So that also has the idea of being told to go away, but it doesn't mean that person... That soldier has lost his or her job; it just means they're telling them: "Okay, you have my permission to go away." All right? So there's a slightly different meaning of to dismiss someone. But in the business context, usually to dismiss someone means to no longer... To tell them you no longer have your job. Okay? All right.
Let's look at another pair of words: "to deposit money"-okay?-or "deposit a cheque in the bank", and then you "withdraw" or "take out money or cash from the bank". All right? So, "to deposit" means to put into the bank; "to withdraw" means to take out. All right. Good.
The next thing also has to do with money, which is you can "save" your money, keep it-all right?-not use it; or you can "spend" your money. All right? You can buy lots of things. When we buy things, we spend money. When we don't buy, we just keep the money, then we save the money. All right? We might save it under our mattress, or usually nowadays we save it in the bank. All right? But to save or spend. Repeat it after me: "save", "spend". Let's repeat some of the other ones: "deposit", "withdraw". Good. "Hire", "fire", or: "hire", "dismiss". Good. And: "promote", "demote". Good. All right. We already said the first one. […]
