In this post, we are going to talk about some of the more common meanings of the verb pick, and we are going to learn a life lesson too! :-)
Pick, or more commonly pick up, means take something with your fingers. Here are some examples:
- Jimmy picked up his Lego pieces and started to build a house.
- When we entered, he was on his knees picking up bread crumbs off the carpet.
- He picked up his hat, put it on, and left without saying a word.
One meaning of pick is choose someone or something from a number of choices that you have, for example:
- Every girl in the class would have loved to go out with him and he picked Jane?!!
- She was very proud when she was picked to carry the flag for her country at the Olympics.
You can also use pick as a noun in this sense:
- We can go to the cinema or lie on the sofa and watch a film on TV. Which one do you prefer? Take your pick!
- Jeff Sessions was Donald Trump's pick for attorney-General.
- Apple cider vinegar is the top pick for health nuts.
You can also pick flowers or fruit, which means you separate them off their stem:
- There was a bunch of freshly picked flowers in the vase.
- We went mushroom picking yesterday. It was fun.
- The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck about wealthy farm owners who treat their grape-pickers like slaves.
If you pick your nose or pick your teeth, you remove things from inside your nose or between your teeth.
- Stewart, don't pick your nose, dear. How many times do I have to tell you that it is rude to do so?
- He had just finished his meal and was picking his teeth with a match-stick.
And can you guess the name of the thing we usually use to pick our teeth? First make a guess and then...
A toothpick!
If someone such as a thief picks a lock, they open the lock without a key, for example by using a piece of wire.
- He picked the drawer lock and started searching inside the drawer for the hidden love letters.
- James Bond picked his handcuffs with a hairpin he had borrowed from the beautiful Russian spy and saved them both from the burning house.
And finally, if you pick a fight or an argument with someone, you intentionally start a fight or argument with that person.
- He picked a fight with a big man in the night club and ended up in hospital.
- Calm down! Why are you trying to pick a quarrel with me?
I hope you have found this short vocabulary lesson useful. If you like, it's a good idea to try to use the word "pick" in your comments.
And finally, let's finish this post with a life lesson!
At school, when I was seven years old, one day I was picking my nose. I picked up something and I took a look on the small object on my finger to exam it. Among the children the teacher picked me: “As you’ve put your finger up, answer the question I asked.”
Hilarious! :-)