Hello. I'm Margot Politis. Welcome to Study English, IELTS preparation.
Today we visit a zoo, and we meet a man who designs natural looking habitats for zoo animals
to live in.
We'll also talk about infinitive verbs and we'll listen out for some common conversation
markers.
But let's start by meeting Richard Rowe, a horticulturalist at Werribee Zoo in Victoria.
Listen to Richard talk about his work at the zoo.
My role is to create environments that allow animals to display natural behaviour and for
visitors to see animals in areas which really do appear to be very natural. The skill of
what we do is to create something, which looks as though it's been here a long time and looks
very natural.
Well, we originally look at where is it that the animal lives. So narrow it down to geography.
Is it Africa, South America, wherever? Then look at the particular type of habitat. So
is it riverine? Is it savannah? And then narrow it down even closer again. Often, it's very,
very difficult to get vegetation from the specific area that an animal comes from.
With some plants, you know, they're already in the country so you can take cuttings or
collect seed. Botanic gardens are a great source for rare and unusual plants.
The simplest form of the verb is the infinitive form.
If you're using a dictionary to find the meaning of a verb, you'll need to know the infinitive
form. It's the most basic form that's used for dictionary entries.
Infinitives are generally used with the marker to. They can be used in many different ways.
Here's Richard describing his job.
My role is to create environments that allow animals to display natural behaviour and for
visitors to see animals in areas which really do appear to be very natural.
Richard says:
to create
to display
to see
to be
These infinitives all function in different ways.
Richard says:
My role is to create environments.
He also says:
The skill is to create something.
In both examples, the infinitive is a complement following the main verb.
Take a look at this sentence:
Before the IELTS test the important thing is to get plenty of rest.
Here the infinitive to get is a complement following the main verb is.
Let's look at another use of infinitives.
Richard says:
The areas appear to be very natural.
In English, there is a set of verbs that can be followed by infinitives.
Appear is one example.
Other examples are:
afford: I can't afford to go to university.
begin: I can't begin to explain how sorry I am.
expect: I expect to get my visa next week.
To use these correctly, you should learn the list of verbs taking the infinitive.
Now, let's look at the third way Richard uses infinitives.
He says:
Zoos allow animals to display natural behaviour.
and
They allow visitors to see animals.
In English there is a group of verbs that can be followed by an object and an infinitive.
Allow is one example.
You could write:
Her parents wouldn't allow her to stay out late.
Some other examples are:
ask: The professor asked him to explain the answer.
and encourage: Encourage the IELTS students to do more practice tests.
Here's a quick exercise for practising infinitives.
Here is a list of verbs. We have:
join
look
submit
edit
lend, and
buy
I'm going to show you a sentence with one missing verb. You'll need to work out the
right verb and the right construction to fill in the space.
Let's start with an easy one.
I forgot ____ some bread.
Do you know which verb will fill the gap?
The completed sentence is:
I forgot to buy some bread.
Here's another one.
We're going out for dinner. Would you like _____ us?
We're going out for dinner. Would you like to join us?
How about this one:
The teacher reminded the students _______ their assignments on time.
The teacher reminded the students to submit their assignments on time.
In spoken English there are a number of words we use to help manage our speech. These words
make it easier to keep our speech fluent.
They are called conversation management markers, but we often just call them fillers.
Listen to Richard again. This time, he's talking about how he designs a habitat for a specific
animal in his zoo.
My role is to create environments that allow animals to display natural behaviour and for
visitors to see animals in areas which really do appear to be very natural. The skill of
what we do is to create something which looks as though it's been here a long time and looks
very natural.
Well, we originally look at where is it that the animal lives. So narrow it down to geography.
Is it Africa, South America, wherever? Then look at the particular type of habitat. So
is it riverine? Is it savannah? And then narrow it down even closer again. Often, it's very,
very difficult to get vegetation from the specific area that an animal comes from.
With some plants, you know, they're already in the country so you can take cuttings or
collect seed. Botanic gardens are a great source for rare and unusual plants.
Did you notice where Richard used the words well, so and you know?
It's important to understand how and why these words are used. Let's take a closer look at
each one.
We use the word well to indicate that we are considering or thinking about what someone
has said.
Richard uses well to begin his response to a question. He's about to take up the topic,
so he's thinking about what to say.
Well, we originally look at where is it that the animal lives.
Next, Richard uses the words you know. We use the phrase you know to create a sense
of intimacy by asking the listener to agree or show that they understand.
Richard says you know because he wants the person asking questions to show that he or
she understands what Richard is saying.
Like this:
With some plants, you know, they're already in the country so you can, you can take cuttings
or collect seed.
In that clip, Richard also used the word so.
We use so to indicate that the things we are saying are connected.
Richard uses so a number of times to connect the things he is saying, and to show that
they are all related to the questions he is answering.
If you listen to native speakers' conversation, you'll hear these words often. You might also
hear words like ok or right. It takes practice, but in time you'll be able to sound more natural
by making them a part of your speech, too.
And that's all for Study English today.
We've looked at using infinitives.
And then we talked about conversation management markers and how to use them.
For more practice on today's topics, go to the Study English website. It's at abcasiapacific.com/studyenglish.
I'll see you next time. Bye bye.