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Lesson 36 / Pets
5 phrases · 12 minutes · Look, listen and try.
Observe familiar actions of dogs and cats.
Match words to pictures →Play What is She/He doing? →
A randomly assigned, fixed male or female synthetic voice for each phrase or sentence · Slow playback at 0.7× preserves pitch.
The puppy ran after its ball in the garden.
The puppy ran after its ball in the garden.
I ran after my dog when it started playing.
I ran after my dog when it started playing.
You run toward a person or object that is walking ahead; the past is “ran”.
Cambridge Dictionary · run after
This little fence keeps the puppy out of the flower bed.
This little fence keeps the puppy out of the flower bed.
Please keep the cat out while we clean the room.
Please keep the cat out while we clean the room.
Emphasis on preventing a person or thing from entering, as opposed to keeping inside.
Dad showed me how to pick up the puppy gently.
Dad showed me how to pick up the puppy gently.
She picked the kitten up with both hands.
She picked the kitten up with both hands.
The meaning in the lesson is to pick up, different from picking up someone at the station.
Cambridge Dictionary · pick up
The kitten curled up in its basket.
The kitten curled up in its basket.
I like to curl up on the sofa with a book.
I like to curl up on the sofa with a book.
You or the animal curl up into a compact position, usually for rest or more comfort.
These photos bring back happy memories of our puppy.
These photos bring back happy memories of our puppy.
The old toy brought back memories of our first cat.
The old toy brought back memories of our first cat.
The meaning in the lesson is to make you remember, not to bring back an object.
Cambridge Dictionary · bring back
The examples were written for this course. Usage was checked against Matt Errey’s book, pages 108, 72, 96, 31, 14. A2–B1 is the course’s intended level.
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OBSERVE · UNDERSTAND · MATCH
Drag a wire from the dot beside a phrase to the dot beside its matching picture. You can also tap a phrase, then a picture. Drag again to change a pair before checking.
Read the picture descriptions for more context. Similar expressions are accepted when they fit the particular scene.
Mây runs after a dog playing in a fenced garden.
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Mây uses a small fence to keep the dog from entering the flower bed.
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Mây gently held the small puppy with both hands.
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The kitten curled up in the basket while Mây watched.
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Mây looked at the pet album and remembered the fun times.
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Choose a phrase to begin.
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Read the conversation and find the expressions you have learned.
The puppy is running after the ball.
The puppy is running after the ball.
Let it bring the ball back before you pick the puppy up.
Let it bring the ball back before you pick the puppy up.
Then it can curl up beside us and rest.
Then it can curl up beside us and rest.
“Run after” means chase on foot; here “pick up” means lift or hold. Lifting a pet differs from collecting someone by car.
Try answering before revealing the suggested answer. This practice is not scored.
The answers below are models. Other answers can also work if they preserve the facts, meaning and structure requested in the task.
A kitten chases a ribbon. Its owner sees an old blanket and remembers the kitten’s first week at home.
Describe the chase.
The kitten is running after the ribbon.
The kitten follows the moving ribbon, so “running after” means chasing rather than running away.
Replace “the kitten” with “it”: Pick the kitten up.
Pick it up.
“It” replaces the kitten being lifted and goes between “pick” and “up”: “pick it up”.
Describe the memory using bring back.
The old blanket brings back memories of the kitten’s first week at home.
The blanket recalls the kitten’s first week at home: “brings back memories”, rather than physically returning the blanket.
The usage comparisons are checked against the Cambridge Dictionary entries linked beside the compared expressions. The additional conversations and exercises are written for this course.
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