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Lesson 03 / Travel
5 phrases · 12 minutes · Look, listen and try.
Get on the bus, get off at the station and meet each other naturally.
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.
We set off early to avoid the traffic.
We set off early to avoid the traffic.
What time should we set off tomorrow?
What time should we set off tomorrow?
The meaning in the lesson is to start a trip; “set out” can be used with the same meaning.
Cambridge Dictionary · set off
Get on the bus at the next stop.
Get on the bus at the next stop.
We got on the train just before it left.
We got on the train just before it left.
Use “get on” with bus, train, or plane; often use “get in” with cars.
We need to get off at the museum.
We need to get off at the museum.
Do not get off the train yet.
Do not get off the train yet.
“Get off” means to get off a vehicle such as a bus or train. With cars, we often use "get out of".
Cambridge Dictionary · get off
Can you pick me up at the station?
Can you pick me up at the station?
I will pick up my sister after work.
I will pick up my sister after work.
In this lesson, it means to pick someone up. Pronoun in the middle: “pick me up”.
Cambridge Dictionary · pick up
Please drop me off outside the library.
Please drop me off outside the library.
I drop off my brother at school every morning.
I drop off my brother at school every morning.
“Pick up” means to pick up; “Drop off” means to take someone to a place and then let that person down.
Cambridge Dictionary · drop off
The examples were written for this course. Usage was checked against Matt Errey’s book, pages 114, 52, 51, 96, 38. 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.
The two friends carrying luggage started their trip at the door of the house.
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Hạ walked up the steps of the stopped bus.
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Hạ stepped from the bus onto the sidewalk at the stop.
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Minh, an adult, stops at the curb and waves to Hạ from the driver’s seat to pick her up.
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Minh has stopped outside the building; Hạ stands on the sidewalk beside the open rear door after getting out.
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Choose a phrase to begin.
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Read the conversation and find the expressions you have learned.
What time shall we set off tomorrow?
What time shall we set off tomorrow?
At seven. Can you pick me up at home?
At seven. Can you pick me up at home?
Yes. I will drop you off at the station.
Yes. I will drop you off at the station.
Then I will get on the train to the city centre.
Then I will get on the train to the city centre.
Get off at Central Station. I will meet you there later.
Get off at Central Station. I will meet you there later.
“Set off” or “set out” means begin a journey. “Get on” describes boarding a bus, train, or plane; “get off” describes leaving it. For a car, the usual expressions are “get in” and “get out of”.
“Pick someone up” focuses on going to collect them; “drop someone off” focuses on where you take and leave them. Put pronouns in the middle: “pick her up”, “drop her off”.
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 musician needs a lift to a ferry terminal. Her friend will collect her at a rehearsal room.
Write her request using pick up.
Could you pick me up at the rehearsal room?
The rehearsal room is the collection point, so she asks “pick me up at the rehearsal room”.
Correct: He dropped off her at the terminal.
He dropped her off at the terminal.
“Her” is the passenger taken to the terminal and goes between “dropped” and “off”.
Explain what she does when the ferry reaches her island.
She gets off the ferry at her island.
At the island she leaves the ferry: “gets off”, rather than boarding it with “gets on”.
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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