English lessons and practice games are intended for people aged 13 and over.
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Lesson 21 / On the road
5 phrases · 12 minutes · Look, listen and try.
Choose the direction, get in the car and handle changes on the journey.
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 are heading for the station now.
We are heading for the station now.
Head for the main entrance when you arrive.
Head for the main entrance when you arrive.
After “for” is the place or direction you are going. Do not split phrases.
The taxi is here. Get in and close the door.
The taxi is here. Get in and close the door.
I got in the car and put on my seat belt.
I got in the car and put on my seat belt.
Often use “get in” with cars; “get on” with bus, train or plane.
Could you pull over near the bus stop?
Could you pull over near the bus stop?
The driver pulled over to check the map.
The driver pulled over to check the map.
Used for vehicles moving and then moving to the side of the road to stop.
Cambridge Dictionary · pull over
The traffic held us up for twenty minutes.
The traffic held us up for twenty minutes.
Sorry I am late. I got held up on the way.
Sorry I am late. I got held up on the way.
Here it means slowing down, different from the meaning of robbing or holding up an object.
Cambridge Dictionary · hold up
We have seen this part of the museum. Let us move on.
We have seen this part of the museum. Let us move on.
Can we move on to the next question?
Can we move on to the next question?
Emphasis on leaving the current job or stage to move on to another job.
The examples were written for this course. Usage was checked against Matt Errey’s book, pages 62, 51, 100, 64, 88. A2–B1 is the course’s intended level.
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Sentences using suggestions are counted as needing more practice. Review schedule based on each phrase's meaning.
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.
Minh took the map and walked towards the station at the end of the street.
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Minh opened the door and sat in the front seat of a car.
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Minh drove the car to a stop on the side of the road.
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Seen from the back seat, Minh sits at the wheel and looks through the front windshield at the stopped traffic ahead.
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After resting at one stop, Minh continued to the next stop.
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Choose a phrase to begin.
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Read the conversation and find the expressions you have learned.
Please pull over when you find a safe place.
Please pull over when you find a safe place.
Are we heading for the wrong station?
Are we heading for the wrong station?
No, but the roadworks may hold us up.
No, but the roadworks may hold us up.
“Pull over” means move a vehicle to the side and stop; “hold up” here means delay someone. Stopping may cause a delay, but the expressions describe different events.
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 driver needs to read a map safely. Road repairs ahead may delay the journey.
Give an instruction about stopping safely.
Pull over somewhere safe before reading the map.
The driver should read the map after stopping at a safe roadside place; “pull over” means more than slowing down.
Correct: The roadworks held up us yesterday.
The roadworks held us up yesterday.
“Us” is the group delayed by roadworks, so use “held us up”; keep past-tense “held”.
Explain why arrival may be late.
The road repairs may hold us up on the way.
“May hold us up” expresses a possible roadwork delay, rather than certainty that arrival will be late.
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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