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Lesson 129 / Relationships & choices
5 phrases · 12 minutes · Look, listen and try.
Talk about promises, rebuilding trust and changes in friendship.
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.
Leaving litter goes against the club’s rules.
Leaving litter goes against the club’s rules.
She would not go against the group’s decision.
She would not go against the group’s decision.
Used when an action conflicts with a rule or wish. The past of “go” is “went”.
Cambridge Dictionary · go against
Her friend went back on a promise to help.
Her friend went back on a promise to help.
Please do not go back on your word.
Please do not go back on your word.
Keep both “back on”. It emphasises failing to fulfil an earlier promise.
Cambridge Dictionary · go back on
Her friend worked hard to win back her trust.
Her friend worked hard to win back her trust.
Keeping our promises can help us win trust back.
Keeping our promises can help us win trust back.
“Back” indicates something was previously held and lost. With a pronoun: “win it back”.
They grew apart after joining different clubs.
They grew apart after joining different clubs.
Old friends sometimes grow apart as their interests change.
Old friends sometimes grow apart as their interests change.
Emphasises gradual change in a relationship, not necessarily an argument. The past is “grew”.
A few members broke away to form a new club.
A few members broke away to form a new club.
They broke away from the larger group.
They broke away from the larger group.
Emphasises leaving a group or organisation to become independent. Use “from” before the former group.
The examples were written for this course. Usage was checked against Matt Errey’s book, pages 54, 55, 139, 57, 13. A2–B1 is the course’s intended level.
One step forward every day
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Sentences using suggestions are counted as needing more practice. Review schedule based on each phrase's meaning.
OBSERVE · UNDERSTAND · MATCH
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Read the picture descriptions for more context. Similar expressions are accepted when they fit the particular scene.
Mây points out that leaving paper litter on the ground conflicts with the clean-garden rule.
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Mây is disappointed when a friend who promised to help with the plants goes off to play instead.
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The friend reliably returns to help with the plants over three sessions, gradually winning back Mây’s trust.
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Mây and a friend become less close as they spend time on different interests.
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Mây and a friend leave a general craft group and form their own gardening club.
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Choose a phrase to begin.
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Read the conversation and find the expressions you have learned.
I do not want to go back on my promise to help.
I do not want to go back on my promise to help.
Then suggest a plan that does not go against your other commitments.
Then suggest a plan that does not go against your other commitments.
I hope that will help me win back their trust.
I hope that will help me win back their trust.
“Go against” conflicts with something such as principles or wishes; “go back on” breaks a promise. Disagreeing with an idea does not necessarily break a promise.
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 helper promised to attend an event. Cancelling would break that promise, but another plan would conflict with her principles.
Describe breaking the promise.
She would be going back on her promise.
“Would be going back on her promise” describes what cancelling would mean, without claiming cancellation has occurred.
Complete: That alternative goes ___ my principles.
against
“Goes against my principles” conflicts with those principles; “against” introduces the standard being violated.
Write a message seeking a workable solution.
I want to keep my promise without going against my principles.
The message preserves both the wish to keep the promise and the principles, without claiming a solution is already found.
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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