English lessons and practice games are intended for people aged 13 and over.
Enable JavaScript to listen, practice and save progress. The lesson content can still be read below.
Lesson 123 / Sport & teamwork
5 phrases · 12 minutes · Look, listen and try.
Pick up speed, stay motivated and handle difficulties as a team.
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.
He sped up on the final stretch.
He sped up on the final stretch.
We need to speed up the warm-up routine.
We need to speed up the warm-up routine.
Can be intransitive or mean making something faster. Past forms include “sped” and “speeded”.
Cambridge Dictionary · speed up
Attendance at practice fell off during the rainy week.
Attendance at practice fell off during the rainy week.
Interest in the tournament has fallen off.
Interest in the tournament has fallen off.
This sense is a decrease, not falling off an object. The past is “fell” and the past participle is “fallen”.
Cambridge Dictionary · fall off
He sat out the long team meeting.
He sat out the long team meeting.
We decided to sit the whole speech out.
We decided to sit the whole speech out.
Here it means enduring something to the end. It can also mean not participating in a round; that is not the sense shown here.
He stepped in when his teammates began to argue.
He stepped in when his teammates began to argue.
The coach stepped in to settle the dispute.
The coach stepped in to settle the dispute.
Enter a situation to help or prevent a problem, rather than simply walking into a room.
He fired his teammates up with an encouraging speech.
He fired his teammates up with an encouraging speech.
The coach knows how to fire up the team.
The coach knows how to fire up the team.
Figurative motivation, with no real flames. With a pronoun: “fire them up”.
The examples were written for this course. Usage was checked against Matt Errey’s book, pages 120, 43, 118, 122, 45. A2–B1 is the course’s intended level.
One step forward every day
Your browser could not save your play history. Results from this session may be lost when you close the page.
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.
Nam accelerates from left to right along an empty running lane.
The picture could not load. Try loading it again before matching.
Nam sees practice attendance fall from six to three during rainy weather.
The picture could not load. Try loading it again before matching.
Nam stays through a long team talk until it finishes, despite looking bored.
The picture could not load. Try loading it again before matching.
Nam calmly intervenes between two teammates arguing over a ball.
The picture could not load. Try loading it again before matching.
Nam encourages two teammates, changing their mood from discouraged to eager to practise.
The picture could not load. Try loading it again before matching.
Choose a phrase to begin.
Your browser could not save your play history. Results from this session may be lost when you close the page.
Read the conversation and find the expressions you have learned.
Can we speed up the passing drill?
Can we speed up the passing drill?
A little, but our accuracy is falling off.
A little, but our accuracy is falling off.
Then let us rest before we fire the team up for another round.
Then let us rest before we fire the team up for another round.
“Speed up” means become faster; here “fall off” means decrease in amount or level. Check the subject rather than assuming a literal fall from a surface.
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 relay team starts running faster, but the accuracy of its handovers decreases. After the drill, the team must stay until a long briefing ends.
Describe the faster movement.
The team speeds up during the drill.
The team runs faster with “speeds up”; increased speed does not establish better handover accuracy.
Complete: Our accuracy is beginning to fall ___.
off
“Accuracy… fall off” describes declining accuracy; “off” is not a runner physically falling.
Write a patient response about the briefing using sit out.
We will sit out the whole briefing before going home.
“Sit out the whole briefing” means remain until the long briefing ends; in this taught sense the team does not skip it or sit out a match.
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.
Progress is saved on the device. Sign in with Google to save with the same account and continue on another device.