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Lesson 125 / Nature & change
5 phrases · 12 minutes · Look, listen and try.
Observe a life cycle, heavy rain and the work needed to care for a garden.
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The caterpillar changed into a butterfly.
The caterpillar changed into a butterfly.
The tiny seedling will change into a tall plant.
The tiny seedling will change into a tall plant.
Here it means transformation. “Change into clothes” can mean changing clothes; that is not the illustrated sense.
Cambridge Dictionary · change into
Wet leaves clogged up the garden drain.
Wet leaves clogged up the garden drain.
Small bits of rubbish can clog the drain up.
Small bits of rubbish can clog the drain up.
Used when accumulated material blocks a flow. With a pronoun, say “clog it up”.
Cambridge Dictionary · clog up
Heavy rain washed out our garden picnic.
Heavy rain washed out our garden picnic.
The match was washed out on Saturday.
The match was washed out on Saturday.
This sense is rain spoiling an outdoor event, not washing an object clean.
She stayed away from the damaged tree.
She stayed away from the damaged tree.
Please stay away from the wet path.
Please stay away from the wet path.
Use “from” before the place or thing to avoid. Do not split the expression with an object.
The gardener chopped down the dead tree.
The gardener chopped down the dead tree.
They had to chop the damaged tree down.
They had to chop the damaged tree down.
Means cutting a tree so that it falls; “chop up” means cutting it into small pieces.
The examples were written for this course. Usage was checked against Matt Errey’s book, pages 20, 23, 138, 122, 22. 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
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Read the picture descriptions for more context. Similar expressions are accepted when they fit the particular scene.
Nhi observes a life-cycle board showing caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly in that order.
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Nhi stands on a dry path and sees wet leaves blocking a drain, with water pooling around it.
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Nhi shelters beside a closed picnic basket while heavy rain cancels the planned picnic.
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Nhi stops outside a barrier and keeps her distance from a storm-damaged tree.
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Nhi views a before-and-after display showing a dead tree cut down, leaving a stump and a felled trunk.
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Choose a phrase to begin.
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Read the conversation and find the expressions you have learned.
This caterpillar will change into a butterfly.
This caterpillar will change into a butterfly.
Let us move the wet leaves before they clog up the drain.
Let us move the wet leaves before they clog up the drain.
We should stay away from that damaged tree while we work.
We should stay away from that damaged tree while we work.
Here “change into” means transform into another form; “clog up” means block a passage. A natural transformation differs from material obstructing a flow.
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 caterpillar becomes a butterfly. Elsewhere, leaves block a garden drain and heavy rain ruins a picnic.
Describe the animal’s transformation.
The caterpillar changes into a butterfly.
The caterpillar becomes a butterfly with “changes into”; “into” introduces the resulting form.
Complete: Wet leaves have clogged ___ the drain.
up
“Clogged up the drain” means wet leaves blocked drainage; “up” completes the expression without upward movement.
Report the effect of rain using wash out.
The heavy rain washed out our garden picnic.
“Washed out our picnic” means heavy rain ruined the outing, without claiming people or objects were swept away.
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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