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Lesson 92 / Walking & visiting
5 phrases · 12 minutes · Look, listen and try.
Set off, visit familiar people and head home after a short walk.
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We should head off before the afternoon gets too hot.
We should head off before the afternoon gets too hot.
What time did you head off this morning?
What time did you head off this morning?
An informal way to say leave, similar to “set off”. Here it does not mean preventing a problem.
Cambridge Dictionary · head off
It is getting late, so we should head back home.
It is getting late, so we should head back home.
We headed back to the park to find the missing hat.
We headed back to the park to find the missing hat.
Use “to” before a named place, but not before “home”. The focus is on returning towards a previous location.
Cambridge Dictionary · head back
I will stop by your house on my way home.
I will stop by your house on my way home.
We stopped by the library for a few minutes.
We stopped by the library for a few minutes.
This usually means a short visit on the way somewhere, similar to “drop by”. It does not imply a long stay.
I will pop out to get some bread and be back soon.
I will pop out to get some bread and be back soon.
She popped out for a few minutes.
She popped out for a few minutes.
An informal phrase emphasising a brief trip out followed by a return, rather than a long journey.
It is cold outside. Let us invite our friends in.
It is cold outside. Let us invite our friends in.
She invited me in for a glass of water.
She invited me in for a glass of water.
Put the invited person between “invite” and “in”. The person is outside and is invited to enter.
The examples were written for this course. Usage was checked against Matt Errey’s book, pages 62, 62, 123, 99, 66. A2–B1 is the course’s intended level.
One step forward every day
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OBSERVE · UNDERSTAND · MATCH
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Read the picture descriptions for more context. Similar expressions are accepted when they fit the particular scene.
Hạ puts on her backpack and walks out through the garden gate to begin her walk.
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Hạ walks back along the footpath towards her familiar home gate after the walk.
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Hạ stops at a neighbour’s gate with a small item to say hello during her walk.
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Hạ leaves her things on an indoor chair and steps outside briefly to collect her hat from a porch hook.
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Hạ opens the door from inside and gestures for a friend on the porch to enter.
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Choose a phrase to begin.
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Read the conversation and find the expressions you have learned.
We should head off before the streets get busy.
We should head off before the streets get busy.
Can we stop by the bakery before heading back?
Can we stop by the bakery before heading back?
Yes. I will pop out and check whether it is open.
Yes. I will pop out and check whether it is open.
“Head off” means start going somewhere; “head back” means travel towards a previous place. “Back” relates the journey to where you were before.
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.
Friends leave a village for a short walk. They plan to return there after visiting a mill.
Describe beginning the walk.
They head off towards the mill.
Leaving the village to start the walk towards the mill is “head off towards the mill”.
Complete: We should head ___ before it gets dark.
back
“Head back” returns to the starting place before dark; “back” supplies the return meaning.
Suggest a brief visit on the return route.
We could stop by the bakery before heading back to the village.
“Stop by the bakery” adds a brief visit before returning to the village without changing the final destination.
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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