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Lesson 73 / Communication & responsibility
5 phrases · 12 minutes · Look, listen and try.
Understand the rules, stop being annoying and assign suitable tasks to you.
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 laid down a rule about taking turns.
We laid down a rule about taking turns.
The teacher laid the rules down before the game.
The teacher laid the rules down before the game.
The lesson is to set out things that need to be followed, not to lie down. The past tense of “lay” is “laid”.
Cambridge Dictionary · lay down
The noise is distracting everyone. Please cut it out.
The noise is distracting everyone. Please cut it out.
We cut out the silly jokes and listened to the speaker.
We cut out the silly jokes and listened to the speaker.
The informal meaning is to stop doing troublesome things; different from cutting a shape out of paper in the previous lesson. The past is still "cut".
He answered back rudely, then said sorry.
He answered back rudely, then said sorry.
You can ask a polite question without answering back.
You can ask a polite question without answering back.
Emphasizes lack of politeness; A politely stated question or other opinion is not necessarily an “answer back”.
Cambridge Dictionary · answer back
My friend talked me out of climbing the high fence.
My friend talked me out of climbing the high fence.
I talked him out of leaving before the game finished.
I talked him out of leaving before the game finished.
The person being persuaded stands between “talk” and “out of”; After “of” you can use -ing. Opposite direction of “talk into”.
Leave arranging the cards to me.
Leave arranging the cards to me.
We left the final choice to our teacher.
We left the final choice to our teacher.
The task or decision is between “leave” and “to”, the person assigned comes after “to”. Past tense “left”.
The examples were written for this course. Usage was checked against Matt Errey’s book, pages 76, 31, 7, 130, 78. 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.
Bảo and Minh put the new rule cards on the board.
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Bảo stopped his distracting play when Minh gently reminded him.
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Bảo spoke again with an impolite attitude and then realized Minh was sad.
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Bảo listened to his friend's explanation and agreed not to climb the high fence.
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Bảo handed over the card game to his friend and prepared other things.
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Choose a phrase to begin.
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Read the conversation and find the expressions you have learned.
The coach has laid down some rules for the trip.
The coach has laid down some rules for the trip.
Can we ask questions without seeming to answer back?
Can we ask questions without seeming to answer back?
Yes. Ask calmly, and leave the final decision to the organiser.
Yes. Ask calmly, and leave the final decision to the organiser.
“Lay down” rules means establish requirements; “answer back” means reply rudely. A polite question is not automatically rude backtalk.
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 coach establishes a quiet period for a trip. A pupil can ask a polite question without replying rudely.
Describe establishing the rule.
The coach lays down a quiet-period rule.
The coach “lays down a rule” to establish a quiet period, rather than places a physical object down.
Replace “the decision” with “it”: Leave the decision to the organiser.
Leave it to the organiser.
“It” replaces the decision and precedes “to”; the organiser remains the person entrusted with it.
Ask a question without answering back.
Could you explain when the quiet period starts, please?
“Could you explain… please?” politely requests the start time without rudely challenging the person setting the rule.
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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