IELTS Preparation Series 2, Episode 20: Zoos

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Hello. I'm Margot Politis. Welcome to Study English, IELTS preparation.

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Today we visit a zoo, and we meet a man who designs natural looking habitats for zoo animals

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to live in.

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We'll also talk about infinitive verbs and we'll listen out for some common conversation

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markers.

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But let's start by meeting Richard Rowe, a horticulturalist at Werribee Zoo in Victoria.

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Listen to Richard talk about his work at the zoo.

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My role is to create environments that allow animals to display natural behaviour and for

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visitors to see animals in areas which really do appear to be very natural. The skill of

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what we do is to create something, which looks as though it's been here a long time and looks

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very natural.

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Well, we originally look at where is it that the animal lives. So narrow it down to geography.

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Is it Africa, South America, wherever? Then look at the particular type of habitat. So

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is it riverine? Is it savannah? And then narrow it down even closer again. Often, it's very,

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very difficult to get vegetation from the specific area that an animal comes from.

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With some plants, you know, they're already in the country so you can take cuttings or

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collect seed. Botanic gardens are a great source for rare and unusual plants.

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The simplest form of the verb is the infinitive form.

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If you're using a dictionary to find the meaning of a verb, you'll need to know the infinitive

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form. It's the most basic form that's used for dictionary entries.

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Infinitives are generally used with the marker to. They can be used in many different ways.

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Here's Richard describing his job.

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My role is to create environments that allow animals to display natural behaviour and for

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visitors to see animals in areas which really do appear to be very natural.

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Richard says:

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to create

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to display

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to see

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to be

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These infinitives all function in different ways.

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Richard says:

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My role is to create environments.

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He also says:

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The skill is to create something.

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In both examples, the infinitive is a complement following the main verb.

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Take a look at this sentence:

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Before the IELTS test the important thing is to get plenty of rest.

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Here the infinitive to get is a complement following the main verb is.

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Let's look at another use of infinitives.

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Richard says:

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The areas appear to be very natural.

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In English, there is a set of verbs that can be followed by infinitives.

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Appear is one example.

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Other examples are:

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afford: I can't afford to go to university.

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begin: I can't begin to explain how sorry I am.

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expect: I expect to get my visa next week.

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To use these correctly, you should learn the list of verbs taking the infinitive.

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Now, let's look at the third way Richard uses infinitives.

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He says:

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Zoos allow animals to display natural behaviour.

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and

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They allow visitors to see animals.

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In English there is a group of verbs that can be followed by an object and an infinitive.

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Allow is one example.

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You could write:

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Her parents wouldn't allow her to stay out late.

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Some other examples are:

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ask: The professor asked him to explain the answer.

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and encourage: Encourage the IELTS students to do more practice tests.

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Here's a quick exercise for practising infinitives.

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Here is a list of verbs. We have:

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join

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look

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submit

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edit

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lend, and

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buy

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I'm going to show you a sentence with one missing verb. You'll need to work out the

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right verb and the right construction to fill in the space.

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Let's start with an easy one.

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I forgot ____ some bread.

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Do you know which verb will fill the gap?

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The completed sentence is:

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I forgot to buy some bread.

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Here's another one.

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We're going out for dinner. Would you like _____ us?

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We're going out for dinner. Would you like to join us?

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How about this one:

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The teacher reminded the students _______ their assignments on time.

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The teacher reminded the students to submit their assignments on time.

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In spoken English there are a number of words we use to help manage our speech. These words

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make it easier to keep our speech fluent.

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They are called conversation management markers, but we often just call them fillers.

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Listen to Richard again. This time, he's talking about how he designs a habitat for a specific

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animal in his zoo.

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My role is to create environments that allow animals to display natural behaviour and for

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visitors to see animals in areas which really do appear to be very natural. The skill of

6:39

what we do is to create something which looks as though it's been here a long time and looks

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very natural.

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Well, we originally look at where is it that the animal lives. So narrow it down to geography.

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Is it Africa, South America, wherever? Then look at the particular type of habitat. So

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is it riverine? Is it savannah? And then narrow it down even closer again. Often, it's very,

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very difficult to get vegetation from the specific area that an animal comes from.

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With some plants, you know, they're already in the country so you can take cuttings or

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collect seed. Botanic gardens are a great source for rare and unusual plants.

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Did you notice where Richard used the words well, so and you know?

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It's important to understand how and why these words are used. Let's take a closer look at

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each one.

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We use the word well to indicate that we are considering or thinking about what someone

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has said.

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Richard uses well to begin his response to a question. He's about to take up the topic,

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so he's thinking about what to say.

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Well, we originally look at where is it that the animal lives.

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Next, Richard uses the words you know. We use the phrase you know to create a sense

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of intimacy by asking the listener to agree or show that they understand.

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Richard says you know because he wants the person asking questions to show that he or

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she understands what Richard is saying.

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Like this:

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With some plants, you know, they're already in the country so you can, you can take cuttings

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or collect seed.

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In that clip, Richard also used the word so.

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We use so to indicate that the things we are saying are connected.

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Richard uses so a number of times to connect the things he is saying, and to show that

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they are all related to the questions he is answering.

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If you listen to native speakers' conversation, you'll hear these words often. You might also

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hear words like ok or right. It takes practice, but in time you'll be able to sound more natural

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by making them a part of your speech, too.

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And that's all for Study English today.

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We've looked at using infinitives.

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And then we talked about conversation management markers and how to use them.

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For more practice on today's topics, go to the Study English website. It's at abcasiapacific.com/studyenglish.

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I'll see you next time. Bye bye.

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