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IELTS Preparation Series 2, Episode 10: Durians


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0:13

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

0:19

Today, we're going to look at the use of pronouns in a story about durian orchards.

0:26

English uses a range of pronouns for different functions. For example, there are personal

0:32

pronouns, possessive pronouns, demonstrative pronouns and reflexive pronouns.

0:39

Today, we're going to look at demonstrative and reflexive pronouns.

0:44

But first we're going to meet Laura Fitzgerald, a durian researcher. She is describing a durian

0:52

leaf. Listen to how she uses the demonstrative pronouns this and that.

1:00

This is the underside of the leaf and we're seeing it at a 406 times magnification. These

1:05

are the hairs that you see here. This is one of the reproductive structures of the pathogen

1:10

and it's called a sporangia and what's happened is, it's been in a drop of rain and it's splashed

1:15

on to the underside of the leaf and it's gotten caught in the hairs and it's what we call

1:21

germinated and started to grow across the surface of the leaf.

1:26

New research is investigating ways of inoculating, or vaccinating, durian trees grown in orchards

1:32

with the good fungi to help the plant protect itself from disease.

1:38

She says:

1:38

This is the underside.

1:41

These are the hairs.

1:45

Demonstrative pronouns demonstrate both distance and number - how close something is, and how

1:52

many there are.

1:54

We can show this on a table.

1:55

This is used for singular nouns that are near to you.

2:02

These are used for plural nouns that are near to you.

2:08

Laura is looking at a durian leaf, and referring to part of it. The leaf is very close to her,

2:15

so Laura refers to it using the demonstrative pronouns for near things: this and these.

2:23

This is the underside.

2:26

These are the hairs.

2:28

Now listen to Dr David Guest discussing the effect of the typhoon on the durian orchards.

2:37

In 1994 in Thailand there was a typhoon around Chanta Buri, which is the main growing area.

2:43

What happened after that typhoon is that some of the trees were damaged by the strong winds,

2:48

but after that typhoon there was an epidemic of phytophthora, and some orchards were completely

2:54

destroyed by that epidemic.

2:57

He says:

2:58

that typhoon

3:00

that epidemic

3:03

That is a demonstrative pronoun used with singular nouns that are far away.

3:08

Those is used with plural nouns that are far away.

3:13

The typhoon was distant or far away from the speaker. It was in Chanta Buri, Thailand.

3:23

The typhoon was also distant in time. It was years ago, in 1994. This is why he refers

3:30

to it as 'that typhoon'.

3:32

So demonstrative pronouns apply not only to spatial relations near and far, but also to

3:40

time relations now and then.

3:44

In both cases, the pronouns convey distance.

3:49

Let's look at some examples.

3:52

I like this new movie better than that old one.

3:57

This movie means a recent movie, a movie close to 'now' in time.

4:02

That movie means an older movie, more distant in time.

4:08

These biscuits are nicer than those.

4:12

'These biscuits' means they are physically close to the speaker. 'Those biscuits' are

4:18

further away.

4:18

Listen to Dr David Guest again using 'that' for a different grammatical purpose.

4:27

In 1994 in Thailand there was a typhoon around Chanta Buri, which is the main growing area.

4:33

What happened after that typhoon is that some of the trees were damaged by the strong winds,

4:38

but after that typhoon there was an epidemic of phytophthora, and some orchards were completely

4:44

destroyed by that epidemic.

4:46

He says: What happened is that some of the trees were damaged.

4:52

The word that is not used as a pronoun here, but as a complement, introducing what happened.

4:59

We can remove 'that' and the sentence means the same thing.

5:04

What happened is some of the trees were damaged.

5:08

You will see 'that' used as a complement most commonly when reporting speech, ideas or feelings:

5:15

he said that

5:17

she argued that

5:19

they felt that

5:20

That is the complement of the verbs said, argued and felt.

5:32

By now you should be familiar with using demonstrative pronouns to make reference to time and space.

5:39

Let's look at another group of pronouns - reflexive pronouns. There is one used twice used in

5:45

this clip. See if you can pick it.

5:50

Because there's a growing Asian population in Australia there's a growing demand for

5:53

durians. So we import durians, mostly from Thailand and Thailand's certainly the world

5:59

leader in durian production. Throughout Southeast Asia it's the most popular tropical fruit

6:04

and the industry itself's worth somewhere between 2 or 3 billion US dollars a year.

6:09

New research is investigating ways of inoculating, or vaccinating, durian trees grown in orchards

6:15

with the good fungi to help the plant protect itself from disease.

6:21

He says: the industry itself

6:24

Itself is a reflexive pronoun.

6:28

One of the functions of reflexive pronouns is for emphasis, to mean 'that person or thing

6:35

and nobody or nothing else'.

6:38

For example:

6:40

The house itself is beautiful but the street is a bit noisy.

6:45

I wasn't happy with the service, so I went to confront the manager myself.

6:52

In these examples, the reflexive pronouns itself and myself refer back to the subjects

6:58

of the sentences, the noun house and the pronoun I. They add emphasis to the statements.

7:09

Let's look at the whole group of reflexive pronouns in this table.

7:15

I might want to emphasise myself if I am speaking in the first person, or ourselves if I am

7:21

talking about me and my friends, using the plural form.

7:26

I could speak in the second person about yourself or yourselves.

7:32

Using third person, I can emphasise himself, herself,

7:37

itself or oneself. The plural form is themselves.

7:45

All of these words are reflexive pronouns that can be used for emphasis.

7:51

Listen to the clip again.

7:54

Because there's a growing Asian population in Australia there's a growing demand for

7:57

durians. So we import durians, mostly from Thailand and Thailand's certainly the world

8:03

leader in durian production. Throughout Southeast Asia it's the most popular tropical fruit

8:08

and the industry itself's worth somewhere between 2 or 3 billion US dollars a year.

8:13

New research is investigating ways of inoculating, or vaccinating, durian trees grown in orchards

8:19

with the good fungi to help the plant protect itself from disease.

8:25

The reporter says: to help the plant protect itself from disease

8:30

The reflexive itself refers back to the subject of this clause. The subject and the object

8:37

are the same - the plant. A common use of reflexive pronouns is to refer

8:43

to objects or actions where the subject and object are the same person or thing.

8:49

For example:

8:50

I cut myself shaving this morning. Not, I cut me.

8:56

I got out of the bath and dried myself. Not, dried me.

9:01

We made ourselves a cup of coffee. Not, made us.

9:05

Ok, so today we've looked at pronouns. We've talked about demonstrative pronouns

9:12

- this, these, that, those,

9:17

and reflexive pronouns like myself, yourself, itself

9:23

To find more help on pronouns, you can visit our website anytime. You'll find today's story,

9:29

transcript, study notes and exercises.

9:33

That's all for today. I'll see you next time on Study English. Bye bye.

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