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.