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
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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.
6:51
Is it Africa, South America, wherever? Then look at the particular type of habitat. So
6:56
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
7:15
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.
