top of page

TTLS

quy hoc bong ttls

Tương Lai Tươi Sáng Là Sẻ Chia

IELTS Preparation Series 1, Episode 21: Watching birds


(Bấm vào đây để xem/nghe bài kế tiếp)

Xem lời thoại bên dưới:

0:14

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

0:20

Today we're going to look at the continuous tense, and then we're going to practice some

0:25

sentence stress.

0:25

Our clip today is of a birdwatcher named Margaret. A birdwatcher is someone who loves watching

0:33

and listening to birds.

0:35

Let's start by listening to Margaret talk about watching birds.

0:38

Some people think it's a bit of a strange pleasure, but you know, it's always interesting.

0:43

It's interesting to see what they're doing. You know, we saw them sheltering under the

0:46

banks as we came round and so on, and they have to live in it, so why shouldn't we?

0:50

What I'm doing is looking to see what's outside this hide because I'm doing a sheet for the

0:56

'Bird Atlas' of a radius of 500 metres from here to see all the species that are in it.

1:01

I use my binoculars and I'm using a telescope, and I use my ears because I was recording

1:07

birds by call as I walked down the track here - wrens and little grass birds and stuff.

1:12

In fact, if you do a lot of bird watching in the bush, you do a lot by call.

1:15

A day like today's not much good, but normally you do a lot by call, and the idea is to make

1:20

sure you get all the species that are here in the area that you're surveying.

1:25

Margaret is talking about the time she spends watching birds.

1:30

When describing actions that happen for a continuous period of time, we need to use

1:35

a continuous tense. In English, there are several continuous tenses.

1:41

Continuous tenses are formed by using the verb 'to be' plus the present participle,

1:48

the 'ing' form of the verb.

1:52

Today we're going to look at the present and past continuous tenses.

1:56

Let's begin with the present continuous tense.

2:00

The present continuous tense describes things that are in progress.

2:04

Listen to Margaret again and see if you can hear some examples of the present continuous

2:11

tense.

2:12

What I'm doing is looking to see what's outside this hide because I'm doing a sheet for the

2:18

'Bird Atlas' of a radius of 500 metres from here to see all the species that are in it.

2:24

I use my binoculars and I'm using a telescope.

2:26

Margaret uses the phrases 'I'm doing' and 'I'm using' to describe things that are happening

2:32

now.

2:34

We can use the present continuous tense in 3 ways.

2:38

Firstly, we use it to describe actions that are happening now.

2:43

For example, Margaret says, "I'm using a telescope".

2:48

We also use this tense to refer to actions that are happening soon. This is the future

2:54

aspect.

2:55

Thirdly, the continuous tense can describe actions that are happening simultaneously,

3:02

or at the same time.

3:04

In this case, the continuous tense follows the words 'when', 'while' or 'as'.

3:10

Listen to the following sentences and see if you can identify which of these three rules

3:16

is being used.

3:19

"I'm going bird watching today. What are you doing?"

3:24

This is an example of 'rule 2'. Here, we use the present continuous tense to talk about

3:30

things that are happening soon.

3:32

"The birds are singing while they are flying."

3:38

This is an example of rule 3, because we are describing two things that are happening at

3:43

the same time - 'singing' and 'flying'.

3:48

It's a good idea to practice recognising these.

3:51

But now, let's take a look at the past continuous tense.

3:54

And I use my ears because I was recording birds by call as I walked down the track here