Learn how to use the infinitive form of English verbs as well as the gerund form of verbs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chihiro: Hi everybody, Chihiro here. |
| Daniel: Daniel here. Describing People. |
| Daniel: In this lesson, you will learn how to describe people. |
| Chihiro: This conversation takes place at a diner. |
| Daniel: The conversation is between two friends, Mike and Joey. |
| Chihiro: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Joey: Hold on, Mike. You got to give me the details. You spilled coffee on Susan's then-boyfriend and ended up marrying her? What happened? |
| Mike: Well, to make a long story short, her boyfriend got really angry and caused a scene. He was really short-tempered and immature. And Susan was embarrassed by his behavior. Meanwhile, I was very calm, diplomatic, and polite. |
| Joey: So she thought you were a like gentleman and fell in love with you? |
| Mike: Not exactly. I offered to pay for the cleaning bill and gave her my phone number. |
| Joey: Why did you give her your number and not her boyfriend? |
| Mike: Oh, because her boyfriend was so angry. |
| Joey: Oh, yeah. |
| Mike: The next week, she called me to apologize about her boyfriend's behavior, and I suggested we get together for coffee and call it even. |
| Joey: Ah. Good tactic. You're smooth, dude. Smart, too. |
| Mike: Well, you know. I don't have the looks, so I have to make up for it somehow. |
| Joey: Right. I mean, no, no, no, you're cool, man! You're cool. |
| Mike: Anyway, we started dating and got married a year later. |
| Joey: Wow... Wait a minute. You didn't spill the coffee on her boyfriend on purpose, did you? |
| Mike: Actually, I did! It works every time! |
| Joey: That's right! That's how you started dating Michelle! |
| Mike: Yeah, man. High five! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Daniel: Sounds like Susan and Mike went to a cafe for the old meet-up-for-coffee-first-non date. |
| Chihiro: Yeah, typical. |
| Daniel: Meeting up for coffee is a very popular thing to do when inviting somebody out for the first time. This is because it's very casual and many don't consider it a date. |
| Chihiro: Right, invitations to have coffee are safe and fast, and you can quickly tell if you want to get to know more about the person or not. |
| Daniel: Yeah, quick is great when you want to just get out of there! Have you gone on any coffee-non-dates, Chihiro? |
| Chihiro: Yup I have! Sometimes you hit it off really well and it continues on to dinner or better dates...(laughing) other guys, well they make you wish you had ordered an espresso. How about you Daniel? (laughing) All been espresso dates? (More laughing) |
| Daniel: Yeah, I’ve been on a few coffee-non dates. I was just wondered why the gals I invited ordered espresso. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Daniel: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. What do we have first? |
| Chihiro: to spill [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: to cause something to fall over the edge of a container |
| Chihiro: to spill [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: to spill [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: Next... |
| short-tempered [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: easy to make angry |
| short-tempered [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| short-tempered [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: Next... |
| Chihiro: immature [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: not fully grown or developed |
| Chihiro: immature [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: immature [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: Next... |
| diplomatic [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: showing ability to deal with people in a polite way |
| diplomatic [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| diplomatic [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: Next... |
| Chihiro: calm [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: peaceful, not angry or excited |
| Chihiro: calm [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: calm [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: Next... |
| polite [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: having good manners |
| polite [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| polite [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: Next... |
| Chihiro: dude [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: slang for man |
| Chihiro: dude [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: dude [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: Next... |
| to date [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: to do an activity with someone with a possibility of a |
| romantic relationship |
| to date [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| to date [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: Next... |
| Chihiro: detail [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: any smaller part of something bigger |
| Chihiro: detail [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: detail [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Daniel: Let’s take a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Chihiro: The first phrase we’ll look at is… |
| Daniel: “To cause a scene.” |
| Chihiro: This means that somebody is doing something that attracts a lot of attention from the people who are around that area. In the dialogue, Susan's ex-boyfriend was attracting a lot of attention most likely by perhaps shouting and getting really angry at Mike. It's usually used to talk about negative attention. Here's another example, |
| Daniel: “The child caused a scene when his mom refused to buy him the toy.” |
| Chihiro: Here, the child perhaps started crying and yelling because he couldn't get the toy he wanted. |
| Daniel: Okay, The next phrase we'll look at is, |
| Chihiro: “You're smooth, dude.” |
| Daniel: When a person is smooth, it means that he or she does something without any mistakes. The word “dude” |
| is slang for “man” and is just added at the end. Joey compliments Mike this way because Mike was able to perform everything as planned to get Susan. Here's another example, |
| Chihiro: “The robber was smooth with his escape.” |
| Daniel: This means that the robber escaped with no trouble. |
| Chihiro: Okay, now let's smoothly carry on to the grammar point for this lesson. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Chihiro: In this lesson you will learn about verbs that follow another verb. We will talk about two types of structures, verb + infinitive, which is the dictionary form of the verb, and verb + gerund or “-ing” form of the verb. |
| Daniel: Some verbs that come after another verb can only be in the infinitive form, some others can only be in the gerund form, and some can be both. The first verb determines the form of the second verb, that is, whether it'll be an infinitive or gerund. Here's an example from the dialogue. |
| Chihiro: “I offered to pay for the cleaning bill and gave her my phone number.” |
| Daniel: This sentence from the dialogue has the word “offered” as the first verb, which determines the infinitive form of the following verb, “to pay.” Chihiro, give us an example of a gerund. |
| Chihiro: “He suggested eating at a later time.” |
| Daniel: Here, the first verb “suggested” determines the following verb “eating” in its gerund form. |
| Chihiro: Some verbs can take on both the infinitive and gerund forms. Take this sentence from the dialogue for example, |
| Daniel: “Anyway, we started dating and got married a year later.” |
| Chihiro: The verb “started” is followed by a gerund form. However, we can also create a sentence with the same verb such as, |
| Daniel: “She started to play her guitar late at night.” |
| Chihiro: And follow it with an infinitive form, “to play.” |
| Daniel: There's a catch though so be careful. Depending on the verb, the meaning might differ between the infinitive form and the gerund form. For example, when the verb “remember” takes on the gerund form, it talks about the past as in, |
| Chihiro: “I still remember riding down that hill.” |
| Daniel: But when followed by an infinitive, it talks about the future as in, |
| Chihiro: “Please remember to ask her about the apartment.” |
| Daniel: Or a task that had to be done, as in, |
| Chihiro: “He remembered to pick up the dry cleaning.” |
| Daniel: Right, so be careful. |
| Chihiro: Just be aware of these and learn them one by one. Take a look at the PDF for the lesson notes as well to help you understand better. |
Outro |
| Daniel: That just about does it for today. |
| Daniel: Okay, see you all soon. |
| Chihiro: Bye for now. |
| REPETITION OF DIALOGUE |
| Joey: Hold on, Mike. You got to give me the details. You spilled coffee on Susan's then-boyfriend and ended up marrying her? What happened? |
| Mike: Well, to make a long story short, her boyfriend got really angry and caused a scene. He was really short-tempered and immature. And Susan was embarrassed by his behavior. Meanwhile, I was very calm, diplomatic, and polite. |
| Joey: So she thought you were a like gentleman and fell in love with you? |
| Mike: Not exactly. I offered to pay for the cleaning bill and gave her my phone number. |
| Joey: Why did you give her your number and not her boyfriend? |
| Mike: Oh, because her boyfriend was so angry. |
| Joey: Oh, yeah. |
| Mike: The next week, she called me to apologize about her boyfriend's behavior, and I suggested we get together for coffee and call it even. |
| Joey: Ah. Good tactic. You're smooth, dude. Smart, too. |
| Mike: Well, you know. I don't have the looks, so I have to make up for it somehow. |
| Joey: Right. I mean, no, no, no, you're cool, man! You're cool. |
| Mike: Anyway, we started dating and got married a year later. |
| Joey: Wow... Wait a minute. You didn't spill the coffee on her boyfriend on purpose, did you? |
| Mike: Actually, I did! It works every time! |
| Joey: That's right! That's how you started dating Michelle! |
| Mike: Yeah, man. High five! |
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