Practice giving indirect instructions in English
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| Do you know how to give indirect instructions in English? |
| Welcome to Three Step English Practice by EnglishClass101.com. In this lesson, you will practice how to give indirect instructions in English. |
| Let’s look at the main dialogue. |
| Two people are having a conversation. |
| Tell the driver to go to 10,000 Lanes. |
| 10,000 Lanes... Is he even going to know how to get there? |
| Ask him to take you to Times Square. We can walk from there. |
| In this dialogue, two people are discussing how to get a taxi driver to take one of them to a meeting place. |
| This character |
| Tells this character |
| To "tell the driver to go to 10,000 Lanes," the name of the place they want to meet. |
| This is an indirect instruction - the character is passing on directions to the other character as to what the TAXI DRIVER should do, NOT the second person herself. |
| When asked by her whether the taxi driver would be able to follow the instructions, he says |
| "Ask him to take you to Times Square." |
| This is another indirect instruction. It's formed with a verb, "ask," followed by the object, "him," followed by the infinitive verb phrase, "to take you to Times Square." |
| Let’s practice with this grammar more in this lesson. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| Ask him |
| you to the Chrysler Building. |
| Ask him |
| you to the Chrysler Building. |
| To take |
| To take |
| Ask him to take you to the Chrysler Building. |
| Ask him to take you to the Chrysler Building. |
| "To take" is used here because the structure these sentences follow is "Verb, Object, Infinitive verb phrase." "Taking" is a gerund, not an infinitive verb, so it can't be put into that part of the structure. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| They asked us |
| the pizza parlor. |
| They asked us |
| the pizza parlor. |
| To leave |
| To leave |
| They asked us to leave the pizza parlor. |
| They asked us to leave the pizza parlor. |
| "To leave" is used here because the sentence pattern calls for an infinitive verb phrase, and "to leave" is the infinitive verb. "Left" is the past tense form, and does not fit the pattern. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| Did you tell her |
| an umbrella? |
| Did you tell her |
| an umbrella? |
| To take |
| To take |
| Did you tell her to take an umbrella? |
| Did you tell her to take an umbrella? |
| "To take" is the infinitive form, so it fits the pattern. "Taking" is a gerund, and can't be used in this place of the sentence structure. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| I’ll let Tess know |
| us at 10,000 Lanes. |
| I’ll let Tess know |
| us at 10,000 Lanes. |
| To meet |
| To meet |
| I’ll let Tess know to meet us at 10,000 Lanes. |
| I’ll let Tess know to meet us at 10,000 Lanes. |
| We use "to meet" here because we need an infinitive verb. "Meet" is a bare infinitive, so it doesn't work as an indirect instruction. However, the sentence structure for indirect instructions does START with a bare infinitive, like "Ask" or "Tell." |
| Unscramble the words to make a sentence. |
| Ready? |
| Will |
| Will you |
| Will you remind |
| Will you remind everyone |
| Will you remind everyone to |
| Will you remind everyone to bring |
| Will you remind everyone to bring an |
| Will you remind everyone to bring an umbrella? |
| Will you remind everyone to bring an umbrella? |
| Unscramble the words to make a sentence. |
| My |
| My brother |
| My brother asked |
| My brother asked me |
| My brother asked me to |
| My brother asked me to give |
| My brother asked me to give you |
| My brother asked me to give you this. |
| My brother asked me to give you this. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| (Ask, OR To ask) the waiter to bring more water. |
| (Ask, OR To ask) the waiter to bring more water. |
| Ask |
| Ask |
| Ask the waiter to bring more water. |
| Ask the waiter to bring more water. |
| "Ask" is used here because it is the bare infinitive. "To ask" is an infinitive, so it would be appropriate in the second part of the sentence structure, but not here. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| (To get or Get) your brother to help you study. |
| (To get or Get) your brother to help you study. |
| Get |
| Get |
| Get your brother to help you study. |
| Get your brother to help you study. |
| "Get" is used here because it is a bare infinitive. You can say "GET your brother TO HELP you study," but you cannot say "TO GET your brother HELP you study." |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| Tell her (to meet or meet) us there. |
| Tell her (to meet or meet) us there. |
| To meet |
| To meet |
| Tell her to meet us there. |
| Tell her to meet us there. |
| "To meet" is used here because it is the second part of the sentence structure. |
| Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
| Ask her (get or to get) me bowling shoes. |
| Ask her (get or to get) me bowling shoes. |
| To get |
| To get |
| Ask her to get me bowling shoes. |
| Ask her to get me bowling shoes. |
| "To get" is used here because the second part of the sentence structure calls for an infinitive, not a bare infinitive verb. |
| Listen to what I say and try to match the answers. |
| What verb is being used in the INDIRECT request? |
| Ask the waiter to bring more water. |
| Listen one more time. |
| Ask the waiter to bring more water. |
| Did you hear, "bring"? "bring" is the verb used for the INDIRECT request. "Ask" is the verb used for the request to make the indirect request. |
| How about...? |
| Get your brother to help you study. |
| Let’s listen one more time. |
| Get your brother to help you study. |
| Did you hear "help"? "help" is the verb used for the indirect request. |
| Next... |
| Tell her to ask them for another thirty minutes. |
| One more time. |
| Tell her to ask them for another thirty minutes. |
| Did you hear "ask"? "ask" is the verb used for the indirect request. |
| Next... |
| Ask them to get a bagel for me. |
| One more time. |
| Ask them to get a bagel for me. |
| Did you hear "get"? "Get" is the verb used for the indirect request. |
| And... |
| Get him to tell everyone that we're busy. |
| One more time. |
| Get him to tell everyone that we're busy. |
| Did you hear "tell"? "Tell" is the verb used for the indirect request. |
| Thank you for watching. |
| Now you know how to give indirect instructions in English. |
| ...and now you can move on to the next lesson in the pathway on EnglishClass101.com. |
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