Learn how to use the preposition "to," from a conversation between two airline workers
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natalie: Good morning! |
| Braden: Braden here. Getting Down to the Roots of your American Family. |
| Braden: In this lesson, you will learn about using the preposition “to." |
| Natalie: This conversation takes place on the plane during the shift. |
| Braden: And it’s between Ashley and David. |
| Natalie: Ashley and David have been working together for about a week and are still getting to know each other. They are speaking semi-professionally. |
| Braden: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Ashley: What city do you most want to visit? |
| David: Pittsburgh. |
| Ashley: Pittsburgh? Why Pittsburgh? |
| David: It's because my family is from there. When my great-great-great grandparents came from England to the USA, they lived in Pittsburgh for several generations. |
| Ashley: So, you have family in the area? |
| David: Yeah. And lots of family history. |
| Braden: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Ashley: What city do you most want to visit? |
| David: Pittsburgh. |
| Ashley: Pittsburgh? Why Pittsburgh? |
| David: It's because my family is from there. When my great-great-great grandparents came from England to the USA, they lived in Pittsburgh for several generations. |
| Ashley: So, you have family in the area? |
| David: Yeah. And lots of family history. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Braden: Okay, so let's talk a little bit about Pittsburgh |
| Natalie: Alright. So, Pittsburgh is located on the western side the Commonwealth (or State) of Pennsylvania. Technically, a "Commonwealth" is different than a state but that's a bit beyond the scope of this lesson. |
| Braden: Way beyond the scope of this lesson. However, the city of Pittsburgh has a population of 305,000 with the metropolitan area at 2. 3 million people, as of 2010. |
| Natalie: Pittsburgh is historically known for its steel industry. However, during the 1980s and 1990s the steel industry left Pittsburgh and currently no steel mills lie within the city limits. |
| Braden: Today, the region now supports over 1000 technology and research companies including major campuses for Google, Intel, Apple, and Disney. |
| Natalie: The economy of the city of Pittsburgh is currently ranked as the 22nd largest in the United States. This is because the primary industries have shifted more to high-technology such as robotics, nuclear engineering, and biomedical technology. |
| Braden: In fact, the largest single employer in the city of Pittsburgh is the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center with over 48,000 employees. |
| Natalie: Education is another major industry in the region. The largest single employer in that industry is the University of Pittsburgh with over 10,000 employees. The university of Pittsburgh is ranked as the 57th best university in the United States. |
| Braden: That sounds about right. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Braden: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is... |
| Natalie: city [natural native speed] |
| Braden: a large town |
| Natalie: city [slowly - broken down by syllable] city [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: visit [natural native speed] |
| Braden: to go to and stay at a place for a short period of time |
| Natalie: visit [slowly - broken down by syllable] visit [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: family [natural native speed] |
| Braden: a group of people usually related by blood |
| Natalie: family [slowly - broken down by syllable] family [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: England [natural native speed] |
| Braden: the old name of the United Kingdom |
| Natalie: England [slowly - broken down by syllable] England [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: USA [natural native speed] |
| Braden: abbreviation for – United States of America |
| Natalie: USA [slowly - broken down by syllable] USA [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: lived [natural native speed] |
| Braden: spend a part of one’s life in a particular place |
| Natalie: lived [slowly - broken down by syllable] lived [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: grandparents [natural native speed] |
| Braden: the parents of one’s father or mother |
| Natalie: grandparents [slowly - broken down by syllable] grandparents [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: several [natural native speed] |
| Braden: more than two but not many |
| Natalie: several [slowly - broken down by syllable] several [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: generations [natural native speed] |
| Braden: all of the people born in living at about the same time |
| Natalie: generations [slowly - broken down by syllable] generations [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: area [natural native speed] |
| Braden: within a region |
| Natalie: area [slowly - broken down by syllable] area [natural native speed] |
| Braden: And last... |
| Natalie: history [natural native speed] |
| Braden: the record of everything that has happened to a group of people |
| Natalie: history [slowly - broken down by syllable] history [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Braden: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Natalie: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase great-great-great-grandparents. |
| Braden: This phrase, or really long word, has to do with generations previous to the current one. |
| Natalie: To explain it completely, remember that in English, you have your parents, then your grandparents. |
| Braden: After this, you have great-grandparents. From here on, for each generation back you add another “great.” |
| Natalie: So the next generation back would be great-great-grandparents. And the one before that would be great-great-great-grandparents. |
| Braden: Could you break this down for us? |
| Natalie: (slowly) great-great-great-grandparents |
| Braden: And one time fast? |
| Natalie: (fast) great-great-great-grandparents |
| Braden: Perfect! What’s next? |
| Natalie: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase "family history." |
| Braden: This phrase has to do with the history of a family. In the dialogue, he was referring to his own family history. |
| Natalie: Family history is very important to many people. A quick search on Google brings back nearly two billion hits. And that's just in English. |
| Braden: Many people spend considerable amounts of time and money investigating their own family's history as well as other people's history. |
| Natalie: According to them, you can learn a lot about yourself by learning about your ancestors. |
| Braden: Could you break this down for us? |
| Natalie: (slowly) family history |
| Braden: And one time fast? |
| Natalie: (fast) family history |
| Braden: Excellent! Let’s take a look at the grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Braden: So Natalie, what’s the focus of this lesson? |
| Natalie: The focus of this lesson is the preposition "to". |
| Braden: In the dialogue we heard the phrase |
| Natalie: When my great-great-great grandparents came to the USA from England, they lived in Pittsburgh for several generations. |
| Braden: Okay so, the word "to" is a preposition and it has many different meanings and uses. My dictionary lists twelve ways that "to" is used and then a long list of phrases that use "to." |
| Natalie: The basic idea is that "to" is used when motion has a direction. For example, |
| Braden: "I am going to the store." |
| Natalie: However, "to" can have at least three other meanings. |
| Braden: That’s right. It can be used to identify a person or thing, to identify a relationship between 2 things, or to indicate that 2 things are attached. |
| Natalie: Let’s start with Identifying a person or thing |
| Braden: Okay. The preposition “to” can be used to identify a person or thing affected by some action. For example – |
| Natalie: “She was very mean to his parents.” |
| Braden: Here, “to” still indicates a direction. However, “to” serves to identify who is receiving the action of the verb “mean" instead of showing motion. For example – |
| Natalie: “He wrote a letter to his friend.” |
| Braden: Here, again, “to” is indicating direction. However here, “to” is identifying who will receive the letter not the direction the letter will go. |
| Natalie: Next let’s look at identifying relationships. The preposition "to" is also used to identify relationships, typically between one person and another. For example – |
| Braden: “Alex is married to Natalie's cousin.” |
| Natalie: Just as in our previous examples, “to” indicates the direction. However, in this sentence “to” is showing the connection or link or relationship between Alex and Natalie's cousin. Another example would be – |
| Braden: “My good friend became an adviser to the president.” |
| Natalie: In this sentence, “to” shows the relationship or connection between “my good friend” and “the president” which is that he "became an adviser.” |
| Braden: Okay so, last, we'll look at attaching two things with "to." For example, |
| Natalie: "He chained his bike to the rail." |
| Braden: In this sentence, the preposition "to" is indicating the physical attachment of the bike to the rail. Another example would be – |
| Natalie: "The boat was tied to the shore." |
| Braden: Here, "to" indicates how the boat is physically attached to the shore. |
| Natalie: That's about it. Let's review this lesson. |
| Braden: The preposition "to" indicates direction of movement. |
| Natalie: However, "to" can have at least three other meanings. |
| Braden: First, "to" can be used to identify a person or thing. |
| Natalie: Second, it can be used to identify a relationship between two things. |
| Braden: And third, "to" can be used to identify a physical connection or attachment between two things. |
Outro |
| Braden: That just about does it for this lesson. Thanks for listening. |
| Natalie: Have a great afternoon! |
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