Describing Your Day: Midday Activities
2021-10-08
LRC
TXT
大字
小字
滚动
全页
1Imagine you want to describe your day.
2Perhaps you have an English test that asks about what you do regularly.
3Or maybe you just want to tell a friend about your day's activities.
4In this Everyday Grammar, we will explore how you can describe the middle of your day.
5You will learn about how things that happen in the middle of the day connect with grammar.
6In particular, you will learn about direct objects, indirect objects and basic sentence structures.
7But first, let's explore some important terms and ideas.
8A noun phrase is a group of words that acts like a noun in the sentence.
9Noun phrases can appear as the subject of the sentence or in the predicate - the part of the sentence that says something about the subject.
10Consider this example:
11I am eating my lunch.
12The noun phrase my lunch appears in the predicate, after the verb eat.
13When noun phrases appear in the predicate, they can play the part of the direct or indirect object.
14The direct object is the receiver of the verb's action.
15In our example, I am eating my lunch, the noun phrase my lunch is the direct object.
16Now consider how statements about the middle of the day might connect with direct objects.
17Imagine you are telling someone about what you do every day.
18You could say:
19I eat lunch.
20I drink tea.
21I call my friends.
22I use my phone.
23I take a nap.
24All of these statements follow the same basic structure: subject, verb and noun or noun phrase - the direct object.
25Now, let's explore indirect objects.
26The indirect object is the receiver of the direct object.
27Consider the following statement:
28I send my friends text messages.
29In this case, the direct object is text messages.
30The indirect object is my friends.
31You might make any number of statements about midday activities by using direct and indirect objects.
32For example:
33I give my mom a call.
34Please note that indirect objects can also appear after prepositions, as in:
35I take lunch to my brother.
36If you are having trouble identifying direct and indirect objects, ask yourself what the different noun phrases refer to.
37For example, do the subject and noun phrases after the verb in the predicate refer to the same thing or different things?
38In our example, I take lunch to my brother, the subject is I, the direct object is lunch, and the indirect object is my brother.
39These all refer to three different things.
40The next time you are listening to English speakers describing their days, pay careful attention to the kinds of sentences they use.
41Note how they use direct and indirect objects.
42With time, you will master basic sentence structures that will permit you to communicate all kinds of ideas - perhaps about the middle of the day, or about many other things as well.
43I'm John Russell.
1Imagine you want to describe your day. Perhaps you have an English test that asks about what you do regularly. Or maybe you just want to tell a friend about your day's activities. 2In this Everyday Grammar, we will explore how you can describe the middle of your day. You will learn about how things that happen in the middle of the day connect with grammar. In particular, you will learn about direct objects, indirect objects and basic sentence structures. 3But first, let's explore some important terms and ideas. 4Noun phrases 5A noun phrase is a group of words that acts like a noun in the sentence. 6Noun phrases can appear as the subject of the sentence or in the predicate - the part of the sentence that says something about the subject. 7Consider this example: 8I am eating my lunch. 9The noun phrase my lunch appears in the predicate, after the verb eat. 10When noun phrases appear in the predicate, they can play the part of the direct or indirect object. 11The direct object is the receiver of the verb's action. 12In our example, I am eating my lunch, the noun phrase my lunch is the direct object. 13Now consider how statements about the middle of the day might connect with direct objects. 14Imagine you are telling someone about what you do every day. 15You could say: 16I eat lunch. 17I drink tea. 18I call my friends. 19I use my phone. 20I take a nap. 21All of these statements follow the same basic structure: subject, verb and noun or noun phrase - the direct object. 22Indirect objects 23Now, let's explore indirect objects. The indirect object is the receiver of the direct object. 24Consider the following statement: 25I send my friends text messages. 26In this case, the direct object is text messages. The indirect object is my friends. 27You might make any number of statements about midday activities by using direct and indirect objects. 28For example: 29I give my mom a call. 30Please note that indirect objects can also appear after prepositions, as in: 31I take lunch to my brother. 32If you are having trouble identifying direct and indirect objects, ask yourself what the different noun phrases refer to. 33For example, do the subject and noun phrases after the verb in the predicate refer to the same thing or different things? 34In our example, I take lunch to my brother, the subject is I, the direct object is lunch, and the indirect object is my brother. These all refer to three different things. 35The next time you are listening to English speakers describing their days, pay careful attention to the kinds of sentences they use. Note how they use direct and indirect objects. 36With time, you will master basic sentence structures that will permit you to communicate all kinds of ideas - perhaps about the middle of the day, or about many other things as well. 37I'm John Russell. 38John Russell wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. Bryan Lynn was the editor. 39_____________________________________________________________ 40Words in This Story 41grammar - n. the entire system or structure of a language 42nap - n. a short period of sleep especially during the day 43refer to - phrasal verb to have a direct connection or relationship to (something) 44master - v. to get the knowledge and skill that allows you to do, use, or understand (something) very well