IELTS Preparation Series 2, Episode 10: Durians
(Bấm vào đây để chọn bài học kế tiếp)
Xem lời thoại bên dưới:
0:13
Hello. I'm Margot Politis. Welcome to Study English, IELTS preparation.
0:19
Today, we're going to look at the use of pronouns in a story about durian orchards.
0:26
English uses a range of pronouns for different functions. For example, there are personal
0:32
pronouns, possessive pronouns, demonstrative pronouns and reflexive pronouns.
0:39
Today, we're going to look at demonstrative and reflexive pronouns.
0:44
But first we're going to meet Laura Fitzgerald, a durian researcher. She is describing a durian
0:52
leaf. Listen to how she uses the demonstrative pronouns this and that.
1:00
This is the underside of the leaf and we're seeing it at a 406 times magnification. These
1:05
are the hairs that you see here. This is one of the reproductive structures of the pathogen
1:10
and it's called a sporangia and what's happened is, it's been in a drop of rain and it's splashed
1:15
on to the underside of the leaf and it's gotten caught in the hairs and it's what we call
1:21
germinated and started to grow across the surface of the leaf.
1:26
New research is investigating ways of inoculating, or vaccinating, durian trees grown in orchards
1:32
with the good fungi to help the plant protect itself from disease.
1:38
She says:
1:38
This is the underside.
1:41
These are the hairs.
1:45
Demonstrative pronouns demonstrate both distance and number - how close something is, and how
1:52
many there are.
1:54
We can show this on a table.
1:55
This is used for singular nouns that are near to you.
2:02
These are used for plural nouns that are near to you.
2:08
Laura is looking at a durian leaf, and referring to part of it. The leaf is very close to her,
2:15
so Laura refers to it using the demonstrative pronouns for near things: this and these.
2:23
This is the underside.
2:26
These are the hairs.
2:28
Now listen to Dr David Guest discussing the effect of the typhoon on the durian orchards.
2:37
In 1994 in Thailand there was a typhoon around Chanta Buri, which is the main growing area.
2:43
What happened after that typhoon is that some of the trees were damaged by the strong winds,
2:48
but after that typhoon there was an epidemic of phytophthora, and some orchards were completely
2:54
destroyed by that epidemic.
2:57
He says:
2:58
that typhoon
3:00
that epidemic
3:03
That is a demonstrative pronoun used with singular nouns that are far away.
3:08
Those is used with plural nouns that are far away.
3:13
The typhoon was distant or far away from the speaker. It was in Chanta Buri, Thailand.
3:23
The typhoon was also distant in time. It was years ago, in 1994. This is why he refers
3:30
to it as 'that typhoon'.
3:32
So demonstrative pronouns apply not only to spatial relations near and far, but also to
3:40
time relations now and then.
3:44
In both cases, the pronouns convey distance.
3:49
Let's look at some examples.
3:52
I like this new movie better than that old one.
3:57
This movie means a recent movie, a movie close to 'now' in time.
4:02
That movie means an older movie, more distant in time.
4:08
These biscuits are nicer than those.
4:12
'These biscuits' means they are physically close to the speaker. 'Those biscuits' are
4:18
further away.
4:18
Listen to Dr David Guest again using 'that' for a different grammatical purpose.
4:27
In 1994 in Thailand there was a typhoon around Chanta Buri, which is the main growing area.
4:33
What happened after that typhoon is that some of the trees were damaged by the strong winds,
4:38
but after that typhoon there was an epidemic of phytophthora, and some orchards were completely
4:44
destroyed by that epidemic.
4:46
He says: What happened is that some of the trees were damaged.
4:52
The word that is not used as a pronoun here, but as a complement, introducing what happened.
4:59
We can remove 'that' and the sentence means the same thing.
5:04
What happened is some of the trees were damaged.
5:08
You will see 'that' used as a complement most commonly when reporting speech, ideas or feelings:
5:15
he said that
5:17
she argued that
5:19
they felt that
5:20
That is the complement of the verbs said, argued and felt.
5:32
By now you should be familiar with using demonstrative pronouns to make reference to time and space.
5:39
Let's look at another group of pronouns - reflexive pronouns. There is one used twice used in
5:45
this clip. See if you can pick it.
5:50
Because there's a growing Asian population in Australia there's a growing demand for
5:53
durians. So we import durians, mostly from Thailand and Thailand's certainly the world
5:59
leader in durian production. Throughout Southeast Asia it's the most popular tropical fruit
6:04
and the industry itself's worth somewhere between 2 or 3 billion US dollars a year.
6:09
New research is investigating ways of inoculating, or vaccinating, durian trees grown in orchards
6:15
with the good fungi to help the plant protect itself from disease.
6:21
He says: the industry itself
6:24
Itself is a reflexive pronoun.
6:28
One of the functions of reflexive pronouns is for emphasis, to mean 'that person or thing
6:35
and nobody or nothing else'.
6:38
For example:
6:40
The house itself is beautiful but the street is a bit noisy.
6:45
I wasn't happy with the service, so I went to confront the manager myself.
6:52
In these examples, the reflexive pronouns itself and myself refer back to the subjects
6:58
of the sentences, the noun house and the pronoun I. They add emphasis to the statements.
7:09
Let's look at the whole group of reflexive pronouns in this table.
7:15
I might want to emphasise myself if I am speaking in the first person, or ourselves if I am
7:21
talking about me and my friends, using the plural form.
7:26
I could speak in the second person about yourself or yourselves.
7:32
Using third person, I can emphasise himself, herself,
7:37
itself or oneself. The plural form is themselves.
7:45
All of these words are reflexive pronouns that can be used for emphasis.
7:51
Listen to the clip again.
7:54
Because there's a growing Asian population in Australia there's a growing demand for
7:57
durians. So we import durians, mostly from Thailand and Thailand's certainly the world
8:03
leader in durian production. Throughout Southeast Asia it's the most popular tropical fruit
8:08
and the industry itself's worth somewhere between 2 or 3 billion US dollars a year.
8:13
New research is investigating ways of inoculating, or vaccinating, durian trees grown in orchards
8:19
with the good fungi to help the plant protect itself from disease.
8:25
The reporter says: to help the plant protect itself from disease
8:30
The reflexive itself refers back to the subject of this clause. The subject and the object
8:37
are the same - the plant. A common use of reflexive pronouns is to refer
8:43
to objects or actions where the subject and object are the same person or thing.
8:49
For example:
8:50
I cut myself shaving this morning. Not, I cut me.
8:56
I got out of the bath and dried myself. Not, dried me.
9:01
We made ourselves a cup of coffee. Not, made us.
9:05
Ok, so today we've looked at pronouns. We've talked about demonstrative pronouns
9:12
- this, these, that, those,
9:17
and reflexive pronouns like myself, yourself, itself
9:23
To find more help on pronouns, you can visit our website anytime. You'll find today's story,
9:29
transcript, study notes and exercises.
9:33
That's all for today. I'll see you next time on Study English. Bye bye.
