分类： Let’s Learn English (Level 2)

Conversation

Professor Bot: In Part 1 of this two-part lesson, Ms. Weaver gave Anna and Pete an assignment. Ms. Weaver instructed them to do everything by themselves.

“Themselves” is a reflexive pronoun.

In today’s lesson, Ms. Weaver will look at Pete’s and Anna’s research. First, let’s see Pete’s experiment.

(Pete throws the bag of flour on his chair and throws many other things on his flour baby. Next, we see him outside enjoying ice-cream without his flour baby.)

Ms. Weaver: Okay, Pete, let me see your research first.

(Pete hands her a big binder filled with research.)

Ms. Weaver: That’s a heavy binder. And you and your Baby look great.

Pete: Thanks, Ms. Weaver. We feel great!

Ms. Weaver: Anna. Anna, you’re next. Anna? Anna wake up!

(She wakes up but is very confused.)

Anna: I’m here, Baby! I’m here! I’m here! Here’s your bottle.

(She accidentally squirts her bottle and milk goes everywhere.)

Ms. Weaver: Anna, you and your baby look awful. What happened?

Anna: Well, I took her everywhere. Everywhere. And I fed her every three hours. So, I haven’t slept since … what day is it?

Ms. Weaver: It’s Friday. What happened there?

(Ms. Weaver points to a large bandage on Anna’s flour baby.)

Anna: Oh, that. Oh, that. I was making myself a salad and had a little accident with a knife. I put my flour baby in front of me. And then I accidentally stabbed it. But I gave it First Aid!

Ms. Weaver: Is that a burn?

Anna: Yes. Yes it is. While I was making myself dinner, I put Baby next to me. I accidentally knocked her into the sink. So I put her in the microwave to dry. That’s when she caught fire.

(Pete smiles, thinking he’s won.)

Professor Bot: Okay. So, we use a reflexive pronoun when it refers to the subject of a sentence or clause.

But we DON’T use a reflexive pronoun with prepositions of place.

Anna uses examples of both in one sentence: While I was making myself dinner, I put Baby next to me.

We use a reflexive pronoun in the first part of the sentence. “Myself” refers to the subject “I.”

But in the second part of the sentence, we don’t use a reflexive pronoun in the prepositional phrase. We use the pronoun “me.” Why? “next to” is a preposition of place.

(Back in the meeting room, we’re about to learn who won the parenting experiment. Pete is smiling, thinking he won.)

Ms. Weaver: Anna, Anna, you should be very proud of yourself.

Pete: Proud? She stabbed and burned her baby!! And she only did one page of research…and it’s covered in milk. Ew.

Ms. Weaver: Yes, Pete. But she followed instructions.

Pete: Hey, I did …

Ms. Weaver: Please, Pete. Anna, I think your baby has lost some weight. Is there something else you want to share?

Anna: Yes. I’d like to share … these! I made them myself this morning.

Pete: You baked your baby? You should be ashamed of yourself!

Anna: I baked them at the end of the experiment, Pete. At that point, this was just a bag of flour.

Pete: It was always just a bag of flour!!

Ms. Weaver: Pete, will you listen to yourself?! You sound crazy.

Pete: I sound crazy! This whole experiment was crazy!! She was the one who carried around and fed it and …

(Anna puts a cookie into his mouth. He chews it and begins to smile.)

Pete: Mmm. That is good.

(They all agree and eat the cookies.)

Professor Bot: So, what have we learned? We’ve learned when to use reflexive pronouns and when not to.

Go to our website for more information! You can practice using reflexive pronouns in our comments section.

Conversation

Ms. Weaver: Anna, Pete, I have a new assignment for you — a show on single parents! What is it like for a mother or a father to raise a child by herself or himself?

Anna: We can interview single parents. They can share their experiences themselves.

Ms. Weaver: Yes, but you need to experience parenthood yourselves.

Anna: Ourselves?

Peter: Yeah, how do we do that? We’re not parents.

Ms. Weaver: I asked myself the same question. I said, “Caty, how are they gonna do that?” Then an idea came to me. I will give you the babies!

Professor Bot: You may be asking yourself the same thing that I’m asking myself: what is Ms. Weaver talking about!? I am sure we will find out shortly.

This lesson teaches reflexive pronouns.

Reflexive pronouns refer back to the subject of a sentence or clause. We use them when the subject and the object are the same person or thing.

For example, Ms. Weaver says, “I asked myself the same question.”

“I” is the subject and “myself” refers back to it. Here, she would not use the pronoun “me.” You need to use the reflexive pronoun “myself.”

Reflexive pronouns are easy to find: they end in “self” or “selves.” I have a feeling we are going to see a lot of reflexive pronouns. Listen for them!

(Pete and Anna continue their meeting with Ms. Weaver. She puts two bags of flour on the table. Pete and Anna still look confused.)

Ms. Weaver: Here are your babies!

Pete: Those are bags of flour.

Ms. Weaver: No, Pete, for the next six days, this is your baby. Here are your instructions. Do not leave your babies alone. A baby cannot take care of itself. And you two must do everything by yourselves.

We will meet next Friday. Oh, and the person who does the best research will get an extra day of vacation. Help yourself to a baby.

Anna: Pete, look, my baby is organic and whole grain. Your baby is ordinary.

(Pete pushes her flour baby off desk.)

Anna: (to Pete) Monster! (to Caty) This is a great idea, Ms. Weaver!

(Pete and Anna are now outside.)

Pete: This is a terrible idea.

Anna: Speak for yourself, Pete! We need to throw ourselves into the research! I’m starting right now!

(She leaves but forgets her Flour Baby.)

Pete: Hey Anna, you forgot your baby!

(She turns and looks at Pete.)

Anna: Come to mama!

(The bag of flour flies at her. She catches it.)

Anna: Good girl! Good girl!

Professor Bot: Singular reflexive pronouns end in “self.” Plural ones end in “selves.”

Anna says, “We need to throw ourselves into the research!” The subject “we” is plural. So, we must use the plural reflexive pronoun “ourselves.”

(The parenting research begins. Anna tries to open a baby stroller but can’t. A man walking by helps her. She pushes Flour Baby in the stroller but it falls out. On another day, she jogs with it. After several days, she is tired!)

Anna: This is hard! I hope Pete is not doing well. I really need that vacation day!

Professor Bot: We will all see how Pete is doing in the next episode. We’ll also learn when not to use reflexive pronouns.

Conversation

Anna: Hi, Kaveh! Let’s go to lunch!

Kaveh: Ooh, I know a great place. When I first started working here, I would go every day!

Anna: Great. Oh, no.

Kaveh: What’s wrong?

Anna: I lost my key! I just had it this morning.

Kaveh: You should check the Lost & Found office.

Anna: Great idea. Where is it?

Kaveh: Oh, it used to be across from the cafeteria. But now it’s down in the basement next to the elevators. It’s really hard to find.

Anna: The Lost & Found is hard to find. That’s funny.

Kaveh: It is.

Professor Bot: I hope Anna can find the Lost & Found office!

Used to and would describe something that happened repeatedly in the past.

Kaveh uses would when he says, “When I first started working here, I would go every day!

There are two differences between used to and would.

Number 1: We use would only when we say the time period first.

Number 2: For verbs like be, think, feel, see and understand, we can only use used to.

Kaveh says, “It used to be across from the cafeteria.”

Keep listening for more!

(A worker moves the sign for the Lost & Found office. So, Anna walks into the wrong office without knowing it.)

Serenity: Come in! I am Serenity.

Anna: Hi, Serenity. I’m Anna!

Serenity: Please, sit down. How can I help you?

Anna: I lost something very important.

Serenity: Shh. I already know. You need help.

Anna: Yes. I need help finding the key …

Serenity: Shh. You need to find the key – the key that will give you happiness.

Anna: Yes. Finding this key will make me very happy.

Serenity: First, Anna, let me tell you a little bit about myself.

Anna: Okay.

Serenity: I used to be a very important person with a very important job. I made a lot of money — I mean a lot.

Anna: Wow. Good for you!

Serenity: No! No, it was bad for me. I lost the most important thing – the key! You’ve lost it too, haven’t you, Anna? Haven’t you?

Anna: I guess. So, how does this work? Do I have to fill out a form or something?

Serenity: No. No forms. Just answer this one question: As a child, what did you use to do to feel happy?

Anna: When I was little, I used to sing all the time with my family. Those were good times.

Serenity: Singing is so joyful! I used to sing. But now that I’ve started my business, I’ve just been too busy. Too busy! Anna, why don’t you sing again?

Anna: I sing everywhere! I sing in the office. I sing on the metro. I sing in the elevators. I sing on the escalators. I sing in the bathroom. Serenity! Serenity! I really need to find my key. Yeah!

Serenity: Yes, we need to find the key … the key to happiness.

Anna: No, no. I just need to find the key to my apartment.

Serenity: I used to know. But now I don’t! Do you, Anna?

Anna: I don’t know. I think I left it in the ladies’ room. You know, this isn’t the Lost & Found, is it?

(Anna starts walking out of the room)

Serenity: It could be the Lost & Found. I’m lost! And I used to find joy for people! I used to find joy!

Anna: You know, this is a bad time for you. I’ll find the Lost & Found myself. Bye, thanks.

Serenity: I used to find joy. I used to find joy! I used to find joy!

Anna: Ah, I found my key!

Serenity: I used to find joy!

Pofessor Bot: Oh no. Serenity lost her joy. But at least Anna found her key! Check out our website for more!