VOA慢速英语2021--Describing Your Day: Mornings

 

Imagine you are discussing your day. Perhaps you want to describe your morning – what you did, how you felt, and so on.

Morning is a time of action. You wake up, you drink something, you plan your day.

Verbs² describe such actions.

In today's Everyday Grammar, you will learn about how to use different kinds of verbs to talk about the morning. You will learn about phrasal verbs, linking verbs, and an important verb¹ and noun³ phrase⁴ structure⁵.

Phrasal verbs

Phrasal verbs are groups of words that have a meaning that differs from what the individual words suggest. Phrasal verbs have a verb and another short word or words.

Phrasal verbs play an important part in describing mornings.

Let's consider an example: wake up.

You might hear a sleepy person say,

"I woke up at 11:00 AM. I was supposed to be at work at 9:00!"

In the example, you heard the past tense form of wake up, woke up.

Waking up is the first action of every person's day. And usually, after you wake up, you do another action that involves a phrasal verb: get up.

Get up means⁶ to rise or to cause another person to rise after sleeping.

Many parents have told their children "Get up! It's time for school!"

Get up is close in meaning to yet another phrasal verb: get out of as in "get out of bed."

After waking up and getting up or getting out of bed, you might consider how you are feeling. At this point, we move from phrasal verbs to linking verbs.

Linking verbs: Be, Feel

Linking verbs are verbs that connect the subject to a word or words that give more information about the subject. They are different from other kinds of verbs because they don't really describe actions. Instead, they describe feelings and states of being.

One of the most common linking verbs is the verb be. 

A person that just woke up might say "I am tired" or "I am sleepy."

In both of these cases, the verb be connects the subject I to an adjective⁷ such as tired or sleepy. These are qualities or states of being.

People who have just woken up might also use adjectives⁸ like hungry or thirsty.

But be is not the only linking verb you might use to describe how you feel in the morning. You can also use the verb feel. A person might say "I feel sleepy" or "I feel energetic⁹."

After considering how you feel, you might take action. The verb make is important for describing actions in the morning.

Make + noun phrase

Make often appears with a noun phrase - a group of words that acts like a noun in a sentence.

So, for example, a person might say:

"After I wake up, I always make my bed."

In the example, the noun phrase my bed comes after the verb make.

But people don't just make their beds in the mornings. They make coffee, they make tea or they make breakfast.

Closing thoughts

In today's report, you learned¹⁰ about how different verb forms or structures¹¹ help describe the morning and the morning's activities. Try to use some of what you have learned today when you are speaking English in class or with friends.

Pay careful attention to movies or shows - you might hear some of the verbs we just talked about today. You might learn about some other verb structures too.

We hope that the next time you wake up, you will say to yourself: "I am excited to learn more about English grammar!"

Words in This Story

be supposed to – idiom to be expected to do something

energetic – adj. having or showing a lot of energy

excited -- adj. very enthusiastic and eager about something

1 verb   

n.[语]动词

参考例句：

• The sentence is formed from a verb and two nouns.这句子由一个动词和两个名词构成。
• These are the finite forms of a verb.这些是一个动词的限定形式。

2 verbs   

动词

参考例句：

• I have to swot up on phrasal verbs for a test tomorrow. 我不得不为明天的测验努力温习短语动词。
• Verbs that do not take object are called intransitive verbs. 不带宾语的动词称为不及物动词。

3 noun   

n.名词

参考例句：

• What kind of noun is this?这是哪类名词？
• This word is a collective noun.这个词是个集体名词。

4 phrase   

n.短语，词组；成语，习语

参考例句：

• The phrase was caught on and immediately became popular.这个短语被采用后很快就流行了。
• That's exactly the phrase I was looking for.这就是我一直找的那个短语。

5 structure   

n.结构，构造，建筑物；v.构成；

参考例句：

• Doctors study the structure of the human body.医生研究人体构造。
• A flower has quite a complicated structure.一朵花的结构相当复杂。

6 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

7 adjective   

n.形容词；adj.形容词的，用作形容词的

参考例句：

• Don't apply that adjective to me.不要用那个字眼来形容我。
• The adjective loose has several senses. 形容词loose有几个义项。

8 adjectives   

n.形容词( adjective的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We can form nouns from adjectives. 我们可以用形容词来构成名词。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Attributive adjectives precede the noun. 定语形容词位于名词前。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 energetic   

adj.充满活力的，精力充沛的

参考例句：

• The elderly man is quite energetic.这位上了年纪的老人仍精力充沛。
• Her mother was a resourceful and energetic woman.她母亲是一个足智多谋、精力充沛的女人。

10 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

11 structures   

n.结构( structure的名词复数 )；[生物学]构造；机构；构造物v.组织( structure的第三人称单数 )；安排；制定

参考例句：

• All three structures dated to the third century and were tentatively identified as shrines. 这3座建筑都建于3 世纪，并且初步鉴定为神庙。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Flexibility of labour was obtained through the breakup of old trade union structures. 打破了旧的工会结构之后，雇用劳工可以灵活处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》