Lesson 34: What Will I Do?

Summary

In this lesson, Anna wants to go to a Halloween party. But she needs a costume. Will her friend Genie help her find the right one?

Speaking

Learn the new words for this lesson. Then, learn how to talk about the future in two ways. You can use the modal verb "will" or the modal verb "might." ​

Pronunciation

Use this video to learn a stress pattern to show strong emotion with the modal "might."​

Anna: Hello! Halloween is very popular in the United States.

Anna: Children trick-or-treat. They ask people for candy. Children and adults wear costumes and go to parties!

Anna: In fact, there is a Halloween party tonight. I need my friend, Genie. Genie!

Anna: Hi!

Genie: Hi, Anna! What do you need?

Anna: Tonight, there is a Halloween party.

Genie: I love Halloween! Are you going?

Anna: I might go. I might not go. I don’t have a costume. Can you help me?

Genie: Dress as a genie!

Anna: Great idea! I can do a genie trick like read minds!

Genie: Anna, be careful. Things might go wrong.

Anna: What can go wrong?

Genie: Okay.

Anna: Hey, look! I’m a genie! This is going to be fun!

Genie: Remember, Anna. Be careful!

Anna: Don’t worry, Genie! I will!

Rebecca: Excuse me, are you really a mind reader?

Anna: I might be.

Rebecca: Okay, tell me what I am thinking.

Anna: Sure! First, what do you do?

Rebecca: I study. I'm a junior in college.

Anna: What do you study?

Rebecca: I study journalism.

Anna: Okay. Wait. You are thinking … you will graduate from college in about one year.

Rebecca: Well, yeah. That’s the plan. I told you, I’m a junior in college.

Anna: Right, um, wait. There’s more. You are thinking … you might get a job writing the news.

Rebecca: I MIGHT get a job writing the news? I MIGHT! That means I might not. And I'm studying really hard.

Anna: No, no, no, no. Uh, no, you will! You WILL get a job writing the news.

Rebecca: I will?

Anna: You will.

Rebecca: I will. I think.

Anna: 'Bye. Happy to help!

Kaveh: Can you really read minds?

Anna: I might.

Kaveh: Well, today, I will ask my girlfriend to marry me. What am I thinking?

Anna: Wait. Wait, you are thinking ... you might have a wedding very soon!

Kaveh: Might? MIGHT? She won’t say "no," will she?

Anna: No, no! She WILL say “yes”!

Kaveh: I will have a wedding, won’t I?

Anna: You will. You will!

Kaveh: Thanks. I think.

Anna: Good luck!

Anna: This is hard. Genie! Genie!

Genie: Anna, what’s wrong?

Anna: I don’t want to be a genie for Halloween. I might not go to the party.

Genie: Of course you will go. I have another costume for you!

Anna: I’m a rock star! You read my mind!

Genie: No. You told me you like rock music.

Anna: Oh, right. Well, I love it!

Genie: Have fun, Anna!

Anna: Thanks, Genie!!

Anna: I am ready for the Halloween party! But I am not going to read minds. I might play some rock music! Or I might not. Until next time …

Writing

What do you think about your future? Where might you live and work in five years? What might happen in your life? Write to us by email or in the Comments section.
Click on the image below to download the Activity Sheet and practice talking about the important things that happen in our lives.

Activity Sheet Lesson 34

Learning Strategy

Learning Strategies are the thoughts and actions that help make learning easier or more effective.
The learning strategy for this lesson is Make Your Best Guess​. That means using what you know about the world to make a guess. When we do this with language, it can help us understand and speak more fluently.
For example, Anna says she might be able to read minds. But she is really guessing. After she hears Rebecca say, "I'm a junior in college." Anna says, "You are thinking … you will graduate from college in about one year." She knows that "junior" means a student in the third year at a four-year college, so she can make a good guess that Rebecca will be graduating in one year.
Can you find another example in the lesson of Anna making a guess? Write to us about it in the Comments section or send us an email. Teachers, see the Lesson Plan for more details on teaching this strategy.

Quiz

Listen to short videos and test your listening skills with this quiz.

Lesson 33: Learning America's Sport

Coworker 2: It is time for part two of the children’s show!

Coworker 1: It’s time! It’s time! I can’t wait!

Coworker 3: Shh! I can’t hear it!

Announcer: Last time on "The Time Traveling Treehouse," Anna was lost, really lost. She wants to learn about baseball. But her computer, MINDY, sent her to many wrong places.

Anna: MINDY! Help me! I am in the ocean with a shark!

MINDY: I will try one more time, Anna.

Anna: Please try harder, MINDY!

Anna: Now, where am I? I am at a playground with a baseball field! Yes! I can teach children about baseball here! MINDY, MINDY, it took you a long time. But you did it!

MINDY: Thanks, Anna. Give me a call when you find the answer.

Anna: Okay. Come with me. Let’s learn how to play baseball! This is a baseball field. This is a pitcher's mound. This is first base! This is second base! This is third base! This is home plate!

Anna: To play baseball, you really only need a bat, a ball and a glove. Each team has many players.

Pitchers pitch the ball.

Catchers catch the ball.

Batters bat the ball.

Runners run the bases.

Fielders field the ball.

Anna: First, the pitcher pitches the ball to the batter. The batter bats the ball. Then, the runner runs to first base.

Anna: Each time a batter bats, the runners run around the bases. Each time a runner runs across home plate, they score a run! There are nine innings in a game. The team with the most runs at the end of nine innings wins the game!

Anna: MINDY, MINDY, we found the answer! It’s time to return to the treehouse.

MINDY: Good job! That was fast.

Coworker 3: Good job Anna. You know, I still don't like children's shows, but I like this children's show.
Coworker 2: I liked the time travel.

Coworker 1: But time travel is not real. You’re so silly, Anna.

Anna: Yeah, time travel is so silly. Thanks, goodbye. Bye, thank you.

Anna: Hello, MINDY? Are you there?

MINDY: Hello, Anna.

Anna: MINDY, I want to go to China! Until next time …

Writing

Do you work with or play on a team? Did you work with or play on a team in the past? Write to us by email or in the Comments section.
Click on the image below to download the Activity Sheet and practice talking about a sequence of events using agent nouns.

Activity Sheet Lesson 33

Learning Strategy

Learning Strategies are the thoughts and actions that help make learning easier or more effective.
The learning strategy for this lesson is Sequence. Sequence means thinking about how one event or action follows another.
For example, Anna says, "First, the pitcher pitches the ball to the batter. The batter bats the ball. Then, the runner runs to first base."
Can you find an example in the lesson of a sequence (hint: it follows "We found the answer!")? Write to us about it in the Comments section or send us an email. Teachers, see the Lesson Plan for more details on teaching this strategy.

Quiz

Listen to short videos and test your listening skills with this quiz.

Improving Your Grammar and Pronunciation

When you listen to music or read books in English, you will often hear and see how English speakers use different grammatical structures to change the sound of a sentence.
The speakers will use these different structures, or devices, to direct your attention to one or more words. They can also use changes in wording to create a variety, or mix, in the kinds of sentences they use.
Today, we consider a simple word: "there". We will learn how to use the word "there" to change the sound of a sentence. We also will learn how grammar controls when the speaker emphasizes the word "there".

The word "there" in popular music

Have you found that English speakers often say the word "there" in different ways?
In an earlier Everyday Grammar program, we examined how grammar can influence the sound of a sentence.
We played David Bowie’s song "Starman." It starts like this:

"There's a starman waiting in the sky

He'd like to come and meet us…"

So, why did Bowie sing "there's a starman waiting in the sky…"? Why not choose wording like "A starman is waiting in the sky" or "In the sky, a starman is waiting"?
All of these sentences have the same meaning.
While we may never know the exact reason Bowie chose these words, we can be fairly sure that this sentence sounded the best to his musical ear.
The question becomes this: why did it sound best to his ear?
One reason could be that the sentence uses what grammar expert Martha Kolln calls the “there transformation.”

The there transformation

The there transformation means changing the order of words in a sentence by adding the word "there."
When this happens, the word there acts as an expletive – a word that does not actually have meaning.
The two sentences "A starman is waiting in the sky" and "there's a starman waiting in the sky" have the same meaning.
However, in the second sentence, there is acting as a placeholder. It is pushing the subject of the sentence, a starman­, to a different position.*

​
When you hear or see the sentence "A starman is waiting in the sky," it is clear that the noun "a starman" is the subject of the sentence.
When you hear or see the sentence "There's a starman waiting in the sky," the noun phrase "a starman" is also acting as the subject.
So what could be the difference between the sentences, if the meaning is the same?
The difference is about style, a way of presenting things, and emphasis.
English speakers will often say the words "there's a" quickly and then emphasize the word directly following, usually the subject of the sentence.
The indefinite article "a" is sending a message that the subject will have new information.
So, when Bowie sings, "There's a starman waiting in the sky," he is setting up the sentence. In this way, he emphasizes the subject of the sentence, which is also the name of the song!

 You can hear this structure in other songs. Consider "There's a Place" by the Beatles.

There's a place where I can go…

The Beatles could have said "I can go to a place…"
And that expression would have the same meaning as "There's a place where I can go…"
But as you can hear, the sentence "I can go to a place" does not sound nearly as good as the "There's a place where I can go"!

TIP #1 Use the there transformation when you want to emphasize the subject

You can learn from David Bowie and the Beatles. They are showing you what native English speakers do with their voices when speaking.
Here is the point: if you want to speak or write a sentence that emphasizes the subject, you can use the there transformation. If you want to speak or write a sentence that does not emphasize the subject, you can use a normal sentence.
Both choices are grammatically correct, but their effects are different, because of their use of different grammatical structures.

Expletive there versus adverbial there

Until now, we have talked about the expletive "there" plus an indefinite subject. For example, let’s return to the earlier sentences, "there's a starman" or "there's a place."
What happens when "there is" is followed by a definite subject, such as "the starman" or "the place?"
If you use the definite article "the," you are suggesting that the subject is old, or known information.
If you wanted to change the wording we talked about at the beginning of this report, so that we used "there is the" instead of "there is a," you could say:

"There's the starman we were talking about."

"There's the place I want to go."

When you do this, the meaning of the sentence has changed.
In both examples, you can hear that the emphasis is placed on "there" because it is acting as an adverb – it is giving information about the location, or placement, of the subject. The sound of the sentence is much different than the sentence that begins with "there is a."
In these new sentences, the speakers are noting the location adverb because it is new and important information. In general, they do not emphasize the subject.
You will hear this structure often in everyday speech or in films.
Here is a line from Jackie Brown, a film by Quentin Tarantino.
The American actor Samuel L. Jackson plays a criminal who sells guns and drugs. While watching a television ad for guns, he makes the following comment:
"Now that there is the Tec-9….They advertise this Tec-9 as the most popular gun in American crime."
Tip #2 Emphasize adverbial there
In this sentence, you can hear Jackson emphasize the adverbial "there." He is pointing his finger at the TV screen and emphasizing the position of the gun.
We know that the name of the gun is old or already known because he says "the Tec-9." What is new is the location of the gun – on the television screen.
 
The difference between "there is a" and "there is the"

The important point in this report is that grammatical structures can have an effect on how a sentence sounds. The purpose of individual words in a sentence can influence how they are said or emphasized.
You will often hear the words "there is a…" in which the subject after the indefinite article is emphasized.
You will also hear "there is the…" in which the adverb, there, is emphasized. The subject is generally not emphasized.
Both of these sentence structures are common in popular music and everyday language.
By understanding how sentence structure and grammar have an effect on pronunciation, you can improve your writing and speaking skills.
You can think about if you are using one structure too often, or if you are not using the right structure for the right situation.
These ideas are difficult, but remember this: native English speakers only use these words and grammatical structures with ease because they have been learning them since birth.
You, too, can learn and master these structures, but it will take time and effort!
I’m Phil Dierking.
And I'm John Russell.
John Russell wrote this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.
*A discussion about the grammatical subject and logical subject is beyond the scope of this story.
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Words in This Story

emphasize – v. to place emphasis on (something)
transformation – n. a complete or major change in someone's or something's appearance, form, etc.
expletive – n. grammar a word that enables the writer or speaker to move the stress, or emphasis, in a sentence
indefinite article – n. the word a or an used in English to refer to a person or thing that is not identified or specified
definite article – n. the word the used in English to refer to a person or thing that is identified or specified
adverb – n. a word that describes a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or a sentence and that is often used to show time, manner, place, or degree
pronunciation - n. the way in which something is said
phrase – n. a group of words that express an idea, but do not generally form a complete sentence
noun – n. the name for a person, place or thing
grammatical – adj. of or related to the rules of language