Grammar ~20 min of the core left

Give directions

After this lesson you can

I can tell someone how to get to a place and understand directions.

Start the lesson Core 18–20 min · steps: 6 · optional: +2

Declared core time. Two of the core blocks carry no figure at all, so the real lesson is longer than this sum.

Grammar

4 min

A direction is made with a verb and no subject — this is the imperative (the form for orders and instructions), and in English it is the same as the basic form of the verb:

Go straight on.	Go forward, don't turn.
Turn left at the corner.	At the corner, go to the left.
Take the second street on the right.	Go into street number two on your right.
Cross the street.	Go to the other side of the street.

The negative is don't + verb: Don't turn right, Don't cross here. It is the same don't as in lesson 8, only without a subject.

Prepositions of movement:

to	towards a place and as far as it: go to the station
into	to the inside of a place: go into the shop
across	from one side to the other: walk across the park
along	following the line of something: go along this street
past	by something, without stopping: walk past the bank

Common learner errors

written for your language

An extra preposition after turn

✗ Turn to left

✓ Turn left

In many languages "turn left" has a preposition: French tournez à gauche, Spanish gire a la izquierda, Portuguese vire à esquerda, German nach links. So learners add to. In English, left and right come straight after turn.

An extra subject

✗ You go straight on (as a direction) → ✓ Go straight on. In French (vous allez tout droit) and Portuguese (você vai reto) people often give directions with "you" and the verb, so learners do the same. With you it is no longer a direction but a sentence about what the other person does.

The negative with no or not

✗ No turn right

✗ Not turn right

✓ Don't turn right

In Spanish (no gire), Portuguese (não vire) and Italian (non girare) you put one small word before the verb, so learners put no or not there. In English a negative direction always starts with Don't.

go or walk

In some languages (German, Polish) one verb is for going on foot and another is for going by car or bus. In English go always works; walk says that you go on foot.

Pronunciation

3 min

In a direction the stress falls on the word that carries the meaning, not on the verb:

Turn left at the corner. Take the second street on the right.

The intonation is level and falling — a direction is not a question. If your voice goes up at the end, the direction sounds like an unsure guess.

Text

3 min

Excuse me, how do I get to the station?

Go straight on and turn left at the bank.

And then?

Take the second street on the right and walk past the park. The station is opposite the post office. Don't cross the big street.

Reading aloud

Exercises

8–10 min

1. Gap fill.

straight on
left at the corner
the second street on the right
the street here

Show the answers

Go, Turn, Take, Cross.

2. Error correction.

Turn to left.
You go straight on. (as a direction)
Not turn right.

Show the answers

Turn left. / Go straight on. / Don't turn right.

3. Gap fill.

Go (following the line of) this street
Walk (from one side to the other of) the park
Go (towards and as far as) the station
Walk (by, without stopping at) the bank

Show the answers

along, across, to, past.

4. Word order.

[ at the corner / turn / left ] · [ cross / don't / the street ]

Show the answers

Turn left at the corner. Don't cross the street.

Summary

Covered

the imperative and its negative
five prepositions of movement
how to ask the way

Next — lesson 23: transport and timetables.

End of the core

The lesson counts as done once the exercises are done. Everything after this is optional.

Lesson 23

optional

Vocabulary for your deck

12 words

turn /tɜːn/ to change direction, to go left or right
left /left/ to or on the left side (the opposite of right)
right /raɪt/ to or on the right side (the opposite of left)
straight on /streɪt ˈɒn/ forward, without turning
cross /krɒs/ to go to the other side of a street
walk /wɔːk/ to go on foot
get to /ˈɡet tuː/ to arrive at a place
second /ˈsekənd/ number two in order, after the first
then /ðen/ after that
along /əˈlɒŋ/ following the line of something (along the street)
past /pɑːst/ by something, without stopping (walk past the bank)
across /əˈkrɒs/ from one side to the other

Writing

Four directions: how to get from your home to the nearest shop.

Example

Go straight on. Turn left at the café. Take the second street on the right. The shop is opposite the bank.

Checklist

is there no subject in the direction?
is there no preposition after turn?
is the negative made with don't?

The draft is saved on this device

Practise this lesson in the other sections

Dictationbased on this lesson Write down what you hear. The check shows every word that differs, and how. Write the dictation Reading aloudbased on this lesson Read the lesson text aloud — speech recognition highlights the words it did not catch. Read the text aloud Reading and listeningA1–C1 Texts at every level with comprehension questions; the transcript opens after you answer. Try it

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