Order online and send things back
I can say how long something takes and how easy it is, and arrange a return.
Declared core time. Two of the core blocks carry no figure at all, so the real lesson is longer than this sum.
Grammar
5 minIt takes — how much time something needs.
| It takes twenty minutes. | twenty minutes is the time it needs |
| It takes me twenty minutes to get to work. | my way to work is twenty minutes |
| How long does it take? | how much time does it need? |
| It took three days. | it needed three days (in the past) |
The pattern is fixed: It takes + who + how long + to + a verb.
It's easy / difficult / important + to + a verb:
| It's easy to order online. | ordering online is easy |
| It's difficult to return things. | returning things is difficult |
| It's important to keep the receipt. | keeping the receipt is important |
it and there are not the same thing, and learners mix them up all the time:
| There is a problem. | a problem exists (we say that something is there) |
| It is a problem. | this is a problem (we say what something is) |
Common learner errors
written for your languageA sentence without a subject
✗ Takes twenty minutes
✗ Is easy to order
✓ It takes twenty minutes
It's easy to order. Spanish (Es fácil), Italian (È facile), Portuguese (É fácil) and many other languages need no word for "it" here. An English sentence always has a subject. This is the main mistake of the lesson.
there instead of it
✗ There is easy to order online
✓ It's easy to order online
There is only says that something exists; before easy, difficult and important + to it is always it.
"Has" instead of there is
✗ On the website has a form
✓ There is a form on the website
Brazilian Portuguese (No site tem um formulário) and Chinese (yǒu) use "have" to say that something exists. English uses there is.
Pronunciation
3 minit is unstressed and very short — /ɪt/, and its /t/ before a consonant is hardly heard: It takes me sounds like /ɪˈteɪksmi/, It's easy like /ɪˈtsiːzi/ — one piece.
In the question How long does it take? both does and it are unstressed: /ˌhaʊ ˈlɒŋ dəzɪt ˈteɪk/.
Text
3 minIt's easy to order things online, but it isn't always easy to return them. It takes two or three days to get a parcel, and it took me a week to send one back. There is a form on the website. It's important to keep the receipt. It takes about ten days to get your money back.
Exercises
8–10 min1. Gap fill.
- twenty minutes to get to work
- easy to order online
- me a week to send the parcel back
Show the answers
2. Gap fill.
- Hello! is a problem with my order
- is difficult to return things
- is a form on the website
Show the answers
3. Error correction.
- Takes twenty minutes.
- Is easy to order online.
- There is easy to return things.
Show the answers
4. Word order.
Tap the words in order.Show the answers
Summary
Covered
- It takes with the whole pattern
- It's easy/difficult/important to
- it against there
Next — lesson 24: review of lessons 19–23.
End of the core
The lesson counts as done once the exercises are done. Everything after this is optional.
optional
Vocabulary for your deck
13 words- order /ˈɔːdə/ what you ask a shop to send you; to ask a shop or café for something
- parcel /ˈpɑːsl/ a box or a packet that you send or get by post
- deliver /dɪˈlɪvə/ to bring things to someone's home or office
- delivery /dɪˈlɪvəri/ bringing things to someone's home or office
- return /rɪˈtɜːn/ to give or send something back
- receipt /rɪˈsiːt/ a paper from a shop that shows what you paid
- form /fɔːm/ a paper or a page with spaces where you write information
- website /ˈwebsaɪt/ a place on the internet with pages about something
- refund /ˈriːfʌnd/ money that you get back
- size /saɪz/ how big something is (shoes, clothes)
- wrong /rɒŋ/ not the right one (the wrong size)
- keep /kiːp/ to have something and not give it away or throw it away
- send back /send ˈbæk/ to send something to the place it came from
Writing
Four sentences about ordering online: how long it takes, whether it is easy to send things back, what it is important to keep.
Example
It's easy to order things online. It takes two or three days to get a parcel. It isn't always easy to return them. It's important to keep the receipt.
Checklist
Practise this lesson in the other sections
Got a feature idea?
⚑ optional