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Chores

Date: Oct 15 2010

Grammar: Gerunds vs. Infinitives

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Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

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vacuum
maid

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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It isn’t fun living in a pigsty. But doing chores isn’t much fun either. Unfortunately, there are certain chores, like taking out the trash, that you just can’t ignore forever.

Some people don’t mind doing chores. Simple, repetitive work like folding laundry or washing the dishes can even be surprisingly relaxing. But most of us have that one chore that is our pet peeve, the one task we just hate to do. Hear about Amy and Ella’s favorite and least favorite chores.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Amy

Ella

Amy: So, I may be moving into a new house soon.

Ella: Oh? Yes. That sounds good. Are you going to get a maid?

Amy: No. But I wish that I were going to get a maid, because it’s so nice when you move into a new house and everything is so clean and perfect, and I wish that I were the kind of person who’d always stay on top of my chores and always took out the trash on time and mopped every other day and, you know, vacuumed all the time. But I just…I don’t like doing chores.

Ella: I mean, there are some I like to do. I like putting my laundry in the washer. But I don’t like to fold it after it comes out in the dryer. I like to just throw them all on my bed and roll around like a dog ‘cause it’s so warm. And then, dishes are fun to do.

Amy: I do like doing dishes. I also…I like to wash the dishes but I hate putting the dishes away.

Ella: Yeah. I hate putting them away. It’s tedious. It’s not fun.

Amy: It is tedious. I guess that’s it, you know, the more tedious chores are the ones that are the least fun to do.

Ella: Yeah. I haven’t vacuumed in like six months ‘cause I hate it so much.

Amy: Wow.

Grammar Point

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Discussion

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Amy loves having a clean house, but she hates doing chores. She wishes she could hire a maid to vacuum, mop the floors, and take out the trash. But maids are a luxury in the U.S. and most people don’t have one.

There are some chores that Ella doesn’t mind doing. She likes putting laundry in the washing machine, but she doesn’t like folding it and putting it away when it’s done. And she likes washing dishes, but she doesn’t like putting clean dishes back in the cabinets. Apparently she isn’t a fan of vacuuming, either, since she hasn’t vacuumed her house in six months.

What are your favorite and least favorite chores? In your country, is it common to have someone else clean your house for you?

Comments

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mickee85

Philippines

There are times that I really like doing house chores but most of the time I'm lazy and get bored doing it. My favorite chores are cleaning up my room, doing the laundry and arranging the furnitures while my least favorite are doing the dishes, cooking and vacuuming. In my country it is common to have someone to clean the house, actually we have maid but I still have to help her. She can't do all the chores all by herself, that's pretty tiring.