Retrieve the facts before extending the phrase
Speaking · Lesson 3 retrieval
Retell the spare-key event to a new partner in 45 seconds, or reconstruct it after a short pause if working alone.
Keep actor, missed action, actual consequence and repair stable while choosing language for a neighbour.
- Include one expression you retained from Lesson 3 and one plain phrase that carried an important fact.
- Your listener records the action promised for Friday morning and one phrase that made the narrator sound accountable or evasive.
- Do not consult the previous messages until after the retelling.
Choose the strongest description of productive phrase knowledge.
1. A learner knows “make a promise.” What would show greater productive control?
The key arrives before the coffee
Friday morning · Original fictional dialogue
At eight forty-five on Friday, the narrator knocked on Nara’s door with the spare key. Nara was looking for her coffee filter. “You beat the deadline,” she said. “Only because I put the key in my shoe,” the narrator replied. “I could ignore a note by the door, but not that.”
Nara took the key and placed it in a small bowl on the shelf. “This should keep it within reach without leaving it lying around,” she said. The narrator apologized again. Nara shook her head. “You already took responsibility, and you followed through. We do not need to turn one forgotten key into a character study.”
Lia appeared with two swimming caps. Júlio had found one under a bench and asked her to return the spare at reception. “We have a whole system of spare things now,” she said. Nara laughed. “A system might be generous. We have a bowl and a deadline.”
They agreed that the building did not need a new rule. Nara would keep the spare key in the bowl; if someone borrowed it, that person would send a short message. It was a modest arrangement, but everyone knew who was responsible for what.
Match each expression to the stage of practical repair it carries in the dialogue.
C Commitment or expected action
A Accountability for what happened
S Solution or arrangement
L Light interpersonal framing
1. “You beat the deadline.”
2. “You already took responsibility.”
3. “you followed through”
4. “keep it within reach”
5. “We do not need to turn one forgotten key into a character study.”
6. “It was a modest arrangement.”
Grow a phrase family without flattening its meaning
Collocation pathways through an everyday problem
| Anchor | Conventional extensions | Difference in the event |
|---|---|---|
| promise | make · keep · break a promise | Commit, fulfil, or fail to fulfil |
| responsibility | take · accept · share responsibility | Own, acknowledge, or distribute accountability |
| deadline | set · meet · miss · beat a deadline | Create, satisfy, fail, or finish before a time limit |
| arrangement | make · confirm · change · stick to an arrangement | Create, verify, revise, or follow a practical agreement |
| solution | find · propose · test · work out a solution | Discover, suggest, evaluate, or develop an answer |
| apology | offer · accept · repeat an apology | Give, receive, or return to an acknowledgement |
Extension is selective. Learning promise includes conventional verb partnerships, but each verb changes the proposition. Keep a promise reports fulfilment; follow through on a promise foregrounds the action after the commitment. Neither should be added if the person has only stated an intention. Keep the whole expression, its grammar and the evidence that licenses it.
Match each collocation to the evidence required before a speaker can use it accurately.
Choose the expression licensed by the evidence.
1. The narrator delivers the key at 8:45 after promising delivery before 9:00. What can Nara say?
2. Nara and the narrator discuss several options before choosing the bowl-and-message system. What did they do?
3. The narrator says, “I forgot the key as we agreed; that was my mistake.” Which description fits?
Complete the collocation, then preserve the event
Choose the option that completes each conventional partnership and keeps the Friday event accurate.
The narrator had a promise to deliver the spare key before nine. By arriving at 8:45, the narrator the deadline and through on the commitment. Nara accepted the key and said the narrator had already responsibility. Together they out a modest arrangement: the key would stay in a bowl, and any borrower would send a message. The arrangement did not every future problem, but it made the next action and actor clear.
Rewrite with the keyword. Preserve actor, timing and degree of success. Models show one defensible answer.
The narrator did what had been promised. KEPT
They developed a practical answer together. WORKED
The narrator openly acknowledged being responsible for the missed handoff. TOOK
The key arrived fifteen minutes before the agreed latest time. BEAT
They decided to continue using the bowl-and-message agreement. STICK
Build a dependable micro-arrangement
Problem-solving · Speaking and writing
Two people share one everyday resource: a spare key, charger, shopping bag, bicycle pump, meeting room or another low-stakes item. A small handoff failed once. Agree on a simple arrangement for next time.
Reach a usable agreement and report it with precise collocations, using idiomatic language only where it supports the relationship.
- Minutes 1–2: choose the resource and write four facts: what failed, actual consequence, who needs what, and any real time limit.
- Minutes 3–7: discuss at least two possible solutions. Use or deliberately reject language from three phrase families: promise, responsibility, deadline, arrangement, solution or apology.
- Minutes 8–10: agree who will do what and by when. One person introduces a foreseeable complication; revise the arrangement rather than pretending it solves everything.
- Minutes 11–13: write a 70–90-word confirmation message. It must name actor, action, timing and what happens if the plan changes.
- Minutes 14–15: a listener reconstructs the agreement and identifies one collocation that precisely matches the evidence. Working alone, reconstruct after hiding the message.
Agreement check · The language must support action
| Check | Evidence |
|---|---|
| Who owns each action? | Named person or unambiguous pronoun |
| What commitment was actually made? | Complete verb–noun phrase plus action |
| What timing applies? | Specific time or an explicit statement that no deadline exists |
| What does the arrangement solve? | A bounded practical outcome |
| What remains possible? | One limitation or change procedure |
Check the claim inside the collocation
Choose the feedback that makes each phrase match the evidence.
1. The partners discussed an idea but made no commitment. Their note says, “We kept our promise.” What should change?
2. The resource arrived exactly at 9:00, the agreed latest time. Which report is accurate?
3. The arrangement solves today’s handoff but cannot prevent every future delay. Which claim fits?
Midpoint evidence · Save for Lessons 5 and 6
Compare your confirmation message with the listener’s reconstruction.
Preserve one precise collocation, one overclaim or underclaim, and one deliberate plain-language choice.
- For each, quote the complete phrase, identify its factual licence and record the listener’s interpretation.
- Revise one item whose verb changes the event: for example make/keep, meet/beat, propose/work out, or accept/take responsibility.
- Keep both versions. Lesson 5 will place the language inside a longer narrative; Lesson 6 will repair persistent mismatches.
Listen for the verb that carries the event
Exit ticket and informal-input bridge
Continue one complete Modern Love episode and one New Yorker short story or essay for Unit 42. If access is unavailable, return to the supplied Friday dialogue and an authorised real-life account.
Bring one collocation chain that develops across an everyday story to Lesson 5.
- Record source details and exact locations. Copy only the short phrases needed for analysis.
- Track an anchor noun such as promise, responsibility, plan, problem or apology with every verb used around it.
- Explain how one verb changes the event or relationship, and note one phrase you could use naturally in your own narrative.