eng8-u4-use-of-english· UNIT 4. MANNERS AND RULES· ~21 min

Unit 4 Use of English: Manners in words and structures

Apply manners collocations, precise meanings, word choice, and grammar.

Manners language becomes useful when words are learned in complete patterns. Make excuses means give explanations that may avoid responsibility; wear earbuds, skip breakfast, behave politely, lower your voice, and cover your mouth are common collocations. Precise verbs separate actions: delay means make something late, interrupt means speak or act before another person has finished, apologise means say sorry, offend means upset someone, and sneeze describes a sudden burst of air through the nose and mouth. Grammar then expresses the social rule or situation: must for a stated requirement, have to for necessity, don’t have to for an optional action, was about to for an imminent past action, and will be able to for future ability.

Key terms

collocation — words commonly used together, such as lower your voice
interrupt — stop someone by speaking or acting before that person has finished
apologise — say sorry for an action
offend — make someone feel upset or disrespected
excuse — an explanation used to avoid blame or responsibility
Useful manners patterns
PurposePatternExample
Explain avoidancemake excusesHe made excuses for missing the deadline.
Reduce noiselower your voicePlease lower your voice in the reading room.
Respect hygienecover your mouthCover your mouth when you sneeze.
Say sorryapologise to someoneShe apologised to her classmate.
State future abilitywill be able to + baseI will be able to read the signs.
Reason or excuse?
ContextBest labelWhy
Verified event genuinely caused the delayreasonexplains what actually prevented the action
Invented story used to avoid responsibilityexcuseattempts to avoid blame
✎Choose the whole pattern
  1. 1Find the intended action: The speaker should become quieter.
  2. 2Recall the collocation: English uses lower your voice.
  3. 3Check the object: Your voice completes the pattern.
🚫Context controls reason and excuse

Do not treat the words as interchangeable; look for evidence of a genuine cause or an attempt to avoid responsibility.

💡Check the required structure

If a prompt asks for future ability, use will be able to rather than another grammatical sentence with a different meaning.

Rules

  1. 1Learn a verb together with its usual partner: make excuses, wear earbuds, skip breakfast.
  2. 2Use behave politely for respectful conduct, lower your voice for quieter speech, and cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing.
  3. 3Distinguish a genuine reason from an excuse intended to avoid responsibility by using the supplied context.
  4. 4Use apologise for saying sorry and offend for causing someone to feel upset or disrespected.
  5. 5Must and have to express necessity; don’t have to expresses that an action is optional.
  6. 6Use was/were about to + base verb for an imminent past action and read the rest of the context for the result.
  7. 7Use will be able to + base verb for future ability.
  8. 8Check whether a gap requires a verb, adjective, noun, or complete collocation.

Practice

6 easy · 6 medium · 6 hard

Up to 10 random questions per test

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