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Animals Scene 1 Language Focus

Rob and Stephen get stressed, and Rob talks about will, could and might.

Task 1

Decide how many syllables each of these words has. Then decide where the stress is, and group similar words together.


Task 2

Read the first sentence and then decide if will, could or might is needed to give the second sentence the same meaning.


Task 3

Which phrase finishes the conversation?


Task 4

Here are the four conversations from the last exercise. Type in the boxes to complete them. The first letters of the words are given for you, so don't type them.



Language level

Intermediate: B1
Upper intermediate: B2


Hello, please explain why do "injured" and "lovely" have 2 syllables?
Thank you for helping and best wishes

Hello natrish

'injured' is pronounced /ˈɪn.dʒəd/, and 'lovely' is pronounced /ˈlʌ (follow the links to hear them) -- note that the 'e' in both 'injured' and 'lovely' is not pronounced.

All the best


The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, I have some question about COULD and MIGHT, when I use them? What the difference about those?

Hello andreiabauermann,

Please take a look at our pages on modal verbs, which have detailed explanations and examples, plus activities to practise them. If you have any specific questions after you've read those pages, please post them on those pages and we'll be happy to help.



The LearnEnglish Team

I am not able to add more than one word to each box. So when I click on finish it says I finished just 3 words. Please help

Hello Cassandra-s,

Are you talking about Task 1? When you add words to a box that already has a word in it, you must click or press on the word you want to move and then click or press on the small hand on the right side of the word that is already in the box. Then the new word should go in the box without making the other one disappear.

It's easy to do but difficult to explain, so if you need more help please let us know.

All the best,
The LearnEnglish Team

hi LE team .Could you help me please ?. What is different between could and might .?
thanks a lot .

Hello ayka91,

'could' and 'might' both have several uses, so sometimes they can mean the same thing, and other times they will mean something different. It's too much for me to explain here, but fortunately you can read more about them in our Modal verbs section.

All the best,
The LearnEnglish Team

Hi all
i did not understand stress of the syllable
i want more examples

Hi Asmaa Ali Salem,

Every word in English has a number of syllables. For example:

English - 2 syllables: eng + lish

One syllable in each word carries the main stress. Where there is only one syllable there is no choice. Where there are more than one we need to know which so we can say the word correctly. For example:





You can see the syllables and stress in any dictionary entry. For example, here is an entry for the word 'English':

You can see the syllables by clicking the 'syllables' button and hear the word by clicking the speaker icon.


There is also sentence stress in English. This refers to the word in the sentence which carries the heaviest stress. It is the word which has the key information:

I love going to the cinema.

'Love' will usually the key information here as the sentence is talking about the speaker's preferences. Unlike word stress, sentence stress is context dependent, so it can change depending on the speaker's perspective or intention.


Best wishes,


The LearnEnglish Team