What Are You Willing to Do?

 

Hi everyone! Thanks for listening to Everyday Grammar.

If you listen often and find the material easy to understand, you probably have been practicing English for a long time. That's great – it means¹ you have made a lot of progress since you first began. But maybe there are a few things you'd still like to work on. So, I've got a question for you:

What are you willing² to do to improve your English?

The idea of being willing to do something is the subject of today's Everyday Grammar program. Native English speakers use the phrase³ often, so you'll hear and see it everywhere.

The phrase "be willing to" gets its meaning from the adjective⁴ "willing."

The adjective "willing" means to be ready, eager or prepared to do something. Note that being willing to do something is not the same as wanting to do it. The idea is just that you don't need to be persuaded.

Listen again to my earlier question:

What are you willing to do to improve your English?

In other words, what are you ready or prepared to do to get better in English?

Forming sentences

Now, let's talk about how to form sentences with "be willing to." The structure⁵ of the phrase is: be + willing + infinitive⁶ verb⁷.

You probably remember that the infinitive form of verbs⁸ is "to" plus the simple form. So, in my question about improving English, I use the infinitive "to do."

As for the main verb, I used "are" in the example. As you know, "are" is the present form of "be." The "be" verb can also change tenses.

For example:

Your English is really good! I can see you were willing to work hard to improve it.

Or:

He was willing to stay late to finish the job.

Notice the suggestion of a cost in those two examples. Being willing to do something often means making an investment⁹ or sacrifice. Improving your English requires effort and time. And the person who stayed late to finish the job probably sacrificed his plans for the evening.

It makes sense, then, that the phrase "be willing to" can also take a negative form to show someone does not agree to make an investment or sacrifice.

He wasn't willing to stay late to finish the job. His family was expecting him for dinner.

We also sometimes add a condition to say that someone is willing only if something else happens. Here's what a person might say:

The couple is willing to buy the car if the owner makes some repairs.

In this statement¹⁰, the condition is repairs on the vehicle¹¹.

Someone might also be willing to do something if it helps others or a greater purpose.

Imagine you are working on a creative video project with a coworker. You are the main video creator¹². When your partner sees what you have made, he says this:

I like your video, but it is too long for our show. Are you willing to cut the ending?

You say "yes," even though you like the ending. Later, your coworker says, "Are you willing to show Sam how to use the video software? Today is his first day."

You say "yes" again, even though you are really, really busy. But welcoming a new coworker is more important.

In these examples, being willing means you are able to accept something. The meaning has to do with valuing cooperation.

Well, that's all for today. I'll end with the same question I started with: What are you willing to do to improve your English? Tell us in the comments and make sure to use "be willing to"!

Words in This Story

practice – v. to do something again and again in order to get better at it

phrase – n. a group of two or more words that express a single idea but do not usually form a complete sentence

eager – adj. feeling a strong and impatient¹³ desire to do something or for something

tense – n. a form of a verb that is used to show when an action happened

negative – adj. expressing denial¹⁴ or refusal¹⁵

sacrifice – n. the act of giving up something that you want especially in order to get or do something else or to help someone

1 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

2 willing   

adj.愿意的，自愿的，乐意的，心甘情愿的

参考例句：

• We never lack food and clothing if we're willing to work.如果我们愿意工作,就不会缺吃少穿。
• He's quite willing to pay the price I ask.他很愿意照我的要价付钱。

3 phrase   

n.短语，词组；成语，习语

参考例句：

• The phrase was caught on and immediately became popular.这个短语被采用后很快就流行了。
• That's exactly the phrase I was looking for.这就是我一直找的那个短语。

4 adjective   

n.形容词；adj.形容词的，用作形容词的

参考例句：

• Don't apply that adjective to me.不要用那个字眼来形容我。
• The adjective loose has several senses. 形容词loose有几个义项。

5 structure   

n.结构，构造，建筑物；v.构成；

参考例句：

• Doctors study the structure of the human body.医生研究人体构造。
• A flower has quite a complicated structure.一朵花的结构相当复杂。

6 infinitive   

n.不定词；adj.不定词的

参考例句：

• The use of the split infinitive is now generally acceptable.分裂不定式的用法现在已被广泛接受。
• Modal verbs generally take the bare infinitive.情态动词通常用不带to的不定式。

7 verb   

n.[语]动词

参考例句：

• The sentence is formed from a verb and two nouns.这句子由一个动词和两个名词构成。
• These are the finite forms of a verb.这些是一个动词的限定形式。

8 verbs   

动词

参考例句：

• I have to swot up on phrasal verbs for a test tomorrow. 我不得不为明天的测验努力温习短语动词。
• Verbs that do not take object are called intransitive verbs. 不带宾语的动词称为不及物动词。

9 investment   

n.投资，投资额；(时间、精力等的)投入

参考例句：

• It took two years before I recouped my investment.我用了两年时间才收回投资。
• The success of the project pivots on investment from abroad.这个工程的成功主要依靠外来投资。

10 statement   

n.陈述；声明；综述

参考例句：

• The government will put out a new statement tomorrow.政府将于明天发布一项新声明。
• Put down your statement in black and white.把你的话用白纸黑字写下来。

11 vehicle   

n.车辆，交通工具，运载工具；媒介，表现手段

参考例句：

• Air is the vehicle of sound.空气是声音传播的媒介。
• The power plant burns used vehicle tyres as fuel.这家电厂用废弃轮胎作燃料。

12 creator   

n.创造者，创作者，缔造者；造物主，神

参考例句：

• He was without doubt the creator of the Roman Empire.毫无疑问,他是罗马帝国的创始人。
• One creator cannot have two procedures with the same name.一个创建者不能有两个同名过程。

13 impatient   

adj.不耐烦的，急躁的；热切的，急切的

参考例句：

• He was so impatient that I could hardly hold him back.他是那样急躁，我简直拉不住他。
• With an impatient gesture he thrust the food away from him.他不耐烦地把吃的东西猛地推开。

14 denial   

n.否认；拒绝，拒绝给予

参考例句：

• The newspaper printed a denial of the untrue story.报社刊登了否认不实消息的声明。
• Her denial of my advice hurts me.她拒绝我的忠告伤害了我。

15 refusal   

n.拒绝

参考例句：

• He persisted in his refusal to pay the money.他坚持拒绝付钱。
• Our offer was met with a firm refusal.我们的报价被坚决拒绝。