Playing Tennis, a Conversation with Idioms

Playing Tennis

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Mary and Diane play tennis together. Diane is more experienced and a better player. Mary is a good runner, which can help her a lot. She wants to improve her techniques. Diane gives her a good tip on catching the ball.

Mary: I can ran fast. However, I still miss the ball quite often.

Diane: You're doing just fine, Mary. Of course, you can improve your techniques with the ball. Try not to follow the ball with your eyes after you throw it.

Mary: I know I have that bad habit. I follow the ball all the way when it flies up into the air until it reaches you.

Diane: You need to trust yourself. Relax. Throw the ball and then shift your eyes away from the ball over to me.

Mary: How can I shift my eyes fast?

Diane: Practice makes it perfect.

Mary: Okay. I'm listening.

Diane: It goes like this: You throw the ball; move forward from your baseline and then look forward to see me.

Mary: Then what?

Diane: As soon as you see me, focus your eyes on me. When the ball reaches by my side, I catch it. Then I throw it back to you.

Mary: You're good, Diane. You kick the ball hard.

Diane: I kick the ball hard and you have strong legs to catch it. So, we're good match.

Mary: After you throw the ball, I can run a few feet away from my baseline. Right?

Diane: Exactly.

Mary: Then, I will run fast into the direction where your ball is coming down?

Diane: You got it, baby! Let's try it now.

Vocabulary:

tip: noun. quick advice (in this conversation)

tip on: noun with the preposition 'on'. A quick advice about a topic. Use the preposition 'on' with the noun 'tip'. "My supervisor gave me a tip on good sales practices."

catch: transitive verb. to get hold of something, a ball in this conversation

ball: noun. A small round object covered with fabric to hit with the tennis racket (in this conversation)

quite often: adverb. every now and then

miss: transitive verb. not to be able to catch something

quite: adverb. good enough in quantity or quality, or intensity. "I feel quite good." I feel good enough.

often: time adverb. frequently

follow: transitive verb. to trace with eyes (in this conversation). "Don't follow the ball with your eyes."

throw: transitive verb. to kick the ball with force (in this conversation)

habit: noun. An accustomed way of doing things. We have good habits, such as exercising, eating right; and bad habits, such as smoking.

focus your eyes on me: prepositional verbal phrase. Keep your eyes on me. The preposition 'on' is used with the verb 'focus'.

look forward: prepositional verb. look ahead

fly up: intransitive verb. to fly upward into the sky. "Kites flied up and up in the sky."

reach:transitive verb. to contact through a passage or means. "I finally reached him after several telephone calls."

trust yourself: adverbial phrase. Believe in yourself

relax: verb transitive. Be calm; don't be nervous; take it easy

shift: verb transitive and intransitive. change the position from one point to another

shift your eyes away from someting. prepositional verbal phrase. move your eyes from something into another direction. 'Shift away' is the prespositional verb, and 'away' means 'far'.

move forward: prepositional intransitive verb. move ahead from a given position. For example, if you are on the train and want to seat in an available space where other rider is taking up more than one's space, you could say: "Please move forward so I can seat." The verb is in the intransitive form.

by my side: place adverb. next to me, near me

throw back: prepositional transitive verb. throw something into a backward direction from a given point.

baseline: noun. a line marked on the tennis play ground (in this conversation) in order to draw a line for the player to move within it or outside it.

into the direction: place adverbial phrase. toward a point, place

kick: verb transitive. to move the ball with force using a tennis racket (in this conversation)

kick the ball hard: kick the ball with force

match: noun (in this conversation). person who have compatible qualities with another person

Idioms:

You're doing just fine: You are doing okay. Don't worry about your performance.

practice makes it perfect: practice it a lot in order to do it very well. With practice you can improve your performance.

You got it: You have understood it (in this conversation)

baby: noun. slang. An affectionate way of calling somebody, like 'darling' or 'honey', in this conversation

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