1.

Complete the sentences in the conversation by supplying active or

passive infinitive structures of the verbs in the following box. You
may use these words more than once, or you may not use some of
them at all.
put off tell turn out be procrastinate stick

resist change do fail not put off take

avoid make invite ask turn down reject

Joel: Dr. Stevens, thank you for coming in today. This time, I wanted to be
tell you if there’s such a thing as a procrastination syndrome.

Dr. Stevens: Hello Joel, thank you for having me! Personally, I don’t know if we
could call procrastination a syndrome. However, we do know that procrastination
can be a debilitating problem.

Joel: Yes, that certainly seems to be not the case for a lot of
people. What causes them to procrastinate ? Do you believe it is
laziness?

Dr. Stevens: That’s a popular notion, but fear is really the most important force
that motivates people to avoid doing something until later.

Joel: Fear? Not laziness? That is certainly a new concept to me!

Dr. Stevens: Well, it’s actually somewhat related expectations. Many people are
strongly affected by cultural and family expectations of how they should live their
life. They’re afraid to fail . Many times, they fear they won’t be
able to do well. They’re afraid to make mistakes. They let fear
take control of them, and they put off any action.

Joel: Can you give me an example?

Dr. Stevens: Well, suppose someone wants to invited people to a party. Let’s
say it’s a young woman named Trisha. She’s always been afraid of
these kinds of things, and she expects, either consciously or subconsciously,
to be turn down , so she doesn’t call people until the very last moment.
Her invites are of short notice, so not many people are going to be able to attend.
And what happens is hardly anyone can come. Thus, Trisha’s fears have caused
the inevitable.

2. All of us have procrastinated at one time or another. Write an essay

of three to five paragraphs about a time when you put off doing
something that needed to be done. Talk about the results. Speculate
about the reasons for your procrastination and discuss the
consequences. Highlight all the infinitives you have used in your
paragraph in green.

I have postponed many things because of the schedules I have in school, but what I think is affecting
me more is the process of my RFC because it has not allowed me to have my title of chemical lab
technician.

It’s very difficult to get an appointment, and when I finally got it I decided not to go because I had an
exam the same day at the same time.

In summer I tried to get it, but I was told not to come until I have an appointment, until now I have not
been assigned one and this will affect my future, so I will have to make some time to do these
procedures.