1 Hang on = ‘Wait a moment’ Language point 17 – commands The BASE-FORM of the verb can be used on its own to tell someone to do something: Open the door Close the window Lock the door Bu
Trang 1PASSER-BY: MegaSave, I think Shall I write it down for you? NINA: No, I think I’ve got it Thanks a lot
PASSER-BY: Bye!
1 Hang on = ‘Wait a moment’
Language point 17 – commands
The BASE-FORM of the verb can be used on its own to tell someone
to do something:
Open the door
Close the window
Lock the door
But in colloquial English this way of giving commands is rather short and can sound rude
If we want to give someone directions or instructions, however,
it is okay to use the base-form:
Turn left at the traffic lights
Go straight ahead
Plug the computer in and switch on
It doesn’t matter whether you are talking to one person or more than one – the base-form stays the same
If we want to tell someone not to do something, we can always use
Don’t + base-form:
Don’t wait for me
Don’t pay the bill
Don’t worry
Be careful! Normally, except with close friends, or when
telling someone to do something nice, we don’t use the
base-form when we want someone to do something, as it sounds very short and a bit rude See Language point 18 on how to do this
Trang 2Exercise 1
Say where you think you would find the following orders Write the correct letters in the blanks
1 library _j_ a Don’t annoy the teacher!
2 park _ b Don’t smoke near the patients!
3 bar _ c Don’t forget to turn off your
mobile!
4 restaurant _ d Don’t forget your passport!
5 hospital _ e Don’t forget the present!
6 classroom _ f Don’t drink too much!
7 airport _ g Don’t complain about the food!
8 swimming pool _ h Don’t pick the flowers!
10 birthday party _ j Don’t make too much noise!
Language point 18 – asking people
to do things
Instead of giving commands (Language point 17), we usually ask
people to do things for us To do this, we put an AUXILIARYbefore
the base-form: Could you ? Or Would you ?, and at the end
of the sentence we can add please:
Could you open the window (please)?
Would you close the door (please)?
Or we can use the auxiliary as a TAG, and start with the base-form:
Open the door, could you?
Close the door, would you?
Don’t forget the auxiliary tag here – otherwise it will sound rude.
Exercise 2
Correct these instructions and requests Be careful! One of them
doesn’t need correcting.
1 Slip not on the ice!
2 Wait please here a minute
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Trang 33 Be not rude to customers!
4 Do this work now, please
5 Don’t please throw litter
6 Open the door, you could?
7 You could close the door, please?
8 Do wait not for me
Dialogue 3
Terry is looking for the bus station.
TERRY: Excuse me, am I going the right way for the bus
station?
PASSER-BY: Let’s see now yes – keep going down here till you
reach the traffic lights, then turn right and you’ll see the bus station at the end of the road
TERRY: Thanks a lot
PASSER-BY: Quite all right
Language point 19 – genitive
In Dialogue 3 the passer-by says:
the end of the road not ‘the road’s end’
But we say
So we have two GENITIVEconstructions in English:
POSSESSIVE: John’s book (X’s Y)
OF-PHRASE: the end of the road (the Y of X)
Idiom
We use the phrase Let’s see now to signal to the person we’re talking
to that we need a moment to think
Trang 4How do we decide which to use?
We prefer the possessive (X’s Y):
when X is a person: Laura’s exam results
when Y belongs to X: Gerry’s hand, Fred’s car
but otherwise we generally prefer of (the Y of X)
the door of the school
the middle of the night
the end of the war
Exercise 3
Decide which of the two options is correct for each phrase
2 The road’s end The end of the road
3 My sister’s clothes The clothes of my sister
4 The house’s top The top of the house
5 The week’s end The end of the week
6 Alice’s new car The new car of Alice
7 The pool’s bottom The bottom of the pool
8 The night’s middle The middle of the night
9 My brother’s house The house of my brother
10 Our cat’s ears The ears of our cat
Dialogue 4
Sasha is lost – she’s looking for the art gallery In the end, a
passer-by notices her.
PASSER-BY: You look lost – can I help?
SASHA: Oh thank you – yes, I am a bit lost, I’m afraid I’m
trying to find the art gallery
PASSER-BY: That’s miles away! No wonder you look lost! Get the
22 bus from the corner here, and get off at Southwold Terrace Then turn left into York Avenue, and carry
on until you get to the gallery
SASHA: Could you write it down for me? I’m bound to get lost
again otherwise
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Trang 5PASSER-BY: Certainly [writes it down for Sasha]
there you are
SASHA: Thank you for your help
PASSER-BY: Not at all Enjoy the art gallery!
SASHA: I will Bye!
PASSER-BY: Bye!
First left
Second left
Straight ahead Second
right
First right
Idioms
– no wonder means ‘I’m not surprised that ’
– I’m bound to means ‘I’m certain to ’ or ‘It’s certain that
I’ll ’
– We use There you are when we give someone something, or when
we finish doing something for them.
– otherwise means ‘if not’:
Hurry up, otherwise we’ll miss the bus.
= ‘Hurry up – if we don’t hurry up, we’ll miss the bus.’
Trang 6Language point 20 – phrasal verbs
A PHRASAL VERBis a VERB + ADVERBwhich together have a special
meaning For example, carry on in Dialogue 4 means continue – it has nothing to do with carry.
Phrasal verbs are very important in colloquial English – they are often used instead of more formal ‘standard’ words Here are some more examples:
break down = ‘stop working’ (machine)
It’s usually the very common verbs in English that form phrasal verbs – verbs such as:
and the ADVERBS that go with them to make phrasal verbs are
usually adverbs of place or motion:
Remember: the important thing about phrasal verbs is that they
often (though not always) have a meaning that is different from the
separate meanings of the verb and adverb For example, turn up means arrive – it has nothing to do with turning, or with motion up
– we simply have to learn that turn up is a single idea that means
arrive.
Another characteristic of phrasal verbs is that many of them
have more than one meaning For example, set off can mean ‘start
(a journey)’, but it also means ‘activate’ – you can tell which meaning is intended by considering the rest of the sentence:
We set off at nine o’clock (start journey)
The burglar set off the alarm (activate)
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Trang 7You can buy special dictionaries of phrasal verbs in English, with examples of all their different meanings You have to be careful
where you put pronoun objects (me, him, her, etc – see Language
point 5) with phrasal verbs In Dialogue 2 the passer-by uses the
phrasal verb write down, and says
Shall I write it down for you
not ‘Shall I write down it for you’
She puts the object it before the adverb part of the phrasal verb, not
after We’ll look at this aspect of phrasal verbs in more detail in Unit 7
You will meet phrasal verbs in most of the units that follow, and you will find a short section at the end of the unit explaining their meanings
Dialogue 5
This time it’s Helen looking for the tourist information office – it’s a popular place!
HELEN: Excuse me – I’m looking for the tourist information
office Could you tell me how to get there?
PASSER-BY: Yes – go down this road and take the first right, then
the second left and you’ll see the information office
on the corner
HELEN: So: down here, first right, second left and it’s on the
corner
PASSER-BY: That’s right!
HELEN: Thanks for your help
PASSER-BY: Bye
Language point 21 – -ing and the present continuous
In Dialogue 5 Helen says I’m looking for the tourist information office – she uses the PRESENT CONTINUOUS rather that the present
simple, because she’s describing an action happening now Compare
these:
PRESENT SIMPLE Steve drinks coffee (every day) PRESENT CONTINUOUS Steve’s drinking coffee (at the moment)
Trang 8We form the present continuous by adding the verb be to the ING-FORMof the main verb:
he’s drinking milk she’s drinking orange juice
we’re drinking hot chocolate they’re drinking water
The ing-form never changes, but the AUXILIARYbe does (Go back
and revise this if you need to – Language points 1, 4 and 11.)
We form questions and negatives like this:
(+) He’s drinking milk
(?) Is he drinking milk?
(–) He isn’t drinking milk or He’s not drinking milk
We form the ing-form of the verb simply by adding ing to the
base-form:
But there are some changes sometimes:
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Spelling rules
A base-form ending in a silent e drops this before adding ing:
come coming not ‘comeing’
release releasing not ‘releaseing’
One-syllable base-forms ending in a single vowel + single b p m n r t
double this letter before adding ing:
stop stopping not ‘stoping’
run running not ‘runing’
slam slamming not ‘slaming’
hit hitting not ‘hiting’
rob robbing not ‘robing’
Trang 9Exercise 4
Write the ing-form of the following verbs
1 remove _
2 write _
3 read _
4 hurry _
6 open _
8 chase _
9 pay _
10 ask _
Exercise 5
Write the following sentences in the correct present tense
1 I (eat/’m eating) lunch now
2 Dave (reads/’s reading) a book every week
3 These plants (grow/are growing) better outside
4 This bus always (goes/is going) to the airport
5 Terry (reads/’s reading) the paper – don’t disturb him
6 My granny was born in Russia – she (speaks/’s speaking) Russian
Exercise 6
Change these present continuous sentences into questions
1 She’s going to the library Is she going to the library?
2 They’re waiting for us _ ?
3 Dave’s studying Law _ ?
4 The children are having _ ? breakfast
5 Jack and Jill are washing _ ? the car
6 The weather’s improving _ ?
7 This music is disturbing them _ ?
8 I’m driving too fast _ ?
Trang 10Exercise 7
Change these sentences as indicated
1 These flowers smell very [–] These flowers don’t smell
2 I understand you [–]
3 She’s asking a question [?]
4 These shoes belong to [?] Suzie
5 You understand me [?]
6 Am I reading the paper? [–]
7 Is Gerry reading the [+] paper?
8 We aren’t listening [+]
Language point 22 – get
In Dialogue 5, Helen says Could you tell me how to get there? – she means arrive or reach And in Dialogue 2 Nina says I’ve got it
– she means that she has understood
The passer-by in Dialogue 4 tells Sasha to get the 22 bus from the corner here – she means take – and Sasha says she doesn’t want
to get lost again – she means become lost.
Get is a verb with many different meanings in colloquial English
– have a look in a dictionary and see how many are listed Here are just a few of the more common ones:
Using get instead of these (sometimes more formal) verbs is a
typical feature of colloquial English
In this unit we also see get as a PHRASAL VERB– here are some very useful ones which you should learn:
get on James is getting on the bus (enter vehicle)
get off Let’s get off at the next stop (leave vehicle)
get up I get up at seven o’clock (rise)
every morning
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