In this unit you will learn how to: • make arrangements with people • tell the time • use other time expressions • buy tickets for public transport • use prepositions in wh-questions Dia
Trang 1taxes – money we pay to the state for the government to use
household – group of people sharing a home
licence – a piece of paper you have to buy from the government to be
allowed to do something
adverts – short films designed to encourage you to buy things
commercial breaks – interruptions during and between programmes to
show adverts
finance – fund
distinct – visibly or noticeably different from each other
viewers – people who watch television
similar – looking almost the same as each other, having almost the same
appearance
increasingly – more and more
in competition with – trying to be or do better than
additional – extra, more
via – through
satellite – machine that orbits the earth and relays TV and radio signals cable – an underground electronic bundle of wires that feeds television
signals into homes
subscribe – pay a regular amount of money to have a continual service fee – the payment you make to subscribe to a service
dish – piece of equipment to receive satellite signals
pick up – receive (television and radio signals)
range – selection, choice
scheduled – planned to be shown, set down in the TV guide
remote – device for controlling your television at a distance, so you don’t
have to get out of your chair to change channels
station – channel (but we say channel for TV and station for radio) exercise – physical activity to keep yourself fit
Trang 211 I’ll see you at
half past five!
In this unit you will learn how to:
• make arrangements with people
• tell the time
• use other time expressions
• buy tickets for public transport
• use prepositions in wh-questions
Dialogue 1
Adrian’s buying a train ticket over the phone.
ADRIAN: Could I have a return ticket to Glasgow for
tomorrow?
CLERK: Certainly Where are you travelling from?
ADRIAN: From Brighton
CLERK: And when do you want to arrive?
ADRIAN: I’ve got a meeting at twelve Will the seven o’clock
train get me there in time?
CLERK: Yes, but unfortunately you’ve left it too late – there
are no seats left on that train I can book you onto the nine-thirty, but you’ll be late for your meeting
ADRIAN: I can’t miss the meeting What about the sleeper train
tonight?
CLERK: Hold on – I’ll check to see if there are any seats left
[checks on her computer]
Yes, you’re in luck There are a few left Shall I make the reservation?
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Trang 3ADRIAN: Yes please What time does it leave this evening?
CLERK: Eight o’clock And you’ll be in Glasgow by seven
o’clock tomorrow morning
ADRIAN: That’ll give me bags of time to get to the meeting,
won’t it? It will arrive on time, won’t it?
CLERK: Yes – and make sure you get here by eight this
evening all our trains leave on time as well!
Language point 65 – telling the time
Telling the time is easy in English We’ve seen the numbers in Unit
4 – here are the other words you will need:
a quarter /ə`kwɔtə/
at
at about
by
To tell someone what the time is, we use it’s :
What time is it? – It’s ten o’clock
To say when something happens, we use at:
I’ll meet you both at ten o’clock
To give the latest time when something should happen, we use by:
I’ll be back home by ten o’clock (perhaps earlier)
Idioms
• in time means ‘before the latest time possible’
• on time means ‘at the scheduled time’ or ‘punctually’
• bags of time means ‘a lot of time’ or ‘plenty of time’
Trang 4When we are not sure of the exact time, we use about:
It’s about ten o’clock
Now let’s have a look at the clock:
Notice that:
• we say a quarter, but half (not ‘a half’)
• we usually say ten past (etc.), not ‘ten minutes past’ which sounds
rather formal
• we always say half past, never ‘half to’
• in colloquial English we often say just ten instead of ten o’clock: I’ll meet you at ten
• in colloquial English we often say half ten instead of half past ten I’ll meet you at half ten
half ten and half past ten both mean 10.30!
• we have special words for 12.00 at night (midnight) and 12.00 in the day (midday or noon).
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12
o’clock
half past
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10
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five past
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twenty-five past
2
ten past
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twenty past
3 a quarter past five to
twenty-five to
ten to
twenty to
a quarter to
Trang 5We use just gone and just coming up to to deal with times between
the five-minute intervals on the clock face:
just coming up to = a short time before
So:
10.16 it’s just gone a quarter past ten
10.19 it’s just coming up to twenty past ten
For very precise times, such as railway timetables and schedules, we use the 24-hour clock, giving two numbers:
10.56 ten fifty-six
13.12 thirteen twelve
Notice:
12.00 twelve hundred
12.07 twelve oh seven
Exercise 1
Give the 12-hour clock equivalents for these 24-hour clock times – the first one has been done for you
1 1316 It’s just gone a 6 1754
quarter past one.
Be careful! The 24-hour clock is common in official uses of
English where precise times are important, but it is not used in
ordinary situations in colloquial English:
I’ll see you at a quarter past five
not ‘I’ll see you at seventeen fifteen’
Trang 6Exercise 2
Write the times shown on the clock faces in the normal 12-hour system
1 It’s
2 It’s
3 It’s
4 It’s
5 It’s
6 It’s
Dialogue 2
Candace and Jenny are about to go into the art gallery, but Jenny stops at the door.
CANDACE: What are you looking for, Jenny?
JENNY: My money, of course Oh God, I can’t find it!
CANDACE: What are you worrying about? We don’t need to pay
for tickets here – it’s free!
[Candace points at a sign over the door saying
ADMISSION FREE]
JENNY: So it is! Great – we can look at loads of wonderful
paintings for nothing!
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Trang 7Language point 66 – ‘where from?’,
‘where to?’
In Dialogue 1 the assistant asks Adrian:
Where are you travelling from?
And in Dialogue 2 Candace asks Jenny:
What are you looking for?
and
What are you worrying about?
These are sentences that contain a PREPOSITIONused with a WH-WORD
In colloquial English we do not usually put any word before the
wh-word (although formal English does) If there is a wh-word,
we prefer it to be the first word in the sentence So we don’t say:
‘From where are you travelling?’
‘For what are you looking?’
‘About what are you worrying?’
We move the preposition to the end of the sentence, leaving the wh-word to start the sentence Here are some more examples:
Who were you talking to?
not ‘To who were you talking?’
What shall I pay for this with?
not ‘With what shall I pay for this?’
What is she looking at?
not ‘At what is she looking?’
Idioms
• When something is free you don’t have to pay any money for it.
• Great! means ‘Wonderful!’ or ‘That’s good!’.
• loads of means ‘a lot of ’ (COUNTABLEnouns); for UNCOUNTABLE
nouns we use a load of.
Trang 8When shall I get these to you by?
not ‘By when shall I get these to you?’
Exercise 3
Aunt Aggie is rather deaf – every time you tell her something, she misses part of the information and asks a question Write out her questions – the first one has been done for you
1 YOU: Gerry’s looking for a new house
AUNTAGGIE: What is Gerry looking for?
2 YOU: I’m writing a letter to Liz
AUNTAGGIE: Wh _ ?
3 YOU: The cat’s looking at some birds in the garden
AUNTAGGIE: Wh _ ?
4 YOU: Suzie’s worried about her exams
AUNTAGGIE: Wh _ ?
5 YOU: I’m going to the party with Hannah
AUNTAGGIE: Wh _ ?
6 YOU: Stuart plays football for England
AUNTAGGIE: Wh ?
7 YOU: Miranda works for a film company
AUNTAGGIE: Wh ?
8 YOU: Otto comes from Austria
AUNTAGGIE: Wh _ ?
9 YOU: Terry and June live next door to the
Simpsons
AUNTAGGIE: Wh ?
10 YOU: I’ve got to be home by ten
AUNTAGGIE: Wh _ ?
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Be careful! You may see prepositions in front of wh-words at
the start of sentences in formal written English, but you won’t
usually hear this in normal conversations and speech
Remember that it is CORRECT to end a sentence with a
PREPOSITIONin English!
Trang 9Dialogue 3
Gerry spots Sophie sitting on her own in the coffee shop, looking at her watch.
GERRY: Hello Sophie – who are you waiting for?
SOPHIE: Leasa We were meant to meet up here at one, but I
got here late I’ve been waiting for about half an hour, but I’m wondering if I’ve missed her, or if she just didn’t show up You haven’t seen her, have you?
GERRY: Not since yesterday, no
[Suddenly Leasa arrives]
LEASA: Hi, you two! Sorry I’m so late, Sophie I’ve been stuck
in a traffic jam since a quarter to one Have you been sitting here for ages?
SOPHIE: No, it’s all right – I haven’t been here long I got here
late myself, so I’ve only been here about twenty min-utes And I had Gerry here to talk to
LEASA: Let me buy us all coffee and some cakes!
Language point 67 – ‘for’ and ‘since’
When we talk about the length of time that we have been doing
something, we use since or for – they mean different things:
• since is used with a point in time (or a block of time) in the past
• for is used with a period of time from past to present
Idioms
• on her own means ‘alone’ – we change the middle word according
to the person: on my own, on his own, etc.
• we were meant /mεnt/ to means ‘we had arranged to’ or ‘we had
expected to’
• stuck means ‘unable to move’ or ‘unable to get out/away’
Trang 10Compare what Sophie and Leasa say in Dialogue 3:
SOPHIE: I’ve been waiting for about half an hour
LEASA: I’ve been stuck in a traffic jam since
a quarter to one
Half an hour is a period of time; a quarter to one is a point in time.
Here are examples of words and phrases used with for:
And here are the types of words and phrases we find with since:
last Tuesday the end of the war
Since and for are used with the PRESENT PERFECT(Language point 53):
John and Fiona have lived here since June 2001
John and Fiona have lived here for three years
or with the PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS– this is formed as follows:
I’ve been waiting here for an hour
I’ve been waiting here since ten o’clock
Suzie’s been working in the garden for three hours
Suzie’s been working in the garden since early this morning
Notice that we don’t say:
‘I am waiting here since ten o’clock’
‘Suzie works in the garden since early this morning’
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