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Colloquial
English
The Colloquial Series
Series Adviser: Gareth King
The following languages are available in the Colloquial series:
* Afrikaans * Japanese
* Albanian * Korean
* Amharic * Latvian
Arabic (Levantine) * Lithuanian
* Arabic of Egypt * Malay
Arabic of the Gulf and * Mongolian
Saudi Arabia * Norwegian
Basque Panjabi
* Breton * Persian
Bulgarian * Polish
* Cambodian * Portuguese
* Cantonese * Portuguese of Brazil
* Chinese * Romanian
* Croatian and Serbian * Russian
* Czech * Scottish Gaelic
* Danish * Slovak
* Dutch * Slovene
* English Somali
* Estonian * Spanish
* Finnish * Spanish of Latin America
* French * Swahili
* German * Swedish
* Greek * Tamil
Gujarati * Thai
* Hebrew * Turkish
* Hindi * Ukrainian
* Hungarian Urdu
* Icelandic * Vietnamese
* Indonesian * Welsh
Italian
Accompanying cassette(s) (*and CDs) are available for all the above titles.
They can be ordered through your bookseller, or send payment with order
to Taylor & Francis/Routledge Ltd, ITPS, Cheriton House, North Way,
Andover, Hants SP10 5BE, or to Routledge Inc, 270 Madison Avenue,
New York NY 10016, USA.
COLLOQUIAL CD-ROMs
Multimedia Language Courses
Available in: Chinese, French, Portuguese and Spanish
1111
2
3
4
5
6
7
Colloquial
8
9
10
11
English
1211
13
14
15 A Complete English
16
17 Language Course
18
19
20 Gareth King
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
4211
First edition published 2005
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor and Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2005 Gareth King
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
King, Gareth.
Colloquial English: a complete English language course /
Gareth King.
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. English language – Textbooks for foreign speakers.
2. English language – Spoken English – Problems,
exercises, etc. I. Title. II. Series.
PE1128.K43 2004
428.2′4 – dc22 2004010470
ISBN 0-203-53691-6 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-67024-8 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0–415–29953–5 (pbk)
0–415–29952–7 (CD)
0–415–29950–0 (Cassette)
0–415–29951–9 (Pack)
1111
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11 I dedicate this book
1211 to the memory of my dear friend
13 Buzz Burrell 1956–2003
14 who loved the English language always
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
4211
1111
2
3
Contents
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11 Acknowledgements ix
1211
Introduction x
13
14 English spelling xi
15
IPA symbols xii
16
17 Grammatical terms used in this book xiii
18
19
20 1 Pleased to meet you! 1
21
22 2 Where are you from? 20
23
24 3 Could you tell me where the bank is? 33
25
26 4 Have you got any bread? 47
27
28 5 What shall we do today? 64
29
30 6 Hello, could I speak to Vicki? 81
31
32 7 What date is it today? 98
33
34 8 Can I make an appointment? 117
35
36 9 I’ve lost my passport! 135
37
38 10 Which do you prefer? 155
39
40 11 I’ll see you at half past five! 175
41
4211 12 You can’t be serious! 194
viii
13 The people we met were fantastic! 209
14 What would you do? 226
15 I said you’d phone back later 241
Key to exercises 259
Reference grammar 276
Irregular verbs – alphabetical list 280
Irregular verbs by type 283
Grammar index 286
1111
2
3
Acknowledgements
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11 I thank Sophie Oliver and Suzanne Cousin at Routledge Language
1211 Reference Editorial for their unstinting support and encouragement
13 throughout this project; the various reviewers of the original
14 proposal for their positive response and helpful feedback; Linda
15 Paulus, Production Editor, for her hard work and accuracy; the
16 Guardian and Daily Mirror newspapers for permission to use
17 material; my friends and colleagues in the bunker for populating a
18 significant proportion of the book; my fellow CaRPistas in cix:carp
19 for real and useful pedantry of a consistently high order; and of
20 course Adam, Liam and Jonquil for being the best family in the
21 world.
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
4211
Introduction
Although this book is a member of the Colloquial series, and
conforms broadly with the format and approach of other titles in
the series, Colloquial English necessarily departs in some respects
from its fellows.
For a start, it is written in the target language, and an assump-
tion of prior knowledge of the language must therefore be made.
Nonetheless, I have tried to keep explanations simple and succinct,
allowing the context of the dialogues and exercises to show the user
how the language works.
Presentation of vocabulary is another problematic issue in a book
aimed at users from diverse linguistic backgrounds. There can be
no two-way glossary at the back of Colloquial English, and instead
I must depend on the student’s having access to a good learner’s
dictionary of English – fortunately there are a number of compre-
hensive and reliable works readily available on the TEFL market,
and at a reasonable price.
I have made sparing use of the IPA phonetic alphabet (and in a
broad rather than narrow transcription) where I have thought the
disparity between the spelling of common words and their pronun-
ciation warranted it; and I have listed the IPA symbols and combin-
ations of symbols at the front of the book for reference. Naturally
the accompanying CDs/tapes will also be of benefit in this regard,
and I strongly recommend their use in conjunction with the course.
This book does not shy away from grammar, and a glance at the
index will show how central a component of the course it is. In
explaining the grammar in the body of the book, while aiming to
keep technical language to a minimum, I have not held back from
using grammatical terminology where I think this helps make the
system and mechanisms of the language clearer for the learner.
1111
2
3
English spelling
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11 You will see that sometimes phonetic symbols have been used to
1211 help you with pronunciation in this book. This is because English
13 spelling (like French and Danish, and unlike German and Russian)
14 is a historic rather than a phonetic system, which means that it does
15 not always correspond very well to pronunciation – the words
16 have changed in sound while the old spelling has stayed the same.
17 This is a difficulty for people learning English, but it is something
18 that must be accepted from the start – you will have to learn
19 pronunciations as well as spellings. But the important thing to
20 remember is that English spelling does have a system – it isn’t com-
21 pletely illogical. It’s just that the system is sometimes a bit more
22 complicated than you might expect, and there are a lot of apparent
23 exceptions to rules.
24 For example, we use a ‘silent e’ as a regular component of the
25 system: a silent e after a single consonant changes the sound of
26 the vowel before the consonant: pan /pn/ but pane /pεin/; hop /hɔp/
27 but hope /həυp/. And sometimes we spell the same sound in
28 different ways – look at the different possible spellings there are for
29 /ɑi/: my night time; and for /əυ/: hole throw boat only soul. Or (to
30 take an extreme example) look at the different pronunciations of
31 the combination -ough: through /θru/ though /ðəυ/ bough /bɑu/
32 bought /bɔt/ cough /kɔf/ enough /`nf/. But don’t worry – millions
33 of people learn English all over the world, and they all manage
34 pretty well with the spelling, because the more contact you have
35 with the language, the easier it is. If you approach this aspect of
36 English with a positive frame of mind, you’ll be surprised how
37 quickly you get used to it!
38
39
40
41
4211
IPA symbols
Vowels Consonants
/ə/ butter, sofa /b/ book, able
// cat, hand /k/ come, look
/ɑ/ father, farm // children, which
/ε/ get, send /d/ red, down
// sit, win /f/ fall, if
/i/ happy // go, leg
/i/ feel, machine // Gerry, Jenny
/ɔ/ long, top /h/ have, hand
/ɔ/ fall, thought /l/ look, milk
/υ/ full, book /m/ man, come
/u/ do, cool /n/ now, run
// cup, some /ŋ/ bring, running
/ / bird, hurt /p/ paper, cup
/kw/ quite, quick
/r/ red, arrive
Diphthongs / r/ car, four†
/εi/ say, eight /s/ send, miss
/ɑi/ my, night /ʃ/ should, wish
/ɔi/ boy /t/ it, time
/əυ/ boat, home /θ/ think, three
/ɑu/ now, found /ð/ the, with
/ə/ hear, here /v/ very, give
/εə/ hair, where /w/ want, when
/υə/ sure /j/ yes, you
/z/ prize, rose
/ `/ (precedes stressed syllable) /%/ measure
†
silent before consonant and at end of sentence
1111
2
3
Grammatical terms
4
5 used in this book
6
7
8
9
10
11 action verb – a verb that describes a dynamic action or event: run,
1211 read, throw, phone.
13 active – a sentence structure where the doer of the action is the
14 subject: the dog bit the postman.
15 adjective – a word that describes a noun: red, heavy, electronic,
16 difficult.
17 adverb – a word that describes how, where or when an action or
18 event takes place: quickly, here, tomorrow.
19 auxiliary – a special verb that is used with another (main) verb:
20 I was going, he didn’t come; compare modal auxiliary.
21 base-form – the normal dictionary form of the verb, without any
22
endings: come, go, study, drive, stop.
23
C1 – a type of conditional tense: if he arrives late.
24
C2 – a type of conditional tense: if he arrived late.
25
clause – a part of a sentence that includes a verb.
26
27 comparative – the form of the adjective that shows a higher degree:
28 cheaper, bigger, more expensive.
29 conditional – a tense of the verb that indicates hypothetical
30 situations: I’d read a book. There are two main conditional
31 tenses in English: C1 and C2.
32 consonant – in writing, the following letters: b c d f g h j k l m n p q
33 r s t v w x y z; compare vowel. But consonant sounds can
34 sometimes be written as vowels: university.
35 definite article – the word the.
36 degree words – words that describe the degree of an adjective: very
37 small, quite expensive, awfully clever.
38 direct object – the person or thing that receives the action of the
39 verb: we saw the concert.
40 direct speech – the actual words someone said, put in the sentence
41 as a quote: She said: He isn’t coming; compare reported speech.
4211
xiv
ed-form – the regular past tense form of the verb: smiled, stopped,
studied, asked.
empty it – in some sentence structures, an it that doesn’t refer to
anything specific, but is required for grammatical reasons: it’s
raining, it’s nice to see you.
full form – see short form.
future – a tense of the verb – there are three main ways of doing the
future in English: I will write, I’m writing, I’m going to write.
genitive – a form of the noun denoting possession or relationship:
John’s book, the middle of the road.
indefinite article – the word a/an.
indirect object – the person or thing that receives the direct object
of the verb: we gave the girl (INDIRECT OBJECT) a book (DIRECT
OBJECT).
indirect speech – another term for reported speech.
ing-form – the form of the verb ending in -ing: coming, going,
studying, driving, stopping; used in the continuous tenses, and
in other ways.
irregular verb – a verb that doesn’t form its past simple tense by
adding -ed: flew (fly), came (come), went (go), made (make).
modal auxiliary – special auxiliary verbs that have their own
meanings, but are used with other verbs: he can speak English,
you shouldn’t go.
negative – the form of the verb that tells you that something doesn’t,
didn’t or won’t happen.
noun – a word that names a thing, person, place or idea: cat, James,
London, honesty.
object – the thing or person that receives the action in a sentence:
Liz fed the cats; compare subject.
passive – a sentence structure where the receiver of the action is the
subject: the postman was bitten by the dog; compare active.
past continuous – a tense of the verb that indicates ongoing action
in the past: I was reading.
past participle – the form of the verb used with have to form the
present perfect tense: I’ve arrived, she’s gone.
past perfect – a tense of the verb one stage back in the past from the
present perfect: I had broken my leg.
past simple – a tense of the verb that indicates completed action in
the past: I stopped.
phrasal verb – a combination of verb + adverb which has a special
meaning: blow up, turn off, take off.
xv
1111 possessive adjective – words that tell you who something belongs to:
2 my, your, his.
3 preposition – a word that shows the relationship between nouns, or
4 nouns and pronouns: at, by, for, to, with.
5 present continuous – a tense of the verb that indicates ongoing
6 action at the time of speaking, or future intention: I’m reading.
7 present perfect – a tense of the verb indicating an action or event
8 that has happened very recently: I’ve broken my leg.
9 present simple – a tense of the verb that indicates habitual action in
10
the present, or state: I read every day.
11
pronoun – a word which stands in place of a noun: I, me, you, he,
1211
him, she, her, we, us, they, them.
13
14 regular verb – a verb that forms its past simple tense by adding -ed.
15 relative clause – a clause that adds information about the main
16 clause in a complex sentence: The man we saw yesterday is here
17 again today.
18 reported speech – someone’s actual words incorporated into a
19 sentence: She said he wasn’t coming; compare direct speech.
20 s-form – the BASE-FORM of the verb with -s or -es added: comes, goes,
21 studies, drives, stops.
22 short form – colloquial shortened forms of verbs, such as I’m for
23 I am, and wasn’t for was not; I am and was not are full forms.
24 statement – the positive form of the verb, stating that something
25 does, did or will happen.
26 state verb – a verb that describes a continuing physical or mental
27 state, or an unchanging situation: know, belong, mean, contain;
28 compare action verb.
29 strong form – some common words have two pronunciations: a full
30 pronunciation used only when emphasising the word (STRONG
31
FORM), and a weak pronunciation used in all other circum-
32
stances; see Language point 13.
33
subject – the doer of the action in a sentence: the postman delivered
34
35 the letter; compare object.
36 superlative – the form of the adjective that shows the highest degree:
37 the cheapest, the biggest, the most expensive.
38 to-form – the BASE-FORM of the verb with to added to the front: to
39 come, to go, to study, to drive, to stop. Sometimes called the
40 to-INFINITIVE.
41 verb – a word that describes an action or event.
4211 vowel – in writing, the following letters: a e i o u.
xvi
weak form – the normal pronunciation of a word that also has a
full pronunciation for emphasis; see strong form and Language
point 13.
wh-word – any of these question words: who?, what?, where?, why?,
when?, which?, whose?, how?.
1111
2
3
1 Pleased to
4
5 meet you!
6
7
8
9
10
11
1211 In this unit you will learn how to:
13
• greet people
14
• say goodbye to people
15
• introduce yourself to someone
16
• introduce someone to someone else
17
• identify people
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Dialogue 1
25
VICKI: Hello, I’m Vicki.
26
HELEN: Hello, Vicki. My name’s
27
Helen.
28
VICKI: Pleased to meet
29
you.
30
HELEN: And you.
31
32
33
34
35
Dialogue 2
36
STUART: I’m Stuart.
37
JENNY: Hello Stuart. I’m Jenny.
38
STUART: Nice to meet you.
39
JENNY: And you.
40
41
4211
2
Dialogue 3
Paul introduces himself to Mo.
PAUL: Hello – you’re Mo, aren’t you?
MO: Yes, I am. And what’s your name?
PAUL: I’m Paul – pleased to meet you.
MO: Pleased to meet you too.
Language point 1 – short forms
Introducing yourself and finding out people’s names always involves
the verb be. For example, if Jenny wants to tell someone her name,
she can just say I’m Jenny, or she can say My name’s Jenny. To find
out someone else’s name, she says What’s your name? All these
phrases contain special SHORT FORMS of the verb be. Let’s have a
look at how they work.
In colloquial English – when we are speaking in informal situa-
tions – we use special SHORT FORMS for some verbs. So, in Dialogue
1, Vicki says:
I’m Vicki
• I’m is the short form for the FULL FORM I am.
And in Dialogue 3, Paul says:
you’re Mo
• you’re is the short form for the full form you are.
With verbs that have short forms (not only be but also have, do and
some others that we will meet later) we do not normally use the full
form in speaking except when we want to put special emphasis
on the verb. (But we have to use the full form in TAG RESPONSES –
see next Language point.)
So, for the present tense of be we have short forms for all
persons:
3
1111 Full form Short form
2 I am /a m/ I’m /ɑim/
3 you are /ju: ɑ:r/ you’re /jɔ:r/
4 he is /hi: z/ he’s /hi:z/
5 she is /ʃi: z/ she’s /ʃi:z/
6 it is /t z/ it’s /ts/
7 we are /wi: ɑ:r/ we’re /wər/
8 they are /ðε ɑ:r/ they’re /ðεər/
9
10 Pay attention to the pronunciation of these short forms in British
11 English, and notice that all the full forms have two syllables, while
1211 the short forms all have one.
13 Be careful with the he/she short form ’s – you can’t use it after a
14 name ending in -s, -ch, -sh, -x or -z. So we say:
15
16 Fred’s here Fiona’s here Terry’s here
17
18 Brian’s here John’s here
19
but
20
21 James is here Rich is here Trish is here
22
23 Max is here Baz is here
24
25 not
26
27 James’s here Rich’s here Trish’s here
28 Max’s here Baz’s here
29
30 We will see some more short forms in the next unit. It is important
31 to know how to use them as they form a common and typical feature
32 of colloquial English everywhere.
33
34 Exercise 1
35
36 Turn the full forms into short forms in these sentences. Be careful
37 – one of them can’t be changed to a short form! The first one has
38 been done for you.
39
1 Brian is in work today. Brian’s in work today.
40
411 2 Hello, I am Fred. ____________________ .
4211 3 Sue is over there. ____________________ .
English
The Colloquial Series
Series Adviser: Gareth King
The following languages are available in the Colloquial series:
* Afrikaans * Japanese
* Albanian * Korean
* Amharic * Latvian
Arabic (Levantine) * Lithuanian
* Arabic of Egypt * Malay
Arabic of the Gulf and * Mongolian
Saudi Arabia * Norwegian
Basque Panjabi
* Breton * Persian
Bulgarian * Polish
* Cambodian * Portuguese
* Cantonese * Portuguese of Brazil
* Chinese * Romanian
* Croatian and Serbian * Russian
* Czech * Scottish Gaelic
* Danish * Slovak
* Dutch * Slovene
* English Somali
* Estonian * Spanish
* Finnish * Spanish of Latin America
* French * Swahili
* German * Swedish
* Greek * Tamil
Gujarati * Thai
* Hebrew * Turkish
* Hindi * Ukrainian
* Hungarian Urdu
* Icelandic * Vietnamese
* Indonesian * Welsh
Italian
Accompanying cassette(s) (*and CDs) are available for all the above titles.
They can be ordered through your bookseller, or send payment with order
to Taylor & Francis/Routledge Ltd, ITPS, Cheriton House, North Way,
Andover, Hants SP10 5BE, or to Routledge Inc, 270 Madison Avenue,
New York NY 10016, USA.
COLLOQUIAL CD-ROMs
Multimedia Language Courses
Available in: Chinese, French, Portuguese and Spanish
1111
2
3
4
5
6
7
Colloquial
8
9
10
11
English
1211
13
14
15 A Complete English
16
17 Language Course
18
19
20 Gareth King
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
4211
First edition published 2005
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor and Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2005 Gareth King
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
King, Gareth.
Colloquial English: a complete English language course /
Gareth King.
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. English language – Textbooks for foreign speakers.
2. English language – Spoken English – Problems,
exercises, etc. I. Title. II. Series.
PE1128.K43 2004
428.2′4 – dc22 2004010470
ISBN 0-203-53691-6 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-67024-8 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0–415–29953–5 (pbk)
0–415–29952–7 (CD)
0–415–29950–0 (Cassette)
0–415–29951–9 (Pack)
1111
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11 I dedicate this book
1211 to the memory of my dear friend
13 Buzz Burrell 1956–2003
14 who loved the English language always
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
4211
1111
2
3
Contents
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11 Acknowledgements ix
1211
Introduction x
13
14 English spelling xi
15
IPA symbols xii
16
17 Grammatical terms used in this book xiii
18
19
20 1 Pleased to meet you! 1
21
22 2 Where are you from? 20
23
24 3 Could you tell me where the bank is? 33
25
26 4 Have you got any bread? 47
27
28 5 What shall we do today? 64
29
30 6 Hello, could I speak to Vicki? 81
31
32 7 What date is it today? 98
33
34 8 Can I make an appointment? 117
35
36 9 I’ve lost my passport! 135
37
38 10 Which do you prefer? 155
39
40 11 I’ll see you at half past five! 175
41
4211 12 You can’t be serious! 194
viii
13 The people we met were fantastic! 209
14 What would you do? 226
15 I said you’d phone back later 241
Key to exercises 259
Reference grammar 276
Irregular verbs – alphabetical list 280
Irregular verbs by type 283
Grammar index 286
1111
2
3
Acknowledgements
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11 I thank Sophie Oliver and Suzanne Cousin at Routledge Language
1211 Reference Editorial for their unstinting support and encouragement
13 throughout this project; the various reviewers of the original
14 proposal for their positive response and helpful feedback; Linda
15 Paulus, Production Editor, for her hard work and accuracy; the
16 Guardian and Daily Mirror newspapers for permission to use
17 material; my friends and colleagues in the bunker for populating a
18 significant proportion of the book; my fellow CaRPistas in cix:carp
19 for real and useful pedantry of a consistently high order; and of
20 course Adam, Liam and Jonquil for being the best family in the
21 world.
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
4211
Introduction
Although this book is a member of the Colloquial series, and
conforms broadly with the format and approach of other titles in
the series, Colloquial English necessarily departs in some respects
from its fellows.
For a start, it is written in the target language, and an assump-
tion of prior knowledge of the language must therefore be made.
Nonetheless, I have tried to keep explanations simple and succinct,
allowing the context of the dialogues and exercises to show the user
how the language works.
Presentation of vocabulary is another problematic issue in a book
aimed at users from diverse linguistic backgrounds. There can be
no two-way glossary at the back of Colloquial English, and instead
I must depend on the student’s having access to a good learner’s
dictionary of English – fortunately there are a number of compre-
hensive and reliable works readily available on the TEFL market,
and at a reasonable price.
I have made sparing use of the IPA phonetic alphabet (and in a
broad rather than narrow transcription) where I have thought the
disparity between the spelling of common words and their pronun-
ciation warranted it; and I have listed the IPA symbols and combin-
ations of symbols at the front of the book for reference. Naturally
the accompanying CDs/tapes will also be of benefit in this regard,
and I strongly recommend their use in conjunction with the course.
This book does not shy away from grammar, and a glance at the
index will show how central a component of the course it is. In
explaining the grammar in the body of the book, while aiming to
keep technical language to a minimum, I have not held back from
using grammatical terminology where I think this helps make the
system and mechanisms of the language clearer for the learner.
1111
2
3
English spelling
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11 You will see that sometimes phonetic symbols have been used to
1211 help you with pronunciation in this book. This is because English
13 spelling (like French and Danish, and unlike German and Russian)
14 is a historic rather than a phonetic system, which means that it does
15 not always correspond very well to pronunciation – the words
16 have changed in sound while the old spelling has stayed the same.
17 This is a difficulty for people learning English, but it is something
18 that must be accepted from the start – you will have to learn
19 pronunciations as well as spellings. But the important thing to
20 remember is that English spelling does have a system – it isn’t com-
21 pletely illogical. It’s just that the system is sometimes a bit more
22 complicated than you might expect, and there are a lot of apparent
23 exceptions to rules.
24 For example, we use a ‘silent e’ as a regular component of the
25 system: a silent e after a single consonant changes the sound of
26 the vowel before the consonant: pan /pn/ but pane /pεin/; hop /hɔp/
27 but hope /həυp/. And sometimes we spell the same sound in
28 different ways – look at the different possible spellings there are for
29 /ɑi/: my night time; and for /əυ/: hole throw boat only soul. Or (to
30 take an extreme example) look at the different pronunciations of
31 the combination -ough: through /θru/ though /ðəυ/ bough /bɑu/
32 bought /bɔt/ cough /kɔf/ enough /`nf/. But don’t worry – millions
33 of people learn English all over the world, and they all manage
34 pretty well with the spelling, because the more contact you have
35 with the language, the easier it is. If you approach this aspect of
36 English with a positive frame of mind, you’ll be surprised how
37 quickly you get used to it!
38
39
40
41
4211
IPA symbols
Vowels Consonants
/ə/ butter, sofa /b/ book, able
// cat, hand /k/ come, look
/ɑ/ father, farm // children, which
/ε/ get, send /d/ red, down
// sit, win /f/ fall, if
/i/ happy // go, leg
/i/ feel, machine // Gerry, Jenny
/ɔ/ long, top /h/ have, hand
/ɔ/ fall, thought /l/ look, milk
/υ/ full, book /m/ man, come
/u/ do, cool /n/ now, run
// cup, some /ŋ/ bring, running
/ / bird, hurt /p/ paper, cup
/kw/ quite, quick
/r/ red, arrive
Diphthongs / r/ car, four†
/εi/ say, eight /s/ send, miss
/ɑi/ my, night /ʃ/ should, wish
/ɔi/ boy /t/ it, time
/əυ/ boat, home /θ/ think, three
/ɑu/ now, found /ð/ the, with
/ə/ hear, here /v/ very, give
/εə/ hair, where /w/ want, when
/υə/ sure /j/ yes, you
/z/ prize, rose
/ `/ (precedes stressed syllable) /%/ measure
†
silent before consonant and at end of sentence
1111
2
3
Grammatical terms
4
5 used in this book
6
7
8
9
10
11 action verb – a verb that describes a dynamic action or event: run,
1211 read, throw, phone.
13 active – a sentence structure where the doer of the action is the
14 subject: the dog bit the postman.
15 adjective – a word that describes a noun: red, heavy, electronic,
16 difficult.
17 adverb – a word that describes how, where or when an action or
18 event takes place: quickly, here, tomorrow.
19 auxiliary – a special verb that is used with another (main) verb:
20 I was going, he didn’t come; compare modal auxiliary.
21 base-form – the normal dictionary form of the verb, without any
22
endings: come, go, study, drive, stop.
23
C1 – a type of conditional tense: if he arrives late.
24
C2 – a type of conditional tense: if he arrived late.
25
clause – a part of a sentence that includes a verb.
26
27 comparative – the form of the adjective that shows a higher degree:
28 cheaper, bigger, more expensive.
29 conditional – a tense of the verb that indicates hypothetical
30 situations: I’d read a book. There are two main conditional
31 tenses in English: C1 and C2.
32 consonant – in writing, the following letters: b c d f g h j k l m n p q
33 r s t v w x y z; compare vowel. But consonant sounds can
34 sometimes be written as vowels: university.
35 definite article – the word the.
36 degree words – words that describe the degree of an adjective: very
37 small, quite expensive, awfully clever.
38 direct object – the person or thing that receives the action of the
39 verb: we saw the concert.
40 direct speech – the actual words someone said, put in the sentence
41 as a quote: She said: He isn’t coming; compare reported speech.
4211
xiv
ed-form – the regular past tense form of the verb: smiled, stopped,
studied, asked.
empty it – in some sentence structures, an it that doesn’t refer to
anything specific, but is required for grammatical reasons: it’s
raining, it’s nice to see you.
full form – see short form.
future – a tense of the verb – there are three main ways of doing the
future in English: I will write, I’m writing, I’m going to write.
genitive – a form of the noun denoting possession or relationship:
John’s book, the middle of the road.
indefinite article – the word a/an.
indirect object – the person or thing that receives the direct object
of the verb: we gave the girl (INDIRECT OBJECT) a book (DIRECT
OBJECT).
indirect speech – another term for reported speech.
ing-form – the form of the verb ending in -ing: coming, going,
studying, driving, stopping; used in the continuous tenses, and
in other ways.
irregular verb – a verb that doesn’t form its past simple tense by
adding -ed: flew (fly), came (come), went (go), made (make).
modal auxiliary – special auxiliary verbs that have their own
meanings, but are used with other verbs: he can speak English,
you shouldn’t go.
negative – the form of the verb that tells you that something doesn’t,
didn’t or won’t happen.
noun – a word that names a thing, person, place or idea: cat, James,
London, honesty.
object – the thing or person that receives the action in a sentence:
Liz fed the cats; compare subject.
passive – a sentence structure where the receiver of the action is the
subject: the postman was bitten by the dog; compare active.
past continuous – a tense of the verb that indicates ongoing action
in the past: I was reading.
past participle – the form of the verb used with have to form the
present perfect tense: I’ve arrived, she’s gone.
past perfect – a tense of the verb one stage back in the past from the
present perfect: I had broken my leg.
past simple – a tense of the verb that indicates completed action in
the past: I stopped.
phrasal verb – a combination of verb + adverb which has a special
meaning: blow up, turn off, take off.
xv
1111 possessive adjective – words that tell you who something belongs to:
2 my, your, his.
3 preposition – a word that shows the relationship between nouns, or
4 nouns and pronouns: at, by, for, to, with.
5 present continuous – a tense of the verb that indicates ongoing
6 action at the time of speaking, or future intention: I’m reading.
7 present perfect – a tense of the verb indicating an action or event
8 that has happened very recently: I’ve broken my leg.
9 present simple – a tense of the verb that indicates habitual action in
10
the present, or state: I read every day.
11
pronoun – a word which stands in place of a noun: I, me, you, he,
1211
him, she, her, we, us, they, them.
13
14 regular verb – a verb that forms its past simple tense by adding -ed.
15 relative clause – a clause that adds information about the main
16 clause in a complex sentence: The man we saw yesterday is here
17 again today.
18 reported speech – someone’s actual words incorporated into a
19 sentence: She said he wasn’t coming; compare direct speech.
20 s-form – the BASE-FORM of the verb with -s or -es added: comes, goes,
21 studies, drives, stops.
22 short form – colloquial shortened forms of verbs, such as I’m for
23 I am, and wasn’t for was not; I am and was not are full forms.
24 statement – the positive form of the verb, stating that something
25 does, did or will happen.
26 state verb – a verb that describes a continuing physical or mental
27 state, or an unchanging situation: know, belong, mean, contain;
28 compare action verb.
29 strong form – some common words have two pronunciations: a full
30 pronunciation used only when emphasising the word (STRONG
31
FORM), and a weak pronunciation used in all other circum-
32
stances; see Language point 13.
33
subject – the doer of the action in a sentence: the postman delivered
34
35 the letter; compare object.
36 superlative – the form of the adjective that shows the highest degree:
37 the cheapest, the biggest, the most expensive.
38 to-form – the BASE-FORM of the verb with to added to the front: to
39 come, to go, to study, to drive, to stop. Sometimes called the
40 to-INFINITIVE.
41 verb – a word that describes an action or event.
4211 vowel – in writing, the following letters: a e i o u.
xvi
weak form – the normal pronunciation of a word that also has a
full pronunciation for emphasis; see strong form and Language
point 13.
wh-word – any of these question words: who?, what?, where?, why?,
when?, which?, whose?, how?.
1111
2
3
1 Pleased to
4
5 meet you!
6
7
8
9
10
11
1211 In this unit you will learn how to:
13
• greet people
14
• say goodbye to people
15
• introduce yourself to someone
16
• introduce someone to someone else
17
• identify people
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Dialogue 1
25
VICKI: Hello, I’m Vicki.
26
HELEN: Hello, Vicki. My name’s
27
Helen.
28
VICKI: Pleased to meet
29
you.
30
HELEN: And you.
31
32
33
34
35
Dialogue 2
36
STUART: I’m Stuart.
37
JENNY: Hello Stuart. I’m Jenny.
38
STUART: Nice to meet you.
39
JENNY: And you.
40
41
4211
2
Dialogue 3
Paul introduces himself to Mo.
PAUL: Hello – you’re Mo, aren’t you?
MO: Yes, I am. And what’s your name?
PAUL: I’m Paul – pleased to meet you.
MO: Pleased to meet you too.
Language point 1 – short forms
Introducing yourself and finding out people’s names always involves
the verb be. For example, if Jenny wants to tell someone her name,
she can just say I’m Jenny, or she can say My name’s Jenny. To find
out someone else’s name, she says What’s your name? All these
phrases contain special SHORT FORMS of the verb be. Let’s have a
look at how they work.
In colloquial English – when we are speaking in informal situa-
tions – we use special SHORT FORMS for some verbs. So, in Dialogue
1, Vicki says:
I’m Vicki
• I’m is the short form for the FULL FORM I am.
And in Dialogue 3, Paul says:
you’re Mo
• you’re is the short form for the full form you are.
With verbs that have short forms (not only be but also have, do and
some others that we will meet later) we do not normally use the full
form in speaking except when we want to put special emphasis
on the verb. (But we have to use the full form in TAG RESPONSES –
see next Language point.)
So, for the present tense of be we have short forms for all
persons:
3
1111 Full form Short form
2 I am /a m/ I’m /ɑim/
3 you are /ju: ɑ:r/ you’re /jɔ:r/
4 he is /hi: z/ he’s /hi:z/
5 she is /ʃi: z/ she’s /ʃi:z/
6 it is /t z/ it’s /ts/
7 we are /wi: ɑ:r/ we’re /wər/
8 they are /ðε ɑ:r/ they’re /ðεər/
9
10 Pay attention to the pronunciation of these short forms in British
11 English, and notice that all the full forms have two syllables, while
1211 the short forms all have one.
13 Be careful with the he/she short form ’s – you can’t use it after a
14 name ending in -s, -ch, -sh, -x or -z. So we say:
15
16 Fred’s here Fiona’s here Terry’s here
17
18 Brian’s here John’s here
19
but
20
21 James is here Rich is here Trish is here
22
23 Max is here Baz is here
24
25 not
26
27 James’s here Rich’s here Trish’s here
28 Max’s here Baz’s here
29
30 We will see some more short forms in the next unit. It is important
31 to know how to use them as they form a common and typical feature
32 of colloquial English everywhere.
33
34 Exercise 1
35
36 Turn the full forms into short forms in these sentences. Be careful
37 – one of them can’t be changed to a short form! The first one has
38 been done for you.
39
1 Brian is in work today. Brian’s in work today.
40
411 2 Hello, I am Fred. ____________________ .
4211 3 Sue is over there. ____________________ .