Gareth King - Colloquial English - A Complete English Language Course

6 Jenny got a big paper bag.

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7 The children are having fun.

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8 What’ll you have?

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9 Henry got a letter this morning.

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10 Has your house got central heating?

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Dialogue 4

Dave isn’t happy with the bill.

DAVE:

Could you check this bill for me – I don’t think it’s right.

WAITER:

Certainly. First, did you have two coffees?

DAVE:

Yes. Then I had a Danish pastry and my friend here had a roll and butter.

WAITER:

[ ticking them off on the bill ]

OK. Then you had two mineral waters.

DAVE:

No. I didn’t have a mineral water. My friend had one, but I had another coffee.

WAITER:

Ah . . . sorry about that. You were right, and I was wrong.

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Idiom

• We use sorry, of course, to apologise to someone. If we want to refer back to the situation or incident we’re apologising for, we say sorry about that.

Language point 26 – ‘two coffees’

We saw in Language point 23 that words such as coffeeare UNCOUNTABLE (UC), and that this means that they:

• can’t have plurals

• can’t be used with numbers

But in Dialogue 4 the waiter says:

Did you have two coffees?

We also saw that UC nouns can’t be used with a/ an, but Dave says: I didn’t have a mineral water

These examples seem to break the rules, but they don’t. Some uncountable nouns can also be countable (C) in special cases:

• coffee(UC) = the drink itself

• coffee(C) = ‘a cup of coffee’ – cupis a COUNTABLE noun, so coffeeis countable when it means this, and it behaves like any other countable noun:

a coffee

two coffees

Another example of a UC/C noun is paper: it means the material itself when it’s UC, but it means newspaperwhen it’s C: I’m going to buy some paper

(UC)

(to write on)

I’m going to buy a paper

(C)

(to read)

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Most dictionaries for learners of English will tell you when a noun can be both UC and C. Some books and dictionaries call UC nouns MASS NOUNS.

Language point 27 – ‘don’t think’

In Dialogue 4, Dave is unhappy with the bill. He thinks to himself: The bill isn’t right

but then he says to the waiter:

I don’t think it’s right

not

‘I think it isn’t right’

In colloquial English we don’t usually say I thinkwhen what follows is NEGATIVE – instead we change it round and say I don’t think+

POSITIVE. Here are some more examples:

I don’t think Sarah’s coming

(Sarah isn’t coming)

I don’t think you’re right

(you aren’t right)

I don’t think we’ve got time

(we haven’t got time)

Exercise 7

Change the following into ‘I don’t think . . .’ sentences. The first one is done for you.

1 Kath isn’t here.

I don’t think Kath’s here

2 My watch isn’t working properly.

_____________________

3 The children aren’t hungry.

_____________________

4 That’s not important.

_____________________

5 The coffee isn’t very nice.

_____________________

6 We aren’t on the right bus.

_____________________

7 This bus doesn’t go to the airport.

_____________________

8 You don’t understand.

_____________________

9 Henry doesn’t read books.

_____________________

10 The students aren’t listening.

_____________________

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Dialogue 5

Su is at the supermarket checkout, where the checkout assistant asks her if she has a card.

C/ASSISTANT:

Have you got a MegaSave card?

SU:

No. How do I get one?

C/ASSISTANT:

Just fill in this form – it’s quite simple.

SU:

[ begins to fill it in ] What about my postcode – I can’t remember what it is.

C/ASSISTANT:

Leave it out for now – we can fill that in for you later.

SU:

Oh look! Now I’ve made mistake with my phone number. Shall I tear it all up and start again?

C/ASSISTANT:

No, no! Just cross it out and write it in again over the top.

[ Su fills in the form]

SU:

What do I do with it now?

C/ASSISTANT:

Give it back to me. Your card will arrive in the post in a day or two.

SU:

Thanks.

Language point 28 – ‘one’, ‘another’

and ‘other’

When a countable noun has already been mentioned, we can use one to refer to it again:

Fred had a coffee, and I had one too

I need a pencil – have you got one?

I’ll have a beer – what about you?

– I’ll have one as well

Another/ə`nðər/ is an ADJECTIVE used with SINGULAR C nouns – it is made up of an+ other, but it is written as one word. It has two different meanings:

I’ll have another coffee, please(= one more) Give me another cup, please

(= a different one)

When we use anotherwithout the noun, we often add one: This cup is dirty – can I have another?

or

This cup is dirty – can I have another one?

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But other adjectives can’t stand on their own in English – if the noun is not stated, then onemust take its place: (I prefer the red hat)

I prefer the red one

not

‘I prefer the red’

(I need a blue shirt)

I need a blue one

not

‘I need a blue’

Otheris different from another:

• it can be used with both SINGULAR and PLURAL nouns: the other man, other men, the other men

• when it’s used with the, we write it as two words, not one: another, but the other not ‘theother’

• we can’t use it to mean ‘one more’ –

Can I have another biscuit?

(one more)

Can I have the other biscuit?

(a different one)

There is a PLURAL PRONOUN the others:

Where are the others?

=

‘Where are the other ones?’

but we don’t normally use the singular:

Where is the other one?

not

‘Where is the other?’

Exercise 8

Correct the following sentences. Be careful – two of them don’t need correcting.

1 This fork is dirty – can I have other one?

2 I don’t like these shoes – can I try the other?

3 Would you like other cup of tea?

4 Could you get me another one glass of milk?

5 This one’s OK but I prefer other one.

6 Another tea and two coffees, please.

7 James is here but where are the others?

8 I don’t like these – let me try another ones.