Gareth King - Colloquial English - A Complete English Language Course

BOB:

Perfect. See you later.

ANDY:

Bye.

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Idiom

• Hang on a momentmeans ‘Wait a moment’

Dialogue 5

Later, Andy, Bob and Nina arrive at the cinema. There’s a huge queue!

BOB:

Look! The place is going to be packed out!

ANDY:

What shall we do? Wait and see if we get in, or give up and come another day?

BOB:

[ looks at his watch ] Oh, I can’t be bothered waiting.

Let’s go to the pub.

ANDY:

Fine. I wouldn’t mind having a drink – I’m quite thirsty, actually. What do you think, Nina?

NINA:

OK by me. We can discuss Danish cinema over some

beers, can’t we?

Idioms

• packed outmeans ‘completely full of people’

• I can’t be bothered( doing) means ‘I’m not really interested in (doing)’ or ‘I don’t want to make the effort to (do)’

Language point 29 – making suggestions

to do things

There are a number of ways of making a suggestion to someone to do something. Three of the most common are:

Shall we . . . ?

(followed by the BASE-FORM of the verb)

Why don’t we . . . ?

(followed by the BASE-FORM of the verb)

and

How about . . . ?

(followed by the ING-FORM of the verb)

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So:

Shall we go out tonight?

or

Why don’t we go out tonight?

or

How about going out tonight?

You can agree to someone else’s suggestion by using any of these expressions:

OK (, then)

Why not?

Good idea

All right (, then)

If you don’t want to do what the other person suggests, you can say one of the following:

. . . I don’t want to

. . . I don’t really feel like (doing) that

No (thanks),

. . . I’d rather do something else

. . . let’s think of something else

. . . let’s do something else

You can make a more definite suggestion by using Let’s . . .(with BASE-FORM of the verb). Here are some examples: Let’s stay in tonight

Let’s go and see if Jeremy’s in

Let’s phone for a pizza

When you make a suggestion using Let’s . . ., you can always check if it’s okay with the person you’re speaking to by adding the tag . . . , shall we?

Let’s stay in tonight, shall we?

Let’s go and see if Jeremy’s in, shall we?

Let’s phone for a pizza, shall we?

Exercise 1

Complete the suggestions, using the right form of the verb. The first one has been done for you.

1 How about (drive/driving) to the seaside?

2 Why don’t we (watch/watching) a film on DVD?

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3 Shall we (buy/buying) an ice cream?

4 How about (take/taking) a walk in the park?

5 Shall we (catch/catching) a bus into town?

6 How about (meet/meeting) James and Terry for a drink?

7 How about (play/playing) a game of snooker?

8 Why don’t we (phone/phoning) Jane to see if she’s free?

9 Shall we (stay/staying) in tonight?

10 How about (go/going) for a swim?

Exercise 2

Fill in the blanks with the right words in these suggestions and responses. The first one has been done for you.

1 Shall weget a takeaway?

No, I don’t feel like that today.

2 How ___ going shopping?

___ idea!

3 ___ ___ having a walk into

___, ___ do something else.

town?

4 ___ don’t ___ go fishing?

___!

5 Shall ___ order some food?

All right ___ .

6 ___ we organise a party?

Why ___ ?

7 ___ ___ hiring some bikes?

No, I’d ___ do something else.

8 Why ___ ___ call on Jerry?

Good ___!

9 ___ about listening to some

No, I don’t ___ to.

music?

10 ___ ___ go to the pub?

___ then, let’s do that.

Exercise 3

Make the following suggestions to someone using the words given.

The first one has been done for you.

1 go to the cinema

How about going to the cinema?

(how)

2 go swimming

___________________________ ?

(shall)

3 organise a party

___________________________ ?

(let’s)

4 practise our English

___________________________ ?

(why)

5 wash the car

___________________________ ?

(shall)

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6 call in on Sam and Fred

________________________ ?

(why)

7 write some postcards home

________________________ ?

(how)

8 cook an Indian meal

________________________ ?

(shall)

9 invite James and Fiona to tea ________________________ ?

(let’s)

10 help with the washing-up

________________________ ?

(why)

Dialogue 6

Dave and Neil are discussing what type of food they like.

DAVE:

Do you like Indian food?

NEIL:

Yes, I do! It’s my favourite.

DAVE:

Why don’t we go out for a curry, then?

NEIL:

No – we can’t do that tonight.

DAVE:

Why not?

NEIL:

Paul’s coming out with us tonight, and he doesn’t like curry.

DAVE:

Doesn’t he? What kind of food does he like, then?

NEIL:

I think he likes Chinese food. Shall we go to the Peking ?

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DAVE:

No, I’d rather not – I don’t like Chinese food very much.

NEIL:

All right, then – let’s all stay in and phone for a pizza, shall we?

DAVE:

Does Paul like pizza?

NEIL:

It’s his favourite food!

DAVE:

OK, that’s what we’ll do!

Language point 30 – liking things, and

offering things

Look at these two questions and answers:

Do you like coffee?

– Yes, I do!

Would you like some coffee?

– Yes, I would!

The verb likeis in both, but with different meanings . Do you like

. . . ?asks someone if they like something, but Would you like . . . ?

asks someone if they want something.

If you want to offer something to someone, you use: Would you like . . . ?

If you just want to know if someone likes something, you use: Do you like . . . ?

Exercise 4

How would you say these things to someone? The first one is done for you.

1 Offer someone a cup of tea:

Would you like a cup of tea?

2 Ask if someone likes Indian

food:

________________________ ?

3 Ask if someone likes apples:

________________________ ?

4 Offer someone a cheese

sandwich:

________________________ ?

5 Offer someone some soup:

________________________ ?

6 Ask someone if they like

milk in their coffee:

________________________ ?

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7 Offer someone another

cup of tea: