Gareth King - Colloquial English - A Complete English Language Course

do

don’t

does

would

do

likes

like

working

stay

Exercise 9

Look at the answers to the question ‘Do you like fast food?’ at the end of Language point 33 – can you draw two lines to divide the answers into positive, neutral and negative?

Language point 34 – choosing between

two things, and pointing them out

You can use the verb preferto say which of two things or actions you think is better:

Which would you prefer – tea or coffee?

I’d prefer coffee, thank you.

We use preferwhen we think something is better than something else:

I prefer coffee

=

‘I think coffee is better’

I prefer coffee to tea

=

‘I think coffee is better than tea’

We use ( woul) d preferwhen we want something more than something else:

I’d prefer coffee

=

‘It would be better if you gave

me coffee.’

Would you prefer tea?=

‘Would it be better if I gave you

tea?’

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Now look at these examples:

Do you like this hat or that one?

I like them both, but I prefer that one.

Notice that we put thisin front of a noun when we want to talk about something that is near to the speaker, and that for something thatis further away. So, if Anne is holding a red hat and Susan is holding a blue hat, Anne says this hatfor the red one and that hatfor the blue one. For Susan it’s the other way round!

Be careful!When the noun is plural , thischanges to these

and thatchanges to those:

Singular

Plural

this hat

these hats

that hat

those hats

Now look at these examples:

Which tie do you prefer?

– I like this one

Which trousers do you prefer?

– I like these

Which hat do you prefer?

– I like that one

Which shoes do you prefer?

– I like those

If the noun has already been mentioned, you don’t need to repeat it – you can use this/ thatand these/ thosewithout the noun, but you have to put oneafter thisand that.

Exercise 10

Can you match each sentence on the left to one on the right that means the same thing? The first one has been done for you.

1

I prefer coffee

a

Please give me some coffee

2

I wouldn’t like coffee

b

I think coffee is nice

3

I’d like coffee

c

Please give me some coffee

instead

4

I don’t like coffee

d

I think coffee is better

5

I’d prefer coffee

e

Don’t give me any coffee

6

I like coffee

f

I don’t think coffee is nice

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Exercise 11

Choose the right word in brackets to complete each sentence. The first one has been done for you.

1 How much are (that/those) apples?

2 Do you like (these/this) watch?

3 (Those/That) people are from Bangladesh.

4 I think (this/these) are too expensive.

5 Would you like some more of (this/these) cake?

6 I like (this/these) jumper, but I prefer (that/those) one.

7 Shall we sit at (this/those) table?

8 (This/those) children are very noisy, aren’t they?

9 How much are (this/these)?

10 Would you prefer (this/those) restaurant or (those/that) one?

Dialogue 7

It’s a lovely day, and Brian and Susan are wondering where to go for lunch. Pay attention to the tags in this conversation.

SUSAN:

You like seafood, don’t you?

BRIAN:

Yes, I love it!

SUSAN:

Well, why don’t we go down to the beach and have lunch there?

BRIAN:

OK, let’s do that. Shall we ask Fiona if she’d like to come too?

SUSAN:

No – Fiona doesn’t like the beach, does she?

BRIAN:

Ah – no, you’re right. She doesn’t. Perhaps James would like to come with us?

SUSAN:

Maybe. How about phoning him to ask?

BRIAN:

Wait a minute. Let’s decide which restaurant to go to first, shall we?

SUSAN:

I like the Jolly Roger – the food’s excellent.

BRIAN:

Hmm, yes . . . but I don’t like their prices! How about trying that new restaurant, further up the road.

SUSAN:

You mean the Ocean View? They specialise in shell-

fish, don’t they?

BRIAN:

Yes. I’d really like to give it a try, wouldn’t you?

SUSAN:

OK, let’s go there. Shall we phone first to book a table?

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BRIAN:

That would be a good idea, wouldn’t it? It’s very popular at lunchtimes.

SUSAN:

Right – why don’t you phone James, and then I’ll phone the Ocean View.

Idiom

• give it a trymeans ‘try it out’ or ‘see what it’s like’

Exercise 12

Read Dialogue 4 again, and then decide whether the following statements are True (T) or False (F).

1

Fiona wouldn’t like to come to the beach

T / F

2

The Ocean View doesn’t do shellfish

T / F

3

Brian doesn’t like seafood very much

T / F

4

Brian doesn’t like the food at the Jolly Roger

T / F

5

Susan is going to phone James

T / F

6

Lots of people have lunch at the Ocean View

T / F

Phrasal verbs

come along– ‘accompany’; ‘come with (other people)’. Do you want to come along?means ‘We’re going somewhere – do you want to come with us?’.

eat in– ‘have food at home’.

eat out– ‘have food in a restaurant, or anywhere away from home’.

end up– when we end up at a place, it means that we have visited several places, and this is the last one. We ended up in the curry housecould mean, for example, that we went to the cinema, then to the pub, and finally to the curry house.

meet up– ‘meet by arrangement’. We met Keith, Greg and Carlusually means that we met them by chance – we weren’t expecting to see them; We met up with Keith, Greg and Carlmeans that we had arranged or agreed to meet them.

try out– when we try something out, we test it to see if it’s okay, or if we like it.

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Life and living

Once you’ve decided on what to eat, you’ll have to decide where!

If you don’t feel like cooking, this will mean either eating out(which we’ll talk about in the next unit) or a takeaway– and in Britain there are usually plenty of choices either way.