Gareth King - Colloquial English - A Complete English Language Course

and you can say:

Can I ask who’s calling?

They will say:

Yes, it’s . . .

Exercise 1

Match the halves of the sentences to make phrases for phone conversations.

1

Who am I

a

ask who’s calling?

2

Who is

b there?

3

Can I

c

speaking to?

4

Is Miranda

d her to phone back?

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5

It’s Adrian

e

John Smith?

6

Could you get

f

that?

7

Is that

g

back later.

8

I’ll ring

h speaking.

Language point 36 – direct and indirect

objects

In Dialogue 1 Vicki says to Dave:

Can you give me his number?

We have already seen (Unit 1) that the personal pronouns have SUBJECT forms ( I, he, she, etc.) and OBJECT forms ( me, him, her, etc.).

In English the object pronouns can also include the meaning to: me

=

‘to me’

you

=

‘to you’

her

=

‘to her’

him

=

‘to him’

In this meaning we call them INDIRECT OBJECT pronouns. You will see them with verbs such as give– here are some examples: Give me the tickets, please

Can you give her the books?

In the first example, the ticketsis the DIRECT OBJECT (the things being given), and meis the INDIRECT object (the person the tickets are given to).

Notice that we place the indirect object pronouns before the direct object, not after:

Give me the tickets, please

not

‘Give the tickets me, please’

And we can put nouns and names in this special position: Give Dave the tickets

(= to Dave)

Give the ticket collector the tickets(= to the ticket collector)

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But in all these cases, if we use the word towe have to change the word order . There are two basic patterns:

verb

+

indirect object +

direct object

or verb

+

direct object

+

to

+

indirect object

Let’s summarise the possibilities:

Give me the tickets

not

‘Give the tickets me’

Give the tickets to me

not

‘Give to me the tickets’

Give Dave the tickets

not

‘Give the tickets Dave’

Give the tickets to Dave

not

‘Give to Dave the tickets’

Exercise 2

Complete the answers to the questions, using pronouns. The first is done for you.

1

What is Suzie showing Fiona?

She’s showing herher new watch.

2

What is James going to give Su?

________________ a birthday present.

3

Where is Dave buying the food?

________________ in the local shop.

4

When do your parents use the car?

________________ every day.

5

Where does Alan keep his books?

________________ on the shelf.

6

When is your brother buying his new jeans?

________________ today.

7

When is Jenny picking up the kids?

________________ this afternoon.

8

What is Jenny giving James?

________________ a cup of tea.

Dialogue 3

Cynthia phones to speak to Bob at work. But she gets through to his secretary.

CYNTHIA:

Hello, it’s Cynthia Palmer here. Can I speak to Bob Watford please?

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SECRETARY:

Hold on, I’ll see if he’s available . . .

. . . Hello? I’m afraid Mr Watford’s in a meeting at the moment. Would you like to leave a message?

CYNTHIA:

Yes – could you ask him to get back to me as soon as possible?

SECRETARY:

Yes – has he got your number?

CYNTHIA:

Yes, he has.

SECRETARY:

Fine – I’ll make sure he calls you as soon as he gets out of the meeting.

CYNTHIA:

Thanks.

Idioms

• at the momentmeans ‘now’

• get back to memeans ‘phone me back’

Language point 37 – ‘as soon as’

In Dialogue 3 the secretary says she’ll make sure Bob Watford calls: as soon as he gets out of the meeting

In English we use the PRESENT SIMPLE to mean the FUTURE after: when

before

as soon as

until/ till

Here are some more examples:

Don’t forget to lock the door when you leave

Let’s do the washing-up before Dave comes back

Phone us as soon as you hear any news

Let’s stay here until the rains stops

Remember to use the present simple, not the present continuous, with this type of word:

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. . . until the rain stops

not

‘until the rain is stopping’

. . . when you leave

not

‘when you’re leaving’

Learn the phrase as soon as possible. You will often hear people use the abbreviation as well:

a.s.a.p.( or asap) /ε εs ε `pi:/

both in writing and when speaking:

Can you get back to me a.s.a.p.?

Exercise 3

Unscramble the sentences.

1

stops wait the let’s until rain

2

soon as us get phone as you back

3

us to arrive when forget you don’t ring

4

them see children the before presents the hide let’s 5

you you could leave the shut when door ?

6

souvenirs before some home let’s go buy we

Exercise 4

Make the correct choice from the expressions in brackets to complete the sentences. The first one is done for you.

1

Let’s wait (till/as soon as) the weather gets better.

2

Let’s go in the garden (before/when) the weather gets better.

3

Could you shut the door (until/when) you leave?

4

Phone us (as soon as/until) you arrive.

5

Give me back the book (before/when) you finish it.

6

Let’s wait here (till/before) Suzie arrives.

7

Pay me back the money (until/when) you can.

8

I can’t use the computer (until/when) the power comes back on.

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Dialogue 4

Pete’s in a crisis, and he needs Sally’s help.

PETE:

Sally!

SALLY:

Yes, what is it?

PETE:

I can’t find my mobile.

SALLY:

Honestly, can’t you take better care of your things?

PETE:

Don’t go on at me – can you help me look for it?

SALLY:

[ sighs ] All right. Where did you have it last?

PETE:

I had it in my pocket last night, but I think it was on the kitchen table this morning. But it’s not there now.

SALLY:

[ thinks for a moment ] Is it switched on?

PETE:

I think so.

SALLY:

Well, why don’t you use my mobile to phone yours ?

Then we can listen for the ring.