Gareth King - Colloquial English - A Complete English Language Course

PETE:

Brilliant! Give us1 your mobile, then.

[ Sally feels in her pocket, then looks around ]

SALLY:

Er . . . Pete.

PETE:

What?

SALLY:

I can’t find my mobile either.

1 usis sometimes used in colloquial English to mean me Idiom

• What is it?means ‘What’s the problem?’ or ‘What do you want to talk to me about?’

• Don’t go on at memeans ‘Stop criticising me’, ‘Stop being annoyed with me’ or ‘Stop telling me what to do’

Language point 38 – ‘Why don’t you . . . ?’

In Dialogue 4 Sally makes a suggestion to Pete:

Why don’t you use my mobile phone?

We can use Why don’t you+ BASE-FORM as a gentle or polite way of suggesting to someone that they do something. Here are some more examples:

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Why don’t you wait here for them?

Why don’t you ask the receptionist?

Why don’t you buy your wife a present?

You can also use Why don’t . . .with weand Iin a similar way: Why don’t we go out tonight?=

‘Let’s go out tonight’

Why don’t I order us a pizza?=

‘Shall I order us a pizza?’

Although they look like questions and have a question mark ( ?)at the end, these phrases don’t need a specific answer – if you want to agree to the suggestion, you can just say:

OK

Fine

All right, then

Good idea

or even:

Brilliant

(like Pete in the Dialogue) if you think it’s a really good idea.

If you don’t agree with the suggestion, just say: No, let’s not

No, I don’t think so

Exercise 5

Use Why don’t . . . ?with the correct pronoun you, weor Ito write out what James says to Fiona in the following situations. The first one is done for you.

1

James offers to pay the bill.

Why don’t I pay the bill?

2

James suggests that Fiona

should pay the bill.

_____________________ ?

3

James suggests that he and

Fiona go to the cinema.

_____________________ ?

4

James offers to help Fiona

with the cooking.

_____________________ ?

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5

James suggests that he and

Fiona watch TV.

_____________________ ?

6

James offers to do the

washing-up.

_____________________ ?

7

James suggests that Fiona

should switch channels.

_____________________ ?

8

James suggests that he and

Fiona ask some friends

round for coffee.

_____________________ ?

Language point 39 – time expressions

We use this, lastand nextwith nouns of time to talk about when things happen:

last week

last month

last year

this week

this month

this year

next week

next month

next year

These phrases don’t have the(so not ‘the last week’), and they don’t use a preposition ( on, in, etc.) so we say: I’m going away next week

not

‘I’m going away on next week’

not

‘I’m going away in next week’

Here are the days of the week:

Monday

/`mnd/

Tuesday

/`tjuzd/

Wednesday

/`wεnzd/

Thursday

/`θzd/

Friday

/`frɑid/

Saturday

/`stəd/

Sunday

/`snd/

Notice that we have special pronunciations of these words in colloquial English.

• We always write them with a capital letter ( not ‘friday’).

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Be careful!With dayand night, and with morning,

 afternoonand evening, we have special words and phrases that must be learnt:

Day

Night

(last)

yesterday/`jεstədεi/

last night

(this)

today/tə`dεi/

tonight/tə`nɑit/

(next)

tomorrow/tə`mɔrəυ/

tomorrow night

(last)

yesterday

yesterday

yesterday

morning

afternoon

evening

(this)

this morning

this afternoon

this evening

(next)

tomorrow

tomorrow

tomorrow

morning

afternoon

evening

It is wrong to say, for example, ‘this night’, ‘last afternoon’,

‘next night’.

• We can use them with other words:

on Tuesday

last Tuesday

this Tuesday

next Tuesday

every Tuesday

• And remember that we don’t use onwhen there is another word before the day:

on Thursday

but

last Thursday

not

‘on last Thursday’

• Notice the difference between on Friday(single point in time) and on Fridays(= every Friday, regularly). In Dialogue 5 you will see that the newsagent asks Damian Are you prepared to work on Sundays?– meaning ‘every Sunday’. If he had said Are you prepared to work on Sunday?this would have meant only the following Sunday.

• Finally, notice the difference between:

every week

=

each week, week after week

and all week

=

from the start of the week to the end

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• This usage is found with day, night, monthand yearas well. Here are some examples:

I’m working in the garden all day today

(Tuesday 0830–1800)

I’m working in the garden every day this week

(Monday to Sunday)

James is in London all week

(he went last Sunday, and he staying there till next Sunday) James goes to London every week

(he makes a trip there and back at least once a week)

Exercise 6

Choose the correct word from the brackets to complete the sentences. The first one has been done for you.

1

Shamira’s working in Brighton (all/every) day this week.

2

Kath’s going to London (last/next) week.

3

We haven’t got any bread till (this/next) week, I’m afraid.

4

Fiona’s in Miami (last/this) week.

5

Candace is working at the office (all/every) day today.