Gareth King - Colloquial English - A Complete English Language Course

Glossary

geographical position– where something is in the world continent– large body of land, like Europe or Asia British Isles– the main islands of Britain and Ireland, with all the outlying small islands that belong to them

variety– different kinds

constantly– all the time, again and again

meteorological conditions– types of weather changeable– likely to change a lot

dramatic– noticeable, impressive, surprising well-defined– easy to distinguish, obviously different patterns– a regular way in which something happens tend to get– usually get

unpredictable– coming without warning

wake up to– see or find as soon as you wake up landscape– what the land around you looks like is characterised by– typically or usually has milder– less cold

showers– short periods of rain

record temperatures– very high (or very low) temperatures spells– periods

fine weather– sunny, calm weather

abates– goes down, gets less

misty– where there is a lot of mist (wet cloud at ground level) signalling– giving a sign that something will happen approach of winter– that winter is coming

drizzle– very light but steady rain

downpour– very heavy rain

flurries– light snow blowing in the wind

blizzard– heavy snowstorm

drifts– lying snow

hail– frozen rain

sleet– a mixture of rain and snow; wet snow heatwave– a long period of very hot weather spectacle– something you see that is strange or impressive thunderstorm– an electrical storm with thunder and lightning umbrella– something for protecting you from the rain

8 Can I make an

appointment?

In this unit you will learn:

• how to make appointments over the phone

• how to use ‘can’, ‘could’ and ‘should’

• how to use two verbs together

• more about state verbs

Dialogue 1

Gerry’s not feeling very well, so he phones the doctor’s surgery.

RECEPTIONIST:

Surgery. Good morning.

GERRY:

Good morning. Can I make an appointment to see

the doctor today?

RECEPTIONIST:

We’re very busy this morning, I’m afraid. May I ask what the problem is?

GERRY:

I’ve got a bad cold. Do you think I could see one of the doctors just for five minutes?

RECEPTIONIST:

Hold on a moment . . . yes, Dr Smith is free at ten

– will that do?

GERRY:

Great. Thanks a lot.

RECEPTIONIST:

Not at all. See you at ten.

GERRY:

Bye.

Idioms

• hold onmeans ‘wait’

• Will that do?means ‘Is that convenient for you?’

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Dialogue 2

Maria has also been to see the doctor. She’s prescribing her some green tablets and some red ones.

MARIA:

Now, how often should I take these?

DOCTOR:

I want you to take a green one each morning, and a red one at night.

MARIA:

How long for?

DOCTOR:

Keep taking them every day until you feel better, or until you run out.

MARIA:

What if I run out and I still don’t feel any better?

DOCTOR:

Then you’d better come back and see me.

Dialogue 3

Later, Maria gets home and Tony asks her how the visit to the doctor’s went.

MARIA:

I’ve got some green pills and some red ones.

TONY:

When are you supposed to take them?

MARIA:

The red ones every morning, and the green ones . . .

oh, no, wait a minute . . . Is that right?

[ Maria thinks for a moment ]

No, I’m supposed to take these green ones in the morning, and the red ones at night.

TONY:

Are you sure? You ought to check if you’re not. Why don’t you phone the surgery and ask?

MARIA:

You’re right – I’d better phone and ask to speak to the doctor again.

119

Language point 47 – ‘can’, ‘could’ and

‘should’

In Language point 18 we saw the AUXILIARY could/kυd/ used with the BASE-FORM to ask someone to do something:

Could you help me?

Could you tell me where the bank is?

In Dialogue 1 Gerry uses couldto ask permission : Do you think I could see one of the doctors?

And in Dialogue 2 Maria asks the doctor to do something: Do you think you could write that down for me?

These last two examples are just longer ways of saying Could I see one of the doctors?

Could you write that down for me?

Gerry also uses another auxiliary canwhen he says: Can I make an appointment?

Can I . . .?is really the same as Could I . . .?in this sense – in colloquial English you can ask permission using either: Can/Could I speak to the manager?

Can/Could I see the menu?

Can/Could I offer you a lift?

But the main meaning of canis be able to: Can you swim?

=

Are you able to swim?

I can speak English.

=

I am able to speak English.

Dave can ride a bike.

=

Dave is able to ride a bike.

Note that:

1

can doesn’t change for he/ she– so not ‘Dave cans ride’.

2

We use the BASE-FORM, not the to-form, after canand could– so not ‘Dave can to ride a bike’.

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3

We don’t use the doauxiliary to make questions with canand could– we simply reverse the word order, just as we do with the verb be:

He is late

→

Is he late?

not ‘Does he be late?’

He can ride→

Can he ride?

not ‘Does he can ride?’

In Dialogue 2 we see another auxiliary: should/ʃud/. This word works in exactly the same way as canand could, and is used to talk about obligation – you can tell someone that you think it’s a good idea for them to go, or that it’s the right thing for them to go, by saying you should go.

The negative forms of can, could, and shouldhave special SHORT

FORMS that you should learn:

can’t/kɑnt/

couldn’t/`kυdnt/

shouldn’t/`ʃudnt/

Finally, when the doctor in Dialogue 2 says:

You’d better come back . . .

he means:

‘it would be a good thing for you to come back . . .’