Gareth King - Colloquial English - A Complete English Language Course

xiv

ed-form– the regular past tense form of the verb: smiled , stopped , studied , asked .

empty it– in some sentence structures, an it that doesn’t refer to anything specific, but is required for grammatical reasons: it’s raining , it’s nice to see you .

full form– see short form.

future– a tense of the verb – there are three main ways of doing the future in English: I will write , I’m writing , I’m going to write .

genitive– a form of the noun denoting possession or relationship: John’s book , the middle of the road .

indefinite article– the word a / an .

indirect object– the person or thing that receives the direct object of the verb: we gave the girl (INDIRECT OBJECT) a book (DIRECT

OBJECT).

indirect speech– another term for reported speech.

ing-form– the form of the verb ending in -ing: coming , going , studying , driving , stopping ; used in the continuous tenses, and in other ways.

irregular verb– a verb that doesn’t form its past simple tense by adding -ed : flew ( fly ), came ( come ), went ( go) , made ( make ).

modal auxiliary– special auxiliary verbs that have their own meanings, but are used with other verbs: he can speak English , you shouldn’t go .

negative– the form of the verb that tells you that something doesn’t, didn’t or won’t happen.

noun– a word that names a thing, person, place or idea: cat , James , London , honesty .

object– the thing or person that receives the action in a sentence: Liz fed the cats ; compare subject.

passive– a sentence structure where the receiver of the action is the subject: the postman was bitten by the dog ; compare active.

past continuous– a tense of the verb that indicates ongoing action in the past: I was reading .

past participle– the form of the verb used with have to form the present perfect tense: I’ve arrived , she’s gone .

past perfect– a tense of the verb one stage back in the past from the present perfect: I had broken my leg .

past simple– a tense of the verb that indicates completed action in the past: I stopped .

phrasal verb– a combination of verb + adverb which has a special meaning: blow up , turn off , take off .

xv

possessive adjective– words that tell you who something belongs to: my , your , his .

preposition– a word that shows the relationship between nouns, or nouns and pronouns: at , by , for , to , with .

present continuous– a tense of the verb that indicates ongoing action at the time of speaking, or future intention: I’m reading .

present perfect– a tense of the verb indicating an action or event that has happened very recently: I’ve broken my leg .

present simple– a tense of the verb that indicates habitual action in the present, or state: I read every day .

pronoun– a word which stands in place of a noun: I , me , you , he , him , she , her , we , us , they , them .

regular verb– a verb that forms its past simple tense by adding -ed .

relative clause– a clause that adds information about the main clause in a complex sentence: The man we saw yesterday is here again today .

reported speech– someone’s actual words incorporated into a sentence: She said he wasn’t coming ; compare direct speech.

s-form– the BASE-FORM of the verb with -sor -esadded: comes , goes , studies , drives , stops.

short form– colloquial shortened forms of verbs, such as I’m for I am , and wasn’t for was not ; I am and was not are full forms.

statement– the positive form of the verb, stating that something does, did or will happen.

state verb– a verb that describes a continuing physical or mental state, or an unchanging situation: know , belong , mean , contain ; compare action verb.

strong form– some common words have two pronunciations: a full pronunciation used only when emphasising the word (STRONG

FORM), and a weak pronunciation used in all other circum-stances; see Language point 13.

subject– the doer of the action in a sentence: the postman delivered the letter ; compare object.

superlative– the form of the adjective that shows the highest degree: the cheapest , the biggest , the most expensive .

to-form– the BASE-FORM of the verb with to added to the front: to come , to go , to study , to drive , to stop . Sometimes called the to-INFINITIVE.

verb– a word that describes an action or event.

vowel– in writing, the following letters: a e i o u.

xvi

weak form– the normal pronunciation of a word that also has a full pronunciation for emphasis; see strong formand Language point 13.

wh-word– any of these question words: who? , what? , where? , why? , when? , which? , whose? , how? .

1 Pleased to

meet you!

In this unit you will learn how to:

• greet people

• say goodbye to people

• introduce yourself to someone

• introduce someone to someone else

• identify people

Dialogue 1

VICKI:

Hello, I’m Vicki.

HELEN:

Hello, Vicki. My name’s

Helen.

VICKI:

Pleased to meet

you.

HELEN:

And you.

Dialogue 2

STUART: I’m Stuart.

JENNY:

Hello Stuart. I’m Jenny.

STUART: Nice to meet you.

JENNY:

And you.

2

Dialogue 3

Paul introduces himself to Mo.

PAUL:

Hello – you’re Mo, aren’t you?

MO:

Yes, I am. And what’s your name?

PAUL:

I’m Paul – pleased to meet you.

MO:

Pleased to meet you too.

Language point 1 – short forms

Introducing yourself and finding out people’s names always involves the verb be. For example, if Jenny wants to tell someone her name, she can just say I’m Jenny, or she can say My name’s Jenny. To find out someone else’s name, she says What’s your name?All these phrases contain special SHORT FORMS of the verb be. Let’s have a look at how they work.