Gareth King - Colloquial English - A Complete English Language Course

+

Leasa was in the shop

?

Was Leasa in the shop?

not ‘Did Leasa be in the shop?’

–

Leasa wasn’t in the shop

not ‘Leasa didn’t be in the shop’

We don’t use the auxiliary didwith the past simple of be.

You will notice, as you get more familiar with colloquial English, that beand haveare much more frequently used in the past simple than in the present perfect. The same is true for some other common verbs, for example said/sεd/ (past simple of say) and thought/θɔt/ (past simple of think).

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Exercise 6

Turn these sentences into statement, question or negative as indicated.

1

Fred wasn’t at home.

[?]

Was Fred at home?

2

I didn’t have breakfast today.

[+]

_________________

3

You were late for the meeting.

[?]

_________________

4

Was James ready?

[–]

_________________

5

Did they have any money?

[–]

_________________

6

The children weren’t happy.

[+]

_________________

7

Was Fiona in town today?

[+]

_________________

8

My brother had the money.

[–]

_________________

Dialogue 4

Jenny has some news to tell Candace.

JENNY:

Guess who I saw in town today!

CANDACE:

Who?

JENNY:

Johnny Depp!

CANDACE:

You’re joking!

JENNY:

No, I really did see him. I was walking down the High Street and all of a sudden I saw Johnny!

CANDACE:

What was he doing?

JENNY:

He was sitting in a café reading a newspaper. I saw him through the window.

CANDACE:

So what did you do?

JENNY:

What do you think I did? I knew it was him, so I walked straight in and asked him for his autograph.

CANDACE:

And did he give you it?

JENNY:

Yes, and while he was signing my T-shirt I invited him round for coffee this afternoon.

CANDACE:

What? Johnny Depp is coming round for coffee?

JENNY:

Of course not, silly. He’s far too busy filming.

CANDACE:

What a relief – I don’t have to tidy the house.

JENNY:

Oh yes you do – Brad Pitt was with him in the café, and he’s finished filming for the day.

CANDACE:

What!!?

JENNY:

Better get tidying, Candace. We’re expecting him at eleven.

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Idioms

• We use guessto ask the other person a question, especially when we think they’ll be surprised at the answer:

Guess who’s coming to the party tonight

Guess what’s in this bag

Guess why I’ve phoned you

• All of a suddenmeans ‘suddenly’.

• Better get( tidying) means ‘It would be a good idea if you started tidying immediately’.

Language point 57 – past continuous

In Language point 21 we saw how the PRESENT CONTINUOUS is made by using the PRESENT of bewith the ING-FORM of the verb: He’s sitting in the café

and that this tense is used to describe continuing action in the present , something happening now.

In Dialogue 4 Jenny says about Johnny Depp:

He was sitting in a café

She uses the PAST SIMPLE of be+ ING-FORM of the verb to describe a continuing action in the past . Now look at these two sentences: PAST CONTINUOUS

Pete was writing a letter

PAST SIMPLE

Pete wrote a letter

In the first of these, we focus on the ongoing action of Pete writing his letter; in the second we think about Pete finishing his letter – it is a completed action in the past.

PAST CONTINUOUS

ongoing or continuous action in the past

PAST SIMPLE

completed action in the past

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So when Jenny says:

I was walking down the High Street and I saw Johnnywe can see the continuous action ( walking) and the single event ( saw).

Be careful!Do you remember that STATE VERBS aren’t normally

used in the present continuous?

I know him

not ‘I’m knowing him’

(Look again at Language point 45 if you’re not sure about this.) State verbs don’t like being used with continuous tenses generally, so the same is true with the PAST continuous: I knew him

not ‘I was knowing him’

Exercise 7

Rewrite these sentences using the past continuous tense. The first one has been done for you.

1 I watched a TV programme.

I was watching a TV programme.

2 Did you work?

____________________________ ?

3 We didn’t watch the film.

____________________________ .

4 Dave didn’t answer his phone today.

____________________________ .

5 Su looked after the children.

____________________________ .

6 Did you speak to the teacher?

____________________________ ?

7 The bus came round the corner.

____________________________ .

8 Did you listen to your new CD?

____________________________ ?

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9 The kids played in the garden.

____________________________ .

10 Henry didn’t do his work.

____________________________ .

Exercise 8

Write the verbs in these sentences in the correct tenses. Be careful

– some verbs will need to go in the past simple, and some will need to go in the past continuous. The first one has been done for you.

1

I (walk) down the road when I (meet) Brenda.

was walking

met

2

I (take) a photo when a bird (land) on me!

3

Stuart (break) his leg when he (play) football.

4

An apple (fall) on Nigel when he (stand) under a tree.

5

Justine (see) me as I (queue) for tickets.

6

Jenny (do) the washing-up when she (drop) a cup.

7

Sandra (cut) her finger when she (cut) the bread.

8

I (look) at the moon when I (see) a shooting star.

Dialogue 5

Kevin and Geoff are both changing addresses.

KEVIN:

Have you moved house yet?

GEOFF:

No, we haven’t moved yet, but it won’t be long. We’ve already signed all the documents, but we’re still waiting for the bank to clear the money. Anyway, what about you? Are you still living in the flat over the curry house?

KEVIN:

Yes, but not for much longer.

GEOFF:

Really? How come?

KEVIN:

I’ve just bought a house by the beach.

GEOFF:

Why haven’t you moved in yet, then?

KEVIN:

It’s not ready. I’ve started decorating it, but it still needs quite a bit of work before I can move in.

GEOFF:

Have you ever decorated a house before?

KEVIN:

Never. But I’m already getting the hang of it.

GEOFF:

When you’ve finished, you can come and do ours!

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Idiom

• quite a bit ofmeans ‘a lot of’

• How come?means ‘Why?’ or ‘What’s the reason for that?’