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Fred and Betty have been dating for years. They have always been a very happy couple... or have they?
Listen to Fred and Betty's phone call AND learn lots of new phrasal verbs with the first series of Face up to Phrasals. All 12 episodes of Fred and Betty: Is this the End? are live NOW!
Episode 1: Betty's angry Betty: Fred, I found out about you and that other girl. How could you do this to me?!
Has Fred really got another lady? Surely not!!! Go to episode 2 to find out!
Find out about
Meaning: if you find out about something, you discover a fact or information that you did not know before, often because someone was keeping it secret. Grammar: This phrasal verb needs an object. You can not separate the verb from its particles.
He found out about the theft He found out about it
Example sentence: Jonathan didn't find out about the missing money until the police wrote to him. Synonyms: discover, catch on to, detect, unearth
Alice: Oh. It's about maternity and baby care. They've asked me to change wards.
Tim: But you love working in the emergency wards.
Alice: Yes, well.I want to work with Dr. Laver.
Tim: Dr. Laver?
Alice: He specialises in looking after children. He's a great doctor, really friendly with the patients.
Tim: I see. And he's not bad looking, I suppose?
Alice: Don't be ridiculous! I'm thinking about my career.
Tim: But you want your own children. Don't you think it'd be horrible looking after other people's kids?
Alice: Yeah, that's the problem. So I haven't decided whether to take the job or not.
VERB PATTERNS
Sometimes in a sentence, one verb follows another. For example, I want to buy an electric car. The first verb is 'want', the second verb is 'buy'.
In sentences like this, there are different possible patterns. For example:
(a) I want to buy an electric car.
(b) I hate driving.
In sentence A, the first verb is followed by an infinitive. In sentence B, the first verb is followed by a gerund (-ing) form.
The verb patterns are dependent upon the first verb. There are several different types of pattern. When you learn a new verb, you need to learn the verb pattern. Unfortunately, some verbs have more than one possible pattern! Sometimes, if a verb has two patterns, each pattern can have a different meaning or use.
Here are examples of some of the patterns:
Verb + to + verb:
These verbs all use this pattern: want, hope, decide, agree.
I want to work with Dr. Laver. Tim hopes to leave the stockroom soon. Helen decided to go out with Michal. Alice might agree to change wards
Verb + verb + ing:
These verbs all use this pattern: enjoy, mind, consider.
I enjoy working on the emergency ward. Alice doesn'tmind working with children. Tim is considering changing his job
Verb + preposition + verb +ing
These verbs all use this pattern: specialise, think.
He specialises in helping children.
Michal is thinking about cooking dinner.
Verb + object + verb:
These verbs all use this pattern: let, make.
Dad let me keep the cat.
She made me say sorry.
Verbs with two patterns and different meanings:
These verbs have two possible patterns, and there is a difference in meaning between the patterns: like, hate, regret.
I like to swim every day = I think it is a good idea to do this
I like swimming every day = I enjoy the activity. It gives me pleasure
I hate to tell you this = I am sorry to tell you this
I hate flying = I do not like this activity
I regret to tell you this - I am sorry to tell you this
I regret leaving London - I left London in the past, and I am sorry that I did that
Vocabulary:
maternity (adj): about pregnancy and childbirth
specialise (v): to study or work in depth in a particular area or subject
Katy and Paul are deciding to choose a film. Watch and remember these usefull exprexions!
Katy: Oh, what do you fancy seeing? There's Must Love Dogs - a rom-com. Oh I love romantic comedies, don't you? Pride and Prejudice is on - I adore period dramas. You know all those fine ladies and gents from ages ago, long dresses and grand houses. What kind of films do you like - action, adventure, musicals?
Paul: Films about people living in the future, on other planets.
Katy: Oh, sci-fi - not really my thing.
Paul: Well, what about Nightmare on Elm Street? They're showing that again here.
This lesson is about greetings and the language you might use if you’re greeting people in quite formal situations, when you want to sound polite. I’d like you to start by reading to this greeting. Try to guess what the situation might be.
Good morning, sir.
Using ‘sir’ in a greeting sounds very formal. It gives extra status or importance to the person you are talking to and there are several situations where you might hear it. One of the most common situations is in the service industry. It could be a hotel receptionist talking to a guest, a waiter talking to a customer in a restaurant. Or it could be in a shop - anywhere where people are dealing with customers or clients. If you were speaking to a woman, you wouldn’t say ‘sir – you would say ‘madam’.
Good morning, madam.
It’s nearly always the people offering the service who would use this kind of language. If a waiter says ‘good evening, sir’ you would just reply with ‘good evening’ you wouldn’t say ‘good evening, sir’ back. This is because, in this particular situation, you are the one being given the most importance, so you don’t need to show this extra sign of respect.
Likewise, if you walk into a hotel and the receptionist says ‘good afternoon, madam’, it would usually sound strange to say ‘good afternoon, madam’ back. As well is in the service industry, there are other situations where you might hear ‘sir’ and ‘madam’. Read this one and guess what the situation might be.
Good morning, sir. It’s a real honour to have you here.
The situation that makes me think of is of greeting a VIP - perhaps a very important politician or leader who you meet. In some cases, people use it when they are greeting someone much older than they are, as a sign of respect. Or you may occasionally hear it used in the workplace, where employees want to show respect for their superiors. Read below and note how only the employee uses the word ‘sir’.
Good morning, sir. Hello, James.
We’ve looked over some of those situations where you might use very formal language in greetings, such as ‘sir’ or ‘madam’. You might use it in the service industry, with VIPs, with much old people and, sometimes, with bosses at work. But, also using these kinds of words, what else is it that makes language in greetings sound more formal and polite? We’re going to read two different versions of a greeting between James and his boss Mr Jones. Try to decide which one is the most formal and think about why.
Morning! Hi! How’s it going? Good thanks – you? Yeah, fine.
Good morning, Mr Jones. Hello, James. How are you? I’m very well, thank you. How are you? Fine, thank you.
The second greeting was more formal. Why? Well one of the most obvious differences is in how long the phrases are. ‘Good morning’ sounds more formal than ‘morning’ because ‘morning’ is shorter and it’s a slightly lazier way of greeting someone, if you like. ‘Hello’ is also a bit more formal than ‘hi’. ‘I’m very well, thank you’ also sounds more formal than ‘fine, thanks’ or ‘good, thanks’ again, mainly because it takes longer to say. This doesn’t mean you should never say ‘hi’ in formal situations, it’s just that if you want to sound more polite, using more complete words and phrases will help.
So words that are longer tend to sound more formal and polite, while shorter, abbreviated words are more likely to sound informal and friendly. Now let’s look at some other handy phrases you could use in greetings. We’re about to hear another clip. Madeleine and Angus are both at the same dinner party. They’ve met a couple of times before, but haven’t seen each other for a while. Listen their conversation.
Hello Madeleine. It's lovely to see you again: how are you? Hello, Angus. I’m very well, thank you. It's been a long time, hasn't it?
How are things with you?
‘Lovely to see you again’ is a nice expression, often used when you haven’t seen someone for a while. Madeline says ‘It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?’ another nice thing you can say in that situation. She finishes it with ‘How are things with you?’ another way of saying ‘how are you?
Now here’s a recap of the language from this lesson.
good morning
good afternoon, sir
good evening, madam
how are you?
how are things with you?
I’m very well, thank you.
it's lovely to see you again
it's been a long time, hasn't it?
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT?
Now it's time for you to have a go at practising the language we've looked at in this programme. Read the context for each question, then arrange the words into sentences. Good luck!
1) Helen Works in a hotel a greets one of the guests as he approches her. She says...
2) At a party, you see Rachel. You’ve met her once but haven’t seen for a while. You say.... _______ _______ _________ ________ _________ _________ _________
TIME, - IT? – VERY – BEEN - HASN’T - LONG - IT’S - A
There are lots of different phrases and expressions you can use and today you’ll learn some of the most popular and useful ones. One of the first words you probably learnt in English was ‘Hello’- a very common way of greeting someone and suitable in both formal and more relaxed situations.
Listen some other expressions:
Hey Jane, how you doing?
Alright Matt, how’s it going? Alright Carrie! How are you?
“Hey” is a less formal version of “Hello”, another similar is “Hi”. ‘Alright Carrie!’ In England and Australia, you often here it with ‘mate’ – an informal word meaning ‘friend’ which refers to the person you’re speaking to. ‘Alright mate!’ So a reminder of our opening expressions for greeting so far:
So you’ve said ‘hi’ to someone… what next? Well, the normal thing, as in so many cultures is to ask them how they are. The most straightforward phrase is ‘How are you?’ But how else could you say that in a relaxed situation?
Hello Carrie, you alright?
‘You alright?’ Of course the most correct way of saying this would be ‘Are you alright?’ But it often just becomes, ‘You all right?’
Hey Jane, how you doing?
‘How you doing?’ Again, ‘How are you doing?’ would be more correct, but we often miss out the ‘are’ so it’s just ‘How you doing?’
A variation on that, which you’re probably more likely to hear in Australia is ‘How you going?’
Alright Carrie, how are you? Yeah, I’m fine Neil, how you going
Alright Matt, how’s it going?
So how could you respond when you’re asked how you are? One of the most common answers is, ‘Fine, thanks!’ But here are some more. All of them are quite informal.
Yeah, not bad, not bad.
Good, thanks!
You could also say ‘alright, thanks!’ or ‘OK, thanks!’ or ‘very well, thanks!’ So, to sum up those last expressions, we’ve got:
Not bad! Good, thanks! Alright, thanks OK, thanks! Very well, thanks!’
After you’ve answered that question, the most usual thing to do is to return the question and ask the other person if they are well, as in these examples.
Alright Matt, how’s it going? Yeah, no trouble, how about you alright? Yeah, not bad.
Hey Jane, how you doing? Good thanks, and you? Yeah, not bad, not bad.
You can return the question with a simple ‘…and you?’ or ‘How about you?’
So now, a recap of the key phrases
Hello! Hi! Hey! Alright! How are you? How you doing? How you going? How’s it going? You alright? Good, thanks! Fine, thanks! Not bad, not bad! Alright, thanks! I’m OK! And you? How about you? What about you?
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT?
1: Hello Mike! Great to see you again, who / how are you?
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