(In American English people use this for both people, and say Who is this?) If the phone is answered by someone other than the person you want to speak to, say: Could I speak to . . . ? or Is . . . there, please? To tell the other person who you are, say: It’s . . . or It’s . . . speaking If the person you want to speak to isn’t there, you can say either: OK, I’ll phone again later or Could you get him/her to phone me back? You can use ring instead of phone in these two sentences as well. If someone phones you and asks to talk to someone else, they might say: Is . . . there? or Could I speak to . . . ? and you can say: Can I ask who’s calling? They will say: Yes, it’s . . . Exercise 1 Match the halves of the sentences to make phrases for phone conversations. 1 Who am I a ask who’s calling? 2 Who is b there? 3 Can I c speaking to? 4 Is Miranda d her to phone back? 84 5 It’s Adrian e John Smith? 6 Could you get f that? 7 Is that g back later. 8 I’ll ring h speaking. Language point 36 – direct and indirect objects In Dialogue 1 Vicki says to Dave: Can you give me his number? We have already seen (Unit 1) that the personal pronouns have SUBJECT forms (I, he, she, etc.) and OBJECT forms (me, him, her, etc.). In English the object pronouns can also include the meaning to: me = ‘to me’ you = ‘to you’ her = ‘to her’ him = ‘to him’ In this meaning we call them INDIRECT OBJECT pronouns. You will see them with verbs such as give – here are some examples: Give me the tickets, please Can you give her the books? In the first example, the tickets is the DIRECT OBJECT (the things being given), and me is the INDIRECT object (the person the tickets are given to). Notice that we place the indirect object pronouns before the direct object, not after: Give me the tickets, please not ‘Give the tickets me, please ’ And we can put nouns and names in this special position: Give Dave the tickets (= to Dave) Give the ticket collector the tickets (= to the ticket collector) 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1211 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 4211 85 But in all these cases, if we use the word to we have to change the word order. There are two basic patterns: verb + indirect object + direct object or verb + direct object + to + indirect object Let’s summarise the possibilities: Give me the tickets not ‘Give the tickets me ’ Give the tickets to me not ‘Give to me the tickets ’ Give Dave the tickets not ‘Give the tickets Dave ’ Give the tickets to Dave not ‘Give to Dave the tickets ’ Exercise 2 Complete the answers to the questions, using pronouns. The first is done for you. 1 What is Suzie showing Fiona? She’s showing her her new watch. 2 What is James going to give Su? ________________ a birthday present. 3 Where is Dave buying the food? ________________ in the local shop. 4 When do your parents use the car? ________________ every day. 5 Where does Alan keep his books? ________________ on the shelf. 6 When is your brother buying his new jeans? ________________ today. 7 When is Jenny picking up the kids? ________________ this afternoon. 8 What is Jenny giving James? ________________ a cup of tea. Dialogue 3 Cynthia phones to speak to Bob at work. But she gets through to his secretary. C YNTHIA : Hello, it’s Cynthia Palmer here. Can I speak to Bob Watford please? 86 S ECRETARY : Hold on, I’ll see if he’s available . . . . . . Hello? I’m afraid Mr Watford’s in a meeting at the moment. Would you like to leave a message? C YNTHIA : Yes – could you ask him to get back to me as soon as possible? S ECRETARY : Yes – has he got your number? C YNTHIA : Yes, he has. S ECRETARY : Fine – I’ll make sure he calls you as soon as he gets out of the meeting. C YNTHIA : Thanks. Language point 37 – ‘as soon as’ In Dialogue 3 the secretary says she’ll make sure Bob Watford calls: as soon as he gets out of the meeting In English we use the PRESENT SIMPLE to mean the FUTURE after: when before as soon as until/till Here are some more examples: Don’t forget to lock the door when you leave Let’s do the washing-up before Dave comes back Phone us as soon as you hear any news Let’s stay here until the rains stops Remember to use the present simple, not the present continuous, with this type of word: 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1211 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 4211 87 Idioms • at the moment means ‘now’ • get back to me means ‘phone me back’ . . . until the rain stops not ‘until the rain is stopping ’ . . . when you leave not ‘when you’re leaving ’ Learn the phrase as soon as possible. You will often hear people use the abbreviation as well: a.s.a.p. (or asap) /ε εs ε `pi:/ both in writing and when speaking: Can you get back to me a.s.a.p.? Exercise 3 Unscramble the sentences. 1 stops wait the let’s until rain 2 soon as us get phone as you back 3 us to arrive when forget you don’t ring 4 them see children the before presents the hide let’s 5 you you could leave the shut when door ? 6 souvenirs before some home let’s go buy we Exercise 4 Make the correct choice from the expressions in brackets to complete the sentences. The first one is done for you. 1 Let’s wait (till/as soon as ) the weather gets better. 2 Let’s go in the garden (before/when) the weather gets better. 3 Could you shut the door (until/when) you leave? 4 Phone us (as soon as/until) you arrive. 5 Give me back the book (before/when) you finish it. 6 Let’s wait here (till/before) Suzie arrives. 7 Pay me back the money (until/when) you can. 8 I can’t use the computer (until/when) the power comes back on. 88 Dialogue 4 Pete’s in a crisis, and he needs Sally’s help. P ETE : Sally! S ALLY : Yes, what is it? P ETE : I can’t find my mobile. S ALLY : Honestly, can’t you take better care of your things? P ETE : Don’t go on at me – can you help me look for it? S ALLY :[sighs] All right. Where did you have it last? P ETE : I had it in my pocket last night, but I think it was on the kitchen table this morning. But it’s not there now. S ALLY :[thinks for a moment] Is it switched on? P ETE : I think so. S ALLY : Well, why don’t you use my mobile to phone yours? Then we can listen for the ring. P ETE : Brilliant! Give us 1 your mobile, then. [Sally feels in her pocket, then looks around] S ALLY : Er . . . Pete. P ETE : What? S ALLY : I can’t find my mobile either. 1 us is sometimes used in colloquial English to mean me 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: 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1211 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 4211 89 Idiom • What is it? means ‘What’s the problem?’ or ‘What do you want to talk to me about?’ • Don’t go on at me means ‘Stop criticising me’, ‘Stop being annoyed with me’ or ‘Stop telling me what to do’ 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 we and I in 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, we or I to 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. _____________________ ? 90 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, last and next with 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 collo- quial English. • We always write them with a capital letter (not ‘friday ’). 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1211 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 4211 91 • We can use them with other words: on Tuesday last Tuesday this Tuesday next Tuesday every Tuesday • And remember that we don’t use on when 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 92 Be careful! With day and night, and with morning, afternoon and 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 ’. ƽ • This usage is found with day, night, month and year as 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. 6 Is Jenny coming in by car (yesterday/today)? 7 Stuart needs a lift to the office (yesterday/tomorrow) morning. 8 Ann’s working in Eastbourne (on/last) Thursday. 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1211 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 4211 93 . has. S ECRETARY : Fine – I’ll make sure he calls you as soon as he gets out of the meeting. C YNTHIA : Thanks. Language point 37 – ‘as soon as’ In Dialogue. 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’.