taxes – money we pay to the state for the government to use household – group of people sharing a home licence – a piece of paper you have to buy from the government to be allowed to do something adverts – short films designed to encourage you to buy things commercial breaks – interruptions during and between programmes to show adverts finance – fund distinct – visibly or noticeably different from each other viewers – people who watch television similar – looking almost the same as each other, having almost the same appearance increasingly – more and more in competition with – trying to be or do better than additional – extra, more via – through satellite – machine that orbits the earth and relays TV and radio signals cable – an underground electronic bundle of wires that feeds television signals into homes subscribe – pay a regular amount of money to have a continual service fee – the payment you make to subscribe to a service dish – piece of equipment to receive satellite signals pick up – receive (television and radio signals) range – selection, choice scheduled – planned to be shown, set down in the TV guide remote – device for controlling your television at a distance, so you don’t have to get out of your chair to change channels station – channel (but we say channel for TV and station for radio) exercise – physical activity to keep yourself fit 174 11 I’ll see you at half past five! In this unit you will learn how to: • make arrangements with people • tell the time • use other time expressions • buy tickets for public transport • use prepositions in wh-questions Dialogue 1 Adrian’s buying a train ticket over the phone. A DRIAN : Could I have a return ticket to Glasgow for tomorrow? C LERK : Certainly. Where are you travelling from? A DRIAN : From Brighton. C LERK : And when do you want to arrive? A DRIAN : I’ve got a meeting at twelve. Will the seven o’clock train get me there in time? C LERK : Yes, but unfortunately you’ve left it too late – there are no seats left on that train. I can book you onto the nine-thirty, but you’ll be late for your meeting. A DRIAN : I can’t miss the meeting. What about the sleeper train tonight? C LERK : Hold on – I’ll check to see if there are any seats left. [checks on her computer] Yes, you’re in luck. There are a few left. Shall I make the reservation? 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 A DRIAN : Yes please. What time does it leave this evening? C LERK : Eight o’clock. And you’ll be in Glasgow by seven o’clock tomorrow morning. A DRIAN : That’ll give me bags of time to get to the meeting, won’t it? It will arrive on time, won’t it? C LERK : Yes – and make sure you get here by eight this evening . . . all our trains leave on time as well! Language point 65 – telling the time Telling the time is easy in English. We’ve seen the numbers in Unit 4 – here are the other words you will need: o’clock /ə`klɔk/ it’s past just coming up to to just gone half /hɑf / exactly a quarter /ə`kwɔtə/ at at about by To tell someone what the time is, we use it’s . . . : What time is it? – It’s ten o’clock To say when something happens, we use at: I’ll meet you both at ten o’clock To give the latest time when something should happen, we use by: I’ll be back home by ten o’clock (perhaps earlier) 176 Idioms • in time means ‘before the latest time possible’ • on time means ‘at the scheduled time’ or ‘punctually’ • bags of time means ‘a lot of time’ or ‘plenty of time’ When we are not sure of the exact time, we use about: It’s about ten o’clock Now let’s have a look at the clock: Notice that: • we say a quarter, but half (not ‘a half ’) • we usually say ten past (etc.), not ‘ten minutes past ’ which sounds rather formal •we always say half past, never ‘half to ’ • in colloquial English we often say just ten instead of ten o’clock: I’ll meet you at ten • in colloquial English we often say half ten instead of half past ten I’ll meet you at half ten half ten and half past ten both mean 10.30! • we have special words for 12.00 at night (midnight) and 12.00 in the day (midday or noon). 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 177 12 o’clock half past 6 11 7 10 8 9 1 five past 5 twenty-five past 2 ten past 4 twenty past 3 a quarter past five to twenty-five to ten to twenty to a quarter to We use just gone and just coming up to to deal with times between the five-minute intervals on the clock face: just gone = a short time after just coming up to = a short time before So: 10.16 it’s just gone a quarter past ten 10.19 it’s just coming up to twenty past ten For very precise times, such as railway timetables and schedules, we use the 24-hour clock, giving two numbers: 10.56 ten fifty-six 13.12 thirteen twelve Notice: 12.00 twelve hundred 12.07 twelve oh seven Exercise 1 Give the 12-hour clock equivalents for these 24-hour clock times – the first one has been done for you. 1 1316 It’s just gone a 6 1754 quarter past one. 2 1544 7 1602 3 0940 8 1435 4 2359 9 2226 5 0710 10 0330 178 Be careful! The 24-hour clock is common in official uses of English where precise times are important, but it is not used in ordinary situations in colloquial English: I’ll see you at a quarter past five not ‘I’ll see you at seventeen fi fteen’ ƽ Exercise 2 Write the times shown on the clock faces in the normal 12-hour system. 1 It’s ______________________________ 2 It’s ______________________________ 3 It’s ______________________________ 4 It’s ______________________________ 5 It’s ______________________________ 6 It’s ______________________________ Dialogue 2 Candace and Jenny are about to go into the art gallery, but Jenny stops at the door. C ANDACE : What are you looking for, Jenny? J ENNY : My money, of course. Oh God, I can’t find it! C ANDACE : What are you worrying about? We don’t need to pay for tickets here – it’s free! [Candace points at a sign over the door saying ADMISSION FREE] J ENNY : So it is! Great – we can look at loads of wonderful paintings for nothing! 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 179 Language point 66 – ‘where . . . from?’, ‘where . . . to?’ In Dialogue 1 the assistant asks Adrian: Where are you travelling from ? And in Dialogue 2 Candace asks Jenny: What are you looking for? and What are you worrying about? These are sentences that contain a PREPOSITION used with a WH - WORD . In colloquial English we do not usually put any word before the wh-word (although formal English does). If there is a wh-word, we prefer it to be the first word in the sentence. So we don’t say: ‘From where are you travelling? ’ ‘For what are you looking? ’ ‘About what are you worrying? ’ We move the preposition to the end of the sentence, leaving the wh- word to start the sentence. Here are some more examples: Who were you talking to? not ‘To who were you talking? ’ What shall I pay for this with? not ‘With what shall I pay for this? ’ What is she looking at? not ‘At what is she looking?’ 180 Idioms • When something is free you don’t have to pay any money for it. • Great! means ‘Wonderful!’ or ‘That’s good!’. • loads of means ‘a lot of ’ ( COUNTABLE nouns); for UNCOUNTABLE nouns we use a load of. When shall I get these to you by? not ‘By when shall I get these to you? ’ Exercise 3 Aunt Aggie is rather deaf – every time you tell her something, she misses part of the information and asks a question. Write out her questions – the first one has been done for you. 1Y OU : Gerry’s looking for a new house. A UNT A GGIE : What is Gerry looking for? 2Y OU : I’m writing a letter to Liz. A UNT A GGIE : Wh_______________________ ? 3Y OU : The cat’s looking at some birds in the garden. A UNT A GGIE : Wh_________________________ ? 4Y OU : Suzie’s worried about her exams. A UNT A GGIE : Wh_________________________ ? 5Y OU : I’m going to the party with Hannah. A UNT A GGIE : Wh_________________________ ? 6Y OU : Stuart plays football for England. A UNT A GGIE : Wh______________________ ? 7Y OU : Miranda works for a film company. A UNT A GGIE : Wh______________________ ? 8Y OU : Otto comes from Austria. A UNT A GGIE : Wh_________________ ? 9Y OU : Terry and June live next door to the Simpsons. A UNT A GGIE : Wh____________________ ? 10 Y OU : I’ve got to be home by ten. A UNT A GGIE : Wh_____________________ ? 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 181 Be careful! You may see prepositions in front of wh-words at the start of sentences in formal written English, but you won’t usually hear this in normal conversations and speech. Remember that it is CORRECT to end a sentence with a PREPOSITION in English! ƽ Dialogue 3 Gerry spots Sophie sitting on her own in the coffee shop, looking at her watch. G ERRY : Hello Sophie – who are you waiting for? S OPHIE : Leasa. We were meant to meet up here at one, but I got here late. I’ve been waiting for about half an hour, but I’m wondering if I’ve missed her, or if she just didn’t show up. You haven’t seen her, have you? G ERRY : Not since yesterday, no. [Suddenly Leasa arrives] L EASA : Hi, you two! Sorry I’m so late, Sophie. I’ve been stuck in a traffic jam since a quarter to one. Have you been sitting here for ages? S OPHIE : No, it’s all right – I haven’t been here long. I got here late myself, so I’ve only been here about twenty min- utes. And I had Gerry here to talk to. L EASA : Let me buy us all coffee and some cakes! Language point 67 – ‘for’ and ‘since’ When we talk about the length of time that we have been doing something, we use since or for – they mean different things: • since is used with a point in time (or a block of time) in the past • for is used with a period of time from past to present 182 Idioms • on her own means ‘alone’ – we change the middle word according to the person: on my own, on his own, etc. • we were meant /mεnt/ to means ‘we had arranged to’ or ‘we had expected to’ • stuck means ‘unable to move’ or ‘unable to get out/away’ Compare what Sophie and Leasa say in Dialogue 3: S OPHIE : I’ve been waiting for about half an hour L EASA : I’ve been stuck in a traffic jam since a quarter to one Half an hour is a period of time; a quarter to one is a point in time. Here are examples of words and phrases used with for: an hour three minutes a week ages (= ‘a very long time’) a month a long time six years a short while And here are the types of words and phrases we find with since: 1953 half past three last Tuesday the end of the war February 14th Christmas yesterday the summer holidays Since and for are used with the PRESENT PERFECT (Language point 53): John and Fiona have lived here since June 2001 John and Fiona have lived here for three years or with the PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS – this is formed as follows: have/has been + -ing I’ve been waiting here for an hour I’ve been waiting here since ten o’clock Suzie’s been working in the garden for three hours Suzie’s been working in the garden since early this morning Notice that we don’t say: ‘I am waiting here since ten o’clock ’ ‘Suzie works in the garden since early this morning ’ 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 4111 4211 183 . the assistant asks Adrian: Where are you travelling from ? And in Dialogue 2 Candace asks Jenny: What are you looking for? and What are you worrying about?. that: • we say a quarter, but half (not a half ’) • we usually say ten past (etc.), not ‘ten minutes past ’ which sounds rather formal •we always say half