[...]... What about ? to indicate that we’re asking the same question as before Here’s another example: Gerry wants to find out what kind of ice cream Adrian likes This is how the conversation goes: GERRY: ADRIAN: GERRY: ADRIAN: GERRY: ADRIAN: GERRY: ADRIAN: GERRY: ADRIAN: GERRY: ADRIAN: GERRY: ADRIAN: Just answer yes or no, OK Adrian? OK Do you like vanilla ice cream? Yes What about strawberry? Yes What about... comprehensive and reliable works readily available on the TEFL market, and at a reasonable price I have made sparing use of the IPA phonetic alphabet (and in a broad rather than narrow transcription) where I have thought the disparity between the spelling of common words and their pronunciation warranted it; and I have listed the IPA symbols and combinations of symbols at the front of the book for reference Naturally... Chocolate is an aphrodysiac More than a billion people speak Chinese – Really? – Really? – Really? – Really? Stuart adds Like me! to say that what Rosemary has just told him is true of Stuart as well He could also have said Me too!, Same here! or So am I! Here are some more examples: Posh and Becks are English Terry’s a long-distance lorry driver My brother’s an accountant Gerry’s going to Spain this... – 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... allowing the context of the dialogues and exercises to show the user how the language works Presentation of vocabulary is another problematic issue in a book aimed at users from diverse linguistic backgrounds There can be no two-way glossary at the back of Colloquial English, and instead I must depend on the student’s having access to a good learner’s dictionary of English – fortunately there are a. .. 4211 Language point 10 – saying goodbye You may have noticed that none of the speakers in Dialogue 13 actually said Goodbye – in colloquial English this phrase is usually shortened to Bye It is always okay to use this when you are leaving someone and want to say goodbye We can also use the phrase Bye bye, particularly when talking to little children Another very common phrase is See you! – you can say... works in an office in the city We already know about the airport, and about the city, but not about the taxi or the office – these are ‘new information’ old information new information – – ‘the’ a /‘an’ We also use a/ an to talk about one thing out of many, and the to talk about a unique thing: The sun is a star (There is only one sun, but there are many stars) This is a large room, but that is the largest... Stuart to agree or disagree with it In this case, Stuart agrees by saying Good idea – he could also have said any of these other phrases: OK (, then) All right (, then) Fine Fine by me Why not? Idioms The adverb off has a number of idiomatic meanings in colloquial English In Dialogue 7, Su asks Is Tim off today? , and in Dialogue 11, Rosemary says that Steve is off on a course – in this kind of-phrase,... Marian – what do you do for a job? I’m a teacher So am I! Where do you teach? In the college here What about you? I teach in a primary school Language point 9 – a /‘an’ and ‘the’ In Dialogue 9, Rosemary says I teach in a primary school – she uses the INDEFINITE ARTICLE with the noun because it is the first time it has appeared in the conversation This is why we use the indefinite article when we say... what someone’s job is: I’m a doctor James is an airline pilot he’s a footballer Suzi’s a teacher she’s a nurse Paul’s a university lecturer 16 Jeremy’s a poet Jane’s an orthodontist Fiona’s an archaeologist Harold’s an estate agent Mike’s a surgeon The indefinite article has two forms: a and an – you can tell which one to use by the sound of the word that follows: • if the following word begins with a . class="bi x0 y0 w0 h0" alt="" Colloquial English The Colloquial Series Series Adviser: Gareth King The following languages are available in the Colloquial series: * Afrikaans * Albanian * Amharic Arabic. there are a number of compre- hensive and reliable works readily available on the TEFL market, and at a reasonable price. I have made sparing use of the IPA phonetic alphabet (and in a broad rather. Amharic Arabic (Levantine) * Arabic of Egypt Arabic of the Gulf and Saudi Arabia Basque * Breton Bulgarian * Cambodian * Cantonese * Chinese * Croatian and Serbian * Czech * Danish * Dutch * English *