Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
David: Finding a Place to Call Your Own in the UK. David here.
Kellie: Hello. I'm Kellie.
David: In this lesson, you’ll learn to use questions to gather information. The conversation takes place at the estate agents office.
Kellie: The speakers are strangers.
David: So they’ll be using formal English. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Katrina: I like this flat. How much is the rent?
Estate Agent: It is £350 per week.
Katrina: That is a little expensive. Does the flat have a garden?
Estate Agent: The building has a garden that everyone can use.
Katrina: Does the flat have a parking space?
Estate Agent: Yes, there is space for one car.
Katrina: Okay, I'll take it.
David: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
Katrina: I like this flat. How much is the rent?
Estate Agent: It is £350 per week.
Katrina: That is a little expensive. Does the flat have a garden?
Estate Agent: The building has a garden that everyone can use.
Katrina: Does the flat have a parking space?
Estate Agent: Yes, there is space for one car.
Katrina: Okay, I'll take it.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
David: In this lesson’s dialogue, Katrina is renting a flat.
Kellie: In the UK, especially in bigger cities, space is limited so you will see many blocks of flats. But flats are just one of many popular types of housing in the UK.
David: What other houses are popular?
Kellie: There is also terraced housing, where houses are attached in a row, then semi-detached, where houses are attached to only one house, and also detached. These are houses that stand alone.
David: Is renting popular in the UK?
Kellie: It is, especially with younger people or in big cities. Houses are expensive in the UK, but people do try to buy where they can.
David: Is there much land with the houses?
Kellie: Hm, not really. Most houses will have a garden though. They’re usually at the back of the house and are very green.
David: So, lots of trees and plants?
Kellie: Yeah. Gardening is a popular weekend pastime.
David: People like gardening?
Kellie: Well, I wouldn’t say “like” so much… more it has to be done unless you want your house invaded by weeds.
David: (laughs) Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
David: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is..
Kellie: flat [natural native speed]
David: a living space, usually one floor, that is in a building with many others
Kellie: flat[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Kellie: flat [natural native speed]
David: Next we have..
Kellie: how much [natural native speed]
David: question phrase to ask the price of an item
Kellie: how much[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Kellie: how much [natural native speed]
David: Next we have..
Kellie: rent [natural native speed]
David: payment made to live in a house that isn't owned by the occupant
Kellie: rent[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Kellie: rent [natural native speed]
David: Next we have..
Kellie: week [natural native speed]
David: unit of seven days
Kellie: week[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Kellie: week [natural native speed]
David: Next we have..
Kellie: pound (£) [natural native speed]
David: British currency
Kellie: pound (£)[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Kellie: pound (£) [natural native speed]
David: Next we have..
Kellie: expensive [natural native speed]
David: to cost a lot of money
Kellie: expensive[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Kellie: expensive [natural native speed]
David: Next we have..
Kellie: garden [natural native speed]
David: a plot of land, usually attached to a house, where plants, flowers, or grass are grown
Kellie: garden[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Kellie: garden [natural native speed]
David: Next we have..
Kellie: parking space [natural native speed]
David: a place reserved for parking a single vehicle
Kellie: parking space[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Kellie: parking space [natural native speed]
David: And lastly..
Kellie: to take [natural native speed]
David: to get into one's possession, to capture
Kellie: to take[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Kellie: to take [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
David: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is..
Kellie: per week
David: meaning every seven days.
David: There are two words in this phrase, so let’s break it down.
Kellie: A “week” is a period of seven days and “per” means “for every.” So together, they mean “for every seven days”.
David: So, if I pay rent weekly, once every seven days, I can say that it is per week?
Kellie: Yeah, you can. You can change “week” to any time period. If you get your wages every month and it is always £1000, you can say you get paid “£1000 per month”
David: Can you say “per year” too?
Kellie: Yes, that also works.
David: Can you give us an example using this word?
Kellie: Sure. For example, you can say.. I exercise three times per week.
David: ..which means that every week, you exercise three times. Okay, what's next?
Kellie: I'll take it
David: meaning "I’ll buy it"
David: When I hear the word “take”, I don’t think about buying things!
Kellie: No, it gives this image of just taking something by force, or grabbing it, doesn’t it?
David: Yeah, it does! But that’s not what it means.
Kellie: If we’re in the situation where we’re buying something, such as in a shop, then “I’ll take it” is a way of saying “I want to buy it.”
David: It sounds pretty informal.
Kellie: It is. A more formal way of saying the same thing is “I would like to buy this.”
David: Can you give us an example using this word?
Kellie: Sure. For example, you can say.. I really like that bag. I'll take it!
David: .. which means "I really like that bag and I would like to buy it." Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

David: In this lesson, you'll learn about asking questions, question words, and intonation when asking questions.
David: We’re all about the questions!
Kellie: We are! In English, we have this sentence form that is called “interrogative sentences”. These are sentences that ask questions, and they’re very important if you want to keep a conversation going. The easiest way to make a question is with a question word.
David: Can you tell us some question words?
Kellie: Sure! Most of the common questions words start with “W, H”, so you often hear them called “WH words” too. The most common are “what, when, where, who, which and why”.
David: They all begin with WH!
Kellie: Exactly. The other most common one is “how”, which breaks the pattern, but is easy to remember.
David: So we have our question words. Let’s make a question!
Kellie: Okay! Choose the question word that best fits your question. We’ll use “what,” and we can use this to ask about a specific something. Then you need an auxiliary verb, like “did”.
David: So “what did…”
Kellie: Yep. Then we need maybe a pronoun, and definitely a verb.
David: “What did you watch..”
Kellie: Add an object so we know exactly what the question is asking and you’re done!
David: “What did you watch last night?”
Kellie: That’s it! I watched the news last night. What did you watch last night?
David: I watched a film.
Kellie: Now, you may have noticed when we asked those questions that our voices changed as the sentence went on.
David: That’s right. Our pitch raised towards the end of the sentence. Like this - “What did you watch last night?”
Kellie: Raising the pitch like this makes it sound like you don’t know the answer. It just sounds more like a question.
David: Let’s hear another example.
Kellie: Hmm, let’s take one from the dialogue. “How much is the rent?”
David: Or how about “When is your birthday?”
Kellie: That’s a popular question! “Where do you live?”
David: Another popular question! I can hear what you mean. It’s like hearing the question mark.
Kellie: It makes questions really clear, doesn’t it?
David: It does!

Outro

David: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Kellie: Bye.

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