Learn how to describe lost property
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: What Have You Lost in the UK? David Here. |
| Kellie: Hello. I'm Kellie. |
| David: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to describe lost property. The conversation takes place at a hotel. |
| Kellie: The speakers are strangers. |
| David:So they will use formal English. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Hotel staff: May I help you? |
| Katrina: I've lost my phone. I think I left it in my hotel room when I checked out. |
| Hotel staff: What does it look like? |
| Katrina: It's a gold iPhone that has a smaller screen. It also had a phone case. |
| Hotel staff: Can you describe the phone case, please? |
| Katrina: It's a black case that has a thin red stripe down the middle. I remember seeing my phone next to the bed, but I don't remember picking it up. |
| Hotel staff: We found a phone matching that description this morning. |
| Katrina: You did? Oh, thank you! |
| David: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Hotel staff: May I help you? |
| Katrina: I've lost my phone. I think I left it in my hotel room when I checked out. |
| Hotel staff: What does it look like? |
| Katrina: It's a gold iPhone that has a smaller screen. It also had a phone case. |
| Hotel staff: Can you describe the phone case, please? |
| Katrina: It's a black case that has a thin red stripe down the middle. I remember seeing my phone next to the bed, but I don't remember picking it up. |
| Hotel staff: We found a phone matching that description this morning. |
| Katrina: You did? Oh, thank you! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: Katrina was lucky to find her phone! |
| Kellie: Yeah, she was! She did the right thing when she called the hotel though. |
| David: Yeah, the best thing to do when you have lost something is to check the places that you’ve been. |
| Kellie: Yes, stores, public transport, hotels… Anywhere you last saw it. If you’re lucky, like Katrina was, somebody will have handed it in. You can also check on the Internet. |
| David: The internet? |
| Kellie: There’s a lot of local groups online, especially on Facebook, where people post about things that they have found. |
| David: So if you find something, you can post to those groups too. |
| Kellie: That’s right. If you find something, you should hand it in. If it’s in a store, hand it in to the staff. If it’s in the street, then the police might be the best place to go. |
| David: What are the chances of finding something that you’ve lost? |
| Kellie: Ohhhh, I don’t know. There are some very nice and honest people in the UK. |
| David: But... |
| Kellie: But there are also some people that aren’t as nice and honest. My best advice is to not lose anything in the first place! |
| David: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| David: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Kellie: to lose [natural native speed] |
| David: to be without something due to accident or theft |
| Kellie: to lose[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: to lose [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: phone [natural native speed] |
| David: short for telephone, a device that transmits speech and sounds over a long distance |
| Kellie: phone[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: phone [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: hotel [natural native speed] |
| David: a building that provides lodging and meals to travelers |
| Kellie: hotel[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: hotel [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: to check [natural native speed] |
| David: to look at something carefully and make sure that it is fine, to confirm, to look at something to find out some information |
| Kellie: to check[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: to check [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: screen [natural native speed] |
| David: the external surface of an electronic device that pictures and videos are displayed upon |
| Kellie: screen[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: screen [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: to describe [natural native speed] |
| David: to give an account of |
| Kellie: to describe[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: to describe [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: middle [natural native speed] |
| David: not the beginning or end, but in between |
| Kellie: middle[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: middle [natural native speed] |
| David: And last..” |
| Kellie: to pick [natural native speed] |
| David: to choose or select |
| Kellie: to pick[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: to pick [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: check out |
| David: meaning "to complete the procedures to leave a hotel". We have the verb “to check” which means to confirm and see if something is fine. |
| Kellie: And then the preposition “out”, which usually means “outside”. |
| David: So the two together mean... |
| Kellie: Leaving a hotel. It’s when we hand our key in at reception, check the mini bar tab and sign out. |
| David: And when we enter a hotel, it’s called... |
| Kellie: “Check in!” We can use “check in” for registering at an airport and getting a boarding pass too. |
| David: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Kellie: Sure. For example, you can say.. “We have to check out before 10am tomorrow.” |
| David: ..which means "We have to leave the hotel before 10am tomorrow." Okay, what's the next word? |
| Kellie: pick up |
| David: meaning "to take something off the floor or another surface" |
| Kellie: First is the verb “to pick”, which means to choose from a variety of options. Then there is the preposition or adverb “up”, meaning an elevated position. |
| David: So together they mean to lift or take something up. |
| Kellie: Yes. If there is something on the floor and you take it, you are picking it up. |
| David: Is it always things on the floor? |
| Kellie: Actually, no. It can also mean to collect things together, so in this case the things can be anywhere - on the floor, on your level, or even above you. |
| David: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Kellie: Sure. For example, you can say.. Don't forget to pick up some dinner on the way home. |
| David: .. which means "Don’t forget to collect some dinner on the way home." Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: In this lesson, you'll learn how to describe lost property. |
| David: If we’re describing, then that means we need adjectives, right? |
| Kellie: Right! We talked about using adjectives before, both in general and also when describing people. |
| David: If we’re going to describe lost property, then that means we’re going to describe things. |
| Kellie: Yes. With people, we said that you should try to be nice and not insulting when you describe them. Saying someone is “old” or “fat” might be true, but it’s not going to make you many friends. |
| David: Words like “mature” or “bigger” sound nicer. |
| Kellie: Right. But with objects, you don’t have to worry about that. You’re not going to offend a building if you call it old or dirty. |
| David: What if I want to call the building both old and dirty. How do I do that? |
| Kellie: There are a few rules when using multiple adjectives to describe things. Firstly, in writing you separate the adjectives with a comma. |
| David: When speaking there’s a little gap after each word, right? |
| Kellie: Dirty, old building. Yes, there is. |
| David: I see that you called it a dirty, old building instead of an old, dirty building. |
| Kellie: That’s because multiple adjectives should go in an order. |
| David: There’s an order? |
| Kellie: Yes! First are opinion adjectives, so these are words such as nice, pretty, boring… They are what we think about the object. |
| David: Right. What’s next? |
| Kellie: Then it’s size, so big, small… Things like that. Then shape. |
| David: Square, round, triangle. |
| Kellie: Then age, followed by colour, followed by nationality. |
| David: Nationality? Like British, American, French? |
| Kellie: Even objects can have nationality! Lastly is material. So that’s words like plastic, wood, metal. That’s a lot of categories, but we typically only use three or four adjectives at the most in a sentence. I think that two is pretty common. |
| David: Can you give us an example of a sentence with multiple adjectives? |
| Kellie: “I have lost a small, red, round keyring.” |
| David: So, we can use these adjectives to describe items we’ve lost. |
| Kellie: Yes, it makes it easier to tell people exactly what we have lost. |
| David: Do you have another example? |
| Kellie: Okay, here’s one from the dialogue - “It’s a black case that has a thin, red stripe down the middle.” |
| David: “Thin, red”. That was size followed by colour. |
| Kellie: That’s right. How about “I like delicious, red apples.”? |
| David: Ah yes, that was opinion followed by colour! |
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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