Learn how to organize sightseeing plans using verbs of potential, and tag questions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sadia: Hi everyone. Thanks for listening. This is Sadia. |
| Keith: Hey, and I’m Keith. “How to See All the Important Sites in the Shortest Amount of Time - Make the Most of Your Time” A must for travelers. |
| Sadia: In our last lesson, Lesson 27, you learned to talk about the past. |
| Keith: And we also reviewed the simple past tense-- |
| Sadia: And learned about high-frequency verbs. |
| Keith: In this lesson you will learn about sightseeing in New York. |
| Sadia: This conversation takes place at the ticket window of a sightseeing bus company. |
| Keith: And the conversation is between our main character, Zo, and a ticket seller Alright, well let’s listen in to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Ticket agent: Next! |
| Zo: What tours do you have? |
| Ticket agent: We have a half-day tour of downtown and we have a full-day All Around Town tour. |
| Zo: Where will the full-day tour go? |
| Ticket agent: The full-day tour is from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. It'll go to Central Park, St. John the Divine Cathedral, Grant's Tomb, and Harlem. Then you’ll visit Museum Mile, Fifth Avenue, and Rockefeller Center. |
| Zo: Can the tour guides speak nice, slow, clear English? |
| [laughs] |
| Ticket agent: [laughs] Of course. She can speak nice, slow, clear English, as well as French, and Spanish. |
| Zo: [laughs] Okay, great! The full-day tour, please. |
| Ticket agent: That'll be $35. |
| Zo: Is a credit card okay? |
| Ticket agent: Of course. |
| Zo: Here you are. Ticket agent: Sign, please. Thank you. Here is your receipt. The tour |
| starts at 9 a.m. Please be in front of this building at eight fifty a.m. |
| Zo: Thank you. |
| Keith: One more time, slowly. |
| Ticket agent: Next! |
| Zo: What tours do you have? |
| Ticket agent: We have a half-day tour of downtown and we have a full-day All Around Town tour. |
| Zo: Where will the full-day tour go? |
| Ticket agent: The full-day tour is from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. It'll go to Central Park, St. John the Divine Cathedral, Grant's Tomb, and Harlem. Then you’ll visit Museum Mile, Fifth Avenue, and Rockefeller Center. |
| Zo: Can the tour guides speak nice, slow, clear English? |
| [laughs] |
| Ticket agent: [laughs] Of course. She can speak nice, slow, clear English, as well as French, and Spanish. |
| Zo: [laughs] Okay, great! The full-day tour, please. |
| Ticket agent: That'll be $35. |
| Zo: Is a credit card okay? |
| Ticket agent: Of course. |
| Zo: Here you are. Ticket agent: Sign, please. Thank you. Here is your receipt. The tour |
| starts at 9 a.m. Please be in front of this building at eight fifty a.m. |
| Zo: Thank you. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Sadia: Alright, so, on any given day, you're sure to be able to spot a double-decker tour bus rolling down the popular streets of New York. |
| Keith: I see them all the time. They’re everywhere. |
| Sadia: Bus tours are an interesting way to see certain parts of New York-- especially if, like Zo, you're visiting for a very short time-- but they may not necessarily be the best way to get a real "feeling" or a real understanding of the city. |
| Keith: There are so many neighborhoods and different areas, with lots of different things to see, each with its own character and personality. |
| Sadia: Definitely. I think it's maybe a good idea to do some research before you visit and try to pick a few places that are interesting to you, and focus on those places when you arrive. |
| Keith: Yeah-- it can be very tempting to try and see everything during one trip, but it’s almost impossible to see everything during one trip. Even people who live here, they’re always discovering new things and new places. |
| Sadia: Oh, absolutely. So focus-- and take your time! |
| Keith: And it may also be a good idea to BEGIN your visit to |
| New York with a bus tour, taking note of all the sites and neighborhoods you'd like to visit and for the remainder of your trip you can go back to these places and maybe they seem special to you, maybe you want to see them in more detail. |
| Sadia: Definitely. I think that's a perfect plan! In the process you'll end up creating your own very personal memory of New York. Which is the way it should be! |
| Keith: Alright, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Sadia: tour [natural native speed] |
| Keith: a journey that usually includes a series of stops and |
| ends at the starting point |
| Sadia: tour [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: tour [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: half-day tour [natural native speed] |
| Keith: a tour last one half of a day, approximately 4 hours |
| Sadia: half-day tour [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: half-day tour [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: full-day tour [natural native speed] |
| Keith: a tour lasting one full day, approximately eight hours |
| Sadia: full-day tour [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: full-day tour [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: from [natural native speed] |
| Keith: of; place or person of origin |
| Sadia: from [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: from [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: tour guide [natural native speed] |
| Keith: a person who leads other on a tour |
| Sadia: tour guide [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: tour guide [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: credit card [natural native speed] |
| Keith: a card used to purchase things on credit |
| Sadia: credit card [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: credit card [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: in front [natural native speed] |
| Keith: just ahead |
| Sadia: in front [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: in front [natural native speed] |
| Next:" |
| Sadia: to start [natural native speed] |
| Keith: to begin; to initiate |
| Sadia: to start [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sadia: to start [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Keith: Alright, let’s take a deeper look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Sadia: The first phrase we’ll look at is, “What tours do you have?” |
| Keith: Alright, so Zo approaches the ticket seller and asks, "What yours do you have?" |
| Sadia: This is a very informal phrase that's frequently used in short business or money-related transactions like this one. What he is really asking is, "What tours are available?" |
| Keith: So, you might ask a worker in a deli, "What kind of bread do you have?" Or a shoe seller, "What kind of dress shoes do you have?" |
| Sadia: Next up is, ”We have a half-day tour of downtown and we have a full-day All Around Town tour.” |
| Keith: This is what the ticket seller tells Zo. What he means is, "The tours we [the bus company] have available are a tour of downtown [Lower Manhattan] and a tour [that travels throughout Manhattan]." |
| Sadia: "Half-day" means that the downtown tour will only last for one half of the day. |
| Keith: And the "All Around Town" tour will last for the entire day. Sadia, what's next? |
| Sadia: Next is, “Where will the tours go?” Zo would like to know what sights each tour stops at, so he asks, "Where will the tours go?" |
| Keith: The next phrase is, “The full-day tour is from 9 am to 5 pm.” |
| Sadia: The ticket seller tells Zo that the full-day tour will start at 9 o'clock in the morning and last until 5 o'clock in the evening. "From 9 am to 5 pm." |
| Keith: Next up, Is a credit card okay? Zo would like to know if he can pay with a credit card, so he asks, "is a credit card okay?" |
| Sadia: Use that phrase "Is something okay?" when you'd like to know if that thing is allowed. |
| Keith: . For example, "Is going this way okay?" Or, "Is cash okay?" |
| Sadia: To ask if something is okay is to ask if it is permissible. What about the phrase, "Sign, please?" |
| Keith: That was introduced in one of our earlier lessons. When you pay with a credit card, you must sign a copy of the receipt. |
| Sadia: The ticket seller tells Zo, "Sign please." You'll hear this a lot if you visit America and pay for things with a credit card. Next is, “The tour starts at 9 am.” |
| Keith: After Zo has purchased his ticket and signed the receipt, the ticket seller reminds him that the tour begins at 9 am. |
| Sadia: Our last phrase is, “Please be in front of this building at 9 am.” |
| Keith: The ticket seller then instructs Zo to be in front of the building they are in when the tour starts the following day at 9 am. "Please be in front of this building at 9 am." |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Sadia: The focus points of this lesson are expressing Potential with the verbs can and to |
| Be Able. |
| Keith: And also Tag Questions. But let's start with Potential and the verbs "can" and "to be able." |
| Sadia: The verbs "can" and "to be able" have the same meaning; both are used to express an ability or a possibility. |
| Keith: So, I can sing, that = I am able to sing |
| Sadia: I can dance, means I am able to dance |
| Keith: Or, I can write, it’s the same thing as, I am able to write |
| Sadia: So I can = I am able, You can = You are able, and He or she can = He or she is able. |
| Keith: And of course the plural - We can = We are able, You can = You are able, and They can = They are able. |
| Sadia: Zo jokingly asks the bus ticket seller, "Can the tour guide speak nice, slow, clear English?" |
| Keith: This interrogative statement has the SAME MEANING as, "Is the tour guide able to |
| speak nice, slow, clear English?" |
| Sadia: And the ticket seller responds by saying, "She can speak nice, slow, clear English, as well as French, and |
| Spanish." What about expressing inability or impossibility? |
| Keith: To express inability or impossibility, use "cannot" or "can't"-- |
| Sadia: Which have the same meaning as, "not able" or, "unable." |
| Keith: I can't speak French. I am not able to speak French, OR I am unable to speak French. |
| Sadia: And Zo can't understand Japanese. Zo is not able to understand Japanese, which is the same as Zo is unable to understand Japanese. |
| Keith: Let's move on to tag questions. |
| Sadia: Before paying for his bus ticket, Zo asks, "Credit card is okay, right?" |
| Keith: And that word, “right” is the tag. This has the same meaning as, "Is it okay to pay by |
| credit card?" |
| Sadia: So "Credit card is okay, right?" is an example of a tag question. |
| Keith: Tag questions are a structure in which a declarative statement or an imperative is turned into a question by adding an interrogative fragment-- a "tag." |
| Sadia: Declarative statement + tag = a tag question. That sounds much easier. Tag questions are used to confirm information or to check information. |
| Keith: And Zo tags his question with "right" to make sure-- to confirm-- that he can purchase his bus ticket with a credit card. |
| Sadia: Tag questions are more prevalent in spoken than in written English. They can be used to express many different of emotions; some are used to express politeness or even a lack of confidence-- |
| Keith: Sometimes they're used to express anger or suspicion. |
| Sadia: Tag questions are also often used to show emphasis. |
| Keith: Wwe hate to tell you this, but there are many, many, many ways to make tag questions. |
| Sadia: Here's just one for you-- He's an incredible writer, isn't he? |
| Keith: Or, She'll have a great career, won't she? |
| Sadia: How about, This records video, doesn't it? |
| Keith: Yeah, as you learn more English, you'll be exposed to all the different ways of making tag questions-- |
| Sadia: So listen out for them, okay? |
Outro |
| Keith: Thanks for listening. Bye-bye, everyone. |
| Sadia: Thanks for listening. Buh-bye. |
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