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. |
Comments
HideWhat tourist attractions would you like to visit in the US?
Hello Ali,
It's wonderful to see you practicing your question tags! They're a great way to engage in conversation and confirm information. Your examples are all correct! 😄👍
Remember, the tag is formed with the auxiliary or modal verb from the statement and the appropriate subject. A positive statement is followed by a negative question tag, and a negative statement is followed by a positive question tag. You've done very well in applying this rule in your examples.
Keep up the good work and continue practicing!
Thank you!
Éva
Team EnglishClass101.com
Hi,
"He's an incredible writer, isn't he?"
Declarative statement: He's an incredible writer.
Tag: isn't he?
"She'll have a great career, won't she?"
Declarative statement: She'll have a great career.
Tag: won't she?
"This records video, doesn't it?"
Declarative statement: This records video.
Tag: doesn't it?
"We're going to the party tonight, aren't we?"
Declarative statement: We're going to the party tonight.
Tag: aren't we?
Buh Bye,
Hello Marcel,
Thank you for sharing your plans with us! It sounds like you have an exciting trip ahead. The U.S. indeed has a lot to offer, and both MoMA and the Grand Canyon are fantastic choices. 👍
Your message is quite clear and well-structured. However, there are a few minor corrections that could make your English even better:
1. "It’s very difficult to choose what I will visit when I come to the U.S." This sentence is correct, but to make it sound more natural, you could say, "It's very difficult to decide where to go when I visit the U.S."
2. "First I want to visit MoMA and the second place may be the Grand Canyon." This sentence is understandable, but could be improved by saying, "First, I want to visit MoMA, and the Grand Canyon might be the second place I visit." Remember to use commas after introductory words or phrases for clarity.
3. "I think it’s not enough an entire life to visit all of them." This sentence is a bit confusing. A clearer way to express this thought could be, "I think a lifetime wouldn't be enough to visit all of them."
I'm thrilled to hear that you enjoyed the lesson! Keep up the great work and continue to share your thoughts with us. We're here to help you on your language learning journey. ❤️
Thank you!
Éva
Team EnglishClass101.com
Hey!
It's very difficult to choose what I will visit when I come to the U.S.
First I want to visit MoMA and the second place may be the Grand Canyon. There are a lot of amazing places to visit. I think it's not enough an entire life to visit all of them.
Thank you for the lesson. I enjoyed it.❤️
Regards!
Hello Fuat,
Thank you for your message and your diligent practice in English! You're doing a great job with these sentences and tag questions. I'm also glad to hear about your interest in visiting the USA. 😎 👍
Here are a few corrections and suggestions to help you improve:
1. In your sentence "USA is a place where quite far away from Turkey.", it would be more grammatically correct to say, "The USA is a place that is quite far away from Turkey."
2. In the sentence "USA is most developed and most intriguing country in the world.", it would be more accurate to say, "The USA is one of the most developed and intriguing countries in the world."
3. In the sentence "I want to go this country as everybody.", a better way to express this would be, "Like everyone, I also want to visit this country."
4. In the sentence "But much money is needed that.", it would be clearer to say, "But a lot of money is needed for that."
5. Finally, in the sentence "I hope that I can go one day.", you've done a great job! No corrections needed here.
Remember, using articles like 'the' before countries and 'a' or 'an' before nouns can make your sentences clearer and more grammatically correct. Keep practicing and you'll continue to improve!
Thank you!
Éva
Team EnglishClass101.com
1. No, I can't.
2. Can you sing well? Yes, I can.
3. Can you fall asleep easily? No, I can't.
4. Can you do difficult mathematics? Yes, I can.
Answers of other examples:
Declarative statement: He's an incredible writer
Tag:isn't he?
Declarative statement: She'll have a great career
Tag: won't she
Declarative statement:This records video
Tag:doesn't it
Declarative statement: We're going to the party tonight
Tag: aren't we?
What tourist attractions would you like to visit in the US?
I had actually never thought of visiting the USA until I read this question. USA is a place where quite far away from Turkey. USA is most developed and most intriguing country in the world. I want to go this country as everybody. But much money is needed that. I hope that I can go one day.
Hello Kirver Rodriguez,
Thank you very much for your cute emoji message!😇
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
We wish you good luck with your language studies.
Kind regards,
Levente
Team EnglishClass101.com
😄
Hello Marilu,
Thank you too for practicing on our page! 😄
If you would you like to practice more please upgrade to ‘Premium Plus’ and get personal instructions from one of our English teachers through our ‘MyTeacher’ feature!
Link: https://www.englishclass101.com/myteacher
Enjoy your studies!
Cheers,
Éva
Team EnglishClass101.com
Below are some more examples of tag questions; deconstruct each one—write the declarative statement and tag for each one:
"He's an incredible writer, isn't he?"
Declarative statement: He's an incredible writer
Tag: isn't he
"She'll have a great career, won't she?"
Declarative statement: She'll have a great career
Tag: won't she
"This records video, doesn't it?"
Declarative statement: This records video
Tag: doesn't it
"We're going to the party tonight, aren't we?"
Declarative statement: We're going to the party tonight
Tag: aren't we
Answer the following questions about your abilities using, "Yes, I can, " or, "No, I can't":
1. Can you write in Chinese?
No, I can't
2. Can you sing well?
No, I can't
3. Can you fall asleep easily?
Yes, I can
4. Can you do difficult mathematics?
No, I can't
Hello Jong,
Thanks for practicing on our page. Would you like to practice more? 😄
Upgrade to ‘Premium Plus’ and get personal instructions from one of our English teachers through our ‘MyTeacher’ feature!
https://www.englishclass101.com/myteacher
Cheers,
Éva
Team EnglishClass101.com
A: Next!
B: What tours do you have?
A: We have a half-day tour of downtown and we have a full-day All Around Town tour.
B: Where will the full-day tour go?
A: 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 .
Hello Gloria,
Thanks for taking the time to post and share. 👍
Please feel free to ask us any questions you have throughout your studies.
Sincerely,
Éva
Team EnglishClass101.com
I want to visit all historical building, places in NewYork
Hi there Caesar,
I hope you can!
Thank you for sharing!!
If you ever have any questions regarding your studies, please let me know.
Sincerely,
Éva
Team EnglishClass101.com
I would like to visit the Time Square at New York.
Hello Jaime,
Thank you for your comment. Yes, there is a time limit which is roughly the same as the time it takes for the native speaker to pronounce the word/expression/sentence(s). The reason behind this is that it only makes sense to do the comparison if the pronunciation speed is roughly identical.
Sincerely,
Levente
Team EnglishClass101.com
Hello!!
The voice recorder is not working well, when I'm trying to record and compare my pronunciation in the part of dialogue, It doesn't allows me to record the complete text as audio, So I don't know if there is a limit of time to record but I think you should check it, because it's bad that I can't compare all my record with the native speaker.
This is the phrase that is giving me problems:
"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."
Thanks and regards
Hello there Claudio,
Thanks for the great question! ❤️️
The phrase "to be sure of something" means you are admitting that something is true. I agree, it isn't a common construction of English. A way to use this is - "You're sure to be able to spot the building, it is very brightly coloured and stands out a lot."
I hope this is helpful to you.
Cheers,
Eva
Team EnglishClass101.com