Learn the English modal verb "should have"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chihiro: Hey, everybody! I’m Chihiro and welcome back to EnglishClass101.com. I Should Have Gotten the American Rental Car Insurance. |
| Ryan: Hey, everyone, Ryan here. In this lesson you’ll learn about renting cars. |
| Chihiro: This conversation takes place on the telephone. |
| Ryan: The conversation is between Drew and a Sales Representative. |
| Chihiro: Drew will be speaking casually, and the Sales Representative will be speaking formally. |
| Ryan: Okay, let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Sales Rep: Hello, thanks for calling Rent-Some-Wheels. Can I help you? |
| Drew: Yeah, I'd like to rent a car for the next seven days. |
| Sales Rep: What kind of car do you have in mind? |
| Drew: Well, I prefer a Lamborghini Diablo, but I'll take what you have, something to get to work and back. |
| Sales Rep: I hear you, sir. Well, we have some two-door coupes left and a few mid-sized sedans then. |
| Drew: The smaller one is fine. How much is that with insurance? |
| Sales Rep: Well, the car is $65 a day, and with taxes and additional fees that comes to $99.96. You can get a loss and damage waiver for $8.95 a day and a personal loss waiver for $6.95 a day. |
| Drew: …So how much is that in total? |
| Sales Rep: Well…let me see…$115.86. We also have the liability insurance for an additional $15.75, and if you want a ski rack then it's a single payment of $12.50. |
| Drew: I tell you what, do you have a website? Because your endless numbering off is making me dizzy. |
| Sales Rep: …Umm…yes we do, Rent-Some-Wheels.com… |
| Drew: Okay. I'll just reserve it online and pick it up later. |
| Sales Rep: All right then. Well, thanks for calling anyways. |
| Drew: Bye. (hangs up) I should've done that to begin with. |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Sales Rep: Hello, thanks for calling Rent-Some-Wheels. Can I help you? |
| Drew: Yeah, I'd like to rent a car for the next seven days. |
| Sales Rep: What kind of car do you have in mind? |
| Drew: Well, I prefer a Lamborghini Diablo, but I'll take what you have, something to get to work and back. |
| Sales Rep: I hear you, sir. Well, we have some two-door coupes left and a few mid-sized sedans then. |
| Drew: The smaller one is fine. How much is that with insurance? |
| Sales Rep: Well, the car is $65 a day, and with taxes and additional fees that comes to $99.96. You can get a loss and damage waiver for $8.95 a day and a personal loss waiver for $6.95 a day. |
| Drew: …So how much is that in total? |
| Sales Rep: Well…let me see…$115.86. We also have the liability insurance for an additional $15.75, and if you want a ski rack then it's a single payment of $12.50. |
| Drew: I tell you what, do you have a website? Because your endless numbering off is making me dizzy. |
| Sales Rep: …Umm…yes we do, Rent-Some-Wheels.com… |
| Drew: Okay. I'll just reserve it online and pick it up later. |
| Sales Rep: All right then. Well, thanks for calling anyways. |
| Drew: Bye. (hangs up) I should've done that to begin with. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Chihiro: Drew is so silly; he should have just looked at the website in the first place! |
| Ryan: Yeah, but I guess it's one of those things you think is faster on the phone, but in the end it's more complicated than you thought! |
| Chihiro: True. Car rental services have different rates for different cars, fees for insurance, additional features, and length of time. Some of this may seem confusing to understand, so it might be better to look online before renting a car so that the fees are clearer. |
| Ryan: A car may seem reasonable at first, but when the additional expenses stack on top of one another, the final cost may be higher than you expected. |
| Chihiro: Yes, so avoid these unhappy surprises by checking first! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Ryan: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Chihiro: wheels [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: round part under a car or bicycle or other vehicle that rolls and allows the vehicle to move |
| Chihiro: wheels [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: wheels [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: to rent [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: to pay money for using something |
| Chihiro: to rent [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: to rent [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: insurance [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: agreement where a person makes payments to a company, in promise that the company will pay money in the case of injury or thing agreed upon |
| Chihiro: insurance [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: insurance [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: loss [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: failure to keep something |
| Chihiro: loss [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: loss [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: damage [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: harm to something |
| Chihiro: damage [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: damage [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: waiver [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: formal release of something required, form that removes certain responsibilities from a hotel |
| Chihiro: waiver [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: waiver [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: liability [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: being legally responsible for something |
| Chihiro: liability [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: liability [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: rack [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: frame or stand that things can be placed on |
| Chihiro: rack [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: rack [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: additional [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: more than the usual |
| Chihiro: additional [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: additional [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Chihiro: dizzy [natural native speed] |
| Ryan: having a whirling or spinning sensation in the head, sometimes accompanied by nausea |
| Chihiro: dizzy [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: dizzy [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Ryan: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Chihiro: The first phrase is what the sales representative said to Drew’s statement of the Lamborghini, "I hear you". |
| Ryan: This is a slang term we use to say "I understand." We use it between friends usually to express the idea that not only are they listening to what the speaker is saying, but also to imply that we feel the same way. Although the sales representative is speaking formally, oftentimes, formal conversations twist into a casual tone to show friendliness. |
| Chihiro: The second phrase we'll look at is |
| Ryan: "numbering off." |
| Chihiro: This means to call numbers out in sequence. Now, Drew says this to comment on the way the sales representative was giving him the rates of the different options. In other words, Drew wants to tell him that he wasn't catching any of the numbers that he was being told and that’s why he uses this phrase. Now, let’s go on to the grammar point for this lesson. |
Lesson focus |
| Chihiro: The Focus of This Lesson Is the Modal "Should Have." We use this "should have" modal verb combination when there was something important we needed to do in the past, but we didn’t do it in the end. So the action that we didn’t do in the past is in the past participle form of the verb. |
| Ryan: Do you remember what the past participle form of a verb is? |
| Chihiro: Listeners, do you remember what they are? It's the last column in the verb chart for those who memorized it like that. It's the form used when combined with the modal or helping verb "to have" and is used when forming the perfect form. |
| Ryan: Remember, depending on the verb, sometimes the past participle is the same form as the past tense, but there are many irregular ones that you need to memorize individually. For example... |
| Chihiro: "I should've done that to begin with." |
| Ryan: You can see in this sample sentence from the dialogue that Drew is expressing a regret. |
| Chihiro: In a negative statement such as the example "I shouldn't have called you," the person is saying that he or she called when it would have been better if the person had not called. In other words, the negative statement talks about an action that has happened but is regrettable. |
| Ryan: Here are some other examples of both the affirmative and negative forms. |
| Chihiro: "You should have come to dinner with us." |
| Ryan: Is a statement often used when you are expressing some regret that a person did not join you for dinner. It's a friendly thing to say, because it means that you would have enjoyed their company. |
| Chihiro: The next example is, |
| Ryan: "They should not have made so much noise." |
| Chihiro: In this sentence, it sounds like they got into trouble by making too much noise, and now they are regretting the fact that they were too loud. Perhaps somebody complained and called the police maybe? |
| Ryan: Maybe. The next sentence is, |
| Chihiro: "We should've won the game." |
| Ryan: Here, it sounds like the person is complaining about an unfair play and that their team was supposed to win. Or, perhaps the person is expressing disappointment in the performance of the team, and that the team really did not have to lose. |
| Chihiro: And one more, Ryan, |
| Ryan: "The waiter shouldn't have forgotten the order." |
| Chihiro: In this case, well, waiters aren't supposed to forget orders by customers in the first place, so this is pretty straight forward. The waiter is at fault. |
Outro |
| Ryan: As you can see, all of these things are past events that did or did not happen. But another outcome was wished for. Use it next time when you want to say something similar! |
| Chihiro: Good, now you know how to express regret out loud and tell somebody how you feel about a situation! You'll actually be surprised how useful this construction is! |
| Ryan: Although we hope that your regrets are few of course. |
| Chihiro: Of course. |
| Bye for now! |
| Ryan: See you later! |
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