Learn how to handle questions that imply a different question
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Daniel: Hey everybody, Daniel here. |
| Chihiro: Chihiro here. Asking for Business Hours. |
| Daniel: So, Chihiro, what's useful about today's lesson? |
| Chihiro: Well, in this lesson, you’ll learn about donations. |
| Daniel: This conversation takes place inside Mike and Susan's house and on the telephone. |
| Chihiro: The conversation is between Mike and Susan and a worker at the Met Museum. |
| Daniel: Mike and Susan speak casually and the Met Museum worker speaks more formally. |
| Chihiro: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Susan: Why don't we take a cab since it's pouring? |
| Mike: Okay. What time does it open? |
| Susan: I don't know. Let's call them and ask. |
| (Susan dialing) |
| Met Staff: Metropolitan Museum of Art. May I help you? |
| Susan: Yes. Can you tell me what time you open today? |
| Met Staff: Our business hours are nine-thirty a.m. to nine p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. |
| Susan: Okay. Thank you. And how much is admission? |
| Met Staff: It's a suggested donation of twenty US dollars. |
| Susan: What does that mean? |
| Met Staff: Well, we suggest that visitors pay twenty US dollars to support the museum. We don't want to turn down people who love art but can't afford the admission. |
| Susan: How considerate! That's a great system! |
| Met Staff: Thank you. Is there anything else I can help you with today? |
| Susan: No, ma'am. That's all. Thank you. |
| Met Staff: Thank you for calling the Met. Have a nice day! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Chihiro: I wonder if most people at least give a little to the museum if they can afford it. |
| Daniel: Yeah, there seems to be a fine line between thinking that 20 dollars is too much to pay for a museum, and just being stingy about it. |
| Chihiro: Yeah, the 20 dollar suggested donation seems to be a bit of a guilt trip too. |
| Daniel: Yes there are also people who have more than enough money and have no limit on how much they can give. And if those people think the service is valuable and want to help others to enjoy it, they will often give much more than the suggested donation. So Chihiro, the questions is, are you stingy or not? Would you pay the suggested 20 dollars? |
| Chihiro: Well, umm, honestly, I'd be stingy. Umm, but I used to give 5 dollars for one of the museums that I used to go to when I was a college student. But I made myself feel less guilty about it by buying lunch at their cafe. |
| Daniel: Yeah, hoped that the money would go around to the museum, huh? |
| Chihiro: That was the idea! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chihiro: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word is: |
| Daniel: cab [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: taxi |
| Daniel: cab [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: cab [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next... |
| Daniel: to pour [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: to rain heavily |
| Daniel: to pour [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: to pour [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next... |
| Daniel: museum [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: building where interesting things are collected and displayed |
| Daniel: museum [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: museum [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next... |
| Daniel: admission [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: right to enter a place |
| Daniel: admission [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: admission [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next... |
| Daniel: donation [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: something given to help a person or organization |
| Daniel: donation [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: donation [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next... |
| Daniel: to support [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: to give help to someone or something |
| Daniel: to support [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: to support [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next... |
| Daniel: to turn down [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: to say no to someone or something |
| Daniel: to turn down [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: to turn down [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next... |
| Daniel: considerate [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: thinking about the feelings of other people |
| Daniel: considerate [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: considerate [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next... |
| Daniel: system [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: way of managing or organizing something |
| Daniel: system [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: system [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next... |
| Daniel: ma'am [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: polite way to address a woman |
| Daniel: ma'am [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: ma'am [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Chihiro: Let’s take a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Daniel: The first phrase we’ll look at is, |
| Chihiro: “Turn down.” |
| Daniel: As we saw in the definitions, “to turn down” means to say no to someone or something. In the dialogue the staff from the Met says, |
| Chihiro: “We don’t want to turn down people who love art but can’t afford the admission.” |
| Daniel: The museum does not want to tell anyone that they cannot enter because they do not have enough money. |
| As in this example, this phrasal verb is often used in more polite situations. Another exampleis, |
| Chihiro: “I'm sorry. I'm afraid I'm going to turn down your job offer.” |
| Daniel: In this case, the person is politely saying “no” to the offer, but not in a strong or mean way. |
| Chihiro: The next phrase we’ll look at is, |
| Daniel: “How considerate!” |
| Chihiro: We especially want to notice the use of “how” + an adjective to emphasize the adjective. In the dialogue, Susan says, |
| Daniel: “How considerate!” |
| Chihiro: In response to hearing the policy of the museum. The “how” in this expression has no literal meaning. It is used like “very.” “How” can be combined with other adjectives in a similar way. For example, |
| Daniel: “You won the lottery? How awesome!” |
| Chihiro: Daniel is saying that winning a lot of money is very awesome. The adjective that follows “how” does not |
| need to be positive, however. For example, |
| Daniel: “Your dog died? How sad!” |
| Chihiro: “How” in this phrase emphasizes just how sad the speaker thinks the listener must be feeling. |
| Daniel: Definitely. And let's go on to the grammar point now. |
| Chihiro: Let's do it. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Daniel: Let's take a look at questions implying other questions in this lesson. |
| Chihiro: Sometimes when people want to ask about something, they ask about it in an indirect way. In the dialogue Mike asks the Met staff, |
| Daniel: “Can you tell me what time you open today?” |
| Chihiro: The direct answer to this question would be “yes” or “no,” but the Met staff knows that Mike is asking about |
| the time when the Met is open at, and therefore answers accordingly. |
| Daniel: Let's give some other common ways of asking questions indirectly. Chihiro, ask me an indirect question. |
| Chihiro: Okay, “Daniel, could you tell me how to get to the post office?” |
| Daniel: “Yes, it's just around the corner.” |
| Chihiro: “And do you have the time?” |
| Daniel: “Yes, it's a quarter to two.” |
| Chihiro: “And, I was wondering if you know when the post office closes at.” |
| Daniel: “Yeah, it closes at 6;00.” |
| Chihiro: As you can see, Daniel gave me full responses to all the questions, because he knew what they implied. |
| Daniel: Okay, so take a look at the lesson notes in the PDF of this lesson so that you can start asking some of your own indirect questions. |
Outro |
| Chihiro: Okay, that just about does it for today! Testing yourself is one of the most effective ways to learn. |
| Daniel: That’s why we have three types of quizzes, vocabulary, grammar, and content specific. |
| Chihiro: Each quiz targets a specific skill, and together, these quizzes will help you master several fundamental skills. |
| Daniel: And you can find them in the learning center at EnglishClass101.com. |
| Chihiro: See you all next time! |
| Daniel: Bye for now! |
| REPETITION OF DIALOGUE |
| Susan: Why don't we take a cab to the Met today since it's pouring? |
| Mike: Okay. What time does it open? |
| Susan: I don't know. Let's call them and ask. |
| (Susan dialing) |
| Met Staff: Metropolitan Museum of Art. May I help you? |
| Susan: Yes. Can you tell me what time you open today? |
| Met Staff: Our business hours are nine-thirty a.m. to nine p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. |
| Susan: Okay. Thank you. And how much is admission? |
| Met Staff: It's a suggested donation of twenty US dollars. |
| Susan: What does that mean? |
| Met Staff: Well, we suggest that visitors pay twenty US dollars to support the museum. We don't want to turn down people who love art but can't afford the admission. |
| Susan: How considerate! That's a great system! |
| Met Staff: Thank you. Is there anything else I can help you with today? |
| Susan: No, ma'am. That's all. Thank you. |
| Met Staff: Thank you for calling the Met. Have a nice day! |
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