Learn how to use the past progressive English verb tense to distance one action from another
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Daniel: Hey everybody, Daniel here. |
| Chihiro: Chihiro here. Getting a Vacation. |
| Daniel: Okay, Chihiro, what will we be learning in this lesson? |
| Chihiro: In this lesson, you will learn how to ask for time off. |
| Daniel: This conversation takes place in an office. |
| Chihiro: The conversation is between Mike and his boss Mr. Dunkin. The conversation is semi-formal. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| (Knock knock) |
| Mike: Ahh, excuse me, Mr. Dunkin. Could I speak to you sometime today about me taking some time off work? |
| Boss: Sure. I have a few minutes now. Come in. Have a seat. |
| Mike: Thank you. |
| (Mike steps into Mr. Dunkin's office and sits down.) |
| Boss: Help yourself to a doughnut. |
| Mike: No, thank you, Mr. Dunkin. I just had one this morning. |
| Boss: Okay. So, when were you thinking of taking time off? |
| Mike: Well, I was hoping I could take a week off starting the July Fourth weekend. I should be done with the Krispy Kreme account by then. |
| Boss: True. But we're expecting another huge contract in July. We really need you here, Mike. You're our best designer. Can you push back your vacation until August? You can take as many days as you want. |
| Mike: I guess. Could I take the first two weeks of August off then? |
| Boss: You sure can! It's settled then. Just hand in a vacation request form to HR by the end of the week. Make sure you have enough paid vacation days left. |
| Mike: I will. Thank you, Mr. Dunkin. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Daniel: Mmm…donuts. Now I'm hungry. |
| Chihiro: (laughter) Me too. What's your favorite donut store Daniel? |
| Daniel: I like Krispy Kreme. Especially when the donuts are still hot! How about you Chihiro? |
| Chihiro: Mmmm, I'm not really all that fussy about donuts actually, as long as they're fresh. My favorite donuts are the ones with cream fillings inside though! Mmm! |
| Daniel: You're making me hungry now. I noticed that there were several donut references in the dialogue. |
| Chihiro: Yeah, for example, Mike's boss's name is Mr. Dunkin and Dunkin Donuts is a popular donut chain. |
| Daniel: Yeah, and they also talked about Krispy Kreme, my favorite chain. Whenever Krispy Kreme opens a new store, there's a long line. Have you ever waited in a long line for donuts? |
| Chihiro: Nope, since I'm not fussy about donuts, I won't stand in line for them! |
| Daniel: I can understand. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Chihiro: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word is: |
| Daniel: to take time off [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: to rest or miss work |
| Daniel: to take time off [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: to take time off [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next... |
| Daniel: to have a seat [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: to sit down |
| Daniel: to have a seat [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: to have a seat [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next... |
| Daniel: doughnut [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: cake made of fried dough that is usually shaped like a ring |
| Daniel: doughnut [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: doughnut [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next... |
| Daniel: to expect [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: to anticipate, to wish for |
| Daniel: to expect [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: to expect [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next... |
| Daniel: to push back [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: to delay, to change to a later date |
| Daniel: to push back [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: to push back [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next... |
| Daniel: minute [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: unit of time that is sixty seconds |
| Daniel: minute [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: minute [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next... |
| Daniel: sometime [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: at a time in the future that is not specified |
| Daniel: sometime [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: sometime [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: Next... |
| Daniel: huge [natural native speed] |
| Chihiro: very big in size |
| Daniel: huge [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Daniel: huge [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, |
| Daniel: “Help yourself.” This means to take something yourself without waiting to be served. It's a way of freely |
| offering something, which in most cases is food. In the dialogue, Mr. Dunkin says to Mike, |
| Chihiro: “Help yourself to a donut.” |
| Daniel: Which means Mike can take a donut if he wants to. If somebody says, |
| Chihiro: “Help yourself to some wine.” |
| Daniel: It means that you should go ahead and pour some wine if you want to. |
| Chihiro: Good. The next phrase we'll look at is, “I guess.” This response is a weak agreement to a question or |
| statement. In the dialogue, Mike's response to his boss' request of pushing back his vacation days was |
| Daniel: “I guess.” |
| Chihiro: Because he's either indifferent to the change, or not very keen on the change. Another example is, |
| Daniel: “I guess we can go to the zoo instead of the amusement park.” |
| Chihiro: Means that the speaker is saying that the zoo is okay to go to in place of the amusement park, but is not |
| overly enthusiastic about it either. |
| Daniel: Okay listeners, what are some things you can think of? Be sure to visit the website and leave your |
| suggestions in the comments section for this lesson. |
| Chihiro: Good idea. All right, let's look at the grammar point for this lesson. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Daniel: In this lesson, we will see how the past progressive form is used for distancing a statement from the present. By doing so, a statement or a question sounds less direct and more polite. There are other distancing verb forms, but we will only look at one in this lesson. |
| Chihiro: Right. In the dialogue, Mike's boss asks, |
| Daniel: “So, when were you thinking of taking time off?” |
| Chihiro: This question does not mean that Mike was thinking about it in the past and has stopped thinking about it now. It's a way of asking a question that sounds temporary. Since it's also in the past, it gives another level of distancing as oppose to, “So, when are you thinking of taking time off?” which sounds slight more direct. |
| Daniel: Yeah. Another example is when Mike says, |
| Chihiro: “I was hoping I could take a week off starting the July 4th weekend.” |
| Daniel: Here, the question in the past progressive sounds less direct and more polite. Again, it has two levels of distancing as oppose to, |
| Chihiro: “I am hoping I could take a week off starting the July 4th weekend.” |
| Daniel: Which has only one level of distancing. |
| Chihiro: Here are a few general examples, |
| Daniel: “I was wondering if I could borrow your bike.” |
| Chihiro: “Were you thinking of joining the band?” |
| Daniel: “He was thinking of moving to another city.” |
| Chihiro: Here, all of these statements distance the speaker from the statement. |
| Daniel: Okay. Now let's take a look at forming the past progressive. To form the past progressive, simply put the be-verb in the past tense form according to the pronoun. |
| Chihiro: Then, use the “-ing” form of the action verb. |
| Daniel: For more help with formation, please look at the grammar point in the PDF from lesson 15 of the Lower Intermediate series. |
Outro |
| Chihiro: That just about does it for today. |
| Chihiro: Okay, until later. |
| Daniel: Bye everyone! |
| REPETITION OF DIALOGUE |
| (Knock knock) |
| Mike: Ahh, excuse me, Mr. Dunkin. Could I speak to you sometime today about me taking some time off work? |
| Boss: Sure. I have a few minutes now. Come in. Have a seat. |
| Mike: Thank you. |
| (Mike steps into Mr. Dunkin's office and sits down.) |
| Boss: Help yourself to a doughnut. |
| Mike: No, thank you, Mr. Dunkin. I just had one this morning. |
| Boss: Okay. So, when were you thinking of taking time off? |
| Mike: Well, I was hoping I could take a week off starting the July Fourth weekend. I should be done with the Krispy Kreme account by then. |
| Boss: True. But we're expecting another huge contract in July. We really need you here, Mike. You're our best designer. Can you push back your vacation until August? You can take as many days as you want. |
| Mike: I guess. Could I take the first two weeks of August off then? |
| Boss: You sure can! It's settled then. Just hand in a vacation request form to HR by the end of the week. Make sure you have enough paid vacation days left. |
| Mike: I will. Thank you, Mr. Dunkin. |
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