Learn about English phrasal verbs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chihiro: Hi everybody, Chihiro here. |
| Daniel: Daniel here. At a Restaurant. |
| Daniel: Okay, so what will we be learning in this lesson? |
| Chihiro: In this lesson, you will learn how to order at a restaurant. |
| Daniel: Therefore, this conversation takes place at a restaurant. |
| Chihiro: The conversation is between Mike, Susan, and a waitress. |
| Daniel: The speakers will be speaking casually. |
| Chihiro: Okay, let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Waitress: Hi. How are you doing tonight? |
| Susan: We're fine, thanks. How are you? |
| Waitress: Great, thank you. I'm Sally, your waitress for the night. Can I start you off with something to drink? |
| Mike: Sure. I'll have a Heineken. |
| Susan: And I'll have a glass of red wine. A merlot. |
| Waitress: Okay. A Heineken and a merlot. Are you ready to order food as well, or do you need some more time? |
| Mike: Well, this is our first time here. What do you recommend? |
| Waitress: The most popular items on the menu are Sally's Spicy Steak Deluxe, which comes with fries, and Finger-Lickin'-Good Chicken Fingers with celery and cream cheese. |
| Mike: They both sound great. Why don't we get both? |
| Susan: I'm open to that. |
| Waitress: Okay. So that's one order of Sally's Spicy Steak Deluxe and one order of Finger-Lickin'-Good Chicken Fingers. How would you like your steak? |
| Mike: Rare, please. No, make that medium. |
| Waitress: All right. Can I get you anything else? |
| Susan: Yes. Two glasses of water, please. |
| Waitress: Coming right up. |
| (Waitress walks away) |
| Mike: Hey, wait a minute. Isn't that Joey sitting over there? |
| Susan: Your friend from grade school? |
| Mike: Yeah. Hey, Joey! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Daniel: Mmm…steak and finger-lickin' good chicken fingers! Now I'm hungry! |
| Chihiro: You're always hungry, Daniel! |
| Daniel: That's probably true. You know, restaurants can bring so much confusion if you're not used to how the servers talk. |
| Chihiro: Or the usual ordering pattern for that matter. The thing that most confuses me is the whole tipping rule. Did you know that travel books tell you how to tip? Good thing they do, otherwise people would be so confused! |
| Daniel: Oh right, I guess that can be confusing if you don't have such a thing in your country. You know that the servers make lots of money off of that right? |
| Chihiro: Yeah, which is why they always do their best to be friendly and keep you satisfied. |
| Daniel: And if we take a look at the dialogue, it's common for the waiter or waitress to take drink orders right away, as soon as the customers are seated. |
| Chihiro: Right, then they usually bring out the drinks, and then either take the orders then, or come back in a few minutes. They usually have a recommended item, which could be a personal recommendation or a recommendation by the restaurant. |
| Daniel: That’s right. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Daniel: Okay, so let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word is: |
| Chihiro: waitress [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: female restaurant worker who takes customers' orders and serves the food and drink |
| Chihiro: waitress [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: waitress [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: Next. |
| Chihiro: spicy [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: hot flavor, seasoned with spice |
| Chihiro: spicy [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: spicy [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: Next. |
| Chihiro: deluxe [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: of better quality than the others of its kind |
| Chihiro: deluxe [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: deluxe [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: Next. |
| Chihiro: fries [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: potatoes that have been cut and fried |
| Chihiro: fries [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: fries [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: Next. |
| Chihiro: rare [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: cooked for a short time so the meat is still red |
| Chihiro: rare [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: rare [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: Next. |
| Chihiro: grade school [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: children's school from first to eigth grades |
| Chihiro: grade school [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: grade school [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: Next. |
| Chihiro: to recommend [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: to endorse, to speak well of, to suggest |
| Chihiro: to recommend [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: to recommend [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: Next. |
| Chihiro: popular [natural native speed] |
| Daniel: well liked by the general public or a large group of |
| people |
| Chihiro: popular [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chihiro: popular [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Daniel: Now let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Chihiro: The first phrase we’ll look at is, |
| Daniel: “Can I start you off with something to drink...” |
| Chihiro: This is usually asked by the server to the customer when taking the order for drinks. Variations of this phrase include, |
| Daniel: “What can I start you off with?” |
| Chihiro: Or, |
| Daniel: “Can I start you off with anything?” |
| Chihiro: If you still struggle with some English vocabulary, listen for the key words, “start you off.” But don't get too comfortable because they might throw you off with, “Anything to drink?” |
| Daniel: That’s right. Okay, now the next phrase we'll look at is, |
| Chihiro: “I'm open to that.” |
| Daniel: This means that the person agrees with an idea. It can also be used in non restaurant situations. For example, |
| Chihiro: “Hey, do you want to rent a DVD instead of going to the movie theater tonight, so we can eat junk food while we watch it for a cheaper price?” |
| Daniel: “Yeah, I'm open to that.” |
| Chihiro: Daniel: here is agreeing to my idea. |
| Daniel: Right. Note however, there is no such expression as, “I'm closed to that,” to mean that the person disagrees. |
| Chihiro: Right good point. So, are you open to the grammar point for this lesson, Daniel? |
| Daniel: Sure, why not? |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Daniel: Let's take a look at phrasal verbs in this lesson. Most verbs are single words, but phrasal verbs have two or more words. The first part is a verb that has its own meaning when used by itself. The second part is an adverb which is usually one or two words which come in the form of a preposition and sometimes changes the meaning of the verb, or makes it informal. |
| Chihiro: In the dialogue, the waitress says, |
| Daniel: “Can I start you off with anything?” |
| Chihiro: The phrasal verb here is, “start off,” which means to begin in a specific way. Another phrasal verb from the dialogue is, |
| Daniel: “Coming right up.” |
| Chihiro: The adverb “up” in this phrasal verb, “come up,” doesn't change the meaning of the verb, but makes it sound more casual. |
| Daniel: Here are some examples of commonly used phrasal verbs, |
| Chihiro: “Hang in there, things will be better.” |
| Daniel: And, |
| Chihiro: “We ran out of toothpaste, so we need to buy some.” |
| Daniel: Here, the phrasal verbs are, “hang in” and “run out.” These are phrasal verbs that cannot be separated from each other. “Hang in” means to stay positive and keep trying. “Run out” means to have nothing left. |
| Chihiro: Okay, the next two examples are, |
| Daniel: “Ross made up the story.” |
| Chihiro: And, |
| Daniel: “Connie handed in her paper.” |
| Chihiro: These two phrasal verbs, “make up” and “hand in,” can be separated by a noun. So, “Ross made the story up” and “Connie handed her paper in” are also both correct. “Make up” in this case means “to invent a lie,” and “hand in” means “to submit.” |
| Daniel: And one last example. |
| Chihiro: “The manager thought it over before saying yes.” |
| Daniel: The last phrasal verb “think (something) over” must have a noun or a pronoun in between it. This phrasal verb means “to consider.” |
| Chihiro: Phrasal verbs are challenging since there are many, and a different preposition coupled with the same verb can have a completely different meaning. So we strongly recommend that you learn them little by little as you come across them. |
| Daniel: And we also recommend that you look at the lesson notes in the PDF for this lesson to help you out. |
Outro |
| Daniel: Okay, that just about does it for today. |
| Daniel: Alright, until next time! |
| Chihiro: See you guys later! |
| REPETITION OF DIALOGUE |
| Waitress: Hi. How are you doing tonight? |
| Susan: We're fine, thanks. How are you? |
| Waitress: Great, thank you. I'm Sally, your waitress for the night. Can I start you off with something to drink? |
| Mike: Sure. I'll have a Heineken. |
| Susan: And I'll have a glass of red wine. A merlot. |
| Waitress: Okay. A Heineken and a merlot. Are you ready to order food as well, or do you need some more time? |
| Mike: Well, this is our first time here. What do you recommend? |
| Waitress: The most popular items on the menu are Sally's Spicy Steak Deluxe, which comes with fries, and Finger-Lickin'-Good Chicken Fingers with celery and cream cheese. |
| Mike: They both sound great. Why don't we get both? |
| Susan: I'm open to that. |
| Waitress: Okay. So that's one order of Sally's Spicy Steak Deluxe and one order of Finger-Lickin'-Good Chicken Fingers. How would you like your steak? |
| Mike: Rare, please. No, make that medium. |
| Waitress: All right. Can I get you anything else? |
| Susan: Yes. Two glasses of water, please. |
| Waitress: Coming right up. |
| (Waitress walks away) |
| Mike: Hey, wait a minute. Isn't that Joey sitting over there? |
| Susan: Your friend from grade school? |
| Mike: Yeah. Hey, Joey! |
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