PHONING AND TEXTING ENGLISH VOCABULARY IN USE PRE INTERMEDIATE

 

ENGLISH VOCABULARY IN USE PRE INTERMEDIATE UNIT 53 PHONING AND TEXTING

 

A Starting a phone conversation The call on the left is between two friends: Joe and Lily. When British people answer the phone at home, they usually just say ‘hello’. The call on the right is a more formal business call. JOE: Hello? LILY: Is that Joe? JOE: Yeah. LILY: Hi. It’s Lily. Common mistakes   We say: Is that Joe? (NOT Are you Joe? or Is it Joe?) And we say: It’s Lily. (NOT I am Lily or Here is Lily.) RECEPTIONIST: Good morning. Chalfont Electronics. PAUL SHARP: Oh, could I speak to Jane Gordon, please? RECEPTIONIST: Yes. Who’s calling, please? PAUL SHARP: My name is Paul Sharp from Bexel Plastics. RECEPTIONIST: Right, Mr Sharp. I’m putting you through [I’m connecting you] … (pause) … JANE GORDON: Hello? PAUL SHARP: Mrs Gordon? JANE GORDON: Speaking. [Yes, this is Mrs Gordon.] B Problems on the phone C Phone numbers Q: What’s your home phone number? (also landline) A: 603 884 Q: What’s your mobile number? A: 07723 259369 Q: What’s the emergency number for the police, fire or ambulance? A: 999 Q: What’s the dialling code for the UK when you are phoning from Hungary? A: 0044 D Mobile phones and texting Many people use their mobile mostly/mainly [most of the time] for texting [sending short written messages from one phone to another]. Do you text your friends and family all the time? These are common text abbreviations [letters which represent words]. EXERCISES 53.1 Answer the questions. 1 What are two more ways of saying I called him? _____ I phoned him. ___________________ 2 You phoned Tom but weren’t able to speak to him. What are three possible reasons for this?     3 You can ring a phone number. What are three other numbers you can ring? _____________ number _____________ number _____________ number 53.2 Complete the phone conversations. A: Hello? B: Good morning. Could I ___1 speak to __________ Luke James? A: Who’s 2______________, please? B: 3______________ Liam Matthews. A: One moment, please. I’m 4______________ you through. C: Hello? B: 5______________ Mr James? C: 6______________ . A: Good morning. Boulding Limited. Can I help you? B: Yes. I’m trying to contact Oliver Fallow. He left a 7______________ on my 8______________. A: I see. Well, I’m afraid Mr Fallow’s 9______________ at the moment. Can I ask him to 10______________ you later? A: Hello. B: Hi. 11______________ Carlos? A: Yeah, speaking. B: Hi Carlos. 12______________ Serena. A: Oh hello. I was expecting you to ring last night. B: I did, but I couldn’t get 13______________; the line was 14______________ . A: Oh yes, I’m sorry about that. I was 15______________ the phone to my brother for about English Vocabulary in Use Pre-intermediate and Intermediate an hour. 53.3 What do these text abbreviations mean? 1 GRT = _______ great __________ 2 X= _________________________ 3 CU= _________________________ 4 IMO= _________________________ 5 ASAP=_________________________ 6 FYL= _________________________ 7 LOL= _________________________ 8 THX= _________________________ 9 BF= _________________________ 10 U= _________________________ 53.4

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