Touchstone 2nd Edition • Language summary • Level 3

Unit 12 • Lesson C: Did you hear about . . . ?

Vocabulary
(car) alarm (n)
(car) ignition (n)
(police) siren (n)
call the police (v)
on duty

Conversation strategies
Introducing news
You can use expressions like these to introduce news:

• Did you hear (about) . . . ?

Did you hear about all the trouble here last night?

• Have you heard (about) . . . ?

Have you heard about all the trouble here last night?

• Did I tell you?

Did I tell you? My car was broken into last Thursday night.

• Guess what?
Guess what? Our neighbor's car was stolen.

• You know what?

You know what? He called the police, but they came too late.

• You know . . . ?
You know that older guy on the first floor? His car was stolen.

© Cambridge University Press 2014 Unit 12, Lesson C Page 1

Touchstone 2nd Edition • Language summary • Level 3

The . . . thing is / was

You can use The . . . thing is / was to introduce ideas.

• Use The thing is / was to identify a key issue:

A My neighbor's car was stolen!
B I'm not surprised. The thing is, they just don't have enough police on duty at
night.

• Use The other thing is / was to add another issue:

A There aren't enough police at night.
B That's true. And the other thing is, people don't stop to help each other
anymore.

• Use The only thing is / was to raise a problem:

My car was broken into. The only thing was, they damaged the ignition trying
to start the car.

You can add adjectives to introduce other ideas:

The best thing is / was . . . The funny thing is . . . The scary thing is . . .

His car was stolen, but the police found it. The best thing was, the thieves didn't
damage it.

© Cambridge University Press 2014 Unit 12, Lesson C Page 2