BOOK 1

LISTEN / A FORMAL TELEPHONE CALL

UNIT 8

Ring, ring.
Secretary: Good afternoon. Dr. Rosen’s office.
Kathryn: Good afternoon. May I speak to Doctor Rosen, please?
Secretary: One moment, please. Who’s calling?
Kathryn: Kathryn Martell.
Secretary: Doctor, you have a call on line one. Kathryn Martell.
Leonard: Thank you. Hi, Kath, how are you?
Kathryn: I’m fine, thanks, Leonard. Do you have a minute?
Can you talk?
Leonard: I’m afraid I can’t talk for very long. I have a patient in three minutes.
Kathryn: Look, I spoke to Lyle yesterday. He arrived in
town last night and wants to see us next week.
Can you make it for dinner on Tuesday?

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Leonard: Sounds great, but I can’t tell you right away.

I need to check with my secretary. Can I call you back later?
Kathryn: Sure, you have my number.
Leonard: Did you tell Fran that he’s in town?
Kathryn: Not yet. I gave him her number...
Leonard: No, you didn’t! She told us not to...
Kathryn: Yes, I knew that, but I wasn’t thinking...(beep)
Leonard: Listen, Kath, I have to go. My patient is here.
Kathryn: OK. Bye, Leonard.
Leonard: Bye, Kath.

PRONOUNCE SPEAK

Listen to the pronunciation of the following words which all contain the same
“ch” sound and repeat in the spaces provided.

choose
check
chew
child
children

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STRUCTURE & VOCABULARY LEARN
1. THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE
(IRREGULAR VERBS)
English is the language with the largest number of irregular verbs,
an estimated 283 irregular verbs, 30 of which are formed merely by
adding prefixes.

PAST TENSE OF to be
Affirmative Negative Question
I was I wasn’t Was I?
You were You weren’t Were you?
We were We weren’t Were we?
They were They weren’t Were they?
He/She/It was It wasn’t Was it?

PAST TENSE OF to have

Affirmative Negative Question
I had I did not have Did I have?
You had You did not have Did you have?
We had We did not have Did we have?
They had They did not have Did they have?
He/She/It had She did not have Did she have?

They had
a holiday
last week.

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PAST TENSE OF to do
Affirmative Negative Question
I did I didn’t do Did I do?
You did You didn’t do Did you do?
We did We didn’t do Did we do?
They did They didn’t do Did they do?
He/She/It did He/she/it didn’t do Did he/she/it do?

PAST TENSE OF AN IRREGULAR VERB

to come
Present tense: Affirmative Note: The irregular form is used
I come only in the affirmative past. The
You come negative form and the question form
We come indicate the past with the use of did.
They come
He/she/it comes

Affirmative Negative Question

I came I didn’t come Did I come?
You came You didn’t come Did you come?
We came We didn’t come Did we come?
They came They didn’t come Did they come?
He/she/it came He didn’t come Did he come?

2. THE PAST PROGRESSIVE TENSE (past tense of be + ing-form of the present tense verb)

She walks. / present tense, regular verb

She is walking.
Yesterday she walked.
Yesterday she was walking...
I eat.
I am eating.
Yesterday I ate.
Yesterday I was eating....
They go to work.
They are going to work.
Yesterday they went to work.
Yesterday they were going...
/ present progressive
/ past tense, regular verb
/ past progressive
/ present tense, irregular verb
/ present progressive
/ past tense, irregular verb
/ past progressive
/ present tense, irregular verb
/ present progressive
/ past tense, irregular verb
/ past progressive

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Note: The past progressive refers to something that happened in the past before another past
action:

Yesterday she was walking to school when she saw him.

Yesterday I was eating when he called.
Yesterday they were going to work when they had an accident.

Note: Certain verbs that have to do with mental or emotional states, possession or sense
perception, cannot be used in any of the progressive tenses. Know is one of these.
I know Lyle.
I know how to swim.
Others are want, need, have, believe, like and love.

3.VOCABULARY: SOME IRREGULAR VERBS

PRESENT TENSE PAST TENSE

today I come yesterday I came
today I bring yesterday I brought
today I sing yesterday I sang
today I feed yesterday I fed
today I feel yesterday I felt
today I hear yesterday I heard
today I tell yesterday I told
today I speak yesterday I spoke
today I say yesterday I said
today I see yesterday I saw
today I take yesterday I took
today I go yesterday I went
today I get yesterday I got
today I leave yesterday I left
today I know* yesterday I knew

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PITFALLS BEWARE

Look at the difference between these verbs: talk vs. speak

Talk usually refers to conversation.

I talked to him last night.
Do you have a minute? Can you talk?
Don’t talk in the library.

Speak sometimes means greet (speak + to). It can also mean address a
large gathering. One also speaks a language.
I have to speak to Peters about his work.
Last week I spoke at the Ladies’ Book Club.
Peter speaks Russian without accent.

Don’t
talk
in the
library

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 IRREGULAR VERBS READ

THE SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE (IRREGULAR VERBS)

Kathryn comes home late and brings her cat into the kitchen. She sings
while she feeds her cat. Then the telephone rings. Kathryn feels happy
when she hears that it is Lyle. She tells him that she is feeding her
cat. Lyle says that he is at the airport. They speak for a while, then he
says goodbye, takes his suitcases and goes outside to look for a cab.
He sees an empty cab and speaks to the driver. He knows the road to
town well, but the cab driver takes another road. He thinks that the
cab driver is taking a longer road, but the driver tells him that there
is a traffic jam on the other road. They finally get to the hotel and Lyle
leaves a good tip for the driver.

THE SIMPLE PAST AND PAST PROGRESSIVE TENSE (IRREGULAR VERBS)

Last night, Kathryn came home late and brought her cat into the
kitchen. She sang while she fed her cat. Then the telephone rang.
Kathryn felt happy when she heard that it was Lyle. She told him
that she was feeding her cat. Lyle said that he was at the airport. They
spoke for a while, then he said goodbye, took his suitcases and went
outside to look for a cab. He saw an empty cab and spoke to the driver.
He knew the road to town well, but the cab driver took another road. He thought
that the cab driver was taking a longer road, but the driver told him that
there was a traffic jam on the other road. They finally got to the hotel and Lyle left a
good tip for the driver.

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TALK ON THE TELEPHONE FORMALLY

NOW
I CAN

Good afternoon. Dr. Rosen’s office.

Good afternoon. May I speak to Doctor Rosen, please?
One moment, please. Who’s calling?
Kathryn Martell.
Doctor, you have a call on line one. Kathryn Martell.

Good afternoon. Dr. Rosen’s office.

Good afternoon. May I speak to Doctor Rosen, please?
I’m afraid he is busy. Would you like to leave a message?
I’m afraid he can’t come to the phone right now. Do you want to
leave a message?
Please tell him Kathryn Martell called.
Certainly. Good-bye.

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