Intro

Barbara: Good afternoon!

Braden: Braden here. Trying to Foresee the Unforeseeable in the US.

Barbara: In this lesson, you’ll learn about English auxiliary verbs and Group work.

Braden: This conversation takes place in the afternoon, at the office.

Barbara: And it’s between Jonathan and Sarah.

Braden: Jonathan and Sarah are co-workers, so they know each other, so the conversation
is relaxed but still professional. Let’s listen to the conversation.

Lesson conversation
Jonathan: Okay Sarah, we've got to map out and finalize the entire seminar schedule
today.

Sarah: I know. It should have been finished by now, but there have been so many
unforeseeables.

Jonathan: Such as?

Sarah: Well, I called Alexi Braddaouwscki, and he said he wouldn't be able to come. So I
took him off the list and re-drafted the schedule because some of the panel discussions
depended on him.

Jonathan: So, we need to find someone else just like him?

Sarah: No. That's the unforeseeable part. He called me about 15 minutes ago and said his
secretary had made a mistake and that he'd be able to come.
Jonathan: I wonder how many other delegates will do the same thing.

Sarah: Hopefully not many. It's hard enough creating this schedule without having to re-
write it every five days.

Jonathan: Just as a heads-up, both Daniel Giesbrect and Jeffery Nye have requested a
schedule of the seminar as soon as possible so they can begin structuring their remarks.

Sarah: So, no pressure.

Jonathan: Exactly.

(two hours later)

Sarah: What do you think?

Jonathan: I think we're finishing up, but we need a bit more input from the committee in
order to make the final decisions.

Sarah: So, summarizing, we're done for today, but we still have some work to do?

Jonathan: Sounds about right.

POST CONVERSATION BANTER

Braden: So, we wanted to talk a little bit about Group work

Barbara: In high school and college, students are frequently required to “work in groups.”

Braden: This group work is a form of cooperative learning. It aims to cater for individual
differences, develop students knowledge, their generic skills, as well as attitudes.
Barbara: In the commercial setting, group work tends to be more focused on the
productivity of the group. In general, projects that require entire groups of people to work on
them tend to require that each individual be a specialist in some particular area.

Braden: Beyond that, many “group projects” require larger quantities of creativity that a
single individual can provide. A group project, within a business, is typically “mission
critical,” or very important to the business as a whole.

Vocabulary and Phrases

Braden: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.

: The first word we shall see is:

Barbara: unforeseeables [natural native speed]

Braden: not able to be foreseen

Barbara: unforeseeables [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Barbara: unforeseeables [natural native speed]

: Next:

Barbara: heads-up [natural native speed]

Braden: an advance warning of something

Barbara: heads-up [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Barbara: heads-up [natural native speed]

: Next:

Barbara: request [natural native speed]

Braden: an act of asking politely or formally for something

Barbara: request [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Barbara: request [natural native speed]

: Next:

Barbara: remarks [natural native speed]

Braden: written or spoken comment

Barbara: remarks [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Barbara: remarks [natural native speed]

: Next:

Barbara: structuring [natural native speed]

Braden: give a pattern or organization to

Barbara: structuring [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Barbara: structuring [natural native speed]

: Next:

Barbara: pressure [natural native speed]

Braden: the use of persuasion, influence, or intimidation to make someone do something

Barbara: pressure [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Barbara: pressure [natural native speed]

: Next:

Barbara: final [natural native speed]

Braden: allowing no further doubt or dispute

Barbara: final [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Barbara: final [natural native speed]

: Next:

Barbara: decision [natural native speed]

Braden: the action or process of resolving a question

Barbara: decision [slowly - broken down by syllable]

Barbara: decision [natural native speed]

KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES

Braden: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this
lesson.

Barbara: The first word/phrase we’ll look at is....

Barbara: In the dialogue, we heard the verb to map out

Braden: which means “to plan.”

Barbara: This phrase refers to the idea of a map. Maps identify the major points of a
particular area of interest.

Braden: In the same sense, “mapping out” a schedule, is synonymous to creating an

outline for the schedule.

Barbara: In a previous lesson, we looked at the phrase “to get (something) mapped out.”
The difference here is that “to map out” is a phrasal verb and can act on its own.
Remember, these phrases can be used in any context except the very formal.

Braden: In formal situations, you would say something like “organize your day,” or “plan
your schedule.” Could you break this down?

Barbara: to map out (slowly)

Braden: And one time fast?

Barbara: to map out (fast)

Braden: Next we have the noun "heads-up," which means “to take notice of something.”
Barbara: Which is part of an expression “give you a heads up.”

Braden: This phrase refers to the movement of lifting up your head in order to pay attention
to something. In a business context, this noun is sometimes used by managers as a verb to
say “Pay attention.”

Barbara: A manager might walk to the front of the room where his employees are working
and say something like, “Heads up everybody. We need to go over some things.”

Braden: Could you break this down?

Barbara: heads-up (slowly)

Braden: And one time fast?

Barbara: heads-up (fast)

Braden: Let’s take a look at the grammar point.

Lesson focus
Barbara: The focus of this lesson is auxiliary verb review

Braden: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase

Barbara: We’re done for today, but we still have some work to do.

Braden: So, Auxiliary verbs modify the conjugation or meaning of the main verb and are
conjugated according to the subject of the sentence.

Barbara: Here are a few examples of auxiliary verbs –

Braden: So first we have "has" “Dustin has lived in New York for ten years.” It’s the “has” is
the auxiliary verb.

Barbara: Another example would be “They didn't leave the party last night.” Here it’s the
“didn’t.”

Braden: Another one would be “I was making lunch when you telephoned.” In this case, it's
the “was.”

Barbara: “Where are you going?” And here it’s the “are.”

Braden: Knowing correct auxiliary verb usage is key to tense usage. Every tense takes an
auxiliary form of the verb.

Barbara: There are three exceptions to this rule. First, The Simple present positive. For
example, “She works at a bank.”

Braden: The second exception is the Simple past positive. For example, “He bought a new
TV last week.”

Barbara: And last is the Positive imperative statements. For example. “Hurry up!”

Braden: There are also a number of short forms that take ONLY the auxiliary form of the
verb.

Barbara: The first is the Yes / No answer short forms. For example, “Do they live in
Jamaica?” answer “No, they don't.” or “Has he been to Brazil?” answer “Yes, he has.”

Braden: The next form that takes only the auxiliary is Question tags. For example, “He
enjoys learning English, doesn't he?” and “She won't work with me, will she?”

Barbara: Our next auxiliary-only form is the Positive agreement or positive inclusion form.
For example, “He went to the bar last weekend.” answer, “So did she.”

Braden: Another example would be, “I'm sleeping very lightly recently.” and the answer
would be, “So is he.”

Barbara: The last form that takes only the auxiliary form is the Negative agreement or
negative inclusion form. For example, “They haven't worked here long.” and the answer
would be “Neither have I.”

Braden: Another example would be “We won't be able to come next week.” and the answer
is ”Neither will I.”

Barbara: Now let’s do a quick review of auxiliary verb usage. First, we have DO and DOES
which are used in the simple present question and negative forms, “What time does he get
up?” or “They don't drive to work. They take the bus.”

Braden: Next is the past tense DID. This is used in simple past question and negative
forms, “When did they arrive yesterday?” or “He didn't finish his homework last week.”

Barbara: Next we have IS, ARE, and AM which are Used in the present continuous form
when talking about the future and with phrases like 'going to'. Some examples are “They
are working hard at the moment.” and “She is going to study medicine at university.”

Braden: Next is WAS and WERE. These are for the Past continuous. For example, “I was
watching TV when you arrived.” and “What were they doing while you were cooking
dinner?”

Barbara: Next we have HAVE and HAS. These are used in the Present perfect and present
perfect continuous, “How long have you lived here?” or “I've been working since seven this
morning.”

Braden: Next we have HAD which is used in the Past perfect and past perfect continuous.
For example, “He had eaten by the time I arrived.” and “She had been studying for two
hours when he finally telephoned.”

Barbara: Lastly, we have WILL and WON'T. These are used for the future. For example,
“What will the weather be like tomorrow?” and “He won't understand.”

Outro
Braden: That just about does it for today.

Braden: Thanks for listening!

Barbara: Bye for now!