It's Monday morning and Dan has just entered the office. In this lesson we look at morning greetings.
Audio
Lesson Audio
Story
Story
Dan breezed into the office.
"Morning all!" he said to everyone.
"Did you have a good weekend, Sasha?"
Sasha looked up from her computer
"Great, thanks," she replied. "I'll fill you in later, but I must get this email sent off first. How about you? You were off to the Adele concert, weren't you? I can't wait to hear about it. Fancy catching up over a coffee later?"
Notes
Phrases and Expressions
1. Dan breezed into the office = he entered quickly and casually, in an easy going kind of way.
2. "Morning all!" = Notice how he says this. "Morning all!" would be considered much more casual than "good morning everyone", but also much more friendly. Obviously a balance is important: you don't want to be too casual in the office, but it's also not good to be too formal.
3. "Did you have a good weekend, Sasha?" = I think the meaning of this is pretty obvious, but notice that the main reason this is used is as a greeting. This is what we call "phatic" communication, which is basically things we say connect with someone or set a mood.
4. Great, thanks = a good response to the previous question. It wouldn't be appropriate here to go into a lengthy account of what you actually did at the weekend!
5. "I'll fill you in later" = this said, it seems Sasha *does* have some news to share. If you "fill someone in" you tell them the details of something. Another example might be if, say, you missed a meeting and your co-workers says: don't worry; I'll fill you in.
6. I must get this email sent off first = basically she's saying, "I have to finish this — then fill you in". Also notice the phrasal verb "sent off" — the difference between "send" and "send off" is that "send off" has the nuance of a specific destination whereas "send" doesn't. That said, it doesn't really make a difference here (you could use both).
7. How about you? = more pleasantries. This continues on from, "Great, thanks." but obviously Sasha's already said she needs to get the email finished — so it would be inconsiderate to start taking about what we did here.
8. You were off to the Adele concert, weren't you? = Again, notice how this is phrased. It'd be more standard to say, "you went to, … didn't you?" — but this has more of a nuance of, "You told me on Friday afternoon (for example) that you would be going to see Adele, and now I want to continue that conversation."
9. I can't wait to hear about it = if you "can't wait" for something, you're looking forward to that thing.
10. "Fancy catching up over a coffee later?" = if you "catch up", you get up to date on the information regarding that topic (here Dan's going to see Adele). Notice that this is also connected to Sasha's currently being busy — she greets Dan, tells him that she can't talk right now then, offers a different opportunity to talk.
Checklist
Lesson Checklist
You should have done the following before marking the lesson complete:
- Dictation (either completely or time blocked - e.g. 20mins.
- Been through the lesson at least once and understood the main points
- Understood all the chunks, practised them and thought about how you can use them yourself.
- Done shadowing until it feels fairly easy.
- Ask any questions in the questions below.
Don't worry too much if you didn't do everything perfectly; it's more important that you keep doing it consistently.