30

62 business one : one

In this lesson you will learnexpressions to use when takinga telephone message.

Starter1 What difficulties do you have when using

the phone in English?

2 Have you ever had to deal with a difficultphone call?

tele

pho

ning

Speaking1 You answer a colleague’s phone at

work. Your teacher will play the part of somebody who has to ask your colleaguea favour. Take the message.

2 Your teacher phones to change the date,time, and venue of your next English class.Note down the details in your diary.

Language boxA phrasal verb is a two- or three-part verb. Thesecond part of the verb changes the meaningof the verb. Compare:

I’m giving him the job.

I’m giving up my job.

Phrasal verbs are especially common inspoken English. Some phrasal verbs can beseparated when used with a pronoun (him,her, it, them, etc.):

... you’re not going to be able to access ourdatabase until our engineers sort it out.

If a noun is used with this type of phrasal verb,it can come inside or after the verb:

... until our engineers sort the problem out.

... until our engineers sort out the problem.

How to survive on the phone

Expressions1 Mandeep Bains works for an airline catering

service in Singapore. Their business issupplying in-flight meals to airlines. Shereceives a phone call at her office. Listen tothe two parts of her telephone conversationand correct the message below.

2 None of the phrases below appear in theconversations. Listen to the phoneconversations again, and write down thelanguage used instead of each phrasebelow.

Say that again.

30.1

Jackie Westinghouse rang on Monday.

Her company has problems with their phonelines, so we cannot get information aboutflights NOA 567 departing Singapore to SanFrancisco at o9.45 on Sunday, and flightNOA 1145 leaving at 23.3o the next day.

She will email passenger numbers.

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63business one : one

HintIt can be very difficult to hear the differencebetween numbers 13–19 and 30–90. To checkwhich number you heard, ask this question:We need fifty computers.Was that five-o or one-five?

There is this problem.

Don’t speak so fast!

I don’t know your name.

The letter ‘e’.

Do you understand?

I don’t understand.

I understand.

Repeat that information.

Other phrasal verbs cannot be separated,whether used with a pronoun or noun:

... we depend on this for exact passengernumbers ...

... we depend on the database for exactpassenger numbers ...

Others do not take an object:Hang on – was the last time three-zero orone-three?

Your dictionary will tell you whether a phrasalverb is separable, inseparable, or does nottake an object.

Writing1 Follow up the message you looked at in the

Expressions section. You are Mandeep, and you haveto send an email to the head of logistics, Lee Pheng,reporting all of the information from the call.

Lesson record3 new words 3 useful phrases from this lesson from this lesson

1 1

2 2

3 3

Things to remember

LookLook again at listening script 30.1 on page 123. Findmore examples of phrasal verbs.

BUSINESS ONE : ONE© Oxford University Press www.oup.com/elt