Mr Das fires questions in Singlish at Simon when they met at an exhibition at Suntec Convention Centre.
Phone-in Lesson 29
Download Phone-in Lessons 2002 – Lesson 29 (ZIP, 2.8MB)
| Simon and Mr Das arrive at the Suntec Convention Centre to check their exhibit… | |
| Mr Das: | Over here, Simon! |
| Simon: | Wow! The whole centre looks great, Mr Das. Everything’s bright and colourful, don’t you think? This’ll be fine by tomorrow. |
| Mr Das: | The sign you like? |
| Simon: | Umm… Do I like the HotDotCom sign? Yes! It looks wonderful… and the images on this big screen here should be very appealing. What’s in these boxes? |
| Mr Das: | Free one. Brochure, pen, world time calculator. How much we want? |
| Simon: | Oh, we have to pay for them? I thought you said they were free? |
| Mr Das: | Yes. Free one. |
| Simon: | Mmm… (Changing topic) Anyway I think we’ve got everything covered for the exhibition. |
| Mr Das: | Yes. So, you stay where? I mean, you live where? |
| Simon: | Just off Bukit Timah Road. What about you? Do you live far from here? |
| Mr Das: | Not so far. Nearby East Coast. Er, how much you pay, ah? |
| Simon: | How much is my pay? |
| Mr Das: | No, no. Your rent. Your house. How much you pay? |
| Narrator: | So the HotDotCom display is all set for the start of the Travel Exhibition. Let’s hope Mr Das won’t be asking the public questions, or they could get confused. |
| Replay… | |
| Mr Das: | The sign you like? |
| Simon: | Do I like the HotDotCom sign? |
| Narrator: | In good English when we ask a question and expect a simple yes or no reply, we use words such as ‘do’, ‘are’ or ‘have’ at the beginning of the sentence. The person or thing you are asking about goes last, like this: |
| Mr Das: | Do you like the sign? Are you from England? Have you got the time? |
| Narrator: | When Mr Das began another question with ‘how much’, Simon thought he was talking about money: |
| Replay… | |
| Mr Das: | Brochure, pens, world time calculator. How much we want? |
| Simon: | Oh, we have to pay for them? I thought you said they were free? |
| Narrator: | When we’re asking about money or time, we begin questions with ‘how much’. The same goes for other things like: |
| Simon: | How much paper? How much coffee? How much gas? |
| Narrator: | However, when we’re asking about items that you can pick up and count, like pens, brochures and calculators, we use ‘how many’: |
| Simon: | How many do we want? How many are there in the box? |
| Narrator: | Do you remember how shocked Simon was when Mr Das asked him this? |
| Replay… | |
| Mr Das: | Er, how much you pay, ah? |
| Simon: | How much is my pay? |
| Narrator: | There are two confused question forms here. We’re not quite sure whether Mr Das is asking about how much something costs: |
| Simon: | How much do you pay? |
| Narrator: | Or what Simon’s salary is! |
| Simon: | How much is your pay? |
| Simon: | So remember to be careful the way you form your questions! That’s all for today. Don’t forget to check the quiz point in the newspaper and dial in tomorrow for the final lesson in the series. |
Quiz Point
When Mr Das says: ‘Free one. Brochure, pen, world time calculator’, he is avoiding grammar! The phrase ‘free one’ is not complete. He’s talking about several things, so he should have said “These are all free”, or “All these brochures, pens and world-time calculators are free”.
Written by Niamh O’ Leary, Laraine Bamrah, Harry Allen, Clare Williams, Shirley Lim and Alaisdair Raynham for The British Council, in association with the Speak Good English Movement.
© Ministry of Information and The Arts and British Council Singapore 2002.
