Lesson 05: Born to be Wild
Nora learns how to describe when things have happened correctly.
Download Phone-in Lessons 2002 – Lesson 05 (ZIP, 3.1MB)
| Nora has returned to work after her maternity leave… | |
| Nora: | Hi, Nora. Back to work? |
| Nora: | Yes, my maternity leave has finished already. So must start back. |
| Simon: | You don’t look terribly enthusiastic. |
| Nora: | Oh, I’m just worried about Siti. She was crying yesterday night. I hope the maid will be able to look after her. |
| Simon: | Oh dear! Well, I’m sure she’ll be fine. Try not to worry. When was she born? |
| Nora: | She is born 13th December. |
| Simon: | December. That’s nice. |
| Nora: | So, when are you born? |
| Simon: | (Laughing) I’ve already been born, Nora! Or do you mean ‘When’s my birthday’? |
| Nora: | Sorry, sorry! When’s your birthday? |
| Simon: | Actually, it’s a week on Monday. |
| Nora: | Huh? |
| Simon: | No. A week on Monday. |
| Nora: | I don’t understand. |
| Simon: | Oh, sorry, Nora. I mean the 22nd of March. |
| Nora: | Very nice. We’ll have a party. |
| Simon: | That’s very kind of you, Nora. |
| Nora: | I need a good party. I wasn’t feeling too good on Christmas. |
| Simon: | On Christmas Day? |
| Nora: | On the whole Christmas! Still recovering from pregnancy! Well, must get on with work. Nice to talk with you. |
| Simon: | You too, Nora. Have a good day. |
| Narrator: | Well, Nora’s having some problems explaining when things have happened to Simon. These kinds of mistakes are very common. But don’t worry, they’re very easy to correct. Let’s look at Nora’s first mistake: |
| Replay… | |
| Nora: | Oh, I’m just worried about Siti. She was crying yesterday night. I hope the maid will be able to look after her. |
| Simon: | Oh dear. Well, I’m sure she’ll be fine. Try not to worry. |
| Narrator: |
In good English, we don’t say ‘yesterday night’. But, we do use ‘yesterday’ for other times of the day. For example, yesterday morning, yesterday afternoon and yesterday evening. But in good English, we always say ‘last night’. Let’s look at Nora’s other mistakes. When Simon asked when Siti was born, Nora replied: |
| Replay… | |
| Nora: | She is born 13th December. |
| Narrator: | What Nora should have said was: |
| Nora: | She was born on the 13th of December. |
| Narrator: |
Much better Nora. When we say dates in English we need to put ‘the’ before the date and ‘of’ before the month.For example, the 12th of March, the 25th of December, the 1st of May. Lastly, Nora says she was recovering: |
| Nora: | on Christmas. |
| Narrator: |
Well, not quite, Nora. We use ‘on’ for days like Monday, National day, Christmas Day and dates. We use ‘in’ for months, seasons or years: in January, in summer in 1985. And we use ‘at’ for fixed times: at eight o’clock or at Christmas. So we say on Christmas Day but at Christmas. Well that’s all from HotDotCom today. Don’t forget to catch up with the team tomorrow! |
Quiz Point
The term “a week on Monday” means the Monday following the next. So if you say “I’ll meet you a week on Monday”, to someone on Friday 12th, it means you’ll meet them on 22nd , not 15th.
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.
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