Answer That Telephone! (2)

When you are finished with a call, you hang up. If you need to interrupt a call for a moment or two, you can ask the other party to hang on or hold on.

Sometimes when the phone rings, someone may demand that you pick up the phone. That's the same thing as answering the phone. After you pick up the phone, the person may ask you a question. If you don't know the answer, you can promise to get back to them with them. That means you will find out the information and call them again.

If you are calling a business, sometimes you can't reach the person you wish to talk to. Then you can say, "I couldn't get through." Or a receptionist may answer the phone and say they will put you through to your party. Or, it the person is not available, you will be put through to voice mail.

By learning these phrases, you will find that answering the phone in English won't be so nerve-wracking. 

Info Cloud

Teaching Topic: Spelling Reform

 

In today's lesson, we read the word "you" almost twenty times. Imagine if it were spelled "y-u".

Well, it sounds crazy, but it nearly happened. At various times in history, people have made attempts to reform English spelling. Why? Well, they simply wanted their word to look the way they were pronounced.

At the top of everyone's list, were words that ended in -gh. The spelling of the word "laugh" was to become the more phonetically correct "l-a-f-f".

And, the spelling of "through" would be simplified to "t-h-r-u".

There were hundreds of other words in the cross hairs, too, including "you" and "philosophy". Now imagine seeing that word spelled "f-i-l-o-s-o-f-y".

The biggest push for spelling reform came in the 1800's. Maybe you'll recognize some of these influential people who've invested considerable time, energy, and money to simplify English spelling.

OK. We have British naturalist Charles Darwin and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes.

American president Theodore Roosevelt and industrialist, philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who gave huge sums of money to establish the Simplified Spelling Board.

Well, Carnegie's spelling board began to languish around the time of World War I, but spelling reform still is a hot topic. Perhaps someday, we will spell you, "y-u", after all.

Language Lab

party n.

a person who is involved in a legal case or contract 
- Both parties agreed to negotiate on their prices.
- The conclusion of the meeting didn't seem to satisfy either party.

 

demand v.

to say in a forceful way that something must be done or given to you : to say that you have a right to (something);

to require (something);
- The boss demands absolute loyalty from his employees.

to say or ask (something) in a very forceful way;
- The people demanded the government's immediate explanation regarding the incident.
demand n.

a strong need for something
- The market demand is much greater than we expected.

receptionist n.
a person whose job is to deal with the people who call or enter an office, hotel, etc.
- The hotel's receptionists are fluent in many languages.
reception n.
the kind of welcome that someone or something is given — usually singular
- The speaker received a warm and passionate reception from the audience.

 

nerve-wracking adj.
causing a person to feel very nervous
nerve n.
one of the many thin parts that control movement and feeling by carrying messages between the brain and other parts of the body
wrack/racking v.
to cause (someone or something) to suffer pain or damage : rack
- The waiting before the auditions is so nerve-wracking.
- I will never forget the nerve-wracking experience of bungee jumping.

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