Wednesday's assignment

Using Courtesy Expressions

Task 1:

Listen to the conversation between two friends at a community centre. As you listen, fill in the blanks with the courtesy expressions you hear.

Courtesy expressions are phrases that are commonly used in daily interactions. They are used in a variety of social situations to greet people and respond to greetings, to signal the end of conversations, to say goodbye, and to sympathize, apologize, and express and respond to thanks.

Lynn: Hi, Julie. ?

Julie: . How about you?

Lynn: .

Julie: Listen,
  referring me to Lorraine Holt. I met with her yesterday and she was very impressed with my resumé!

Lynn: It was my . I was  

Julie: She’s going to pass my resumé on to someone else she knows who is hiring right now.

Lynn: , Julie!

Julie: I’ll let you know what happens.

Lynn: Great. I hope you get the job. By the way, how is your cat doing?

Julie: Oh, poor Tiger. He got to the point where he wasn’t eating or drinking so we had to put him to sleep.


Lynn: Oh, Julie, . Tiger was a wonderful cat.

Julie: Yes, he was. I miss him so much.
 , I Mark is picking me up and he’s probably in the parking lot.  for you help.

Lynn:


Julie:


Lynn: .

Julie: Bye.


Lynn: Bye.  

Task 2:

Think and write other expressions that you are familiar with for the purposes below.

A.   Greetings & Responding to Greetings
B.   Responding to Bad News
C.   Signaling the End of a Conversation
D.    Responding to Good News
E.  Responding to Bad News
F.   Expressing Thanks
G.   Saying Goodbye
H.   Requesting a favour

Task 3:

 Let’s practice hypothetical situations. Imagine you are not feeling well and need to call one of your peers at work to cover for you.

Your talk should include the following details:

• Greeting
• Stating the purpose of your call
• Explaining the situation briefly
• Expressing thanks
• Closing the conversation

Once you are ready, click on this link and record your “imagined” phone call conversation; make sure not to exceed 2 to 3 minutes.