Your five sentences
Read out your five sentences from the travel vlog, with your marking for each. Your teacher will say which markings they agree with.
One prediction before you read anything.
1. Two friends are planning a trip. One suggests something the other does not want. What happens in English?
Four minutes of planning
Read it once. Then go back and mark every future form, and every place where somebody disagrees.
Nadia and Bruno plan a weekend
Nadia: So are we actually doing this? Because I am off on the 12th and the 13th, and I am not going to get another free weekend until March.
Bruno: Let's do it. Where were you thinking?
Nadia: I was going to suggest Coimbra. It is two hours on the train and neither of us has been.
Bruno: Hmm. To be honest, I would rather go somewhere on the coast. It is the last warm weekend we are going to get.
Nadia: Fair enough. What about Nazaré, then?
Bruno: That works. Shall I look at trains?
Nadia: I will do it now, actually — I am on the site already.
Bruno: Perfect. And are we staying over, or coming back Saturday night?
Nadia: Staying, I think. It is going to be a long day otherwise.
Bruno: Agreed. I will find somewhere and send you two options.
Work from the transcript.
1. Bruno does not want to go to Coimbra. How does he say so?
2. Nadia says Fair enough. What is that doing?
3. Nadia says I will do it now about looking at trains. Why will and not going to?
4. Bruno asks Shall I look at trains? What kind of question is that?
Put the six moves in the order Nadia and Bruno use them.
Suggesting, agreeing, disagreeing
The three moves
| Move | Phrases | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Suggest | What about…? · How about…? · Shall we…? · Why don't we…? | All four take a bare verb or a noun, never to |
| Agree | That works. · Sounds good. · Let's do it. · Agreed. | Short. Long agreement sounds reluctant |
| Disagree | To be honest, I would rather… · I am not sure. What about…? · Hmm — could we…? | Always: softener + reason + alternative |
The three-part refusal. A bare no stops the conversation and makes the other person start again from nothing. Three parts keeps it moving:
To be honest, I would rather go to the coast — it is the last warm weekend. What about Nazaré?
Softener, reason, alternative. Leave out the alternative and you have handed all the work back to them.
Match each phrase to what it does in a planning conversation.
Say no, politely
Five flat refusals. Rewrite each one with a softener, a reason, and an alternative.
1. No, I do not want to go to Coimbra.
2. Saturday is bad.
3. That is too expensive.
4. I do not like camping.
5. No, too early.
One word per gap. Complete the planning conversation.
— about going on the 12th? — I am not — I am working until six that day. we do the 13th instead? — That . I book the train? — I do it, I am on the site already. — Fair . I will find somewhere to stay.
Plan something you will not agree about
Task card · Speaking
You and your teacher have one free day next month and completely different ideas about it.
Five minutes. Reach an actual decision. Every disagreement in three parts.
- You want a city and a museum. They want the coast and a long lunch. Neither of you is going to simply give in.
- At least two three-part refusals each.
- Divide the jobs at the end — who books what, using Shall I…? and I will…
One decision.
1. They suggest a beach. You want a museum. Which?
Did you get a decision
Answer about the five minutes.
1. Did you actually reach a decision?
2. When you disagreed, how many parts did you use?
Before the rule
One question.
1. What are the three parts of a polite refusal?
Before Lesson 3. Watch one episode of Conan Without Borders, or any travel show with subtitles. Note three sentences with going to and three with the present continuous for the future.
Next to each, write why: arrangement, intention or prediction. Next lesson we test your marking against the rule.