Your five sentences
Read out your five sentences with your markings. Your teacher will say which markings they agree with.
One prediction before you read anything.
1. Somebody says they love something you cannot stand. What do you say in English?
A conversation about food
Read it once. Then mark every place where somebody disagrees, and how.
Halina and Dan
Halina: I love eating out. Two or three times a week if I can.
Dan: Really? I would much rather cook. It is not that I dislike restaurants — I just find them exhausting after a certain hour.
Halina: See, that is the bit I like. The noise.
Dan: Each to their own. What sort of places?
Halina: Small. Nothing with a tasting menu. I cannot stand being told what I am eating.
Dan: Oh, I am with you there. I went to one of those once and I spent the whole evening being frightened of the waiter.
Halina: Exactly. And it takes four hours.
Dan: To be fair, some people love that. My sister would happily do it every week.
Halina: Good for her.
Work from the transcript.
1. Dan disagrees with Halina in his first line. How does he do it?
2. He says Each to their own. What is that doing?
3. Later he says Oh, I am with you there. What has changed?
4. He says To be fair, some people love that. Whose side is he on?
Match each phrase to the job it does.
Disagreeing about taste
Four moves
| Move | Phrases | Why |
|---|---|---|
| State, do not attack | I would rather… · I am not keen on… · It is not really my thing | Your preference, not a verdict on theirs |
| Head off the conclusion | It is not that I dislike… · I do not mind it, I just… | Stops them hearing more than you said |
| Close it friendly | Each to their own. · Fair enough. · Whatever works. | Nobody has to concede |
| Mark agreement when it comes | Oh, I am with you there. · Exactly. · That I agree with. | Makes the disagreement look like a difference, not a fight |
Taste is not an argument. There is nothing to win, so English marks the difference and moves on. A flat I hate that in reply to I love that reads as a correction — and you did not mean it as one.
The sound. In I would rather cook, would almost disappears: I'd rather cook, and the 'd is barely a sound. Modals are unstressed in connected speech — the same discovery as did you in Unit 4 and am/is/are in Unit 6.
Match each phrase to the move it makes.
Disagree without correcting
Five flat contradictions. Rewrite each as a difference rather than a correction.
1. — I love horror films. — I hate them.
2. — I always run in the morning. — That is stupid.
3. — I love tasting menus. — They are terrible.
4. — I never cook. — You should cook.
5. — I do not like this city. — You are wrong.
One word per gap. Complete the conversation.
— I love eating out. — Really? I would much cook. It is not I dislike restaurants — I just find them exhausting. — That is the bit I , actually. The noise. — Each to their . What sort of places? — Small ones. I cannot being told what I am eating. — Oh, I am you there.
Disagree for five minutes
Task card · Speaking
You and your teacher have opposite tastes in almost everything.
Five minutes. Disagree about at least four things and stay friendly throughout. Find at least one genuine point of agreement and mark it.
- Food, weather, holidays, films, cities — whatever comes up.
- Every disagreement stated as a preference, never as a verdict on theirs.
- Use Each to their own at least once, and I am with you there at least once.
- Your teacher will contradict you flatly once. Notice how it feels, then repair the conversation.
One decision.
1. They say they love a thing you cannot stand. Which reply?
Did it stay friendly
Answer about the five minutes.
1. When your teacher contradicted you flatly, what happened?
2. How many of your disagreements were stated as preferences?
Before the patterns
One question.
1. Why not just say I hate it?
Before Lesson 3. Write ten sentences about things you like doing. Ten different verbs, ten activities.
Do not check anything. Next lesson we go through them, and the ones you got wrong are the lesson.