Your level-3 list
Read out the requests you transcribed at level 3 or below. Beside each, say which setting it was in and what level it should have been.
Now compare that with Lesson 1, where you ranked all eight forms correctly on paper in under a minute.
Six pairs. Match each correct version to the one usually produced under pressure.
Two minutes of a real recording
Transcribed exactly, from a hotel role-play
— Good evening. I want to change my room. This one has no window.
— I’m afraid the hotel is very full tonight.
— You must find me another room. I booked a twin with a window and you gave me this.
— Let me check what I can do.
— And you’d better tell me tonight, because I have a meeting tomorrow. Would you mind to look now?
Four questions about the recording. The guest is not angry, and every sentence is grammatical except one.
1. I want to change my room. What level is that, and what does the setting need?
2. You must find me another room. Who is allowed to say must to whom?
3. You’d better tell me tonight. How does that land?
4. Which sentence is the only ungrammatical one?
Six families, and the gap they live in
An honest finding. The gap between what you can rank and what you produce is wider here than for any tense in this course.
The reason is not knowledge. A level-6 request takes longer to assemble than a level-2 one, and you are assembling it in real time with somebody waiting. The moment you most need the long form is the moment you have least room to build one.
So the fix is not more rules. It is having three or four openers so automatic that they arrive assembled: Could I …, please? · Would you mind …-ing? · I was wondering whether … Learn them as single units, not as constructions.
And the opposite error, which arrives about a week after this unit. Once the gradient is learned, many students raise every request to level 6 or 7.
Uniform politeness is its own mismatch. I don’t suppose you could possibly pass the salt to a sibling reads as sarcasm, or as anxiety. The skill is matching, not maximising.
The six families, and what fixes each
| Family | Looks like | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Level too low | Learn three openers as single units | |
| Level too high | Match the level to the ask, not to your anxiety | |
| Modal with to | No modal takes to; mind takes -ing | |
must upward | Only downward. Use could you or would you mind | |
had better as advice | You might want to · You could always | |
| Accusation | Passive or first person: the item arrived damaged |
The hotel exchange, repaired. Two to six words per gap.
— Good evening. possible to change rooms at all? The one I have has no window. — I’m afraid the hotel is very full tonight. — I see. have a look — I did book a twin with a window and this is a single. — Let me check what I can do. — Thank you. let me know tonight if you can, only because I have a meeting first thing. And anything at all, checking with the other branch?
Eight sentences, at least one from each family. Fix each and name the family.
1. I want to speak with your manager.
2. I don’t suppose you could possibly pass me the milk, could you? — to your brother
3. Would you mind to wait outside?
4. You must send the refund this week. — customer to staff
5. You’d better take a jacket. — said warmly, to a guest
6. You lost my booking.
7. You had better to check the date.
8. Could you tell me the reference number, please?
Assembling the long forms fast
Ten lines from role-play recordings. Eight need work; two are correct.
1. Give me the wifi password.
2. Would you mind holding for a moment?
3. You must call me back today.
4. I was wondering whether I might possibly be able to have a glass of tap water.
5. Your website took my money twice.
6. You’d better sort this out.
7. Do you mind if I will sit here?
8. I’m afraid that’s not something I can authorise, but what I can do is escalate it.
9. Would you mind to send me a copy?
10. I need that you cancel the order.
Four lines have been removed from this exchange. Put each back where the level fits.
Good morning — sorry to interrupt, I can see you are busy. [1]
It was booked under Ferreira, for two nights from the fourteenth. [2] I have the confirmation email here if that helps.
[3] I do understand it is not your fault and that the system is what it is.
And if nothing can be done today, [4] I would rather know now than at eight tonight.
Two to six words per gap. Half of these need raising and half need lowering.
To your flatmate, about the bin: " take that out on your way?" To a waiter, about water: " some tap water, please?" To a manager, about three days off in August: " take the first week of August, if the cover works?" To a stranger, about a seat: "Sorry — anyone sitting here?" And to a neighbour, about a spare key for a fortnight: " hold a key while we are away."
Three openers, until they are automatic
Task card · Speaking · Pairs · 5 minutes each
Your partner calls out a situation. You have three seconds to produce a request at the right level.
Twenty situations in five minutes. Speed is the point; a slow correct answer counts as a miss.
- You may only use three openers: Could I …, please? · Would you mind …-ing? · I was wondering whether …
- Your partner says the setting and the ask: waiter, more bread · manager, Friday off · stranger, the time.
- Three seconds. If you hesitate, they move on and you lose that one.
- Then swap. Count how many of twenty each of you got.
Why three seconds. At a real counter you have about that long. Practising these slowly teaches you to produce them slowly, which is the same as not producing them.
Both directions
Four lines. Two are too low, two too high. Fix each and say which.
1. Bring me another fork.
2. I was wondering whether it might conceivably be possible for me to ask you the time.
3. You have to move your bag.
4. I don’t suppose you could possibly tell me where the toilets are, could you?
Matching, not maximising
Three questions.
1. Why is the gap between ranking and producing so wide here?
2. You use level 7 for everything. What is wrong?
3. You’d better check the date, said kindly, is —
Before next lesson. Take the complaint you worked on in Lesson 4 and write it out in full. Then go through and circle every you.
Keep the ones where you is the person who might help. Rewrite every one where you is the cause of the problem. Bring it on paper.