Conversation Practice

Act out the dialogues and build up yours on the basis of given:

1. Moving Day

Patrick: So you’re moving.

Ann: Yes, well, don’t just stand there! What about giving me a hand?

Patrick: Where are you moving to?

A: Now that Hortense has gone back to France, Mrs. Gaskile says I can have her room.

P: Didn’t you like it, up here next to Ulla?

A: Well, it isn’t a bad room, but it’s awfully noisy, the girls are rushing up and down the passage and the clock is striking every quarter of an hour, and Ulla is playing her banjo all the time! Besides it’s rather a stuffy little room.

P: Yes, but Hortense’s room is awfully cold – the central heating doesn’t work properly.

A: How do you know? Hortense never mentioned it to me.

P: No, but I used to live in that room, so I do know.

A: Anyway, why should I worry about the heating? Summer is coming along. Be a pal and help me to shift this stereo system.

P: With pleasure. Are you taking all the furniture?

A: No, only my personal belongings. Now, come on, Patrick, don’t be so lazy. Lift!

2. Ann Has No Taste

Jane: Ann has no taste at all. Her room is simply awful.

Bob: Awful? Why? What’s wrong with it? What is it like?

J: It’s rather small. There’s a big table in the middle. There’s always some food on the table and a big old suitcase under it. There’s a long narrow bed by the window and there are some old chairs between the bed and the table. There are also some awful pictures on the walls. The one over the bed is simply shocking. And the lamp! Well … I wouldn’t like to comment on that.

B: Is she very poor?

J: No, she isn’t. she is quite well off.

B: Then why is she living in a room like that?

J: She has no taste, poor dear.

B: She’s very much like my aunt Flora. She has a lot of money, but she is very unwilling to spend it.

3. Letting a House

Mr. Read: Here’s the hall and the stairs. There’s a door from the hall into the living-room here, and another door on the right, into the kitchen. On the left side of the hall there is a cloak room with a wash-basin in it, and next to it a lavatory.

Jack: That all seems very convenient.

Ann: There’s plenty of light in the kitchen, I hope.

Mr. Read: There’s quite a large window on the north. The door on the west side can be half glass, too, if you like. There’s a path from the gate to the front door. Here’s the garage, on the west side of the house.

4. Arranging the House

Barbara: Give me a hand with this sideboard, Charles. I want it over there by the settee.

Charles: Don’t you think it would be better under that picture by the armchair?

B: No. the picture isn’t staying there anyway. I only hung it on the wall because it was in the way on the floor. We can arrange the pictures when all the furniture is in place.

Ch: Where did I put my big screwdriver? It’s not in the toolbox and I want to tighten up these loose screws on the door hinges.

B: You had it in your hand when you went into the kitchen just now. Perhaps you left it there.

Ch: Yes, I think I put it down on the shelf above the sink. I’ll go and fetch it.

B: Pass me that brush behind the chair before you go; and take your tools off that nice polished table. You’ll spoil all our furniture before you finish.

Ch: Don’t keep on nagging. I’ve got to put them somewhere. By the way, have you seen the cat this morning? You didn’t shut him outside last night, did you? He’ll get lost.

B: No. he’s definitely inside the house. I expect he’s fed up with all the fuss and noise. He’s probably crept into a cupboard somewhere and gone to sleep.

Ch: That’s just what I’d like to do. I’m tired of it all as well.