what do youdoz

t0. A: I'm sorry,what did you sayyou do againl

B: I'ma sales...,......foran insurance

Complete the names of the jobs a-i by

re-arranging the letterl in brackets. The first
lettr of each word is given.

company,
I'm not surprisedyou forgot.lts not
veD/interesting.
. A: I'm thinkingof leavingmy job andre-trainingin

l. I work for a multi-national

drugscompanyasa
a. s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (aslsepre)
b. p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (roupdtc mgraane)
c. r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (searechre)
2. I work for a car companyasa(n)
d. e................ . (eegrinen)
e. c.........,...... . (rpuomc et
oprtrmmaer)
f. m . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (kmaternigmgraane)
3. I work for a big departmentstore as a
g. s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (saslessastnait)
h. p ................
i. s ................

. (rseolnnpe
mgraane)
. (ecritusydgaru)

Abbreviations
Lots of abbreyiations are commonly used in the
workplace. Match the abbreviations l-6 to the
full forms,
t. tT

a. administration

2. PA
3. rep
4. admin

b. laboratory
c, curriculumvitae
d. personal assistant

.There'sno futurefor me in the

job I'm doingnow.
Have you ever thought about re-training?\ /hat
in?

Make sentences by matching the beginnings l-6

to the endings a-f.
t. I haYeto deal with
2. I dont haveto deal with
3. I haveto get up
4. I can start
5. I dont haveto wear
6. I have to wear
this horible yellow uniform.
D.

f.

representative

Now complete these sentences with the

abbreviations from above.
7. A: So what do you do at the university?
B : I w o rk i n .........., d e a l i n gw i th student
enrolments and that kind of thing.What about

o. any of the accounts.Thankgoodnesssomeone

does that.
at about six in the morning.

t. some very difficult customers.

Make sentences by matching the beginnings 7-t2
to the endings g-1.
7. I have to do
8. I can take
9. I dont usuallyhaveto meet

t0.

you?
A : O h I' m a ..........

whenever I like - within limits.

a suit or anfthing,which is nice.

e. informadon technology

6. lab

Haveto, don't haveto, can

te c h n i c i a n
i n the S choolof

Sciences.

. I often have to take

t2. I haveto meet

8. I'm thinking of looking for another iob, but l'll need

t o u p d a tem y ..........fi rs t.
9. A: I'm sorry what did you sayyou do again?
B: Oh, I'm a . . . . . , . . . . to one of the oartners of a
firm of accountants.

I can do

the day off more or lesswhenever I want.

h.

work home with me.

i.

Yery tight deadlinessometimes.

i.

clients,

k.

a lot of paperwork,which I hate!

overtime if I need the money.

5 Work
I

Conversation 3
a. Do you enioyyour job?
b. What are the other peopleyou work with likel

El I couldneverget usedto that

Match the sentences l-8 to the follow-up
comments a-h.
l. I couldneverget usedto beingself-employed. f
2. I could never get used to working nine to five.
3. I could never get used to working with
comDUters.
4. I could never get used to working a
twelve-hour day.

5. I could never get used to working from home.

6. I could never get used to working in a factory.
I could never get used to working with
my hands.

8. I could never get used to being unemployed.

n
n

f
f
f

n
n

a. I'm much too clumsy! I'm sure ld end up breaking

lots of things.
b. I just cant imaginedoing a forty-hour week.lt'd
drive me mad,that kind of typical office iob.

c. Well,there'sonly three of us in the office,but

we get on reallywell.
d. Yeah,it's OK, I suppose.
The money'snot that
8reat,but ir paysthe bills.
Conversation 4
a. You'rejoking.Youmustget exhausted.
b. No, I loveir lt's hard,but it'sjust really
rewarding.
I wouldnt do anfthingelse.
c. Theyare fairlybad.I'm sometimeson callfor
fourteenhoursandI often work a six-dayweek.
d. Sometimes,
I suppose,
but you get usedto it.
e. Do you everthink aboutchanging
jobsl
f. What are the hourslike whereyou workl
Now cover the conversations above. Complete
the questions below and then translate them
into your language.

c. I guessit might be fun to begin with, but havingno

money would drive me mad in the end.

1............youdo|
2. What doesthat . . . . . . . . . . . I

d. ltd drive me mad,all that noise and dirtand all that

machinery!

3. . . . . . . . . . . . the money. . . . . . . . . . . ?

e. ltU drive me mad, not havingpeople around to talk

to.
I

lmaginehow tired you'd be by the time you finally

got home eyery night!

g. I'm much too disorganisedto be my own boss!

h. I dont know the first thing about them. I'm useless
with technology!

Conversations
about jobt
Put the conversations into the coffect ordr.
Conversation

a. Basically,I designweb sites and create new

servicesyou can accessbI mobile phones.
b. I'm an information architect.
c. What do you dol
d. Oh yeahl What does that involve?

u
n
f
n

Conversation 2
a. Reallygood.That! the main reason I'm still
.doing it. Hopefully,l'll be able to retire soon!
b. Do you enjoy itl
c. Oh, right. So,what! the money like?
d. lt's OK, I suppose,but the hours are really bad
and it's quite stressful,

u
I

LJ

4. . . . . . . . . . . . the hours. . . . . . . . . . .?
5. ...........the otherpeople........... ?
6. Do you everthink about. . . . . . . . . . . ?

n
n
f

u
n
tr
f

tl
T

5 Work

Lookingfor somethingelse

2. A: I'm a family lawyer,you know. I deal with PeoPle

teRing diyorced and things like that.
dealing
R eal l yl... ......... ... qui te deP ressing,

Complete the sentencei below with the

comparative phrases in the box,

with all those hiled marriages.

I suppose.........,,.,..,

but you i ust 8et used

to icAs soon as I leavethe office, I just forget

about my job.
| . lt's got a bit boring. I dont even need to think when

3. A: SometimesI teach them a word and then

l'm at work any more. I need somethinga bit

someone will ask me what it meanstwo minutes

later.
real l yfed up
...............
B: R eatl y?
.....
.....
... ! I' m tea r int m y hair
A: B el i eveme,..

I spend all day making rich people even richer.I need

to do something . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , like

out most of the time!

teaching.
I haveto do the same thing day in, day out. I could
do with something a little

4. A: I teach kids with learningdifficulties.

real l yrew ard ing.
B: R eal l y?
...............
A: Yeah,. . . . . . . . . , , . , . . , I suppose,but it's actually

4. I only get six pounds an hour. I need to get

quite frustrating too. Sometimesit! difficult to

s om et hin gw h i c h i s ......................

see an), real improvement.

5. l'm finding it really difficult to keep up with all the

I could do with somethinga bit
deadlines.

5. A: ....... ........ a bi t bored,l ust bei ngst uckin an

office all day.

B: .......... ..... The l ob! actual l yqu it eint er est int

6. They wont let me changemy hours to fit in with my

and I get on really well with the other people

children.I need something

uust be,mustget

I work with.

6. A: You must travel a lot in your job.

B: Yeah,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , but these days I do a lot of
businessthrough video conferencesand the

Put the adiectives into the correct group.

Internet, so I dont go away as often as I used to.

El Workcollocations
Match the sets of words l-4 to the nouns they
collocate with a-d.
l. applyfor / get / look aroundfor
2. leave/ be sickof / get sackedfiom
3. write / sendout / update
4. a design/ an electronics/ an insurance
Now complete the short dialogues below with
the expressionsin the box. You will need to use
some more than once.

| . A: We often haveto meet really tight deadlines,so

we sometimeswork all night.
l
B : Reall y ...............

re a l l ys tre s s f ul .

A : B elie v eme ,........ ....... !T h a t' sw hy I' m goi ng

grey! I'll probably havea heart attack before I'm
forty!

26

a.
b.
c.
d.

my CV
my iob
comPany
a job

n
n

L_T

5 Work

Now match the verbs 5-8 to the sets of words

they collocate v/ith Fh.
5. get
6. do
7. work
8, cut

n
n
n
n

e, paperwork/ the accounts/ a cleaninglob

f. our pay/ fifty jobs/ production
a payrise / a Christmasbonus/ a paycut /
a companycar / promoted
from home/ late/ weekends/ in shifu

Writing: a coveringletter
Read the letter below written by a Spanish
woman who is looking for part-time work in a
shop, She is sending the letter, along with her CV,
to a number of different places.

Complete the letter below with the words and

expressionsin the box.

Now match the sentence starters I l-l7

Sr.oups of common endings a-f.

to the

. I havea first classdegree in

t2. I havea diplomain
t 3 . I havesome experience managing
t4. I haveseveralyears experienceworking in
t 5 . I haveprevious experienceworking with
I 6 . I would ideally like to work
17.You can contact me

D.

proiects / iunior staff / a shop.

businessmanagement/ French / history.

c.

children/ computers/ disabledpeople.

d.

part-time / full-time / evenings.

e.

at the above address/ by e-mail.

f,

marketing / retail / restaurants.

t.

caterint / nursing/ book-keeping.

Write a similar covering letter to apply for one of

the following:
.
.
.

work in one of the best restaurantsin town

work on a children! holiday camp or play scheme
work for a designcompany

Dear Sir/Madam,
I am wriling to enquireabout any possible( 1) . . . . . . . . .
You may have at your store. I am currently siudyiog
Englishhere in Londonand I would like to work (2). . . .
. . . . . . to allow me to continue my studies.
(3) . . . . . . . . . . you can see from my CV I have several
years'experienceworking in (4) . . . . . . . . . . shopsin my
home country I have worked in both ladies' fashion and
perfume depadments(5) . . . . . . . . . . cashierwork. For
six monihs, I was in (6)
. . . of the record
department of a large store. I have a diploma in retail
managementand I also have (7)
. of several
computer p.ogmmmes.I am a good, (8) .
workr, and I have a friendly, open manner with
custome.s and other staff.
I would ideally like to work afternoons or evenings to
(9) . . . . . . . . . . my studies,but I may be able to change
classesif necessary.
Yo u can( . 10) . . . . . . . . . . m e o n m y mo b i l e :
Q8769 57A234, or at home on 020 889 7765.
Thank you ilr your time, and I hope to hear ftom you
shortly
Yours faithfully,
Lucia Hernandez

27

| 5. lt's the latestgadgetfrom Japan- a very small,very

expensiye
andyery,..........product!

Shoppingcollocations
Put these nouns in the correct group below.

Thebestthingis ...

Make sentences by matching the common

sentence starters l-6 to the endings a-f,
the world's leading-, a top -, the supermarket!
own -, my favourite -

l. The annoyingthing about shoppingwith him is

the fact that

2. The nice thing about him is the fact that

a profiable -, a retail -, a wholesale-, the family -,
a catering -, my own -

The great thing about campingis the bct that

4. The only bad thing about the house is the fact

that

a stneet-, an antiques-, a cattle -, a fish -, a fruit

and vegetable-

The pleasingthing about the talk was the fact

that
The amazingthing about his Englishis the fact
tnat

a corner -, a Pet -, a betting -, a specialist-,

a second-hand-, the village-

a good-, an innoyative
-, a quality-, dairy-s,
a very hith-tech-, beauty-s
Now complete these sentenceswith words from
above.
lf l'm buyingthings like beansor soup, I alwaysgo
f or t he s u p e rma rk e t'...,......
s

b ra n d .l t' s much

cheaoer!

7. I always wear Levi's.They're my . . . . . . . . . . brand of

ieans by a long way.
a

I think my dad is expecting me to take over the

r unnin to f th e ,.....,...

b u s i n e sos n c e he reti res.

9. He's managedto turn a businessthat was going

nowhe rei n to a v e ry ......,.,.

o n e th at now makes

a lot of money.

r0.

I got these shoes really cheapfrom a second-hand

s t allin th a t b i g ..........

m a rk e tn e a rt he stati on.

T her e' sa g re a t.....,....

a n d ,.....,...

market

tl
tl

u
E

n
n

a. he's only been learningit for six months.

b, you're out in the open air and so close to nature.
c, he doesnt even try to show an interest in what
I try on.
d. the area we live in is a bit rough.
e. he alwaystakes an interest in what I've been
doin8.
f.

lots of people asked me questions,so they were

obviously interested in what I was sayint

Now make sentences by matching the common

sentence starters 7-l I to the endings g-k.
7. The thing that really irritates me about that
shop is the fact that
8. The thing that drives me mad about English
is the fact that
9. The thing I cant stand about him is the fact
that
10. The thing that really concerns me about my
father is the fact that
I l. The thing that really bothers me about London
is the fact that

F--l
LJ
LJ
L-.1
LJ
,--l-l

near my house where I do most of my food

g. there are so many words to learn,

shopping.

12. My granddad'sa terrible gambler.He more or less

liv esin t h e l o c a l..........s h o o !

t3.

I needto p o p i n to th e ..........

i.

you see so many homelesspeople on the street Why

isnt the government doing somethingabout it?

i.

they're alwayschangingeverythingaround, so you can

never find anything.

s h o pon my w ay

home and buy food for my cat.

My brother's a vetan, so he doesnt eat any
. . , . . . , . .. p ro d u c tsa t a l l - n o m i l k o r cheeseor
anythint like that!

h. he keepsforgetting things.I'm worried he might be

seriouslyill.

k, he never ever listensto what you say.lt! so

annoyint!

6 Shopping

Do you know if there's a chemist's

near here?
Which shops are being described below?

so do t I tteitherdo r

lf you agree with a positive sentence you say:

So + do / om I can I hove + ,. For example:
A: I love shopping
B: Sodo I lt's really good fun.
A: I'm getting the five to.
B: 5o om L Seeyou on the train, then.

+*i.'*

Church Street
lf you agree with a negative statement you say:
Neither + do I om I con I hdve + f. For example:
A: I cant drive.
B: Neidrercon l. I've failed my driving test five times!
A: I didnt pay to get in.
B: Nertherdid L l know the guy on the door as well!

It's about halfwaydown Church Street.

2; It's on Salisburf Lane,just off Church Streer

3. It's at this end of Church Street.
4. It's at the end of Church Street.
5. It's on the corner of Church Street ano
Judd Street.

Which shops are being described below?

Agree with these statements using the patterns

above.
l. A: I really like that shop.
B : ...............

. tt! real l ycheap,i snt i tl

2. A: I dont like that shop.

B: No, . , , . . . . . . . . . . . . . you can never find what
you want.
3. A: I cant swim very well.
B : .... ...... ..... .I' m scaredof w ater.
4. A: I hate that song.
B: Yeah,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .lt's really annoyingbecause
I cant stop singingit!
5. A: I'm really fed up with this weather.
B: Yeah,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lt's just so hot I dont feel
like doing anfthing.
6. A: I still havent seen that new Bob Jonesfilm.
B : N o,..........

..... . D o you w ant to go wit h m e

and see it next week some timel

7. A: I havent done my homework.

6. It's on the left, just past the station.

It's just before you tet to the station.
8. There's one just outside the station

9. It's right opposite the station.

t0. It's on the left, about two hundred

B : ...............

. I w as hopi ngyou coul dg ivem e

the answers.
8. A: I've got an appointment at the dentist nen week.
B : Y eahl...............
.I' m dreadi ngi t.

metres before the station.

29

6 Shopping

17. That new mall is such

.lt's so bright and

open, and you've got ever)rthingyou want under

one roof, too.

t 8 . I prefer Oddbins,to be honest.Theyve got such

.....,..,.

of w i nesand beers.They' regr eat .

t 9 . I d never buy any British electrical goods.They're

so .,........

- they' dbreakw i thi n a monr n or t wo.

20. I can't believehe paid eight hundred dollars for that

bel t.l t' ssuch..........

l.

Tmeis money

Complete each pair of sentences below with the

words in the box.

Complete with so or such.

/

! H e must be m ad!

. . . . . . . . . . expensive

2. . . . . . . . . . .

a w a s teo f m o n e y

3. . . . . . . . . . .a

widechoice

4. . . . . . . . . ..u n re l i a b l e
5. . . . . . . . . . . friendly staff

la. They didnt tell me anfthing I didnt know already,

6. . . . . . . . . ..c h e a p
7. . . , . . . . . . .a

so the meeti ntw as..........ti me.

n i c ep l a c eto s h o p

8. . . . . . . . . . .

d i rry

9. . . . . . . . . . .

ti S h t

lb. I saw it by chanceand bought it on impulse,but l,ye

neverusedi t,so i t w as .......... money.

10. . . . , . . . . . . g o o d v a l u efo r m o n e y

2a. | . . . . . . . . . . about three hours on Saturdaysorting

out the house,so it! nice and tidy now.

Now complete the following rules:

2b. W e' ve ..........

a. lf we want to make an adjectiyesound stronger,we

c an do it b y p u tti n g..........

b e fo reth e adj ecti ve.

b. lf we want to make an adjective+ noun collocation

stronger,we can do it by putting , . . . . . , . , . before

Complete these sentences with words from

l - l0 above.
| | . This bag'sreally good quality,and it! so . . . . . . . . . .
as well - onl), f l5! | cant believe it!
! | c ant afford

to spend f300 on somethinglike that!

| 3, I love that restaurant.The food's,great and it's such
. . . . . . . . ,., to o . I me a n te
, n d o l l a rsfo r a l l you can
eat!
14. lt! a nice cafe,and they've got sucn . . . . . , . . . . , too.
I alwaysleavethem a tip when I go there.
15. I like it, but becauseitb second-handit's just so
. I mean,look at the mark on the sleeve
there!
16. I dont know how you can breathe in that skirt!
It looks so
. I'm amazedyou got it on!

30

house,so it looks really nice now.

3a. I cant afford to go out at the moment. I'm
........,.money.
3b. Perhapsyou could read this at home and talk about
i t next ti me.W e' re.....,....ti me tod ay.

the adjectiye.

12. lt ! a nic eb a g b
, u t i t! s o ..........

qui tea l ot of moneydoingup t he

4a. D ont try to persuadehi m.l t' s not .... . . . . . . t he

time and effort He! the most stubborn person
I know.
4b. I wouldnt bother getting a new one. ltl not
........ .. the money.S econd-hand
one sar e just as
good, and they're half the price.
5a. I've started walking to school insteadof takint the
bus.I' m tryi ngto ..........

money.

5b. Why do we haveto fill in so many formsl lf they

j ust hadone,i t w oul d .......... everybodyso m uch
time.
6a. I didnt do all the questions in the exam because
1...,......ti me.
6b. I didnt spendas much time as lwanted in London
because| ........,. moneyand hadto com e hom e.

6 Shoppjng

7a. He'sbeenreallybusy,but he'spromisedto

time to do it ne)(t week

5. defivered/ it / CouldI getll | |

The business
wasslow to start with, but this yearit
hasreallytakenoff andwe'rehopingto

6. farger / got / a / you / in / Have / size I it I t

a largeprofit
8a. ....,.....time for a cupof coffee,or
do youneed
to rushbackhome?
..........any moneyI couldborrowlI'veleftmy
wallet in the office.

f , lt saysin the contract we'resuDosed to I we?e

not supposedto put anl pidures up on the walls, U

n
fI
n
fI

a. so I boughta red one instead.

b. so I hadto go to somewhereelseinstead.
c. so they hadto giveme it all in coins.
d. so I hadto payin cash.
Now make sentences by matching the beginnings
5-8 to the endings +h.
I didnt haveenoughmoneyfor everphing,
I boughtthe wront thingby mistake,
Theydidnt havea very wide choice,
Theyonly hadrhemin pack of six,

n
n

f,

tr

e. and I didnt think you wanted that much,so I left it.

f. so I had to take it back and change it
g. so I had to put some stuff back on the shelves.
h. so I iust left it.

Thingswe say in shops

Make sentencesthat customers often say by
puttint the words into the cornect order.
L Coufd / me / that I you I pleaseI wrap I for I I
'..........'.......
7. | |ake Iplease/ Could/ thoseIttro I of l l

3. l/ think / leave/ thank / now / l'll / it/for

4. might / later / l/forl

supposed
to

Choose the corr.ect verb form.

Make sentencesdescribing things that can go

wrong when you go shopping. Match the
beginnings l-{ to the endings a{.

5.
6.
7.
8.

8. try / somewhere/ Can/ this ll I on | |

Problemsin shops

l. Theydidnt havethe one I wantedin the first

shopI went to,.
2. They didnt haveanyblueones,
3. Theydidnt acceptcreditcards,
4. Theydidnt haveanyfive-poundnotes,

7, it I HaveI anyI colours/ got / other I you I in I ?

2. The doctor saidI'm supposed

to I I'm not
supposedto try and bend my arm about forty
timesa day,
3, I know we'resupposed
I we?enot supposedto
surf the Net at work,
4. I know we'resupposedto / we'renot supposedto
leavethe offce before five,
5. Dont forget wef supposed
to / we'renot
supposed
to be meetingyour parentsfor dinner
tomorrow night,
6. Dont forget
suryosedto I you'rcnot
suPposed
to know
about
Ray'ssurpriseparty,
'rou'rc
7. ft saysin the contract we'resupposed
to lwele
not supposedto paythe rent on the last dayof
the month.
8. The doctor saidl'm suDosedto I I'm not
supposed
to put anyweight on rny anklefor a
few days,

n
D

n
r-r
t-l

u
I

Now match the follow-up comments to l-8

abovc.
a. but no one will noticeif I sneakout five minutes
early,will they?
b. so makesureyou dont openyour big mouthand
tell him by accident!
c. so I waswonderingif you couldmaybepop out to
the shopsfor me laterl
but I'm sure it wont matter if it's a couple of days
late.
e. but itb too painfulto try at the moment.
f. but no one will notice if I iust havea quick look ar
this website,will theyl
but I cant imaginethe landlord will mind if ljust
havea couple of posters here.
so make sure you dont arange anythingelse for
tlen. OKI

come / back/ it

31