LESSON NOTES

Intermediate S1 #24
Tell Me in English Why This Is So
Expensive!

CONTENTS
2 English
3 Vocabulary
3 Sample Sentences
4 Vocabulary Phrase Usage
5 Grammar
6 Cultural Insight

# 24
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 ENGLISH

1. CARL: Hi! I'm Carl from Carl's Plumbing Services. Thank you for calling us.

2. DREW: Thanks for coming so quickly.

3. CARL: What seems to be the problem?

4. DREW: Well, the sink in the kitchen is clogged. I tried to unclog it myself
with Rooter Roter, but it didn't work very well.

5. CARL: I see. When did you begin to have trouble?

6. DREW: About a week ago. It's actually getting worse day by day even
though I continued using the Rooter Roter for a bit.

7. CARL: Well, let me take a look at it. Let's just hope it's nothing too ugly...
like what I found last week.

8. DREW: Umm... what DID you find?

9. CARL: Not for your ears sir.

10. (after checking the pipes under the sink).

11. CARL: Well, I found your problem.

12. DREW: Really? What was it?

13. CARL: You had a small towel in your drain.

14. DREW: What!? Really!? Well, no wonder!

15. CARL: That'll be fifty dollars please.

CONT'D OVER

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16. DREW: Fifty dollars!!

VOCABULARY

V oc abular y English C lass

worse inferior in quality noun

something to remove a
drain liquid from a place noun

an obstacle, a source of
problem distress, a negative issue noun

work performed by a person

service or people who serve noun

wide bowl-like object to

catch the water from the
sink faucet and drain it through a noun
pipe

trouble problem or inconvenience noun

hollow cylinder used to

pipe carry water or gas or other noun
substances

to gradually block
something so that something
to clog else cannot move through it noun
with ease anymore

pipe system that allows water

plumbing to flow through a building noun

SAMPLE SENTENCES

This restaurant is even worse than the The weather is worse today than yesterday.
previous.

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The city had to repair the drains in the The drain was rusty after all those years.
streets.

The problem seemed trivial after some Are you aware of the problem?
time.

That restaurant has impeccable service. He does a lot of community service work.

The sink had some pretty designs on it. The sink is full of dirty dishes.

She had trouble remembering her dates His sister is always prodding him to get
in her art history class. him in trouble.

The pipes in the factory ran all across the There was a leak in the pipe, which caused
ceiling. a big mess.

The pipe was clogged with dirt. The street was clogged with heavy traffic.

The plumbing was bad so they moved out. The plumbing system has been renovated
in that building.

VOCABULARY PHRASE USAGE

The first phrase we'll look at is "not for your ears." What the plumber means by this is that the
thing he found in the clogged sink before was so extreme that he can't tell Drew. In other
words, he doesn't want Drew to hear it. You can use this for the eyes as well, as in "not for your
eyes," if you want to tell somebody that he or she shouldn't see something. It's an expression

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that adults commonly use with a child.

The next phrase we'll look at is "no wonder." You'll use this phrase when you want to say that
something is not surprising. You can use it as an exclamation, or you can use it as part of a
sentence, as in "No wonder he looks bad; he's caught a cold!"

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson Is Verbs Followed by Other Verbs.

"When did you begin to have trouble?"

There are certain verbs in English that can be followed by another verb in its infinitive form or
gerund form. Some verbs can only have one or the other. In this lesson, we'll look at the verbs
that can be followed by both.

For Example:

1. "When did you begin to have trouble?" ("begin" + "have")

2. "I continued using the Rooter Roto."

Each of these sentences has two verbs. The second verb in first sentence is in the infinitive
form, "to have." The second verb in the second sentence is in the gerund form, "using."
Depending on the first verb, the second verb may be an infinitive or gerund. However, in
these two cases, the first verb can be accompanied by either a gerund or an infinitive.

For Example:

1. "When did you begin having trouble?"

2. "I continued to use the Roto Rooter."

Here are some more verbs that can be followed by both a gerund and an infinitive.

"like"

For Example:

1. "He likes to eat there."/"He likes eating there."

"love"

For Example:

1. "I love to sing the in rain."/"I love singing in the rain."

"prefer"

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For Example:

1. "They prefer to play with the blocks."/"They prefer playing with the blocks."

"start"

For Example:

1. "We started to walk through the forest."/"We started walking through the forest."

There are some verbs that can be followed by both an infinitive and a gerund, but the
meaning may change.

For Example:

1. "She remembered to buy milk."

2. "She remembered buying milk."

In the first sentence, she kept it in her mind to do something. In the second sentence, she did
it, and she kept it in her mind. As you can see, there's a difference in meaning. Watch out for
the difference in meanings in this case. Sometimes the difference could be slight, and
sometimes it could be the cause of miscommunication.

CULTURAL INSIGHT

Don't Be Caught Off Guard by This Additional Fee

If you ever need somebody to come over to your house to take a look at something, even if
the person fixed the problem easily, you might still be charged what's called a call-out fee.
Basically, this is the fee that companies charge for the person coming to your house to take a
look at the problem. Don't be surprised by the price, as it could be more expensive than you
think!

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