Transcript
Stephen: While Ashlie’s in her exam, I’m going to have a look around Oxford. You probably know it’s famous for its university, but let’s find out a little bit more.
.....
Stephen: Hello.
Tourist lady: Hello.
Stephen: Er, I’m visiting Oxford for the day, what’s the best thing to do?
Tourist lady: Well it’s a lovely day. I suggest you walk around the colleges, take a bus tour, explore the Bodleian Library or take a punt on the river with a picnic.
Stephen: How many colleges are there?
Tourist lady: There’s around 39.
Stephen: What’s the best way to see Oxford?
Tourist lady: The best way to see Oxford is probably on foot with one of our green and blue badge guides.
Stephen: Great. Thank you so much.
Tourist lady: You’re welcome.
Stephen: Bye.
Tourist lady: Bye.
.....
Stephen: Hiya girls. You alright?
Students: Good, thank you.
Stephen: Are you students here?
Students: Yes
Stephen: What are you studying?
Student 1: History.
Student 2: Yeah History, too.
Stephen: What’s it like being a student here?
Students: It's great.
Student 2: Really good.
Student 1: It’s, like, the best university known worldwide so it’s a great place to be.
Stephen: So tell me what it’s like studying here in Oxford.
Student 1: We have lectures and seminars and then it’s your own time to go to the library and read your books and do your research for the next lecture so if you don’t do that reading, then you’re not prepared for the next lecture – so it’s really up to you to do your own work.
Stephen: And what’s the social life like here?
Student 2: Loads of stuff, like, really good pubs, really good clubs… erm, like, when it’s sunny and stuff it’s beautiful to just sit in the sun and, like, go punting and stuff. So it’s really nice.
Stephen: Right, I’ve got a great idea for what to do with Ashlie when she finishes her exam.
.....
Stephen: So? How did it go?
Ashlie: Really well, I think. I answered all the questions and I finished in time, so fingers crossed.
Stephen: Great. Listen, you deserve a treat after all your hard work. I’ve somewhere I want to take you.
Ashlie: Alright then, I’ll see you in a second.
Stephen: OK. Bye.
.....
Ashlie: Wow, it’s really nice down here.
Stephen: I know. I’ve booked us a boat for a trip on the river.
Ashlie: Really? Oh thank you. That’s great. I’ve always wanted to try this.
Stephen: Come on.
Ashlie: Can I have a go first? Watch out. Here I go…
Stephen: Ready?
Ashlie: Yup. Off we go!
.....
Stephen: This is great. Which way shall we go, Ash? Let’s ask the GPS.
Stephen: OK, my turn.
Ashlie: Stephen, not like that - we’re going round in circles! Stephen! Stephen – watch out for that.
Stephen: The GPS! Ashlie! What are we going to do now, without the GPS?
Ashlie: Oh, it was useless anyway. It didn’t help us get here.
Stephen: I’ll have to go and buy a map.
Ashlie: OK, you can read the map but give me the keys because… I’m driving home. Stephen! Watch out!
Comments
Hello safirasafirasafira,
The phrase up to you means it's your responsibility or it's your choice. We don't break phrases down into the meanings of individual words as the meaning comes from the phrase as a whole.
Stuff is an informal word in this context. It means something like et cetera or and so on.
We say fingers crossed when we want to hope for good luck: I'm taking my driving test tomorrow so fingers crossed!
Nice down here means the same as Nice here. It's just an alternative phrasing we can use in informal conversation.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Supporting Team,
May I say “take a punt picnic on the river” instead of “ take a punt on the river with a picnic”?
Thank you
Hello Trinh Phuong Anh
No, that does not sound right. Punting is a way of moving the boat, while a picnic is something you would do out of the boat on the bank of the river. I can't imagine doing both at the same time, which is what your sentence would suggest!
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Teacher,
Thanks for your reply. That mean “ row a boat, then picnic on the river bank”. May I understand like this?
And what about the sentence “ take a bus tour”. Is this “ go tour by bus”?
Thank you so much
Best regards
Phuong Anh
Hello Phuong Anh,
Yes, that's the idea. 'take a bus tour' is correct, but 'go tour by bus' is not -- we just don't say it that way.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello. Why does student2 use word "stuff" so many times?
Hello Pekkin,
I agree the speaker seems to like the word a lot!
Different individuals have different speech habits and sometimes certain words are used a lot by individuals. The language on LearnEnglish is as authentic as possible so you will hear different ways of speaking from different people.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Good morning everyone I really like to visit New cities and to discover new places but when I have decided to og and visite a city I try to have a look on the internet to discover something about about that place about what we will do when we'll be there.And when I arrive in that city I try to find a map, first time and if I found the tourist information office I try to spoke with them to ask what's the best thing to do in that City.
But most of the time I go myself guided with the map and did the things that I decided to do before to get there,many of the time I tried to visit the most important things at the beginning and after that if I have more time I try to visit the rest.
Talking about how to impress to someone and how to make it a surprise for someone now it dependes on the situation if is a birthday I tried to give the right present, if is a treat or to say thank you to one of the member of the family or to one of my friends I don't know exactly what I'll do but I think they're many of possibility to do. Maybe to go somewhere nice to buy a nice thing to go sightseeing ,go to a nice restaurant or maybe to buy you a nice thing that you can use in the house or you can buy item of clothes or maybe that person really want to have something and you known already that and if she doesn't and he doesn't find that stuff you can go and find it . Or maybe find that item to buy it for them I don't know and in the same time you can find a really good information before that person I don't know I think that's lovely to say thank you to a person
could Ashlie ask like 'can i go first'? instead of 'can i have a go first'..which one is more appropriate?
Hello Vartica,
'have a go' means 'try' and 'go' can mean 'have a turn' in a context like this one. So really either one works in this situation, but in others only one might work.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Pages