Ashlie: Hi, Tristan!
Tristan: Hi, guys. Great to see you!
Stephen: Good to see you! We thought we’d come and try out your new place.
Tristan: Ah, that’s good.
Stephen: Have you got a table for two?
Tristan: Yeah, sure. Over there.
Ashlie: Perfect. Thanks.
Tristan: I’ll be with you in a minute.
Ashlie: Mmm… This looks great. Thank you, Stephen.
Stephen: Ashlie’s been working hard recently, so I’ve invited her out for lunch.
Ashlie: He doesn’t usually take me out for lunch.
Stephen: OK, OK. Come on, what shall we have?
Ashlie: Oh, I don’t know. It all looks delicious. Maybe some soup. That looks so good.
Tristan: Thanks for coming in, guys. Listen, sorry to ask you this, but can you do me a favour?
Stephen: Sure, of course! What is it?
Tristan: We’ve almost run out of coffee. I need to go to the supermarket to buy some more. I need someone to look after the place while I’m away. Would you mind?
Ashlie: Help out in the café? Well, I suppose so. If you’re really stuck.
Tristan: It’s pretty quiet today. You probably won’t have to do anything.
Stephen: I’m sure we’ll be fine.
Tristan: It won’t be for very long. Just ten minutes. I’ve just got to pop out to the supermarket.
Ashlie: Don’t worry about it, Tristan. Look, there aren’t many people here. We’ll keep an eye on everything.
Tristan: Great! Thanks, guys. Oh, by the way, the cook’s gone home sick, so if anyone orders any food, you can take care of things? Great. Thanks, guys. See you later. Bye.
Stephen: This is going to be fun. How about you take the orders in the café, and I’ll be in the kitchen?
Ashlie: Are you sure, Stephen?
Stephen: It’ll be fine. I’ll go and make a start in the kitchen, you bring the orders to me.
Ashlie: OK.
Hi. Can I take your order?
Customer 1: Hi, can I have a cheese sandwich and a green salad, please?
Ashlie: No problem. And what would you like?
Customer 2: I’d like some carrot cake and a cup of tea, please.
Ashlie: I’ve got that. It shouldn’t be long.
Stephen? Er, are you OK, Stephen? What’s going on?
Stephen: Don’t worry, it’s all under control. Where are my food orders?
Ashlie: Let me see. One cheese salad, one carrot sandwich and a green tea, I think.
Stephen: OK, I’ve got that. Cheese, carrot, tea, coming up.
Ashlie: Hi.
Customer 3: Could I have a coffee?
Ashlie: Coffee.
Customer 4: And I think I’ll have a tomato soup, please.
Ashlie: Tomato soup. Coming up.
Hi. What would you like?
Customer 1: Excuse me, we’ve been waiting for ages. Where’s our food?
Ashlie: I’m really sorry, I’m sure it won’t be long. I’ll go and see how the chef’s doing.
Ashlie: Stephen!
Stephen: I’m going as fast as I can! Here you are. A cheese sandwich, a green salad, a carrot cake and a cup of tea.
Ashlie: Are you sure that’s right, Stephen? Wasn’t it cheese salad, a green tea and a carrot sandwich? Oh, I can’t remember now. I’m sure this is all wrong.
Stephen: All right.
Sorry for the delay. A cheese sandwich and a green salad?
Customer 1: Thank you.
Ashlie: And carrot cake and a cup of tea?
Customer 2: That’s for me.
Stephen: There you are. Enjoy your food.
Tristan: Hi, Ashlie. Hi, Stephen.
Ashlie: Hi!
Stephen: Hi, Tristan.
Tristan: Sorry I’ve been so long. There were queues in the supermarket. I’ve got the coffee. I’ll put it in the kitchen.
Stephen: Don’t worry. I’ll put that in the kitchen for you. … Nooo!
Tristan: The customers look happy.
Ashlie: Ah, we did OK. I thought it was going to be a lot harder.
Tristan: You guys really did do a good job. I really appreciate it. The thing is, erm, if you’re interested...
Ashlie: Interested in... in what?
Tristan: Well, you know my dad. You remember him, don’t you? Well, he’s got this little business and he needs a little bit of help.
Stephen: That sounds great, Tristan. We’d love to help out. Ashlie, I think we should be going.
Ashlie: Ah, yes. Nice to see you, Tristan. Bye!
Comments
Hello,
In this video Stephen said : I’ll go and make a start in the kitchen.
Why he said make a start ?
And what is the difference between this statement and "I 'll go and start in a kitchen?
Hi Sajja,
Well spotted :) Start (verb) and make a start (verb + noun) have a similar meaning. Make a start is a delexical verb phrase and you can read more about them on this page.
In short, instead of using a meaningful verb (e.g. start, look, bite), it's very common to use the related noun forms. We then need to add another verb (e.g. make a start, take a look, have a bite).
This is quite useful because we can then add extra description, if we want. Stephen didn't do that in the video, but it would be possible to say, for example:
Does that make sense?
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Dear Team,
I don't understand the grammar of this sentence " The cook's gone home sick ".
It means the cook has gone home because of being sick ? Can you give me more examples like this one so I can understand more ?
Thanks a lot for helping me !
Hello PhuongHoang,
That's right: the meaning here is that the person (the cook) has gone home because he or she felt sick.
There are other phrases similar to this. For example:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
I got that. Thank you so much for helping me !
Now I understand it better.
I really appreciate your help !
Dear Team,
there is the sentence: ''Ashlie and Stephen’s friend Tristan asks the pair to help .. etc''..
Shoudn't there be an apostrophe in ''Ashlie''?.Because there is a confusion about the subject of asking. Or it's clear because it says ''asks''and not ''ask'', but what if it said- for example -''asked'' instead of ''asks''
Ever grateful to the Team
nikoslado
Hello nikoslado,
When we have more than one item we only add the 's possessive marker to the last one:
It is possible to add the 's to each item if emphasis is required:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello
please tell me how can I see the videos? I can`t see any video!
I found out your website is the most perfect and the most useful one, you're offering the best ways for the users through perfect methods of language teaching and learning. I don’t know how it could be appreciated, great job and best wishes for you.
Hello famehr
First of all, I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble seeing the video.
I would recommend that you try using a different web browser -- for example, if you used Internet Explorer, try Chrome or Firefox. Try a few different browsers to see if that solves the problem. It would also be a good idea to make sure you are using the newest versions of the browsers that you can.
If that doesn't work, I would suggest trying a different device. For example, if you were using a phone, try using a computer. You could even ask a friend or family member to see if it works on their device.
That usually solves the problem with videos, but if not, please let us know.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Thank you so much for this. All your content has been helping me a lot!
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