Instant messages

Read a conversation by instant messages to practise and improve your reading skills.

Instructions

Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and do the exercises.

Preparation

Matching_MjIzMzU=

Reading text

You there, Beatriz?

Hang on, Andrew.

OK. What's up?

It's Caroline's birthday tomorrow.

Oh yeah, that's right!

You thought about what to get her?

You mean a present? Weren't you buying one from both of us?

I'm sorry! It totally slipped my mind!

😳

And I'm working 'til late.

So …

Could you pick up a gift today?

I guess. What sort of thing were you thinking of?

Dunno. Got any ideas?

One sec. Phone.

OK, I'm back.

Just had an idea for a gift.

Go on.

New headphones?

Nah. Jeremy said he was getting her headphones.

OK. What then?

Have you seen those gift certificates for a spa? Maybe one of those?

She'd love that!

I'll pick it up today then.

Thanks a million. Appreciate it.

No worries. See you tomorrow then?

Yep.

What time was it again? 4?

4.30. I can pick you up at your house if you like.

👍 👍 👍 👍

CU then.

Bye for now.

Discussion

What do you prefer – sending messages to your friends or phoning them?

Download

Worksheet129.04 KB

Try another reading

Language level

B2 - Upper intermediate

Topics

social media

Do you need to improve your English reading skills?

Join thousands of learners from around the world who are improving their English reading skills with our online courses.

Find out more

I agree with what was said. Sometimes you need to get information from friends, relatives as soon as possible and it would be more convenient to call. But sometimes, in order to disturb them with calls, it would be more appropriate to write a letter.

I comletely agree with you,i prefer to communicate in messages, because i love when correspondence with a person saved, but before i call on the phone, i write and ask if the person is busy or not

I prefer calling them... sometimes I wrote messages or via email but its easier and faster, I have unlimited minutes, that`s mean and is cheaper :)

I would prefer phoning contact to my friends.

It depends on the situation, but generally I prefer messaging them or sending voice messages. so they could listen to them and reply when they have time to do it.

I thınk ıt depends on. Sometimes it is better to phone your friends to explain the situation. Messages may misread by people.
To me l use both communicating with my friends and my family.

I think send messages is the best. This is my mind

I usually call him. When matter is not urgent then I leave message to friends.

It depends on the circustance. In some countries, it's difficult to get access to Internet and the cost of using Internet is high. At this situation, it will be more suitable to phone friends. But if he or she is at work, it'd better send a message. I don't like sending message via SMS because in our country, the mobile service enterprises send a lot of messages about their sale promotion and I rarely read those messages. So I miss some of my friends' messages via SMS among these sale promotion messages.

Does the sentence " You thought about what to get her" mean " Have you already thought about which present to give her?"?