Living English: Are you married?

ANNE
Can you help me?

JOHN
Well I’ll try. Now tell me about your brother Ms Lee. How old is he?

ANNE
He’s twenty-three.

JOHN
Well that would make him your younger brother. What’s his name?

ANNE
David.

JOHN
And what does he do?

ANNE
He’s a student. Or – he was a student. I don’t know where he is.

JOHN
(looks at the photo)
Hmmm. How tall is he?

ANNE
About a hundred and seventy-five centimetres.

JOHN
Hmmm. And does he speak English?

ANNE
Yes. He speaks English and Chinese. Mr Barbour – can you find him?

JOHN
I’ll certainly try. Now, tell me a little about yourself Miss Lee. Where are you from?

ANNE
I come from Singapore. I’m Singaporean.

JOHN
Right, and how old are you?

ANNE
I’m twenty-five.

JOHN
What do you do?

ANNE
I import wine. I’m a businesswoman. I work in my family’s business.

JOHN
And are you married?

ANNE
No, I’m single.

JOHN
And..er..do you have a boyfriend?

ANNE
Pardon?

JOHN
Oh sorry. We private detectives are a naturally curious bunch. Ms Lee, perhaps you’d better tell the whole story.

ANNE
It all started two years ago…

	1. ABOUT NATIONALITY
	There are different words for countries and nationalities.
	For example: I’m from Australia.(country) I’m Australian.(nationality)I come from Indonesia.(country) I’m Indonesian.(nationality)
	In English, many nationality names are made by adding the ending ‘n’ to the country name. Korea / Korean Indonesia / Indonesian Malaysia / Malaysian
	JOHN Where are you from?ANNE I come from Singapore. I’m Singaporean.
	Sometimes we add ‘ese’ to the country name. Vietnam / Vietnamese Japan / Japanese
	But there area exceptions: England / English Thailand / Thai
	Check in a good dictionary for correct country and nationality names.
	2. ABOUT AGE
	When asked our age, usually we just say a number. How old are you? I’m twenty-one.
	We can also ask: What is your age? And also answer I’m twenty-one years.
	Or: I’m twenty-one years old. Or: I’m twenty-one years of age. Or: My age is twenty-one.
	JOHN Now tell me about your brother Ms Lee. How old is he?ANNE He’s twenty-three. JOHN Right, and how old are you? ANNE I’m twenty-five.
	3. THE NUMBERS
	1 one 2 two 3 three 4 four 5 five 6 six 7 seven 8 eight 9 nine 10 ten
	11 eleven 12 twelve 13 thirteen 14 fourteen 15 fifteen 16 sixteen 17 seventeen 18 eighteen 19 nineteen 20 twenty 21 twenty one 22 twenty two (and so on)
	30 thirty 40 forty 50 fifty 60 sixty 70 seventy 80 eighty 90 ninety 100 one hundred
	After ‘one hundred’ we add and. 126 = one hundred and twenty-six.
	4. ABOUT OCCUPATION
	To ask about someone’s job we would ask: What do you do? We would answer: I’m a teacher.
	JOHN What do you do?ANNE I import wine. I’m a businesswoman. I work in my family’s business.
	We say do before and after you What do you do? We say do before and after I , we and they. What do I do? What do we do? What do they do?But for he or she we use does before and do after when asking about jobs.
	What does he do? What does she do?
	JOHN And what does he do?ANNE He’s a student.
	4. OTHER QUESTIONS ABOUT A PERSON
	Questions about actions people do, which can be answered with yes or no often start with do or does.
	Does he speak English? Yes he does. Does he speak English? No he doesn’t.
	JOHN Hmmm. And does he speak English?ANNE Yes. He speaks English and Chinese.
	Do you play football? Yes I do. Do you play football? No I don’t.Other questions start with are or is.
	Are you married? Yes I am. Are you married? No, I’m not.
	JOHN And are you married?ANNE No, I’m single.
	Is he a student? Yes he is. Is he a student? No he isn’t.
	Some questions don’t have yes or no answers. How tall is he? What is his height?
	JOHN (looks at the photo) Hmmm. How tall is he?ANNE About a hundred and seventy-five centimetres.