English Grammar, Idioms, Prefixes, and Telephone Phrases

English Grammar Essentials

Modal Verbs:

• Necessity: have to, must, need to.
• Prohibition: mustn’t, not be allowed to, can’t.
• Lack of Necessity: don’t have to, don’t need to.
• Permission: can, be allowed to.

Questions: Must you? Can you? Do you have to? Are you allowed?

Rules are things you have to do and you mustn’t do. Conventions are things you don’t have to do, but are advisable and expected.

Colour Idioms

• In the red (owes money)
• See red (is angry)
• White goods (appliances)
• Out of the blue (unexpected)
• Blue sky thinking (new and good ideas)
• Green light (start something)
• Black Monday (market crash)
• In the black (has more than it owes)
• Grey area (a situation that is not clear)

Common Prefixes

Negative Prefixes

• un-: unusual, unhappy, unlucky, unknown, untidy, unbelievable (incredible), unavoidable (inevitable)
• in-: incapable, invisible, inefficient, indecisive, indifferent
• im-: impossible, immoral, imperfect
• il-: illogical, illegible, illegal
• ir-: irresponsible, irregular, irrelevant
• dis-: dissatisfied, disorganized, dissimilar, dishonest, disrespect, disobey, dislike, discontinue

Other Prefixes

• e-: email, e-commerce, e-business
• ex-: ex-wife, ex-president, ex-partner
• co-: cooperate, co-pilot, co-produce
• anti-: anti-war, anti-smoking, anti-bullying
• eco-: eco-friendly, ecotourism, eco-warrior
• cyber-: cybercafé, cyberspace, cybercrime

Telephoning Phrases

• Offering to take a message: Can I take a message? / Would you like to leave a message?
• Saying someone is busy: I’m afraid she is in another call / Her line is busy at the moment.
• Telling someone that the mobile reception is bad: Your phone is cutting out / You are breaking up.
• Asking to speak to someone: Could I speak to... please? / Can you put me through to…?
• Asking someone to wait: Please hold the line / Could you hold on a moment?
• Asking someone to repeat what they said: I’m sorry I didn’t catch that / Can you repeat that?
• Thanking someone for returning your call: Thanks for getting back to me / Thanks for calling me back.
• Asking someone if you can call them later: Can I call back later today? / Can I give you a call later? / Shall I call you back?

Giving Advice and Suggestions

Asking for Advice

• What do you recommend?
• Do you have any advice or suggestions?
• What do you think I should do?
• Do you think we should…?

Giving Advice

• You should definitely...
• How about +ing?
• Why don’t you (do)?
• Have you considered (+ing-noun)?
• You shouldn’t...
• You’d better (not)
• I’d also avoid...because…
• One thing you should be careful about is…

Accepting Ideas

• Thanks for the advice or tip.
• That sounds like a good idea.
• Good idea, I like the sound of that.

Rejecting Ideas

• I’m not keen on (+ing-noun)
• I’d rather not (do)
• That is an interesting idea, but...