IEC: April 27th, Unit 5

Unit 5: Listening Exercise, A typical day (script)
I= Interviewer R=Ron

I: Ron, you have a very unusal job.
R: Yes, I deliver singing telegrams. You know, a singing telegram is much more memorable and original than sending a greeting card.
I: So what exactly do you do?
R: Well, I compose a song based on the ocassion - a birthday, anniversary, office party, or holiday, and then I go to the person, usually while they're at work, and sing the song.
I: Is it expensive to send someone a singing telegram?
R: Not really.Each singing telegram costs about $50.00.
I: So, who hires you?
R: Actually, I work for an agencyu called Say It With a Song.
I: So,let's say I want to send a singing telgram to my wife. What do I do?
R: Just make a phone call. Call teh agency and tell them you want to hire me, ron Bates, to deliver a singing telegram. They'll ask you a few questions. Just tell twhat the occasion is and what day you want the telgram delivered. Then just wait for the special day when I show up at your wife's workplace and deliver your singing telegram.
I: And who do I pay? Do I pay you or the agency?
R: The agency. Then the agency pays me.
I: I guess you don't work alone. Who helps you?
R: My wife, Mary. She buys some flowers. The she comes with me and takes a picture as I give the person flowers and sing the song.
I: Do you get tired of your job?
R: No, not really. I love singing, and I like to make people happy. And, you know, no one forgets a singing telegram.
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A list of some weird jobs (spotted in Japan)

Tissues distributors, (spending their days handing tissues with ads on them to passers-by)
Human road sign (when the light turns green, he raises a green flag. When the light turns red, he raises a red flag).
Professional bower/greeter (in big supermarket stores, like Home Plus)
Elevator girl
Stairs attendant (when the escalator stops working for some reason, several guys on guard next to it to show you the stairs, bow and apologize)
“Next in the line number” hander (as in banks, movie theatres, etc.)
The sign holder for model homes in new apartment blocks
The ATM machine assistant (for people who are too stupid to use them themselves, I guess)
Night club recruiters
Crosswalk attendant
Food sampler hander-outer
Platform attendants at every station
Human advertising sign
Real Estate Human Ad
Merchandise duster
Public phone cleaner
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Grammar: Subject and Object questions
First, let's see what an auxiliary verb is. "Auxiliary" simply means "helping." An auxilary or helping verb does not have its own meaning but helps to create various grammatical forms.
Look at these two sentences:
1. "I have two cars."
2. I have lived in Korea for almost four years.
In sentence one, the verb "have" has a specific meaning. It means to posses, to own.
In sentence two, have does not mean anything, it just helps create a new tense, the Present Perfect Tense. The verb with the meaning is "to live"
Other auxiliary verbs: do/does, did
Examples:
I do my homework every day. ( do means "work on")
Do you go to the movies every week? ('do' is an auxiliary verb here, 'helping' to create the interrogative [questioning] form.

Now, let's look at Subject and Object questions
Example:
Bianca kissed Prince Charming and turned him into a frog (yep, such is my luck).
Subject question: Who kissed Prince Charming? - Don't use the auxiliary [helping] verb 'did' when 'who' is the subject of the question sentence.
Object question: Who did Bianca kiss? Use the auxiliary verb 'did' when who is not the subject of the question sentence. In this question 'Bianca' is the subject, 'who' is an object.
More examples:
Koreans like Canadians.
Subject question: Who likes Canadians?
Object question: Who do Koreans like?

Subject and object questions with "what:"

A strong earthquake destroyed this great city.
Subject qeustion: What destroyed this great city? ['what' is the subject of this question sentence]
Object Question: What did the earthquake destroy? ['what ' is the object of this question sentence]
For more information and practice of Subject/Object questions, you may go to the following links:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1535_questionanswer/page39.shtml
http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/blgrquiz_questionforms_subob.htm
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Homework for May 4th: Fill out the Professions Crossword Puzzle. It's not easy, but do you best. I expect everybody to fill out at least 10 fields. Good luck!
A joke:
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Joe: What do you call a person who speaks two languages?
Jill: Humph, bilingual.
Joe: Right! What do you call a person who speaks three languages?
Jill: I think, trilingual.
Joe: Very good! What do you call a person who speaks one language?
Jill: Don't know.
Joe: An American.
(NOTE: a proper, no-funny answer would have been "monolingual" - a person who speaks only one language)