Unit 4: Travellers' tales
Select a unit
- 1 Pop-ups
- 2 Hidden talents
- 3 Can't buy me love
- 4 Travellers' tales
- 5 The colleague from hell
- 6 Jurassic mystery: unpacking the past
- 7 Career changes
- 8 Art
- 9 Project management
- 10 The dog ate my homework!
- 11 The diary of a double agent
- 12 Fashion forward
- 13 Flat pack skyscrapers
- 14 Extreme sports
- 15 Food fads
- 16 Me, my selfie and I
- 17 Endangered animals
- 18 A nip and a tuck: cosmetic surgery
- 19 I'm really sorry...
- 20 Telling stories
- 21 Fakes and phrasals
- 22 Looking to the future
- 23 Becoming familiar with things
- 24 From rags to riches
- 25 Against the odds
- 26 Our future on Mars?
- 27 Where is it illegal to get a fish drunk?
- 28 Dodgy dating
- 29 Annoying advice
- 30 I'll have been studying English for thirty weeks
Session 1
Sometimes short is best, and in this session we look at spoken short forms. Why say give me when you can say gimme? Learn more, improve your pronunciation and test your knowledge.
Activity 2
Spot the short forms
I gotta practise these short forms...
In 6 Minute English we heard a lot of different spoken short forms. They're quite common in informal English, but you very rarely see them written down.
So, how well do you know them? We're going to play you a short conversation between Finn and Rob with lots of short forms, and you have to find them.
To do
The conversation is six lines long. Listen to it at least twice, and write down any short forms you hear. Then, try to answer the questions in the quiz.
Listen to the audio and complete the activity
Finn
1) Whatcha doing tonight?
Rob
2) I'm gonna meet a friend.
Finn
3) Ah, okay then. Gimme a call next week.
Rob
4) Sure. Lemme know if you wanna have a drink.
Finn
5) Yeah, that sounds great. Where shall we go?
Rob
6) I dunno. Lemme think about it.
To do
Got that? Now for the quiz. Play the audio again if you need to.
Spot the short forms
6 Questions
Listen to Rob and Finn's conversation. It is six lines long. Note down the short forms you hear and then select the correct full forms
Help
Activity
Listen to Rob and Finn's conversation. It is six lines long. Note down the short forms you hear and then select the correct full forms
Hint
He said: "______ doing tonight?"Question 1 of 6
Help
Activity
Listen to Rob and Finn's conversation. It is six lines long. Note down the short forms you hear and then select the correct full forms
Hint
He said: "I'm ______ meet a friend."Question 2 of 6
Help
Activity
Listen to Rob and Finn's conversation. It is six lines long. Note down the short forms you hear and then select the correct full forms
Hint
Finn said: "Ah, okay then. _______ a call next week."Question 3 of 6
Help
Activity
Listen to Rob and Finn's conversation. It is six lines long. Note down the short forms you hear and then select the correct full forms
Hint
He said: "Sure. ______ know if you ______ have a drink."Question 4 of 6
Help
Activity
Listen to Rob and Finn's conversation. It is six lines long. Note down the short forms you hear and then select the correct full forms
Hint
Listen very carefullyQuestion 5 of 6
Help
Activity
Listen to Rob and Finn's conversation. It is six lines long. Note down the short forms you hear and then select the correct full forms
Hint
Rob said: "I ______. ______ think about it."Question 6 of 6
Excellent! Great job! Bad luck! You scored:
Next
Well done! Next there's a chance for you to practise the pronunciation of all these forms. Practice makes perfect, as they say. See you there!
Session Vocabulary
gonna – going to
I’m gonna watch a DVD.wanna – want to
Do you wanna watch too?whatcha – what are you
Whatcha doing?dunno - don’t know
I dunno.gotta – got to (or: got a)
I’ve gotta go now.hafta – have to
Do you hafta go already?gimme – give me
Gimme a call tomorrow.lemme – let me
Lemme know what you think.kinda – kind of
She’s kinda nice.