A request from your boss

Listen to requests from a manager to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

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Transcript

Susanne: Hi, Mario. Can you help me prepare some things for the next month?

Mario: OK, sure. What can I help you with?

Susanne: I need to visit the customer in Germany. It's important.

Mario: What can I do to help?

Susanne: Can you send an email to the customer? Ask them when I can visit them next week. Please do this first. It's a priority and very urgent.

Mario: Right. I'll do it today.

Susanne: Thanks. This next task is also important. Can you invite everyone to the next team meeting?

Mario: Yes, I will.

Susanne: But first you need to book a meeting room. After that, please send everyone an email about it.

Mario: Yes, of course.

Susanne: And finally, can you write a short report about our new project? I have to give a presentation to our managers next month. Please do it when you have time – sometime in the next two or three weeks. It's not too urgent.

Mario: Sure, no problem. I can do it this week.

Susanne: There's no hurry. Take your time.

Task 1

Exercise

Task 2

Exercise

Discussion

Do you sometimes help other people with their work? What do you do for them?

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Language level

A1 Elementary

Did you mean sons in this sentence? If yes, I think you could say that way: I would like to help my 3 sons. Sorry for my comment - I learn too.

Why do you use expressin " .. sometime in the next two or three weeks". I think it will be " sometime next week". Later you use " I can visit them next week ". And later : " .. give a presentation to our managers next month" and later: " sometime in the next two or three weeks". Please explain it to me. Thanks

Hello chriswar,

'Sometime next week' refers to a calendar (Monday-Sunday) week. For example, if I say this on Wednesday the 13th then it describes the period from Monday the 18th to Sunday the 24th.

'Sometime in the next week' refers to a seven-day period starting from now. For example, if I say this on Wednesday the 13th then it describes the period from Wednesday the 13th to Wednesday the 20th. Obviously, 'sometime in the next two or three weeks' would refer to a similar, but longer period.

The same principle applies to other similar phrases. For example, next month, last month, next year, last year all refer to calendar periods; the next month, the last month, the next year, the last year all refer to periods of time from the present moment into the future or past.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you very much Peter M. I understand everything now.

Why do you use expession "the customer" but not "customers"? You said later: " Can you send an email to the customer? Ask them ... . I don't undersatnd.

Hell chriswar,

It's very common in English to use the pronoun 'they' when we do not know or do not want to specify the gender of a person. It is the same as saying 'he or she' but is often preferred because a text using 'he or she' throughout can become quite inelegant, stylistically speaking.

This use of 'they' as a genderless singular pronoun is very old. You can find examples in Shakespeare and even earlier.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

It's a golden tip. I've never seen it before. Thanks a lot, Peter!

Thank you Peter M. Your answers are very clear.

Hello guys. I learn this tutorial. I want to say that I like other people their works. I enjoy helping them motivate and inspire

Yes,I do. I help my colleagues with moving heavy stuff or giving the right address for dropping off the items.

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