Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.
Preparation
Transcript
Student 1: Sorry. Sorry, excuse me. I'm just … just coming to sit over here. Phew. Hey. How's it going? So, what have I missed?
Student 2: Nothing. He just started around five minutes ago.
Student 1: Did he say anything about the mid-term?
Student 2: What?
Student 1: About the mid-term tests. Did he say anything about when he was going to hand them back?
Student 2: He's almost finished marking them, he said. We get them next Tuesday.
Student 1: I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. When do we get them?
Student 2: Tuesday. Next Tuesday.
Student 1: OK. Got it. Sorry. What page are we meant to be on?
Student 2: Page 34.
Student 1: Page … 34. Oh, wait. I don't have my textbook. Can I … share with you? Wow. This is hard stuff.
Student 2: Mmm.
Student 1: What does SEO mean?
Student 2: What?
Student 1: SEO. This is all about SEO but he hasn't said what it means.
Student 2: Search engine optimisation. How to appear on internet searches.
Student 1: Internet searches. Right. Right. OK.
Student 2: He said what it meant.
Student 1: What?
Student 2: He explained it before you got here.
Student 1: Oh. Right. OK.
Student 2: Can you be quiet? I'm trying to listen to the lecture.
Student 1: So am I. Sorry. Sorry, one more question. What does this have to do with the American Revolution?
Student 2: What?
Student 1: I don't get it. Why is he talking about search engines in a course on the American Revolution?
Student 2: What are you talking about? This is a class on software engineering.
Student 1: You mean, it's not Early American History?
Student 2: You're in the wrong class.
Student 1: Oh, wow. Now it all makes sense. I'm so sorry.
Student 2: It's fine.
Student 1: Here, I'll just … excuse me. I'm in the wrong class. Excuse me. Thanks. Sorry.
Hello shahhoseini
I don't find that you use 'they' or 'them' excessively here, but if you wanted to avoid them, you could use simple imperatives instead of 'They must ...'. For example: 'Come to class on time, Listen carefully,' etc. That would also reduce the user of 'must'; alternatively, you could use 'should' or 'have to' or both to vary things a bit.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Captainblack_009
'What have I missed?' is the correct form and the other one is not correct. In most questions, the word order of the subject (in this case 'I') and the auxiliary verb ('have') is inverted, in other words, changed.
You can read more about this on our Question forms page.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team