Mitch Rubman's American English Questions

 American English Questions

Can I get a glass of water? Can I have a glass of water? May I please have a glass of water?

Sure, would you like ice?

Could you please repeat that?

Would you like ice?

Yes. Do you know the code to the bathroom?

Its 12580

Excuse me?

One hundred twenty-five eight -oh

How are things with you?

Let me go to the bathroom. Be right back.

How are things?

Great, now much better.

How are you doing today?

Wonderful, just got a raise.

How are you doing?

Terrible just got fired.

How are you?

Getting better.

How have you been?

Not bad, okay.

How is your work these days?

Good, thanks for asking.

How old are you?

Too old. Thirty-nine.

How’s everything?

Just peachy.

How’s it going?

Been better.

How’s life?

Outstanding.

How’s your day going?

Good, just had lunch.

How’s your day?

Long, had to take the metro.

How’ve you been?

Great, just got here.

I’m sorry, What’s your name again? I have a short memory.

Simple. Mark.

It’s nice to meet you.

Great to finally meet you.

May I help you?

Pardon me.

May I help you?

Pleased to meet you

What are you doing?

Writing my thesis.

What are you thinking?

Almost done.

What can I do for you?

Get me a pizza.

What can I help you with?

Algebra.

Santa Barbara, the best of California

Santa Barbara

Southern California is blessed with beaches up and down the coast so you have many options for a quick getaway. One of my favorite day trips is to Santa Barbara(bahr-bruh). It’s only ninety(nahyn-tee) miles and takes about an hour and half from Los Angeles without traffic. So it’s close enough to be able to take the kids on a road trip or a great place to plan a wedding(wed-ing).

There are many different ways to get to Santa Barbara; train, bus or car. With popular(pop-yuh-ler) beaches, you should arrive early to get a good spot on those hot summer days.

Santa Barbara has everything from beautiful cafes on the coast to wine tasting and olive farms to enjoy. There are more than 15 wine tasting rooms including Au Bon Climat, Margerum, and Kunin to sample within walking distance. For those warm nights, you’ll probably want to enjoy a meal on a patio breathing in the fresh ocean(oh-shuhn) air.

After dinner you can take a long stroll(strohl) on State Street, a frequent spot for University of California at Santa Barbara college students.  State Street is one of those great blocks that you will never forget with small fun shops in artistic overtones to fancy restaurants and loads of great shopping. And don’t forget to sample the many different varieties of local olives that Santa Barbara is famous for.

For the athletic(ath-let-ik) in mind there are always bikes or kayaks(kahy-aks) to rent. The beautiful beaches are filled with green grasses and lots of space to spread out. There are bike paths along the coast. For the brave since Santa Barbara is surrounded by Islands, there is kayaking, these islands can be visited by boat or kayak and offer a fresh and exciting time.

For those that love flowers and gardens you should not miss the Santa Barbara Botanical(buh-tan-i-kuhl) Gardens. With more than 5 miles of trails and 78 acres of wildlife to see it is a sanctuary that should not be missed. Where else can you go from Redwood Forests to Yucca plants?

Santa Barbara is also filled with many great farms(fahrm) who join together at the weekly farmer’s market to show off their latest wares. You can find everything from fresh olives to fresh cheeses to organic(awr-gan-ik) produce—great for those snacks later on.

For those that rather wheel around you can easily rent bicycles for the day. You can ride up and down the Pier(peer), then up to State Street and back down to ride up the coast on a beautiful path. You can stop for lunch at The Shoreline park, a long beach of land overlooking the ocean or ride all the way to the Mission(mish-uhn) rose garden with plenty to explore.

If sailing is your passion, don’t forget to visit the Santa Barbara sailing center, there you will find a helpful staff that can direct you to a variety of guided tours and maps explaining the rugged coast. 

Santa Barbara is full of galleries and plenty of folk(fohk) art. There are pottery stores and lots of artists. And if you want to visit a great museum there is also the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and the historic Courthouse to visit.

Finally, for dinner, there are so many great restaurants to choose from, but I just gave up and went to one of my favorite places, the Santa Barbara Shellfish(shel-fish) Co. on the pier. It may look touristy and its upscale, but the food and service is excellent and the giant fish tanks are fun to look at.

So for your next day off, pack some sun lotion and, take a drive to Santa Barbara, it’s just a few hours away and it will seem like another world(world), for all the family to enjoy.

Mitch Rubman's American English list of Artists with phonetic spellings

Art history…  Albrecht Durer (door-er), Modigliani (moh-dee-lee-ah-nee), Andy Warhol (wawr-hawl), Camille Pissarro (pi-sahr-oh), Caravaggio (kar-uh-vah-joh), Claude Monet (moh-ney), Diego Rivera (ri-vair-uh), Edgar Degas (dee-gas), Edvard Munch (munk), Edward Hopper (hop-er), El Greco (grek-oh), Francis Bacon (bey-kuhn), Frida Kahlo (kah-loh), Gauguin (goh-gan), Braque (brak), Goya (goi-uh), Courbet (koor-be), Gustav Klimt, Hieronymus Bosch (bosh), Jackson Pollock (pol-uhk), Turner (tur-ner), Joan Miro (mee-roh), Vermeer (ver-meer), Leonardo da Vinci (vin-chee), Marc Chagall (shuh-gahl), Matisse (ma-tees), Michelangelo (mahy-kuhl-an-juh-loh), Pablo Picasso (pi-kah-soh), Paul Cezanne (si-zan), Paul Klee (kley), Peter Paul Rubens (roo-buhnz), Pierre Auguste Renoir (ren-wahr), Raphael (raf-ee-uhl), Rembrandt (Rem-brant), Rene Magritte (ma-greet), Rodin (roh-dan), Salvador Dali (dah-lee), Sandro Botticelli (bot-i-chel-ee), Titian (tish-uhn), Vincent Van Gogh (van-goh), Wassily Kandinsky (kan-din-skee), Willem de Kooning(duh-koo-ning).

From Mitch Rubman's American English, a short list of a few cliches.

From American English

A back seat driver:   Please I’ve been driving for years; I don’t need a back seat driver.

A bad hair day:         Looks like another bad hair day, do you have an extra hat?

A big fish in a small pond:  Which would you rather be, a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond?

A blast from the past:             It’s been so many years since we’ve seen each other, what a blast from the past.

A dead ringer:           You’re a dead ringer for my best friend.

A lame duck:             That President was a lame duck and couldn’t run again.

A shot in the arm:    That new factory is a shot in the arm to that town.

Accidents will happen:                         Don’t worry about the spill, accidents will happen.

Metric conversions: Weights, Measurements, American Currency & Time

Exercise 1: Practice saying the list aloud.

[= (equals)]

One pound (lb.) = (equals) 16(sixteen) ounces (ounsez) (oz.)

One Metric Ton (tuhn) (mt) = 1,000 kilograms (kgs) = 2,205 Pounds (lbs.) = 1.1 American Tons (tuhn) (t)

One ounce (ounse) (oz.) = 28.35 grams (g)

One inch (in) = 2.54 centimeters (cm)

One foot (ft.) = 12 inches (in) = .3 meter (m), (three tenths of a meter) or decimal (des-uh-muhl) point three.

One yard (yahrd) (yd.) = 3 feet (ft.)

One mile (mahyl) (mi) = 5,280 feet = 1.6 kilometers (ki-lom-i-ters) (kms.) = 1,760 yards

One liter (lee-ter) (l) = 1,000 milliliters (ml) = .27 gallons (gal-uhn) (gal)

One tablespoon (tbsp) = ½ fluid ounce.

One teaspoon (tsp) = 1/6 fluid ounce. (One-sixth)

One millimeter = 1/1000 meter = one thousandth of a meter               

One centimeter = .394 inch

One meter = 40 inches = 3.38 feet

One kilometer = 1000 meters

One acre (ey-ker) = 4,840 square yards = 4,047 square meters

One square mile = 640 square acres

One quart = 2 pints (pahynt) (pt) = 4 cups(c)

One gallon = 4 quarts = 3.78 liters

One cent (Abraham Lincoln (ling-kuhn) on penny) = 1/100 dollar

One nickel (Thomas Jefferson on nickel) = 1/20th dollar

One dime (Franklin D. Roosevelt on dime) = 1/10th dollar

One quarter (George Washington on quarter) = ¼ dollar

One half dollar (John F. Kennedy on half dollar) = 1/2 dollar

One dollar (George Washington on $1 bill) = 100 cents

Two-dollar bill (Thomas Jefferson on $2-dollar bill) =$2.00

Five-dollar bill (Abraham Lincoln (ling-kuhn) on five-dollar bill) = $5.00

Twenty-dollar bill (Andrew Jackson on $20 bill) = $20.00

Fifty-dollar bill (Ulysses S. Grant on $50 dollar bill) =$50.00

One-hundred-dollar bill (Benjamin Franklin on $100-dollar bill) =$100.00 (Benjamin’s)

One euro = 1.25 dollars (varies with market)

One second = 1/60 minute

One minute = 60 seconds

One hour = 60 minutes = 1/24th of a day

One day = 24 hours = 1/7th of a week

One week = 7 days

One year = 52 weeks

One decade = 10 years

One score = 20 years

One century = 100 years

One millennium (mi-len-ee-uhm) = 1000 years

One light year (1LY) = (equals) five trillion eight hundred seventy-eight billion four hundred ninety-nine million eight hundred and ten thousand miles

©Copyright 2016 by Mitch Rubman, All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner.

Dialogue 5: Taking Metro from American English

Exercise: Recite aloud the following dialogue. Switch characters.

Tourist:                Excuse me, I just got here. Which way is the beach?

Bus Driver:         The beach is west, just take the Santa Monica Rapid 704 or the Metro local number 4 or head away from downtown.

Tourist:                How do I get to Hollywood from here at the Greyhound bus stop downtown?

Bus Driver:         Well you can take any Metro bus from this stop to the Metro rail red line then take that north, it goes through Hollywood on its way to Universal Studios.

Tourist:                How do we get to the Hollywood bowl?

Bus Driver:         You can take the red line to Hollywood/Highland, and then take a free shuttle. Or it’s the number 222 local from West Hills, Burbank or Hollywood or the number 156 local from San Fernando or L.A.

Tourist:                How much does it cost?

Bus Driver:         It costs, $1.75 per ride or seven dollars and fifty cents for a one-day unlimited pass. We use tap cards here.

Tourist:                Is that where the Chinese Mann’s theatre is with the footprints?

Bus Driver:         Yes, just down the block on Hollywood Blvd. How long are you here for?

Tourist:                Two weeks.

Bus Driver:         Then you should buy a one week pass and get a plastic tap card. It costs 2 dollars but you can buy one week unlimited for twenty-five dollars or a 30 day for $100(one-hundred dollars).

Tourist:                What do I get for that?

Bus Driver:         You can take the Metro Rapid, or any Metro rail lines. There might be some extra zone charges occasionally so it’s good to carry some cash or change.

Tourist:                Hey thanks.

Bus Driver:         Here it comes.  There are maps and schedules on the bus. Be careful, too.

Tourist:                Thanks, for your help.

Bus Driver:         Have a great day.

©Copyright 2016 by Mitch Rubman, All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner.

Dialogue 20: American Citizenship (sit-uh-zuhn) Exam:

Exercise 1: Practice the following dialogue out loud. Switch characters.

Exercise 2: Practice identifying the location of each state and city mentioned on a map of the United States.

Exercise 3: Lookup and research each person mentioned in the dialogue creating a bio on each.

Student:               Do you know the American flag’s colors and how many stars there are?

Professor:            Of course, there are 50 white stars which represent the 50 states in the union (yoon-yuhn) and the colors of the flag are red, white and blue. There are 7 red and 6 white stripes which represent the 13 original states.

Student:               Do you know who the Vice President is? I need to do a book report on him.

Professor:            Yes, Vice President Joseph Biden.

Student:               Who really elects the President of the United States? 

Professor:            It is a group called the Electoral (ih-lek-ter-uhl) College chosen by popular vote.

Student:               Do you what happens if space aliens were to dematerialize (dee-muh-teer-ee-uh-lahyz) the president?

Professor:            If the President dies in office and doesn’t get to serve his elected four years or gets dematerialized and completely disappears in a UFO, the Vice President takes over.

Student:               I heard in class about a document called The Constitution (kon-sti-too-shuhn) can you tell me what it does and can it ever be changed? 

Professor:            The Constitution is the law of the country on which America bases all its laws on. It has been changed with 27 amendments (uh-mend-muhntz).

Student:               Do you know how many branches there are in our government and who gets to make the laws?

Professor:            There are three branches in the government, the first is the legislative (lej-is-ley-tiv) comprised of Congress (kong-gris), the second is the Executive (the President) and the third is the Judiciary (joo-dish-ee-er-ee) (courts). Congress who makes the laws is elected by the people and is comprised of The Senate and the House of Representatives. There are 100 senators, they are elected for a six-year term. There are 435 representatives elected for a 2-year term.