Order a Hamburger
A customer wants to order a hamburger. The Grammar focus is on Modal Auxiliaries.
Customer: “I would like a hamburger, please.”
Cook: “Do you want fries with that?”
Customer: “Yes, I do. Also please add mushrooms to the hamburger.”
Cook: “No problem. A mushroom-burger with fries. What do you want to drink?”
Customer: “I’d like a Coke, please.”
Cook: “Got it. I’ll have it all ready in a few minutes.”
Customer: “Could I have my Coke now?”
Cook: “Sure, no problem. I’ll get that for you.”
VOCABULARY WITH IDIOMS
Got it means I understood that. Please see Idioms Dictionary.
ENGLISH GRAMMAR
Suggested Topic for Questions: Modal Auxiliaries
In the dialogue, the customer says “Could I have my Coke now?”
The modal “could,” which has a Phrasal Modal counterpart of “be able to,” can be used like most modals to express either logical probability or some kind of social interaction. Its core meaning (re: probability and prediction) is “potential force,” and it ranks low in a comparison with other modals (e.g. “must,” “will,” “should,” and “may”) on a scale from high certainty down to low certainty. In social interaction, “could” is often used to make a request, as it is in this dialogue. The cook replies “Sure, no problem,” but he could also reply “Yes, you could,” “Yes, you can,” or “Yes, you may.”
INTERMEDIATE-ADVANCED DIALOGUE
New Idioms are “For one thing” and “Not to mention.” The Grammar focus is on Relative Clauses.
Alice: “I want a mushroom cheeseburger with fries and a Coke.”
Bonnie: “You don’t want the Coke, that’s bad for you.”
Alice: “Why is it bad? How can you say that about Coca-Cola?”
Bonnie: “Be serious. It’s full of sugar, for one thing. In just one can there are 37 grams, almost ten teaspoons of sugar.”
Alice: “What’s wrong with sugar?”
Bonnie: “It causes obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure, not to mention tooth decay. Is that enough for you?”
Alice: “What do you recommend instead?”
Bonnie: “Coffee or tea is much better, or just real OJ, if they have it.”
Alice: “What do you mean by real?”
Bonnie: “Squeezed and unprocessed.”
Alice: “Okay, I’m going to have coffee with that, because I need to sharpen up this afternoon, I’ve got a class. What are you going to have?”
Bonnie: “I want a burger too, but with onion rings.”
Alice: “That’s almost the same thing!”
Bonnie: “We should go to a deli and order a chicken salad instead, or some kind of veggie and hummus sandwich. High-fiber, low-sugar, heart-healthy. But we’re not, we’re eating burgers.”
Alice: “I don’t even know what hummus is.”
Bonnie: “It’s a Middle Eastern dip. You usually eat it with pita bread, it’s got chickpeas and tahini.”
Alice: “Why do other cultures have food that’s good for you, and American food makes you fat?”
Bonnie: “Good question.”
VOCABULARY WITH IDIOMS
For one thing means as one example or reason out of several. See online Idioms Dictionary.
Not to mention means in addition to or as well as what’s been discussed. See online Idioms Dictionary.
ENGLISH GRAMMAR
Suggested topic for comments and questions: Relative Clauses
Example from Dialogue: “Why do other cultures have food that is good for you?,“
Relative clauses are common modifiers in English. They are a kind of adjective modifier that comes after the noun, and they are generally introduced with the relative pronoun who, which, or that:
The tall man, who is boss of this company, came through the door.
I saw the tall man, who is boss of this company, come through the door.
I have given two examples here to show that the modified noun can be both the subject and the object of the sentence.
This is a complex aspect of English grammar but the foundation described here is a modifying clause which is embedded within the main clause of the sentence. In the first example, “The tall man came through the door” is the main clause. The embedded modifying clause is “who is boss of this company.” With this structure, we receive added information about the subject of the sentence (the tall man).
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