Common Expressions in Simple Past

Do you want to improve your spoken English?  The answer to this question is always positive, right?  But the real question is how.  How to learn English?  How to speed up your learning?  

Well, one thing that troubles people are tenses.  And do you know that some sentences are usually in the simple past?  What do I mean?  Before you know more about it, read the following:

I do not know that Mr. Lazy did it.  

The sentence looks right, but actually it is not.  Absolutely not.  What is wrong with it?  There is something wrong with the tense of ‘I do not know that’.  In the tense world of English, it should be ‘I didn’t know that’.

Why?

I don’t know VS I didn’t know

Well, just imagine.  Imagine what?  Imagine now is the moment you say ‘I do not know that Mr. Lazy did it’.   And then ask yourself a question:

Do you know it now?

Yes, you know it now.  So what you do not know is something before now?  And something before now is something in the past.  The reason behind becomes easy to get when you read the following:

before now = in the past

So now it is clear that when you use ‘know’ to talk about the information that ‘Mr. Lazy did it’, it is something in the past.  And the obvious choice for things in the past is not ‘I do not know’, but:

I didn’t know that Mr. Lazy did it

Other Common Expressions in Simple Past

Actually the before-now rule also applies to other common expressions in spoken English.  

a. When you make a decision:

e.g. I made up my mind where to go for my next trip.

b. When you forget something:

e.g. Oh, sorry, I forgot to bring the document.

c. When you do not recognize someone:

e.g. Oh, boss, I am sorry I didn’t recognize you in the crowd.  

Slang and Office English

   

Do you want to know more about slang?  Can you use it in your office? However, there is a question for you: How do you know you use cool slang correctly?

A. What’s Wrong With That?

Correctly?  Am I kidding?  No.  When you use slang, there is grammar to follow too.  What do I mean?  Read the following example:

What (the hell) are you doing?

Somehow you have to put ‘the hell’ in the correct position, right?  If you say: What are you doing, the hell?    We’ll get lost.  Even worse, some of your coworkers may laugh at you.  (So, believe it or not, speaking slang at office is about grammar too.)  It is not cool being laughed at by others, right?  

B. How To Speak Cool Slang Coolly (Correctly)

So the question is: How to speak cool slang coolly (or correctly)?   Before you know how to do it, read the following cool slang that can be used at office:

1. a lowdown

2. neck-and-neck, middle-of-the-road

3. at the end of my rope

           

C. The NAP Method

Believe it or not.  You can ‘take a NAP’ to speak cool English at your office. How?  Do you know what the three letters stand for?

N stands for nouns, A for adjectives, and P for prepositions.  So now, you can speak better office English when grouping slang you hear into N, A, or P.

C1. USING SLANG at office: THE N WAY

The first one, a lowdown, is a noun.  Your boss may have used it to talk to you when you call in sick.  When?     Read the following dialogue.

So what does your boss mean by ‘lowdown’?  He wants you to tell him the whole story.  In other words, he does not believe you.  

C2. USING SLANG at office: THE A WAY

What about ‘neck-and-neck’ and ‘middle-of-the-road’?  First of all, they are all adjectives.   And a key for you to speaking cool slang is to use them after ‘is, am, are, was, were, will be’, for example:

At your presentation, you may show your coworkers the pic and say:

Our company and Orange are neck-and-neck.  We have to work harder to be the leader.

                       (are +  neck-and-neck)

So what does it mean?  It may mean a few things, one of which is that: Your company and your competitor (Orange) have an equal share in the market.  So, when talking about smart phone market, you may also say:

Samsung and Apple are not neck-and-neck.   

This method also applies to ‘middle-of-the-road’.  When you don’t want to agree or disagree with your coworkers, use it:

I am middle-of-the-road (when it comes to downsizing).  

(am +  middle-of-the-road)

C3. USING SLANG at office: THE P WAY

P stands for prepositions and there are 2 situations you can use P at your office.

Situation 1: Complaining about your boss

Well, how is your boss treating you?  If, unluckily, you want to make a complaint about your boss in English, do you know how to do it with the P way? Read the following dialogue.

Your Coworker: How is your boss treating you?

You: I can’t take him anymore.  I am at the end of my rope.

Your friend: What?

You: He (kind of) pushes me to the limit (all the time).  

Situation 2: Office gossiping

This situation is very common at your office, right?  What is it?  Gossiping about your coworkers, especially about your boss.

Your coworker:

Do you think our CEO was on the level when he said he had nothing to do with the secretary?

You: What do you mean by on the level?

Your coworker: I mean is he telling the truth?

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