Living English - Episode 21 - Single trip or daytrip

[Music]

Hello. Welcome to Living English. Today

we'll look at the language you need when

catching public transport, such as a bus

or a train. and we'll look at questions

beginning with

how. But first, let's catch up with

Anne. In the last episode, Anne was

waiting for a bus to go to the

university where David's professor has a

letter for her. Here she is catching the

bus.

[Music]

Does this bus go to the university? Yes,

miss.

How much is that? Single or day trip?

Sorry. Are you coming back today? Yes.

How long will you be at university? Uh,

I'm not sure. An hour perhaps? Single

will do. You can use the same ticket to

come back. That's $3, please.

How far is it? Uh, not far. About 4 km

from here. How many stops is it? About

10. Thank you.

University. This is your stop, miss. Oh,

thank you.

When do I catch the bus to go back? Just

across the street over there. How often

do the buses come? Every 20 minutes. You

won't have to wait long. It's uh

10:30. The next one's at 10:40 and then

11:00. Thanks. Bye-bye. Have a good

day. Let's look at language you need to

catch a bus or a train. First, let's

look at what Anne asks the bus driver.

Does this bus go to the university?

Practice this phrase with Anne in the

clip. Now,

does this bus go to the university? She

uses the simple present using does or do

because the bus goes to the university

every day. It is a regular action.

Practice with some other

destinations. The

city. Does this bus go to the

city? The

beach. Does this bus go to the

beach? But maybe you don't know which

bus goes to where you want. Then you

would say, "Which bus goes to the

university?

Try this with some other destinations.

The

airport. Which bus goes to the

airport? The shopping

center. Which bus goes to the shopping

center? Now listen again to an as she

works out which ticket she has to buy.

How much is that? Single or date? Sorry.

Are you coming back today? Yes. There

are two types of ticket. Anne has to

choose which one she

wants. Her answer should be one or the

other. We use or when there is a

choice. You can buy a single ticket or a

dayrip ticket, but not both.

Let's look now at some of the other

questions that the bus driver and an ask

each other. How long will you be at

university? I'm not sure. An hour

perhaps. Try asking how long about some

other things. Will you be

gone? How long will you be

gone? Will it

take? How long will it take?

We could say, "How long will it take for

something we are waiting for?" If I was

getting my car fixed, I could ask, "How

long will it take?" The answer is an

amount of

time. What does Anne answer to the bus

driver's question? I'm not sure. An hour

perhaps. Anne isn't sure how long she

will be at the university. She thinks it

might be an hour. So she says perhaps an

hour.

Perhaps she could have said maybe an

hour.

Maybe. Listen to another question

starting with how how far is it? Uh not

far about 4 km from here. The question

is how far is it? How far is asking

about

distance. How much distance is it from

where we are now?

So, how long is about time, how far is

about

distance. Try asking how far is it with

an

how far is it? And what does the bus

driver say about how far it

is? He gives two answers. Listen. Uh,

not far. About 4 km from here.

First he says not

far. This is a general answer. He means

it is not a great

distance. Then he says more exactly how

far it is. But he still says

about about 4 kilometers means

approximately 4

km. It could be a bit more or a bit

less.

Now let's look at another how question.

How many stops is it? About 10.

Ann asks how many stops. So the answer

has to be a number. And the bus driver

says about 10. It could be one or two

more or less than 10. And here's

Michelle. Hello Michelle. Hello Brenton.

Hello everyone. How are you? Good,

thanks.

Well, you just asked me how I am and

you've been looking at how

questions. So, let's look at them a bit

more. Good idea.

There are a number of common types of

questions starting with

how. We've already seen that how long

asks about time. Oh, excuse me. I've got

to go. How long will you be? Uh, not

long.

How long can also ask about the length

of

something. Here's a piece of

rope. How long is it? I'll have to

measure

it. It's 25 cm

long. We can ask questions like this

about anything that can be measured.

You're back. I said I wouldn't be long.

You can help me measure this box.

Firstly, how long is it?

It's 36 cm long. And how wide is it?

It's 25 cm wide. And how high is it?

It's 20 cm high. Now you try. First ask

the questions, then

answer. First ask about length.

How how long is

it? 36 cm. It's 36 cm long. Now ask

about the width.

How How wide is

it? 25 cm. It's 25 cm

wide. Now ask about height.

How how high is it?

20

cm. It's 20 cm high. Ann also asked how

far is it? Yes, she asked about

distance. Here are two

cups. How far is it from this cup to

that cup?

It's 28 cm. So, we use how far to talk

about the distance from one place to

another place and how long to talk about

the length of one object.

How long are you, Michelle?

We don't use how long to talk about

people. We use how tall. How tall are

you? Oh, that's right. Or we can say

what is your height?

You can use how in front of any

adjective that can be measured or

compared with other things.

Here's a book. What can you ask about

the book? I could ask how thick is that

book?

It's very thick. What else? How

interesting is that book?

It's very interesting. It's all about

English words.

How useful is that book? It's quite

useful if you're studying English.

Here's my coffee. What can you ask about

the coffee beginning with how

how

hot? Now you ask.

How hot is your coffee? It's very

hot. Sweet.

How sweet is your coffee? It's not sweet

at all. I don't like sweet coffee.

Good.

How good is your coffee? It's pretty

good.

An asks one other how question in our

episode. Let's look.

Where do I catch the bus to go back?

Just across the street over there. How

often do the buses come? Every 20

minutes. You won't have to wait long.

It's uh

10:30. The next one's at 10:40 and then