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English as a Second Language - Transaction Phrases
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Avg score: 63% Most missed: “You go into a supermarket to buy a few small items. When you go to the checkout …”
English as a Second Language - Transaction Phrases
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10 Questions

1. You are shopping at the market and decide to buy some plums. You cannot reach the plums yourself, since they are too far back on the display; the stallholder will need to serve you.
What do you say?
2. You are shopping at the market and decide to buy some plums. You cannot reach the plums yourself, since they are too far back on the display; the stallholder will need to serve you.
What do you say?
3. You are ordering drinks in a pub. Which of these would be the most appropriate and accurate way to start?
4. You have had a repair job done, and are about to pay; you are expecting the charge to be around £50. The man tells you 'That'll be forty-five quid plus VAT.' What is your best response?
5. You are ordering drinks in a pub. Which of these would be the most appropriate and accurate way to start?
6. At quite short notice, you manage to find a ticket for a theatre show that you were really hoping to watch while you are in Britain: this could be a 'classic musical' perhaps, or a Shakespeare play, or almost anything in between. You pay very cheaply for this (maybe £10) and when you receive the ticket, you see the phrase BALCONY:RESTRICTED VIEW printed on it.
What does this mean?
7. You have recently arrived in Britain and go into a shop to buy one important, but small and cheap item. At this stage you only have quite large British banknotes to pay for it. What do you say to the shopkeeper?
8. You are at the railway station, buying a ticket for a day-trip to London. The member of staff checks that you want a return ticket (probably: 'Off-peak return?') and then says: 'Travelcard with that?'.
What is happening here?
9. You have had a repair job done, and are about to pay; you are expecting the charge to be around £50. The man tells you 'That'll be forty-five quid plus VAT.' What is your best response?
10. Another situation where you reach the front of a queue in a busy shop ('What IS it with these Brits and their queueing?'). This time you pay using a credit or debit card, and the person on the till asks you 'Would you be wanting any cashback with that?'
Frankly you would just rather pay and leave, get out of the shop and get on with your life; but the cashier is waiting for an answer. What's going on, and what do you do or say?