Dating and Relationships

Small Donate ButtonHello, and welcome to Luke’s English Podcast. This episode is in 3 parts:

Part 1 – I’m going to talk about what I’ve been doing recently, and I’m going to talk about the Present Perfect Continuous Tense

Part 2 – This is the feature section which is about dating & relationships. I’m going to play you a BBC TV comedy sketch about a blind date.

Part 3 – I’m going to teach you some of the most common words and expressions that English people use when they talk about dating & relationships.

Part 1 – What have you been up to?

A typical conversation between friends who haven’t seen each other for a while would be like this:

A: Hi, how’s it going? (Hi, how are you?)

B: Fine thanks, you?

A: Not bad. What have you been up to?

B: Not much. I’ve been working hard recently. Work is really busy at the moment…

So, we use this question to ask about recent activities: “What have you been up to?” or “What have you been doing?”

‘up to’ – means ‘do’ or ‘doing’.

The tense here is the Present Perfect Continuous tense: have/has + been + -ing

This tense is used in the question and answer: “What have you been doing recently?” “I’ve been working hard”

It’s very common for people to use this when they see their friends.

E.g. “Hi Luke, what have you been up to?”

-I’ve been teaching a legal English course recently

-I’ve been playing football in Regents Park

-I’ve been enjoying the good weather

-I’ve been looking forward to the new Star Trek movie

-I’ve been listening to a lot of funk music

-I’ve been on a couple of dates recently

(Present Perfect Simple tense)

Part 2 – Here’s the transcript of the comedy sketch:

Woman: I’m really glad Lisa set us up together

Man: Me too Woman: I normally hate it when friends pair you off with complete strangers

Man; Yeah

Woman: Thing is… all the guys I’ve been out with recently have been unbelievably stupid… I think you’re different though… well, touch wood! [she knocks on the table]

Man: [thinking it is the front door] Sorry, that’ll be the door… [he walks to the front door]

Woman: Good…

Part 3 – Useful expressions for talking about relationships & dating

To flirt with someone: When you like a boy or girl, you act in a way which shows that you like them. E.g. girls will laugh at a boy’s jokes, she might play with her hair, she might smile at him a lot, she might touch him on the arm and laugh… When a boy flirts with a girl he might try to make her laugh or show her how strong he is.

To fancy someone: This means that you think someone is attractive. E.g. “I really fancy Jane! I think she’s really good looking.”

To chat someone up: This is when you talk to someone to make them fancy you. E.g. when a man sees a nice woman in a bar, he might chat her up by asking her if she wants a drink. “Would you like a drink? Do you come here often? You’ve got beautiful eyes…”

To go out with someone: This has 2 meanings. 1 – It means that you go on a date with someone. 2 – It means you are someone’s boyfriend/girlfriend. E.g. “We’ve been going out with each other for 2 years. We’re getting married next year.”

To ask someone out: This means to ask someone to go on a date. “Would you like to have dinner with me on Friday?” -he asked her out.

To have chemistry: This means there is a natural magic feeling between people who fancy each other. Chemistry is very important in a relationship.

To fall for someone: This means to fall in love with someone

To drift apart: This is when a relationship goes bad. You drift apart when you become interested in different things, and you don’t enjoy being with each other any more. It means that you slowly become bored with your partner.

To split up with someone: This means that the relationship finished. E.g. “Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston split up with each other a couple of years ago”

To dump someone: This means that you leave your partner and end the relationship. E.g. “She’s really sad because he dumped her. He told her that he didn’t love her any more and that he didn’t want to see her again…”

OK, so that’s it! Those are really useful expressions for talking about dating. Don’t forget to email me if you have any questions or comments. [e-mail] Bye for now!

p.s. here’s the comedy sketch on YouTube:

The TV show is called Man Stroke Woman (BBC)

Дата добавления: 2015-08-20