THE ART OF SPEAKING AMERICAN ENGLISH (9 page)

Mom:
I’ve got my hands in the cookie dough, honey. (Mom is at home)

Girl
:
I’ll
come back
home and get them myself
.

2.
come back
emphasizes the perspective of someone at a certain location (home, workplace, etc.) in conversation with another person, when referring to someone else who is expected to return to that location after being away for a relatively short period of time. Regardless of who is speaking,
come back
will be used.

A1.
Mary
:
Hello
. (answering the telephone)

Sam
:
This is Sam Spootal at your husband’s office. I need to speak to Jack for a moment, please
.

Mary
:
I’m sorry, he just went out to the store. Can I take a message?

Sam
:
We’re having an emergency meeting at 2 O’Clock today. Please tell him when he
comes back
that we need him to be here
.

Mary
:
I will, as soon as he
comes back
(home)
.

VII.
go back
home

1.
go back
home
is an expression that means to return to one’s home town or mother/home country.

I’m
going back
home to spend New years with my parents
.

2.
go back
emphasizes the perspective of someone at a certain location (home, workplace, etc.) who will be temporarily returning to an earlier location, in conversation with someone who is not currently at the other location
. Regardless of who is speaking,
go back
will be used.

Dan
:
Darn! I don’t have any cash and I forgot my credit cards at the office
.

Mary
:
I don’t have my purse either. You’ll have to
go back
home and get it
.

Dan
:
I don’t really
wanna
go back
home, but I guess I have to
.

will + basic verb
(
eat, help, etc.
) And
present progressive/ -ing verb (eating, helping, etc.)

We will forego a review of the generally understood grammatical differences here to focus on how nuance plays a role in whether
will + basic verb
or
present progressive -ing verb
is to be used.

I
. The following two conversations illustrate how
will + basic verb
connotes a
promise, agreement, etc
., requiring the
action
to be completed. On the other hand,
present progressive/-ing verb
expresses relatively the same meaning as
unfixed
plan
and
preparation
.

In conversation (A) Steve tells Natsuko he
will
(
action is required
) help her
the next day, essentially promising to do so. In contrast, Steve tells Mark in conversation (B) he is
helping
(
unfixed plan/preparation
)
Natsuko the next day, referring to this as something he plans to do rather than something he is obligated to do. In general, it is unnecessary to use the form
will + basic verb
when speaking to one person about a promise made to another individual.

A. Natsuko:
I can’t seem to translate this paragraph from Japanese to English
.

Steve
: What’s the problem?

Natsuko
:
The idioms are giving me a hard time.”

Steve
: I’ll tell you what, I gotta go now, but
I’ll
(
I will
→fixed
plan
) help you with that, tomorrow. Can you be here around this time?”

Natsuko
:
Of course. You’re a life saver!

Steve
: See
you tomorrow.”

Natsuko
:
“Bye.”

(Steve runs into a friend ten minutes later in the school hallway.)

B.
Mark
:
Hey Steve, what’s going on?

Steve
:
How ya doing, Mark? Haven’t seen you in a month
.

Mark
: Oh, I’ve been around; mostly in the library
.

Steve
:
Hitting the books (=studying), ha? I need to do the same
.

Mark
: Hey, what do you say we have lunch tomorrow
.

Steve
:
Sounds good, but I’m
helping
(
unfixed
plan
) Natsuko translate something from English to Japanese
.

Mark
: What about next Monday?

Steve
: Alright,
I’ll
(
I will
) see (action is required) you then
.

Mark
: “Great. See you then”

II.
When a promise, agreement, or obligation is not at issue, it can be reasonably argued that Americans have a preference for the
present progressive
over
will + basic verb
. Which of the following do you find more natural sounding and easiest to say?

A.
“
We’ll
(
We will
) go to Hawaii this weekend, and then
we’ll
(
we will
) go to France for a three day stay.”

B.
We’re
(
We are
)
going
to Hawaii this weekend, and then
we’re
(
we are
)
going
to France for a three day stay
.

want,
would like
,
hope
,
wish
,
if only

The degree to which it is possible to do, accomplish, or acquire something is expressed as follows.

I
.
want
simply expresses one’s desire to have or do something, but in no way indicates the chances of actually being able to do so.

I
want
to spend summer this year in San Diego
.

II
.
would like
expresses the desire to do something but indicates it may not be possible.
If I have the chance
(
to
...
), I’ll
,
carries the same nuance.

I’d
(I
would
)
like
to spend summer this year in San Diego
.

III
.
hope
expresses the desire to do something, and indicates that there is less of a possibility of doing so than if
would like
were used.

I
hope
to spend summer this year in San Diego
.

IV
.
wish
I
could
expresses a strong desire to do something when it is unlikely the action/desire can be accomplished/realized.

I
wish
I could spend summer this year in San Diego
.

V.
if only
I could
expresses the strong desire to do something, but indicates there is virtually no possibility of doing so.

If only
I could spend summer this year in San Diego
.

rent,
borrow
,
check out

Just about all students of English are as least somewhat familiar with the words
rent
and
borrow
. However, few students know all the particulars when it comes to using them in everyday conversational English. Far less familiar is the use of the idiom,
check out
, in certain cases to express the same meaning as
borrow
.

I.
rent
is a verb used to explain the act of
borrowing
anything from a bicycle to an apartment to an entire convention center, where payment is usually required upfront before taking possession of the item, etc., for an agreed upon period of time.

I
rented
four beachcombers for me, my wife and our two little girls
.

II.
borrow
, by far the most common of the three, expresses the act of taking possession of an item such as money or food (A), with the intention of returning that item or a substitute that has an equivalent value, such as flour for sugar. Two exceptions to this is the borrowing of money from a bank and organized crime (B), when interest is charged over the original amount called a
loan
.

A.
I
borrowed
a
cup of sugar from my neighbor the other day; she didn’t mind that I gave her a cup of flour in place of it the next day
.

B.
Would you believe it, I
borrowed
$400,000 from the bank, but the interest on the 30 year home loan was only 2.4%

*Of particular curiosity is the idiomatic meaning of
borrow
, used to indirectly ask for an item without any intention of returning it. However commonplace it may be, for obvious reasons I do not recommend students use
borrow
in this way. Note the misunderstanding that occurs in the following scenario.

(Mary’s colleague, Gunther, has 50 pens in a brown coffee cup on his desk.)

Mary to Gunther:
Can
I
borrow
one of your pens for a moment?

Gunther:
Sure, go ahead
.

(An hour passes, but Mary hasn’t returned the pen. Gunther looks over at another of his colleagues and makes the following remark.)

Gunther
:
I better (I’d better) put my pens away before she steals them all.”

III.
Some of the various meanings of
check out
include the following:
concluding one’s stay at a hotel; confirming
(a story told to the police, etc.);
studying
(a beautiful painting, etc.), and
investigating
(a crime, etc.).

One common meaning of
borrow
seems to have completely slipped by educators in Japan.
borrow
and
check out
are interchangeable when borrowing an item from non-profit organizations or city sponsored entities such as libraries, community centers, etc., where a fee is not required to do so.

*Note: The general public has a preference for
check out
, whereas librarians prefer to use
borrow
.

1.
We need to find out how many people on an average day
check out
athletic equipment from the local community center
.

2.
I
checked out
30 children’s books from the library for my daughter today
.

by myself
,
on my own
,
myself

I.
By myself
, simply put, means to be alone or not with anyone else, whether active or sitting still.

I went to the store
by myself
.

II.
on
my own

1.
on my own
is used to connote reliance on one’s own resources to complete an action(s)
without the benefit of help from others
.

In the following conversation with her husband Jack, Mary uses
on his own
to say that 28 year old Jack Jr. is going to be living by himself soon and taking care of his own financial needs.

(Mary announces to her husband Jack just as he’s getting in the door from work)

Mary
:
Jack Jr. is moving out. Now that he’s got a job, he feels he can make it
on his own
.

Jack
:
Well its about time ... at 28 years old. I thought we’d be stuck with him to the grave
.

Mary
:
Jack! He’s in the other room, he might hear you
.

Jack
: What?
It’s not like I said “Get out!

Mary
:
Jack!

Jack
:
Alright, alright
.

Mary
:
Just try to be a little encouraging, will you
.

Jack
:
I’ll take him out for a hamburger before he hits the road. How’s that? But make sure you lock the door behind him
.

2.
on my own
may also carry the nuance of accomplishing a task without having been asked or required to. In this next conversation
on my own
is used by Sandra to tell her husband Mike that their 3 year old son Gill cleaned up his room without being asked or made to
(on
his own
initiative)
.