A. FORMAL TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS
1. Business and Commerce
Operator: Good morning. Hawles Engineering. Can I help you?
Mr Weston: I’d like to speak to Mr James Marsh, please, I think it’s extension forty-seven.
Operator: Who’s calling, please?
Mr Weston: My name is Weston. I’m from Plant Installations Limited.
Operator: Will you hold the line for a moment, Mr Weston? I’ll see if Mr Marsh is free[17].
Mr Weston: Yes, thank you.
Mr Marsh: Hello. Marsh speaking[18].
Operator: Oh, hello, Mr Marsh. I’ve got a Mr Weston[19] from Plant Installations on the line[20]. Can you speak to him now?
Mr Marsh: Oh yes. Thank you. Put him through, please.
Operator: You’re through now, Mr Weston.
Mr Marsh: Hello, Mr Weston. What can I do for you?[21]
Mr Weston: Good morning, Mr Marsh. You’ll remember that our surveyor[22] took another look at the floor of your main polishing shop last week.
Mr Marsh: Yes.
Mr Weston: Well I’ve just got his report, and’I thought I’d let you know the result.
Mr Marsh: Splendid[23]. That was quick work[24].
Mr Weston: Yes, it was quite quick, wasn’t it? And you’ll be pleased to know[25] that he’s been able to confirm what he said in his original report. Mr Marsh: Has he? Oh, good.
Mr Weston: Yes, he says that the subsidence[26] hasn’t gone any further since he first inspected the floor, and that there’s no need to increase the strengthening measures he recommended.
Mr Marsh: Well I’m very pleased to hear that, Mr Weston. You’ve taken a load off my mind[27].
Mr Weston: Yes, I’m glad it won’t be necessary to hold things up[28] on account of the floor. I’ll confirm all this in writing of course, but I thought that I’d let you know as soon as possible in the hope that we could agree on a defenite starting date.
Mr Marsh: Yes, of course.
Mr Weston: If we can fix that, then I can go ahead with arrangements here.
Mr Marsh: Well it’ll take us about two days to finish off the outstanding work[29] in the plating and polishing shops[30], and then you can have a free hand[31] to begin your operations. How does that suit you?
Mr Weston: Two days. That brings us to Thursday morning[32], doesn’t it?
Mr Marsh: Thursday, yes.
Mr Weston: And I did understand you to say we could continue working at week-ends.
Mr Marsh: Yes, that’s right.
Mr Weston: Well in that case Thursday morning will suit us very well. I’ll put it in hand[33] straight away.
Mr Marsh: Good.
Mr Weston: Now there is one other matter that I’d like to discuss breifly with you if you can spare the time. I’m not keeping you from anything
