Canceling an Appointment

Hello English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

And I’m Erica.

And today we’re bringing you another great lesson about appointments.

That’s right. We’ve got an elementary lesson about canceling an appointment.

It’s a really common situation…

Uhu.

Sometimes you have an appointment at the doctor’s or something.

Or at work.

And you have to cancel it.

Yes, so we’re gonna learn some great language to help you cancel appointments today. Let’s go straight to the dialogue then. We’re going to be listening as Samantha and Angela have a phone conversation and Angela is trying to cancel an appointment.

And it’s gonna be a little bit fast in the beginning, but when we come back, we will explain all the great vocabulary.

Okay, we have some really interesting words that you’ve probably listened to in this dialogue, so…

Uhu.

Let’s start with “language takeaway”. Voice: Language takeaway.

Today on language takeaway we’re brining you three words. Ah, Erica, what’s the first one?

The first word is reschedule.

Reschedule.

Reschedule.

Reschedule.

When you reschedule an appointment, you…

Change it for another day or time.

Exactly.

Great, the second word that we have is inconvenience.

Inconvenience.

Inconvenience.

Inconvenience.

So, to inconvenience someone is to…

To make things not convenient for that person.

Hehe. Alright. So, to make things a little bit difficult…

Yeah.

Or to make things a little bit, uh…

Uncomfortable.

Uncomfortable.

Uhu.

Inconvenience.

And our third word is…

Postpone.

Postpone.

Postpone.

Postpone. We have some examples of the word postpone that will help you to understand its meaning a little bit better. Let’s listen. Voice: Example one.

Since Robert is late again, we have to postpone the meeting. Voice: Example two.

I’m sorry Simon, but your vacation has been postponed until next month. Voice: Example three.

Unfortunately, the flight will be postponed.

Okay, so, basically, postpone is to delay.

That’s right. Make it at a latter time.

At a latter time.

Uhu.

Okay, some great words there and, ah, we can listen to our dialogue a second time at a slower speed. DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (slow)

Alright, so, in this dialogue we had some really great phrases that we should look at in “fluency builder”. Voice: Fluency builder.

We have three phrases for you today in fluency builder and the first one is so common, it’s a great phrase – what’s up?

What’s up?

What’s up!

Hehe. So, this is a very common way of saying “hi”.

Yeah.

What’s up?

How’s it going? What’s going on?

Right, and now the interesting thing is it… th… many people don’t know how to answer this phrase.

Yes, I see this all the time with my students.

So, if you say “what’s up”, you should say…

Not much.

Not much.

Nothing.

Nothing. So, what’s up?

Not much. Hehe.

Not much. Hehe. Alright, so the next time someone’s tell you “what’s up”, now you know what to answer.

Yeah.

Okay, our second phrase is can’t make it.

Can’t make it.

I can’t make it.

We use this phrase when we want to say “I cannot attend”, I…

I cannot make it.

Yeah, I can’t come.

Right, so, if you’re having a party today, I say “oh, I’m sorry, I can’t make it”.

Uhu.

Ah, it means I can’t go.

Exactly. Maybe one more example: so, Marco, we’ve got a meeting today at three o’clock.

I can’t make it, I’m recording today.

Oh, okay.

Hehe. So, can’t make it.

Uhu.

Our last word for fluency builder – this thing came up.

This thing came up.

This thing came up.

This is a great way of giving an excuse for why you can’t make it…

Right.

???.

So…

Uhu.

I can’t make today, because this thing came up. Like something…

Something happened.

Something happened.

Yeah. Let’s listen to a few examples of this phrase, so we can see how it’s used in the wild. Voice: Example one.

I’m sorry that I’m late, this thing came up at work and I had to stay to take care of it. Voice: Example two.

I can’t talk right now, something came up. Voice: Example three.

Sorry I missed the meeting, something came up.

Okay, great examples and I guess it’s perfectly clear now.

Yes.

So, let’s listen to our dialogue a third time and now we’re ready to understand everything.

So, Erica, have you ever canceled an appointment like this, uh, under false pretenses? [NOTE: or by false pretenses; doing something under/by false pretences means making sort of an intentional misrepresentation in order to obtain anything]

So, for… for fake reasons?

For a fake reason… to shopping.

Um, well, I may not have… you know, told my boss “oh, I can’t make it to a meeting, because this thing came up” and then I really was going shopping…

Uhu.

I… I’ve never done that.

Hm.

But how about you, Marco?

Well, you know in Ecuador soccer’s a really big thing.

Right.

So, um, when we were playing in the World Cup… Ecuador was playing and…

Not you, but…

Well, no like…

Yeah.

The… the Ecuadorian soccer team.

Aha.

I canceled an appointment, because I was gonna go watch the game.

Really…

Yeah

A business appointment?

A business appointment.

Well, I guess that’s okay.

Yeah, I mean it was like the first time we were ever in the World Cup and, you know, my boss didn’t really put up much of a fight, because I guess he also wanted to go watch the game.

So, very similar to the… events in this dialogue.

Very similar.

Uhu.

I guess that’s kind of the inspiration behind it.

Alright, guys, I hope you found some these phrases helpful and useful. And remember if you have any questions about anything you heard in today’s lesson, please visit our website at englishpod.com.

Right, there you’ll be able to find more resources and also a large community to interact with.

Yes, including me and Marco.

Right.

Uhu.

So, we’ll see you there, until then it’s…

Good bye!

Bye!