Verbs with ‘back’- Roleplays Speaking Practice

Verbs with back roleplays speaking practice

Use the version of Part One that your teacher tells you to.

Part One: Using verbs with back roleplays

Choose one sentence below and explain a situation where you could say that, including who would be communicating with who. The two people could be communicating by telephone, by email or face to face, depending on which line below you choose. Roleplay that situation with your partner, making sure that you use the line below somewhere in your communication. The person who picked the line below is the one who must use it, e.g. must be the caller for line 1 below. Roleplay the whole exchange each time. If it’s an email exchange, don’t write, just say what you would write, but roleplay the whole exchange of at least two emails until it comes to a natural end.

1. “Can you ask him to call me back?” (= return my call)
2. “I’d like you to give my money back.” (= refund my money)
3. “Please come back if you have any other problems.” (= visit this shop again)
4. “I’ll find out and get back to you as soon as I can.” (= contact you)
5. “Can I phone you back later?” (= “return your call later”)
6. “Thanks for calling me back.” (= returning my call)
7. “Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.” (= contacting me)
8. “I’ll pass your message to him as soon as he gets back.” (= returns from the place where he has gone)
9. “Do you know when he will be back?” (= come back)
10. “He will be back around twelve.” (= return to this place)
11. “Can I check that back?” (= “Can I read that back?” = say back to you what you just said to me to confirm that I understood)
12. “Thanks for writing back so quickly.” (= replying to my email)
13. “Please don’t hang up, I’ll be right back.” (= come back to the phone)
14. “When are you flying back?” (= taking a plane back where you came from)
15. “Well, I’d better go back to my hotel and get changed for this evening.” (= return to my hotel)
16. “Can you take this back to the kitchen?” (= go back to the kitchen with this)
17. “I tried taking it back to the shop, but they said they couldn’t help me.” (= went back to the shop with it)
18. “If you send it back to us, we will fix it and get it back to you as soon as possible.” (= return it by post)
19. “Welcome back” (= It’s nice that you could come back again)
20. “It’s so nice to be back” (= It’s nice to be here again)
21. “I’ll be back (soon/…)” (= I will return)

Ask about any language you can’t understand, situations you can’t imagine, etc, working together to think of suitable situations each time.

 

Part One: Using verbs with back roleplays no explanations version

Choose one sentence below and explain a situation where you could say that, including who would be communicating with who. The two people could be communicating by telephone, by email or face to face, depending on which line below you choose. Roleplay that situation with your partner, making sure that you use the line below somewhere in your communication. The person who picked the line below is the one who must use it, e.g. must be the caller for line 1 below. Roleplay the whole exchange each time. If it’s an email exchange, don’t write, just say what you would write, but roleplay the whole exchange of at least two emails until it comes to a natural end.

1. “Can you ask him to call me back?”
2. “I’d like you to give my money back.”
3. “Please come back if you have any other problems.”
4. “I’ll find out and get back to you as soon as I can.”
5. “Can I phone you back later?”
6. “Thanks for calling me back.”
7. “Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.”
8. “I’ll pass your message to him as soon as he gets back.”
9. “Do you know when he will be back?”
10. “He will be back around twelve.”
11. “Can I check that back?”
12. “Thanks for writing back so quickly.”
13. “Please don’t hang up, I’ll be right back.”
14. “When are you flying back?”
15. “Well, I’d better go back to my hotel and get changed for this evening.”
16. “Can you take this back to the kitchen?”
17. “I tried taking it back to the shop, but they said they couldn’t help me.”
18. “If you send it back to us, we will fix it and get it back to you as soon as possible.”
19. “Welcome back”
20. “It’s so nice to be back”
21. “I’ll be back (soon/…)”

Ask about any language you can’t understand, situations you can’t imagine, etc, working together to think of suitable situations each time.

Work together to think of how to explain and/ or rephrase the phrases above without using “back”.

 

Part Two: Verbs with back presentation

Fill the gaps below with one verb. Sometimes there might be more than one possibility, but just write one. The same verb can often be used in more than one place below.

1. “Can you ask him to _____________________________ me back?” (= return my call)
2. “I’d like you to _________________________ my money back.” (= refund my money)
3. “Please _____________ back if you have any other problems.” (= visit this shop again)
4. “I’ll find out and ___________________ back to you as soon as I can.” (= contact you)
5. “Can I _________________________ you back later?” (= “Return your call later”)
6. “Thanks for ________________________________ing me back.” (= returning my call)
7. “Thanks for _______________________ing back to me so quickly.” (= contacting me)
8. “I’ll pass your message to him as soon as he __________________________s back.” (= returns from the place he has gone)
9. “Do you know when he will _____________________________ back?” (= come back)
10. “He will ___________________________ back around twelve.” (= return to this place)
11. “Can I _________________________________ that back?” (= “Can I read that back?” = say back to you what you just said to me to confirm that I understood)
12. “Thanks for _______________________ing back so quickly.” (= replying to my email)
13. “Please don’t hang up, I’ll ________________ right back.” (= come back to the phone)
14. “When are you ___________ing back?” (= taking a plane back where you came from)
15. “Well, I’d better __________________________________ back to my hotel and get changed for this evening.” (= return to my hotel)
16. “Can you ___________ this back to the kitchen?” (= go back to the kitchen with this)
17. “I tried ________________________________ing it back to the shop, but they said they couldn’t help me.” (= went back to the shop with it)
18. “If you ___________________________________ it back to us, we will fix it and get it back to you as soon as possible.” (= return it by post)
19. “____________________________ back” (= It’s nice that you could come back again)
20. “It ___________________________ so nice to be back” (= It’s nice to be here again)
21. “I’ll _________________________________________ back (soon/…)” (= I will return)

Use the mixed answers on the next page to help.

 

Mixed answers

Used the words below to help with the task above. Some verbs are used more than once.

• be
• call
• check
• come
• fly
• get
• give
• go
• is
• phone
• send
• take
• welcome
• write

Check with the first page. Other answers might be possible, so check with your teacher.

 

Part Three: Verbs with back situation roleplays

Without looking above if possible, roleplay situations from below, each time roleplaying the whole exchange (just saying what you would write for emailing situations).

• A phone call after you leave a message for someone
• A phone call when the person you speak to doesn’t have the information you need
• A phone call when the person you want to speak to isn’t there
• A phone call when you have to ask someone to wait
• A phone call when you have to leave a message
• A problem with something that you have bought
• A problem with your food in a restaurant
• An email exchange
• Chatting with a visitor from abroad
• Meeting someone at your office
• Meeting someone at someone else’s office
• Greeting guests at your house party
• Ending a face-to-face conversation