Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 672, Asking for More Time.
This is English as a Second Language podcast number 672.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan. in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Go there to download the learning guide for this episode.
That will improve your English and make your teeth just a little whiter.
This episode is a dialogue between Dan and Marsha.
It's called Asking for More Time.
More time to do something.
Let's get started.
Hello.
Hi, Dan.
What's the status on the project?
We're still on schedule, right?
Well, I've been meaning to call you about that.
We've had a slight delay.
What do you mean by slight?
Are you saying that you won't be able to meet the deadlines?
Not exactly.
I'm only asking that you grant us a short extension.
How short?
A week or two tops.
We hit a minor snag, but we should have everything up and running in no time.
If the project has come to a grinding halt, then it doesn't sound like a minor snag.
We're running on a tight schedule and we don't have a lot of time to spare.
I know that all too well.
Good.
Then I don't have to spell it out for you.
No, you don't.
My head is on the chopping block and the clock is ticking.
Dan begins by saying hello to Marsha.
Marsha says, Hi, Dan.
What's the status on the project?
The status S-T-A-T-U-S is the current condition, the most up-to-date, the newest information we have about this project, this thing that you are working on.
Marsha says, we're still on schedule, right?
Right.
To be on schedule means to be on time, that you are progressing.
You are moving forward just as you had planned.
If you're late in completing the different parts of the project, we would say you were behind schedule.
And if you are making better progress than you anticipated, than you planned, then we would say you are ahead of schedule.
So there's ahead of schedule, behind schedule, and on schedule.
Dan says, well, I've been meaning to call you about that.
I've been meaning to means I was planning on, I was thinking about it.
I should have called you.
He says, we've had a slight delay.
Slight, S-L-I-G-H-T delay.
Here means very small, minor, we might say.
Minor, M-I-N-O-R, is something that is not very important.
The opposite would be major, something very important.
But slight means minor, unimportant.
There are other meanings for the word slight, and those can be found in our learning guide.
So Dan says there has been a slight delay.
A delay is something that causes you to be behind schedule, to be late.
Marsha says, what do you mean by slight?
She's asking Dan to say how unimportant or how minor this delay is.
Are you saying that you won't be able to meet the deadline?
The deadline.
One word is the date, and sometimes the time that something is supposed to be done, that something needs to be completed by
The deadline is 5.30pm on Friday.
That means whatever you're doing has to be done by 5.30 in the afternoon on Friday.
So Marsha is asking not-too-bright, not-too-smart, we get the impression, Dan.
We'll call him Dumb Dan.
Marsha is asking Dumb Dan if he is going to be able to meet the deadline.
To meet the deadline means to be completed before or by the deadline.
Actually I guess Marcia says are you saying that you won't, that you will not be able to meet the deadline?
Dan says, not exactly.
Not exactly means no, but it implies, it gives you the idea that there is something else wrong.
Now we find out what is wrong, what Dan is really saying.
He says, I'm only asking that you grant us a short extension.
To grant something to someone as a verb means to give someone something, usually officially, like a government giving something to one of its citizens, or or an organization giving something to an individual person.
Here, it means really to give permission, to say yes, okay.
Dan is asking for a short extension.
An extension here means when you are given more time to do something.
If the deadline was Friday at 5 pm and you're not going to be finished by then, you might ask for an extension until Monday at 5 pm.
Marsha says, how short, meaning how short of an extension, how much more time do you want, dumb Dan?
Well, she doesn't say dumb Dan, but that's what she means, right?
So Dan says, a week or two tops. tops is an informal way of saying maximum, at most.
In other words, it won't be more than that.
So Dan says, a week or two weeks tops.
We hit a minor snag, but we should have everything up and running in no time.
A snag, or snag, S-N-A-G, is a problem.
A small problem, but still a problem that prevents you from completing something.
That causes a delay.
Snag has a few other meanings, and those can be found in the learning guide, of course.
Where else would you find them?
Dumb Dan says we should have everything up and running in no time.
The expression to have something up and running means something will be working normally, functioning as it should function, doing what it's supposed to be doing.
Marsha says, if the project has come to a grinding halt, then it doesn't sound like a minor snag.
The expression to come to a grinding halt means to completely stop.
You could have a car traveling down the street and suddenly you see a dog come out into the street and you step on or press on your brakes to stop the car, but you stop it very quickly.
We would say it came to a grinding halt.
It stopped quickly.
Actually, we don't use this expression very often in talking about actual movement.
Usually we use it in talking about some sort of project or process that stops, that suddenly stops, that completely stops.
Marcia says if the project has stopped, if you've stopped making progress on it, then it's not a minor snag.
It would be a major snag.
Marcia says, we're running on, meaning we're operating on a tight schedule and we don't have a lot of time to spare.
A tight schedule is a situation where a lot of work needs to be done, but in a very small amount of time.
If you only have two days to finish writing a book, That might be a very tight schedule if you haven't started writing already.
By the way, the opposite of a tight schedule would not be a loose schedule.
We wouldn't say that.
You might say something like, we have plenty of time.
Or even, we have all the time in the world.
There's no rush.
There's no hurry.
With a tight schedule, you have to hurry.
You have to rush.
You don't have a lot of time.
Marsha says they don't have a lot of time.
They don't have a lot of time to spare.
S-P-A-R-E.
To spare is to have an extra amount of something.
It's used as an adjective here when we are talking about something extra that you have, for example, in your car.
You should have a spare tire.
That's an extra tire to put on your car in case you have problems with one of them.
In fact, we typically call it just a spare using spare there as a noun.
Here, it means they don't have any extra time.
Dan says, I know that all too well, meaning I know it very well.
I understand completely.
Marsha says, good.
Then I don't have to spell it out for you.
To spell something out can mean to give the letters in the word, like I spell out words like spare, S-P-A-R-E.
But the same expression also means to explain something in great detail, to talk about every little part of this thing you are trying to describe, to be very explicit about.
Marsha is saying that she does not need to spell it out for Dan, for dumb Dan.
That's another way of saying, I don't need to explain to you how serious the situation is.
Sometimes, especially when we're giving someone bad news or telling them something they don't want to hear, We'll use the opposite expression.
We'll say, let me spell it out for you.
If you don't give me my money, I'm going to call the police.
Dan says, no, you don't.
You don't need to spell it out for me.
You don't need to explain what will happen to me if I don't finish this project on time on schedule.
My head is on the chopping block and the clock is ticking.
The expression to have your head on the chopping block means for one to be at risk of losing your job or otherwise, having a very negative consequence if they don't do what they're supposed to do.
It used to be back in history, and perhaps in some places still, is common to kill someone, especially when the government was killing a criminal, to put their head on a, a large axe, which is a sharp metal instrument used normally to cut trees and chop or cut the head of the person off, so that, of course, they would die.
That's the idea.
Well, we don't do that anymore, at least not very often.
But the expression continues and, And it means now to be in trouble, to have some serious problems if you don't finish or do what you're supposed to do.
Dan says the clock is ticking.
This means simply that there is very little time left before something happens.
He has to hurry because there isn't a lot of time left.
To tick.
T-I-C-K is the verb we use, or used to use for clocks or watches, because when the little wheel inside the clock moved around, it made a little sound.
And that is why we talk about clocks ticking.
Clocks don't tick anymore.
Most of them don't because they're electronic.
But we still have the expression.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Hello.
Hello.
Hi, Dan.
What's the status on the project?
We're still on schedule, right?
Well, I've been meaning to call you about that.
We've had a slight delay.
What do you mean by slight?
Are you saying that we won't be able to meet the deadline?
Not exactly.
I'm only asking that you grant us a short extension.
How short?
A week or two.
Tops.
We hit a minor snag, but we should have everything up and running in no time.
If the project has come to a grinding halt, then it doesn't sound like a minor snag.
We're running on a tight schedule and we don't have a lot of time to spare.
I know that all too well.
Good.
Then I don't have to spell it out for you.
No, you don't.
My head is on the chopping block and the clock is ticking.
Our scriptwriter is always on schedule, usually ahead of schedule.
That's because it's our own Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2011 by the Center for Educational Development.
