Perfect Phrases for ESL Everyday Situations

Perfect Phrases for ESL Everyday Situations

CHAPTER   image
Gas and Service Stations
Gas stations and service stations provide unrelated services in many states. This chapter offers perfect phrases related to these stations.
Gas Stations
Gas stations provide gasoline. In two states in the contiguous United States, New Jersey and Oregon, it is illegal to fill up your own gas tank. You must wait for an attendant to help you. In other states, there is self-service gasoline dispensing; you pay for the gas you want inside a convenience store on the premises, and then an attendant pushes a button to open the tank for you to help yourself to the gasoline. There is also the option to pay at the pump with a credit or debit card. Some stations may offer assistance in pumping the gas for a fee.
Most stations also provide a hose for you to use for putting air in your tires, if you have to use this. To use the air dispenser, you need to deposit coins into it.
Negative Prefixes
A good way to improve vocabulary is to learn affixes. Affixes are groups of letters added to the beginnings or ends of words to change their meanings. One type of affix is the prefix.
Prefixes, which are added to the beginning of a word, can change that word’s meaning. Some prefixes, in fact, change a word to a completely opposite—or negative—meaning. For example il- before legal makes legal into illegal, meaning not legal. Un- attached to the beginning of related makes unrelated, meaning not related. Here are some examples of words with negative prefixes:
Illegible means difficult to read; legible is easily read.
Illiterate describes someone who has not learned to read and write; literate is able to read and write.
Unable means not able to do something; able is capable of doing something.
Unaccustomed means not used to, not familiar with; accustomed means the opposite.
Other negative prefixes include in- (incorrect means not correct), dis- (dishonest means not honest), im- (immature means not mature), ir- (irregular means not regular), and non- (nonrefundable means cannot be returned to get one’s money back).
Suffixes are added at the ends of words to change the meanings of these words. Examples of suffixes are -less and -ful. They can change the word care (to think something or someone is important enough to pay attention to it or them): careful means trying hard to avoid doing something wrong or dangerous, and careless means not paying enough attention to avoid doing something wrong or dangerous.
Phrases to Use at a Gas Station
image    Fill it up.
image    Fill ’er up with___________(super, regular, premium, diesel), please.
image    I’d like___________($10, $20, a full tank) of___________ (super, regular, premium, diesel), please.
image    What___________(credit, debit) cards do you accept?
image    Do you take___________(MasterCard, Visa, American Express, traveler’s checks)?
image    May I pay with___________(cash, charge card, debit card, traveler’s checks)?
image    Is it___________(cheaper, less per gallon) if I pay cash?
image    How much is (super, regular, premium, diesel) if I pay cash?
image    Is this a self-service station?
image    Do you provide refueling assistance?
image    Where do I pay for the gas?
image    Do you have a___________(restroom, ladies’ room, men’s room, bathroom, lavatory) available?
image    I also want to buy a few things in the convenience store. Should I do that before or after I get the gas?
image    I need some things in the store. May I___________(pay for them at the same time I pay for the gas, use my credit card for both transactions)?
image    I need some air in my tires. Where is the dispenser?
image    How much is the air?
image    Can you give me___________(some change, change for a dollar)?
Service Stations
A service station is where you would take your vehicle for regular servicing like an oil change or a wide range of repairs from the simple to the more complex. Service stations may be operated in conjunction with gas stations or as separate entities.
Some stations are licensed to issue valid state inspection stickers after performing an inspection. They charge for this service, even though the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) performs inspections for free. Although DMV is the term used in many states, other terms for this state-run department may be used in other states.
People sometimes prefer to pay and have the inspection done at the service station, because often there are long lines and waits at the DMV for this service. A service station may conduct the inspection by appointment or, if employees aren’t busy, on the spot. A valid inspection sticker on a car’s windshield, or some other form of documentation, is necessary to avoid being in violation of the law. Each state can supply you with safety and emission standards needed to pass inspection.
Phrases You May Hear at a Service Station
image    Do you need___________(a tune-up, an oil change)?
image    Your oil is low.
image    You need a new___________(oil filter, air filter).
image    Check the tires?
image    Check the transmission fluid?
image    One of your headlights is out.
image    The mechanic can explain this to you.
image    Your left front tire is low.
image    Yes, we can patch tires.
Phrases to Use at a Service Station
image    Can you check out my car? The___________(engine, starter, brake, windshield wipers) sound(s) strange.
image    I hear knocking in the engine.
image    What is the problem with my car?
image    Does the right rear tire look low to you?
image    I need___________(an oil change, new tires, an inspection).
image    When can I bring the car in?
image    Do I need to make an appointment?
image    ___________(Should, May) I wait for my car?
image    How long do you think I’ll have to wait?
image    Can you inspect the car and issue the documentation while I wait?
image    When can I___________(return for, pick up, come back for) my car?
image    Can you give me___________(an estimate, a written estimate) for the repair?
image    My insurance company wants the estimate in writing.
image    Will you accept my automobile insurance?
image    Do you provide loaner cars?
image    Is there a warranty for___________(parts, service)?
image    How long is the warranty for?
Other Auto Resources
Other automobile venues are body shops. If your car has been in an accident, you will have to go to or may be towed to a body shop. For this, you need to involve your insurance company. Automobile insurance coverage is necessary in the United States. Towing is usually covered by this insurance. Your insurance agent can be helpful in these situations.
There are many specialist car businesses that offer lube jobs, brake repair or replacement, and transmission work. Some are expert at patching tires or selling new and used tires.
There are also car washes. You may take your car to an area where there is equipment to wash and clean your own car. Other choices include car washes where you sit in your car as it is automatically moved along the cycle through wash, rinse, and air-dry. At another kind of car wash, the car is automatically moved through the cycle without anyone in the car. Both kinds of automatic car washes usually include hand-drying of the car by attendants when the car exits the cycle. Car wash choices include full service (cleaning the exterior and interior), only exterior cleaning, and waxing.
Idioms and Other Vocabulary
Air filter: car part that removes insects and particles so they don’t reach the engine
Body shops: places where the main structure of an automobile is repaired
Contiguous: connected (The contiguous states are not separated by water or another country.)
Convenience store: store that is easy to get to and sells food and other products that may be needed quickly, often part of a gas station
Deposit: put in or into
Dispenser: machine that provides a product
Dispensing: giving out a product
DMV: Department of Motor Vehicles, state department (in some states) that handles driver’s licenses, automobile registrations, and automobile inspections
Emission: a gas or other substance sent into the air, in this case by car engines
Entities: separate units
Estimate: what a company figures a cost to be
Fee: amount of money required
Fill ’er up: reduced speech for fill her up, fill up the gas tank (People say “her” because cars are considered female.)
Illegal: not lawful
In conjunction with: together with
Issue: give out
Loaner cars: cars that a place gives you to drive while workers repair your car
Lube jobs: services to lubricate (oil) parts of a car’s engine
Oil filter: part that prevents the oil in the car from getting dirty
On the spot: not planned, immediately
Premises: land nearby
Provide: give, offer
Refueling: putting gasoline into a gas tank
Self-service: doing it yourself without help
State inspection stickers: sticker required by some states to show that a car has passed the required inspection (stickers are pieces of paper with writing on them made to attach, with adhesive, to a car’s windshield)
Towed: pulled by a truck when not able to be driven
Tune-up: check of the car’s engine and whatever repairs are needed for the car to run better
Unrelated: not connected
Valid: legal
Venues: places where events happen
Warranty: written promise to replace or repair something that is not as it should be
Waxing: adding a layer of wax on a car after washing it
Windshield: front window on a vehicle