How to get rid of an old sofa
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How to get rid of an old sofa. Photo by Björn Sahlberg/flickr
Today we learn about how to get rid of things.
Kevin and Joanne have an old sofa. In fact, it used to be Kevin’s sofa in the good old days when he was a student and before he had met Joanne. The sofa is dirty and stained, because Kevin has spilled beer on it, several times. The wooden frame is broken, because Kevin and about 10 friends sat on the sofa once to watch the World Cup final on television. The sofa is torn, because Kevin’s cat used to sharpen his claws on it. Joanne has had enough. “That sofa has to go,” she says. “We have to get rid of it.”
“That is my sofa”, says Kevin. “We go back a long way. It is part of my history. We cannot get rid of it.”
“Yes, we can,” says Joanne. “We will go to IKEA on Saturday to buy a new sofa.” That was the wrong thing to say. Kevin does not want to get rid of his old sofa. And especially he does not want to go to IKEA on Saturday with hundreds of other people. He wants to go to a football match with hundreds of other people instead.
Kevin and Joanne reach a compromise. They will get rid of the old sofa. They will buy a new sofa on the internet. There will be no trip to IKEA. And Kevin can go to the football match.
“How shall we get rid of the sofa?” asks Kevin. “Perhaps we could sell it on eBay.”
“Don’t be silly,” says Joanne. “No-one will want to buy a dirty, broken sofa on eBay.”
“Perhaps we can just take it outside and leave it in the street,” says Kevin. “Eventually the Council will take it away.”
“No they won’t,” says Joanne. “And we will probably be prosecuted for dumping rubbish in the street.”
“I could take the sofa into the garden and set fire to it,” suggests Kevin.
“Now you are being ridiculous,” says Joanne. “George can borrow a van from his work, and you and George can put the sofa in the van and take it to the tip.” The “tip” is the place where people can take things they do not want in order to get rid of them. There are big containers for different sorts of rubbish – for paper and cardboard, for glass, for engine oil, for old fridges, for wood, for garden rubbish and so on. And there is lots of room for old sofas.
So George and Kevin put the sofa in the van and get rid of it at the tip. Then they go to the football match together, where they watch United lose 3-0 to the team at the bottom of the league. They are not happy. “They need to get rid of that useless manager,” says George. “They need to get rid of that useless goalkeeper,” says Kevin.
When they get home, they find that the new sofa has arrived. They sit down on it and open a couple of cans of beer. “If either of you spill beer on the new sofa,” says Joanne “you will both be dead. I will get rid of you both myself!”
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Comments (34)
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19 March 2010
How funny story! :)
All men are same in the world !
They don't want to get rid of their stuffs and go IKEA instead of watching football !
I decided to show my husband in the evening.
And, thank you for your effort writing story and recording that. It's very helpful to me learning English. Everyday I'm happy to learn with it.
Regards,
JaeWon from Korea.
26 January 2010
Dear Peter
A very funny story.It's a great fun to learn English with your
podcasts.
18 November 2009
hi im learning to speak english , whith your history i have to learn so much
29 October 2009
Would you tell me how to post audio file in my onw blog, in order to help people to learn my language (Spanish)?. Thank you in advance.
19 October 2009
thank you for posting .. that 's so great ..
18 October 2009
Hello, hope u are well & happy. please send me more story, that is usful for me.
best regards
naficeh Falakzadeh
17 October 2009
I am sorry that there have been problems about posting new comments on the website in the past few days.
I hope that the problems are now solved.
15 October 2009
Maria Jose – thank you for your comment.
"At the end" means, literally, at the end,in time or in space. For example, "At the end of a busy day, I like to sit and watch TV before I go to bed." Or, "There is a shop at the end of the street."
"In the end" means "eventually". For example – "We talked for a long time. In the end we agreed that we should sell the car."
Don't forget, "eventually" in English does not man the same as "éventuel" in French, or the equivalent word in many other European languages. "Eventually" in English means "after a long time".
15 October 2009
my English is very basic but I am fond of your podcast. I enjoy a lot with it. It is amazing that someone is willing to do something useful and free for others . Thanks for your effort !
when do you use AT THE END or IN THE END in English??
15 October 2009
Hi Peter,
where are you disappeared?
When will we have a new podcast?
Lucy-Athens
14 October 2009
Just to say: THANK YOU for this useful and funny podcast!!
14 October 2009
Dear Peter,
a really good podcast. I have learnt a lot of new and useful words.
Thank you very much.
Beatrice
14 October 2009
Dear mates and Peter,
I absolutely loved this podcast! In fact, what I suggest to everybody is something like this: get rid of the old grammar books you have had and start listening and studying this podcast. It's worhtly and much pretty good!
Warm regards,
14 October 2009
Thank you very much our teacher, Mr. Peter. I really appreciate your efforts to help us learning English Language.
13 October 2009
Ann, people say "get rid of.." in both Britain and America.
13 October 2009
Is that Br English or Am English?
12 October 2009
I'm fan of Kevin and Joanne
12 October 2009
Yes, We need to get rid of many of bad thoughts and bad things we do in our life.
Please correct my langauge, if there.
12 October 2009
Thanks Peter your stories, they are funny :)
12 October 2009
@ Tigin
It's very hard!
Bad habits are the most difficult to get rid of :-)
12 October 2009
@ Tigin
It's very hard!
Bad habits are the most difficult to get rid of :-)
12 October 2009
@ Tigin
It's very hard!
Bad habits are the most difficult to get rid of :-)
12 October 2009
I wonder if someone could do me massive favour in order to get rid of my bad habits ,such as consuming so much sweet things :)
12 October 2009
I wonder if someone could do me massive favour in order to get rid of my bad habits ,such as consuming so much sweet things :)
12 October 2009
Glad to read your new podcast, this story is so funny! I like it~
12 October 2009
Hi Tuyet
Thank you for your comment. Yes, "get rid of" = dispose or discard. "Get rid of" is very widely used, not just in informal situations.
11 October 2009
Once again, a great podcast Peter! Congratulations on the new layout! It's much more intuitive and the links to the dictionary make it easier to follow. Thanks and have a nice Sunday!
10 October 2009
thank u
it is very nice
10 October 2009
Hi, Mr Peter:
Your story this week is very amusing. I'd like to ask if "get rid of" is used like "remove", "discard sth" ... "get rid of" is used in informal and formal situation, isn't it? I think this expression is commonly used in informal situation. Please let me know if i'm right or not.
Best regards,
7 October 2009
It is great! I had good time! Please ,more like that!
Thank You!
7 October 2009
Nice and useful podcast….
7 October 2009
Peter, you always tell us your stories of one way very funny
thanks again :-)
7 October 2009
And this rubish from England, comes to Brazil in big containers by ship … lol
7 October 2009
Thanks a lot for a very useful and interesting podcast. I would like to listen podcast about " take a sense" and more podcast about English numbers and spelling.