English lessons for The Office (BBC) 1

Warehouse

Small amount of money for minor purchases

Redundancy

Turnover - costs

Nutter

A person who sees an event

Petty cash

Gossip

Witness

Loss of job due to management making cuts in staff numbers

Rumours

A place for storing goods and equipment

Profit

Very hungry

Starving

Drunk and loud

Rowdy

Lunatic

Convince

Focus

Take on (someone)

Make cuts (to the workforce)

Call back

Persuade

Concentrate

Publicize for the purpose of selling

Do (something) up

Insult / upset

Interfere

Look closely

Advertise

Misbehave

Offend

Employ

Examine

Meddle

Muck about

Phone someone later

Downsize

Repair/redecorate

Fill in the sentences from the episode with the words above in the correct form

1) The man who gives the jobs in the ???????? is a personal friend of mine.
2) This does, however, mean that there are going to be ???????????
3) Have you ????????? for the forklift drivers job yet?
4) You seem to know a lot about my drinking. Does it ???????? you?
5) Tag along with my friends if you want, but I must warn you, David, they do get a bit ????????? at times.
6) They're going 'Who's that ?????????' - 'That's my boss'. - 'Well we can't stand it anymore, we're going.'
7) Head office don't really ???????????? with me at all. Jennifer might come down once a week.
8) It's up to either you or him to ??????????? me that your branch can incorporate the other.
9) We have to decide. Do you ???????? Swindon's people at this branch, or the other way around?
10) Mr Davis, can I just ????? you ????? something has just come up.
11) Im just pushing this stuff off my desk. I cant ????????? when its all overlapping and coming on my side.
12) Do you want to get some batteries for Billy Big Mouth? Take it out of ??????????. You can't put a price on comedy.
13) - Tell them about your car and your kung fu and everything. - Yeah, got a TR3. Bought it for 1200. ?????? it ?????. Now its worth 3 grand.
14) Don't do that! Eat it out! There are people ???????????. in the world (which I hate)
15) You can be my ????????? Give him an official warning.
16) I was in the territorial army for 3 years, and you cant ?????? ??????? there. It's against the rules.
17) I thought I found a lump. I mean, I ???????? myself regularly but - its fine. Terrifying. Testicular cancer.
18) I am aware of the ??????? which have been circulating and I want to take this opportunity to put the record straight.
19) Head office have deemed it appropriate to enforce an ultimatum. Jennifer is talking of either ??????? the Swindon branch or this branch.
20) You steal a thousand post-it notes at 12p, and you've made ???????

Discuss the following questions.

1) Which companies have had lots of redundancies recently in your country or industry?
2) Have any companies been taking on more staff?
3) Do people muck about at your place of work? How?
4) Do you have a warehouse at work? What is kept there?
5) Has anyone ever offended you at work? What happened?
6) Does anyone interfere in your working or private life?
7) Jennifer says that she wants David to 'keep a lid on this' when they speak about redundancies. Do you have any information which you should 'keep a lid on'?

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Warehouse = A place for storing goods and equipment
Redundancy = Loss of job due to management making cuts in staff numbers
Nutter = Lunatic
Petty cash = Small amount of money for minor purchases
Witness = A person who sees an event
Rumours = Gossip
Profit = Turnover - costs
Starving = Very hungry
Rowdy = Drunk and loud
Convince = Persuade
Take on (someone) = Employ
Call back = Phone someone later
Concentrate = focus
Do (something) up = Repair/ redecorate
Interfere = Meddle
Advertise = Publicize for the purpose of selling
Offend = Insult / upset
Examine = Look closely, scrutinize
Muck about = Misbehave
Downsize = Make cuts (to the workforce)

1) Warehouse
2) Redundancies
3) Advertised
4) Offend
5) Rowdy
6) Nutter
7) Interfere
8) Convince
9) Take on
10) Call back
11) Concentrate
12) Petty cash
13) Done it up
14) Starving
15) Witness
16) Muck about
17) Examine
18) Rumours
19) Downsizing
20) Profit