VOA日常语法2023--Grammar and the Economy: Prices

Grammar and the Economy: Prices

Consider a time that you discussed prices. Perhaps it was at a market, at a store, or with friends.

How did you discuss the issue?

In today's Everyday Grammar, we will explore a point of connection between grammar and the economy. You will learn how to talk about prices in everyday situations. We will pay careful attention to questions about prices.

Comparison¹

Let's start our lesson by comparing some of our important terms to a movie. We will call it Price Questions.

The star of our film is the structure "how much." "How much" almost always appears in questions about prices – just as a main actor appears in almost every scene of a movie.

If "how much" is our star, then the verb "cost" is probably the most important supporting actor. "Cost" appears in all kinds of questions.

But sometimes "cost" is left out of sentences – in the same way that a director might leave out other actors from a scene in a film.

So, we have "how much" and "cost." But our sentence or film needs a few more extras, like background performers in a scene.

These include pronouns² or demonstratives such as "it," "this," and "that," as well as the helping³ verb "do." These words are important – just as background actors are – but you may not really notice them as much.

Now that we have introduced the crew of our film, let's see some action.

Present

Remember our old friend "how much," the star of the show? "How much" plays a central part in questions about prices.

For example, you might hear a person ask:

How much does this cost?

"How much" sets the scene for what is to come, in the same way that a main actor might enter the scene first in a film. Then, of course, we have some background actors, the helping verb "do," followed by the subject "this." And finally, we have our supporting actor, the main verb "cost."

The general order of appearance is this:

How much + helping verb + subject + main verb

In some cases, we leave out the helping verb "do." Instead, we simply use the verb BE. You can think of BE acting⁴ as the stunt⁵ double for "do." For example, you might hear a person ask:

How much is this?

Or

How much is it?

Once again, "how much" enters the scene first, and this time our main supporting actor, "cost," does not appear. But we have the background actors BE and "it."

Past

We have explored price discussions⁶ in their present form. But what happens if we want to talk about the past?

We can still use the same structures, but there are small changes.

So, our question "How much does this cost?" becomes this:

How much did this cost?

Our question "How much is it?" becomes this:

How much was it?

These changes are much like an actor wearing a different costume or clothing. The actor is the same, but his or her appearance changes.

In the same way, we might say that verbs wear different kinds of clothing in their present or past forms.

Practice

Let's take some time to work with these ideas.

Ask about the price of a cell phone. Use the present form of the verb "cost."

Pause the audio⁷ to consider your answer.

Here is one possible answer:

How much does this cell phone cost?

Now imagine a friend showing you a cell phone that he or she recently purchased. Ask about the price by using a past form of BE.

Pause the audio to consider your answer.

Here is one possible answer:

How much was this cell phone?

Closing thoughts

Today we explored a few ways to ask questions about prices. We used the idea of a film to learn about our subject.

In future lessons, we will explore the grammar behind all kinds of everyday issues – prices, the economy, friendship, technology, and more.

Words in This Story

scene – n. a division⁸ of an act in a play during which the action takes place in a single place without a break in time

background -- n. a position that attracts little attention; the part of a scene or picture that is farthest from the viewer

stunt -- n. a difficult and often dangerous action

1 comparison   

n.比较，对照；比拟，比喻

参考例句：

• They make a comparison of New York to a beehive.他们把纽约比作一个蜂巢。
• This dress is really cheaper by comparison.比较起来，这件衣服确实便宜。

2 pronouns   

n.代词( pronoun的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Relative pronouns and adverbs introduce attributive clauses. 关系代词和关系副词引导定语从句。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• "I", "you"and "he" are all personal pronouns. I，you和he都是人称代词。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

5 stunt   

n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长

参考例句：

• Lack of the right food may stunt growth.缺乏适当的食物会阻碍发育。
• Right up there is where the big stunt is taking place.那边将会有惊人的表演。

6 discussions   

n.讨论( discussion的名词复数 )；商讨；详述；论述

参考例句：

• Discussions are held on an informal basis within the department. 讨论限于在本部门内非正式地进行。
• Her specialist input to the discussions has been very useful. 她在这些讨论中提供的专家建议很有助益。

7 audio   

n./adj.音频(响)(的)；声音(的)，听觉(的)

参考例句：

• Often,the meeting is recorded on audio or video media for later reference.通常这种会议会以视频或者音频形式记录下来，供以后查阅。
• You don't even have to pay for audio programs.你大可不必为自己听这些节目付费。

8 division   

n.区分，分开，除法，公司，部门，师(军队里)

参考例句：

• Have you learnt division?你学会除法了吗？
• The division commander ordered that we start the attack before dawn.师长令我们在拂晓前发起攻击。