Jiaying Hello. Welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Jiaying.
Neil ….and hello, I’m Neil.
Jiaying Hey, Neil, have you heard what Roy has planned for our Christmas party this year?
Neil Oh no, not axe throwing again!?
Jiaying Maybe not. We did it last year. This year we’re doing karaoke at our Christmas party. Roy is already practising singing some songs by Ariana Grande!
Neil** I do not like the sound of that!**
Jiaying What’s wrong? Do you not like the sound of Roy’s singing?
Neil No! I mean, I don’t like the idea of doing karaoke. When you ‘don’t like the sound of something’, it means you don’t like something you have been told or read about.
Jiaying I’ve got it. Well, hopefully, Neil, you’ll like the sound of these examples!
Examples We’ve been told to start work an hour earlier – I do not like the sound of that.
I don’t like the sound of that new shopping centre – it’s going to increase the amount of traffic around here.
I didn’t like the sound of Enrique’s camping trip – it involved walking ten kilometres with our tents!
Jiaying This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English and we’re hearing about the expression ‘not like the sound of something’, which means you ‘don’t like something you have been told or read about’. So, Neil, why don’t you like the sound of doing karaoke?
Neil I can’t sing.
Jiaying Don’t be boring – it could be fun! Maybe you could do a duet with Roy?
Neil
I definitely don’t like the sound of that!
Jiaying Hmm, it’s impossible to please everyone at the Christmas party. Maybe we should just have a meal together and talk to each other?
Neil Now, I do like the sound of that. Right I’m off…
Jiaying Where are you going?
Neil To book that table at the restaurant. Bye.
Jiaying Bye, Neil.