English Conversation Practice - Role Play: Car Park Bump

It’s role play time! This is your chance to  have a real English conversation with me. 

And you don't have to worry about what to say.  Because I have written you a fabulous script. 

Just a quick interruption to let you know that  you can download the lesson notes for free by  

clicking on the link in the description. First, listen to the interaction,  

then we will break down some of  the language used. And finally,  

you will have a chance to step in and  roleplay both parts. So, let's go!

You have got to be kidding me!

You stupid idiot! Why didn’t  you look where you were going?

I’m sorry!?

So, you should be, look at what you’ve done!

No, hang on a minute. You were the one  who wasn’t looking; you drove into me.

This is a car park, I was simply  reversing out of my space,  

you should have given me some room instead  of trying to zip past me like a maniac.

I wasn’t driving like a maniac; I was barely  doing 10 mph. Beside I had right of way.

Oh, move out of my way, I need to photograph this  scene as evidence. You better have insurance.

Look, you don’t need to be so rude. Regardless  of who is at fault here, it was an accident.  

Have a little respect please. And yes,  of course I have insurance. Do you?

Ah, that’s not important, as it will be  your insurance company that’ll have to  

cover this damage. And looking at the state  of my car, I would say it’s a write off.

A write off? I don’t think so. You have  a broken head-light and a few scratches.

No, the speed at which you ran into me, there  is definitely going to be underlying damage.

Are you trying to scam me?  Did you do this on purpose?

Scam you? What do you take me for? I’m not  gonna stand here and let you abuse me like that.  

Give me your insurance details and get lost.

You give me your details first.

There’s my card, my name and number’s on the back.

And what about your insurance details?

Give me your details and I can pass any  additional information you need via email.

Well can I at least see your driving license.

No! Who do you think you are? Give me your  details now or I will call the police.

You’re not insured, are you?

It’s none of your business.  Give me what I’ve asked for.

Let’s call the police, shall we? I am sure  they will happily assist in this situation.

Oh, for Pete’s sake, WILL YOU STOP!!!

No, I’m not insured. Are you happy now?  

Look, I just got out the nick three weeks ago  and I am trying to get my life back in order.  

This is my nan’s car, I can’t afford to get  insurance but I.. I need to run some errands  

and move some stuff, so I just borrowed it for  today. And now this. My nan’s gonna kill me.

Ok, well look, the damage doesn’t seem extensive.  I’m willing to hold off calling the insurance  

company. We can see what the repairs are  and figure out who should cover what.

I haven’t got two pennies to rub together mate.  

I had three interviews as soon as I was released  and all of them rejected me cos of my record.

If you are willing to do some heavy lifting then  there may be a position at my company you could  

take. But, I really would need to see some  proper ID before I consider employing you.

That’s…umm, amazing. Thank you. I’m so sorry  for acting like an arse before, I just panicked.

That’s ok. My name’s Anna by the way.

Jackie. It’s nice to meet you, Anna. I guess  you could say, I was lucky to bump into you.

Brilliant. Now it's time to look at  the language used in a bit more detail. 

“You have got to be kidding me!” Okay, phrases like, “you've got to  

be kidding me”, “you've got to be joking me.” We  also sometimes ask the question. “Are you joking?”  

“Are you kidding?” This basically means  

I can't believe it. I don't believe it. And it's usually when something's happened  

or when something's been said that we don't like.  So, there's something negative. It can be used in  

a positive way as well. Like if someone says, “Congratulations, you've got the job.” 

“Are you kidding? Are you..  You've got to be kidding me.” 

It's just a sense of disbelief. I  don't believe what's just happened. 

“Why didn’t you look where you were going?” “I'm sorry.” 

“So, you should be, look at what you’ve done!” 

Okay, so what happened there was Anna in the  white and black said, “I'm sorry. I'm sorry.” 

And she wasn't actually apologizing, although  that's what the other character took it as. 

But she wasn't actually apologizing.  She was saying, “Excuse me?” 

It was another phrase of disbelief. “I'm sorry! Excuse me! What did you  

just say? I can't believe my ears. Did you really  just say that? Did you call me a stupid idiot?” 

So always take it in context. And from the  manner in which the person is saying, “sorry”,  

but if someone says, “I'm sorry”, in a  questioning way, then what they're saying is,  

“Excuse me? Can you say that again? Because  I can't believe you just said what you said.” 

“No, hang on a minute. You were the one  who wasn’t looking; you drove into me.” 

Okay, so Anna just said, “Hang on a  minute.” “Hang on” is a phrasal verb. And it  

simply means “wait”, just wait a minute,  I need to understand what's going on here. 

“This is a car park, I was simply reversing out  of my space, you should have given me some room  

instead of trying to zip past like a maniac.” Okay, so “to zip”, “to zip.” This can be used  

for many different things. But as a verb,  “to zip” means to move quite quickly.  

We talk about cars zipping through the  traffic bikes, motorbikes, cyclists will  

zip through standstill traffic, won't they? Can be quite dangerous if, if it's very, very busy  

if they zip through, but it means to move quickly. She also said, “you zipped past me like  

a maniac.” Now a maniac is a person who  shows extremely wild and violent behaviour. 

So, there’s a very negative thing to be a  maniac. You’re volatile, wild and violent. 

“I wasn't driving like a maniac. I  was barely doing 10 miles an hour.” 

Okay, she said, “I was barely  doing 10 miles an hour.” 

If you're barely doing something, it means you're  almost not doing it. You're only just doing it. 

If I am going to get a train, I'm going to go and  catch a train. And I'm running late. I arrive at  

the train station with only five minutes to spare.  And in that time, I needed to go to the toilet  

to take a selfie because I was going to take  pictures all along the trip and buy breakfast from  

the shop and ideally sit down eat my breakfast.  I can say to you “Oh, I was so late this morning,  

I barely had time to take a selfie never  mind go to the toilet and buy breakfast.” 

So, I barely had time to do that. And there  was, there was not enough time to do it. 

Okay. Next. “Beside I had right of way. Oh, move out...”

“Right of Way.” We're talking  about the road system here.  

If you “have right of way”, it means that you  have priority to go, you're allowed to go. If  

you don't have right of way, you have to stop  and wait for everybody else until you can go. 

For example, near where I live, there is a bridge  to go underneath the bridge. It's very narrow,  

there's only enough room for one vehicle not two  passing each other. So, someone has to wait on  

their side of the bridge until it's clear. Whereas  on the other side you have right of away and you  

can just drive straight through. You don't have  to wait. You can just keep driving. Because you  

have right of way if you're on one side, but  there's signage on the road on the other side  

of the bridge that says you don't have right of  way. You must give way to other people. Okay?

Oh, move out of my way, I need to photograph this  scene as evidence. You better have insurance. 

Okay, she says, “You better have insurance.” “To better have something” or someone says,  

“You better do something.” They are basically  giving you a warning or giving you advice. 

Oh, it looks like it's going to rain  today. You better take your umbrella  

out with you just in case. Or I won't be home this time. Afternoon.  

So, you better take your key to let  yourself in when you get home from work. 

So, there it's advice. Or I might say  to you, “You better be back by midnight,  

or I'm locking the doors and you're not  coming in.” That would be a warning. Okay,  

so you better do something, or you better  have something indicates warning or advice. 

Look, you don’t need to be so rude.  Regardless of who is at fault here,  

it was an accident. Have a little respect please.  And yes, of course I have insurance. Do you?

Ah, that’s not important, as it will be  your insurance company that’ll have to  

cover this damage. And looking at the state  of my car, I would say it’s a write off. 

Okay. So, she says, “Your insurance  company will have to cover the damage.” 

“To cover something” when we're  talking about finance bills, means pay. 

So, if I say to you, you have to cover  this bill, you have to cover the cost  

of this damage. I'm saying you have to pay. If we go for dinner or for lunch, and I say,  

“Don't worry, I'm covering this.”  I'm saying I'm going to pay for this. 

Then she also went on to say, “I  would say that my car is a write off.” 

“A write off” is, referring to a vehicle,  saying it's too badly damaged, to be repaired.  

So, if you say a car is a write  off, it cannot be repaired,  

the damage is too extensive. And you  should just buy a new car, basically.

A write off? I don’t think so. You have  a broken head-light and a few scratches.

No, the speed at which you ran into me, there  is definitely going to be underlying damage.

“To run into someone” it means to  collide with a person or with something. 

Here obviously they're talking about  their cars even though they refer to the..  

that she refers to it as you run into me.  But what she meant is you ran into my car. 

I was in the car you ran into me in my  car. So, it means the cars have collided,  

they've ran into each other. You can also use this  

to talk about meeting someone by  accident in town or anywhere. If you  

happen to collide with someone even  if it's not completely physical,  

but you just come up to them and go, “Oh, hello.  What are you doing here? Fancy running into you  

here at the supermarket? That's interesting.  I haven't seen you for ages. How are you?” 

It's very similar “to bump into” another phrasal  verb “to bump into” and “to run into”. Both mean  

to kind of collide, accidentally meet. But ‘run’  definitely has more of a hit feeling to it. So,  

you run into someone. Especially when  talking about cars. It means to collide. 

“Are you trying to scam me?  Did you do this on purpose?” 

“Scam you? What do you take me for? I’m not  gonna stand here and let you abuse me like that.  

Give me your insurance details and get lost.” Okay? “What do you take me for?” She said,  

“What do you take me for?” This means what sort of person  

do you think I am? You're basically telling  the person who you're talking to that they've..  

they've got it all wrong. They've misjudged you. What do you take me for? This is always used in  

a kind of disagreement. So, you take  offense at something that someone said. 

“Who do you think I am? What do you take me  for? You think I'm a con artist? How dare you?” 

Okay? And then at the end, she  said, “Get lost”, “Get lost.” 

What she's saying there is “Go away”, “Leave  me alone.” It's... Yeah, it's a... it's a  

lightly offensive phrase. You wouldn't tell your  boss to get lost because you might get a sack. 

You wouldn't tell anyone at work to get lost.  You can use it jokingly with a friend or someone  

you're very friendly with. But you have to  be very careful if it's someone at work and  

actually with anyone telling someone to get  lost might upset them. But there are other  

much more offensive versions of “get  lost”. But that's a very, very light one. 

“Well can I at least see your driving license.”

“No! Who do you think you are? Give me your  details now or I will call the police.”

Okay, she says, “Who do you think you are?” Now this is a way of telling someone that  

they are conceited or entitled. It's another way of saying, “How dare you?  

You think you're so special? You think you're  up there, high status? And I'm down here?  

Who do you think you are? You're not up there.  You're the same as me. You're below me maybe.” 

Okay, so it's another way of having a dig, and  telling them that they are out of line, that they  

are overstepping the mark. There's lots of phrases  here I'm throwing at you. But they what they're  

saying is unacceptable. Basically, unacceptable. “Who do you think you are?”

“You’re not insured, are you?”

“It’s none of your business.  Give me what I’ve asked for.” 

It's none of your business. This is a very  common expression that you use when you don't  

want to share information with someone.  So, it's definitely a little bit harsh. 

So, if someone asks you, oh, how was your  weekend, and you don't want to talk about  

it, but they are a nice person,  and you don't want to upset them?  

I wouldn't say to them, “It's none of your  business,” because they might feel a bit  

taken aback by that. They might be a  bit surprised if you use that phrase. 

In that situation, I just say, oh, I’m  sorry, I don't want to talk about it.  

But if you want to be a little bit cutting  a bit direct, and you don't mind maybe  

upsetting them a little, you say, it's none  of your business! Back off! Leave me alone! 

“Let’s call the police, shall we? I am sure  they will happily assist in this situation.”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake, WILL YOU STOP!!!”

Okay. “For Pete’s sake” There are many versions  

of this expression that you can use. This is a  very family friendly version. There are other  

versions that are a bit more crude, rude and  offensive using swear words in place of ‘Pete’.  

But “for Pete's sake” is just an expression  that we use when we're frustrated, or annoyed. 

“Oh, for Pete's sake, I forgot my purse.” “Ah, for Pete's sake, I burnt the toast.” 

“For Pete's sake, can you stop with  that music? It's giving me a headache.” 

Okay, so frustration or annoyance  would lead to that phrase.

“No, I’m not insured. Are you happy now?”

Okay. “Are you happy now?” “Are you  happy now?” is a rhetorical question  

that you use with a sarcastic tone. So, you know that they're probably  

not going to be happy. Because you hear she's  admitted something that she's not proud of?  

Or maybe you do something that you don't  want to do. And so, you look at them and go,  

“Are you happy now? Is that what you wanted?” And you know, it's not what they wanted. But  

again, it's just a way of having a dig. Are you  happy now? There? So, it's very sarcastic. Okay. 

So it might be that my partner and I have  a disagreement about whether to give my son  

ice cream or not. And I say don't give him  ice cream because he will be up all night,  

or it will make him hyperactive. We have an argument and my partner says,  

“No, give him ice cream.” An I go, “Fine!” I give him the ice cream. My son eats the ice  

cream and get so excited and hyperactive that he  throws up. And then he doesn't go to sleep until  

midnight. And I say to my partner, “Are you happy  now? We gave him ice cream. Are you happy now?” 

Of course, my partner is not going to be happy  with the outcome. He made a bad decision. 

“I just got out the nick  three weeks ago and I am...”

“The nick.” “The nick” is a slang term for prison.  So, she just got out of prison three weeks ago.

“... trying to get my life back  in order. This is my nan’s car,  

I can’t afford to get insurance but I..  I need to run some errands and move...”

She needs to run some errands. “To run errands”  means to do some jobs or chores. Errands would  

be things like having to post some letters.  So going to the post office to post a parcel,  

buy stamps, post some letters, maybe going  to the bank to open up a bank account.  

Things that are like life administration, job.

“... some stuff, so I just borrowed it for  today. And now this. My nan’s gonna kill me.”

“My nan’s gonna kill me.” This is a phrase meaning  

someone's going to be extremely angry  and upset with you. They're not actually  

going to physically kill you but they  are going to be angry with you. Okay? 

So, if I use my partner as an example, again.  If my partner did something that upset me,  

and I got really angry, I might  say, “I'm going to kill him.” 

I'm not actually going to murder him, I would  just shout at him and tell him that he's an idiot,  

and he shouldn't have done it. “Ok, well look, the damage doesn’t  

seem extensive. I’m willing to hold off  calling the insurance company. We can...”

Okay, so “hold off”, “hold off” means  also to stop to kind of wait and not  

do something you're intending to do. So, if I'm going to book some tickets  

for a show in the theatre, and you say, “Wait,  I might not be able to come. So can you just  

hold off booking those tickets till tomorrow,  and I can tell you for sure if I can come.” 

“Okay.” So then I will  

hold off booking those tickets. Okay, so it's,  in a sense, it's waiting, just like “hold on”.  

But this is waiting on an action  that you are intending to do.

“... see what the repairs are and  figure out who should cover what.”

“Figure out.” “To figure something out” is to  

solve a problem or find the best way of doing  something. It’s very similar to “work out”. 

“I'm going to figure out how I'm going to pay  this bill. Because I don't have the money. So,  

I need to figure out how to pay this bill.” “I don't know how to break the news to my mum  

that we are moving out. But I'll  figure out what to say to her later.” 

So, I will solve that problem. I'll  think through it and find the best  

solution. So, “to figure something out”. And she said figure out who should cover  

what. Remember “to cover” means  to pay for in this situation. 

So, I'll figure out who should pay for  what, in terms of the damage to the cars.

“I haven’t got two pennies to rub together mate.” Oh, she hasn't got two pennies to rub together.  

This is a phrase that means “I'm  poor”. I've got no money. I don't have  

two pennies to rub together. So, I've got no money whatsoever. 

“I had three interviews as soon as I was released  and all of them rejected me cos of my record.” 

“All of them rejected me because of my record.” So here, we know she's been in the nick.  

Prison. And she's served time. So, she's been in prison for a length of time.  

Now she has a criminal record. Often this  is just shortened to “record”. “My record”,  

“It's on my record”, “I've got a record”. Obviously, context is key.

“If you are willing to do some heavy lifting then  there may be a position at my company you could  

take. But, I really would need to see some  proper ID before I consider employing you.”

Okay, “ID” just means your identification. We rarely say before word identification.  

We often shorten it simply to ID. “Have you got any ID?” 

“Can I see some ID please?” “That’s…umm, amazing. Thank you. I’m so sorry  

for acting like an arse before, I just panicked.” “I'm so sorry for acting like an arse”,  

“for acting like an ass”. And “arse” again is a  

slightly offensive or very lightly offensive  word. It is one of our lower level swear words. 

You wouldn't want a child saying “arse”  but you wouldn't be too offended if you  

heard an adult saying “arse” and “to  be an arse” is just to be an idiot. 

So, she said I'm sorry for  acting like an idiot earlier. 

“That’s ok. My name’s Anna by the way.” “My name is Anna, by the way.”

So, “by the way”, is used to introduce information  

that's not directly linked  to what's being discussed. 

So here they're talking about how they're going  to solve the problem with the car collision. 

And Anna's offered this girl a potential job to  help her out of her difficult life situation. 

So then to suddenly say, “My name is Anna.”  It's completely unrelated to having a...  

offering a job and sorting out a car crash. So that's unrelated information. So, you'd use  

“by the way” to show, “I realize this  is unrelated, but you should know this”. 

So, let's say we're talking  about going for lunch tomorrow. 

“Oh yeah, let's go for lunch  tomorrow. Where do you want to go?” 

“Oh, there's a lovely little  cafe down by the river.” 

“That sounds great. By the way, tomorrow is mum's  birthday, we must get her a card and a present.” 

So, you see that information is completely  unrelated. But by saying, “by the way”,  

you are showing, I'm going to  tell you something else now. 

I realize it's unrelated. But I need to get this  in. It's important information for you to know. 

You can use “by the way”, before  the statement that's unrelated. 

Or you can use it after the statement. Okay, so in this example, I said,  

“My name is Anna, by the way.” But I could have said,  

“By the way, my name is Anna”. Okay, so it could come before or after.

“Jackie. It’s nice to meet you, Anna. I guess  you could say, I was lucky to bump into you.”

Now, she made a joke here. She  physically bumped into her car. 

So, they had a bump, we would talk about a  bump, “Oh I had a little bump in the car today.” 

If you had a minor car crash.  Minor, like a teeny tiny no damage,  

really just a little bump, like  I might bump into the wall. Oops.  

Happens sometimes when you're parking in a  tight space, you might have a little bump. 

If you bang yourself, you might bump yourself  on the head or get a little bump on the knee. 

So, it means a collision that's minor. Now “to bump into someone” I mentioned this  

earlier common phrasal verb meaning “to meet  someone by chance”, but you don't necessarily  

actually bump into them. You just, “Oh, hello! Fancy seeing you here.” 

The same as “run into someone”. “Oh, I ran into  

my old school friend at the post office.” 

So, “bump into”, “run into” and obviously here  she's doing a play on words. She said I was lucky  

to bump into you. I was lucky to bump into you. Physically she was lucky to meet that person by  

chance and the cars colliding. I  was lucky to hit your car today. 

Right? It's your turn. You will first  read the part of Anna so let's go.

“You stupid idiot! Why didn’t  you look where you were going?”

“So, you should be, look at what you’ve done!”

“This is a car park, I was  simply reversing out of my space,  

you should have given me some room instead  of trying to zip past like a maniac.”

“Oh, move out of my way, I need to photograph this  scene as evidence. You better have insurance.”

“Ah, that’s not important, as it will be  your insurance company that’ll have to  

cover this damage. And looking at the state  of my car, I would say it’s a write off.”

“No, the speed at which you ran into me, there  is definitely going to be underlying damage.”

“Scam you? What do you take me for? I’m not  gonna stand here and let you abuse me like that.  

Give me your insurance details and get lost.”

“There’s my card, my name  and number’s on the back.”

“Give me your details and I can pass any  additional information you need via email.”

“No! Who do you think you are? Give me your  details now or I will call the police.”

“It’s none of your business.  Give me what I’ve asked for.”

“Oh,  

for Pete’s sake, WILL YOU STOP!!! No, I’m not insured. Are you happy now?  

Look, I just got out the nick three weeks ago  and I am trying to get my life back in order.  

This is my nan’s car, I can’t afford to get  insurance but I.. I need to run some errands  

and move some stuff, so I just borrowed it for  today. And now this. My nan’s gonna kill me.”

“I haven’t got two pennies to rub together mate.  

I had three interviews as soon as I was released  and all of them rejected me cos of my record.”

“That’s…umm, amazing. Thank you. I’m so sorry  for acting like an arse before, I just panicked.”

“Jackie. It’s nice to meet you, Anna. I guess  you could say, I was lucky to bump into you.”

Awesome. Now let's swap roles. You are now  playing the Jack or Jackie character. Let's go

“You have got to be kidding me!”

“I’m sorry!?”

“No, hang on a minute. You were the one  who wasn’t looking; you drove into me.”

“I wasn’t driving like a maniac; I was barely  doing 10 mph. Beside I had right of way.”

“Look, you don’t need to be so rude.  Regardless of who is at fault here,  

it was an accident. Have a little respect please.  And yes, of course I have insurance. Do you?”

“A write off? I don’t think so. You have  a broken head-light and a few scratches.”

“Are you trying to scam me?  Did you do this on purpose?”

“You give me your details first.”

“And what about your insurance details?”

“Well can I at least see your driving license.”

“You’re not insured, are you?”

"Let’s call the police, shall we? I am sure  they will happily assist in this situation.”

“Ok, well look, the damage doesn’t seem extensive.  I’m willing to hold off calling the insurance  

company. We can see what the repairs are  and figure out who should cover what.”

“If you are willing to do some heavy lifting then  there may be a position at my company you could  

take. But, I really would need to see some  proper ID before I consider employing you.”

“That’s ok. My name’s Anna by the way.”

Ah, that was so much fun. You should  definitely join me on another roleplay soon. 

And let me know in the comments  if you have any suggestions for  

future roleplay scenarios. Until next time, take care!