Hello, guys! How's it going?
As you've probably seen on the other videos related to this class,
the hotel policies are described in documents available to guests
both at the time of booking and in the hotel room in a printed document.
In these documents, you'll generally find the hotels services and facilities,
and to talk about them,
we can use a very common expression in English to express existence:
"There + be".
Let's see an example!
To make it clearer, let's see an example of the structure "there + be"
to express existence in comparison with examples
using the word "there" and the verb "to be" isolated in other contexts.
I can say something like:
Here we see "there is", which is "there + be" inflected,
because I want to express existence.
But if I say:
Now I used the verb "to be" in the present, "it's great".
Here the verb "to be" is used to talk about a feature,
it has nothing to do with existence, because we're not using "there + be".
And then I invite you:
"There", in this contexto, indicates a location.
We are not using the expression "there + be",
only the adverb "there".
See?
We must not forget that "there + be" expresses existence.
And we can use to talk about objects, people, animals, and places,
both in the singular and in the plural.
So, when we talk about something in the singular,
we're going to conjugate the verb accordingly, then we have "there is".
And the same goes for something in plural, we'll use "there are".
For example:
Here, we're talking about a swimming pool, that is, it's singular,
so we use "there is".
Now look at this one!
Since "towels" is plural, we use "there are".
If we want to say "something does not exist", we just add "not"
to the "there + be" structure.
Then, we can use the contracted form, which is "isn't" in the singular
and "aren't" in the plural.
Take a look!
In this case, we're talking about something in the singular that does not exist,
so, we use "there isn't".
Now, if it's plural, we use "there aren't".
For example:
What if you're unsure about any hotel rules or policies,
or about special services you might need?
Well, you may use the interrogative form of "there + be".
Then, just invert the positions of "be" and "there",
following the previous rules for singular and plural, and there you go!
We're talking about a "fee", the word is singular,
so the question starts with "is there".
Here, we're talking about "washing machines", in the plural,
so we have "are there".
Another thing we'll find in the hotel policy
is information about what we can and cannot do.
So, we are very likely to come across the modal verb "must".
This modal is used to talk about obligation.
Let's see some examples!
Here, guys, "must" conveys the idea that you have to do something,
you have no choice.
Note that the structure is: subject + "must", and then the main verb.
The structure of "must" follows the rules of the structure of modal verbs:
subject + "must", which is the modal verb, and then the main verb, "pay",
and then the complement.
Check another example:
Once again, we see "must" conveying the idea that something is mandatory.
You may, however, also find some policies about things you cannot do.
Then, they're are likely to use "must not"
or the contracted form, "mustn't", to refer to prohibition.
In official documents, we often find the non-contracted form, "must not".
In the affirmative form "must" expresses an idea of obligation,
but in the negative form the idea is prohibition.
And the structure in the negative form is the same,
we just have to add "not".
It goes like this:
Take a look!
"Mustn't" means that you are prohibited from smoking in the rooms.
It is not simply something that is not possible,
but something that is not allowed.
Well, in case of doubt we can always ask someone, right?
And here's another thing:
if you want to know about some service or amenity fees,
ask about it using "how much...?".
For example,
let's say you bought a super fancy bottle of champagne
and want to savor it during dinner at the hotel restaurant.
Well, you'll need to know about the corkage fee, right?
So just ask:
Or suppose you want to buy somethings and have them delivered to your hotel.
You can ask:
Well, that's, it guys!
Now you can understand hotel policies and ask for clarification on some points!
So, do those follow-up activities!
I'll see you next time! Bye for now!