The Meeting That Moved: A Phone Call With Corrections
Takeda calls Mori about tomorrow's meeting. Takeda: 「もしもし、森さん? 明日の会議、3時からになりました。」 Mori: 「あ、そうですか。明日は午前中は大丈夫ですが、3時は…子どもを病院に連れて行きます。」 Takeda: 「じゃ、4時はどうですか。」 Mori: 「4時なら大丈夫です。でも、資料を30部コピーしておいてください。」 Takeda: 「わかりました。会議室の前の機械でいいですか。」 Mori: 「その機械は今、壊れています。2階のを使うと、5分かかります。」 Takeda: 「じゃ、昼休みにやっておきます。」 Mori: 「お願いします。あ、資料は私の机の上にあります。」
1. What time is the meeting, and where will Takeda make the copies? List each piece of information that changed during the call.
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The meeting is at 4:00, not 3:00: Mori has to take her child to the hospital at 3:00, and she accepts 4:00. Copies will be made on the second floor, because the machine in front of the meeting room is broken and the second-floor machine takes five minutes. The materials are on Mori's desk, not with Takeda, so he must collect them first. Three pieces of information were corrected in the call; a listener who stops after the first sentence will answer 3:00 and the meeting-room machine.
2. Why can't Takeda use the machine in front of the meeting room, and what does the five minutes refer to?
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Mori says 「その機械は今、壊れています」. 壊れています describes the current state resulting from damage, so the machine is unusable now, not merely old. The five minutes is the time needed to use the second-floor machine, including getting there and copying. That cost is why Takeda decides to copy during the lunch break rather than just before the meeting, so the number is a reason for his plan, not a detail to memorize.
3. Put Takeda's actions in order and explain the forms ておく and てある as they appear in the call.
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Order: get the materials from Mori's desk, go to the second floor, copy 30 sets during lunch, then attend the 4:00 meeting. 「コピーしておいてください」 uses ておく for doing something in advance for a later purpose, and 「昼休みにやっておきます」 accepts that preparation. 壊れています is different: it is a state, not a preparation. The distinction matters because ておく points to a future need, while the state form only reports the condition of the machine.