As far as I know all modern day varieties of English pronounce it /hopt/.

What is the context? I cannot think of a situation in which one would ever have occasion to utter such a sentence.

had been. If you wanted to use "was", you'd have to re-write the sentence a bit.

Then I would recommend: " We hope to have been of service."

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Only #4.

>> don’t say only he is American << I can't hear the recordings of course (so please post them as an attachment on this forum), but I doubt anyone will be able to pinpoint someone to the city, unless they have a noticible east coast

Both are acceptable. "How are *you*?" is most common, "How *are* ya?" is a little less formal, but "How *are* you" if you overemphasize the "are" sounds a little pompous.

You can say for "do you" in that sentence; and for "you", but you always say the "h" in have, and pronounce "are" as /Ar\/.

That's from "TOEFL Test Strategies" by Eli Hinkel You can buy or download the book: http://www.google.com/search?q=%22TOEFL+Test+Strategies%22+by+Eli+Hinkel http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22TOEFL+Test+Strategies%22+by+Eli+Hinkel