Language toolbox: theory and practice

Grammar: the past simple

Exercises

1 The past of the verb to be.

* The past of the verb to be has two forms: was and were

1 Complete the text with the correct past simple form of the verbs. be · be · be · continue · live · start watch · win

1994 Popular culture did What Where didn’t they win? you go? I sleep? Max do? we meet? 02 My generation! - Language toolbox

* The negative forms are wasn’t and weren’t. Ally wasn’t at school yesterday. They weren’t interested in the film.

* We use was/were + subject to make questions. Was it late? Who was that man? Were you at home? Where were they last night?

* We use was/were + the past participle born to talk about birth dates etc.

I was born in 2004. Where were they born?

2 Verbs in the past simple are often regular and end in -ed.

Friends 1) ___________ the most popular TV series in the world for 10 years. It 2) ___________ in 1994 and 3) ___________ until 2004. The show 4) ___________ about six friends who 5) ___________ in their twenties and thirties and 6) ___________ in Manhattan, New York. 52.5 million Americans 7) ___________ the last episode and the series 8) ___________ lots of awards.

2 Rewrite the sentences in the past simple negative form.

1. We were born in London.

2. Italy sent astronauts to the moon last year.

3. The Covid-19 pandemic started in 2019.

3 There are also lots of irregular verbs. They don’t end in -ed.

4. They wore athleisure clothes in the 1960s.

3 Put the words in the correct order to write past simple questions.

4 We make past simple questions with did + subject + infinitive.

+ed = +d = beat – beat · become - became · have - had go – went · make - made · send - sent win - won · think - thought · wear - wore I become famous. You publish the book. She score the goal. We want a pizza. They have any money.

5 We make past simple questions with did + subject + infinitive.

1. Obama / two elections / win / did?

2. was / the nuclear power station / where?

3. the astronauts / did / have to repair / what?

4. did / J.K. Rowling / how many / write / Harry Potter books?

5. Holland / in the final / beat / Spain / did?

Grammar: used to

1 Used to for past habits.

* We can use used to to say something happened frequently in the past, but it doesn’t happen now.

I / he / she / it you / we / they used to + infinitive

Sam used to walk to school, but now he cycles. We used to meet at the shopping centre on Saturdays.

2 Used to for situations that were true in the past but aren’t true in the present.

* We can also use used to to say a situation was true in the past, but it isn’t now. Ahmed used to live in Liverpool, but now he’s in Toronto. Lilly used to like Friends.

3 We make negative sentences with didn’t + use to.

I / he / she / it you / we / they didn’t use to + infinitive

4 We make questions with did + subject + use to.

Exercises

1 Complete the sentences with used to and the correct infinitive. have · live · play · read

1. I _______________ a lot of comics.

2. Alex _______________ chess, but now she hates it.

3. They _______________ a dog, but it died.

4. My parents _______________ in London before I was born.

2 Rewrite the sentences in the correct negative (-) or question form (?).

1. Sam used to like maths. (-)

2. Your mum used to be a teacher. (?)

3. Harry used to buy a newspaper. (-)

4. They used to cook pizzas on Friday nights. (?)

3 Which sentences in exercises 1 and 2 are about past habits / situations that were true? GRAMMAR Online practice

Vocabulary

1 Match the words to the definitions and write the translation. celebrity news · crime · equal opportunities · fashion · lifestyle · man-made disaster · natural disaster · pandemic · politics · popular culture · scientific discovery · technology · terrorism · the economy · the environment

1. noun [C] usually with ‘the’ the relationship between making things, business and money __________ /

2. noun [U] the use of violence to try to make changes _______________ / ______________

3. noun [C] a disease that affects the whole world _______________ / ______________

4. compound noun [C] TV series, films, books etc. that a lot of people like ___________ / ___________

5. noun [C, U] a popular style of clothes, hair etc. at a particular time or in a particular place ___________ /

6. noun [U] activities that involve breaking the law; [C] an action or activity that breaks the law __________ /

7. noun [C] with ‘the’ the natural world where people, animals and plants live _________ / __________

8. compound noun [C] a very bad accident etc. that people cause ______________ / _____________

9. compound noun [U] new information about famous people _______________ / ______________

10. compound noun [plural] the right to receive the same treatment as other people _______________ /

11. compound noun [C, U] learning something new about the structure of the world etc. _____________ /

12. compound noun [C] a very bad accident etc. that nature causes ____________ / __________

13. noun [C] the way a person or a group of people lives _______________ / ______________

14. noun [U] using power in public life _______________ / ______________

15. noun [C, U] machines, devices etc. that they make with scientific knowledge _______________ /

2 We can make compound nouns by combining noun + noun or adjective + noun. A few compound nous are also made by combining compound adjective + noun. Which combinations do we use to make each of the six compound nouns in exercise 1?

3 Match the words to the definitions and write the translation. childhood · domestic chores · homesick · institution · learn a trade · mementos · memories · servants · staff · task

1.The ____________ are all the people that work for a company or organisation. __________

2. ____________ are jobs like washing up, making the beds, food shopping etc. __________

3. If you ____________, you study the skills that you need to do a particular job. __________

4. An ____________ is a place that looks after people with special needs. ______________

5. A ____________ is a thing that helps people remember a person or a place. ___________

6. ____________ are people who work in other people’s houses and cook, clean etc. for them. ______________

7. If you feel ____________, you feel sad because you are away from your family and friends.

8. ____________ are thoughts of something or somebody that you remember from the past.

9. ____________ is the first period of a person’s life. ______________

10. A ____________ is a piece of work, often hard or difficult, that someone has to do. _________

VOCABULARY Online practice

Writing guide: a report

Conjunctions

We can use conjunctions to add information about time, place, reason, result etc. to sentences.

1 Read the sentences from A Trip to Remember. Then, complete the rules with the highlighted conjunctions.

* Jack went to a farm school while his sisters worked as servants and did domestic chores all day.

* They were still all homesick, so they decided to return to England.

* Until he was 14, Jack used to go to school in the morning.

A. We can use ___________ to show the result of something.

B. We can use ___________ to say something happened up to a certain time.

C. We can use ___________ to say two things happened at more or less the same time.

VOCABULARY Online practice

Final thoughts

Write a short paragraph that answers the question from the beginning of the unit. Think about your work in this unit and how it can help you answer the question.

What can we learn from past generations?