Времена английского глагола в сравнении = English Tenses Compared. Пособие

FLUENCY

1. Study and practise the conversations and their reported versions.

Where Do You Come From?

•This is a reported version of the conversation. Notice that there is no tense change when the reporting is done in the present.

Patrick asks Diane if she is American and where exactly she comes from. She tells him that she was born in Boston but studied in New York. Patrick tells her he was born in Bristol, and came to London when his parents bought a small flat there a few years ago. Diane asks Patrick if he works in London. He tells her he is a journalist. She assumes he must have lots of free time. When she asks if he does any sport he says he goes skiing in winter, and in summer he plays tennis and goes sailing. He suggests they can go sailing together one day, if Diane would like to. She accepts with great enthusiasm.

The Wedding Reception

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•Some time later Beatrice is talking to her husband.

I’ve just met this really friendly young man. Do you know what he said to me? First he asked me if I was on my own and of course I said that I wasn’t, I was with you. Then he asked me how I knew John and Moira and I told him I had been at university with Moira. He asked me if I liked big weddings, and I said no, I preferred smaller ones. Then he asked me where I’d met you, which was a bit of a funny question, so I told him we’d met at a wedding. He asked me why I wasn’t drinking, and I said that it was because I was driving. He asked me if we’d travelled far to get here, so I explained that we’d flown in from New York yesterday.

Then he asked something strange. He asked me why I wasn’t wearing a hat, so I said I never wore hats. He then went on to ask me where we were staying tonight, and I told him we were at the ‘Red Lion’. He asked me if we could give him a lift there, and I said yes. I asked him if he was staying at the ‘Red Lion’, too, and he said he was. He asked if there would be enough room in our car, and I told him that there wouldn’t be a problem.

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2. Report the conversations below. Do the exercises that follow some of the conversations.

An Interview

Barbara is interviewing the Wilsons who have won a lot of money on the football pools.

Karen: Hello, Scott. How did you get on today?

Scott: Oh, not too bad. Hey, Karen, there’s a friend of yours in my class.

Karen: Who? Not Steven?

Scott: Yes, that’s right! He’s a really nice guy.

Karen: Mmm... yes he is. Er... do you want to go to the Tower of London tomorrow?

Scott: Well... I went there last Sunday with Mom and Dad. Karen: Have you been to Westminster Abbey?

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Scott: Yes, I have. I thought it was a bit boring. I’m not really interested in old buildings but my parents thought it was great!

Karen: Have you been to the Science Museum? Scott: No, I haven’t. What’s it like?

Karen: Oh, it’s really interesting. There’s a fantastic collection of old airplanes.

Scott: OK. Let’s go there then.

Karen: Fine. Well, I’ll meet you outside Kilburn Underground Station at 10 o’clock.

Scott: Outside the underground at 10 o’clock. See you. Karen: Bye!

I Won’t Lie to You Again

This is a scene from Jenny’s favourite opera ‘Jericho Street.’

•What did they say?

1. Rod asked Liz... 2. She told him... 3. He wanted to know... 4. She

said... and that... 5. He asked her... 6. She refused... 7. He begged her...

8. She advised him... 9. He promised...

•Interview with a star

TV presenter Emma Hall interviewed Don Majors, who plays Rod in ‘Jericho Street’. Here is part of the interview. What did she ask him?

Take turns to report the questions round the class.

1. Don, when did you play your first TV role? 2. When did you join ‘Jericho Street?’ 3. Do you enjoy playing the part of Rod Spencer? 4. Is it a difficult part to play? 5. How many fan letters do you get every week?

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6. Has anyone ever written to you to ask you to marry them? 7. Do you think you will ever marry? 8. Are you similar to Rod in any way? 9. How many episodes of ‘Jericho Street’ have you made? 10. Are you planning to leave the show? 11. What do you do when fans recognize you in the street?

• You answered some questions for a man doing a street survey about soap operas on television. What were his questions? Write the questions in the survey.

He wanted to know if you liked soap operas.

Do you like soap operas?

1. He asked whether you watched an American soap opera called ‘Manhattan’. 2. He wanted to know how long you had been watching it. 3. He asked how many of your friends or family watched it. 4. He asked why it was your favourite soap opera. 5. He wanted to know if you would continue to watch it regularly. 6. He asked you who your favourite character was. 7. He asked you if you thought soap operas should be shown at the weekend. 8. He asked you if you could name four other soap operas.

•In the TV studio

Jim Walker, a TV director, is rehearsing a scene from a detective series, called ‘Inspector Thaw’. Unfortunately, he isn’t satisfied with the actors and actresses. What does he tell them to do and not to do? Say your answers.

He told Mavis not to laugh when she hit John, and to hit him harder.

‘No, no, no, Mavis. Don’t laugh when you hit John. And hit him harder!’

1. ‘John, don’t fall into the camera next time.’ 2. ‘Don’t point the gun so high, Sally, and make your hand shake more.’ 3. ‘Read the script again, Jake. Your second line was wrong.’ 4. ‘Tony, look more surprised when Jill enters.’ 5. ‘Jill, remember that you are supposed to be angry. Don’t smile at Tony!’ 6. ‘And all of you, get it right this time!’

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We Sent You the Wrong Person

‘Heartsearch’, a dating agency, arranged a date for Ruth and sent her a description of the man. After meeting him, Ruth telephoned the agency the next day.

•Report what Ruth said about herself to the agency.

She said (that) she was twenty-four.

1.‘I’m twenty-four.’

2.‘I live in a flat in Oxford.’

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3.‘I’m looking for a man in his twenties.’

4.‘I want to meet someone interesting.’

5.‘I’m keen on classical music.’

6.‘I haven’t got a car.’

•Act out the conversation between Ruth and the woman at the dating agency.

Connie

Connie had an American father and an English mother. She was eighteen and she was over in England from the USA with a friend. She was visiting her English grandmother who was ninety-one years old and rather deaf. Fortunately Connie’s cousin Julie was there to help.

Grandmother: Well, my dear, what have you been doing with yourself?

Connie: Oh, we’ve been in London this week. We’ve seen a lot of interesting things.

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•Report these questions.

1. ‘Where have you been today?’ 2. ‘What do you find specially interesting in London?’ 3. ‘What have you been doing?’ 4. ‘Where do you intend to go tomorrow?’ 5. ‘What do you like about York?’ 6. ‘What have you seen today?’ 7. ‘What do you dislike about England?’ 8. ‘What souvenirs have you bought?’ 9. ‘What do you want to buy for your mother?’ 10. ‘What have you bought for your father?’

3. Study and practise the texts below. Then turn them into conversations.

A Job Interview

Charles had a job interview a few days ago at the United Insurance Company. The interview lasted almost an hour and Charles had to answer a lot of questions.

First, the interviewer asked Charles where he had gone to school. Then, she asked if he had had any special training. She asked where he had

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worked. She also asked him whether he was willing to move to another city. She wanted to know if he could work overtime and weekends. She asked him how his health was. She asked him whether he had ever been fired. She wanted to know why he had had four different jobs in the past year.

And finally, the interviewer asked the most difficult question. She wanted to know why Charles thought he was more qualified for the position than the other sixty-two people who had applied. Charles had never been asked so many questions at a job interview before. He doesn’t know how well he did, but he tried his best.

I’d Like a Room

John arrived at the hotel and asked for a quiet single room with a bathroom. The receptionist said she was terribly sorry, but they didn’t have any single rooms left that night. All they had was a rather noisy double room which looked out onto the main road. John asked how much it cost and she said that because it was so late, he could have it for the same price as a single. John said he would take it for that night but as he was staying for three days, he wanted to have a quieter room the next day as he was a very light sleeper. The receptionist checked and said there would in fact be a single room at the back free and that they would move him into it the next morning.

Kidnap!

Mr and Mrs Barker were having a quiet day at home. Their 17-year-old daughter was away in Scotland staying with a friend. At 12 noon, Mr and Mrs Barker got a phone call from the friend where their daughter was supposed to be staying, saying that she had disappeared. They were just about to call the police when the phone rang again. A hoarse voice told Mr Barker that his daughter had been kidnapped and that unless he paid a ransom of 1000, he would never see his daughter alive again. When Mr Barker asked who the caller was, the voice answered that it was someone he knew well. The voice then gave him instructions about where and when to hand over the money. He was warned not to tell the police or to try to have the phone traced. Mr Barker went to the bank and immediately took the money out of his bank account and left on the

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next train to Brighton. When he arrived, he went into the Grand Hotel at five to six and carefully put the briefcase beside a sofa as arranged. At 6 o’clock precisely, a woman in a scarf and raincoat came up, took the briefcase and walked quickly away.

At 10 p.m. the same evening, to his great relief, his daughter came back home. She could hardly stop herself from laughing. Imagine his surprise when she handed him his briefcase containing the 1000. It turned out that she and her friend had decided to play a practical joke. It was she who had put on a hoarse voice to phone her father and it was she who had collected the briefcase in Brighton. The joke had worked out, strangely enough, Mr and Mrs Barker did not enjoy it as much as their daughter did!

• Work in groups of three. It is Student С’s birthday and Student A and В have both been invited to С’s party.

Student A

It is getting late. Telephone to say that unfortunately you are still at home (say why). Ask if everyone has arrived. Say what time you expect to arrive. Ask what music you should bring.

Student В

You have arrived early to help get the party ready. С is busy when the phone rings so you answer it.

Student С

You were busy when the phone rang. Find out from В who phoned and what the call was about.

4. Study the texts below and then retell them using both-direct and indirect speech.

Herbert’s Homecoming

Herbert Marshall was a student at Cambridge, but his home town was St Albans. It was August and the family had gone to the seaside. Herbert went to France for his holiday, but he ran out of money, and came home a week earlier than he had expected to.

His train didn’t get into St Albans until just before midnight. The last bus had gone, so he had to walk home. He let himself into the kitchen, and

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