G past simple: regular and irregular verbs

V holidays
P regular verbs: -ed endings

1 VOCABULARY holidays

relaxing, going to rnuseums. T hen com pa re

The place is perfect,

the weather is wonderful,

w ith a pa r tner.

but if you're with the wrong person, a holiday can be a disaster...

a In o ne minute, w ri te do w n fi ve things you

like doin g when yo u're o n holiday, e.g.

b
c

> p.l52 Vocabulary Bank Holidays.

In pairs. inte rview you r pa rtner w ith the
holiday q ue tio nna ire. As k Wily?

My perfect summer holiday

Which do you prefer...?
going abroad or going on holiday in your country
going by car, bus, plane or train
going t o t he beach or going to a cit y
staying in a hotel (or apartment) or going camping
sunbathing, going sight seeing or going for walks
hot, sunny weather or cool, cloudy weather
going with f riends or going w ith your family

2 READING & SPEAKING

a

Wo rk in pa irs. A read abo ut Joe's ho liday.

Bread abo ut Laura's ho liday. Find the
a nswers to q uestio n 1- 5.
1 Where d id he I she go o n holiday?
2 W ho did he I she go with ?
3 W here did he I she stay?
4 What was the weath er Iike?
5 W hy d id n't he I she enjoy the holiday?

b 1 ow tell your pa rt ne r a bo ut the ho liday you

read . Use questio n 1-5 to help yo u .
c

Where did

Read yo ur partne r's text. In pairs, gues

the mean ing of the high Iightcd wo rd s a nd
phrases. W hose holiday do yo u thin k was
wo rse? W hy?

d Have yo u ever
had a holiday th at
yo u d idn't enjoy
ver y much ? W hat
happe ned?

Joe

28, a flight attendant

Last Oct ober I went on holiday to Thailand

for two weeks with my girlfriend, Mia.
The holiday began well. We spent two days
in Bangkok and saw the Floating Market
and the Royal Palace. But things went
wrong when we left Bangkok. I wanted
to stay in hostels, which were basic
but clean, but Mia said they were too
uncomfortable and so we stayed in quite
expensive hotels. I wanted to experience
the local atmosphere but Mia just wanted to
go shopping. I thought I knew Mia very well, but you don't know a person
until you travel with t hem. It wa s awful! We argued about everything.
For our last f our days we went t o Ko Chang, a beautiful island. It was like
being in paradise. The weather was lovely and the beaches were wonderful,
but we just sunbath ed without speaking. We spent our last night back in
Bangkok and we went f or a drink with some Australians. They we re r eally
friendly and Mia st art ed flirting with one of th e boys. That was the end.
Wh en we arrived at Heathrow airport the
you don't know a next day we decided t o break up.

person until you

travel with them '

Laura

26, a nurse

I t ook hundreds of phot os, bu t w hen I got

home I didn't show them to anyone.

c I'd love to go back

to Venice one day...

Last spring my best f riend Isabelle and
I booked a holiday in Venice. We rented
but without Linda. '
a small apartment f or a week with a
fantast ic view of the ca nals. At th e last moment another friend, Linda,
asked if she cou ld come too. We felt sorry for her because she had
problems with her boyfriend, so w e said yes.
Venice was magical and the weather was perfect, but t he holiday was a
disaster f or one simple r eason: Linda was so mean! She has a good j ob so
she's not poor, but she just didn't want to pay f or anything. When we went
sight seeing she didn't want to go to any museums or galleries that cost
money. When we went on a gondola she complained that
it was very expensive. When we went to have lunch or
dinner she always wanted t o go to cheap restaurant s or
she bought pizzas and ate them in the flat. But the night I
invited her and Isabelle out on my b i rt~d ay she chose the
most expensive things on the menu! The worst thing was
that although Isabelle and I paid for the apartment , Linda
never once bought us a coffee or a drink.
I'd love to go back t o Venice one day... but without Linda.

3 LISTENING
a

5 PRONUNCIATION regular verbs: -ed endings

1 34>)) You a re going to li ten to Mia and

Linda talking a bo ut the ho lidays. Firs t liste n
to Mia. Does sh e agree with Joe about the
holiday?

b Listen again. What does Mia say about ... ?

1 37 >)) Listen a nd repeat the sentences.

~ tie

We booked a ho liday.
We wa lked a ro und th e town.

1t

dog

We sunbathed o n tbe beach.

We argued abo ut everyth ing.

!Jd/

We re nted a flat.
We decided to brea k up.

1 her relationship w ith Joe before they went

2 the places where they stayed

3 talking to othe r travellers

b Say the past simple of these verbs. In which o nes is -ed

4 photos

prono u need lid/ ?

S goi ng o n holiday with a boyfriend

1 35 >)) ow li te n to Linda. What's her

o pinion o f t he ho liday? Then listen again.
What d oes sh e ay about . .. ?

Venice
2 w hat they did there
3 the cost of her holiday
4 her next holiday

arrive ask end invite like love

need park start stay

1 38 >)) Liste n and c h eck.

Regular past simple verbs

Remember that we don't normally pronounce the e in -ed.

The -ed ending is usually pronounced it or ld '. The difference between
these endings is very small.
We only pronounce the e in -ed when there is a t or a d before it,
e.g. wanted, ended. With these verbs -ed = 1d .

d Who do you sy mpathi ze w ith most, Joe or

Mia? La ura or Linda?

6 SPEAKING
4 GRAMMAR past simple: regular
and irregular verbs

Look at Your last holiday below. What a re the questions?

b Think abo ut your answe rs to the que tio ns .

a What is the past simple of these verbs?

Are they regular or irregu la r ? C heck your
answers in Joe's text.
go _

b egin _ _

spend _ __

leave

wa nt
stay _ _

be _ _ f_ _

know
unbathe

YOUR LAST HOLIDAY

1 Whe-re. I !JO?
'). Whe-~ I !JO?
3 Who 1 !JO with?
q. Whe-re. I st~y?
5 WMt I the- food. Like.?
~ WMt I the- we.~the.r Like.?
7 WMt 1 do d.u.ri113 the. d.~y?
g WMt I do ~t ~3k.t?
q 1 MVe. ~ !JOOd. time.?
10 1 M Ve. ~~y probLe-ms?

think
a rgue _ __
take

ow und erline th e past simple [] verbs in

Laura's tex t. What are the infinitives?

c Find and und e rline two past s imple G ve rbs

in the two texts. H ow do you make B a nd IT!
in the past s imple . .. ?
w ith no rm al verbs
with was f were
with could

d )o- p.l28 Grammar Bank 2A. Learn mo r e

about the past simple and practise it.

c Work in pairs. Ask yo ur partner about

his f her ho liday. S h ow inte rest in' h at
he f she says, and ask for more information. Then swap roles.

Useful language for showing interest

[] Really? Wow! Fantastic! Great! etc.

B Oh no! How awful! etc.

IT!

Was it expensive? Why? What happened? etc.

G past continuous
V prepositions of time and place: at, in, on
P sentence stress

1 READING
a

Look at a pho to which news phorogra pher

To m Pilsto n took in 2008. What do you
think is happening?

b Read Tom's descriptio n of w h at happened

o n the night he took the phoro. Were you
ri ght?
c

Read it aga in a nd a nswer the questions.

l Why di d Tom Pilston go ro C hicago?
2 W hy couldn't he ra ke a photograph of
Oba ma?
3 What was the weather like?
4 Where did he take rhis photo?
5 Where could the people see rhe election
results?
6 Was he sorry that he couldn't go inside the
center?
7 What happened when Obama won?

n 4th November 1arrived in Chicago late in the evening. I wanted

to photograph Barack Obama and his family in the Convention
center, but when 1 got there 1 discovered that 1 didn't have
my press pass and 1 couldn't go inside. 1 walked around the park
outside the center. Although it was November. it was a warm night.
The atmosphere was wonderful. When 1 took this photo everybody
was looking at the TV screens waiting for the election results. Some
people were quietly holding hands and smiling - others were tense and
nervous. They felt that it was their moment. Suddenly 1 realized that this
was a better place to be than inside. 1 was watching Obama's victory
through the faces of all these people, African, Hispanic, Chinese, white.
At about 11 o'clock the results were announced, and everybody went
mad. People started laughing, shouting, and crying. But when Obama
made his speech they all became quiet and emotional. There was only
one place to be on the planet that night - and 1 was there.

d W hy do you t hink the phorographer tho ught

hi s photo was bet ter th a n a pho to of O ba ma
himself? Do you ag ree?

2 GRAMMAR past continuous

a

Look at the highlighted verbs in an extract

from the text. D o they descri be actions that
happened . . .?
a after he took the photo
b at the sa me time as he took the photo
When I to ok thi s ph ot o everybody was
looking at the TV screens waiting f or t he
election re sults. Some people were quietly
holding hands and smiling - oth ers were
tense and nervous.

b >- p.l28 Grammar Ba nk 2B. Learn mo re

about t he past continuo us a nd practise it.

1 41>)) In pa irs, lis ten to the sounds a nd

make a sentence using the pas t co ntinuou
a nd the past sim ple.

.:.~? were playing tennis

~n

it started to rain.

3 VOCABULARY at, in, on

a

Which prepositio n do you use before ... ?

1 a date (e.g. 4th ovember) _ _
2 a time (e.g. II o'clock) _ _
3 the mo rn ing, the a fternoo n, etc. _ _
4 a room or building (e.g. the Convention Center) _ _

b C heck yo ur a nswers tO a in the text. W hat preposition do you use

w ith . .. ?
I a month (e.g. January) _ _
2 the weekend

3 home, work, school _ _

c >- p.153 Vocabulary Bank Prepositions. Do part 1.

d >-Communication at , in, on A p.lOO B p. l 06. A n wer t he
questio n s w ith a preposition and a t ime o r place.

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