A1_04_GrammarDrills
Is there a bank near here? No, there isn’t. Is there a post office? I’m not sure. Come on! Hurry up! It’s one o’clock. Our train’s at 1.15. No, it isn’t. It’s at 1.50. Are you sure? Yes, I am. I’ve got the tickets here. | Are they Scottish? No, they aren’t. They’re Irish. Are you from Korea? No, I’m not. I’m from the Philippines. Is Marie French? No, she isn’t. She’s Canadian. Is Frank a journalist? No, he isn’t. He’s an architect. I’m hot – I’m cold. I’m right – I’m wrong. |
Can you come to the meeting this afternoon? No, I can’t. I’m very busy. Excuse me. Can you repeat that? Can you speak more slowly? Thank you very much. What’s your favourite sport? My favourite sport is basketball. What’s your favourite colour? My favourite colour is green. | He’s a good swimmer. He’s not a good driver. She’s a good singer. She’s not a good dancer. Who’s your favourite writer? My favourite writer is Shakespeare. Who’s your favourite painter? My favourite painter is Picasso. Can I see you after the lesson? Are you good at sports? I’m a pretty good skier... and I can swim very well. |
FOCUS — More short answers with “am”, “are”, “is”, “have”, “has” (“real” answers)
• And now, some more questions…
Are you hot? … Are you cold? … Are you tired? … Are you sleepy? …
Is he / she / [Marco] / [Francesca] hot? … Is he / she cold? … Is he / she tired?
Are you hungry? … Are you thirsty?
Are you busy today? … Are you busy this afternoon? … Are you busy this evening?
Are you from [Turin]?
Are you a teenager?
Are you afraid of ghosts? … Are you afraid of spiders? … Are you afraid of the dark?
Is it late? … Is it early? … Is it a nice day? … Is the traffic terrible today?
Are you married? … (Have you got any children? … Have you got a photo of them / him / her?)
Is [Francesca] married? … (Has she got any children?)
Have you got any brothers? … Have you got any sisters?
Has [Marco] got any brothers? … Has he got any sisters?
Have you got a mobile phone? … Have you got a passport?
Have you got a car? … Have you got a bicycle? … Have you got a boat?
Have you got a watch? … Have you got a computer?
Have you got a house at the seaside?
Is there a post office near here? … Is there a bank near here? ....Is there a market near here?
Is there a bus stop near here? … Is there a Metro station near here? … Is there a taxi stand near here?
Are we near the train station? … Are we near a Metro station?
Are we on the second floor? … Are we on the first floor?
Is Johannesburg the capital of South Africa? … Is Sydney the capital of Australia?
Is Toronto the capital of Canada? … Is Amsterdam the capital of Holland?
Are there any mistakes in your dictation? … Are there any mistakes in your Written Test?
Are there any French students in this class? …Are there any Italian students?
Is this lesson difficult? … Is this exercise long? … Is this lesson interesting?
Are you ready for the next question? … Are you ready for the next lesson? … Are you ready for the next exercise?
WORDS
• Here are some questions for you…
What language do they speak in Japan? | Japanese |
What language do they speak in China? | Chinese |
What language do they speak in Greece? | Greek |
What language do they speak in Turkey? | Turkish |
What language do they speak in Egypt? | Arabic |
In some countries they speak more than one language… | |
What languages do they speak in Canada? | French and English. |
What languages do they speak in Switzerland? | German, French and Italian |
What languages do they speak in Belgium? | French and Flemish |
What languages do they speak in Wales? | English and Welsh |
What languages do they speak in Bolzano? (Northern Italy) | Italian and German. |
By the way, do you know the capitals of these countries? | |
What’s the capital of Japan? | Tokyo |
Can you spell “Tokyo”? | T O K Y O |
What about China? (This is more difficult!) / …spelling? | Beijing / B E I J I N G |
Greece? / Turkey? / Egypt? | Athens / Ankara / Cairo |
Who’s your favourite writer? | […] |
Who’s your favourite singer? | […] |
Who’s your favourite actor? | […] |
Who’s your favourite painter? | […] |
Who’s your favourite football player? | […] |
(very quickly at first; if necessary repeat more slowly:) | |
You can’t understand me. What can you say? | Can you repeat that? |
Now you understand. What can you say? | I see. |
You can’t believe something… | I can’t believe it! |
I’ve got a little friend, a little boy named Tommy. Can you spell “Tommy”? | T O M M Y |
Tommy’s got a girlfriend. Her name is Susie. Can you spell “Susie”? | S U S I E |
Tommy’s got a dog. The dog’s name is Xerxes. Can you spell “Xerxes”? | X E R X E S |
FOCUS — Short answers with “can”
• Can you sing?
Can you sing? / I / Are you a [soprano / tenor]?
Can you play the piano? / Can you play the guitar? / Can you play any other musical instrument? / Can you read music? / Do you like music?
Can you ride a bicycle? / Have you got a bike? / Is it an Italian bike? / Is it a mountain bike? / Is it a racing bike? / Do you ride to [school / work] on your bike?
Can you drive a car? / Are you a good driver? / Have you got a car? / Is it an Italian car? / Is it a [Fiat]? / Is it a good car?
Can you use a computer? / Have you got a computer at home? / Is it an Mac computer? / Do you like it?
Are you good at sports? / Can you play [tennis]? / Can you play [football / basketball / baseball / volleyball]?
Are you a football fan? / Is [Barcelona] your favourite team? / What is your favourite team?
Can you swim? / Are you a good swimmer? / Is today a nice day to go swimming?
Can you ski? / Are you a good skier? / Are you an excellent skier? / Is today a nice day to go skiing?
Are you good at languages? / Can you speak French? / Can you speak Spanish? / Can you speak German? / Can you speak English? / Can you speak Chinese? / Is Chinese a difficult language?
Can you dance? / Are you a good dancer? / Can you dance the tango? / Do you go dancing on Saturday night?
Can you cook? / Are you a good cook? / Is your [husband / wife] a good cook? / What’s your favourite dish?
FOCUS— Adverb “pretty”
• Let’s practise expressions like “pretty good”.
My friend Bill’s not a fantastic swimmer, but… | He’s a pretty good swimmer. |
My friend Jane’s is not an excellent tennis player , but… | She’s pretty good. |
This book isn’t very, very long — 456 pages — but… | It’s pretty long. |
[Marco]’s not exactly exhausted [this morning / afternoon / evening], but… | He’s pretty tired. |
We’re not too busy today, but… | We’re pretty busy. |
That restaurant isn’t impossibly expensive, but… | It’s pretty expensive. |
It’s not a great day today, but… | It’s a pretty nice day. / It’s pretty nice. |
It’s not very, very [late / early], but… | It’s pretty [late / early]. |
[Current film] isn’t exactly a fabulous film, but… | It’s a pretty good film. / It’s pretty good. |
Manchester is not an enormous city, but… | It’s a pretty big city. |
[Frascati] is not tiny, but… | It’s pretty small. |
Linda isn’t a superb cook, but… | She’s a pretty good cook. |
(a different pattern…) Mary can’t speak Japanese perfectly, but… | She can speak it pretty well. / Her Japanese is pretty good. |
Her Chinese isn’t absolutely fluent, but… | It’s pretty good. |
[Antonio]’s not an expert at speaking English, but… | He can speak it pretty well. / His English is pretty good. |
FOCUS— “Can” / “can’t”; adverbs
• What can you do?
Tell me if you can do these things
“well” (***)
“pretty well” (**)
“a little” (*)
“not very well” (-),
etc.
— or if you can’t do them, of course…
For example, if I say “French”, you can say…? I can speak a little French.
French / German / Italian / English / Spanish / Greek / Arabic / etc. (speak)
French / German / Italian / English / Spanish / Greek / Arabic / etc. (understand)
French / German / Italian / English / Spanish / Greek / Arabic / etc. (write)
piano / violin / flute / guitar / etc. (play)
sing / music (read) / spaghetti (cook, make)
car (drive) / bicycle (ride) / plane (fly) / boat (sail) / horse (ride)
type / computer (use)
dance / tango, samba, etc (dance)
tennis; football; volleyball; basketball (play) / ski / swim / surf / ski / paint
FOCUS — Conversation gambit: What about…?
• Let’s practise a little conversation…
I’ve got two English friends – Alan and Alice. Alan can speak French very well… | What about Alice? Can she speak French? |
I’ve got two French friends – Marie and Yvonne. Yvonne is a superb cook… | What about Marie? Is she a good (superb) cook? OR: Can she cook? |
I’ve got two friends from Australia – Mel and Brad. Mel is a very good surfer… | What about Brad…? Is he a good surfer? |
I’ve got two Russian friends – Natasha and Boris. They’re from Moscow. They speak English, but not very well. I can understand Natasha… | …. Boris? Can you ….. him? |
I’ve got two Irish friends, Maureen and Patrick. Maureen’s from Dublin… | ….. Patrick? Is he from Dublin? / Where is he from? |
I’ve got two American friends – Bruce and Bob. Bruce is an incredible football player… | ….. Bob? Is he a good football player? / Can he play football? |
I’ve got three friends from Argentina – Victor, Victoria, and Virginia. Virginia’s a terrific dancer. She can dance the tango really well… | ….. Victor and Victoria? Can they dance (the tango)? / Are they good dancers? |
Yes, they can! Now, Victor and Victoria are from Buenos Aires… (Virginia…) | ….. Virginia…? ... |
I’ve got two colleagues in my office – Derek and David. Derek can use a computer very well… | ….. David…? ... |
My boss, Mr Magnus, has got two secretaries – Betty and Barbara. Barbara can type very well… | ….. Betty…? ... |
I’ve got a brother and a sister. My brother is married… | ….. your sister? Is she married? |
Yes, she is. And she’s got two children – a son and a daughter. Her son’s name is Tommy… | ….. her daughter? What’s her name? |
Her name is Jane. So I’ve got a niece and a nephew, Jane and Tommy. Tommy’s afraid of ghosts… | ….. Jane? Is she afraid of ghosts? |
No, she isn’t. But she’s afraid of spiders, and she’s afraid of the dark… (Tommy…) | ….. Tommy…? |
Tommy’s got two wonderful dogs – Xerxes and Agamemnon. Xerxes is a fantastic swimmer… | What about Agamemnon? Is he a good (fantastic) swimmer? / Can he swim? |
Here’s a different kind of situation… | |
I can’t come to the cinema with you on Monday, or Tuesday, or Wednesday, or Thursday… | What about [Friday / Saturday / Sunday]? Can you come…? |
We can’t have the meeting at 9 o’clock, or 10 o’clock, or 11 o’clock… | What about [12 o’clock]? Can we have it then / at [12 o’clock]? |
There are mistakes in your translation of Group 1, and Group 2, and Group 3… | What about group 4? Are there any mistakes in Group 4? |
EXERCISE 58-REVIEW: Write a composition by completing the sentences. (Use your own
paper.) NOTE: A sentence begins with a capital letter (a big letter) and a sentence
ends with a period ( . )*
My name ______.
I _____ from _____
I’m _____ ______
I am ____ _____ old.
I _____ _____ _____ sister(s) and brother(s).
The name(s) of my sister(s) _____ _____
_____ is _____ years old. (Tell about each sister.)
The name(s) of my brother (s) is / are ….
_____ is _____ years old. (Tell about each brother.)
EXERCISE 1-ORAL: Make sentences from the given words. Use can or can't.
Example: A bird \ sing
Example: A horse \ sing
Response: A bird can sing.
Response: A horse can't sing.
1. A bird \ fly
2. A cow \ fly
3. A child \ drive a car
4. An adult \ drive a car
5. A newborn baby \ walk
6. A fish \ breathe air
7. A fish \ swim
8. A deaf person \ hear
9. A blind person \ see
10. An elephant \ swim
1 1. An elephant \ climb trees
12. A cat \ climb trees
13. A boat \ float on water
14. A rock \ float on water