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Le Es So On 1: How Long G Have You U Been Her Re?

Lesson 1 provides an overview of its content which includes a dialogue between two men waiting in line at the INS office. It will teach vocabulary useful for filling out forms at the INS, such as present perfect tense, phrasal verbs with "pick", and idiomatic expressions for saying goodbye. The lesson also includes a pronunciation exercise and a culture note about casual greetings.

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Doris Georgia
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
81 views5 pages

Le Es So On 1: How Long G Have You U Been Her Re?

Lesson 1 provides an overview of its content which includes a dialogue between two men waiting in line at the INS office. It will teach vocabulary useful for filling out forms at the INS, such as present perfect tense, phrasal verbs with "pick", and idiomatic expressions for saying goodbye. The lesson also includes a pronunciation exercise and a culture note about casual greetings.

Uploaded by

Doris Georgia
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Le

esso
on 1 How Longg Have You
u Been Herre?

AR
RE YOU READY
Y FOR THE LES
SSON?
Lessson 1, How Lon ng Have You Be een Here?, will ta
ake you somew where you may know very
weell: the INS office
e. You'll listen in
n on a conversaation between tw wo people waitin ng in line,
which is something g people unfortu unately do very often, and whic ch is also a situa
ation in
which Americans likel to make "sm mall talk."Then, you'll learn som
me vocabulary th hat will come
in handy
h at the INS
S or anywhere you y have to fill out
o forms. But th hat's not all. Lessson 1 also
inccludes:

• The
e Present Perfec
ct Tense vs. The
e Simple Past Te
ense
• Using/or and sinc
ce with the Prese
ent Perfect and
d
Sim
mple Past Tens ses
• Phrasal Verbs with
h pick
• Idio
omatic Express
sions for Saying
g Goodbye

Fin
nally, at the end of the lesson you'll read a culture note about casual
c greetings and
acq
quaintances. Bu ut let's start with
h a pronunciation warm-up. Reaady?

1A SA
AY IT CLEAR
RLY!

Turn on your CD to
t review the pro
onunciation of-e
ed, a very imporrtant ending in
En
nglish.

1B EN
NGLISH AT WORK
W

Dia
alogue: Making
g Small Talk
Sergei, a Russian immigrant, is waiting
w in line att the INS. The line is very long, and it's
mooving very slowly. Peter, an Am merican standin ng in front of Seergei, turns aro
ound and
striikes up a conve
ersation. Sergei is surprised by his friendlinesss.

Peter I guess we didn't have e anything else e to do today, did


d we?
Sergei What?
Peter I said I guess
g they thin
nk that we didn n't have anythiing else to do today.
t It's
just thaat we've been inn this line for a very long time. lt seems likee we
aren't going
g anywhere e very fast.
Sergei Yeah. I know. I've been here since about 9:30. Wha at about you?
Peter I think I got here just a few minutes before you did d. I decided to pick
p up a
green-c card applicationn for my wife. I should've gottten it off the In
nternet.
That wa ay I could havee just stayed ho ome. Say, where are you from m?
Sergei Me? I'mm from Russia.
Peter Oh, whe ereabouts?
Sergei I lived in
n Moscow for most
m of my lifee, but I moved around a little.. I was in
the military.
2 FLUENT ENGLIS
SH

Peter Intteresting. I've never


n been to R
Russia, but I'vee always wante
ed to visit.
It seems
s like suc
ch an interestinng country. How long have yo ou lived
heere?
Sergei I'v
ve lived in San Diego for only a few weeks, but b I've been in
n the U.S.
sinnce August.
Peter We ell, welcome to o San Diego. I g
guess the weather must be a bit
wa armer than whe ere you're from
m, huh?
Sergei Yees, that's true. I've gotten useed to it.
Peter Haave you visited d the zoo or Baalboa Park yet? ?
Sergei Noo, but I really want
w to go to Baalboa Park. I've
e heard about all the
flo
owers and mus seums that are there.
Clerk neext!
Peter Heey. That's me. Gotta
G go. See y
you around.
Sergei Oh h. OK. See you u.

1C BUILD
B YOUR
R VOCABUL
LARY

Perhaps you need


n to go to thee I. N. S. to fill o
out some forms. Here are some e terms you
would see if yo
ou were to fill ou
ut an application n to register for permanent resid
dence.
Many of these words have oth her meanings, b but these are thee usages you will
w see on I.
N. S. forms and other legal do ocuments.

To be cited. ToT be summoned to appear in ccourt. The police


e could cite you
u for littering
if you throw tra
ash out of your car.
c
To be indicted
d. To be charge
ed with a crime. Richard Haywa
ard was indicted
d for
espionage whe
en he was caug
ght selling U.S. d
documents to a foreign governm
ment.

Ordinance. A law or regulatio


on, usually passsed by a local go
overnment. The
e city
council passed
d an ordinance permitting
p the u
use of marijuana
a by cancer patients.

Beneficiary. A person who is or will be the re


ecipient of some
ething of value from
f
someone who has died. Harolld and Gerry we ere the sole ben
neficiaries of the
eir mother's
modest estate..

Rehabilitation n. Treatment to help someone rreturn to regular, acceptable, or


o normal
behavior or abilities. Recoveryy from drug abu
use or physical injuries. It was difficult
d to
convince the governor
g that Saam had been su
uccessfully rehabilitated and wa as ready to
leave jail and return
r to societyy.

Clemency. A lesser
l penalty th
han what a court originally sugg
gested. Thinking that
Ralph Smith ha
ad suffered enoough for the crim
me he committed, the judge graanted him
clemency and gave him a sho orter prison senttence.

Amnesty. A pa
ardon given to a large group off individuals. Th
he government
granted amnes
sty to all illegal immigrants
i who
o had come to work
w in the fieldss.

Procure. To obtain, to buy, to


o take possessio
on of somethingg of value. Profe
essor
Hodges wanteed to procure some ancient artiffacts before retu
urning from his sabbatical
s
in Africa.

To engage in.. To become invvolved in something, to do something. Teresa would


never engage in illegal activitiies, even if she disagreed with a law.

To induce. To o influence someeone to do something. Robbie's


s older brother induced
i
him to steal mooney from their parents.
Lesson 1: How Long Have You Been Here? 3

To conspire. To plan together in secret to do harm. Kathy and Jane conspired to make
Mary look foolish.

To solicit. To ask for something of value, usually money. Raymond got a job soliciting
money for his political party.

To sabotage. To destroy or cause to fail. The lab technician sabotaged the experiment
by deliberately mixing up the samples.

Espionage. Spying. Espionage was a common practice during the Cold War, and it still
is today.

Affiliated. To be in close connection. The local television stations are all affiliated with
major networks.

To persecute. To harass, to cause someone to suffer because of a belief. Many people


have come to the United States because they were persecuted in their countries.

To incite. To move to action, to cause. The Prime Minister's latest announcement incited the
protesting crowd to become violent.

Fraud. A false claim, trick; a liar or imposter. Sam Jameson created a false medical
license and began practicing medicine until he was exposed as a fraud.

Waiver. A document that gives up a right or grants unusual permission to someone


else. Juan signed a waiver giving his doctor the right to send his medical records to his
insurance company.

Custody. Having legal guardianship of a child or children, often part of a divorce


settlement. When the Camerons divorced, Mrs. Cameron received custody of both
children, and her husband won weekend visitation rights.

1D ENGLISH UNDER THE HOOD

TOPIC 1: The Present Perfect Tense vs. the Simple Past Tense
Let's take a look at the two most common past tenses in English: the present perfect tense
and the simple past tense.

Present Perfect Simple Past


/ have spoken I spoke
you have spoken you spoke
he, she, it has spoken he, she, it spoke
we have spoken we spoke
they have spoken they spoke

As you can see, the present perfect tense is formed with the verb to have and the past
participle of the main verb, in this case, spoken. The simple past tense is just the past form of
the verb, which in this case is spoke. These tenses are used a bit differently. The present
perfect tense expresses an event that happened in the past when the exact time is not
known, or when there's a result or a connection being made to the present, or when the time
reference is still unfinished, as in so far this week, or up to now, or during my entire life.The
simple past tense, on the other hand, expresses an action that happened when a specific
finished time is given, such as yesterday or last
4 FLUENT ENGLISH

week or in 1995. Sometimes these tenses are interchangeable, depending on what the speaker
wishes to emphasize. Here are a few examples.

Julia has returned from her trip. (No specific time is given or is important, and the speaker is
emphasizing that Julia is now home.)

Julia returned from her trip. (Perhaps this is part of a longer narration of events in the past.)

I finished reading the novel last night. ("Last night" indicates a specific time in the past.)

Has Pam ever been to New York? ("Ever" means "during her entire life.")

/ worked five days last week. ("Last week" is finished time.)

So far this week I've worked three days. ("This week" is unfinished time.)

PRACTICE EXERCISE 1: Complete each of the following sentences with either the present
perfect or simple past tense.
1. _________________ (drive) Mary her new car to Santa Barbara yesterday.
2. __________________ (not try) Sam on his new pants yet.
3. _______________ (buy) We a new house last week.
4. __________ (eat) ________ you ever fried bananas?
5. _____________________________ (not go) Mr. and Mrs. Denton out of town last weekend.
6. ____________ (see) I _____ never The Birds.
7. ____________________ (not speak) He much English during his trip last April.
8. _____________ (miss) ______you me while I was gone?
9. ____________ (dance) you ever the salsa?
10. ________________ (get) Richard a new car last week.

TOPIC 2: Verbs with Irregular Forms in the Past and Present Perfect Tenses
A lot of common verbs have irregular simple past and past participial forms. Here are some of the
more common ones. You'll also find a list of all of the most important irregular verbs in the
appendix on page 211.

Present Past Past Participle


be was/were been
begin began begun
bring brought brought
do did done
eat ate eaten
go went gone
have had had
know knew known
see saw seen
sing sang sung
speak spoke spoken
Lesson 1: How Long Have You Been Here? 5

take took taken


write wrote written

PRACTICE EXERCISE 2: Complete each of the following sentences.


1. (sing) Who ______ that last song?
2. (do) Sarah _____ her homework last night.
3. (be) Where ______ you at breakfast?
4. (begin) Madeline ______ already __________ her new job.
5. (know) Henry _______ all of the answers.
6. (write) _______ you _________ that letter yet?
7. (begin) Angel ______ his university education last spring.
8. (sing) She _____ in Las Vegas many times.
9. (see) ______ anyone really ever _________ Big Foot?
10. (take) I had a headache, so I ______ some aspirin.

TOPIC 3: Using for and since with the Present Perfect and Simple Past Tenses
Use since when a specific point in time is given. Use/or when a period of time, rather
than a specific point in time, is given.

Since... For...
yesterday one day
last week a week
last month three months

Richard has lived in Chicago since 1985.


Richard has lived in Chicago for twenty years.
Notice that you can use for and since with either the simple past tense or the present perfect
tense, depending on whether or not the action is still happening.
I've worked for Green Enterprises for three years. (I still work there.)
/ worked for Green Enterprises for three years. (Now I work somewhere else.)

PRACTICE EXERCISE 3: Complete each sentence with either since or for.


1. We've lived in Los Angeles _________ before Barry was born.
2. We've lived in Los Angeles _________ ten years.
3. There's been a roadblock on the freeway __________ three days.
4. I haven't seen you _________ I was in high school.
5. Why haven't you called __________ two weeks?
6. Susan hasn't gone to work __________ last Tuesday.
7. They stayed at this hotel __________ three nights.
8. Roger and Martin have been gone __________ hours!
9. Have you been waiting for me __________ 7:30?
10. She hasn't spoken to me ___________ the night we got into an argument.

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