Le Es So On 1: How Long G Have You U Been Her Re?
Le Es So On 1: How Long G Have You U Been Her Re?
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.
1C BUILD
B YOUR
R VOCABUL
LARY
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.
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 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.
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.
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.")
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.
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