Language focus

GRAMMAR / USE OF ENGLISH

4. Read the following text and fill in the articles a, an , the where necessary. Consult the table in your grammar book (fce Use of English, p. 148-149).

When I started running seven years ago, I could manage only about (1) __ quarter of (2) __ mile before I had to stop. Breathless and aching, I walked (3) __ next quarter of a mile, then I jogged the next quarter of a mile, alternating these two activities for (4) ___ couple of (5) __ miles. Within (6) __ few weeks I could jog half way round Hampstead Heath without stopping. Soon I started to run up the quarter-mile slope to (7) __ top of Parliament Hill, although I had to stop at the top to get my breath back. Eventually I found that I could even manage to get up (8) __ hill comfortably.

I started to run because I felt desperately unfit. But (9) __ biggest pay-off for me was and still is – (10) __ deep relaxation that I achieve by taking (11) __exercise. It tires me out but I find that it does calm me down.

In those early days I saw few other runners. Now there are many more – and not just the macho sports freaks. (12) __ Men and women of all ages have now taken up running. Some 25,000 runners aged five to 85 are attracted each year to (13) __ Sunday Times Fun Run in (14) __ Hyde Park. In the last two years (15) __ London Marathon has become

(16) __ biggest British sporting event – overtaking the boat race and the Derby in the number of spec­tators it attracts. When I started to jog I never dreamt of running in (17) __ marathon, but in 1982 I realized that if I trained for it, it was within my reach, and after (18) __ slow, six-month build-up I man­aged the 26.2 miles in just under four hours. (19) __ creditable perfor­mance for (20) __ first-timer and a far cry from those days when I had to stop for breath after a quarter of a mile.

5. Complete this text with can, could or be allowed to. Use negative forms where necessary. Where two answers are possible, give them both. E.G. 1 – can / is allowed to.

It is often said that sports coaches (1) _____be strict, but athlete Peter Black's was incredibly hard on him in the year before the Olympic Games. For instance, Peter (2) _____ stay up later than 9.00, although on his birthday he (3) _____ watch television until 10.00 as it was a special occasion! Of course, all Peter (4) _____ think of was going out with his friends in the evening, and he (5) ___ hardly wait for the Games to finish and get back to a normal life. When he complained, his coach just said, 'Trust me and you'll win gold you (6) ____lose!' And his coach was right. He won a gold medal in the 400 metres in a world record time. And on the night of his victory Peter (7) ____ celebrate - by staying up until 11 o'clock! 'But no later,' said his coach. 'The World Championships are only two years away.

6. Look for the best answers from each group in italics. Write a number of the sentence and an appropriate modal.

1. The taxi needs to/ should/would be here in a couple of minutes. We'd better/’ve better/’d better to get ready go.

2. My daughter wouldn't/won't/may not eat carrots. She hates the taste of them. I don't have to / 'm not able to/can't think of any way of getting her to eat them. But to tell the truth, I could/would/ used to hate them when I was young, too.

3. A: We're completely lost! I'm not able to/ can't I mustn't find any of the street names

around here on the map.

B: We must have/ have got to have/can have taken the wrong turning at the traffic lights

about a kilometre back.

4. You haven't got to/needn't/mustn't go on the beach when the tide's coming in. It's very dangerous. You can/ might/would play in the fields instead.

5. I was beginning to be concerned that I won't/mustn't/wouldn't get to the station for my train. But I didn't need worry/needn't have worried/needn't worry; Colin turned up in good time to give me a lift.

6. Most head teachers today feel that parents need/should/had better play a more active part in the running of schools. There was a time when parents would/will/should put a lot of effort into raising money for school projects, but those days seem to have gone.

7. A: These trousers shrank the first time I washed them.

B: If I were you, I ought to/should/can take them back.

8. Preliminary research suggests that the bones must/have got to/used to be at least 100,000 years old, but they would/could/can be considerably older than that.

9. Apparently, in the future, airline passengers will be able to/can/could send and receive email messages without moving from their seats. Of course, by the time this is common, we can/must/might have started using even more efficient ways of communicating.

10. Both candidates for the job were very strong and it was hard to choose between them. I certainly couldn't/mustn't/had got to have decided which one to appoint. But fortunately, we hadn't got to / didn't have to / mustn't make a final decision; the management found enough money to allow us to appoint both of them.

11. You needn't/don't need to/mustn't be very fit to play badminton well. It can/is able to/ could be played by anyone who is reasonably fit and who has a good sense of timing.

7. Which of the modal verbs and expressions in italics express: a) obligation, b) possibility, c) ability in the past, d) incapability, e) unreality, f) reproach, g) supposition implying uncertainty. Present your answers in figures and letters.

Had you gone for a Sunday afternoon ride that day you (1) might have seen him, close to naked, standing on the shoulders of route 424,* waiting for a chance to cross. You (2) might have wondered if he was the victim of foul play, had his car broken down, or was he merely a fool. Standing barefoot in the deposits of the highway – beer cans, rags, and blowout patches – exposed to all kinds of ridicule, he seemed pitiful. He had known when he started that this was a part of his journey – it had been on his maps – but con­fronted with the lines of traffic, worming through the summery light, he found himself unprepared. He was laughed at, jeered at, a beer can was thrown at him, and he had no dignity or humor to bring to the situation. He (3) could have gone back, back to the Westerhazys', where Lucinda (4) would still be sitting in the sun. He had signed nothing, vowed nothing, pledged nothing not even to himself. Why, believing as he did, that all human obduracy was susceptible to common sense, was he unable to turn back? Why was he determined to complete his journey even if it meant putting his life in danger? At what point had this prank, this joke, this piece of horseplay become serious? He (5) could not go back, he could not even recall with any clearness the green water at the Westerhazys', the sense of inhaling the day's components, the friendly and relaxed voices saying that they had drunk too much. In the space of an hour, more or less, he had covered a distance that made his return impossible. An old man, tooling down the highway at fifteen miles an hour, let him get to the middle of the road, where there was a grass divider. Here he was exposed to the ridicule of the north­bound traffic, but after ten or fifteen minutes he (6) was able to cross. From here he had only a short walk to the Recreation Center at the edge of the Village of Lancaster, where there were some handball courts and a public pool. The effect of the water on voices, the illusion of brilliance and suspense, was the same here as it had been at the Bunkers' but the sounds here were louder, harsher, and more shrill, and as soon as he entered the crowded enclosure he was confronted with regimentation. "ALL SWIM­MERS (7) MUST TAKE A SHOWER BEFORE USING THE POOL. ALL SWIMMERS (8) MUST USE THE FOOTBATH. ALL SWIMMERS (9) MUST WEAR THEIR IDENTIFICATION DISKS." He took a shower, washed his feet in a cloudy and bitter solution and made his way to the edge of the water. It stank of chlorine and looked to him like a sink. A pair of life­guards in a pair of towers blew police whistles at what seemed to be regular intervals and abused the swimmers through a public address system. Neddy remembered the sapphire water at the Bunkers' with longing and thought that he (10) might contaminate himself – damage his own prosperousness and charm – by swimming in this murk, but he reminded himself that he was an explorer, a pilgrim, and that this was merely a stagnant bend in the Lucinda River. He dove, scowling with distaste, into the chlorine and (11) had to swim with his head above water to avoid collisions, but even so he was bumped into, splashed and jostled. When he got to the shallow end both life­guards were shouting at him: "Hey, you, you without the identification disk, get outa the water." He did, but they had no way of pursuing him and he went through the reek of suntan oil and chlorine out through the hurricane fence and passed the handball courts.