Family relationships

Nextofkin.....................

Brain teaser

Try this little brain-teaser when you have five or ten minutes to spare. Alternatively, just note the names we give to the various members of our family.

Each of the fourteen people below is married to one of the others. From the information you are given, find out who is married to whom. Note there are three generations here. The answers are on page 14.

Alan is Caroline's nephew and Larry's cousin.

Barbara is Larry's mother and Maggie's sister-in-law.

Caroline is Edward's daughter and Maggie's sister-in-law.

David is Gordon's brother-in-law and Alan's uncle.

Edward is Ingrid's grandfather and Maggie's father-in-law.

Fanny is Caroline's mother and Alan's grandmother.

Gordon is Helen's son-in-law and Nigel's brother-in-law.

Helen is Barbara's mother-in-law and Larry's grandmother.

Ingrid is Gordon's niece and David's daughter-in-law.

John is David's father and Gordon's father-in-law.

Karen is Gordon's daughter-in-law and Maggie's daughter-in-law.

Larry is John's grandson and David's son.

Maggie is Larry's aunt and Fanny's daughter-in-law.

Nigel is Ingrid's father and Fanny's son-in-law.

Practice

1 Choose the most suitable word or phrase to complete the sentences below. The answers are on page 14.

1	Mrs Jones had ....
	a	a trio	b		a treble		с	triplets
2	Mrs Vine had had ... the week before.
	a	quarts		b	quads		с a quartet
3	Twins often seem to ... a generation.
	a	hop	b	skip		с	jump
4	There was a case of... twins in our town recently.
	a	Japanese			b	Chinese		с Siamese
5	There's a ... oftwins in our family — on my father's ... .
	a	story			b	geography		с	history
	d	tree			e	side		f	line
6 I was ... child, though.							•
	a	an only		b a missing				с a single
7 All the members of our football team are related ... marriage,
	a	by b	to		с	on

8 When Mother remarried, her second husband, my ..., gave me a new bicycle. a forefather b stepfather с grandfather

9 He said to me, 'Look, I know you're not my own ..., but let's be friends.'

a flesh and blood	b blood and guts с skin and bones
10 My ... originated from a tribe of Red Indians.
a ancestors b	ancients с antiques

11Not many of my own ... relatives are still alive. a blood b skin с heart

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Family relationships

12 My ... -grandfather fought at the Battle of Waterloo.

a	grand grand grand		b	great grand grand	с great-great-great
13 My brother-in-law inherited £500,000 in his uncle's ... .
a	will	b testament	с	wishes.

14 I was left £50 and a cat by ... relative; I believe it was a ... cousin - or perhaps it

was a... -aunt.
a	a distant	b	an unclear	с	a long-distance
d	double	e	second	f	dual
g	grand	h	great	і	large
15 Peter is an orphan; he was ... at the age oftwo.
a	adjusted b	adapted с adopted

16	Paul comes from a broken home; he has lived with a number of... parents.
	a loan	b foster с	second-hand
17	Mary was from a single-parent family; now she's looked after by her ....
	a keeper	b warden	с guardian.

18I'm off to have Sunday lunch with my ... now. a outlaws b by-laws с in-laws

Discuss or write the answers to these questions.

1In what ways do you take after members ofyour family, in appearance and character?

2How close are you to the various members of your family?

3What sort of presents do you normally receive from your relatives?

4Do most people you know get on with their in-laws?

5What is the system of adopting and fostering in your country?

6I wouldn't like to be / have been an only child. Do you agree?

Write on one or more ofthe following topics.

1 Write a paragraph from a short story describing a wedding or a funeral.

2Write an imaginary page from the diary of a foster-parent whose foster-child is leavingtomorrow.

Add any other expressions about family relationships as you meet them.

Answers

The married couple are: Ingrid and Larry, Edward and Fanny, Helen and John, Alan and Karen, Gordon and Maggie, David and Barbara, Caroline and Nigel.

1 triplets		2 quads	3 skip		4 Siamese	5 history	my father's
side	6 an only child		7	by marriage 8		stepfather	9 flesh and
blood	10 ancestors		11	blood relatives		12 great-great-great-
grandfather		13 will	14	a distant relative, second cousin, great-aunt
15 adopted		16 foster-parents			17 guardian 18 in-laws

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Marital status

MARITAL STATUS (tick as appropriate) single

engaged married

separated divorced

widowed (if a widow or widower, please state which)

Reading

Note how various relationships are described in the letter from Hollywood below.

188 Beverley Hills,

Hollywood,

Nr. Los Angeles,

California

13th July 1985

Dear Fiona,

Thanks for all your news. Things are very much as normal here. Harry and I have split up - we both felt we had had enough of each other. He's dating a girl who was going steady with Paul when you were here -1 think they're quite serious - and I'm seeing a film producer called Harvey who's waiting for his divorce to come through. We're more than 'just good friends' but I don't know how long it will last. My late husband's former mistress is marrying his first wife's third husband on Saturday. In fact, it's going to be a double wedding because her second son by her first marriage is getting married to the girl he's been sharing a flat with for the past six months. You remember? That's her half-brother's ex-fiancee, the one who was going out with Jason back in January.

Anyway, how are you? Still the ideal couple over there in Eastbourne, are you? Do I hear wedding bells?

Lots of love for now, Mandy

Practice

1 Choose the best words to complete the short conversations below.

1	A	Excuse me,..., can I see your driving licence?
		a Mr	b	sir	с	mate
	В I'm sorry,..., I don't seem to have it on me.
		a sir	b	policeman			с constable
2 A		... ! Can I have a menu, please?
		a Sir	b	Mister		с	Waiter
	В Here you are,....
		a madam		b	Ms	с	Mrs
3	A	Did you understand the question,... Smith?
		a Sir	b	Madam		с	Miss
	В	Yes, I did, my ....
		a master		b	lord	с	majesty

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Marital status

Discuss or write the answers to these questions.

1 Do you think the idea of getting engaged is old-fashioned?

2Why do you think divorce is nearly as popular as marriage in some countries but not others?

Write on one or both ofthe following topics.

1Write, and act out if you wish, a typical conversation between a middle-aged married couple who are planning their typical weekday evening at home.

2Write part of the letter that you write, angrily or sadly, to a newspaper, after reading the headline 'Hollywood Movie Star's Sixth Marriage Ends'.

Add any other expressions about marital status as you meet them.

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Countries,

Nationalities

Countryoforigin...................

Nationality................

Quiz

Below is a series of competitions for you to try in groups. Its main aim is not to test your geography, but to help you study and practise your English.

Only look at the left-hand column. Cover the words on the right.Try to answer the questions. Then check your answers by looking at the words in the right-hand column.

Which countries have borders with the following groups of countries given below?

1 Guatemala
El Salvador	Honduras
Nicaragua
2 Algeria
Niger
Chad	Libya
Sudan
Egypt
3 Colombia
Costa Rica	Panama

2Now, the reverse: which countries border those on the left below? And what nationality are most of the people in them?

1	Switzerland (five)	Swiss
	Italy	Italian
	Liechtenstein	Liechtensteiner
	France	French
	Austria	Austrian
	West Germany	German
2	Bolivia (five)	Bolivian
	Brazil	Brazilian
	Peru	Peruvian
	Argentina	Argentinian
	Paraguay	Paraguayan
	Chile	Chilean
3 England (two)		English
	Scotland	Scottish
	Wales	Welsh

Travelling between the cities below, by the shortest possible land route, which countries would you pass through? And what nationality of people would you see most of? Name four countries for each journey.

1 From Tel Aviv to Ankara	Israel	Israeli
	TheLebanon	Lebanese

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Countries, Nationalities

		Syria	Syrian
		Turkey	Turkish
2	From Kabul to Katmandu	Afghanistan	Afghan
		Pakistan	Pakistani
		India	Indian
		Nepal	Nepalese
3	From Bucharest to Dresden	Romania	Romanian
		Hungary	Hungarian
		Czechoslovakia	Czech(oslovakian)
		East Germany	East German
4	From Lusaka to Entebbe	Zambia	Zambian
		Zaire	Zairean
		Tanzania	Tanzanian
		Uganda	Ugandan

Which countries have the currencies listed below? And what nationality are most of the people who have that kind of money in their pockets?

	rand	South Africa	South African
	yen	Japan	Japanese
	renminbi	China	Chinese
	rial	Iran	Iranian
	markka	Finland	Finnish
6	zloty	Poland	Polish
7	drachma	Greece	Greek
8	baht	Thailand	Thai
9	guilder	Holland	Dutch
10	rouble	(The Netherlands)
		Russia	Russian
		(The Soviet Union)
		(The USSR)

Don't worry if you're finding them difficult; the idea is not to get them all right. I had the advantageofanatlasandencyclopedia.

Which countries have these cities as the capital? And what nationality are most of the people living in them?

1	Caracas	Venezuela	Venezuelan
2	Sofia	Bulgaria	Bulgarian
3	Nairobi	Kenya	Kenyan
4	Seoul	South Korea	South Korean
5	Montevideo	Uruguay	Uruguayan
6	Lagos	Nigeria	Nigerian
7	Addis Ababa	Ethiopia	Ethiopian
8	Amman	Jordan	Jordanian
9	Harare	Zimbabwe	Zimbabwean
10 Riyadh		Saudi Arabia	Saudi (Arabian)
11	Baghdad	Iraq	Iraqi
12 Reykjavic		Iceland	Icelandic

In which countries do cars with these signs on them probably start their journeys? And what nationality are their drivers likely to be?

1	CDN	Canada	Canadian
2	МЕХ	Mexico	Mexican
3	MA	Morocco	Moroccan
4	L	Luxembourg	Luxembourger
5 E		Spain	Spanish
6	YU	Yugoslavia	Yugoslavian

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Countries, Nationalities

7	IRL	Ireland/Eire	Irish
8 USA		The USA	American
		(The United States)
9	NZ	New Zealand	NewZealander

In which countries would you find these dishes most often? And what nationality would most ofthe people eating them be?

1 satay sauce		Indonesia	Indonesian
2	couscous	Morocco	Moroccan
3	kebabs	Turkey	Turkish
4	smo'rgos	Sweden	Swedish
5	white chocolates	Belgium	Belgian (Flemish)
6	brown cheese	Norway	Norwegian
7 kangaroo-tail soup		Australia	Australian
8 chicken livers in port		Portugal	Portuguese
9	pastries with nuts and dried fruit	Denmark	Danish

English is an easy language, so most of the words in the third columns above, except those ending -ish or -ese can be used as an adjective or as a noun: She's Italian or

She's an Italian —He's Israeli or He's an Israeli. This is always true ofthose words ending -an or -i.

But there are some special cases, such as the form a Dutchman, an Irishman, an Englishman, a Frenchman, a Welshman. People from Scotland can be rather complicated. We can call them Scottish or Scotsmen. If you want to make them angry, you can call them Scotch. Alternatively, we can say He's (She's) a Scot. Using He's a ..., see ifyou can give the nationality of the following people:

1	Alan Wells, sprinter	a Scot
2 Lasse Viren, long-distance runner		a Finn
3	Bjorn Borg, tennis player	a Swede
4	Hans Christian Andersen, story-teller	a Dane
5	Lech Walesa, trade union leader	a Pole
6	Kemal Ataturk, national hero	a Turk
7 Pablo Picasso, artist		a Spaniard
8 Alexander Dubcek, one-time party leader		a Czech
9	John Walker, middle-distance runner	a New Zealander

Game

To finish, a word-association game.What do you think of when you hear the word Danish? Danish bacon? Danish butter? Danish cheese?

Write or say the word you think of first to go with each of the words below. Possible answers are given on the right. See how often you think of the same word as the one printed in the book.

1	Danish	bacon
2	German	beer
3	French	perfume
4	Irish	whiskey
5	Japanese	motor bikes
6	American	football
7	Greek	islands
8	New Zealand	butter
9	English	weather
10 Russian		dolls

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Countries, Nationalities

11	Argentinian	beef
12	Egyptian	pyramids

2 Now, play the game the other way round. Write or say the nationality you associate with the things listed below. Are they the same as those in the book?

1	cigarettes	Turkish
2	cheese	Swiss
3 carpets		Persian
4	coffee	Brazilian
5	tortillas	Mexican
6	silk	Thai
7	shoes	Italian
8	rugby	Welsh
9	goulash	Hungarian
10	tulips	Dutch
11	cigars	Cuban (Havana)
12 guitar		Spanish
13 restaurants		Chinese

Add any other words or expressions about countries and nationalities as you meet them.

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