XI. Read the following sentences and put the words and phrases in bold into the correct column below.

 

1. It started out as just a casual relationship but one day I realized we had fallen in love.
2. Tina and Mike spend every minute together. They’re obviously madly in love.
3. I met a guy when I was in Greece, but I knew it was just a holiday romance. I never saw him again after we got back.
4. John’s been with Linda for ages. He absolutely adores her.
5. I haven’t had a girlfriend for a while now. I had a brief relationship with someone a few months ago, but it didn’t really work out.

 

Serious

____________

____________

____________

 

Not serious

____________

____________

____________

 

XII. Match the beginnings and the endings of the sentences below.

1. Sarah’s very happy at the moment. She is seeing
2. Have you heard about Mark? He’s going out
3. Have you heard about Laura and Joe? They’ve started
4. Apparently, Phil and Liz have been seeing
5. Did Sally tell you about Mike? He asked

 

1. going out together.
2. her for date.
3. with Susie Jones, the singer.
4. some guy she met on holiday.
5. a lot of each other recently.

Note that in American English you say that you are dating somebody instead of seeing or going out with them.

XIII. Use the correct form of these words and expressions:

 

Get engaged

Arrange

Propose to

Ask

Set a date

 

1. I’ve got some news. I’m really excited. Mark …………… me to marry him last night. I said yes!
2. I remember the day my husband …………… me. We were on holiday in Greece. It was very romantic.
3. - Have you heard? Martin and Lisa have just ………………………. They are planning to get married next year.

- Really? That’s fantastic. Have they …………………………?

1. In some countries parents ……………………… their children’s marriages. They look for a suitable partner for their son or daughter to marry.

 

Note that the man you are engaged to is your fiancé. The woman you are engaged to is your fiancée. Nowadays these words are less common.

XIV. Julie and Dave are getting married next month. Match the beginnings of the phrases with their endings. Pay attention to the active vocabulary.

 

1. Julie has sent out
2. Dave has asked
3. They’ve booked
4. Julie has bought
5. They’ve bought each other
6. They’ve made
7. Julie’s going to have
8. Dave’s going to have

 

1. her wedding dress.
2. a stag night on the Friday before the wedding.
3. a wedding list.
4. a hen night on the Friday before the wedding.
5. invitations to all the wedding guests.
6. wedding rings.
7. the hotel for the reception.
8. his brother to be the best man.

XV. Use these words to fill the gaps.

Bride

Clergyman

Groom

Guests

Best man

Bridesmaids

       The two people getting married are a ……………… and a ………………. They are being married by a ………………. The two little girls are ………………. The man standing on the groom’s right is his ………………. The wedding ……………… are watching the ceremony.

 

 

XVI. Here are the marriage vows that a man says in Britain. Complete them using these words.

 

Health

Death

Worse

Poorer

 

I (John Smith) take thee (Jane Brown) to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for ……………, for richer, for ……………, in sickness and in ……………, to love and cherish, till …………… do us part.

 

XVII. Use these expressions in the situations below:

Broke up

Had a huge row

Get a divorce

Separated

Split up

1. - Do you think I should invite Jeff and Sue to the party?

- Haven’t you heard they’ve finally decided to ……………….

1. We invited Dave and Kate over for dinner last Saturday. It was really embarrassing. They ……………… and Kate went home in the middle of the main course.
2. Our marriage ……………… after my wife discovered I’d been seeing somebody else.
3. My wife and I ……………… last year. We hadn’t been very happy for a while. We’ve now decided that the best thing is to ……………….

 

XVIII. Complete the response in four different ways.

 

- I hear Mark and Lucy have split up. What happened?

- She found he was …

1. being
2. seeing
3. having
4. cheating

 

1. somebody else
2. unfaithful
3. on her
4. an affair

RELATED READING I

I. Read the text and answer the questions below.

Agatha Christie

Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie is possibly the world’s most famous detective story writer. She wrote 79 novels and several plays. Her sales outnumber those of William Shakespeare. However, she was a shy woman whose life was often unhappy and lonely.

She was born in 1890 in Devon, the third child of Clarissa and Frederick Miller, and grew into a beautiful and sensitive girl with long golden hair. She didn’t go to school but was educated at home by her mother. Her father died when she was 11.

During World War I, while she was working in a hospital, she learned about chemicals and poisons, which proved very useful to her in her later career. She wrote her first detective novel in 1920.

In 1914, at the beginning of the war, she married Archibald Christie but the marriage was unhappy. It didn’t last and they divorced in 1926. That year there was a double tragedy in her life because her much loved mother died. Agatha suffered a nervous breakdown, and one night she abandoned her car and mysteriously disappeared. She went missing for 11 days and was eventually found in a hotel in the North of England. It is interesting to note that it was while she was suffering so much that she wrote one of her masterpieces, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

Agatha wanted solitude and developed very bitter feelings towards the media because the newspapers had given her a hard time over her breakdown and disappearance. She was determined never to let them enter her private life again and she buried herself in her work. On 25 November 1952 her play The Mousetrap opened in London. Today, over 50 years later, it is still running. It is the longest running show in the whole world.

She enjoyed a very happy second marriage to Max Mallowan, an archaeologist. Her detective skills were a help to him in his excavations in Syria and Iraq. She found happiness with her beloved husband. She died peacefully in 1976.

 

1. Where was she born?
2. When was she born?
3. What do you learn about her childhood?
4. Which people played a part in her career?
5. What do you think were the most important events in her life?
6. When did she die?

 

II. Read the text.

 

Changing Values and Norms of the British Family

 

       The family in Britain is changing. The once typical British family headed by two parents has undergone substantial changes during the twentieth century. In particular there has been a rise in the number of single-person households. Fifty years ago this would have been socially unacceptable in Britain.

       In the past, people got married and stayed married. Divorce was very difficult, expensive and took a long time. Today, people's views on marriage are changing. Many couples, mostly in their twenties or thirties, live together (cohabit) without getting married. Only about 60% of these couples will eventually get married.

       In the past, people married before they had children, but now about 40% of children in Britain are born to unmarried (cohabiting) parents. In 2000, around a quarter of unmarried people between the ages of 16 and 59 were cohabiting in Great Britain.

       People are generally getting married at a later age now and many women do not want to have children immediately. They prefer to concentrate on their jobs and put off having a baby until late thirties.

       The number of single-parent families is increasing. This is mainly due to more marriages ending in divorce, but some women are also choosing to have children as lone parents without being married.