THE PRESENT PERFECT FOR GIVING NEWS

THE PRESENT PERFECT FOR GIVING NEWS

We often use the present perfect to give the first news of something:

Mary has arrived in Italy.

The Queen has appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

We sometimes continue in the past simple to give more details:

Mary has arrived in Italy.  She emailed me this morning.

The Queen has appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.  She waved to the crowd.

We do not normally use the present perfect with a specific time reference but it is possible if the period of time is not finished:

It rained heavily in several areas of Britain this morning. [It is not morning now and the person is speaking in the afternoon or evening.]

It has rained heavily in several areas of Britain this morning. [It is still morning and it is possible that it will rain again during the morning.]

Choose the correct verb forms in the following sentences:

1.  The Prime Minister and the President had / have had a meeting. They have decided / decided to hold an election.

2.  The Prime Minister and the President had / have had a meeting yesterday.

3.  John Taylor, the MP* for Milltown, died / has died.

4.  John Taylor, the MP for Milltown, died / has died on Saturday.

5.  [You are listening to the news at 7 pm.] It has snowed / snowed in Scotland this evening and several roads are blocked.

6.  It has snowed / snowed in Scotland last night and several roads were blocked.

7.  Wales won / has won the rugby match and the score was / has been 23 - 0.

8.  England lost / has lost the rugby match last week. 

9.  The Queen has opened / opened the new hospital.  A child presented / has presented her with a bouquet.

10. The Queen has opened / opened the new hospital on Tuesday afternoon. A child presented / has presented her with a bouquet.

*MP = Member of Parliament

Highlight the space below to see the answers:

1. have had; decided  2. had  3. has died  4. died  5. has snowed  6. snowed  7. has won; was  8. lost
9. has opened; presented  10. opened; presented.

READING - THE LEGENDS OF THE POINSETTIA

Image: Wikimedia Commons

The poinsettia plant is as much a symbol of Christmas in Italy as the presepe [crib] that is found in almost every home. With their bright red colour and leaves in the form of star points, the plants are loved, carefully tended and are often kept from one year to the next. In Italy they are known as Stelle di Natale [Christmas stars] a name which the Italians adopted from Spanish missionaries in Mexico, where the plant originated. A group of Spanish Franciscan monks working in Mexico used the plants in a Christmas procession for the first time in the seventeenth century and after that the Mexicans started using them in Nativity scenes. It was Joel Robert Poinsett, US Ambassador to Mexico from 1825 – 1829, who gave the plant its English name and took it to the United States. At Christmas 1899 poinsettia plants were placed in St Peter’s Basilica, drawing admiration from all who saw them.

Now Coldiretti, the Italian farming union, has issued some advice for the care of the 20 million “Christmas stars” that Italians are expected to buy this Christmas: The plants should be kept in light, well-heated rooms and in winter can withstand direct sunlight. It is important to water them only when the soil surrounding them is completely dry. Coldiretti also urges consumers to buy plants grown in Italy, thus ensuring quality and helping the agricultural sector. The capital of the poinsettia in Italy is without doubt the Versilia [Tuscan Riviera] and in particular the town of Viareggio, where it is estimated that 5 million plants will be produced for sale this year. Small plants should cost around 2.50 euros, larger ones up to 30 euros and the largest around 70 – 80 euros.

There are two legends about the poinsettia that you may like to know about. Neither is Italian but – hey- it’s Christmas! The first and most famous concerns a little Mexican girl called Pepita or, in some versions, Lola, or maybe a boy called Pablo. Pepita, on her way to see the annual Nativity scene in her village, suddenly realised she had no offering to take with her that would show her love for the Baby Jesus and she started to cry. At that point, an angel spoke to her and advised her to gather some greens from the roadside, for Jesus would know that they were given with love. Pepita did so but the other children laughed at her gift. Then, all of a sudden, the greens turned into a beautiful, red poinsettia plant.

The other legend is more universal: When God created Nature, he asked all the flowers to give to the humans who chose and tended them the very best of themselves – beauty, love, harmony and wisdom. But there was one plant that nobody wanted, although it tried hard to be chosen, for it had tiny flowers and its leaves were too big. The plant became very sad and in December God saw this. He said, “I know you want to give men beauty, love, harmony and wisdom and, as men need these things, I am going to help you. I will give you my blood and put it on your leaves, which will turn deep red and make you the most beautiful flower on earth in this most important season for man.” And so the plant with the tiny flowers and big leaves became the lovely stella di Natale and ever since, it has brought men beauty, love, harmony and wisdom.

Take care of your “Christmas stars” this year.

EXERCISE - VOCABULARY

Find words in the text that have a similar meaning to the ones below:

1.  cared for 

2.  came from

3.  attracting

4.  tolerate

5.  an unverified, traditional story

6.  yearly

7.  very small

8.  good judgement  

Highlight the space below to see the answers:

1. tended  2. originated  3. drawing  4. withstand  5. legend  6. annual  7. tiny  8. wisdom

The above article by Pat first appeared in Italy Magazine UK in 2009.

LEAF IDIOMS

It's autumn and for many of us, that means that the leaves are falling.  Can you match up the leaf idioms 1 - 5 with their meanings a - e?  You'll find the answers at the end of the quiz:

1.  to turn over a new leaf

2.  to leaf through something

3.  to use as a fig leaf

4.  to take a leaf out of someone's book

5.  to shake like a leaf

a.  to copy someone else's behaviour, usually because the person sets a good example

b.  to turn over the pages of a publication quickly, without really paying attention to the content

c.  to tremble with fear

d.  to use a situation to hide an embarrassing fact or problem

e.  to begin again, changing one's behaviour in a good way

Finally, in Cockney Rhyming Slang  what is a  tea leaf ?   grief / beef / a thief?

To see the answers, please highlight the space below: 

1e, 2b, 3d, 4a, 5c.  In Cockney Rhyming slang, a "tea leaf" is a thief.

Images for this post are from WP Clipart.

Eric Clapton - Autumn Leaves

BOLTS AND FENCES

It's the last day of the London Olympics and everyone is talking about athlete Usain Bolt.   But do you know the following expressions which use the word bolt?

First of all, this is what we normally mean by a bolt:

Image: www.wpclipart.com

A bolt can also be a flash of lightning and this is what Usain Bolt's famous pose refers to.  We usually say bolt of lightning to make the meaning clear.  We also say thunderbolt when lightning is accompanied by the noise of thunder.

Image: www.wpclipart.com

A bolt from [or out of] the blue is a sudden, negative, shock or surprise.

If someone sits bolt upright, they are sitting in a very straight, rigid position.

If someone bolts their food down, they eat very fast and inelegantly.

If someone tells you that you should get down to the nuts and bolts of something, they mean that you should stop wasting timne and examine the important details of a situation or a thing.

The verb to bolt means to move away very suddenly and quickly [like our athlete!].

If you close the stable door after the horse has bolted, you are trying to solve a problem when it is already too late.

Image:  www.wpclipart.com

In the famous novel The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford, there is a character whose nickname is "The Bolter" because she is always running away from one man in order to start a relationship with another!

In my town of Modica in Sicily, everyone is talking about another athlete as well:  He is Giorgio Avola, a Modican fencer who was in the Italian male fencing team that won a gold medal in London.

Image:   www.wpclipart.com

Fencing is the sport of fighting with swords.  A fence is a barrier that people put around their property to enclose and protect it and the sport derives its English name from the concept of defending or protecting something.

Image:   www.wpclipart.com

If you fence something off, you build an enclosure around it.

If you sit on the fence, you are being indecisive about something.

If you mend your fences, you are trying to end a disagreement or argument. [This expression is often used in international politics.]

In British slang, a fence is someone who deliberately and illegally buys stolen property in order to sell it again later.

If you fence someone in, you are limiting them in some way so that they don't feel free to act as they wish.

Finally, do you agree with this proverb?

"Good fences make good neighbours."

Now try to complete these sentences with the right expression.  You will need to put the verbs into the correct tenses, too. The answers are below:

1.  I feel _________  by my parents' rule that I must get home before midnight.

2.  Losing my job was a real shock.  It was a ________________ .

3.  "I wish I'd studied harder for the exam!"
     "That's like ________________________ !"

4.  The USA is trying to _________________  with China on this issue.

5.  He ____ his lunch ____  because he was in a hurry.

6.  Some jewellery was stolen from my house but I expect the thieves have sold it to a _____ by now.

7.  She heard a noise during the night and _________________ in bed.

8.  The police have _______________  the crime scene.

9.  Make your mind up! Stop ___________________ !

10. Last night there was thunder and I also saw a ________________ .


To see the answers, highlight the space below:

1. fenced in  2. a bolt from the blue / out of the blue  3. closing the stable door after the horse has bolted
4.  mend its fences  5.  bolted.... down  6.  fence  7.  sat bolt upright  8.  fenced off  9.  sitting on the fence
10.  bolt of lightning.

Now here's a song!

Ray Conniff Singers - Don't Fence Me In




Chorus lyrics

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above
Don't fence me in
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love
Don't fence me in
Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees
Send me off forever but I ask you please
Don't fence me in.

GOING FOR GOLD

An Olympic Gold Medal from 2000
Image:  Wikipedia

All that glisters is not gold

- English proverb from Shakespeare
[Modern English would use "glitters".]

I would guess that we are all interested in gold medals at the moment, so today let's have a look at some expressions and idioms that use the words gold or golden.

First of all, what is the difference between gold and golden?  Basically, gold means that something is made of the metal gold, whilst golden means "having the appearance of gold" and is often used poetically or figuratively.  We talk about a gold ring but a golden age or golden opportunity, for instance.  As always, there are exceptions, so it is always worth checking the context of these two words.

Now see if you can match up the gold or golden expressions 1 - 6  with their meanings a - f.  You will find the answers below:

1.  good as gold

2.  to be sitting on a goldmine

3.  a gold digger

4.  to have a heart of gold

5.  worth its weight in gold

6.  a golden rule


a.  a woman who forms relationships with a rich man or men because she is interested in his / their money

b. an important rule in a particular field / a principle ensuring fairness

c.  extremely valuable or useful

d.  a well-behaved, genuine person

e.  to be very kind

f.  to own something that could make you a lot of money

To see the answers, highlight the space below:

1d, 2f, 3a, 4e, 5c, 6b.  You can also use expression number 5 about a person, for example:  "A teacher who could help me with this exercise would be worth their weight in gold."

To go for gold means to try as hard as you can to achieve something.

By the way, did you know that Welsh gold is very rare and that the wedding rings of the royal brides of Britain are made from it?

Is it raining where you are? Never mind - you may find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!  In Irish folklore, a leprechaun is supposed to guard it.

Image: www.cartoon-clipart.com

Now it's time for a song!

This Beatles prelude to Carry That Weight  is based on a 1603 poem by Thomas Dekker.

The Beatles - Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight

And you have to clap your hands to this one! [In American English, a wedding ring is sometimes called a wedding band.] James Gilreath - Little Band of Gold



Little Band of Gold - Lyrics
There you were, standing there, smiling as you made your plans You were going to leave me and go with him You said you loved him so and your love would always be And that's the very same thing you once told me.
And you still had my little golden band on your hand Does my little band of gold mean nothing to you? To me it means the world but you've torn my world apart You're leaving me alone with my broken heart.
So take my little golden band from your hand My little band of gold means nothing to you To me it meant the world but you've torn my world apart You're leaving me alone with my broken heart.

OLYMPIC FLAMES AND ROYAL FLAMES

When the Olympic Flame arrived at the Tower of London last Friday, Mayor of London Boris Johnson joked that, as King Henry VIII had discovered, the Tower was "the perfect place to bring an old flame".  An old flame is a person you loved romantically in the past and the Mayor was referring to Henry's second and fifth wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, who were both imprisoned in the Tower prior to their execution.  The ghost of Anne Boleyn is said to haunt the building.

You can also have a "new flame" or "latest flame", as in the Elvis Presley song:

Elvis Presley - His Latest Flame

What about you? Do you still think about your old flames?

FAT, PLUMP OR WELL-BUILT?

I give you fair warning - you are about to enter a linguistic danger zone!  As a teacher I get lots of questions about the adjective "fat" and its synonyms so I think it is worth looking at them even though this is a very problematic lexical area!

Big can be innocuous but it can also be offensive as some people will think you mean fat.

Fat is always offensive as it implies that the person is physically unattractive and has no control over their eating habits.  It is also associated with unhealthy eating habits.

Plump is a little less offensive, but not much! It implies that the person is fat but in a more attractive way and the word is associated with the idea of cheerfulness.

Well-built implies that the person has a large body and is tall. Some people might find the term offensive.

Stout is offensive and implies fatness.  We do not think of a tall person when we hear this word.  [One popular Italian publication for young learners of English suggests that it is all right to tell someone they are stout.  I advise you not to try it!]

Stocky implies that the person is both short and fat.  It is offensive.

Chubby implies roundness and that the person is plump in a pleasing way. It is often used when we are talking about babies.

Now here is one last piece of advice for the gentlemen reading this post:  When a lady asks you if a dress makes her look fat, the answer is always, "No"!

SOME "ENCHANTED" GRAMMAR!

This evening we're going to look at the song I used in Monday's post again as the lyrics contain three grammar points that I would like to explain:

Some Enchanted Evening - Lyrics

Some enchanted evening, you may see a stranger,
You may see a stranger across a crowded room,
And somehow you know, you know even then,
That somehow you'll see her again and again.
Some enchanted evening, someone may be laughing,
You may hear her laughing across a crowded room,
And night after night, as strange as it seems,
The sound of her laughter will sing in your dreams.
Who can explain it, who can tell you why?
Fools give you reasons, wise men never try.
Some enchanted evening, when you find your true love,
When you hear her call you across a crowded room,
Then fly to her side and make her your own,
Or all through your life you may dream all alone.
Once you have found her, never let her go,
Once you have found her, never let her go.


- Song by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II


1.  hear her laughing

She will be in the middle of the action of laughing and you will hear this.

    hear her call

You will hear her call from the beginning through to the end of her action.

We often use these structures with the verbs see and hear:

I saw him walking

- He was already walking when I saw him.

I saw him walk

- I saw the whole action.

2.  When you find

     When you hear

This is the present simple after when to express a future action:

I'll do it when I arrive.

When I arrive means I will arrive some time in the future [not "quando arriverò" as in Italian].

3.  Once you have found her

Once here means immediately after or as soon as and we usually use it in this sense with a perfect tense.  In the song and in the examples below the present perfect is used, even though we are referring to future time:

Once you've done your homework, you can go out.

Once you've read these grammar tips, listen to the song again!