Lydia had a very nice family. She got along well
with most of her relatives and enjoyed seeing them very much.
Unfortunately, many of her relatives lived far away and she didn't
get to visit with them often. So every year, Lydia organized a
family reunion at her home. There were many people in Lydia's
extended family: brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins,
in-laws, nieces, and nephews.
These reunions were always a lot of fun. There
was only one problem: Lydia's cousin Earl. Lydia never enjoyed
seeing him. Earl was completely obnoxious. He was loud and
unpleasant and always asked to borrow money. But Lydia didn't need
to pay too much attention to Earl. She could certainly tolerate him
for a day or two.
Unfortunately, after two weeks, Lydia got only
negative responses to her invitations. Her brother was taking a
long trip. Her niece couldn't afford to get away this year. Her
sister-in-law couldn't get time off from work. Her uncle was having
back surgery. Even her mother had other plans at that
time.
Lydia felt very disappointed. She turned to her
husband and said, "I'm so sad about the family reunion this year.
No one can come."
"Oh, " said her husband, "I forget to tell you.
There is a very loud message on the answering machine from your
cousin Earl. He can come to the reunion. But he'll need to borrow
the money to get home."
Key words and
phrases:
husband,
negative responses,
money, fun,
cousin,
day or two,
family reunion,
back surgery,
trip, plans,
niece,
answering machine,
very disappointed,
afford to get away,
get time off from work,
certainly tolerate him,
completely obnoxious,
never enjoyed seeing,
extended family
Negative form of past-tense
verb:
got along/didn't get along,
organized/didn't organize,
enjoyed/didn't enjoy,
turned/didn't turn,
lived/didn't live,
needed/didn't need,
felt/didn't feel,
had/didn't have
Pronunciation:
s
z
iz
relatives,
responses,
aunts,
reunions,
cousins,
invitations,
brothers,
plans,
messages,
uncles
Grammar
Present
Perfect Continuous Tense (1)
If something
was happening before and it is still happening now,
you use the Present Perfect Continuous
Tense.
To use the
Present Perfect Continuous Tense, you need have/has +
been + [verb + ing]. "We often use the Present Continuous
Tense with the words for, since, recently, or
lately.
For
example:
- I have been
studying hard lately.
- You have been
writing for 3 hours!
- We have been
dating since 2007.
- They have been
speaking English a lot recently.
- He has been
traveling since he was young.
- She has been
working out for 2 hours.
- It has been
raining a lot lately.
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