Short Texts from Oz  © copyright Thorold May 1998 All Rights Reserved;  published by The Plain & Fancy Language Company

go to end;go to Table of Contents / 6. She Told Him How To Play  / 7. A Pain In The Neck  / 8. The Bike Jockey  / 9. The Know-All  / 10. The Near-Miss

6. She Told Him How To Play

pattern: ask to / ask how to / tell to / tell how to

text:

Danny had never been to the casino before. He asked an attendant where to park when he arrived. He was locking his car when another attendant told him to park somewhere else. At the front door a bouncer was asking some teenagers to show proof of age. Inside, Danny went to a gaming table. He asked the woman next to him how to play. She told him how to place a bet, but also told him that he would have to buy some chips first.

response:

1. Where did Danny go?

2. Make a sentence with these words: teenager and show

3. What happened in the carpark?

4. Make a question with these words: ask and attendant.

5. Did Danny understand the gaming table rules?

6. How did he find out about the rules?

7. What did the woman tell him?

8. Make a sentence about something you had to find out recently.

Short Texts from Oz  © copyright Thorold May 1998 All Rights Reserved;  published by The Plain & Fancy Language Company
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7. A Pain In The Neck

pattern: ask/tell/x would tell y to z

 

text:

The new boss was a pain in the neck. He didn't ask Allan to do a job, then leave him to get on with it. He would tell Allan to do a valve grind, then stand there and tell him what spanners to use. It was ridiculous. The last straw came when Allan asked for an hour off to visit a dentist. The boss told him to go on Saturday. Allan told the boss to go jump in the lake.

response:

1. What did Allan think of his new boss?

2. Did the boss ask Allan to do jobs, or tell him to do them?

3. Make a question using the words Allan and an hour off.

4. Why was the boss a pain in the neck?

5. What do you think made Allan feel humiliated?

6. When did the boss think Allan should see his dentist?

7. How did Allan finally rebel against the boss?

8. The Bike Jockey

pattern: ask x to y; tell x to y; tell a story


text:

Lesley was feeling pleased with herself. Her father had asked her not to go in the trail bike race. Now she had won and three journalists were queueing to ask her life story. She told them to wait while she freshened up. Then, looking feminine and pretty, she told them how she used to sneak off with her brother s trail bike to practice in the bush. Now, she told them with a glint in her eye, she could thrash any bike jockey in the country.


response:

1. Why was Lesley feeling pleased with herself?

2. What had her father asked?

3. Make a question using the words journalists and ask.

4. What did Lesley do before she talked to the journalists?

5. What did she tell the journalists about her brother's trail bike?

6. What is Lesley s boast?

7. Why do you think Lesley s story might make news?

 


9. The Know-All

pattern: could/could have been


text:

Old Bert was a local know-all. He could have been Prime Minister, he told everyone again and again. He could have saved Australia from the drought, the Americans and Japanese cars. Bert said he could run the country better than any bloody politician. Once, twenty years ago, Bert got elected to the council, but nobody voted for him a second time. He couldn t get a single vote.


response:

1. What job did Bert think he could do?

2. Make a question using the words what and Australia.

3. How good did Bert think most politicians were?

4. What was the high point of Bert s career?

5. Why couldn't Bert have a successful political career?

6. Think of some words to describe Bert's character:

a)
b)
c)

7. What could you do better than the politicians?

10. The Near-Miss

pattern: could/could have been


text:

The accident could have been fatal. Kim's attention had slipped just for a moment. The car drifted across the road. Suddenly he could see a white guide rail looming ahead. He swung the steering wheel quickly and the wheels almost lost traction. The vehicle lurched left, then right, then it recovered. Later Kim could imagine the horror of a head-on collision, but now he thanked his lucky stars.


response:

1. What could have happened?

2. What was Kim's mistake?

3. Make a question using the words what and see.

4. How did Kim respond to the emergency?

5. Describe how the car behaved.

6. What could Kim imagine?

7. What is a phrase that we use after surviving a dangerous experience?


Short Texts from Oz © copyright Thorold May 1998 All Rights Reserved;  published by The Plain & Fancy Language Company
go to top; go to Table of Contents