51 Days, months, seasons

A Time
There are:
365 days in a year (a year which has 366 days is a leap year)
12 months /mʌnθs/ in a year
7 days in a week
2 weeks in a fortnight
24 hours in a day
60 minutes in an hour (we say an hour /ˈaʊə/)
60 seconds in a minute
100 years in a century

B Days of the week

Sunday /ˈsʌndeɪ/, Monday /ˈmʌndeɪ/, Tuesday /ˈtʃuːzdeɪ/, Wednesday /ˈwenzdeɪ/, Thursday /ˈθɜːzdeɪ/,
Friday, Saturday
The names of the days always begin with a capital letter in English.
Saturday + Sunday = the weekend

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

8 9 10 11 12
the day before the day a!er
yesterday today tomorrow
yesterday tomorrow
Monday (before 12 pm) = Monday morning
Monday (between 12 pm and 6 pm) = Monday a!ernoon
Monday (a!er 6 pm) = Monday evening Common mistakes
We say on + days of the week: on Monday,
on Saturday, etc. I saw her on Friday / We say at + the weekend: I went to the cinema
on Tuesday evening. at the weekend [NOT in the weekend].

C Months and seasons

Months: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October,
November, December
The names of the months always begin with a capital letter in English.
Some countries have four seasons: spring, summer, autumn /ˈɔːtəm/ and winter.

The names of the seasons do not usually begin with a capital letter in English.
We say in + months / seasons: in July, in December, in (the) spring, in (the) summer, etc.
Birds sing in (the) spring.

Common mistakes Tip

My birthday is in July [NOT on July]. Write the day and date in English every time you do an
English exercise, e.g. Wednesday 2nd May 2017.

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 Exercises
51.1 Answer these questions.
1 24 hours = one day
2 100 years =
3 2 weeks =
4 60 minutes =
5 7 days =
51.2 Complete this British children’s song about the number of days in each month.
Thirty days has S eptember ,
A ,J and N
All the rest have ,
Except for F ,
Which has twenty-eight days
And in each leap year.

51.3 These abbreviations are o!en used for the days of the week and the months. Write the names
out in full.
1 Mon Monday 5 Wed 9 Feb
2 Aug 6 Jan 10 Sept
3 Oct 7 Apr 11 Tues
4 Sat 8 Fri 12 Nov
51.4 What are the next letters in each of these? Why?
1 S S A W (the first letters of the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter)
2 SMTW
3 JFMAMJJ
51.5 Correct the six mistakes in this paragraph.
S
I’m going to a party on saturday for Valentina’s birthday. Her birthday is on thursday but she
wanted to have the party in the weekend. She’s having a barbecue. I think june is a good
month to have a birthday because of the weather. I love going to barbecues on the summer.
My birthday is in Winter and it’s too cold to eat outside!
51.6 How quickly can you answer these quiz questions?
1 How many minutes are there in a quarter of an hour?
2 What is the third day of the week?
3 How many seconds are there in five minutes?
4 What is the seventh month?
5 How many months are there in ten years?
6 What month is your birthday in?
7 What day is it today?
8 What day will it be tomorrow?
9 What day will it be the day a!er tomorrow?
10 What day was it yesterday?
11 What day was it the day before yesterday?
12 What month is it?

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52 Time words
A Time in relation to now
Now means at this moment. Then means at another moment (usually in the past).
I was born in Edinburgh. Then we moved to London. Now I live in Cambridge.

It is 10 o’clock now.
I got up four hours ago, at 6 o’clock.
An hour ago it was 9 o’clock.

two years for two years

2014-2016 from 2014 to 2016 2014 2016
last year / last week / last Saturday
JANUARY
next year / next week / next summer
M T W T F S S
It is July now. 1 2 3 4 5 6
Last month it was June. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Next month it will be August.
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
When we talk about time in general, we 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
talk about the past, the present and the
28 29 30 31
future.
In the past people didn’t have television.
People may travel to Mars in the future.

B Frequency adverbs
always o!en now and then not o!en never
usually sometimes occasionally rarely

It always snows in Russia in winter.

It o!en rains in the UK.
The Ancient Romans never went to America or Australia.

C Expressions
Notice the use of a in these expressions of frequency.
once [one time] a week: I go swimming once a week, every Saturday.
twice [two times] a day: I clean my teeth twice a day.
three times a year: I see my uncle three times a year.
four times a month: I play football four or five times a month.

I’ll be with you in a moment [a very short time].

Nora’s in Paris at the moment [now].
See you soon [in a short time]!
We met recently [not long ago].

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 Exercises
52.1 Fill the gaps with a preposition from the opposite page.
1 In the past, Rosa worked in many different countries. Rosa worked in Hong Kong
2
three years, 3 2008 4 2011. 5 the moment she
is working in Tokyo. She will stay there 6 two more years.
52.2 Draw lines to match the centuries to their time.
1 the 19th century
2 the 22nd century the past
3 the 18th century the present
4 the 21st century the future
5 the 20th century
52.3 Are these sentences true about you? If not, write them out correctly. Use other frequency
adverbs from B opposite.
1 I always go swimming on Fridays. I sometimes go swimming on Fridays.
2 I usually go to school / work by bus.
3 I occasionally watch TV.
4 I rarely drink milk.
5 I o!en wear a hat.
6 I rarely eat chocolate.
7 I always go to bed at 10.
8 I never go to the theatre.

52.4 Read the sentences and answer the questions.

1 Matthew will get his exam results very soon.
Do you think Matthew will get them next year, next month or tomorrow? Probably tomorrow
2 Alice and Adam met for the first time recently.
Do you think they first met last year, six months ago or a week ago?
3 I’ll help you in a moment.
Do you think I’ll help you next week, in two hours or in a few minutes?
4 It’s 6 o’clock now.
Two hours ago it started to snow. What time was it then?
52.5 Look at the table and write sentences using expressions like once a week,
three times a month, etc.
John plays tennis twice a week.
play tennis practise the piano have a business
meeting in Germany
John Mondays and Saturdays the first Friday every
Thursdays month
Julia and Alexa Tuesdays, Fridays and every morning and once in January, March,
Saturdays every evening May, July, August and
December every year

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53 Places
A General place words
Come here, please. [to me, to where I am]
Have you been to Lima? I’m going there in April. [not here, another place]
Max is coming back from Portugal in May. [to here again, to this place]
There are books and papers everywhere in my room. [in all parts / all places]
(See Unit 42: Come / came / come.)

B Prepositions
Luke is in the kitchen, making dinner.
There are two restaurants in the village.
Samantha lives in Seoul / South Korea / Asia. in

I’ll meet you at the station.

I always sit at the front of the class.
at
I like that photo on the wall.
Don’t put your books on the chair. I want to sit on it!
on
C Positions
the top of the mountain the middle of the road the bottom of the glass

the front of the car the side of the car the back of the car

the beginning of the motorway

the end of the motorway

D Le! and right

This is his le! hand. This is his right hand.
le!
In York Street, there is a cinema on the le! right
and a restaurant on the right.

E Home and away

Is Eleanor at home [in her house / flat]?
No, sorry, she’s out [not here for a short time, e.g. at the shops or at work].
No, sorry, she’s away [not here for a longer time, e.g. on holiday].
No, sorry, she’s abroad [in another country].

112 English Vocabulary in Use Elementary

 Exercises

53.1 Fill the gaps with here, there, back or everywhere.

1 Thanks for lending me your dictionary. I’ll bring it back soon. (See Unit 44: Bring /
brought / brought.)
2 Come Emma! Don’t go near the road! (See Unit 42: Come / came / come.)
3 This letter is for a teacher at the university. Can you take it . (See Unit 43: Take /
took / taken.)
4 I opened the washing machine too soon. Now there’s water !
5 I want to leave this letter in Nora’s office. Are you going ?
6 I’m going to Italy tomorrow, but I’m coming on Friday.
53.2 Fill the gaps with the correct preposition.
1 My brother works in Paris.
2 Why do you always sit the back of the class?
3 Let’s go and sit the sofa.
4 What time do you arrive? I’ll meet you the bus station.
5 There was a picture of an old man the wall.
6 Do you usually study your bedroom or the living room?

53.3 Mark the positions on the bus and on the tree.

1 the front of the bus
2 the side of the bus
3 the back of the bus
4 the middle of the tree
5 the top of the tree
6 the bottom of the tree

the front of the bus

53.4 Fill the gaps with out, away or abroad.
1 I’d like to work abroad and learn about a new country.
2 Is Lily here? No, she’s but she’ll be back in about five minutes.
3 I’m going tomorrow. I’m going to stay with my sister for a few days.
4 When we go we like to go and see new countries.

53.5 Answer these questions about yourself and about this book.
1 Are you studying English at home or abroad?
2 Are you going away this year?
3 What have you got in your le! or right hand at the moment?
4 What is there at the end of this book?
5 Where is Unit 3 in this book? (beginning / middle / end?)
6 Where is Unit 36 in this book? (beginning / middle / end?)

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