LLS March 05 magazine

Simonetta's Pick 'N Mix:

Welcome to the Spring 2006 edition of Pick 'N Mix. As I write this, winter has returned and we have a light sprinkling of snow. However it is bright and sunny and the countryside looks beautiful. The spring bulbs are all beginning to burst into flower and of course the grass is beginning to grow which means it will need mowing soon! This Pick ‘N Mix provides exercises based on vocabulary but you will also need to be aware of tenses when practising them.

As always I look forward to seeing some of you again during the various courses and hope you still enjoy learning English.

Simonetta

ROYAL HOUSEHOLDS

I thought I’d tell you a bit about some of the Royal Households in this magazine. I shall only give you a brief overview but if you want to know more there is plenty of information available on the Web.

BUCKINGHAM PALACE is probably the most famous of all the Royal Households. It was originally a town house bought by George III in 1761 for his wife Charlotte to use as a family home close to St James’s Palace. In 1826, George IV decided to turn it into a palace, employing the architect John Nash. As always with building work, costs escalated and Nash was finally removed from the job. When William IV succeeded his brother, Edward Blore was employed to finish the work. It wasn’t until Victoria became queen that the first British monarch lived there in 1837. Work continued for many years and changes were made to the design to accommodate a large family plus State visitors. A fourth wing was added, creating a quadrangle. The work was completed by 1914. Today it is the Queen’s official residence and is used for many official events and receptions. The State Rooms are open to the public and contain paintings by Rembrandt and Rubens.

WINDSOR CASTLE is the oldest occupied castle in the world. William the Conqueror had the castle built in the 1070s on a site high above London to guard the western approaches to the city. The outer walls of today’s building are in the same place as the original. Successive monarchs continued to live in the private apartments and to continue building work. During the Civil War, Oliver Cromwell captured the Castle and it became a prison and headquarters for parliamentary forces. When Charles II was restored to the monarchy he decided to improve the Castle, creating a new set of State Apartments in the 1670s. George IV had the buildings altered into the Gothic style, giving the Castle some of its present day appearance. The private apartments were moved from the north side to the south and east. The rooms on the north side were used for formal and State occasions and this continues in the present day. The State Apartments were first opened to the public in 1845 during Queen Victoria’s reign.

KENSINGTON PALACE. This started life as a Jacobean mansion which was bought in 1689 by William III. Christopher Wren was employed to extend and improve the house, including Royal Apartments for the King and Queen. He had a private road laid out from the Palace to Hyde Park corner, which was wide enough to accommodate three or four carriages. Rotten Row is a surviving part of this road. The Palace remained the favourite residence of monarchs until the 1760s. Queen Victoria was born and raised in Kensington Palace but when she became Queen she moved to live in Buckingham Palace. Nowadays, Kensington Palace contains the London offices of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Princess Diana used to have an office there. Parts of the Palace are open to the public.

ST JAMES’S PALACE was mostly built between 1531 and 1536 on the site of the Hospital of St James at the instigation of Henry VIII and was a residence of kings and queens of England for over 300 years. Mary Tudor signed the treaty surrendering Calais at the Palace in 158 and Charles II and James II were born there. Much of the east and south parts of the Palace were destroyed by fire in 1809 but the State rooms were restored by 1813. William IV was the last monarch to live in the Palace but Court functions were still held there. The State apartments were enlarged by Christopher Wren and some rooms were partly decorated by William Morris. Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in the Chapel Royal in 1840.

CLARENCE HOUSE stands next to St James’s Palace and was designed by John Nash. It was built for Prince William, Duke of Clarence between 1825 and 1827. He lived there when he acceded to the throne as William IV. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother lived there from 1953 until 2002. Today it is the official residence of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall. It is open to the public during the summer.

SANDRINGHAM HOUSE. In1862, Queen Victoria’s son, the Prince of Wales bought Sandringham and lived there when he married Princess Alexandra in 1863. Because they needed to host many social occasions the house was rebuilt over time. King George V made the first live Christmas broadcast from Sandringham in 1932 and the Queen made her first televised Christmas broadcast from the library in Sandringham in 1957.

BALMORAL CASTLE was bought for Queen Victoria in 1852 after she decided to have a private home in Scotland for summer holidays. The original castle was built in the fifteenth century but as it was too small a new castle was built on the site. This was completed in 1856. The Balmoral Estate is a working estate covering about 20,000 hectares and employs many local people. The Queen and other members of the Royal Family use it as their holiday retreat during the summer vacation.

Quick spelling check:

Can you give the plurals of the following words –

TOE	BOX	WOLF	PIANO
ROOF	POTATO	SOLO	SNEEZE
BANJO	WITCH	TOMATO	LEAF
POSSIBILITY	HEIR	LILY	CHIMNEY

SOUNDS THE SAME:

HORSE - a four-legged animal with hooves

HOARSE – a rough or croaking voice

PLACE - a particular area or location

PLAICE – a kind of flat fish

COURSE – the ground over which a game is played, eg golf, the direction a vehicle travels in, a set of lessons

COARSE – rough, not refined

WAIST – between the ribs and hips on the human body

WASTE – unoccupied, to use unwisely

RAISE – to lift something up, to increase

RAZE – to completely destroy a building or area

PAIN – physical or mental suffering

PANE – a flat piece of glass, eg in a window

THE ABOVE WORDS CAN BE FITTED IN THE SENTENCES BELOW:

A popular meal in England is - - - - and chips.
The window - - - - was beautifully decorated using coloured glass.
They decided to change - - - - and travel via Bristol.
She was suffering from a bad cold, so she was too - - - - to sing.
Having been on a diet, she lost three inches from her- -- -.
The city was - - - - to the ground, with few buildings left standing.
She decided the material was too - - - - and chose something softer instead.
The - - - - was a beautiful mixture of grey flecked with black.
The discussions went on for three hours but nothing was resolved. It was a complete - - - - - of time.
Iceland is one of my favourite - - - - in the world because of the wild and unusual landscape.
He was in - - - - for several months after breaking his leg.
The teacher asked the students not to shout out the answer but to - - - - their hands when they wanted to speak.

HERE ARE SOME PHRASAL VERBS WITH POSSIBLE MEANINGS. CAN YOU put THEM in THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES? (Don’t forget tenses!)

*PUT OFF* - discourage	*TAKE TO –* adapt
*PUT UP* – provide accommodation for	*TAKE OUT –* borrow
*PUT ON* - pretend	*TAKE UP –* start
*PUT UP WITH* - tolerate	*SET IN -* establish
*PUT FORWARD* - suggest	*SET OUT –* display
*TAKE OFF* – to leave the ground	*SET OUT –* intend
*TAKE DOWN* – make more humble	*MAKE OFF WITH –* escape with
*TAKE IN*- understand or absorb	*MAKE UP –* consist of

He said he had injured his leg playing in a match but I think he was just - - - -it - - - to gain sympathy.
They decided to abandon the planned picnic as the rain seemed to have - - - - - for the day.
The plane - - - - forty minutes late due to a thunderstorm.
The children - - - - their new school like ducks to water.
Everyone at the meeting was asked to - - - - some new ideas to help the company expand their market.
Galaxies are - - - - of billions of stars.
They were - - - -starting their hike as the weather conditions appeared to be worsening.
I have to stay in London for a few days so I hope my sister will be able to - - - me- - -.
I had to ask her to leave as I couldn’t - - - - - her behaviour any longer.
He - - - - - to create a completely new product, but had to settle for adapting a current one when the funds ran out.
I was bombarded with so much information that I couldn’t - - - it - - - quickly enough to make a decision.
The thieves were very clever and - - - - with several diamond necklaces before the alarm was raised.
The actress was so big-headed that everyone felt she should be - - - - a peg or two.
It’s very easy to - - - - a book - - - of the library but you must remember to return it on the correct date.
Although she was in her 70s, she still liked - - - - new hobbies whenever she could.
When he arrived at the Exhibition Hall he - - - - his paintings and pottery on the stall provided.

Some body idioms FOR YOU TO PUT IN THE SENTENCES BELOW:

To pull someone’s leg – to joke with them or tease them

To stand out like a sore thumb – to be very different from everyone else

To give someone a hand – to help

To get off on the wrong foot – have a bad beginning

To fight tooth and nail – very strongly

To get out of hand – to be out of control

To learn by heart – to learn exactly

To keep an eye on something or someone – to watch

To be fingers and thumbs – to be awkward

To see eye to eye – have the same opinion, agree

To be up to your eyes – be very busy

To put your foot in it – to say the wrong thing

The discussions got out - - - - when everyone started shouting at each other.
The teacher asked the class to learn the poem - - - before the next lesson.
When I’m anxious I start dropping things – I’m all - - - - -.
When he first told me, I thought he was - - - - -, but it turned out to be true.
The two boys fought - - - - - to win the prize.
I asked my husband to - - - - on the children while I went out for a walk.
As the box was so heavy I asked one of my neighbours to give me - - - -moving it.
Although she was trying to be diplomatic, she kept putting - - - - in it because she was nervous.
He stood out like a - - - - because everyone else was in fancy dress and he was wearing jeans and T-shirt.
I had to cancel the trip to the cinema as I was up to my - - - - in work.
Although they had known each other for many years they never really saw - - - -.
Because of a misunderstanding we got off on the - - - - and our relationship never really recovered.

Go to:

Paul’s Corner:

Hello everybody. I hope you are keeping well. As for myself, I am fine but under a little bit of pressure. Firstly, it is the in between period, my last football game is on the 28th April and my first cricket game is on the 1st May. However, that is not my problem. In May and June I have my GCSE (General Certificate in Secondary Education) examinations. Those of you who were not sleeping during my Dad’s lesson will know what they are, but for those who were sleeping they are important examinations. We normally do about twelve subjects and we must get good grades if we want to study A-levels and go to a good university.

As you all know I am a Liverpool fan and Anna supports Arsenal. We respect each others teams so if Arsenal are not playing Liverpool then I always want Arsenal to win. Last Tuesday Arsenal played Villa Real in the Champions League in Spain and in the last few minutes of the game Villa Real were awarded a penalty which would have meant extra time. The penalty was taken by an Argentinean International, but guess who saved it – stand up Jens Lehmann. We were over the moon with joy. Arsenal were through to the final against Barcelona. (A question to all the students who support Madrid. Who do you want to win Arsenal or Barca? Please mail us with an answer.) Our post match discussion brought us to the point of the World Cup. Germany and England seem to have this destiny to always play against each other in big tournaments invariably the result being determined by a penalty shoot out. Against Lehmann the English have no chance so they must win in open play. Perhaps the English will be lucky and Kahn will be selected.

I hope you all have a good summer watching the World Cup and maybe see you in July or August to chat about the games. Take care.

Cheers for now,

Paul.

Go to:

ANSWERS

PLURALS:

TOE – TOES	BOX – BOXES	WOLF – WOLVES	PIANO – PIANOS
ROOF – ROOFS	POTATO– POTATOES	SOLO – SOLOS	SNEEZE – SNEEZES
BANJO – BANJOS / BANJOES	WITCH - WITCHES	TOMATO - TOMATOES	LEAF - LEAVES
POSSIBILITY - POSSIBILITIES	HEIR - HEIRS	LILY - LILIES	CHIMNEY -CHIMNEYS

SOUNDS THE SAME:

A popular meal in England is plaice and chips.
The window pane was beautifully decorated using coloured glass.
They decided to change course and travel via Bristol.
She was suffering from a bad cold, so she was too hoarse to sing.
Having been on a diet, she lost three inches from her waist.
The city was razed to the ground, with few buildings left standing.
She decided the material was too coarse and chose something softer instead.
The horse was a beautiful mixture of grey flecked with black.
The discussions went on for three hours but nothing was resolved. It was a complete waste of time.
Iceland is one of my favourite places in the world because of the wild and unusual landscape.
He was in pain for several months after breaking his leg.
The teacher asked the students not to shout out the answer but to raise their hands when they wanted to speak.

PHRASAL VERBS:

He said he had injured his leg playing in a match but I think he was just putting it on to gain sympathy.
They decided to abandon the planned picnic as the rain seemed to have set in for the day.
The plane took off forty minutes late due to a thunderstorm.
The children took to their new school like ducks to water.
Everyone at the meeting was asked to put forward some new ideas to help the company expand their market.
Galaxies are made up of billions of stars.
They were put off starting their hike as the weather conditions appeared to be worsening.
I have to stay up in London for a few days so I hope my sister will be able to put me up.
I had to ask her to leave as I couldn’t put up with her behaviour any longer.
He set out to create a completely new product, but had to settle for adapting a current one when the funds ran out.
I was bombarded with so much information that I couldn’t take it in quickly enough to make a decision.
The thieves were very clever and made off with several diamond necklaces before the alarm was raised.
The actress was so big-headed that everyone felt she should be taken down a peg or two.
It’s very easy to take a book out of the library but you must remember to return it on the correct date.
Although she was in her 70s, she still liked taking up new hobbies whenever she could.
When he arrived at the Exhibition Hall he set out his paintings and pottery on the stall provided.

BODY IDIOMS:

The discussions got out of hand when everyone started shouting at each other.
The teacher asked the class to learn the poem by heart before the next lesson.
When I’m anxious I start dropping things – I’m all fingers and thumbs.
When he first told me, I thought he was pulling my leg, but it turned out to be true.
The two boys fought tooth and nail to win the prize.
I asked my husband to keep an eye on the children while I went out for a walk.
As the box was so heavy I asked one of my neighbours to give me a hand moving it.
Although she was trying to be diplomatic, she kept putting her foot in it because she was nervous.
He stood out like a sore thumb because everyone else was in fancy dress and he was wearing jeans and T-shirt.
I had to cancel the trip to the cinema as I was up to my eyes in work.
Although they had known each other for many years they never really saw eye to eye.
Because of a misunderstanding we got off on the wrong foot and our relationship never really recovered.

Go to: