THE OLD VIOLIN

Read Richard’s story and put the verbs in brackets into the past simple tense.

When I was a child, I 1. ________ (have) a violin. It was really old. However, I never had any
lessons. They were expensive and my parents could not afford them. I had a recorder, and I
2. ________ (get) recorder lessons at school. Those lessons were free. But
a recorder is not a violin, oh no! Not the same at all. I 3. ________ (try) to
teach myself the violin and I had some success. Finally, my violin 4. _______
(fall) apart and I had to throw it away. I love violin music. I think it is
heavenly. One day, I 5. ________ (tell) my neighbour about this. I 6. _____
(say) how much I loved violin music and I told her how much I wanted a violin,
but I could not afford one. She said that, by chance, she had an old violin in her attic. She
said it was old and many of the strings were missing. She said I could have it. I 7. ________
(think) ‘any old violin is better than no violin’. Later, she 8. ________ (bring) the violin round
to my house. She 9. ________ (give) it to me for free. Oh dear, it was in a bad way! It was
old, broken and very dirty, but I thanked her for her kindness. I 10. ________ (dust) the
violin down and suddenly I 11. ________ (see) some letters written inside. My heart
12. ________ (begin) to beat like a drum as I read those letters. Boom, boom, boom, went
my heart. The letters inside the old violin spelled Stradivarius.
Say if the sentences are true or false and correct the false sentences:
1. When Richard was a child, he had a violin. T/F
2. His parents paid for his violin lessons. T/F
3. He taught himself guitar. T/F
4. Eventually, his violin broke and he threw it away. T/F
5. He hated music. T/F
6. He told his best friend he loved violin music and would like one. T/F
7. His neighbour had a violin in her cellar. T/F
8. The neighbour charged him for the violin. T/F
9. He saw some letters inside the violin. T/F
10.His heart began to beat like a drum when he saw the word inside the violin. T/F
Answer the following questions in full sentences:
a. Which musical instrument did Richard have as a child? He _______________________
b. Why did he not have violin lessons? ________________________________________
c. What happened to his violin in the end? _____________________________________
d. What does he think about violin music? _____________________________________
e. Why did he not buy himself a violin? _______________________________________
f. Who did he tell about his love for the violin? _________________________________
g. Where did the neighbour keep her old violin? _________________________________
h. How did the neighbour describe her violin? __________________________________
i. What did she do with her old violin? _______________________________________
j. How did Richard feel when he read those letters in the violin? ____________________

How about you? How do you feel about music? What music do you listen to?
Keys
 1 had, 2 got, 3 tried, 4 fell, 5 told, 6 said, 7 thought, 8 brought, 9 gave
10 dusted, 11 saw, 12 began

T/F
1f – a recorder
2f – they were too expensive
3f – violin
4t
5f – he loved it
6t
7f – in her attic
8f – she gave him it (for) free
9t
10t

Q&As
a. He had a violin
b. He didn’t have violin lessons because his parents couldn’t afford them/they were too
expensive.
c. It broke/fell apart
d. He loved it
e. ….because he couldn’t afford it.
f. He told his neighbour.
g. She kept it in the attic.
h. She described it as/she said it was old and missing some strings.
i. She gave it to Richard
j. When he saw the letters, he felt very excited. (his heart started to beat like a drum)

So, should he share the money for the Strad with his neighbour???