ENGLISH II

Unit 2: Reporting

Texto adaptado para el Programa de Inglés de la Universidad Central de Chile

 CONTENTS

PAGES
UNITS AND LESSONS
UNIT 2: “REPORTING”
Lesson 1: Asking for and giving biographical information. 3- 5

Lesson 2: Talking about past events. 6 - 12

Lesson 3: Talking about a company profile. 13 - 18

Suggested English interactive software and websites for 19

further practice.

This booklet material was selected, adapted and/or designed for instructional
purposes and to be used in the classroom and as a study guide for students.

Texto adaptado para el Programa de Inglés de la Universidad Central de Chile

 UNIT 2: REPORTING

LESSON 1: ASKING FOR AND GIVING BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

GETTING STARTED WHEN WERE YOU BORN?

WHERE WERE YOU
BORN?
 NOW ASK AND ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT THESE FAMOUS PEOPLE

Sir Jonathan Ive (1967)

 Designer
 Born in London, England
 Designed IMac, IPod, IPhone and IPad.

Mae Jemison (1956)

 Astronaut, chemical engineer and
doctor.
 Born in Alabama, United States.
 Became the first African American
to fly into space. She was a
science mission specialist aboard
the space Shuttle Endeavor in
September 1992.

Steven Spielberg (1946)

 Film director and producer
 Born in Ohio, USA
 Directed and produced successful
movies, such as Jurassic Park, E.T,
and Indiana Jones.

Texto adaptado para el Programa de Inglés de la Universidad Central de Chile

 PRACTISE

Complete the questions with was or were. Then ask and answer them with a partner.

1) ………Were ………..you born in Santiago?

2) ………………..you good at sports?
3) ………………..your parents born in this city?
4) When....................your mother born?
5) When...................your father born?
6) What...................your favorite subject in high school?
7) Who....................your best friend when you were a child?

Complete the dialogues

1.
A: When.......................your brother born?
B: He......................born in 1985.
A: How old......................you then?
B: I........................ten years old.
2.
A: Where........................you born?
B: I......................born in Spain.
A:.....................your parents born there, too?
B: Yes, they ……………. . They.......................born in
Madrid.
A: How about your sister?..................she born in
Spain, too?
B: No, she ………….... . She...............born in Italy.
We..............living there ten years ago.

Read this text about Karen’s holidays in 2005. Underline the correct verb WAS or WERE.

“When I (1)was/were eighteen my best friend (2)was/were Alice. We (3)was/were in the

same class at high school. In 2005, Alice and I (4)was/were on holiday in Canada and
there (5)was/were a party near our hotel. There (6)wasn’t/weren’t any other English
people there –they were all Canadian. There (7)was/were one very good-looking man
called Richard. He (8)wasn’t/weren’t very friendly at first – but two years later we
(9)
was/were husband and wife! Our son Billie, (10)was/were born two years later in
Vancouver, where we live now.”
4

Texto adaptado para el Programa de Inglés de la Universidad Central de Chile

 GRAMMAR REFERENCE 1

BE: PAST SIMPLE

PRONOUNS: I – HE - SHE - IT PRONOUNS: YOU – WE - THEY

WAS WERE

We use the Past Simple for completed actions, events and situations in the past.
 

I was I wasn’t (was not)

He was She wasn’t
She was He wasn’t
It was in Madrid last year. It wasn’t in Madrid last year.
You were You weren’t (were not)
We were We weren’t
They were They weren’t
 I was.
He was.
She was.
Was I… YES, It was.
Was he… You were.
Was she… We were.
Was it… They were.
in Madrid last year? I wasn’t.
Were you…
He wasn’t.
Were we… NO, She wasn’t.
Were they… It wasn’t.
You weren’t.
We weren’t.
They weren’t.

BE: Past Simple Examples:

Positive The conference was good last month.
They were in the same office.
Negative The big companies weren’t at the trade fair.
The presentation wasn’t OK.
Questions How many customers were there?
Was Mr. Adams there?

Texto adaptado para el Programa de Inglés de la Universidad Central de Chile 5

Read this dialogue.

Paul: Hello, John! How was your trip to Canada?

John: It was excellent. I enjoyed it a lot.
Paul: That’s fine. How long were you there?
John: I was there for about a month.
Paul: That’s a long time! Was the weather OK?
John: Yes, most of the time. But it rained a lot in Toronto.
Paul: So, what was the best thing about your trip?
John: I really liked the CN Tower. It is Toronto’s tallest and most defining landmark

When talking about a recent trip, you can organize your ideas
answering these questions:

Talking about past activities Giving opinions about past experiences

Did you travel last month? How did you like …?
What did you do ….? How was …? It was …. I really enjoyed it.
How did you spend…? What was the best thing about …?
Where did you go…? ….. It is difficult to say, but …
What time did you go…?
Was the trip/weather/flight/hotel, etc., OK?
How long were you …?

VOCABULARY: HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES

Take a sunbathe – stay in a hotel – go fishing – camp - have picnics – go for walks –
go sightseeing – rent a car – rent a bike – go to the beach – go cycling – stay with
friends/family – travel by public transport – go shopping - go on holiday - fly – go on
boat trips

Texto adaptado para el Programa de Inglés de la Universidad Central de Chile 6

 GRAMMAR REFERENCE 2: SIMPLE PAST (ACTION VERBS)

We use the simple past to describe actions in the past.

PAST SIMPLE: REGULAR VERBS

POSITIVE NEGATIVE QUESTIONS SHORT ANSWERS
(Yes, + pronoun + did.)
(Infinitive + -ed) (didn’t + infinitive) (Did + subject + infinitive)
I/you
I worked I didn’t work Did I work?
Yes, he/she/it did.
You worked You didn’t work Did you work
we/they
He worked He didn’t work Did he work?
She worked She didn’t work Did she work?
(No, + pronoun + didn’t)
It worked It didn’t work Did it work?
I/you
We worked We didn’t work Did we work?
No, he/she/it didn’t.
They worked They didn’t work Did they work?
we/they

PAST SIMPLE: IRREGULAR VERBS

POSITIVE NEGATIVE QUESTIONS SHORT ANSWERS
(Infinitive changes!) (Yes, + pronoun + did.)
(didn’t + infinitive) (Did + subject + infinitive)
I went I/you
I didn’t go Did I go?
You went Yes, he/she/it did.
You didn’t go Did you go?
He went we/they
He didn’t go Did he go?
She went
She didn’t go Did she go?
It went (No, + pronoun + didn’t)
It didn’t go Did it go?
We went I/you
We didn’t go Did we go?
They went No, he/she/it didn’t.
They didn’t go Did they go?
we/they

Infinitive Past Infinitive Past

1. become 8. graduate
2. come 9. grow up
3. choose 10. have
4. enter (college) 11. happen
5. finish 12. study
6. get married 13. travel
7. go (to) 14. work

THESE VERBS ARE IMPORTANT FOR THIS UNIT.

COMPLETE THE CHART WITH THEIR PAST SIMPLE FORMS.

Texto adaptado para el Programa de Inglés de la Universidad Central de Chile 7

 PRACTISE

A) Read about Lisa’s trip to Madrid. Then write the verbs in brackets correctly.

Last Tuesday, Lisa (1)

flew [fly] from London to Madrid. She (2).................. [get]up at 6 o’clock in the
morning and she (3)
…………….….... [have] a cup of coffee. At 6.30 she (4)......................... [leave] home

and (5)
……….…..………[drive] to the airport. When she (6) …………………….[get] there,

she (7) ……..…..…………[park] the car, (8) ………………[walk] to the airport building,

and (9) ……………..[check] in. Then, she (10) …………….[have] breakfast at a café and (11)................. [wait]

for her flight. The plane (12)

……………...[depart] on time and (13)
……………………[arrive] in Madrid
two hours later. Finally she (14)....................... [take] a taxi from the airport to her hotel.

B) Make questions with these words.

1. did / travel / around / you / How?
2. Where / stay / did / you?
3. you / Did / a good time / have?
4. When / your / was / last holiday?
5. you / go / did / Where?
6. did / do / you / What / in the day?
7. business trip / your last / When / was?
8. go / did / with / Who / you?

PAIR- WORK: WRITING AND SPEAKING

Can you talk about a recent trip? As a guide, you can use the previous information.

Texto adaptado para el Programa de Inglés de la Universidad Central de Chile

C) Complete the paragraph with the verbs from the box.

make – leave - buy - write - have(x2) – get - eat – go – give – put - come

Peter didn’t (1)

out for lunch, he (2) a hamburger at the fast food

restaurant around the corner and (3) it at his desk. Then he (4)

some important phone calls. At about 2:00 p.m. he (5) the first paragraph of

the weekly report, but he didn’t (6) time to finish it. A colleague
(7) to Peter’s office because he (8) a problem with his laptop.

Peter (9) him some useful information. At about 6 p.m. Peter (10)

the report in his briefcase and then (11) the office. On his way home, there was
a lot of traffic jam. He didn’t (12) home until 9 p.m.

D) Complete the chart.

Infinitive Past simple positive Past simple negative

help helped didn't help
was/were
think
bought
make
didn’t come
read
knew
studied
didn’t say
work
didn’t stay

E) Fill in these dialogs with WAS, WASN’T, WERE or WEREN’T.

1. A:..................Samuel at the meeting yesterday?

B: No, he.......................there. He was on a business trip.

2. A: Where....................you yesterday?
B: I …………….. at work. My colleagues and I.....................finishing the annual report.

3. A: How....................the conference last Tuesday?

B: It.......................very interesting.

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Texto adaptado para el Programa de Inglés de la Universidad Central de Chile
 GRAMMAR REFERENCE 3: WORD-ORDER OF QUESTIONS IN PAST

(a)With action verbs:

WHAT you DO yesterday?

WHERE he STUDY yesterday morning?
WHEN she TRAVEL last month?
HOW DID they FEEL
last week
WHY it SLEEP
WHO the men MEET after lunch yesterday?
WHAT TIME Susan, etc. START WORK a week ago?

(b) With the Verb TO BE

I
WHAT he yesterday?
WHERE BORN
WAS she yesterday morning?
WHEN it DOING last month?
HOW
you HAPPY last week?
WHY
WHO WERE we AT SCHOOL after lunch yesterday?
WHAT TIME they a week ago?

EXERCISES A) Look at the charts (a) and (b) and make questions with the words
given. Add “DID” when necessary. Then, answer the questions with
your own information.

Example: When / born / you? Question (Q): When were you born?
Answer (A) : I was born in 1997.

1. you / Where / born / were /? Q. :

A.:

2. your parents / Where / born / were /too? Q. :

A.: _

3. you / travel / last summer /Where / ? Q. :

A.:

4. you / start work / What time / yesterday /? Q. :

A.:

5. were / worried / you /yesterday/ Why /? Q. :

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 A.:

6. you / speak /Who / to / this morning /? Q. :

A.:

7. last Monday/ How/ you/ go to work /? Q. :

A.: _

8. your father / Why / was / yesterday/ at home/? Q. :

A.:

9. visit / last weekend/ you / Who/? Q. :

A.:

10. borrow / When / you/ from the bank / money/ ? Q. :

A.:

B) Read these short dialogs. Then fill in the gaps with the correct QUESTION
WORD (What / Where / How, etc.) and DID , WAS or WERE.

Example:
A: How old was Bill Gates when he began to show interest
in computer programming?
B: He was thirteen years old

1. A: Bill study?
B: He studied at the Lakeside School.

2. A: Bill’s first business

partner? B: His first business partner was Paul Allen.

3. A: Bill Gates build?

B: He built the world's largest software business.

4. A: he grow up?
B: He grew up in Seattle, Washington.

5. A: the Gates family?

B: It was warm and close.

6. A: Bill and his sisters competitive?

B: Because their parents encouraged them to be competitive.
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 LESSON 3: TALKING ABOUT A COMPANY PROFILE

What is a company profile?

A company profile, also called corporate

profile, is an outline or brief description
of a company. It includes information
about its historical background,
location, facilities, headquarters and
branches, main products, name of CEO,
shareholders, number of employees,
revenue, goals, etc.
PRACTICE

A)Read this company profile.

Masisa S.A is a Chilean company that produces lumber and manufactures radiata
pine products including mouldings, doors and panels.
The company sells its products in Chile as well as in foreign markets.
The head office is in Santiago.
Masisa S.A employs about 7,700 people and its principal shareholders are:
GN Inversiones Ltda (45.70%), AFP Habitat (6.25%) and Inversiones Forestales Los
Andes S.A (20.24%).
This company was founded in 1996.

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B) Look up information about a local or an international company you would like to work
for and complete the table below.
FIRST : TO GATHER INFORMATION

Name of the company

Year of foundation
Location
Name of CEO
Shareholders
Main products or services
Number of employees
Revenue
Important achievements

THEN , WRITE A PARAGRAPH

C) Use the information from the table to complete the description of the company as
follows:

(name of the company) designs and manufactures

This company sells its products in (city, country and/or

continent) and it has offices in . The head office is
in (city, country and/or continent).

(name of the company) employs people.

In (year) (name of the company)

(an important event or achievement)

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D)Read the text about the history of the Ford Motor Company. Then complete the chart.

While you read, underline the verbs in past.

A Brief History of the Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is an American auto manufacturer and the fourth-largest
automaker in the world, after Volkswagen, GM, and Toyota. Ford is based in Dearborn,
Michigan near Detroit. Henry Ford founded the company, which was incorporated in
1903. Ford is the third-ranked automaker in the U.S., after GM and Toyota.

The Model T
Ford’s first major success was the Model T, introduced in 1908. The Model T was the
first car to place the steering wheel on the left, which later became the standard for
American vehicles. Henry Ford created a network of local dealerships that made the
Model T almost omnipresent in most American cities. Ten years later, in 1918, 50% of
all cars in American were Model Ts. Sales of the Model T eventually began to decline
throughout the 1920s, as competition increased and Henry Ford refused to update the
vehicle’s features.

1 The company was founded in (year) …………………… by …………………………………

2 The first major success was: ……………………………………….....................................

It was introduced in........................(year)

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VOCABULARY: COMPANY FACILITIES

What facilities do these sentences describe?

Find the names in the box and write them in the correct spaces.

□ production line □ stockroom □ lunch room

□ rest room □ visitor center □ childcare
□ mail room □ copy room □ conference room
□ showroom √ cafeteria □ reception

1.- cafeteria There is a self-service restaurant.

2.- There are comfortable chairs, a sofa, and a T.V. here.

3.- There are several machines here and it can be very noisy.

4.- There is a coffee maker, a refrigerator, and a microwave here.

5.- People have meetings here.

6.- There is a person at a desk to welcome

visitors. 7.- Clerks send out products from this room.

8.- There are shelves to keep supplies and products organized

here. 9.- Here people can see samples of the company´s products.

10.- There are several photocopiers in this room.

11.- Here people can stop working or moving in order to relax.

12.- There is a place where the children are cared while their parents are working.

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GRAMMAR REFERENCE 4: PAST SIMPLE OF THERE + TO BE

PAST SIMPLE
PRESENT SIMPLE
There is… There was…
There are… There were…

You use THERE WAS for SINGULAR NOUNS

examples:
There was a meeting.
There was an office.
There was one photocopier.

You use THERE WERE for PLURAL NOUNS

examples:
There were two offices.
There were some customers.
There were a lot of company’s products.

For singular questions with short answers, you use full answers with YES:
(Sing.) Was there a reception in the company yesterday? → Yes, there was.

For plural questions with short answers, you use contractions with NO:
(Plu.) Were there any visitors in the company yesterday? → No, there weren’t.

We use How many with countable nouns.

How many employees were there in your last company?

We use How much with uncountable nouns.

How much space was there in your office last year?

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 You can also use the PAST SIMPLE TENSE to talk about
the past performance of a company.

WORK WITH A PARTNER.

Talk about the problems the company had. How did it solve the
problems? Use the words in the box or your own ideas.

EXAMPLE: Last year the company faced increasing competition.

Last year faced increasing competition.

A few years ago (name of the company) lost market share.
Five years ago had falling sales.
In the early 2000’s couldn’t sell a new product.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………….......................
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………….......................

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 Suggested English interactive software and Websites for further practice

- Práctica de gramática y vocabulario:

www.agendaweb.org
www.englishgrammarsecrets.com
www.ego4u.com
http://eslpdf.com
www.english-zone.com

- Práctica de pronunciación http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/

- Videos gramaticales:
http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/grammar-vocabulary/grammar-videos

Diccionarios online:
 www.wordreference.com
 www.dictionary.cambridge.org/
 www.ldoceonline.com
 www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary

This booklet material was selected, adapted and designed for instructional purposes
and to be used in the classroom and as a study guide for students.

18