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BUSINESS ENGLISH · GRAMMAR PRACTICE · PRE-INTERMEDIATE (A2-B1)

ASKING
QUESTIONS:
PART 2
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1 Warm up
In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. Why did you choose your career?

2. What were you working on a year ago?
3. What jobs had you done before you started this one?

Now decide which of the questions 1 – 3 is:

1. Past Perfect
2. Past Continuous
3. Past Simple

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ASKING QUESTIONS: PART 2

2 Which tense?
Part A: Complete the following rules with one of the following:

finishes afterwards is completed is happening was completed

1. We use Past Perfect to talk about a period of time that before another event in
the past.

2. We use Past Simple to talk about an action in the past which .

3. We use Past Continuous to talk about an action that: a. at the same time as another
action over a period of time, or b. starts before another event in the past and .

Part B: Now match the example questions to the rule.

1. Past Continuous – Example a a. Who were you talking to when the meeting
finished?
2. Past Continuous – Example b b. When did you arrive at the conference?

3. Past Simple c. What were you doing while I was presenting at the
conference?
4. Past Perfect d. When we arrived at the meeting, where had you
been?

Part C: Now use the following prompts to write questions.

1. Where/go? (Past Simple)

2. Where/ go? (Past Continuous)

3. Where/go? (Past Perfect)

4. How long/stay/in Malta? (Past Perfect)

5. Where/live/in Greece? (Past Continuous)

6. Where/live/in Greece? (Past Simple)

7. How many times/meet/Emma? (Past Perfect)

8. How many times/meet/Emma? (Past Simple)

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ASKING QUESTIONS: PART 2

3 Question structure

Look at the words in the box. Write them in the correct place in questions 1 – 8.

lived / how/ go / were / had / working / you / did

1. Where did you on your last business trip?

2. did you get there?

3. Where you staying while you were away?

4. How many jobs you done before this one?

5. Where were you five years ago?

6. When did start working for this company?

7. Where had you before you started working here?

8. Where you learn the skills that you use in your job?

Now in pairs, discuss the completed questions.

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ASKING QUESTIONS: PART 2

4 Optional task: using ‘to be’ in past simple questions

If the verb ‘to be’ is used in the information you are asking about, then it will be repeated in the
questions. For example, for adjectives, pronouns, and nouns.

Compare the following:

Question: Where did you go last week?

Answer: I went to New York City.

Question: Where were you last week?

Answer: I was in New York City.

Question: Where were you last weekend?

Answer: I was at the beach.

Question: Where did you go last weekend?

Answer: I went to the beach.

Question: Who was that woman?

Answer: She was the CEO.

Question: How were you yesterday?

Answer: I was quite sick.

Write questions for the following sentences.

1. I wasn’t able to attend the meeting yesterday.

2. I was working at home this morning.

3. I was really tired last night.

4. Jeff was late for work this morning.

5. Elaine was with Steven this afternoon.

6. Jenny was in London last Tuesday.

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ASKING QUESTIONS: PART 2

5 Sharing information

Your teacher will give you a short text with some information missing. Write questions to find the
missing information. Then, work with a partner to answer each other’s questions and complete the
text. Next, listen to check your answers.

Student A

Text A

1
My first business trip was to . I felt really excited because I had heard so many
2
great things about Korea. When I was growing up, I loved watching and
listening to their music. When I arrived at the airport, it was 8 pm at night and it was nearly
3
when we got to the hotel. I hadn’t eaten anything on the plane because I
don’t really like plane food. So when I had unpacked my bags, I was really hungry. The hotel
4
wasn’t serving food anymore , so I went out to see if I could find somewhere
open to eat. There was a Korean restaurant open and I was able to see lots of people in there
sitting around small tables and eating. I really wanted to go in but I felt very nervous because
5
. In the end, I found a small shop which sold cheese sandwiches. I was so
6
embarrassed because . Later, on the trip though, I went to a couple of proper
Korean restaurants. The food was delicious. So much better than a cheese sandwich.

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ASKING QUESTIONS: PART 2

Student B

Text B

1
My first business trip was to Seoul in Korea. I felt because I had heard so
many great things about Korea. When I was growing up, I loved watching Korean films and
2
listening to their music. When I arrived at the airport, it was at night and
it was nearly 10 pm when we got to the hotel. I hadn’t eaten anything on the plane because
3
. So when I had unpacked my bags, I was really hungry. The hotel wasn’t
serving food anymore because it was too late, so I went out to see if I could find somewhere
4
open to eat. There was a Korean restaurant open and I was able to see in
there sitting around small tables and eating. I really wanted to go in but I felt very nervous
because I didn’t know how to speak or read any Korean. In the end, I found a small shop
5
which sold . I was so embarrassed because my first meal in Korea was a
cheese sandwich. Later, on the trip though, I went to a couple of proper Korean restaurants.
6
The food was . So much better than a cheese sandwich.

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ASKING QUESTIONS: PART 2

6 Ordering questions

Rearrange the following words to form questions.

1. school or university/you/did/study/what/at

2. job/what/your/was/first?

3. did that/ living/ you/where/ when/you/were?

4. choose/career/did/you/this/why?

5. had you/this career/had/ started/experience/what/before you?

6. job/start/did/this/you/when?

Now match the questions to paragraphs A – F in the following article.

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ASKING QUESTIONS: PART 2

What I do
Julian Brookes - Publisher
1

A. Actually, at school I studied everything, but I was mostly interested in History. Maybe because there are some
really interesting stories. Then at university, I did English, but I didn’t really think books would become so important
to me.

B. I needed money when I left university so I took the first job I could get. I worked as a waiter in a hotel. I had to
get up so early to serve breakfast.

C. I was living with friends of mine from university. We were all poor and trying to find our way in the world. It was
a fun time in life though.

D. It was by accident really. One of the friends I lived with was a writer and we decided one night that we would
publish his book instead of going to one of the really big publishers. We had the Internet and we knew lots of
people. The book did really well and other writers started asking us to help them too. Suddenly I found myself
being a publisher.

E. I hadn’t had any really. But I read hundreds, maybe thousands, of books when I was growing up. I knew what kind
of stories I liked and I knew what would be popular. When my friend gave me his book to read, I knew it would
be really successful.

F. Well, we started doing it around 12 years ago, but I was still working at an office at the same time. I was doing a
sales job which I hated. It wasn’t until about 10 years ago that this became my main job. I hadn’t made enough
money from it to live on before then.

7 Talking point

In pairs, discuss the same questions which were asked in the article. Take notes on your partner’s
answers.

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ASKING QUESTIONS: PART 2

8 Extended activity/ Homework

Write an article about your partner based on their answers to the Talking point activity.

You should:

• Write at least 150 words

• Check your grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

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TEACHER MATERIALS · PRE-INTERMEDIATE (A2-B1)

ASKING QUESTIONS: PART 2

Transcripts

5. Sharing information

Narrator: My first business trip was to Seoul in Korea. I felt really excited because I had heard so
many great things about Korea. When I was growing up, I loved watching Korean films
and listening to their music. When I arrived at the airport, it was 8 pm at night and it was
nearly 10 pm when we got to the hotel. I hadn’t eaten anything on the plane because I
don’t really like plane food.

Narrator: So, when I had unpacked my bags, I was really hungry. The hotel wasn’t serving food
anymore because it was too late, so I went out to see if I could find somewhere open to
eat. There was a Korean restaurant open and I was able to see lots of people in there
sitting around small tables and eating.

Narrator: I really wanted to go in but I felt very nervous because I didn’t know how to speak or
read any Korean. In the end, I found a small shop which sold cheese sandwiches. I was
so embarrassed because my first meal in Korea was a cheese sandwich. Later, on the trip
though, I went to a couple of proper Korean restaurants. The food was delicious. So much
better than a cheese sandwich.

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TEACHER MATERIALS · PRE-INTERMEDIATE (A2-B1)

ASKING QUESTIONS: PART 2

Key

1. Warm up

5 mins.
This gets students to think about the three different tenses focused on in the lesson.

1. question 3 2. question 2 3. question 1

2. Which tense?

15 mins.
Part A
This helps students to differentiate between the three different tenses and gets them to focus on question
formation.

1. was completed
2. is completed
3. is happening ≀ finishes afterwards
Part B

1. → c. 2. → a. 3. → b. 4. → d.
Part C

1. Where did you go?

2. Where were you going?
3. Where had you gone/Where had you been?
4. How long had you stayed in Malta?
5. Where were you living in Greece?
6. Where did you live in Greece?
7. How many times had you met Emma?
8. How many times did you meet Emma?

3. Question structure

10 mins.
This focuses the students on form and gives them an opportunity for discussion. Circulate and help as needed.

1. go 2. How 3. were 4. had

5. working 6. you 7. lived 8. did

4. Optional task: using ‘to be’ in past simple questions

5 mins.
This gives a short focus on when ‘to be’ is used in Past Simple questions to help students think about this and this
will also aid them in the information gap activity later.

1. Were you able to attend the meeting yesterday? /Why weren’t you able to attend the meeting yesterday? /
Were you able to attend the meeting yesterday?

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ASKING QUESTIONS: PART 2

2. Where were you this morning? / What were you doing this morning?
3. Why were you really tired last night? / When were you really tired?
4. Why was Jeff late for work this morning? / When was Jeff late for work?
5. Who was with Steven this afternoon? / Who was with Elaine this afternoon?
6. Where was Jenny last Tuesday? / When was Jenny in London?

5. Sharing information

10 mins.
This is an information gap activity. Split the students into pairs and give each one of the following versions of the
text. Ask them to read the text and write questions to find out the part of the text that is missing for them. Then,
pair up the students and ask them to answer each other’s questions to complete the text. Ask them to make sure
they keep their version of the text to themselves.
Then, play the recording for students to check their answers.

Student A’s questions

1. Where was your first business trip to? /Where did you go on your first business trip?
2. When you were growing up, what did you love watching?
3. What time did you get to the hotel? /When did you get to the hotel?
4. Why wasn’t the hotel serving food (anymore)?
5. Why did you feel nervous?
6. Why were you embarrassed? /Why did you feel embarrassed?
Text A

1. Seoul in Korea
2. Korean films
3. 10 pm
4. because it was too late
5. I didn’t know how to speak or read any Korean
6. my first meal in Korea was a cheese sandwich

Student B’s questions

1. How did you feel (about your first business trip)?
2. When did you arrive at the airport? / What time did you arrive at the airport?
3. Why hadn’t you eaten anything on the plane?
4. What were you able to see in the restaurant? / What did you see in the restaurant?
5. What did the small shop sell? / What did you buy in the small shop?
6. What was the food like? / How was the food?
Text B

1. really excited
2. 8 pm
3. I don’t really like plane food
4. lots of people
5. cheese sandwiches

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ASKING QUESTIONS: PART 2

6. delicious

6. Ordering questions

10 mins.
This is a quick question formation exercise which will be used to help students understand the article. When they
have finished, ask them to match the questions to the answers in the article.
Note: You may want to tell them or elicit that a Publisher is someone who runs an editorial department and makes
decisions about which books to publish.

1. What did you study at school or university?

2. What was your first job?
3. Where were you living when you did that?
4. Why did you choose this career?
5. What experience had you had before you started this career?
6. When did you start this job?

Answers to the article:

1. What did you study at school or university?

2. What was your first job?
3. Where were you living when you did that?
4. Why did you choose this career?
5. What experience had you had before you started this career?
6. When did you start this job?

7. Talking point

10 mins.
Ask students to use the same questions from the article and discuss them in pairs or small groups. Circulate and
help as needed. Students will need to take notes on the answers if you plan to have them use it as a basis for the
homework task.

8. Extended activity/ Homework

20 mins+
Ask students to plan, write and edit their articles about their partners. Be sure to give them feedback on their
work.

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