What things do

There are over a hundred verbs - mainly intransitive - in this unit. You may need to work on the unit in small chunks or else come back and do it again several times in order to remember most ofthe new vocabulary well enough to use it in conversation or in writing.

Reading 1

Read this dramatic text on destruction, bombs, smoke and fire.

The first bomb went off at 2.36. The explosion wrecked three stores just off the main square, destroying several vehicles and rocking even the tallest building in the city. The pedestrian precinct caught fire at once, bursting into flames, as if someone had set fire to it with a giant torch, and sending clouds of smoke shooting up into the sky. We could hear, rather than see, a number of other houses crumbling.

The fire began to spread. Smoke was soon pouring out of the buildings in the next block, hovering over the skyscrapers and then drifting away towards the sea. We saw one huge office block collapse at the base and then quite simply fall apart.

The smoke was just beginning to clear and the flames die down when the second bomb exploded. Immediately the air thickened again as clouds of even blacker smoke billowed out of a hotel nearby.

When the smoke finally disappeared, half the city had vanished. Hours later the fire was still smouldering and tiny wisps of smoke were rising from the ashes.

The city lay in ruins. Then Robert Redford and Jane Fonda appeared, and you knew that everything was going to be all right.

Now have a look at this 'light-filled' letter.

Dear Roland,

What do you think ofthis?

Shot One (5 sees.)

The sun is shining - the mountainside is bathed in sunshine.

The freshly-fallen snow is glistening.

A couple are standing in ski-clothes, cheeks glowing.

The woman is smiling, teeth gleaming.

Narrator: A ray of sunshine.

Shot Two (7 sees.)

Moonlight. The stars are twinkling.

The rippling water of the lake is shimmering.

The same couple are in fur coats, standing by the lake, reflected in water. The woman is still smiling - a dazzling smile, teeth gleaming.

Narrator: A radiant smile.

Shot Three (8 sees.)

Picadilly Circus with the flashing neon lights of the advertisements.

Camera moves through the glare of car headlights into the interior of a Rolls Royce. The same couple are sitting in back, their eyes dancing.

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What things do

The woman is wearing a sparkling diamond necklace, her teeth still gleaming.

Narrator: A ray of hope.

Shot Four (10 sees.)

The couple are at a table in a high-class restaurant, illuminated by glittering chandeliers and flickering candles.

The woman has a beaming smile on her face, her teeth still gleaming.

Narrator: Now ... New! Improved! Whoosh! Foryou! Yes, foryou! Now! New! Whoosh! The toothpaste of the stars! n

See you for the filming on Saturday. Don't forget to ask Robert and Jane. Regards, Harvey

Read this extract from a diary. As you read, guess where the writer was at the time.

Monday

It's been pouring with rain all day.

Tuesday

It's been bucketing down again from morning to night.

Wednesday

Another rainy day. It hasn't stopped once. I got drenched when I ran across the road to the corner shop. My clothes were absolutely soaked; soaked to the skin I was.

Thursday

This is quite a storm! The water has come up so far, it's beginning to lap around people's doorsteps. It's already covering all the pavements and swirling round the

blocked-up drains.

Friday

It's like a river outside. Water is streaming through the streets, cascading over buses and cars, sweeping everything along its path. Earlier I noticed a kitchen sink floating past; it sank within a few seconds, though.

Saturday

Water is gushing into the ground floor ofpeople's homes and spraying the upstairs windows. Aaron phoned to say that his roof was leaking, that enormous raindrops were splashing onto his window-sills and dripping on the carpet, and that water was trickling down all his walls. I would have liked to help, but...

Sunday

It's still drizzling, even now. When I think ofthe trouble waiting for those people - horrible brown mud oozing under their doors and submerging all their furniture - I'm glad I saw that advertisement for this ark.

Practice 1

Which of the words below do you associate with items a - d?

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Whatthingsdo

Study and practice

The fourth and last text is on what cars do, or at least, what my car does. Read the text and try to guess the meaning of the verb that should be in each of the gaps. Then look at the list of verbs below the text and choose one to fill each gap.

I don't really mind my car ... two or three times every morning when it's cold,... after a few miles so that I have to stop and let the engine cool down,... every month or two around town, only ... fifteen miles to the gallon,... to the right every time I brake,

... whenever the roads are wet,... oil and ... the rain in, but I do object to it... of petrol on the motorway, in the middle of nowhere. I'm seriously thinking of getting rid ofit and getting another one.

letting overheating losing stalling breaking down doing skidding veering running out

Practice 2

Tell a partner or write about a road accident that you have been involved in or a witness to.

Write or act out a conversation in which you and a friend both insist that your car is worse and more unreliable than the other's. (How many times has it broken down this year? How many new parts have you had put in? How much has it cost? What faults has it still got?)

Game

Have a look at the way this verb-game works. Read down the columns. (Notice how flexible in meaning a lot of English verbs are.) Then try to play the game yourself, starting with one of the verbs in this unit.

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What things do

Ceilings crack

Celings leak

Pens leak

Pens write

People write

People move

Things move

Practice 3

What do these items do? Match each thing with an appropriate verb from the right-hand column. Be careful! The verbs are not in the right order.

[2]How do the items on the left start - as far as we are concerned? As above, match left with right, one verb per noun.

Practice 4

Describe the sights and sounds you experienced as you witnessed the following natural disasters. Keep your English simple and clear.

Explain the processes below as ifyou were talking to a six-year-old. Remember to keep your English clear and simple.

1how electricity works

2how the earth moves round the sun

3how blood moves around our bodies

4gravity

Describe the plot of a disaster movie you remember seeing, mentioning some particularly memorable scenes in greater detail.

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What things do

Discuss or describe in writing the rather special qualities required by reporters and correspondents who are sent here, there and everywhere to cover the world's trouble spots.

Write an entry for your diary as you crossed the Atlantic in a small boat and the weather turned nasty.

Write a paragraph from your first romantic novel, in which you describe sunrise in the mountains.

In your new capacity as reporter on the local newspaper, write an article on the warehouse fire you were sent out to cover last night.

Write part of the letter you write to a newspaper to complain about the sensational and undignified way in which tragedies and disasters are presented on TV news programmes.

Add here any other verbs you meet which describe what things do.

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