Unit 1

Getting to Know People

1. Transcribe the following words.

patronymic maiden mature
senile juvenile ancient
youngster baby retired
to turn toddler adult
OAP infancy lady
veteran childish elderly

2. Cross out the stressed syllable/syllables in these words and identify the sound phenomena under study.


a do le scen ce (adolescence)
ad ult hood (adulthood)
mid dle - age (middle-age)
grown - up (grown-up)
im ma tu re (immature)
in fant (infant)
tee na ger (teenager)
wo man hood (womanhood)
youth ful (youthful)
grand pa rents (grandparents)
half -si ster (half-sister)
step mo ther(stepmother)
fi an cee (fiancee)
mo ther- in -law (mother-in-law)
bri des maid (bridesmaid)

3. In each line cross out the word with a different sound in the stressed syllable.


actor architect artist clerk

manager lawyer mechanic marital

turner worker journalist reporter

miner driver typist tailor

sailor waiter singer playwright

4. Listen to Brian and Suzi talking about their plans for the evening and answer the questions below.

  1. How do they feel after their working day?
  2. What does Suzi suggest?
  3. Why is it so important for Suzi?
  4. What does Brian want to do? Why?
  5. What time is the film on?

Listen to the conversation again and mark the extracts below. Who pronounced each line, Brian or Suzi?


1. ... a bit stressed out, had a hard day at work, you know, the usual.
2. What’s going on?
3. I just don’t fancy it tonight ...
4. Have I done something wrong?
5. But not enough, eh? The football’s more interesting ...
6. ... shall I come and pick you up?
7. Let’s just drop it.
8. Whatever. Just please yourself.

5. Listen to two conversations and answer the questions below.

  1. What is the relationship between the people involved in the conversation?
  2. What are they talking about?

Look at the sentences. Which conversation do they refer to, 1, 2 or both?

  1. They often speak to each other.
  2. There’s some tension between them.
  3. One of them may not be completely truthful.
  4. They’re enjoying their conversation.

Listen to the conversations again and fill in the gaps.


1. Yeah, well, you know, I thought he at work.
2. there are two Italian restaurants called Casa Mia.
3. And we’ve already the plans.
4. I mean, there some kind of misunderstanding.
5. I’ll be of it personally. You of that.