B1 English Universe: Unit 3.4. What's on the news?

By Yaneth Valencia

A. Objectives about this topic

- Use the expression there is – there are to show that objects, people, events, exist in the present.

- Use there was – there were to show that objects, people, events existed in the past.

- Use vocabulary and idiomatic expressions related to the news and to uneventful everyday

Activities.

B. (Peter and Gina are in their living room after dinner)

PETER: What�s on the news?
GINA: Nothing good, you can be sure.
PETER: Well, let�s see what the bad news is, then. (Turns on the TV)

ANNOUNCER:
�the police said the individual was about 5 feet 10 inches tall and wore a mask.
There were reports he was seen driving away in a blue Monza.
Now on to some lighter news. In Medellin, Colombia, ten schoolchildren squeezed into a Renault 4 car and broke a Guinness Record.
In Rainham, England a bank robber was arrested after trying to escape ON A BICYCLE. I guess he wasn�t in a hurry.
In Motown Kentucky a 25-year old woman wants to strengthen her tummy muscles. She drinks only fruit juices and lies down with two cinder blocks on her tummy for five hours every day. I think she�s on a �crush� diet.
And there�s a man in Wellington, New Zealand who is completing 25 continuous days at the top of a 40-foot pole. You might say that�s one way of getting away from it all.
On to weather. Tomorrow should be fine with about 75 degrees��.
(Gina switches off the TV)
GINA: Man, people sure do stupid things to get into the Guinness Records Book.
PETER: And to get their name in the news, too, apparently. What a lot of nonsense! By the way, I got a letter from Aunt Agatha today and she says��

C. Definition and description

The phrases there is - there are indicate that something or a group of things exist or do not exist, example:

There is a fly in my soup

There are several mistakes in this report

Using the pronoun there as a subject in these examples sentences stresses the fact the “the fly or “the mistakes” exist.

By using #there in the sentences, the speaker makes a clear declarative statement, drawing more attention to his.

Verb to be simple past tense

Was – were

The past forms of the verbs to be are was and were and the conjugation of the verbs is as follows:

I – he – she – it / was You – we – they/ were

The forms was and were are used to describe a situations in the past that no longer exist, example:

There were two men on that corner, but they are gone now.