1. Read the text about Mattie Smith's life now. Complete text A with the verbs you see. start write live clean sit have think
A
Mattie Smith is 91 years old. She alone in Atlanta, Georgia. She her day at 7.30. First she a bath, next she the house, and then she outside on her verandah and about her past life. Then she poems about it.
2 Read the text B about Mattie's life a long time ago. Underline the verbs in Past Simple.
B
Mattie was never at school. She lived with her mother and four sisters. She started work when she was eight. She worked in the cotton fields from 6.00 in the morning to 10.00 at night. She couldn't read or write but she could think, and she created poems in her head.
3 What is the past form of these verbs? Listen and practice saying them.
look work love learn earn marry die hate want
4 Read and listen to Mattie talking about her past life. Complete the text, using the Past
Simple form of the verbs in exercise 3.
I from 6.00 in the morning until 10.00 at night. Sixteen hours in the cotton fields and I only $ 2 a day. I sure that job but I the poems in my head. I really wanted to learn to read and to write. When I was sixteen I Hubert, and soon there were six children, five sons, then a daughter, Lily. Hubert just before she was born. That was sixty five years ago. So I after my family alone. There was no time for learning, but my children, they all to read and write – that was very important for me. And when did I learn to read and write? I didn’t learn until I was 86, and now I have three books of poems.
Mattie was never at school. She lived with her mother and four sisters. She started work when she was eight. She worked in the cotton fields from 6.00 in the morning to 10.00 at night. She couldn't read or write but she could think, and she created poems in her head.
The past form of the given verbs are:
- look -> looked
- work -> worked
- love -> loved
- learn -> learned
- earn -> earned
- marry -> married
- die -> died
- hate -> hated
- want -> wanted
Here is what Mattie says about her past life:
"I worked from 6.00 in the morning until 10.00 at night. Sixteen hours in the cotton fields and I only earned $2 a day. I hated that job but I loved creating the poems in my head. I really wanted to learn to read and write. When I was sixteen I married Hubert, and soon there were six children, five sons, then a daughter, Lily. Hubert died just before she was born. That was sixty-five years ago. So I raised my family alone. There was no time for learning, but my children, they all wanted to read and write – that was very important for me. And when did I learn to read and write? I didn’t learn until I was 86, and now I have three books of poems."