Touchstone 2nd Edition Language summary Level 2

Unit 5 Lesson A: Childhood

Vocabulary
Time expressions
for a long time
for (ten) years
from (1994) to (2011)
in 2009
three years ago
until (2011)
until (I was six)

Years
1906 (nineteen oh-six)
1988 (nineteen eighty-eight)
2007 (two thousand [and] seven)
2015 (twenty fifteen)

Experiences
get into trouble
move to another city
move to another country

(v)
(v)
(v)

Other words
bilingual
childhood
close friend

(adj)
(n)
(n)

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Unit 5 Lesson A, Page 1

Touchstone 2nd Edition Language summary Level 2

Grammar
be born
Statements
You can use the simple past of be to talk about when and where you were born.
Remember, the simple past of be is subject + was / wasn't or were / weren't . . . :
I / He / She was (or) wasn't . . .
You / We / They were (or) weren't . . .
For statements with be born, use subject + was / wasn't or were / weren't born:
I was born in So Paulo.
I wasn't born in Seattle.
My parents were born in Hong Kong.
They weren't born in the U.S.

Questions and answers

You can use the simple past of be to ask questions about when and where someone was born.
To ask a Yes-No question with be born, use Was / Were + subject + born . . . ?:
Were you born in the U.S.?
In affirmative answers, use Yes + subject + was / were:
A Were you born in So Paulo?
B Yes, I was.
In negative answers, use No + subject + wasn't / weren't:
A Were your parents born in Hong Kong?
B No, they weren't.

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Unit 5 Lesson A, Page 2

Touchstone 2nd Edition Language summary Level 2

To ask an information question with be born, use question word + was / were + subject + born
. . . ?:
A Where were you born?
B I was born in So Paulo.
A Where was she born?
B She was born in So Paulo.

Simple past (review)

Statements
You can use the simple past to talk about actions and events before now:
I lived in So Paulo.
(I lived in So Paulo in the past. I don't live there now.)

In affirmative statements, regular verbs end in -ed:

I lived there for six years.
She moved in May.
The verb is the same for all subjects (I / you / he / she / it / we / they).

Irregular verbs like leave, go, come, grow up, and speak are different:
My parents left Hong Kong just before I was born.
They went to Seattle.
We came here to San Francisco about three years ago.
I grew up bilingual.
We always spoke Chinese at home.
The verb is the same for all subjects.

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Unit 5 Lesson A, Page 3

Touchstone 2nd Edition Language summary Level 2

In negative statements, use didn't + verb:
I didn't live there long.
We didn't leave until 1997.
The verb is the same for all subjects.

Questions and answers

You can use the simple past to ask and answer questions about actions and events before
now.
To ask a Yes-No question in the simple past, use Did + subject + verb . . . ?:
In affirmative answers, use Yes + subject + did.
In negative answers, use No + subject + didn't.
A Did you live there for a long time?
B Yes, I did.
or
B No, I didn't.

To ask an information question in the simple past, use question word + did + subject +
verb . . . ?:
A How long did you live in So Paulo?
B We lived there until I was six. We didn't leave until 1997.

Time expressions
You can use time expressions to say when something happened in the past.

Use last + year, month, week, and days of the week to mean "the one before now":
A Did she move here last year?

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Unit 5 Lesson A, Page 4

Touchstone 2nd Edition Language summary Level 2

B Yes. She moved here last May.

Use in with months and years:

She moved here in May / 2011.

Use for + a period of time (for example, six years, a long time) to say how long:
A How long did you live in So Paulo? Did you live there for a long time?
B Yes. I lived there for six years.
In negative statements you can also say long. It means "for a long time":
B I didn't live there long.

Use time words + ago to say how long before now something happened:
A When did they come here?
B They came here about three years ago.

Use from and to to show the start and end times:

We lived in So Paulo from 1995 to 2001.

Use until to talk about "before a point in time":

We lived in So Paulo until I was six. (until + simple sentence)
We didn't leave until 1997. (until + year)

Use when to talk about a specific time:

A When did your parents come here?
B They came when Ling was sixteen. (when + simple sentence)

Use then to talk about the next event or action:

We didn't leave So Paulo until 1997. Then we came to the US.

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Unit 5 Lesson A, Page 5