Spotlight - 14.2019

VERB POWER 14/2019 Spotlight 19

D

elirious Decorations had been making icon-

ic Christmas ornaments for almost 70 years.

Their products — including the Blinking Beau-

tiful Christmas Star, the Seriously Saucy Santa,

the Fabulous Farting Reindeer and the Eerily

Eccentric Elf — could be found in homes all over Britain.

Now, though, the company was in trouble as a result of too

many cheap imports and too much aggressive online marketing

from competitors. To motivate his team and turn the business

round, Victor Vanguard, the boss of Delirious Decorations, had

organized a coaching seminar in a hotel in the Scottish High-

lands. After three days, as everyone was packing up to leave,

a blizzard had struck, and now it seemed as if Victor, his four

colleagues and the coach would be stuck in the hotel over

Christmas.

F

or a few minutes, Pat Petty from human resources gazed out

the window at the snowstorm. Then she turned towards

the desk, pulled a file from her bag and settled on the bed. Why

waste time? What a great opportunity to plan the downfall

of one of her colleagues! Pat studied the notes in front of her:

“Simon Shifty from finance”, it said in big red letters. Pat was

sure that even though Simon impressed the boss with his charts

and sheets, he regularly cooked the books. She laughed quiet-

ly to herself and played out in her head the scene in which she

would confront Simon.

Regular verbs

Regular verbs form their past tense with “-ed” (for

example “turned”, “pulled”). Verbs ending in “-e”, simply

take a “-d” (“gazed”, “settled”). Verbs ending in a vowel

plus “-y” also take “-ed” (“played”), whereas verbs

ending in a consonant plus “-y” form their past tense

with “-ied” (“studied”).

S

o, thought Simon Shifty from finance, they were stuck here

in this freezing wilderness. How perfect! He knew this was

his chance. Gloria Gorgeous from marketing was only one floor

away. There was no time to be lost. He tore off his suit and tie,

leaped under the shower and, in a few minutes, was dressed in

his favourite cashmere tracksuit. He quietly trod the carpeted

stairs up to the next floor and slid silently along the hallway to

room 33.

Irregular verbs

Irregular verbs (for example “know”, “be”) have dif-

ferent forms in the past tense (“knew”, “was”). Their past

participles also have different forms (“known”, “been”).

Unfortunately, these all have to be learned. You can find

a comprehensive list of irregular verbs on the Spotlight

website, at spotlight-online.de/irregular-verbs

1. Regular and irregular verbs

Write the past tense of the verbs in brackets in the fol-

lowing statements about last Christmas. Warning: there

are some less frequently used irregular verbs here, so you

may want to print out our reference list and make sure

you have it to hand. There is one regular verb here, too.

A. I (light) an Advent candle.

B. We (kneel) in church on Christ-

mas Eve.

C. We (pray) for peace in the world.

D. We (lay) the figure of the baby

Jesus in the crib scene.

E. The queen (broadcast) a Christ-

mas message to the nation.

F. I (sweep) the floor after our Christ-

mas celebration.

G. My dad (keep) the used wrapping

paper for next year’s gifts.

Answers

1.^

Regular and irr

egular verbs

A.

lit / light

ed

B.^

knelt / kneeled

C.

prayed

(regular verb)

D.

laid

E.^

broadcast

F.^

swept

G.

kept

blinking [(blINkIN]

UK ifml.

, funkeln; Wortspiel mit

verdammt(e,r,s)

bracket [(brÄkIt]

, Klammer

broadcast [(brO:dkA:st]

, übertragen, senden

chart [tSA:t]

, Tabelle, Grafik

comprehensive

[)kQmprI(hensIv]

, umfassend

cook: ~ the books

[kUk] ifml.

, Geschäftsbücher

fälschen

crib [krIb] UK

, Krippe

downfall [(daUnfO:l]

, Niedergang, Untergang

eerie [(IEri]

, unheimlich,

gespenstisch

fabulous [(fÄbjUlEs]

ifml.

, fabelhaft

fart [fA:t] ifml.

, furzen

gaze [geIz]

, starren

gorgeous [(gO:dZEs]

, hin reißend

petty [(peti]

, unbedeutend, kleinlich

reindeer [(reIndIE]

, Rentier

saucy [(sO:si] UK ifml.

, hier: schlüpfrig, kess

sheet [Si:t]

, hier: Arbeitsblatt

shifty [(SIfti] ifml.

, gerissen, verschlagen

slide [slaId]

, gleiten

tracksuit [(trÄksu:t]

, Trainingsanzug

tread [tred]

, schreiten

vanguard [(vÄngA:d]

, Vorreiter(in)

vowel [(vaUEl]

, Vokal

wilderness [(wIldEnEs]

, Wildnis

wrapping [(rÄpIN]

, Einpack-