9. Vocabulary about family and friends

9. Vocabulary about family and friends

Tim looks through a photograph album.

Main practise:   Vocabulary about family and friends
Revision:             must have been - hectic - at least - a dozen

Notes
must have + past participle  -  to express feeling certain about a past event, i.e.
  • He must have been very happy when he passed all his exams.
  • Look at the puddles in the road, it must have rained last night.
  • A hundred years ago people in my village were very poor. They must have had
   hard, difficult lives. 


Vocabulary
at least  -  not less than and possibly more, i.e.
  • I don't know how old my grandfather is, but he's at least eighty.
  • We must leave now, it'll take at least three hours to drive to your mother's house.

aunt / aunty  -   the sister of your mother or father

cousin  -  the children of your aunt and uncle

(a) dozen  -  twelve
 
* grandmother/father  -  the mother and father of your mother or father

great grandmother/father  -  the mother/father of your grandmother or grandfather

half-brother/sister  -  a person who has the same mother or father as you

hectic  -  very busy; frantic activity, i.e.
  • The cafe was very hectic at lunch-time.
  • The town is getting too hectic these days, I'm going to move somewhere
   quieter and less busy. 

kids  -  (informal) children 

nephew  -  your sister or brother's son

niece  -  your sister or brother's daughter

second cousin  - the son or daughter of your mother or father's cousin

uncle  -  the brother of your mother or father

* In speaking people usually use the less formal: grandma / granddad

Conversation

Tim's girlfriend, Jane, is showing him photos of her family.

Complete the sentences.

* Note: Jason is a boy's name; Emma and Isobel are girl's names.

Tim:   Who're all these people?

Jane:  Well, this was a family holiday in France. That's my Mum's sister,
             my Julie, and her children, my ,
             David and Anna. And the man diving in the pool is Julie's husband,
             my Ian.

Tim:   And the old couple?

Jane:  My , Dad's parents.

Tim:   And this little girl, holding the beach ball.

Jane:  Beth, oh, she's the daughter of Dad's cousin, so she's
             my .

Tim:   What about this one?

Jane:   Oh, that was a family Christmas we had one year in our old house,
              which was big enough to have everybody to stay.

Tim:   It must have been hectic with all those kids.

Jane:  Yes, now, let's see, these are my sister's children; my ,
             Jason, and , Emma and Isobel. There's David and Anna
             again. And the two beside the Christmas tree, Peter and John,
             are Aunt Julie's children with her first husband, so they're David
             and Anna's .

Tim:   And who's the old lady sitting at the table?

Jane:  Right, well, she's Mum's grandma on her mother's side of the family,
            so she's my .


Exercise

Complete the sentences.

1. My dad's brother is my .

2. My mother's grandmother is my .

3. My brother's daughter is my .

4. My sister's son is my .

5. The daughter of my aunt is my .

6. The son of my mother's cousin is my .

7. The daughter that my mother had before she met my father is my .