Relationships — B1 Vocabulary

B1 VOCABULARY · RELATIONSHIPS

The Wrong Decade

PICTURE

(you add this)

"We were strangers with excellent memories."

People words · the relationship timeline · *mates, fancy, dump, have a crush on* · *fall out with*

Reading

Speaking

LEAD-IN

Your oldest friendship

Think of the friend you have known longest.

1. Where did you meet? What did you have in common at the start?

2. Do you still have it in common now?

3. Or has the friendship outlived the reason for it?

PICTURE

(you add this)

VOCABULARY · B1

Who is it? Match the word to the definition.

1. couple

2. partner

3. fiancée

4. flatmate

5. colleague

6. ex

7. close friend

8. classmate

a) two people in a romantic relationship

b) your husband, wife, boyfriend or girlfriend — a usefully vague word

c) the woman a man is engaged to marry

d) a person you share a flat with — not family, not necessarily a friend

e) a person you work with

f) a person you used to be in a relationship with

g) a very good friend you can talk to about anything

h) a friend from school or college

VOCABULARY · B2

Colloquial corner — match the informal expression to its meaning.

1. mates ________

2. to fancy someone ________

3. to dump someone ________

4. to have a crush on someone ________

a) to end a relationship with someone (the doing side, not the receiving side)

b) friends, informal, mostly British

c) to be attracted to someone

d) to be madly, often hopelessly, in love — especially when young

BEFORE YOU READ

A love story told twice

Ingrid and Luka met on their first day as trainees at an insurance company. They were twenty-three.

READ ONCE AND ANSWER

PICTURE

(you add this)

1. What happened the first time?

2. What was different the second time?

READING

The wrong decade

Ingrid and Luka met on their first day as trainees at an insurance company — two twenty-three-year-olds hiding at the back of an orientation seminar, both drawing cartoons of the presenter. They got to know each other over bad canteen coffee and quickly discovered they had almost everything in common: films, music, a deep hatred of team-building days. Within a month they were close friends. Within three, everyone in the office assumed they were a couple.

They weren't — quite. "We never went out together, not officially," Ingrid says. "There was one evening, at Ana's leaving party, when he almost said something. I could see him building the sentence. And then my terrible ex arrived, uninvited, and the moment died." Luka remembers it too. "I'd had a crush on her for a year. Everyone knew. Ana knew, the security guard knew. Ingrid, apparently, did not."

Life did what life does. Luka moved abroad for a job; Ingrid stayed. They promised to keep in touch and, like almost everyone who promises that, they lost touch instead — slowly, without a single argument.

They never fell out; they simply faded. Both married other people. Both, eventually, divorced. "My marriage wasn't unhappy," says Luka. "It was just... quiet. We got on fine. 'Fine' can eat twenty years."

Two years ago, Ingrid's daughter was helping her clear out boxes and found the cartoons — thirty of them, signed L. She posted one online with the caption "My mum's mystery artist, 1999." It travelled. Within a week, a colleague of a colleague had recognised the style, and Luka got in touch that Sunday: I still draw. Coffee?

"People assume the second time was instant," says Ingrid. "It wasn't. We were strangers with excellent memories. We had to get to know each other again — the new versions. He'd become quieter. I'd become louder. But the important things were still in common."

Luka proposed last spring, at a table with bad coffee, with a cartoon. They're getting married in September, twenty-six years after the leaving party. The terrible ex is not invited.

COMPREHENSION

Right or wrong? Correct the wrong ones.

1. Ingrid and Luka met at university. ______

2. They officially went out together for three months in 1999. ______

3. They lost touch after a serious argument. ______

4. Both of them married other people. ______

5. Luka contacted Ingrid after seeing a cartoon online. ______

6. The second relationship was easy and instant. ______

LANGUAGE FOCUS

The relationship timeline.

1. Put in the most natural story order: get married · meet · break up · get to know each other · propose · become friends · go out together · lose touch · get in touch · have a lot in common

2. Find in the text: a phrasal verb meaning have an argument and stop being friends ( fall ________ with ); the phrase for continuing communication ( keep in ________ ) and its sad opposite ( ________ touch ); the verb for asking someone to marry you ( ________ ).

3. get on — Luka says "We got on fine." Does that describe passion, or an everyday working relationship? Can colleagues and flatmates get on?

4. break up / split up / dump: all three end relationships. Which two sound neutral and mutual? Which one has a doer and a victim?

PRACTICE · F1

Complete the story with a verb phrase in the correct form.

1. I ________ (1) my best friend at a bus stop, of all places.

2. We ________ to ________ (2) each other on the 43 bus every morning and discovered we ________ a lot ________ ________ (3) — same music, same terrible sense of humour.

3. We ________ close ________ (4) within weeks.

4. Years later she moved to Canada and I was sure we'd ________ ________ (5), but we didn't — we message every single week.

5. Last year she ________ in ________ (6) with an old classmate of ours, they ________ ________ together (7) for six months long-distance,

6. he flew over, ________ (8) on a beach — and they ________ ________ (9) in July. I was the witness.

PRACTICE · F2

Circle the correct option.

1. She dumped / lost her boyfriend by text. By text!

2. I've fallen out / broken up with my sister over the inheritance. We're not speaking.

3. My flatmate / partner and I share the rent, the fridge, and nothing else.

4. He's my ex / fiancé — we're getting married in May.

5. Did you two ever go out / get on together, or were you always just friends?

6. We get on / get in touch really well with the new neighbours.

7. I had a huge crush / fancy on my geography teacher at 14. Everyone did.

8. After the wedding they will officially be a married couple / partner.

SPEAKING

The timeline

Tell your partner the true story of one important relationship in your life — romantic, friendship, or professional.

• Use at least six verb phrases from the timeline.

• Your partner then retells it to a new partner in the third person — accuracy check at the end.

• Discuss two: Can exes ever really be friends? Is it easier to make close friends at 20 or at 40? Has social media made losing touch impossible — and is that good?

PICTURE

(you add this)

TEACHER'S REFERENCE · HIDE OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

B1 1 couple · 2 partner · 3 fiancée (the man is her fiancé — same sound, different spelling) · 4 flatmate · 5 colleague · 6 ex · 7 close friend · 8 classmate

B2 mates = b · fancy = c · dump = a · have a crush on = d

GIST First time: they met as trainees, became close friends, never officially got together, he moved abroad, they lost touch, and both married and divorced other people. Second time: reunited through a cartoon posted online; they had to get to know each other again; engaged, marrying in September.

COMPREHENSION 1 wrong — at an insurance company, as trainees · 2 wrong — they never officially went out together · 3 wrong — there was no argument; they simply faded · 4 right · 5 wrong — Ingrid's daughter posted it, a contact recognised the style, and Luka got in touch · 6 wrong — it was not instant

LANGUAGE FOCUS 1 meet → get to know each other → have a lot in common → become friends → go out together → propose → get married; break up / lose touch / get in touch can slot in at several points — discussable. 2 fall out with · keep in touch · lose touch · propose. 3 An everyday working relationship; yes, colleagues and flatmates get on. 4 break up / split up are neutral; dump has a doer and a victim.

F1 1 met · 2 got to know · 3 had a lot in common · 4 became close friends · 5 lose touch · 6 got in touch · 7 went out together · 8 proposed · 9 got married

F2 1 dumped · 2 fallen out · 3 flatmate · 4 fiancé · 5 go out · 6 get on · 7 crush · 8 couple

HOMEWORK Write "The wrong decade" as a six-sentence summary using at least eight target items — the world's shortest romance novel.