Grammar focus:
reporting current events
Britons
trying to return to UK from France
I Open the brackets. Use the verbs in
text in the Present Simple or Present Continuous
tenses.
Hundreds of thousands of British holidaymakers desperately 1) (to
try) to return home to the UK after the government imposed quarantine measures
on France and five other countries taking effect in just under six hours’ time.
Travellers will have to self-isolate for 14 days as the French prime minister acknowledged
the number of coronavirus cases in the country was going the wrong way.
- Well, the race to get home 2) (to continue) here through the night. Eurotunnel 3) (to run) shuttles right through till tomorrow morning, but they 4) (to be) all now booked up until Sunday. The short window for British
tourists here 5) (to close).
Our correspondent Gavin Lee 6)
(to be) in Dieppe where the last
ferry tonight to the UK 7) (to leave) in less than two hours. Gavin, we can see the queues of cars behind
you. How big a rush has it been for Brits trying to get out of France?
-Well, we've heard so many stories. The
BBC has been inundated today with tales of odysseys up to 11 hours from all
parts of France to get to the northern port to try to get the ferries. Behind
me, Dieppe 8) (to be) an interesting drama playing out in itself. Behind pretty
much all of these people 9) (to be) British tourists who 10) (to try) to get back before the four o'clock deadline. This trip,
the last phrase they 11) (to wait) for, is the 11. 59 ferry. That 12) (to be) due to get
in at four o'clock in the morning or thereabouts. Now DFDS, the company that
are operating this, have actually tried to get legal advice. 13) (to mean) it that they can get into British territorial
waters or 14) (to have) they to dock? The legal advice back 15) (to be) they have to
dock. And we've been told that the captain on board 16) (to keep) his eye on
the watch to get them in before four o'clock.
II
Check and explain. Watch the video and check your answers. Explain the
use of the Present Simple or Present Continuous
tenses.
III Over to You. Retell the story from the perspective of (choose one):
a) a British tourist who
is trying to get home quickly;
b) a Eurotunnel boss;
c) a ferry captain;
d) a French tourist who wants to visit the UK;
e) a French journalist;
Use the
Present Simple or Present Continuous tenses in your story.
