★★★IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH LANGUAGE★★★ Cowboys Sep 25 2013 Intro Picture it: a wide, open plain. Then over the horizon comes a man on a horse. It’s not just any man. He has the famous hat, the famous boots, and the famous attitude. It’s a cowboy. Cowboys are major figures in American mythology. They are thought to be rugged loner s, who are brave and tough. Many people find them very interesting, exciting, or attractive. People continue to wear cowboy hats and cowboy boots today, to try to copy this ideal . Why do people continue to be so obsessed with cowboys? Find out what Mason and Lily think in this English lesson. Dialogue English, baby! English lesson audio. Mason: Do you like my new ironic cowboy shirt? Lily: Oh my gosh. Why is it ironic? Do you not like cowboys? Mason: I just think it’s funny because I’m certainly no type of cowboy. So it’s funny that I wear this type of shirt. Lily: I like the idea of cowboys, the rugged loner who’s riding on the frontier on their trusty steed . They’re kind of rough around the edges and very quintessentially American. I find that really exciting. I don’t see why that would be funny to be ironic about. Mason: I guess I just don’t buy into that kind of ideal . Things probably weren’t that great back in cowboy days. Lily: Yeah, I guess you’re right. But still, cowboys are pretty hot. They’re really attractive. Mason: OK. So let’s go through an example. What’s your favorite cowboy movie? Lily: I really like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly . Mason: OK. So Clint Eastwood, he’s the ideal. Lily: Yeah. Clint Eastwood is the rugged cowboy ideal. Discussion Mason thinks it’s pretty funny that he’s wearing a cowboy shirt, since he is nothing like a cowboy. Lily doesn’t get why it’s funny, though. She loves cowboys. She thinks they’re exciting and attractive. Mason can’t get into that idea. He thinks that that version of a cowboy is just an ideal , and that real cowboys were probably not so glamorous. Lily doesn’t want to hear it. She still wants to believe all cowboys are just like Clint Eastwood was in old cowboy movies. What do you think about cowboys? Do you think they represent a certain ideal? Is there a figure like the cowboy in your culture? Grammar Point Simple Past Tense Mason says that things probably weren’t that great back in cowboy days. He uses the simple past tense . The simple past tense is used to talk about a completed action or state that occurred in the past. Mason is talking about how things were for cowboys at a particular time in the past. To form this tense, you simply add ed to the end of the verb, as long as it is a regular verb. For example, the past tense of “walk” is walked . There are many irregular verbs in the simple past tense, however. For example, the past tense of have is had. The past tense of does is did . Be is especially tricky, because you say I/ he/she/it was and you/we/they were . Which is correct, “I had a date last night,” or, “I haved a date last night”? Quiz 1. What does Lily like about cowboys? They’re rugged. They’re hot. They’re mean. Both #1 & #2. 2. Mason doesn’t buy into the cowboy ideal. That means he __. doesn’t buy cowboy clothing hates cowboys doesn’t think cowboys are that great rides horses 3. Which doesn’t belong? Ironic. Rough around the edges. Funny. Sarcastic. 4. Which sentence uses a verb in the simple past tense? I was walking to the store when you called me. I walked to the store last night. I am walking to the store right now. I have walked to the store since I was a kid. √√√MANAGER Arr Arr Be
Posted on: Wed, 25 Sep 2013 08:08:31 +0000