Upper-Intermediate Lesson 38 Cars Upper-Intermediate Lesson 38

Today we are going to learn: Language to describe cars and traffic Unreal conditionals

Top Gear TV show: began life in 1977 as a half-hour motoring show; the original format ran for 24 years and was then transformed into a revamped format starting in 2002 mainly built around the everyman persona of Jeremy Clarkson, and a further incarnation in 2016 with Chris Evans and Matt Leblanc; it generated a number of spin-offs over the years, such as The Fifth Gear.

Top Gear TV show: Top Gear was a title sponsor of the 1987 and 1988 Formula One "Winter Series", the 1990 and 1991 Historic Rally Championships and the 1992 and 1993 British Rally Championships. Since the early 1990s, the annual Top Gear J. D. Power Top 100 survey has consulted thousands of UK residents on their car-ownership satisfaction.

Top Gear TV show: Each year, Top Gear announced its Car of the Year. Winners have included: 1997 – Ford Puma 1.7 1998 – Ford Focus Mk1 1999 – Fiat Multipla 2000 – Ford Mondeo 2001 – Toyota Picnic 2002 – Range Rover

Top Gear TV show: The BMW Z3 M Coupé was voted "Driver's Car of the Year", and the Mercedes-Benz S500 was voted "Executive Car of the Year" for 2000. In 1987, the Audi Quattro became the Top Gear Car of the Decade. The lowest-ranking cars in the surveys were the Vauxhall Frontera in 1994, Ford Escort in 1995, Lada Samara in both 1996 and 1997, Vauxhall Vectra in 1998, Ford Galaxy in 1999 and the Vauxhall Sintra in 2000 and 2001.

In series 13 episode 1, the show jokingly unmasked the Stig as seven-time world champion F1 driver Michael Schumacher.

If Clarkson, May and Hammond hadn’t joined the show in October 2002, it wouldn’t have become extremely popular. If Clarkson hadn’t been involved in a scandal, he wouldn’t have left the show in 2015. If these presenters hadn’t left the show, we wouldn’t have seen Matt Leblanc as the first non-UK host in Top Gear.

S would/could/should have V. Conditional III It refers to situations in the past. An action could have happened in the past if a certain condition had been fulfilled. Things were different then, however. If + Past Perfect had V3, S would/could/should have V.

Conditional III If + Past Perfect hadn’t V3, S wouldn’t/couldn’t/shouldn’t have V. would/could/should S have V?

Open the brackets 1. If Brian (to drive) faster, he (to meet) Jane. 2. If she (to realize) the traffic light was red, she (to stop). 3. If the car (not to turn) left that fast, the old lady (to cross) the street safely. 4. If Mike (to drive) by the book, he (not to have) so many fines and (not to lose) his driver’s license.

Open the brackets: answers 1. If Brian had driven faster, he could have met Jane. 2. If she had realized the traffic light was red, she would have stopped. 3. If the car hadn’t turned left that fast, the old lady would have crossed the street safely. 4. If Mike had driven by the book, he wouldn’t have had so many fines and wouldn’t have lost his driver’s license.

Glossary: l. take a wrong turning 2. go in the wrong direction 3. do a U-turn 4. go down a one-way street 5. slam on the brakes 6. run out of petrol 7. sleeping policemen 8. speed cameras

How could have it changed the situation with traffic? If they’d installed speed cameras at all accident black spots... If they’d increased parking fines... If there had been more sleeping policemen in quiet streets... They would have pedestrianised more shopping areas if... The city council should have set up more bicycle lanes provided... If all on-street parking in the town centre had been banned...

Today we have learned: Language to describe cars and traffic Unreal conditionals