Grammar ~20 min of the core left

Understand timetables

After this lesson you can

I can say how I travel and understand a transport timetable.

Start the lesson Core 18–20 min · steps: 6 · optional: +2

Declared core time. Two of the core blocks carry no figure at all, so the real lesson is longer than this sum.

Grammar

4 min

How you travel is said with the preposition by, and the noun has no article:

by bus / by train / by car / by plane how you travel: in a bus, a train, a car, a plane
on foot walking — the only exception, not by foot

A timetable is described with the present tense, not the future. For English, something that happens by a timetable is a regular fact, just like "I work every day":

The train leaves at seven. At seven the train goes from the station.
The bus arrives at half past eight. At 8:30 the bus comes to the stop.
The shop opens at nine and closes at eight. The shop starts work at nine and stops at eight.

This continues lesson 9 directly: the third person, the ending -s.

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Common learner errors

written for your language
1

by foot

✗ by foot

✓ on foot

It is the only exception in the row by bus, by train — and so the most common error. Learners of every first language copy the pattern.

2

The wrong preposition

✗ in car

✗ in bus

✓ by car

by bus. In French (en voiture), Spanish (en coche) and Italian (in macchina) the word for "in" is used for transport, so learners say in. In English the way you travel always takes by.

3

An article after by

✗ by the bus

✓ by bus

Here the way of travelling matters, not one particular bus. Languages like German (mit dem Bus), Dutch (met de bus) or Swedish (med bussen, with the article as an ending) put an article here, so learners add the.

4

A timetable in the future tense

Learners often think that something that happens later needs a future form. You do not need the future tense at A1 yet: a timetable is described with the present — The bus leaves at ten.

Pronunciation

3 min

to is weak in connected speech — /tə/: go to the station sounds as one piece, with no pause. Before a vowel the stays /ði/ — a return to lesson 14: the airport /ði ˈeəpɔːt/.

In a timetable, times are said as two numbers: 7:45 — seven forty-five, without o'clock.

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Text

3 min

I go to work by bus. The bus leaves at half past seven and arrives at eight. My sister goes to work on foot — she lives near the centre. On Saturday we go to the airport by train. The train leaves at nine forty. The journey takes an hour.

Reading aloud

Exercises

8–10 min

1. Gap fill.

  1. I go to work bus
  2. She goes to school foot
  3. We travel train
Show the answers
by, on, by.

2. Gap fill.

  1. The train (leave) at seven
  2. The shop (open) at nine
  3. The buses (arrive) every ten minutes
Show the answers
leaves, opens, arrive.

3. Error correction.

  1. I go to work by foot.
  2. I go by the bus.
  3. The train leave at seven.
Show the answers
I go to work on foot. / I go by bus. / The train leaves at seven.

4. Matching.

  1. leave
  2. arrive
  3. open
  4. close
Show the answers
`leave` — to go away from a place; `arrive` — to come to a place; `open` — to become open; `close` — to become closed.
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Summary

Covered

  • by + transport
  • on foot
  • the present tense for timetables

Next — lesson 24: review of lessons 19–23.

End of the core

The lesson counts as done once the exercises are done. Everything after this is optional.

Lesson 24

optional

Vocabulary for your deck

13 words
  • bus /bʌs/ a big car for many people; it stops at bus stops
  • train /treɪn/ it runs on rails and stops at stations
  • plane /pleɪn/ it flies; you take it at the airport
  • taxi /ˈtæksi/ a car with a driver that you pay to take you somewhere
  • ticket /ˈtɪkɪt/ a small paper you buy so that you can travel
  • leave /liːv/ to go away from a place
  • arrive /əˈraɪv/ to come to a place
  • open /ˈəʊpən/ to make or become open
  • close /kləʊz/ to make or become closed
  • journey /ˈdʒɜːni/ travelling from one place to another
  • hour /aʊə/ sixty minutes
  • every /ˈevri/ all of them, one by one (every day)
  • takes /teɪks/ needs (about time: it takes an hour)

Writing

Four sentences: how you get to work, what time you leave, how long the journey takes.

Example

I go to work by bus. The bus leaves at half past seven. The journey takes forty minutes. On Saturday I go to the centre on foot.

Checklist

The draft is saved on this device
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Practise this lesson in the other sections

Dictationbased on this lesson Write down what you hear. The check shows every word that differs, and how. Write the dictation Reading aloudbased on this lesson Read the lesson text aloud — speech recognition highlights the words it did not catch. Read the text aloud Reading and listeningA1–C1 Texts at every level with comprehension questions; the transcript opens after you answer. Try it

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