← Back to C1 General contentsWorkbook · 2A. Do you remember…?
Home practice · past tenses & abstract nouns · answer key included
1 · Abstract nouns — choose the best word
She has an extraordinary ______ to recover after every setback.
His childhood letters are full of ______ for a country he barely remembers.
There is no ______ in his voice when he talks about his father.
That first summer camp gave me a real sense of ______.
After twenty years abroad, she still lives with a quiet ______ that no city can cure.
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2 · Complete with the right past form
- Every winter we drop _ Christmas at my grandparents' farm.
- When the earthquake hit, I drop _ in a tiny flat in the city centre.
- I drop _ snow before that January in Berlin.
- As a child, I drop _ my father knew absolutely everything.
- She drop _ his old letter when the doorbell rang.
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3 · Rewrite using the structure in brackets
My father sang every morning while making coffee. (would)
I was very shy as a child. (used to)
The film started before we arrived. (past perfect)
I fell off my bike while I looked at a friend. (past simple + past continuous)
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4 · More abstract nouns
- recollectiondrop or tap here…
- reminiscencedrop or tap here…
- resemblancedrop or tap here…
- insistencedrop or tap here…
- obsessiondrop or tap here…
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5 · A grandmother's recording
Listen to a 90-year-old woman recorded by her grandson for a family archive.
📄 Show transcript
Speaker: Oh, this old thing? Right, well, what do you want to know, love? My life story, is it? Haha. Goodness. Where to begin… I suppose the day I left home is etched deepest in my mind. Nineteen years old, I was, standing at the train station, suitcase in hand, ready to leave the village for the big city. Never looked back, not really. Though I still remember… Sundays. My father, he’d sit by the radio, eyes closed, listening to the classical music, every single week. He called it his 'spiritual nourishment'. Never missed it. That’s a lovely memory, that is.
You know, this talking about the past… it’s funny, isn't it? How some things shine so brightly, and others just fade away. You polish the parts you love, I suppose, and file away the rest. That’s what memory does to us. It’s not always the truth, is it? Just… our version of it. So don't trust mine too much, eh? Just enjoy the stories.
- What single event does she keep returning to in her account?
- Which detail of her early life does she describe with most affection?
- What warning does she give her grandson about memory?
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6 · A short letter to your younger self (120–150 words)
Write a short letter to yourself at 10 years old. Use at least one used to / would, one past continuous, one past perfect and two abstract nouns from the unit.
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