Vocabulary and grammar: The British honours system

 VState and society

1Match categories to the words. 

monarchy

empire

capitals

politicians

election

economy

• Paris, London, Berlin
• money, tax, spending
• king, queen, princess
• vote, decide, choose
• Roman, Persian, Greek
• president, minister, member of parliament

used to

2Write quiz questions with the correct form of used to and the prompts. Then choose the correct answers. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task. You also need to use correct punctuation.

• 1in which country / Abraham Lincoln / be / the president / ?

• Britainthe USAAustralia

• 2what / people in Russia / call / their monarch / ?

• the Kaiserthe Kingthe Tsar

• 3which of these countries / be / in the British Empire / ?

• BrazilCanadaAlgeria

• 4where / the population of ancient Athens / meet and vote / ?

• the Parliamentthe Cathedralthe Acropolis

• 5when / New York / be / an English city / ?

• 100 years ago300 years ago500 years ago

• 6in which capital city / Michelangelo / live / ?

• ParisMadridRome

• 
  

used to

3Complete the sentences with the correct form of used to or the past simple form of the verbs in brackets. Mark
the sentences where it is possible to use used to (✓) and the sentences where it is not possible (✗). 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7
✓✗	✓✗	✓✗	✓✗	✓✗	✓✗	✓✗

• 1Napoleon Bonaparte  (be) the Emperor of France.

• 2In 1802, Napoleon  (introduce) a new French honours system – the Légion d'honneur.

• 3Before Napoleon, ordinary people  (not get) honours or medals. Only aristocrats got them.

• 4Napoleon  (give) the honour, in the form of large medals, to his bravest soldiers.

• 5In the late nineteenth century, an American  (become) a member of the Légion d'honneur because he was the Emperor's dentist!

• 6At that time, people  (wear) their medals on their coats every day.

• 7Sean Connery, who  (play) James Bond in the 1960s and 1970s, is a member of the Légion d'honneur.

used to

4Choose the correct words to complete the text. 

India and the Bharat Ratna

1947 was an 

¹importimportantimportingimportance

 

year in the history of India. That was the year when it

 

²gainedhas gainedhad gainedused to gain

 

its 

³independentdependentindependencedependence.

 

The country 

⁴has beenhad beenwas beingwas been

 

a part of the British 

⁵PoliticianGovernmentEmpireElection

 

before then. Seven years later, in 1954, the new Republic of India 

⁶introducedhad introducedhas introducedused to introduce

 

its own honours system. Its highest award is the Bharat Ratna (the Jewel of India). After its introduction, the President of India

 

⁷gavehas givenhad givenused to give

 

this award to Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, and to C.V. Raman, the great physicist. However, before 1966, they 

⁸haven't givenhadn't givenweren't givingdidn't use to give

 

the award to people who 

⁹diedhave diedhad diedused to die.

 

That's why Mahatma Gandhi, India's most famous politician, who died in 1948, never 

¹⁰receivedhad receivedwas receivingused to receive

 

the award.

5  CHALLENGE! How much do you know about your country's history? Answer the questions. Speak for no longer than one minute.  Which people used to be the monarchs, presidents or leaders of your country, and what did they do?  What are the three most important historical events that you know about your country?

1.  Select Record Audio to record yourself.
2.  If you want to add a note to your teacher, write it in the Comments box.
3.  Select Submit to dropbox to send the recording to your teacher.