VII - VOCABULARY Family

Family Vocabulary

Your family members are also called your relatives. You have an immediate or nuclear family and an extended family. Your immediate family includes your father, mother and siblings. Your extended family includes all of the people in your father and mother's families.

Your sibling is your brother or sister. If you have 1 brother and 2 sisters, then you have 3 siblings. Your parent is your father or mother. Your child is your son or daughter. Your spouse is your husband or wife.

You may also have a stepfamily. Your stepfamily includes people who became part of your family due to changes in family life. These changes may include death, divorce or separation. New partnerships create new children. The new children and their relatives become part of your blended family. Some people are born into a stepfamily.

My relatives		Relationship to Me	I usually call
male	female		him...	her...
parent		relative of whom I am the child	Father, Daddy, Dad, Papa	Mother, Mummy, Mum, Mommy, Mom, Mama, Ma
father	mother
sibling		we have the same father and mother	first name; sometimes Bro	first name; sometimes Sis
brother	sister
uncle	aunt	sibling of my parent	Uncle [first name]	Aunt/Auntie [first name]
grandparent		parent of my parent	Grandfather, Grandpa	Grandmother, Grandma
grandfather	grandmother
cousin		child of my uncle or aunt	first name
spouse		relative to whom I am married	first name
husband	wife
child		relative of whom I am the parent	first name
son	daughter
nephew	niece	child of my sibling	first name
grandchild		child of my child	first name
grandson	granddaughter
great grandfather	great grandmother	parent of my grandparent	Great Grandpa	Great Grandma
father-in-law	mother in-law	parent of my spouse	first name; Dad	first name; Mum, Mom
brother-in-law	sister in-law	sibling of my spouse; spouse of my sibling	first name
ex-husband	ex-wife	my previous spouse (we divorced)	first name
half-brother	half-sister	my sibling born to my father or mother but not both	first name
step-parent		new spouse of one of my parents	first name
step-father	step-mother
step-child		child of my spouse but not of me	first name
step-son	step-daughter

Generation: In a family, the word generation means all the people in one stage of the family. For example, your parents are one generation, you and your siblings are the next generation, and your children and their cousins are another generation.

XX - GRAMMAR The time

WHAT TIME IS IT?

Explanation

There are two common ways of telling the time.

Formal but easier way

Say the hours first and then the minutes.

Example: 7:45 - seven forty-five

For minutes 01 through 09, you can pronounce the '0' as oh.

Example: 11:06 - eleven (oh) six

More popular way

Say the minutes first and then the hours. Use past and the preceding hour for minutes 01 through 30. Use to and the forthcoming hour for minutes 31 through 59, but .

Example: 7.15 - fifteen minutes past seven

Example: 7.45 - fifteen minutes to eight

Another possibility of saying '15 minutes past' is: a quarter past

Another possibility of saying '15 minutes to' is: a quarter to

Another possibility of saying '30 minutes past' is: half past

Example: 5:30 - half past five

Watch

Note

Use o'clock only at the full hour.

Example: 7:00 - seven o'clock (but 7:10 - ten past seven)

In English ordinary speech, the twelve-hour clock is used.

Example: 17:20 - twenty past five

For times around midnight or midday you can use the expressions midnight or midday and noon instead of the number 12.

Example: 00:00 - midnight

Example: 12:00 - midday or noon

To make clear (where necessary) whether you mean a time before 12 o'clock noon or after, you can use in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening, at night. Use in the morning before 12 o'clock noon, after 12 o'clock noon use in the afternoon. When to change from afternoon to evening, from evening to night and from night tomorning depends on your sense of time.

Example: 3:15 - a quarter past three in the morning OR a quarter past three at night

More formal expressions to indicate whether a time is before noon or after are a.m. (also: am - ante meridiem, before noon) and p.m. (also: pm - post meridiem, after noon). Use these expressions only with the formal way of telling the time.

Example: 3:15 - three fifteen a.m.

It is not usual to use a.m. and p.m. with past/to.

Example: 3:15 - fifteen minutes past three OR a quarter past three

American English

Beside past Americans often use after.

Example: 06:10 - ten past/after six

But: in time expressions with half past it is not usual to replace past by after.

Beside to Americans often use before, of or till.

Example: 05:50 - ten to/before/of/till six