Going Places
Language of the story
Explain non-literal phrases and use present participles correctly.
Some phrases in the story are not meant literally:
- 'Words had to be prized out of him': Geoff hardly ever spoke.
- 'Keep his head on his shoulders': stay sensible, not let fame spoil him.
- A 'weekly pilgrimage': the family's regular trip to the football match, which was almost a religion to them.
A present participle is a verb with -ing. Used on its own in a phrase, it shows two actions happening together. 'Sophie said, coming home from school' means she said it while she was coming home.
The story uses some informal words from everyday British speech, such as 'chuffed' (pleased), 'nosey' (curious about others' business) and 'gawky' (awkward). They suit conversation, not formal writing.
-ing words let two actions share one sentence.
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