So the weekend has started. Well, if you think I’m going to lie on my back with a good book you’re mistaken. Lots of things to do. Things that I either must do or need to do…

Such as:

Chores

When you work around the house, it’s called housework, or chores. Examples of this are: cleaning, cooking, doing the laundry (= washing clothes), scrubbing the windows.

Errands

When you do tasks outside your home, it’s called errands. Running errands can be: taking your car to the garage, picking up the kids from school, filling a prescription at the pharmacy (a prescription is the paper you get from the doctor with the name of the medicine), buying things, going to the doctor, going to the drycleaner.

Now we’re going to make sentences with the following verbs:

Need to = something is necessary.

Must = have to.

Please note that “must” and “have to” are the same. Don’t forget the “to” after have and need. But please don’t use “to” after “must.”

Has to

Instead of have to you should use has to for he, she and it.

 

Mary’s Saturday Morning

Mary has lots of thirsty flowers in her window. She needs to water the plants.

Her cat is hungry. She has to feed the cat.

Her chairs are full of dust. She needs to dust them.

She has a doctor’s appointment in her diary that she doesn’t need anymore, because the pain in her head disappeared by itself. She must cancel her appointment.

Her refrigerator contains only two slices of bread and a mango. She has to buy groceries. (groceries are things you can buy at the supermarket, such as bread, milk, vegetables, and toilet paper).

 

Alexandre Duret-Lutz                                         The Italian Voice

 

Mark’s Saturday Morning

His clothes are all over the bedroom floor. He needs to hang them up and wash some of them. Then he must iron his shirts.

His hair is getting too long. He has to go to the barber.

He has a pile of bills on his kitchen table. He must pay them.

He has bought a new cupboard that he wants to hang up. He needs to drill a few holes.

 

Practice

Now you’re going to write about Elise and Cory. They’ve just moved in together and they do (almost) everything together.

What do they need to do?

Choose from the following: to buy fresh vegetables at the market, to buy a fly screen, to put it in a bath, buy them at the chemist, to wash them, to mow it, to mend it, take it to the garage, to mop it.

1 Elise and Cory’s car needs to be serviced because they’ve driven 10,000 km with it. They must __________________________________________________________.

2 Their cute little spaniel dog smells. They need _____________________________.

3 The tile (stones) of their bathroom is muddy. They need _____________________________________.

4 The kitchen sink is full of dishes. They have _____________________________________.

5 The grass in their garden is too long. They need _________________________.

6 They’ve run out of shampoo and toothpaste. They must _________________________.

7 They have too many flies coming into their kitchen. They need _______________________________.

8 They’re giving a dinner party tonight with four guests. They need __________________________________.

9 There is a hole in their tablecloth. They have ________________________________________.

You will find the answers at the bottom of this page. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answers: 

1 Elise and Cory’s car needs to be serviced because they’ve driven 10,000 km with it. They must take it to the garage.

2 Their cute little spaniel dog smells. They need to put it in a bath.

3 The tile (stones) of their bathroom is muddy. They need to mop it.

4 The kitchen sink is full of dishes. They have to wash them.

5 The grass in their garden is too long. They need to mow it.

6 They’ve run out of shampoo and toothpaste. They must buy them at the chemist.

7 They have too many flies coming into their kitchen. They need to buy a fly screen.

8 They’re giving a dinner party tonight with four guests. They need to buy fresh vegetables at the market.

9 There is a hole in their tablecloth. They have to mend it.