English Vocabulary in Use Pre-intermediate and Intermediate » Unit 59: War and violence

Word List
  • a long time ago
  • army
  • attack n
  • battle
  • bomb
  • carry guns
  • dead
  • death
  • defend
  • destroy
  • die
  • enemy
  • explode
  • fight
  • get away [escape]
  • gun
  • heart of somewhere
  • hide
  • kill
  • missing
  • search n, v
  • shoot
  • soldier
  • violence
  • violent
  • war
Exercises

59.1 ‣ Are these words nouns, verbs, or nouns and verbs?

  1. protect
    • nouns
    • verbs
    • nouns and verbs
  2. search
    • nouns
    • verbs
    • nouns and verbs
  3. die
    • nouns
    • verbs
    • nouns and verbs
  4. attack
    • nouns
    • verbs
    • nouns and verbs
  5. death
    • nouns
    • verbs
    • nouns and verbs
  6. shoot
    • nouns
    • verbs
    • nouns and verbs
  7. war
    • nouns
    • verbs
    • nouns and verbs
  8. defend
    • nouns
    • verbs
    • nouns and verbs
  9. escape
    • nouns
    • verbs
    • nouns and verbs
  10. hide
    • nouns
    • verbs
    • nouns and verbs

59.2 ‣ Complete the sentences with the correct verb.

  1. The soldiers have been for days, and so far three have been injured.
  2. The woman was _____ with a small handgun, but wasn’t seriously injured.
  3. One of the soldiers managed to _____ under the house where no one could find him.
  4. There are 20 soldiers surrounding the house, so the men inside cannot _____.
  5. The bomb _____ inside the café. Nobody was _____ but several people were injured.
  6. I understand the army are _____ houses in an effort to find the gunman.
  7. The bomb completely _____ the building, but fortunately no one was inside at the time.
  8. My men had to _____ the village from outside attacks.
  9. Were the police _____ guns when they saw the men?

59.3 ‣ Choose the correct word to complete the sentences. Sometimes both are correct.

  1. One man was found but the other is still lost / missing.
  2. The battle / war lasted for two hours. _____
  3. The attack happened in the heart / centre of the city. _____
  4. One of the buildings was completely damaged / destroyed. _____
  5. Three of the men are died / dead. _____
  6. One woman escaped / got away. _____
  7. The boy was badly injured and later died / killed. _____
  8. Some of the policemen are not allowed to hold / carry guns. _____
  9. They don’t know who shoot / shot the man. _____

59.4 ‣ Complete the text.

The 1 happened early this morning. The 2_____ were out on patrol when they saw the 3_____ about half a mile away. Moments later a 4_____ exploded quite close to them, and was followed by a 5_____ gun battle which lasted two hours. Two soldiers were 6_____ and several were injured. An 7_____ captain said that they have now taken control of the area where the attack 8_____.

59.5 ‣ Use a dictionary to develop these word families, and write example sentences for the new words.

verbnounexample
protect
destroy__________
explode__________
defend__________
Answer Key
A ‣ The job of the army

These men are soldiers, and they are carrying guns1. They are members of an army, and part of the responsibility of an army is to defend their country from attack2 and to protect the people3. Sometimes this means they have to fight the enemy4. A long period of fighting is called a war, e.g. the First World War, 1914–1918, and during a war there will be a number of battles5.

1 have guns with them
2 stop others who use violence against their country
3 keep them safe
4 the people they are fighting against
5 fights between two armies

Language help

Violence is when someone tries to hurt or kill someone; the adjective is violent.

The violence has increased in recent weeks; There have been a number of violent attacks.

B ‣ Reporting in war

BREAKING NEWS
Recent Bombing

Ten people were killed and many more were injured when a bomb exploded (see picture) in the heart of1 the city. The attack happened just before midday, and destroyed2 several buildings. The army are now searching3 the area where the attack took place4. Most of the attackers escaped5, but the army believe they may still be hiding6 in other parts of the city.

During the attack, one soldier was shot7 and later died. It also appears that another soldier is missing8. The number of deaths9 is expected to rise.

1 the centre of
2 damaged them so badly that they don’t exist now; NOT completely damaged
3 trying to find someone or something
4 happened
5 left the place without being caught; syn get away
6 staying in a place where you cannot be seen or found
7 injured by a gun
8 It isn’t known where someone or something is.
9 people who are dead / have died

Language help

Several words in the unit can be used as verbs and nouns with a similar meaning.

They’re searching for them.
They’re continuing their search for them.
He can’t escape.
There is no escape.
When did they attack?
Where did the attack take place?

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