Vocabulary in use vocabulary reference and practice Third Edition Elementary Michael McCarthy Felicity O’Dell

days
in a 
year
(a year which has 366 days is a 
leap year
)
12 
months 
/m nθs/
 
in a
 
year
7 days in a 
week
2 weeks in a 
fortnight
24 
hours
in a day
60 
minutes
in an hour (we say 
an
hour
/aυə/
)
60 
seconds
in a minute
100 years in a 
century
Days of the week
Sunday
/s nde/
,
 Monday 
/m nde/
,
 Tuesday
/tʃuzde/
,
 Wednesday 
/wenzde/
,
 Thursday
/
θ
zde/
,
 
Friday
,
 Saturday
The names of the days always begin with a capital letter in English.
Saturday + Sunday = 
the weekend 
A
B
Monday (before 12 pm) = Monday 
morning
Monday (between 12 pm and 6 pm) = Monday 
aft ernoon
Monday (aft er 6 pm) = Monday 
evening
We say 
on
+ days of the week: on Monday, 
on Saturday, etc. I saw her 
on Friday
/ 
on Tuesday
evening. 
Months and seasons
Months: January
,
 February
,
 March
,
 April
,
 May
,
 June
,
 July
,
 August
,
 September
,
 October
,
 
November
,
 December
The names of the months always begin with a capital letter in English.
Some countries have four 
seasons
: 
spring
,
 summer
,
 autumn
/ɔtəm/
and 
winter
.
C
Tip
Write the day and date in English every time you do an 
English exercise, e.g. Wednesday 2nd May 2017.
Common
 
mistakes
We say at + the weekend: I went to the cinema 
at the weekend [
NOT in the weekend
].
Common
 
mistakes
My birthday is in July [
NOT on July
]. 
The names of the seasons do not usually begin with a capital letter in English.
We say 
in
+ months / seasons: 
in July
,
 in December
,
 in 
(
the
)
 spring
,
 in
(
the
)
 summer
, etc.
Birds sing in (the) spring. 
the day before 
yesterday
the day aft er 
tomorrow
yesterday
today
tomorrow
Tuesday
9
Monday
8
Friday
12
Thursday
11
Wednesday
10

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Exercises
109
English Vocabulary in Use Elementary
Answer these questions.
1 24 hours = 
2 100 years = 
3 2 weeks = 
4 60 minutes = 
5 7 days = 
Complete this British children’s song about the number of days in each month.
Thirty days has S
,
A
, J
and N
.
All the rest have 
,
Except for F
,
Which has twenty-eight days 
And 
in each leap year.
These abbreviations are often used for the days of the week and the months. Write the names 
out in full. 
1 Mon 
5 Wed 
9 Feb 
2 Aug 
6 Jan 
10 Sept 
3 Oct 
7 Apr 
11 Tues 
4 Sat 
8 Fri 
12 Nov 
What are the next letters in each of these? Why? 
1 S S
(the first letters of the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter)
2 S M T W
3 J F M A M J J
Correct the six mistakes in this paragraph.
I’m going to a party on saturday for Valentina’s birthday. Her birthday is on thursday but she 
wanted to have the party in the weekend. She’s having a barbecue. I think june is a good 
month to have a birthday because of the weather. I love going to barbecues on the summer. 
My birthday is in Winter and it’s too cold to eat outside!
How quickly can you answer these quiz questions?
1 How many minutes are there in a quarter of an hour?
2 What is the third day of the week?
3 How many seconds are there in five minutes?
4 What is the seventh month? 
5 How many months are there in ten years?
6 What month is your birthday in?
7 What day is it today?
8 What day will it be tomorrow?
9 What day will it be the day after tomorrow?
10 What day was it yesterday?
11 What day was it the day before yesterday?
12 What month is it?
51.1
51.2
51.3
51.4
50.5
51.6
one day
eptember
Monday
A W
S

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110
English Vocabulary in Use Elementary
Time words
52
Time in relation to now
Now
means at this moment. 
Then
means at another moment (usually in the past).
I was born in Edinburgh. 
Then
we moved to London. 
Now
I live in Cambridge.
It is 10