a boy, trump, the pope, and biden

Placez le pointeur de la souris sur les mots soulignés, sans cliquer

Pope Francis, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and a little boy are crossing the Atlantic on an airplane when the engines fail. They franticallyfrénétiquement look for and find three parachutes.

Donald Trump grabss'empare the first parachute and jumps out of the plane saying, “The world needs a great person like me!”

Joe Biden grabs a parachute and says, “I need to help make choices for our world”, so he jumps out of the plane.

At this point, the Pope and the little boy remain on the plane.

The Pope says to the boy, “take the last parachute, I am too old and I’m going to die soon one day.”

“Actuallyen fait | á vrai dire there are two left. Donald Trump took my knapsacksac à dos.”

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Grammar Focus: Reported Speech
In this story, we see both direct speech (using the exact words spoken, inside quotation marks) and reported speech (telling what someone said without quoting exactly). Reported speech is used to share what another person has said, often with a reporting verb like say, tell, or ask.

•  Direct speech: Donald Trump said, “The world needs a great person like me!”

•  Reported speech: Donald Trump said that the world needed a great person like him.

•  Direct speech: The Pope said to the boy, “Take the last parachute.”

•  Reported speech: The Pope told the boy to take the last parachute.

When changing from direct to reported speech, we often:

• change the verb tense to one step further in the past (backshift)
• change pronouns and time expressions as needed

Vocabulary from the Story

•  frantically: in a hurried, excited, or disorganized way because of fear or worry.
They frantically look for and find three parachutes.

•  grab: to take or seize something quickly and roughly.
Donald Trump grabs the first parachute and jumps out of the plane.

•  actually: used to introduce a new statement, often surprising or correcting what was said before.
“Actually, there are two left.”

•  knapsack: a bag carried on the back or shoulder, also known as a backpack.
Donald Trump took my knapsack.”

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