Sleeping car

Douglas Brown was a businessman who lived in London but had a lot of work in Perth in Scotland. He often travelled by train on 'The Night Caledonian', an overnight train from London to Scotland. He preferred the train to the plane because he arrived feeling fresh for important business meetings when he arrived in Perth. The only problem was, he was a heavy sleeper, so he needed to set his alarm clock to wake up for the right stop. One day, after the train had set off from London, he realised he'd forgotten to pack his alarm clock. Before he went to sleep, he spoke to one of the attendants.

'I should have brought my alarm clock with me, but I forgot it. I have to wake up in time to get off the train at Perth at seven o'clock. I absolutely mustn't miss my stop by oversleeping, so could you please make sure I get off the train there, however sleepy I am.'

The attendant wrote down Douglas' name in a little book and made a firm promise to wake him up at the right time in the morning. Douglas went to sleep in his compartment almost immediately.

When he woke up in the morning, he found that it was ten to nine and the train was pulling into the final station in Inverness, 120 miles further north than Perth.

He was furious and went up to the attendant and said, 'Look what's happened, you fool! You should have woken me up at half past six and you didn't. You complete idiot! Now I've missed my business meeting!'

After he had left, one of the other passengers commented to the attendant, 'He wasn't very polite, was he? He shouldn't have called you an idiot like that.'

'Oh that's nothing!' said the attendant, 'You should have heard what Dougal Black said when I pushed him onto the platform at Perth at seven o'clock this morning.'

Grammar: should have + past participle

When you want to criticize mistakes in the past, you can use should + have + past participle. I shouldn't have eaten so many cherries. I feel terrible. We should have left the classroom tidier, but we didn't have time. The teacher was very angry with us. You shouldn't have told her she was fat. You've really upset her.

Match the situations with the criticisms. 1. I didn't do my laundry last week and now I have no clean socks to wear. 2. I borrowed my wife's mobile phone but I didn't ask her first. Now she's furious with me! mosquito bites all over me. which caused a lot of panic. have to pay a fine. B. You should have closed the window before you went to bed. were due back. your housework! before they printed it. A. You should have asked her first!

3. I slept with my window open last night and now I've got C. You should have checked the date they 4. The newspaper published a story which wasn't true and D. You shouldn't have been so lazy about 5. I forgot to take my library books back on time and now I E. They should have check their facts

Choose the correct verb from the box to complete these sentences, using should / shouldn't have + past participle. set drink buy leave eat

6. I can't concentrate because I'm so hungry. I _____________ something before I came out. 7. I forgot to set my alarm clock and I missed my exam. I _____________two of them instead. 8. I tripped over the books I put on the stairs. I _____________ them there in the first place! 9. I got a cheap watch in the market last week and now it doesn't work. I _____________ it in a proper shop. 10. I had two bottles of red wine last night and now I've got a terrible headache. I _____________ so much.

Vocabulary exercises
Choose a word to make the opposite of these expressions. light firm polite complete sleepy first

1. a heavy sleeper / a _______ sleeper 2. the final station / the _______ station 3. feeling fresh / feeling _______ 4. a rude comment / a _______ comment 5. a vague promise / a _______ promise 6. a bit of an idiot / a _______ idiot

Choose the correct word or phrase to complete these sentences. 7. It was a long journey so we decided to take the ___________ train. A. all the night B. over the night C. over-night D. through-night

8. All the ___________ in the train were crowded apart from the first class ones. A. wagons B. sections C. chairs D. compartments

9. I missed my train because I was waiting at the wrong ___________. A. gate B. platform C. deck D. dock

10. I'll ___________ the number in my note book so that I don't forget it. A. write down B. write off C. write over D. write away

11. I don't think I've forgotten anything, but I'll check to ___________. A. do certain B. make surely C. make sure D. be certainly

12. I've got a meeting tomorrow I don't want to miss so I'm ___________ my alarm clock early. A. putting B. placing C. making D. setting