White Wedding: Party, Celebration, and Anniversary
| This is an entry in the “White Wedding” series. You can find more information at the series’ main page.
This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3) |
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I know that women often have some crazy things to say about their husbands—I’m a husband, and I can tell you that some of what they say is true—but there are some things that men like to say about their wives, too. And one of the things that men tell other men is that when you get married, you wife will expect you to remember the date of your wedding. . . well, forever.
Today we’re going to talk about remembering the date of your wedding, as well as the difference between two verbs that are often confused: ‘to party’ and ‘to celebrate.’
Before You Listen To The Recording
Are there any dates—other than your birthday and holiday—that are important to you? The date that you got your first car, or the date you first kissed your girlfriend. Some of the dates we observe are from bad memories: I still remember the date June 4th: it’s the date of a bad motorcycle accident I had in 2003.
When these dates that are important to you come each year, what do you do? Do you have a special ceremony? Is there something special you do? On June 4th, for example, I normally buy myself a nice dinner in a restaurant to remember the stress of the accident.
Think about these things, and then start the recording.
After You’ve Listened to the Recording
Now that you’re familiar with the words ‘celebration’ and ‘anniversary,’ try using them in the comments to tell us what anniversaries you celebrate. Do you celebrate with a party? Do you celebrate with something as simple as a bottle of wine? How do you celebrate?
Vocabulary
Party: A ‘party‘ is usually a collection of friends. At a ‘dinner party’ you eat dinner, but it’s also possible to have ‘grill parties’ (where you grill) or ‘garden parties’ (in your garden). What you do with your friends is up to you. The important thing is this: to party means to get together with friends and to (try to) have fun with them.
Celebration: A celebration can be a party, but it doesn’t have to be. A celebration is something special you do, because of something else. You can have a celebration because you won a sports game. You can have a celebration because of an anniversary. My celebration of the anniversary of my motorcycle accident is a nice dinner in a restaurant. My wife and I often celebrate our wedding anniversary with sushi.
Anniversary: My wife and I married on February 3rd. Every year, we celebrate the third of February, because that’s our anniversary. An ‘anniversary’ is simply the day one (or more) year(s) after something happens. Next year we’ll celebrate our third anniversary. That means, on the third of February, we’ll celebrate three years of being married. An anniversary can be for more than just a wedding, though. June 4th, I’ve already said, is the anniversary of my motorcycle accident. And it’s possible to celebrate the anniversary of your first day at work, if you really like your job.
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