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B1 Grammar Lesson

Spend, take, cost and waste with time and money

Learn how to talk about time and money when learning to drive and getting your licence.

⏱️ 12 Minutes Lesson

💡

How to use this lesson

👨‍🏫 For the Teacher

Guide students through the rule cards first and spend 12 minutes on the practice activities.

Check answers together by asking learners to explain the clue word in brackets for each question.

🎓 For the Learner

Read the patterned examples and rule cards carefully before starting the tasks.

Complete all 12 practice items from easy to hard using the bracket hints to guide you.

Sentence Pattern Example

"It took Maria three months to pass the test, and she spent about two hours a day practising."

📖 Grammar Rules & Driving Examples

1. TAKE it takes (me) + time + to + verb

Use this to say how long an action needs. You can add a person like me, you or her after takes for the person who does it. The past form is took and the form after have is taken.

🚗 It took us three days to paint the fence.

🚙 It took her three days to fix the tank.

2. SPEND spend + time or money + -ing / on + noun

Use spend with a person as the subject. After the time or money, use a word with -ing, or use on and a thing. We do not say spent to clean. The past form is spent.

🚗 She spent the weekend cleaning the garage.

🚙 She spent 20 dollars on the gear stick.

3. COST it / a thing + costs + money

Use cost with a thing as the subject, or with it. Put the person right after cost, with no word between. The past and the participle are both cost, never costed.

🚗 The new bike cost 200 dollars.

🚙 It costs him 30 dollars to fill the tank.

4. WASTE waste + time or money + on + noun / -ing

Use waste for time or money that gives nothing useful. Put on before a noun or use -ing, and never write wasted to look. The past form is wasted.

🚗 We wasted a whole morning looking for the keys.

🚙 He wasted money on a steering wheel cover that he never used.

Practice Activities

12 Questions

A Choose the correct sentence

1. Choose the correct sentence.

(subject)

____ a. It spent two hours on the automatic car. ____ b. She spent two hours practising on the automatic car. ____ c. She spent to practice on the automatic car for two hours. ____ d. She takes two hours on the automatic car.

2. Choose the correct sentence.

(price)

____ a. The driving test costed the learner 50 dollars. ____ b. The driving test costs to the learner 50 dollars. ____ c. The driving test costs the learner 50 dollars. ____ d. It spends the learner 50 dollars for the driving test.

3. Choose the correct sentence.

(nothing)

____ a. I wasted an hour searching for the examiner for nothing. ____ b. I spent to search for the examiner for nothing. ____ c. It wasted me an hour to search for the examiner. ____ d. I cost an hour searching for the examiner.

B Rewrite the sentence

4. Rewrite the sentence using the verb in brackets.

(take)

Original: "Ben practised steering for two hours."

____ (Type your rewritten sentence here...)

5. Rewrite the sentence using the verb in brackets.

(spend)

Original: "It took the learner three weeks to master reverse parking."

____ (Type your rewritten sentence here...)

6. Rewrite the sentence using the verb in brackets.

(take)

Original: "She spent forty minutes filling the petrol tank."

____ (Type your rewritten sentence here...)

C Complete the gap

7. Fill in the missing word.

(action)

The learner wasted 150 dollars ____ extra driving lessons that did not help.

8. Fill in the correct past form of the verb.

(waste)

We ____ two hours waiting for the examiner for nothing, because he was at the wrong test centre.

9. Fill in the missing verb.

(form)

How much did it ____ you to fix the broken gear?

D Fix the mistake in the message

10. Correct the underlined mistake in the chat message.

(preposition)

💬 "I spent three hours to practise reversing today!"

Correction: ____ (Type correct word...)

11. Correct the underlined mistake in the chat message.

(past)

💬 "The new automatic car costed my family 15,000 dollars."

Correction: ____ (Type correct word...)

12. Correct the underlined mistake in the chat message.

(structure)

💬 "It spent me two weeks to pass the driving test."

Correction: ____ (Type correct phrase...)

Spend, take, cost and waste with time and money

Spend, take, cost and waste with time and money

How to use this lesson

👨‍🏫 For the Teacher

🎓 For the Learner

Sentence Pattern Example

📖 Grammar Rules & Driving Examples

Practice Activities

A Choose the correct sentence

B Rewrite the sentence

C Complete the gap

D Fix the mistake in the message

Related lessons

Reading Practice: The UK Driving Theory Test

IELTS Speaking: Learning to Drive

Vocabulary and Pronunciation: Learning to Drive

Writing: Learning to Drive and Getting a Licence

Zero and First Conditionals and Time Clauses

Quantifiers with Countable and Uncountable Nouns