Improve your English with Downton Abbey Characters. Season 1. Episode 6.

Before you watch this episode, try to predict

which of the characters are likely to:

1. Attend a political rally

2. Rescue a woman from a dangerous situation

3. Have problems with their employer

4. Have a problem with a family member

5. Receive some alarming news

6. Bring false accusations against someone

7. Receive a marriage proposal

2. Now watch the episode and answer the questions:

1. Why is it not just Sybil, but Cora that Robert is angry with?

2. Why do O’Brian and Thomas think that their scam will work this time?

3. How did Carson get to know the gossip about Lady Mary?

4. What excuse does Sybil give to go to Rippon again?

5. How does the Duchess get the same news as Carson did?

6. Why can’t Bates tell Carson about Thomas’ stealing the wine?

7. Why doesn’t William work with horses, even though he enjoys it?

8. Why can’t they tell William that his mother is seriously ill? How does Mary manage it, eventually?

9. Why does Robert blame Branson for what has happened to Sybil?

10. What events from his past does Bates disclose? What makes him do it?

3. Why do these people say these things?

1. Bates: ‘I know you don’t believe in right of property’.

2. Cora: ‘Sybil is not your problem’.

3. O’Brian: ‘The only sure way to get rid of a servant is to have him or her suspected of stealing.”

4. Edith: “I don’t suppose you’d take me?’

5. Daisy: ‘I may have seen him coming out of the cellar’.

6. Sybil: ‘If everything in the garden is sunny, why meddle?’

7. Anna: “I think he has a great deal of difficulty. That is why he hasn’t told his lordship yet.”

8. Gwen: ‘We do not think our dreams are bound to come true”.

9. Robert: “We may have to hire a nurse after all’.

10. Mary: “He’s made her proud. There are plenty of children in grander circumstances who’d love to say the same”.

11. Mrs Hughes: “There’s one thing I hate, it’s an atmosphere. And we’ve got a real atmosphere going now”.

12. Branson: “I may be a socialist, but I’m not a lunatic”.

13. The Duchess: "Everyone goes down the aisle with half the story hidden.

4. This is a listening activity. You have to find these sentences in the episode and finish them. They are all either idioms or hilarious pieces of wisdom by some characters.

1. Mary: I think Sybil is entitled to her opinions.

The Duchess: No, not until she is married. Then her husband _______________________.

2. The Duchess: I doubt I would expect to curtsy to His Majesty in June when____________.

1. Cora: Sometimes even to deny these things is___________________________________.

2. Mrs. Patmore: You are always dosy, but tonight____________________________________.

3. Mary: You have to stick up for him, because papa __________________________________.

4. Mary: She discovered politics which, of course,___________________________________.

5. The Duchess: My poor niece never uses one word_________________________________.

Discussion:

1. ‘With a hung parliament it’s hard to get excited about a by-election”. What does this political situation have in common with the modern one?

2. Do you think Cora supports Sybil in her beliefs, or does she think that her interest in politics is just a childish fancy?

3. Do you believe Anthony Straland is in love with Edith?

4. Do you think Sybil will enjoy less freedom now?

5. Branson said he was a socialist, but not a lunatic. How radical do you think he is?

6. Will Mary have the courage to tell Matthew about Pamuk? How will he receive it?