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This worksheet opens with the lesson: 15 December 2026, 3:00 pm New York time. Back to the lesson

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Bright Lives English
Name: Date:

Mary Anning: A Poor Girl on the Beach… Then She Found a Sea Monster

Level A1 (Beginner) · Watch the video and do the online quiz at https://brightlivesenglish.com/lessons/mary-anning-sea-monster/

A Match the words to their meanings

  1. stone (noun)
  2. beach (noun)
  3. find (verb)
  4. bone (noun)
  5. sea (noun)
  6. fossil (noun)
  7. museum (noun)
  8. hammer (noun)
  1. the big salty water
  2. to see something you are looking for
  3. a very old animal or plant that has become stone
  4. a small rock
  5. a building where you can see old and interesting things
  6. a tool for hitting things
  7. a hard white part inside the body
  8. sand or small stones next to the sea

B Complete the sentences from the story

find · sea · hammer · bones · beach · stones · museum · fossils

  1. The animal lived in the long ago.
  2. She looked for strange .
  3. She found many .
  4. Her sea animal is in a today.
  5. What would she ?
  6. The were in the rock.
  7. She walked on the every day.
  8. She used a small .

C Did you understand?

  1. Mary's family was very rich.True / False
  2. Who found the big head?
    1. Her dog
    2. Her brother
    3. A scientist
    4. Her mother
  3. How long was the animal?
    1. About five centimetres
    2. About fifty metres
    3. About five metres
    4. About one metre
  4. Her dog Tray went everywhere with her.True / False

D Put the words in order

  1. She / lot / bones / a / found / of

E Grammar: a lot of + noun / many + plural noun

We use it for to talk about a big number of things. She found a lot of bones. · Many scientists visited her small shop.

Example from the story: She found a lot of bones.

  1. She found a lot bones. (of / to / for)
  2. scientists visited her small shop. (Many / Much / A lot)
  3. There are a lot of on the beach. (stones / stone / a stone)

F Your turn

Retell Mary Anning's story in 5–6 sentences. Use at least three words from exercise A.

Transcript

A poor girl walked on the beach after storms.

One day, she found a monster.

This is the story of Mary Anning.

Welcome to brightlivesenglish.com, where we teach real English using real-life stories.

Stone. A stone is a small rock.

She looked for strange stones.

Beach. A beach is sand or stones next to the sea.

She walked on the beach every day.

Find. To find is to see what you look for.

What would she find?

Bone. Bones are hard and white, inside your body.

The bones were in the rock.

Sea. The sea is the big salty water.

The animal lived in the sea long ago.

Now, one pattern: a lot of, and many.

She found a lot of bones.

Ready? Let's begin.

Mary Anning was born in England in 1799.

Her family lived by the sea.

Her father showed her old animals in the rock.

She looked for strange stones.

She walked on the beach every day.

In 1811, her brother found a big head in the rock.

What would she find?

A year later, Mary found the body.

It was about five metres long!

The bones were in the rock.

She found a lot of bones.

The animal lived in the sea long ago.

She found many more animals.

Many scientists visited her small shop.

Her dog Tray went everywhere with her.

Let's review. She looked for strange stones.

She walked on the beach every day.

What would she find?

The bones were in the rock.

The animal lived in the sea long ago.

And remember: she found a lot of bones.

Mary Anning's story teaches us: keep looking.

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Answer key

A. 1d 2h 3b 4g 5a 6c 7e 8f

B. 1 sea · 2 stones · 3 fossils · 4 museum · 5 find · 6 bones · 7 beach · 8 hammer

C. 1 False · 2 b · 3 c · 4 True

D. 1 She found a lot of bones.

E. 1 of · 2 Many · 3 stones