English · Première générale · LVA · B1 towards B1+ · adapted version

Session 5: The results: you find them

Read one step, do it, then move on. Answers are hidden: click to check.
Teacher note

Students look up and enter the results themselves. This page deliberately gives no result figures. Accept any figure given with a reliable source and a date.

Step one

Recap check

  1. What is the difference between information and opinion?
  2. Put in reported speech: "We will win," she said.
  3. What majorities are needed in the House and the Senate?
Answer key
  1. Information can be checked (a fact, a figure, a date); opinion is a judgement.
  2. She said (that) they would win.
  3. 218 in the House; 51 in the Senate, or 50 + the Vice President.
Step two

Read this first

Important

You find the results yourself. This page gives no result figures on purpose: you look them up on reliable websites, you enter them in the table, and you say where they come from and when.

Step three

Where to look

Choose one card.

AP (Associated Press): 2026 election resultsNews agency. AP declares (calls) the winner of each race. Overview of the House, the Senate and the governors.apnews.com/projects/elections-2026CNN: Election 2026 resultsAmerican news channel. Results, maps and the balance of power in the House and the Senate.cnn.com/election/2026BBC News: US midterm elections results 2026British public broadcaster. Results tracker explained for readers outside the United States.bbc.com/news/election/2026/us/resultsClerk of the House: MembersOfficial. The list of the members of the House, updated when the new members take office on 3 January 2027.clerk.house.gov/Members
Step four

Find the results

  1. Open one website.
  2. Write the date and the time.
  3. Find the House, then the Senate.
  4. Write the numbers in the table.
Step five

Your results table

What?Your figureWebsiteDate and time
House: seats won by the Democrats
House: seats won by the Republicans
House: majority218 seats (fact)
House: majority party
Senate: Democrats and independents who vote with them
Senate: Republicans
Senate: majority51 seats, or 50 + the Vice President (fact)
Senate: majority party
Step six

Read the results

  1. Who has 218 seats or more in the House?
  2. Who has 51 seats or more in the Senate?
  3. The President is a Republican. Is it divided government?
Method

Method: compare your numbers with 218 and 51. If the Democrats control one chamber or both, it is divided government.

Step seven

Grammar

Dated event: past simple. Americans voted on 3 November.
Result now: present perfect. They have won the House.

Step eight

Say it

  • According to ______, the ______ have won the House.
  • In the Senate, the ______ have ______ seats.
  • This means that the president ______ .
Step nine

Homework

Finish your results table (a website and a date for every line). Then write a news report of about 150 words, with one sentence in the present perfect and one hypothesis by inversion.
Key points

Method: there is no single model answer, because the figures are yours. Check: every figure has a website and a date; 218 and 51 are used to say who controls each chamber; correct choice between past simple and present perfect; one inversion (Had ... won, ... would have ...).