Hello my friends! For the next few days I will be posting some essays, texts, notices... etc. aimed at ending your fear of the English language!!!
Each Chapter will be introduced by BASIC ENGLISH REVIEW (a short knowledge of English grammar), followed by SCIENTIFIC TEXTS (a text or essay or notice for your acquaintance with understanding this important and universal language for science, with questions and exercises). So, do NOT translate. Make disciplined effort to use an English-English dictionary!!!
BASIC ENGLISH REVIEW
1. PERSONAL PRONOUNS
1.1 PERSONAL PRONOUNS: NOMINATIVE CASE (EXAMPLES)
a) ‘I am a student’.
b) ‘You are a teacher’. [2nd person singular]
c) ‘She / He is a doctor’. ‘It is a nice dog’ [non-personal]
d) ‘We are students’.
e) ‘You are students’. [2nd person plural]
f) ‘They are students’.
1.2 PERSONAL PRONOUNS: OBJECTIVE CASE (EXAMPLES)
a) ‘He gave a flower to me’. ‘Please give me that book’. ‘I’m thirsty. Me too’ [or ‘I am too’.]
b) ‘I’ll give you all my books’. [2nd person singular]
c) ‘Tell him / her I’ll come back early’. ‘Please give him / her my kind regards’. ‘Give it a bone’ [to the dog; non-personal]
d) ‘He gave all his books to us’. ‘Tell us about your holiday in Rio’.
e) ‘I’ll give you all my books’. [2nd person plural]
f) ‘Take them to the next room’. ‘I know all of them very well’.
1.3 PERSONAL PRONOUNS: REFLEXIVE CASE (EXAMPLES)
a) ‘I live by myself’. ‘I cut myself on a knife’.
b) ‘Do it yourself’ [= DIY, usual abbreviation as in ‘DIY store’.]. ‘Do this exercise by yourself’. ‘Behave yourself’! [2nd person singular]
c) ‘He / She tried to kill himself / herself’. ‘I’ll see the Director himself / herself if necessary’. ‘The garden itself is very nice’.
d) ‘We’ll do the washing up ourselves’. ‘It’s best if we do it ourselves’.
e) ‘You children, must do your homework by yourselves’! ‘Do it yourselves’.[2nd person plural]
f) ‘Your children must do their homework by themselves’.
1.4 PERSONAL PRONOUNS: POSSESSIVE (DETERMINER FUNCTION) (EXAMPLES)
a) ‘My father is a teacher’. ‘My dear friend, you’re wrong’!
b) ‘You and your bright ideas’! [2nd person singular]
c) ‘I don’t like his / her ideas’. ‘This was his / her choice’. ‘Chinchilla is hunted for its very soft grey fur’.
d) ‘Our houses are beautiful’.
e) ‘Your students are coming’. [2nd person plural]
f) ‘Their house is very big’.
1.5 PERSONAL PRONOUNS: POSSESSIVE (NOMINAL FUNCTION) (EXAMPLES)
a) ‘She is a friend of mine’ [= one of my friends.]. ‘That book is mine’.
b) ‘Is she a friend of yours’? ‘Those books over there are yours’.[2nd person singular]
c) ‘A friend of his / hers’ [= one of his / her friends]. ‘The choice was his / hers’.
d) ‘They are friends of ours’. ‘Those books are ours’.
e) ‘Those are friends of yours’. ‘Those books are yours’. [2nd person plural]
f) ‘This house is one of theirs’. ‘These clothes are theirs’.
NOTICE: the use of you, one and they:
One and you can mean ‘people in general’ (including the speaker and hearer): ‘One / You can’t learn English in a month’; ‘One’s / Your own problems always seem important’. ‘Diplomacy is the patriotic art of lying for one’s country.
They or a passive is used to talk about people not including the speaker/hearer: ‘They speak English everywhere in Holland’ / ‘English is spoken everywhere in Holland’. They is also used to mean ‘the people around’ or ‘the authorities’: ‘They don’t like strangers here’. ‘They’re always digging up the roads’; ‘They’ve put the price of petrol up again’.
1.6 EXERCISES
Put in the appropriate personal pronoun (I and me etc)
1) Nobody except ........ knows where the key is kept, and I’m not telling you.
2) ‘Who bought these flowers?’ ‘It was ........ . I thought you would like them’.
3) ‘I haven’t met Mark yet; is ...... here’? ‘That’s ........ over there’.
4) ‘I’ve had enough of this party’. ‘...... too’.
5) He’s faster than ......., but I’m stronger than ....... .
6) John’s two years younger than Alice, but ......’s nearly as tall as ....... .
Put in the appropriate reflexive pronoun (myself, yourself, etc or me, you etc)
1) Mary bought a book and taught ............ to play the guitar.
2) John fell and hurt ............ yesterday.
3) The computer will turn ............ off if you don’t use it.
4) We looked at ............ in the mirror to check our faces.
5) Don’t pay attention to ........ ; he always complains.
6) How much time do you give ............ to study English?
7) June can’t afford to buy ............ a new car, so her dad’s going to buy one for .......
8) No one is going to help us, so we’ll have to do it ............ .
Put in the appropriate possessive pronouns (my, mine etc)
1) (This car belongs to me). This is ...... car. This car is ........ .
2) (This book is for you). This is ........ book. This book is ........ .
3) (He has written many books). This is one of ........ books. This book is one of ......
4) (She has written several books). This is one of ...... books. This book is one of ... .
5) (We have just bought this house). This is ........ house. This house is ........ .
6) (They have just bought a new car). That is ........ new car. That new car is .......... .
Put in a personal pronoun:
1) This book belongs to Fátima. This is …..….. book. This book is …..….. . She does …..….. exercises by ………. .
2) I am a teacher of English. This is ………. dictionary. This dictionary is ………. . I taught English to ………. .
3) [Breno talks to one of the students] ‘Vânia! Is this ………. pen? I think that pencil is .......... ’. [Now Breno talks to the students in the class] ‘I am going to give written exercises to all of ………. . I will give ………. many exercises on pronouns. Please, close ………. books and do the exercises by ………. ’.
4) Angelo has got a car. ………. car is a Mercedes. ………. father gave another car to ………. .
5) [The students are talking about themselves] ‘………. are all students of English. Breno teaches English to all of ………. . These books are ……….. . We all do ……….. exercises by ………. ’.
6) Mary and ………. son live in London. ……….live in ……….own house. I gave ……….some flower plants for ……….garden. They look after ……….garden by ………., but the hard work is always ………. [of Mary]. The garden ………., is really very nice.
7) That black dog hurt one of ……….legs. ……….hurt …….when ……….jumped from the wall. Now ……….is happy because I gave a bone to ………. .
8) [Charles is a self-taught person] ……….taught guitar to ………. . One of ……….best friends gave a red guitar to ………. . This blue electric guitar is also ………. .
SCIENTIFIC TEXT
Unfortunately the chances of any animal becoming a fossil are not very great, and the chances of a fossil then being discovered many thousands of years later are even less. It is not surprising that of all the millions of animals that have lived in the past, we actually have fossils of only a very few.
There are several ways in which animals and plants may become fossilized. First, it is essential that the remains are buried, as dead animals and plants are quickly destroyed if they remain exposed to the air. Plants rot, while scavengers, such as insects, vultures, and hyenas, eat the flesh and bones of animals. Finally, the few remaining bones soon disintegrate in the hot sun and pouring rain. If buried in suitable conditions, however, animal and plant remains will be preserved. The same chemicals which change sand and silt into hard rock will also enter the animal and plant remains and make them hard too. When this happens we say that they have become fossilized. Usually only the bones of an animal and the toughest part of a plant are preserved.
N.B. The title of this text is HOW TO GET PRESERVED AS A FOSSIL (from ‘DOFF,A. 2003. Teach English. A training course for teachers. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press and The British Council, 286p’ with some modifications).
1.1 QUESTIONS (give short answers)
1. How old are most fossils?
2. Do most animals become fossilized?
3. Do most fossils get discovered?
4. An animal or a plant dies. What’s left?
5. Will the remains become a fossil?
6. What has to happen?
7. And if it isn’t buried, what happens?
8. What is it destroyed by?
9. What do insects do?
10. What are scavengers?
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