BASIC ENGLISH REVIEW
3.1 TREATMENT OF VERBS ENDING IN -y AND SOME VERBS ENDING IN -ie
a) In bases ending in a consonant -y, the following changes occur:
carry → carries, carried but carry → carrying
b) In bases ending in -ie, these two letters are replaced by y before the -ing inflection. The verbs are die [= to stop living], lie [= to say something which is not true], lie [to be in a flat or horizontal position], tie [= to attach or hold things together with a string], vie [= to compete strongly with somebody]:
die → dying lie → lying tie → tying vie → vying
3.2 VERBS WITH PREPOSITIONS
3.2.1 VERBS FOLLOWED BY PREPOSITIONS
The verb be, was, been followed by prepositions:
a) Away: ‘I’ll be away for two months’.
b) Back: ‘I’m going out but I’ll be back at six o’clock’.
c) Out: ‘If anyone telephones me, please tell them I’ll be out all morning’.
d) In: ‘I went to Robert’s house but he wasn’t in’.
e) Over: ‘Why don’t you forget about it? It’s all over’. [it has finished]
f) On: ‘What’s on at the Shopping Centre cinema?’.
g) Up: ‘My wife is ill. She can’t start work yet. She is not up to it’. [she is not capable of it]
Observe that we can change the position of the prepositions in (bold type) in some sentences:
a) ‘He gave away all his books’ = ‘he gave all his books away’.
b) ‘He cut off the animal’s head’ = ‘he cut the animal’s head off’.
c) ‘Help me to lift up this table’ = ‘help me to lift this table up’.
d) ‘They pulled down the old building’ = ‘they pulled the old building down’.
e) ‘She threw away all her old books’ = ‘she threw all her old books away’.
a) ‘He put on his coat’ = ‘he put his coat on’.
But we cannot change in other verbs/sentences:
a) ‘She woke up her children early this morning’.
b) ‘He is looking for his keys’.
c) ‘Give it back to her’.
d) ‘Take off your labcoat and put on your raincoat’.
e) ‘I am looking at the pictures’.
f) ‘Send him away or he will cause trouble’.
g) ‘Make up your mind’.
h) ‘He asked for permission to leave’.
3.2.2 GERUNDS AFTER PREPOSITIONS
a) Gerund form must be used when a verb is placed immediately after a preposition: ‘I insisted on seeing her’ / ‘He is good on telling lies’ / ‘I am used to waiting for you’ / ‘We had a lot of difficulty in finding the samples’.
b) Used in short prohibitions: ‘No smoking’ / ‘No trespassing’ / ‘No spitting’. Also used in the saying: ‘Seeing is believing’.
c) Many verbs take the gerund. Let’s see some: ‘I am looking forward to reading that book’ or ‘I am looking forward to seeing you soon’ / ‘I am used to working at night’ / ‘He didn’t want to risk getting wet’ / ‘Try to avoid driving in the rush hour’ / ‘They prevented the river (from) flooding the town’ / ‘Forgive me for interrupting you’ / ‘She suggested waiting’ / ‘Would you mind waiting a few minutes’? / ‘I came late and missed seeing him’ / ‘Stop talking’.
3.2.3 SUBJUNCTIVE
A special kind of present tense with no –s in the third person singular: ‘It is essential that every child have the same educational opportunities’. ‘We insisted that she be in charge’. ‘If I were you I should stop smoking’. ‘The judge recommended that he remain in prison for at least three years’. ‘I wish it were Saturday’.
SCIENTIFIC TEXT
Water scarcity has been surfacing more and more as a serious global issue in recent years. That scarcity has caused significant business disruptions across all sectors and geographies, and with all the associated technical, economic, political, environmental and social implications. This reality is projected to worsen in the future, as a result of climate change and demographics.
The UN Human Development Report 2006 stresses this critical issue: “Better access to water and sanitation would act as the catalyst for a giant advance in human development, creating opportunities for gains in public health, education and economic growth”. Experience from the climate change debate has shown that translating awareness to specific action takes many years.
There is a major challenge in catalysing effective action on a global level. Government play an important role in helping to mitigate and adapt to the challenge, but so does the private sector, through individual company actions and through innovative public-private partnerships.
Such partnerships can offer a useful solution. Since late 2005, the Forum’s Water Initiative has focused on creating networks in South Africa and India. The objective has been to catalyze ideas for public-private water infrastructure projects and shape them into well-developed, bankable project propositions, and financing plans.
[Title of this text: Promoting a global dialogue on water. Reproduced from Poliedro – Sistema de Ensino – Inglês, 2010, p. 51]
QUESTIONS [Check the Answers in the end]
1. According to the text, we cannot say that water scarcity, worldwide:
A has affected businesses.
B has been debated lately.
C has improved the climate.
D has had social implications.
2. The word does (third paragraph, third line) can be best interpreted as:
A catalyzes effective action.
B challenges the adaptation.
C innovates partnerships.
D plays an important role.
3. The organization of this text is in the form of:
A arguments for and against.
B hypothesis and proof.
C problem and solution.
D sequence of descriptions.
4. We can say that the text argues in favour of:
A adaptation.
B financing.
C opportunities.
D partnerships.
ANSWERS:
1. C
2. D
3. C
4. D
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