LET’S PRACTISE ENGLISH – Chapter VI

Starting with the continuation of

SOME REASONS NOT TO MESS WITH A CHILD:
2. A Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child’s work. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was. The girl replied: “I’m drawing God”. “But no one knows what God looks like”. Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied: “They will in a minute”.

BASIC ENGLISH REVIEW


6. PREPOSITIONS (I)


6.1 IN / ON / AT (PLACE)

6.1.1 IN
In a room // In a building // In a box // In a garden
In a town / city // In a country
Some examples: ‘ There’s no one in the room // in the building // in the garden’. ‘What have you got in your hand // in your mouth?’ ‘When I was in Italy I spent 5 days in Venice’. ‘When we were in England we lived in a small village in the mountains’. ‘Look at those people swimming in the pool // in the sea // in the river’. ‘He was born in (the island of) Cuba’. But ‘Robinson Crusoe was on an uninhabited island ( the island is small)’.
We say that somebody or something is: ‘In a line // in a row // in a queue // in a street // in a photograph // in a picture // (look at yourself) in a mirror // in the sky // in the rain / in the sun (= sunshine) // in the shade // in bad weather // in the world // in a book // in a newspaper // in a magazine // in a letter (but on a page and at the top or at the bottom of a page) // write in ink // write in pencil // in words // in figures // in CAPITAL (= BLOCK) LETTERS // in cash)’. But ‘pay by cheque or pay by credit card // in love (with somebody) / in my opinion’.

6.1.2 ON:
On the left // On the right // On the ground floor // on the 1st floor ...
On a map // on the menu // on a list // On a farm

On a river (on a boat) // on a road // on the coast (on the Northeast or North-east  coast of Brazil) // on the beach (but at the seaside).
Other uses: on television // on the radio // on the phone // on a diet // on strike // on fire // on the whole (= in general) // on purpose.

6.1.3 AT
a) At the window (standing at the window) // at the door (somebody knocking at the door) (but in the window = in the frame of the window).
b) At the shop (turn left at the shop, at the roundabout, at the church) // at home (‘I was at my friend’s house’) (but ‘there are five rooms in his house’) // at the Municipal Theatre // at the company’s headquarters // at the Rex (cinema) // at the airport, at the bus station, at the train station // at the hairdresser’s // at the doctor’s.

6.2 OTHER USES OF IN, ON, AT (SOME ‘SPECIAL DIFFICULTIES’)
a) At the age of ... // at the speed of ... // at a temperature of ... .
b) In the corner of a room // at or on the corner of the street
c) The front and the back
In the front and in the back of a car. Example: ‘When the car crashed I was in the front and my children were in the back of my car’. But we say: at the front / at the back of a building / cinema / group of people etc; examples: ‘the garden is at the back of the house’; ‘let’s sit at the front (in the cinema)’ (but ‘in the front row’).
On the front // on the back of a book, letter, piece of paper etc; example: ‘write your name on the back of this envelope’.
d) Compare in, at and on:
d.1) ‘There were a lot of people in the shop’ // ‘Go along this road, then turn left at the shop’.
d.2) ‘There is a notice on the door: it says ‘Do Not Disturb’ ’.
d.3) ‘I usually take the bus at the bus station, at a small village close to London’.
d.4) ‘I have good friends in Recife and in Paris’.
d.5) We say that somebody is in bed // in hospital // in prison.
d.6) We say that somebody is at a party // at a conference // at a concert // at the meeting // at a football match.

6.3 IN / AT / ON (TIME)

Compare the use of in, at, and on

AT:
At 5 o’clock // at midnight // at night // at lunchtime // at sunset’ // at the weekend // at weekends // at Christmas // at Easter // at the moment [see below ‘in a moment’] // at present // at the same time (N.B. ‘What time did you arrive’? (in this case it is not usual ‘at what time’ ...?’)).

ON:
‘They arrived on Friday // on 30 September, 1999 // on my birthday // on Christmas day // on New Year’s eve’.
On time: ‘The 11:45 bus left on time’. ‘We’ll start at 3 o’clock. Please be on time’.

IN:
In time: ‘Will you be back in time for dinner’? ‘I want to get home in time to see the football match on TV’ (the opposite would be too late).
‘They arrived in October // in (the) winter // in 1964 // in the 19th century’.
‘We’ll be back in a few minutes’ // ‘I’ll finish my fieldwork in six months’ // ‘She’ll be here in a moment’ (these are ‘time in the future’). ‘My wife learnt to drive in four weeks’.
In the morning(s) // in the afternoon(s) // in the evening(s). But on Friday morning // on Saturday evenings.
DO NOT USE at // on // in before last // next // this / every : ‘I’ll see you next Friday’. ‘He had his thesis viva last June’ [viva voce examination = oral examination]. ‘She will be back this coming year’. ‘I go to the cinema every Thursday in the evening’.

6.4 OF / FROM (SOME EXAMPLES)

OF:
a) The genitive (= related to possession)
Used especially with inanimate nouns: ‘the title of the book’; ‘the interior of the room’.
b) Especially in writing, the ’s is replaced by of-genitive: ‘The son of a man I know has just been arrested’.
c) We can say: ‘The government’s decision’ or ‘The decision of the government’.
d) Of is normally used with: ‘the beginning of // end of // top of // bottom of // front of // back of // middle of // side of ... . Examples: ‘the back of the car’; ‘the beginning of the month’; ‘the bottom of the sea’; ... .
e) Common uses: ‘the city of New York’; ‘the pleasure of meeting you’; ‘the caatingas of the Northeastern  or North-eastern  Brazil’; ‘the wines of France’; ‘the gravity of the earth’; ‘the degree of doctor’; ‘a statement of the facts’; ‘the owner of the restaurant’; ‘part of the problem’; ‘the height of the tree’; ‘a friend of mine’; ...

Genitive case: some comments
The following four animate noun classes take -s genitive:
a) Personal names: Admiral Tamandaré’s statue’; ‘Oxford’s pupil; João Pessoa’s city fair.
b) Personal nouns: ‘the student’s lab coat’; ‘my colleague’s computer’.
c) Collective nouns: ‘the government’s decision’; ‘the nation’s social security’.
d) Higher animals: ‘the horse’s tail’; ‘the lion’s hunger’.
Geographical and institutional names:
e) ‘Brazil’s future’; ‘the university’s history’; ‘São Paulo’s water supply’; 'the water's edge; ‘Paraíba’s Senator’.
f) Temporal nouns: ‘a moment’s thought’; ‘a week’s holiday’; ‘today’s work’.
g) Nouns of special interest to human activity: ‘the brain’s volume; ‘the mind’s development’; ‘science’s influence’.
In expressions relating to premises or establishments: ‘I shall be at Bill’s [= ‘where Bill lives’]; ‘I shall be at the dentist’s’ [= it means his / her professional establishment].
Other genitive cases:
a) ‘John’s Mary’ [never say ‘Mary of John’].
b) In a few expressions: 'a stone's throw'; 'journey's end'.
c) ‘His memory is like an elephant’s’.
FROM:
Source, origin: ‘I borrowed a book from a friend of mine’; ‘I am from João Pessoa’; ‘He comes from Italy’; ...

6.5 EXERCISES
Put in the appropriate preposition (at, in, on, to, into)
1) The truck (lorry) crashed ........ a parked car.
2) I have spent the day ........ Recife.
3) What’s the easiest way to get ......... Fortaleza?
4) I met her ........ a concert?
5) Stop shouting ........ me!
6) She opened the door and shouted ........ me: switch off the lights, please.
7) I got married ....... October. My youngest son was born ........ 1993; to be precise ........ a Tuesday, ........ 6th July, ........ 10 o’clock ........ the night.
8) ........ what time will you be back?

Write the preposition that is needed (or not  ):
1. Don’t approach ….. the dog. 2. I arrived ….. the station at six.
3. If you don’t know, ask ….. John. 4. She’s very good ….. languages.
5. Congratulations ….. your success. 6. The bus crashed ….. a tree.
7. It all depends ….. the weather. 8. I’d like details ….. your courses.
9. Let’s discuss ….. your plans. 10. I divided the cake ….. three parts
11. Why is she dressed ….. black? 12. Nobody entered ….. the room..
13. This is an example ….. his work. 14. There is no increase ….. prices.
15. I’m interested ….. most sports. 16. He was very kind ….. her.
17. The soup lacks ….. salt. 18. I’m looking ….. a place to live.
19. He has to look ….. his mother. 20. My sister is married ….. a builder.
21. She married ….. him last year. 22. He wasn’t very nice ….. me.
23. Have you paid ….. the drinks? 24. We need proof ….. his story.
25. What’s the reason ….. the change? 26. You remind me ….. your brother.
27. Who’s responsible ….. security? 28. I didn’t take part ….. the meeting.
29. Could you translate this ….. Greek? 30. That’s just typical ….. you.
31. I’m reading a novel ….. Dickens. 32. ….. my opinion you’re wrong.
33. Who’s the man ….. the picture? 34. I love walking ….. the rain.
35. Don’t talk ….. that silly voice. 36. The answer’s ….. page 29.


SCIENTIFIC TEXT
Researchers and public-health officials have long understood that to maintain a given weight, energy in (calories consumed) must equal energy out (calories expended). But then they learned that genes were important, too, and that for some people this formula was tilted in a direction that led to weight gain. Since the discovery of the first obesity gene in 1994, scientists have found about 50 genes involved in obesity. Some of them determine how individuals lay down fat and metabolize energy stores. Others regulate how much people want to eat in the first place, how they know when they’ve had enough and low likely they are to use up calories through activities ranging from fidgeting to running marathons. People who can get fat on very little fuel may be genetically programmed to survive in harsher environments. When the human species got its start, it was an advantage to be efficient. Today, when food is plentiful, it is a hazard.
N.B. Text from www.nytimes.com. Reproduced from Poliedro – Sistema de Ensino – Inglês, 2010, p. 97.


QUESTIONS [Check the Answers in the end]

1. In the text, the central idea is that:
A... obesity should be genetically treated
B... fat people may use different formulae to lose weight
C... fat regulates our feeling of satiety
D... genes contribute to obesity
E... researchers are discussing the consequences of obesity

2. According to the text:
A... today’s obesity may be linked to evolutionary factors
B... the human species is programmed to eat as much as possible to survive
C... the ingestion of large quantities of food was an advantage in the past
D... obese people have some advantages over slim people
E... very little food is necessary to survive in some environments

3. In the text, the pronoun others (line 6) refers to:
A... calories
B... individuals
C... energy stores
D... scientists
E... genes

4. Explain why a human being would be able to get energy from little amount of food and if this trait would be useful to him/her?

ANSWERS (to questions 1-2-3):
D
A
E

LET’S PRACTISE ENGLISH – Chapter V

Let’s start with this short series of jokes (with children):
SOME REASONS NOT TO MESS WITH A CHILD:
1. One little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small. The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Irritated the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible. The girl said: "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah".The teacher asked: "What if Jonah went to hell"? The little girl replied: "Then you ask him".


BASIC ENGLISH REVIEW

5. PLURAL

• NOUNS
• VERB CONCORD

5.1 NOUNS

5.1.1 INVARIABLE NOUNS ENDING IN -s [USED WITH SINGULAR VERB]
a) News: ‘The news is bad today’.
b) Some diseases: measles, German measles, mumps, rickets, shingles, rabies
c) Names ending in -ics (usually with singular verb): classics, linguistics, mathematics, informatics, phonetics, economics ... ; but 'his mathematics are weak'.
d) Some games: billiards, bowls, dominoes, darts ...
e) Some proper nouns: Algiers, Athens, Brussels, Marseilles, Wales ...; the United States and the United Nations have a singular verb when considered as units.

5.1.2 PLURAL INVARIABLE NOUNS [USED WITH PLURAL VERB]
Tools and articles of dress consisting of two equal parts which are joined:
bellows* // tongs** // pants
binoculars // tweezers // pyjamas (BrE) pajamas (AmE)
pincers // glasses // pliers
spectacles // shorts // scales
scissors // flannels // tights
shears // knickers // trousers
* For fanning a fire; or for supplying an organ (musical instrument). See the difference: ‘The boys bellows could be heard everywhere’ [to shout in a loud voice]. ‘The boy’s bellows [the tool for fanning a fire or for supplying an instrument] are below those boxes’.
** For picking up and holding things

5.1.3 OTHER NOUNS THAT ONLY OCCUR IN THE PLURAL [WITH AN -s IN THE END]
(the) Antipodes // (the) Middle Ages
annals // oats (the grains of a plant)
archives // outskirts (outer board of a city or town...)(see surroundings)
arms (= weapons)
bans (of a marriage)// particulars (‘note the particulars’)
bowels (= guts)// pains (take pains, to do ...)
brains (= ‘intellect’)// premises (of a building)
clothes (but the plural of cloth is cloths)// regards(=concerning, with respect to)but regard = esteem, affection
contents (of a book ...; but the silver content of a coin)
remains
customs (the customs duty, in an airpot, for example)
spirits (= alcohol; but ‘alcohol is a spirit’)
entrails (= the body internal parts)// surroundings (see outskirts)
goods (a goods train or lorry ...) thanks
guts (= ‘bowels’; but a cat-gut)// tropics (but ‘the Tropic of Cancer’)
heads (‘heads or tails?’) // valuables
holidays (summer holidays, BrE; 'he's on holiday'; 'he's taking a holiday in Brazil')
various (‘various different shapes’;‘various reasons’)
wages (but ‘he earns a good wage’)
means (‘power is not a means, it is an end’; ‘by all means’)

5.1.4 UNMARKED PLURALS (= ‘COLLECTIVE’ NAMES) [USED WITH PLURAL VERB]
cattle // police
folk (but also informal folks)// youth (but it is regular when means 'young man')
gentry
‘ten millilitres of serum was added to’ ...
people (ex.: people are suffering) (but it is regular when means nation: ‘indigenous peoples living in the Amazon’)

5.1.5 VARIABLE NOUNS
Variable nouns have two forms, singular and plural, the singular being the form listed in dictionaries.
a) Treatment of -y: besides the regular spy... spies, there are nouns in -y to which s is added: with proper nouns: the Kennedys
after a vowel: days, boys, journeys
b) Nouns of unusual form sometimes pluralize in ’s:
letter names: ‘dot your i’s’ (= put a dot on the letter i)
numerals: ‘in the 1990’s (or 1990s)’
abbreviations: ‘two DVD’s or DVDs.
c) Nouns in -o have plural in -os, with some exceptions having either optional or obligatory -oes:
Plurals in -os and -oes: archipelago, banjo, buffalo, cargo, commando, flamingo, halo, motto, tornado, volcano.
Plurals only in -oes: echo, embargo, hero, Negro, potato, tomato, torpedo, veto.

5.1.6 COMPOUNDS
Compounds form the plural in different ways
a) Plural in first element
attorney general ...attorneys general
passer-by ...passers-by
mother-in-law ...mothers-in-law
grant-in-aid ...grants-in-aid
man-of-war ...men-of-war
Portuguese man-of-war ...Portuguese men-of war [=CARAVELA, in Portuguese]
mouthful ...mouthsful
spoonful ...spoonsful
b) Plural in both first and last element
gentleman farmer ...gentlemen farmers
manservant ...menservants
woman doctor ...women doctors
c) Plural in last element (= ‘normal’)
assistant director ...assistant directors
boy (or girl) friend ...boy (girl) friends

5.1.7 IRREGULAR PLURALS
a) Many foreign words are involved. It will be helpful the knowledge of Latin and Greek. See the examples:
alga ...algae
amoeba ...amoebae
analysis ...analyses
antenna (electronics) ...antennae (in biology)
axis ...axes
basis ...bases
crisis ...crises
formula (general) ...formulas
formula (mathematics) ...formulae
hypothesis ...hypotheses
meiosis ...meioses
thesis ...theses
b) Latin nouns ending in -us: the plural is -i
Regular plural (-uses): bonus, campus [plural in Latin is campi], chorus, circus, virus etc
Both plurals (-uses or -i): cactus, focus, fungus, radius, terminus, syllabus
Foreign plural (-i): alumnus (a male graduate), bacillus, coccus, locus, stimulus
N.B. The usual plurals of corpus and genus are corpora and genera, respectively.
c) Nouns in -a (Latin): the foreign plural is -ae, as in alumna ...alumnae and alga ...algae
Regular plural (-as): area, arena, dilemma, diploma, drama, etc
Both plurals: antenna, formula, nebula, vertebra
Foreign plural: alga, alumna (a female graduate), larva
d) Nouns in -um (Latin): the foreign plural is -a, as in curriculum ...curricula
Regular plural: agendum, album, chrysanthemum, datum, erratum, museum etc
Usually regular: forum, stadium, ultimatum
Both plurals: aquarium, medium, memorandum, millennium, minimum, septum, serum, symposium
Usually foreign plural: curriculum
Foreign plural: addendum, bacterium, corrigendum, desideratum, erratum, ovum, stratum, medium (as substrate for growing microorganisms)
N.B. Media with reference to the Press. Datum (singular of data) is rare.
e) Nouns in -ex (Latin): the foreign plural is -ices. NOTICE: index ... indexes as a list and lists of contents of books; and index ...indices as a mathematical term.
Both regular and foreign plurals: apex, index, vortex, appendix, matrix
Foreign plural: codex
f) The foreign plural is -es, as in basis ...bases
Regular plural (-ises): metropolis
Foreign plural: analysis, axis, basis, crisis, diagnosis, ellipsis, hypothesis, oasis, parenthesis, synopsis, thesis
g) Nouns in -on (Greek): the foreign plural is -a, as in criterion ...criteria
Regular plural: demon, electron, neutron, proton
Both plurals: automaton
Foreign plural: criterion, phenomenon
[See a good English grammar or English dictionary for French and Italian nouns used in scientific literature].

5.2 VERB CONCORD

5.2.1 SUBJECT VERB CONCORD
a) Use of singular (acting as subject): ‘After the exams is the time to relax’.
b) NOTICE this ‘rule’: ‘A subject which is not definitely marked for plural requires a singular verb’; example: ‘There’s hundreds of people on the waiting list’.
b.1) With singular nouns ending with the -s of the plural inflection (measles, billiards, mathematics ... see 5.1.1 INVARIABLE NOUNS); or conversely with plural nouns lacking the inflection (cattle, people ...); examples:
‘measles is sometimes serious’ ‘our people are complaining’
b.2) With names, titles, quotations etc, plural words and phrases are considered as singular; examples:
‘The Brothers Karamazov is undoubtedly Dostoyevsky’s masterpiece’.
‘Senior Citizens means people over sixty’
c) Singular expressions that have plural verbs: a number of ...; the majority of ...; a couple of ...; a group of ...; a lot of ...; a list of ... .

5.2.2 ‘THE IDEA OF NUMBER’ AND THE PROXIMITY RULE
The idea of number: ‘The government have broken all their promises’
Proximity:
a) ‘No one except his own supporters agree with him’
b) ‘One in ten graduates read and write in English’

5.2.3 COLLECTIVE NOUNS IN BrE TAKE PLURAL (USUALLY SINGULAR IN AmE)
a) ‘The public are tired of demonstrations’
b) ‘The audience were enjoying every minute of his talk’ [it is considered here ‘the individual reactions of members of the audience’]. But ‘The audience was enormous’.

5.2.4 CONCORD OF PERSON
a) Agreement between subject and verb (similar to concord of number):‘Neither you, nor I, nor anyone else knows the answer’.
b) The verb in agreement with the complement:
b.1) ‘What we need most are books’.
b.2) ‘Good manners is a rarity these days’.

5.2.5 NOUN PHRASES COORDINATED BY and, TAKE A PLURAL
a) ‘Tom and Mary are now ready’ [Tom is now ready and Mary is now ready]
b) ‘What I say and what I think are my own affair’ [what I say is ... and what I think is]
c) A conjoining expressing a mutual relationship takes a plural verb: ‘Your problem and mine are similar’.
But a singular verb is used with conjoining which represent a single entity: ‘The hammer and sickle was flying in the Russian flag’.

5.2.6 THE USE OF either ... or REQUIRES SPECIAL ATTENTION
a) ‘Either the Head of Department or his secretary is expected to come’.
b) ‘Either the students or the teachers have misunderstood the problem’.

5.2.7 THE USE OF neither ... nor, IN COLLOQUIAL SPEECH THEY BEHAVE LIKE and
‘Neither he nor his wife have arrived’.

5.2.8 INDEFINITE EXPRESSIONS OF AMOUNT
The proximity rule is also used in the following situations:
a) ... ‘none of them are ...’ ... ‘either of the girls are ...’
b) With the indefinites each, every, everybody, anybody, and nobody (which are undoubtedly singular):
‘Nobody, not even the teachers, were listening’.
‘Every member of that University of 3,000 people were pleased to hear about the salary increase’.
c) ‘A large number of people have applied for the job’.


SCIENTIFIC TEXT
Considerable research indicates that years of exposure to UV-B ionizing radiation in sunlight is the primary cause of squamous-cell and basal-cell skin cancers, which make up 95% of all skin cancers. Typically there is a 15- to 40-year lag between excessive UV exposure and development of these cancers.
Caucasian children and adolescents who get only a single severe sunburn double their chances of getting these two types of cancers. Some 90 - 95% of these types of skin cancer can be cured if detected early enough, although their removal may leave disfiguring scars. These cancers kill only 1 - 2% of their victims.
A third type of skin cancer, malignant melanoma, occurs in pigmented areas like moles. This type of cancer can spread rapidly (within a few months) to other organs, including the liver and brain, and kills about one-fourth of its victims (most under age 40) within five years  despite treatments.
Evidence indicates that white people who get three or more blistering sunburns before age 20, subsequently are five times more likely to develop malignant melanoma than those who have never had severe sunburns. About 10% of those who get malignant melanoma have an inherited gene that makes them especially susceptible to the disease.
To protect yourself, stay out of the sun (especially between 10 A.M. and 3 P.M., when UV levels are highest) and avoid tanning parlours. When you are in the sun, wear sunglasses that protect against UV radiation (ordinary sunglasses may actually harm your eyes by dilating your pupils so that more UV radiation strikes the retina). Glass (the thick glass of a car, for example) absorbs UV rays very effectively. Because UV rays can penetrate clouds, overcast does not protect you; neither does shade, because UV rays can reflect off sand, snow, water, or patio floors. People who take antibiotics and women who take birth control pills are more susceptible to UV damage. Because cell damage is cumulative, a one-hour exposure every day for five days could be as threatening as one long day at the beach.
Apply sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 30 or more (if you have light skin), and reapply it after swimming or excessive perspiration. Babies under a year old should not be exposed to the sun at all.
Become familiar with your moles and warts. The warning signs of skin cancer are a change in the size, shape, or colour of a mole or wart; sudden appearance of dark spots on the skin; or a sore that keeps oozing, bleeding, and crusting over but does not heal.

N.B. The title of this text is: THE CANCER YOU ARE MOST LIKELY TO GET

8.1 QUESTIONS
1. What are the main causes of cancer skin and which forms of cancer people are susceptible to get?

2. How long does it take for someone to bear such kind of cancer?

3. Summarize the comments the author did about melanoma, mainly its relation to skin features, human organs, and inheritance.

4. Which relation exists between use of sunscreen from earlier age and probability to get skin cancer?

5. What does mean SPF and its numbers?

6. Is it correct to say that the author reported in the text that: ‘close to the end of the morning and in the beginning of the afternoon, and in cloudy days, staying under shade will protect you from UV radiation’? Comment on this statement.

7. Which comments the author does about sunglasses?

8. List some symptoms which would justify someone to seek for medical care?


8.2 EXERCISE

1. Use heal (v.) or scar (n.)
a) Even if it ............... it leaves a ............... .
b) He has a ............... on his face due to the wound which delayed to ............... .

2. Can you distinguish inherent (adj.) from inherit (v.) and inheritance (n.)?
a) Many people who get malignant melanoma have an .................... gene that makes them especially susceptible to disease.
b) There is a strong possibility that .................... increases the chances of someone get cancer.
c) We can say that most of skin cancer is .................... to caucasian people who is frequently exposed to UV rays.


3. Use actually or presently
a) People who increased their exposure to sunlight, by moving to areas with sunnier climate and by spending more leisure time exposed to sunlight, are .................... responsible for their own problems with skin cancer.
b) People who take antibiotics and women who take birth control pills are .................... more susceptible to UV damage.
c) Sunscreens [= sun-tan, lotion, oil or cream] with protection factor 15 or higher, are .................... new weapons to prevent blistering sunburns.
d) The skin cancer incidence is .................... rising.

4. Use realize and understand
a) Most people do not .................... that protection factors for sunscreens may not give sufficient protection to anyone. It is important to .................... that a good amount of the product must be applied to skin.
b) I did not .................... he was talking about the experiment; so I did not .................... what I had to do when we got to the field.

LET’S PRACTISE ENGLISH – Chapter IV

Laughter is the best medicine:
1. Do not insult my intelligence or I will turn on the TV
"In a quarrel with her husband in front of a switched off TV, but holding in her hand the remote control, she threatens him: I´m going to switch on the TV in Big Brother Brazil; if I've got to have my intelligence insulted I would rather it were done by experts "
2. I owe my mother:
a) My mother taught me and my brother TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE
"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."
b) My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS
"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."
c) My mother taught me IRONY.
"Keep crying and I'll give you something to cry about."


BASIC ENGLISH REVIEW

4. THE ARTICLES

• DEFINITE ARTICLE
• INDEFINITE ARTICLES

4.1 THE ARTICLE the: WHEN USED AND NOT USED
a) Used before a noun of which there is only one: ‘the earth’; ‘the sea’; ‘the sun’; ‘the weather’.
b)Used with definite specific reference: ‘where is the pen I bought’?; ‘the girl that I met’; ‘the man with the dog’.
c) Used before the noun which represents only one particular thing: ‘I went to the doctor’ [= my own doctor]; ‘please pass the dictionary’ [= the one on the table]; ‘what’s the climate like’? [= the one of the area being discussed].
d) Used before names of seas, rivers, chains of mountains, group of islands and plural names of countries: ‘the Atlantic (Ocean)’; ‘the São Francisco (River)’; ‘the Andes’; ‘the Malvinas (or ‘the Falklands’); ‘the USA’; ‘the Netherlands’.
e) Not used before the names of seasons: ‘in summer, the whales go to the North-east coast of Brazil’; ‘in autumn (BrE; or fall, AmE) the leaves become yellow’; but ‘after the winter is over, the birds will return’; ‘the population size increases in the spring’.
f) When the is used and not used before home, church, market, school, hospital ... : ‘She went home’, but ‘this was the home of her parents for many years’; ‘we go to church to pray’ but ‘I went to the church to see the priest’; ‘we go to hospital as patients’ but ‘he went to the hospital to talk to the doctor’; ‘she went to school’ [= the school as an institution] but ‘her mother went into the school’ [= the school as a building]. The following nouns take the: cathedral, office, cinema, theatre; ex.: ‘he is at the office’; ‘they went to the cinema/theatre’.
g) When the is used and not used: ‘at sunrise/sunset’ but ‘admire the sunrise/sunset’; ‘at dusk’ but ‘we see nothing in the dusk’; ‘at night/by night’ but ‘wake up in the night’; ‘at/before/after lunch/breakfast’: ‘I have breakfast at 7 am’ (BrE; AM, AmE) but ‘I enjoyed the lunch/breakfast’.
h) See the other uses and not uses: ‘from beginning to end’ but ‘from the beginning of the day to the end of it’; ‘from right to left’ but ‘keep to the right/left’; ‘from north to south’ but he lives in the south’.
i) Definite article is used before newspapers: ‘the New York Times’; ‘the Observer’, ‘the Economist’; but not before magazines and periodicals / journals: ‘Scientific American’; ‘Time’; ‘Newsweek’.
j) In unique meaning and partitive meaning: ‘during Easter’ / ‘during the Easter of that year’; ‘in England’ / ‘in the England of Queen Victoria’; ‘in London’ / ‘in the London I like’.

4.2 THE INDEFINITE ARTICLES a AND an :WHEN USED AND NOT USED
a) The form a is used before a consonant or a vowel sounded like a consonant: ‘a man’; ‘a woman’; ‘a hat’; ‘a university’; ‘a useful thing’; ‘a young woman’.
b) The form an is used before words beginning with a vowel: ‘an hour’; ‘an honourable man’; ‘an egg’; ‘an elephant’.
c) The indefinite is used before certain numerical expressions: ‘a couple’; ‘a dozen’; ‘half a dozen’; ‘a thousand’; ‘a million’; ‘a lot of ...’; ‘a great many’. It is used also with few (a small number) ‘a few friends’ and with little (a small amount) ‘a little time’.
d) In expressions of price, speed, ratio ...: ‘ten pence a kilo’; ‘sixty kilometres an hour’; ‘four times a day’; ‘a pound a metre’.

4.3 EXERCISES
A or an ?
1 .....elephant 7 .....half-hour lesson 13 .....hand
2 .....university 8 .....one-hour lesson 14 .....underpass
3 .....umbrella 9. .....useful book 15 .....unit
4 .....ticket 10.....SOS 16 .....CD
5 .....VIP 11.....X-ray 17 .....exam
6 .....honest man 12.....European 18 .....school
N.B. Notice that some of the words above are pronounced as if they start with a consonant. Examples: a university (the letter u sounds like y, a consonant); an SOS (the letter S is pronounced “es”).
Put a/an or one
.....day last year, it was ..... very hot afternoon in June and I was hurrying to get home. I was about ..... hour late; well, to be precise, exactly ..... hour and ten minutes: I had taken the train that arrived at the station at 6:15. Anyway, there was ..... woman standing under the trees, and there were several children with her. I saw ..... child clearly and she was ..... lovely dark-haired girl, but I only heard the others. Suddenly ..... strange thing happened. The girl took some stones and leaves out of her pocket, and threw ..... stone after another into the air.

Put the where necessary
There must be something wrong with me. ..... people usually think that ..... babies are sweet and ..... teenagers are annoying. Not me. I think ..... babies are boring. For me, ..... children are only interesting from about ..... age of two, when you can understand ..... things that they say. But ..... time between ages thirteen and twenty are ..... years that I like best. Oh, it’s difficult at times, but I still prefer talking about ..... money with a teenager to cleaning a baby’s bottom.


SCIENTIFIC TEXT
Most of today’s cities don’t even come close to being self-sustaining; they survive only by importing food, water, energy, minerals, and other resources from nearby and distant farmlands, forests, mines, and watersheds. They also produce enormous quantities of wastes that can pollute air, water, and land within and outside their boundaries.
Urban areas generally have relatively few trees, shrubs, or other natural vegetation that absorb air pollutants, give off oxygen, help cool the air, muffle noise, provide wildlife habitats, and give aesthetic pleasure. ‘Most cities are places where they cut down the trees and then name the streets after them’.
Urbanization alters the local climate. Cities are generally warmer, rainier, foggier, and cloudier than suburbs and nearby rural areas. Tall buildings and paved streets and parking areas absorb heat and obstruct cooling winds. Rainfall runs off so fast that little standing water is available to cool the air through evaporation. This combination of effects creates an urban heat island. Cities can save money and counteract the heat-island effect by instituting tree-planting programs, requiring lighter and more reflective paints and building materials, adding light-colored sand to asphalt to increase reflectivity.
As cities grow and their water demands increase, expensive reservoirs and canals must be built and deeper wells drilled. The transfer of water to urban areas deprives rural and wild areas of surface water and sometimes depletes groundwater faster than it is replenished. Large unbroken expanses of concrete or asphalt can also prevent precipitation from entering the soil to renew groundwater.
Urban residents are generally subjected to much higher concentrations of pollutants than are rural residents. Litter and garbage are abundant in slums and squatter villages, where solid-waste pickup services often don’t exist. These conditions invite the spread of disease.

N.B. The title of this text is: URBAN RESOURCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS


4.1 QUESTIONS

1. Use the appropriate word (on the left) to the sentence:
pleasure ‘Urban areas generally have relatively few trees, shrubs, or other wildlife natural vegetation that ............... air
pollutants,.........oxygen, help
cool .........the air, ..............noise,
provide...........habitat and give
muffle aesthetic ......................’.
give off
absorb

2. What would happen to temperature if reflective paints and building materials were utilized in urban areas?

3. The adjectives of the comparative forms, below, are: warmer..................; rainier..................; foggier.................; and cloudier...................... .

4. Why rural and wild areas might be deprived of water?

5. Match the questions and answers:
1) Why do urban areas have higher temperature? A) Food, water, minerals are
imported from surroundings.
2) Are heat islands created in urban and B) Because water demand
rural areas? increases in cities.
3) Why are rural and wild areas deprived of C) A tree-planting program.
water?
4) Which kind of resources are not provided
by cities? D) Because buildings,paved
streets, parking areas,
absorb heat and obstruct
cooling winds.
5) What would be necessary to absorb
pollutants, cool the air and muffle noise?
E) In urban areas only.


ANSWERS TO QUESTION 5:
1D
2E
3B
4A
5C

LET’S PRACTISE ENGLISH – Chapter III

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

LET’S PRACTISE ENGLISH – Chapter II

BASIC ENGLISH REVIEW

• VERB TENSES: PRESENT, PRESENT PERFECT, PAST, AND PAST PERFECT (SIMPLE AND CONTINUOUS OR PROGRESSIVE)

2.1 TENSE (PRESENT, I do; PAST, I did; FUTURE, I will do)
It means any of the forms of a verb that may be used to indicate the time of the action or state expressed by the verb.

2.2 THE COMMONEST VERB TENSES IN ENGLISH (FOR PRACTICAL PURPOSE):

2.2.1 PRESENT AND PAST TENSES
Present: simple and continuous
Simple: I do [talk about things in general]. ‘I work on ecology.
Continuous: I am doing [the action is not finished]. ‘I’m working now; please don’t disturb! I’m studying English’.[we are interested in the activity.

Present perfect: simple and continuous
Simple: I have done [there is always a connection with now]. ‘I’ve lost my keys. Have you seen them anywhere’?
Continuous: I have been doing [for an activity that has recently stopped or just stopped]. ‘I’ve been doing my homework in English’. I’ve been looking for you all day.

Past
Simple and continuous
Simple: I did. ‘I worked on this subject for some time (or I used to work on this)’ [‘but I do not work on it any more’]. ‘I worked on this subject for some time (or I used to work on this)’ [‘but I do not work on it any more’]
Continuous: I was doing [something was going on around a particular time]. ‘I was trying to repeat my experiment’ [‘when you came in and interrupted me’]. ‘As I was walking I saw Bob’ [‘I am not presently walking’].

Past perfect: simple and continuous
Simple: I had done [to talk about things that happened before this time]. ‘When I got back to the lab I found that somebody had broken the equipment’
Continuous: I had been doing [to say something that had been happening before something else happened]. It had been raining’ [the ‘sun is shining but the ground was wet]. ‘After I had been walking for hours, I decided to stop’.

2.2.2 THE PRESENT: SIMPLE AND CONTINUOUS
SIMPLE, often used with verbs describing states: ‘The group currently consists of’ … [state verbs: agree, assume, believe, belong to, contain, cost, disagree, feed, hate, have, hope, know, like, look, love, own, prefer, realize, regret, resemble, smell, taste]. But the CONTINUOUS is used to emphasize a temporary situation: ‘The animals love having food in the evening’ [they love when they have food in the evening] / ‘The animals are loving having food in the evening’ [They love as they are currently having food in the evening] [with the verbs ache, feel, hurt, look there is little difference in meaning: ‘He feels / is feeling bad’; ‘He looks / is looking tired’.
The present SIMPLE is often used with performative verbs: ‘I admit the fishermen can no more to make profit from fishing’ [other performative verbs: accept, acknowledge, advise, apologise, assume, deny, guarantee, hope, inform, predict, promise, recommend, refuse, suggest, suppose, warn].
CONTINUOUS, used when talking about changes, developments, trends: ‘The growing number of visitors at the reefs is damaging the corals’; ‘People are beginning to realize how difficult it is to exploit that resource’. The CONTINUOUS is used to emphasize that something is done repeatedly (plus words like always, constantly, continually, forever): ‘They are constantly exploiting that resource’.

2.2.3 THE FUTURE FORMS
There is no obvious future tense in English corresponding to the ‘time : tense’ relation for present and past. Instead there are several possibilities for denoting future time.
Present: simple and continuous
Simple: ‘My plane (aeroplane) leaves at 9:30’.
Continuous: ‘I’m leaving the day after tomorrow. The plane is taking off at 11:15’

Modal auxiliary: simple and continuous
Simple: ‘I will arrive tomorrow’. ‘He’ll be here today’.
Continuous: ‘I’ll be travelling this coming Saturday’. ‘I’ll be doing this by tomorrow’. ‘She’ll have finished her thesis by the beginning of January’.

Present with a future meaning (if you are talking about what it has been already arranged to be done, do not use will): ‘I’m going on holiday tomorrow’. ‘Are you working tomorrow’? [never say: ‘Will you work tomorrow?’]. But you can say: ‘Will you be using the centrifuge this afternoon’?
There are other forms of future as follows:
a) Going to do or to happen something: ‘I was just going to prepare the solutions…’. ‘I thought it was going to rain…’ [there was an outside evidence].
b) Future perfect:
‘I’ll have finished all my job by the end of this week’. [this is my belief, guess, knowledge etc.].
c) Some uses of will:
(1) Willingness: ‘He’ll help you if you ask him’. (2) Intention or likelihood: ‘I’ll write as soon as I can’. (3) Insistence or certainty: ‘He’ll do it, whatever you say’. (4) Prediction: ‘He’ll talk for hours’ (specific); ‘Oil will float on water’ (timeless). (5) Habits and typical behaviour: ‘If you throw something away, you will need it the next day’. (6) Threats: ‘Ill hit you, if you do that again’. (7) Promises: ‘You’ll get the analyses results tomorrow’.
‘I won’t stay long. I’m seeing you are busy’. (will + not = won’t)
NOTICE: Would can be used to talk about the past: ‘On Saturdays, when I was a child, we would get up early and go fishing’.
d) Shall is normally used with I and we, and it is used (1) to ask for instructions and decisions: ‘Shall I open the window’? [= ‘do you want me to open it’?]; and (2) to make offers and suggestions: ‘Shall I carry this for you’? ‘What shall I do’? [= what do you suggest me to do?] ‘Shall we go out for a meal’?

N.B.:
In some verbs the final base consonants are doubled before inflections (when the preceding vowel is stressed, represented here by an accent (´): Pérmit  permítting, permitted / Tránsfer  transférring, transférred.
See now with preceding vowel unstressed: énter  éntering, éntered.
There are exceptions in BrE (British English) and in AmE (American English) (see a good English grammar or a good English dictionary).

2.2.3 EXERCISES

1) Write the short form: she's / we aren't etc.
a) She is .......... b) They are .......... c) It is not .......... d) That is ..........
e) I am not .......... f) You are not ..........

2) Put in am / is / are
a) The weather .......... good today. b) I ..........not studying today.
c) This book .......... expensive. d) These books .......... expensive.
e) My colleague Mary and I .......... good English learners.
f) My English teacher .......... at the university. His children .......... at school.

3) Write full sentences. Use is / isn't / are / aren't
a) (your lab coat dirty) .......................................................................................................
b) (Paul an English teacher) ..............................................................................................
c) (the banks not open today) ............................................................................................
d) (my keys in my pocket) ................................................................................................
e) (this room not very big) ................................................................................................

4) Write true sentences, by using am / am not / is / isn't / are / aren't
a) (I / interested in politics) ............................................................................................................................. .
b) (I / hungry) ......................................................................................................................... .
c) (It / warm today) ......................................................................................................................... .
d) (I / afraid of dogs) ..................................................................................................................... .
e) (this room / cold) ....................................................................................................................... .
f) (Brazil / a very big country) ...........................................................................................
g) (scanning microscope / cheap) ................................................................................................................... .
h) (hospital / expensive to be maintained) .................................................................................................................. .
i) (Rome / in Spain) .................................................................................................................... .

Find the right answers for the questions
a) Where's the dictionary? A) Black 1) ..........
b) Is the respirometer cheap? B) No, you aren't 2) ..........
c) Where's your advisor? C) My girl-friend 3) ..........
d) What colour is your bag? D) On the table 4) ..........
e) Who's that girl? E) No, it isn't 5) ..........
f) Am I late? F) In his office 6) ..........

Make questions with these words. Use is or are
a) (at home / your brother?) ................................................................................... .
b) (your parents / well?) ................................................................................... .
c) (interesting / your job?) ................................................................................... .
d) (the banks / open today?) ................................................................................... .
e) (interested in science / you?) ................................................................................... .
f) (near here / the post office?) ................................................................................... .
g) (at school / your children?) ................................................................................... .
h) (why / you / late?) ................................................................................... .

Use the correct tenses [SEE THE ANSWERS IN THE END]
A) Put in the correct tenses (simple present or present continuous):
1. I (think) he’s away ................................................................................... .
2. You (know) what I (mean) ................................................................................ .
3. She (always complain) ................................................................................... .
4. We (always start) at nine ................................................................................... .
5. While the butter (melt), you (take) three eggs and (break) them into a bowl
.................................................................................. .
6. I (think) about your father ................................................................................... .
7. Scientists (believe) the weather (change) ................................................................................... .
8. I (not see) what the problem is ................................................................................... .
9. Why (you look) at me like that? ................................................................................... .
10. Now I (understand) what she wants ................................................................................... .

B) Put in the correct tenses (simple present perfect or present perfect continuous):
1. That man (stand) outside for hours ............................................................................... ... .
2. The church (stand) on that hill for 900 years ................................................................... .
3. Ann (write) letters all afternoon. She (write) to all her friends living abroad .......................................................................................................................................
4. James (go) out every night this week ................................................................................... .
5. How long (you wait)? .................................................................................. .
6. I (wait) long enough. I’m going ................................................................................... .
7. Her family (farm) this land since the tenth century................................................................................................................................................................ .
8. She (only farm) for two years, but she’s doing very well ....................................................................................................................................................................... .
9. I (learn) German for six years ................................................................................... .
10. I (learn) most of the irregular verbs ................................................................................. .
11. My mother (do) all her Christmas shopping .................................................................... .
12. I (do) Christmas shopping all day ................................................................................ .
13. I (clean) the car. Doesn’t it look nice? ............................................................................. .
14. ‘You look tired’. ‘I (wash) clothes all day’ ...................................................................... .

C) Put in the correct tenses (simple past or past continuous):
1. At six o’clock this morning I (have) a wonderful dream, but then the alarm (go) off .......................................................................................................................................
2. This time yesterday I (lie) on the beach ........................................................................... .
3. When I walked in they (all talk) about politics .................................................................................................................................... .
4. I saw Robert when I (come) to work this morning. He (shop) ........................................................................................................................................................................ .
5. She (meet) her husband while she (travel) in Egypt .................................................................................................................................................................... .
6. While I (talk) to Mrs Singleton somebody (walk) into my office and (steal) the computer.......................................................................
............................................................................ .

7. When Jake (come) everybody (stop) talking ...................................................................................................................................................... .
8. I (look) out of the window and (see) that we (fly) over the mountains ................................................................................................................................................................... .
9. I (wake) up to find that water (pour) through the bedroom ceiling .............................................................................................................................................................. .
10. He (break) his leg while he (play) football ................................................................................................................................................................
11. I (go) to see how she (be) and found she was (cry) ................................................................................................................................................................. .
12. She (tell) me she (have) a bad time with her husband ............................................................................................................................................................... .


D) Put in the correct tenses (present perfect or past or past perfect simple / continuous):
The little girl and the wolf [an adaptation by James Thurber Fables for our Time, in Swan & Walter (1997)]: One afternoon a big wolf (1 wait .........................) in a dark forest for a little girl to come along carrying a basket of food to her grandmother. Finally a little girl did come along and she (2 carry .........................) a basket of food. ‘Are you carrying that basket to your grandmother?’ asked the wolf. The little girl said yes, she was. So the wolf (3 ask .........................) her where her grandmother lived and the little girl (4 tell .........................) him and he (5 disappear .........................) into the wood. When the little girl (6 open .........................) the door of her grandmother’s house she (7 see .........................) that there was somebody in bed with a nightcap and nightgown on. She (8 approach .........................) no nearer than twenty-five feet from the bed when she (9 see .........................) that it was not her grandmother but the wolf, for even in nightcap a wolf does not look in the least like anybody’s grandmother. So the little girl (10 take .........................) an automatic pistol out of her basket and (11 shoot .........................) the wolf dead.
Moral: it is not so easy to fool little girls nowadays as it used to be.

ANSWERS TO THE EXERCISES (from A to D):
A) 1 think 2 know; mean 3 is always complaining 4 always start 5 is melting; take; break 6 am thinking 7 believe; is changing 8 don’t see 9 are you looking 10 understand
B) 1 has been standing 2 has stood 3 has been writing; has written 4 has gone 5 have you been waiting 6 have waited 7 has farmed 8 has only been farming 9 have been learning 10 have learnt 11 has done 12 have been doing 13 have cleaned 14 have been washing
C) 1 was having; went 2 was lying 3 were all talking 4 was coming; was shopping 5 met; was travelling 6 was talking; walked; stole 7 came; stopped 8 looked; saw; were flying 9 woke; was pouring 10 broke; was playing 11 went; was; was crying 12 told; was having
D) 1 waited/was waiting 2 was carrying 3 asked 4 told 5 disappeared 6 opened 7 saw 8 approached 9 saw 10 took 11 shot


SCIENTIFIC TEXT

I used to think I could quit checking my e-mail any time I wanted to but I stopped kidding myself years ago. My e-mail program is up and running 24 hours a day, and once I submit to its siren call, whole hours can go missing. I have a friend who recently found herself stuck on a cruise ship near Panama that didn’t offer e-mail, so she chartered a helicopter to take her to the nearest Internet café. There was not in her queue but junk mail and other spam, but she thought the trip was worth it.
I know how she felt. You never know when you’re going to get that note from Uncle Eric about your inheritance. Or that White House dinner invitation with a time-sensitive R.S.V.P.
N.B. Text reproduced from Time, June 10, 2002 (apud Poliedro – Sistema de Ensino – Inglês, 2010, p. 6).

IMPORTANT:
[R.S.V.P. = from French: “répondez si’l vous plait” – written on invitations and means “please reply” (“EM PORTUGUÊS: RESPONDA POR FAVOR”)]
[N.B. = nota bene = from Latin and means “take notice” (“EM PORTUGUÊS: NOTA ou OBSERVAÇÃO”)]

QUESTIONS [Check the Answers in the end]
1. The passage tells us that the writer:
A believes it’s about time he stopped thinking he can break the e-mail habit any time.
B is fully aware that he’s a compulsive e-mail checker.
C used to think only kids wasted whole hours checking their e-mail.
D didn’t think it would take him years to break the e-mail habit.
E thinks that once he’s able to stay away from his e-mail for 24 hours, he’ll get rid of his addiction.

2. Choose the correct translation for “...whole hours can go missing”. (second phrase of this text).
A Não sinto falta das horas perdidas.
B Vale a pena desperdiçar várias horas.
C Sou capaz de perder horas inteiras.
D Posso perder totalmente a noção das horas.
E Não me importo em ficar até altas horas.

3. What did the writer’s friend find when she was able to check her e-mail, according to the passage?
A Unimportant messages.
B The writer’s message.
C An invitation to dinner.
D No message at all.
E Her uncle’s message.

ANSWERS:
1. B
2. C
3. A

LET'S PRACTISE ENGLISH - Chapter I

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?

THE VICTORY AGAINST DENGUE IS COMING UP AT LAST???

[Reproduced from "Creatology", a blog of Gozde Zorlu, published in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN]
Every year, 50-100 million people are infected with the dengue fever virus, which is transmitted to humans through the bites of female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, mainly in South East Asia and South America. With no vaccine and no specific treatment, serious complications arise in around 500, 000 cases and 22, 000 deaths. It is a leading cause of hospitalisation and death among young children and it can place a considerable financial strain on middle to low income families in developing world countries.

So the development of a new control to stop the virus comes as welcome news. Two studies published in Nature show that the spread of dengue fever through a wild mosquito population could be prevented by infecting mosquitoes with a common bacterium called Wolbachia pipientis.

“The presence of the Wolbachia in the mosquito completely blocks the ability of the dengue virus to be able to grow. If it can’t grow in the mosquito, then it can’t be transmitted between people,” said Scott O’Neill, co author of the studies, from the University of Queensland, Australia.

In the first study, the researchers transferred a strain of the Wolbachia bacteria from fruit flies to mosquitoes. They discovered that the bacteria inhibited the growth of the dengue fever virus and had very little effect on the mosquito otherwise in terms of health and lifespan.

The next stage of the research involved the release of 300, 000 mosquitoes infected with the bacteria into the wild in two remote towns in Australia. After five weeks, the researchers found that almost all of the wild mosquitoes were infected with the bacteria.

“There has been intense interest in developing and disseminating mosquitoes that cannot transmit dengue, but the roadblock to this approach has been that mosquitoes modified to resist dengue tend to have lower fitness than wild type mosquitoes and to die out when mixed with wild type mosquito,” said Kathryn Hanley, an associate professor of biology, who was not involved in either study, from the New Mexico State University, USA.

“In this context, the development of a Wolbachia strain that both limits dengue transmission and spreads through a natural population is extremely significant,” she said.

It is uncertain how the Wolbachia is able to suppress the virus but the researchers believe that the bacteria might boost the immune system of the mosquito to help it to fight off the virus or that the bacteria competes for key molecules, such as fatty acids, that the virus needs to replicate. “The jury is still out on which of those two mechanism is critical, or it might be a combination of both,” said O’Neill.
[...]
The researchers hope to test the new approach in endemic countries, such as, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Brazil over the next year.

[More about this can be seen in http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/creatology/2011/08/27/the-fight-against-dengue-fever-continues/]