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LIMBA ENGLEZĂ
CRAIOVA 2013
2
1. INTRODUCING ONESELF AND GREETING PEOPLE
DISCUSSION POINTS
Introduce yourself by answering the following questions. What
is your first name? What is your second name? Have you got a middle
name, a nickname, or a name day? What are you? What’s your
occupation? What are your parents’ names? What is your marital status -
are you married, single, divorced? Have you got siblings? What are their
names? What are they?
Let’s talk about age! How old are you? How old are your parents?
How old is your girl/boy friend?
Let’s talk about where someone is from. What city are you from?
What is the name of your country? Is Romania a foreign country for you?
What is the capital of your country? What is your mother tongue? How
many inhabitants are there in your country?
Talking about friends. Have you got a girlfriend/boyfriend? How
old is she/he? What is her/his name? Have you got friends abroad?
Greeting someone. What do you say when you meet someone for the
first time? How do you greet your friends? What are the greetings in
English?
Spelling. Can you spell in English? Are you familiar with the English
alphabet?
READING
- Good morning! Let me introduce myself to you. My name is Mrs.
Black and I am a teacher. I am your teacher of English. You are
students. You are all my students. You are all freshmen. You are not
teachers. You are all present for our first class. I’m happy to see that
nobody is absent. She is a girl and he is a boy. She is not a woman and
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he is not a man. We are all in the classroom. It is our classroom. It is
not their classroom.
Let’s have a talk in English, to know one another better. Please
answer my questions, will you?
- What are you?
- We are students.
- What is my name and what am I?
- Your name is Mrs. Black and you are our English teacher.
- What are they?
- They are students, too. They are our colleagues.
- What is your name?
- My name is David.
- What is her name?
- Her name is Marianne.
- What is his name?
- His name is Dan.
- What are their names?
- Their names are David, Marianne and Dan.
- Who are you?
- I am Martin.
- How old are you, Marianne?
- I am twenty years old. I’m young. I’m a young woman, you
know. We are all young people.
- Who is he?
- He is Dan. He is my colleague and friend, too.
- How old is Dan? Is he twenty, too?
- No, he is not. He is not twenty. He is nineteen years old.
- How are you today?
- I’m fine, thanks. We are all very well.
- How is your girl friend, today, David?
- She is not so well, I’m afraid. She is not in the pink. She is rather
ill, right now.
- I’m sorry to hear that. How are your colleagues? How are
they?
- Oh, they are all right.
- Where is the teacher, Jane?
- The teacher is in the classroom, and so are we all.
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- What country are you from, Benjamin and what is your native
language?
- I’m from England and English is my native language, of course.
- Where is Martin from and what is his mother tongue?
- He is from Romania and Romanian is his language. English is a
foreign language for him. Martin is from Bucharest. I know Bucharest is
the capital of Romania, as London is the capital of England and Paris is
the capital of France. Bucharest lies in the middle of large fields and it is
situated on the banks of the river Dâmboviţa, in the Danube Plain. My
girlfriend is from France. France is a European country; its people are
French and their language is called French too. The people of the United
States of America are Americans but their language is English, too.
- You are right, Benjamin. But there are still so many differences
between British English and American English. That is why Oscar Wilde
said: The British and the Americans have everything in common, but
English. Tell me, have you friends from foreign countries and what are
their languages?
- I have friends in Italy and their language is Italian, and in Spain
and they speak Spanish. They are my pen friends. The people of
Germany are German and they speak German, the people of Greece are
Greek and their language is Greek. Turkish people are from Turkey and
their language is Turkish. Danes are from Denmark and their language
is Danish as Dutch people are from Holland and their language is Dutch.
Norway is inhabited by Norwegians. Its inhabitants speak Norwegian.
China’s inhabitants are Chinese and Chinese is their mother tongue.
- Very well, thank you.
Dialogue:
- Spell your name, please.
- Shall I spell my first name or my family name (surname)?
- Spell both your first name and your family name.
- My spelling in English is not very good but nevertheless, let me try
to remember. As my name is Mary Brown the spelling of my name is:
[em, ei, a:, wai, bi:, a:, ou, dΛbl ju:, en].
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- Your first name is Mary so, you have a name day besides a
birthday.
- Yes, I celebrate my name day twice a year, in August and in
September.
- Have you a nickname too?
- No, I haven’t, but many people have. Some writers have pen
names. Mark Twain for example. His real name was Samuel Langhorne
Clemens.
- You are right. And some persons are called with a short form of
their names, which is also called a nickname. Dick, for example, comes
from Richard and Will from William.
On the other hand, we know that many family names in English, as
in any other language, represent occupations, colours, things, places,
characteristics, such as: Bush (tufiş), Brown (maro), Carpenter
(tâmplar), Cook (bucătar), Copper (aramă, cupru), Cooper (dogar),
Franklin (răzeş), Ford (vad), Green (verde), Goldsmith (aurar), Hood
(glugă), Hill (deal), Irons (fier), Miller (morar), Millet (mei), Turner
(strungar), Smith (fierar), Shepherd (oier), Scot (taxă, impozit) and so on.
- Good, it’s enough for today. Our lesson is over. See you next week.
Necessary phrases when introducing people
Formal Conversation
Greetings Introductions Good-byes
Sample
sentence
Sample
response
Sample
sentence
Sample
respons
e
Sample
sentence
Sample
response
Hello, Mr.
Johnson.
Hello. Professo
r Butler,
I’d like to
introduc
e you to
my
assistant.
It’s a
pleasur
e to
meet
you. /
Pleased
to meet
you.
It was
nice
meeting
you.
It was
nice
meeting
you too.
Hello,
doctor.
Hello.
Good
morning.
Good
morning.
It was
nice to
see you.
Same to
you.
Good Good
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afternoon
.
afternoon
.
Good
evening.
Good
evening.
Have a
good
day.
Thank
you. You
too.
How are
you?
Fine,
thank
you.
Good
night /
Goodbye
.
Good
night /
Goodbye
.
Informal Conversation
Greetings Introductions Good-byes
Sample
sentence
Sample
response
Sample
sentence
Sample
response
Sample
sentence
Sample
response
Hey. Hi. Hey. Hi. Sheila,
this is
Thomas.
Hi
Thomas.
Nice to
meet
you.
Nice
meeting
you.
You too.
How are
you?
I’m good.
All right.
How are
things?
Pretty
good.
Hi. My
name’s
Thomas.
I’m
Dave.
Nice to
meet
you.
Take
care.
How’s it
going?
OK. Not
bad.
I’m off. OK, bye.
What’s up? Nothing
much.
Not a
whole
lot.
Nothing
special.
Not
much.
So long.
What’s
new?
See you.
What’s
happening?
See you
later.
What are
you up to?
Bye.
What’s
going on?
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GRAMMAR REVIEW
THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE
The indefinite article a / an:
is placed before the nouns it determines:
e.g.: a teacher, a headmaster, a student, a classroom;
a is pronounced [ei] when it is stressed and [∂] when it is
before a word beginning with a consonant, a semivowel (w, y),
a vowel with a consonant sound or before u pronounced like
'you' in 'youth':
e.g.: a good teacher, a woman, a year, a European county, a
unit of measurement;
an, pronounced [∂n], is used before words beginning with a
vowel or a mute h:
e.g.: an English book, an accountant, an hour;
has the same form irrespective of the gender and case of the
noun it determines;
does not precede nouns in the plural;
is not used with uncountable nouns;
is not placed before the names of the meals, except when these
are preceded by an adjective:
I never have breakfast. She prepares dinner for her family.
The indefinite article is used:
before nouns that refer to a profession, occupation, trade,
nationality, religion and before: man, woman, child:
I am a teacher. He is an Englishman. My husband is not a
Catholic. Our English teacher is a woman not a man. They have a
child.
when it refers to an unknown or unimportant person:
A Mr. Brown looked for you yesterday.
when a comparison is made:
She considers herself to be a Queen Victoria.
after: such, what, half:
Such a beautiful weather! What a stupid thing to do! We
talked for half an hour.
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in expressions of quantity, speed, ratio:
60 lei a dozen, a hundred books, a million years, a little
money, 120 kilometres an hour, three times a week.
The indefinite article is used in a great number of phrases.
a great many, a lot of, as a matter of fact, at a loss, for a short/ long
time, in a hurry, it is a pity!, once a day/week/year, to cut a good figure,
to go for a walk, to make a mistake, to take/have a rest, to have a seat,
two/three/ four ... at a time, What a good idea you have!, What a shame!,
What a tiny world!
POSSESIVE ADJECTIVES
PERSON SINGULAR PLURAL
I My Our
II Your Your
III His
Her
Its
Their
Possessive adjectives in English:
are placed before nouns:
my relatives, your opinion, his file, her associate, its shape,
our reasons, your co-workers, their arrival.
do not change their form irrespective of the gender and
number of the noun they determine;
my wife/husband/child/children.
are used with clothes and parts of the body:
my coat, her slippers, your hand.
can be followed by own to add emphasis:
their own contribution.
REMEMBER!
Its is used for animals or things but, if the sex of the animal is
known, his/her would often be used.
Mind the form of its as a possessive adjective - without an
apostrophe; it’s (with apostrophe) means it is;
Nouns accompanied by possessive adjectives bear no article:
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my English partner, your appropriate behaviour, her bad
language.
THE PRESENT INDICATIVE OF THE VERB TO BE
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE/
NEGATIVE
I am / I’m I am not/ I’m not Am I (not)?
You are/ you’re You are not/ aren’t Are you (not)? / aren’t
you?
He is/ he’s He is not/ isn’t Is he (not)? / Isn’t he?
She is/ she’s She is not/isn’t Is she (not)? / Isn’t she?
It is/ it’s It is not/ isn’t Is it (not)? / Isn’t it?
We are/we’re We are not/ aren’t Are we (not)? / Aren’t
we?
You are/you’re You are not/ aren’t Are you (not)? / Aren’t
you?
They are/ they’re They are not/ aren’t Are they (not)? / Aren’t
they?
REMEMBER!
The only situation when the verb to be is conjugated with the
auxiliary to do is in the Imperative - Negative form:
Don’t be so cruel to him! Don’t be late to school! Don’t be sorry!
TO BE is normally used to denote the existence of, or to give
information about the status or profession of a person or thing:
The students are diligent. Her husband is the Manager
Assistant. That bracelet is made of gold.
REMEMBER!
To be is always used to express age in English:
How old are you? I’m 20. I’m 20 years old (never say: I’m 20
years.)
How old is your son? He is 25. He is 25 years old.
How old are your children? They are both eleven. They are
both eleven years old
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Price is also expressed with the verb to be:
How much is this book?
It’s 2 dollars.
How much are these shoes?
They are 100 dollars.
To be plus infinitive construction can be used to express:
a future plan:
Professor Smith is to give a lecture next week. We are to meet
our friends tomorrow. My son is to marry in October.
The President is to make a statement tomorrow.
an order, instructions:
You are to stay here until I come! They are to learn the grammar
rules. No one is to smoke inside this building.
To be in phrases:
to be hungry, to be thirsty, to be cold, to be hot, to be warm, to be
right, to be wrong, to be sorry, to be afraid, to be at a loss, to be fond of, to
be late, to be early, to be in a hurry, to be over, to be through, to be in the
pink, to be on, to be about to, to be worth, to be particular about.
THE PLURAL OF NOUNS - I
English nouns can be:
- common: woman, building, cat, computer;
- proper: Ireland, Manchester, Mr. Brown, Mary:
- abstract: belief, friendship, justice, anger;
- concrete: river, mountain, tree;
- collective: family, committee, crowd, team, group;
- countables: armchair, bed, desk;
- uncountables: sugar, coffee, meat, knowledge, advice, tennis.
Gender:
- masculine - nouns designating men or male creatures;
- feminine - nouns designating women or female creatures;
- neuter: inanimate things, animals and babies whose sex we
don't know.
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EXCEPTIONS: Vehicles, when personified or regarded with affection, as
well as countries referred to by name are considered feminine in
gender:
England was famous for her navy. She was a fine car.
Note: a noun which designates both males and females is of common
gender - cousin, spouse, parent, relative, baby.
As a rule the plural of English nouns is made adding s to the
singular:
SINGULAR PLURAL
student students
teacher teachers
boy boys
girl girls
book books
Nouns ending in ch, sh, s, ss, x, zz and o preceded by a
consonant form their plural by adding the ending es:
SINGULAR PLURAL
bench benches
bush bushes
boss bosses
bus buses
box boxes
buzz buzzes
potato potatoes
When the ending ch is pronounced [k] the nouns form plural
by adding s:
SINGULAR PLURAL
Czech Czechs
epoch epochs
loch lochs
Words of foreign origin or abbreviated words that end in o add
s to form the plural:
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SINGULAR PLURAL
concerto concertos
dynamo dynamos
soprano sopranos
kimono kimonos
piano pianos
photo photos
kilo kilos
Compound nouns expressed in writing by a single word add
the plural ending - s - to the latter term:
SINGULAR PLURAL
classroom classrooms
schoolboy schoolboys
schoolgirl schoolgirls
blackboard blackboards
armchair armchairs
The same do the compound nouns ending in ful:
SINGULAR PLURAL
cupful cupfuls
handful handfuls
tablespoonful tablespoonfuls
Compound nouns consisting of a noun followed by an adjective
or any other qualifier, whether hyphenated or not, form the plural by
adding the plural ending to the noun:
SINGULAR PLURAL
brother-in- law brothers-in-law
boy- friend boy- friends
passer- by passers- by
looker-on lookers-on
race horse race horses
attorney-general attorneys-general
daughter-in-law daughters-in-law
heir apparent heirs apparent
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notary public notaries public
travel agent travel agents
If none of the components of a compound noun is a noun –s is
added to the last element:
SINGULAR PLURAL
forget-me-not forget-me-nots
grown-up grown-ups
break- in break-ins
Compound nouns formed with the words man and woman
make both terms plural:
SINGULAR PLURAL
manservant menservants
woman doctor women doctors
Nouns ending in - y preceded by a consonant change - y in - i
and add – es in the plural:
SINGULAR PLURAL
city cities
factory factories
party parties
The change does not take place:
when - y is preceded by a vowel: boy – boys, play – plays, day –
days;
with proper names: the Kennedys;
with compound nouns: stand-by – stand-bys.
Letters, numerals and abbreviated words add ’s (apostrophe
and s) to make the plural:
three A’s, the ABC’s, 1990’s, 2’s, OAP’s (Old Age Pensioners),
UFO’s (Unidentified Flying Objects), MP’s (Members of Parliament) VIP’s
(Very Important Persons), PhD’s (Doctors of Philosophy/Philology), pc’s
(postcards)
Still, in contemporary English a more and more
frequent tendency can be noticed of adding, in writing, only s (without
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apostrophe) to form the plural of letters, numerals, and abbreviated
words: three As, the ABCs, 1990s, 2s,OAPs, MPs, VIPs PhDs.
The pronunciation of the nouns in the plural:
[-s] after unvoiced consonants /k/, /f/,/p/,/t/:
books, proofs, lamps, carpets;
[-z] after voiced consonants and vowels:
gloves, tables, boys, trees;
[-iz] after the sounds /s/, /z/ /dз/:
classes, noses, roses, badges.
NOTE: Names of languages and nationalities are always written with
capital letter: Romanian, English, German, Spanish, etc.
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2. LOCATIONS AND DIRECTIONS
WHAT IS THIS? WHAT ARE THOSE?
DISCUSSION POINTS
Talking about where people or things are located. Where is your
university located? What do you call the room we are in? Name the
objects in the classroom and refer to them using the demonstrative
pronouns (this, that, these, those).
Stating where something/somebody is. Where is Romania
situated? Where does Craiova lie? Where is your house?
Imagine a dialogue with a person who wants to get to your house
coming from the railway station. Give him directions to follow.
READING
- What is this?
- This is an office. This office is large, clean and bright. It is very
modern, too. There are a lot of things in this office: two desks and two
chairs for the clerks, two shelves and two computers on each desk. One
computer is on, one is off. This is the door and that is the window. The
door is closed; the window is open and it is opposite the door. This is
the floor and that is the ceiling. There are not carpets on the floor but
there are lamps on the ceiling above the desks. There are lamps on
the desks too. The floor is down, the ceiling is up. The floor is under
our feet, the ceiling is above our heads. Those desks are in front of the
window and those chairs are behind the desks. There are shelves in
this office, too. These two shelves are against the wall and between
them there is a modern clock that tells the right time. There are pots
with plants all over this office. The place is very welcoming.
- What are these, and what are those?
- These are the sheets of paper and those are the files. These
sheets of paper are in this drawer and those files are on those
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shelves. Oh, look! Here’s a drawer full with envelopes, stamps, labels,
glue, paste, paper clips and folders. There are fountain pens, pencils,
ballpoint pens, rubbers and rulers on the desks. There are not
inkstands or inkpots on the desks because nowadays people rarely
write in ink using an old fashioned pen with nib.
- There is a calendar on the wall, but there aren’t pictures.
- Are there posters in this office?
- Yes, there are. There are some posters on the walls of this
office.
- Is there a map, too?
- No, there isn’t. There isn’t any map in this office.
- Is that the computer?
- Yes, it is. That is the computer
- Are these the clerks and secretaries?
- Yes, they are. These are the clerks and secretaries.
- Are those their desks and chairs?
- No, these are. Those aren’t theirs.
Dialogue:
- Excuse me, sir, is there any post office near here?
- Yes, there is.
- Can you tell me the way to the post office, please?
- Certainly. Go straight on, then turn left at the traffic light, go along
for about a hundred meters and there’s the post office.
- Thank you very much, sir.
- Not at all.
Mrs. Barton: Excuse me. I’m looking for Mrs. Green’s room.
Secretary: It’s down this hall - the first door on the right.
Mrs. Barton: Thank you.
ASKING FOR DIRECTIONS GIVING DIRECTIONS
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- Excuse me, can you tell
me the way to the
hospital?
- Go straight on.
- Go straight ahead.
- I beg your pardon, how
do I get to the Art
Museum?
- Go down this road and take the
third turning on the right/left.
- You can take the bus and get off at
the second/at the third/at Patria
station.
- Pardon me! How do I get
to the nearest Post Office?
- How can I get to the
nearest Post Office? Can I
get there by car/by
bus/by taxi?
-You go straight along this road and
take the second turning on the
left/right.
- Keep straight on past the school
and turn to the left/ right.
- Go back for about... metres there’s
the bus stop.
- Am I on the right way to
University?
-Yes, you are./No, you are not.
- Where is the Ministry of
Education?
- It’s right down the street.
- It’s on the right/left hand side of
the street.
- How can I reach to the
nearest Police Station?
Follow this street to the end.
- Is this the way to the City
Hall?
You are going on the right/ wrong
way.
- You are going in the opposite
direction. Go back and take a
taxi/the bus/the tube and get off at
... station.
Prepositions of location
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Preposition Examples
across My apartment is across a river.
after They run after the thief.
among I enjoy being among my friends.
at The secretary is sitting at her desk.
behind The car park is behind the building.
below The shop is below our window.
between
The teacher is sitting between the two
students.
in He lives in South Africa.
in front of
The teacher is standing in front of the
class.
The car is parked in front of the garage.
nearby The bus stop is nearby.
next to / beside / by
In my English lesson I always sit next to/
beside/by my friend. The bank is next
to/beside/by the hotel.
on
The painting is hanging on the wall.
The boy was sitting on the chair.
over/above
The sign hanging over/above the door read
'No smoking'.
I put the tablecloth over the table.
I enjoy watching the planes fly above me.
under / below
The temperature outside was under/below
0.
When flying I enjoy watching the clouds
below me.
Prepositions of movement
Picture Preposition Example
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to He carried the rubbish to the bin.
through The train came through the tunnel.
across He swam across the channel.
along He walked along the road.
down He skied down the mountain.
over They walked over the bridge.
round The arrow is moving round the ball.
into The man poured the sand into the
timer.
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GRAMMAR REVIEW
THE DEFINITE ARTICLE
The, the definite article in English is used for all genders and
for both singular and plural. It is:
is placed in front of the noun it determines;
is read [ð∂] when in front of a word that begins with a
consonant, a semivowel, u in separate syllable and when it
precedes the word one:
the chair, the window, the year, the United States, the one;
is read [ði] when in front of a word that begins with a vowel or
when there is an intention to stress the respective word:
the economist, the English dictionary, ”the” is an article;
is mandatory before nouns accompanied by prepositions:
on the table, in the classroom, in front of the table, behind the
desk.
The use of the definite article is compulsory with:
proper names of rivers, seas, oceans:
the Danube, the Atlantic Ocean, the Black Sea;
hills and chains of mountains:
the Carpathians, the Alps, the Cheviot Hill;
names of institutions:
the British Museum, the National Theatre, the City Hall;
names of hotels:
the Intercontinental Hotel, the Savoy, the Marriott;
names of ships:
the Titanic;
names of newspapers:
The Daily Mirror, The Times, The New York Times, The Guardian;
names of deserts, bays, capes and proper names formed with
the word “of“:
the Sahara, the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Mexico, the Cape of
Good Hope, the United States of America;
family names in the plural: the Browns, the Smiths.
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NOTE: the + name in the singular + preposition can be used to
distinguish between two persons who bear the same name:
I am talking about the Mr. Brown who is a clerk.
nouns of plurality:
the poor, the rich, the dead, the old, the blind;
abstract nouns:
the beautiful, the good, the sublime;
unique nouns:
the Sun, the Moon, the Earth, the sky, the universe, the present,
the past, the future;
nouns that denote a class of animals or things (the noun man
used to refer to the human race is not articulated):
the lion, the fir tree, the whale;
titles that contain the word of:
the Duke of Normandy, the Queen of England;
BUT: Lord Nelson, Captain Hook.
names of instruments:
to play the piano, to play the violin, to play the guitar;
times of the day: in the morning, in the afternoon, in the
evening;
BUT: at noon, at midnight
ordinal numerals, adjectives and adverbs in the relative
superlative and the word only:
the first, the second, the best way, the only way.
The definite article in phrases:
all the year round, at the beginning, at the same time, by the hour, in
the country, in the mountains, on the right/ left, on the whole, he day
after tomorrow, the day before yesterday, to tell the time, to tell the truth,
Many happy returns of the day!
THE ZERO ARTICLE
The use of the zero article is compulsory with:
proper names of places or persons except for those mentioned
above:
Romania, Bucharest, Mary;
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a noun preceded by possessive adjective:
my book, their books, his dictionary;
the names of the meals of the day:
Breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper are the four meals of
the day.
names of games:
to play football, to play golf, to play tennis;
the words bed, church, hospital, court, prison, school,
college, university, institute when visited or used for their primary
purpose: to bed – to sleep, to church – to pray, to hospital – as patients
or doctors, to prison – as prisoners, to school/ university/ college/
institute – as students/ pupils/ teachers; still the words university and
institute are often accompanied by article.
NOTE! When these places are visited or used for other purposes
the use of the definite article is compulsory. With the verbs to be, to get
back, to leave the above mentioned nouns are unarticulated: to be at
hospital, to get back to prison, to leave university;
the word home when used alone, not preceded or followed by
a descriptive word or phrase:
Are you at home?
the days of the week, the months of the year and seasons:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
Sunday are the days of the week. January is the first month of
the year. I like spring because it is a beautiful season.
the noun mankind;
Mankind is struggling for peace.
names of continents, countries, states, provinces, towns:
Europe, Australia, France, Canada, California, Transylvania,
Moldavia, Bucharest.
Exceptions: the Argentina, the Congo, the Sudan, the United States of
America, the Hague, the Netherlands, the Yemen.
nouns that demote substances, materials, colours:
Chalk is a white substance white. Gold and silver are
precious metals. Yellow is my favourite colour.
proper names denoting persons when accompanied by: young,
old, little, poor, dear, honest, pretty, lazy, silly:
poor John, dear Kitty, lazy Jim.
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names of subjects and languages:
English is not an easy language. We study English at school.
abstract nouns: life, happiness, death, knowledge:
Life is beautiful. Happiness is relative. Death is inevitable.
Knowledge is power.
the preposition by and the means of transport:
by car, by bus, by train, by tube.
common nouns associated with cardinal numerals:
Lesson 2; Room 34; Floor 4.
NOTE: Nouns denoting the days of the week, months of the year,
seasons, substances, materials, subjects, languages, colours, abstract
notions and proper names of person accompanied by the adjectives
young, old, little etc. have definite article if some further information
about them is given are preceded by the indefinite article:
Sunday is a dull day for me but the Sunday we spent together was
a wonderful day.
Life is difficult but the life of this poet is impressive. Chalk is white
but the chalk on the blackboard is red. Breakfast is usually a light meal
but the English breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The
poor Mr. Black whom we all know died last week.
uncountable nouns: sugar, coffee, oil, chocolate, milk, tea.
the nouns: father, mother, grandfather, grandmother.
nouns considered in generic sense: I like coffee. Sugar is sweet.
Children love toys.
DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES AND PRONOUNS
DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES
THIS [ðis] Read this! Read this book!
THESE [ði:z] Read these! Read these books!
THAT [ðæt] Take that! Take that book!
THOSE [ðouz] Take those! Take those books!
REMEMBER!
The Demonstrative Adjectives, like all the others adjectives in
English, always precede the noun.
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THERE IS, THERE ARE CONSTRUCTIONS
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
( NEGATIVE)
There is/
There’s
There is not/
There isn’t
Is there (not)? /
Isn’t there?
There are/
There’re
There are not/
There aren’t
Are there (not)?/
Aren’t there?
When a noun representing an indefinite person or thing is the
subject of the verb be (meaning exist/happen/take place) we normally
use a there + be + noun construction.
There is no longer an adverb when it is followed by the forms
of the verb to be.
The Romanian equivalents of these constructions are: se află,
este, sunt, se găseşte, se găsesc .
There is a teacher in the classroom. There are students, too.
There is not a bookcase in the classroom. There are not
dictionaries on the desks.
Is there a fountain in the centre of the town? No, there isn’t.
Are there any theatres in your town? Yes, there are.
The there construction can be used with other auxiliaries + be
or seem + be, or other verbs such as: to live, to come, to appear, to occur.
There must be a better way. There may be times when we are
powerless to prevent injustice. There seems to be no good reasons for all
these. Once upon a time there lived a man...There came a day when he
had to leave.
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3. EXPRESSING POSSESION
I HAVE MY DICTIONARY. WHOSE IS THIS?
DISCUSSION POINTS
Use of this is, that is plus possessives. Speak about the place where
you are now. Name the objects you have got on your desks.
Describing a house. Where is your house/flat situated? Describe
your house referring to its rooms and the furniture in every room using
the phrases there is, there are.
Asking about school facilities. Is your university a public or a
private one? Has your university got a library? Has it got a phonetic lab,
too? Is your university supplied with computers? Where are they placed?
What do you understand by ’modern conveniences’? Has your house
got all the modern conveniences?
Comment on the following proverbs: A man’s house is his castle.
There’s no place like home.
READING
- David, what have you got on your desk?
- I have got a dictionary. It‘s an English- Romanian dictionary.
- Whose dictionary is it?
- It is my dictionary. It is mine.
- Whose conversation guidebook is this? Is it your conversation
guidebook? Is it yours?
- Yes, it is mine, too. It is my conversation guidebook.
- My daughter has got a computer at home. She has not got a
typewriter. It is her computer. It is hers. What has she got?
- Your daughter has got a computer.
- What has your boy friend, Maria?
- He has a car. He has got a car. It is his car. It is his. His car is
new.
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- Whose car is that? Is that car yours? Is it yours? Is that car
yours?
- No, it isn’t mine. It is his car. It is his.
- We have got a laboratory at the University. This is our
laboratory. What have we got?
- We have got a lab. It is a phonetic lab. We listen to English tapes
here. This is our phonetic lab. This lab is ours. Our University has
also got a library with lots of books in it. We borrow books and
dictionaries from our University’s library, in order to study them. The
librarian lends us books and takes care that we return them in due
time.
- My neighbours have a new house. Their house is cosy and
beautiful.
- Whose house is that?
- That is their house. It is theirs. Listen to its description:
- We live in a new house and I want to tell you about this. Let me
show you around our house!
- Our house is on a quiet street in a district on the outskirts of
the town. As a matter of fact, all kinds of modern houses have been
recently built in this district. Some of them are many-storied but most
of them have only one storey. Ours has two storeys – the ground floor
and the first floor.
- On the ground floor we have the dining-room, the living-
room or sitting-room, as the Americans say, the kitchen, the larder,
the hall and a lavatory.
- On the first floor there are the three bedrooms, for the children
and for the parents, and the bathrooms.
- We have new, modern furniture in every room: new armchairs,
a sofa, a chest of drawers, bookcases and a TV- set on a TV stand in
the living-room, new kitchen cabinets, a table, stools and chairs in
the kitchen, a dumb waiter, a sideboard and a big dining table with
six chairs in the dining – room, new wardrobes, beds and night tables
in the bedrooms, beautiful Persian carpets on the floor and curtains
at the windows, lamps and sconces on the ceiling and walls. Old
paintings hang on the walls. In the hall there is a stand, for hats and
umbrellas, and a mirror.
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- We also have all the modern conveniences in our house:
electricity, gas, running water, central heating and a telephone. Its
roof is made of tile.
- The house has a garden in front of it and a small orchard at the
back of it, where we plant flowers and fruit – trees.
- Has your house a garage?
- Of course it has, at one side of it.
Read the following text and decide which of the two situations is
preferable:
Is It Better to Rent or to Buy?
There are many advantages of owning your own house. But
there are some disadvantages, too.
We will discuss some of the advantages, first.
If you own your house, you can repair it and remodel it without
getting someone else's permission, you can decide what colours to
paint the rooms and what kinds of rugs to have, you can sell it for more
than you paid for it. Last but not the least, you can provide a place for
your family to live for a long time.
Now let's discuss some of the disadvantages.
If you own your house, you must, pay for and fix everything
that breaks, you must take care of the outside of the house, as well as
the inside, you must pay property taxes. And finally, you must pay all
the insurance and utilities (heat, lights, water, trash pick-up).
Dialogue: “ROOMS AND FURNITURE“
Student: Hello. Is it 193809? Is that Mrs. Connor?
Landlady: Speaking.
Student: Good afternoon, Mrs. Connor. My name’s David Cooper. I
have your address from the student accommodation agency. I
understand you have a room to let.
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Landlady: Yes, it’s right. I’ve got one room still vacant. It’s an attic
room, on the second floor. It’s rather small but very comfortable.
Student: I see. And how much do you charge for the room?
Landlady: The rent is 20 dollars a week.
Student: I suppose the room is furnished, isn’t it?
Landlady: Oh, yes. There’s a bed in the corner, a small wardrobe, an
armchair, a bookshelf, a coffee table and a desk under the window. On
the parquet floor there is a thick carpet. The desk has plenty of drawers
and a lamp on it. There’s a bathroom across the corridor with a wash
basin and a shower, as well as a bathtub.
Student: What about cooking? Can I cook my meals sometimes?
Landlady: There’s a little kitchen next to the room.
Student: Is the room quiet?
Landlady: As it is at the back of the house, and its window looks to
the garden, the room is very quiet. It is bright and sunny, too. Would
you like to come and see it, Mr. Cooper?
Student: Oh, yes. I’m very much interested in the room. It sounds
like the kind of room I’m looking for.
More Dialogues
Robert: Hello. We've just moved into my apartment. We need the
water and gas turned on.
Administrator: OK. What is your name, please?
Robert: Robert Witherspoon.
Administrator: Please spell your last name.
Robert: W - I - T - H - E - R - S - P - O - O - N.
Administrator: Thank you. What is your address, please?
Robert: 178 West Palm Street, Apartment 4b.
Administrator: I'll send someone over tomorrow, between noon and
4 p.m. Will someone be at home then?
Robert: Yes, someone be here. That's fine. Thank you.
Administrator: Hello.
Sandra: Hello. This is Sandra Popa. I want to talk to the landlord.
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Administrator: I'm sorry. The landlord isn't here. I can take a
message.
Sandra: Al right. My sink is leaking and I need it fixed as soon as
possible. Please tell the landlord about that.
Administrator: Where do you live?
Sandra: 124 Trees Avenue, Apartment 2.
Administrator: I'll give him the message as soon as he comes in and
maybe we can get someone over there tomorrow.
Sandra: I can't wait until tomorrow. The whole floor is covered with
water!
Secretary: In this case someone will be there in a few minutes.
GRAMMAR REVIEW
THE PRESENT INDICATIVE OF TO HAVE
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
(NEGATIVE)
I have/ I’ve I have not/ haven’t Have I
(not)?/Haven’t I?
You have/ you’ve You have not/ haven’t Have you
(not)?/Haven’t you?
He has/ he’s He has not/ hasn’t Has he
(not)?/Hasn’t he?
She has/ she’s She has not/ hasn’t Has she
(not)?/Hasn’t she?
It has/ it’s It has not/ hasn’t Has it (not)?/Hasn’t
it?
We have/ we’ve We have not/ haven’t Have we
(not)?/Haven’t we?
You have/ you’ve You have not/ haven’t Have you (not)?/
Haven’t you?
They have/ they’ve They have not/ haven’t Have they
(not)?/Haven’ t
they?
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The verb to have, meaning possess, has also the form have got very
commonly used in spoken English.
I have got a new car. What has he got? What have you got
there?
To have got, however, is not used in short answers and question
tags:
Have you got a dictionary? Yes, I have. She’s got talent, hasn’t
she?
To have can also mean: to take (a meal/food or drink, a bath,
lessons), to give (a party), to encounter (difficulties), to suffer (pain,
illness), to experience, to enjoy. When used with these meanings, to have
is not followed by got, it can be used in the continuous tenses, and its
negative and interrogative forms are made with the auxiliary do.
They have lunch in town every Saturday. We are having a
party this week-end. Did you have trouble with the translation? I’m
having a headache. I’m sure we’ll have a good holiday as we are
visiting Germany.
REMEMBER!
The negative and interrogative forms are formed in two ways:
- with the auxiliary do for habitual actions:
Do you often have dinner so late? No, I don’t.
- simply, by adding not after the verb and by inversion, when
there is not the idea of habit. This is more common in England,
while in other English-speaking countries the do forms are
preferred here, too.
To have can also express the idea of necessity, being an alternative
of the modal must.
The child has to drink milk. We have to be there in time.
To have in phrases:
to have a fancy for, to have a good/great mind to do something, to
have a good /thin time, to have a bash doing something, to have bats in
the belfry, to have butterflies in one’s belly, not to have a bean, to have a
bee in one’s bonnet, to have a heart of gold, to have a heart of stone.
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POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
The possessive pronouns have the same form as the possessive
adjectives to which s ending is added, except for the first person
singular.
In the third person, masculine, singular, the form is common to
both the adjective and the pronouns.
REMEMBER! The possessive pronoun its is not written with
apostrophe; it’s is the short for of it is.
PERSON SINGULAL PLURAL
I Mine Ours
II Yours Yours
III His
Hers
Theirs
INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS AND ADJECTIVES
WHO? WHAT? WHICH?
For persons:
CASE
N. WHO?
Who comes? (pron.)
G.
WHOSE?
Whose is that ruler? (pron)
Whose ruler is that? (adj.)
D.
(TO) WHOM?
To whom are you giving the ruler? (pron.) or
Whom are you giving the ruler to? (pron.)
Ac. WHOM?/WHO?
Whom do you know? (pron.)
WHAT?
What is your friend? (pron.)
What food do you like? (adj.)
WHICH? (implies selection)
Which of these persons do you know? (pron.)
Which person is the manager? (adj.)
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For animals:
WHAT?
What dictionary is that? (adj.)
What do you know about this? (adj.)
WHICH?
Which of these cars is yours? (pron.)
Which car do you like? (adj.)
REMEMBER!
When the interrogative pronoun or the noun preceded by an
interrogative adjective is the subject of the sentence, the predicate in
the interrogative sentence is in the affirmative:
Who comes? What touches her most? Whose book fell down?
If who and what fulfil other functions (direct objects) the
interrogative is made with the auxiliary do:
Whom do you see? What do they say?
This rule applies with how much, how many:
How many students study English?
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4. DESCRIBING THINGS AND PEOPLE
WHAT ARE THINGS MADE OF? WHAT ARE PEOPLE LIKE?
DISCUSSION POINTS
We all come in different SHAPES and SIZES. We all have STRENGTHS
and WEAKNESSES. Comment on these.
Describing what someone is like. Describe yourself from the point
of view of your character and appearance. Who do you take after, your
mother or your father? What are your neighbours/friends/family
members like? How would you prefer your employer to be like? What
qualities do you appreciate in people? Do you consider that appearance
count more than moral traits? Do you judge people by their look? Did it
happen to you to misjudge people? How did you feel about this?
Describing buildings. Describe your town? How would you describe
skyscrapers in New York?
Comment on the proverb: Like father, like son.
READING
When we speak about things or persons we refer to their
shape, size, colour or materials they are made of.
The buildings of a town are high or low, big or small, new or
old, modern or old fashioned, ugly or beautiful. The height of some
buildings may be really astonishing or breathtaking. So are the
skyscrapers in New- York.
The rooms of a building are large or small, dark or bright,
square or rectangular. The doors and windows of a room are wide or
narrow, open or shut.
Furniture is made of wood, metal or straw.
Some figures are round, or oval, or rectangular or square, or
triangular.
Lines are straight or curved, long or short, thick or thin.
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A triangle has three angles and its angles are sharp, or right or
obtuse.
Exercises are easy or difficult but an attaché-case is heavy if it
is full and light if it is empty.
Colours are light or dark, pale or loud. The sky is light- blue at
noon, on a summer day, and dark- blue at night. Grass and leaves are
green but flowers are white, blue, yellow, red, pink or violet. Oranges
are orange, but blackboards are black or grey. The Romanian flag is
blue, yellow and red. The English one is blue and white and red.
People can be young, old, tall or short, fat (plump, stout) or
thin (lean, skinny, bony), strong or weak, ugly or beautiful or
handsome. Men are usually strong and women and children are
almost always weak. I know a lot of people and they are very different
from one another. Some of the people I know are happy, some are
unhappy, some are merry and some are sad, some are good, some are
bad, some are brave, some are coward, some are calm, and some are
impatient, some are interesting and some are awfully boring, some
are bold and some are shy (coy, timid), some are quiet others are
noisy or talkative, honest or dishonest, clumsy or skilful, tidy or
untidy, careful or careless, stupid or clever (smart, intelligent),
lazy or hardworking (diligent or industrious).
Children may take after their parents, and may be like their
father and mother. Sometimes grandchildren look like their
grandparents. If children are twins they are as like as two peas.
Things are made of different materials. My watch is made of
gold. It isn’t made of silver, iron or steel, or plastic. It is waterproof
or shockproof.
My shoes and handbags are made of leather or patent leather
but hoses, or the soles of the footwear and tires are made of rubber.
Some shoes are handmade.
Clothes may be made of cotton, silk, wool, plastic materials.
Gloves may be made of leather, lace, silk or wool. Mirrors and
windowpanes are made of glass. Books, notebooks, newspapers are
made of paper.
Buildings are made of brick, stone, wood, concrete, glass,
prefabricated panels.
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Cutlery may be made of silver, stainless steel or plastic;
plates and cups are made of china or porcelain.
Reading comprehension
People in our society spend thousands of dollars to keep
themselves looking young and beautiful. Taking care of yourself and
keeping a good image is very important, but some people can take it the
wrong way. Some people really get caught up in the beauty myth.
People seem to think that if you are beautiful or handsome, you must be
very intelligent, successful or rich. This is a myth, a lie that was started
in part by the beauty industry, and in part by our own vanity.
Beauty is a myth, its fleeting and like fashion it's seasonal. The
beauty myth promotes an ideal image of the perfect man or woman that
many people aspire to become. It is harmful especially to woman who
often feels pressure to conform. In addition to making people feel
inadquate, the beauty myth encourages people to go on diets or to even
take up plastic surgery.
Today, many people base their ideas about beauty on
advertisements, by imitating Hollywood movie stars or on the opinions
of others. The need to be perceived as beautiful has led to the rise of the
beauty industry - an industry estimated to be worth about $160 billion
dollars. The reason why this is such a profitable industry is that
advertisers play on our fears - the fears of been unsuccessful, of looking
ugly or being unpopular. Most beauty products either make grand
claims that are simply untrue, or their advertisements are misleading
and at times deceiving. In the end, I guess the promise to look beautiful
outweigh reality and clear thinking.
http://www.onlinetutoringworld.com/lessonplans/beauty.htm
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GRAMMAR REVIEW
THE PLURAL OF NOUNS II
Some nouns in English have different forms for plural:
SINGULAR PLURAL
MAN MEN
WOMAN WOMEN
CHILD CHILDREN
FOOT FEET
TOOTH TEETH
GOOSE GEESE
MOUSE MICE
LOUSE LICE
DIE DICE
OX OXEN
Twelve nouns that end in -f or - fe in the singular, form their
plural by changing these endings in - ves.
SINGULAR PLURAL
CALF CALVES
ELF ELVES
HALF HALVES
KNIFE KNIVES
LEAF LEAVES
LIFE LIVES
LOAF LOAVES
SHEAF SHEAVES
SHELF SHELVES
THIEF THIEVES
WIFE WIVES
WOLF WOLVES
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The other words that end in -f, -fe form their plural by adding s
to the singular: beliefs, chiefs, cliffs, safes, handkerchiefs, roofs,
proofs, gulfs etc.
Some words ending in - f, - fe take either s or es in the plural:
SINGULAR PLURAL
SCARF SCARFS, SCARVES
HOOF HOOFS, HOOVES
WHARF WHARFS, WHARVES
REMEMBER!
Certain nouns are always plural in form:
fireworks, stairs, wages, thanks, news, works, outskirts,
damages, goods, wares, greens, premises, quarters,
savings, valuables
branches of knowledge:
mathematics, acoustics, economics, physics, ethics,
politics, social studies;
garments, tools and instruments consisting of two identical parts:
trousers, pyjamas, scissors, binoculars, tongs,
spectacles, glasses, pliers, shears;
games:
cards, billiards, darts, draughts, dominoes;
diseases:
mumps, shingles, rickets, measles.
Used in the plural, fish and fruit indicate several kinds:
Oranges and apples are fruits.
What fishes do you like?
Sheep and deer have the same form for both the singular and
the plural.
All the sheep are white only one sheep is black.
It is forbidden to hunt deer.
The noun game (animal/animals hunted) is always in the
singular and takes a singular verb.
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5. RELATIVES
ALL ABOUT MY FAMILY
DISCUSSION POINTS
Talking about family members: Speak about your family. Say if you
have siblings, where they live, how old your parents/siblings are, what
they do and what they are like. Speak about their appearance and
personality traits, about their hobbies or talents, about their likes and
dislikes. Say if your relatives are your seniors or juniors. Speak about your
wife/husband, about your children and in- laws if you are a married
person. Who is the person in your family you feel attracted to?
What do you call, in English, the person whose first name you bear? If
the person whose name you bear is your’ godfather/godmother’ what is
the word that defines you in relation to them?
Comment on the two sayings: A good friend is my nearest relation.
A good friend is another self. Where is love, there is faith.
READING
Let me introduce you to my family today!
This is my family: my wife, my daughter, my son and I. I am
Mr. Black. My wife is Mrs. Black. I am Mrs. Black’s husband. We have
two children: a boy and a girl. The boy’s name is Robert and the girl’s
name is Mary Ann. My son is seventeen years old and my daughter is
ten. They are both pupils, go to school and learn very well. Robert is
Mary Ann’s brother and Mary Ann is Robert’s sister. Robert is Mary
Ann’s senior by seven years and Mary Ann is his junior by seven
years. Our son is a handsome teenager and our daughter is a very
pretty girl. I am Robert and Mary Ann’s father and my wife is their
mother. We are their parents.
We have a very big house and we live with my wife’s parents.
They are my parents - in - law. My father- in- law and my mother- in-
law, who are old people, are retired on pension. They are very gentle
39
persons and they are very fond of our children, who are their
grandchildren. We respect their old age and seniority. My son is their
grandson and my daughter is their grand daughter.
Children love their grandmother and grandfather very much.
My parents- in- law have two children: a daughter – my wife, and a son
– my brother-in-law, whose name is John. I am their son-in-law, and
their son’s wife is their daughter-in-law.
My brother-in-law is our children’s uncle and godfather at the
same time and his wife is their aunt and godmother, too. They haven’t
got children, so Mary Ann is their favourite niece and goddaughter,
and Robert is their beloved nephew and godson.
On Sundays we, the men of the family, watch a football match
on TV or go fishing and the women do the housework and then chat
over a cup of coffee or tea.
We are a happy family. Our daughter is a little sad because she
has no cousins to play with. Nevertheless, she has a very good friend,
the same age, our neighbours’ daughter, Carla. Carla is as old as our
daughter and they are not only good friends but also schoolmates.
They both attend the same secondary school.
Since last week my daughter has been in the raptures. She has
got two pets – a parrot and a kitten. The white furred kitten is like a
snowball. It plays all day long and at night it sleeps and purrs, curled up
in a basket. The beautifully coloured parrot stays in its cage and, when
Mary Ann feeds it, it pecks grains from her palm.
GRAMMAR REVIEW
PLACE OF QUALIFYING ADJECTIVE
Adjectives have the following characteristics:
are always placed before the nouns they denote;
are always invariable irrespective of the gender and number of
the noun they determine:
a handsome teenager, a pretty little girl, the right answer,
round figures, old people.
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EXCEPTION: the demonstrative adjectives which have different forms
for plural.
There are instances when the adjective follows the noun:
in phrases:
Court martial, first/second/third person singular, Asia
Minor, A major (in music), ’Paradise Lost’;
when the adjective follows after one of the verbs: to be, to
become, to seem, to feel, to get/grow (= to become), to make, to look (to
appear), to turn:
This man is bad. The manager became rich in a few years’
time. Your friend seems sad. I feel cold. She made her
parents happy. The woman looks bored. The clerk got/grew
impatient. The girl turned pale.
in titles or ranks:
Attorney General, Lieutenant General;
when the adjective itself has a complement:
a glass full of wine, a man worthy of respect, the person
responsible for the damage;
when the adjective replaces a possible relative clause:
They bought the best materials available. The system
adopted has a lot of advantages over the system preferred
by our rivals.
NOTE: Both present participles (ing) and past participles (ed) can be
used as adjectives. Present participle adjectives - amazing, encouraging,
fascinating - are active and mean having this effect, past participle
adjectives - amazed, encouraged, fascinated-are passive and mean
affected in this way.
when the adjective expresses dimension or age:
He’s twenty years old tomorrow. Their new car is fifteen
feet long.
NOTE: Certain adjectives - alive, asleep, awake, aware, unaware,
ashamed, alone - are never found in front of a noun, being often
introduced by to be or perhaps some other verb.
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THE GENITIVE CASE
There are two ways to express the Genitive Case in English:
1. The Analytical Genitive or the OF Genitive mainly used
with:
nouns denoting objects or small animals:
the colour of the flower, the title of the book, the cover of the
textbook, the tail of the mouse;
geographical names followed by a proper name:
the City of London, the Tower of London, the Gulf of Mexico;
nouns denoting person names preceded by indefinite or
demonstrative articles
I am a great fan of this actor.
2. The Synthetical Genitive or the ’s Genitive, rendered by
’s (apostrophe and s) or just ’ (apostrophe) is used with singular and
plural nouns not ending in s that denote:
proper and common nouns defining human beings:
Tom’s brother, Mary’s friend, schoolgirl’s name, teacher’s
book, a man’s job, children’s room;
nouns defining countries or continents;
Romania’s population, England’s inhabitants, Europe’s
countries;
initials:
MP’s secretary, VIP’s escort;
nouns defining distances:
a five miles’ distance, at a stone’s throw;
time expressions, expressions of money + worth and other
phrases:
today’s newspaper, a five days’ trip, in two years’ time, a
twenty minutes’ delay, yesterday’s meeting, tomorrow’s
departure, a ten minutes’ break, a pound’s worth of sugar, to
be on a razor’s edge, to my heart’s content, a bird’s eye view,
out of harm’s way;
nouns defining large animals:
lion’s mane, elephant’s ears ;
phrases with for + noun+ sake:
for goodness’ sake, for pity’s sake, for form’s sake;
the noun ship:
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the ship’s crew.
In case two nouns are the possessors of the same object, ’s is
placed after the latter noun: Mary and Dan’s parents.
If the second noun (the possessed object) is one of the words
shop, house, museum, store it is, as a rule, omitted:
at the baker’s (at the baker’s shop), at the butcher’s, at the
grocer’s, at the chemist’s, at Bill’s (= at Bill’s house), at Madam
Tussaud’s ( at Madam Tussaud’s Wax Figures Museum.
In compounds nouns, or nouns consisting of several words ’s is
added after the last component element:
my sister-in-law’s pearls, my dear Aunt Mathilda’s new dress, the
sergeant- major’s uniform, Henry the Eighth’s wives.
Nouns ending in s take only (’):
the students’ hostel, the Smiths’ car, Dickens’ works, Pythagoras’
Theorem, Archimedes’ Law.
There is a form called Double Genitive used when the speaker
wants to insist on the person who possesses rather than the thing
possessed:
a friend of Paul’s, a habit of my doctor’s, a colleague of her
fiancé’s.
This Double Genitive is quite often preceded by a
demonstrative pronoun too, especially when the speaker has a rather
negative attitude towards the thing he is speaking about:
I don’t really like those new friends of Mary’s.
Those new shoes of Valerie’s are really hideous.
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6. DAILY ACTIVITIES
WHAT DO YOU USUALLY DO EVERY DAY
DISCUSSION POINTS
Discussing about daily program. Speak about your daily program,
your job and responsibilities. Are the other members of your family busier
than you are? What do you prefer: chatting with friends, walking, reading
or watching TV? How do you usually spend your weekends?
Do you treasure time? Are there any rules, related to time, you learned
as a child. Speak about something you did and you didn’t want to do. If
you could take back something you did, what would it be?
Do you give a helping hand with the housework? When? What exactly
do you do?
READING
Every weekday, from Monday through Friday, we are very
busy and we work from morning till night.
My husband is a businessman and he runs a factory. He has
great responsibilities towards his employees and their families. He’s
fortunate his best friend assists him with his work, and his assistance
is very helpful to my husband. The period to come is going to be hard
for them, as their factory is about to merge with a smaller one.
As for me, I am a journalist and I work for a local newspaper. A
journalist’s work is very exciting as I consider a journalist is like an
explorer. He always has to find out new exciting facts or data; he has to
sort the false ones from the true ones. The following qualities are
considered to be essential for a journalist: he has to be prompt in
finding out the news and transmitting them, he has to be self-confident,
reliable, impartial, vigilant, alert, open- minded, accurate.
As a matter of fact the press in general should be impartial,
objective and prompt. Moreover, when a journalist’s words or
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statements annoy somebody he has to be able to prove their rightness
and justify them. Once the newspaper printed, nothing can be deleted,
cut out or replaced. A journalist’s style ought to be concise, attractive
and direct. It mustn’t be floppy. My fellow workers and I always
correct the articles we write.
As we have to be at our offices at eight o’clock, we always
wake up at a quarter to seven when we hear the clock strike, we get
out of bed. My husband does his morning exercises and the children
go to the bathroom, wash themselves and brush their teeth, while I
put on my dressing gown and slippers open the windows to air the
bedrooms, make the beds, go to the bathroom and put on my clothes. I
cook breakfast while my husband takes a shower or a bath, shaves
himself, combs his hair and dresses himself. It takes us about forty –
five minutes to wake up and get ready.
We generally eat bread and butter, ham, cheese or
marmalade, or bacon and eggs, and drink coffee for breakfast but our
children drink milk, tea or orange juice.
We leave home at a quarter to eight and go to work by car or
by tram. We can’t walk to work, as there’s a long distance to our places
of work and offices. Children come home at noon, have lunch and, after
a short rest, do their homework. After that, they ride their bikes, play
tennis or games or go for a walk with their friends. My husband and I
have lunch in town. Lunch is a proper time to discuss business so my
husband often has to meet some client and have lunch with him or her
in town. If the day is busy our lunch means just a sandwich. We come
back from work at about five in the afternoon and all the family has
dinner in the evening. After dinner we spend the evening talking with
our children, watching TV, or reading something. At about ten o’clock
we are dead tired and sleepy so we take off our clothes, put on our
pyjamas, set the alarm clock to ring and go to sleep.
We all keep early hours during the week but sometimes, on
weekends, we meet some friends, go to a restaurant or to the theatre.
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Reading comprehension
The Influence of Television and Movies
Going to the movies on the weekends, or watching television
shows in your spare time is so habitual that it's hard to think of another
life without these means of entertainment. Not only do TV shows and
movies entertain us, they provide us with inspiration, valuable news
and timely information - information that powerfully influences our
opinions about life. However, people are now starting to realize that
there is a positive as well as a negative trade-off that television and
movies have in shaping our social and cultural values.
The biggest concern among many educators and parents is that
these means of mass media communication is now been abused by
large companies for commercial purposes. Advertisers fill up so much
of our viewing time with endless television commercials, that they are
effectively turning independent communities into consumer-based
societies. They do this by promoting products and services that is
geared towards blind acceptance, while limiting the need to make
personal choices.
Another problem in our society is the growing evidence that
serious crimes is directly related to seeing it on film or on television.
For example, more and more sex and violence is shown in the movies
and on television - especially in western countries and in the U.S. In
these countries, studies show that television is particularly addictive for
young children and promotes copycat behaviors. Other studies reveal
that censorship laws are ineffective in controlling pornographic and
violent materials from being seen by minors.
One negative influence that television and movies have is in the
increase of criminal acts by minors. Most crimes committed by
teenagers and minors are crimes where they try to live out in real life
what they see on T.V or in the movies.
Nowadays, we need to be proactive in what we choose to watch
- after all the media is now an industry of mass production, shallow
values and stereotypes that have very little, if any positive value for the
modern viewer.
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Some people also believe that people who don't watch
television are happier than those who do watch television, maybe they
are right.
Influence: The way that something or some person is able to bring
about change.
Addictive: Something that is habit forming such as smoking.
Copycat behaviour: Someone who copies the words or actions of
another person.
Proactive: The ability of a person or thing to influence positive change.
Stereotype: To classify a person according to social myths and beliefs
about their background or culture. http://www.onlinetutoringworld.com/lessonplans/tvmovies.htm
Dialogue:
- What do you usually do every morning?
- I wake up at seven o’clock, get out of bed and do my morning
exercises, I like to keep myself fit, you know, then I go to the
bathroom and take a shower. Afterwards I dress, have breakfast
and leave for work.
- How do you get to work?
- If I’m not in a hurry, I like to walk because my office is not far from
my house and it takes me fifteen minutes to get there in time. If I
am late, which rarely happens, I drive in my car because I like to
be early at work.
- What time do you start work?
- I start work at nine o’clock and I can say I work very hard.
- How many hours a day do you work and what time do you come
back home in the afternoon?
- As a rule I work eight hours a day and I come home at about five
o’clock. I have lunch and take a nap. Sometimes I visit my friends
or I invite them to my place.
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William: Hello, Can I ask you some questions for an interview?
Catherine: Yes, I can answer some questions.
William: Thank you for taking the time. Now, first question: What do
you do?
Catherine: I work in a library. I'm a librarian.
William: Are you married?
Catherine: Yes, I am.
William: What does your husband do?
Catherine: He works as a surgeon. He works in a hospital.
William: Do you usually have dinner together?
Catherine: Yes, we do.
William: How often does your husband exercise?
Catherine: He sometimes exercises three times a week. But, he
usually exercises only twice a week.
William: Where do you like going on holiday?
Catherine: We rarely go on holiday. However, we like going to the
mountains if we can.
William: What type of books do you read?
Catherine: I often read romances.
William: Thank you very much for answering my questions.
Catherine: You're welcome!
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GRAMMAR REVIEW
THE SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
(NEGATIVE)
I write I do not /don’t write Do I (not) write?/Don’t
I write?
You write You do not / don’t write Do you (not)
write?/Don’t you write?
He writes He does not / doesn’t
write
Does he (not)
write?/Doesn’t he
write?
She writes She does not / doesn’t
write
Does she (not)
write?/Doesn’t she
write?
It writes It does not / doesn’t
write
Does it (not)
write//Doesn’t it write
We write We do not / don’t write Do we (not)
write?/Don’t we write?
You write You do not / don’t write Do you (not)
write?/Don’t you write?
They write They do not /don’t
write
Do they (not)
write?/Don’t they
write?
The Simple Present Tense follows the patterns:
Affirmative: subject + bare infinitive
Negative: subject + do/ does + not + bare infinitive
Interrogative: do/ does + subject + bare infinitive
The verb takes an s in the IIIrd person, singular, affirmative.
Verbs ending in ch, sh, ss, x, o add an es:
he watches, he washes, he kisses, he boxes, he goes;
When verbs end in y that follows a consonant, y changes into i and
es is added: he carries.
The simple present is used to express:
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habitual actions with adverbs or adverb phrases such as:
usually, generally, often, always, ever, never, every day/ week/ month/
year/, as a rule, on Sundays, etc., or time clauses expressing routine or
habitual actions.
People go to church on Sundays.
Whenever it rains I stay in the house.
general truths:
The Moon moves round the Earth. Dogs bark.
future planned actions:
The tourists visit Bucharest tomorrow.
train, planes schedules, shops timetables;
date: Tomorrow is the 26th of May.
future in conditional sentences type 1 and time sentences:
The manager will be mad if we are late. We shall call you
when / as soon as he arrives.
The Simple Present Tense can also be used:
in newspaper headlines:
MURDERER ESCAPES
with the verb say, when we are asking about or quoting from
books, notices or very recently received letters:
What does that notice say? - It says, Keep off the grass.
it must be used instead of the present continuous with verbs
that cannot be used in the continuous forms.
REMEMBER! The affirmative form of the verb is compulsory if there
is an adverb of negation in the sentence.
We never go to University in weekends.
REFLEXIVE AND EMPHASISING PRONOUNS
PERSON SINGULAR PLURAL
I MYSELF OURSELVES
II YOURSELF YOURSELVES
III
HIMSELF THEMSELVES
HERSELF
ITSELF
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These pronouns are used as objects of a verb when the action
of the verb returns to the does, in other words when subject and object
are the same person:
He shaves himself. They blame themselves for what happened.
We enjoy ourselves at her birthday party.
The emphasizing pronouns are identical in form with the
reflexive pronouns. They emphasize the subject of the sentence and are
placed after the subject.
He himself did this.
Alternatively the emphasizing pronouns can be placed after the
object, if there is one:
I baked the cake myself.
When it emphasises another noun it is placed immediately
after it:
We spoke to the Mayor himself.
NOTE! When preceded by the preposition by they mean: singur,
singură, singuri, singure.
I do the homework by myself. The children don’t wake up by
themselves unless the alarm clock rings. Mother lives by herself.
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8. WORK, PROFESSIONS, OCCUPATIONS, TRADES
WHAT’S YOUR PROFESSION
DISCUSSION POINTS
Discussing about career fulfilment. Why is it important to find out
everything you can about the job you want? What do you know about
your future job? Explain what you imagine economists or accountants do.
Do you consider this profession will give you satisfaction and you will be
truly successful in performing it? To what extent do you consider that the
working environment is important and getting stuck in a routine is
dangerous?
Discussing about job security. Where would you like to work after
graduation? Enlarge upon the advantages of working for an established
organization, upon the promotion opportunities a position must grant
and the idea that a job needs to stretch one’s abilities. Why is it important
to find out everything about the company that employs you? Would you
be able to be your own boss and run your own business as soon as you
graduate, or you consider experience is important? How much risk are
you willing to take in this respect? Which is, by your opinion, the most
interesting job? What else would you like to be if you hadn’t chosen to be
an economist?
READING
- What is your profession? What kind of work do you do?
- I am a teacher. I teach foreign languages in a language school. The
teaching profession also includes schoolmasters, lecturers,
professors. Teaching is a beautiful profession that brings a lot of
satisfaction.
- I am a chief accountant. I keep the books for a big company.
Economists are specialists in economic problems. My husband is an
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electro- technical engineer. He works in a factory. Others are civil,
mechanical or electrical engineers.
- I, on the other hand, am a doctor, a physician, and my wife is a
medical nurse but the medical profession includes surgeons,
dentists, radiologists, biologists, family doctor, general
practitioner, eye and throat specialists, cardiologists,
paediatrician, psychiatrist, pharmacists, veterinarians and so on.
They all take care of sick people and help them to be healthy again or
get well soon. Doctors help people by operating on them, making tests,
or by prescribing them pills. We must not forget to mention the work of
our colleagues the vets, who take care of animals or people’s pets.
- I am a shorthand typist and I work as a secretary in an office. I
can type, shorthand, work on computer and I speak French, English and
a little German. All this knowledge is important to find a proper job. My
office hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. but whenever it is the case I work
more than that. I have got a full time job but other clerks have part
time jobs. My boss is an engineer and a manager, too. He runs a
profitable business in the food industry and he does a lot of fieldwork.
- I am a lawyer and I defend my clients but the profession of law
includes solicitors, barristers, assessors and judges.
- I am a carpenter. I build houses and make furniture, but a building
– site also employs bricklayers (or masons), plumbers, painters,
glaziers and locksmiths. All these are called skilled workers and I
think these jobs are very important, too. Can you imagine life without
these artisans’ work? I consider it unimaginable.
- I am a journalist and a writer, too. I write articles for a daily
newspaper. As to the books I write, I give them to a publisher after I
correct them. The publisher has a publishing house where printers
print the text books, the grammar books, the guide books, the poetry
books, the essay collections, the novels, the albums and so on and the
bookbinders bind the books in covers. Then, the booksellers sell my
books in bookshops and the librarians, who buy them for the public
libraries, lend them to the readers.
- Some traders offer their services to their clients and customers:
these are tailors, dressmakers, furriers, shoemakers, cobblers,
barbers, hairdressers, watchmakers, photographers, dyers, dry
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cleaners, waiters, cooks, shop assistants, merchants, bakers,
butchers, grocers, greengrocers, florists.
- Actors, actresses, musicians, conductors, players, singers,
conjurers, tamers, clowns, rope – walkers they all entertain people
when they go to the theatre, cinema, opera or circus.
- Anyone who drives a car, a bus, a taxi is a driver, but a train has an
engine driver.
- The profession of arms, also very important because the army
provides security for our native land ever since the world began,
includes officers in the Navy, the Army, the Air Forces and the Police
Force. Someone who serves in these institutions is called a sailor, a
soldier, a fireman, an airman, a policeman or a customs officer.
- I think no one has a profession as beautiful as mine. I am a farmer
and I have my own farm. The farm I owe is in a plain region and it is
very large. I tend and harvest the crops of wheat and maize, I grow pigs,
cows, sheep that give meat, milk and wool and I plant fruit – trees.
- I am a stockbroker. I am a car dealer. I am a freelance writer. I am
a sales representative. I have a small business of my own.
- I am unemployed at the moment. I’m looking for a job right now.
Reading comprehension
Work
There are countless reasons why a person chooses to work
rather than stay home, even if they are economically well off or they
hate their jobs. The most common reason is that everyone needs money
to live on; and second, that work gives people the structure and
purpose that they need to live out their lives.
Some people join different civil branches of the government
and become school teachers, army officers or government officials.
Others join large companies and settle for white-collar jobs. From their
chosen career, these people later learn good habits, discipline and self-
autonomy. These people often end up discoverying their true calling in
life. Others with a mind for scientific and abstract thinking like to
contribute towards making new discoveries. Some artists and
performers work on a freelance basis. They like to showcase their
talents and abilities.
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Lastly, there are businessmen in our society who play a very
important role in helping our country to develop economically. In
retrospect, many of these entrepreneurs took great risks with their
investments to start up new businesses. They are also the happiest
workers, because unlike ordinary paid workers, a good businessman
has the power to control his income, his time and his destiny. http://www.onlinetutoringworld.com/lessonplans/work.htm
Dialogue:
- What do you do? What’s your job?
- I’m a film producer. I make documentary films.
- What are you working on? What are you making at the moment?
- I’m making a documentary about horse racing.
- Where do you work?
- I work at the local hospital.
- Oh, so you are a doctor, aren’t you?
- No, I’m a gardener. I look after the garden around the hospital.
THE ROAD TO WISDOM
The road to wisdom?
Well, it’s plain and simple to express:
Err
And err
And err again
But less,
And less,
And less.
55
GRAMMAR REVIEW
INDEFINITE PRONOUNS AND ADJECTIVES
AFFIRMATIVE
SENTENCE
INTERROGATIVE
SENTENCE
NEGATIVE
SENTENCE
SOME ANY NO
ANY SOME ANY
COMPOUNDS OF SOME, ANY, NO
BODY ONE THING WHERE
SOME Somebody
cineva
Someone
cineva
Something
ceva
Somewhere
undeva
ANY Anybody
cineva (int.)
nimeni (neg.)
oricine (af.)
Anyone
cineva (int.)
nimeni (neg)
oricine (af.)
Anything
ceva (int.)
nimic (neg)
oricine (af.)
Anywhere
undeva (int.)
nicăieri (neg.)
oriunde (af.)
NO Nobody No one Nothing Nowhere
Some and its compound forms are used:
in affirmative sentences:
We bought some meat.
in interrogative sentences where a positive answer is expected
or where there is a doubt:
Did she tell you something about me?
when stress falls on some of the objects mentioned:
Did you do some of the exercises the teacher asked us to do?
in offers and requests:
Would you like something to drink?
Any and its compound forms are used:
in interrogative sentences as equivalents of some and its
compounds:
Is there anybody here? Have you anything in your hand?
in affirmative sentences meaning: oricare, orice, oricine;
with verbs in the negative:
I cannot hear anything.
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with hardly, barely, scarcely:
I’ve hardly seen him, lately.
with without when without any means with no:
He solved the situation without any difficulty.
No and its compound forms are used:
in negative sentences with the verb in the affirmative:
He knows nothing. We go nowhere. I hear nobody. I’ve got
nothing in my hand.
9. EXPRESSING TIME.
WHAT TIME IS IT? WHAT’S THE TIME
DISCUSSION POINTS
Expressing time in English. How can people know the time of the
day? How can they tell the right time? How did people use to measure
time in ancient times? Do you wear a watch? Where do you wear it? Can
you tell the time in English? What is the time by your watch now? What
happens when your watch is slow or fast?
Do you know what GMT stands for? If you don’t, how would you ask
about this in English?
READING
People can tell the time by a clock or a watch. A clock is big and
it usually hangs on the wall or stands on the mantelpiece above the
fireplace. Some clocks are very big, for example Big Ben, the clock on
the House of Parliament in London.
The minute hand of Big Ben is fourteen feet long, and the hour
hand is nine feet long. We can hear Big Ben every night on the wireless
at nine o’clock when it strikes and its sound goes all over the world.
57
A watch is small; we can put one in our pocket or we wear it on
the wrist as it has a strap. On the dial, under the glass we see twelve
Roman or Arabic figures. The figures round the dial mark the hours and
minutes. Each hour may be divided into two halves and four quarters. A
quarter of an hour has fifteen minutes and half an hour has thirty
minutes. A full hour has sixty minutes. Each minute has sixty seconds.
There are three hands on the dial: a short hand for the hours, a long
hand for the minutes and a very long one for the seconds. The wheels
and spring, which are inserted inside the case, move the hands.
My watch keeps good time and only stops when I don’t wind it
up and then I set it right by the radio signal. When my watch is out of
order I take it to the watchmaker, who repairs it. Otherwise, my watch
is neither fast, nor slow.
I don’t consider it is difficult to tell the time in English. First of
all, let’s deal with the hours: we say it’s one o’clock sharp, two o’clock
sharp, three o’clock and so on. We use the letters a.m. (a short form of
the Latin words ante meridiem meaning before noon) and p.m. (a short
form of the Latin words post meridiem meaning after noon). Twelve
o’clock may refer to midnight or to midday.
For the quarters we say: it’s a quarter past five, half past five,
and a quarter to six. We can also say five fifteen, five thirty and five
forty- five when we refer to the times of trains or aeroplanes, shops etc.
Going round the clock and giving all the five minutes from
twelve o’clock to one o’clock we say: five past twelve, ten past twelve,
a quarter past twelve, twenty past twelve, twenty- five past twelve,
thirty past twelve, twenty- five to one, twenty to one, a quarter to
one, ten to one, five to one.
Thus we use the preposition past for the former half hour and
the preposition to for the latter half hour.
- What time is it by your watch? What’s the time by your watch?
- By my watch it is two to two, but my watch is wrong.
- Is your watch fast or slow?
- Sometimes it is a few minutes fast and sometimes it is a few
minutes slow. It does not keep good time. Sometimes it loses,
sometimes it gains. I must take it to the watchmaker to have it
mended.
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- Listen! The clock in the tower is just striking four o’clock and now I
can set my watch correctly.
- Is it four already? Is it that late? Is it as late as that? We have no
much time left to go to the library before the math class so, let’s go
at once.
- You are right. Let’s.
Prepositions of Time and Function
What are you talking about?
She's about twenty years old.
I went to a restaurant after work.
I'll be there at 2 o’clock.
Lucy won't be here before 8 o’clock.
I have to leave by 5 o’clock.
She'll be here for two weeks.
This letter is for you.
I have to work in the morning.
We haven't seen him since Friday.
Do you work on Mondays?
Her birthday is on 20 November.
Where will you be on New Year's Day?
GRAMMAR REVIEW
THE CARDINAL NUMERAL
Cardinal numerals from 13 to 19 are formed with the suffix –
teen added to the numerals from 3 to 9:
13 THIRTEEN
14 FOURTEEN
15 FIFTEEN
16 SIXTEEN
18 EIGHTEEN
19 NINETEEN
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Mind the spelling of 13 - thirteen and 15 - fifteen in
comparison with that of 3 - three and 5 - five.
Cardinal numerals 20, 30, 40 ... 90 are formed with the suffix –
ty.
20 TWENTY 60 SIXTY
30 THIRTY 70 SEVENTY
40 FORTY 80 EIGHTY
50 FIFTY 90 NINETY
Mind the spelling of 20 – twenty, 30 - thirty, 40 - forty, 50 - fifty.
There is a hyphen between tens and units: twenty-one, thirty-four,
ninety- seven.
When writing în words, or reading, a number composed of three or
more figures we place and before the word denoting tens or units:
two hundred and thirty; two thousand and nine; ten thousand, one
hundred and two.
When used as numerals, the words hundred, thousand and million
are never plural:
nine hundred, two thousand, three million.
When used in the singular, the can be preceded by indefinite article
or numeral one.
They must be made plural:
when used as nouns:
Hundreds come to the library every day.
when followed by preposition of:
Hundreds and hundreds of people are in street. Thousands
and thousands of books are deposited in our university’s library.
Millions of people live in this city.
A comma is used instead of the full stop to separate figures: 2,029
(two thousand and twenty nine).
Numerals are used to express:
years:
official style: 1999 – one thousand nine hundred and ninety -
nine;
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spoken language: 1999 – nineteen ninety-nine (figures are
read two by two).
arithmetic operations:
Two plus two is four. Four minus two is two. Two multiplied
by two is four. Four divided by two is two.
phone numbers:
My phone number is 116603 – double one six oh three.
NOTE: 0 is read [ ∂u].
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10. EXPRESSING DATE
WHAT DATE IS IT? WHAT’S THE DATE TODAY?
DISCUSSION POINTS
How can people keep track of days, weeks, and months? Who made
our calendar? How many years are there in a century? What century are
we in? What year did our century begin in? When does it end? What do
you call the year when February has 29 days?
They say that: “This century will be religious or it won’t be at all”?
Comment on this.
READING
As the clock is for the time, the calendar is for the date.
We measure time by seconds, minutes, hours, by days,
weeks, months or years, by decades or centuries, by millenniums.
There are twelve months in a year. Here are their names and
their successive order: January- the first, February- the second,
March- the third, April- the fourth, May- the fifth, June- the sixth,
July- the seventh, August- the eighth, September- the ninth,
October- the tenth, November- the eleventh and December- the
twelfth.
Some months have thirty days, others have thirty-one.
February has only twenty- eight days, but every fourth year, in a leap
year, it has twenty- nine days.
Our calendar was made by Sosigenes at the special request of
Julius Caesar. The month of July was named after Caesar’s name. Later
Augustus named the month of August after his name and he decided to
make August as long as July. He took an extra day off February that was
shortened by one day.
There are fifty- two weeks in a year, or three hundred and
sixty- five or sixty- six days. Seven days, five working-days
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(weekdays) and two holidays form a week. Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday are the days of
the week. Monday is the first day of the week and Sunday is the last.
The English consider Sunday as being the first day of the week so when
they start to enumerate the seven days they start with Sunday not with
Monday. Two weeks make a fortnight.
A day has twenty- four hours. A day is the time it takes the
Earth to move right round its own axis while a year is the time it takes
our planet to move round the Sun. There are two parts in one day- the
day and the night. The period of twenty- four hours is divided into
morning, afternoon, evening and night. A day begins in the morning
and ends in the evening. In the morning the sun rises, in the evening it
sets. The middle of the day is called midday while midnight is in the
middle of the night. We refer to this day as today. The day before today
is called yesterday and the day before yesterday is called the day
before yesterday. We call the day after today tomorrow, and the day
after tomorrow the day after tomorrow. In the morning, until 12
o’clock a.m., when we want to greet people whom we are not friends
with, we say Good morning, in the afternoon, between 12 a.m. and 6
p.m., we say Good afternoon, in the evening, after 6 p.m. till late at
night, we say Good evening. If it is night, and we leave or go to bed we
have to say Good night.
The 1st of January is the first day of the year. December 31st is
the last and it is called New Year’s Eve. One of the greatest holidays for
the Christians, Christmas, is on the 25th of December (or December
25th). People celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our Saviour or
Redeemer.
A year may also be divided into four seasons: spring, summer,
autumn or fall as the Americans say, and the season of snow- winter.
Ten years form a decade and one hundred years form a
century. One thousand years or ten centuries form a millennium. The
third millennium of mankind’s history has just begun.
At present we are living in the first decade of the twenty- first century
A. D. The twentieth century ended some years ago.
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Dialogue:
- What day is today? What’s the date today?
- Today is the 2nd of June 2003. If you don’t know what day of the
month it is, you must look at the calendar.
- When is your birthday?
- My birthday is on September 20.
- When does spring begin?
- Spring begins on March 21st and ends on June 22nd.
- How long does summer last?
- Summer lasts from 22nd of June till September 23rd.
- Have you got a telephone number?
- Of course I have, haven’t you?
- Yes, I have. Will you give it to me, please, in case I must announce
you about any changes in the timetable or other contingencies?
- My phone number is 338805
- Say it again, please, so I can write it down in my pocket book
- Double three- eight- eight- oh- five. As a matter of fact you can find
my phone number in the phone directory.
- What’s your favourite number? Have you got one?
- Ten. That’s the number of our house.
- By the way, can you tell me your address? Maybe I’ll need it.
- It’s 10 Palm Street, Manchester.
Laugh and Learn!
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Some people are playing cards in the drawing room after dinner. At
a certain moment a young lady breaks the silence and asks the others:
- Can you name five days of the week without speaking of Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday?
Nobody can guess. At last the young lady says:
- Here are the five days: today, yesterday, the day before yesterday,
tomorrow, the day after tomorrow.
HOW ARE YOU GETTING ON WITH YOUR MATH? LET’S DO
SOME EXERCISES!
Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are the
four mathematical operations:
How much is/are five and seven? Five and seven is/are twelve.
How much is/are five plus seven? Five plus seven is/are twelve
Add five and seven. Five and seven is/are seven
How much is/are twelve minus six
or six subtracted from twelve?
Twelve minus six or six
subtracted from twelve is six.
Take five from five. Five from five leaves nought
How much is/are four multiplied
by five? or
How much is/are four times five?
Four multiplied by five is
twenty. Or
Four times five is twenty.
How much is/are twenty divided
by four?
Twenty divided by four is
five.
REMEMBER!
1 is a figure. 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on are figures, too.
12 is a number made up of two figures. 2,896 is a number
made up of four figures.
These figures are whole numbers and whole numbers are
called integers.
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Integers are formed of the digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
So we can say that 428 is a number formed of three integers.
Squaring, cubing, or raising to any power are also
mathematical operations.
GRAMMAR REVIEW
THE ORDINAL NUMERAL
The ordinal numerals are formed by adding the suffix - th to
the corresponding cardinal numerals except for 1, 2, 3. They are always
preceded by the definite article the:
the fourth, the seventh, the hundredth, the one thousandth.
The ordinal numerals corresponding to 1, 2, 3 are:
the first, the second, the third.
Notice the spelling of:
the fifth, the eighth, the ninth, the twelfth.
Numerals ending in – y change it for ie + th:
twenty – the twentieth,
thirty – the thirtieth,
fifty – the fiftieth.
In compound numerals it is only the last figure that is an
ordinal numeral:
32nd – the thirty-second,
328th – the three hundred and thirty-eighth,
1001st– the one thousand and first.
The ordinal numerals are used to express date in English.
Titles of Kings are written in Roman figure: Henry VIII, Charles
V, but in spoken English the ordinal numerals are used: Henry the
Eighth, Charles the Fifth.
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11. THINGS YOU CAN, MUST AND MAY DO
DISCUSSION POINTS
Talking about abilities. Every person is good at doing something.
What can you do best? Do you know another meaning of ’can’?
Talking about allowed and forbidden things. Every person is
forbidden to do certain things in public places or at work. What are you
forbidden to do at university, at home or in public places? And what must
you do? Should mobiles phones and camera phones be banned inside
educational institutions? What is your opinion about a violent
environment in schools or at work? Do you consider verbal abuse or
threats, as well as physical attacks, are dangerous? Can they have serious
consequences for employees and for the business? What are the things
you are allowed to do at university and in public places?
How would you translate the sentence ’May peace and prosperity
return to this troubled land’?
READING
- Can you speak English?
- No, I cannot, but I can understand it a little.
- Can your colleagues read and write in English?
- Some of them can do this very well, some can’t.
- Open the text-book read the lesson and translate it! Good. Now,
come to the blackboard, take a piece of chalk and let’s write the new
English words.
- I’m afraid I cannot write very well in English. My spelling is not
good but I can work hard to learn more and catch up with my
colleagues.
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- Yes, you must do this. You must learn how to spell in English.
Spelling is as important as speaking a foreign language well. You all
must do your best to write and speak English correctly. You must do
your homework and other tasks your teacher asks you to. Sometimes
you must copy the texts of the courses and do as many grammar
exercises as you can. And above all, you must be attentive and you
must not be absent. Come to all English courses and don’t miss any!
Listen to English records or to people who speak this beautiful but
difficult language! You may learn to pronounce it well if you listen
carefully. Nowadays, people may be good specialists but, if they
cannot speak and write in English, they cannot find a proper job. So,
you must try to do your best. As you have difficult exams in front of
you at the end of the year you must practice a lot.
- May I ask you a question, if you please?
- Yes, you all may ask any question you want.
- Tell us please, must we buy any dictionaries or conversation guide-
books?
- Yes, you must. You need a dictionary. It may be very useful
because you can find any new word in it. You need not buy grammar
books or other English books yet. Now, let’s speak only English. Let’s
read the text of the lesson again, let’s try to count and answer some
questions.
Dialogue:
- Can you drive a car?
- I can, as I have a driving licence.
- Can your girl friend ride a horse?
- She cannot ride a horse but she can ride a bike.
- I must borrow an English- Romanian dictionary from the library as
I must do a translation and I don’t know all the words.
- You cannot know them all as you are a beginner. If you want, I can
lend you mine. You may come to my place and take it anytime you
want.
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- May I come this afternoon?
- Of course, you may.
- May we open the window? It’s stuffy in here.
- Yes, you may.
GRAMMAR REVIEW
MODAL VERBS
Can, may, must, shall, should, will, would, ought - the modal
auxiliaries - have the following characteristics:
they have no infinitives or participles and therefore cannot be
used in the continuous tenses;
they all, except ought, are followed by bare infinitive:
I can play the piano.
I may leave whenever I want.
I must attend a conference tomorrow.
He should study more. BUT: He ought to study more.
COMPARE WITH!
I want to play the piano.
I want to leave.
I want to be there.
they have no final ’s’ in the IIIrd person singular;
He can swim like a fish.
He may come in.
He must study harder.
they do not form their interrogative and negative forms with
auxiliary ’do’ but by inversion and by adding not to the
affirmative:
- Can he swim?
- No, he cannot / can’t.
- May I take this?
- You may not/ mayn’t.
- Must we go there?
- No, we must not/mustn’t.
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REMEMBER! The negative form of can is spelt cannot.
they have no proper past tenses; four past forms exist could,
might, should, would but they have only a restricted use. For
all the other tenses some equivalents are used:
Can - to be able to
May - to be allowed to, to be permitted to
Must - to have to, to be obliged to.
REMEMBER! Both may and can are used to ask for permission.
May I leave?
Can I leave?
May in the negative shows lack of permission, must expresses
interdiction.
You must not smoke in the baby’s room.
When used as auxiliaries need and dare can conform to the
modal pattern.
Need he buy any dictionaries?
He need not buy them.
PERSONAL PRONOUNS IN DATIVE AND ACCUSATIVE
NOMINATIVE DATIVE ACCUSATIVE
I (to) ME ME
YOU (to) YOU YOU
HE (to) HIM HIM
SHE (to) HER HER
IT (to) IT IT
WE (to) US US
YOU (to) YOU YOU
THEY (to)THEM THEM
Word order in English affirmative sentences follows the pattern:
subject + predicate + indirect object + direct object
I can lend you my pen.
If the direct object in placed in front of the indirect one, this will be
preceded by preposition to:
I can lend my pen to you.
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THE IMPERATIVE MODE
The second person imperative has the same form as the bare
imperative:
Come! Go! Wait! Stop!
For the negative we use the auxiliary do according to the pattern:
Do + not + verb (bare infinitive)
Do not / Don’t come late! Don’t go there alone! Don’t wait
for me!
Don’t be naughty!
The person addressed is very often not mentioned, but can be
expressed by a noun placed at the end of the phrase:
Wipe your feet, John! Be quiet, boys!
The pronoun you id rarely used unless the speaker wishes to be
rude, or wishes to make a distinction:
You go further, I’ll stay here.
Do can be placed before the affirmative imperative; it has a
persuasive character, but also shows irritation:
Do speak!
For the Ist and IIIrd persons singular and plural the imperative -
translated by, (hai) să..., - is used:
Let + pronoun (in Ac.) + verb (bare infinitive)
Let me see! Let us/ Let’s meet and discuss. Let him read! Let
her talk!
Let it sleep on the sofa! Let them come with us!
By let us (let’s) the speaker can urge his hearers to act in a
certain way, or express a decision which they are expected to accept, or
express a suggestion.
In indirect speech, imperative sentences will be rendered with
the full infinitive of the verb if the sentence is affirmative, and with not
+ bare infinitive if the sentence is negative:
Take a sheet of paper!
The teacher tells us to take a sheet of paper.
Write down after dictation!
The teacher asks us to write down after dictation!
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Don’t look in your colleagues’ papers!
The teacher asks us not to look in our colleagues’ papers.
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12. LEISURE ACTIVITIES AND SKILLS
DISCUSSION POINTS
Discussing about leisure time. What’s the Romanian for’ leisure
activity’? And for ’skills’? What do you prefer to do in your leisure hours?
Are you fond of indoors or outdoors activities? Name some of them.
What are your skills? Have you any hobbies? Speak about them.
Henry David Thoreau said: "It's not enough to be busy. The question is:
What are we busy about?” Comment on this.
Are there organisations for children, youths and adults in your city
such as: Sports Clubs and Associations, Cultural Youth Organisations,
Nature and Environmental Organisations?
READING
All the week round we are busy working or studding but on
weekends we relax and enjoy ourselves and we choose to spend our
spare time in different ways.
If the weather is fine we drive our car out of town to the
woods, near a lake where we can go boating, swim, fish, sunbathe and
have a picnic. Shady places under the trees invite you to long appeasing
strolls and I enjoy walking about the woods, picking flowers,
berries and mushrooms, and listening to little birds twitter.
Children love playing games like hide-and seek, leap frog,
blind man’s hood, tennis and football, and running about to gather
wood for the bonfire. When in the open air, they cry and laugh so loudly
that they split our ears. This wouldn’t be pleasant at all if you had a
splitting headache. If the branches or logs the children find are too
thick, my husband takes a little axe, he always keeps in the car’s truck
in his toolbox, and chops and splits them.
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If we choose to spend the weekend at home I love gardening,
digging, planting and watering the flowers in the little garden we
have in front of the house. I have to tell you that we even have a small
greenhouse (hothouse) where we grow flowers and vegetables in
winter. I’m fond of looking after plants and vegetables and, by
keeping them in the greenhouse in winter, we save them from dying.
My husband loves reading books, listening to music, going
to a football match or working on computer. If he is very much
interested in the book or magazine he reads, he peruses it or,
otherwise, he only browses its pages or only skims the publications’
table of contents.
During the summer holiday we enjoy hiking so we go to the
mountains, as climbing mountains is our favourite pastime and in
winter we love skiing or skating, or simply playing with snowballs
and making snowmen together with our children. Oh! It’s lovely to see
the rows of snow-covered fir trees rising themselves towards the sky,
like endless straight columns.
If the weather is bad we choose to go to a concert, to a
theatre play, or to the cinema. It depends on what play or movie is on.
If it is a first night on at the National Theatre we never miss the
opportunity to see it. When we feel like dancing, you know we love
tangoing and waltzing, we invite some friends to a restaurant and
spend the evening dancing, chatting and watching people.
Dialogue:
- Which do you prefer: driving a car yourself or being a passenger?
- Well, that depends. I enjoy driving, especially on long empty roads
where I can go nice and fast. But I’m not very fond of sitting in
traffic jams waiting for light to change and things like that. I
suppose I don’t mind being a passenger but only if the other person
can drive properly.
- So you don’t really like being in other people’s cars?
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- Well, as I say, It’s all right with a good driver. Then I can relax
sitting on the back seat and enjoying the scenery. But yes, you are
right; on the whole, I certainly prefer driving to being a
passenger.
- Tell me what are you good at?
- I am very good at sports. I’m a brilliant footballer, you know in
fact I’m very good at ball games in general. I’m not bad at skiing,
either. The funny thing is that my brother is completely different.
He is a hopeless footballer and skier but he is terrific at chess.
Very good at using his brains.
THOUGHTS
Reading makes a full man
Conference (conversation) a ready man
And writing an exact man.
Francis Bacon
GRAMMAR REVIEW
THE PRESENT PARTICIPLE
The present participle of the verbs is formed by ending – ing
added to the infinitive:
read reading
listen listening
pick picking
The spelling of the present participle:
When verbs end in a single e, this final e is dropped before -
ing:
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write writing
EXCEPTIONS: to age, to dye, to singe and verbs ending in ee - to agree,
to see:
age ageing
dye dyeing
singe singeing
agree agreeing
see seeing
One-syllable verbs ending in a consonant preceded by a vowel
double the final consonant before - ing:
stop stopping
sit sitting
run running
hit hitting
verbs of two or more syllables whose last syllable contains one
vowel and ends in a single consonant double this consonant if
the stress falls on the last syllable:
ad’mit admitting
be’gin beginning
pre’fer preferring
BUT:
budget budgeting
enter entering
verbs ending in – l double this final consonant:
travel travelling
signal signalling
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Verbs ending in – y add -ing without any change in the spelling
of the consonant:
play playing
try trying
hurry hurrying
Verbs ending in– ie transform it to y and add – ing:
to lie lying
to die dying
REMEMBER!
THINGS YOU LIKE TO DO!
Mm!
I like
Verb + ing
I enjoy
I love
I hate
I’m fond of
I dislike
THINGS YOU DON’T LIKE TO DO!
Ugh!
I don’t like
Verb + ing I don’t enjoy
I don’t love
I’m not fond of
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13. WHAT ARE THEY DOING?
DISCUSSION POINTS
Discussing about present actions. What are you all doing now?
What am I doing? Are you sitting or standing? Am I sitting or standing?
Are we speaking or writing? What are we speaking about? What
language are we speaking? Who is writing on the blackboard?
READING
It’s ten o’clock on a Sunday morning. Father is in the dining
room. What is he doing? He is sitting in an armchair, smoking and
reading this morning’s newspaper. He is not watching television. My
brother is in his bedroom. He is opening the window and he is doing
his morning exercises right now. The cassette- recorder is on and he is
listening to his favourite band playing.
What am I doing? I am in the bathroom. First, I’m turning on
the cold and hot water taps and now I’m washing my face my hands
and my body. I’m brushing my teeth with my toothbrush and my
toothpaste. Now I’m drying myself with a towel and I’m combing my
hair. Next, I’m going to tidy up the rooms. I want to give a helping hand
to my mother who is in the kitchen now cooking breakfast. What is she
doing exactly? She is boiling water for tea or coffee, frying some bacon
and preparing some scrambled eggs. She is making some orange juice,
too. I’m cutting some bread in thin slices, and I’m going to toast the
slices.
Now we are laying the table in the dining room. I’m
spreading the table cloth on the table and I’m putting the cups, the
saucers, the plates, the knives, the forks, the little spoons, the paper
napkins. I’m not going to put spoons for breakfast. Father is also giving
a helping hand now and he is bringing in the breadbasket. Mother is
bringing the tray with the coffee pot, the teapot and the jug with
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orange juice. She is pouring the hot drinks in the cups and right now
she is buttering the toast. I’m going to bring in a jar of jam and mother
is going to bring the scrambled eggs, the bacon and some cheese. At this
very moment my brother is coming into the dining room.
- Mm! It smells good. What is there for breakfast Mummy?
- Thanks God, there’s always something to eat for breakfast. Have a
seat and “Enjoy your meal“.
- I’m so hungry that I could eat a horse! And I’m thirsty, too. Will you
pass me some slices of bread? You know, I’m not so very fond of toast.
Mm! The bread is soft. I hate hard bread. May I have another helping
of bread and butter with jam?
- Of course you may. Here you are. Help yourself.
- This coffee is excellent. It tastes excellent. It is hot and strong, but I
think it needs more sugar. I dislike cold, weak, bitter coffee.
- Everything is tasty except for the bacon, which is rather salty and
overdone.
- My dear, mother says to father’s remark, they say that “Earth is
teeming with ungrateful husbands” and you are one of them. Is anyone
going to have some more orange juice? It is sweet, it is not sour and it is
fresh.
- I am, my dear, and please excuse me. I was not going to be rude.
Now that we have finished our breakfast your son and I are going to
clear the table, to do the washing up and dry the dishes. You know, they
say “One good turn deserves another“.
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GRAMMAR REVIEW
THE PRESENT TENSE CONTINUOUS
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
(NEGATIVE)
I am writing I am not writing Am I (not) writing?
You are writing You are not writing Are you(not) you
writing
He is writing
He is not writing Is he (not) he writing?
She is writing
She is not/ writing Is she (not) she writing?
It is writing/
It is not/writing Is it (not) he writing?
We are writing We are not writing Are we (not) we
writing?
You are writing You are not writing Are you (not) you
writing?
They are writing They are not writing Are they (not) they
writing?
The Present Tense Continuous is formed according to the pattern:
Affirmative: subject + to be (present) + verb + ing
Negative: subject + to be (present) + not + verb + ing
Interrogative: to be (present) +subject + verb + ing
The Present Tense Continuous is used with the adverbs: now,
at the moment, in this very moment, today, this week/
month/year..., these days/weeks/months etc.
The Present Tense Continuous tense expresses:
an action happening now:
I am sitting down, because I am tired. Who’s making such a
noise? The professor is giving a lecture. Who are you writing to?
an action happening about this time but not necessarily this
very moment:
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She is teaching at a university in the USA this year.
My children are studying aboard.
an action that is to take place in the near future:
What are you doing tonight? We are meeting our friends at 7
o’clock and we are going to the theatre.
a repeated action that the speaker finds annoying or
unreasonable; the use of always, forever, constantly, continually
is compulsory :
This pupil is always forgetting his exercise book. You are
always complaining about something. She is forever
getting late. They are coming only when I’m busy.
Used with the first person (singular and plural) it shows that
the repeated action is often accidental:
I’m always forgetting to lock the door.
VERBS NOT USED IN THE CONTINUOUS FORMS
MODAL VERBS: can, may, must, shall, should, will, would, ought
to, need, dare.
TO BE when it means to exist;
EXCEPTION: used in the continuous forms, be helps the speaker to
make a momentary characterisation:
You are being boring! You are being cheeky! He is being
rude! She is being very realistic!
TO HAVE when it means to possess;
EXCEPTION: have can be used in the continuous forms when its
meaning is other than to possess:
We are having fun at the party.
He is having breakfast now.
VERBS THAT DENOTE FEELINGS, EMOTIONS: to love, to like, to
dislike, to hate, to prefer, to wish, to please, to hope, to refuse, to
regret, to worship;
VERBS THAT DENOTE MENTAL ACTIVITY: to assume, to know,
to understand, to agree, to disagree, to believe, to think (that) (a
crede că, a socoti că), to suppose, to fancy, to imagine, to intend,
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to mean, to notice, to recognize, to remember, to forget, to seem,
to surprise, to require, to realize, to recall, to expect, to mind.
REMEMBER! Some of these verbs are used in the continuous forms
when they mean:
TO EXPECT - to await:
We are expecting news from him.
TO ASSUME - ‘accept as a starting point’:
I’m assuming that you have time to learn all this.
VERBS OF SENSES (involuntary actions): to feel, to taste, to
smell, to see, to hear, to look (to appear):
Silk feels soft.
Roses smell good.
Pizza tastes good.
Can you see that ship at the horizon?
Can you hear noise at the door?
The clerk looks tired.
REMEMBER! These verbs can be used in the continuous forms when
they are used in their proper meaning: to feel (to touch, to, to experience
something physical or emotional), to smell (to notice or discover
something using the nose), to taste (to put food or drink in your mouth to
find out what flavour it has), to see (to meet or visit someone, to have an
appointment, to have a romantic relationship with someone, to take
someone somewhere by going there with them), to hear (to have news), lo
look:
I am feeling the fabric.
He is feeling tired.
The girl is smelling the roses.
The cook is tasting the food.
I’m seeing the interviewer tomorrow.
He’s seeing his guests to the gate.
You’ll be hearing from me soon.
Why are you looking at me like this?
OTHER VERBS THAT ARE NOT USED IN THE CONTINUOUS
FORMS: to deserve, to own, to possess, to matter, to belong to, to contain,
to keep, to concern, to signify:
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TO COST:
This car costs a lot of money.
BUT:
Food is costing more and more these days. (to get more
expensive)
TO DEPEND ON:
This depends on him.
BUT:
Everybody is depending on him. (to rely on)
TO HOLD (to contain):
This box contains 2o kilograms of flour.
BUT:
The little child is holding his mother’s hand.
GOING TO FUTURE
It expresses the subject’s intention to perform a certain future
action. It refers to the immediate future. The intention is always
premeditated. The Romanian equivalents are: am de gând să...,
intenţionez să..., urmează să..., voi...
It is formed with the present continuous of the verb to go + full
infinitive:
I'm going to buy a new mobile phone next week.
The Near Future is also used with predictions based on what
the speaker sees at that moment:
Look at that car! It is going to crash into the lamp post.
It is cloudy. It’s going to rain.
As a rule, the verbs to go and to come are not used in the near
future; the present continuous is more appropriate:
We’ll use I’m going instead of I’m going to go, and I’m coming
instead of I’m going to come.
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14. SEASONS AND WEATHER
WHAT SEASON DO YOU LIKE BEST?
DISCUSSION POINTS
Talking about seasons, favourite months and holidays. What are
the seasons of the year? What season do you like best and why? Describe
your last summer/winter holiday.
Talking about weather in general and, particularly, in our
country. How would you describe the climate in your country? But at the
North Pole? And at the Equator? Would you like to live in such places? Do
you consider we are privileged to have all the seasons in our country?
READING
Spring, summer, autumn and winter are the four seasons
into which the year is divided and each of it lasts for about three
months.
Spring, the most beautiful season of the year, begins on the 21st
of March and the spring months are March, April and May. Nature
comes to life after the long, cold winter and the days grow longer. Trees
bud and blossom, put on new leaves, the fields and meadows dress in
green, fat grass. Snowdrops, the most gentle flowers, the first spring
flowers raise their tiny heads in the woods. Then the forget-me-not
flowers, the lilies of the valley and the violets appear. Blue, pink and
white hyacinths fill the air with their scent. How lovely they are! Birds
return from the warmer countries and start building their nests again.
The mild air is full of their songs and chirps, of bees’ hum, and of the
beautifully coloured butterflies’ dance. Farmers dig and toil the soil,
sow the seeds and plant fruit trees. April rains are good for the crops.
Last spring we had a busy time as we were in the country at
my parents. We could help them with their work in the garden and in
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the orchard. Children had a good time picking snowdrops in the forest,
running after butterflies in the fields, watching birds building their
nests in the trees or under the roofs. We were all very happy there but
we were a little sad when holidays were over.
Summer the hottest season of the year and the holiday season,
too, comes after spring and we are in summer from June 22nd to
September 21st. In June, the most pleasant month of the year, called
‘Leafy June’ or ‘The Month of Roses’ because trees are in leaf and roses
in bloom, the days are the longest and the sun rises early, earlier than
ever, and sets late in the evening. When July begins the weather is the
hottest; the sun shines brightly in the blue, cloudless sky. However,
now and than dark clouds gather, cover the sun and, out of the blue, it
begins to pour with large, heavy raindrops. We have now storms with
lightning and thunder called thunderstorms. In the heat of the sun fruit
ripe in the orchards and crops are ready for the harvest.
Last summer we were at the seaside. The sun was bright, the
sky was clear, the seawater was warm so we could lie in the sun on
the beach, we could swim, and the children could play in the sand
making sand castles, or picking pebbles and shells. From time to time
there were summer showers and after them the air was fresher. We
had lot of fun and it was a lovely holiday.
Then we went to the countryside. What a beauty!
The cherry trees, the apricot trees and the peach trees were
full with ripe fruit and we could pick and eat them. The fields were
yellow with wheat and maize, and in the gardens there were big juicy
melons and watermelons. Some days were stuffy, dry and dusty, as
there were not many rains last August.
Summer is gone, autumn comes in. It begins on the 21st of
September. September is the calmest and loveliest of months when
pears, apples, plums, nuts, grapes and berries are ripe. But the days
gradually become shorter and the nights longer. The weather is already
cool, the wind blows and it rains very often. The leaves are no longer
green, they turn yellow or red, or brown and they fall down. It’s rather
sad to see the trees strip of their leaves. Rainy winds, cloudy weather
sets in.
Sometimes it is raining cats and dogs, sometimes it is foggy and
the fog is very thick. So was the weather last November and it was
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more pleasant to stay indoors, as the streets were muddy and there
were too many pools of rainwater in the streets and you couldn’t see
anything in front of you. People were cold and wet and they were in
a hurry to get to their homes. Some were slipping and sliding, losing
their foothold. They were not happy to be in the street on such an
awfully bad weather.
Winter is drawing near. Most birds no longer sing, but fly away
to warmer countries. The wind is blowing from the North. It is not
warm, it is cold. It is freezing more and more often and the weather is
frosty. Winter, the season of frost, is here. The days are getting shorter
and shorter and the nights are longer and longer. There are no flowers
in the gardens now and the trees are bare. The sun gives light for only
eight hours and it doesn’t heat the Earth at all. Water turns into ice,
rivers freeze, snow falls thick and covers the houses, the fields, the
trees, everything. Icicles hang on the eves of the houses. It is wonderful
to watch the big, fat snowflakes, which are falling thick and fast.
Sparrows and crows look for their food in vain. It’s more and more
difficult for them to find something to feed themselves.
Last winter we were at the mountains. The snow was good so
we could ski on the ski slopes, we could skate at the skating rink, and
we could make snowmen or play with snowballs. When we were cold
we had hot drinks by the fireplace.
Reading comprehension
Taking a Holiday
A holiday can mean different things to different people. For
some people a holiday simply means getting out of the rat-race to
spend time with family and friends. For people who are more
adventurous, a holiday may mean backpacking to some exotic island or
country. However for most of us, a holiday simply means lying around
on a white sandy beach sipping cocktail and a reading a good book.
Sometimes people don't really know what to do with their
spare time during their days off work. They don't take the time to plan -
to ask themselves what activity they would like to do, who they want to
visit or how much money they want to spend. Instead they wait until
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the last minute before packing up their luggage to travel off
somewhere.
However, if you want to have a good holiday you need to put in
some extra work and plan your holidays far in advance. That way your
vacation remains within your budget, and you will have a more
enjoyable experience.
GRAMMAR REVIEW
PAST TENSE OF THE VERB TO BE
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
(NEGATIVE)
I, he, she, it WAS I, he, she, it
WAS NOT/
WASN’T
WAS I, he, she, it
(NOT)? /
WASN’T I, he, she, it?
You, we, you, they
WERE
You, we, you,
they WERE NOT/
WEREN’T
WERE you, we, you,
they (NOT)?/
WEREN’T you, we, you,
they?
THE PAST TENSE OF THE VERB TO HAVE
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
(NEGATIVE)
I, you, he, she, it, we,
you, they HAD
I you, he, she, it,
we, you, they
HAD NOT/
HADN’T
HAD I, you, he, she, it,
we, you, they (NOT)?/
HADN’T I, you, he, she,
it, we, you, they?
THE PAST TENSE OF CAN
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INRROGATIVE
(NEGATIVE)
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I, you, he, she, it,
we, you, they
COULD
I, you, he, she, it,
we, you, they
COULD NOT/
COULDN’T
COULD I, you, he, she, it,
we, you, they (NOT)? /
COULDN’T I, you, he, she,
it, we, you, they ?
REMEMBER!
The past tense of the constructions ‘there is’ and ‘there are’ is
‘there was’ and ‘there were’.
REMEMBER!
We do not use an article with the names of the seasons of the
year if they are the subject of the sentence or if they are used in
a general sense:
Summer is my favourite season.
We use the definite article before the names of the seasons if
we refer to a particular season:
I’ll never forget the summer of 1985.
ADJECTIVE - DEGREES OF COMPARISON
THE SYNTHETIC COMPARISON. The Comparative of Superiority
and Relative Superlative are formed by adding – er and est
respectively. This rule applies to:
One-syllable adjectives
POZITIVE COMPARATIVE OF
SUPERIORITY
RELATIVE
SUPERLATIVE
big bigger the biggest
tall taller the tallest
short shorter the shortest
REMEMBER!
Adjectives in the relative superlative are preceded by the definite
article.
adjectives of two syllables ending in ow, -le, -er, ly, -y and
some:
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POZITIVE COMPARATIVE OF
SUPERIORITY
RELATIVE
SUPERLATIVE
pretty prettier the prettiest
narrow narrower the narrowest
humble humbler the humblest
clever cleverer the cleverest
handsome handsome the handsomest
NOTE: These adjectives may also take the analytic comparison.
Comparative of equality is formed according to the pattern:
as + adjective in the positive degree + as
as big as, as tall as, as narrow as; as handsome as.
Comparative of inferiority is formed according to the pattern:
not as/so + adjective in the positive degree + as
not so/as big as, not so/as tall as, not as/so narrow as, not as/so
handsome as.
or:
less + adjective in the positive degree + than:
less interesting than...
The Absolute Superlative is formed with: very, not very, quite,
extremely, terribly, etc.
Changes in spelling after -er, -est are added:
adjectives ending in – e drop this ending out:
large larger the largest
one-syllable adjectives ending in consonant preceded by a vowel
double the final consonant:
red redder the reddest
hot hotter the hottest
adjectives ending in -y preceded by consonant change -y in -i:
dry drier the driest
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ANALYTIC COMPARISON. Adjectives of three or more
syllables form their comparative and superlative by adding more and
most preceded by the:
POZITIVE COMPARATIVE OF
SUPERIORITY
RELATIVE
SUPERLATIVE
beautiful more beautiful the most beautiful
interesting more interesting the most interesting
comfortable more comfortable the most comfortable
REMEMBER! These rules apply to adverbs too.
Some adjectives can take both ways of comparison.
Nevertheless it is preferable to use:
the synthetic comparison in two syllable adjectives ending in –
y or – ly such as: cloudy, misty, lovely, clumsy, lucky, angry,
sleepy;
analytic comparison in of two-syllable adjectives where the
stress falls on the first syllable: active, common, hostile,
pleasant, stupid, or on the last one: remote, precise, severe,
polite.
analytic comparison in two-syllable adjectives ending in two
consonants: correct, exact;
The degrees of comparison of the cardinal points are:
northern more northern northernmost/northmost
southern more southern southernmost/southmost
eastern more eastern easternmost/eastmost
western more western westernmost/westmost
THE IRREGULAR COMPARISON
Some adjectives have irregular comparisons:
POZITIVE COMPARATIVE RELATIVE
SUPERLATIVE
good, well better the best
bad, ill, badly worse the worst
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much, many more the most
little less the least
far farther
further
the farthest,
the furthest
late later the latest, the last
old older, elder the oldest, the eldest
near nearer the nearest, the next
Parallel increase (translated by cu cât...cu atât...) is expressed
according to the pattern:
the + comparative…the + comparative
The sooner, the better. The later they come the worst it will be.
Gradual increase or decrease (translated by din ce în ce mai..., tot
mai…) is expressed by two comparatives joined by and.
It’s getting colder and colder. I’m reading better and
better. She is more and more beautiful. The book is less
and less interesting.
The same meaning can be rendered by:
ever + comparative of superiority:
ever colder, ever better, ever more beautiful, ever less interesting.
NOTE: When much and far are placed before an adjective in the
comparative they stress the meaning of the adjective. So does by far
when placed after an adjective in the comparative.
She is much more beautiful / far more beautiful than her sister.
She is more beautiful by far.
REMENBER!
When only two notions are compared, the Absolute Superlative will be
rendered by a Comparative of Superiority preceded by the:
Of the two girls the thinner one is the prettier. Of these two
dresses the white one is the more beautiful and the
cheaper, too. Of the two deans the taller is the worse but
the more intelligent and the better manager at the same
time.
REMENBER!
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The verbs look, smell, sound, taste, feel as well as be, see, grow,
get, turn, become, keep are followed by adjectives not by
adverbs.
Adjectives ill, well, drunk, worth are used only predicatively.
The adjectives eastern, western, northern, southern as well as
those ended in -en (golden, woollen, wooden, silken) are used
only attributively.
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15. HOLIDAYS AND CELEBRATIONS
DISCUSSION POINTS
Discussing about celebrating birthdays or name days. What is
the English word we use for the day when we celebrate our birth? When is
your birthday? Tell us the birthdays of all your family members. Do you
usually celebrate your birthday? How? What is the most common wish the
celebrated person hears on his or her birthday? Do you have a name day,
too?
Discussing about celebrating Easter and Christmas. Which are
the seasons of the great religious events? Why are they important? How
do people celebrate them? Speak about the customs related to these
holidays. Make a list of facts, symbols, and key words associated with
Christmas and Easter.
READING
Birthdays and holidays are days when people celebrate
different events. A birthday is the day when somebody was born a
certain time ago. Along the centuries, all over the world, birthdays were
considered special days and the peoples of the ancient times
nourished the strong belief that, on a birthday, good spirits as well as
bad spirits could influence a person’s destiny by helping or harming
him or her. According to this belief, it became customary that all the
relatives and friends, the celebrated person had, should gather together
for protection against the evil. They say this was the beginning of the
birthday parties. It is from the ancients - namely Greeks that the custom
of putting lit candles on a birthday cake comes. Among the many gods
and goddesses that the Greeks used to celebrate there was the goddess
of the Moon, called Airtimes whose birthday was celebrated monthly.
The worshipers used to take round cakes, with lit candles on them, to
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the goddess’ temple. The round cakes were supposed to represent the
bright Moon.
These beliefs are less known nowadays but, nevertheless, it is
customary for people to celebrate their birthdays with their families
and their best friends and to blow out the candles on the birthday cake.
Yesterday was Sunday and it was my son’s birthday and name
day, too, as it was Palm Sunday. He was 15 yesterday and he wanted to
have a little party so, my husband and I prepared everything. As we
had to do some shopping we woke up early, took some shopping bags
and some money and went shopping. First we drove at the butcher’s to
buy some salami and some pork, then we stopped at the dairy to buy
some butter, pressed cheese and cream, at the greengrocer’s to buy
some vegetables and fresh fruit, at the baker’s for some loaves of bread
and at the grocer’s for mineral water, juice and coke. When the
shopping was over we came home and, while my husband arranged
and decorated the yard for the party, it was supposed to be a garden
party, you know, I cooked and baked a birthday cake and made
sandwiches. By the time my son’s guests arrived everything was
ready. All the guests brought presents and my son was anxious to open
the parcels and admire the presents. They talked, listened music,
danced, played, ate and drank. One of the boys told funny jokes and
they laughed a lot. They enjoyed themselves and had a good time
together.
When I brought the birthday cake in with all the candles lit, my
son didn’t find it difficult to blow them all out at one go. Everybody
sang ’Happy birthday, to you Florin’ and wished him ’Many happy
returns of the day’.
I don’t know how some people feel, but to me, as to all
Christians, Christmas and Easter are the most important holidays of a
year.
Christmas is the day when Jesus Christ’s birth is celebrated. Not
many people know that the name of this holiday comes from the words
Christ’s Mass, a religious service that honours our Saviour, and the
custom of giving presents to the beloved ones has its origin in the fact
that the Magi brought presents to the baby Christ.
We spent last Christmas (Xmas for short) in England at some
friends. On Christmas Eve (the evening before Christmas – 24th
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December) children decorated a tall fir tree, the Christmas tree, and
they hung their special stockings by the fireplace. We sang carols,
special songs that tell about Christ’s birth. Santa Claus, dressed in red
clothes came, in a sleigh drawn by reindeer and brought the children
toys and sweets. In the morning we said to our friends ’We wish you a
Merry Christmas’ and they answered ’The same to you’ or ’We wish you
the same’. On Xmas day there was a traditional dinner. Roast beef,
turkey and plum pudding are the customary dishes of an English
Christmas day.
On December 31st, at midnight, when the New Year began, we
wished one another ’A happy new year’.
A greater holiday than Christmas is Easter. The Bible teaches us
that on a Friday, called Good Friday, our Saviour died on the cross, to
redeem our sins. According to the Christian religion the following
Sunday, the Redeemer resurrected. People of the same religion
celebrate Christ’s Resurrection on Easter Day. They eat traditional
Easter food, painted eggs and lamb – that symbolises Jesus – and wear
new clothes.
GRAMMAR REVIEW
THE PAST TENSE SIMPLE
The simple past tense in regular verbs is formed by adding -ed
to the infinitive:
FULL INFINITIVE PAST TENSE
to work worked
to play played
Verbs ending in e add only -d:
The negative of the regular and irregular verbs is formed with:
did not/didn’t + bare infinitive.
The interrogative of the regular and irregular verbs is formed
with:
did + subject + bare infinitive.
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AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
(NEGATIVE)
I, you, he, she, it,
we, you, they
worked
I, you, he, she, it,
we, you, they
did not/didn’t
work
Did I, you, he, she, it, we,
you, they (not) work?
Didn’t I, you, he, she, it, we,
you, they work?
Irregular verbs vary considerably in their simple past forms and
past participle forms:
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
(NEGATIVE)
I, you, he, she, it, we,
you, they wrote
I, you, he, she,
it,
we, you, they
did not /
didn’t write
did I, you, he, she, it, we,
you, they (not) write?
didn’t I, you, he, she, it, we,
you, they write?
Past Tense Simple is used:
with actions completed in the past that are not related to the
present but can be associated with a certain past moment expressed
by an adverb or adverb phrase: yesterday, last night/ week, month,
year, a few minutes ago, once, once upon a time, the other day, or
with periods of time now terminated: in childhood, in youth, in 1999
etc.:
I received a letter from a friend of mine the other day.
when the time is asked about:
When did he arrive? When did you graduate?
with today, this week, this month, this year if the period of
time defined by these is terminated:
He gave two interviews this week. We all worked very much today.
in conditional sentences, type 2:
If I had money I should travel abroad. If I were in your place/ If I
were you, I wouldn’t do that. He would lend you the money if you
asked him.
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16. TRAVELLING BY AIR
AT THE AIRPORT
DISCUSSION POINTS
Discussing travelling issues. How can people travel from one
place to another? What do you understand by ’means of transport’? What
are the ’means of transport’ people use in our century? Which is the
fastest means of transport? Have you ever flown by plane? Do you travel a
lot? Do you allow delays due to weather or vehicle maintenance make you
angry or upset?
A person who travels a lot says she has learned the following things
during her journeys: « don’t take more than you need and you probably
don’t need as much as you think you do; remember you have to carry
everything you take; check the weather where you are going; allow time
for making errors; carry your family with you (in pictures and prayers);
seek to be faithful not successful; pray and ask others to pray for your safe
travel and faithful service; remember to breathe ».Comment on these.
What is the Romanian for ’customs’? But for ’custom’? Have you ever
gone through customs? What happened there, or what do you know it
usually happens?
READING
Travelling by air is one of the fastest means of transport but it
also has the reputation of being dangerous or unpleasant if you happen
to have airsick.
It is also the most expensive form of transport.
Last January when we had the chance to visit London, we
travelled back home by plane.
Heathrow, London’s main airport, handles more international
flights than any other airport in the world so, when we arrived there,
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crowds of people were teeming to and fro, coming from different
places or leaving in all directions inside the country or abroad.
There were hundreds of passengers who were waiting for
their passports to be checked by the customs officers; other inspectors
were checking, weighing and putting labels on the passengers’
luggage. Labels are pasted on suitcases so that they could be found
easier, you know. The customs officers were especially looking for
prohibited items on large quantities, or for commercial goods, which
fall under customs restriction. We saw an old lady who was arguing
with an inspector over some valuable things. She hadn’t known that she
had to pay duty on them, so she was rather puzzled as she was short of
money. It seemed she had spent all she had had and there wasn’t
enough money left.
Some young people were standing at the inquiry office,
speaking to a woman who was giving them information about a plane’s
departure time, which seemed to be much delayed because of the foggy
and rainy weather. Their conversation was rather difficult as the
travellers’ knowledge of English was poor.
There were also porters inside the airport who were carrying
suitcases and boxes but some young men were managing their luggage
by themselves using some trolleys. It was such a crowd as there were
many English people who were seeing their friends off or others who
were waiting and welcoming friends or relatives.
In the waiting hall the passengers were sitting on chairs or
armchairs, reading, talking or merrily watching the airfields through
the windows. We could see planes that were landing or taking off and
we even could watch the pilots and stewardesses who were getting on
or off the aircrafts.
When the customs formalities were over we kissed our friends
good bye and promised to write and then a special bus took us to the
jet. We got on, made ourselves comfortable, fastened our seatbelts and,
at the exact time we took off. We had a lovely flight home.
Dialogue:
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Questions about flying
- Is there a flight to London, please?
- Is it a direct flight, or do I have to change planes?
- Do they serve food?
- What terminal does it leave from?
- Is there an airport bus?
- Can I have a window/aisle seat?
- What time do I have to check in?
- What time does it take off?
- What time does it land?
- How long is the flight?
Checking in at the airport
Clerk: Good Morning.
Traveller: Is this the right desk? My flight is BA123.
Clerk: Yes, that's right. I need your passport and your ticket, please.
Traveller: There you go.
Clerk: Thank you. Do you have any luggage to check in Mr Smith?
Traveller: Yes, these two suitcases.
Clerk: Could you put them on the conveyor belt, please.
Traveller: Sure. I don't think they are over.
Clerk: No. That's fine. Would you like a window or an aisle seat?
Traveller: A window seat, please.
Clerk: ... Here are your luggage tags and your boarding card. Your
seat is 36B.
Traveller: Thank you. What is the boarding time?
Clerk: The plane is boarding in 30 minutes. You leave from Gate 15.
Have a good flight.
Traveller: Thank you. Goodbye.
Customs officer: ‘What was the purpose of your coming to England,
sir’?
Passenger: ‘Business’.
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Customs officer: ‘Have you any prohibited items in your luggage, if
you please?’
Passenger: ‘No, No prohibited items. You may check. Here’s my only
suitcase. I have got only some personal effects, some cigarettes, two
bottles of genuine Scotch whisky and a few presents or my relatives.
Just trifles, as you can see.’
Customs officer: ‘These are all duty free if they are in small quantities
and you don’t have to pay any duty for them. Thank you sir. Have a
good day’.
Reading Comprehension
When a person plans to travel by air, that person needs to
make sure that he or she checks-in at least two hours before the flight.
When arriving at the airport departure terminal, that person has to
make sure that he or she puts the heavy luggage in a trolley, or else that
person may end up pushing all the luggage around the whole airport. At
the entrance in the departure area, a security check is carried out on all
the luggage. When one gets to the check-in counter, an airline
representative will check that person’s tickets and weigh the luggage.
Since all airlines impose a weight restriction for the luggage the excess
baggage can cost very much making the journey much too expensive.
After the checking-in, travelers can take any hand luggage
onboard with them, while heavy luggage is placed on a conveyor belt
and carried away. After checking-in, travelers can wait for their flight at
the departure lounge or can go shopping around as they can find, at the
duty free store, tax-free goods to take home as presents for friends and
family or simply for themselves. When the time for boarding has come,
all passengers will be announced to board their flights. As soon as all the
passengers and the cabin crew have boarded the plane, the captain will
communicate with the control tower and will be given permission to
run the airplane onto the runway.
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GRAMMAR REVIEW
THE PAST TENSE CONTINUOUS
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
(NEGATIVE)
I, he, she, it
was writing
I, he, she, it was
not/wasn’t
writing
Was I, he, she, it (not)
writing?
Was I, he, she, it (not)/
wasn’t I, he, she, it
writing?
You, we, they
were writing
You, we, they,
were
not/weren’t
writing
Were you, we, they (not)
writing?/ Weren’t you, we,
they writing?
Paste Tense Continuous, that renders the Romanian Imperfect, is
formed according to the pattern:
Affirmative: subject + to be (in the past) + verb + ing
Negative: subject + to be (in the past) + not + verb + ing
Interrogative: to be (in the past) + subject + verb + ing
It is used to express:
an ongoing action at some point in the past that can be
indicated by:
- one of the adverb phrases: at ...o’clock, at that time,
this time yesterday,/ last week,/ last month, etc.
This time last week we were travelling abroad.
- another action:
We were still arguing when the manager
arrived.
gradual development (when used without a time expression ):
It was getting colder.
parallel past actions:
He was talking to his wife while she was cooking.
Paste Tense Continuous is also used in descriptions:
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"The detective was driving through town. It was raining.
The wind was blowing hard. Nobody was walking in the
streets. Suddenly, he saw the killer in a telephone box..."
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17. TRAVELLING BY LAND
AT THE RAILWAY STATION
DISCUSSION POINTS
Do you often travel by train? Do you travel by train because you like it
or because you have no other means of transport available? Where in the
world have they the most efficient rail transport? What do you think
about rail transport in Romania? Compare it to that of Japan or France.
READING
People who choose to use slow, fast or express trains from the
various means of transport they have at their disposal must go to the
railway station.
A railway station is a full of life place with platforms where
passengers and goods trains come in or leave from. Look! A train has
just arrived on platform 1. Many people have got off the train and
many others are getting on it at the moment. Some porters have
already taken the new comers’ luggage and have carried them out of
the station to the bus, trolley or taxi stations. Those people who have
already got on the trains have taken their seats in smoker or non-
smoker compartments, but there are also some latecomers who hurry
to catch their trains. Have they found vacant seats? Some have but
some have not.
This is a through train with a Diesel locomotive, several first
class or second class passenger carriages, a luggage van, a restaurant
car (dining-car) and even some sleeping cars as this is a long distance
train not a local train. The guard has waved his flag and has already
blown his whistle.
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The train is off. The persons standing on the platform near the
carriages are friends or relatives who have come to see someone dear
off. They have kissed one another good-bye and now, as the engine
has started and the train is moving away, they are waving good-bye.
Now, as our train has disappeared in the distance, let’s look
round the railway station.
We can see a left luggage office there, on the left side of the
platform, where passengers have deposited their suitcases, bags,
rucksacks. At the moment some are waiting to withdraw their luggage.
The booking office is a little further and many travellers are
standing in queues to buy single or return tickets for their journeys.
Those who have bought their tickets beforehand, and who travel light
are now comfortably sitting in armchairs in the waiting room over
there, on the right. Their train is due out later and they while their time
away reading the magazines or newspapers they have bought at the
bookstall, or booklets about various resorts of the country they have
found at hand on the little tables. Others are in the refreshment room
eating their meal.
Oh, dear! Look at that man who is running along the platform 2.
He is desperate. Unfortunately he has missed his train. Now he is
looking at the time table. Poor him!
Reading comprehension
The Problems with Modern Transportation System
For many people, commuting by car or by public
transportation is a daily necessity. People with their own cars, use it to
commute to work, to go shopping or to take the family out on
weekends. For those who cannot drive or afford to buy their own
vehicles, public transportation provides these commuters with their
only means of transportation. However, it seems that it won't be too
long before our society will have to resort back to the horse and buggy
cart era if our politicians don't build better roads or resolve the on-
going oil crisis.
Our roads and highways are congested most of the time, and
the meaning of rush hour has all but disappeared. Heavy pedestrian
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traffic and poorly designed roads are all factors that can lead to a slow
down in traffic flow. A lot of construction work that takes place along
our roads and highways are actually doing more to hamper the critical
flow of traffic, than to help provide a better solution to the traffic
problem. The reason why traffic flow is becoming such a nightmare is
simple, our early town and city planners failed to factor in the future
needs for an efficient mass public transportation system.
Another problem with modern transportation systems is the depletion
of our natural oil reserves. The reality is that we don't have enough oil
reserves to supply worldwide demands. But what's even worse is that
there are currently no alternative sources of energy to replace the oil
and gas shortage that our society so much depends upon. With our
natural oil reserves dwindling away, many analysts are expecting oil
barrel prices to continue to rise.
With no solution in sight to the traffic congestion on our roads,
or to the current oil crisis; the world has no choice but to explore
alternative sources of energy or else resort back to the horse and buggy
cart era.
Vocabulary Practice
Congestion (Congested): Too crowded because of heavy traffic or too
many people.
Pedestrian: A person who travels by foot. http://www.onlinetutoringworld.com/lessonplans/transportation.htm
Dialogue:
Questions about trains / buses
- Could you tell me the time of the next train / bus to Cardiff, please?
- Is it an express train / bus, or do I have to change trains / buses?
- Is there a buffet car?
- What platform / stop does it leave from?
- What time does it depart?
- What time does it arrive?
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- How long is the journey?
AT A HOTEL
The reception desk at a hotel
Receptionist: Good afternoon, sir. Can I help you?
Visitor: I’m going to stay in this city for a fortnight and I’d like a
room. Have you any available.
Receptionist: Haven’t you booked one in advance, sir?
Visitor: No, I’m afraid I haven’t. I had to come in town
unexpectedly and I had no time to make a reservation with your hotel.
Receptionist: Do you want a single or a double room?
Visitor: I’d like a double with a private bathroom on a lower floor
and not very noisy, if possible.
Receptionist: Let me see what I can do something for you, sir. We
are quite full at present as many people are attending an important
conference here, in Cluj. Yes, I can offer you a single room with a private
bathroom on the sixth floor. It is not a low floor but it is very quiet
because it overlooks a small back yard. Besides, it has all the modern
conveniences.
Visitor: I’ll take it, than.
Receptionist: Will you fill in this form and sign the register please,
sir? You’ll be in room 605. The lift is this way and the liftboy will show
you to your room. As to the luggage, the porter will take it for you to
your room.
Visitor: Thank you. One more problem, please. I’d like to be called
every morning at a quarter past seven. Is it possible?
Receptionist: Very well, sir. Enjoy your stay.
HAVE YOU GOT YOUR TRAIN TICKET?
Albert Einstein was on a train. He couldn’t find his ticket after
searching through his all his pockets and bags. The conductor
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approached him and said “Dr. Einstein, everyone knows who you are;
I’m sure that Princeton can afford to buy you another ticket.”
To which Einstein replied “I’m not worried about the money, I
need to find the ticket to figure out where I am going!”
GRAMMAR REVIEW
PAST PARTICIPLE
The past participle of regular verbs has exactly the same forms as
the simple past, it is formed by adding -ed to the infinitive.
Changes in spelling after -ed is added:
Verbs ending in e drop it:
dictate dictated
One-syllable verbs ending in a consonant preceded by a vowel,
double the final consonant:
drop dropped
Two or three syllable verbs ending in consonant preceded by a
vowel double the final consonant if the stress falls on the last
syllable:
prefer preferred
Verbs ending in -l double it, irrespective of the stress:
travel travelled
In verbs ending in -y preceded by a vowel , -y stays unchanged:
play played
Verbs ending in -y preceded by a consonant change it in -i
before adding -ed.
In irregular verbs the past participle varies:
be been
have had
have had
go gone
THE PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE
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AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
(NEGATIVE)
I, you, we, they
have written
I, you, we, they
have not written
Have I, you, we, they
(not) written?
/Haven’t I, you, we,
they written?
he, she, it
has written
he, she, it has not
written
Has he, she, it (not)
written?/Hasn’t he,
she, it written?
The Present Perfect is formed with the present tense of have + past
participle according to the pattern:
Affirmative: subject + have (present) + past participle
Negative: subject + have (present) + not + past participle
Interrogative: have ( present) + subject + past participle
We use the Present Perfect to say that an action happened at an
unspecified time before now. The exact time is not important. One
cannot use the Present Perfect with specific time expressions such as:
yesterday, one year ago, last week, when I was a child, when I lived
abroad, at that moment, that day, one day, etc. We can use the Present
Perfect with unspecific expressions such as: ever, never, once, many
times, several times, before, so far, already, yet, etc.
I have seen that movie twenty times.
I think I have met him once before.
Have you read the book yet?
Nobody has ever climbed that mountain.
The Present Perfect is used to:
describe our experience. We can also use this tense to say that
we have never had a certain experience. The Present Perfect is
not used to describe a specific event.
My daughter has studied two foreign languages.
I have never been to France.
talk about changes that have happened over a period of time.
You have grown since the last time I saw you.
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The government has become more interested in
education.
My English has really improved since I moved to
England.
list the accomplishments of individuals and humanity. You
cannot mention a specific time.
Man has walked on the Moon.
Our son has learned how to read.
Doctors have cured many deadly diseases.
Scientists have split the atom.
say that an action which we expected has not happened. Using
the Present Perfect suggests that we are still waiting for the
action to happen.
James has not finished his homework yet.
Susan hasn't mastered Japanese, but she can
communicate.
Bill has still not arrived.
The rain hasn't stopped.
talk about several different actions which have occurred in the
past at different times. Present Perfect suggests the process is
not complete and more actions are possible.
The army has attacked that city five times.
I have had five tests so far this semester.
We have had many major problems while working
on this project.
She has talked to several specialists about her
problem, but nobody knows why she is sick.
talk about actions recently completed:
The boss has just gone out.
The meeting has just finished.
talk about recent actions when the time is not mentioned:
They have met several times.
I have attended all the courses.
talk about recent actions that have results in the present:
We have visited Paris.
talk about actions which occur further back in the past,
provided the connexion with the present is still maintained:
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She has typed most of this author’s works.
Time Expressions with Present Perfect
When we use the Present Perfect it means that something has
happened at some point in our lives before now. Remember, the exact
time the action happened is not important.
Sometimes, we want to limit the time we are looking in for an
experience. We can do this with expressions such as: in the last week, in
the last year, today, this morning/afternoon/evening/week/month/year,
so far, up to now, etc.
Have you been abroad in the last year?
I have seen that movie six times in the last month.
They have had three tests in the last week.
She graduated from university less than three years ago.
She has worked for three different companies so far.
My car has broken down three times this week.
REMENBER!
Last year and in the last year are very different in meaning. Last year
means the year before now, and it is considered a specific time which
requires Simple Past. In the last year means from 365 days ago until
now. It is not considered a specific time, so it requires Present Perfect.
NOTE! The present perfect can be used with this morning only up to
one o’clock, because after that the period defined by this morning
becomes a completed period and past tense must be used. Similarly, the
period of time defined by this afternoon ends at five o’clock.
To render a past action in interrogatives introduced by when
or in sentenced where just now occurs, we use Past Tense Simple.
Has the manager arrived?
When did he arrive?
He arrived just now.
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18. DAVID’S WORKING DAY
DISCUSSION POINTS
For how long have you been attending this faculty?
What have you been doing since you graduated?
READING
David works as a chief accountant in one of subsidiaries of the
German- Romanian Bank and he is just the man for his job that fits him
like a glove. He is a conscientious, hard working employee, very
appreciated by his employers. He gave an interview and was employed
several months ago when the subsidiary in his town was opened and he
has been working there ever since. Some of the clerks on the staff
haven’t been working at that bank since the beginning; they are
newcomers but they have quickly got acquainted with the working
conditions.
Now, let’s follow David along his whole working day! He has
got up, done his morning exercises, and he’s been in the bathroom for a
few minutes. He had turned on the cold water tap, as he is going to take
a shower. He enjoys having cold showers in the summer mornings and
now he has already been having his morning shower for a while. He
has just shaved, brushed his teeth, combed his hair and he’s putting on
his clothes at this very moment.
His wife has been preparing breakfast in the kitchen since she
has woken up. They are sitting down at table. It’s a quarter to eight now
and they have been eating breakfast for ten minutes.
David is in his car now. They live on the outskirts of the town
and there’s a rather long way to his office. He has been driving for
twenty minutes. The traffic is heavy in the morning and there are traffic
jams as everybody wants to get somewhere, busy with current affairs.
Our character has finally reached his place of work after a long
drive. Many business letters and telegrams were on his desk waiting for
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an answer and David has been dictating the necessary answers to the
secretary for an hour.
Now it’s almost noon and she has been typing them for some
time. Meanwhile David has written some reports; for a while he has
been verifying some balance sheets, charts of account and statements
of account. He has to take all the papers to the manager to have them
signed. As the manager wasn’t in his office, he has been attending a
meeting with some foreign investors since morning; David had to leave
the papers with the manager’s secretary.
It’s two o’clock now and David has been discussing for half an
hour with some businessmen who want to open a bank account with
the bank. David has given them all the details they have asked for, and
they have made arrangements together.
The tiring working day is over. Although he has been working
hard so far, David is not tired.
One never gets tired of what he loves to do.
GRAMMAR REVIEW
THE PRESENT PERFECT TENSE CONTINUOUS
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
(NEGATIVE)
I, you, we, they
have been writing
I, you, we, they have
not been writing
Have I, you, we, they
(not) been writing?
He, she, it has
been writing
He, she, it has not
been writing
Has he, she, it (not)
been writing?
Present Perfect Continuous is formed by the present perfect of the
verb to be + the present participle of the main verb according to the
pattern::
Affirmative: subject + have (present) + been + verb + ing
Negative: subject + have (present) + not + been + verb + ing
Interrogative: have (present) + subject + been + verb + ing
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We use the Present Perfect Continuous for:
an action that started in the past and has continued up until
now.
They have been talking for the last hour.
She has been working at that company for three years.
What have you been doing for the last 30 minutes?
James has been teaching at the university since June.
We have been waiting here for over two hours!
Why has the sick man not been taking her medicine for the
last three days?
an action that started in the past and ended a little before the
moment of speaking:
He has been reading the reports so far.
The maid has been cleaning the house all day long.
REMEMBER!
The Present Perfect Continuous has the meaning of lately or
recently.
If you use the Present Perfect Continuous in a question such as
Have you been feeling alright? it can suggest that the person looks sick
or unhealthy.
A question such as Have you been drinking? can suggest that
you smell the drink. Using this tense in a question suggests you can see,
smell, hear or feel the results of the action. It is possible to insult
someone by using this tense incorrectly.
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19. CITY TRAFFIC
DISCUSSION POINTS
Discussing about urban means of transport. What can you say
about city transport? Name some means of transport. Which do you
consider the fastest? What other synonyms do you know for ’tube’? Is
there such a means of transport in your town? Have you ever travelled by
tube? Did you feel comfortable?
What do you call the part of the day when traffic is very heavy? And
what is the opposite of this?
Discussing about driving skills. Can you drive? Are you a good
driver? What do you mean by being a good driver? Have you ever been in
the position of avoiding a car accident just because you were driving
carefully?
READING
Traffic is awfully heavy in big cities because cars, busses,
lorries, vans, taxies and trolley buses run wildly along the straight
thoroughfares, boulevards or winding main streets during the morning
and afternoon rush hours, when thousands of people hurry home or are
busy with daily tasks.
Traffic jams will always be a problem in big cities.
Distances are long and those who do not drive – the
pedestrians – will have to walk fast along the crowded pavements and
will have to wait at the zebra crossings or on islands near the bus, tram
or trolley bus stops. They may also use the tube or underground if
there’s one in the city. At the big crossroads one will find subways for
pedestrians and along the wide or narrow streets one will notice
lampposts, road- signs and traffic lights at the corners. When the red
traffic light is switched on the vehicles will drive and the pedestrians
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will wait for the vehicles to cross. Those who are late will be impatient
for the moment when they will be allowed to cross safely.
In all European countries traffic keeps on the right but if
someone visits England he will notice that vehicles drive on the left
side of the roads.
Driving is a pleasant, useful but serious matter; it can be also
dangerous and a car will always be your enemy if you don’t use it
properly and carefully. There have been too many car accidents lately,
too many deaths and too many people injured.
On one hand, drivers are to be blamed – especially those who
exceed the speed limits and disobey the traffic rules without any
consideration for the others, drivers who think they are safe at the
steering wheel even when they have drunk. On the other hand the
pedestrians are to be blamed too; they step off the pavement carelessly,
without looking to the left or right.
I think I shall never be able to pass a driving test and obtain a
driving licence so, I’ll always get on the bus or tram. I’ll pay my fare for
the ticket to the conductor and, if I find a vacant seat, I’ll sit down and
patiently look out of the window; if not, I’ll hold on a strap to keep from
falling; when my stop comes I’ll get off the bus or tram safe and sound,
thanks God. So I shan’t have to take care not to hit or run over careless
pedestrians, I shan’t have to read all those terrible traffic signs, and I
shan’t have to deal with those unconscious drivers who think the
whole road is theirs.
Reading comprehension
Effective Planning
To effectively manage your day, experts believe that you have to
develop good planning skills and work habits. Some people use e-mails,
cellphones and PDA's (personal digital assistants) to help them plan
their work. Take for example, the US Secretary of State, Condoleeza
Rice. Condoleeza Rice is a great multi-tasker. She keeps her agenda in
her head, uses her cellphone heavily and relies on her staff to push her
work forward.
However, some people do not have any personal strategies or staff
to help them manage their time. Instead they try their best to focus on
what is most important, and to do what they can with the time that they
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have. David Baltimore, a famous biomedical researcher and Nobel Prize
winner copes like the rest of us. Mr. Baltimore says: "My desks, my
chairs, my floors are cluttered", and "you have a hierarchy of what's
important, like your family, your dog, your friends and your students .
as for the lesser matters, let it sit in the pile and see if they will go
away".
Vocabulary Practice
Habit: A repetitive behavior or routine.
Multitask: To perform several different tasks at the same time.
Agenda: Organized lists of tasks to be performed.
Strategy (Strategies): A systematic plan for carrying something out.
Hierarchy: An order or grouping of people and things within a system.
Dialogues:
- Conductor, does this bus go to Trafalgar Square?
- Yes, sir, it does. Come along. Hurry up. Fares please.
- How much is the fare to Trafalgar square?
- 2 shillings, sir. Here’s your change and ticket, sir.
- Will you tell me when we get there?
- Certainly, sir. Trafalgar Square. Your stop, sir. Have a good day and
enjoy your walk.
- Thank you very much.
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GRAMMAR REVIEW
THE FUTURE TENSE SIMPLE
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
(NEGATIVE)
I, we shall write/
I’ll, We’ll write
I, We shall not
write/
I, we shan’t write
Shall I, we
(not) write?
Shan’t I, we write?
You, he, she, it, they
will write
You’ll, he’ll, she’ll,
it’ll, they’ll
write
You, he, she, it, they
will write
You, he, she, it, they
won’t write.
Will you, he, she, it,
they (not) write?
Won’t you, he, she,
it write?
The Future Tense Simple is formed with the auxiliaries shall (for
the first person singular and plural) and will for the second and third
persons singular and plural + bare infinitive of the main verb according
to the pattern:
Affirmative: subject + shall/will + verb in bare infinitive
Negative: subject + shall/will + not + verb in bare infinitive
Interrogative: shall/will + subject + verb in bare infinitive
The Future Tense Simple is used to express:
an action that will happen in future; to specify the future
moment when the action takes place the adverbs or adverbial
phrases are used: tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, next/
week, month, year, soon, in a month’s time, in three weeks’
time etc.
REMEMBER!
Will often suggests that a speaker will do something
voluntarily. A voluntary action is one the speaker offers to do for
someone else. Often, we use will to respond to someone else's
complaint or request for help. We also use will when we request that
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someone help us or volunteer to do something for us. Similarly, we use
will not or won't when we refuse to voluntarily do something.
I will send you the information when I get it. I will translate
the email, so Mr. Smith can read it. Will you help me move this
heavy table? Will you make dinner? I will not do your
homework for you. I won't do all the housework myself!
Shall used in the second and third person carries the idea of
promise:
He shall come. You shall receive a present.
Shall with the meaning (trebuie) să...is used in requests for
orders or advice, offers, suggestions:
Where shall we put this? Which one shall I take? Shall I fetch
you a glass of water? Shall I open the window?
In American English will is used for all persons.
FUTURE TENSE NEVER OCCURS IN:
Conditional sentences; instead of Simple Future, Simple
Present is used.
You’ll miss the train if you get up late. I shan’t pass the exam
unless I learn.
NOTE: Unless has negative meaning (dacă nu) and is always followed
by a verb in the affirmative.
Time Clauses: like all future forms, the Simple Future cannot
be used in clauses beginning with time expressions such as: when,
while, before, after, by the time, as soon as, if, unless, etc.
Instead of Simple Future:
- Simple Present is used if the actions in the two sentences are
simultaneous:
We’ll discuss this matter when I come.
- Present Perfect is used if the action in the subordinate clause is
prior to that in the main clause:
I’ll go to the cinema after I have finished my homework.
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THE ADVERB
Classification of Adverbs:
Adverbs of time: before, now, then, after, today, tonight, tomorrow,
the day after tomorrow, yesterday, the day before yesterday, late,
lately, lastly etc.;
Adverbs of frequency: ever, never, often, seldom, rarely,
occasionally, usually, sometimes, always, daily, weekly, once, twice,
ten times etc.;
Adverbs of place: here, there, outside, inside, near, far, everywhere,
upstairs, downstairs, nowhere, southward (înspre sud), northward(s)
(înspre nord), eastward(s) (înspre est), westwards (înspre vest), (on
the) east of (la est de), (on the) north of (la nord de) etc.;
Adverbs of manner: slowly, rapidly, carefully, fluently, badly,
beautifully, quickly, well, fast etc.;
Most adverbs of manner are formed by adding –ly to the corresponding
adjective:
distinct distinctly
rapid rapidly
day daily
week weekly
Spelling changes after -ly:
Final e is retained before -ly:
entire entirely
extreme extremely
EXCEPTIONS:
true truly
due duly
whole wholly
if adjectives end in -l the adverb will have -ll by adding -ly:
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beautiful beautifully
adjectives ending in –ll drop one–l before -ly:
full fully
The ending -y changes to -i before -ly:
happy happily
NOTE: The words friendly, likely, lonely, lovely are adjectives not
adverbs. When used as adverbs they are rendered by the following
adverbs or adverbial phrases: in a friendly way, in a lovely way,
probably, alone.
Note that the adverb of good is well.
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20. SHOPS AND SHOPPING
WHERE DO YOU LIKE TO SHOP?
DISCUSSION POINTS
Discussing about shopping. Are you fond of going shopping? Where
do you like to shop? Are there any famous shopping areas in your town?
Do you prefer shopping alone or you enjoy being accompanied?
Discussing about shopping areas. What do you like to buy: food,
clothes, footwear, cosmetics, things for the house, books and magazines?
Name the departments where you can buy different things.
Discussing about payments. How can customers pay for the goods
they buy? How do you pay for your purchases and bills?
READING
There are shops where we buy things to eat and others where
we buy things to wear or things we use in every day life.
The tailor, for instance, makes clothes to measure for men and
the dressmaker makes clothes for women. The hatter sells gentleman’s
hats and the milliner makes and sells hats for ladies. The draper sells
stockings, socks, underwear while the shoemaker makes and sells
shoes, sandals, boots and a cobbler repairs them. The bookseller sells
books (novels, science- fiction books, detective stories or short stories,
thrillers, poetry books, autobiographies, essay books, memoirs),
dictionaries, magazines; the tobacconist sells tobacco, cigarettes and
cigars, the stationer sells copy books, exercise books, notebooks, pens,
fountain pens, pencils, coloured pencils, ink, writing paper, stamps,
envelopes, postcards, the chemist (or the pharmaceutical chemist) sells
not only medicines (or drugs) but also cosmetics and toilet supplies.
Nowadays people prefer doing their shopping at the big self-
service supermarkets or department stores which are always well
supplied or well – stocked and where goods are visibly displayed at
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hand in different departments and counters, rather than wander from
one shop to another which, after all, proved to be a waste of time.
A self- service system offers lots of advantages: customers can
find in one and the same store a wide range of goods which are ready-
weighed, ready- packed, ready- bottled and price- marked so that they
can examine and select them, they can pay at the same cash- desk. All
these make shopping faster, easier and customers save their precious
time.
As for me shopping is my hobby and pastime at the same time.
Whether I have something to buy or not I love wandering alone through
all the shops, rather early in the morning, right after 10 o’clock when
they open. I love the large, beautifully decorated shop windows, which
display all sorts of goods and invite you in. I’ve made up my mind for
tomorrow. As I have some spare time and there’s no food supplies in
the larder- I like it well stocked, you know, and we’ve run out of
foodstuff- I shall be going shopping tomorrow morning at about a
quarter to eleven. The shopping- area, which is in the centre of the
town, isn’t too far away from the house so I’ll be walking to the biggest
supermarket in our town and I’ll be calling at all sorts of shops on my
way: the boot-store, the drapers, the haberdasher’s, the stationer’s, the
chemist’s, at those shops that sell furniture, electrical appliances,
knitwear, fabrics, chinaware and glassware, carpets. As soon as I reach
the four- storied supermarket I shall be visiting all the counters. The
first one where I’ll be going to will be the ready-made clothes where
they display light or dark coloured blouses, skirts, dresses, coats and
overcoats. They are all of an exceptionally good quality and I’ll be
looking for a skirt for winter. Then I’ll be trying a pair of low heeled,
leather shoes at the footwear department and, at the leatherwear
department, I’ll be looking for a pair of gloves. Finally I’ll shop at the
food department.
Let’s begin at the dry groceries counter where one can buy:
flour, maize flour, rice, semolina, castor sugar, lump sugar, powder
sugar, oil, corn flakes, oat flakes, noodles, vermicelli, macaroni, spices,
vinegar, ready- ground coffee, instant coffee, instant soup, but I’ll only
be buying two kilos of castor sugar, one kilo of rice, coffee, tea, a pack
of noodles, half a kilo of semolina, some instant soup and flour.
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The baker’s counter sells loaves of white or brown bread, rolls,
buns, crescents, cheese pies, apple pies, meat pies, but I only need two
loaves of sliced white bread and some cheese pie from here.
The next counter will be the dairy one. Oh, what a variety of
goods they are displaying: butter, margarine, cream, whipped cream,
yoghurt, cheese, pressed cheese, bottled milk, sour milk, powder milk.
I’ll buy from each of these dairy products which we enjoy very much as
they are healthy.
As I need some meat I’ll call at the butcher’s. The counters that
sell meat and poultry are well supplied, too. They sell beef, pork,
mutton, lamb, duck, goose, turkey, chicken and even game here, but I’ll
only take some veal and poultry.
I shan’t buy fruit and vegetables at the greengrocery
department but I’ll stop at the market on my way home because I love
walking among the rows of counters where piles of tomatoes, potatoes,
cucumbers, cabbages, French beans, eggplants, onions, garlic, apricots,
peaches, nuts, melons, water melons and oranges are displayed and one
can chose anything he or she wants. After all these shopping all the
money will be gone and the shopping bags full so, I’ll be taking a taxi to
come back home tomorrow about noon...
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GRAMMAR REVIEW
THE FUTURE CONTINUOUS
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
(NEGATIVE)
I, we shall be
writing
I, we shall not be
writing
Shall I, we (not) be
writing?
You, he, she, it,
they will be
writing
You, he, she, it,
they will not be
writing
Will you, she, he, it, they
(not) be writing?
Future Continuous is formed with the future simple of + the present
participle according to the pattern:
Affirmative: subject + shall/will + be + present participle
Negative: subject + shall/will +not + be + present participle
Interrogative: shall/will + subject + be + present participle
Future Continuous is used to express:
action in progress at a particular moment in the future. The
action will start before that moment but it will not have
finished at that moment. The progressive character of the
action will be expressed by adverbs or adverb phrases:
at...o’clock, then, by that/ the time, this time tomorrow/ next
week/ next month/, from...to (de la ...la), all the week/ month/
year through.
This time tomorrow I shall be shopping.
What will you be doing at eight o’clock tonight?
an action that will take place for a certain period of time in
future:
I shall be teaching tomorrow between 9 and 12
o’clock.
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20. FOOD.
MEALS IN ENGLAND
DISCUSSION POINTS
Discussing eating habits. Are you a greedy person? What do
Romanians usually have for breakfast? What do you have for breakfast?
What is your favourite dish? Do you eat at home or in town? Do you cook?
Are you familiar with English meals? What is the most substantial
meal of the day in England? What is a continental breakfast? Name the
vegetables and fruit you know in English.
What is the difference between dessert and desert? Give the
pronunciation of the two words, translate them, and make sentences with
them.
Comment the proverb: Butter is gold in the morning, silver at noon
and lead at night.
READING
A friend of mine who visited England last summer told me he
had never imagined that he would be ever beaten by an English
breakfast.
Between you and me, my friend is such a greedy fellow, and he
is always as hungry as a wolf, that I didn’t believe him. Nevertheless it
seems it really happened. The story goes like this.
When my friend arrived in Brighton, he checked in at a small
inn, in the neighbourhood of which his best friends, that had invited
them to England, had their residence. He had politely declined the
invitation to stay in his friends’ house during his visit, as he didn’t want
to trouble them too much and be a nuisance. However, he accepted
their invitation to spend most of the time together and have meals
together.
So, the very first morning after his arrival, on a Sunday
morning, my friend went to his friends’ place to have breakfast together
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and go for a ride afterwards. They sat down at the large table in the
kitchen and started to eat while the housewife was still preparing some
food on the stove, in one corner. The two children of the host and
hostess started with some cornflakes with milk or cream and castor
sugar or salt, while the husband started with a plateful of porridge. To
be polite, my friend, who was not at all familiar with this particular
dish, asked for some porridge too and, although he did not enjoy it very
much, he emptied the plate, hungry as he was, you know. As he didn’t
know what the hostess had in store for him, he felt at ease when he saw
the second course coming. This was a rather substantial one: a large
helping of sausages and scrambled eggs for the two men, and bacon and
poached eggs for the children. The lady of the house had some fried
herrings. Afterwards slices of bread and toast butter and orange
marmalade and a huge pot of milk and coffee, to ‘wash the meal down’,
appeared on the table. My friend was already amazed and dumb with
surprise at this enormous quantity of food, and he had to struggle hard
to eat everything he had been given. After such a meal it was a torture
for him to go sightseeing.
As I was very interested in finding out further information
about meals in Britain, and as my friend was in the position to inform
me, I listened to him giving all the details about the subject. He told me
that lunch- which is usually served at one o’clock consists of two
courses: a plain, simple- cooked dish and a sweet or pudding. The first
course is some meat (beef, veal, mutton, lamb, pork, chicken, duck,
game) or poultry and some vegetables (potatoes, carrots, peas, French
beans, cabbage, cauliflower or spinach) usually boiled or roast to go
with. Usually ale is drunk with the first course. Puddings, which are of
various types are the second course, but sometimes apple tarts, cheese
and biscuits, stewed fruit or fresh fruit like apples, pears, apricots,
peaches, grapes, oranges are preferred. Coffee, black or white, is served
to end lunch with.
As it is already known all over the world, English drink a lot of
tea so five o’clock tea is considered the third meal of the day. It is
served between four and five. A pot of tea, a jug of milk and a basin with
castor or lump sugar, cups and saucers, thin slices of bread and butter,
chocolate cakes, strawberry jam and cream are all brought in, on a tray.
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The English gather all at home in the evening so dinner is the
most substantial meal of the day, served at about seven o’clock. Dinner
begins with tomato-soup for example and is followed by fish or a joint
of meat with vegetables and rice.
The dessert is the last to come. As the most substantial meal of
the day, dinner is sometimes served in the middle of the day, instead of
lunch and in this case, a light supper is served in the evening. This is
generally the case with country people and some people in town. So,
some English people have breakfast, dinner, tea, supper while others
have breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner.
Dialogue:
- How do you prepare tea?
- I boil water in a kettle, put tealeaves in a teapot and then I pour
boiling water over them.
- How do English eat eggs?
- They eat them like all the others do, that is, scrambled eggs,
poached eggs, and fried eggs, soft or hard-boiled eggs, omelette.
- Tell me the names of vegetables in English.
- Except of those in the text I can also mention cucumbers, egg-plants
or aubergines, green pepper, mushrooms, spring onion, garlic,
lettuce, tomatoes, celery, parsley, dill, radish, beet, horse-radish,
leek.
- What fruits are the Romanian familiar with?
- Cherries, morello-cheries, strawberries, raspberries, wild berries,
blackberries, apricots, pears, peaches, grapes, oranges, lemons,
bananas, grapefruit, pomegranates, tangerines, dates, currants.
- Food can be lean or fat, stale or fresh, underdone, well-done,
overdone, spicy, salty, sweet, bitter, sour, raw, semi-prepared,
ready-prepared, ready- packed, ready- cooked, frozen, tinned or
canned. We can steam, roast, grill, fry, bake and boil food.
- What is your favourite food?
- Mashed potatoes and meatballs, chips and sausages.
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- What is the English for ’ciorbă’, ’mititei’, ’sarmale’ and ’mămăligă’.
- The English for the above words are ’sour soup’, ’rolled mincemeat’,
’maize polenta’ and ’stuffed cabbage leaves’.
Reading comprehension
The Importance of a Healthy Breakfast
The word "diet" does not simply refer to watching what you eat in
order to lose or gain weight. It also means eating and exercising
regularly to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Good food, such as fruits,
vegetables, fish and lean meat is better for your body than processed
food and instant meals. Eating processed food, which is high in sugar
and chemicals, can have negative side-effects, seriously damage your
health and lead to obesity.
In our busy society, many people are depriving themselves of
regular, healthy meals opting instead for junk food. Some people skip
breakfast, claiming that they are too busy in the morning to prepare
food. Others are simply too lazy to get up and prepare breakfast, they
would rather get a few more minutes of sleep before going to work.
While commuting to work, these people will often grab whatever there
is to eat - usually junk food. Eating junk food on a regular basis not only
leads to health problems later on in life, but it lacks nutrition and
sustenance required to maintain a healthy body.
In many Asian cultures, preparing breakfast can be time
consuming, and the idea of a western style breakfast for working class
people - scrambled eggs, toast and coffee - is becoming more popular.
There's an old saying that "you are what you eat". Unfortunately
our society is lacking both in moral, spiritual and in good eating habits.
Vocabulary Practice
Deprive: To withhold something from someone, especially something
they really need.
Junk Food: Processed food that is high in calories, but with very little
nutritional value.
Sustenance: Sources of nutrition required to nourish the body.
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GRAMMAR REVIEW
THE PAST PERFECT SIMPLE
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
(NEGATIVE)
I, you, he, she, it, we,
you, they had
written
I, you, he, she, it, we,
you they had not
written
Had I, you, he, she,
it, we, you, they
(not) written?
Past Perfect Simple (translated with the Romanian mai mult ca
perfect is formed with had + past participle according to the pattern:
Affirmative: subject + had + past participle
Negative: subject + had + not + past participle
Interrogative: had + subject + past participle
Past Perfect Simple is used to express:
a past action completed before another past action:
They had settled all the problems when the manager
arrived.
a past action completed before another moment in the past:
The committee had read the report by noon.
with for, since, till, until, by the time, when for an action which
began in the past was still continuing at that time or stopped at
that time or just before it:
He had left for America for a few months when the Second
World War began.
We had just taken our seats when the performance began.
in indirect speech and sequence of tenses instead of Present
Perfect or Past Tense when there is a past tense in the main
clause:
’I have finished all the housework’, mother said.
Mother said she had finished all the housework.
’ I worked hard’, she added.
Mother added that she had worked hard.
in conditional clauses type 3:
He would have helped them if they had asked him.
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NOTE the use of Past Perfect after hardly, scarcely, no sooner:
THE FIRST SENTENCE THE SECOND SENTENCE
HARDLY + had + subject +
verb in past participle
+ WHEN + verb in the Past
Tense
SCARCELY + had + subject +
verb in the past participle
+ WHEN + verb in the Past
Tense
NO SOONER + had + subject +
verb in the past participle
+ THAN + verb in the Past
Tense
Hardly had I entered the door when some guests arrived.
Scarcely had the surgeon taken a nap when they called him back
at the hospital again.
No sooner had they switched on the gas than the stove exploded.
THE PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
(NEGATIVE)
I, you, he, she, it,
we, you, they
had been
writing
I, you, he, she, it
we, you, they had
not been writing
Had I, you, he, she, it,
we, you, they (not)
been writing?
Past Perfect Continuous is formed with had been + present
participle according to the pattern:
Affirmative: subject + had + been + verb + ing
Negative: subject + had +not + been + verb + ing
Interrogative: had + subject + been + verb + ing
Past Perfect Continuous is used to express:
a past action in progress up to a certain past moment:
They had been arguing for several hours when the
headmistress suddenly declared the meeting closed.
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21. LETTER WRITING
THE MAIN PARTS OF A LETTER
According to the relationship between the two correspondents,
the sender and the receiver/recipient/addressee of the letter, we
distinguish two main categories of letters: business letters and private
letters.
Communicating with people in a business like manner requires
a more formal style than when writing to friends and family (informal
style).
Business letters usually avoid spoken language, and impose
the use of full forms instead of short ones so, we shall have to write I
am addressing to you instead of I’m addressing to you.
Letter writing has some principles regarding form and
arrangement.
1. THE LETTER HEAD. Its use is characteristic for the
commercial letters and it gives the reader essential information
concerning the name and address of the company, the telephone, fax
number and the code used by the firm. If the company has limited
liability (răspundere limitată) the word LIMITED or the Ltd.
abbreviation must be part of the name. Americans use the word
INCORPORATED (Inc. - short form) instead of Limited. The name of
the company and its address, phone, and fax details, as well as any
Internet and email details are generally placed at the top of the page, or
in the top right hand corner.
2. THE DATE. It is placed in the top right hand corner underneath
the sender’s address and may have any of the following forms:
2nd May 1999, May 2nd 1999, 2 May 1999, May 2 1999.
It is not advisable to use figures for months as they may be
understood differently in England and the U.S.A.
In Britain the order is: day, month, year.
In America the order is: month, day, year.
So in Britain 02.05.1999 means 2nd May 1999 but in America it means
5th February 1999. The months of the year may be abbreviated:
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January – Jan., February – Feb., March – March, April – Apr., May –
May, June – June, July – July, August – Aug., September – Sept., October
– Oct., November – Nov., December – Dec.
Other abbreviations in use are: inst. for instant- meaning this
month, prox. for proximo – meaning next month, ult. for ultimo-
meaning last month.
3. THE INSIDE ADDRESS. It contains the name and address of
the person or institution to whom the letter is directed. It is placed on
the left- hand side. It is to be mentioned only in business letters.
The words Mr., Mrs., Miss, and Messrs. are the usual titles
used when addressing correspondents.
4. THE REFERENCE LINE is written on the same line with the
date, but on the left-hand corner. It contains both the initials of the
person who dictated the letter and those of the person who types it, as
well as other symbols necessary to filing.
It is advisable that the reference line should appear on the
reply letter. With this end in view some companies type on the letter
paper two lines of reference:
Our Ref.: MD/CD 3A
Your Ref. SS/SHP 24
Ref. is the short form for ‘reference’.
5. THE OPENING SALUTATION. It opens the letter and comes
on the left-hand side, below the inside address and it may be formal or
informal.
Formal: for men: Dear Sir(s), Gentlemen, (never Dear
Gentlemen);
for women: Dear Madame (Mesdames) (never Dear
Ladies).
Informal or friendly: Dear Mr...., Dear..., Dear Mrs....,
Under the opening salutation the sender may write the subject of his
letter, summarized in a few words immediately after the short form:
Re. that has Latin origin and means ’with reference to’ – ’cu referire
la’.
e.g. Re.: Inquiry
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6. THE BODY OF THE LETTER. The body letter contains the
first paragraph, which must be short and introduce the subject of the
letter, the body proper, which gives the information, and the closing
paragraph that comes to summarise the message.
7. THE CLOSING GREETINGS (SALUTATION OR THE
COMPLEMENTARY CLOSE) is the polite formula which ends the letter.
Its place is two spaces below the body of the letter and the right-hand
side.
Formal: Yours faithfully, Yours truly (Very truly yours), Yours
sincerely (Sincerely yours).
Informal: Yours sincerely, Cordially yours, I remain yours
sincerely, With love, Your loving..., All my love, Yours affectionately.
8. THE SIGNATURE.
If the letter is signed by another person on behalf of the one
who has the right to sign it, the name of the person who signs is
preceded by the letters pp.
If a copy of the letter is sent to the people mentioned, letters cc
will precede the name of the sender.
If documents are being enclosed with the letter the short form
Enc. (enclosure- anexă la o scrisoare) will be used.
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