Watch one of the following videos. After you watch, write sentences about the video. Be sure to use past tense. Turn in your sentences in class on Friday, October 10.
Examples:
Video 1 (direct link)
Video 2 (direct link)
For extra practice with articles:
From Purdue’s OWL: The Use and Non-Use of Articles – including countable vs. noncountable, first vs. subsequent mention, and general vs. specific. This page has a very good overview of everything about article use in English.
From Biotext: Using the Articles a, an, some, and the before Nouns. This page has a checklist of links about article usage, including a quiz.
About.com: Definite and Indefinite Articles – including a short quiz.
Quiz on definite and indefinite article use
Three more quizzes about articles (graded by level)
Explanation and examples of phrasal verbs on englishpage.com
Phrasal verb dictionary: on the left of that page, click on a letter of the alphabet to look up phrasal verbs beginning with that letter.
In class we talked about the order in which adjectives usually appear in a list. This order is instinctive for most native English speakers but can be trouble for learners. There are also different opinions on exactly what order should be used, because it is more of a guideline than a “hard” rule.
Here is one example of the adjective order ranking:
Lessons, examples, and quizzes:
“Reported speech” is when Person A says something and Person B tells Person C the thing Person A said.
A: “The winter weather is horrible in Chicago.”
B to C: “She said the winter weather was horrible in Chicago.”
For a very thorough list of rules and examples of reported speech, check out
Professor Rick Shur’s handout page
Scroll down to Grammar & Vocabulary Information & Exercises and choose Reported Speech Rules. This will allow you to download the .doc handout. You can also find practice exercises and answers there.
In Chapter 7, we are talking about inventions. Before inventions are made and used by many people, they have to be imagined. Scientists, fiction writers, and other people have been imagining inventions for hundreds of years. Some of the technology we use today was imagined a very long time ago. For example, in the 1800s, the writer Jules Verne predicted inventions we use today, like air conditioning, television, helicopters, and submarines.
What inventions do you think we will see in our future? Write a paragraph describing a future invention.
The invention can be…
Your paragraph should…
If you need ideas, here are some resources:
Post your paragraph on the Wiki page (Wiki Work > Future Inventions).
In our book this week, we are learning about participial phrases. If you would like to read more about them and see some examples, a University of Oregon website called The Tongue Untied has some helpful pages.
Some students were asking for more information on the rules for forming superlative adjectives. When do you use “most ______” and when do you use “_____est”?
This page may be helpful: Forming comparative and superlative adjectives
Here are three ways you can connect contrasting ideas in sentences.
1.
In spite of / Despite + [noun phrase] , [independent clause] .
[Independent clause] + in spite of / despite + [noun phrase] .
* In spite of the bad weather, I didn’t take an umbrella.
* I didn’t take an umbrella despite the bad weather.
* She wasn’t well. Despite this, she wanted to go to work.
2.
Even though / Although + [S + V] , [independent clause] .
[Independent clause] + even though / although + [S + V] .
(Note: [Even though/although + S + V] = dependent clause)
* Although it was raining, he went out.
* He went out although it was raining.
* She wanted to go to work even though she wasn’t well.
INCORRECT: In spite of the weather was bad, I didn’t take an umbrella.
CORRECT: Although the weather was bad, I didn’t take an umbrella.
3.
[Sentence] . However / On the other hand , [sentence with contrasting idea] .
[Sentence ] . Just the same / Nevertheless , [sentence with contrasting idea] .
* It was raining. However, I didn’t take my umbrella.
* My cat cries when I come home. Just the same, I don’t feed him right away.
* We are having a busy week in our classes. Nevertheless, the teacher scheduled a test for Monday.
INCORRECT: The crime rate in my city is high. However, it is safe. (contradictory, not contrasting, ideas)
CORRECT: The crime rate in my city is high. However, I feel safe in my neighborhood.
INCORRECT: I would like to live in a big city in spite of I like the quiet. (subject and verb after “in spite of”)
CORRECT: I would like to live in a big city in spite of my fondness for quiet. (noun phrase substitutes for “I like”)
Troy has kindly shared with the class a web page you might find helpful if you are struggling with irregular verbs:
English Page’s Irregular Verb Dictionary
