COMMUNICATION ENGLISH

DIPLOMA COURSE IN ENGINEERING

FIRST & SECOND SEMESTER

A publication under Government of Tamilnadu

Distribution of Free Text book Programme

(NOT FOR SALE)

Untouchability is a sin
Untouchability is a crime
Untouchability is inhuman

DIRECTORATE OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION

GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL NADU

i
Government of Tamilnadu
First Edition - 2015

Chairperson
Thiru Praveen Kumar, I.A.S.
Commissioner of Technical Education
Directorate of Technical Education
Chennai 600 025.

Dr. Sundaramoorthy M.E., Phd.,

Additional Director of Technical Education
Directorate of Technical Education
Chennai 600 025.

Coordinator Convener

CHANDRASEKARAN G
SORNAKUMAR R
Lecturer (SG) / English,
Principal,
Pattukottai Polytechnic College,
Dr. Dharmambal Govt. Polytechnic
Pattukottai.
College for women, Chennai.

Authors & Reviewers

DR T. JAYASUDHA DR JULIE CIANCIO

Associate Professor of English & Associate Dean, Director of
Research Officer, International Development, Westcliff
Tamil Nadu State Council for University, Faculty, College of
Higher Education, Lady Education, California State University
Willington Campus, Chennai.

Core Team

SENTHILKUMAR K A SIVAKUMAR T
Lecturer (SG) / English, Lecturer (SG) / English,
Sakthi Polytechnic College, SSM Polytechnic College,
SakthiNagar, Bhavani. Komarapalayam.

ANUPRIYA T THANGAVELU S
Lecturer / English, Lecturer (SG) / English,
Tamil Nadu Polytechnic IRT Polytechnic College,
College, Madurai. Tirunelveli.

ii
 Support Team

GURUNATHAN N MADHAVAN P
Lecturer (SG)/English, Lecturer (SG) / English
Seshasayee Institute of Technology, Sankar Polytechnic College,
Tiruchi. Tirunelveli.

JEYAPRAKASH M AMALADASAN V
Lecturer (SG) / English, Lecturer (SG) / English,
Ramakrishna Mission Polytechnic College, Rukmini Shanmugam Polytechnic College,
Chennai. Varichiyur, Madurai.

BANUMATHI L KARTHIKEYAN R
Lecturer (SG)/English, Lecturer (SG) / English,
Sri Arulmigu Palani Andavar Polytechnic PAC Ramasamy Raja Polytechnic College,
College, Palani. Rajapalayam.

RAJALAKSHMI S ALAGUMALAR M
S.L/ English, Lecturer / English
Murugappa Polytechnic College, TPEVR Govt. Polytechnic College,
Chennai. Vellore.

MANI S SARAVANAN M P
Lecturer / English, Lecturer / English
Govt. Polytechnic College for Women, Govt. Polytechnic College
Coimbatore. Coimbatore.

iii
 THE NATIONAL ANTHEM
FULL VERSION

Jana-gana-mana-adhinayaka jaya he
Bharata-bhagya-vidhata.
Punjaba-Sindhu-Gujarata-Maratha-
Dravida-Utkala-Banga
Vindhya-Himachala-Yamuna-Ganga
Uchchhala-jaladhi-taranga
Tava Subha name jage,
Tava Subha asisa mage,
Gahe tava jaya-gatha.
Jana-gana-mangala-dayaka jaya he
Bharata-bhagya-vidhata.
Jaya he, jaya he, jaya he
Jaya jaya, jaya, jaya he.

- Rabindranath Tagore

SHORT VERSION

Jana-gana-mana-adhinayaka jaya he
Bharata-bhagya-vidhata.
Jaya he, jaya he, jaya he
Jaya jaya, jaya, jaya he.

AUTHENTIC ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF

THE NATIONAL ANTHEM

Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people,

Thou dispenser of India's destiny.
Thy name rouses the hearts of the Punjab, Sind,
Gujarat and Maratha, of Dravida, Orissa and Bengal
. It echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and Himalayas,
mingles in the music of the Yamuna and Ganges
and is chanted by the waves of the Indian Sea.
They pray for Thy blessings and sing Thy praise
The saving of all people waits in Thy hand,
Thou dispenser of India's destiny.
Victory, Victory, Victory to Thee

iv
 THE NATIONAL INTEGRATION PLEDGE

I solemnly pledge to work with dedication to preserve and strengthen the

freedom and integrity of the nation.
I further affirm that I shall never resort to violence and that all differences
and disputes relating to religion, language, region or other political or
economic grievances should be settled by peaceful and
constitutional means.

INVOCATION TO GODDESS TAMIL

Bharat is like the face beauteous of Earth clad in wavy seas;

Deccan is her brow crescent-like on which the fragrant 'Tilak' is the blessed
Dravidian land.
Like the fragrance of that 'Tilak' plunging the world in joy supreme reigns
goddess Tamil with renown spread far and wide.
Praise unto You, goddess Tamil, whose majestic youthfulness, inspires awe
and ecstasy

v
 PREFACE
Communication skills have been the key to success for securing placements. It has
been observed that students have mastery in their specific domains, yet their communication
skill in English is not satisfactory. This has led to a scenario where there is a supply-demand
mismatch. While there are adequate employment opportunities, there are not enough eligible
candidates to deliver on the job. Hence, there are a number of unemployable youth who
have not been able to procure jobs in the organized sector for want of good communication
skills. Good communication skills also play a pivotal role to scale heights in ones career.
Hence, it was felt that there is a dire need to restructure the English language curriculum of
the Polytechnics in the State to foster internalization of the structure of the English language
through content.

This textbook has been designed with activities that have been arranged in a
progressive manner so that the learning of the language is easy, linear and application
oriented. The textbook is organized into 5 units for each semester. While the first three units
focus on sensitizing the students to the aspects of the language through a series of activities
to develop grammatical applications, vocabulary, listening, reading, writing and speaking
skills, unit 4 and 5 deal with composition. The highlight of this book is that it does not make
room for memorization or rote learning. Moreover, most of the activities have been
developed with the core content from the physics and chemistry textbooks of the
Polytechnics.

This would mean that the English language learning is just scaffolding of the
vocabulary internalized through the core subjects.

The objective is now, therefore, to enhance the communication skills in English by

providing adequate opportunities to practice.

As there is ample scope for the students to practice using the language,
internalization of the rules of English and using it in real life contexts shall be possible.
Learner autonomy has been built into the activities which will provide hands on experience in
using the language and thus learning by doing.

- T. Jayasudha
Research Officer
TANSCHE

vi
 30011 COMMUNICATION ENGLISH I

DETAILED SYLLABUS

Contents: Theory
Transactional Contact
Content Competencies Learning Outcomes
Strategies Hrs.
Unit I Grammar Through Activities Identify nouns & Verbs
Distinguish & use
Nouns & Presentation: singular & plural nouns
Verbs Practice: Use Differentiate tense (time)
Names & Presentation of from verbs (actions) 7
Actions Rules Adequate Learn tense using
Contextual timelines
examples
Practice
Listening Activities to Distinguish the
sensitize Pronunciation of Past
Plurals, past Pronunciation of tense & Plural endings
tense endings Plurals & Past tense
4
verbs endings Recognize words with
similar pronunciation but
Activities: different spelling &
homophones meanings
Reading Task based: Comprehend & respond
Factual, Inferential to simple texts
Vocabulary & 4
Experiential
questions
Unit 2 Grammar Through activities Recognize adjectives
Transform adjectival
Adjectives & Presentation: forms (Word level)
Description & Prepositions Practice: use Compare prepositions &
6
Connections Presentation of rules use them in context
Adequate Use adjectives &
contextual examples prepositions productively
Practice in speech and writing
Listening Activities Identify and use
Rhyming sounds appropriate 4
Homophones pronunciation
Speaking & Activities: Introduce themselves &
Writing Pair work, individual describe friends using 2
Work adjectives
Reading Task based Comprehend, interpret &
Factual, analyze simple reading
Inferential passages
3
Vocabulary &
Experiential
questions

vii
 Unit 3 Grammar Through Activities Recognize kinds of
sentences
Kinds of Presentation, Convert sentences as
sentences Practice, Use directed
Resources Phrases, Presentation of Differentiate phrases,
7
& clauses Rules Adequate clauses, sentences, Use
Environment sentences contextual practice articles
Negative Identify & use negative
sentences sentences
Articles
Listening Activities Distinguish & use words
Homophones with similar pronunciation 2

Reading Task based: Draft main points

Factual, Comprehend, interpret &
Inferential analyze small passages
Vocabulary & 4
Experiential
questions

Writing Activity Use Capitals, Commas &

Punctuation Periods
2

Unit 4 Writing 5-step writing process Interpret visuals

Pre-writing Brainstorm, organize

Clustering/grou
Visual to Verbal (brainstorming) & write paragraphs
Paragraph using linkers

Rough draft
(using linkers) ping ideas Write messages for 15

Revision/editing
Messages given contexts
Final draft
Activities/tasks
Unit 5 Writing Activities/ tasks Develop hints
Write ads
Ads (sample, guided Identify & compose
Personal letters controlled, free)] personal letters for
[Invitation, different purposes
Permission&
thanking] 15
Develop hints
Reading Task based: Comprehend,
Factual, interpret & analyze
Inferential texts
Vocabulary &
Experiential questions

viii
 Annexure I

Guidelines for setting question paper

Semester I

Vocabulary based questions like (Q 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.12) may be taken from the
textbook.

Q 1.1 & 1.2 odd words - short & long words

Mono and disyllabic common words used in day to day life should be given for
identifying the phonetically odd word

Q 2.7 Road Map

The question should have instruction Give three directions using imperative
form

Q 3.1 comprehension

Questions should precede the paragraph

Q 4.4 verbal to visual

Paragraphs should be selected in such a way that they lend themselves to

converting into graphics / flow chart / bar chart / pie chart or table

Q 4.5 Hints development

Should be about popular places, festivals & well known Simple stories

ix
 30021 COMMUNICATION ENGLISH - II

DETAILED SYLLABUS

Contents: Theory
Transactional Contact
Content Competencies Learning Outcomes
Strategies Hrs.
Unit 1 Grammar Through Activities Recognize & distinguish
active/passive forms
Active/Passive Presentation, practice, Use active & passive
use Presentation of forms 7
rules Adequate
Matter contextual examples.
Practice
Direct to indirect Tasks Convert from direct to
3
indirect, Indirect to direct
Reading Tasks based complex Respond to, interpret
& Writing texts and analyze texts for
academic purposes
Complete cloze
Summarize texts in own 5
words
Vocabulary Activity Build and expand
Lexical sets vocabulary use.

Unit 2 Reading Task based complex Comprehend, interpret,

passages for academic analyze texts
purposes.
6
Factual, Inferential
Polymers Vocabulary &
Experiential questions
Grammar Activities Identify, recognize, use
word forms appropriately
Word forms Presentation, practice, Convert words into other
Tags use forms 7
Prefix/suffix Presentation Adequate Add question tags
contextual examples Use prefix/suffix
Practice appropriately
Speaking Activity: Pair work Speak on given frames
Information Gap in pairs 2

Unit 3 Grammar Activities Sort positive,

comparative, superlative
Degrees of Presentation, practice, forms
Comparison uses Presentation of
5
Disasters structure & rules Recognize, distinguish &
Adequate contextual use degrees
examples Practice. appropriately.

x
 Verbal Activities Use verbal questions in
questions Presentation, Practice, contexts
uses Presentation of
5
Wh questions structure & rules Use Wh questions in
Adequate contextual contexts
examples Practice.
Reading Task based Comprehend, interpret &
Factual Inferential analyze texts for
2
Vocabulary & academic purposes
Experiential Questions
Speaking Opining Activities Gap: Speak on given situation
3
Pair/group work to register ones opinion.
Unit 4 Writing 5-Step Writing Process Recognize structure of
- Pre writing reports
Reports (brainstorming) Use passive forms to
Hints write
Emails - Clustering/Grouping Develop hints by framing
15
- Rough draft sentences & write
- Revision/Editing paragraphs
- Final draft Recognize internalize the
structure & compose
emails
Unit 5 Writing Activities: tasks Recognize & internalize
Job application structure & write letters:
Formal letter ordering goods. applying for jobs,
Resume complaints, placing 15
Verbal to visual Lodging complaints orders.
(sample, guided,
controlled, free) Write own resumes.
Reading Task based Respond, interpret &
Factual Inferential analyze passages for
Vocabulary & academic purposes.
Experiential Questions

xi
 Annexure II

Guidelines for setting question paper

Semester I

Vocabulary based questions like (Q 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.8 &1.9) may be taken from the
textbook.

Q 3.1 comprehension

Question should precede the paragraph

Q 2.4 tense forms

A para with 3 blanks with verbs in brackets should be given

Q 2.7 Idioms & phrases

Idioms & phrases should be taken from the prescribed text book only

Q 4.2 process

Questions on process should be given such as

o preparing fruit juice / Coffee / Tea / Planting a sapling
o Chemistry, Physics and workshop practical process

Q 4.1 verbal to visual

Paragraphs should be selected in such a way that they lend themselves to

converting into graphics / flow chart / bar chart / pie chart or table

Q 4.5 Hints Development

Topics related to science, environment , technology should be given

xii
 CONTENTS

Unit Title Page No.

I SEMESTER
1 Names and Actions 1

2 Descriptions and Connections 20

3 Resources and Environment 37

4 Composition 56

5 Composition 63

Model Question Paper 72

II SEMESTER
1 Matter 76

2 Polymers 98

3 Disasters 108

4 Composition 122

5 Composition 137

Model Question Paper 151

xiii
NOTES
 UNIT 1

NAMES & ACTIONS

Objectives

At the end of this unit, the students should be able to:

9 Identify nouns and verbs

9 Distinguish and use singular and plural nouns

9 Distinguish the pronunciation of (past tense endings) /t/, /d/, /Id/ and (plural endings)

/s/, /z/,/iz/

9 Differentiate tense (time) from verbs (action)

9 Recognize homophones

9 Comprehend reading texts and respond to tasks

2 EnglishCommunicationI

NAMES and ACTIONS

Language is a unique means of human communication. The irst men probably started using grunts
and other sounds to communicate with each other. Gradually, speciic sounds began to be used to denote
speciic things or actions. As man evolved, the need to use structured sounds and words became
important. This need resulted in the evolution of language. In the early days, when language was in the
initial stages of development, there was no grammar.
Grammar is nothing but rules that help us use the language correctly so that we are understood by
others in the community. For instance, when a person wants to learn to drive a car, knowledge of the
key parts of the car is very important. Knowing what a clutch, gear, and accelerator are, is one aspect;
how to apply them is another. The irst one is theory and the second one is practice. A combination of
both of these knowledge of the parts and actually applying it, is what happens when a person attempts
to learn to drive a car. The person is given training to drive a car practically, which helps in putting the
knowledge acquired into use. Similarly, grammar is made up of rules which enable a person to use lan-
guage effectively.
Parts of Speech

All words in English can be classiied into eight groups called parts of speech: noun, verb, adjective,
pronoun, preposition, conjunction, adverb and interjection. Let us learn the parts of speech one by one
in order to use the language meaningfully and effectively.
NOUN

Person
(Doctor)

Quality Place
(joy) (School)

Noun

Idea Thing
(Internet) (Laptop)
 Names&Actions 3

A noun is a word that names a person, place, quality, idea or thing.

1. The teacher corrected the paper.
2. The pilot landed safely.
3. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed.
4. The movie was a blockbuster.
5. They won the prize.
6. Can the students read in English?
7. Has the train arrived?
8. Is the lesson interesting?
9. The Taj Mahal is a beautiful monument.
10. Communication skills are essential for employment.
11. Keep the room clean and tidy.

Activity 1
Focus on the underlined words. Complete the chart below identifying the word by its deinition. Put
a tick mark 9 in the table for each word. The irst one is done for you.

Sl. No. Words Person Place Idea Thing

1 teacher 9

2 paper

3 pilot

4 energy

5 movie

6 prize

7 students

8 English

9 train

10 lesson

11 Taj Mahal

12 monument

13 skills

14 employment

15 room
4 EnglishCommunicationI

Activity 2
Fill in the blanks.
Any word that makes sense in the blanks is a noun. On completion, check your answers with the help
of your teacher.
1. A _______________ walks on the _____________.
2. Two _________________ meet in the _______________.
3. The ________________ visited the __________________.
4. The ________________ went to the _________________.
5. The _________________ liked the ___________________.
6. Do __________________ like __________________ ?
7. ___________________ dont like __________________.
8. __________________ play in the __________________.
9. The ____________________ hit a ___________________.
10. The ____________________ punished the __________________.

Activity 3
Look around at the objects in your classroom. List them on your own in the chart below. Check with
your teachers help.

1 6 11

2 7 12

3 8 13

4 9 14

5 10 15

Activity 4
a) List all the things that you could ind on a playing ield where an international one day cricket
match is to be held in Chennai.

1 6 11

2 7 12

3 8 13

4 9 14

5 10 15
 Names&Actions 5

b) The match is going to be between India and Sri Lanka. Now list the names of players from both
the countries (present & past players).

1 6 11

2 7 12

3 8 13

4 9 14

5 10 15

Now complete the following chart with words related to cricket.

w_ _ _ e _
p___h u__i_e

cricket
b _ t _i _ g
b _ _ li_ _

c o _ _e _ _ a _o_
r__s s _ o _e

Activity 5
Pair work: Tell your friend about cricket using the words associated with the game.
Types of nouns

Common
noun

Noun

Collective Proper
Noun Noun

Ex: Children, teacher, actor, Ram, Xavier, Ismail, team, herd, chorus
A common noun is your everyday noun like road, cat, love, mother or park. They are not capitalized
unless they start a sentence or form a part of a name like Uncle Tom.
6 EnglishCommunicationI

Proper nouns include names of months, days, organizations, people and their titles, places, books,
plays, movies and newspapers.
A collective noun is a noun that is most often singular in form but refers to a group of people or
things.
Singular and Plural Nouns
A singular noun names one person, place, idea, thing or quality. A plural noun names more than one
person, place, idea, thing or quality.
Rule
1. Add s to most singular nouns to make them plural.
2. Add es to singular nouns that end in s, sh, ch and x to make them plural.
Examples: books, watches, foxes, churches, kisses, bushes
3. Some nouns have special plural forms.
man - men, woman - women, child children, tooth teeth, foot feet
4. When a word ends in y, the plural form has ies
5. Some nouns do not change at all in the plural.
Sheep Sheep
Activity 6
Mark in the table below singular/plural usingS or P
sun S Baskets windows
friend Feet sandwiches
ly Stories children
women Mouse puppy
cities Drivers passenger
colleges activities berries
Activity 7
Choose the correct noun forms (singular or plural).
1. Ram carries two (basket / baskets).
2. I love to eat many (sandwiches / sandwich) for breakfast.
3. They are going on a (picnics / picnic).
4. There are many (boat / boats) on the lake.
5. The (gardens / garden) is very beautiful.
6. I travel in a small (cars / car).
7. I love to watch all the newly released (movie / movies).
8. Children like to swim in the colony (lakes / lake).
9. A (frogs / frog) jumped into the net.
10. Radha bought two sets of (clothes / cloth) for her birthday this year.
Activity 8
Write the plural forms of the underlined words.
1. Anne visits the neighborhood family.
2. English people enjoy the summer sky.
3. The managers record their meetings in their diary.
 Names&Actions 7

4. Children like to pick up the ripe strawberry.

5. The bakery sells fresh bread.
6. I can see the pony taking a nap.
7. I met the lady on the road.
8. Replace the old battery.
9. People like to go to the party.
10. Students need to complete the activity.
Pronunciation of plurals: Rule
Sounds are called voiced or voiceless depending on whether the vocal cords vibrate or not when they
are articulated. Keep your inger on your Adams apple (throat) and pronounce the pairs one after the
other to sense the contrast in their pronunciation: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/. The following rule is derived
from the articulation of the sounds. Only some sounds are given as examples.
/s/ Voiceless No vibration of vocal cords /p/, /t/, /k/, /s/
/z/ Voiced Vibration of vocal cords /m/,/n/,/ng/, /b/, /d/, /g/, /z/
/Iz/ After some letters/sounds /ch/, /x/, /sh/

Activity 9
Pair Work: Speaking
(Use the word clues below to answer question 2 and 3.)
1. Have you ever had a pet?
2. What animals do people commonly have as pets?
3. Do you like pets at home?
4. What was its name?
5. How did you choose the name?
6. What name would you choose for a cat?
7. Do you have a nickname? Do you prefer to use the name your parents gave you?
8. In what ways is your name important to you?
Activity 10
Answering the following questions will help you understand the importance of names better.
1. Do you wish to change your name?
2. What would you change your name to?
3. Why would you change your name?
4. What is it about your name that you like / dont like?
5. Have you ever chosen the name for anything a pet, a doll, or a team? How do you go about
choosing a name?
Activity 11
Look at the words in bold. Try to ill out the chart with the type of noun each word belongs to. The
irst stanza is done for you.
8 EnglishCommunicationI

The Naming of Cats T.S. Eliot

Stanza 1
The naming of Cats is a dificult matter.
It isnt just one of your holiday games:
You may think at irst Im as mad as a hatter.
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, theres the name that the family use daily.
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter.
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter
But all of them sensible everyday names.
Stanza 2
But I tell you, a cat needs a name thats particular.
A name thats peculiar, and more digniied.
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular.
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum.
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Corticopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond theres still one name left over.
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation.
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his Name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable2
 Names&Actions 9

Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

Quorum: the Presence at a meeting of a minimum number of members necessary
Ineffable: inexpressible: effable: expressible
Note:
Effaineffable2: Eliots coinage.

Stanza Sl.No. Common Noun Proper Noun

Stanza 1 1 cats Peter
2 matter Augustus
3 games Alonzo
4 hatter James
5 family Victor
6 gentlemen Jonathan
7 dames George Bill Bailey
8 Plato
9 Admetus
10 Electra
11 Demeter
Stanza 2 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

READING COMPREhENSION
Activity 12
Read the following questions irst and then read The Naming of Cats to answer them.
1. How many names must a cat have?
2. Which is the name that the cat is thinking about?
3. Why do you think a cat needs a name?
4. How might the different names for a single cat correspond to different moods?

Activity 13
Read the poem aloud. Note that some words or phrases are repeated. names, name and nam-
ing is repeated many times. Some proper names are also listed in general terms. What does this mean?
10 EnglishCommunicationI

How does the poem attract you through this repetition? Discuss with your partner, class and teacher to
understand how important names are.

VERB
A verb is a word that shows action. When we speak or write, the words that show actions are verbs.
In a sentence, verbs tell us what the subject of a sentence does.

Examples:
The machine sews the fabric.
The worker walks near the machine.
Activity 14
Underline the verbs in the following sentences.
1. He rides a bicycle.
2. They draw pictures.
3. Mother makes coffee.
4. The factory produces shoes.
5. The man polishes the shoes.
6. The class obeys the teacher.
7. We follow rules.
8. The machine cuts the leather.
While verbs indicate action, tense tells us the time of the action whether the action is happening
now (present), has been completed already (past) or will be taking place (future).
Rule
Present tense verbs have the following rules when you use verbs with third person singular subjects:
1. Add s to most verbs.
2. Ad es to verbs that end in sh, ch, zz, ss, s and x.
3. Change y to i and add es to verbs that end in y.
Examples:
1. The magnet sticks to metal.
2. Raju watches the television.
3. Jordan carries his passport with him.
Do not ADD s or es when you use verbs with plural subjects.
Activity 15
Identify whether the subject is singular or plural.
1. The magnet attracts a nail.
2. A compass shows direction.
3. Lakshmi teaches us physics.
4. The children behave well.
 Names&Actions 11

5. Magnets are useful in many ways.

6. Teachers instruct students.
7. The doghouse needs a ramp.
8. She hurries to catch the bus.
9. The children play very happily.
10. The boys ight with one another.
Rules:
Past tense verbs have the following rules:
1. Add ed to most verbs: looked, talked
2. Drop the e and add ed to verbs that end in e: smiled, danced
3. Change y to and add ed to verbs that end in y: carried, buried
4. Double the last consonant and add ed when the word ends in CVC: dragged, stopped.
Activity 16
Underline the past tense verbs.
1. Galileo watched the night sky.

2. The stars illed the sky.

3. Marconi invented the radio.

4. Raju continued to ight.

5. People laughed at the clown.

6. Children enjoyed the excursion.

7. The police punished the thief.

8. Radha looked into the mirror often.

9. Many completed her studies.

10. Christy persuaded John to continue his studies.

Present Tense
verb + s most verbs
verb + es sh, ch, ss, zz, x (ending)
verb (-y) + ies y (ending)
Past Tense
verb + ed most verbs
verb (-e) + ed e (ending)
verb (-y) + ied y (ending)
verb + (double last letter) + ed consonant ending
12 EnglishCommunicationI

Understanding Tenses by using a Timeline

The following line is called a timeline. The midpoint is the present, marked as now. All actions
taking place now are marked in the midpoint and are in the present tense. All actions that have been
completed are marked on the left of the midpoint and they indicate past tense. All actions that are going
to take place after some time (time not speciied) are marked on the right side of the midpoint as they
indicate future time of action and hence future tense.

Past Future

Now
An action that has been completed in the past but not long ago, is marked just before the midpoint
and is called the present perfect tense.

past future

present
now

Note: present perfect tense: have / has + past participle form of the verb
had left arrived
future

past perfect past now

When there are two actions that have been completed in the past, the action that took place irst is
marked before the action that took place second, as it is the earlier of the two actions. In the timeline, the
irst action is marked before the past tense point.
Example: The train had left the platform before I reached the station
Note: past perfect tense: had + verb + en (participle)
Activity 17
Choose the correct verb forms:

1. I ___________________ cricket with my family in the evening. (watches/watch)

2. We sometimes ____________________ toys with our friends. (share/shares)

3. The planets in the solar system ______________________ around the sun. (travels/travel)

4. My friends ____________________________ the bus to the college. (takes/take)

5. Penguins _________________________ in the arctic region where it is very cold. (live/lives)

6. Many people ___________________________ to visit museums and art galleries. (likes/like)

An action that has started now and is still in progress and has not been completed yet is denoted by
present continuous tense. The following timeline shows this.
Note: present continuous: verb + ing (present)
 Names&Actions 13

past now future

An action that was started in the past and is still in progress and has not been completed is denoted
by the past continuous tense. The following timeline shows this.
Note: past continuous: verb + ing (past)

past now future

From Robots Will Never Replace humans by Rosa Velasquez

In movies and science iction novels, we have seen many kinds of talking robots. They are always
smart and well-behaved, and walk like people. That creature, however, simply doesnt exist in the real
world. The popular image of robots has misled people from the start. When industrial robots were in-
vented, we expected them to look and think like us, but, in fact, they didnt. Nor is it likely they ever will.
Engineers believe theres little reason to try to build a mechanical human being. Even a baby less than
two years old can do three things that no robot can: recognize a face, understand a human language, and
walk on two legs. If they cant do everything a person can, then robots will never replace humans.
Robots do have their place, however. They can perform certain tasks, such as building car
bodies in factories and stacking boxes for shipping. These kinds of jobs they do very well. And it is
the dangerous and boring tasks that robots do bestthose jobs that no person enjoys. During the early
1960s, the irst industrial robots lifted a piece of metal from a conveyer belt, drilled a hole in it, and
returned it to the conveyor belt. Before, human workers would perform the same task hour after hour,
sometimes feeling like little more than robots themselves.
Activity 18
List the verbs underlined in the above passage in the following columns:
Present Past Perfect Continuous

Note: Though the past tense is formed with ed. All words with ed endings are not pronounced in the
same way in English. Endings may be pronounced as /t/, /d/ and /Id/. When the letters are put within
slash brackets, they represent sounds and not the alphabet. Regular past tense verbs with ed endings
have different pronunciation:

1. walked /t/
2. wanted /Id/
3. moved /d/
Repeat the verb many times to hear the endings clearly.
14 EnglishCommunicationI

Activity 19
Fill the following past tense regular verbs in the appropriate columns according totheir pronuncia-
tion.

1. booked 2. helped 3. walked 4. played

5. remembered 6. planted 7. divided 8. moved

9. looked 10. rained 11. started 12. trained

13. sorted 14. wanted 15. listened 16. developed

/t/ /Id/ /d/

Long and short sounds

Sounds in English can be short or long. For example, live, leave, full, fool. Long sounds are marked
by a colon. Here are some words that you should say aloud and ill in the chart.

1. leave 2. coffee 3. see 4. peal 5. tea

6. sun 7. pin 8. bin 9. tip 10. trip

11. blue 12.clue 13. pool 14. pull 15. foot

16. took 17. lue 18. glue

 Names&Actions 15

Activity 20
/I/ /i:/ /u:/ /U/

homophones: words with same pronunciation

Some words in English have the same pronunciation but different spellings and meanings. They are
called homophones. Homo means same or similar and phone means sound.

a. plain & plane

b. so and sew

c. four and for

d. stare and ate

e. to and two

f. eight and ate

g. die and dye

h. be and bee

i. seem and seam

j. peace and piece

k. awe and or

l. hi and high

m. fowl and foul

n. no and know
16 EnglishCommunicationI

o. eye and I

p. sale and sail

q. rain and reign

r. blew and blue

s. tales and tails

Activity 21
Identify the homophone of the words marked in bold.

I live in a town near the SEA. It is a very quiet town, NOT much happens. There is a big school in
the middle of the town and every DAY you can hEAR the PEAL of the school bells. There is a busy
QUAY near the town. This is a GREAT SOURCE of employment FOR OUR town. My father and
brother both work there. They love TO work in the fresh air. It hardly ever RAINS. The WEAThER is
actually very nice most of the year round. We dont get much snow, but we do get a lot of SUN during
the summer. People are very happy hERE. I never want to leave.

sea see
quiet
not
Sunday
hear
peal
quay
to
rains
weather
sun
here

Verbs in the Future

We know that actions can happen now or in the past. We need to know that verbs can also show an
action that will happen in the future. Will is the verb that is generally used to write and speak about
the future.
Examples
One day I will become a great person.

We will ly in an airplane next year.

 Names&Actions 17

Activity 22
Identify the verb tense: present, past or future
1. Astronauts visited mars.

2. NASA will send people to the moon.

3. Children watch the stars in a planetarium.

4. Space travel excites human beings.

5. Neil Armstrong stepped on the moons surface.

6. I will take photographs of the garden.

7. Instruments will measure temperature, heat, energy, etc.

8. We enjoyed ourselves at the party.

helping Verbs
Verbs like has, have, had are used to help the main verbs to show an action in the past. These verbs
are called helping verbs.
Rule Example
singular subject + has (he, she, it) The chef has cooked the dinner.
plural subject + have (I, you, we, they) The assistants have helped.
singular / plural subject + had The customers had complained to the manager.

Activity 23
Underline the helping verbs.
1. The scientist has invented a machine.

2. They have pealed the vegetables.

3. The warden had warned the mischievous students.

4. He had sailed to India to trade in spices.

5. The customers have lodged a complaint.

6. She had learned to defend herself.

Activity 24
Circle has/have/had as appropriate.
1. They (have/has) followed the instructions.

2. He (has/have) cooked dinner.

3. They (have/has) inished the task.

4. He (have/had) apples for breakfast.

18 EnglishCommunicationI

5. Tom (have/had) imagined to build a fancy house.

6. He (has/have) boiled the vegetables for dinner.

7. They (has/had) parked the car in the wrong slot in the parking area.

8. The nurse (have/had) attended on all the patients in the ward.

Activity 25
Write the correct verb forms in the chart below.

1. listen

2. run

3. write

4. stand
verb forms

simple present simple past present continuous

1. 1. 1.

2. 2. 2.

3. 3. 3.

4. 4. 4.

IRREGULAR VERBS

present present past perfect

3rd person singular
be is was been

become becomes became become

begin begins began begun

break breaks broke broken

bring brings brought brought

buy buys bought bought

catch catches caught caught

 Names&Actions 19

choose chooses chose chosen

come comes came came

cost costs cost cost

cut cuts cut cut

dig digs dug dug

do does did done

draw draws drew drawn

drink drinks drank drunk

drive drives drove driven

eat eats ate eaten

fall falls fell fallen

ind inds found found

ly lies lew lown

forget forgets forgot forgotten

get gets got got

give gives gave given

go goes went gone

have has had had

know knows knew known

let lets let let

lie lies lay lain

make makes made made

pay pays paid paid

put puts put put

read reads read read

run runs ran run

say says said said

sell sells sold sold

 UNIT 2

DESCRIPTIONS & CONNECTIONS

Objectives

At the end of this unit, the students should be able to:

9 Recognize adjectives

9 Sort positive, comparative and superlative degree forms

9 Convert word class: noun to verb, adjective to noun, verb to noun

9 Transform adjectival forms (word level, sentence level: degrees of comparison)

9 Compare prepositions and use the appropriate ones in a given context

9 Recognize rhymes (sounds, words)

9 Use adjectives & prepositions (speaking & writing)

9 Introduce themselves using adjectives

9 Describe their friends using adjectives

9 Identify homophones

9 Comprehend, interpret, and analyze reading texts

 Descriptions&Connections 21

DESCRIPTIONS & CONNECTIONS

ADJECTIVES
Words used to describe a person or a thing. Adjectives agree in gender and number with the nouns
they describe.

feelings shape size

An adjective tells us temperature

how many texture colour

Example:

big, small, beautiful, handsome, pretty, gentle, smooth, soft

Normally an adjective comes before the noun it describes.

Example:

Old man, young lady, brilliant student, global village

Sometimes adjectives also come after the nouns they describe.

Example:

All atoms (noun) are too small. (adjective)

The Taj Mahal (noun) is beautiful. (adjective)

God (noun) is great. (adjective)

The adjectives can be used in three degrees: positive, comparative and superlative.

Rule
1. The structure of the positive degree usually has as ______ as or so ______ as.

as adjective as

so adjective as
22 EnglishCommunicationI

2. The structure of the comparative degree has er added to the adjective and is followed by
than.
adjective + er + than
great + er + than greater than
3. Some long adjectives cannot have er added to them. They are preceded by more.
more + adjective + than
more + eficient + than more eficient than
4. The structure of the superlative degree has est added to the adjective and is preceded by the.
the + adjective + est
the + great + est the greatest
5. Some long adjectives cannot have er added to them; they are preceded by the followed by
most.
the + most + adjective
the + most + effective the most effective

Activity 1
Circle the adjective in the word list.

1 blue Cow run apple

2 fast computer car wine

3 pencil Tall pillow television

4 toy coat soft Eat

5 farm Play sad Boy

Activity 2
Underline the adjectives in the sentences.
1. The old woman walks to the grocery store in the rain.

2. My old bicycle had a lovely bell on it.

3. The class leader shouted at the mischievous boys.

4. Sachin is a brilliant batsman.

5. She is afraid of tiny insects and big cockroaches.

6. Winter days make one wear warm clothes.

7. My younger brother cant ride a cycle.

 Descriptions&Connections 23

8. Please remove your dirty shoes before you enter the clean hall.

a) Coin as many combinations as possible with the following adjectives and nouns.

happy

good

funny
a
clever
teacher
young

cool
an
old

angry

b) Create as many combinations as possible with the following adjectives and nouns.

bad

good

lazy
A
naughty
student
hard-working

university

brilliant

clever
24 EnglishCommunicationI

Activity 4
Complete the following table with the appropriate adjectival forms.

positive comparative superlative

excessive
easiest
more modern
most sticky
practical
earlier
most versatile
great
good
longer
worse
most dificult
tiny
healthy
more speciic
more dominant
most human
smaller
largest
heavier
Activity 5
Pair Work: Choose some jobs like teacher, mechanic, supervisor, manager, etc. Using the adjectives
(given below) tell you partner your likes and dislikes. You can make notes if you want. (You can use the
positive, comparative and superlative forms too.)
stimulating
dificult
monotonous
challenging
hard
interesting
rewarding
motivating
boring
stressful
 Descriptions&Connections 25

Use the following expressions, if you want.

1. I like the job of a supervisor because it is more challenging than that of a mechanic.
2. It is __________________________. (positive)
3. It is __________________________________. (superlative)

Activity 6
Speaking Practice: Look at the following words used to describe people. Describe any one of your
friends using any four of the adjectives below, using all three degrees.

shy easygoing generous

thoughtful conident practical

sensitive imaginative lively

gentle

Reading Comprehension
Read the following questions and then read the passage to ind the answers.
1. What is passed on through chromosomes?
2. Where can we ind chromosomes?
3. What do chromosomes contain?
4. Genes are __________________________.
5. Genes carry __________________________.
6. Why do we always tend to resemble one of our parents while we have the genes of both our
parents?
7. Whom do you resemble? How do you know?
8. Why are some words underlined? What parts of speech do they belong to?

WhY DO WE OFTEN LOOK LIKE OUR PARENTS?

The characteristics of individual human beings are passed from one generation to the next in their
chromosomes. Chromosomes are tiny threads that are present in all cells apart from the red blood cells.
They contain all the information thats required for a human being to develop physically. There is a
special pair of chromosomes that actually determines the gender of a person!
Short sections of a chromosome are called genes. Each gene carries the instructions for a speciic
characteristic. Many of these genes work with other effects they will have. Scientists are currently study-
ing all the genes in a human cell, which will give them the complete blueprint for a human being.
Each of our parents gives us twenty-three chromosomes, making forty-six in all. That means that
we have two versions of each of our genes, but one is often dominant. We see the effect of the dominant
gene, but the other (recessive) gene is still there and can be passed on to our children.
26 EnglishCommunicationI

PREPOSITION
A preposition is a word or words which express location, time or direction. It usually comes before
a noun: pre + position
Examples:
on (P) the table (N) towards (P) the shop (N)
at (P) the centre (N) under (P) the tree (N)

over / above
on
onto

through

toward from away

in
inside of
to
within beside
from
into out of

under / below / beneath

The following prepositions are often confusing. This picture will help you remember them better. Prac-
tice using them with the clues given on the right side.

hours: at 5pm, 12O clock, 7am

days: on Friday, my birthday, 7th May

weeks, months, 2 July, May

years, decades, 1980, the 80s, the 1900s
centuries: in
 Descriptions&Connections 27

Activity 7
1. The college begins _________ daily. It reopened _________ 16th June.

2. I completed 12th standard _________ 2013.

3. I wake up daily _________ 6:00 am.

4. My birthday is _________ 28 November.

5. _________ 2014 we celebrated new year with my friends.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Activity 8
The diagram below will give you a fairly good idea of the different prepositions. Practice them with
your teacher using the objects in your classroom.
Logic puzzle (prepositions game)
The Family Apartment
Building
I have a big family. I have two brothers (Maran and David), one
7 8 9 brother-in-law (Jayram), three sisters (Charlotte, Bama, Malathy) and
one sister-in-law (Jenny). There is also a dog named Fatty. Everyone
4 5 6 in my family lives in the same apartment building. Fatty lives in the
middle. Can you ind out where everyone else lives?
1 2 3

Jenny lives next to Malathy.

Charlotte lives below my brother-in-law.

Bama lives below David.

David isnt married.

I live next to my married brother.

Jayram is my brother-in-law hes married to Malathy.

The dog lives above my brother who is married.

Bama lives above me.

The dog lives below Malathy.

Jayram lives next to the dog.

28 EnglishCommunicationI

Activity 9
Note making 1: Read the following passage and make notes in the given format.
Adhesives and Glues: Introduction
All sort of adhesives ind excessive use in the modern world. Be it past on a name slip on your note-
book, or ixing the windshield of a car, adhesives are indispensable.
Excavations in Syria have revealed that some 40,000 years ago, early humans attached stone tools
to axe handles with bitumen, a naturally occurring sticky substance now used for surfacing roads and
water prooing roofs. However, the practical water prooing qualities of bitumen were irst exploited in
about 2400BC, when shipbuilders in Babylon and Mesopotamia used it to waterproof the wooden edges
of their ships.
In fact, the Egyptians were one step ahead of their contemporaries. They manufactured glues by
boiling animal skin, bone and sinew. Similar glues are still used by traditional carpenters. Other natural
adhesives used since the earliest times include bees wax, egg white, resin and starch pastes. Synthetic
glues, developed in the 20th century, are stronger and more versatile.
In the 1950s, scientists of the American company Eastman Kodak, accidentally discovered super
glues from a substance called ethyl Cyanoacrylate. Sold in Britain in the mid 1970s, this superglue
turned out to be popular throughout the world (Taken from: Tell me why, Sep. 2008 p. 80)
1. Adhesives

Modern day uses are:

1)

2)

2. Bitumen is _______________________________________________________________.

3. It is used_________________________________________________________________.

4. Shipbuilders used glue to ____________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________.

5. Egyptians made glues _______________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________.

6. Some natural adhesives are ___________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________.

7. Synthetic glues ____________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________.

8. Eastman Kodak____________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________.
 Descriptions&Connections 29

Activity 10
List some glues that we make use of in our day-to-day life. Write one use for each.

Sl. No Glue Use

1. Fevicol

2.

3.

4.

5.

Note making 2: Use this sequence map to organize information about the steps involved in mummi-
ication.

1. internal
organs taken
out and
preserved

2. heart 3. brain

4. immersed
5. treated 6. wrapped

Do you know what a mummy is? It is a dead body that has been dried out or preserved so that it
lasts for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians used to preserve the bodies of the dead as mummies.
They believed that when people died, they would make a journey to another world, where they would
lead a new life. They would need their bodies again then. So, dead bodies were preserved through a
process called mummiication before being buried. Even monkeys, dogs, cats and other animals were
mummiied.
The irst step in mummiication was to take out most of the internal organs and preserve them.
The heart was left in the body to be weighed by the gods; the brain, though, was discarded because it
was not thought to be of any value. After being immersed for many days in a special kind of salt called
Natron, the body was treated with special ointments and inally wrapped carefully in long strips of linen.
The mummiication business was always a thriving one, and it lasted well into Roman times.
30 EnglishCommunicationI

Activity 12
Listen & Repeat!
Repeat these poems with your teacher and learn some sounds and rhyming words.
One two three four ive
Once I caught a ish alive.
Six seven eight nine ten
Then I let it go again.
Why did you let it go?
Because it bit me so.

Life Doesnt Frighten Me by Maya Angelou

Shadows on the wall

Noises down the hall
Life doesnt frighten me at all
Bad dogs barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
Life doesnt frighten me at all.

Mean old Mother Goose

Lions on the loose
They dont frighten me at all
Dragons breathing lame
On my counterpane
That doesnt frighten me at all.

I go boo
Make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
I wont cry
So they ly
I just smile
They go wild
Life doesnt frighten me at all.

Tough guys in a ight

All alone at night
Life doesnt frighten me at all.
Panthers in the park
Strangers in the dark
No, they dont frighten me at all.
 Descriptions&Connections 31

That new classroom where

Boys all pull my hair
(Kissy little girls
With their hair in curls)
They dont frighten me at all.

Dont show me frogs or snakes

And listen for my scream,
If Im afraid at all
Its only in my dreams.

Ive got a magic charm

That I keep up my sleeve,
I can walk the ocean loor
And never have to breathe.
Life doesnt frighten me at all
Not at all.
Not at all.
Life doesnt frighten me at all.

Activity 13
Match words that have the same sounds.
1. where a. fun

2. right b. girls

3. run c. goose

4. loose d. wall

5. hall e. hair

6. curls f. ight

Activity 14
Pair Work: Speaking
Have you ever been frightened by anything? What is it? When did it happen? Why were you fright-
ened? How did you overcome your fear? Share your experiences with your friend.
Use the following structures to share your experiences.
1. I was frightened by ___________________________________.
When I __________________________________________.
32 EnglishCommunicationI

2. When I was _____________________________________________.

___________________________________________________.
3. In the year, __________________________________________.
When I _________________________________________.

Activity 15
Listen & Repeat
Repeat the poem after your teacher & note the sounds and rhymes in English:
Leisure
WHAT is this life if, full of care, No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
We have no time to stand and stare? And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to stand beneath the boughs, No time to wait till her mouth can
And stare as long as sheep and cows: Enrich that smile her eyes began?

No time to see, when woods we pass, A poor life this if, full of care,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass: We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night: W. h. Davies

Activity 16
List the rhyming words in the poem.
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.
 Descriptions&Connections 33

Activity 17
Pair Work: Speaking
Using some familiar adjectives and prepositions you have learnt, tell you friend about yourself.

When I was a little

My family School days
boy /girl

The story of
my life

My favorite
Future plans
memories

Activity 18
Reading
Read the following questions irst and then try to ind answers in the passage.

1. What is the Internet?

2. What are the tasks you can do through the Internet?

3. WWW means __________________________________________________________.

4. What are the features available on the Web?

5. We can _______________, __________________ and _____________________ on the web

through the Internet.

6. Why is the Internet exciting?

What are the uses of the Internet?

Did you know that your computer can be connected to another computer in Africa or America? This
is possible because of a giant network called the Internet that connects computers through phone lines,
cable and satellite links. If you get an Internet connection, your computer too becomes a part of this
network.
An Internet connection will allow you to communicate with other users all over the world through
electronic mail or e-mail. You can also get access to the World Wide Web, which is a vast store of in-
formation. You can download this information on to your own computer, copy it and print it. The World
Wide Web has many sites that give you news and entertainment too.
So, we can say that the three main uses of the Internet are communication, research and publishing
on the World Wide Web. The Web allows for the display of still images, moving video, audio and text
in any combination. The fact is that once you start using the Internet, you will ind that browsing or
suring the Internet is a very good way to learn a lot and have a lot of fun as well, for you can play
many exciting games on the Internet!
34 EnglishCommunicationI

Activity 19
1. Note the different uses of the word connect in the text. Identify the parts of speech of:
connected, connects, connection
2. Pick out words that end in tion in the passage. What part of speech does a word ending in tion
belong to? Write their verb forms in the table below.

Words ending in tion Verb forms

1.

2.

3.

4.

3. Carefully look at the following sentences.

1. If you get an Internet connection, your computer too becomes a part of thisnetwork.

2. You can also get access to the World Wide Web, which is a vast store of information.

3. You can download this information on to your computer, copy it and print it.

4. The World Wide Web has many sites that give you news and entertainment too.

The underlined parts of the sentences do not give complete meaning in sentences 1,2 and 4. They
are called subordinate clauses. They give only part of the meaning and not the complete meaning. (You
will learn more about this in Unit 3.)

Activity 20

Each of the following deinitions refers to a pair of homonyms. Try to identify them.

1. A reasonably priced ticket

2. A spoiled chicken

3. A faded yellow bucket

4. The correct ceremonial observance

5. Mens correspondence

Example:

A mare with laryngitis

A hoarse horse
 Descriptions&Connections 35

Activity 21
For each sentence, write the correct homophones.
1. night / knight

The _______ travelled all _______ to ind the dragon.

2. way / weigh

Thats a good _________ to ___________ a chicken.

3. heal / hell

I know _______ play ball again after his legs ____________.

4. rose / rows

Only one ________ bloomed in all those _________ of lowers.

5. their / theyre

I know _____________ waiting for me at _________ house.

6. loan / lone

One _________ person applied for the student ___________ .

(From The lighter side of TEFL US Dept. of State)

Activity 22
Choose the correct word.
1. The kings ________________________(rain / reign) lasted for 30 years.

2. I was so tired from climbing those _______________. (stares / stairs)

3. Whats your favorite breakfast __________ ? (serial / cereal)

4. Thats the best movie I have ever ________________. (scene / seen)

5. The dog licked its ___________. (paws /pause)

6. I wont ___________ (waist / waste) my money on this junk.

7. The meeting was so long, I was __________________. (board / bored)

8. I ______________ a CD player in the contest. (one / won)

(From The lighter side of TEFL US Dept. of State)

36 EnglishCommunicationI

Activity 23
Complete the idioms by adding a word that is opposite in meaning.
1. stop and ______________________

2. lost and ______________________

3. ups and _______________________

4. dos and _______________________

5. friend and _____________________

6. for better and __________________

7. this or ________________________

8. hit or _________________________

9. heaven or _____________________

10. win or ________________________

(From The lighter side of TEFL US Dept. of State)

Answers
Activity 20

1. fair fare

2. foul fowl

3. pale pail

4. right rite

5. male mail
 UNIT 3

RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT

Objectives

At the end of this unit, the students should be able to:

9 Recognize four kinds of sentences

9 Convert sentences into other kinds (assertive to interrogative, etc)

9 Differentiate phrases, clauses and sentences

9 Use articles appropriately

9 Identify homophones, distinguish and use words with similar pronunciation

9 Draft main points

9 Comprehend, interpret and analyze reading texts

9 Use capitals, commas and periods

38 EnglishCommunicationI

RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT

Did you know?

The average human body is comprised of 55% water
Adult male: 60%
Adult female: 50%
heart
80% lungs
bones
22% 80%

brain
blood
75%
83%
human
body

kidneys
83% liver
86%

muscle
75% skin 64%
joints
83%

Activity 1
Write sentences using the simple present tense for the amount of water in the human body. The irst
one is completed for you. (Write at least 5 sentences using present tense).
There is (be) 80% of water in the human body.
The human kidneys have more water than the human heart.
Bones have less water than blood.
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.
 Resources&Environment 39

Reading
Activity 2
Read the following questions and try to locate answers in the passage.

1. Why is the treatment of wastewater important?

2. How is wastewater treatment done?

3. What do primary and secondary treatment mean?

4. Chlorine helps to _____________________________.

5. How are chemicals and dissolved solids removed?

Treatment of wastewater is actually a remarkably simple process that utilizes very basic physical,
biological, and chemical principles to remove contaminants from water. Use of mechanical or physical
systems to treat wastewater is generally referred to as primary treatment, and use of biological processes
to provide further treatment is referred to as secondary treatment. Advanced secondary treatment usually
involves applying chemical systems in addition to biological ones, such as injecting chlorine to disinfect
the water. Tertiary treatment methods are sometimes used after primary and secondary treatment to re-
move traces of chemicals and dissolved solids. Tertiary treatment is expensive and not widely practised
except where necessary to remove industrial contaminants.

Activity 3

Fill in the blanks with the correct forms of verbs.Reading the passage below may be helpful.

Raw sewage ________________ (pass) through bar screens, which _________________ (be)
metal rods. The metal rods __________________ (protect) the pumps in the treatment process. Water
__________________ (enter) the grit chamber through the rods. It _____________ (low) slowly so that
sand and gravel ____________________ (fall) to the bottom. Organic waste _________________ (settle)
at the bottom, while grease and oil ______________ (loat) to the top. This process _________________
(help) remove half of the contaminants.

Activity 4

Read the passage below and ill in the blanks with the correct forms of the verbs given in brackets.

Water ________________________ (low) into aeration basins. Consumption of organic material as

food _______________ (take) place before it ________________ (collect) as the wastewater bio-solids
in the clariiers. Water recycling operators _____________________ __________________________
(harvest) microorganisms and ______________________ (consider) themselves as bug farmers. The
process ______________ (be) biological.
40 EnglishCommunicationI

Biological Systems: Biological processes remove most of the rest of the contaminants. Water lows into
aeration basins, where oxygen is mixed with the water. Microorganisms consume the organic material
such as food and convert non-settleable solids to settleable solids and are later themselves captured in
inal clariiers, ending up in wastewater biosolids. Many operators of WRCs consider themselves bug
farmers, since they are in the business of growing and harvesting a healthy population of microorgan-
isms. Since the process is biological, any chemical or substance harmful to life can interfere with the
operation of a water recycling plant.
Activity 5
Read the following questions and try to locate answers from the passage that follows.
1. How are the remaining microorganisms killed?

2. Why is chlorine not let into the rivers and lakes?

3. What does sulphur dioxide help in?

4. What are other methods used instead of using chlorine? Why are they used?

Chemical Systems: After the bugs do their work, chemical systems such as chlorine contact chambers
are used to kill the remaining microorganisms not captured in inal clariiers. It is not desirable to have
residual chlorine in the rivers and lakes; however, chlorine is then removed using sulphur dioxide (SO2).
This protects the aquatic life in the receiving stream. Using and storing highly toxic chlorine gas poses
risks, so many facilities are beginning to use ultraviolet radiation instead of chlorine to provide inal dis-
infection of water. The point where treated water is discharged into a stream or body of water is called
the outfall.
Activity 6
Read the following passage and ill in the blanks with suitable prepositions.
Beneits _________ rainwater harvesting
RWH systems will offer the following beneits compared _________ conventional strategies:
Provides relatively high quality water _________ most areas, soft and low _________ minerals
low costs;
Direct capturing _________ rainwater signiicantly reduces our reliance _________ water from
dams/ reservoirs and canal systems. This will exert less pressure _________ national water stor-
age capacity _________ macro-level and can potentially reduce the need _________ expand
dams or build new ones;
Capturing rain water reduces the low _________ storm water and minimizes the likelihood
overloading storm water systems _________ the neighbourhood;
Reduces soil erosion and looding typically created _________ storm water run-off _________
urban areas _________ India;
Encourages households and institutions _________ be equipped with an on-site and decentral-
ized water supply _________ reliable quality;
 Resources&Environment 41

Reduces silting and contamination _______ waterways _______ polluted surface run-off; and
Helps _________ create mass awareness and appreciation _________ conservation water
resources;
(to, of, at, of, in, of, in, on, at, on, in, to, by, of, in, to, of, by, of, in, to, of, in)
Desalination low chart
Desalination: different processes

Solarevaporation membranereverseosmosis distillation flashevaporation electrodialysis

Activity 7
Fill in the blanks with the appropriate articles.

Desalination (http://www.edwardsaquifer.net/desalination.html 16.12.2014 9:51 am)

Desalination involves removing ------- salt from water to make it drinkable. There are several ways
to do it, and it is not ----- new idea at all. Sailors have been using solar evaporation to separate salt
from sea water for at least several thousand years. Most of ----- worlds 1,500 or so desalination plants
use distillation as ------- process, and there are also lash evaporation and electro-dialysis methods. All
these methods are very expensive, so historically desalination has only been used where other alterna-
tives are also very expensive, such as desert cities. However, ---- exploding world demand for potable
water has led to ----- lot of research and development in this ield and ----- new, cheaper process has been
developed that involves heating sea water and forcing it through membranes to remove ------ salt from
------ water. ------- process is even cheaper if ------ desalination plant can be located next to ------ elec-
trical power plant that is already heating sea water to use for cooling ------ electrical generating units.
Even so, it is still more expensive than other alternatives, but it is indeed becoming more competitive
and could become ------ viable alternative. There is also -------- lot of interest in using local, brackish
ground water as ------- source for desalination instead of ocean water. Such waters typically have only
one-tenth the salinity of sea water, so desalination can be accomplished more easily and transportation
is less of ------- issue.
Activity 8
With the chart given above on the different processes of desalination and the following details, make
a graphic organizer on desalination.

Membrane reverse osmosis method

Osmosis natural process

Important in biological systems

Movement of solvent in semi permeable membrane

Dissolved things like salt cannot pass through

42 EnglishCommunicationI

Pressure applied to include movement

Low concentrate & high concentrate liquid formed

Most popular & cost effective

Kinds of Sentences:
Depending on what the sentence does, it is classiied into 4 kinds: declarative, interrogative, impera-
tive and exclamatory.
A declarative sentence makes a statement of fact, wish, intent, or feeling and ends with a full
stop.
Examples:

I have seen that movie.

I wish I had joined that college.
The sun rises in the east.
Honesty is the best policy.

An interrogative sentence asks a question and ends with a question mark.

9 Verb forms: do, does, have, has, have, be forms
9 Question words: who, which, where, when, how, what and which usually are the irst words of
the sentence

Examples:

Do you understand the idea?

Have you visited the museum?
What is your ambition?
When do you propose to travel abroad?

An imperative sentence gives a command or makes a request or direction. The subject is always
"you" even though it may not be expressed in the sentence and ends with a full stop.

Examples:

Complete your record work by tomorrow morning.

Pass this paper, please.
Note down the following details.
Take a left turn from the Anna lyover.

An exclamatory sentence expresses strong feelings and ends with an exclamation mark.
What a lovely monument the Taj is!
How nice the trip was!
I cant believe what you are saying!
 Resources&Environment 43

Activity 9
Identify the kind of sentence. The irst one is done for you.
1. I wish I could go to Darjeeling this summer. Declarative

2. Please set up the LCD in the training hall.

3. The principal will visit my place next week.

4. Don't you ever get tired of watching television?

5. We sold our car in April, 2014.

6. Didn't I ask you to complete your assignment?

7. Have you ever tasted a pizza?

8. Darn! I have misplaced my mobile!

9. Turn left at the signal.

10. Vatican city is the smallest city.

11. Write your register number on the top right-hand corner of each sheet of paper.

12. The news about the recent earthquake has appeared in many magazines.

13. Have you ever read a newspaper in English?

14. Are you serious?

15. Meet me at seven o'clock in the library.

16. Why are you so worried about others?

17. Don't close your eyes.

18. Nandan aims to be a doctor.

19. I can't believe it's a holiday today!

20. Do you watchreality shows hosted by ilm personalities?

21. It is hard to believe that this paper is made from wood.

Activity 10
Change the given sentences as directed.
1. I wish I could go to Darjeeling this summer. (Exclamatory)

2. Please set up the LCD in the training hall. (Interrogative)

44 EnglishCommunicationI

3. The principal will visit my place next week. (Interrogative)

4. Don't you ever get tired of watching television? (Declarative)

5. We sold our car in April 2014. (Interrogative)

6. Did I ask you to complete your assignment? (Declarative)

7. Have you ever tasted a pizza? (Exclamatory)

8. Darn! I have misplaced my mobile! (Interrogative)

9. Turn left at the signal. (Declarative)

10. Vatican city is the smallest city. (Exclamatory)

11. Write your register number on the top right-hand corner of each sheet of paper. (Declarative)

12. The news about the recent earthquake has appeared in many magazines. (Interrogative)

13. Have you read a newspaper in English? (Exclamatory)

14. Are you serious? (Exclamatory)

15. Meet me at seven o'clock in the library. (Interrogative)

16. Why are you so worried about others? (Declarative)

 Resources&Environment 45

17. Don't close your eyes. (Declarative)

18. Nandan loves to be a doctor. (Interrogative)

19. I can't believe it's a holiday today! (Interrogative)

20. Do you watchreality shows hosted by ilm personalities? (Declarative)

Reading
Read the following focusing on the sentences marked in italics.
All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum
All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten.
Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday School.
These are the things I learned.

Share everything.
Play fair.
Dont hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Dont take things that arent yours.
Say youre sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life-learn some and think some and draw.
And paint and sing and dance and play and work every day.
Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into the world, watch out for trafic, hold hands, and stick together.
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant
goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the styrofoam cup-they all die. So
do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the irst word you learnedthe biggest word of
all LOOK.
46 EnglishCommunicationI

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation.
Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.
Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your
family or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and irm. Think what
a better world it would be if we all the whole world had cookies and milk about three oclock every
afternoon and then lay down without blankets for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to
always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.
And it is still true, no matter how old you are when you go out into the world, it is best to hold
hands and stick together.
Underline / mark good habits.
Activity 11
1. Why are some sentences marked in italics? Give reasons for your answer.

2. Use the structure of an imperative sentence and instruct your friend to give you his record note-
book to be submitted to the faculty for correction.

3. Tell your friend some good habits that you have learnt from childhood. Give him/her instruc-
tions to follow the habits.

Paragraph writing
A paragraph is composed of one idea or concept. The irst sentence of the paragraph is called the
main-idea sentence or the topic sentence as it tells us what the paragraph is about. There is always a pur-
pose for writing a paragraph. The following checklist will give an idea about how to write a paragraph.
Check list
1. Purpose
2. Main-idea/Topic sentence
3. Detail sentences (supporting ideas), order of details (1, 2, 3, ..), order of details
4. Concluding sentence
Activity 12
Below are the irst words in ive sentences. Complete the sentences (in groups of 4 or 5 students in
each group) so that they form a very short story/anecdote. Use declarative sentences to complete the
story. The sentences should link coherently together.
a. Suddenly _____________________________________________ .
b. Unexpectedly __________________________________________ .
c. Surprisingly ___________________________________________ .
d. Eventually ____________________________________________ .
e. Finally, _______________________________________________ .
 Resources&Environment 47

Example:
a. Suddenly I felt a cool wind blow on my face.
b. Unexpectedly I saw that Jayanthi had just walked through the door.
c. Surprisingly she was wearing a long coat even though it was summer and very hot.
d. Eventually she spoke and told me that she must leave town; she stood still for a long time.
e. Finally, she left leaving behind her a pungent smell of death! I realised that she had died a long
time ago and her memory seemed to disturb me often.
Punctuation
The use of spacing, conventional signs, and certain typographical devices aid to understand texts
and read texts correctly. Punctuation is also a system of inserting small marks into textsto divide the
text into sentences, clauses, etc. In speaking there is a pause in places where a comma and full stop are
placed and the voice usually falls in these places. Hence, punctuation helps to learn how to use stress
and intonation in English.
Example
Woman, without her, man is nothing.
Woman, without her man, is nothing.

Commas and periods (full stops) are the most frequently used punctuation marks. Commas customar-
ily indicate a brief pause; they're not as inal as periods. Here are some punctuation marks that you need
to know how to use.
Capitalization
Capitalize the irst letter of the irst word of a sentence or question.
Capitalize all proper nouns or persons titles (Mr. Ms. Dr.).
Capitalize titles showing family relationships (only if it is used as a persons name) Aunt, Uncle,
Daddy.
Example: She is my aunt. Please come here, Aunt Carmel.

Capitalize irst letters of key words in the titles of books, periodicals, poems, short stories, etc.
Capitalize the irst letter of the irst word in letter salutation and the irst letter in letter closings.
Dear Mr. Ram,
Yours sincerely,
Sincerely,
End marks
Use a full stop to end a declarative sentence or an imperative sentence.
Use a question mark after an interrogative sentence or after a word or phrase that asks a question.
Use an exclamation mark after a statement showing strong emotion or an interjection showings
strong emotion.
Commas
Use a comma before a conjunction to separate two independent (main) clauses.
Use commas to separate three or more words, phrases, or clauses in a series.
Use a comma after an introductory word or phrase.
Use commas to isolate interrupting words & phrases.
48 EnglishCommunicationI

Use commas with places and dates made up of two or more parts.
My college is in Guindy, Chennai.
It reopened on June 26, 2014.
Use commas after items in addresses, after the salutation in a personal letter, after the closing in all
letters, in numbers of more than 3 digits.
4,836
Use a comma to show a direct quotation.
Quotation marks
A direct quotation represents a persons exact speech or thoughts and is enclosed in quotation
marks.
Question mark or an exclamation mark should be placed within the quotation if it is part of the sen-
tence.
Example: He exclaimed, how beautiful the Taj is!.

hyphens
Use a hyphen with certain numbers, after certain phrases, and with some compound nouns.
Sixty-two
Mid-December
Mother-in-law
Activity 13
Punctuate the following sentences and add capital letters where necessary:

1. paper gets its name from papyrus a plant that grows in Egypt

2. the pulp is mixed with china clay or chalk to improve its opacity

3. india still has to import a lot of paper to fulill the demands of the indian market

4. suddenly i felt a cool wind blow on my face

5. unexpectedly i saw that jayanthi had just walked through the door

6. i met the girl who helped me

7. while i was in school i had been very active in sports

8. what do the two types of pigments do

9. have you ever read a newspaper in English

10. i wish i could go to darjeeling this summer

Note: To understand punctuation, it is helpful to irst know the difference between a phrase and a
clause.
 Resources&Environment 49

Phrases, Clauses and Sentences (Do you remember Activity 20, question 3 in Unit 2?)
A phrase is a group of related words (within a sentence) that does not contain both subject and verb,
and does not express a complete idea. e.g. on the table.
Consider the following example.
he is staring at a teacher.
The above sentence has two parts he is staring and at a teacher.
The irst part of the sentence he is staring is a clause because it has a subject (he) and a predicate
(is staring).
The second part of the sentence at a teacher is a phrase because it does not contain subject and
verb.

A clause is deined as a group of related words that contain a subject and predicate (verb).
e.g. he came.
The difference between a clause and a phrase is that a clause consists of both subject and verb, but
a phrase lacks a subject or a verb.
Examples
The underlined part of each of the following sentences shows a clause, while the other part (non-
underlined) of each sentence shows a phrase.
He reached his ofice in time.
I was watching near a wall.
They are shouting in a loud voice.
She made refreshments for the guests.
He bought a gift for his friend.
I will meet Rajan in my ofice.
You look pretty in this picture.

Activity 14
Identify clauses and phrases
1. out of the classroom
2. She may be correct.
3. that she was coming
4. Mark it in the diagram.
5. for the laboratory
6. about the movie
7. which place she was talking about
8. from the principal
9. behind the department building
10. If you can help me
50 EnglishCommunicationI

Main Clause and Subordinate Clause

There are two major types of clauses: main (or independent) clause and subordinate (or depen-
dent) clause.
Example

He is buying a car which looks very nice.

The above sentence has two clauses He is buying a car and which looks very nice. The clause
He is buying a car expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence. Such a clause is
called a main or independent clause. While the clause which looks very nice does not express a
complete thought and cannot stand as a sentence. It depends on another clause (main clause) to express
the complete idea. Such a clause is called a subordinate or dependent clause.
Main or Independent Clause
A main (or independent) clause is a clause that expresses a complete thought and can stand as a
sentence.
Examples

I met the girl who had helped me.

She is wearing a saree which looks nice.
The teacher asked a riddle but no one answered.
He went to the doctor because he is suffering from fever.
He became angry and smashed the vase into pieces.
In the above sentences each underlined part shows the main clause. It expresses a complete thought
and can stand as a sentence; that is why a main or an independent clause is normally referred to as a
simple sentence.
Subordinate or Dependent Clause
A subordinate (or independent) clause is a clause which does not express a complete thought and
depends on another clause (main clause) to express a complete thought. A subordinate clause does not
express acomplete idea and cannot stand alone as a sentence. A sentence with a subordinate clause must
also have a main clause.
Example

He likes South Indian food, which tastes good.

The clause which tastes good in the above sentence is a subordinate clause because it does not
express a complete thought and cannot stand as a sentence. It depends on the main clause (he likes South
Indian food) to express a complete thought.
Examples

I met the girl who had helped me.

I bought a table that costs Rs 1000.
He went to the doctor because he is suffering from a fever.
The teacher asked a riddle but no one answered.
 Resources&Environment 51

Activity 15
Mark the main and subordinate clauses.

1. If she comes to the bus stop, she can board the bus.

2. He said that he is coming.

3. Actions speak louder than words.

4. What were you doing when we made the announcement?

5. It is good that we are in a democratic nation.

6. As soon as the class gets over, I shall come out to meet you.

7. While I was in school, I had been very active in sports.

8. When you ind time, please visit my ofice.

9. Although she worked hard, things didnt favour her at all.

10. I dont know who spoilt the entire show.

Reading
Activity 16
Pre Reading

1. Do you know what paper if made from?

2. Is paper made from natural resources?
3. Where was paper irst made?
4. Have you seen bamboo?
5. What uses does bamboohave for human beings?
6. Save the environment, think twice before printing this document. Is a request seen at thebot-
tom of some emails sent by some individuals and organizations. What do they mean by sending
the request? Why should we print only if it is essential?
Read the following questions. Answer them after reading the passage.

1. Who invented the art of making paper? How did they do it?
2. How is paper manufactured in India?
3. Where do we get the raw materials for manufacturing paper?
4. Identify the parts of speech of the underlined words.
a) A tree with thick ibrous stems.
b) Most of the paper is made from wood pulp.
c) Paper is still made from plant ibers.
52 EnglishCommunicationI

how is paper made?

Paper gets its name from papyrus (a tree with thick ibrous stems), a plant that grows in the swamps
in Egypt. The ancient Egyptians made a kind of paper from papyrus. But the Chinese invented the art
of making paper as we know it today. About 1,900 years ago, the Chinese learned to separate the ibres
from mulberry bark. They soaked this bark then dried it, making a lat sheet and left it to dry in the sun,
after which it was polished. Paper is still made from plant ibres. Some of the best paper is made from
cotton.
Today paper is made from wood pulp. Logs from trees such as pine, eucalyptus, poplar, birch, irs
and chestnut are taken to a paper mill, where the bark is stripped off. They are then cut into chips. These
chips are put into huge vats, where they are boiled and stirred with chemicals until they become a soggy
pulp. This pulp is washed and bleached. To make white paper, adhesives such as glue are added to make
the ibres stick together in the paper. The pulp is now mixed with China clay or chalk to improve the
opacity and surface-inish of the paper. The product at this stage is called stuff and stock.
The stuff is then spread out on a belt of wire mesh of a reining machine. The water begins to drain
out of it through the holes in the mesh and the ibres begin to mesh together into a thin sheet. This sheet
then passes through a series of felt-covered rollers that squeeze out the remaining water and press the
ibres more irmly together. It is then passed through a series of steam heated metal cylinders, which
evaporate the remaining water and make it dry. And inally it goes through polished iron rollers, which
make its surface highly smooth. After smoothing, the paper is wound into large rolls. These rolls are
subsequently slit into convenient sizes.
In India, since there is a scarcity of wood, most of the paper is of a cheaper variety and is made from
grass, waste paper, rope, rice-husk, straw, rags and other agro-wastes. A lot of mills also import paper
pulp from which paper is made. India still has to import a lot of paper since the domestic industries are
unable to fulil the demands of the Indian market.
Activity 17
Mark phrases, as well as main and subordinate clauses in the following sentences.
1. India still has to import a lot of paper since the domestic industries are unable to fulil the de-
mands of the Indian market.
2. It is then passed through a series of steam heated metal cylinders which evaporate the remaining
water and make it dry.
3. They are then cut into chips.
4. Paper is still made from plant ibres.
5. These chips are put into huge vats, where they are boiled and stirred with chemicals until they
become a soggy pulp.
6. Some of the best paper is made from cotton.
Pre Reading
1. Do you like colouring?
2. Do you know how colours are made?
3. What are the natural resources to make paints?
4. Can we make paints in the industry?
5. What are the popular paint brand names you know?
 Resources&Environment 53

Reading
Activity 18
Read the following questions and answer them after reading the passage.
1. Pigment is ________________________________________________________________

2. The two types of pigments are _________________ and ___________________________

3. What do the two types of pigments do?

4. What does a vehicle do?

5. List the various types of paints and also mention their names?

6. Write differences between cement water paints and metallic paints.

how are different paints made?

Paint is a mixture of one or more coloured powders and a liquid. The coloured powder is called a
pigment. The liquid is called a vehicle or binder. The vehicle carries the pigment and allows it to spread
over the surface. Many vehicles contain a solvent or thinner.
There are basically two types of pigments: prime pigment and inert pigment. Prime pigments give
the paint its colour, and inert pigments like calcium carbonate, clay, mica or talc make the paint du-
rable.
Vehicles include oils, varnishes, latex and various types of resins. When a vehicle comes in contract
with air, it dries and hardens. This makes the pigment bind with the surface.
There are various types of paints in common use today. The paints often used on walls and roofs are
oil-based. Such paints serve to protect wood and metals. Latex paints include wall paints and masonry
paints. Many masonry paints are produced with substances like polyvinyl acetate or acrylic emulsions.
Lacquers are often used to paint the automobiles. It is made up of a solution of resins in a solvent. The
solvent dries up after the lacquer is put on. Now we also have ire-retardant paints that protect against
any likely damage due to ire. Heat resistant paints are used to cover warm and hot surfaces.
Then there are cement water paints that add colour to cement surfaces, such as a basement loor. In
the metallic paints, aluminum or bronze power is used as an ingredient. Enamel paints contain small
amounts of prime pigments. They are often used in bathrooms and kitchens.
54 EnglishCommunicationI

Activity 19
Using the following passage, give instructions to your friend on how to use Google.
Search engines: Google
There are many search engines. We will take as an example one of the most popular: Google (http://
www.google.com)
You simply type in keywords for the information you need. For example, if you were interested
in the usefulness of wind farms, you could type in usefulness wind farms, which brings up the
information on the topic.
Your irst attempt will probably bring in too many hits (source) for you to handle (6,320 in this
case). In which case you have to be more speciic, for example, specifying a region: usefulness
wind farms India reduces the number of hits.
If you want to make sure that you access an academic source, you could try adding the domain
name for educational institutions, for example site: ac.uk limits the search to UK universities.
Typing usefulness of wind farms site:ac.uk gives 246 hits.
If you still have too many hits, you may have to think of other relevant and /or more speciic
keywords.
Another way of getting more limited, but possibly more relevant hits, is to use the directories
tab. This will lead you down through subject headings to a speciic topic area. For example Re-
gional Oceania Australia Science and Environment Environment.
You will ind additional useful tips on Googles own help page, on http://www.google.com/help/
index.html.
Activity 20
Fill in the blanks in each sentence with two or three words that have the same sound but different
spelling and different meanings.
1. Our team ________ ___________ game and lost three games (one, won)

2. They agreed ________ play ________ more games next week _________ (too, to, two)

3. The _______ golfers watched _______ the ball when they heard someone shout ______!
(fore, for, four)

4. The four of us were so hungry that we _______ _________ idlys. (eight, ate)

5. Each player _________ the ball _________ the hoop at least once. (threw, through)

6. As we approached the coast, we could __________ the _________. (sea, see)

7. Anna had _______ many things to ______ on her new machine that she had no time to ______
any seeds in the garden. (so, sew, sow)

8. At the airport the guide said, Come this ________ so they can _________ your luggage.
(weigh, way)
 Resources&Environment 55

9. We had to _________ in line until they determined the ________ of our bags. (weight, wait)

10. We ________ the boat to the dock so it wouldnt go out when the _____ came in. (tied, tide)

11. Unfortunately, we did _______ put a very good ________ in the rope, and it came unfastened.
(knot, not)

12. The people on the safari _____ that a ______ of elephants was headed their way. (herd, heard)

13. If you sit __________ very quietly, you can _________ the wind blowing through the trees
(here, hear)

14. The man in the ___________ coat ___________ the notice to me. (read, red)

15. We ________ on horseback through the tall grass until we came to the __________ that led to
the town. (rode, road)

16. Everything looked so familiar; it was as if we had _____ that ______ before. (scene, seen)

17. We went to where they were selling boats, and ________ boats had a sign on them that said
________. (four sail, for sale)

18. The students _____ down in their notebooks the sentences that they had learned by _______
.(rote, wrote)

19. The wind ________ the rain clouds away, leaving a clear ______ sky. (blue, blew)

(From The lighter side of TEFL US Dept. of State)

 UNIT 4

COMPOSITION

Objectives

At the end of this unit, the students should be able to:

9 Interpret visuals

9 Brainstorm, organize & write paragraphs using linkers

9 Write messages for given contexts

 Composition 57

Composition
VISUAL TO VERBAL
Steps of the Writing Process
We can divide the process of writing into ive steps:

Pre-writing is the idea gathering stage.

Organizing is the planning or outlining stage.

Rough draft is the irst imperfect version.

Revising is the stage of improving the rough draft.

Final draft is the inal, polished version of the work.

Revision Checklist for Paragraphs

Topic Sentence: Does my topic sentence preview for my reader what my paragraph will be about?

Unity: Are all the sentences in my paragraph related to the topic sentence?

Coherence: Is my paragraph well organized? Is the organization clear to my reader?

Support: Does my paragraph have enough speciic details, examples, and facts to support the topic
sentence?

Sentences: Are all of my sentences complete sentences? Do I avoid fragments and run-on sentences?
Have I combined simple sentences to make compound and complex sentences? Is my punctuation cor-
rect?

Format for Final Drafts

Use clean white paper, standard size A4 (210 x 297 mm). It may have lines or no lines. If the
paper has no lines, make sure your writing is straight.

Write or type on one side of the paper only.

Leave 2.5 3 cm margins (space) on all edges of the paper.

In the top left corner, write the following information:

Name

Course

Assignment

Date

Center your title above your paragraph. Do not underline the title. Do not use ALL CAPITALS
for your title. Do not write a period (.) after your title. Write your title this way:
58 EnglishCommunicationI

Title of My Composition
Indent the irst line of each paragraph 1.5 cm or 10 typewritten spaces.
Double-space your paragraph. That is, leave an empty line between every line of writing.
Make sure your writing is neat and easy to read.
A visual is a picture that represents some objects/things in and around us. We can see and perceive
it.
The students should study the visual carefully and write a passage about it.
Activity 1
1. First look at the picture and say what you think it is about.
2. Next, observe the picture very carefully and note down all the minute aspects.
3. Prepare a rough draft.
4. Organize the points into a paragraph and give a suitable title to it.
MODEL
Study the visual carefully and write a paragraph:

Rough Draft:

1. Trees are seen all around.

2. The natural surrounding looks beautiful.

3. There are two persons walking in the park.

4. People are doing exercise.

Fair Draft:
NATURES GIFT

The picture shown is very beautiful with natural surroundings. There are many trees, plants and

grass. There is a path for people which is meant for doing some exercises. It may be a park where people

relax and do exercise. There are two people jogging in the park.
 Composition 59

Activity 2
Study the visual carefully and write a paragraph:

Activity 3
Study the visual carefully and write a paragraph:
60 EnglishCommunicationI

Writing Paragraphs
OBJECTIVES
To expand notes into a piece of writing.
To plan, organize and present ideas coherently.
Activity 4
1. Use the information to write a paragraph in about 50 words.
-gold chain recovered
- snatched at a bus stop two motorcycle riders
-Young man noted vehicle number- informed police
-motorcycle stopped driver and pillion rider identiied
-Chain returned to owner
A gold chain was recovered by the police last Thursday. The lady wearing it was waiting at the bus
stop when it was snatched by two motorcycle riders who escaped from the spot. Luckily their vehicle
number was noted by a young man. He informed the police about the incident .As a result of the police
action, the motor cycle was stopped at the check post. The driver and pillion rider were identiied by
the police. Besides the chain, many other gold ornaments were recovered by the police. The chain was
returned to the owner.
Look at the diagram given below and write a paragraph in not more than 50 words.

Cause I Cause II
wind, water Damage to plants and
animals no land

smoke emitted by air is polluted

factories

destruction of life in water

chemicals from factories

consequences

danger to human life

loss of natural
ecological balance resources
is disturbed
 Composition 61

Activity 6
Below are some of the experiences of Raghul on trekking. Using the notes write a paragraph in about
ifty words.

October 10 Raghul and four friends beauty of nature exercise only

trekking nearby hill tired perspired cold wind top very heavy easy
return less than half the time.

Activity 7
2. Given below is the set of instructions for a recipe. Use the instructions to develop it into a para-
graph.
take six bananas crush into pulp boil half a litre of milk add banana pulp and sugar Stir
for two minutes remove the mixture from heat Cool it before eating.
Writing Messages
Objectives
Understand message writing
Analyze the situation and write messages
Messages are:
Short and precise notes used either in informal or formal context.
Simple sentences in direct language.
Date, time and place should be conveyed clearly.
Note:
Action verbs are given more importance.
Persona subject pronouns like I, we, you may be omitted.
Sample
Between a mother and a daughter

Salutation to
the addressee Date, Time & Place
Body of the
Hai Swetha Message 08-01-15, 2 pm, Chennai

Going on urgent work.Will be back in two hours. Prepare dinner for 3 of us.

-- Mother

Signature

A message has FOUR important parts.

1. Date, time and place
2. Salutation to whom it is addressed
3. Body of the message
4. Signature
62 EnglishCommunicationI

Activity 8
A student staying in the hostel to the hostel warden seeking permission to go home urgently.

(Date) (Time) (Place)

Sir,

Received a phone call from ________________ (home) (Father)________________(Going / Serv-

ing) immediately. Will return on _________(date). Unable to meet you. Kindly _________(grant)
permission.
Shyam
Activity 9
1. Father to son - instructing to Receive a relative at the railway station.
2. Between two hostel boarders To bring his record notebooks and laptop to the afternoon
session.
3. Mother to daughter requesting / instructing to meet their relative in the hospital
4. Manager to secretary Prepare for next day board meeting.
5. Doctor to nurse Make arrangements for surgery the next day.
 UNIT 5

COMPOSITION

Objectives

At the end of this unit, the students should be able to:

9 Write ads

9 Identify & compose personal letters for different purposes

9 Develop hints
64 EnglishCommunicationI

Composition
ADVERTISEMENTS

Objectives:
Understand the vocabulary pertaining to advertisements
Recognize the logical sequence of the advertisements.
List out the relevant items for the given advertisements
Design an advertisements on your own
Enhance presentation skills

Template of an Advertisement:

welcome to the ultimate destination

of
festival shopping

Exhibition cum Sale

Designer Wear
Fashion Accessories
Home Dcor
Jewellery

7-8 February 2015 Venue:

Ram Internationals,
Anna Salai,
Chennai- 600 002
Timings: 10 am 8 pm

Credit Cards Accepted Entry Free

Chennai Event Partner Arun Kumar

Email: [email protected]
Tel.: +91 92485 00120, 98401 19732
 Composition 65

Activity 1
Cloze Test:

welcome to the ultimate destination

of
______________ shopping

_________cum Sale
Designer Wear
Fashion Accessories
Home Dcor
_______________

7-8 February 2015 Venue:

Ram Internatioals,
Anna Salai,
_______ 600 002
_____________ : 10 am 8 pm

___________ Accepted Entry Free

Chennai Event Partner Arun Kumar

________: [email protected]
Tel.: +91 92485 00120, 98401 19732

Activity 2

Situations for Group Activity:

1. Create an ad for a book exhibition by M/s Selvi Book Stores in your town.

2. Chennai Silks, Madurai announces a discount sale. Prepare an ad for them.

3. M/s. TVS Motors, Hosur wants to recruit fresh diploma holders in mechanical engineering.
Help them to prepare an ad to be published in a daily.

4. One of the jewelers from Chennai is going to display their jewels and ornaments in a hall in your
town. Help them to prepare an ad by giving complete details of the exhibition, venue and date.
66 EnglishCommunicationI

LETTER WRITING PERSONAL LETTERS

Activity 3
Form pairs and discuss important events / incidents / moments of your life
1. Marriage, birthday parties.
2. Promotions
3. Gifts / Prizes
4. Thanking
5. Sharing

Madurai,
10.07.2015
My Dear Shiva,
I am ine. How are you? I hope you and your parents are ine.
My birthday falls on August 30th. I wish to celebrate the happy occasion with all our 10th class-
mates.
I invite you to attend my birthday function, without fail. The function will be held at 4.30pm in my
house.
I am looking forward to enjoying the occasion with your participation.

With love,
Amal Senthil Kumar
Address on the envelope

To:
T. ShivaKumar,
10 Raja Street,
Anna Nagar,
Coimbatore

Activity 4
Fill in the blanks
LETTER WRITING PERSONAL LETTER
Madurai,
________
My Dear________,

I am ine. How are you? I ________ you and your parents are ine.
 Composition 67

My birthday ________on August 30th. I wish to ________the happy occasion with all our
10thclassmates.I invite you to ________my birthday function, without fail. The function will be
________at 4.30pm in my house.

I am looking forward to enjoying the occasion with your participation.

With love,

________

Address on the envelope

To:
________
________
________

Activity 5
Spot the Errors in the Letter

No.4, 5th Street,

Alagar Nagar,

Madurai.

10.07.2015

My Deer Dad,

I am ien. How are U? I wish you and mom is ine.

My board examination commence in 15th October. I have got good mark in my all internal exams.
Now I preparing for my end examinations.
Our mechanical department have aranged for In-plant Training at Hosur, in the vacation. I want you
to allow me for undergo training and Rs. 2000 to send towards the expenses.
Look forward to your response.
With loveing,

Adress on the envelope

To:
Guru
5, Chandra Nagar,
chennai
68 EnglishCommunicationI

Check your answer after correction

Madurai,
10.07.2015
My Dear Dad,
I am ine. How are you? I wish you and mom are ine.
My board examination commences on 15th October. I have got good marks on all my internal ex-
ams. NowI am preparing for my end examinations.
Our mechanical department has arranged for In-plant Training at Hosur, during the vacation. I want
you to allow me to undergo training and to send Rs. 2000 towards the expenses.
Looking forward to your response.

With love,

Address on the Envelope

To:
Guru,
5, Chandra Nagar,
Chennai 600012

Activity 6
Choose any one of the following situations and write a personal letter.
 Composition 69

Activity 7

1. Write a letter to your uncle enquiring about his health after getting discharged from the hospi-
tal.

2. Write a personal letter to your friend in Chennai informing him to make arrangements for his
stay in Chennai while he attends an interview.

3. Write a letter of appreciation to your schoolmate, on seeing his photo in the newspaper, for re-
ceiving the National Award for Hockey from the Ministry of Sports.

DEVELOPING hINTS
Guidelines

1. Read the given outline carefully.

2. Use grammatically correct, idiomatically simple language and short sentences.
3. Keep the order in which the hints are presented.
4. Check that each hint is suitably connected to the next one in the logical order.
5. Use your imagination for illing in the gaps.
6. Use signal words, phrases and linkers like the following for clarity and proper sequence in nar-
rating stories.
Cause and effect words: therefore, as a result, because of
Time words: meanwhile, at that time, later on, as soon as, just then, during
Contrast words: though, even then, but, on the contrary
Addition words: in addition, also, further, moreover, not only but also
7. Adjectives may be used suitably to enrich descriptions.
8. Elaborate the hints into as many idea units as possible and write one sentence for each idea.
9. Impersonal passive and present tense are preferable for factual information/describing a process
and past forms for narrating stories.
10. After writing a rough draft, rewrite it to make it as good as possible and give it a title.
11. For the title use the name of the main character/object/incident of the story/proverb or quotation
suiting the theme.
Example:

Hints:
Mickey Mouseone of the oldest world famous vermincreated to replace Disney character Lucky
RabbitMickey Mouse was created by Iwerkshis idea was to show the spirit of Charlie Chaplin as
a mouseirst appeared in 1928only in silent movies in the beginningWalt Disney was Mickeys
irst voiceappeared in colour in 1935Jim McDonald and Wayne Allwine make Mickeys voiceun-
til todayspecial Oscar for Walt Disney in 1932in comic strips, feature ilms, video games, theme
parks, games and toys widely used even today
70 EnglishCommunicationI

PASSAGE
ThE IMMORTAL MICKEY MOUSE

The story of the cartoon character Mickey mouse is very interesting. This oldest world famous ver-
min has an interesting background. The Disney character was created to replace another character. The
name of that character was Lucky Rabbit. For a change, Mickey Mouse was introduced. He was popular
for a long time.
Even though Mickey Mouse was a Disney character, the creator was not Disney. The creators name
was Iwerks. Charlie Chaplin was the inspiration for the creation of Mickey Mouse! The creator wanted
to show the spirit of Charlie Chaplin in a mouse. The character of Mickey Mouse became as popular as
many great actors across the world.
He irst appeared in the year 1928. In those days there were only silent movies. Later Walt Disney
himself was Mickey Mouses voice. Then in 1935 Mickey Mouse appeared in colour. Two voices re-
placed Wald Disney as Mickeys voice. Jim McDonald and Wayne Allwine voice Mickey until today.
Mickey won the greatest honour in the ilm world. Disney was given the Oscar award in 1932. He is
used in many forms of entertainment around the world. We ind Mickey Mouse in comic strips, feature
ilms, videogames, theme parks, games and toys! He lives even today in the world of children and also
among the grownups who were children once upon a time. He has become immortal.
Activity 8
The students are asked to read the hints and also the passage.
Students should analyze and ind answers to the following questions in pairs:
How does the passage begin?
How does the hints part begin?
List the words/phrase that give clarity and lead to progress in sequence.
What are the new words and adjective used to show originality?
Pick out time words and contrast words used in the passage.
Find out where one hint is expanded in two or three ideas/sentences.
Suggest some other suitable title.
Activity 9
DEVELOPING hINTS FOR FACTUAL INFORMATION
JigarthandaSouth Indian beverageoriginated in Madurai cityTamil Nadu,South Indiameans
cool heart in Hindiprepared and served in roadsides shopsrefreshment in Indian summerin-
gredientsbadampisin,nannarisharbath,sugar,milk cream with an extra layer of basanthivery popular
throughout Tamil Nadu
 Composition 71

Develop the hints into a short passage.(Use simple present for factual information).

Activity 10
Write a passage about the preparation process of Jigathanda. (Convert all of the active forms into the
impersonal passive form by removing the subjects.)
PASSAGE

First mix all of the ingredients in a container. Next, boil the milk until it turns pale yellow. Then al-
low it to cool down. Afterwards, keep it in the refrigerator until it becomes chilled. Now soak china grass
in water for three hours until it becomes like pieces of jelly. Finally, mix all the ingredients together. To
make it more tasty and attractive, top the mixture with a scoop of ice cream at the time of serving.
 MODEL QUESTION PAPER
SEMESTER - I
TIME: 3 Hours Max. Marks: 75
I. Answer any ten of the following: 10 3 = 30
1. Find the odd word in each group according to pronunciation.
a) Wood, would, mood, could
b) Shut, cut, mutt, put
c) Walked, talked, mocked, planted
2. Identify short and long sounds and write short or long next to each word.
a) bit --- b) sleep --- c) pool ---
d) beat --- e) pull f) slip ----
3. Fill in the blanks with the suitable word from the homophones given in brackets.
a) He asked the conductor what the bus ____ was. (fair / fare)
b) The convict was put in the _____. (cell /sell)
c) The passengers use the _____ as the escalators do not function. (stairs/stares)
4. Write the plurals in the blanks.
a) A porter carries tifin ______ (box).
b) They travel by different ________ (mode) of transport.
c) The farmers buy _____ (cow) in the market.
5. Find the odd word based on the verb form.
a) made, play, make, plan
b) sell, help, tell, fell
c) would, might, should, ight
6. Identify the tense forms used in the following sentences.
a) I am writing the examination now.
b) I like sweets.
c) I went to Chennai last week.
7. Identify three naming words in the following sentences.
Raju went to the library to collect the books from the clerk
8. Identify three action words in the following sentence
He took a piece of paper, wrote a poem and read it to the class.
9. Fill in the blanks with appropriate adjective from the ones given in brackets.
a) I wear a _________ ( white / pure ) shirt.
b) They like to read _______ ( comic / comedy ) books.
c) People prefer to travel by _______ ( locale / local ) trains.
10. Fill in the blanks with suitable prepositions.
a) The college begins ____(on / at) 8.30 A.M every day.
b) My birthday falls _____ (on / in) 10th July.
c) I was born ____ (in / on) 1990.
11. Fill in the blanks with suitable articles in the following sentences.
a) Gopinath is ____ enterprising person.
b) Ooty is ____ tourist spot.
c) My mother goes to ____ market.
12. Correct the spelling.
1. apearans 2. sindetic 3. treetmend
II. Answer any ive of the following. 5 x 3 = 15
1. Underline the main clause in the following sentences.
a) As soon as the teacher entered the class, the students greeted her.
b) Being sick, I did not attend the meeting.
c) Though he was an orator, he did not deliver an impressive speech.
2. Underline the subordinate clause in the following sentences.
a) I met the girl who had helped me.
b) I bought a table that costs Rs.1000.
c) As he is suffering from a fever, he goes to meet the doctor.
3. Rearrange the jumbled words into meaningful sentences
a) a, writes, in, Kumar, the, room, class, letter.
b) learn, the, grammar, students, grammar.
c) doctor, kala, an, is, eficient.
4. Frame questions for the following responses
a) The rainbow looks very beautiful.
b) I met my friend in his college.
c) The Class will start at 9 O clock.
5. Convert the statements into exclamatory sentences.
a) The tiger is a very ferocious animal.
b) His handwriting is very good.
c) The moon is very bright today.
6. Punctuate and use capital letters wherever necessary.
a) ram is in london at present
b) when sheela wants to buy a house her husband objects
c) our parliament is in new delhi
74 EnglishCommunicationI

7. A man approaches you to direct him to a nearby hospital. Give three instructions using impera-
tive form.

III. Answer the following. 3 5 = 15

1. Read the questions and ind answers in the given paragraph.

a) Who is Sona to the speaker of this passage?

b) Does Sona study?
c) Describe Sonas character.
d) Describe Sonas appearance.
e) What is your opinion of Sona?
SONA

My niece Sona is an adorable girl. She is ive years old, but is tall for her age. She has curly, dark
black hair and black eyes. When she smiles, her little white teeth seem to light up her face. Sona is
also a friendly girl. She is always playing funny jokes on people to make them laugh. She likes to
talk a lot to show how smart she is. She is always eager to recite lessons or poems. Finally, my niece
Sona is a very active little girl. She goes to nursery school every day, and she loves to play. She plays
ball in the yard with her friends after school. Other times, she likes to play quietly with her Barbie
dolls. I love my little niece, Sona, and if you saw her, you would love her, too.
2. a) Describe a market (5 sentences)

OR

b) Write your experience on the irst day in a polytechnic college.(5 sentences)

3. Write a letter to your friend inviting him for your birthday celebrations to be arranged at your
home.
 Composition 75

IV. Answer any three of the following. 3 5 = 15

1. Write a short message to your friend about being late to college as you have missed the bus
because of the trafic in your area.
2. Study the visual carefully and write ive sentences.

3. Fill up the blanks by choosing the suitable linkers given in brackets.

(then, thus, and because, so)

Yesterday I was working in my ofice without break for tea, even after 5 P.M. The time was 6.00 P.M.
I felt so tired __________ of it. __________. I went to a restaurant and had a cup of coffee. __________
I went for a walk _________ later resumed my work in the ofice. Relaxation _________ helps us to
refresh ourselves, even after a tiresome work.
4. Study the given pie chart and write a paragraph of 50 words.

5. Develop the following hints into a passage of about 50 words.

Maduraicity of templesfamous for Meenakshi templetourist spotsNayakarMahal, Ala-

garKoil, Tiruparankundramlots of hotels of various categoriesordinary to 5 star hotelsparks,
playgrounds, gyms, swimming pools, theatres, shops, mallsbus-stands, railway stations, airport
 SEMESTER - II
UNIT 1

MATTER

Objectives

At the end of this unit, the students should be able to:

9 Recognize & distinguish active/passive forms

9 Use active & passive forms

9 Convert from direct to indirect speech and fromindirect to direct

9 Respond to, interpret and analyze texts for academic purposes

9 Complete cloze

9 Summarize texts in own words

9 Build and expand vocabulary use

 Matter 77

MATTER
Objects are described by using size, shape, colour and texture, which are called its properties. In
other words, a property describes how an object looks, feels, or acts.
Size: small, big, large, tiny
Shape: square, round, conical, cylindrical, uneven, even, spherical
Texture: hard, soft, rough, smooth
Objects take up space and have mass. Mass is related to how much something weighs. Mass and
weight are two different things. The unit for mass is a gram.
Activity 1
Look at the pictures and ill out the chart below:

Object (s) Size Shape Texture Others

feather
carrots
bus
box
ball
cube
silk
78 EnglishCommunicationII

Activity 2
Link the related words with arrows and write a paragraph

magnet

magnetic iron

attract

repel
non -
magnetic field magnetic

pole
field lines
north

south
Earth force

compass
 Matter 79

Activity 3
The following picture gives you a visual of what physics is. Now write a few sentences using the de-
tails.
physics

Is the science that deals with the

Idea of Idea of

matter energy

Can be studied in terms of their Can be studied in terms of their

properties relationships
relationships properties
with energy
with matter

In the fields of

general thermal waves electricity& atomic

physics physics (light & sound) magnetism physics

1. Physics is ___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
2. Matter can be ________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
3. Energy can be _______________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
4. Hence, physics is related to the ields of
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
80 EnglishCommunicationII

Objects that take up space and have mass are called matter. Everything around us in this world is
made up of matter. Anything you see and can feel is made of atoms. All atoms are too small to be seen
with the naked eye or even a microscope. All matter is the same because all matter is made up of atoms.
Matter is also different because objects can be made up of different kinds of atoms.

Matter

Atoms

Electrons () Protons (+) Neutrons

Activity 4
What does the picture show? With the help of your teacher, try to frame 3 4 sentences and write
them.
1.

2.

3.

4.

Activity 5
Have you understood what atoms are? Read the following questions and try to ind out the answers
from the paragraph below:
1. What are substances?

2. Can we split particles? How do you know?

3. What are atoms?

4. How are atoms different from elements?

5. What are atoms made of?

6. Have you seen atoms? Why?

7. Where can you possibly get to see atoms and how?

 Matter 81

Substances are made up of smaller particles that are ordinarily moving around. Some of those
particles of matter can be split into smaller unitsusing fairly strong heat or electricity into smaller
rather uniform bits of matter called atoms. Atoms are the building blocks of elements. Elements are
all those substances that have not ever been decomposed or separated into any other substances
through chemical reactions, by the application of heat, or by attempting to force a direct electric
current through the sample. Atoms in turn have been found to be made up of yet smaller units of mat-
ter called electrons, protons, and neutrons.
Activity 6
Frame sentences on your own:
1. forcechangesshape and size

_________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

2. restoring forcebody regainsshape and size

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

3. elastic bodychangesback to shape and size

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

4. plastic bodychangesdoes not regainshape and size

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

5. rigid bodyno change

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

6. elasticityforcechange in shape and sizeregainproperty

__________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________
82 EnglishCommunicationII

Activity 7
Look at the chart below. It has details on matter. Complete the notes below with your partner.

Complete the following in your own words.

1 Matter
1.1 Substance: separation by physical means no ___________ . _________ of a single type.

1.1.1 Separation by __________________ means: yes: _____________. Two _______________

_________________________________________

1.2 _____________________________

1.2.1 Consistently mixed throughout: No: ________________. ________________

1.2.2 Consistently mixed throughout: Yes: ________________.__________________

1.2.3 in between: _____________________________

 Matter 83

Activity 8
Write the notes in complete sentences.
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
84 EnglishCommunicationII

Activity 9
Read the following passage and mark the new ideas.

A substance is a sample of matter whose physical and chemical properties are the same throughout
the sample because matter has a constant composition. It is common to see substances changing from
one state of matter to another. When substances change state, it is because the spacing between the
particles of the substances is changing due to a gain or loss of energy. Water can exist in three forms
with different characteristic ways of behaving: the solid state (ice), liquid state (water), and gaseous
state (water vapour and steam). Due to water's prevalence, we use it to exemplify and describe the three
different states of matter.
Classifying Matter
Substances are made up of smaller particles that are ordinarily moving around. Some of those par-
ticles of matter can be split into smaller units using fairly strong heat or electricity into smaller rather
uniform bits of matter called atoms. Atoms are the building blocks of elements. Elements are all those
substances that have not ever been decomposed or separated into any other substances through chemi-
cal reactions, by the application of heat, or by attempting to force a direct electric current through the
sample. Atoms in turn have been found to be made up of yet smaller units of matter called electrons,
protons, and neutrons.
List the new ideas below:
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Activity 10
Fill in the blanks with the appropriate forms of verbs and prepositions.

1. Energy ______ (be) the ability ______ do work. Energy ______ (be) everywhere ______ nature,
sunlight, wind, water, plants, and animals. We ______ (use) energy every day. There ______ (be)
two kinds ______ energy: kinetic and potential. Kinetic energy ______ (be) the energy ______
motion. Potential energy ______(be) stored energy. A good example ______ kinetic and potential
energy ______ (be) a frog leaping. A frog sitting ______ a lily pad ______ (be) an example ______
potential energy. The frog leaping ______ (be) an example ______ kinetic energy. Different forms
______ energy ______ (be): light, chemical, mechanical, heat, electric, atomic and sound energy.
All these forms ______ energy ______ (can brake) down either ______ kinetic or potential.
 Matter 85

ACTIVE AND PASSIVE FORMS

Objectives: Students will
identify / recognise active &passive verb forms
be able to transform active to passive & passive to active
By showing the following two pictures, the teacher may explain the active and passive forms.

Activity 11
Circle the past participle of the verbs (left to right/ right to left/down to up/ up to down) in the puzzle.
Find at least 5 past participles.

g t h g u a t

o m e d i h h

n a l p l e g

e d d d i d u

m e t o l d o

o p e n e e r

u a l e t n b

Activity 12
Look at the following pictures and frame sentences using active and passive forms.

Examples:
1. The boy kills a snake.
A snake is killed by the boy.
2. Amala has submitted the assignment.
The assignment has been submitted by Amala.
86 EnglishCommunicationII

Activity 13
Frame sentences using active and passive forms for the following pictures:

Then the teacher explains transitive and intransitive verbs and why some sentences cannot be
changed to passive form.
Rule: Active: subject + verb + object
(noun) + verb + noun
Passive: object + be + past participle of the verb + (by + subject (noun)). By + subject is optional;
it can be left off if the person performing the action is obvious or unimportant.

Tense Forms Passive forms Examples

Present Is/am/are + pp He is called by his father.

Present continuous Is/am/are + being + pp The work is being done by the engineers.

The teacher has been honoured by the man-

Present perfect Has/have + been + pp
agement and the principal.

Past Was/were + pp The cake was eaten by the child.

Past continuous Was/were + being + pp The test was being written by the students.

The lesson had been completed by the teach-

Past perfect Had + been + P.P
er.

Future Will be + P.P The assignment will be submitted by her.

Activity 14
Listen to the following very short story and note down the verbs in passive form. Also, identify the
verb tense if you can.

A frog is being tortured by a little boy on the roadside. It is seen by an old man. He asks, Why are
you torturing it? This is a sin and you will be tortured by the frog in your next birth. The boy laughs
and says, I was a frog in the previous birth and I was tortured by a boy. The boy is none other than this
same frog.
 Matter 87

Activity 15
Choose the correct passive form.
1. He sends an SMS.
a. An SMS is being sent by him.
b. An SMS is sent by his.
c. He is sent an SMS.
2. They called me.
a. I am called by them.
b. They have been called me.
c. I was called by them.
3. Priya has submitted her project.
a. Priyas project has been submitted.
b. Priyas project had been submitted.
c. Priyas project was submitted.
Activity 16
Match the Following

S. No. Passive Active

1. A smartphone was bought by him. I dont write it.
2. An e-mail has been sent by him. He bought a smartphone.
3. I have been punished by the teacher. He has sent an e-mail.
4. This work will be done by him the next day. The teacher has punished me.
5. It is not written by me. He will do this work tomorrow.

Activity 17
Identify Active / Passive sentences.
1. The girl washes her clothes.
2. The prescription was written by the doctor.
3. She buys the pills at the drugstore.
4. The carpenter is helped by his son.
5. We manufactured soaps in the factory.
6. They ordered the watchman of the company to leave the premises.
7. Employees are forced to have meals in the factory canteen.
8. The mechanic has repaired the motorcycle.
9. He has reserved tickets for the movie.
10. Metals conduct electricity.
88 EnglishCommunicationII

Activity 18
Fill in with passive forms of verbs:

1. The prescription ____________________ by the doctor (write).

2. The pills __________________________ at the drugstore (buy).
3. The carpet ____________________________ by the manager (clean).
4. I __________________________ by many (introduce).
5. The car _______________________ by the police (stop).
6. The accident _____________________ by an old lady (witness).
7. The class __________________________ by Mr. Smith (teach).
8. The car ______________________ off at the airport (drop).
9. The details _______________________ down (write).
10. The books _______________________ on the table (leave).
Activity 19
Convert the following sentences into passive sentences.
1. Raghavan drives a car.
2. Anu is writing the assignment.
3. The students wrote the exams.
4. People bought vegetables in the market.
5. I have taken my exams.
Activity 20
Convert the following sentences into active sentences.
1. The food has been prepared by my mother.
2. The cake is eaten by the children.
3. The syllabus had been completed by the teachers.
4. The programme is being planned by us.
5. The ball was kicked by Hari.

Direct Speech & Reported Speech

Objectives:
To learn and then use the concept and proper use of reported speech in context.
To practice giving reports about what happened
In direct speech, we quote the exact words that were spoken. We put quotation marks around what
was said and add a speech tag such as "he said" or "she asked" either before or after the quote. Reported
speech is another way of saying what someone said, but without quotation marks. Reported speech
doesn't repeat the words exactly as they were spoken. It changes the tense of all the verbs that were used.
Pronouns and time expressions are also changed.
 Matter 89

Reported speech
Direct Speech Reported Speech
"I'm happy," Ram said. Ram said he was happy.
My mother said, "I'll be late". My mother said she would be late.
He said, "I can't ride a bike." He said he couldn't ride a bike.
There are, of course, many other reporting verbs that can be used to introduce what someone said
or wrote. Some of these verbs do not convey anything of the attitude of the reporter towards what was
said, while others do. Examples of the irst kind are reply, answer, explain, mention, where the reporter
is merely giving information.
Other verbs show the attitude and opinion of the speaker to the words that s/he is reporting;
for example, insist, warn, threaten, promise, complain, claim, demand and so on.
He was complaining that I hardly ever visit him anymore.
They warned me to stay away.
He insisted that I should give him a lift to the railway station.
Tense Change
Original tense Reported tense Example
Simple Present Simple Past "We enjoy ishing." - They said they enjoyed ishing.
Simple Past Past Perfect "He saw it." - She said he had seen it.
Present Perfect Past Perfect "She's gone." - You said she had gone.
Present Continuous Past Continuous "I'm leaving." - You said you were leaving.
Past Continuous Past Perfect Continuous "He was reading." - He said he had been reading.
Can Could "I can sing." - She said she could sing.
May Might "We may stay." - They said they might stay.
Must had to "I must go." - He said he had to go.
Will Would "I'll buy them." - You said you would buy them.

Of course, any verb that is already in one of the past perfect tenses cannot change any further, but there
are several other modal auxiliaries that usually do not change either; these are: could, might, ought to,
should and would.
Adverbs of Place / Time in reported speech
this that
these those
here there
Time
today that day/then
tomorrow the next/following day
yesterday the day before
this week that week
next month the following month
now then
90 EnglishCommunicationII

Typically, irst-person and second-person expressions are converted to third-person; third-person

expressions typically do not need to change the pronoun.
Pronouns in reported speech
I he/she He said, "I am late." - He said he was late.
you he/she/they "Will you help me?" - She asked if he would help her.
he/she/it he/she/it She said, "He hit me." - She said he had hit her.
we they I said, "We are lost." - He said they were lost.
they they They said, "We are hungry." - They said they were hungry.
us them John said, "She gave us presents." - John said she had given them presents.
our their He said, "Our jobs are at risk." - He said their jobs were at risk.
his/hers/its his/hers/its She said, "It's hers." - She said that it was hers.

Note that in cases such as the last example above where the replacement of pronouns might lead to
ambiguity, the sentence may need further adjustment. For example:
She said, "She took my purse" - might become: Mary said that Kavitha had taken her purse.
Activity 21
Cloze To practise tense change
Convert the verb in brackets into the correct tense by moving the reported verb one step back into the
past when necessary.
1. "I'm working in Chennai today," he said.

2. Report: He said he ___________ (work) in Chennai that day.

3. "I think he will win the election," she said.

4. Report: She said she _____________ (think) he _____________ (win) the election.

5. "Kannan lives in London," Peter said.

6. Report: Peter said Kannan ______________ in London.

7. "My father is going to visit us next week," Sekar said.

8. Report: Sekar said his father ________________ them the following week.

9. "They bought a brand new Mercedes!" she said.

10. Report: She said they ____________ a brand new Mercedes.

11. "I have worked at the company since 2007," she said.

12. Report: __________ said ___________________ at the company since 2007.

13. "They are watching TV at the moment," she said.

14. Report: ___________ said _________________________ TV at that moment.

 Matter 91

15. "Amirtha drives to work every day," he said.

16. Report: ______ said _________________ to work every day.

17. "I thought about changing my job last year," Prabhu said.

18. Report: __________ said that _______________ about changing his job the previous year.

19. "I am lying to Mumbai tomorrow," Seetha said.

20. Report: __________ said _______________ to Mumbai the next day.

Activity 22
Reporting Questions :"What did they ask you?"
What might these people ask you?
Names:
police oficer
ireman
taxi driver
mother
father
teacher
doctor
secretary
waitress
store clerk
Sentence:
"What is your name?"
"Is there anyone inside?"
"Where do you want to go?"
"Where have you been?"
"Did you inish your chores?"
"Where is your English book?"
"Where does it hurt?"
"May I take a message?"
"What do you want to order?"
"Do you want paper or plastic?"
92 EnglishCommunicationII

Example sentences in reported speech:

The police oficer asked where I lived.
The ireman asked if there was anyone inside.
The taxi driver asked where I wanted to go.
Mother asked where I had been.
Father asked if I had inished my chores.
My teacher asked me where my English book was.
The secretary asked if she could take a message.
The waitress asked what I wanted to order.
The store clerk asked if I wanted paper or plastic.

Activity 23
Choose the correct form of indirect speech among the options given.
# Tom said, I want to visit my friends this weekend.
Tom said he wants to visit his friends that weekend.
Tom said he wanted to visit his friends that weekend.
Tom said he wanted to visit his friends this weekend.
# Jerry said, I'm studying English a lot at the moment.
Jerry said he was studying English a lot at that moment.
Jerry said he was studying English a lot at the moment.
Jerry said I was studying English a lot at that moment.
# They said, We've lived here for a long time.
They said they have lived there for a long time.
They said they lived here for a long time.
They said they had lived there for a long time.
# He asked me, Have you inished reading the newspaper?
He asked me if had I inished reading the newspaper.
He asked me if I had inished reading the newspaper.
He asked me if I inished reading the newspaper.
# I get up every morning at seven o'clock, Peter said.
Peter said he got up every morning at seven o'clock.
Peter said I got up every morning at seven o'clock.
Peter said he had got up every morning at seven o'clock.
# Susan reassured me, I can come tonight.
Susan told me I could come that night.
Susan told me she could come that night.
Susan told me she could come tomorrow evening.
# She said, I really wish I had bought that new car.
She told me she really wished she bought that new car.
She told me she really had wished she had bought that new car.
She told me she really wished she had bought that new car.
 Matter 93

# Jack said, he must be guilty!

Jack said he must have been guilty.
Jack said he must have be guilty.
Jack said he must has been guilty.
# Charumathi asked her, how long have you lived here?
Charumathi asked her how long she has lived there.
Charumathi asked her how long she lived there.
Charumathi asked her how long she had lived there.
# he said, I must get going. Otherwise, I'm going to be late.
He told me he had to get going. Otherwise, he was going to be late.
He told me he had to get going. Otherwise, I was going to be late.
He told me he has to get going. Otherwise, he was going to be late.
# She said, I've worked here since I left my last job.
She told me that she worked there since she had left her last job.
She told me that she had worked there since she had left her last job.
She told me that she had worked there since she left her last job.
# You said, I will help you!
You said you would help me!
You said I would help you!
You said you would help her!
# She asked me, When are we going to leave?
She asked me when she was going to leave.
She asked me when we were going to leave.
She asked me when we are going to leave.
# Peter said, I may bring someone with me to the party.
Peter said he might bring someone with him to the party.
Peter said he might have brought someone with him to the party.
Peter said he might bring someone with her to the party.
# My friend said, I will have inished my homework by the time you arrive.
My friend told me he would have inished his homework by the time I arrived.
My friend told me he would have inished his homework by the time he arrived.
My friend told me he would had inished his homework by the time I arrived.
# Mark asked me, Why do you want to study Russian?
Mark asked her why I wanted to study Russian.
Mark asked me why did I want to study Russian.
Mark asked me why I wanted to study Russian.
# Mamtha said, I have been waiting for you for over an hour.
Mamtha said she had been waiting for me for over an hour.
Mamtha said she was waiting for me for over an hour.
Mamtha said she had waited for me for over an hour.
94 EnglishCommunicationII

# Priya said, I had eaten before you arrived.

Priya told me she had eaten before I had arrived.
Priya told me I had eaten before I had arrived.
Priya told me she had eaten before she had arrived.
# Jai asked me, Are you coming with me?
Jai asked me if I came with him.
Jai asked me if I was coming with him.
Jai asked me if I was coming with you.
Activity 15
Ask your partner (A) the following questions making sure to take notes. After you have inished
the questions, ind a new partner (B) and report what you have learnt about your irst partner (A) using
reported speech.
What is your favourite sport and how long have you been playing/doing it?
What are your plans for your next vacation?
How long have you known your best friend? Can you give me a description of him/her?
What kind of music do you like? Have you always listened to that kind of music?
What did you use to do when you were younger that you don't do anymore?
Do you have any predictions about the future?
Can you tell me what you do on a typical Saturday afternoon?
What were you doing yesterday at this time?
Which two promises will you make concerning learning English?
Reading
Activity 24
Read the following passage and answer the questions.
how do you distinguish between force, work, energy and power?
In a football match it is our common experience to see that when a player kicks a resting ball, it
moves in a certain direction. Similarly when the goal keeper grabs the ball irmly with his hands, it stops
moving and remains at rest until it is released again. Do you know why this happens? In both these ac-
tions force is applied on the ball.
Force is physical quantity which, when applied to a body tries to displace or displaces it. This quan-
tity is equal to the product of the mass of the body and its acceleration. The unit for measuring force
is Newton or Dyne. Force is required to set any body in motion and this force is applied in a particular
direction. The force is an external agency capable of changing the rest or motion in an object or a body.
When force is applied on a body and it gets displaced, we say that work has been done on the body by
force. The amount of work done by the force is equal to the product of the force and the distance covered
by it. A work done by force is measured in joules. In short, force is a vector in quality possessing both
magnitude and direction.
The capacity for doing work is called energy. Everything in the universe has some energy by which
it can do some work. We experience energy in many forms such as mechanical energy, heat energy, light
energy, electrical energy, magnetic energy, chemical energy, nuclear energy, etc.
 Matter 95

Mechanical energy is of two types: potential and kinetic. Potential energy is due to the position of
the body while kinetic energy is due to the motion. One form of energy can be converted into the other
form of energy. Winding a watch spring stores potential energy.This stored energy gets converted into
kinetic energy when the watch starts running. Although energy can be converted from one form to the
other, the total quantity remains the same.
Some people confuse power and energy and think of both as the same. But it is not so. The total
energy of a body is equal to the capacity of the work done by the body while power is the rate of doing
work by the body. It is equal to the amount of work done in unit time. The system to measure a unit of
power is called horse power (hp) or watt. Horse power is the British unit of power.
One horse power is equal to 745.7 watts. The word watt is derived from the International System
of Units and named after the British engineer James Watt.

1) What happens when force is applied on an object?

2) How do you measure the amount of the work done by force?

3) Force has ______________and ________________.

4) The capacity to do work is called _____________.

5) The different forms of energy are _____________.

6) What is the difference between potential and kinetic energy?

7) Give an example to explain how potential energy can be converted to kinetic energy.

8) Are power and energy the same? Give reasons for your answer.
96 EnglishCommunicationII

LEXICAL SETS
Words belonging to a similar group or words that are related are called lexical sets. Learners ind
lexical sets useful in learning new vocabulary.
For example:
Topical Lexical Sets of Nouns

PETS: cat, dog, tortoise, goldish

Syntactic Lexical Set of Adverbs

ADVERBS: quickly, happily, completely, dramatically, angrily

Activity 25: Pair work

Add at least 4 words to the set
Furniture: chair, __________, ___________, __________

Buildings: __________, ___________, __________, __________

Vehicles: __________, ___________, __________, __________

Place of worship: __________, ___________, __________, __________

Books: __________, ___________, __________, __________

Activity 26
Find related words and complete the sentences.
a) I went to the vegetable market and bought tomatoes, ___________, __________, and
__________.
b) Raja was standing at the bus stand and he saw cars, __________, ___________, __________,
and __________
c) Recently I visited a household appliance shop and I saw television sets,__________,
___________, and __________

Activity 27
Find the odd words from each group and name the group.
a) _______________: orange, apple, mustard, strawberry, mango

b) _______________: paint, painter, painting, picture

c) _______________: round, lats, rectangle, cube, sphere

d) _______________: football, basketball, drawing, cricket

e) _______________: question, enquire, ask, speak, reason

 Matter 97

Here are some lexical sets for reinforcement.

communication : disseminate, talk, write, convey, gesture, nod, inform
travel : journey, voyage, expedition, exploration, transportation
fuel : diesel, petrol, natural gas, kerosene, aviation fuel, coal
stationery : pen, paper, eraser, pencil, marker pen, stapler, clips, ink
food : rice, bread, pizza, roti, burger, dosa, fried rice, briyani
verbs : play, run, walk, see, study, write, learn, open, close
nouns : Raja, student, doctor, operation, conductor, driver
adjectives : fair, handsome, beautiful, short, cute, slim, tall, stout
adverbs : quickly, fast, slowly, hardly, scarcely, sincerely, faithfully
phrases : on the wall, in spite of, in between,under the tree, up above the sky
synonyms : slip/slide, fat/stout, quickly/fast, converse/talk
 UNIT 2

POLYMERS

Objectives

At the end of this unit, the students should be able to:

9 Identify, recognize, use word forms appropriately

9 Convert words into other classes

9 Add question tags

9 Use preixes/sufixes appropriately

9 Identify, recognize and use word forms

9 Speak on given frames in pairs

9 Comprehend, interpret, analyze texts

 Polymers 99

POLYMERS
What is plastic?
Pre-reading
Activity 1
1. Polythene bags have become part and parcel of our everyday life. Name a few household items
that are made of plastic.
2. Why do you think plastic is the choice for many uses?
3. Why should we use plastics with caution?
Reading
Activity 2
Read the following questions and try to answer them after reading the passage below.
1. Plastic means ________________________________________________________________.

2. Poly means _________________________________________________________________.

3. What are plastics made from in modem days?_______________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

4. Transparent plastics ___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________.

5. Domestic materials made from plastic are __________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________.

6. How are plastics made use of in transport vehicles? __________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

7. What are the different ields in which plastics are made use of? _________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

8. What would you do if plastics are banned? What alternative materials would you make use of?

Give examples. _______________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

Plastics do not occur naturally but are manufactured. The word plastic has originated from the
Greek word plastikos which means to mould. It is made from simple organic chemicals. It has many
varieties and colors.
Plastic was invented by Alexander Parkes of England in 1862. In those days it was called parkesine
after him. Parkesine was the irst plastic ever produced.
Many plastics have poly in their names, for example, poly comes from a Greek word meaning
many. Polythene means many molecules of ethane joined together.
100 EnglishCommunicationII

The manufacturing of plastic on a commercial scale was started for the irst time by Leo Hendirk
Backeland. He made it from phenol and formaldehyde. Subsequently, new techniques were developed
for the production of plastics. Today scientists have discovered many raw materials which are used in
the making of various kinds of plastic products. Most plastics are made from chemicals found in oil,
although a few come from wood, coal and natural gas. Common types include polythene, PVC and
nylon.
Today, plastic has become an integral part of our life. Its uses are endless. Transparent plastics are
used for making lenses and windows of aeroplanes. Polythene bags, a plastic product, are used in almost
all walks of life. Articles of domestic use like buckets, cups, brushes, combs, baskets, cabinets for radios,
transistors etc. are also made of plastics. Toys and sporting goods made from plastic have looded the
markets everywhere. The yarn for making terylene cloth is, in fact, made from plastic. Today scientists
have even succeeded in developing heat insulating plastics. Foam cushions, seats in trains, cards and
aero planes-all are made from plastics. Now plastics are used as surgical aids also. There is hardly any
ield of life in which plastics are not used.
Activity 3
Read the following questions and try to answer them after reading the passage that follows.

1. Where do we ind polymers?

2. How are monomers related to polymers?

3. Give examples of natural polymers?

4. How do we group proteins and carbohydrates?

5. What is plastic?

6. How have polymers become important in the industry?

Plastics and natural materials such as rubber or cellulose are composed of very large molecules
called polymers. Polymers are constructed from relatively small molecular fragments know as mono-
mers that are joined together.
Wool, cotton, silk, wood and leather are examples of natural polymers that have been known and
used since ancient times. This group includes biopolymers such as proteins and carbohydrates that are
constituents of all living organisms.
Synthetic polymers include the large group known as plastics, which came into prominence in the
early twentieth century. Chemists ability to engineer them to yield a desired set of properties (strength,
stiffness, density, heat resistance, electrical conductivity) has greatly expanded the many roles they play
in the modern industrial economy.
 Polymers 101

Activity 4
Read the following questions and try to answer them after reading the passage.

1. How do polymers contaminate bodies of water?

2. How do partially photo decomposed materials act?
3. Why is burning of polymeric materials not advisable?
4. How are aquatic species affected by the disposal of polymeric materials?
5. What are the two dangers that aquatic species face because of polymers?
Decomposition products
Most commonly-used polymers are not readily biodegradable, particularly under the anaerobic con-
ditions of most landills, and what decomposition does occur will combine with rainwater to contaminate
nearby streams and groundwater supplies. Partial photodecomposition, initiated by exposure to sunlight,
is a more likely long-term fate for exposed plastics, resulting in tiny broken-up fragments. Many of these
materials are less dense than seawater, and once they enter the oceans through coastal sewage outfalls or
from marine vessel wastes, they tend to remain there indeinitely.
Open burning of polymeric materials containing chlorine (polyvinylchloride, for example) is
known to release compounds such as dioxins that persist in the environment. Incineration under the
right conditions can effectively eliminate this hazard.
Disposed products containing luorocarbons (Telon-coated ware, some personal-care, waterproof-
ing and anti-stick materials) break down into perluorooctane sulfonate, which has been shown to dam-
age aquatic animals.
There are two general types of hazards that polymers can introduce into the aquatic environment.
One of these relates to the release of small molecules that act as hormone disruptors. It is well estab-
lished that small aquatic animals such as ish are being seriously affected by such substances in many
rivers and estuarine systems, but details of the sources and identities of these molecules have not been
identiied. The other hazard is related to pieces of plastic waste that aquatic animals mistake for food or
become entangled in.
Word Forms
noun verb adjective adverb
acceleration accelerate accelerative
acceleratory
accommodation accommodate accommodating accommodatingly
accommodator accommodative
abbreviation abbreviate abbreviatory
adaptation adapt adaptable
acquirement acquire acquirable
acquisition acquired
circular circulate circulating
innovation innovate innovative
optimist optimistic optimistically
optimism
102 EnglishCommunicationII

philosophy philosophize philosophic philosophically

philosopher philosophical
printer print printable
attraction attract attractive attractively
suspicion suspect suspected
reason reason reasonable reasonably
confusion confuse confusable confusingly
confused
confusing
connection connect connected
connectivity connective
bouncer bounce bouncy bouncily
bouncing
margin marginalize marginal marginally

neutral neutralize neutral neutrally

neutralism
opener open openable openly
opened
poet poetize poetic poetically
poetical
triangle triangulate triangular triangularly
substance substantialize substantial substantially
demander demand demanding demandingly
destruction destruct destructive destructively
animation animate animated animatedly
demonstration demonstrate demonstrative demonstratedly
mechanic mechanize mechanical mechanically
negation negate negative negatively
positivism positive positively
manufacturer manufacture manufacturable
manufactured
production produce productive productively
functionary function functional functionally
respect respect respectable
respectful
satisfaction satisfy satisfactory satisfactorily
satisied
satisfying
anticipation anticipate anticipatory
forwarder forward forwarding forwardly
developer develop developable
education educate educated
 Polymers 103

information inform informative

informational
informatory
instruction instruct instructional
commander command commanding
preparation prepare preparatory
commerce commercialize commercial commercially
inferiority inferior inferiorly
emigrant emigrate emigratory emigrational
emigration
cunningness cunning cunningly
surprise surprise surprising surprisingly
prediction predict predictable predictably
advancement advance advanced
advancing
contribution contribute contributory
Tag Questions
Objective(s): A differential question. Tag from interrogative sentences.
2. Supply or add tags question to statements.
1. Question tags are short questions added to statements: they are used in conversation to conirm
a statement.
Ex:He plays football, doesnt he?He doesnt play football, does he?
2. We are going to Chennai, arent we?
We arent going to Chennai, are we?
Remember the form of question tags

Positive Tag statement + auxiliary of the given verb + not + pronoun of the subject
Negative Tag statement + auxiliary of the given verb + pronoun of the subject

Changes made to
do have Modal Aux Verb
ancillary verb be
Is+nt isnt do + nt dont have + nt havent will + nt wont
was+nt wasnt does + nt doesnt has + nt hasnt would + nt wouldnt
are+nt arent did + nt didnt had + nt hadnt shall + nt shant
were+nt werent should + nt shouldnt
am + nt arent can + nt cant
could + nt couldnt
etc.
104 EnglishCommunicationII

Activity 5
Pair work: Conirm your statement with your partner / pair by asking a suitable question tag:
1. I am your friend,______________?
2. You are my classmate,______________?
3. Students play cricket,______________?
4. Sheela likes to travel, ______________?
5. Ram didnt join the tour, ______________?
6. The girls have chosen the easy topic, ______________?
7. The teacher has given some assignments, ______________?
8. The college will function tomorrow, ______________?
9. We shall inish the work tomorrow ______________?
10. The parrot can learn many new words, ______________?

Note: Some imperative expression can also be followed by a question tag.

Beware of dogs, wont you? (warning)
Pass me the bag, will you? (request)
Lets go home, shall we? (suggestion)
Let me complete the work, wont you? (request)

PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES

Learners of English should enrich their vocabulary. A strong foundation in vocabulary enables peo-
ple to convey exactly what they feel and think. There are some ways to enrich vocabulary. Mastery in
preixes and sufixes is one way of doing this.
Preixes: (to ix a syllabic part before a word)
A new word is created. Some preixes are anti, de, dis, im, in, mis, un, ir, il. They are generally
used to make the opposites of a word. Here are some examples. See how they become opposites.
social, climax, body, septic
anti- antisocial, anticlimax, antibody, antiseptic

activate, throne, frost, hydration

de- deactivate, dethrone, defrost, dehydration

able, like, obey, connect, prove

dis- disable, dislike, disobey, disconnect, disprove

patient, perfect, possible, moral, mature

im- impatient, imperfect, impossible, immoral, immature

active, complete, correct, sane, effective

in- inactive, incomplete, incorrect, insane, ineffective
 Polymers 105

behave, fortune, lead, trust, understand

mis- misbehave, misfortune, mislead, mistrust, misunderstand

like, do, cap, even, fair, common

un- unlike, undo, uncap, uneven, unfair, uncommon

regular, relevant, responsible, rational

ir- irregular, irrelevant, irresponsible, irrational

legal, literate, logical, legible, legitimate

il- illegal, illiterate, illogical, illegible, illegitimate

Sufixes: (a syllabic part is added to a word)

Some of the sufixes are -able, -ment, -ness, -ship, -ation, -ity, -age, -hood, -ism, -ive, -ance, -ly,
-sion, -ful. They are used to change a part of speech into another part of speech. They help us to state
an idea in a sentence in another form. They also help us give emphasis to the word of importance in the
sentence. Here are some examples.
Verbs : agree, avoid, comfort, move, notice
Adjectives : agreeable, avoidable, comfortable, movable, noticeable (add able)

Verbs : treat, govern, adjust, install, nourish

Nouns : treatment, government, adjustment, installment, nourishment (add ment)

Adjectives : stiff, it, close, heavy, lazy, aggressive

Nouns : stiffness, itness, closeness, heaviness, laziness, aggressiveness (add ness)

Nouns : friend, leader, member, statesman, author

Nouns : friendship, leadership, membership, statesmanship, authorship (add ship)

Verbs : inform, estimate, delegate, navigate, animate

Nouns : information, estimation, delegation, navigation, animation (add -ation)

Adjectives : pure, secure, major, inferior, real, prior, sincere

Nouns : purity, security, majority, inferiority, reality, priority, sincerity (add ity)

Nouns : bond, lever, store, front, post, percent

Nouns : bondage, leverage, storage, frontage, postage, percentage (add age)

Nouns : child, false, priest, adult, neighbour

Nouns : childhood, falsehood, priesthood, adulthood, neighbourhood (add hood)

Adjectives : capital, social, journal, hero, modern

Nouns : capitalism, socialism, journalism, heroism, modernism (add ism)

Verbs : narrate, explode, execute, defend, offend

Adjectives : narrative, explosive, executive, defensive, offensive (add ive)

Verbs : accept, resist, remit (Verbs)

Nouns : acceptance, resistance, remittance (add ance)
106 EnglishCommunicationII

Adjectives : elegant, clear

Nouns : elegance, clearance (add ance)

Adjectives : happy, perfect, soft, certain, graceful, practical

Adverbs : happily, perfectly, softly, certainly, gracefully, practically

Verbs : convert, conclude, comprehend, admit, transmit

Nouns : conversion, conclusion, comprehension, admission, transmission (add sion)

Note: Teachers should make the students to practice the sufixes and preixes

Activity 6
Objective(s): Students will be able to:
Read, understand, analyze and interact with a partner to bridge the gap.
Student A
Instructions for making cake.
Take 2 cups of lour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 4
tablespoons of margarine and a cup of milk.
Mix the lour, sugar, salt and baking power.
Addthe margarine.
Pour inthe milk.
Mix well until batter is quite stiff.
Spread batter in a cake pan.
Bake at 325oC until golden in colour.
Now answer these questions about your text.
1. What are you preparing?
2. What are the main ingredients?
3. Is water required for this recipe?
4. What is the ratio of lour to sugar?
5. How much milk is required?
Then ask your partner these questions.
1. What is the occasion for people to decorate their homes?
2. When does it take place?
3. What are some objects hung on the Christmas tree?
4. What are the stockings used for?
5. Why does a Santa visit some homes?
6. How do the parents surprise their children?
 Polymers 107

Student B
During Christmas celebrations people decorate their homes with a Christmas tree. There are lots of
attractive things like bells, stars, glittering bulbs, stockings, small dolls of reindeers, Santa hung on the
tree. It is very customary to have stockings illed with small gifts hung on to these trees for little children
to ind them on the morning of the Christmas day. In some cultures, Santa visits the homes of little chil-
dren and surprises them with gifts. Parents also make it a point to get small surprise gifts to their children
of the items that they desire for during these occasions.
Now answer these questions about your text.
7. What is the occasion for people to decorate their homes?
8. When does it take place?
9. What are some objects hung on the Christmas tree?
10. What are the stockings used for?
11. Why does a Santa visit some homes?
12. How do the parents surprise their children?
Then ask your partner these questions:
1. What are your preparing?
2. What are the main ingredients?
3. Do we require water for this recipe?
4. What is the ratio of lour to sugar?
5. How much milk is required for this recipe?
 UNIT 3

DISASTERS

Objectives

At the end of this unit, the students should be able to:

9 Sort positive, comparative, superlative forms

9 Recognize, distinguish & use degrees appropriately

9 Use verbal questions in contexts

9 Use Wh- questions in contexts

9 Comprehend, interpret & analyze texts for academic purposes

9 Speak on given situations to register ones opinion

 Disasters 109

DISASTERS
Pre-reading
Activity 1
1. Have you heard of earthquakes, tsunamis and landslides?
2. Do you remember what happened on 26 December 2004? Can you describe it?
3. What does tsunami mean?
Why is the tsunami of 2004 considered the most destructive tsunami on record?
The tsunami of 2004 was undoubtedly the worst tsunami that has ever occurred. It was triggered by
the second most powerful earthquake in recorded history.
As of March 1, 2005 the death was approaching 3,00,000 people. Over ive million people were af-
fected by the tsunami, and well over a million were left homeless, of the fatalities almost half were in
Indonesia with very high casualties in Srilanka, India and Thailand as well.
Beyond the heavy toll on lives, the Indian Ocean earthquake destroyed groves, coral reefs, coastal
wetlands, vegetation, sand dunes, rock formations, animal and plant biodiversity, as well as groundwa-
ter. In terms of suffering and pain, the damage caused by the tsunami is just beyond comprehension. To
this day, the horror remains fresh in the minds of the survivors, and in the hearts of the millions who lost
their loved ones, and everything they had in the worst ever recorded natural disaster.
Activity 2
Read the following questions and answer them after reading the passage.

1. What is a Richter scale?

2. Why is the Richter scale useful?

3. How does the Richter scale help scientists?

4. What are the different magnitudes of the Richter scale? How does it differ in terms of its impact
on the Earths surface?
Why is the Richter scale an important invention?
The Richter scale is a very important invention because it allows us to measure the magnitude of an
earthquake. It was invented by Charles Richter and Berno Gutenburd in 1935. The scale does not tell
scientists when an earthquake will strike, but it does allow them to measure the energy released at the
source of the earthquake.
An earthquake with a magnitude of less than 3 on the Richter scale is one that is barely felt by us.
Noticeable shaking of doors and windows occurs when an earthquake measures between 4 and 5 on the
Richter scale. A really severe earthquake will be above 7, and an earthquake of magnitude of 9 or greater
will devastate thousands of kilometers.
110 EnglishCommunicationII

TEN DEADLIEST EARThQUAKES SINCE 1900

Sl.No. Year Epicentre Magnitude Deaths
1. 1976 Tangshan, China 7.8 6,50,000
2. 2004 Sumatra 9.1 2,80,000
3. 1920 Gansu, China 7.8 2,00,000
4. 1927 Tsinghai, China 7.9 2,00,000
5. 1923 Tokyo, Japan 7.9 1,43,000
6. 1948 Turkmenistan 7.3 1,10,000
7. 1908 Messina, Italy 7.2 1,00,000
8. 2005 Kashmir / Pakistan 7.6 80,000
9. 1932 Gansu, China 7.6 70,000
10. 1935 Quetta, Pakistan 7.5 60,000

Activity 3
Write paragraphs using the chart of the deadliest earthquakes using past tense forms. The irst one
is done as an example.
1. An earthquake struck Tangshan, China, in the year 1976. The magnitude of the earthquake was
7.8 on the Richter scale. The number of people who lost their lives was 6,50,000.

2.

3.

4.

Reading
Pre-reading
Have you heard of the Uttarkhand landslides?
Can we prevent such natural calamities? How?
LANDSLIDES AND AVALANChES
Why do landslides and avalanches occur?
You must have heard of landslides and avalanches that cause great damage and kill many people.
But, do you know what they are and how they are caused?
Landslides are a mass of rock, debris and soil that suddenly low down the slopes of a mountain,
covering everything in its path. An avalanche, on the other hand, is a rather large mass of snow that
slides down a mountainside. Landslides and avalanches occur in mountainous areas, especially on steep
slopes.
 Disasters 111

On a rocky or muddy hillside, unstable rocks and loose soil can cause a landslide, especially after
heavy rains. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions also make the slopes of a mountain unstable, and this
instability causes a landslide.
Avalanches are caused by weather that makes the snow unstable. Earth tremors, heavy winds, and
explosions can also cause avalanches. Sometimes, even a very loud noise can start snow tumbling and
trigger an avalanche. Both landslides and avalanches are natural disasters that happen frequently in al-
most all parts of the world.
Activity 4
Answer the following questions.
1. Where do landslides and avalanches occur?

2. What is the difference between a landslide and an avalanche?

3. How do rains cause landslides?

4. What makes mountains slopes unstable?

5. List some factors that cause avalanches.

6. Landslides and avalanches are natural disasters. Does human activity make them occur often?
How do you know?

Activity 5
Speaking
Read the following passage. Note down some points on how disasters can be prevented. Discuss with
a partner on your views.
Why did a dreadful tragedy occur in Bhopal in 1984?
The Bhopal gas tragedy was no doubt, a human disaster of epic proportions. It was caused by the
negligence of a mammoth company called Union Carbide, which allowed 40 tons of deadly fumes to
leak into the air on a cold December night in 1984. The people of Bhopal were sleeping when a suffocat-
ing cloud of a chemical used for making pesticides spread throughout the city. Thousands were killed,
and many more were seriously injured.
The irst to suffer were babies, children and old people who suddenly found that they could not
breathe. Even a year later, people were suffering from kidney failure, blindness and other serious side
effects of the deadly chemical. Though Union Carbide admitted responsibility for the accident, and paid
a huge amount as compensation to the government, the suffering of the victims continues, and their
anguish has not lessened with time.
112 EnglishCommunicationII

Degrees of Comparison
Objective(s): Students will be able to:
Identity positive, comparative & superlative degrees
Practice writing / speaking using degrees of comparison
Produce sentences using degrees of comparison
PRESENTATION
Choose 3 students of various heights.
Ask them to stand in a line.
Elicit Who is the tallest?
Who is the shortest?
Name the 3 people.
The names of the students are nouns.
What distinguishes the three nouns?
HEIGHT of the students
Height is a quality and it describes a noun.
So the heights of the students (tall, small, short) are adjectives.
Comparison is based on qualities.
Activity 6
Name some words denoting qualities according to size.
(fat, thin, slim, lean, short, small, tall, stout...)
Name some words denoting behaviour.
(good, bad, famous, notorious, well known)
Add nouns to these qualities denoting size and behaviour. Qualities can be expressed in degree.
Examples
1. An earthquake is as destructive as a tsunami.
For similar comparisons use: as + adjective + as
2. The 2004 tsunami was the most destructive Tsunami.
For superlative comparisons use: the adj + est or the most + adj

PRACTICE
Underline the degrees of comparison using the adjectives as an aid.

1. The 1792 tsunami in Japan was as destructive as the 1771 tsunami.

2. The 1703 tsunami had the least casualties.

3. Very few tsunamis were as destructive as the 1896 tsunami.

4. The 2004 tsunami caused more damage than any other tsunami.

5. The 1771 tsunami was less destructive then many other tsunamis.
 Disasters 113

6. Many tsunamis between 1771 and 1883 were more destructive than the 1703 tsunami.

7. No other tsunami was as destructive as the 2004 tsunami.

8. The 2004 tsunami was the worst of all tsunamis.

9. The 1896 tsunami was one of the most destructive tsunamis in the 19th century.

Activity 7
Using the table 10 Deadliest Tsunamis of the world write 10 sentences using positive, compara-
tive and superlative degrees.
10 WORST TSUNAMIS OF ThE WORLD
The 2004 tsunami was undoubtedly the most destructive tsunami on record, and caused more cau-
salities than any other natural disaster since the Tangshan earthquake of 1976. Many past tsunamis have
also caused great loss of life.
Year Place Estimated Deaths
2004 Indian Ocean 2,50,000
1782 South China Sea 40,000
1883 Krakatoa 36,000
1707 Japan 30,000
1826 Japan 27,000
1868 Chile 25,674
1896 Japan 22,070
1792 Japan 15,030
1771 Japan 13,486
1703 Japan 5,233

1. ________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________

4. ________________________________________________________________

5. ________________________________________________________________

6. ________________________________________________________________

7. ________________________________________________________________

8. ________________________________________________________________

9. ________________________________________________________________

10. ________________________________________________________________
114 EnglishCommunicationII

FRAMING QUESTIONS Verbal questions

Objective(s) students will be able to:
Frame verbal questions
auxiliary verb have / has + noun (or) main verb + sub

is / am / are/ was / were will pronoun

do/does/did + noun or pronoun + main verb + sub

Do + I + insult + you?

Did + I + insult + you?

Does + he + insult + you?
Read the following dialogue:

Mom : Son, are you ready for school.

Son : No, Mom, I am getting ready. Have you prepared breakfast?
Mom : Yes, I have prepared breakfast. Did you inform Dad that you are going for a picnic?
Son : No, Mom I went to bed a little earlier so I did not have a chanceto talk with him.
Mom : Thats O.K. I will inform him. Have a Nice day!
Ask the following questions:
1. Is the son ready for school?
2. Has the mom prepared breakfast?
3. Did the son inform the father about the picnic?
Activity 8
Fill in the blanks.

1. No, the son is ____ ready for school.

2. Yes, the mother ______ prepared the breakfast.

3. ___, the son did not ______the father about the picnic.

4. Yes, I _____up early in the morning.

5. ____, he is ________my friend.

6. ____, they __________completed their work

7. ____, she ______my girlfriend.

8. ____, I went to ________yesterday.

 Disasters 115

FRAMING QUESTIONS Wh QUESTIONS

Complete the table using the above pictures.

Who am pronoun/noun + restofthesentence?

What is

Where + are +

Which was

When were

How will

Who does pronoun/noun + mainverb?

What do

Where + did +

Which

When

How
Activity 9
Form pairs and ask each other the following questions.
Questions for A
1. What is your fathers name?

2. Where do you come from?

3. When do you get up in the morning?

4. Who is your friend?

5. How do you come to college?

116 EnglishCommunicationII

Questions for B
1. When were you born?

2. Where did you do your school studies?

3. Who gave you your shirt?

4. What did you eat this morning?

5. How many marks did you score in IX std?

Activity 10
Frame questions for the responses given using the diagrams.
father
friend
mother

hero who/whom son

teacher brother

Responses:

1. My favourite hero is Arnold.

2. He met his friend yesterday.

3. They are my father and mother.

4. She likes her teacher.

5. My close friends name is Deepak.

Questions:

1. ___________________________________________________?

2. ___________________________________________________?

3. ___________________________________________________?

4. ___________________________________________________?

5. ___________________________________________________?
 Disasters 117

Friend breakfast Project school homework

Responses:
1. They will meet their friend tomorrow.
2. He submitted his project in the morning.
3. I used to eatbreakfast at 8 Oclock.
4. She came home from school at 7 P.M.
5. It is your duty to complete your homework in the evening.
Questions:
1. ___________________________________________________?
2. ___________________________________________________?
3. ___________________________________________________?
4. ___________________________________________________?
5. ___________________________________________________?
How

fast apple 1 hundred excellently fine

Rs

Responses:
1. He ate two apples quickly.
2. They ran fast.
3. This book costs one hundred rupees.
4. She has done the work excellently.
5. I am ine.
Questions:
1. ___________________________________________________?
2. ___________________________________________________?
3. ___________________________________________________?
4. ___________________________________________________?
5. ___________________________________________________?
118 EnglishCommunicationII

where

Palani theatre market shopping mall

Responses:
1. I live in Palani.
2. They have planned to go to theatre.
3. She bought the vegetables from the market.
4. The shopping mall is located near Mount Road.
Questions:
1. ___________________________________________________?
2. ___________________________________________________?
3. ___________________________________________________?
4. ___________________________________________________?
5. ___________________________________________________?

Activity 11
Frame at least 10 questions using the box

Who am he go cricket

What is she write college

Where are it play Krishna

Which was they smell sweet

When + were + you + choose friend

How will I find game

do we use course

does Muthu mean food

did
 Disasters 119

Questions:
1. ___________________________________________________?

2. ___________________________________________________?

3. ___________________________________________________?

4. ___________________________________________________?

5. ___________________________________________________?

6. ___________________________________________________?

7. ___________________________________________________?

8. ___________________________________________________?

9. ___________________________________________________?

10. ___________________________________________________?

Activity 12
Answer the following verbal questions in both afirmative and negative.
1. Do you like coffee?

Yes, __________________________.

No, I _________________________.

2. Has he sent his resume to the company?

Yes, __________________________.

No, __________________________.

3. Did they come here?

Yes, __________________________.

No, __________________________.

4. Will the people accept the changes?

Yes, __________________________.

No, __________________________.

5. Did she perform well on the examination?

Yes, __________________________.

No, __________________________.
120 EnglishCommunicationII

Speaking: Opinion Gap

Activity 13
Objectives:
1. Analyse the given situation.
2. Practise the negotiating skill.
3. Practise the options.
4. Enhance the speaking skill.
Imagine a helicopter gets crashed in a very dense forest, which is almost 10 km away from the near-
est town; the helicopter is carrying a lifesaving medicine package for 25 patients in the hospital in the
town; the package weights almost 20 kg.
In the crash, 1 person dies on the spot, 2 are severely wounded and only 1 is safe. He has to carry
the medicine package to the hospital within 20 minutes. In groups choose 5 essential items he has to
carry while running quickly to get to the town, but keep the people safe who will stay behind. Justify
your choices.
1. black box 2. rain coat 3. compass 4. torch 5. walkie talkie 6. gun7. food parcel 8. water
bottle 9.watch 10. gun
As a group, discuss and agree upon one list of 5 materials. Be prepared to justify your choices.
Read your list to the class and explain your choices.
Speaking: Opinion Gap
Activity 14
Objective(s) students will be able to .

1. Interact among themselves.

2. Negotiate / convince / explain / and arrive at a conclusion.
Presenting a task : Mission Mars Film production.
Imagine that you are producing a science iction movie. Discuss among yourselves and select a: hero,
heroine, director, music director, and comedianfrom the following options.Select only ive people.
1. Rajinikanth
2. Vikram
3. A.R. Rahman
4. Ilayaraja
5. Samantha
6. Nayanthara
7. Santhanam
8. Vadivelu
9. Shankar
10. A.R. Murugadass
11. Surya
 Disasters 121

You have to reason out why you prefer the particular person.
Interactive tips / sentence beginners
1. I think ______________________
2. In my opinion, he is ________________________
3. Why dont we choose ______________
4. We can consider _________instead of _______________
5. Let us _________
6. I prefer ________ over _________
7. Of course he is ___________but ___________is more suitable / better.
8. ________ is preferable because ______________
9. No other persons is as ______ (good / popular / apt ) as ____________
10. Im sorry, to disagree, but ___________________________
11. We had better ______________________________________
12. I am afraid _________________________________________
FINAL ChOICE
1. Hero: ____________________________
2. Heroine: ____________________________
3. Director: ____________________________
4. Music Director: ____________________________
5. Comedian: ____________________________
Speaking: Opinion Gap
Activity 15
Objective(s):
Students will be able to work in a group to arrive at a consensus.
Read the following passage and make an informed choice.
Most parts of West Africa have been affected by a serious diseaseEbolathat has claimed more
than 23,000 lives, including that of voluntary doctors & nurses. It has become a challenge for the doctors
to ind a suitable medicine for preventing the spread of the disease. A team consisting of a doctor and
some assistants is getting ready for an expedition to the dangerous Amazon forest in search of medicinal
herbs. The vehicle can accommodate only 3 people besides the doctor, but there are ive people who
are prepared to join the expedition. Decide which three of the following ive people will accompany the
doctor on this expedition.
As a group, think of reasons for and against each person.
Person A: A mechanic friendly but short tempered, middle aged
Person B: A cook has good leadership qualities, 50 years old, alcoholic
Person C: A military personnel middle aged, bad tempered
Person D: A scientist expert in photography, physically challenged but active
Person E: An expert swimmer age unknown, very religious
Explain your selection to the class and justify your choices.
 UNIT 4

COMPOSITION

Objectives

At the end of this unit, the students should be able to:

9 Use passive structures to write reports

9 Recognize& write emails

9 Develop hints by framing sentences & write paragraphs

9 Make notes for academic purposes

9 Read texts using higher order thinking skills (academic reading comprehension)
 Composition 123

COMPOSITION
Writing Newspaper Reports
Objectives: Students will be able to:
Recognize the structure of newspaper reports
Use passive structures to write newspaper reports
Procedures:
Step 1:
1.1 Introduce the topic by asking questions such as:
How many of you read English newspapers?
What newspaper do you read?
Can you name some well-known English newspapers?
What type of news item do you generally prefer to read?
Introduce the structure of a newspaper report
Without explaining the headline, place line, etc., the teacher may elicit them from the students and
then offer speciic terms for them.
Teacher may present a sample newspaper report as the one that follows:
Denied Leave for Festival, Man Kills Tea Shop Owners Wife

Sundar, Staff Reporter Headline

Byline
Wed Jan14, 2015

Place line

Chennai: A 21-year-old man was denied bonus and leave for Festival. Consequent-
ly, the employers wife and two children were stabbed by him at Ambattur on Monday.
While the woman died on the spot, the two children were hospitalized. The accused was
arrested on the same night with the help of the visuals which had been recorded by a
CCTV camera in an adjacent building. He initially denied his role in the crime but later
confessed, said the police.

Passivestructure

Quotes What someone

actually said of the
incident?
124 EnglishCommunicationII

Without explaining the headline, place line, etc., the teacher may elicit them from the students and
then offer speciic terms for them.
Activity 1
Fill in the elements with reference to the newspaper item given to you:

Elements As seen in the newspaper report

1. Headline
2. Byline
3. Placeline
4. Lead : identify the 5Ws a) What?
b) Where?
c) When?
d) Why ?
e) Who?
5. Quotes

Step -2: Recognizing passive structures of a newspaper report

Activity 2
Divide the students into groups and ask them to take 2 minutes and identify the passive structures in
the given new newspaper report. Elicit from the students the other features of the newspaper report by
asking questions such as:
1. Which person is used here 1st person or 2nd person or 3rd person?
2. Underline the passive structures you are able to ind out.
3. Why have they used passive structures?
4. How many passive structures here are in past tense?
Activity 3
Give 2 minutes for each group and ask them to ind the right answer:
Which one among the three is the most suitable expression for the newspaper report?
Activity 4
Fill in the elements with reference to the newspaper item given to you:

Elements As seen in the newspaper report

1. Headline
2. Placeline
3. Lead : identify the 5Ws a) What?
b) Where?
c) When?
d) Why ?
e) Who?
4. Quotes
 Composition 125

Step -2: Recognizing passive structures of a newspaper report

Activity 2
Divide the students into groups and ask them to take 2 minutes and identify the passive structures in
the given new newspaper report. Elicit from the students the other features of the newspaper report by
asking questions such as:
1. Which person is used here 1st person or 2nd person or 3rd person?
2. Underline the passive structures you are able to ind.
3. Why has the author used passive structures?
4. How many passive structures here are in the past tense?
Activity 3
Give 2 minutes for each group and ask them to ind the right answer:
Which one among the three is the most often used expression in the newspaper report?
1. a) He murdered.
b) He killed.
c) He was accused of the murder.
2. a) Somebody said that.
b) They said that
c) It was said that
3. a) The company based the results on selected samples.
b) The results were based on selected samples.
c) They put the results on selected samples.
4. a) He has been taken under custody.
b) The police have taken him into custody.
c) The police have caught him now.
The group may also explain why the other two are not the best options.

Step 3: Preparing the rough draft of a newspaper report

Activity 4
Look at the following picture.Prepare rough notes by answering the 5ws and other questions. A few
are done for you.
126 EnglishCommunicationII

Rough Notes:

Headline One killed and 33 injured in an accident on NH

Byline

Placeline

What kind of accident?

Where did it happen? Thiruvananthapuram

Who died?

When did it happen?

Why? A Kerala transport bus tried to overtake another vehicle.

quotes

Activity 5
Write a rough draft of a newspaper report for a rail accident that occurred near Madurai on Thursday
which took the life of 50 people.
_______________________________ (Headline)
_______________________

___________________ (place line)

What? __________________________________________________________

Where?_________________________________________________________

When?__________________________________________________________

Why?___________________________________________________________

How?___________________________________________________________

Who?___________________________________________________________

Quotes_____________________________________________________________

Step: 4 Editing
Edit your rough draft in a group by checking the following items:
a) Is the the headline clearly related to story? Yes / No
b) Are all 5 Ws present? Yes / No
c) Are quotes used? Yes / No
d) Is any personal opinion given Yes / No
e) Are passive structures used? Yes / No
f) Is proper spelling & grammar used? Yes / No
g) Is the third person used? Yes / No
 Composition 127

Step 5: Final Draft

After editing each group should prepare a inal draft and exchange them with another group; then
check the answers for the check list in Step 4 again. Read out the inal draft and discuss the features in
it.
Activity 9
Sample questions:
1. Write a newspaper report on the annual day celebration of your college which may appear in the
Hindu on the next day.
2. Imagine you are a news reporter and draft a newspaper report on a ire accident that occurred in
Trichy yesterday.
3. Write a newspaper report on a technical exhibition / symposium conducted in your college.
4. Write a newspaper report on a bus accident that resulted in the death of 20 people.
Writing a Process Report
Objectives: Students will be able to:
1. Recognize the structure of process reports
2. Use passive structures to write process reports
Procedures
5 step writing process: Introducing &familiarizing with the structure Recognizing passive struc-
tures in reports rough draft editing inal draft
Step 1: Introducing &familiarizing with the structure of a process report
Introducing the topic
Activity 10
Look at the following pictures. What are they doing?
128 EnglishCommunicationII

Have they completed the work? Is the process over?

Is a man or woman essential for any process to take place?
What is common in these four pictures?
What are the things needed for a process to take place in each picture?
Recognizing the structure of a process report
The teacher may present a sample process report so as to enable the students to understand its struc-
ture.
Making Wooden Furniture
The highest quality materials are used in the production of Teale brand furniture. The wood is
carefully selected from trees grown in their own plantations. The individual components of each piece
of furniture are cut at specially designed mills and are then assembled individually by hand. Each
piece is tested for durability and strength. The whole process is supervised by trained craftsmen and
women. Only when they are completely happy with the product will it be approved for sale.

Is the heading essential for a process report?

What is the heading given here?
Have they used past tense anywhere? Why?
Are you able to see a beginning, a process and an end? Which sentence indicates the beginning
of a process? Which sentence in the report shows the end of a process?
Have they used irst person or third person?
Can you mention some third person pronouns used in the report?
Step -2: Recognizing and using passive structures in a process report
Activity 11
Analysis of a Process Report
A Process Report on Preparation of Coffee
A kettle is kept on a lit stove. Water is poured into it and it is boiled. A teaspoon of instant
coffee powder is taken and is put into the boiled water. Two teaspoons of sugar are added to
it. Then, a suficient amount of hot milk is poured into it. The hot water along with its milk is
stirred until the ingredients blendevenly. The stove is unlit and the prepared coffee is poured
into a cup.
Which structures are frequently used in the above report active or passive?
Identify and underline the passive structures in the report.
How many passive structures are there in this report?
Why have they used passive structures? Can you sort out the reasons? [Generally a passive form
is used when the doer of the action is unknown; when the action is more important than the per-
son who performed it; in order to be objective; or to make a generalization which is not limited
to the action of the individuals. For which reason was the passive structure used in this text?]
Which tense has been used for the passive structures? Why?
Elicit answers from the students and make them familiar with the passive structures used in the
report.
 Composition 129

Activity 9
(Each group of students should be given 3 minutes.)
Pick a main verb from the pot below and ill in the blanks to make a passive form in the present
tense.

make

pour
keep

inish
arrange
check design

see
shape test

select
cut
take
boil heat do

start
1. The oil is poured.
2. It _____ _______.
3. The product is _________.
4. They are __________ into pieces.
5. Fine materials ________ __________.
6. It _______ kept on the table.
7. They ______ ________ of ibre.
8. _______ is _______ off the tube.
9. Water _____ _____ before it ______ used.
10. The work _____ _______ by skilled persons.
Step 3: Rough Draft
Topic: A Process Report on the Preparation of Apple Juice
Activity 13
Note: Teachers have the students brainstorm and collect ideas.
Organizing / Grouping
The teacher may ask the students to arrange the above ideas in order as follows:
Initial stage Processing stage Final stage
fresh apples peeled off, knife,apple cutter ice cubs
delicious apples cut into pieces glass
washed mixing jar straw used
mashed, ground
sieve to ilter
Writing rough notes
Students may be asked to make a rough draft with reference to the above table.
130 EnglishCommunicationII

Fresh apples are selected. Delicious apples are taken. They are washed. The
skins are peeled off with a knife. They are cut into pieces. An apple cutter is used.
A mixing jar is used. They are mashed and ground. A sieve was used to ilter. Ice
cubes are used. Glass is taken. A straw is used for drinking.

Step 4 : Editing
Students may be asked to correct and edit the rough draft with the help of the following check list.
Is a heading given? Yes / No
Are the sentences in passive form? Yes / No
Are they in the present tense? Yes / No
Is there any 1st person pronoun? Yes / No
Is spelling and grammar right? Yes / No
Is there any repetition? Yes / No
Are there proper conjunctions to maintain coherence? Yes / No
Is there anything missing? Yes / No
The remaining editing work should be done by the students in a group.
Step 5: Final Draft
Students may be asked to write a inal draft with reference to the edited rough copy. After writing
the inal copy, each group should exchange their process reports with another group and present it for
discussion.
Activity 14
Sample Questions
1. Write a process report on how lemon juice is prepared.
2. Write a process report on collecting information on the Internet.
3. Report the step by step process involved in ice-cream making.
4. Explain the process of preparing vegetable soup in report form.
5. Draft a process report on changing engine oil for a bike.
Writing a Lab Report
Objectives: Students will be able to:

Recognize the structure of lab reports

Use passive structures to write lab reports
Procedure:
5 step writing process: Introducing &becoming familiar with the structure Recognising passive
structures in reports rough draft editing inal draft
Step 1: Introducing and becoming familiar with the structure of a lab report
Introducing the topic
 Composition 131

Activity 12
Look at the following pictures in Group A and Group B.
Group A

Group B

What does the irst picture present to us?

How can you describe the second picture in a single word?
What do the people do in 3rd and 4th picture?
What is the relationship between the third and fourth picture?
Pictures in Group A are opposite to those in Group B. How?
Which pictures are more relevant to lab reports?
132 EnglishCommunicationII

Recognizing the structure of a lab report

Observe the following report and say - What are the essential elements of a lab report?

Balloon Rocket Car

Objective:

The experiment is aimed at a demonstration of Newton's Third Law of Motion - "Every action has
an equal and opposite reaction" by constructing a balloon-powered rocket car.
Materials Used:

A Styrofoam tray, four wheels, 4 pins, cello tape, lexi-straw, party balloon and ruler are used to
conduct the experiment.
Step-by-Step Procedure:

Four wheels are attached to the tray with pins. The lexi-straw is ixed on to the centre of the tray
with cello tape. The balloon nozzle is inserted over the short end of the straw. It is also taped tightly.
The air is blown into the balloon through the straw. The car is kept on the loor with one end of the
straw closed with a inger. The air is released to make the car move.
Result:

It is found that the air escaping through the straw is the action and the cars movement in opposite
direction is the reaction. Thus, Newtons third law of motion is demonstrated.
Source: http://www.sciencefairadventure.com/ProjectDetail.aspx?ProjectID=137
Step 2: Identifying and using passive structures in a lab report
Activity 13
Go back to the same report and underline the passive structures you ind in them. The task is to be com-
pleted within 2 minutes in a group.
How many passive forms are there?
Is there any passive form in the past?
Have they used any 1st person pronouns? Why?
Step - 3: Writing the rough draft of a lab report on a blood test
Look at the following picture and write rough notes for a lab report.

Have you ever done a blood test? With what purpose?

What are the other reasons for a blood test? (objective)
Look at the picture and list out the things you need for a blood test. (materials used)
What is the man doing in the picture? (Experiment)
 Composition 133

Activity 17
Elicit from the students the ideas they have in their mind about blood tests and ill in the right side of
the column.
Elements Fill in the blanks with what you would like to add
1. Title a lab report on a blood test
2. Aim to detect drug abuse in sports
3. Materials needle, gloves, pieces of glass, cotton
4. Step-by-step Procedure blood is extracted cotton was applied the sample has been taken to
the lab It is tested in the lab drug substances were looked for a deep
investigation and analysis was done testosterone is detected

5. Result drug substances are detected drug abuse is conirmed The objective
is fulilled.

Step 4: Editing
Students may be asked to correct and edit the rough draft with the help of the following check list.

Is the title given? Yes / No

Are the sentences in the passive form? Yes / No
Are they in the present tense? Yes / No
Is there any 1st person pronoun? Yes / No
Is spelling and grammar right? Yes / No
Is there any repetition? Yes / No
Are there proper conjunctions to maintain coherence? Yes / No
Is there any emotion or feeling found in the scientiic report? Yes / No

Step 5: Final Draft

Students may be asked to write a inal draft with reference to the edited rough draft. After writing
the inal copy, each group should exchange their process reports with another group and present it for
discussion.
Sample questions:

1. Write a lab report on energy conservation.

2. Write a lab report on any one of the experiments you did in your physics lab.
3. Write a lab report on any one of the experiments you conducted in your chemistry lab.
134 EnglishCommunicationII

DEVELOPING hINTS
GUIDELINES
1. Read the given outline carefully.
2. Use grammatically correct, simple language and short sentences.
3. Maintain the order in which the hints are presented.
4. Check that each hint is suitably connected to the next one in logical order.
5. Use imagination for illing in the gaps.
6. Use signal words, phrases and linkers like the following for clarity and proper sequence in nar-
rating stories.
Cause and effect words: therefore,as a result,because of
Time words: meanwhile,at that time,lateron,as soon as,justthen,during
Contrast words: though,eventhen,but,on the contrary
Addition words: in addition, also, further,moreover,not only_______ but also
7. Adjectives may be used suitably to enrich descriptions.
8. Elaborate the hints into as many idea units as possible and write one sentence for each idea.
9. Impersonal passive and present tense are preferable for factual information/describing a process
and past forms for narrating stories.
10. After writing a rough draft, rewrite it to make it as good as possible and give it a title.
11. For the title use the name of the main character/object/incident of the story/proverb or quotation
suiting the theme.
Activity 18
Convert the following hints into a paragraph of 50 words.
1. A bee falls into a tank a dove lies past drops a large leaf into the water the bee climbs on
the leaf starts to ly a boy takes aim at the dove the bee stings the dove is saved
2. Students not serious in studies waste time watching unwanted T.V channels seeing serials
and movies accumulate the portions of study at time of examination become serious and
nervous study day and night become worried and tired faint in exam hall fail or get low
marks message
3. Nature a kind mother feeds the living beings takes care we are unkind materialistic
dont care about the future of the Earth disigure the Earth pollute the land, water, air, space
greediness message create forests
Writing Emails
Objectives:
Students will be able to recognize the structure of e-mails.
Students will be able to compose e-mails.
Procedure:
Teacher Motivation:
Ask the students the following questions and collects responses.
How do you communicate to your friends in distant places?
by land phone?
by cell phone?
through post card or letters?
by e-mail?
 Composition 135

E- Mail
Describe the parts of an email looking at the email below. How is it different from regular mail?
(Source: http://jobsearch.about.com/od/jobsearchemailsamples/ig/Email-Message-Examples/Job-
Application-Email-Message.htm)

Activity 19
Compose an e-mail on the topic of your choice. Be sure to include all of the components of an
email.
What is an e-mail ?
Electronic mail or email is a means of sending messages, text, and computer iles between computers
via the Internet.
Features of email
automatic reply to messages
auto forward and redirection of messages
facility to send copies of a message to many people
automatic iling and retrieval of messages
addresses can be stored in an address book and retrieved instantly
notiication if a message cannot be delivered
emails are automatically dated and time stamped
signatures can be attached
iles, graphics or sound can be sent as attachments, often in compressed formats
webmail and mobile email can be used to receive and send messages while on the move
136 EnglishCommunicationII

Advantages and disadvantages of using email.

Talk in pairs. List the advantages and disadvantages of using email. Then compare your list with the
ones below.

Advantages
Emails are delivered extremely fast when compared to traditional post.
Emails can be sent 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Webmail means emails can be sent and received from any computer, anywhere in the world, that
has an Internet connection.
Cheap - when using broadband, each email sent is effectively free.
Emails can be sent to one person or several people.
Disadvantages
The recipient needs access to the Internet to receive email.
Viruses are easily spread via email attachments.
Pushing - sending an email to a user falsely claiming to be a legitimate company to scam the
user into providing information, such as personal information and bank account numbers on a
bogus website. The details will then be used for identity theft.
No guarantee the mail will be read until the user logs on and checks their email
Spam - unsolicited email, i.e. junk mail
Activity 20
1. Your friend has gone to visit his parents as he is staying in the hostel. Write an email to your
friend stating that you need his mark sheets, identity card and his address proof scanned and sent
to your e-mail immediately as the college principal has asked for it.
2. You are travelling to Singapore. You need to book your tickets. Write an email to the travel agent
seeking rates of tickets for a speciied day of travel on three different airlines.
 UNIT 5

COMPOSITION

Objectives

At the end of this unit, the students should be able to:

9 Recognize and compose formal letters job, orders, complaints

9 Interpret visuals & write paragraphs

9 Make notes (visuals) on given texts

9 Write resumes
138 EnglishCommunicationII

COMPOSITION

When applying for a job, a cover letter should be sent or posted with your resume. A cover letter
should be speciic to the position you are applying for, relating your skills and experience to those noted
in the job posting. Your cover letter is your irst and best chance to sell the hiring manager on your can-
didacy for employment, so make sure it's perfect!
The following cover letter format lists the information you need to include in the cover letter you
submit with your resume. Since a cover letter is a formal letter, it's important to adhere to these format-
ting standards. Use this as a guideline to create customized cover letters to send to employers.
(A sample covering letter is in the next page.)
Sample Cover Letter
H. Ram Ganesh
S/o. C. Hari Krishnan
129, Patel Road
Goripalayam
Madurai 625 002

To:
Mr. K. Ashok
ABC Constructions
434, Cross Cut Road
Coimbatore 634 001

Dear Sir,
I am submitting herewith my resume for your kind perusal and favourable consideration for
the post of Site Engineer in your esteemed organization.
I am a qualiied diploma holder in civil engineering from AVK Polytechnic College, Coim-
batore afiliated to the Directorate of Technical Education, Chennai. I possess comprehensive knowl-
edge on civil engineering related subjects. Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, an
innovative approach and quick adaptability are my biggest assets.
I am seeking a challenging job that would synergize my skills and experience with the objec-
tives of your organization. I look forward to getting a favourable reply from you.
Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,
H. Ram Ganesh
Encl.: Resume
 Composition 139

Activity 1
Cover Letter Format
Name
Address
City, State, Pin Code
To (Employer - Contact Information)
Name
Title
Company
Address
City, State, PIN Code
Salutation

Dear Sir / Dear Sirs/ Dear Madam/ Dear Mr./ Dear Mrs.

Body of Cover Letter

The body of your cover letter lets the employer know what position you are applying for, why the
employer should select you for an interview, and how you will follow-up.

First Paragraph

The irst paragraph of your letter should include information on why you are writing. Mention the
position you are applying for and where you found the job information.

Middle Paragraph(s)

The next section of your cover letter should describe what you have to offer the employer. Mention
speciically how your qualiications match the job you are applying for.

Final Paragraph

Conclude your cover letter by thanking the employer for considering you for the position.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully / truly/ sincerely,

Your name
140 EnglishCommunicationII

WRITING RESUME
Activity 2
KWL Chart:
K-W-L charts are graphic organizers that help students organize information before, during and after
a unit or a lesson. They can be used to engage students in a new topic, activate prior knowledge, share
unit objectives, and monitor learning. Have students ill in the irst two columns in pairs or small groups
before working on resumes and then come back and ill in the third column after working on resumes.
What do I know about What do I want to know What did I learn about
resumes? about resumes? resumes?

Activity 3
Information Gap Activity:
Resume (Source :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9sum%C3%A9)
STUDENT A

A rsum also spelled resume, is a document to present personal backgrounds and skills. Rsu-
ms can be used for a variety of reasons, but most often they are used to secure new employment.
A typical rsum contains a summary of relevant job experience and education. The rsum is
usually one of the irst items, along with a cover letter and sometimes an application for employment,
which a potential employer sees regarding the job seeker and is typically used to screen applicants, of-
ten followed by an interview. The rsum is comparable to acurriculum vitae (CV) in many countries.
However, it is substantially shorter than a CV. CVs are generally used by people who have a lot of job
experience and publications. In French, rsum means summary.
In many contexts, a rsum is typically limited to one or two pages, highlighting only the experience
and qualiications that the author considers most relevant to the desired position.
A rsum is a marketing tool in which the content should be adapted to suit each individual job ap-
plication and/or applications aimed at a particular industry.
 Composition 141

Styles:
Rsums may be organized in different ways. The following are some of the more common formats:

9 Reverse chronological rsum - A reverse chronological rsum lists a candidate's job experi-
ences in reverse chronological order, with the most recent experience listed irst.
9 Functional rsum - A functional rsum lists work experience and skills sorted by skill area or
job function.
9 Hybrid rsum - The hybrid rsum balances the functional and chronological approaches
Resume (Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9sum%C3%A9)
Now answer the following questions about the text:
1. What do you mean by the word resume?
2. What is the main difference between a resume and a CV?
3. What is the typical size of a resume?
4. What is generally attached with a resume?
5. How many types of resumes are discussed in the passage?
Then ask your partner these questions:
1. What is the main purpose of a resume?
2. Deine reverse chronological resume.
3. Which type of resume targets professional capabilities and utilizes experience summaries?
4. Why are online resumes popular nowadays?
5. What is a hybrid resume?

STUDENT B
A rsum also spelled 'resume', is a document used by persons to present their backgrounds
and skills. Rsums can be used for a variety of reasons, but most often they are used to secure new
employment.A rsum is a marketing tool in which the content should be adapted to suit each individual
job application and/or applications aimed at a particular industry.
Styles:
Rsums may be organized in different ways. The following are some of the more common for-
mats:
Reverse chronological rsum
A reverse chronological rsum lists a candidate's job experiences in chronological order, generally
covering the previous 10 to 15 years. Positions are listed with starting and ending dates.
Functional rsum
A functional rsum lists work experience and skills sorted by skill area or job function.The func-
tional rsum is not used to focus on skills that are speciic to the type of position being sought. This
format directly emphasizes speciic professional capabilities and utilizes experience summaries as its
primary means of communicating professional competency.
hybrid rsum
The hybrid rsum balances the functional and chronological approaches. A rsum organized this
way typically leads with a functional list of job skills, followed by a chronological list of employers.
142 EnglishCommunicationII

Online rsums
As the search for employment has become more electronic, it is common for employers only to ac-
cept rsums electronically, either out of practicality or preference. This has changed much about the
way rsums are written, read, and processed. Many employers now ind candidates' rsums through
search engines, which makes it more important for candidates to use appropriate keywords when writ-
ing a rsum. Many employers, and recruitment agencies working on their behalf, insist on receiving
rsums in a particular ile format. Some require Microsoft Word documents, while others will only ac-
cept rsums formatted in HTML, PDF, or plain ASCII text.One advantage for employers with online
rsums is the signiicant cost saving compared to traditional hiring methods.
Now answer the following questions about your text:
1. What is the main purpose of a resume?
2. Deine reverse chronological resume.
3. Which type of resume targets professional capabilities and utilizes experience summaries?
4. Why are online resumes popular nowadays?
5. What is a hybrid resume?
Then, ask your partner these questions:
1. What do you mean by the word resume?
2. What is the main difference between a resume and a CV?
3. What is the typical size of a resume?
4. What is generally attached with a resume?
5. How many types of resumes are discussed in the passage?
SAMPLE RESUME
Name R. Rengarajan
E-mail [email protected]
Mob. No. 091145 55545
Objective: To work in a reputed organization where there is a scope for personal and professional de-
velopment and to serve tirelessly to take the organization to lofty heights.
Educational Qualiications:
Course Month and year of passing Name of the institution Class Percentage
SSLC April 2010 Government Higher Secondary I 92.40
School, Salem
Diploma April 2014 AVK Polytechnic College, I 94.50
Coimbatore
Technical skills
Operating Systems: WINDOWS 2000
MS-Ofice (Excel, Word & PowerPoint)
AutoCAD, STAAD pro, Prospect Management System (PMS)
Academic project details
Completed two month summer project on XXXX" at ABC
Duration: January 20XX-April 20XX
Project: Trafic Engineer
Description: Supervised site activities, collected data and analysed information and prepared studies and
reports
 Composition 143

Trainings
1. Underwent industrial training for 1 month at ABC Constructions Limited, Madurai
2. Obtained hands-on training for 15 days at a construction site
Academic awards
1. Won prizes at interschool competitions on Elocution and Verse-writing
2. Participated in intramural and external competitions and won various prizes
Extra-curricular Activities
1. Acted as a volunteer in NSS
2. Possess C Certiicate in NCC
Personal Details
DOB: 05/06/1994
Sex: Male
Hobbies: Reading books and listening to music
Languages known: Tamil, English and Hindi
References
1. Mr. A. Krishnan, HOD / Civil, AVK Polytechnic College, Coimbatore
2. Mr. K. Raman, Head Master, Government Higher Secondary School, Salem

Place : Salem Signature

Activity 3
Complete the following with your personal details
DIPLOMA FRESHER RESUME FORMAT
Name
E-mail ID.
Mob. No.
Objective:
Educational Qualiications:
Course Month and year of Name of the Class Percentage
passing institution

Technical skills
Academic project details
Trainings
Academic awards
Extra-curricular activities
Personal details
DOB
144 EnglishCommunicationII

Sex
Hobbies
Languages known
References
1. Mr. X
2. Mr. Y

Place Signature
Activity 5
Presentation:
Students read the following dialogue and then take turns presenting it to the class.
Student A : What comes irst in a resume?
Student B : Name, e-mail and mobile number of the candidate
Student A : What is the purpose of an objective?
Student B : The objective statement declares the mind-set of the candidate.
Student A : Do we need to mention educational qualiication?
Student B : Yes, preferably in the form of a table. We must give the complete details of our educational
qualiication. By the by, is it necessary to mention our technical skills?
Student A : Yes, it is absolutely necessary to mention technical skills that include our proiciency in
computer and software.
Student B : Should I mention the details of my industrial training?
Student A : Yes, a brief note about your industrial training has to be mentioned in the resume.
Student B : I have won many prizes in school and college. Do I need to mention them in the resume?
Student A : Of course. It will give you added advantage. What about personal details?
Student B : Personal details are essential.
Student A : Moreover, dont forget to give two references because the employer might contact them to
get irst-hand information about you.
Student B : Thank you very much for your information.
Giving Directions
Hints for directing someone to some destinations/landmarks
Turn right
Go straight
Look for the post ofice
Keep going util you reach
Its adjacent to
Its on the way to
Its within walking distance from
Its near
Turn the second corner
Its on the third street from
 Composition 145

Dont go beyond
Use the subway to go
Pass two roads on the left and
Its in between
Its just opposite to
Its just a few metres away from
At the junction of three roads
Its in front of
Since its too far from here, you had better hire
Activity 6
You are standing near the government hospital. A girl wants to go to Meenakshi College to get an ap-
plication.

1.1 Giving directions without landmarks:

Go straight..
Turn left.
Go ahead
Just a hundred meters away, you will come across Meenakshi college.
1.2 Giving directions with landmarks:
Go straight until you reach the signal.
Then turn left at the corner and walk ahead.
A hundred meters away you will come across Meenakshi College on the right hand side
of the road.
1.3 Cloze :
Go ___________until you reach the _________
Then turn _________ and walk ________
A _________________ away you will come across _____________ on the right hand
side of the road.
146 EnglishCommunicationII

Activity 7
A man approaches you to direct him to a nearby hospital. Write three instructions:

1.1 Giving directions without landmarks:

Go straight
Turn left
Turn right
Turn left
1.2 Giving directions with landmarks:
Go straight via grand trunk.
Skip Tolstoy road and take the second left via Park Road.
Turn right on the airport road till you reach the hospital at the left turn.
1.3 Cloze :
Go ____________via Grand Trunk.
Skip _______________ and take the second left via Park Road.
Turn right on the ___________ until you reach the hospital at the __________________.
Activity 8
A stranger wants to meet his friend at the YMCA headquarters. Write two instructions to help him.
 Composition 147

Activity 9
Two strangers want to go to your city bus station. Direct them. Write two instructions to help them.

Activity 10
Here you ind a road map. Write three instructions to help a person to reach Sugam hospital.

Reading
Activity 11
Simputer for the Poor Goes on Sale
New computer costs $240.

A cheap handheld computer designed by Indian scientists is on sale af-

ter three years of waiting. The company that made the
The team of computer scientists irst got the idea for the Simputer computer hopes to sell 50,000
in 2001, but development of the computer was slowed because the team in a year
didnt have enough money and because computer manufacturers werent interested. The Simputer was
launched on Friday and the basic model costs around $240.
The Simputer was developed by scientists and engineers at the Indian Institute of Science in Banga-
lore. They were looking for a way of taking the Internet revolution to people living in villages in India.
Only nine in every 1,000 Indians own a computer because they are too expensive. The Simputer was
designed to make using computers cheap and easy.
148 EnglishCommunicationII

But the scientists had a hard time going from the laboratory to factory. Finally, government-owned
Bharat Electronics agreed to make the handheld computer. The computer goes on sale in April and the
scientists want to sell 50,000 in the irst year.
The Amida Simputer comes in three versions: the basic model has a black and white screen and
64MB of memory. It also has a microphone, speakers for listening to music and a battery that lasts for
six hours. People can use the Simputer to work on the Internet, send e-mails or organize their money,
using a special pen to write on the screen.
Adapted from http://news.bbc.co.uk/gov/em/fr/-/2/hi/technology/3578309.stm
Objectives:
By the end of the lesson students should be able to:
Use new vocabulary
Explain conceptual meaning
Pre-reading:
Show a picture of a Simputer to the students to have background knowledge of the topic and pre-
viewvocabulary.
Vocabulary check: new words are predicted from the article before students read the passage. Add
to the list below.
1. Simputer
2. manufacturer
3. version
4. scientists
While-reading:
Skimming:
Quickly glance through the text and answer the general questions:
1. What is a computer?
2. Do you have access to Simputers?
3. Simputers are designed for poor people. Do you agree with this picture and why?

Scanning:
Search the text for the answers to these questions:
1. When was Simputers irst launched?
2. How many Indians own a computer?
3. Who developed simputers and where?
4. What are the three versions in Amida Computers?
 Composition 149

Answer the following questions according to the text.

The team of computer scientists irst got the idea for the ______________ in 2001, but development
of the computer was slowed down because the __________________didnt have enough money and
because computer _________________ werent interested.
Post-reading:
Group activity:
Discuss in groups: imagine if you were a millionaire. What are the changes would you like to bring in
the life of the poor children?
Individual activity:
Suggest a suitable title for the text and read it in class with pairs
Grammar test:
Identify the parts of speech in the irst two paragraphs of the text.
VERBAL TO VISUAL
Objectives:

Students will be able to:

1. Communicate facts clearly, concisely, attractively and eventually in a compact form.

2. Convert verbal documents into non-verbal documents.
3. Present statistical data for reports in conferences, meetings and seminars.
4. Use different types of non-verbal representation(bar chart, pie chart, organisational chart, low
chart, table, graphs etc.)
Procedure: Ask students

1. What are the two types of communication?

2. How is verbal communication different form non-verbal communication?
3. Which communication is effective when presenting statistical data or reports in conferences and
seminars?
4. Name some types of non-verbal communication in writing.
Pair work:
Work with a partner. Read the text below and ill in the table with information from the text.

There are lightless birds like ostrich of Africa, the emu of Australia, the rheas of South Africa and
the kiwi of New Zealand. Some birds are ornamental, like the peacock in India and the swan and tease
in England. All countries have some domestic and game birds like ducks, chickens, turkeys and pigeons.
Nearly 80 kinds of birds are in danger of becoming extinct, like the whooping crane, the lamingo of
West Indies and the California condor. About 40 kinds of birds have become extinct like hornbill of
India and the ivory billed woodpecker of South East Asia.
150 EnglishCommunicationII

Step 1

Kinds of Birds Species Habitat

lightless

peacock, goose, swan

game all countries

India, South East Asia

domestic

Step 2: Now compare your chart with the one below.

Kinds of Birds Species Habitat

lightless ostrich, emu, rhea, kiwi Africa, Australia, South

America, New Zealand

ornamental peacock, geese, swan India, England

game turkey, duck, pigeon, chicken all countries

endangered birds whooping crane, California Condor West India, California

extinct birds hornbill, ivory billed woodpecker India, South East Asia

domestic duck, turkey, pigeon, chicken all countries

 MODEL QUESTION PAPER
SEMESTER - II
TIME: 3 Hours Max. Marks: 75

I. Answer any ten of the following: 10 3 = 30

1. Write 3 words related to a place of worship.

2. Match the following with the relevant opposite word:

a) idle begin
b) basic ugly
c) foolish slow
d) fast active
e) end advanced
f) beautiful intelligent

3. Write the synonyms for the following words using the words given in brackets:

a) shut ----- (open / close / end)

b) complete ----- (inal / relevant / part)
c) important ----- (hide / loose / primary)

4. Convert the following verbs into nouns:

a) sing b) conduct c) free

5. Convert the following nouns into verbs:

a) exhibition b) examination c) derivation

6. Convert the following verbs into adjectives:

a) play b) risk c) beautify

7. Identify the Degrees of comparison and write as positive degree / comparative degree / super-
lative degree for the following sentences.

a) Rama is the cleverest boy in the class.

b) This cell tower is taller than our building.

c) Black colour is not as bright as yellow.

8. Write suitable preixes for the following words:

a) proper b) able c) pleasure

9. Write suitable sufixes for the following words:

a) free b) meaning c) develop

10. Identify and write the passive verb in the following sentences:

a) People werent forced to buy anything when they were in an exhibition.

b) The students have been informed to bring their textbooks, without fail.
c) Some questions are being asked from the exercises which are in the book for the
examination.
11. Choose and ill in the blanks with suitable prepositions / articles:
a) Peter goes ________ bus to _________ theatre. (by/in/an/the)
b) Nathan buys ________ watch ________ the Titan Show-room. (the/a/on/form)
c) Senthil wants to eat _______ apple which is ________ Himachal Pradesh.
(a/an/from/in)
12. Answer the following verbal question irst in afirmative and then in negative.
Do you like to drink coffee?
II. Answer any ive of the following. 5 3 = 15
1. Identify and write as active/passive sentences against each of the following:
a) They are playing football.
b) I have read a book.
c) The class test was conducted by my teacher.
2. Convert the dialogue into reported speech:
Ravi : Where are you going?
Gopi : I am going to the market.
3. Supply suitable tags for the following sentences:
a) They went to Chennai.
b) We dont like to swim.
c) He is my dearest friend.
4. Fill in the blanks with suitable tense forms of the verbs given in the brackets.
Substances ________ (be) made up of smaller particles which _______ (move) around. Some of
these particles ________ (spirit) further into yet smaller particles.
5. Correct the errors in the following sentences.
a) He going to the market.
b) Water has lown to the ields.
c) We are fond in music.
6. Convert the following into direct speech.
My mother asked me if I had taken my breakfst. I replied to her that I had taken it at my friends
home.
7. Match the following idioms/phrases with their relevant meaning:
a. this or that 1. In human relationships
b. dos and donts 2. Efforts taken
c. friend or foe 3. Options that can be explored
4. Instructions
8. A man approaches you to direct him to a nearby hospital. Write three instructions.

III. Answer the following questions as directed. 3 5 = 15

1. Read the questions and ind the answers in the newspaper report.
a) What was the 8th internation conference about?
b) Which is under the conceptful stage?
c) When is the manned expedition to moon expected to be carried out?
d) Give the full form of IAA and ASI.
e) How much did India spend for launching Chandryaan-1?
Panaji: Indian Space Research Organization Chairman Mr.G.Mahdavan Nair indicated on Mon-
day that India planned to launch a mission to explore Mars. It was under the conceptual stage.
Mr. Nair was addressing the inaugral session of the 8th International conference on Low Cost
Planetary Missions here. He said ISRO was poised to launch the Chandrayaan-2 mission to land on
the Moon and conduct experiemnts in 2012-13. This would be followed by a manned expedition to
the Moon in 2015 and plans to explore Mar,s later.
The ive-day conference, organized by ISRO in collaboration with the International Academy
of Astronautics (IAA) and the Astronautically Society of India (ASI), was inaugurated by Chief
Minister Mr. Digambar Karnat. The Goa Minister for Science and Technology Mr. Churchill Almao
was also present.
Speaking about low-cost planetary missions. Mr. Nair said India had set a trend in building low-
cost satellites with Chandrayan-1 being the best example. It was below $100 million as compared to
the nearly $500 million that were spent on similar expeditions by other developed countries.
2. You wish to apply for the post of supervisor in a multi-national company. Write a resume,
with a cover letter.
3. Place an order for the purchase of sports items for your college.
IV. Answer any three of the following. 3 5 = 15
1. Write a short report (in 50 words) of the process of preparing lemon juice / any item you think
of / lab report / news report.
2. Convert the verbal text into a visual representation (graphics / low chart).
THE SoLAR SySTEM
Our solar system consists of the sun, the nine planets and the asteroids, comets and meteoroids that
are associated with the planets. The nine planets that make up our solar system are Mercury, Venus,
Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Mercury is closest to the sun. It is hot and dry. Venus
is one of the brightest objects in the sky after the sun and the moon. Venus is also the hottest planet in
the solar system. Next is the Earth, the only living planet. After Earth is Mars which is also called the
Red Planet. Mars is very dry now.
Jupiter is the largest planet. Its bright colour comes from its clouds. Saturn is the second largest
planet and has wide rings. The planet Uranus is in bright blue colour. After Uranus is Neptune, that
rotates around the sun once in every 164 years. Pluto is the farthest planet from the sun.
3. Write an email to your friend inviting him to spend the weekend at Mahabalipuram.
4. Convert the following table into a paragraph of 50 words.
Placement details of XYZ Polytechnic in 2015
Branch Accenture IBM TCS
Civil 10 25 45
Mechanical 50 30 55
Electrical 30 45 70
Electronics 20 35 20
5. Develop the following hints into a passage of about 50 words.

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