UNIT 1 Answers to Coursebook activities

2 a Examples of antithesis: ‘art and non-art’, ‘good and bad art’, ‘an art and a craft’,
‘national treasures … exclusive [...] collections’, ‘public … private’, ‘abstract art …
representational art’
Effect: there are polarised opinions on the subject of art and its place in society.
b Examples of balanced phrases: ‘benefit industry and the economy’, ‘Michelangelo
and Leonardo da Vinci’, ‘a child or a monkey’, ‘a box of chocolates or biscuits’,
‘art, or Art’
Effect: there are at least two examples to support every claim on this subject.
Balanced phrases create a pleasing rhythm.
c Examples of triple structures: ‘by tax-payers …, by parents …, by governments’;
‘makes people see, makes people think, or makes people happy’; ‘And … And …
And’
Effect: there is a lot to say on this subject, and the writer knows all about it. Triple
structures are elegant and persuasive.

3 a Syntax: mixture of double and triple structures; repeated structures; mixture of

short and long sentences; use of ‘And’ to begin sentences
b Punctuation: question marks
c Effect: the passage has pace and persuasiveness; there is a sense of urgency and
insistence in the use of questions.

4 Example answer
a The writer seems to feel strongly about the subject, the evidence being the
attention given to the structure of the passage and support for the ideas, and the
number of rhetorical questions to compel the reader to consider the issue.

5 a i Example answer
The Mexican government has paid an artist to make 8,000 statues [– all to be
dumped on the sea bed. Why?] In an attempt to save an endangered coral reef
off the coast at Cancún which suffers from repeated attack by hurricanes and is
therefore at risk and needs protecting from anything which may further damage
it. The statues of human figures now form the world’s largest underwater
sculpture display, 10 metres below the sea surface[, which can be seen from
boats passing above it]. The statues are made from [a specially hard and non-
toxic form of] clay. The first statues were lowered in 2006 and the site was
declared open in 2009. The statues show human forms engaged in day-to-day
activities[, such as watching TV and driving a car]. After being lowered to the
sea bed, they are covered with coral [to encourage growth]. The aim is to
tempt divers away from the [MesoAmerican or Manchones] reef, the second
longest coral chain in the world[, to prevent further destruction to its delicate
environment]. There are now 500 statues, [created and sunk over a period of
7 years] by 38-year-old Jason deCaires Taylor, a British-Guyanese artist. It has
been rated by National Geographic magazine as a contemporary Wonder

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 UNIT 1 Answers to Coursebook activities

of the World. The Cancún National Marine Park attracts 750,000 visitors
annually. [Taylor’s target is to sink 8,000 statues in all; it will take several more
years to achieve the conservation project.] Not all the locals agree that this
is a worthwhile endeavour, and some are concerned that it will attract even
more divers to the area[, many of whom are inexperienced. They believe that
instead of protecting the environment, this artificial reef will actually damage it
further].
b Example answer
In an attempt to save the second-longest coral reef in the world at Cancún, the
Mexican government commissioned a British-Guyanese artist to make and sink
8,000 clay statues of humans performing everyday tasks. The reef is at risk from
hurricanes and divers.
The underwater display, the biggest in the world, lies ten metres below the surface.
It was declared open in 2009, three years after the first statues were lowered, of
which there are now 500. The intention is that the coral-covered statues will distract
divers away from the reef.
The national park, described by National Geographic magazine as a Wonder of
the World, is visited by 750,000 people a year. Some locals do not approve of the
project, believing it to be causing more not less damage to the reef as it attracts
even more divers to the area than formerly.

7 Example answers
a zoo – menagerie; vast – monster, giant; outlines – shapes, markings; marvellous –
magnificent, awe-inspiring; intrigue – tantalise
b The rhetorical question invites readers to share an interest in and consider the
solution to the mystery; the question states the puzzle.
c ‘Even though it is hard work’. In this usage ‘if’ is not hypothetical but a
concessionary statement of a fact which can be paraphrased by ‘even though’.

8 a and b There are four colons being used in two different ways: expanding;
introducing.

9 a and b Example structured plan

1 Nazca desert, southern Peru, has world’s largest picture gallery; huge designs of
animals laid out on desert floor
2 can only see pictures properly from the air
6 designs are highly stylised and look like decorations on ancient Indian pottery from
the area
5 outlines made by removing desert stone to reveal sand beneath
3 not discovered till 1941 since wind had covered them with pebbles
4 no one understands to this day why Nazcas drew pictures they couldn’t see
themselves
7 connections to Indian mythology apparent, and there is an argument that they
are religious
8 the shapes are fragile and have been damaged by tourists
9 Peruvian government has banned visitors from main site so now it can only be seen
from the air

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 UNIT 1 Answers to Coursebook activities

c Example answer
In the Nazca desert in Peru there is the world’s largest art gallery: huge designs
of animals on the desert floor are visible from the air. They were not discovered
until 1941; the wind had covered them with pebbles. No one knows why the Nazca
people drew pictures they couldn’t see properly themselves. They made them by
removing stones to expose the desert sand. The highly stylised designs resemble
the local Indian pottery decorations; they are connected to Indian mythological
creatures and may also have religious significance. Because the designs have been
damaged by tourists, the Peruvian government has banned visitors to the site, which
must now be viewed from the air.
[112 words]

10 a i True
ii False
iii True
iv False
v Unknown
b i in order to continue; in order to prevent; in order to prove
ii He used yellow crayon in order to make it easily visible.
c i Example answer
To show the object of an action is the same as its subject or to give emphasis to
a person or thing.

11 Example answers
a The best-known explanation for the phenomenon is that there was an inspector
working in the Massachusetts shipyard called James J. Kilroy. As he was responsible
for checking the number of holes the riveters had made each day, he came up with
a way of preventing dishonest claims. By writing his name inside the partly built
ships’ hulls, he proved he had done his job.
b When the troop ships sailed to the theatre of war, the shipyard tag was mysteriously
transferred to buildings in remote places, where Kilroy always claimed to have been
first, so the soldiers started writing the sentence wherever they went, pretending as
a joke that it had been there when they arrived, and competing to be the first to put
the graffiti in the most implausible places.
c The final paragraph consists of a list introduced by a colon and separated by commas.
The phrases repeat the following structure: position preposition plus building plus
place. The effect is cumulative in suggesting how widespread the graffiti are, and it
also has a climactic impact by ending with the most distant and unlikely place of all,
which is expressed as a different grammatical structure from the rest of the list.

14 a i phantom – apparition
ii myth – fictitious person or thing
iii pioneer – initiator

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 UNIT 1 Answers to Coursebook activities

iv rebel – person who resists authority

v vandal – wilful destroyer of property
c i Words with negative connotation: ‘phantom’, ‘shadow’, ‘rebel’, ‘aggressive’,
‘haunt’, ‘sarcasm’, ‘rats’, ‘subversive’, ‘evil’, ‘thieving’, ‘plague’, ‘secret’,
‘darkness’, ‘vandal’ ‘destroy’
ii These words are powerful because they are associated with fear, crime or
violence.

15 a Inverted commas are used to to reflect what people are calling something or
someone, and to show where irony or doubt is intended in the reference, as well as
to indicate an actual quotation.
b Semi-colons could be used instead of full stops in the following places because
there is a strong link between the subject and content of the adjacent sentences:
... she could see him working with walls. At first he misunderstood ...
... a youth rebel. He does not draw ...
... court case lasted a whole year. He then switched to ...
... as haunt them. Their quirkiness, sarcasm and social ...
... intends to destroy anything. He claims that the urge ...
... to remind everyone of their ‘works’. The internet has made street art ...
... in the world than street art. It is taking over the planet.
… It is taking over the planet. Most cities are daubed ...
c i and ii. The final sentence makes an impact and is memorable because it is short
and it breaks the rules of sentence structure by beginning with a coordinating
connective. It has a reflective finality to it which would not have been as strong if
instead of a full stop the ‘And’ was preceded by a dash or a semi-colon.

16 a sympathetic words: ‘artist’, ‘pioneer’, ‘grandfather’, ‘reflective’, ‘dream’, ‘poignant’,

‘humorous’, ‘decoration’
b These words are associated with bravery, respect, pleasure and creativity.
c Example answer
Blek le Rat is a nuisance who defaces private property and public buildings. What
he does is against the law, but he works sneakily at night, runs away before we can
catch him, and doesn’t use his real name. He claims to be producing art, yet many
people find rats intimidating and don’t want to see them all around the city.

17 Ideas for discussion:

• What if everyone thought it was acceptable to spray paint on public buildings and
other people’s property?
• Do you think people should be forced to look at someone else’s artwork?
• Do you think modern cities need to be brightened up?
• What do you think visitors to a city think about walls covered with graffiti?
• Do you think allowing street art reduces other kinds of crime by providing an outlet
for comment and individual expression?
• Do you think allowing street art encourages other kinds of crime by symbolising
that the authorities cannot control or prevent it?
• If someone left graffiti on your house or garden wall, how would you feel?

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 UNIT 1 Answers to Coursebook activities

18 a The punctuation: this is erratic. There are brackets, semi-colons and one comma
and full stop (but not at the end). There are no capitals, not even for names,
except for the beginning of the penultimate line. It is the trademark of the poet
(see his name) not to use punctuation. This ‘poetic licence’ makes the reader
more engaged with the words as sounds and makes us think about the connections
between the words.
b The layout and syntax: the ideas and actions of the four girls, in order, are joined
simplistically by ‘and’. The poem is set out in two-line stanzas but the lines and
stanzas are often run on. There is a tension between the unsophisticated syntax and
the philosophical final message.
c The rhyme and sound effects: the poem is in couplets except for stanza four, which
playfully breaks the pattern to show how frightened Molly was. The ‘s’ sound is
prevalent, as befits a seaside scene with the noise of the sea.
d The vocabulary and imagery: a contrast is created between the soothing nature of
the activity and setting and the undercurrent of the fearful world of childhood with
its ‘troubles’; ‘befriended’ and ‘alone’ hint at the need for friends and ‘horrible’
suggests the way young children perceive threats in nature. There is a pun on
‘stranded’ (left alone, on a beach/strand) to contribute to the recurring image of
isolation and singleness.
e The message: the four girls each have a different experience on the same sea shore,
depending on what they choose to focus on and how they react to it. We cannot
escape ourselves and what we ‘find’, i.e. how we relate to nature and the world
around us, will always be coloured by our own character and expectations.

19 a Example answer
The greatest changes can often be brought about by the simplest rather than the
most complicated means, though this isn’t always easy, and sometimes the changes
are accidental. We forget once they become normal that there must have been a
time when things didn’t exist because no one had yet thought of them.

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