Introduction
In the first lesson you were introduced to a (particular) reading skill. Can you
remember what it is? It is scanning. Scanning means finding specific information you
want from a lot of additional information.
In this lesson you are going to develop further the skill of finding wanted information
by reading fast.
2.1 Looking for specific information through reading
While looking for specific information the key words in the passage will help you.
If you are finding answers to questions the question word will also help you.
Did you find the answers? I am sure it was very easy.
Did you check the time you took and did you read every word in the passage to find the
answers?
You need not.
Now let’s see how you can find the answers faster without trying to read every word in
the passage...
The first question starts with when. So the answer should be a date, year or time.
Thus you have to read only the years mentioned in the passage. The next clues are
Chaplin and Born. So you have to read only the first sentence to spot these two words
and find the year -1889
Question number 2 begins with what. What usually refers to a thing? Thus in the
passage you search for the names of the films given in paragraph two. It is easy to find
as names begins with Capital letters. The next clue is 1931. So the answer is City
Lights as it was produced in 1931.
Question number 3 begins with where. So it should be a place. So you look for 1952
and a name of a place. Now there are two places. – United States and Switzerland.
But the answer is Switzerland as the other clues is live. He left the United States but
lived in Switzerland.
Question number 4 begins with how often. That means the answer should state a
number. The other clue is the verb married. So you can easily find married four times.
The question for which the answer is not in the text is Question 5 as the year 1936 is
not mentioned in the passage.
I am sure all your answers are correct. But if you followed these techniques you would
have found the answers in a lesser time.
So when you read a text book to find specific information follow these techniques of
scanning.
Now here is another passage for you to read and find specific information.
Grammar Focus
In lesson 1 you learnt the simple present tense. Can you identify the simple present
tense verbs in the following paragraph?
Saman’s father comes home every day as the sun sets in the evening. As he enters the
house Saman runs to him excitedly. His father always brings him a chocolate. They eat
the chocolate after dinner.
Did you find the verbs? I am sure you did. They are:
comes, sets, enters, runs, brings, eat.
Now read the next paragraph and identify the verbs.
The sun is setting. The excitement among the crowds is increasing. The participants in
the perahera are taking their positions in the temple. Every one is awaiting the
commencement of the perahera.
Did you identify the verbs? They are
is setting
are taking
is awaiting
Did you see a difference in the verbs in this paragraph and the previous paragraph?
Yes. These verbs are different as this paragraph is written in the present continuous
tense.
The present continuous tense is used to describe an action that is happening at or
around the time of speaking. The action is not finished.
In the above paragraph the actions are not finished. Therefore the present continuous
tense is used.
Unlike the present tense to form the present continuous tense we need the help of the
verb ‘be’ . Verb be consists of ‘am, is and are’
Verb be + verb + ing
Let’s see how the present continuous tense is formed.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Lesson 01 - Introducing people in formal and informal situations
Introducing people in formal and informal situations
Introduction
During this week you will begin to learn how to communicate with people in English
and acquire information from various English-based sources. In order to communicate
we need to get to know people. Therefore, the lessons this week will help you to
master the language functions related to introductions, mechanics of writing an
effective paragraph, basic skills in reading and the grammar required for these
functions.
Reading the Dialogues
Dialogue 1
Ms. M : Hello, I don’t think we’ve met before. My name is Sumana Mendis.
Mr. Ricko : I’m Paul Perera. Pleased to meet you. Ms. Mendis.
Ms. M. : Where are you from Mr. Perera?
Mr. R. : I am from Llyods . Perhaps you have heard of them? I’m a Soft ware
engineer there. And what about you? What do you do?
Ms. M : Of course the famous Lloyds! I am in hardware development at Logos
International.
Mr. R. : That’s interesting. Perhaps you can tell me …….
In this dialogue you would have noticed how the two speakers introduce themselves.
Read the next dialogue and see how some one else is introduced
Dialogue 2
Minoli: Kamalika, I don’t think you know Tom Perera?
Tom, this is Kamalika Mendis from Del Com.
Kamalika: No, I don’t think we’ve met before.
Nice to meet you Mr. Perera
Tom: Pleased to meet you too.
Do you also work with Minoli?
Kamalika: No, I’m from ComCode Finance
You would have noticed that both dialogue 1 and 2 take place in formal situations.
Now listen to dialogue 3 and find out if the situation is different.
Dialogue 3
Saman: Hello, Ruwani
Ruwani: Hi, Saman. Why not join us and meet Prasadi?
Saman: I’d love to. Hello Prasadi. Are you a batch mate of Ruwani?
Prasadi: Hi, yes we are both specializing in IT.
How about you?
Did you notice that while dialogue 1 & 2 take place in formal situations dialogue 3 is
in an informal situation.
Read the next dialogue and note how Saman introduces Suresh to his boss. What type
of a situation is this?
Dialogue 4
Sunimal: Sir, this is Suresh Kanagaraja
Suresh, this is Mr. Lakshith De Mel , the Director of our company.
Director: How do you do?
Suresh: Fine, thank you, sir
Glad to meet you.
It is definitely a formal situation. More formal than the second situation.
The Grammar focus – Writing a simple sentence
An English sentence usually has two main parts – a subject and a predicate.
Look at the following sentence.
During the week, introduce yourself formally and informally to four people.
Find out information about them and fill the following table.
1 2 3 4
Name
Country/Town
Profession/Course
of study
Company/institution
Introducing People in Formal and Informal Situations 5/13
Rani / is a teacher.
Subject Predicate
Subject is the topic in the sentence.
Predicate describes or says something more about the subject.
Note the subject and predicate in the following sentences.
1. A pen drive / is very useful.
2. Saman’s brother / likes to be a computer application analyst.
3. The email / you sent was very interesting.
By now you would have realized that a predicate of a sentence can consist of many
elements and as a result it can become very long.
Depending on the different elements in a predicate, there are different types or
patterns of simple sentences.
In this lesson you will identify three types.
Pattern 1
An example of the simplest form of a sentence in English is given below.
Example
Dogs bark.
These type of sentences as you can see contain only a subject and a verb.
Hence Pattern 1 is
Subject + Verb
Let’s now identify the second pattern.
Introducing People in Formal and Informal Situations 6/13
Pattern 2
Look at the following sentences.
1. Raja brought….
2. Srimalee accompanied
Are these sentences complete?
No. unlike in pattern 1 these sentences are incomplete as the verbs here cannot
stand alone. These verbs are called transitive verbs and they are to be followed by
an object.
Here we will want to know
What did Raja buy?
Raja bought a shirt.
Similarly
Whom did Srimalee accompany?
Srimalee accompanied her sister.
Therefore, this sentence pattern is
Subject + verb + object.
Raja bought a shirt.
Srimalee accompanied her sister
In these sentences the verb points to the object.
In writing sentences in English you must also remember another rule.
Pattern III
Let us now examine this sentence.
Raja is a software engineer.
How does this differ from the earlier sentence?
In this sentence the verb points both to the subject and the words that complete the
sentence. Here the verb “is” links the subject and the other elements in the
sentence.
You will notice the same pattern in the following sentence as well.
Kumudu was busy.
When a verb links the subject with another word or word group that describes or
renames the subject that word or word group is called the complement.
Thus the third pattern in a simple sentence is
Simple Present Tense
Introduced yourself and got to know some of the friends who follow
the course with you.
Remember
As second language learners we must remember that in English the word order is
S +V+O
But in our First language the word order may be S+O+V
Imagine this was one of the self introductions .
I’m Sumith Bandara. I live in Kandy. My father works at the Divisional Education
Office.
Can you identify the verbs in this introduction? They are
Am
Live
Works
What is the tense used here? It’s the Simple Present Tense.
We use the simple present tense to talk about things in general, things we do as a
habit or as a general truth. It is not important whether the action is happening at the
time of speaking.
The above sentences describe things that happen everyday. Hence the present tense
has been used.
We can also say
Water boils at 100 degrees centigrade.
This is a general truth. So we use the present tense.
You would have noticed that Sumith says
I live…. but
My father works……..
Remember that when we use the simple present tense we always have to add an
“s” to the third person singular.
I live…..but He lives
They read………..But my friend reads
Don’t forget the “s”
Remember this simple rule ; in the present tense add ‘s’ to third person singular
verbs
Reading
Given below is a passage from the famous novel Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
There may be some words that you do not know. But don’t worry. Read the passage
and find the answers to the given questions.
Mr. Squeer’s appearance was not prepossessing. He had but one eye and the popular
prejudice runs in favour of two. The eye he had was unquestionably useful, but
decidedly not ornamental; being of a greenish grey, and in shape resembling the fan –
light of a street door. The blank side of his face was much wrinkled and puckered up,
which gave him a very sinister appearance especially when he smiled, at which times
his expression bordered closely on the villainous. His hair was very flat and shiny,
save at the ends, where it was brushed stiffly up from a low protruding forehead,
which assorted well with his harsh voice and coarse manner.
1. Who has been described in this passage?
2. Complete the following Table
Adjectives
Adjectives are words that describe nouns. They usually answer the question “what
kind?” about the nouns they describe. Generally, adjectives appear before the nouns
they qualify.
For example
I have a new wrist watch.
Adj. noun
He is a clever boy
You would have noticed that in these sentences we use the simple sentence structure
S+V+O and the adjective comes before the noun.
However Remember that adjectives sometimes follow the verb.
For Example
These stories are interesting.
They look tired.
But these same adjectives can sometimes come before the noun.
For Example,
These are interesting stories.
The teacher asked the tired boy to rest.
These sentences follow the sentence pattern S+V+C
There are several adjectives in the above reading passage. You have identified some
of them when you completed the Table.
If you read the passage again you will notice that most of the sentences follow the
S+V+C pattern and the adjectives follow the verb.
For Example
The eye he had was unquestionably useful, .not ornamental;
being of a greenish grey.
The blank side of his face was much wrinkled and puckered up,
However, if you like you can use them to describe nouns as well.
For example; Flat and shiny hair
Greenish grey eyes
Wrinkled and puckered up face
Sinister appearance
Harsh and coarse voice
In the next section you will be able to use these adjectives to describe people.
Describing people
We usually describe people or places that are of interest to us. However, there are
situations such as giving evidence, writing a notice to describe a missing person or
thing, we need to give very specific details which will help the reader to create a
clear picture of the person or thing.
Imagine that a group of friends went on a trip and one of you got lost. You decided to
inform the police and put a notice in the local newspaper. How would you describe
your friend?
What information should you include?
You should include a description of his
· Appearance – what he looks like
· Habits – what he usually does
· Qualities – what he is like
The short passage given below describes the missing person. It contains details of
appearance, habits and qualities. Can you identify them?
A young man named Jeya Kumar has been missing since 20th November 2006. He is in
his early twenties. He is well-built and of medium height. He is fair in complexion and
has a beard; He has dark hair, blue eyes and a wide mouth. He always wears neatly
and has the habit of looking at his watch frequently. He usually speaks in Sinhala
even though he is a Tamil. He is soft-spoken and well–mannered.
Describing objects
Read the following description
A ballpoint pen is a writing instrument. It consists of a case, a small rolling ball, a
socket and a reservoir. The case is made of plastic. It holds the socket, ball and
reservoir. The socket is made of metal. It holds the ball, while the plastic reservoir
contains the ink. The ink moves down the reservoir by the action of gravity and
covers the ball. The ball has two functions. When the pen is in use, the ball transfers
the ink to the writing surface. When the pen is not in use, the ball is stationary, and
it prevents the ink from drying out. The ink is a sticky liquid containing dye. The ball
is made of steel and it is generally 1mm in diameter.
Introduction
During this week you will begin to learn how to communicate with people in English
and acquire information from various English-based sources. In order to communicate
we need to get to know people. Therefore, the lessons this week will help you to
master the language functions related to introductions, mechanics of writing an
effective paragraph, basic skills in reading and the grammar required for these
functions.
Reading the Dialogues
Dialogue 1
Ms. M : Hello, I don’t think we’ve met before. My name is Sumana Mendis.
Mr. Ricko : I’m Paul Perera. Pleased to meet you. Ms. Mendis.
Ms. M. : Where are you from Mr. Perera?
Mr. R. : I am from Llyods . Perhaps you have heard of them? I’m a Soft ware
engineer there. And what about you? What do you do?
Ms. M : Of course the famous Lloyds! I am in hardware development at Logos
International.
Mr. R. : That’s interesting. Perhaps you can tell me …….
In this dialogue you would have noticed how the two speakers introduce themselves.
Read the next dialogue and see how some one else is introduced
Dialogue 2
Minoli: Kamalika, I don’t think you know Tom Perera?
Tom, this is Kamalika Mendis from Del Com.
Kamalika: No, I don’t think we’ve met before.
Nice to meet you Mr. Perera
Tom: Pleased to meet you too.
Do you also work with Minoli?
Kamalika: No, I’m from ComCode Finance
You would have noticed that both dialogue 1 and 2 take place in formal situations.
Now listen to dialogue 3 and find out if the situation is different.
Dialogue 3
Saman: Hello, Ruwani
Ruwani: Hi, Saman. Why not join us and meet Prasadi?
Saman: I’d love to. Hello Prasadi. Are you a batch mate of Ruwani?
Prasadi: Hi, yes we are both specializing in IT.
How about you?
Did you notice that while dialogue 1 & 2 take place in formal situations dialogue 3 is
in an informal situation.
Read the next dialogue and note how Saman introduces Suresh to his boss. What type
of a situation is this?
Dialogue 4
Sunimal: Sir, this is Suresh Kanagaraja
Suresh, this is Mr. Lakshith De Mel , the Director of our company.
Director: How do you do?
Suresh: Fine, thank you, sir
Glad to meet you.
It is definitely a formal situation. More formal than the second situation.
The Grammar focus – Writing a simple sentence
An English sentence usually has two main parts – a subject and a predicate.
Look at the following sentence.
During the week, introduce yourself formally and informally to four people.
Find out information about them and fill the following table.
1 2 3 4
Name
Country/Town
Profession/Course
of study
Company/institution
Introducing People in Formal and Informal Situations 5/13
Rani / is a teacher.
Subject Predicate
Subject is the topic in the sentence.
Predicate describes or says something more about the subject.
Note the subject and predicate in the following sentences.
1. A pen drive / is very useful.
2. Saman’s brother / likes to be a computer application analyst.
3. The email / you sent was very interesting.
By now you would have realized that a predicate of a sentence can consist of many
elements and as a result it can become very long.
Depending on the different elements in a predicate, there are different types or
patterns of simple sentences.
In this lesson you will identify three types.
Pattern 1
An example of the simplest form of a sentence in English is given below.
Example
Dogs bark.
These type of sentences as you can see contain only a subject and a verb.
Hence Pattern 1 is
Subject + Verb
Let’s now identify the second pattern.
Introducing People in Formal and Informal Situations 6/13
Pattern 2
Look at the following sentences.
1. Raja brought….
2. Srimalee accompanied
Are these sentences complete?
No. unlike in pattern 1 these sentences are incomplete as the verbs here cannot
stand alone. These verbs are called transitive verbs and they are to be followed by
an object.
Here we will want to know
What did Raja buy?
Raja bought a shirt.
Similarly
Whom did Srimalee accompany?
Srimalee accompanied her sister.
Therefore, this sentence pattern is
Subject + verb + object.
Raja bought a shirt.
Srimalee accompanied her sister
In these sentences the verb points to the object.
In writing sentences in English you must also remember another rule.
Pattern III
Let us now examine this sentence.
Raja is a software engineer.
How does this differ from the earlier sentence?
In this sentence the verb points both to the subject and the words that complete the
sentence. Here the verb “is” links the subject and the other elements in the
sentence.
You will notice the same pattern in the following sentence as well.
Kumudu was busy.
When a verb links the subject with another word or word group that describes or
renames the subject that word or word group is called the complement.
Thus the third pattern in a simple sentence is
Simple Present Tense
Introduced yourself and got to know some of the friends who follow
the course with you.
Remember
As second language learners we must remember that in English the word order is
S +V+O
But in our First language the word order may be S+O+V
Imagine this was one of the self introductions .
I’m Sumith Bandara. I live in Kandy. My father works at the Divisional Education
Office.
Can you identify the verbs in this introduction? They are
Am
Live
Works
What is the tense used here? It’s the Simple Present Tense.
We use the simple present tense to talk about things in general, things we do as a
habit or as a general truth. It is not important whether the action is happening at the
time of speaking.
The above sentences describe things that happen everyday. Hence the present tense
has been used.
We can also say
Water boils at 100 degrees centigrade.
This is a general truth. So we use the present tense.
You would have noticed that Sumith says
I live…. but
My father works……..
Remember that when we use the simple present tense we always have to add an
“s” to the third person singular.
I live…..but He lives
They read………..But my friend reads
Don’t forget the “s”
Remember this simple rule ; in the present tense add ‘s’ to third person singular
verbs
Reading
Given below is a passage from the famous novel Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
There may be some words that you do not know. But don’t worry. Read the passage
and find the answers to the given questions.
Mr. Squeer’s appearance was not prepossessing. He had but one eye and the popular
prejudice runs in favour of two. The eye he had was unquestionably useful, but
decidedly not ornamental; being of a greenish grey, and in shape resembling the fan –
light of a street door. The blank side of his face was much wrinkled and puckered up,
which gave him a very sinister appearance especially when he smiled, at which times
his expression bordered closely on the villainous. His hair was very flat and shiny,
save at the ends, where it was brushed stiffly up from a low protruding forehead,
which assorted well with his harsh voice and coarse manner.
1. Who has been described in this passage?
2. Complete the following Table
Adjectives
Adjectives are words that describe nouns. They usually answer the question “what
kind?” about the nouns they describe. Generally, adjectives appear before the nouns
they qualify.
For example
I have a new wrist watch.
Adj. noun
He is a clever boy
You would have noticed that in these sentences we use the simple sentence structure
S+V+O and the adjective comes before the noun.
However Remember that adjectives sometimes follow the verb.
For Example
These stories are interesting.
They look tired.
But these same adjectives can sometimes come before the noun.
For Example,
These are interesting stories.
The teacher asked the tired boy to rest.
These sentences follow the sentence pattern S+V+C
There are several adjectives in the above reading passage. You have identified some
of them when you completed the Table.
If you read the passage again you will notice that most of the sentences follow the
S+V+C pattern and the adjectives follow the verb.
For Example
The eye he had was unquestionably useful, .not ornamental;
being of a greenish grey.
The blank side of his face was much wrinkled and puckered up,
However, if you like you can use them to describe nouns as well.
For example; Flat and shiny hair
Greenish grey eyes
Wrinkled and puckered up face
Sinister appearance
Harsh and coarse voice
In the next section you will be able to use these adjectives to describe people.
Describing people
We usually describe people or places that are of interest to us. However, there are
situations such as giving evidence, writing a notice to describe a missing person or
thing, we need to give very specific details which will help the reader to create a
clear picture of the person or thing.
Imagine that a group of friends went on a trip and one of you got lost. You decided to
inform the police and put a notice in the local newspaper. How would you describe
your friend?
What information should you include?
You should include a description of his
· Appearance – what he looks like
· Habits – what he usually does
· Qualities – what he is like
The short passage given below describes the missing person. It contains details of
appearance, habits and qualities. Can you identify them?
A young man named Jeya Kumar has been missing since 20th November 2006. He is in
his early twenties. He is well-built and of medium height. He is fair in complexion and
has a beard; He has dark hair, blue eyes and a wide mouth. He always wears neatly
and has the habit of looking at his watch frequently. He usually speaks in Sinhala
even though he is a Tamil. He is soft-spoken and well–mannered.
Describing objects
Read the following description
A ballpoint pen is a writing instrument. It consists of a case, a small rolling ball, a
socket and a reservoir. The case is made of plastic. It holds the socket, ball and
reservoir. The socket is made of metal. It holds the ball, while the plastic reservoir
contains the ink. The ink moves down the reservoir by the action of gravity and
covers the ball. The ball has two functions. When the pen is in use, the ball transfers
the ink to the writing surface. When the pen is not in use, the ball is stationary, and
it prevents the ink from drying out. The ink is a sticky liquid containing dye. The ball
is made of steel and it is generally 1mm in diameter.
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