Unit 2 Informational Texts and Sentence Structure

1. Unit 2 Informational Texts and Sentence Structure

2. Subject/Verb • English sentence has: subject and verb. • Subject, placed near the beginning of the sentence, tells us what/who the sentence is about. • Subject always consists of a noun or of some words which can function as a noun. • John, being a friendly computer salesman and baseball fan, refused to argue.

3. Verb/Object • Verbs needing an object are transitive verbs (v.t.) and verbs which do not need an object are intransitiveverbs (v.i.). • Object of a verb must be a noun or some other word(s) which can act as a noun. • Example: • Ms Christabelhas discoveredmy secret. • (subject) (verb) (object)

4. Nouns – The Subject and Object in Sentences • A noun is a word used to name a person, animal, place, thing or an abstract idea. • Noun Gender • Noun Plurals: s,es,ves,ies, etc. • Possessive Nouns: Canfunction as an adjective modifying another noun. • E.g. The actor's face was covered in dust. • E.g. The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus's eggs.

5. Types of Nouns • Proper noun:Begins with a capital letter, since the noun represents the name of a specific person, place, or thing. • Common noun: Refers to a person, place, or thing in a general sense -- usually, only begins with a capital letter when it starts a sentence. • Concrete noun: Anything (or anyone) that you can perceive through physical senses: touch, sight, taste, hearing, or smell.

6. Types of Nouns • Abstract noun:Anything which you can notperceive through your five physical senses. • Countable noun: Has singular and plural forms, anything (or anyone)you can count. • Uncountable noun:Has no plural form and refers to something that you could (or would) not usually count. • Uncountable noun always takes singular verb in a sentence.

7. Types of Nouns • Some examples of uncountable nouns: • furniture • music, art, love, happiness • advice, information, news • luggage • rice, sugar, butter, water • electricity, gas, power • money, currency

8. Types of Nouns • Collective noun:A noun naming a group of things, animals, or persons. • Usually think of the group as a whole. • Need to maintain subject-verb agreement. • The steering committee meets every Wednesday afternoon. • Here the collective noun "committee" takes a singular verb, "meets".

9. Task 1 • 1. or/er actor, painter, plumber, writer • 2.ismcriticism, egotism, magnetism, vandalism • 3. ist artist, capitalist, journalist, scientist • 4. ment arrangement, development, establishment • 5. tion foundation, organisation, recognition

10. Characteristics of Nouns • Irregular Nouns • Determiners.  • Possession

11. Task 2 • 1. a peaceful place (any other acceptable answer) • 2. the tall, Indian man (any other acceptable answer) • 3. this difficult child (any other acceptable answer) • 4. my brown and white file (any other acceptable answer)

12. Nouns that can be Countable and Uncountable • Sometimes, the same noun can be countable and uncountable, often with a change of meaning. • Task 3 • 1. There are two hairs in my coffee! ( C ) • 2. I don't have much hair. ( UC ) • 3. Draw the curtain. There's too much light! (UC )

13. Task 3 • 4. There are two lights in our bedroom. ( C ) • 5. Shhhhh! I thought I heard a noise. ( C ) • 6. It's difficult to work when there is too much noise. ( UC ) • 7. Our house has seven rooms. ( C ) • 8. Is there room for me to sit here? ( UC )

14. Task 4 • 1. The board will meet next Monday to consider your application. ( C ) • 2. The information you gave to the police was very useful. ( UC ) • 3. I thought it was an unusual comment to make. ( C ) • 4. Drinking too much damages your health. ( UC) • 5. Jean is studying art at college. (UC )

15. Verbs • The verb is the most important part of a sentence. • A verb says something about the subject of the sentence and expresses actions, events, or states of being. • My first teacher was Ms Susan, but I remember the guard, Sam, more vividly. • Paul seemsunhappy.

16. Characteristics of Verbs • Certain endings are characteristic of the base forms of verbs: • Ending Base Form • -ate concentrate, demonstrate, . illustrate • -ify clarify, dignify, magnify • -ise/-ize baptize, conceptualize

17. Forms of Verbs: Inflections • Indicate TENSE. For example: • The -s inflection indicates the PRESENT TENSE • The -ed inflection indicates the PAST TENSE

18. 5 Forms of Verbs: • Base/Infinitive: (to) sing/cook. • Present tense: He sings/cooks. • Past Tense: He sang/cooked. • -ing Participle: He is singing/cooking. • -ed Participle: He has sung/cooked.

19. AGREEMENTor CONCORD • This is the correspondence between the pronoun (or noun) and the verb. • Examples: • She travels to work by train.  • They travel to work by train. 

20. AUXILIARY VERBS/MAIN VERBS • Auxiliaries always occur with a main verb • An important difference between auxiliary verbs and main verbs is that auxiliaries never occur alone in a sentence. • The old lady is writinga play.

21. Task 4 • 1. I will have the bread. ( MV ) • 2. Police are investigating the accident. ( AV ) • 3. It is very cool here. ( MV ) • 4. Where does your sister work? ( AV ) • 5. They have decided to advertise the available position. ( AV )

22. Missing Subject • Long sentences with several verbs usually need two or more subjects – one for each verb. • The subject of a sentence must be a noun or an ‘-ing’ gerund: • Being well prepared for the exam helped Mohammed to score distinctions.

23. Task 8 • he we they • 1. We cannot work any more when _____ become old and weak. • 2. Jamaluddin’s motor-cycle made a lot of noise before ____ repaired it. • 3. Singapore depended on the athletes to bring back a gold medal, but ____failed to achieve it.

24. INFORMATIVE TEXTS • An informative text is a text that wants to advise or tell you about something. • For example: • A newspaper article might give you information about a health issue like giving up smoking.

25. Features of informative texts: • Avoid repetition • Contain facts • Give information in a clear way – introducing the subject and then developing it.

26. Chocolate[S]stimulates[V] the release of endorphins. • These[S] are[S] natural body hormones. They[S] generate[V] feelings of pleasure and well-being.

27. Sample Passage • Chocolate chemistrySome people [S] crave [V] {pl} chocolate. Like other sweet food, chocolate[S] stimulates[V] {sg} the release of endorphins, natural body hormones that generate feelings of pleasure and well-being. General sweetness aside, there [S] are[V] {pl} various chemical elements specific to chocolate that may help to stimulate cravings. In fact, chocolate [S] contains [V] {sg} over 300 chemicals and it [S] is [V] {sg} not known how all of these affect humans.

28. Sample Passage • Central nervous stimulants such as caffeine [S] are[V] {pl}present in small amounts, and this [S] has[V] {sg} a mild effect on alertness as we [S] know [V]{pl}from drinking coffee. Another mild stimulant present in chocolate is theobromine[S], which also serves[V] {sg} to relax the smooth muscles in the linings of the lung. Chocolate [S] also makes [V] {sg}us feel good by reacting with our brains

29. A)Why does cooked food go brown? • All foods [S] – meat, fish, and vegetables – brown [V] {pl} at temperatures above 154°C. This [S] is [V] {sg} known as the 'Maillard Reaction'. It [S] generates [V] {sg} the characteristic colour and aroma of foods cooked over a flame, in the oven, or in oil. • The Maillard reaction [S] was [V] {sg} discovered in 1912 by the French chemist Louis Camille Maillard. It [S] happens [V] {sg} when sugar molecules and amino acids (a chemical found in proteins) [S] are heated [V] {pl} together. The reaction [S] produces [V] {sg} a bunch of highly flavoured molecules responsible for the brown colour, smell and taste of cooked meat. • But not all cooked food [S] goes [V] {sg} brown. When you boil something in water, the temperature of the food [S] never exceeds [V] {sg} the boiling point of water (100°C). So it [S] doesn't [V] {sg} get hot enough for the Maillard Reaction to happen. However, deep-fried food [S] does go [V] {sg} brown because oil boils at over 154°C. • - Adapted from BBC Skillswise

30. B)Born to marathon? • The modern marathon [S], run over 26.2 miles or 42.195 km, is [V] {sg} the only discipline in athletics to have become a popular participation sport. However, some people [S] are [V] {pl} better adapted to marathon running than others. This [S] might be [V] {sg} by virtue of their build, physiology or mental approach. There [S] is [V] {sg} one crucial feature marathon runners must have to stand a chance of competing at the highest level – the right kind of muscles. • Marathon musclesThere [S] are [V] two different kinds of fibre in muscle: • 'Slow twitch' fibres – these [S] contract [V] {pl} slowly but they [S] can keep going [V] {pl} for a long time • 'Fast twitch' fibres – these [S] contract [V] {pl} quickly but are [V] {pl} rapidly worn

31. B)Born to marathon? • 'Slow twitch' fibres [S] are [V] {pl} the key to successful marathon running. If a person [S] has [V] {sg} a preponderance of fast-twitch muscles there [S] is [V] {sg} no chance of him or her becoming a world-class marathoner. They [S] might however make [V] {pl} an ideal sprinter. The marathon runner [S] needs [V] {sg} to have a large proportion of slow twitch fibres in their muscles. This characteristic [S] is [V] {sg} largely inherited but there [S] is [V] {sg} some evidence that training [S] can make [V] {sg} a small difference to the proportions of the different fibre types. Findings [S] suggest [V] {pl} that a marathon runner must avoid any sprint training at distances less than 100m. Likewise, sprinters [S] must never engage [V] {pl} in endurance exercise. • - Adapted from BBC Skillswise

32. Activity • A) Write it! • Write an informative piece on an area you are interested in. Your work should be about 100 words long. Some possible topics are: • Global warming • Overseas volunteer missions • Fencing*, anyone? – An introduction to my favourite sport [*Can be something else e.g. muaythai, belly dancing, wake boarding, etc.] • Good ways to unwind in Singapore • B) Edit it! • Exchange your work with a friend to do peer-editing, focussing on subject-verb agreement.

33. ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1ASSIGNMENT 2 (20marks), PairworkSentence Structure & Informative Texts • You are to work in pairs for this assignment. Find an informative text of about 150 to 200 words long (1m). You can search in magazines, books or online resources. Do state the source you took the text from. Answer the following questions using the text. You are to hand in the text together with your answers. • Describe two features of the text which you used to identify it as an informative text. (4m) • Pick out five sentences from your text. In these sentences identify the Subjects [underline and mark as S] and Verbs [underline and mark as V] used. Also, mark each subject-verb pair as {sg} for singular or {pl} for plural. (15m)