UNIT 4 DESCRIBING OBJECTS

I. INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS AND OBJECTIVES OF UNIT 4

Unit 4 assigns the students to do practicing on writing the description of
interesting objects. It assists the students to write simple and compound sentences with
correct sentence construction and mechanics by using capital letters for the names of
continents, oceans, rivers, mountains, valleys, and months of year, conjunctions (and, or,
but, and so), a definite article ‘the’. The Instructional objectives of this unit are that the
students are able to:
1. write simple sentences by using capital letters for the names of continents, oceans,
rivers, mountains, valleys, and months of year;
2. combine the sentences by using conjunctions (and, or, but, and so);
3. apply an article ‘the’; and
4. to write the description of objects.
In order to achieve the instructional objectives, the following is the discussion
of subtopics.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Mechanical Drill
Mechanics deal with capitalization and punctuation. At this subtopic, capital
letters in the beginning of words or phrase are applied to write the names of continents,
oceans, rivers, mountains, valleys, and months of year, such as South America, the
Yukon River, the Indian Ocean, the Yukon Valley, January, February, March, April,
May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December. In relation
to the capitalization and the punctuation mechanics, please look at the model text
below.

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 ENORMOUS CABBAGES SHOW THE EFFECT OF LONG ALASKAN DAYS

(Fairbanks) Last Saturday at the Tanana Valley Fair, Oscar Lindstrom won first prize for a sixty-pound
cabbage. Lindstrom grows the cabbages in Alaska, just outside the city of Fairbanks.
Lindstrom says, "I don't have any secrets for growing big cabbages. They always grow big. The land
along the Tanana River is good, and the weather is warm here."
Many people think that Alaska is always cold, but it isn't. Ocean winds bring warm air to the outer parts,
so they are mild. The inside part of the state has cold winters (-23 to -34C), but summers can be hot. The
temperature is usually between 7 and 24 C near Fairbanks.
Winter comes early, so the growing season is short. The ground freezes in October, and the winter lasts
until May. Lindstrom has only 89 growing days, but that is enough. In summer the days are so long, and
nights are short. Each night is only a few hours long, so Lindstrom's cabbages receive a lot of sunlight. They
grow without stopping.
People at the fair talk about the cabbages every year: "Big cabbages!" "Enormous cabbages!"
"Enormous, delicious, leafy green cabbages."
Alaskans may grow more vegetables in the future, but now good land is limited. Mountains cover the
land, or trees grow on it. Most of the state's food comes from outside, so prices are high. Alaskans work hard,
and they like their wild state. Alaska is still new, so many young Americans are moving there. The state's
motto is: "North to the Future."

(Adopted from Peterson, 1992:36)

Task 1. Copy the sentences below, and make all the corrections that are necessary.
1. oscar lindstrom lives outside fairbanks alaska
2. he grows cabbages in the tanana valley
3. land by the tanana river is very good
4. the ground is frozen from october to may
5. vegetables can grow in june, july, and august
6. the arctic ocean is to the north of alaska
7. the bering sea is to the west of Alaska
8. on the south are the gulf of alaska and the pacific ocean
9. the most famous river in alaska is the yukon
10. mount mckinley is the highest mountain in alaska and it is also the highest
mountain in north america

B. Grammar: Using the definite article the before proper names

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 The definite article is sometimes used as a part of a name. You should use the
before the names of rivers, oceans, seas, and valleys. It is not used before continents,
states, cities, or single mountains. Usually, countries do not have the before them.
There are some exceptions:

1. the Netherlands, the Sudan

2. Countries with the word Union or United
3. Full titles of countries with prepositional phrases

Use “the” for: Don't use “the” for:

Rivers Continents Single mountains
the Nile Asia Mount Washington
the Amazon Africa Mount Everest
the Mississippi Europe Mount Fuji
Oceans and Seas States Countries:
the Atlantic Ocean New York China
the Sea of Japan California Nigeria
the Mediterranean Sea Florida Venezuela
Cities But:
Valleys Miami the Netherlands
the Red River Valley Tokyo the Sudan
the Nile Valley Caracas the Union of Soviet
Socialist
Republics
the United States of
America
the Federal Republic of
Germany
the People's Republic of
China

Task 2. Copy the sentences below. Use an article (a, an, or the) where you need one. If
you don't need an article, mark the place with an X.
1. Oscar Lindstrom is ______farmer.

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Tadulako University, Palu-Central Sulawesi
2. He grows _______ cabbages in ______ Tanana River Valley.
3. ______ cabbage is ______ vegetable.
4. ______ Fairbanks has _____long, cold winters and _____ short, warm summers.
5. In summer,- ____ days are long and ____ nights are short.
6. ______ Lindstrom won _____ prize for cabbage at _____ fair last summer.
7. ______ mountains and _____ trees cover ______ Alaska, so good land is limited.
8. ______ Alaska is famous for _____ Mount McKinley, _____ Yukon River, and
for ___ big cabbages.
9. It is located in _______ North America, west of _____ Canada.
10. ______ Alaska gets ______ warm winds from ______ Pacific Ocean.

Use the definite article “the” before prepositional phrases

The general rule for the definite article is that we use the when we know the
identity of the noun. We often know which particu1ar noun is meant if there is a
prepositional phrase to define it.

Example: Every person has X problems. (No article because "problems" is a very
general word here.) The problems of cities are serious. (Here we use the
because we know which problems we are talking about. They are the
problems of cities.)

Task 3. Write these phrases. Add the at the beginning.

1. ______ growth of cities 6. ______ governments of South
2. ______ smell of pollution America
3. ______ noise of the crowd 7. ______ products from our factories
4. ______ pollution from cars 8. ______ noise from factories
5. ______ cars in the street 9. ______ sound of a horn
10. ______ history of the world

Using Conjunction : and, but, or, and so

Two short sentences can be combined into one long sentence by using a
coordinate conjunction: and, but, or, so. Use a comma before the conjunction to
separate the two part of the sentence
and combines similar ideas but combines opposite ideas

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Budi, 2020. A Text Book of Writing for Personal Communication - English Education Study Program, FKIP-
Tadulako University, Palu-Central Sulawesi
 or shows a choice so shows a result
Task 4. Combine each pair of sentences below into one longer sentence by using a
coordinate conjunction.
1. Winter comes early. The growing season is short. (so)
Winter comes early, so the growing season is short.
2. The ground freezes in October. Winter lasts until May. (and)
3. Lindstrom has only 89 days. That is long enough. (but)
4. In summer, days are long. Nights are short. (and)
5. Each night is only a few hours long. Lindstrom's cabbages receive a lot of sunlight.
(so)
6. The cabbages grow without stopping. They are enormous. (so)
7. Many people think that Alaska is always cold. It isn't. (but)
8. Ocean winds bring warm air. The outer parts are mild. (so)
9. The winters are cold. The summers are hot. (but)
10. Alaskans may grow more vegetables in the future. Now good land is limited. (but)
11. Mountains cover the land. Trees grow there. (or)
12. Most food comes from the outside. Prices are high. (so)
13. Alaskans work hard. They like their wild state. (and)
14. Alaska is still new. Many Americans are moving to Alaska. (so)

C. Sentence Construction : Concentration

Task 5 This is a game you can play with another person. Cut squares of paper to fit
over each box below. Cover each box with a square of paper. Have a pencil
and paper ready to write sentences.

The first player turns over two squares. He reads the words in the boxes. If they
make a good sentence, he writes the sentence on his paper. He leaves the boxes
uncovered. If the sentences do not go together to make a long sentence, he covers them
again. (Remember what is under each square of paper!) The second player takes his
turn. Continue playing until all the squares are uncovered. The player with the most
sentences on his paper is the winner.

Winters are cold in so it won first prize. and the land by the or you can live
Fairbanks, river is good. inside the state.

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Budi, 2020. A Text Book of Writing for Personal Communication - English Education Study Program, FKIP-
Tadulako University, Palu-Central Sulawesi
 You can live by the Summers by the so the state is Summers days are
ocean, Tanana are hot, growing fast. long,
Many people are but winters are mild Lindstrom's cabbage Alaskan farmers
moving to Alaska, by the ocean was sixty pounds, grow some food
so food is very Most food comes but winter days are and they will grow
expensive there. from outside Alaska, short. more food in the
future

D. Controlled Composition : Incomplete letter

Task 6. Copy the letter below and complete the sentences so that they make sense.

October 30, 1982

Dear Sara,
Thank you for the newspaper story about Alaska. It is
very interesting. Now I know many new things about your
state. Here is what I know:
Many people think that Alaska is always cold, but
__________. The winters in Fairbanks are ____________, but
________________. Ocean winds bring __________,so
_____________. Farmers in Alaska grow _____________. The
summer days are very long, so ____________. The growing
season is ___________, so _______. Most food comes from
outside the state, and __________. Many people are moving
_________,so __________. They work hard, and
_____________.
I am so happy that you are coming to Caracas in June.
Please visit us. You can stay with my family. My mother
says that you are welcome.

"-Yours,"
Roberto

Then, you write your letter to your friend and describe your own country (city).
Replace Alaska and Fairbanks with into your own country (city).

Task 7. Incomplete dialog

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Tadulako University, Palu-Central Sulawesi
Below are the answers to some questions. Write a good question before each answer.
When you finish you will have a dialog that you can act out with a partner.

A Newspaper Reporter Talks with Oscar Lindstrom

Reporter: ____________________________ ?
Lindstrom: Yes, I'm Oscar Lindstrom.
Reporter: _________________________________ ?
Lindstrom: Yes, I'm a farmer in the Tanana Valley.
Reporter: _________________________________ ?
Lindstrom: Yes, my farm is near Fairbanks.
Reporter: _________________________________ ?
Lindstrom: Yes, this is my sixty-pound cabbage.
Reporter: _______________________________________________?
Lindstrom: No, I don't always grow cabbages so big, but I always try.
Reporter: ____________________________________________?

Lindstrom: No, I don't have any secrets for growing big cabbages. They always grow
big. The weather is good here.
Reporter:______________________________________________________________
_?
Lindstrom: Yes, we have enough warm weather here. We have 89 growing days every
summer.
Reporter:
______________________________________________________________?
Lindstrom: No, I don't grow any other vegetables. Cabbages are strong, but other
vegetables aren't.
Reporter:
_______________________________________________________________?
Lindstrom: No, I don't grow tomatoes. Tomatoes need a longer growing season.
Reporter:
_______________________________________________________________?
Lindstrom: Yes, some people do. They grow hot-house tomatoes inside special
buildings, but most of our tomatoes come from outside Alaska.

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Tadulako University, Palu-Central Sulawesi
Reporter:
_______________________________________________________________?
Lindstrom: Yes, they're very expensive, so I save my money. I eat green, leafy
vegetables, l ike cabbage.

E. Free Composition
The students write the description of an interesting object that they have ever
seen. They choose their own topic freely. They write it containing simple and
compound sentences in the form of a paragraph.
Task 8. Describe an interesting object in your own country.

III SUMMARY
Shortly, the students attempt to practice on writing the description of interesting
objects. They write simple and compound sentences with correct sentence construction
and mechanics by using capital letters for the names of continents, oceans, rivers,
mountains, valleys, and months of year, conjunctions (and, or, but, and so) to combine
two simple sentences in order to produce compound sentences , and an article ‘the’ in
the sentences..

REFERENCES
1. Murphy, R. 1993. Basic Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
(pages 6-8)
2. Peterson, P.W. 1982. Developing Writing, Washington: United States Information
Agency (pages 37- 54)
3. Wishon, G. E. & Burks, J.M. 1980. Let’s Write English, New York: Litton
Educational Publishing International ( page 267-272)

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Budi, 2020. A Text Book of Writing for Personal Communication - English Education Study Program, FKIP-
Tadulako University, Palu-Central Sulawesi