UNIT II: MEMORY

Vocabulary: names, first name, surname, nickname

A name is a language unit by which a person, an animal, a place or a thing is known.

- Name
- First name
- Surname
- Nickname

Vocabulary : Countries and nationalities.

Expected outcomes: Learners should be able to name countries, nationalities and

languages spoken in those countries.

Country: A politically organized body of people under a single government.

Nationality: People having common origins or traditions and comprising a nation.

Most of the countries are used without “the” Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, . But some are
used with the.

Examples: The USA, the UK, the United Arab Emirates.

Some countries may be referred to with or without ‘the’. Examples: (the) Lebanon, (the)
Ukraine, (the) Sudan, (the) Gambia.

Activity 1: Write down in English.

1. What is the name of your country? …………………………………………………

2. How do we call people from your country?...............................................................
3. Give the names of the countries next to your country and their nationalities.
………………………………………………………………………………………….
4. Give the names of the countries you would like to visit. Also give their nationalities.

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

Activity 2: Provide nationalities for the following countries.

Cuba……………………………… Peru………………….………….
 Panama……………………………. Philippines……………………….

USA………………………………. Cambodia……………………….

Switzerland……………………….. Cyprus………………………..

Poland…………………………….. Britain……………………….

Scotland…………………………. Malawi……………………….

Morocco………………………… Saudi Arabia……………………

Reading Comprehension.

Read Jessica is taking a writing class at school. Her teacher asked the class to introduce
themselves in an e-mail to their classmates.

Hello Classmates,

I received my H1 visa and I am working now at my new job in the United States. I work at
the Downtown Animation Studio. Can you believe it? I am a computer animator. The job
is very interesting. I am studying and learning about the software programs they use here.
My office is nice, and my supervisor is very smart. I have a beautiful new computer. I’m
sure it was very expensive. I also have very friendly coworkers. I like my work schedule,
too. I work four days a week, from Tuesday to Friday. I work from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
That’s ten hours of work and one hour for lunch. So, my new job is great. Please write
back and tell me how you are doing.

Take care,

Jessica

Read the sentences. Answer whether True or False.

1. Jessica has a new job…………………….

2. Jessica is a computer programmer……………………….

3. Jessica works at the Downtown Café……………………….

4. Jessica likes her office……………………………………

5. Jessica works five days a week…………………………..

 6. Jessica gets paid for her lunch hour…………………………….

7. Jessica has an expensive computer………………………………

8. Jessica is writing to her friend…………………………………….

GRAMMAR : Regular and Irregular Plurals.

Plural: A class of grammatical forms usually used to denote more than one or more
than two. In other words, when you are talking about two or more people, animals, places, or
things, use plural nouns.

Regular plurals refer to nouns that can move from singular to plural by adding ‘s’ morpheme.
Examples: girl-girls, boy-boys, table-tables, book-books. bird birds, broom brooms, camel
camels, desk desks, doll dolls, egg eggs, flower flowers, fork forks, game games
 Words ending with ‘Y’ form their plurals with ‘ies’. Examples: spy-spies,
reply-replies, baby babies, cherry cherries, diary diaries, dictionary dictionaries,
fairy fairies, family families, fly flies, lady ladies, library libraries, puppy puppies,
story stories, strawberry strawberries
 When the last letters of singular nouns are ch, sh, s, ss or x, you usually add -
es to form the plural. Examples: beach beaches, branch branches, box boxes,
bush bushes, church churches, dish dishes, dress dresses, sandwich sandwiches,
witch witches.
 If a noun ends in -f, you often change f to v, and add -es.
singular plural singular plural
calf calves loaf loaves
elf elves shelf shelves
half halves thief thieves
leaf leaves wolf wolves
 With some words that end in -fe, you change f to v, and add -s.
knife knives life lives wife wives
 Nouns ending with “o” add -es to form their plurals.
a tomato tomatoes, a potato potatoes, a hero heroes
 Some irregular plurals. child children, man men, ox oxen, tooth teeth, woman
women, foot feet, geese goose, mouse mice.
 Zero plural. sheep sheep, deer deer, salmon salmon
 Some nouns are always plural. pants, scissors, pajamas, sneakers, shorts, slippers
trousers, stockings.
Exercise 1: Give the plural of the following words.
1 desk 6 basket ___________
2 class 7 peach ___________
 3 comb 8 belt ___________
4 mug 9 taxi ___________
5 bus 10 box ___________

GRAMMAR 2: The simple past and the past continuous tense.

a) The Simple Past Tense
1. Formation

The simple past tense in regular verbs is formed by adding “ed” to the infinitive:
Example: Infinitive: To work Simple past: worked
To play simple past: played
To cook simple past: cooked
The same form is used for all persons:
I worked we worked
He/she/it worked you worked
You worked they worked
Verbs ending in “e” add “d” only:
Example: Infinitive: to love Simple past: loved
To move simple past moved
To dance simple past danced
On the other hand, irregular do not follow the same rule as the regular verbs.
They vary considerably in their simple past form:
Infinitive: to eat, to leave, to see, to speak
Simple past: ate, left, saw, spoke
The simple past form of each irregular verb must therefore be learnt, but once this is done
there is no other difficulty, as irregular verbs (like regular verbs) have no inflexions in the past
tense.
A list of irregular verbs will be found at the end of this book. Here is just an example.
Irregular verbs simple past
Eat ate
Speak spoke
Take took
See saw
Learn learnt
Sing sang
Drink drank.
To be to have to do
I was I had I did
You were you had you did
He/she/it was he/she/it had he/she/it did
We were we had we did
You were you had you did
They were they had they did
2. Use

It is used for actions completed in the past at a definite time. It is always used with time
indicator such as:
Time indicators: last week, yesterday, last year, ago, before.
b) The Past Continuous Tense
1) Formation

It is formed with to be in the simple past, plus the main verb, plus ing form.
Was/were + verb + ing
Example: I was preparing a cake
We were sleeping
They were dancing
2) Uses

The past continuous is chiefly used for actions starting in the past which are always
interrupted by another event or action in the past. It is always used with time indicators.
Time indicators: while, when, as, like, during.
Example: It was raining hard when we left the building.
I was reading the report when you rang the bell.
He was going out to lunch when I saw him.
The company was doing well when I last visited it
EXERCISE
 1. Complete the following sentences with correct form the verbs in the past continuous
as specified in the brackets:
a) I ……………………………….. salad. ( make)
b) They ………………………….. to find some money. ( try)
c) He ……………………………… the book when the phone rang. ( read)
d) They ………………………….. while their mother cooked Ndolè. ( play)
e) It ……………………………….. heavily last night. (rain)
f) They ……………………………. for their exam. ( study)
g) They …………………………….. food for the workers. (prepare)
h) She ………………………………. while it was rainnig. ( cook)
1. Using the past continuous, fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verbs in
the brackets:
a) They ……………………………. home when the rain started (hurry)
b) ………she ……………down notes when the teacher was dictating? ( take)
c) I ………….not ………………… long. ( walk)
d) They …………………………. when the accident happened. ( shop)
e) ……………..you……………….. supper when the phone rang? (eat)
f) He ………………………… asleep by the time the lesson ended. ( fall)
g) …………….we not…………….. the next chapter? (discuss)
h) They……………………….their books away, when their friends arrived. (to put)
i) You ……………not………………….. the news when I called you. ( follow)
j) …………..i …………………… too much noise? ( make)

WRITING: Capital letters.

The capital letter is also called a big letter or uppercase letter, or sometimes just a
capital.
 Use a capital letter for the first letter in a sentence: The dog is barking. Come here!
 Always use a capital letter for the word I : I am eight years old. Tom and I are good
friends.
 Use a capital letter for the names of people: Alice, Tom, James, Kim, Snow White
 Use a capital letter for the names of places: National Museum, Bronx Zoo, London,
Sacramento
 Use a capital letter for festivals, holidays, days of the week, months of the year:
New Year’s Day, Christmas, Labor Day, Mother’s Day, Sunday, Monday, Friday,
January, May, July, October
Exercise 1: Write the sentences and add capital letters were necessary.
1. my sister’s name is jackie. she is from Canada. she was born on monday, 21st of april.
__________________________________________________________________________
2. friday is my favourite day of the week.
__________________________________________________________________________
3. i like watching eastenders on bbc 1
__________________________________________________________________________
4. charles dickens was a famous writer he was born in portsmouth
__________________________________________________________________________
5. lisa and chantal are going on holiday to portugal in may
__________________________________________________________________________
6. mary is going to school at the catholic university of yaounde, at ekounou campus.
__________________________________________________________________________
7. my new address is 237 bonamoussadi, douala, Cameroon.
__________________________________________________________________________
8. peter is intelligent and wise.
__________________________________________________________________________
9. my doctor is getting a new receptionist she’s called louise robson
__________________________________________________________________________
10. ben and i are going to look round leicester grammar school on wednesday

Exercise 2: Put capital letters in the right places in this text:

hello, i’m jenny, tim’s wife. we have been married for almost eleven years. I met tim when we
were both at university. i studied physics while tim studied business management. we
graduated from cardiff university in 1989, and went to live in birmingham. we got married in
1993 at lincoln cathedral. i took a oneyear post-graduate teaching course, then got a job
teaching science at Lincoln high school.