Unit Two:

How to Study Effectively?

(1) Discussion
1. What is difference between studying at school and studying at the
university?
2. What does "revising" means?
3. How do you revise you lessons?
(2) Reading
Now read the passage quickly then do the tasks that below:
Now you have moved from being pupils at secondary school to being student at this
university, you have a lot more responsibility for doing things for yourself. Being a student
means doing a lot of work on your own. It means that work you do outside the class
becomes at least as important as work that you that is done in class.
The most important thing involved in effective studying is making good use of your time.
Time is something that you cannot stop, you cannot manufacture or change but you can
manage. You will have many hours in a week when you are not in class and a lot of those
must be used for studying. To use your time effectively you need to plan. This means
making a study timetable and sticking to it. I want you to make your own study timetable.
As you do so you should consider the following points.
Firstly work out how many hours you are free in a week. When you calculate this, remember
to allow some for the things you have to do every day such as eating, traveling and regular
commitments such as prayers. Also you need some time for leisure, when your brains can
think of things apart from studying.
When you have worked out how many hours you can devote to studying, the next thing is to
think of the subjects in your course. You may decide to give one day to each of them. One
day's study should mean between two and three hour’s work. However, you will find some
subjects more difficult than others and you will need to spend more time on these. Also you
will find some topics in a subject more difficult than others. You may decide to reserve a
few hours on Friday for work you find very difficult. Remember to use study time to do
difficult works. Don't waste time on topics you find easy.
When you study you should try to learn. Memorizing facts is not really learning. You must
try and apply the facts you have studied to deal with real situation. This applied specially
skills like languages. Here learning means using the new vocabulary and the rules of
grammar for writing about real things.
A study timetable will be useful to you throughout the year. It will be particularly useful
later in the year when you need to plan your revision. It is the first step towards being
organized in your studies. Without a plan, it will be difficult for you to study effectively.

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Task One: Comprehension Questions
Answer the following questions.
1. What is the difference between being a secondary school pupil and being a
university student?
2. What is the most important thing involved in organizing your studying?
3. Why can't you spend all your time working?
4. How much time is involved in day's studying?
5. What does “learning” mean?
6. What is study timetable especially useful for?
Task Two: Vocabulary
What do the following words mean as they are used in the passage?
1. effective: ……………………………………………………………………….
2. commitment: …………………………………………………………………...
3. reverse:………………………………………………………………………….
4.. waste: …………………………………………………………………………..
5. revision: …………………………………………………………………………
Task three: Text Organization
The following is the advice given in the passage expressed as a list of instructions. Rewrite
the instructions in the order they are in the passage.
1. Try and apply your learning to solve problems and deal with real situations.
2. Spend more time on subjects you find difficult.
3. Calculate how many hours you are free.
4. Make good use of your time.
5. Stick to your study timetable.
Task Four: Reference Words
What do the underlined words refer to?
Task Five: Information Transfer
The chart below is designed for you; fill in information about your studies. See how you
can complete it. Estimate your ability as good, fair or poor.
Subject Lecture days Estimate of Days of study Hours of study
ability (exclude class time)

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What is the Verb? .

The verb is the king in English. The shortest sentence contains a verb. You can make a one-
word sentence with a verb, for example: "Stop!" You cannot make a one-word sentence with
any other type of word. Verbs are sometimes described as "action words". This is partly true.
Many verbs give the idea of action, of "doing" something. For example, words like run,
fight, do and work all show action. But some verbs do not give the idea of action; they give
the idea of existence, of state, of "being". For example, verbs like be, exist, seem and belong
all show state.

There is something very special about verbs in English. Most other words (adjectives,
adverbs, prepositions etc) do not change in form (although nouns can have singular and
plural forms). But almost all verbs change in form. For example, the verb to work has five
forms: to work, work, works, worked, and working.

Traditionally, verbs are divided into four groups: active verbs, linking verbs, auxiliary
verbs and models.

Active Verb:
Action verbs are verbs that show the performance of an action. They are dynamic verbs
that show something happening. There are regular and irregular action verbs. To walk is
a regular verb; to run is an irregular verb. There are transitive and intransitive verbs.
Intransitive verbs do not take direct object while transitive verb do take a direct object.
Examples:
She laughed.
They died.
I bought a new car.
Ali took the test three times.

Linking Verbs:
Linking verbs do not express action. Instead, they connect the subject of the verb to
additional information about the subject. A linking verb is any form of the verb to be
without an action sets up something like an equal sign between the items it links. A few
linking verbs do not use to be but function like it:
That computer seems adequate for our needs.
This calculus problem looks difficult.
The soup smells bad.
He quickly grew weary of computer games.
Ali is a gentleman.

Auxiliary Verbs: .

Auxiliary verbs are used together with a main verb to give grammatical information and
therefore add extra meaning to sentence information that is not given by the main verb.
They are used to form the passive voice, the continuous tense and the perfect tense. Be,
Do and Have are auxiliary verbs. They are irregular verbs and can also be used as main
verbs. The verbs 'to be' and 'to have' are the most commonly used auxiliary verbs and
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work alongside the main verbs in any statement. Modal verbs are also auxiliary verbs,
but will be treated separately, these are can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will,
and would, they differ from the others in that they can never function as a main verb.

To be: Be is the most common verb in the English language. It can be used as an
auxiliary and a main verb. It is used a lot in its other forms. Base form = be, Present
form = am/is/are, Past form = was/were, Present Participle / Gerund = being, Past
Participle = been. Examples: .

We are studying English Grammar. .

They were watching TV. .

She has been living here since she was a child. .

To do: The verb do is one of the most common verbs in English. It can be used as an
auxiliary and as a main verb. It is often used in the negative and questions of the Present
Simple and Past Simple Tense. Base form = do, present = do/does, past = did.
Examples:
I don’t like football.
. .

She doesn’t live in Khartoum. .

Do you enjoy the lesson? .

Ali didn’t take the test. .

Did they see the film? .

To have: .

Have is one of the most common verbs in the English language. It is used to form the
Preset Perfect and the Past Perfect Tense. Base form = have, present = have/has, present
participle = having, past = had, past participle = had.
Modals Verbs:
Model verbs change the meaning of the verb in a variety of ways as in the examples
below:
Your English can be improved by much practice.
This lesson must be studied carefully.
They could have scored and won the match.
The model verbs are: can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would and must. Note
that model auxiliary verbs are always followed by the base verb.
Task Six: Now see if you can identify the verbs in bold italics:
1. They’re sleeping.
2. He arrived late.
3. The meal looked wonderful.
4. He watched them.
5. We must take care.
6. What do you do?
7. I have a new car.
8. They are having lunch at the moment.
9. You should go.
10. I am so happy today.
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