Category Archives: The Cook activities

Mar 27 2012
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The Cook activities Quote

1. There are a number of ways that ‘ing‘ is used in English. Sometimes ‘ing‘ is used to form a gerund. A gerund has an ‘ing‘ ending and it acts like a noun. Gerunds can be the subject or object of sentences. For example, in the sentence ‘I enjoy swimming‘, the object is ‘swimming‘ and it is a gerund. The ‘ing‘ ending is also used to form the present continuous. For example, the sentence ‘I am writing‘ describes an action that I might be doing now or around now.

2. Look at this extract from The Cook (Chapter 5) and find the ‘ing‘ structures. Decide if they are gerunds or part of the present continuous

Suddenly, shouting filled the air. She looked out the kitchen window: a fight. ‘No!’ she called, ‘Stop!’

The two dishwashers turned and stared at her.

‘They’re fighting,’ she said and pointed to two boys in the playground. The dishwashers continued to drink their tea. One said, ‘It happens all the time, dear. Don’t worry about it.’ She looked out the window again. Now there was a crowd around the two boys. ‘Don’t go out there,’ said the other dishwasher, ‘it’s not safe.’

 3. Look at these sentences and decide if the underlined words are gerunds or part of the present progressive

a. Driving a car and talking on a phone at the same time is illegal in many countries.

b. Look at him: he’s driving and talking on his phone at the same time.

c. Talking and chewing food at the same time is rude!

d. Looking at someone’s answers in an exam is cheating.

e. Look! He’s doing it again – he’s copying her answers!

 

 

Grammar for The Cook (Chapter 5)

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Mar 26 2012
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The Cook activities

QUIZLET for The Cook (Chapter 5)

You can practise the vocabulary for The Cook (Chapter 5) using this QUIZLET

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Mar 25 2012
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Picture activity for The Cook (Chapter 5)

Look again at The Cook (Chapter 5) and find the words or phrases represented by the pictures below

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Mar 23 2012
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The Cook activities

Grammar and comprehension The Cook (Chapter 4)

1. To make a statement in the past tense negative, we often use ‘did’. The main verb in the statement also changes: it becomes the bare infinitive.

For example, ‘Candy didn’t take a bus to the school; instead, she walked there.‘

2. Look at these sentences about The Cook (Chapter 4) and fill in the gaps using the example above to help you.

a. Candy ______ ______ the plates of food out of the kitchen nervously; instead, she brought them out ______.

b. Mrs Duffy ______ ______ that the food smelled horrible; instead, she ______ it smelled ______.

c. Mr Tomkin ______ ______ much; instead, he kept quiet and just ______ his head.

d. The headmistress ______ ______  time ; instead, she ______ Candy the job immediately.

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Mar 22 2012
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The Cook activities

Grammar for The Cook (Chapter 4)

1. Look at this extract from The Cook (Chapter 4). The ‘When‘ question’s main verb is in the simple present tense. The auxillary or helping verb is ‘do‘. It isn’t ‘does‘ because it must agree with ‘you‘ – and it isn’t ‘did‘ because the question isn’t about the past.

The headmistress stood up and offered her hand. ‘Congratulations, Ms Pickles. You are our new school cook. When do you want to start?’

2. If the subject of a simple present tense question is he/she/it, the auxillary verb changes to ‘does‘. NOTE: the main verb remains unchanged (in other words, we DON’T add ‘s‘ to it). For example, ‘Where does he work?‘. In this question, the subject is ‘he‘, the main verb is ‘work‘ and the auxillary verb is ‘does‘.

3. Complete these questions

a. “Where ______ you ______ to ______?”   “Let’s go to McDonalds!”

b. ‘When ______ he ______ work?”   “He started at 8, so he’ll finish at 4”

c. “Where ______ Robert and Eva ______?”   “In Abu Dhabi. They moved there last year.”

d. “When ______ Tommy ______ school?”   “Next year, when he is five years old”

e. “Why ______ she ______ living there?”   “She says she likes British food!”

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Mar 21 2012
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The Cook activities

Quizlet for The Cook (Chapter 4)

You can practise the vocabulary from The Cook, Chapter 4 here in this QUIZLET 

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Mar 20 2012
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The Cook activities

Comprehension for The Cook (Chapter 4)

Look again at The Cook (Chapter 4). According to the text, is the information in the following statements True, False or Not Given?

a. Candy took more than two hours to make the meal

b. Candy made a salad as a starter

c. Mrs Duffy disagreed with the headmistress’s opinion about the food

d. Mr Tomkin thought the food was good too

e. The headmistress offered Candy a job

f. The headmistress did not mention the salary

g. Candy wants to start the job immediately

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Mar 19 2012
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Grammar for The Cook (Chapter 4)

1. Look at this sentence from The Cook (Chapter 4):

‘This is the best school food I’ve ever tasted!’

2. This could be said another way: ‘The food is really good. In fact, it is the best (food that) I have ever tasted.’

Notice that the verb ‘taste’ is in past participle form (=tasted)

3. Look at these examples and choose the correct one

i. The hotel is really good. In fact, it’s the best I’ve ever (stay/stayed) in.

ii. The service on this flight is really good. In fact, it’s the best I’ve ever (have/had).

iii. The movie is really bad. In fact, it’s the worst I’ve ever (seen/saw).

4. Now complete these sentences

i. The bed is really good. In fact, it’s the most comfortable….

ii. The water in this swimming pool is really cold. In fact, it’s the coldest…

iii. The food is disgusting. In fact, it’s the worst…

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Mar 18 2012
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Picture activity for The Cook (Chapter 4)

Find the words or phrases in The Cook (Chapter 4) that match these pictures

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Mar 16 2012
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Comprehension for The Cook (Chapter 3)

Look again at Chapter 3 of The Cook and match the adjective with the noun to make the correct noun phrase

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Mar 15 2012
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The Cook activities

Comprehension for The Cook (Chapter 3) – order and referents

1. Look again at The Cook (Chapter 3) and put the following sentences in order:

i. His teeth and eyes scared her

ii. They put the dishes into it

iii. Candy told them that she had none of them

iv. He agreed to allow her to make it

v. They emptied them

vi. She said her food was very bad

2. Now look again at all the subject pronouns (he, she, they), possessive adjectives (his, her) and object pronouns (it, her, them…) in the sentences above and say who or what they refer to. For example, in the first sentence (i. His teeth and eyes scared her), ‘his‘ = Mr Tomkin’s and ‘her‘ = Candy

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Mar 14 2012
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The Cook activities

Grammar for The Cook (Chapter 3)

1. There are a number of possessive adjectives in English (his, her, its, our, your, their, my). Using a possessive adjective is another way to show that something belongs to someone. For example, we can write the sentence ‘The man’s narrow eyes frightened her‘, a different way using a possessive adjective – ‘His narrow eyes frightened her.’ In this sentence, the possessive adjective ‘His‘ accompanies the noun phrase ‘narrow eyes‘

2. Look at this extract from The Cook (Chapter 3) and find examples of possessive adjectives. What are the noun phrases that accompany the possessive adjectives? [Watch out for ‘her’ – it can also be an object pronoun]

Inside the school’s dining hall, two ladies in pink uniforms collected dirty plates and took them to the kitchen. Lunch finished twenty minutes ago and now it was their job to clean everything. They emptied the plates, put them in the dishwashers and went to fetch more from the tables. They did not look at the four people at the back of the room.

‘Ms Pickles,’ began the man, ‘you don’t have any cooking qualifications. Is that correct?’

This was her big chance. She wanted to work, to start again; but the man’s narrow, grey eyes and his small, sharp teeth frightened her.

3. Look at these sentences. Decide if ‘her’ is being used as a possessive adjective or object pronoun

a. I gave her my book

b. Her family name is ‘Smith’

c. I spoke to her brother last night

d. Her favourite actor won an award

e. I don’t know her very well, but I know her older sister

f. The man’s narrow eyes frightened her

 

 

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Mar 13 2012
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The Cook activities

QUIZLET for The Cook (Chapter 3)

Here is the QUIZLET for The Cook (Chapter 3). You can practice your vocabulary using it.

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Mar 12 2012
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The Cook activities

Comprehension for The Cook (Chapter 3)

Look again at The Cook (Chapter 3) and decide if the information in these statements is true, false or not given.

1. There were at least six people in the dining hall

2. The two ladies in pink uniforms worked part-time at the school

3. Mrs Duffy was the headmistress

4. Candy had no cooking qualifications

5. Everyone liked the meals that the last cook made

6. The last cook had no qualifications

7. Candy offered to prepare a meal immediately

8. The meal that Candy will make is difficult to cook

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Mar 11 2012
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Picture activity for The Cook (Chapter 3)

Look again at Chapter 3 of The Cook and find the words (or phrases) to match these pictures.

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Mar 09 2012
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The Cook activities

Comprehension for The Cook (Chapter 2) Past tense negatives

1. To make some simple past tense statements negative, the auxilliary verb ‘did’ must be added. The main verb must also change from simple past to bare infinitive For example, ‘She ate breakfast‘ becomes ‘She did not eat breakfast’/She didn’t eat breakfast‘ . However, with some verbs (such as ‘To Be’) the auxilliary ‘did’ is not used. For example, ‘She was late‘ becomes ‘She was not late/She wasn’t late.

2. Look at these sentences from The Cook (Chapter 2). Decide if they are true or false.

a. Candy didn’t find it easy to get to the school.

b. Candy asked some people for directions.

c. Most of the people that she asked gave her help.

d. The old woman didn’t know where the school was.

e. The school wasn’t far from the fish and chip shop.

f. Candy didn’t feel hungry.

g. Candy didn’t have a scarf around her neck.

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Mar 08 2012
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Grammar for The Cook (Chapter 2)

1. When a parallel structure is used, words make a pattern because the same structure is repeated. For example, sometimes a noun is repeated: ‘My favourite cities are London, New York and Edinburgh.’ In this example, the parallel structure comes from having three nouns (London, New York and Edinburgh) repeated. Sometimes a verb (in the same tense) is repeated. For example, ‘Don’t eat and talk at the same time!’ In this case, the parallel structure comes from repeating two bare infinitives (‘eat’ and ‘talk’).

2. Look at this example from The Cook (Chapter 2) can you find examples of parallel structures?

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Mar 07 2012
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The Cook activities

Comprehension for The Cook (Chapter 2) Joining ideas

Look again at Chapter 2 of The Cook and answer the following questions.

A. First, look at this example of ‘however’ in i. below. As you can see, its meaning is not very different from ‘but’.

i. The book was expensive; however, I decided to buy it.

There are three  other ways of writing these ideas:

ii. The book was expensive. I decided to buy it.

iii. The book was expensive, but I decided to buy it.

(iv. The book was expensive. But I decided to buy it.)

The last sentence is used informally. You can see many examples of it in fiction. Look at i. and iii. above. How is the punctuation different?

B. Now look at this example of ‘therefore’ in v. below. As you can see, its meaning is not very different from ‘so’.

v. I had no money; therefore, I couldn’t buy the book.

There are three other ways to write these ideas:

vi. I had no money. I couldn’t buy the book.

vii. I had no money, so I couldn’t buy the book.

(viii. I had no money. So I couldn’t buy the book.)

The last sentence is used informally. You can see many examples of it in fiction. Again, look at the punctuation for v. and viii. How are they different?

C. Now choose either ‘however’ or ‘therefore’ to complete these sentences about The Cook (Chapter 2)

1. Candy found some money; (therefore/however), she was able to call the school.

2. Candy was tired; (therefore/however), she didn’t stop walking.

3. Few people wanted to help Candy; (therefore/however), it took her a long time to get to the school.

4. Along the way, she passed a Fish and Chip shop; (therefore/however), it wasn’t busy because lunchtime was over.

5. The man who spoke to Candy already knew her name; (therefore/however), she didn’t need to tell him.

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Mar 06 2012
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The Cook activities

Comprehension for The Cook (Chapter 2)

Read The Cook (Chapter 2) again. Is the information in the following statements True, False or Not Given?

1. Candy was in a large city

2. She felt tired

3. She found twenty pence

4. When she called the school, the headmistress spoke to her

5. The job interview was for tomorrow morning

6. Candy took a bus to the school

7. Six people didn’t not give her directions to the school

8. There were many customers in the fish and chip shop

9. The door at the entrance to the school was open

10. Candy was refused entrance to the school

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Mar 05 2012
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The Cook activities

Quizlet for The Cook (Chapter 2)

New QUIZLET for The Cook (Chapter 2)

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