Tag Archives: Grammar/Janitor

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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Feb 25 2012
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The Janitor activities

Grammar activity for The Janitor (Chapter 10)

1. When talking about a finished action in the past in relation to the present, we can use the past time marker ‘ago’. The time that has passed between now and that action ending in the past is given as a duration (= a length of time).

For example, the year is 2012. I lived in Japan until 2010. (=I stopped living in Japan in 2010 = the time between the action finishing and now is two years). Therefore, I can say ‘I lived in Japan two years ago‘.

2. Find an example of the above in this extract from The Janitor (Chapter 10).

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Use ‘ago’ in these examples

a. She met him on Tuesday. Today is Friday.

b. They went to the cinema to see a movie in June. Now it is August.

c. He left school in 2000. It is now 2012.

d.  She called him at 6pm. It is now 6.45pm.

e. They filled their car with petrol on the 20th. It is now the 27th.

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Feb 25 2012
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The Janitor activities

Grammar for The Janitor (Chapter 9)

1. To make the verb ‘to be’ negative in the past, we add ‘not’. For example, ‘She was there’ becomes ‘She wasn’t there’ (or ‘She was not there’).

To make most other verbs such as ‘eat’, ‘want’, ‘play’ and ‘see’ negative in the past, we must add ‘did + not’. For example, ‘He saw the movie’ becomes ‘He didn’t see the movie’ (or ‘He did not see the movie’). Note the change in the main verb. When we make the sentence negative, the main verb changes from ‘saw’ to ‘didn’t see’: in other words, did + not + bare infinitive.

2. Look at this extract from The Janitor (Chapter 9 and find examples of verb phrases that are negative.

 

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Feb 24 2012
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The Janitor activities Image

Grammar activity for The Janitor (Chapter 5)

1. Simple sentences often have one subject, one main verb and one object. For example, ‘She went home’. However, if the subject is repeated and one action follows another, we can make use of ellipsis, which means we can avoid repeating the subject when we talk about another action that the same subject does.

Instead of writing ‘She went home and she fell asleep’ (or ‘She went home. She fell asleep immediately.), we can remove the repeated subject ‘she’. As a result, the sentence becomes: She went home and fell asleep immediately

2. From The Janitor (Chapter 5) find some examples of this kind of sentence.

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Feb 24 2012
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The Janitor activities Image

Grammar activity for The Janitor (Chapter 2)

1. Prepositions are usually followed by nouns or noun phrases. For example, I live in a large city.

The preposition in this sentence is ‘in‘ and the noun phrase that follows it is ‘a large city‘

We can add more information to a simple sentence by adding prepositions:

a. I saw an unusual bird.

b. In the afternoon, I saw an unusual bird.

c. In the afternoon, I saw an unusual bird beside my car.

d. In the afternoon, I saw an unusual bird on the grass beside my car.

2. Look at this extract from The Janitor (Chapter 2) and find the prepositions and nouns/noun phrases that follow them

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Feb 24 2012
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Grammar activity The Janitor (Chapter 1)

1. Understanding and using referents such as ‘them‘, ‘he, ‘it‘, ‘there‘ and ‘his‘ is important for every skill in language learning.

For example, in the following sentence, the referent is ‘he’.

Mr Green was feeling sad because he had no money. (‘he‘ refers to ‘Mr Green’)

2. Look at the following extract from ‘The Janitor’ (Chapter 1) and find the referents. What are they referring to?

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Feb 24 2012
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Grammar activity for The Janitor (Chapter 8)

1. Adjectives and adverbs

Adverbs are often used to describe a verb e.g. He talked loudly. (However, there are some verbs such as ‘feel’ ‘seem’ ‘appear’ ‘sound’ ‘look’ and ‘be’ that take adjectives)

Adjectives describe a noun e.g. Suddenly, there was a loud noise. (= The noise was loud = The loud noise surprised me).

2. Look at the extract from The Janitor (Chapter 8). Find the all the adjectives and adverbs

3. Now choose the correct one (Watch out for d!)

a. He felt sad/sadly when he saw the car hit a bird.

b. There was a bad/badly car crash on the bridge, but luckily no one was hurt.

c. The cat moved slowly/slow out of the way although the car came round the corner quick/quickly.

d.  The teacher spoke very soft/softly. Consequent/Consequently, the students at the back of the class couldn’t hear her although they were listening hard/hardly.

e. You seem rather quietly/quiet today: are you feeling well?

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Feb 22 2012
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Grammar activity for The Janitor (Chapter 7)

Find examples of ‘he’ and ‘his’ in this text from The Janitor (Chapter 7)

Use ‘he’ and ‘his’ to complete the sentences:

1. The book that I borrowed yesterday was ____. ____ suggested that I read it.

2. “Why isn’t ____ at work?”  “____ must have missed the train.”

3. We followed the directions that ____ gave us, but we couldn’t find ____ house.

4. “Who did ____ call for help when ____ fell?”  “____ neighbour; but there was nobody home, so ____ called an ambulance.”

5. “Do you have ____ home address?”  “No, but I have ____ mobile number, so you can call him and ask.”

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Feb 20 2012
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Grammar for The Janitor (Chapter 6)

1. ‘s can mean a number of things in English.

‘s can mean ‘is’

For example, Today’s a little cold.

‘s can also mean ‘someone/something belongs to someone/something else‘

For example, I lost Tom‘s book = I lost the book that belonged to Tom.

2. Look at this extract from the Janitor. Find the words that end in ‘s. What do they mean here?

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Feb 16 2012
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Grammar for The Janitor (Chapter 4)

A. Look at the paragraph from The Janitor (Chapter 4). Find all the questions.

B. Now choose the correct verb (was, were or did) to complete the sentences below

i. ___ the students friendly?

ii. ___ you enjoy the party?

iii. ___ there any jobs in the paper?

iv. ___ the movie that you and your friends saw interesting?

v.  ___ the tea too sweet?

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Feb 15 2012
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The Janitor activities

Grammar point for The Janitor (Chapter 3)

A. Find examples of its and it’s in this text from The Janitor, Chapter 3

B. Choose either Its or It’s to complete these sentences.

i. ___ his friend’s house.

ii. ___ a good idea to take a warm hat.

iii. ___ kitchen is small, but the rest of the house is huge.

iv. ___ late and I am going to bed.

v. ___ window is broken.

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