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?
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?
Find these objects in The Janitor (Chapter 8)
Find these things in 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.”
Find these things in 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?
Match the objects with the words in The Janitor (Chapter 5)
Match the objects with the words in 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?
Look again at The Janitor (Chapter 3) and find the words for these objects:
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