Week 9 – SS2 Second Term English Language Notes

 WEEK NINE

1. Structure – Making Uncountable Nouns Countable.
   

   The focus here is to see how uncountable nouns can be made countable. Countable nouns are those we can count, they usually have singular and plural forms
   Example:    girl – girls
           box – boxes
           man – men
           ox – oxen
   Uncountable nouns are those that cannot be counted, and they therefore have only the singular form.
   Examples: sand, rice, sugar, water, soup, advice, information, furniture, equipment, blood, knowledge, etc.
   Uncountable nouns can however be made countable in the following ways:

    
    

   1. Using partitives
      

      A partitive is a word or phrase that indicates a part or quantity of something as distinct from a whole. Also called noun partitive. Partitivesappear before noncount nouns as well as count nouns.

       Example:     a piece/chunk of meat
              abottle of wine
              acube/pack of sugar.
              aplate/pot of soup
              atin of milk.
              afit of anger
              aglass/cup of water
              adrop/pint of blood
              aloaf of bread
              abar of chocolate
              a piece of furniture
              a clove of garlic

       

   2. Using Quantifiers
      

      Quantifiers like partitives are used before nouns to indicate the amount or quantity. They can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns.
      Example:     Step out for some fresh air
              Did you bring any luggage to the hotel?
              Add a little flour to the dough
              We had a lot of fun on our trip

       

   3. Using the Indefinite Article
      

      An uncountable noun becomes countable when used with the indefinite article to suggest a kind of
      Example:            bread
                      clay    
                      wine
                      behaviour

       

   4. Pluralisation
      
      1. Singular and plural forms related in meaning

         Plural Form            Meaning
         Cakes            units of cakes
         Foods            kinds of foods
         Difficulties         instances of difficulties

          

      2. Singular and plural forms remarkably different in meaning.

         Example
             Plural Form            Meaning
             Works            factories/books
             Lights            camps/torches

 EVALUATION
Make the following uncountable nouns countable:
mucus        news        petrol        darkness
butter        information

 READING ASSIGNMENT
Countdown in English, pg 205

1. Summary – Writing Answers to Model Summary Passage – Food and Nutrition in Practice by J. Anazonwu – Bello, Effective English, pg 228.
   

   According to the passage, food is necessary for quick recovery from ill health. Every individual must acquire knowledge of nutritional values and meal preparation

 EVALUATION
Answer the questions which accompany the passage.

 READING ASSIGNMENT
Effective English, pg 228

1. Vocabulary Development – Words Commonly Misspelt
   

   Wrong Spelling             Correct Spelling
   Millenium                Millennium
   Delibrate                Deliberate
   Priviledge                Privilege
   Curiousity                Curiosity
   Neccessary            Necessary
   Occurence            Occurrence
   Begining                Beginning
   Arguement            Argument
   Truely                Truly
   Occassion                Occasion
   Recieve                Receive
   Possesion                Possession
   Disatisfaction            Dissatisfaction             
   Dinning                 Dining
   Goverment            Government
   Supplementery            Supplementary
   Questionaire            Questionnaire
   Billionnaire            Billionaire

 EVALUATION
Correct the following misspelt words
aggresive    secretray    believe (noun)        sergaent    paralell

 READING ASSIGNMENT
Effective English, pg. 82

1. Writing – Semi-formal Letter
   

   This refers to a letter written to a distant adult relative, an adult family friend, distant pen-pal or an adult acquaintance. It has a lot in common with the informal letter, but also differs from it in many respects, which makes it semi-formal.

    Features of a Semi-formal Letter.
   

   1. Only one address i.e. writer’s address.
   2. Salutation – This comes after the address and it depends on the level of familiarity e.g. ‘Dear

   Uncle Wale’

   1. Introduction – (Par. 1): Exchange of pleasantries and reason for writing the letter.
   2. Body of the letter

      Paragraph 2, 3 and 4    Here, at least three or more points are discussed. The focusshould be the purpose for writing, be it to seek advice, ask for favour, show appreciation for help rendered etc.

   3. Conclusion (Par. 5)    Sending of greetings is allowed here.
   4. Subscription:    This is usually ‘Yours sincerely’ as it is in informal letter. No signature is

      required.

    
Note that the tone has to be respectful. Use of colloquial expressions must be limited to the barest minimum and use of slang is not allowed. The language should be direct, rather than wordy and circumlocutory as in an informal letter.

 EVALUATION
You were travelling on a long journey when you got to a point midway on your journey and the vehicle in which you were travelling broke down. It was getting dark and you were anxious to get to the nearest town. Fortunately, somebody whom you had never met, came along and offered you a lift in his car. You also put up with him or her for the night until the second day when you continued your journey and you eventually reached your destination. Write a letter of gratitude to him/her.

 READING ASSIGNMENT
Countdown in English, pg 68 – 69.

 GENERAL EVALUATION/REVISIONAL QUESTIONS

1. Give the past and past participle forms of the following verbs:

   awake        find        hold        sweep
   beat        forget        leave        swell
   cling        freeze        shut        swing
   drink        grind        sow        take
   feel            hide        stand        wring

    

2. Fill in the blank spaces with the correct forms of the verbs in brackets
   1. The child had __________ the entire bottle before I came in (drink)
   2. After I told Kola of the accident, he _____________ to cry (begin)
   3. When prices __________ consumers feel happy (fall)
   4. The wind has __________ away my shirt (blow)

 WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT
Section A
Select the correct answers from the brackets.

1. A (little/few) boys are still eating in the dining hall
2. There is (few/little) water for Akin to drink: Please get (a/some) more.
3. Do you know there are (less/lesser) days in February than January.
4. The rain this year is (fewer/lesser) than that of last year.
5. You know there is a (few/little) space we can only stay for a (few/little) minutes.
6. We have (many/much) men, yet there isn’t (much/many) to be done
7. Just put in (little/few) salt and give me (a/some) biscuits and a (few/little) orange juice.
8. Go and cook (few/some) rice and prepare (a/an) stew with the fresh fish I bought.
9. You make (many/much) noise. I hope you will talk (little/less) when you finish serving the punishment.
10. Sade has put into the soup (many/much) pepper. The rice even contained (much/many) stones and (much/many)salt. No wonder I couldn’t eat it.

 Section B
Practice 2, Effective English page 205