GRAMMAR SELF-STUDY III YEAR

TASK 1. Sort out the nouns in the box into the categories given in the table below.

research travel sheep accommodation mice hair

furniture advice people information work beauty

news police politics scissors sun music

secrecy teeth health difficulty talk ice-cream

traffic money watch technology time success

weather sky experience funeral talent dust

TASK 2. Revise the use of quantifiers with countable and uncountable nouns given in the table and choose the right word in brackets to fill in the gaps in the sentences below.

1. We have imported ___________ videos this year than last year. (fewer/less)

2. There has been __________ demand for videos this year than last year. (fewer/less)

3. ________ vehicles have just been recalled because of a design fault. (a lot of/a great deal of/a big amount of)

4. ________ effort has been put into this project, (a lot of/many/a great number of)

5. There isn't ________ hope of finding the wreck, (a great deal of/many/ a great number of)

6. There aren't _________ dictionaries that can compare with this one. (few/many/little)

7. ________ book was written by someone else (most/most of the/the majority of)

8. ________ magazines carry advertisements, (most/most of/a great amount of)

9. ________ metal is liable to rust. (most/most of/ a great amount of)

10. I'd like _______ milk in my coffee, please, (little/a little/few/fewer)

11. This room needs ________ pictures to brighten it up. (a few/few/ a great amount of)

12. _______businesses have gone bankrupt this year, (a good deal of/several/a small amount)

13. There aren't _______ chocolates left! (any/some/little)

14. There isn't ________ time to waste, (any/some/no/none)

15. We've had _________ trouble with this machine already. (enough/hardly any/none of the)

16. There have been ________ accidents on this corner this year. (a good deal of/hardly any/ a small amount of)

17. We can't accept the estimates. ________ estimate is low enough. (either/neither/both)

18. _______ examples prove that I am right, (both/neither/either)

19. There have been _________ changes in the new edition. (no/any/none)

20. There has been __________ change in the new edition (no/any/a great number of/a great deal of)

TASK 3. Fill in the gaps with the quantifiers given in the box. The first one is done for you. You can use some words more than once.

any enough few hardly any many some

no any none plenty of very little

EXCUSES! EXCUSES!

You may be trying to buy a pair of shoes and there are too many (1) in your size and you can't choose, or there are too _______ (2). Shop assistants are good at inventing excuses. A ______ (3) days ago I was trying to buy _______ (4) birthday cards for three five-year-old children. There were ________ (5) cards for children, but ______ (6) for five-year-olds. 'Five is a very popular age this year ', the assistant said. 'We can't get _______ (7) cards for this age-group.' Then I went to ‘Do It Yourself’ shop and tried to buy _______ (8) orange paint. There was ______ (9) paint in the shop, but in the end I found ________ (10). Then I asked for two small paint brushes. ‘We don't have ________ (11),' the shop assistant explained. 'There's _______ (12) demand for them. No one ever asks for _______ (13). 'Yes, they do!’ I exclaimed. 'I'm asking for _______ (14) now!’

TASK 4. Decide if the sentences below are correct or have mistakes. Make the necessary corrections.

1. Researches into cancer have not yet come up with a cure.
2. Draughts are played on board with black and white squares.
3. What happened when you got to the check in? – We had too much luggage.
4. The public were waiting to see the hated hangman swing from his own gallows.
5. Mumps are an illness which is very dangerous for pregnant women.
6. Two military aircrafts were hanging above the water and the noise of their engines was deafening.
7. Could you lend me 5 pounds? – Sorry, I have no money on me. I left them in my hotel room.
8. There is always a heavy traffic in the centre of the city, that is why jams are frequent.
9. When she came home there were some bad news waiting for her.
10. There was so little furniture in the flat that we hardly found any chairs to sit all the people.
11. What a glorious weather! I don’t remember such hot April!
12. You are not eating anything! Have some fruits, please.
13. The advices you gave me were really useful. I’m so grateful!
14. The number of sheep in the flock is close to 100 heads.
15. The main criteria for buying goods is value for money.
16. Don’t throw pearls before swines.
17. Parenthesis are sentences added to a speech or a piece of writing to give extra information.
18. These Picasso’s paintings will form the nuclei of the new museum collection.
19. Terrorism is a phenomenon of the 20^th century.
20. In everybody’s opinion the headmaster’s politics is extreme.

TASK 5. Give the plural forms of the nouns given below.

a bamboo

a focus

a forget-me-not

a trout

a kilo

a leaf

a hairdo

a story-teller

a mosquito

a path

a Negro

a grouse

a thief

a dragonfly

a a louse

a goodbye

a bath

a photo

a sheaf

a woman-hater

a taboo

a nucleus

a hoof

a cuckoo

a half

a phenomenon

a volcano

a gulf

a woman-journalist

a cello

a Swiss

a leaf

a doe

a stay-at-home

a chief

a zero

a go-between

a calf

a canoe

a brother-in-law

a still life

a buffalo

Jenny

a chessman

a booth

a looker-on

a Hindoo

a scarf

a youth

an analysis

TASK 6. Cherry Reid is a famous explorer. Below you can read part of a diary she kept when she was travelling. Open the brackets and fill in the gaps in her diary.

Dec 11. I have walked a long way, and my ________ (foot) are tired. As I sit here, resting, I realize there just aren't enough _______ (page) in my diary to describe this lovely place!

On the hills, some ________ (man) from the nearby village are driving their ______ (sheep) home. In the valley, they are ploughing with ________ (ox) and there are also some people on the river bank, catching _________ (fish) with spears. Oh! One of them has just caught two _______ (fish) with one spear!

The _______ (woman) of the village are colourfully dressed, with red and blue _______ (kerchief) covering their hair. They farm small plots of land where they grow ________ (potato) and ________ (tomato). They carry their ______ (baby) on their backs all the time they are working. ________ (goose) stand outside the wooden houses and warn the _______ (woman) of approaching strangers. Outside the houses the children are picking ______ (fruit) from different fruit-trees. They look healthy, with perfect ________ (tooth). Some of the boys are carving toys with sharp _______ (knife).

Life is very simple here. I have seen no _______ (radio) and the people do not even use _______ (match) to light their fires. Several _______ (person) were very surprised when I showed them their _______ (photo) that I had made with my Polaroid.

TASK 7. Use the nouns given in brackets in their plural form.

As we sailed up the River Hudson towards the (city) of New York and Brooklyn, we experienced a sensation which is, I think, common to all travellers who come to an end of their voyage. Many (people) have tried to analyze this emotion, and I have read many such (analysis), but none ever have really satisfied me. The buildings stood out against the skyline like enormous (box) of (match) stuck on end. The houses and (church) were completely dwarfed by them. As we went up the river we examined them all with our (glass). It seemed as if each building brushed the (sky). There were a lot of ships in the river mouth. They were bringing (cargo) from all over the world: (cargo) of meat and (potato) and (mango), of (machine) and (toy) and many other things. They carried (silk) from China and (tea) from India as well. They flew the (colour) of almost every seafaring nation on the globe.

(Army) of (customs-official), (port-authority) and (other) came on board. The passengers were paraded before the port doctor. He was a huge fat man. The first class passengers filed before him as solemn as (ox). Most of the third class passengers stood waiting their turn as quiet as (mouse), though some were as noisy as a flock of (goose). They carried their (saving) in knotted (handkerchief) and the rest of their (belonging) in bundles. Many seemed to have completely lost their bearings and seemed as bewildered as (sheep), while their (wife) and (child) stared around like startled (deer).

There seemed to be varying (criterion) for the treatment of passengers by the immigration (authority), according to the class in which they travelled. Those in the third were examined for (louse), regardless of their feelings.

We landed with every manifestation of high (spirit). The (hanger-on) stared at us as though we were curious (phenomenon).

TASK 8. Fill in the gaps with is, are, do, does, has or have. Give two forms where possible. Explain your choice.

1. The government ____ bringing in a new bill.
2. All governments ____ trying to control crime.
3. The military _____ occupied the house.
4. The company ____ going to employ six staff.
5. The police ____ interested in this case.
6. The public ____ concerned about it.
7. The jury ____ trying to decide now.
8. How many people ____ coming tonight?
9. A lot of people ____ signed the petition.
10. The youth of today ____ many advantages.
11. The committee ____ meeting now.
12. There ____ vermin in this restaurant.
13. The acoustics in this room ____ very good.
14. Acoustics ____ a subject I know little about.
15. The statistics in this report ____ inaccurate.
16. Statistics ____ a compulsory course in this college.
17. ____ there any statistics for road accidents?
18. This crossroads ____ dangerous.
19. There ____ crossroads every mile.
20. There ____ four crossroads in our village.
21. Many species of moths ____disappeared.
22. This species ____ green and white spots.
23. Our company headquarters ____ in London.
24. Our works ____ a good canteen.
25. There ____ many series of books on birds.
26. My maths ____ getting worse and worse!
27. ____ there any kennels in this area?
28. The goods you ordered _____ arrived.
29. Where ____ the scissors? - ____ are in the first drawer on the left.
30. How much ____a good pair of trousers cost these days?
31. If your clothes ____ dirty, please put them in the laundry basket.
32. All their belongings ____ been destroyed in a fire.
33. My earnings ____ not high, but at least I have enough money to pay my rent.

TASK 9. Open the brackets and write the verbs in the correct form: singular or plural.

LIES, DAMN LIES?

Statistics ____ (be) a branch of economics, but it is often said that there ____ (be) lies, damn lies and statistics. Recent statistics of British life ____ (show) that the family ____ (be) happier than it used to be. The youth of today ____ (be) likely to live longer than the previous generation. People ____ (own) more things than they used to, but more police ____ (be) employed to fight crime. Mathematics ____ (be) a subject which is studied more by boys than by girls, as ____ (be) physics. The earnings of working women ____ (be) getting higher all the time and many women earn more than their husbands. Good manners ____ (be) declining. The public ____ (spend) more on clothes, and clothes ____ (be) becoming more and more expensive. Glasses ____ (be) worn by more people, but only a minority ____ (favour) contact lenses. Statistics ____ (make) us want to grind our teeth and can probably tell us if we have any teeth left to grind!

TASK 10. Use the nouns given in brackets in the plural form if possible.

WHAT DOES IT COME UNDER?

If you're dieting, there are certain _________ (food) you really have to avoid: _________ (cake) and _________ (biscuit) are out for a start:, but you can't live for ever on _________ (tomato) and _________ (orange). There are _________ (man) and _________ (woman) who spend their entire _________ (life ) counting the calories they take in each day. Some national _________ (cuisine) make you fat. The _________ (Japanese) have a high protein diet, while the _________ (Swiss) eat a lot of milk _________ (product). Personally, I'm lucky not to have to diet, but my friend, John, can't eat anything without looking it up in his Calorie Chart. This is carefully organized so that _________ (strawberry) and _________ (peach) are under 'Fruit'; _________ (potato) and _________ (spaghetti) come under 'Starchy Foods', and so on.

I entertained John to a nice low calorie meal yesterday and at the end I offered him some jelly. 'What does "jelly" come under?' he asked looking at his chart. 'Half a litre of double cream,' I said, pouring the stuff over my plate!

TASK 11. Spot and correct mistakes in the sentences given below. Some of the sentences are correct.

1. Had I three hundreds lifes, I would gladly lay them down for my country.
2. There are several pathes to the top of the mountain but all of them are extremely dangerous.
3. A great many book were scattered on the shelfs, on two small tables and even on the floor.
4. Only three loafs of bread were left till the end of the week.
5. That morning my parents were quite different from their usual selfs.
6. Jim was awakened by the sound of horses’ hooves.
7. The police was called and the ambulance was sent for.
8. Like many wifes Laura thought she knew the worst about her husband but she was mistaken.
9. On our way to the lake we passed several tidy farmhouses and answered the friendly waves of farm-woman in white aprons.
10. You will never hear truths from the mouthes of these youths.
11. Telma was a woman who would do nothing by halves.
12. To appoint Mr. Blackburn to this position is the same as to set the fox to keep the goose.
13. The nurse had to spend the whole day on her foot moving between her patient and the operation theatre.
14. Two Chinamen with vegetable baskets on their heads walked past them.
15. The old man acquired a strange hobby of saving mothes from the candle light.
16. These two war heros shot down 92 enemy aircrafts.
17. What is the cheapest mean of transport in Singapore?
18. The fishes were small and bony and the potatoes were all burnt.
19. Nobody is allowed to shoot birds or deers in this forest.

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 3450