IRREGULAR VERBS
Irregular verbs pose a problem for many people, even those with advanced literacy skills; your student may also find them difficult. Irregular verbs are those for which the simple past and past participle forms are spelled differently from the simple form.
Examples:
ring, rang, rung
hear, heard, heard
prove, proved, proved/proven
Exercise: Write sentences that require the student to insert the correct form of any irregular verb that fits. Have student indicate the form used.
Examples:
My high school biology teacher once _(taught)_ physics also.
I usually __(sleep)_ seven hours a night, but last night I __(slept)__ only five hours.
Joe likes to __(do)_ crossword puzzles, but he has never __(done)_ the big Sunday puzzles.
Etc
back to top
IT’S ABOUT TIME
Answers to “What” questions usually ask for a specific time.
Examples: What time is it? It’s four o’clock.
What time do you leave? I leave at 7:30 a.m.
Answers to “When” questions can be various expressions of time.
Examples: When do we have to be there? At 5 o’clock.
When will Harry arrive? Next week.
Exercise: On line A, write a question using when or what time based on the information in line B.
Example:
A: When did you go to Disneyland?
B: Last April. (I went to Disneyland.)
A: What time did you leave?
B: At 4:30. (I left at 4:30.)
A: _______________________________
B: Four days ago.
(My sister arrived back from vacation.)
A: ______________________________
B: 5:00 p.m. (My train leaves.)
back to top
RE-ARRANGED WORDS: A vocabulary expander
By re-arranging the letters of some words, new words can be formed.
Examples:
late becomes tale
lots (2) becomes slot and lost
Ask your student to re-arrange the words below and then ask her/him to find similar words.
runt once send lose evil (3) lemon …
You could make a game of this by asking your student to find such words on her/his own.
back to top
WORD ASSOCIATIONS: Variations on a theme
Variation 1: Which words in the following group are associated with each other, and what is the theme that connects them?
Theme: Breakfast (but accept any logical answer).
Cereal Shoes Milk Fruit Science Coffee Orange juice
NOTE: The list may include any number of items, connected and not connected, according to your student’s literacy skills. All or most of the words you use should be familiar to your student, but it wouldn’t hurt to slip a new word into the mix once in a while.
Variation 2: Present your student with a theme (automobiles; ocean creatures; job; etc.) and ask him/her to list/write as many words as he/she can that are associated with the theme.
back to top
A/AN and NONCOUNT NOUNS*
You remember, of course, the “A vs. An” item in the December issue of Links. Today we look at A and An in the context of noncount nouns; i.e., nouns that are not counted with numbers. Noncount nouns usually refer to a group of things (furniture; mail). They are not immediately preceded by a or an; and they do not have a plural form (furniture, not furnitures).
Here are some sample sentences of the type you can write to create exercises for this topic.
1. Correct the mistakes:
I bought one chair for my apartment. (Right)
I bought one furniture for my apartment. (Substitute some, or delete one.)
I bought a furniture for my apartment. (Delete a, or insert some.)
2. Write a/an or some in the blanks. Identify highlighted word as a count or noncount word.
I got _____ mail today.
Sue likes ____ jewelry.
She always wears ____ ring.
I wrote ____ letter today.
I had ____ orange for breakfast.
*Azar, Betty Schrampfer. Fundamentals of English Grammar, 3rd ed., 2003
back to top |