Lesson Links from Irv Leskowitz - MARCH 2004

DICTIONARY SKILLS

Below are sets of guide words (the words that appear in the left-hand column) that might be found in a dictionary.  Decide if any of the words alongside each set would appear on the dictionary page that has those guide words.  Underline the word(s) that would be found on that page.

MORE, LESS, OR THE SAME*

In the list below are paired units of measurement.  Which one of the pair is the larger, which one the smaller, or are the two equal in weight or volume?

Note: A good cookbook will define and compare all these measurement units.

*Thanks to Kraft Foods’ Teacher’s Guide

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT…

For this exercise, you are asked to first explain the rules for making the plural forms of nouns.  Then you are asked to create a list of nouns and a space next to each entry in which your student is asked to write the plural form of the noun.  The list should have nouns that are formed by adding s or es, and nouns ending in o or y, as well as those that have irregular plural forms.

Examples:

And so on….    

WHICH, WHO, WHOM and THAT in ADJECTIVE CLAUSES

Background information:

Who and whom refer to people.  Which refers to things.  That can refer to either people or things.

A clause is a structure that has a subject and a verb.  There are several types of clauses, one of which is the adjective clause.  An adjective clause describes or gives information about a noun, and immediately follows the noun it modifies; it is introduced by a pronoun (which, who, whom or that).

A. Who and that can be used as the subject of an adjective clause.                                            

Example:

I met a man who is a politician.  (correct)
I met a man that is a politician.   (correct)

B. Whom and that can be used as the object in an adjective clause.

Example:

The man that I met was a politician.     (correct)
The man whom I met was a politician.  (correct)
The man I met was a politician.            (correct)

C. Which and that can be used as the subject or the object of an adjective clause.

Example: 

The book which I read was good.    (correct)
The book that I read was good.        (correct)
The book I read was good.                (correct)

Adjective clauses with WHO and WHOM

A. Combine the two sentences to form a single sentence.  Make “b” an adjective clause.

1  a. Do you know the people?                       b. They live in the white house.

Do you know the people who live in the white house?

2  a. The woman gave me some information.   b. I called her.

The woman whom I called gave me some information.

3  a. The people were very nice.                     b. I met them at the party last night.

4  a. The man talked a lot.                              b. He sat next to me.

B. Complete the sentences with who or whom.  Put parentheses around the entire adjective clause.

1. The children (who live down the street in the yellow house) are always polite.

2. The people (whom we visited) gave us tea and a light snack.

3. My mother is a person ____ I admire tremendously.

4. People ___ listen to very loud music may suffer gradual hearing loss.

Adjective clauses with WHO, WHOM, WHICH and THAT

Combine the two sentences to form a single sentence.  Make “b” an adjective clause.  Give all the possible forms.

1  a. The pill made me sleepy.                        b. I took it.

The pill which I took made me sleepy.
The pill that I took made me sleepy.
The pill I took made me sleepy.

2  a. The soup was too salty.                          b. I had it for lunch.

3  a. I have a class.                                        b. It begins at 8:00 A.M.

Note: As you see, space permits just a couple of tasks for each exercise. You have no such constraints.

These exercises were  taken from Fundamentals of English Grammar, 3rd ed., Betty Schrampfer Azar

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