Sách Everyday English A progressive English Course

Everyday English


Dedicated to the students at Leek College of Further Education who showed the need for this book; and to young people everywhere on whose ability to


Preface
This book sets out to help people develop their ability to com­municate in a variety of situations occurring in adult life,
II is intended for all those studying English Language up to the standard of G.C.E. Ordinary Level, including B.E.C. General Level module, “People and Communication(The last two chapters and the assignments in the appendix are specifically designed to complete the course for B.E.C» students.) Although writLen pri­marily for students in Colleges of Further Education, the contents of the book should prove equally suitable for use by 15-16 year olds in Secondary Schools*
Each chapter relates an event or problem in the lives of the Jackson family, at the same time illustrating the use of a particular communication skill or an aspect of grammar or punctuation. This is followed by an explanation of and exercises on that technique. The course is comprehensive and includes plenty of practice in the usual English examination exercises (summaries, comprehensions, essays, letters, etc.) but always these are related to the narrative or the communication demands of real life.
In conclusion, I would like to thank my husband, David, for his patient reading and sound advice, which usually I have acted upon. T am also indebted to the assistance of Lawrence Birch, Engineering Co, Ltd., of Leek, Mrs. P. Banerjea, lecturer at Cauldon College of Further Education, and the following people at Leek College of Further Education; Mr. A, Backhouse (Head of Business Studies Department), Ms. J. Seago (librarian), Miss L. Shuffle- botham (lecturer), Mr. G. Fishburn (technician), and the students who have kindly allowed me to use their work as examples.
Kay Mathias
Note to Second Edition
Questions for discussion arising from the narrative are placed at the end of most chapters but I would advise teachers who use these to do so directly after reading the “story” in each chapter.



Contents
Chapter
1 EXCITEMENT FOR JEAN 1
Phrases and sentences. Punctuation: full stops and capital letters.
2 A DISCUSSION ABOUT HOUSING 6
Vocabulary work: use of the dictionary; writing dictionary definitions. Parts of speech: nouns, pronouns and adjectives. Oral exercise.
3 THE SEARCH FOR A HOUSE 14
Vocabulary work: synonyms; adjectives and related nouns; defining and answering questions. Parts of speech: conjunctions. Paragraphs. Revision exercises.
4 THROUGH ALAN’S WINDOW 22
Vocabulary work: synonyms. Punctuation: use of the comma. Descriptive writing.
5 A CAREERS INTERVIEW 31
Vocabulary work: antonyms; explanation of phrases. Punctuation: use of inverted commas.
6 LETTERS 37
Friendly letters. Formal letters.
7 ALAN APPLIES FOR A JOB 43
Vocabulary work. Applying for a job. Revision exer­cises.
8 THE DAY EVERYTHING WENT WRONG 51
Parts of speech: verbs and adverbs. Describing personal experience and writing short stories. Telephone con­versations. Oral exercise.


9 BRENDA VISITS THE CITIZENS’ ADVICE 70
BUREAU
Vocabulary work. Summary and comprehension.
10 COMPLAINTS AND APOLOGIES 77
Vocabulary work. Letters of complaint. Letters of apology. Use of the apostrophe. Essay writing.
11 AN ACCIDENT [SUB]91[/SUB]
Vocabulary work. Comprehension. Oral exercise. Punc­tuation: use of the semicolon; use of the colon. Revision exercises.
12 GEORGE WRITES A REPORT 100
Vocabulary work. Some errors to avoid. Variety in sentence structure. Reports.
13 A VISIT TO THE HOSPITAL 109
Vocabulary work. Comprehension. Use of language; objective and emotive writing. Clear instructions: written and oral. Figures of speech. Revision exercises.
14 ALAN’S FIRST PAY PACKET 119
Vocabulary’ work. Saving and spending. Reported speech. Summarising conversation: oral and written. Revision exercises.
15 ADVERTISEMENTS 131
Vocabulary work. Comparison of adjectives and ad­verbs. The language of advertising. Revision exercises.
16 VIO LENCE AT THE YOUTH CLUB 139
Vocabulary work. Committee procedure and docu­ments. Formal debates. Revision exercises.
17 LETTERS IN THE PRESS [SUB]150[/SUB]
Vocabulary work. Errors to avoid in style. Letter to the press. Local research. Revision exercises.
18 HOLIDAYS 15S
The language of holiday brochures. Revision exercises.

19 MORNING IN THE OFFICE 165
Communication in the office (I) Types of business letter; letters requesting or giving information; ordering by letter; letters of complaint and apology; circular letters. Reports« Questionnaires. Telephone calls.
20 AFTERNOON IN THE OFFICE 189
Communication in the office (II) Receiving visitors. Using reference books. Memoranda, Notices.
APPENDICES 198
A. Spelling Rules.
B, Assignments (research projects based on chapter themes).
INDEX


Excitement for Jean
One evening in early Spring George Jackson was sitting by himself in his living room, dozing in front of the dying fire* The room was dark and cosy with just the light from the television and the flickering flames.
Suddenly George gave a nervous start, as the door was flung open and Jean Jackson entered the room. Her air of energy and excitement transformed the quiet atmosphere.





Hallo, dad. Has the T.V* sent you to sleep again? Where’s Tony? Hasn’t he come in for supper?
No. We stopped at the chip shop on the way home. We decided to have an early night because we’re going to view some houses tomorrow. Look! We’ve all these to go and see. {Jean shows her father some estate agents’ leaflets.) We could get a mortgage up to about £12,500. That’s about two and a half times Tony’s salary. But Tony wants to keep the pricc below £12,000. Here's one that sounds really good for £11,000.
It sounds all right. But isn’t it rather small for that much money?
Oh, dad, you’ve no idea how much houses cost these days! There’s hardly anywhere for less than <£12,000. Some of the houses for that price haven’t anything modern in them, although you can get council grants for modernisation. This one has got an immersion heater, a modem sink and a garden.
Are you bothered about the garden?
Yes, Tony wants a garden big enough to grow our own vegetables. It doesn’t give the size, so weTl have to wait and see. We’re going to drive around and have a look at the outside of the houses first of all. Then we*11 go to the estate agents and ask to view the ones we like best. Oh, datl, just imagine, this time tomor­row we might have chosen our very own house! But now Pd better go to bed» I don’t want to be late getting up.
GEORGE: Good night then, Jean. Your mother will get you
up in the morning if you do oversleep.
JEAN: Good night, dad. See you tomorrow.
(Taking her estate agents* leaflets with her, Jean went to bed, to dream of her ideal home.)
Phrases and Sentences
A phrase
[TABLE="width: 446"]
[TR]
[TD="align: left"]A phrase is a group of words which does not make a complete
[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD]statement.
[/TD]
[TD]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]e.g. (a)
[/TD]
[TD]was sitting in the living room
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD](b)
[/TD]
[TD]the living room
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD](c)
[/TD]
[TD]was flung open
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD](d)
[/TD]
[TD]entered the room
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]([SUP]e[/SUP])
[/TD]
[TD]her air of energy and excitement
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD](0
[/TD]
[TD]stopped at the chip shop
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD](g)
[/TD]
[TD]to have an early night
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD](h)
[/TD]
[TD]going to view some houses tomorrow
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD](i)
[/TD]
[TD]taking her estate agents’ leaflets with her
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Ü)
[/TD]
[TD]to dream of her ideal home
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


A sentence
A sentence is a group of words which expresses a complete thought or statement. It consists of a subject and a prcdicatc.
The subject is the person, thing or idea that the sentence is about.
The predicate is the rest of the sentence which tells us some­thing about the subject.
e.g. George Jackson was sitting in the living room
(the subject is added to the phrase so that it makes com­plete sense).