1UNIT 1PREVIEWING AND PREDICTING

Objectives

After learning this unit, you are expected to be able to:1. preview and predict texts;2. identify parts of speech: nouns and verbs;3. write a summary of a short paragraph;

Pre-reading Activities

Discuss the following questions with a partner.1. What do you know about preview and predict?2. What do you think of the title of this unit?

Reading Selection

Text 1

Previewing and Predicting

There are two skills that are essential for a good reader: previewing and predicting. Whenyou gather information about a book by examining its cover, you are previewing. The aim ofpreviewing is to help you to predict or make some educated guesses about what in the book. Youshould develop the habit of applying these skills whenever you read.

Previewing and predicting before you read can make a big difference. You can get someideas about what you will read. That way you will begin to process the information far more quickly.You will also be able to follow the writers idea better. Though it takes a few minutes to preview andpredict, those few minutes are well invested. You will find that later you save reading time and gaincomprehension.

Guidelines for previewing passagesTo preview a passage, read only some parts:1. Read the title.2. Look at the picture (if there are any).3. Read the first few sentences in the first paragraph.4. Read the first line of the other paragraphs.5. Read the first and last sentence of the last paragraph.

Guidelines for previewing and predicting longer passages:1. Read the title: What is the passage about? Do you know anything about this subject?2. Decide what kind of text it is; is it an essay, an argument, a story, an explanation? Does it seem

difficult?

23. Look at the way the text is organized; is it divided into parts? Are there sub-titles? If so, what dothey tell you about the way the subject is presented?

4. Read very quickly the first line of each paragraph or sub-division; can you tell what the passageis about? Do you already know something about it?

5. Notice names, numbers, dates, and words that are repeated; do you recognize any of them?6. Read quickly the last few sentences in the final paragraph; what is the authors final point? Is it

a conclusion or a summary?

Answer these questions based on text above.

1. What are two essential skills for a good reader?2. What is previewing? What is predicting?3. Why are previewing and predicting important?4. Look at the picture below. It contains a large number of different images. With a partner, discuss

the images. How do they relate together? Can you predict what the topic of the reading will be?5. Write down the objects you see in the following picture.

Picture 1.1 PredictionFrom : http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/570/pulp/predict.htm

Predict what will come next in each story. Choose the sentence that could be next.

Example:Yesterday, there was a big snowstorm in Detroit. Many schools were closed, and people had to stayhome from work.

A. It was a warm, sunny day and the beaches were crowded.B. It was very cold, but the snow on the trees looked beautiful.C. Only one inch of snow fell in the downtown area.

The correct answer is choice B.Choice A is not correct. People don't go to beaches when there is snow!Choice C is not correct. In a big snowstorm, many inches of snow fall.

31. There were many good shows on TV last night. The Smith family stayed home.A. They turned off the TV and went to bed early.B. The only interesting show was about traveling by bicycle.C. They saw a play, a music show, and the news.

2. John and Alice Babson are not happy with the school in their town.A. Their children love to go to school.B. The classrooms are too crowded.C. It is a beautiful building.

3. Many young people move to New York after college.A. New York is a dangerous city.B. It's difficult to find jobs in New York.C. There are lots of interesting things to do in New York.

4. Fly Happy Time Airlines! Take an exciting trip to Holiday Island!A. This trip is very expensive.B. Holiday Island has warm, sunny weather.C. Happy Times Airlines is never on time.

5. Alex had trouble falling asleep last night. He was awake until 3:00A.M.A. This morning he feels tired.B. This morning he feels rested and ready to work.C. This morning he is hungry.

6. The roads were covered with ice and were dangerous today.A. Sam drove home quickly.B. Sam took a long time to drive home.C. Sam enjoyed driving home.

From http://www.eltplanet.net/forum/

Grammar Focus

Parts of Speech (1)

Table 1: Summary of the eight English parts of speech

part ofspeech

function or "job" example words example sentences

Verb action or state (to) be, have, do, like,work, sing, can, must

EnglishClub.com is a web site. Ilike EnglishClub.com.

4Noun thing or person pen, dog, work,music, town, London,teacher, John

This is my dog. He lives in myhouse. We live in London.

Adjective describes a noun a/an, the, 69, some,good, big, red, well,interesting

My dog is big. I like big dogs.

Adverb describes a verb,adjective or adverb

quickly, silently, well,badly, very, really

My dog eats quickly. When he isvery hungry, he eats reallyquickly.

Pronoun replaces a noun I, you, he, she, some Tara is Indian. She is beautiful.

Preposition links a noun to anotherword

to, at, after, on, but We went to school on Monday.

Conjunction joins clauses orsentences or words

and, but, when I like dogs and I like cats. I likecats and dogs. I like dogs but Idon't like cats.

Interjection short exclamation,sometimes inserted intoa sentence

oh!, ouch!, hi!, well Ouch! That hurts! Hi! How areyou? Well, I don't know.

Source: www.uottawa.ca/academic

Verbs

The verb is the main part of speech. The shortest sentence contains a verb. You can make aone-word sentence with a verb, for example: "Stop!" You cannot make a one-word sentencewith any other type of word. In simple terms, we can say that verbs are words that tell uswhat a subject does or is. Verbs can be divided into action verbs (verbs that give the idea ofaction, of doing something, e.g. run, fight, do and work all convey action and state verbs(verbs that give the idea of existence, of state, of being, e.g. be, exist, seem and belong allconvey state ). For examples:

action verb: Ram plays football. state verb : Anthony seems kind.

We divide verbs into two broad classifications: helping verbs (verbs that have no meaning on theirown) and main verbs (verbs that have meaning on their own; they tell us something).

In the following table we see example sentences with helping verbs and main verbs. Notice that allof these sentences have a main verb. Only some of them have a helping verb.

Table 2 Verb Classification

helping verb main verb

John likes coffee.

5You lied to me.

They are happy.

The children are playing.

We must go now.

I do not want any.

The Earth will rotate.

The students have done the exercises.

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NounsThe simple definition is: a person, place or thing. Here are some examples:

person: man, woman, teacher, John, Mary place: home, office, town, countryside, America thing: table, car, banana, money, music, love, dog, monkey

Nouns can be countable and uncountable. Countable nouns have a singular and plural form. Theyare things which occur in individual units or parts of a whole thing: bottle-bottles. Uncountablenouns usually have only one form (without an -s). They are often words to describe materials,substances or abstract things: wood, air, love. Sometimes, the same noun can be countable anduncountable, often with a change of meaning.

Table 3 Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Countable Uncountable

There are two hairs in my coffee! hair I don't have much hair.

There are two lights in our bedroom. light Close the curtain. There's too much light!

Shhhhh! I thought I heard a noise. noiseIt's difficult to work when there is too muchnoise.

Have you got a paper to read?(= newspaper)

paperI want to draw a picture. Have you got somepaper?

Our house has seven rooms. room Is there room for me to sit here?

We had a great time at the party. time Have you got time for a coffee?

Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's greatestworks.

work I have no money. I need work!

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6Exercise 1: Are these nouns usually countable(C ) or uncountable (U)? Which can be either (E)?1. information .. 7. news 2. furniture . 8. computer ..3. country .. 9. advice ..4. luggage .. 10. equipment ..5. hair .. 11. chocolate ..6. watch . 12. noise .

Proper and Common NounsA proper noun is the special word (or name) that we use for a person, place or organization, likeJohn, Marie, London, France or Sony. Proper nouns are usually capitalized. A common noun is a nounthat represents a class of things like boy, girl, city, company.

Table 4: Common and Proper Nouns

common noun proper noun

man, boy John

woman, girl Mary

country, town England, London

company Ford, Sony

shop, restaurant Maceys, McDonalds

month, day of the week January, Sunday

book, film War & Peace, Titanic

Source: www.uottawa.ca/academic

Exercise 2: Underline the proper nouns and circle the common nouns in the following sentences.1. The house is in Africa.2. The Ford truck is missing one door.3. I am from Belize.4. Jaime lives at 108 Spring St.5. Monaco is an expensive city.6. The Bulls won the game last night.7. Basketball is so fun.8. Mrs. Peach needed to know my phone number, said Juan.9. Alamance Community College is a nice school.10. Birds are my favorite animals.

Exercise 3: Identify the nouns and verbs in the following sentences.1. It was a hot summer day in Chicago.2. The houses are often bright colors, too.3. Maria loves to paint large, colorful paintings.4. Janet and Kevin Kemper had two children: Thomas, 3, and Sally, 6 months.

75. In the Brookfield Zoo, the animals are not in cages.6. While the Kempers were watching the gorillas, little Sally started to cry.7. A tall man reached up to get him, but it was too late.8. Then she came to New York to study with several famous artists.9. With these colors and shapes, Marias paintings seem alive and exciting.10. She won several important awards in Brazil, where her work became very popular.

Writing Practice

SummarizingHere are the steps to summarize.

1. Read the article.2. Re-read the article. Underline important ideas. Circle key terms. Find the main point of the

article. Divide the article into sections or stages of thought, and label each section or stage ofthought in the margins. Note the main idea of each paragraph if the article is short.

3. Write brief summaries of each stage of thought or if appropriate each paragraph. Use aseparate piece of paper for this step. This should be a brief outline of the article.

4. Write the main point of the article. Use your own words. This should be a sentence thatexpresses the central idea of the article as you have determined it from steps above.

5. Write your rough draft of the summary. Combine the information from the first four steps intoparagraphs.

Include all the important ideas.

Follow the original organization where possible.

Include any important data.

Include any important conclusions.6. Edit your version. Be concise. Eliminate needless words and repetitions.

Avoid using "the author says...," "the author argues...," etc.7. Compare your version to the original.

Do not use quotations, but if you use them be sure to quotecorrectly. Indicate quotations with quotation marks. Cite eachquotation correctly (give the page number).

Do not plagiarize. Cite any paraphrases by citing the page number the informationappears on. Avoid paraphrasing whenever possible.Use your own words to state the ideas presented in the article.

In a summary, you should include only the information your readers need.1. State the main point first.2. Use a lower level of technicality than the authors of the original article use. Do not write a

summary your readers cannot understand.3. Make the summary clear and understandable to someone who has not read the original

article. Your summary should stand on its own.

84. Write a summary rather than a table of contents.Wrong: This article covers point X. Then the article covers point Y.Right: Glacial advances have been rapid as shown by x, y, and z.

5. Add no new data and none of your own ideas.6. Use a simple organization:

main point

main results

conclusion/recommendation7. Unless the examples in the article are essential, do not include the examples in your

summary. If you include them, remember to explain them.

Practice: Write a summary of the following paragraph. Your summary should not exceed 20words.

Edwin Hubble was an American astronomer whose research led to discoveries aboutgalaxies and the nature of the universe. He settled a long debate by demonstrating that theAndromeda nebula was located outside the galaxy, establishing the islands universe theory,which states that galaxies exist outside of our own. His study of the distribution of galaxiesresulted in Hubbles Constant, a standard relationship between a galaxys distance from theearth and its speed of recession.

Summary

1. Previewing and predicting are necessary to help us predict what the text is about by reading itstitle, reading fast the first sentence of each paragraph and the last sentence of the finalparagraph. By doing this you can gain the information about what you are going to read.

2. In summarizing, rewrite only the important information using your own sentences. Quotation isnot recommended, but if you quote, make sure you mention the page number of the quotation.

3. Verbs and nouns are the most essential parts of speech. An English sentence may consist of onlyone word- verb and a simple sentence may consist of a subject (noun) and a verb.

Reflection

In this unit, you have learned how to preview and predict the text, to identify verbs and nouns, andto summarize a short paragraph. Put a check on the column based on your own self-assessment.

Objectives Achieved More practiceneeded

To predict and preview

To identify verbs and nouns

To identify countable anduncountable nouns

9To identify proper and commonnouns

To summarize a short paragraph

For more practice, you can go to the following sites on how to preview and predict the texts:http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/570/pulp/predict.htm http://www.eltplanet.net/forum/

More practice on verbs and nouns can be obtained from the following site:www.uottawa.ca/academic