CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

Revising Grammar With a Smile

1. Fill in the Past Simple forms of the verbs. All the verbs are irregular (except one).

Slattern

Once a young girl _______(come) to her girl-friend who _______(be, not) at home. She _______(be)
going to leave the room, but _______(see) the piano. She _______(find) that the piano _______(be) dusty
and _______(write) on it with her finger: “Slattern.” Then she _______(leave) the room.
The next day they _______(meet) and the lady _______(say): “I _______(call) on you yesterday.”
“Yes, I _______(see) your name on the piano,” she _______(say).

2. Participle or Gerund? Read the text. Find the participles and gerunds. Translate them into
Russian.

Fishing

Mr. Brown was fond of fishing. He went fishing every Saturday.

Once he was sitting on the bank of a river all day long, holding a pole and staring at the water. One man
was sitting behind Mr. Brown all that time, watching him. Mr. Brown didn’t like it. But the man was sitting
without moving, gazing at Mr. Brown.
“Why don’t you try to do some fishing yourself?” asked Mr. Brown at last.
“I’m not good at catching fish. Besides, I have no patience for it,” said the man.

3. Infinitive with or without “to”? Put in “to” where it is required.

A New Trick

Once a conjuror was arranging a new trick. He asked his young son ________ help him during the
performance.
“When I ask for somebody ________ come on the stage, you must ________ come at once. But don’t do
or say anything that will make the audience ________ think that you know me,” said the conjuror.
During the performance the conjuror invited someone ________ assist him on the stage. The boy came
________ help his father.
“What’s your name?” asked the conjuror loudly.
“Bobby,” said the boy.
“Let me ________ introduce Bobby,” shouted the conjuror. “He has never seen me before, have you, my
friend?”
“No, father,” replied the boy.

4. Past Simple, Past Perfect or Future in the Past? Fill in the verbs in the required form.

What a Test!

One rich lady ________(ask) an artist to paint her portrait.

The artist ________(do) his best to make a good picture. When he ____________(finish) the portrait, he
_______(show) it to the lady’s friends. Some of them ___________(think) it _______(be) too realistic.
They _______(be) afraid that the lady ______(like, not) the picture. But the painter ______(feel) that he
_______(be) successful, he ______(want, not) to change anything.
Then one of his friends ________(suggest) that they ______________(leave) it to the lady’s dog. The dog
________(decide) whether the picture ________(be) good or bad.
The next day the painter ________(send) the picture to the lady’s house where her friends
________(gather) to see the result of the test.
As soon as the dog ________(come) to the portrait, it ________(begin) to lick the picture all over.
Everybody ________(congratulate) the artist.
Nobody ________(know) that the painter’s friend ________(rub) some bacon all over the picture.

5. Future Simple or Present Simple? Fill in the verbs in the required forms.

High Hopes

One day a young girl was going to town with a bucket of milk on her head. She said to herself:

“When I _______________(come) to the market, I ________(sell) the milk and ________(buy) twenty
eggs with the money. Out of these eggs I ________(get) twenty chickens. As soon as the chickens
________(be) large enough, I ________(sell) them and ________(buy) a new dress for myself. It
________(be) a yellow dress to match my hair. On May Day, if the weather ______________(be) fine, if it
________(rain, not) I ________(put on) the yellow dress and go to the town. Everybody ________(look) at
me and ________(say): “What a beautiful girl!” But I ________(pass) by without looking at them. I only
________(shake) my head like that.” Without noticing it she ________(shool) her head and down
________(come) the milk, the eggs, the chickens and the yellow dress.

6. Indirect Questions. Open the brackets and rewrite as indirect questions.

He Deserved It

A gentleman was looking for a seat in a train. The train was overcrowded. Finally he saw a vacant seat in
one of the compartments. But a bag lay on this seat and a fat gentleman was sitting near it.
“I wonder (Is this seat free?)” asked the gentleman.
“No, it isn’t. My friend is sitting there. He’ll come in a minute,” said the fat man.
“Would you mind telling me (Can I sit here till he comes?)”
At that moment the train began to move. The gentleman asked the fat man: “Do you know (Why hasn’t
your friend come?). And can you tell me (What shall we do with his bag?)”
The fat man said nothing. The gentleman took the bag and threw it out of the window with the words: “I
think he mustn’t lose his bag.”
The fat man jumped up and tried to catch the bag, but it was too late. Certainly he was quite upset.
Do you understand (Whose bag was that?).
It was the fat man’s bag. He had taken the second seat for his comfort.

7. Relative Clauses (Subject and Object). Find sentences with who/which as the object. Rewrite
them without these words.

How Great America Is!

An American who has come to England is trying to tell an Englishman how great is the country which he
lives in.
“I live in a country which is one of the greatest countries in the world. You know, a train which you board in
Texas in the morning, next morning will still be in Texas. Do you understand me?” says the American.
The Englishman who is listening to the American very attentively says: “Oh, yes, I understand you. The
trains in America are as bad as the trains which the English people have.”

8. Prepositions. Fill in the missing prepositions (of, into, for, under, at, on).

At the Drug Store

A man went ________ a drug store and asked the druggist to give him something ________ a headache.
A bottle ________ ammonia was standing ________ the stall, so the druggist picked it up and held it
________ the man’s nose. The smell was very strong. The man almost fainted and it took him several
minutes to recover. He was very angry and as soon as he could speak again, he began to swear
________ the druggist.
“But didn’t it help your headache?” the druggist asked.
“My headache?” the man shouted angrily. “It’s my wife who has the headache, not me!”

GRAMMAR WITH CHANTS

1. The preposition “by” + train, taxi, bus, etc.

I usually go on holiday by train, but sometimes by plane.

I often go to work by bus, but sometimes by car.
I prefer going to work on foot, if I’m in a bad mood.
But I never go by taxi, because it’s very expensive.

2. The + adjective (В результате такого сложения получается слово, которое обозначает

целую группу людей.)

The old and the young,

The poor and the rich,
Everyone wants to live
And never be sick.

3. The comparison of adjectives.

A Husband and Wife are arguing:

Who is right? Who is wrong?
Whose idea is better?
Whose idea is worse?

She wants to live in a bigger house,

He wants to buy a bigger car,
She wants to have a bigger garden,
He wants to have a bigger garage.

They are arguing all the time:

How to spend the money? What to buy?

The Pacific Ocean is the largest in the world,

The Nile is the longest river,
Angel is the highest waterfall,
Greenland is the largest island in the world.

The largest country is the Russian Federation,

China has the largest population,
The highest mountain in the world is Mount Everest,
The largest arrid land is the Sahara Desert.

4. Comparing two things or people with the help of:

a) adj + er than;
b) as … as;
c) the same as …

She’s taller than her mother,

She’s smaller than her brother,
She’s the same height as her sister,
As they are twins and are like two peas in a pod.

I’m the same age as Mary Turns,

My hair and eyes are the same colour as hers,
I’m as slim as she is,
But why does he love her, not me?

5. The Present Simple.

What’s your hobby?

What do you like doing?
What do you do after work?
Where do you go if you are really bored?
My hobby is singing, I usually sing in the evenings.
I sometimes go to the theater and often go to the cinema.
If I’m really bored, I go to the disco club,
There I meet my friends and dance.

6. Subject-questions (direct word order!).

Who in your family cooks dinner?

Who in your family does the dishes?
Who in your family cleans the flat?
Who in your family goes to the baker’s for some bread?

My mother cooks dinner,

My brother does the dishes,
My sister cleans the flat,
I go to the baker’s for some bread.

As for my father…
He’s often busy or short of time,
But when he’s free
He watches TV or reads New York Times.

7. The Present Continuous.

The Earth is moving around the sun all the time.

Between cities there’s a difference of the time.
People are going to work in Bangkok,
While people are going to bed in New York.

People are having dinner in Washington,

While people are sleeping and dreaming in Wellington.

When I’m standing on my feet,

The wall above is the ceiling.
When I’m standing on my head,
The wall below is the floor.
When I’m standing on my feet,
The wall below is the floor.
When I’m standing on my head,
The ceiling is the wall that I’m standing on.

8. Questions with “How much…?/How many…?”

How much milk can you drink?

How many pears can you eat?
How many journals have you read?
How much money have you saved?

I can drink a dozen cups of milk.

I can eat two dozen pears.
I have read hundreds of journals.
I have saved millions of dollars.

9. Modal verbs.

Mr. Fat asks Mrs. Slim

What he must eat to keep fit.

Mrs. Slim says that

Mr. Fat mustn’t eat cakes and sweets.

He can eat meat, but only a bit,

He can eat vegetables without any limit.

He should not drink coffee,

But he should drink milk.

He mustn’t eat chips between meals,

He should eat more fruit.
That’s healthy food!

10. The Passive Voice (the Past Perfect).

The dinner had been cooked,

The table had been laid,
The party dress had been put on,
The champagne had been opened.
But his plane had been delayed,
And he came too late.

By Tatyana Ivanova