The Basic Teacher
STEP 9
| VOCABULARY | | |
|---|
| Nouns | | Adjectives | | | Structure Words |
| boy | |
young -- old | | |
see |
| bridge | |
new | | | very |
| girl | |
| | | because |
| middle | |
| | | till |
| part | |
| | | yes |
| river | |
| thing | |
| tree | |
STRUCTURE
1 . Pronouns
The pronoun form what has the sense of that which (see page 35).
he boy takes what the man gives him to his mother.
They do not let her do what the other girls do..
What I have I will keep.
2 . Adjectives
The adjective old is the opposite of both new and young..
A young man. An old man.
A new bag. An old bag.
3 .Operators
| Root Form | Past | Present | Future |
| SEE | SAW | SEE
but
He etc. SEES | WILL SEE |
Learn the Present and Future Tense of see.
The building which you see is not a store.
When the bird sees he boy, it goes from the tree.
You will see the things when they are ready.
When giving an order, the root form of the operator is used without a subject.
Come with me.
Put that thing in the river.
Go to the store and take the girl with you.
Be quick !
Negative orders are formed with the auxiliary do, even when the operator is be or have (neither of which, as we have seen, takes the auxiliary in negative statements).
Do not put the food on the floor.
Do not go up the tree.
Do not be slow.
Do not have a house in the country.
We now come to forms made by adding -ing to the operators. Going through the operators you have already learned, these are : being, coming, doing, getting, giving, going, having, keeping, letting, making, putting, seeing, seeming, taking. Note that the 'e' is dropped in giving, having, making, and taking, and that the 't' is doubled in getting, letting, and putting.
The -ing forms are used like adjectives after some form of be to describe an action as in progress and not complete.1 They may be followed by whatever would be necessary to complete the statement with any other form of the operator.
The train is going across the bridge.
These men are making things for the new building.
I will be doing work in the garden while you are in the house.
She may be getting some flowers.
The boy is not coming here.
I am putting the apples where you will see them.
Compare these examples with :
I am hanging this net on the tree.
The combination of be with an -ing form i sot generally used in the case of have (in the sense of 'own' or 'be in possession of'), be, seem, and see, because these operators describe a continuing condition rather than an act.
I have a garden.
The tree has green leaves.
My mother is old.
This part of the bridge seems new.
I see a young man by the river.
(Not : I am having a garden, etc.
On the other hand, one may say :
The boy is having a meal. (when have == 'eat', an act)
The porter is being quick. (meaning that he is doing something quickly a the present time)
In a when- or while- statement using be followed by an -ing form, if the subject is the same as that used in the main statement, it and the operator be are often omitted. Thus we may say :
When going across the bridge, you will see the boys in the river.
I will do he work while going to the office.
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1. Operations with the -ing endings used after be form the Continuous Tenses. They are frequently used where another language would use the Simple Present etc., Tense. The Simple Present in English is used only when we are not describing the act as in progress : for example, in starting a general fact (Trees give shade), or naming a habitual action (We have our meals in the garden), or, as it has mainly been used in these Steps up to now, in merely enumerating a series of events (The porter take my bag. He puts it on the seat, etc.)
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4 . Prepositions
The only new preposition in this Step is till, which is used only in connection with time.
He will be here till the morning.
In negative statements, not . . . till generally has the special force of 'at the time named and not before'.
The old man will not get out of his bed till the morning. (that is, he will get out of his be in the morning and not before)
Note that till may be a conjunction as well as a preposition. As a conjunction, it introduces a dependent statement.
She will not go till you come.
5 . Adverbs
The adverb of degree, very, qualifies only adjectives and adverbs, and is placed immediately before them. It is never used with out or the adverbial uses of prepositions.
This wall is a part of a very old building.
Between the towns of a very wide river.
the boy may take the girl very far from the house.
Do not go very near to the river.
Adverbs may be formed from a number of adjectives by the addition of -ly. These adverbs describe the manner in which an act is done. Like other adverbs, they are sometimes put at the beginning. The learner must be careful, however, not to make use of this order except with adverbs with which he has found it exemplified, as it is not always possible.
The men are making the bridge slowly.
Frequently the family goes to the country.
She does this work very quickly.
There order in relation to other adverbs and adverbial phrases after an operator varies somewhat with the sense, and details must be discovered by experience. Speaking generally, however, they come after adverbs of place and before adverbs of time.
The trains go from here frequently.
The trains go frequently at night.
The trains go from here frequently at night.
6 . Conjunctions
The conjunction because introduces a dependent statement giving a reason for what is said in the other part of the sentence.
Go to the river with the boy because he is young.
Because the garden has no trees, the building gets no shade.
7 . Questions
Questions of the sort which may be answered with a simple 'yes' or 'no' are formed from statements using be, have, will, and may by simply reversing the order of the operator or auxiliary and the subject.
Statement : the girl is in the river.
Question : Is the girl in the river ?
Statement : You are not ready.
Question : Are you not ready ?
Am I far from the station ?
Are you ready ?
Are the boys going across the bridge ?
Has your friend a beautiful daughter ?
Will he keep this part of the buildings for his office ?
May the house be full ?
8 . Yes and No
Though Yes and No are complete answers in themselves and may stand alone, they are sometimes combined with a full statement or, more frequently, with an abbreviated statement consisting merely of the subject and the operator or auxiliary, followed, i the case of a denial, by not.
Has the boy on the bridge a book in his hand ?
Yes, he has (a book).
Will he be ready ?
Yes, he will (be ready).
Is this the middle of the room ?
No, it is not (the middle of the room).
EXERCISES
1 . Answer these questions :
(a) Where is the building ?
(b) Is it a house ?
(c) Who is on the bridge ?
(d) Is she at the end of the bridge ?
(e) What part of the bridge is she at ?
(f) Where is the boy ?
(g) What has he in his hand ?
2 . Rewrite this passage using the -ing forms where possible.
I see a small boy in the garden. He takes the berries off the plant by the wall. He has a basket. He puts some berries into the basket and some into his pocket. The birds do not take the berries while he is there. I see what he does but i do not let him see me.
3 . Write down three orders, using the operation let (negative form), be, and come.
4 . Put these statements into the form of questions :
(a) All the bridges are new.
(b) They will be married before you see them.
(c) The girls are going across the river.
(d) I have a part of the branch in my hand.
(e) The train may not go.
5 . Answer in Basic :
(a) Is a branch a part of a tree ?
(b) Are you a woman ?
(c) Is grass black ?
(d) Are all berries sweet ?
(e) Have you a son or a daughter ?
6. Translate into Basic :
(The following sentences should be given to the learner in his own language for translation into Basic.)
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STEP 10.
| VOCABULARY | | |
|---|
| Nouns | | Adjectives | |
| advertisement | |
high -- low | |
| arch | |
|
| church | |
|
| glass | |
| hospital | |
| library | |
| light | |
| market | |
| pleasure | |
| prison |
| roof |
| school |
| steel |
| time |
| view |
A TOWN
Mr. A. : Come into the town with me and see some of our buildings.
Mr. B. : I will do that with pleasure. My train does not go till the end of the morning. The time will go quickly if I am with you.
Mr. A. : The station is in the middle of the town. We come out of the station into a street of stores and offices.
Mr. B. : The walls of those buildings are quite white. Are they new ?
Mr. A. : Yes, those high buildings are new. Some are of glass and steel, and almost all have steel frames.
Mr. B. : Is that building between the stores an office building ?
Mr. A. : No, that building is the middle is a hospital. There are some of the beds. I see them by the window. Those men are taking a young woman into the hospital. She is on her back.
This wide street is where the great stores are. If we go into it you will see the bright advertisements and all the beautiful things in the windows.
Mr. B. : If we do that, I will not see the old part of the town. Is it far from here ?
Mr. A. : No, it is quite near. We are high here, and you may get a view of the roofs of the old town. There it is. It is by the river. This is the road to it. I frequently go there.
Mr. B. : Is it at the other side of the river ?
Mr. A. : No, the buildings across the river are in another town.
Mr. B. : Are those boys and girls coming out of a school ?
Mr. A. : Yes. The school is that red building with the garden. The low building with the trees in front of it is the town library. The boys and girls go with their fathers and mothers and get books from the library.
Mr. B. : Is that church in the old or the new part of the town ?
Mr. A. : It is in the old part. It is a very old church.
Mr. B. : And a very beautiful building
Mr. A. : We are coming into the old town here. Men and women come to the market from the country with baskets of fruit and other food. They are there in the early part of the day. That is the market-place, in front of the church. In the market they have almost everything for the house. I frequently get old books there. The streets near the market are very narrow and the houses are low.
Mr. B. : The outside of this old house is beautiful but the inside seems very dark.
Mr. A. : It is dark. These narrow streets get almost no light and the windows of the houses are small.
Mr. B. : There is a high building with a wide stretch of wall which has almost no windows.
Mr. A. : That is because it is a prison. It is very near the bridge.
Mr. B. : I see the bridge. Are the workmen doing something to it ?
Mr. A. : Yes, they are making a new arch. come to this end of the bridge where we may see what they are doing. We will not go over it.
Mr. B. : I will go with you to the bridge and after that I will go back to the station. If I am late I may not get a seat on the train. I will come on some other day and see the old town.
10 . Notes
our buildings : We is used in talking of any group to which the speaker belongs. It may be used quite naturally in the sense of "all men", or it may be applied to a more limited group, such as the speaker's friends, colleagues, and so on. In this instance, the our refers to his fellow-citizens. They is similarly used in referring to a group to which the speaker does not belong. There is an example of this use later, in the sentence "In the market, they have almost everything for the house", where they refers to the market stall-holders.
with pleasure : This use of with in connection with emotions and other things that are not physical objects is a natural and simple development.
my train does not go till . . . : It might seem logical to use the Future Tense here, but this is a general statement about the time at which the train goes every morning, not simply a statement about the time at which it will go on this particular morning.
the end of the morning : Like most words that indicate position in space, end is used also of position in time. but, while things in space have two ends, in connection with time the word end means only 'the last point or part', the first point or part being covered by another word (see Step 16, start).
the time will go quickly : Come and go are used very widely. They are not limited to the description of actual physical movement.
in the middle of the town : The middle may mean either the mathematical center or a central area, and in the latter sense it may be used quite loosely. With this sense of 'the middle part' it is natural to use in (not at, as for a point), and for everyday purposes the phrase in the middle is used even when we are speaking of position at the center.
a street of stores and offices : } Of is used for pointing to the elements or
some are of glass and steel : } the material of which a thing is composed.
steel frames : This use of frame is an expansion. The frame of a picture, in addition to enclosing it, holds it rigid. It is not hard to see the connection between this and a structure giving form and support, for which the same word is used.
-- Steel frames == frames of steel. All nouns naming substances may be used adjectivally in a similar way.
that building in the middle : When things are placed in a row, the one which has an equal number of things on either side of it is said to be in the middle.
on her back : This is a special sense of back. One's back is the back part of one's body from one's neck to one's legs. One is said to be on whatever part of one's body is in contact with what one is resting on.
it is quite near : Quite is frequently used, as here, in a weak sense which makes it the equivalent of 'to a considerable degree, fairly'.
we are high here : Compare this use of high with its use earlier in the Step. the buildings were described as high because they measured a great deal from top to base, but Mr. A and his friend are high in the sense of being in an elevated position. the opposite, low, has two parallel uses.
get a view of : Note this use of get. See also, 'get almost no light'.
roofs : Note that roof is not one of the nouns which change f to ve before the s of the plural. The new words in this Step which form their plurals in accordance with the rules given in Step 3 and Step 5 are arch (arches),
church (churches), glass (libraries). From this point on, it will be assumed that the learner has mastered those spelling rules.
there it is : Here and there are important exceptions to the rule against putting adverbs first when the operator is be not completed by a noun or an adjective, and the subject is a personal pronoun. But note that in this case the subject remains in its normal position and is not put after the operator, as it is when the subject is a noun or a different sort of pronoun (for example, There is the hospital).
I frequently go there : In some cases, the position o fan adverb may be varied by putting it before the operator (or between auxiliary and operator), by the learner should not attempt to do this except with adverbs which have been observed to take this position.
in front of : This is an idiomatic phrase meaning 'in the space at the front of, before'. One could say with trees in front of it, but in front of is common and more colloquial.
market-place : == the place where the market is held, the market square.
almost everything : } Note these two very common compounds. The sense of some here
something : } is 'a particular but unidentified'. A similar compound, nothing, is formed with no, in the sense of 'not one'. These compounds have no plural forms. Note that the o in nothing is pronounced like the u in much. -- Almost and quite may qualify a noun or pronoun indicating quantity.
the buildings across the river : When somebody has gone across a river and is on the other side, he is said to be across it. So anything having this position of being on the opposite side (from what is being talked about) or something such as a river or street is said to be across it.
for the house : The with a singular noun naming a countable is frequently used to indicate the whole class of things bearing that name. In effect, this is just the same as the generalizing use of a in the sense of 'any' which was noted in Step 1.
near the market : Note that near may be used as a preposition, that is, as the equivalent of near to. There is no parallel use of for for far from.
outside : } the outside of a thing is its exterior and
inside : } the inside is its interior.
very near the bridge : Though very is not used with preposition, it is used with near in its prepositional use.
workmen : A workman is not any man who works, but one who makes his living by manual work.
go over it : Over, as here, frequently means across, but it is not used in this sense with room.
go back : Back is used as an adverb having the sense of 'in the direction, or to the place from which one has come'. So go back is used for 'return', put back for 'replace', give back for 'return, restore', and so on.
if I am late : Here, late is not 'late in the day' but 'after the right time'. Similarly, early may mean either 'early in the day' or 'before the right time'. In their expanded senses, these adjectives may be used of persons.
a seat on the train : Though we may,more exactly, travel in a train, on a train is rather usual.
EXERCISES
1 . Write a sentence in Basic about each of the numbered objects in the picture.
2 . Give the plurals of library, boy, arch, glass, roof, church.
3 . Write down five words that could fill the blank in this sentence : Some of the _____ is here.
4 . Use these compound words in sentences :
(a) inside
(b) everything
(c) workman
5. Translate into Basic :
(The following sentences should be given to the learner in his own language for translation into Basic.)Teacher's Link
6. Answer in Basic :
(a) Are all the new buildings of glass and steel ?
(b) Is the church in the old part of the town ?
(c ) Are the windows of the prison small ?
(d) Is the town library a high building ?
7. Answer in Basic :
(a) What does Mr. B. see on the other side of the river ?
(b) Who is being taken into the hospital ?
(c ) Why does Mr. B say he will go back to the station after he has gone as far as the bridge ?
(d) Why are the houses in the old part of the town dark ?
(e) What are the workmen doing to the bridge ?
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