Many and much, little and few, past tense 1. Many: things you can count. Much: things you cannot count. There are many apples on the tree. How much money do you have? a. There were... bees in the hive. b. How... sweets are in the packet? c. There is... work to be done in the garden. d. You put too... sugar in my tea. e. The pupils have... books. f. How... money did you spend? 2. Little: can not be counted Few: can be counted I only take a little milk in my tea. Can you lend me a few pencils? a. Do you have a... money for me? b. Do you have a... water for me? c. She has a... friends. d. There are a... apples in the bowl. e. He has a... T-shirts. 3. Past tense a. John and lice... late for school today. John and lice... late for school yesterday. b. I... at the shops. I... at the shops last week. c. Father... in the garden. Father...in the garden last Saturday. The girls were in the classroom. Were the girls in the classroom? No, the girls were not in the classroom. d. Tom and Joan... asleep when mother left....? No,... e. The oxen... black....? No,... 31
32 Comprehension Read this story about a special tree. The handsome oak tree Once there lived a handsome oak tree. In its branches there was room for the homes of many animals and birds. Mice, squirrels and swallows had their homes in its branches and its roots. The oak tree lived to be very, very old. s it grew older it saw many changes. The tree saw men come with saws and hammers to build a big city. It was always afraid that it might be chopped down to make room for more buildings. One day a group of important-looking men came and stood beside the great old oak tree. The tree was terribly afraid and all its leaves trembled until it heard them say: This is the place where we should have a park. We ll have lawns and big trees so the busy city people can come here to eat their lunches and go for walks. We won t chop down any more trees. We ll call this place the Peacehaven Gardens. nd this great old oak tree will be one of the best trees in our new park. The oak tree was very happy to be part of the Peacehaven Gardens. It made many friends amongst the city people who came to walk there every day. The tree s favourite friend was a fat little woman who walked around it nearly every morning. nd so the years went by. One night a big storm came and battered the old oak tree. Its branches were broken and all its animal friends ran away. The gardeners looked at the tree and said: We ll have to chop this oak tree down. It s far too ugly to stay in the park now. The oak tree was very sad until it heard another voice. It was the fat little woman speaking She said: Don t be miserable. I won t let them chop you down. I m going to make you the most beautiful and the most famous tree in the park. The fat little woman set to work. Instead of chopping the tree down, she began to make it beautiful. With a small knife she carved hundreds of little pictures into the trunk of the oak tree. Every day the people of the city came to see what she was doing. It s a fairy tree, they said. Every time you look at it, you can see something different. The woman carved more and more pictures on the trunk of the tree. There was an enormous spider weaving its web, and an old woman reading stories to her children. There was a mouse, a squirrel, and a swallow. nd there were fairies, of course, because, you remember, this was a fairy tree. From Orbit, No. 840, October 1971
Questions Now work in groups and answer the following questions. One person can make short notes. 1. What creatures found shelter in the oak tree? 2. Why was the tree afraid when some importantlooking men stood beside it? 3. What did the men decide to do? 4. Who was the tree s favourite friend? 5. Why did the gardeners say the tree had to be chopped down? 6. What did the woman tell the tree? 7. What did the people of the city call the tree? 8. Name some of the things the woman carved into the tree. Discuss Divide into groups and discuss the following questions. 1. Was it wrong of the fat little woman to carve pictures in the trunk of the tree? Give a reason for your answer. 2. What would you have done about this old tree? 3. Sometimes it is necessary to chop down trees. What are trees used for? 4. What beautiful parks and buildings (or rivers or dams) are there near or in your 5. We should not chop down trees whenever we like. What other things can we do to keep nature beautiful and stop pollution? Make a list of things you could do. Complete Discuss in your group what each person or group of people did in the story, then complete the following sentences in your workbook. 1. The animals... 2. The builders... 3. The important-looking man... 4. The fat little woman... 5. The gardeners... 6. The people of the city... 33
Opposites The words below are used in the story of the magic tree. Write down words which have the opposite meaning. Use the word bank. Word bank forget ugly sad unimportant small tiny younger few 1. handsome 5. great (big) 2. many 6. happy 3. older 7. enormous 4. important 8. remember Make sentences the past tense with each one of them. Your partner makes a different sentence with the word meaning the opposite. You could also do this as a competition between the rows, with your teacher giving marks for good sentences. Poem Here is a fun poem containing some opposites. Make a list of all the opposites you Example black - white Zebra question I asked the zebra re you black with white stripes? Or white with black stripes? nd the zebra asked me: are you good with bad habits? Or are you bad with good habits? re you noisy with quiet times? Or are you quiet with noisy times? re you happy with some sad days? Or are you sad with some happy days? re you neat with some sloppy ways? Or are you sloppy with some neat ways? nd on and on and on and on nd on and on he went. I ll never ask a zebra about stripes again Shel Silverstein 34
competition See how quickly you can complete the words. The opposite of easy is d f f. The opposite of cheap is e x v e. The opposite of alive is d. The opposite of subtraction is a d. n The g r is made up of lines or blocks that show us facts. c is a list of numbers or words one below the other. b is a place where money is kept safely. o is a place where people work at desks. m is one of the parts that make your body move. h is the back part of your foot. 35
Words for pictures What happens after school? fter school some pupils do such as soccer, n s r and t _. will play a r m on the home f. We hope the p _s play well and that they s enough points to w. 36
Read the sentences and give words for the pictures. How to make a sandwich To make a s _, you c two slices of b. You put m on both slices. Then you can put c _ on one slice and put the other on top. Cut it in h _ and put it on a pl _. 37