The Grammar Activity Book

Bob Obee

PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, United Kingdom 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 100114211, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia Cambridge University Press, 1999 The pages in this book marked From The Grammar Activity Book by Bob Obee Cambridge University Press 1999 P H O T O C O P I A B L E may be photocopied free of charge for classroom use by the purchasing individual or institution. This permission to copy does not extend to branches or additional schools of an institution. All other copying is subject to permission from the publisher. First published 1999 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge ISBN 0 521 575796

The Grammar Activity Book

Map of the book
KEY : E=ELEMENTARY; P=PRE-INTERMEDIATE; I=INTERMEDIATE; U=UPPER-INTERMEDIATE Activity title Introduction Unit 1 Time like the present 1.1 Global animal bingo 1.2 Wildlife whoppers 1.3 Adverb backgammon 1.4 Behind the screen Unit 2 Questions and answers 2.1 So whats the question? 2.2 Sporting chances 2.3 Do card quiz 2.4 Zig-zag questions Present simple/questions Present simple: facts Time adverbs/simple/continuous Present simple/continuous EP IU IU E 20 25 25 20 Language focus Level Time (minutes) Page 6 8 10 12 14

Phrasing of common questions Present continuous questions Subject questions Appropriate short answers

PI PU PI P

30 25 40 25

15 18 20 22

Unit 3 Talking about things past 3.1 Round about when Time adverbs: simple past 3.2 Joke go-betweens Simple past questions 3.3 Last weeks news Simple past/past continuous 3.4 Past identities Past continuous: background detail Unit 4 Making comparisons 4.1 Line up accordingly 4.2 Psychic partners 4.3 Comparative short straws 4.4 Ratio roulette Unit 5 Describing things 5.1 Sort yourselves out 5.2 Four-card adjectives 5.3 Collocation bridges 5.4 Square routes Unit 6 Looking to the future 6.1 Arrangement squares 6.2 Pantomime fish 6.3 Collecting evidence 6.4 Dedication poem Unit 7 Using the perfect 7.1 Point in a story 7.2 Record-breakers 7.3 What have you done! 7.4 Jigsaw mischief 7.5 Adverb rummy

PI I PU PI

20 25 30 30

24 26 28 29

Comparative adjectives/adverbs Superlative adjectives/adverbs Degrees of comparison Degrees of comparison

P I U I

25 30 20 20

30 32 34 36

Adverbs: word order Order of adjectives Adjective/noun collocation Use of adjectives/adverbs

EU PI IU PI

25 25 1520 25

37 38 40 42

Present continuous (future) Use of will Be going to (present evidence) Conjunctions/use of will

P PI P IU

20 25 25 25

44 46 48 50

Present perfect simple (just/already/yet) PI Present perfect simple (unspecified past time) PI Present perfect simple (present result) P Present perfect continuous (present effect) IU Present perfect simple/continuous/past simple IU

20 20 20 30 20

51 52 56 58 60

Activity title Unit 8 Things we can count 8.1 Determiner dominoes 8.2 Pieces of me 8.3 Building captions 8.4 Open the doors Unit 9 Conditional meanings 9.1 Homophone healing 9.2 Blanks and brackets 9.3 Seeking scruples 9.4 Memory consequences

Language focus

Level

Time (minutes) 25 25 25 1015

Page

Use of determiners Partitive nouns Use of the/zero article Use of zero article with certain classes of nouns

PU IU I IU

62 64 66 68

zero conditional First conditional (if/will/in case) Second conditional Third conditional

I I I IU

30 20 35 20

70 72 74 76

Unit 10 Obligation and possibility 10.1 Headline investment Must/cant/might/could (possibility) 10.2 Streetwise surveys Must/mustnt/have to (obligation) 10.3 Royal behaviour Must have/couldnt have (past speculation) 10.4 Rules and lines Must/mustnt/have to (obligation) Unit 11 Indicating time, movement and place 11.1 Last card wins Prepositional phrases: time place manner 11.2 Opposite moves Verbs of movement (prepositions) 11.3 Time pieces In at on (time) 11.4 Preposition chequers In at on (place) Unit 12 Using the passive 12.1 Signs of the passive 12.2 Whose house? 12.3 A causative day out 12.4 Fairytale jigsaw races Unit 13 Functional exchanges 13.1 Answer keys 13.2 On the floor debate 13.3 Conversation pyramids 13.4 Answer hopping Unit 14 What someone said 14.1 Beyond belief 14.2 No more than seven words 14.3 Connecting speech 14.4 Who asked you Unit 15 Revision games 15.1 Slide rules 15.2 Tense squares 15.3 Throw-out puzzles 15.4 Sole mates

I PI IU I

25 30 20 25

78 80 82 84

PI U PI PI

25 25 25 25

86 88 90 92

Use of passive in signs/different tenses Simple past/past perfect passive Causative structure: have things done Simple past passive by + agent

I U U IU

25 30 25 30

95 98 100 102

Short exchanges Common discussion markers Short answers and follow-ups So/neither responses/tag questions

PI IU PI EP

25 30 1520 25

104 106 108 110

You said/told me that Sentence patterns after reporting verbs Contrasts between say, tell, speak, talk Reported questions

I IU IU IU

25 30 25 30

112 114 116 119

Various structures Revision of tenses Various structures Various structures

IU PU P EI

25 20 30 35

120 122 124 126

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8

unit 1 Time like the present

1.1 Global animal

bingo
Before class
Make one copy of one Bingo card (p.9) for each learner or each pair of learners, depending on the size of the class.

In class
1 Explain to learners that they are going to play a game like bingo, which is
popular throughout the English-speaking world. The game here, however, also involves learners asking questions. If bingo, or an equivalent, is played in your country, you can tell learners about it.

Level
elementary pre-intermediate

Class size
whole class

Language focus
present simple Have got questions about facts and habitual actions

2 Give each learner a Bingo card. On it there is a grid of phrases. Beneath the grid is a sentence about an animal and three pieces of information about that animal: what it has/has got, eats, likes doing, or where or how long it lives. During the game, each learner will assume the identity of the animal on his/her card. 3 The aim of the game is to be the first learner to cross off all the phrases on his/her Bingo card and tell the class which animal each phrase referred to. 4 During the game, each animal must introduce himself/herself. However, it is very important that learners do not reveal any other details about the animal.
On introduction, other learners in the class should pose questions to the animal, based on phrases in their Bingo cards. For example, for the African elephant, the following is written: Hello, Im an African elephant: I have a small tail, I eat leaves and Ive got relatives in India. The learner introducing himself/herself says: Hello, Im an African elephant The other learners then scan their Bingo cards for any phrases that might relate to the African elephant, and ask the elephant any questions that the phrases suggest.

Pronunciation
weak forms: do you /dju/ you /j/

Preparation time
5 minutes

Game time
20 minutes

1 long grass

leaves

seals

Another learner with these same bingo squares might ask: Do you eat long grass dancing queen long grass? The African elephant answers: No, I dont (because this is not a detail in front of him/her). After a question from three or four different learners, move on to another learner, who introduces himself/herself: Hello, Im a polar bear, and so on.

5 If there is more than one African elephant etc. in the class, this simply means that learners may ask the African elephant questions again.

BINGO

sitting A learner with these bingo squares thus might ask: Do you eat leaves? bamboo seals down The African elephant answers: Yes, I do. (This is a detail on the card.) and all the learners who have this bingo square can cross it off.

1.1 Global animal bingo Bingo cards

1
under ice sitting down small tail bamboo dancing

grass seals

Romania holiday

leaves queen fish

relatives in India group longer than people

BINGO

long grass

queen

BINGO

zebras

Hello, Im a pelican: I live in Romania, I eat fish and I like going on holiday.

Hello, Im an African elephant: I have a small tail. I eat leaves and Ive got relatives in India.

China Romania

holiday long sleep fish

longer than people seals yellow and brown

grass flowers

dancing

under ice

small birds long sleep leaves white relatives

BINGO

leaves

BINGO

zebras

Hello, Im a bee: I have a queen, I like dancing and I like flowers.

Hello, Im a giant panda: I live in China, I eat bamboo and I like sitting down.

5 long grass
leaves

holiday small tail grass

bamboo group

under ice sitting down

China

relatives in India

small tail long sleep longer than people group

BINGO

white relatives

small birds

BINGO

flowers

Hello, Im a polar bear: I like swimming under ice, I eat seals and I like a long sleep.

Hello, Im a rhinoceros: I eat grass, I have white relatives and I like small birds on my back.

zebras small birds

long grass under ice sitting down China fish

8 long grass

dancing

Romania grass seals

in long neck relatives India

BINGO

relatives in India

BINGO

queen

yellow and small birds brown

Hello, Im a tortoise: I live longer than people, I have a yellow and brown shell and a long neck.

Hello, Im a lion: I live in a group, I like long grass and I eat zebras.

From The Grammar Activity Book by Bob Obee Cambridge University Press 1999

PHOTOCOPIABLE

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Level
upper-intermediate

unit 11 Indicating time, movement and place

1 1.2 Opposite moves

Before class
Make one set of the Sentence cards and one set of the Opposite cards (p.89) for each group of three learners (six learners if the game is played in pairs). On the back of the Sentence cards write the verb + preposition opposite the highlighted phrase in the sentence (key below).

In class
1 This game is a simple card game based on matching opposites. 2 Divide the class into groups of three (six if the game is to be played in pairs). 3 Give each group one set of both the Sentence cards and Opposite cards and
ask one of the three players to deal an equal number of Opposite cards facedown to each player. Tell players to pick up their cards and conceal them from other players. When this has been done, place a set of the Sentence cards in the middle of each group, with the sentence on the first card showing. All the sentence cards should be in a pack sentence-side up, i.e. so the opposite phrase is hidden.

Class size
groups of three (or six)

Language focus
prepositions complementing verbs of movement

Pronunciation
weak forms: at /t/ to /t/ into /Int/ of /v/

4 Ask one player in the group to write the name of each player on a piece
of paper. Nominate one player to start. He/she picks up the Sentence card and places it in the middle of the group. This player then has the first option to lay down an Opposite card from his/her hand, i.e. a card which he/she believes corresponds to the opposite phrase written on the back of the Sentence card. The two other players can then also lay down an Opposite card if they wish. The Sentence card is then turned over. The person who has put down the correct Opposite card is the winner of the round. He/she keeps the Sentence card. If no-one is correct, the sentence is simply put at the bottom of the pack. If a player puts down a card which is incorrect, he/she has an X written against his/her name on the piece of paper. Players take back their Opposite cards each time. The game continues with a different player starting each round.

Preparation time
10 minutes

Game time
25 minutes

5 The game ends when either all the Sentence cards have been used or when
one player has three Xs against his or her name. The winner of the game is the player with the most Sentence cards at the end.
Key: He left Spain on Friday. (arrived in) We drove through Luxembourg. (stopped in) The cat climbed up the tree. (got down from) The door was locked but we still got in. (got out) We boarded the plane quickly. (got off) The train passed through two stations. (stopped at) He arrived from Italy yesterday. (went to) She opened the car door and got out. (got in) The cars went onto the ferry smoothly. (came off) She went in just before the end. (came out) The train left the station on time. (arrived at) She got off the bus. (got on) The train arrived at platform six. (left from) She got in her car and left. (got out of) They walked away from us. (came towards) The rabbit came out of its hole. (went into) He got there after we arrived. (departed) They left home yesterday. (went back) We came out of the main entrance. (went in through) Sheila went to the fridge. (moved away from)

88

11.2 Opposite moves

He left Spain on Friday.

The train left the station on time.

We drove through Luxembourg.

She got off the bus.

Sentence cards

The cat climbed up the tree. The train arrived at platform six. The door was locked but we still got in. She got in her car and left.

We boarded the plane quickly. They walked away from us. The train passed through two stations. The rabbit came out of its hole.

He arrived from Italy yesterday. He got there after we arrived. She opened the car door and got out. They left home yesterday.

The cars went onto the ferry smoothly. We came out of the main entrance. She went in just before the end. Sheila went to the fridge.

arrived in

arrived at

stopped in

got on

Opposite cards

got down from left from got out got out of

got off came towards stopped at went into

went to departed got in went back

came off went in through came out moved away from

From The Grammar Activity Book by Bob Obee Cambridge University Press 1999

PHOTOCOPIABLE

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