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Unit 1 Previewing and Predicting PDF
Unit 1 Previewing and Predicting PDF
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. When
you gather information about a book by examining its cover, you are previewing. The aim of
previewing is to help you to predict or make some educated guesses about what in the book. You
should develop the habit of applying these skills whenever you read.
Previewing and predicting before you read can make a big difference. You can get some
ideas 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 and
predict, those few minutes are well invested. You will find that later you save reading time and gain
comprehension.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Look at the way the text is organized; is it divided into parts? Are there sub-titles? If so, what do
they tell you about the way the subject is presented?
Read very quickly the first line of each paragraph or sub-division; can you tell what the passage
is about? Do you already know something about it?
Notice names, numbers, dates, and words that are repeated; do you recognize any of them?
Read quickly the last few sentences in the final paragraph; what is the authors final point? Is it
a conclusion or a summary?
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 stay
home 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.
1. 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.
Grammar Focus
Parts of Speech (1)
Table 1: Summary of the eight English parts of speech
part
speech
Verb
of
function or "job"
example words
example sentences
action or state
Noun
thing or person
pen,
dog,
work,
music, town, London,
teacher, John
Adjective
describes a noun
Adverb
describes
a
verb,
adjective or adverb
Pronoun
replaces a noun
Preposition
Conjunction
joins
clauses
sentences or words
Interjection
short
exclamation,
sometimes inserted into
a sentence
or
Source: www.uottawa.ca/academic
Verbs
The verb is the main part of speech. The shortest sentence contains a verb. You can make a
one-word sentence with a verb, for example: "Stop!" You cannot make a one-word sentence
with any other type of word. In simple terms, we can say that verbs are words that tell us
what a subject does or is. Verbs can be divided into action verbs (verbs that give the idea of
action, 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 all
convey state ). For examples:
We divide verbs into two broad classifications: helping verbs (verbs that have no meaning on their
own) 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 all
of these sentences have a main verb. Only some of them have a helping verb.
Table 2 Verb Classification
helping verb
John
main verb
likes
coffee.
You
lied
to me.
They
are
happy.
The children
are
playing.
We
must
go
now.
do
want
any.
The Earth
will
rotate.
The students
have
done
not
the exercises.
Source: www.uottawa.ca/academic
Nouns
The simple definition is: a person, place or thing. Here are some examples:
Nouns can be countable and uncountable. Countable nouns have a singular and plural form. They
are things which occur in individual units or parts of a whole thing: bottle-bottles. Uncountable
nouns 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 and
uncountable, often with a change of meaning.
Table 3 Countable and Uncountable Nouns
Countable
Uncountable
hair
light
noise
paper
room
time
Source: www.uottawa.ca/academic
Exercise 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 Nouns
A proper noun is the special word (or name) that we use for a person, place or organization, like
John, Marie, London, France or Sony. Proper nouns are usually capitalized. A common noun is a noun
that 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
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.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Writing Practice
Here are the steps to summarize.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Summarizing
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.
Summary
1. Previewing and predicting are necessary to help us predict what the text is about by reading its
title, reading fast the first sentence of each paragraph and the last sentence of the final
paragraph. 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 is
not 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 only
one 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, and
to summarize a short paragraph. Put a check on the column based on your own self-assessment.
Objectives
Achieved
More practice
needed