UNIT 3 DESCRIBING PLACES

I. INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS AND OBJECTIVES OF UNIT 3

Unit 3 assigns the students to do practicing on writing the description of
interesting places. It guides the students to write simple sentences with correct sentence
construction and mechanics by using capital letters for names of streets, cities, states,
and countries, punctuation comma (,) and exclamation point (!),preposition (in, on, at )
in the sentences. Describing places, for example the students’ home country and birthday
places, can be done through writing some pen pal letters. The Instructional objectives of
this unit are that the students are able to:
1. write simple sentences by using capital letters for names of streets, cities, states,
and countries;
2. write the sentences by using punctuation comma (,) and exclamation point (!) ;
3. use preposition (in, on, at ) in the sentences;
4. write a pen pal letter;
5. describe their home country.
In order to achieve the instructional objectives, the following is the discussion
of subtopics.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Mechanical Drill
Mechanics deal with capitalization and punctuation. At this subtopic, capital
letters are needed to write the names of streets, cities, states, and countries. Then,
punctuations consist of comma (,) and exclamation point (!). In writing an address, the
city and state are separated by a comma (,), for example, 1239 Lincoln Boulevard
Fairbanks, Alaska 99701 U.S.A. Using a comma is needed to separate among all the
members of a list, or a series, for example, We need eggs, cheese, milk, and bread. The
exclamation point ( !) shows strong emotion or excitement, for example, Wow! Super!,
because Sara likes to show her feelings in letters, so she uses the exclamation point.
In relation to the capitalization and the punctuation mechanics, please look at
the model text below.

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Budi, 2020. A Text Book of Writing for Personal Communication - English Education Study Program, FKIP-
Tadulako University, Palu-Central Sulawesi
 PEN PALS: ROBERTO WRITES A LETTER

Calle Motatan, Qta. Los tres

Colinas de Bello Monte
Caracas, Venezuela 1041
September 23rd, 1982
Dear Sara,
I am very happy to introduce myself to you. My name is Roberto Perez. I live in Caracas,
Venezuela. My English teacher is Sra. Rodriguez. She had your name on a list of pen pals. Would
you like to be pen pals with me? We can write letters to each other every month.
I am fourteen years old. My hobbies are swimming, soccer, and playing records. My father works
in a bank, and my mother is a housewife. I have one sister. Her name is Teresa. I also have a
brother. His name is Alfredo. We are all students in high school. Our grandparents live with us. We
also have a dog and two cats.
My city is always very pleasant. The weather is warm all year long. Our winters are wet and
rainy, but they are not cold. I see that you live in Fairbanks, Alaska. Is your city cold? Do you have
any brothers and sisters? Are you in high school, too? Do you have any hobbies? Please write and
tell me. Maybe someday we can visit each other.

Sincerely,

Roberto
P.S. Here is a picture of my family. I am very tall. My eyes are brown, and my hair is black. Please
send a picture of yourself.
(Adopted from Peterson, 1992:25)

PEN PALS: SARA WRITES BACK

1239 Lincoln Boulevard
Fairbanks, Alaska 99701
U.S.A.
October 7th , 1982
Dear Roberto,
I was very happy to receive your letter. Thank you! Yes, I would really like to be pen pals with you.
I am very interested in South America. My uncle works for a company in Venezuela. Maybe next
summer I can go to visit him there. (Wow! Super!) Until then, we can send pictures to each other.
Your family is very different from mine. I don't have a large family. I live with my mother here in
Fairbanks. She works for a T.V. station. My father died ten years ago. I don't have any brothers and
sisters. I have one grandmother in Chicago, Illinois. My another grandmother lives in Miami, Florida.
We don't see each other very often.
My hobbies are dancing, swimming, and foreign languages. I study Spanish and French in high
school. Maybe next time I can write in Spanish. I have two cats. We don't have a dog because our
apartment is too small.
The weather in Alaska really isn't so bad. I like it a lot here. It isn't as cold as you think. Here is a
picture of me and a newspaper story about Alaska for you. It's called, "Enormous cabbages Show the
Effect of Long Alaskan Days."
I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Sara

(Adopted from Peterson, 1992:31)

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Budi, 2020. A Text Book of Writing for Personal Communication - English Education Study Program, FKIP-
Tadulako University, Palu-Central Sulawesi
Task 1. Rewrite the sentences, and put appropriate capital letters and punctuation if
they are necessary.
1. roberto lives in caracas Venezuela
2. sara lives in the united states
3. her home is in fairbanks alaska
4. she lives at 1239 lincoln boulevard
5. is the weather pleasant in venezuela
6. are the winters cold in fairbanks
7. my sisters name is teresa
8. my brothers name is alfredo
9. do you have any brothers and sisters
10. do you have any hobbies

Task 2. Copy the sentences, and make all the corrections that are necessary. Use
capital letters and appropriate punctuations if they are needed.
1. what do you see hear feel and smell
2. i see cars people houses stores and factories
3. the largest cities in the world are new york city mexico city tokyo los angeles
shanahai buenos aires paris and peking
4. people are using more food fuel water and air
5. they are planning cities building roads finding water putting up houses and
limiting growth
6. the growth of cities is a problem in europe africa asia north america and south
America
7. what are we doing about the traff ic the noise the pollution and the crowding
8. do these problems have an answer

Task 3. Copy the three sentences, words, or phrases that end with an exclamation point.
1. Thank you!
2. Stand up!
3. _____________
4. _____________
5. _____________

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Budi, 2020. A Text Book of Writing for Personal Communication - English Education Study Program, FKIP-
Tadulako University, Palu-Central Sulawesi
Copy reading: Capitalization and Punctuation

Task 4. Copy the letter, and make all the changes that are necessary. Remember the
rules for commas, apostrophes, question marks, and exclamation points.

1239 lincoln boulevard

fairbanks alaska 99701
USA
october 15 1982

dear roberto
i am very happy today do you know the reason my uncle says i
can visit venezuela next summer wow super i can also see my
grandmother in chicago illinois and my other grandmother in
miami florida i can speak spanish in miami i am coming to
caracas on june 1 is it a good time to visit you i hope so

sincerely
sara

B. Grammar : Prepositions of place: in, on, at

Prepositions of place, such as in, on, and at are adopted to express adverb of
place after followed by nouns as the names of places. When you give your address, you
use these prepositions.

in a country, a state, a city, a district, a continent

on a street (a boulevard, an avenue, a lane, a drive, a highway)
at: a specific address or place such as at home, at work, at the bank

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Budi, 2020. A Text Book of Writing for Personal Communication - English Education Study Program, FKIP-
Tadulako University, Palu-Central Sulawesi
Task 6. Use the information below and write as many sentences as you can. Choose in,
on, or at for each sentence.

Subject Verb Complement

North America
Roberto lives South America
Sara works Venezuela
Mrs. Taylor in the United States
Mr. Perez on Caracas
He at Fairbanks
She Alaska
They Lincoln Boulevard
1239 Lincoln Boulevard

C. Sentence Construction : Asking and Answering Questions

When you write a letter to a pen pal, you can ask many questions that begin,
"Do you have any ……..?"
Task 7. Make a question for each topic below, and then answer it.
1 . brothers and sisters Do you have any brothers and sisters?
2. hobbies ………………………………………
3. pen pals ………………………………………
4. grandparents ………………………………………
5. records ………………………………………
6. pictures of yourself ………………………………………
7. dogs ………………………………………
8. cats ………………………………………

D. Controlled Composition : Incomplete letter

Task 8. Use the form below. You may add more sentences if you wish. Be sure to give
your correct address at the top. Use correct punctuation and capitalization.

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Budi, 2020. A Text Book of Writing for Personal Communication - English Education Study Program, FKIP-
Tadulako University, Palu-Central Sulawesi
 Number and Street
Number City,
andState,
Street Postal Code
Country
City, State, Postal Code
CountryMonth and Day, Year
Dear ___________ , Month and Day, Year
I am very happy to ___________ . My name is __________ . I live in
_________________ . Would you like ______________? We can
___________________________ .
I am___________ years old. I am_________ . My eyes are ______ , and
my hair is __________ . My hobbies are ________.
My father __________, and my mother ___________ . I have ________ in
my family, too. Their names are _________ .
My city is ___________ . The weather is __________. The winters are
___________.
Do you have any __________? Do you have any ________ ? Do you
have any ______________ ? Are you _____________?
Are you __________ ?
Please write and tell me about yourself.

Sincerely,
_________

E. Free Composition (in Class)

Task 9. Writing a letter
1. Write your pen pal letter based on the model, and send to your friends in the
classroom.
2. Write the reply of the pen pal letter.
3. Write your own letter sent to your English teacher. On your letter, you may
describe your home country.

III SUMMARY
Briefly, the topic of Describing Places is presented to practice on writing simple
sentences containing some important things. The beginning letter of the names of
streets, cities, states, and countries are written with the capital letters. The elements or
series of parallel words or phrases are separated by using comma (,) if they are more
than two items. The punctuation of exclamation point (!) is used to produce
exclamatory expressions (feelings), Prepositions (in, on, at ) followed by nouns as

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Budi, 2020. A Text Book of Writing for Personal Communication - English Education Study Program, FKIP-
Tadulako University, Palu-Central Sulawesi
adverbs of place in the sentences are crucial to describe places such as city, state,
country, and birthday places, when writing some pen pal letters.

REFERENCES
1. Hogue, A. 1996. First Step in Academic Writing, New York: Addison-Wesley
Longman, , (pages 8-13).

2. Murphy, R. 1993. Basic Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

(pages 10-15)

3. Peterson, P. W. 1982. Developing Writing, Washington: United States Information

Agency (pages 1- 25)

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Budi, 2020. A Text Book of Writing for Personal Communication - English Education Study Program, FKIP-
Tadulako University, Palu-Central Sulawesi