TALKING ABOUT CHOICE

Unit 6

PROF. LUISA ARMAS

 TALKING ABOUT CHOICE
Unit 6
CONTENTS

Objective Pronouns - Verbs with direct and indirect objects - Either…. or / Neither….nor

Grammar
OBJECTIVE PRONOUNS

Anobjectivepronounactsastheobjectofasentence—
itreceivestheactionoftheverb.Theobjectivepronouns are her, him, it, me, them, us, and you.

Cousin Eldred gave me a

trombone. Take a picture of him,
not us!

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

Apossessivepronountellsyouwhoownssomething.Thepossessivepronounsarehers,his,its,mine,ours,
theirs, and yours.

The red basket is mine.

Yours is on the coffee table.

PRONOUN CASE

A pronoun can appear in one of three cases: subjective, in which the pronoun functions as a
subject; objective, in which the pronoun functions as an object; and possessive, in which the
pronoun functions as a possessor. The following list shows the subjective, objective, and
possessive forms of the personal pronouns.

Subjective Objective Possessive

I me my
you you your
he him his
she her her
it it its
we us our
they them their
who whom whose
whoever whom ever whose ever
 Talk about personal communication.
Vocabulary

email fax BlackBerry

TV Text-message Newspaper ad
letter phone Iphone

Direct and indirect objects

Verbs with direct and Indirect object may have both a direct object (the object the action is done ) and
the indirect object ( the person for whom the object is done )
Two different patterns are possible. The direct object can also come first, with the indirect object
preceded by for or to.

I sent an email to her. I baked a cake for her

Verbs with direct and indirect object

.
I sent Mike an email

My parents brought me a BlackBerry

I wrote Helen a text message

Find me His number please.

I faxed him the diagram

Give me A call

Conversation 17.

a., listen to the conversation.

How did Ken communicate with Chris?

Ken : Hey, Chris ! I sent you an email yesterday and you didn`t answer
Chris: Email? What email? You didn`t send ma an email.
Ken : Come on ! You got it. Then I sent you a text message.
Chris::Text message ? What text message? You didn`t send me a text message either.
Honest!
Ken : OK. Well you`ve got no excuses now. Where`s the $ 15 you owe me?
Chris:$15 ? What $15 ?
 Conversation 18

A. listen to the radio program. circle the correct answer.

This is a ……

A) Talk show

B) Music show

C) Phone-in program

B. listen again and complete the chart.

Telephone number
Fax number
Email address
Text message address
Mailing address

Circle each direct object and underline each indirect object.

1. Vincent bought his father a new wallet. 2. We eat Mexican food once a week

3.. We saw the stars clearly with the telescope. 4. Karen told her doctor the truth

5. Did Roxy send any message? 6. Tommy sold Jason his phone.

Read the situations and make requests. Use the verbs in parentheses.

situation request

1. .

11. you lost your friend`s phone number. (send) please send me your telephone number.
2.you want your friend to call you. (give)______________________________________
3 you ask if you can pay something by check. (write)_____________________________________

4. you want your parents to buy you a printer. (buy)______________________________________

5 you want your friend to fax you a chart (fax)______________________________________

 Grammar

EITHER…. OR / NEITHER……NOR

1. EITHER / OR-
used in a sentence in the affirmative sense when referring to a choice between two possibilities

2. NEITHER/NOR-
Used in a sentence in the negative sense when you want to say that two or more things are not true

NEITHER my mother NOR my father went to university.

SINGULAR OR PLURAL

When using either… /or neither…../nor, note the following rules:

1. If both elements are singular, then the verb is singular too.

Either the father or the mother has to attend the meeting.(father and mother are singular, so the verb has
is singular too)
Neither Leila nor Nancy is going to write the report.(Leila and Nancy
are singular; so the verb is is singular too)

2. However, if one of the elements is plural, then use a plural verb.

Either Sue or the girls are going to prepare dinner tonight.(the girls is plural; so the verb are is plural too)
Neither the teacher nor the students were in the classroom this
morning. The students is plural ;sot the verb were is plural too)

CHOOSE THE CORRECT PAIR (EITHER ….. OR / NEITHER …..NOR).

In this game, you __ win __ lose. It depends on you. ___ Sue ___ Sara will help you with your
homework. They are both busy at the moment. This is my offer. You ___ take it ___ leave it. When
I go to the restaurant, I eat ___ fish ___ roast chicken. These are my favorite meals. His father
believed ___ his son ___ his friend. He thought that both were lying. I need ___ your help ___ your
compassion. I can perfectly handle my problems all alone.___Charley___Bill will write the report.
Just as one of them.___your’e turn the money you had stolen ____ I'll call the police. My mum can
___ read ___ write. She is illiterate. You can use ___his computer ___the other one. Some one
must fix them first.
Rewrite the sentences using: Either ……..or / Neither…….. nor.

1,' Do you want tea or coffee? (I really don’t mind.')

____________________________________________________________________________________
2,' What day is it today - the 18th orthe19th?' ( t’s the20th,')
____________________________________________________________________________________
3 There are two sandwiches here; which one shall I take? ' (oh, take.')
_____________________________________________________________________________________
4,'When shall I phone you, morning or afternoon?' (I’ll be in all day.')
____________________________________________________________________________________
5, Where’s Kate? Is she at work or at home?', (she's away on holiday.')
_____________________________________________________________________________________
6. I was invited to two parties last week but I didn't go to them.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

You can`t get more politically correct than that

discuss these questions:

Can you think of words in your language that are considered politically incorrect? Which words
mean the same thing but are more acceptable?
Do you worry about sounding politically correct when you speak?

it`s not what you say, it`s how you say it.
In today`s world, every word you say can be used against you. literally. We live in time where people
sometimes worry more about how things are said than about what is said. I`m referring to political
correctness, or, to use more politically correct them, linguistic inclusion.
It has been said that a lot of prejudice is expressed in our choice of words. The wrong use of English can
sound offensive and that is a special difficulty for foreign speakers. Outdated English textbooks teach
words that are no longer acceptable, such as fireman (firefighter) and waitress (server). The word
actress seems to be failing into disuse as well. At the Academy Awards ceremony most female
entertainers now call themselves actors, pretty soon the award will go to female Actor in a leading role.
This is an especially relevant issue to those learning the English language.

Here`s a short glossary of terms that might prevent unpleasant situations when talking to native
speakers of English.
Avoid… Prefer……
Black African American

Oriental Asian

Indian Native American

Business man Business persons

Postman mail carrier

Fireman firefighter

Policeman police officer

Waiter/waitress server

stewardess flight attendant

Deaf hearing impaired

 READING
Will this list ever change? Of course it will. What was considered inappropriate a few decades ago is
considered ok now and vice- versa. Remember that you will always be judged by your choice of words.
So be extra careful when addressing sensitive issues such as religion, race, sexual preference
ages,…just about everything , follow this rule treat people as you would like to be treated- and spoken to-
and you will probably do just fine.
Jennifer Anniston.

SELECT T (TRUE). F (FALSE) or NS (NOTSTARTED) T F NS

1. If people use the wrong words. Someone might be offended

2. The English language is changing because of political correctness

3 .English is more politically correct than other languages

4.Americans have the same problems as foreigners when it comes to political

correctness
5.People should not worry about their choice of words when talking about controversial
subject

write sentences using: either…./or neither…./ nor that you think you can find in the .text

Discuss these questions

Are you the type of person who usually arrives early or late?
How do you feel when you schedule something with a friend and the friend’s late?
Can`t you ever get anywhere on time?

Conversation 19

Julie and Carol are in front of the theater.

Listen to the conversation and check the reasons that they mention for Alexis being late.

1. Must have had a car accident. ________

2. May have lost her purse. ________

3. May have dropped off her dry cleaning. ________

4. Might have gone to the wrong theater. ________

 Work in pairs to role play a similar conversation using the expressions in the Express
yourself box, you can use: either……. / or – neither…….. / nor.

EXPRESS Y O U R S E L F ________________________________________________

Calm down __________________________________________

Relax ________________________________________________

Take it easy _________________________________________________

Wait a minute _________________________________________________

Write sentences using either or / neither nor. From your own ideas.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________

SPEAKING

Talk about global warming with your partner. Then read the text and do the exercises

GREENHOUSE EFFECT AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Global warming is the term used for the continuous rise in average temperatures on planet Earth. It is
caused by the ¨greenhouse effect¨ in the Earth´s atmosphere. Some greenhouse gases occur naturally in the
atmosphere, like water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone. Since the industrial
revolution, we have been altering the planet’s climate and environment by changing agricultural and industrial
practices. As a result, the levels of most of the natural green house gases have increased and the Earth is
getting hotter.
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Data collected during the 20 century suggest that global temperatures have risen precipitation has
increased all over the world with more significant increase in high latitude areas and more decrease in many
tropical areas; sea level has risen worldwide by a pproximately15-20cm because of the melting of glaciers
and the expansion of ocean water due to warmer ocean temperatures. The effects of global warming and a
changing climate will not be felt equally across our planet. Some cold countries might gain by becoming
warmer but many more will experience the adverse effects of increased heat, especially in the spread of
tropical diseases and insects. Rising temperatures willed ad to great turbulence in weather patterns, leading
to storms, floods and droughts. Our irresponsible destruction of the environmental through individual and
industrial pollution is creating a dangerous world. The IPCC**that if we do not take action now global average
temperatures will increase between 2*C and 3*C by 2100 and the Earth will turn into a sauna

* Takenfrom:www.epa.gov/globalwarming
*Inter-governmental Panel for Climate Change

8
 Read and answer the questions

1. what does global warming mean ?

2. What does ‘greenhouse effect’ mean?

3. Why are greenhouse gases dangerous?

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4. What changes have occurred since the beginning of the 20 century?

5. What consequences may global warming bring?

Read the text again and write sentences with either or -Neither nor, using the information
from the text.

_____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________

Write some extra example from your own ideas. Using either or – neither nor
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________

Complete these ideas.

Global warming is produced by.________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________
Water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane are some of the greenhouse
________________________________________________________________________________

Changes in agriculture and industrial processes have______________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

The ocean water has expanded because_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Some cold countries will probably

_________________________________________________________________________________