ISTEG - Law Module 1 - InglesI - Doc Direitoactualizado

UNIVERSIDADE WUTIVI- UniTiva
Distance Education
ENGLISH MODULE I
Law Program
Moçambique
ii
TECHNICAL DETAIL
Maputo, July 2013
© Study Guide for Law Program
All the rights reserved to: Universidade Wutivi

Module title: English I
Edition:1st
Organization and Edition

Universidade Wutivi (Distance Education)
Author: Brian Sumba.
Instructional Designer: Lina Sara Chovano do Rosário
Linguistic Revision by: Xavier Mucave
Scientific Revision by: Xavier Mucave
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Contents pages
TECHNICAL DETAIL ................................................................................................................................................ III
PRESENTATION ...................................................................................................................................................... X
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................... 1
WELCOME TO ENGLISH I MODULE I ....................................................................................................................... 1
OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................................................ 2
STUDY GUIDE ......................................................................................................................................................... 2
ACTIVITY ICONS ..................................................................................................................................................... 3
HELP TIPS ............................................................................................................................................................... 4
STUDY TIME ........................................................................................................................................................... 5
TESTS/ EXAMINATION ........................................................................................................................................... 5
UNIT 1: USE AND MISUSE OF ENGLISH ................................................................................................................... 6
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................... 6
OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................................................ 6
CONTENT DEVELOPMENT ...................................................................................................................................... 7
1.ARTICLES ............................................................................................................................................................. 7
2.CONNECTIVES (CONJUNCTIONS) ....................................................................................................................... 12
3.ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY ................................................................................................................................. 14
3.1.WHAT ARE ADVERBS? .................................................................................................................................... 14
3.2.ARE THERE OTHER ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY? ............................................................................................... 15
3.3.WHERE DO WE PUT ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY? ............................................................................................. 15
4.USING ‘DO’ AND ‘MAKE’ ................................................................................................................................... 19
5.THE POSSESSIVE ................................................................................................................................................ 21
5.1.APOSTROPHE AND (‘S) .................................................................................................................................. 21
5.2.THE POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS- HER, HIS, HERS, YOUR, YOURS, ITS, OUR, OURS .............................................. 23
VOCABULARY....................................................................................................................................................... 24
TASKS .................................................................................................................................................................. 24
1.ARTICLES ........................................................................................................................................................... 24
2.CONJUNCTIONS ................................................................................................................................................ 25
3.ADV. OF FREQUENCY ........................................................................................................................................ 25
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4.DO/MAKE ......................................................................................................................................................... 25
5. POSSESSIVE ...................................................................................................................................................... 26
SELF- ASSESSMENT .............................................................................................................................................. 26
I.ARTICLES ............................................................................................................................................................ 26
II.CONNECTIVES ................................................................................................................................................... 27
III.ADV. OF FREQUENCY ....................................................................................................................................... 28
IV.DO/MAKE ........................................................................................................................................................ 28
V.POSSESSIVE ...................................................................................................................................................... 29
ANSWERS TO SELF- ASSESSMENT ........................................................................................................................ 30
SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................................... 32
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................................... 32
UNIT 2: AT THE WORKPLACE-PROFESSIONAL ISSUES ........................................................................................... 34
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................... 34
OBJECTIVES .......................................................................................................................................................... 34
CONTENT DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................................................................... 35
1. TALKING PROFESSIONS - THE JOB INTERVIEW.................................................................................................. 35
1.1.“WHO ARE YOU, REALLY?” ............................................................................................................................. 35
1.2.“WHY ARE YOU ON THE JOB MARKET?” ........................................................................................................ 35
2.“WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR US?”......................................................................................................................... 36
2.1.“WHAT ARE YOUR STRENGTHS?” ................................................................................................................... 36
2.2.“WHAT ARE YOUR WEAKNESSES?” ................................................................................................................ 37
2.3.“WHAT TYPE OF BOSS DO YOU LIKE?” ........................................................................................................... 37
2.4.“WHAT ARE YOUR MOST SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS?” ............................................................................. 37
2.5.“WHAT SALARY ARE YOU LOOKING AT?” ....................................................................................................... 37
3.HE ART OF HOLDING MEETINGS AT WORK........................................................................................................ 38
3.1 HOW DO YOU CHAIR A MEETING THEN? ........................................................................................................ 39
3.2 PASSING OF THE PREVIOUS MINUTES ............................................................................................................ 39
3.3 MATTERS ARISING ......................................................................................................................................... 39
3.4 NOW BACK TO TODAY’S AGENDA .................................................................................................................. 39
VOCABULARY....................................................................................................................................................... 40
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TASKS .................................................................................................................................................................. 41
I.INTERVIEWS....................................................................................................................................................... 41
II.MEETINGS ......................................................................................................................................................... 41
SELF-ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................................................................... 42
1.INTERVIEWS ...................................................................................................................................................... 42
2.MEETINGS ......................................................................................................................................................... 42
1.INTERVIEWS ...................................................................................................................................................... 43
2.MEETINGS ......................................................................................................................................................... 43
SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................................... 43
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................................... 44
UNIT 3: PUNCTUATION- DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH ...................................................................................... 45
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................... 45
OBJECTIVES .......................................................................................................................................................... 45
1.DIRECT SPEECH (THE SPOKEN WORD!) .............................................................................................................. 45
1.1 RULES TO FOLLOW FOR DIRECT SPEECH ......................................................................................................... 46
2. INDIRECT (REPORTED) SPEECH ......................................................................................................................... 47
VOCABULARY....................................................................................................................................................... 48
TASKS .................................................................................................................................................................. 49
1.DIRECT SPEECH ................................................................................................................................................. 49
2. INDIRECT SPEECH ............................................................................................................................................. 49
SELF-ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................................................................... 49
1.DIRECT SPEECH ................................................................................................................................................. 49
2. INDIRECT SPEECH ............................................................................................................................................. 50
3. REWRITE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES IN REPORTED SPEECH ......................................................................... 50
4. COMPLETE THE SENTENCES WITH SAID OR TOLD. REMEMBER THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO SIMILAR
WORDS. ............................................................................................................................................................... 51
1.DIRECT SPEECH ................................................................................................................................................. 51
2.INDIRECT SPEECH .............................................................................................................................................. 52
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3.INDIRECT SPEECH .............................................................................................................................................. 52
SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................................... 53
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................................... 53
UNIT 4: ON EDUCATION- READING AND COMPREHENSION ................................................................................. 54
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................... 54
OBJECTIVES .......................................................................................................................................................... 54
1. ABOUT EDUCATION - ‘THE BIG READER’ .......................................................................................................... 55
2.DEBATING LANGUAGE AND COLONIALISM ....................................................................................................... 57
VOCABULARY....................................................................................................................................................... 58
TASKS .................................................................................................................................................................. 59
1. BIG READER ..................................................................................................................................................... 59
2. LANGUAGE ....................................................................................................................................................... 59
SELF-ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................................................................... 60
I.BIG READER ....................................................................................................................................................... 60
II.LANGUAGE ....................................................................................................................................................... 60
I.BIG READER ....................................................................................................................................................... 61
II.LANGUAGE ....................................................................................................................................................... 61
SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................................... 62
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................................... 62
UNIT 5: SOME VERB TENSES................................................................................................................................. 63
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................... 63
OBJECTIVES .......................................................................................................................................................... 63
1. PRESENT SIMPLE TENSE ................................................................................................................................... 64
1.1 THE PRESENT SIMPLE “ BE” ............................................................................................................................ 64
2. THE PAST SIMPLE TENSE. ................................................................................................................................. 67
2.1 PAST SIMPLE TENSE ....................................................................................................................................... 68
2.2 THE SIMPLE PAST OF REGULAR VERBS. .......................................................................................................... 68
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2.3 THE PAST OF IRREGULAR VERBS..................................................................................................................... 69
3. THE PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE .................................................................................................................. 69
4.FORMS OF THE FUTURE - ‘WILL’ AND ‘GOING TO’ ............................................................................................. 70
5.CONDITIONAL TENSES....................................................................................................................................... 72
5.1.ZERO CONDITIONAL ....................................................................................................................................... 72
5.2. FIRST CONDITIONAL ...................................................................................................................................... 73
5.3.SECOND CONDITIONAL .................................................................................................................................. 74
5.4.THIRD CONDITIONAL ..................................................................................................................................... 75
TASKS .................................................................................................................................................................. 76
SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE ....................................................................................................................................... 76
SELF- EVALUATION............................................................................................................................................... 78
SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE ....................................................................................................................................... 78
SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................................... 84
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................................... 84
UNIT 6: WRITING FORMAL AND INFORMAL LETTERS ........................................................................................... 86
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................... 86
OBJECTIVES .......................................................................................................................................................... 86
1.INFORMAL (PERSONAL) LETTERS ...................................................................................................................... 87
TASKS .................................................................................................................................................................. 93
I.INFORMAL LETTERS ........................................................................................................................................... 93
SELF-ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................................................................... 94
II. BUSINESS LETTERS ........................................................................................................................................... 94
II.BUSINESS LETTERS ............................................................................................................................................ 95
SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................................... 95
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................................... 95
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BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................................................... 96
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Presentation
Dear student
On your hands is the Study Guide for English I which includes the Course Outline for Law
program offered throughout the Distance Education study program from the Universidade
Wutivi. This guide aims to help you cope with your individual study needs in the first semester
of the program. The team of teachers in English I, who made efforts in the writing, adaptation
and organization tasks so as to enable you engage in this study guide, will feel honoured to have
their students interact actively and progressively in constant dialogues. We also expect that this
course will help you achieve your educational and professional training goals within the country
and elsewhere.
You are very welcome to our interaction!
The Distance Education Team
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Introduction
Welcome to English I Module I
English I is designed for university students seeking to improve their basic professional English
skills. The module is for you to study through distance training and somehow alone. We hope
you will find it useful to improve your English on a day -today basis and we expect that by the
end of this module you will be able to meet reasonable communication skills in English and
language use for the business purposes. It will also provide you with a solid background of
English for your future needs as you progress. In this module you are going to learn aspects
related to:-
 Various English Language use
 Your future career aspects
 Education
 Oral communication skills
 Essay- writing skills
 Letter- writing skills-(formal and informal letters)
These topics are organized into 6 learning units, each with sub- units or topics related to the
above list of topics. Unit 1 has 5 topics related to the use and misuse of English grammar. Unit 2
has 2 topics related to job interviews and on holding meetings at the workplace. Unit 3 is
dedicated to writing and speaking with 2 topics related to direct and indirect speech. Unit 4
focuses on reading and comprehension on 2 important issues- Education and Language- and on
how these 2 may or may not help us develop ourselves. Unit 5 focuses on another important
language use- verb tenses. Here the focus will be on 5 tenses only because of time constraints but
these will certainly help you improve your grammar inputs. And unit 6, the last one, will focus
on 2 important aspects- formal and informal correspondences for comparative purposes.
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Each unit is sub-divided into Introduction, Objectives, Content development, followed by Tasks,
Self –assessment exercises, Answers to self-assessment, Important definitions, Summary and
Reference texts. Every 2 weeks your tutor will show you the contents you must read, practice
tasks and the self –assessment component to facilitate and guide you throughout the block.
This module will help you, along with other modules, to progress in your academic studies and
train you so as to meet today’s professional demands at the workplace as well as at international
domain.
Objectives
At the end of the English I Module I, student will be able to:
 Write and speak better English.
 Write business letters for professional purposes.
 Write family or informal letters.
 Answer interview questions relevantly.
 Organize and conduct staff meetings correctly.
 Use direct Vs indirect speech meaningfully.
 Make correct use of tenses in conversations.
 Gain more confidence on interacting with English texts or literary ones.
 Become fluent on everyday English business encounters.
Study Guide
This is English I module I which will be studied in 8 weeks. This will be followed immediately
by module 2 in the second block. How do you go about it?
Here are some useful hints on how you can make good use of the module and get good results.
Distance learning demands a lot of commitment on the part of you as a student.
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1. You will definitely need to have a study timetable for English so that you complete the 69.5
compulsory self- study hours for this module alone. Pin it in your bedroom and in your
office. At least you should spend 1.5 to 2.0 hours of study of English on a daily basis.
2. Consult the study guide given on the platform to improve your study habits. The discussions
on study methods will also help you learn good study habits.
3. On studying this module read more than once before you start answering the questions given
as exercises or homework.
4. Have a separate notebook to write vocabulary and phrases you encounter as you read and
later consult a dictionary.
5. You can also make some notes in your module using pencil as you read.
6. Consult also some references given at the end of each unit for a better understanding of the
topics in the module.
7. Then during tutorials with your tutor on weekends you are expected to ask questions on the
material you have been reading all along.
Enjoy your studies!
Activity Icons
Along this manual you will come across a series of icons on the page margins. These icons serve
to identify different parts of the learning process. They can indicate a specific area of a text, a
new task or activity, a change in activity, etc.
You can see the complete collection of icons of this module below. Each one of the icons has a
description of its use/meaning and this reflects our own interpretation of their use/meaning to
represent various activities along this module.
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Introduction Content Development
Summary
Objectives
Important Definitions
Time to complete the Lesson
Tasks Self- assessment
Reading Text
For Investigation
Help Tips
If you have any difficulties you can consult your tutor using various communication methods
which will be defined at the beginning of your course.
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Study Time
The duration of this module is 8 weeks. You should spend a total of 85 hours, out of which 61
hours is for individual study, 8 hours is for contact the teacher, plus 16 hours of virtual tutorials
through technological means such as Platform, Skype and others.
Tests/ Examination
In this module you are going to write 2 tests in class (Class Tests) and various other assessments
through distance learning. A final examination will be written at the end of the lesson, followed
by a supplementary examination, if necessary.
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Unit 1: Use and Misuse of English
Introduction
Can you remember what aspects are common from what we call ‘grammar’, be it Portuguese,
English or any other language? In this unit you are going to revise some of the main issues that
are dealt with in the English grammar. These issues are in no way new to you since you have
come a long way studying English. We will engage on revision of the main aspects of grammar
which have remained as a problem to some students of English as a foreign language. We will
not cover all because of time constraints. Bear in mind that every language has its own way of
treating each of the following issues because each language is unique and has its own rules. This
constitutes use and abuse of a language. The following issues will be dealt with in this chapter:
 Articles.
 Connectives.
 Adverbs of frequency.
 Using ‘do’ and ‘make’.
 The possessive.
Take your time and enjoy your studies!
Objectives
At the end of this unit you will be able to:
 Use articles correctly in sentences where necessary.
 Use connectives correctly in sentence constructions.
 Use adverbs of frequency correctly in sentence constructions.
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 Use ‘do’ and ‘make’ correctly in sentence constructions.
 Punctuate possessives correctly.
Content Development
1.Articles
Trying to define Articles is no easy task. Asking one to define the term is much -ado –about-
nothing. It would give you unnecessary headaches. We can call articles special adjectives or
determiners but what is important is to know that these are words that are used to qualify or
change the meaning of nouns. It is not easy to define articles except to say that the article in
English is one of the following words:
 A
 An
 The
In this topic you will learn how and when to use, these three words in your day to day English.
I want you to begin by reading the following sentences and then tell which one is correct or
incorrect and say why:
1. I bought a egg at the shop today.
2. The bus passed here a hour ago.
3. Brian was eating an apple.
4. Clio was writing an invitation letter to his friends.
5. Witwatersrand is an University in South Africa.
6. This is the boy.
7. I ate the apples.
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8. The boy was riding a bicycle.
9. I like to eat apples.
10. Maputo is a beautiful city.
I hope you have done everything right! Number 3, 4 and 8 are all correct while number 1, 2 and
5 are wrong. Number 6 and 7 can be right or wrong depending on the situation or what you
intend to say. And number 9 is correct and this tells us that it is not always that we have to use
articles in sentences with nouns. Number 10 is also correct. I will now turn to give explanation
about these.
First, don’t ask me why number 1, 2 and 5 are wrong. It is a matter of Grammar, in the last
chapter we said that grammar is about rules on how language is used!
The first thing to note is that:
1. We use ‘a’ or ‘an’ only with singular nouns, to mean only one thing. This means there is
no way you can say; ‘I ate an 3 apples yesterday’ but you can say ‘I ate an apple
yesterday’ to mean only one apple. You can also not say, ‘I have an headaches’ but ‘I
have a headache’.
2. We do not use articles with proper nouns, which are nouns which start with capital
letters, for example, you cannot say ‘a Maputo’, nor ‘an Maputo’ nor ‘the Maputo’.
3. We cannot use articles ‘a’ or ‘an’ with plural nouns. You cannot say ‘a buses’ nor ‘an
hours’. It is wrong.
4. ‘A’ is used with nouns that start with a consonant: (a consonant is a letter in the alphabet
which is not a, e, i, o, u) to say that it is correct to say;
A ball
A cat
A day
A frog
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A girl
(But note that there are few exceptions and these are explained below)
5. ‘An’ is used with words that begin with vowel sounds - vowels are letters a, e, i, o, u in
the alphabet. This means you can say:
Analphabet
An element
An incident
An onion
An ulcer
We also use ‘a’ or ‘an’ to talk about professions as in:
A teacher
A student
An engineer
An operator
(But take note also that there are exceptions and these are explained bellow)
6. There are some irregular nouns or adjectives which, because of their pronunciation
that is different from the way the word is written, we have to break the rules!
For instance, we say:

An hour
An heir
An honor
An honorable person
An honorific title
An umbrella
An umpire.
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This is because with these words we don’t pronounce the ‘h’. The words are pronounced as
‘awa’, ‘eia’, ‘onna,’ respectively. It seems that they start with vowels except for the last 2
examples.
Likewise, we say:
A uniform.
A university.
A union.
A eucharist
A euphemism
A united nation
A European girl
This is because the letters ‘u’ and ‘eu’ are pronounced as if they start with ‘Yu’.
Note also that it is not only with nouns that we use articles but also with adjectives. Even when
you combine adjectives with nouns the same rule applies to nouns. For example,
A beautiful girl
An innocent child
An honorable person
You can see from these examples that it is the adjective and not the noun which determines the
article.
Note that ‘a’ and ‘an’ are called Indefinite articles because they do not refer to any particular or
definite thing while ‘the’ is called a Definite article because it refers to a particular thing already
known to the speaker and the listener.
Now, coming back to use of ‘the’.
1. You can use ‘the’ with singular or plural nouns and adjectives as in; The boy. The boys.
2. You use ‘the’ when you are referring to the noun again or you want to refer to something
that you listener already knows. That explains why I said above that numbers 6 and 7 can
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be correct if you want to mean that the thing you are talking about is known to the
listener. If you say ‘I saw the
3. dog’ you want to tell me that it is the same dog I already know. If you say ‘I saw a dog’ it
means it is any dog that I don’t know about.
Now, like it was said earlier that it is not obligatory that we use articles; let’s explain when you
don’t need articles with nouns: you do not use articles when you talk about something in general
as in;
Plural nouns, for example,
Dogs are my favourite animals
Children like to play games
Books are very important
And with non- countable nouns and proper nouns as in:

I like sunshine
Put sugar in your porridge
Take time to think it over
Brian is a good boy
Chimoio is a beautiful town.
Take note that ‘a’ and ‘an’ are used when you are mentioning a thing for the first time in
continuous speaking or writing. This is when you are introducing the thing for the first time and
thereafter you can substitute these with ‘the’ because now the thing is known to the listener or
reader. Study this example:
Last week I met a beautiful girl in town. The girl’s name is Clarisa.
Crime is an enemy of peace. The enemy violates our human rights.
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2.Connectives (Conjunctions)
Do you still remember that each language function consists of sentences and/or paragraphs that
are joined together or linked by connectives (words or phrases that indicate a logical
relationship)? In this discussion we shall look at the linking of sentences by means of the 3 basic
connectives- namely, and, or and but and their variations.
Just as a reminder; you should note that AND, BUT and OR indicate that they rejoin the main
discussion and proceed towards the conclusion of the argument.
 AND
The discussion, argument or comment in the development of the topic may be very clear and
straightforward in which case, ideas will simply be added together, one after another: the basic
connective AND is used here. This connective means result and there are a lot other connective
that have
same meaning of ‘and’ which we can us to substitute ‘and’ and still have the same meaning.
Study the following example to get what we are saying here;
He passed his examinations therefore, he had good news to tell his parents.
as a result
accordingly
consequently
thus
hence
and
 OR
Sometimes the comments may be expressed in another way, or an alternative proposal, etc. may
be made. This is represented by the basic connective OR. The basic meaning of this connective is
reformulation of the idea and thereafter the idea continues. As with ‘and’ there are many other
connectives which have a similar meaning.
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Study the following example to get what we mean here;
He said he had kept the library book hidden for several years.
In other words,
To put it more simply, he had stolen it.
It would be better to say
Or
Note that the connectives in italics introduce a reformulation of what has been said before. The
reformulation appears in different words and is used to make the idea clearer or to explain or
modify it.
 BUT
There are also occasions in arguments, etc, when the opposite is considered or referred to. This is
represented by the basic connective BUT. The basic meaning of this connective is to contradict
what has been said before. Like with ‘and’ and ‘or’ there are also a number of other connectives
with a similar meaning. After the opposite or opposing idea has been considered, the main idea is
continued. Study the following example to get a clear picture of what we are saying;
but
The time available for the however it was still possible to
discussion was very limited nevertheless produce some interesting
nonetheless arguments.
yet
in spite of that
all the same
despite that
although
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Note that the connectives in italics indicate the surprising nature of what follows in view of what
was said before; a kind of contrast is indicated.
3.Adverbs of Frequency
3.1.What are adverbs?

Traditionally an adverb is defined as a word that modifies a verb. In the secondary school lessons
you encountered adverbs among other parts of speech. Do you still remember what adverbs are
and their examples?
There are many kinds of adverbs; common types include adverbs of manner that tell how (easily,
quietly), adverbs of time that tell when (afterwards, later), adverbs of place and direction that tell
where (there, downstairs, backward, up), adverbs of degree that tell how much (very, almost,
extremely) and adverbs of frequency that tell how often (always, sometimes, never).
The most common adverbs of frequency are:
Never -0%
Rarely/Seldom-30%
Sometimes-40%
Often/ frequently-60%
Usually -80%
Always -100%
The percentages show the relative frequencies of these adverbs. The idea is to show you the level
of chance that an action happens. It is important to understand that the percentages only show
approximate frequencies; other sources will have slightly different measurements but you don’t
need to worry much about this.
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3.2.Are there other adverbs of frequency?
Yes. In addition to the adverbs listed above, other common adverbs of frequency include;
constantly routinely
generally repeatedly
normally occasionally
regularly infrequently
frequently hardly
3.3.Where do we put adverbs of frequency?

The basic rule is that adverbs of frequency come before the main verb but after present and past
forms of be (am, are, is, was, were). In the case of tenses that use an auxiliary, we put the adverb
between the auxiliary and the main verb.
The position of these adverbs:
Before the main verb

Adverb of Verb
frequency
I Always Getup At 6.45am
Peter Can Usually Play Football on Sundays.
Mandy Has Sometimes Got Lots of homework.
After a form of to be am, are, is (was, were)

Verb Adverb of frequency
Susan Is Never Late.
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The adverbs often, usually, sometimes and occasionally can go at the beginning of a sentence.
-Sometimes I go swimming.
-Often we surf the internet.
Sometimes these adverbs are put at the end of the sentence.

-We read books occasionally.
The following tables show the position of the adverbs of frequency in affirmative, negative,
interrogative, and imperative sentences.
Affirmative Sentence
Subject Auxiliary Adv. of Main Predicate
Frequency Verb
The pains Usually Go away after a few hours.
I Sometimes Have trouble accessing my favorite web site.
Beethoven Often Went To Bilene for the summer.
Kevin Has Never Been a fan of Toyota cars.
Brian Has Always wanted to own a beautiful car.
We Will Always Be grateful to you.
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Affirmative Sentences with “BE”
Subject BE Adv. of Frequency Predicate

The bus Is Usually on time at work.
Some people are Never satisfied.
Negative Sentences
Subject Auxiliary Adv. of Frequency Main Verb Predicate
Suzanne doesn't Usually Get involved in politics.
It doesn't Often Snow Here at Christmas.
I don't Ever download Music from the Internet.
Interrogative Sentences with “BE”
BE Subject Adv. of Frequency Predicate
Are You Always so cheerful in the morning?
Isn't Ted Usually Hereby eight o'clock?
Imperative Sentences
Adv. of Frequency Verb Predicate
Always Do Your best!
Never Forget this rule!
Always Be honest!
Short Answers with Adverbs of Frequency
Subject Adv. of Auxiliary or BE
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Frequency
A: Will you ever change? never will.

B:I
A:Has Shirley ever been to
Austria? never has.
B:She
A: Do they ever study
together? sometimes do.
B:They
A: Is Jessica ever wrong?
B:She seldom is.
If placed in initial position, subject-verb inversion (or word order inversion) occurs. Seebelow
for examples.
Subject-Verb Inversion
Negative Auxiliary Subject Main Predicate

Adverb Verb
Never Did I Think I would see my book in print.
Seldom Have We Had a teacher with such enthusiasm.
Scarcely Had He finished speaking than the door of the queen's apartment
No sooner opened the door.
Take note that most of the adverbs which end in---ly are derivatives of, or borrowed from,
adjectives. Don’t get confused with this. Also, some adjectives can be adverbs. Only that to
function as an adverb it should be qualifying a verb. That is one way you can decide if a word is
adjective or adverb.
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Adverbs of frequency are best used to accompany verbs in the Simple Present tense.
4.Using ‘do’ and ‘make’

The verbs ‘do’ and ‘make’ often pause serious confusion to those who are trying to learn the
English language. This is because there is no clear rule which explains how we can use these 2
words correctly. It is mostly through repeated practice that you can make a difference between
the 2 words. You can find the difference only when you combine with certain nouns in
sentences. Often I have heard students saying ‘I make homework’. ‘I make an exam.’ This is
wrong. I also discovered that it is more often easy to abuse ‘make’ than ‘do’ because it is more
often that we use ‘do’ than we use ‘make’ in day to day speech. Consequently when we use
‘make’ we get confused because we are not used to it. How can we differentiate between ‘do’
and ‘make’ then?
When do we use ‘do’ and when do we use ‘make’?
 DO
We use ‘do’ with nouns that depict non touchable objects. We use ‘make’ when we talk about
production of something touchable.
Study the following examples.
1. My best
2. Homework
3. Work
 DO
4. Shopping
5. An exam
6. Housework
7. Things
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 MAKE
Study the following examples:
1. A cake
2. My bed
3. A mistake MAKE
4. A cup of tea
5. A noise
6. An effort
7. Things
Study the nouns and see if you can get the difference. It looks like most of the nouns that go
together with ‘do’ do not involve producing something tangible- something you can touch. They
are all abstract nouns. Examples are ‘homework’, ‘my best’ and ‘work’. On the other side,
‘make’ is used with nouns that are tangible and it means cooking preparing something out of
some ingredients. However, they are not all tangible nouns that work with ‘make’. Exceptions
are such words as ‘noise’, ‘effort’ and ‘mess’ which are also abstract. That is why we said it is
not easy to explain but you only will get used to it with constant practice.
Then see how confusing it is when it comes to the noun ‘things’. It belongs to both lists and adds
to our confusion! How can you explain this? Maybe to say that making things is preparing
something
you can touch, while doing things is action that does not produce things you can touch. You can
also say that ‘doing’ things is less specific than ‘making’ things.
Suffice to say that with ‘make’ you have to add nouns that involve producing touchable, eatable
and visible things. The meaning of ‘make’ is producing something out of some things- through
processes! Once you remember this it will help you to decide when to use ‘do’ or ‘make’
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without doubt. For instance, ‘making coffee’ is mixing water with sugar, coffee, milk, etc to
produce a drink called coffee.
5.The Possessive
Portuguese and English languages differ a bit on how they make possessive forms. A good
number of students of English confuse the use of ‘S’ to make plural nouns with the ‘S’ to make
the possessive form in English. These kind of errors are shown in the following examples:
I have two dogs’ at home. Or I have two dog’s at home.
Jane loves her mother. Or The mother is her.
This is wrong. I hope you understood why this is wrong. We use the apostrophe and ‘s’ to make
possessives which mean that something belongs to someone or something. We also use
possessive pronouns to the same effect but these pronouns differ depending on their position in
sentences. All these are used instead of the word ‘Of’ which means the same as ‘belong’. Using
‘of’ is awkward in sentences and, therefore, we have to find alternatives. In this lesson you are
going to explore how we make possessives in English and I hope after this discussion you will
teach others how we do it.
In the possessive case, a noun or pronoun changes its form to show that it owns or is closely
related to something else. Carefully read the following considerations:
5.1.Apostrophe and (‘s)

Usually, nouns, or names, become possessive by adding a combination of an apostrophe and the
letter "s."
First, you can form the possessive case of a singular noun that does not end in "s" by adding an
apostrophe and ‘s’, as in the following sentences:
The red suitcase is Cassandra's.
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The only luggage that was lost was the prime minister's.
The exhausted recruits were woken before dawn by the drill sergeant's screams.
The miner's face was covered in coal dust.
Also, you can form the possessive case of singular nouns and names that end in "s" by adding
an apostrophe alone or by adding both an apostrophe and "s," (both ways are correct) as in the
following examples:
The bus's seats are very uncomfortable.
The bus' seats are very uncomfortable.
The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus's eggs.
The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus' eggs.
Felicia Hemans's poetry was once more popular than Lord Byron's.
Felicia Hemans' poetry was once more popular than Lord Byron's.
Also, you can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does not end in "s" by adding an
apostrophe and an "s," as in the following examples:
The children's mittens were scattered on the floor of the porch.
The sheep's pen was mucked out every day.
Since we have a complex appeal process, a jury's verdict is not always final.
The men's hockey team will be playing as soon as the women's team is finished.
The hunter followed the moose's trail all morning but lost it in the afternoon.
Also, you can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does end in "s" by adding
an apostrophe only:
-The concert was interrupted by the dogs' barking, the ducks' quacking, and the babies'
squalling.
-The janitors' room is downstairs and to the left.
-My uncle spent many hours trying to locate the squirrels' nest.
-The archivist quickly finished repairing the diaries' bindings.
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-Religion is usually the subject of the roommates' many late night debates.
5.2.The Possessive Pronouns- her, his, hers, your, yours, its, our, ours
In case of not having to repeat the noun, we use possessive pronouns. They vary according to
gender and also whether they are subject pronouns or object pronouns as I will hasten to
demonstrate below:
Her and Hers

Subject and Object feminine pronouns are different:
-Tania has a beautiful mother. Her mother’s name is Lucia. The mother is hers.
His, His
Subject and Object male pronouns are the same:
-Hermani has a bicycle. His bicycle broke down. The bicycle is his.
Your, Yours
Subject and Object gender-neutral pronouns are different:
-You boys have money. You do not know how to use your money. However, the
money is yours!
Our, Ours
Subject and Object gender- neutral pronouns are different:
-Brian is our teacher. He is ours.
Its, Its
Subject and Object gender- neutral pronouns are the same:
-The cat broke its tail. The tail is its.
My, Mine
-This is my book. The book is mine.
From these examples take note of the changes that happen when the possessive pronoun comes
at the end of the sentences.
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Vocabulary
Much- I do- about -nothing- fazer coisas inúteis.
Irregular nouns- nomes irregulares.
Consonant- consoante.
Vowel- vogal
Belong- pertencer.
Hurry up - depressar.
Abstract nouns- nomes de coisas não palpáveis
Tangible- palpável.
Tasks
1.Articles
Read again the notes above, carefully.
a) Write down any difficult or interesting words or phrases and consult a dictionary for their
meanings.
b) In your note book, write in your own words and in summary form any point or idea that
you think is important about this topic so that you don’t forget the main points raised in
this discussion.
c) Read the following passage and underline all the articles you can identify.
The basic structure of the English language is constant, only the application is different
between classes. This study guide assumes a basic knowledge of English. A good student
will make an effort to study it at home, alone.
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2.Conjunctions
a) Write your own 5 sentences each using ‘and’ ‘or’ and ‘but’. This should give you 15
sentences in all.
b) Re-write these sentences substituting ‘and’ ‘or’ ‘but’ with the variations you have learned
in this discussion.
c) Send your work to your tutor for assessment.
3.Adv. of Frequency
Write an essay to explain what your typical week is like from Monday to Sunday. Write what
you normally do. Use the simple present, do not forget to use adverbs of frequency. Send the
essay to your tutor for marking.
4.Do/Make
a) Make your own list of 10 other nouns that you think combine with ‘do’ and 10 others that
combine with ‘make’.
b) Use these words to construct 20 meaningful sentences with ‘do’ and ‘make’.
c) Write 2 compositions of ¾ pages each-in one explain the things you did last year and in
another write about the things your friend made last year. Send the finished drafts to your
tutor for marking. Please take note of the difference between ‘do’ and ‘make’ as you
write your compositions. Refer to this discussion for help.
d) Good luck!
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5. Possessive
a) Write 5 example sentences each of your own to add to the examples in this module on
how you make the possessive with:
 Singular nouns and names not ending with ‘s’

 Singular nouns and names which do not end with ‘s’
 Plural noun sending with ‘s’
 Plural nouns not ending with ‘s’
b) Write 5 more examples, each to demonstrate how we use the following possessives
pronouns:
Our- ours
His-his
Its-its
Her-hers
Your-yours
My-mine
Send your work to your tutor for marking.
Self- Assessment
I.Articles
Now do the following exercise:
A. Put in ‘a’ ‘an’ or ‘the’ in the space provided.
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1. This morning I bought ___ newspaper and___ magazine. ___newspaper is in my bag but
I don’t know where I put___ magazine.
2. I saw___ accident this morning. ____car crashed into___ tree. ___ driver wasn’t hurt
but___ car was badly damaged.
3. There are 2 cars parked outside:___ blue one and __ grey one.___ blue one belongs to my
brother: I don’t know who ___ owner of ___ grey one is.
4. My friends live in __ old house in__ small village. There is__ beautiful garden behind __
house. I would like to have __ gardenlike that.
5. This house is very nice. Has it got__ garden?
6. It’s a beautiful day. Let’s sit in ___ garden.
7. I like living in this house, but it is a pity that ___ garden is small.
8. Can you recommend___ good restaurant?
9. We had dinner in a___ very nice restaurant.
10. We had dinner in___ most expensive restaurant in town.
11. She has___ French name but in fact it is English, not French.
12. What’s ___ name of that man we met yesterday?
13. There isn’t ____airport near where we live.___ nearest airport is 200km away.
14. Our plane was delayed. We had to wait at___ airport for three hours.
15. Excuse me, please. Can you tell me how to get to___ airport?
16. I’m going away for___ week in September.
17. George has a part-time job. He works 3 mornings___ week.
B. As you do the exercise again, explain in each case why you chose your answer, based on the
notes and what you learnt in this topic.
II.Connectives
Now do the following exercise, inserting only the variations of ‘and’ ‘or’ ‘but’ where necessary.
a) Bruce is a good actor………………. I hate his films.
b) Maria passed the interview……….she got the top job.
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c) Morris did not come to work for 2 weeks…….he is a troublesome worker.
d) I ran too fast on the slippery floor………. I tripped and fell down.
e) John is absent today………. he was present this whole week.
f) Brian is a quiet boy………he is very cheeky.
g) I am angry with you…………..give me my money back now.
h) Xavier did not pass a single subject last year………he is not a brilliant student.
i) I can’t pay you your money back now……. you can come next week.
j) Marta is a very beautiful girl………I don’t like her performance at school.
III.Adv. of Frequency
Now do the following exercise using any adverb of frequency you have learnt in this discussion.
The adverb should complete the sense in the sentence.
1. It rained------------------- in Maputo this year.
2. ---------------- I do not like to eat outside my house.
3. I will---------------------let you down.
4. Please---------------------tell anyone what happened today.
5. Mr. Shumba is --------------- seen at the bar drinking and chatting with friends.
6. Do you-------------- watch horror movies at night?
7. The boy passes by this place-------------
8. ----------will I give you my money to borrow.
9. ---------------did I sit than the phone started to ring again.
10. Maria-----------goes to visit her father who is ill in town
IV.Do/Make
Choose the correct answer to complete the sentences- “do” or ‘make”.
1. Hey, what are you ______there?
2. My father is _____noise because he is drunk today.
3. Tonight I will be____homework in my room.
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4. This does not _____sense at all.
5. It _____me feel good hearing soft music.
6. This food____me sick!
7. You ____me crazy with your attitude.
8. My child is ____grade 10 at Jossina Machel Secondary.
9. Can you please ____me a cup of coffee?
10. In 2 weeks time we will____an English exam.
11. When I ge t home I will _____a cake for my birthday party.
12. Please _____your work quietly.
13. Mario is ____a degree in Law at ISTEG.
14. What course are you_______here?
15. What conclusion can you ____ out of this speech?
V.Possessive
Correct the following sentences, rewriting them altogether removing ‘of’
1. This is a book of my mother.
2. The dog injured the tail of it.
3. Leave the bag of my mother.
4. This is the house of the husband of Lucia.
5. The school is of Thomas.
6. Give me the uniform of the girls.
7. Mozambique is of us.
8. My wife wants a phone of her.
9. The phone she is using is of him.
10. Look at the beautiful hat of my boss!
Note that you will have to effect some changes to some pronouns. Good luck.
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Answers to Self- Assessment
I. Articles II. Connectives

1. a, a, the, the; 1. although
2. an, a, a, the, the; 2. therefore
3. a, a, the, the; 3. in other words
4. an, a, a, the, a; 4. as a result
5. a; 5. yet
6. the; 6. however
7. the; 7. in other words
8. a; 8. to put it more simply
9. a; 9. nevertheless
10. 10. however
11. the;
12. A; III. Adverb of Frequency
13. The; 1. occasionally
14. an, the; 2. sometimes
15. The; 3. never
16. The; 4. never
17. A; 5. often
18. A. 6. sometimes
7. often
8. never
9. no sooner
10. often
IV. Do/Make 5. Makes

1. Doing 6. Makes
2. Making 7. Make
3. Doing 8. Doing
4. Make 9. Make
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10. Do
11. Make
12. Do
13. Doing
14. Doing
15. Make
V. Possessive
1. This is my mother’s book.
2. The dog injured its tail.
3. Leave my mother’s bag.
4. This is Lucia’s husband’s house.
5. The school is Thomas’.
6. Give me the girls’ uniforms.
7. Mozambique is ours.
8. My wife wants her phone.
9. The phone she is using is his.
10. Look at my boss’s beautiful hat!
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Summary
In this unit you have learned various aspects related to grammar and discovered that grammar is
all about the rules of how to use different types of words such as adverbs, articles, possessives
etc. to do well in our communication in English there are rules we have to follow. For example,
‘do’ and ‘make’ are not the same. You have to learn when use them. Also, the possessive in
English has its way of punctuation which should not be confused with making plurals.
Connectors ‘and’, ‘or’ and ‘but’ have variations and each of the 3 connectors has its own
meaning. Adverbs of frequency have their positions in sentences which can be shifted. However,
except for ‘never’ which does not change much. Articles in English must not be confused with
masculine and feminine names as is in Portuguese and it is sometimes no need to use articles
with every nouns. Learning about how to apply these grammatical rules is very important so as
to help realize the use and misuse of English otherwise it will show lack of knowledge. That’s all
we tried to deal with in chapter.
References
1. Azar, B.S. (1996). Basic English Grammar. Longman: London.
2. Carr, J.C. and Eales, F. (2006). New Cutting Edge: Upper- Intermediate. Longman:
London.
3. Dawning, A. (2002). English Grammar. Routledge: London.
4. Hewings, M. (1999). Advanced English Grammar In Use. Cambridge University Press:
Britain.
5. Jenkins, H. (2001). Creative Ways of Teaching English. The British Council: London.
6. Lewis and Masters, (2000) Use and Abuse of English. Longman: Harare.
7. Murphy, R. (2004). English Grammar in Use-Book 1. Cambridge University Press:
London.
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London.
London.
10. Rozakis, L. (2002). English Grammar for the Utterly Confused. McGraw Hill: New
York.
11. Soars, L and Soars, J. (2002). New Headway English: Pre- Intermediate. Oxford
University Press: London.
12. Soars, L and Soars, J. (2002). New Headway English- Upper Intermediate. Oxford
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Unit 2: At the Workplace-Professional issues
Introduction
After the revision of some English language issues in the foregoing chapter, let us now shift to
practical English- that is, how we can put into good use of various language aspects at the
workplace. In this chapter we are only going to focus on interviews and staff meetings. Other
issues will come in the next module. The whole idea is to be able to communicate fairly well at
work. In these days it is almost impossible to get a good job if you can’t express yourself well in
English- at least in Mozambique. Take your time to study the two topics and do the exercises that
follow! Good luck.
Objectives
 Answer job interview questions relevantly.
 Make your point politely in staff meetings.
 Increase your professional language use.
 Differentiate between proper and improper professional behavior.
 Present and compare their individual CVs.
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Content Development
1. Talking Professions - The Job Interview

Today’s economy is tight (competitive) so, now, more than ever, you need to know the smart
answers and sharp questions that will get you the much needed job. I wonder how many job
interviews you have attended in your life. What are the frequently asked questions? Were you
hired? Did you not succeed? Why? Did you know that winning a job interview is a mammoth
task? You have to learn the tactics. This includes even going to the extent of doing a recording
and afterwards watching it and asking yourself this
question “Would I hire this person?” With adequate practice you will not find it difficult to
attend an interview and get employed. You have to know that the interviewer wants you to show
a true picture of yourself. You have to convince the interviewer that you have the qualifications,
the experience and the personality to fit the job. In this topic you are going to examine at least 8
frequently asked questions in job interviews.
1.1.“Who are you, really?”

Here you will have to talk about your education, work experience and a bit of why you think you
are fit for the job. Don’t disguise anything. One candidate lost a job for lying about his age. He
was 50 years old but said he was 43! This made the interviewer lose confidence in the
candidate’s integrity.
1.2.“Why are you on the job market?”

Here you have to take care. Don’t cheat. Even if you were expelled from your previous job say
it and explain why, briefly. The managers understand this kind of thing. Do not start telling
35
stories here. Be brief and not taking more than a minute to explain. You may need to say the
following:
-“I was a victim of a downsizing exercise!”
“I had philosophical differences with a new group of bosses!”
- “The job they put me in wasn’t the one I was hired for and so I quit!”
2.“What can you do for us?”

The interviewer is looking for evidence that you researched his company.
Take note that lack of knowledge about a company is one of the reasons why a lot of candidates
lose jobs. It shows that you are not interested and that in future you will pull the company down
for lack of care to know about the company. You will have to research about the company well
before the interview. You can find from company reports, newspapers or from the company
itself. Talk about what you are able to do to improve the performance of the company.
2.1.“What are your strengths?”

High energy level? Enthusiasm? Assertiveness? Decisiveness? Maturity? Social sensitivity?
Maturity? Tough- mindedness? Results? Employers look for all the above. Back your assertions
with concrete examples from work or school. You can say: “I sold more tickets for the school
club than anyone else.”
Don’t say: “I can do anything you need.” The interviewer wants more focus. But don’t define
your scope too narrowly. With more skills and flexibility you can win the job because these days
companies hire personnel with multiple skills to cut on their budgets. The interviewer is looking
for your suitability for the job and also how your strength can be utilized in the company as a
whole.
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2.2.“What are your weaknesses?”
Or they can ask you: “What are your failures?” to this question you can’t say you don’t have
any. The question is testing for your honesty and psychological balance. Talk about your
weakness as an overuse of some of your strengths. You can say for example: “Some people
mistake my decisiveness for impatience, but I have learned to watch how I express things.”
Always try to show that you learned something better from your mistakes.
2.3.“What type of boss do you like?”

This question wants to test if you are likely to have conflicts with bosses. Don’t say you like a
boss who you see once in a year and don’t criticize your former bosses. Define your ideal boss
something like this:
“A competent and strong leader who I can learn from, who will let me take chances, coach me
and tell me off when I need it.”
2.4.“What are your most significant achievements?”

Some bosses can’t hire someone who doesn’t have any outstanding achievement. Write down
what made you proudest in the past 5 years. Where possible, give statistical evidence of your
achievement; for example:
“I chaired the Red Cross Society and we managed to raise donations of 890 000USD in on
year- 20% from the previous years.” Or: “By introducing payment system I saved my company
30 000USD in 2012.”
2.5.“What salary are you looking at?”

Tricky, isn’t it? This question always pops up in interviews towards the end. Don’t quote a low
figure that shows lack of confidence in your worth, or a figure too exorbitant, maybe scaring off
the prospect. Give a range, such as: “I am looking at between 20 000 to 29 000 Metical's.” You
37
may need to do a thorough research on salaries just to have an idea and not be caught
unawares!
Beside these 8 questions, expect to be tested even more. For example, they can give you a
certain example of a company problem and ask how you would solve it. They can also ask what
you would do in case someone wants to bribe you.
Normally interviews wrap up with the question: “Do you have anything else to say?”
This is your chance to ask about things like the job, the boss’ expectations, the job demands,
and why the last person who had the job left.
What other questions can you think of?
3.He Art of Holding Meetings at Work

Have you ever chaired meetings at your workplace? Do you understand why frequent meetings
are important at the workplace? Your answer to the first question maybe ‘no’ because most of us
are not tasked with the task of leading workers at the workplace and it is a fact that given the
choice we choose not to lead our fellow workers as this is not as easy as a, b, c but take note that
in very job situation t is part of our duties to hold meetings. Your answer to the second question I
guess is positive and probably you mentioned that frequent communication will solve most of the
problems that obtain at the workplace. Also, meetings are meant to disseminate and share new
information among workers and more so, between management and ordinary workers. Now read
what I prepared for you on the art of holding meetings:
The first thing to note is that you have to call for a meeting when the agenda is well thought
and prepared to avoid wasting time and getting embarrassed during the meeting. Setting an
agenda means delimiting the topics to be discussed and informing the other workers of the
agenda well before the meeting so that they also come prepared. You should have a time
limit which you stipulate for the meeting so that you don’t take days discussing simple issues
which would otherwise take an hour to discuss. Note that your fellow workers do not want
you to waste their time or detaining them for long as if they are your objects. This will
portray you as a bad leader and may lead to further problems at your workplace.
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Also, as you chair the meeting have someone to take notes of the proceedings for a record to
be printed and distributed to the participants and other people interested later. The notes you
take of the meeting are called minutes. The minutes of the previous meeting will be read on
the following meeting and passed as a correct record or corrected by the participants.
3.1 How do you chair a meeting then?

Start by greeting your colleagues and ask into their health. Check attendance and register any
excuses and absences. This is just to warm up for the meeting.
Present the agenda of the meeting of that day.
3.2 Passing of the Previous Minutes

Before proceeding ask someone to read the minutes of the previous meeting, followed by asking
if the minutes are a correct record of what ensued in that meeting. Ask for passing of the minutes
or correction of some issues if necessary. You say something like this:
Any corrections to the minutes here read?
Can someone pass the minutes as a correct record of what transpired in the last meeting?
(Here your colleagues will raise their hands to support the record or suggest some corrections)
3.3 Matters Arising

Here you still have to ask if on the previous meeting there are any issues which arose or need to
be discussed again before new agenda comes in. Here you give the floor tom your colleagues to
say what they want.
3.4 Now back to today’s Agenda

Here you go straight to the agenda of the day. You ask and receive questions, you answer them,
you discuss issues with yourself controlling the other colleagues so that the meeting does not get
39
out of control. Some meetings end up in fistfights for lack of control. Note that in this case you
have to make sure that anyone who speaks will have to ask for permission by raising their hand
and use respectful language that does not offend others. When someone does not agree with an
idea there are ways to say so without offending the others. Look at this statement:
- “Thank you Mr. chairman. I want to respond to what our colleague engineer said about
rentals… I beg to differ… My opinion is that why don’t we try… perhaps we will solve this
problem…you never know.”
The above language is full of respect and you don’t expect anyone to get offended in this case.
You proceed like this until you finish with the issues on the agenda.
And now to Any Other Business (A.O.B)
Here you give a chance to your colleagues to open themselves up and discuss any other
pertinent issues. This plays the trick of ironing out any other hidden problems. Note that A.O.B
means Any Other Business!
From there release your staff as they have other fish to fry!
And to cap off, holding meetings and holding them well and frequently is part of what we call
good leadership! Try holding meetings at your workplace and enjoy the fun.
Vocabulary
Mammoth task- grande tarefa
Hire- empregar
Bribe- suborno
Integrity- integridade
Caught unawares- apanhado desprevenido
Agenda- assuntos a ser tratado numa reunião .
Minutes- relatório duma reuniao/acta da reuniao.
Chair- liderar, ser presidente dum evento.
Fish to fry- muito por fazer.
Meeting- reunião.
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Tasks
I.Interviews
1. Read carefully the text again.
2. Write down any word that you think is interesting or difficult in your portfolio.
3. Write brief explanations of not more than 5 lines each on how you would respond to these
sample job interview questions:
a) Why do you want to work here?
b) Would you like to have your boss’ job?
c) What causes you to lose your temper?
d) Do you have any health problems?
e) How long will you stay with the company?
f) Do you have any plans to continue your studies?
g) How do you feel about male/female bosses?
h) What kinds of decisions are most difficult for you?
i) How do you feel about your progress to date?
j) What would you like to be doing 5 years from now?
II.Meetings
1. Go over this topic again taking good note of the stages and language used.
2. Watch any English parliamentary session on TV and take note of language frequently used in
expressing opinions, agreeing and disagreeing, asking for repetition etc. write down the main
phrases in these conversations.
3. Write a page reporting on the proceedings of any meeting (minutes) that you still remember
well at your workplace.
Compare and contrast the proceedings with what you have learned here.
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Self-Assessment
1.Interviews
Write brief notes about yourself under the following headings;
1. Personal detail;- name. age, sex, marital status, contacts.
2. Academic qualifications; secondary education- where, when and results obtained.
3. Professional qualifications: Courses done after secondary school, where, when and
results.
4. Professional experience: Previous employment and current employment, when, where,
responsibilities, etc.
5. Other Capabilities: such as computers, languages, short courses, drivers’ licenses, etc.
6. References: names, responsibilities and contacts of any 2 professional people who know
you as a professional.
2.Meetings
Write some sentences using the following words as a guide to how you can express opinions in a
meeting:
I beg to differ with my colleague when he says…….
In don’t think……
I may not buy the idea that…….
Don’t you think also that…….?
How about the idea that………?
Why don’t we say…………?
And
I am of the opinion that…..
If I am not mistaken, it seems…..
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My experience is that……..
My point of view is……
I stand to be corrected but…..
I think….
I agree that….
1.Interviews
Here the student has to produce a brief CV which will serve as a guide to interview questions
as regards to the question: Who are you really? The student should select only information
relevant to professional development and not any information.
2.Meetings
Here the student will have to complete the sentences with any opinion that is relevant to the
situation of work. Any suggestions which they think are part of discussions in meetings at the
work place. Examples are use of resources, problems of some workers’ behavior, new
information on how to improve the performance of the company, etc.
Summary
The foregoing unit focused on 2 important aspects in professional situations- meetings and
interviews. One thing to note is that you have to prepare well for both, otherwise these can
terminate in an awkward way. There is special language to be mastered. About interviews we
have seen that you should be prepared to give a brief history about your professional life
contained in what we call a CV (Curriculum Vitae). In a CV you should select only information
43
that helps you get the job- your professional achievements. You should be able to convince the
panel that you are the right person for the job. Concerning staff meetings one important thing to
note is that you have to use polite language to control your colleagues and to avoid fist fights
that have characterized some meetings not well managed. Speaking politely is what every
worker and every manager has to do. It’s part of what we call ‘professional ethics’ and ‘good
leadership skills’. You will have to learn this language until you can do it right.
References
1. Kerridge, D. (2003). Skills for Business English. Delta Publishing: U.K.
2. Pelham, J. (2005). Essential Office English. Escolar Editora: London.
44
Unit 3: Punctuation- Direct and Indirect Speech
Introduction
This topic is exclusively for punctuation of words directly spoken and words reported. The idea
is to compare and contrast how we should speak and write- the rules. You will discover that
there are certain changes you cannot avoid, otherwise your communication will fail to convey
the intended meaning.
Go through the two topics and thereafter do the exercises.
Objectives
 Punctuate correctly direct and indirect speech.
 Change from direct to indirect speech and vice-versa.
 Write minutes in meetings using reported speech.
Content Development
1.Direct Speech (The Spoken Word!)

In English there is a common phrase which goes “…from the horse’s mouth”. Do you know
what this means? I guess you have an idea. It’s all about direct words- words as they were
45
spoken directly from the person’s mouth, without adding or subtracting or editing. We also call
them quotations or quoted words. What is quoting then? It is applying certain punctuation marks
called quotation marks or inverted commas, “………”.The idea is to separate the speaker’s
words from those of the reporter. What this means is that the spoken word has its own form of
punctuation to which I have devoted this whole topic under study. (Study this topic together with
topic on indirect speech which deals with removing the quotation marks for better understanding
of this topic). Enjoy the spoken word!
To start with, study the following 2 sentences and find out what direct speech is and is not:
1. Joana said standing on the mountain I am the most beautiful girl in this world.
2. Joana said, standing on the mountain, “I am the most beautiful girl in the world.”
What can you say about the 2 sentences? Which of the 2 makes good reading? Justify your
answer.
You will find that number 1 is awkward and causes confusion whilst number 2 shows the
distinction between what came from the horse’s mouth and the words of the reporter. There are
rules to be followed!
Now read the following sentences and the explanations given thereafter.
1. “How are you feeling today?” she asked.
2. Her friend replied, “Fine,” but he looked ill. She held his hand and it felt cold.
3. “It’s just a bit of flu,” he whispered, ‘so it will soon be much better. I won’t miss the
football match on Saturday.”
4. “You are an optimist!” she said, “You should stay in bed till Monday.”
1.1 Rules to follow for direct speech

1. Use opening inverted commas at the beginning of words spoken directly and closing
inverted commas at the end of the spoken words. “……” . It doesn’t matter if it is a
single word, phrase, sentence or whole paragraph.
2. Leave outside the quotes all that is not the speaker’s but the narrator’s words.
3. You must not forget necessary punctuation like full-stops, commas, exclamation and
question marks. These should be included inside the quotations.
46
4. You can have fun by breaking into pieces the spoken words, not forgetting the
quotation marks.
5. You can say who the speaker was either at the start or at the end of the quote- the
choice is yours. See numbers 1 and 2
6. There is a slight difference on the use of ‘said’ and ‘told’
2. Indirect (Reported) Speech

One of the most difficult tasks in learning a language involves changing from direct spoken
words to reported speech. (To understand better this lesson refer back to chapter 10 where we
discussed direct speech). The difficulty is due to our negligence of the basic rules of language.
After this lesson you should discover that this task is an easy one. Give it ago! Indirect speech is
very different from direct speech in speaking and writing. This is mainly because when you want
to write or speak something in indirect (reported) speech you do not repeat the exact words that
were spoken. In fact you need to change what was spoken directly and some other things in the
whole sentence. We will have to work in this lesson with both direct and indirect speeches for
comparison’s sake. There are rules to follow which I am going to explain below. Imagine a
situation where you come telling me, ‘Brian said I am a fool’ when Brian did not refer to you as
the fool or still, ‘Brian said he is here’ when in fact he went away 2 years ago! The problem is
you not taking the pain to change what has to be changed and the danger is that you will end up
reporting falsehoods and you automatically become a bad communicator!
Study the following examples of direct and indirect speech and then read the rules that follow
immediately.
1. a) Direct: Cephas said, “I have just passed my exam”.
b) Indirect: Cephas said that he had just passed his exam.
2. a) Direct: “I am feeling sick,” said Tino.
b) Indirect: Tino said that he was feeling sick.
3. a) Direct: “Where are the kids?” asked Patronella.
b) Indirect: Patronella asked where the kids were.
47
4. a) Direct: “I came here last week”, said Vuso.
b) Indirect: Vuso said that he had arrived there a week before.
Note the following about Reported speech:

1. You do not need special punctuation like quotation marks for indirect speech as you can
see from the examples.
2. ‘That’ is used after ‘said’ or ‘replied’ but never after ‘asked’ as in example 3.
3. Pronouns should be changed to reflect the reporter’ s point of view and not that of the
speaker. For example, ‘I’, changes to ‘he’ or ‘she’; ‘my’ changes to ‘his’, etc.
4. The verb tenses must be returned on step back into the past tense. For example in 1,
‘have passed’ changes to ‘had passed’; ‘am feeling sick’ changes to ‘ was feeling sick’
in 2; ‘are’ changes to ‘were’ as in
5. Adverbs of time and place must also be changed to show the reporter’s point of view. For
eg, ‘here’ changes to ‘there’; ‘last week’ changes to ‘the week before’ as in 4. In the
same way, ‘today’ changes to ‘ that day’ ; ‘yesterday’ changes to ‘the day before’; ‘this’
becomes ‘that’, etc.
6. Questions in indirect speech do not have question marks (?) as in 3B.
7. Lastly, in questions in indirect speech you exchange the positions of the subject and verb.
As in 3A.B; ‘where are the kids’ changes to ‘where the kids were.’ Note the changed
positions of the subject noun (or pronoun) ‘kids’ and the verb ‘are/were’. In the same
way, ‘he is’ changes to ‘was he’.
8. There is a difference on the application of ‘Said’ and ‘Told’.
Vocabulary
Reporter- Jornalista
Inverted commas- aspas
Quotation marks-aspas
48
Tasks
1.Direct Speech
a) Read a good story from any English novel of your choice and study carefully how quotes
are written.
b) Write down in your notebook a few interesting quotes from the story, just to demonstrate
the separation between the spoken and the reported word.
2. Indirect Speech
Read carefully the explanations again.
a) Write down any 5 differences you can make between reported and direct speech.
b) Write a one-page report of a meeting you attended and remember to write in reported
speech what the speakers said. Use ‘said’ and ‘told’ also. Refer to the unit on meetings
for a quick reminder of what a report is like.
Self-Assessment
1.Direct Speech
Now do the following exercise to show that you have been following this discussion well and
with understanding. Punctuate the following passage, correctly inserting quotation marks where
required:
49
Once there was a man named Vladimir. He had a big family and he lived in a small
house. He wasn’t very happy. One day he went to town. He talked to a wise woman.
Please help me, he said. My wife and I have six children. We live in a very small house.
Eight people in a few rooms! We can’t live this way. The wise woman listened. She closed
her eyes for a minute. Then she asked, How many animals do you have? We have eight
animals. We have a horse, a cow, two pigs, and four chickens, said Vladimir. Good. Go
home now, said the woman. Take all your animals into the house with you. In the house!
said Vladimir. But he went home and did what the wise woman had said. The next week,
he went back to the wise woman. This is terrible! he said. The animals eat our food. They
fill all the rooms. They sleep in our beds! The wise woman closed her eyes again. Then
she told Vladimir, now go home. Take the animals out of the house. Vladimir went home
and took the animals out of the house. The next day he went back to the wise woman. This
time he was happy. Thank you, thank you, he said. It’s very different without the animals!
Now we can eat and sleep. Now we like our house. Thank you for your help. You are a
very wise woman!
2. Indirect Speech
Now do the following exercise to test your understanding of the explanations above. Always
refer to the notes each time you are not sure what to do. This exercise should be easy for you as
long as you follow the rules you have just learned.
3. Rewrite the following sentences in reported speech

a) 1.“That’s not the way we do it”, said the boy.
b) “He’s right”, said Hans.
c) “We will see you tomorrow”, Nero told us.
d) The teacher said, “The girl was sick yesterday”.
e) Mauro told me, “My head is aching today”.
f) Stella’s mother said to her, “Bring me the pot there”.
50
g) Brian told the students, “You will all pass the test next week”.
h) “My mother is very strict”, I told Lucia.
i) “Do you know the answer?” asked the teacher.
j) “The weather will be fine tomorrow in Maputo”, said the weather man.
4. Complete the sentences with SAID or TOLD. Remember the difference

between the two similar words.
a) Alexio ______________me that he would buy the tickets.
b) Tania __________that the train was going to be late.
c) Maria _________him that she was very angry with him.
d) She _________him that she couldn’t help him.
e) Who________ you that I was leaving? It’s not true.
1.Direct Speech
Once there was a man named Vladimir. He had a big family and he lived in a small
house. He wasn’t very happy. One day he went to town. He talked to a wise woman.
‘Please help me’, he said. ‘My wife and I have six children. We live in a very small
house. Eight people in a few rooms! We can’t live this way’. The wise woman listened.
She closed her eyes for a minute. Then she asked, ‘How many animals do you have?’
‘We have eight animals. We have a horse, a cow, two pigs, and four chickens’, said
Vladimir. ‘Good. Go home now’, said the woman. ‘Take all your animals into the house
with you’. ‘In the house!’ said Vladimir. But he went home and did what the wise woman
had said. The next week, he went back to the wise woman. ‘This is terrible!’ he said.
‘The animals eat our food. They fill all the rooms. They sleep in our beds!’ The wise
woman closed her eyes again. Then she told Vladimir, ‘Now go home. Take the animals
out of the house’. Vladimir went home and took the animals out of the house. The next
51
day he went back to the wise woman. This time he was happy. ‘Thank you, thank you’,
he said. ‘It’s very different without the animals! Now we can eat and sleep. Now we like
our house. Thank you for your help. You are a very wise woman!’
2.Indirect Speech
a) The boy said it was not the way to do it,
b) Hans said He (Brian) was right.
c) Nero said he would see us the next day.
d) The teacher said the girl was sick the previous day.
e) Mauro told me his head was aching on that day.
f) Stella’s mother asked her to bring the pot which was near.
g) Brian told the students that they were going to pass the coming week.
h) I told Lucia that my mother was very strict.
i) The teacher asked if I knew the answer.
j) The weather man said the weather was going to be fine in Maputo on the next day.
3.Indirect Speech
1. Alexio ____told__________me that he would buy the tickets.
2. Tania ____said______that the train was going to be late.
3. Maria _____told____him that she was very angry with him.
4. She _____told____him that she couldn’t help him.
5. Who___told_____ you that I was leaving? It’s not true.
52
Summary
The unit was dealing with direct and indirect speech and there came out the fact that there is
more punctuation to do on direct speech and some words to add when we change from direct to
indirect speeches. Failure to effect such changes makes our sentences change their original
sense or not make sense. We can use the reported speech to write minutes of meetings because
everything is in the past tense.
References
London.
Brit
5. Lewis and Masters. (2000). Use and Abuse of English. Longman: Harare.
London.
London.
London.
53
Unit 4: On Education- Reading and Comprehension
Introduction
This unit is reserved for reading, writing and comprehension skills. You will explore issues
related to the importance of education and how languages help you develop. The key debate in
the latter issue is whether the languages we use in our studies really engage well with our
historical and current situation. You should be able to read and understand the 2 texts and make
informed conclusions which will also contribute to the ongoing debates. Your originality in
giving your opinions will contribute immensely to the development of education and in turn to
our own development too.
Objectives
 Analyze the basic ideas and the personality about Nelson Mandela as a hero.
 Discuss the importance of education to people.
 Debate and contribute meaningfully using the language on past and current issues.
54
Content Development
1. About Education - ‘The Big Reader’

What do you know about Nelson Mandela? He loves writing and reading and this constitutes
what we call ‘education’. You will read in this topic one of the many stories compiled by the
Global Campaign for Education. It is a compilation of short stories from influential figures
around the world. The compilation is called, ‘The Big Read’ and it tells remarkable tales of
education and the struggles of those who are denied the chance to learn. One in five people
around the world cannot do what you are doing right now-reading. Close to one billion people
are illiterate and they do not benefit from education- and that means those who are poor will stay
poorer. Therefore, unable to read and write, they will be trapped in a lifetime of poverty and will
struggle for survival means, to look after their relatives, feed them, and get them to school. Most
of these are women. It is a simple fact that can be fixed. Everyone can be given a chance to get
education. Nearly every government has promised to provide its citizens with free and quality
education by 2015. But sadly, these promises are being broken. Education is not only a right, but
also it is one of the cheapest investments governments can make.
Now read an extract from Nelson Mandela’s speech at the launch of the National Campaign for
Learning and Teaching in 1997.
“Our country is well endowed with natural resources. But our most valued treasure is
our people, especially the youth… our struggle against poverty, crime and all the maladies of
our society requires us to invest in the development of our human resources….
At the forefront of this effort is education and training. We are obliged to make it possible
for everyone to develop their potential to the full; to provide opportunities for everyone to learn
and nurture their talents. We have a duty to create a conducive environment and to provide the
necessary tools and mechanisms to support people in their endeavors to better themselves…
55
The potential to be reclaimed is immense. The millions of our adults who never had the
chance to learn to read and write; the hundreds of thousands of our youth displaced from
education without any meaningful skills; the nation’s workers who must ensure that our country
embraces new technologies- we can tap this power to build a better life by using every
opportunity to ensure that our nation learns.
Our message to teachers on this occasion is this: let your watchword be unqualified
commitment to the interests of those whose education has been entrusted to you. Among other
things this means meticulous punctuality; thorough preparation of every lesson; dedication to
ensuring that every student learns something from each lesson. It involves keeping abreast with
developments in your subject areas…. If you fail our children you fail our country.
To students, this campaign is a call to make learning your main, if not your only, priority.
For you too, punctuality, attendance and diligence in study must be the order of the day. Active
participation in
class and inquisitive probing to aid your own learning, respect for fellow students and for
teachers; and a resolve not to use drugs or take dangerous weapons t school…
To parents, we say today that taking an interest in your children’s education is as
important as their own efforts and those of teachers. You can help educate your nation by
participating in the activities of schools and protecting them from vandals…and by consistent
guidance which ensures that your children always attend school and do their homework…
We can no longer afford to sit by while some schools are turned into havens of drug
abuse, violence and vandalizing of valuable property. We can no longer sit and watch while any
of our country’s children are held back in the mire of ignorance and lack of skills… Let us join
hands and work together to make our schools work for us.
I thank you”.
(Nelson Mandela is a renowned South African academic, lawyer and politician born in 1918. He
has fought against apartheid in South Africa and became the world’s most famous political
prisoners after spending 27 years in prison and became South Arica’s first democratically
elected president in 1994. He is South Africa’s most famous hero to date, a supporter of
education and a defender of human rights).
56
2.Debating Language and Colonialism
How much time do you take to read a line of 10 words in English? 10 seconds? 20 seconds? Or
you take more than this? In this topic you are going to train yourself to read with speed and
understanding an English text. The text is about400 words and the recommended reading time is
1 minute 30 seconds for
you. If you can do this you can call yourself a fast reader. If you can’t reach this speed you
don’t need to worry your head. Keep practicing again and again. Read and understand this
passage which talks about the advantages and disadvantages of retaining English as an
important working language in many independent African countries. As you read have this
question in mind;
What are the advantages and disadvantages of keeping English(or any other former colonial
languages) as the official language in independent African countries?
Most of the problems associated with colonial powers have been a problem of language. To
what extent, if any, should the colonial language be used and the indigenous languages
promoted?
Colonial language and influence seems to have been considerable. Within Africa, major
colonial powers have left their mark: ‘Francophone’ Africa, ‘English-speaking’ Africa and
‘Portuguese-speaking’ Africa. Even after independence in most African countries, the ex-
colonial language continued as the second language used in administration and in the courts of
law. The languages continue to have considerable prestige- perhaps stemming from the fact that
emerging African elites have taken advantage of the colonial education to prepare to confront
the colonial powers.
English is, perhaps, a special case. It was the language of the largest ever colonist, Britain. It
continues to be the dominant language of the First World, reinforced by the presence of the
super-power, America, within that grouping. It is the language of Science and Technology; most
57
published papers in this area are in English. It is the language of international communications
of diplomacy and commerce.
This dominance of English has been, and continues to be, a major problem for ex-British
colonies in particular. Political leaders who claim to have ended colonial rule still speak in
public in ex-colonial language (they often do so with admirable fluency by any standards).
Sometimes, political leaders use that language when their audience cannot understand them.
They are accused of undermining the indigenous languages by neglect. They are also open to
the charge of failing to recognize the importance of one’s own language. That it is the best
vehicle for expressing one’s ideas and culture generally.
Some commentators point out that the reason why many newly independent countries retain
English for many purposes have less to do with any residual colonial influence than with
internal politics. In the case of India and a number of African countries, English is retained as
the only acceptable language. If any other language were to be chosen as the working language,
other linguistic and ethnic groups would feel very threatened. The result could be political
instability.
Vocabulary
Conducive- condigno
Endeavor- esforçar-se
Treasure- riqueza
Nurture- cultivar
Mire- dificuldades
Prestige- prestígio
Elite- elite
First world- primeiro mundo
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Tasks
1. Big Reader
1. Read carefully the speech again, more than 3 times.
a) As you read, write down any word you think is difficult or interesting in your portfolio.
You will use a dictionary later to find out the meanings and how the words can be used in
your daily communication.
You can also ask your friend to help you find the meanings. This will enrich your
vocabulary base in the long run.
b) Read again the speech and underline every sentence that talks about the problems that are
troubling education around the world. After this in your portfolio copy these sentences
and number them.
2. Language
a) Read the passage again and make a summary of the main points raised, in your own
words.
b) Write down a list of any words that you don’t know their meanings and consult your
dictionary for their meanings and how they can be used in sentences.
c) Try to create arguments relating to your context of Mozambique, saying what are the
advantages and disadvantages of keeping Portuguese as the official language.
59
Self-Assessment
I.Big Reader
Answer the following comprehension questions about Mandela’s speech:
a) What can you suggest as the best title to this speech?
b) Is Mandela happy in his speech? Give at least two reasons based on your reading of the
text.
c) Who are the people who need an education according to Mandela?
d) What does education do to these groups of people mentioned above?
e) Whose responsibility is it to provide good education according to the speech?
f) Mention any 5 problems that are affecting education in the world according to the speech.
g) Do you think our society is paying attention to Mandela’s speech? Support your answer.
h) Any ideas you would like to add to this speech?
i) Write down any 5 lessons you learned from Mandela’s speech.
j) What is the future of education in Mozambique?
II.Language
a) Now answer the following questions in your portfolio and send the answers to your tutor
for assessment.
b) Discuss the extent to which the ex-colonial language is still used in your country. Write
half a page.
c) Discuss the extent to which English is a prestigious language. Write half a page.
d) Does the position of English threaten indigenous languages? In what ways? Write half a
page.
e) To what extent is English retained on a political basis? Write half a page.
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f) Given the prevailing language and political constraints, what, if anything, would you do -
if you were the president- to affect the role of English in Mozambique? Write half a page.
I.Big Reader
1. Education is The Key
2. Not happy. Talks about problems. Happy. Talks hope
3. Young and old
4. Rids them of poverty
5. The parents, government, everyone
6. Politics, corruption, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, violence, etc
7. Sometimes, not always. Problems continue
8. Any relevant idea
9. Education is a must, governments have responsibility, education is a Human Right, we
need to guide our children, education if is future
10. Will develop from strength to strength. It has tangible indicators.
II.Language
a) In Mozambique Portuguese is the official language. It is spoken at home, at school, at
shops, etc…
b) One of the top languages of the world… spoken in former colonial countries also…
English for tourism… internet.. computers… business…etc
c) In some parts yes… especially in towns… in rural areas it is a bit slow…at schools it is
prohibited speaking in vernacular …
d) English’s history to Africa is a colonial tool …and this trend continues as neo-
colonialism…in businesses…finance…
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e) Promote learning of local languages alongside colonial languages…open language
institutions for local languages… finance and promote the teaching and research…etc
Summary
From this chapter it has come out that Mandela advocates for the provision of education to
people to make them flee from poverty. Denying people an education is to deny them
development means. Governments have the responsibility to ensure access to education by its
people. Also, students, parents, teachers and the community at large have a responsibility to
safeguard our education from maladies such as violence and drug abuse. Also, while colonial
languages can be associated with development of mankind, there is still debate on the effects of
these languages to the once- colonized people. However, we can conclude that studying and
speaking English gives us more advantages than disadvantages in relation to what we call
‘globalization’. As Mozambicans we don’t want to be left behind others. It has become evident
that education is power.
References
1. McGunley, K. (1999). Bridging Skills. Harare: Longman.
2. www.campaignforeducation.org/bigread
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Unit 5: Some Verb Tenses
Introduction
This unit is dedicated to some verb tenses. This issue is not new to you. We only want to revise
it to ensure that your language use skills does not fail when exercise the shifts from one tense to
another. The verb is the ‘engine’ of any language. We will not cover all tenses. Bellow is the
list:
 Simple present
 Present continuous
 Past simple
 Future simple
 The conditionals
Objectives
 Compare and contrast the different verb tenses.
 Create your own sentence using various tenses correctly.
 Rewrite a text from one tense to another.
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Content Development
1. Present Simple Tense

The simple present tense may though seem simple in English but there are certain aspects of
nouns and pronouns you have to take pay attention to when these are followed by a verb and
changes must be made: The whole issue is about whether to say ‘eat’ or ‘eats’. This depends on
whether the noun or pronoun
accompanying the verb is singular or plural. Many students of English find it difficult to do the
change down. It’s as easy as driving a car but you have to practice a lot before you say you can.
Scrutinize the following two examples below and explain the difference:
1. My child like to eat biscuits all the time.
2. My child likes to eat biscuits all the time.
Which one is correct and which one is incorrect? I guess you agree that number 1 is wrong and
number 2 is right. This is because of the‘s’ that is missing in 1. Take your time to study the
following note
How and when to use the simple present tense? There are various circumstances as shown
below:
Note that to form the simple present tense we need to reinforce the sentence with adverbs of
time suitable for the present simple. These include; always, every time, never, sometimes,
frequently and often.
1.1 The Present Simple “ BE”

We use ‘Be’ to say who we are. ‘Be’ has various forms: Am, Is, Are
64
Example
I am Steve and this is my friend Bill. We are from Scotland.

Note: 'am’ is always used together with the first person pronoun ‘I’
‘Are’ is used together with plural nouns or pronouns and ‘is’ is used with singular nouns
and pronouns as you can see in the example.
We also use ‘be’ to talk about the weather.
Example:
- It is hot today.
We also use ‘be’ to talk about the time.
Example:
-It is ten o’clock.
We also use ‘be’ to talk about places.
Example:
-Maputo is in the south of Mozambique.
` We also use ‘be’ to talk about people’s ages.
Example:
-My friend is fifteen. I am 13. They are young.
We also use it to talk about how we are feeling. For example
-I’m happy. You are sad. They are worried.
We also use it to greet people.
Example:
-Hello. How are you?
We also use it to apologize:
Example:
-I am sorry.
NB. Note that you can use the short form of the verb ‘be’ as follows:
65
-She’s a young girl.
-I’m Brian. You’re always late for work.
 To state facts.
Here you are talking about how things are as a matter of fact. Something you cannot
argue about. For example:
The sun always rises from the east.
People need food to survive.
Fruit grows on trees.
Eggs come from chickens.
NB. See the ‘s’ and how it functions.
 To show regular activity, habit or custom.

Here it is all about activities that are almost always repeated. For example:
She gets up at 7 o’clock.
We drink water everyday.
I speak to my mother everyday.
Girls like to wear miniskirts.
NB: Also note when to use ‘s’ and when not to.
 Questions with the Simple Present Tense (s.p.t)

All the examples above are responses you can give if someone asks you in the simple present
tense. How do you formulate questions in the s.p.t? It is easy! All you need are the verbs Is, Are
.Am, Do and Does. But, wait a minute: you have to know where to position these words!
Generally to form questions in the s.p.t you have to follow the following formula:
Am/Is/Are/Do/does +Subject +Verb +Complement
For example:
Am I happy?
Is Brian a nice person?
66
Are we from Mozambique?
Do eggs come from chickens?
Does Brian always like to speak Changana?
Note that to add ‘s’ to the verb you have to check for the following noun/pronoun combination:
I
You
We eat food.
They
Dogs
People
He
She eats food.
It
Brian
A dog
An Ass
NB. You will have to memorize these combinations and get used to these combinations with
time. A good speaker of English knows how to make these changes without thinking a lot.
2. The Past Simple Tense.

The Past Simple tense of the verb is used to indicate an action that has already happened,
accompanied normally with adverbs of time (e.g. last night, yesterday) which indicate a finished
action in the past. Have you ever found how difficult it is to change some verbs to simple past
tense? This is because, especially with irregular verbs, there is no clear rule on how you change
to the past. You have to study verb by verb to change it, memorizing the word and using it. You
learn by applying it. Yet with regular verbs you can just learn the formula and change. The first
important thing is to see if a word is regular or irregular before you attempt to change it. Regular
verbs are those verbs which accept the normal formula whilst irregular ones are those that do not
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accept the normal formula. In this discussion you are going to learn the simple past tense of some
regular and irregular verbs. Study the following sentences which demonstrate the verbs in past
simple tense:
Bruno was a South Australian musician. He lived from 1902 to 1939. He started singing at the
age of 12 and wrote more than 5000 pieces of music. He was only 37 years when he died.
From the above the words in italics are verbs in the past simple tense. They are both regular and
irregular verbs and the way we change them to the past is different. Read the explanation below
to understand better what we are trying to learn here.
2.1 Past simple Tense

• We use the past simple and past continuous to talk about a complete event in the past and
these are normally accompanied by adverbs of time which indicate the past.
Example; Last night I watched a movie.
• We can also use the past simple to talk about an event that followed another event.
Example; When Anne left university, she went to work for a bank .
2.2 The Simple Past of Regular Verbs.

• We form the past simple of regular verbs by adding the suffix –ed to the verb. See
examples bellow:
e.g walk-walked; open-opened.
• Verbs ending with-e we only add –d e.g. live-lived; like-liked.
• Verbs ending with a consonant–y we add- ied e.g. apply-applied; try-tried.
• -Most verbs ending with one consonant you double the last letter+-ed e.g stop-stopped;
plan-planned.
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2.3 The Past of Irregular Verbs
Many verbs have an irregular Past Simple form: here you will have to learn the these by heart
because there is no formulae as compared to regular verbs.
e.g. do-did; have- had; take-took; buy-bought

Note that the past simple of the irregular verbs am, is ar: was, were. Read the following
examples:
1. I am a student at I.S.T.E.G = I was a student at I.S.T.E.G.
2. He is a student at I.S.T.E.G = He was a student at I.S.T.E.G.
3. They are students at I.S.T.E.G = They were students at I.S.T.E.G.
The following is a list of common irregular verbs for you to practice their past tenses:
Awake- awoke; Begin- began; Bite – bit; Bleed- bled; Break- broke; Bring- brought; Build-
built; Buy-bought; Catch- caught; Choose-chose; Come- came; Deal- dealt; Dig- dug; Do-
did; Draw- drew; Dream- dreamt; Drink- drank; Drive- drove; Eat- ate; Fall- fell; Feed-
fed; Feel- felt; Fight- fought; Find- found; Fly- flew; Forget- forgot; Freeze- froze; Give-
gave; Go- went; Grow- grew; Have- had; Hear- heard; Hide- hid; Hold- held; Keep- kept;
Know – knew; Lad- led; Learn- learnt; Leave- left; light- lit; Lose- lost; Make- made; Mean-
meant; Meet- met; Pay- paid; Read- read; Ride- rode; ring- rang; Rise- rose; Run- ran; Say-
said; See- saw; Sell- sold; Send- sent; Shake- shook; Shine- shone; Shoot- shot; Shut- shut;
sing- sang; sit- sat; Sleep- slept; Smell- smelt; speak- spoke; Spend- spent; Stand- stood;
Steal- stole; Sweep- swept; Take- took; Teach- taught; Tell- told; Think- thought; Throw-
threw; Wake- woke; Wear- wore; Win- won; Write- wrote.
3. The Present Continuous Tense

Now you are going to revise the Present Continuous Tense of the verb. Study the following 2
phrases and tell which one is in the present continuous tense:
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-I am doing homework.
-I do homework.
What difference can you make of the 2 phrases? What are the 2 different tenses used here? You
probably noticed that the second phrase is in the present simple tense while the first is in the
Present continuous tense. What is the Present Continuous Tense then? Read the following
explanations.
We use the continuous forms for actions and happenings that have started but not finished (they
are eating/ it is raining, etc). Action that is happening (in progress) at the time of speaking.
Some verbs, (for example, Know and Like) are not normally used in this way.
We do not say:
- ‘I am knowing’ or ‘They are liking’:
We say:
- ‘I know’, ‘they like’.
Note that the following examples of verbs are not normally used in the pres.c.t:
like, love, hate, want, need, prefer, know, realize, suppose, mean,
understand, believe, remember, belong, fit, contain, consist, seem
However, most of the verbs you know can be used in the pres.c.t.
To make verbs in the present continuous form we need the following grammatical elements:
Forms of the verb ‘BE’- (AM, IS, ARE) + ---ING suffix to the action verb
That is to say, for example:
Brian is eating a banana.
I am writing a letter.
You are reading an English text.
Take note of the essential elements in italics,
4.Forms of the Future - ‘Will’ and ‘Going to’

The simple future tense of the verb refers to events that are still to occur, whether in the near or
far future. There exists many ways in which you can refer to the future. The simplest way is to
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use the common word ‘will’ to accompany action verbs and another is to use ‘going to’ to the
same effect. It all depends on your choice. Following is a simple explanation of how this can
happen. Enjoy the reading!
 Will
‘Will’ can be used in various instances:
1. To make predictions- this means to guess what will happen in future. To express an
opinion. Note that to guess is not to be 100% sure. What is predicted may or may not come to
pass (happen). Study this exemple:
-I always run 10 km a day. I think I will live a long life.
2. To state facts- a fact is different from opinion or guess work because in this case there is
100% chance that what is stated will certainly happen. See the following example:
-The sun will set at 6:45 tonight.
3. To talk about our plans, or schedules. What we hope and wish to do in the time to come.
See the following sentence:
-I will phone you tomorrow.
 Going to
‘Going to’ should be taken as a whole phrase and should not be understood as 2 separate words,
otherwise you will miss the whole meaning of it. It is a phrase which we can use to say the same
thing as ‘will’. We can simply substitute ‘will’ with ‘going to’. The only slight difference which
can be seen between these 2 forms is that ‘will’ expresses simple intentions without much
probability whilst ‘going to’ expresses more certainty. But, don’t worry your head. The
difference is the same! The formula is:
Present forms of ‘BE’ + GOING TO + Action Verb
You can therefore say:
-I think I am going to live a long life.
-I am going to phone you tomorrow.
The sun is going to set at 6:45 tonight.
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Reminder:
If you study well the above e.gs you discover that you will most probably need to add some
other word - AM, IS, or ARE- which are forms of the auxiliary verb ‘BE’. Don’t forget this!
It is correct to say;
-I am going to go to Maputo tomorrow.
Can you explain why?

The last reminder is that the action verb in both cases will always be in the infinitive. E.g. eat,
drink, run, etc.
5.Conditional Tenses
Conditional phrases are phrases that have a seemingly confusing mixture of tenses. To this end,
some scholars would call them ‘the future in the present’. But this definition is not always true.
What is true is that conditionals are based on the word ‘IF’ which means we are imagining
things that have not yet happened and may happen or may not happen. A kind of a fantasy world.
The various levels of conditionality will depend on the degree of imagination or the probability
of these things coming to pass, to some extent. It is important to note that the word ‘if‘ has its
variations and can change positions in the sentences. Study the following discussion carefully
and attempt the given tasks at the end.
5.1.Zero Conditional
It is used to say what is obviously going to happen as a result of something else, or to talk about
something that almost always happens in response to another action. An action- reaction
situation. Usually it is used to talk about scientific facts.
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Structure:
If + Subject + Verb(in Present simple)+subject + Verb(in Present
simple)
E.g. If I am ill, I see the doctor. ( I am not ill now, but when I am, I always see the
doctor.) e.g
If you throw a paper to fire, it burns.
In this conditional we can use ‘When’ or ‘Whenever’ instead of ‘If’, the sense is still the
same. This is because the result is almost all the same, 100% probability.
E.g. When you work too much, You get tired.
Whenever I see the doctor, he prescribes me tablets.
5.2. First Conditional

Is used to say what is likely going to happen if something else happens. This is when there is
some probability of it happening, or when there is 50% chance that something will happen in the
future. This has to do much with predictions or guess work.
Structure:
If + Subject + Verb(in Present simple)+subject + will + Verb(in infinitive without ‘to’)
E.g. If I see Mary I will give her the book. ( I am not sure that I will see Mary, but if I see her I
will definitely give the book to her)
The ‘if’ clause can come before or after the main clause, but if it comes before, we write a
comma (,) before the main clause.
E.g. If I become ill, I will go to the hospital. (I am not ill now, but if I become ill in the future I
will go to the hospital.
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What differentiates the First from the Zero conditional is the use of ‘will’ in the second clause
while in the Zero conditional it is as if the result will definitely be realised and the verb is in the
infinitive. Also, in the First conditional the sense of the sentence is not scientific facts.
5.3.Second Conditional
Is used to say what is unlikely to happen if something else happens. Here there is very less
probability of it, we only mean what would happen, if another thing happened. Or rather, to
talk about imaginary present situation, where we imagine something different from what is
really the case. This is what we call ‘wishful thinking’, ‘day-dreaming’ or ‘utopianism’. We use
the past tense in the ‘if’ clause and ‘would’ for the anticipated result.
Structure:
If + Subject + Verb(in past simple)+subject + would + Verb(in infinitive without ‘to’)
E.g. If you were ill, I would take you to a private clinic, (or I would take you to a private clinic
if you were ill). - I am not going to take you to a private clinic because you are not ill. I am only
imagining a situation which is not real at the moment.
If I won the lottery, I would travel all over the world.

If I had a lot of money, I would buy a car.
If she loved you, she would not forsake you.
If I were (was) a girl, I would be happier.
If dogs were people, they would be on strike.
Note: In the first and third persons singular, when using the verb ‘to be’ we often use ‘were’
instead of ‘was’.
E.g. If I were (not was) a doctor, I would look well after the patients.
If my car were fast, I would not take much time on the road.
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5.4.Third Conditional
Is used to say what would have happened if something else had happened. In this conditional,
there is no any probability of happening because everything would have taken place in the past.
The speaker imagines the impossibility, he dreams of, or imagines a different past, but the past
cannot be changed. The speaker lives in an imagined past.
Structure:
If + Subject + had + Verb(in past participle)+subject + would + have + Verb(in past participle)
E.g. -If I had seen the doctor, my illness would have got better. (In the past- My illness did not
get better because I did not see the doctor).
-If you had gone to a healer, you would have taken plants as medicines. (you did not take plants
as medicines because you did not go to a healer).
-If Vasco da Gama had not discovered Mozambique, we would have been a British colony.
(Vasco da Gama discovered Mozambique, therefore we are not a British colony, but Portuguese
one).
-If I had studied hard, I would have passed all the exams. (I did not study hard, that is why I did
not pass all the exams).
Study this example situation:

Last month Ann was in the hospital for an operation, but her class did not know about it because
she did not phone to inform, so the class didn’t go to visit her. After some days her brother told a
student that she was in the hospital.
Conclusion:
a) If Ann had informed the class, we would have gone to visit her.
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b) If Ann had informed us, we would have known it.
c) If her brother hadn’t informed a student, we wouldn’t have known it.
Note:
The variations of ‘if’ can be, for example,
Given that-------
Suppose--------
In the case that-------
Provided that---------
In this case you can say:

-Given that I had a lot of money I would buy a beautiful car.
-What would you do in the case that you lost all your money.
Vocabulary
Habit- hábito
Reinforce- reforçar
Suffix- Sufixo
Regular verbs- Verbos regulares, normais
Irregular verbs- Verbos irregulares, nao usual
Tasks
Simple present tense

1. Carefully read the notes above taking note of important hints.
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2. Against each example given in the notes, give 2 more examples of your own to reinforce your
concentration and understanding of the lesson.
3. Write in pencil in your module.
Past simple tense

1. Study the above notes and list of irregular verbs carefully.
2. Find out from a dictionary the meanings of each of the words and translate to Portuguese
writing in your notebook.
3. Use each of the word in its past simple tense in your own sentences to demonstrate you now
know their meanings.
Present conditional tense

1. In your jotter write down 10 more verbs which we can’t use in the pres.c.t
2. Write down also 10 verbs we can use in the pres.c.t
Future
Write a one- page essay describing your predictions of what you think will happen to you this
year. Use the various ways of saying the future you have learned so far, including ‘will’ and
‘going to.’
Conditionals
1. Write a one- page composition about all the things that you think can happen if
something else happens. Use a mixture of the various conditionals you learned to make your
essay interesting. Use also the various substitutes of ‘if’ that you have learned. Be imaginative.
The sky is the limit. Start by this phrase:
‘Imagine, ladies and gentlemen.----------------
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Self- Evaluation
Simple present tense

Now do the following exercise to show that you have understood what we discussed above.
1. I (believe) in you.
2. Peter (drink) beer.
3. I (have) no money.
4. This book (belong) to me.
5. We (learn) English.
6. My mother (cook) chicken on Saturdays.
7. The cat (play) with the dog.
8. You (teach) the students.
9. Brian (like) music.
10. What (mean) by that?
11. I (be) sad.
12. Maria (be) a good girl.
13. (be) Brian a good teacher?
14. (be) you happy?
15. (have) Brian any money?
16. (have) we good behavior?
Past simple tense

Now attempt the following exercise:
Re-write the following passage in the Simple Past tense. Start by underlining all the verbs
before attempting to change them.
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I usually get up at 6 o’clock and have a heavy breakfast. I walk to work, which takes me about
30 minutes. I never have lunch. I finish work at 4 o’clock. I am always tired when I get home. I
usually cook a meal in the evening. I do not usually go out. I go to bed at about 10 o’clock and I
always sleep well.
Present continuous tense

Now attempt the following exercise:
Write 10 sentences in your exercise book explaining what is happening where you are at the
moment. Use various verbs to describe who is doing what at the moment.
Also attempt the following. Use the verbs in brackets to make full sentences in the (pres.c.t)
Take careful note of the verbs which you can and cannot use in the (pres.c.t)
4. This book (belong) to me.
6. My mother (cook) chicken today.
7. The cat (play) with the dog.
9. Brian (likes) music.
10. What (mean) by that?
Future
Complete the sentences with either ‘will’ or ‘going to’ along with the verbs in brackets. In some
cases both ways are suitable.
1. (go) Tonight I am going to go to a cinema.
2. (happen) I have a feeling that something good ………….to you tomorrow.
3. (love) You……………….me forever.
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4. (eat) I am……………..a fried chicken at KFC tonight.
5. (give) The girls………….the teacher a present tonight.
6. (run) Sarah …………………. a race tomorrow at the stadium.
7. (see) She………….the doctor next week.
8. (write) The manager…………….a fat cheque for me.
9. (climb) Brian………………Mount Everest in 2020.
10. (compile) The teacher………..English notes for us this time.
11. (ease) The weather………….starting next week.
Conditionals
Use the following pairs of verbs to write your own sentences, using at least two conditionals you
think are possible to be used.
a) Invite-accept.
b) Ask- Answer.
c) Love-Marry
d) Read – Understand
e) Win – Travel
f) Help –Thank
g) Invite – Dance
h) Kiss – Feel
i) Visit – Visit
j) Travel – Arrive
Also, put the verb in the correct form and say what conditional (Zero, First, Second or Third) it
is.
E.g. -If I found 500Mt in the street, I would keep it.

-If John comes tomorrow, I will give him his money.
a) If I were offered the job, I ______(take) it.
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b) Kelvin _______ (get) angry if you take his bicycle.
c) If you had read this book, you _______(know) the story it tells.
d) Catty______ (not/pass) the exam, if she doesn’t study.
e) If Billy ________ (invite) me to the party, I would have accepted.
f) If you drop ice in water it __ (float).
g) I’m sure Tom will lend you the money. I would be very surprised if he ___ (refuse).
h) Mom gave me this phone. She would be very upset if I __ (lose) it.
i) If I ______(have) a lot of money, I ______(buy) a big house.
j) If Dércio _____(not/be) in a meeting, he _____(answer) the phone.

I. Simple past tense
4. This book (belongs) to me.
6. My mother (cooks) chicken on Saturdays.
7. The cat (plays) with the dog.
10. What (do you mean) by that?
11. I (am) sad.
12. Maria (is) a good girl.
13. (Is) Brian a good teacher?
14. (Are) you happy?
15. (Does Brian have/Has Brian) any money?
16. (Have/Do we have) we good behavior?
Present simple tense

1. I usually got up at 6 o’clock and had a heavy breakfast. I walked to work, which took me
about 30 minutes. I never had lunch. I finished work at 4 o’clock. I was always tired when I got
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home. I usually cooked a meal in the evening. I did not usually go out. I got to bed at about 10
o’clock and I always slept well.
Present continuous tense

2. Peter (isdrinking) beer.
4. This book (belongs) to me.
5. We (are learning) English.
6. My mother (is cooking) chicken today.
7. The cat (is playing) with the dog.
8. You (are teaching) the students.
10. What (do you mean) by that?
Future
1. (go) Tonight I am going to go to a cinema.
2. (happen) I have a feeling that something good …is going to happen……….to you
tomorrow.
3. (love) You…will love …………….me forever.
4. (eat) I am…going to…………..a fried chicken at KFC tonight.
5. (give) The girls…will give……….the teacher a present tonight.
6. (run) Sarah ……is going to run……………. a race tomorrow at the stadium.
7. (see) She…will see……….the doctor next week.
8. (write) The manager…will write………….a fat cheque for me.
9. (climb) Brian……is going to climb…………Mount Everest in 2020.
10. (compile) The teacher……will compile…..English notes for us this time.
11. (ease) The weather…is going to ease……….starting next week.
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Conditionals
a) Invite-accept.
_________If you invite I me will accept the offer.
b) Ask- Answer.
_________If i asked you would you answer me?
c) Love-Marry
________If you love me marry me then
d) Read – Understand
____If you had read well you would have understood.
e) Win – Travel
__if Brian won the lottery, he would travel to the moon.
f) Help –Thank
_____if you had helped me I would have thanked you.
g) Invite – Dance
_______If I invited you would you dance with me?
h) Kiss – Feel
__________If I kissed you how would you feel?
i) Visit – Visit
_________If I visit you will you also visit me next week?
j) Travel – Arrive
___If I travel I will arrive early
Also,
E.g. -If I found 500Mt in the street, I would keep it.

-If John comes tomorrow, I will give him his money.
a) If I were offered the job, I __would__(take) it.
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b) Kelvin ___will__(get) angry if you take his bicycle.
c) If you had read this book, you __would have ___ (known) the story it tells.
d) Catty__will__(not/pass) the exam, if she doesn’t study.
e) If Billy _had_(invited) me to the party, I would have accepted.
f) If you drop ice in water it____ (floats).
g) I’m sure Tom will lend you the money. I would be very surprised if he __ (refuses).
h) Mom gave me this phone. She would be very upset if I __(lost) it.
i) If I ____(had) a lot of money, I ___would___ (buy) a big house.
j) If Dércio _had _(not) _been in a meeting, he ___would have (answered) the phone.
Summary
We can conclude the following about the foregoing unit: that the various verbs have their own
context and rules to apply them in sentences. Each tense has its own behavior as explained in the
discussion. When you speak or write you have to take a pause and think about how your verb
should be. Not forgetting that the conditional sentences are a mixture of various tenses in one
sentence. Conditionals are characterized by ‘if‘ and its variations. Conditionals are usually about
an action that has not happened or should have happened.
References
London.
84
Britain.
6. Lewis and Masters, (2000) Use and Abuse of English, Longman: Harare.
London.
London.
London.
York.
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Unit 6: Writing Formal and Informal Letters
Introduction
What difference can you make of personal and business letters? This unit you will focus on two
types of letters- business (commercial) and friendly (informal) letters. The essential difference is
on the structure. You have to learn to write these 2 types of letters without problems. Don’t
forget the structural differences! And a bit of the contents.
Objectives
 Write formal and informal letters correctly.
 Explain the structural differences between formal and informal letters.
 Explain the linguistic differences between formal and informal letters.
 Write letters applying for a job.
 Write appropriate responses to letters.
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Content Development
1.Informal (Personal) Letters

Writing letters requires from us to take note of the purpose and help us notice how we should
write. Essentially there are 2 types of letters- personal and business letters. This distinction
comes from the purpose and in each case the language and structure differ. In discussion that
follows you are going to
specifically deal with informal (personal) letters. Personal letters are written to people you
know while business letters can be to a person you do not know. You can write on any topics
that have to do with what your relationship is like with the reader in personal letters.
Now carefully study the following presentation on writing personal letters.

A personal letter is informal by nature. This means the language you can use here is not very
strict and you can write it the way you feel, depending on the kind of relationship between you
and the recipient of the letter. Personal letters are those letters we can write to our family and
friends and this means we are free to say what we want to them without paying strict attention
to language. Here we can use those kinds of words which include slang and jokes. This is
different with business letters because imagine when you
communicate with your superior at your job, you cannot say any joke you wish. In the same
sense the layout or structure of personal letters is different and less strict compared to business
letters.
Read and study carefully the following example of a letter to a friend.
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Number 5, Carlton Road
Bairro de Choupal
Maputo
23 November 2020
Hi Sweetie,
It has been a long time since we wrote to each other. Anyway, how are you doing my
sweetheart? Here it is half orange half lemon. And guess what, I just managed to get a place to
study Cookery at the varsity. In five years I will be the best cook in the world! Hahahaha!
And how are your mum and dad and all? Send them my kisses. Until next time.
Yours ever,
‘Yoyo The Great.’
While reading again the letter, take note of the following:

1. There is only one address, your address. You can shift the address from right to left to
start on the margin, if you wish.
2. The date is right after the address, separated by a blank line.
3. The greeting or salutation is very informal, consisting in words such as ‘Hi’, ‘Sweetie’
which are informal words which mean ‘Hello’ and ‘friend’ respectively. Note that you
can also greet by saying, ‘Dear------‘, ‘My Dear-----‘, ‘Dearest-----‘ or starting just by the
name of your friend. This is interesting and you should experiment with different words,
informal words. You can write nicknames of your friends or relatives.
4. In the body of the letter you state your purpose of writing the letter and any other jokes
you wish to say to tour friend. From this letter you can find informal words such as
‘sweetheart’, ‘varsity’ ( which means ‘university’), ‘mum’ and ‘dad’, phrases such as
‘half orange half lemon’ and interjections such as ‘Hahahaha’ which means you are
laughing with your friend. No problem with this.
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5. In the conclusion of the letter you are also free to say as you wish. Here the writer says,
‘Yours ever’. You can also say, ‘Yours truly’, ‘ Yours sincerely’, ‘Love’, ‘Kisses’, ‘Best
wishes’, ‘Bye for now’ etc.
6. Your identity or signature can be only your first name (not complete name) or your
nickname which your friend likes to call you. In this letter the writer identified herself as
‘Yoyo The Great’. This is not her real name but a nickname known to the 2 friends. Her
real name is Yolanda Marcos Sitoe. You can try this exercise with as many nicknames
you can. After all, friends are known to give each other nicknames and that is what
friendship is all about.
k) Business (Commercial) Letters.

Do you still remember what you learned about personal letters in the last discussion? I hope you
do and this time you should be prepared to venture into another type of letters which we
introduced briefly in the topic on personal letters. Business or Formal or Commercial letters -
whatever you want to call them. This is a kind of letters used for purposes of doing business or
for commercial transactions. Because of this nature, the language and structure of these letters
are special and a bit different from personal letters in that the language is strict and you have to
forget about the slang you have learnt to use with your friends. This time it should be formal or
official English which you can verify through use of a dictionary. You cannot go about creating
your own vocabulary. And saying anything you want as you use to do with your friends.
Business letters are used when you are applying for jobs in companies, when you communicate
with your subordinates or your colleagues at the workplace. We can safely say that business
letters are workplace letters. You can also write business letters to solicit information on orders,
make complaints and a whole lot of other purposes. You can write business letters to a person
you don’t know. Now let’s turn to the structure and language of commercial letters below.
Read and analyze the following letter bearing in mind the language and structural features.
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I.S.T.E.G
Number 122, Liverpool Road
Belo Horizonte
Maputo
Cell-84238596700
22 January 2022
The Director of Admissions
Harvard University
Cambridge
Britain
Dear Sir or Madam:
RE: APPLICATION FORM- BUSINESS STUDIES.

I am a senior Accountant at I.S.T.E.G College and I am interested in furthering my professional
studies at your university in the area of post-graduate Masters in Business Studies. Please send
me the appropriate application form and any information you may have about the post-
graduate program. I will also need intensive English studies because I am not a native English
speaker.
I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
Yours Faithfully,
Cossam das Neves.
Cossam das Neves.
(Applicant)
P/S: Find attached copies of my academic certificates.
On studying the letter again, take note of the following features:
90
1. The first address is your own address together with your contact numbers. You can also
add fax and e-mail details on this address. Take also note that you can shift your address
to the far right hand-side to appear diagonal to the other address, depending on your
choice. Also, if you are using letterheads you do not need to repeat your address.
2. After the first address skip a line and write the date, separately. You can use another
format to write the date, for e.g, April 23, 1989, starting with the month this time. Others
would prefer to start with the year as in, ‘2013, January 30.’
3. Skip another line and write the title or position of the recipient and underline. Then you
write the address of the recipient immediately after, always starting on the left hand-side
margin.
4. Skip another line and write the greeting or salutation. This time you don’t have much
freedom but to use formal greeting- ‘Dear----‘, ‘Dear Sir’, ‘Dear Madam’, ‘Dear Mr--,
Mr--‘. Note that you say ‘Sir or Madam’ when you don’t know the person who is going
to receive the letter. And you can say ‘Mr. ---‘ or ‘Mrs.---‘ or ‘Ms---' when you know the
name of the recipient and write the surname of the person.
5. Skip another line and write the reference, In CAPITAL LETTERS. And UNDERLINE.
This reference should contain a summary of the purpose of the letter in brief and
normally not exceeding a single line. Here you have to learn to write good summaries!
6. The body of the letter- here you have to start by introducing yourself, your position or
title. Note that it should not be your name here. Then straight away you explain your
purpose for writing the letter. As you do this no slang, no jokes, no beating about the
bush. You should only write what you have to write because in business they say; ‘time
is money’ and you can’t waste their time. You should not ask about the recipient’s health
or family. Neither should you ask to know about latest news as you do with your friends.
7. After the main body of the letter you now need to dedicate a line to say about what your
expectations are. If you need an urgent reply you say it, or, if you need something to be
done about your letter you say it. You may find the following phrases useful one day you
write a business letter:
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
91
I would like to apologize for the inconvenience caused.
I appreciate your help in this matter.
I hope you will consider my application.
Can you think of any other ways you can express your expectation from the recipient? I
hope you can find 5 more suitable expressions but note that it depends on the nature of
the issue under discussion in the letter.
8. To close the letter you have to show that you are about to sign off. You cannot suddenly
sign off your letter. You need those phrases such as:
Yours Faithfully- (if you don’t know the recipient personally)
Faithfully Yours
Yours Sincerely- (if you know the recipient personally)
Truly Yours
Best Regards
9. After this you can sign off your name in rubric in pen and then print your full name
below legibly and below it you have to state who you are in relation to the recipient, in
brackets (……). See this in the example letter above. Note the difference with personal
letters in which you don’t need to write you real or full name.
10. If you have any annexes or attachments to make you can now talk about them as post-
script (P/S) but this is not compulsory.
Vocabulary
Letterhead- cabeçalho
E.g- por exemplo
Beating-about-the-bush- dar voltas
Post-Script-(P/S)- pós escrito
Slang- calão
Purpose- intenção
92
Nickname- sobrenome
Jokes- piadas
Tasks
I.Informal Letters
1. Read again the letter and the notes carefully
2. Write in your portfolio any 20 slang words that are common between friends and then write
the formal equivalents or explanations of these words. You can ask your friend to help you
out and a dictionary also. You will us these words to write to your family and friends and
make your letters informal and interesting.
3. Also write a list of 10 names you know and their slang equivalents. Start with your own
name: what do your friends call you or what do you want your friends to call you?
2. Business Letters
1. Read the letter again, this time slowly and carefully.
2. Make any five (5) points to compare any differences you can make between a business
and a personal letter.
3. Explain in each case why those differences exist.
93
Self-Assessment
I.Informal Letters
1. Write a letter to your friend telling her or him about your adventures at the beach last
weekend. Take note of all the features that we said constitute informal letters. You will need
a good English dictionary to help you with vocabulary.
2. Write a first, second and final draft after giving your friend to correct the mistakes and
submit the final draft to your tutor for correction.
II. Business Letters

Now do the following exercise:
1. Imagine you have finished your course at ISTEG. Write a letter to any company applying for
a job. Include all the details you think can help you get the job.
2. Write the first and second draft correcting your mistakes until you are satisfied with your
work and then write a final draft to submit to your tutor for assessment. Ask your friend to
correct the first and second drafts and discuss with him how you can make your letter
interesting. Don’t forget about what you learnt about the structure and language of business
letters in this discussion and good luck!
94
I.Informal Letters
Check the language and components of the letter, such as; one address, date, salutation, body,
closing salutation, signing off.
II.Business Letters
Check 2 addresses, date, salutation, topic sentences, purpose ,personal details, body,
language, closing remarks, signature, etc.
Summary
This unit focused on structural differences between formal and informal letters. The formal letter
has more restricted form and more details than an informal one. In terms of language you have to
be more careful when you write formal letters than when you write informal letters. Formal
letters are used in business and therefore you have to be more careful how you write them. In
today’s context it is almost taboo for you to handwrite business letters. You have to try by all
means to type the letter and print on the computer.
References
1. Blanchard, K and Root, C.(2000). Ready to Write. MacMillan Heinemann: London.
2. Bosher, K, (2007). Correspondência em Inglês. Maskew Miller Longman, UK.
95
Bibliography
2. Blanchard, K and Root, C.(2000). Ready to Write. MacMillan Heinemann: London
3. Bosher, K, (2007). Correspondência em Inglês. Maskew Miller Longman, UK.
4. Carr, J.C. and Eales, F. (2006).New Cutting Edge: Pre-Intermediate. Longman:
London.
5. Carr, J.C. and Eales, F. (2006).New Cutting Edge: Intermediate. Longman: London.
6. Carr, J.C. and Eales, F. (2006).New Cutting Edge: Upper- Intermediate. Longman:
London.
7. Dawning, A. (2002).English Grammar. Routledge: London.
8. Hewings, M. (1999).Advanced English Grammar In Use. Cambridge University Press:
Britain.
10. Kerridge, D. (2003). Skills for Business English. Delta Publishing: U.K.
11. Lewis and Masters, (2000). Use and Abuse of Englis. Longman: Harare.
London.
London.
London.
York.
17. Seaton, A and Mew, Y.H. (2007). Basic English Grammar- Book 1. Saddleback:
U.S.A.
18. Seaton, A and Mew, Y.H. (2007). Basic English Grammar- Book 2. Saddleback:
U.S.A.
96
19. Soars, L and Soars, J. (2002). New Headway English- Beginners. Oxford University
Press: London.
21. Soars, L and Soars, J. (2002). New Headway English- Intermediate. Oxford University
Press: London.
97

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UNIVERSIDADE WUTIVI- UniTiva

Maputo, July 2013

© Study Guide for Law Program

All the rights reserved to: Universidade Wutivi

Organization and Edition

Author: Brian Sumba.

Instructional Designer: Lina Sara Chovano do Rosário

Linguistic Revision by: Xavier Mucave

Scientific Revision by: Xavier Mucave

WELCOME TO ENGLISH I MODULE I ....................................................................................................................... 1

STUDY GUIDE ......................................................................................................................................................... 2

ACTIVITY ICONS ..................................................................................................................................................... 3

HELP TIPS ............................................................................................................................................................... 4

STUDY TIME ........................................................................................................................................................... 5

TESTS/ EXAMINATION ........................................................................................................................................... 5

UNIT 1: USE AND MISUSE OF ENGLISH ................................................................................................................... 6

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT ...................................................................................................................................... 7

2.CONNECTIVES (CONJUNCTIONS) ....................................................................................................................... 12

3.ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY ................................................................................................................................. 14

3.1.WHAT ARE ADVERBS? .................................................................................................................................... 14

3.2.ARE THERE OTHER ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY? ............................................................................................... 15

3.3.WHERE DO WE PUT ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY? ............................................................................................. 15

4.USING ‘DO’ AND ‘MAKE’ ................................................................................................................................... 19

5.THE POSSESSIVE ................................................................................................................................................ 21

5.1.APOSTROPHE AND (‘S) .................................................................................................................................. 21

3.ADV. OF FREQUENCY ........................................................................................................................................ 25

SELF- ASSESSMENT .............................................................................................................................................. 26

III.ADV. OF FREQUENCY ....................................................................................................................................... 28

ANSWERS TO SELF- ASSESSMENT ........................................................................................................................ 30

UNIT 2: AT THE WORKPLACE-PROFESSIONAL ISSUES ........................................................................................... 34

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................................................................... 35

1. TALKING PROFESSIONS - THE JOB INTERVIEW.................................................................................................. 35

1.1.“WHO ARE YOU, REALLY?” ............................................................................................................................. 35

1.2.“WHY ARE YOU ON THE JOB MARKET?” ........................................................................................................ 35

2.“WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR US?”......................................................................................................................... 36

2.1.“WHAT ARE YOUR STRENGTHS?” ................................................................................................................... 36

2.2.“WHAT ARE YOUR WEAKNESSES?” ................................................................................................................ 37

2.3.“WHAT TYPE OF BOSS DO YOU LIKE?” ........................................................................................................... 37

2.4.“WHAT ARE YOUR MOST SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS?” ............................................................................. 37

2.5.“WHAT SALARY ARE YOU LOOKING AT?” ....................................................................................................... 37

3.HE ART OF HOLDING MEETINGS AT WORK........................................................................................................ 38

3.1 HOW DO YOU CHAIR A MEETING THEN? ........................................................................................................ 39

3.2 PASSING OF THE PREVIOUS MINUTES ............................................................................................................ 39

3.3 MATTERS ARISING ......................................................................................................................................... 39

3.4 NOW BACK TO TODAY’S AGENDA .................................................................................................................. 39

ANSWERS TO SELF- ASSESSMENT ........................................................................................................................ 43

UNIT 3: PUNCTUATION- DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH ...................................................................................... 45

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................................................................... 45

1.DIRECT SPEECH (THE SPOKEN WORD!) .............................................................................................................. 45

1.1 RULES TO FOLLOW FOR DIRECT SPEECH ......................................................................................................... 46

2. INDIRECT (REPORTED) SPEECH ......................................................................................................................... 47

1.DIRECT SPEECH ................................................................................................................................................. 49

2. INDIRECT SPEECH ............................................................................................................................................. 49

1.DIRECT SPEECH ................................................................................................................................................. 49

2. INDIRECT SPEECH ............................................................................................................................................. 50

3. REWRITE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES IN REPORTED SPEECH ......................................................................... 50

ANSWERS TO SELF- ASSESSMENT ........................................................................................................................ 51

1.DIRECT SPEECH ................................................................................................................................................. 51

2.INDIRECT SPEECH .............................................................................................................................................. 52

UNIT 4: ON EDUCATION- READING AND COMPREHENSION ................................................................................. 54

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................................................................... 55

1. ABOUT EDUCATION - ‘THE BIG READER’ .......................................................................................................... 55

2.DEBATING LANGUAGE AND COLONIALISM ....................................................................................................... 57