Wollo University

Department of English Language and Literature

Course title: Communicative English Skills I Course Code: FLEn 1011
Credit hours: 3 Semester: I
Assignment For Management Term-I (50%)
Part I: Reading
Activity 1: Pre-Reading
1. Define literacy in your own words.
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2. What advantages does a literate person have compared to an illiterate person today’s modern
life?
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3. What are the challenges an illiterate person face today’s modern life?
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Activity 2: While Reading
Directions: Red the following text and answer the questions that follow it.

Literacy
Literacy is the ability both to read and to write. To understand the written word and be able to use
it in a meaningful way to provide information either to yourself or others is a powerful social tool.
Someone who has impaired sight but who can read (and write) in Braille has greater skills than
their sighted counterpart: they have the additional ability of being able to translate raised matrix
configurations on paper into meaningful words through a delicate sense of touch. This is another
instance where disability involves the acquisition of a wider, more demanding range of skills.
Reading and writing are the most important of the basic skills you need today because there is very
little in our modern lives which you can do without them. The days of illiterate agricultural and
factory workers are long gone, and so are the manual jobs which went with them.
To use the analogy of shopping as an illustration of how important these skills are if you cannot
write, you cannot make a list of items you need to buy; if you cannot read, you have to rely on the
illustrations on packets and tins to give you some clue as to what the contents might be. And when
you get your purchases home, you are at a loss as to how they should be cooked because you
cannot understand the instructions, and even the simplest book of recipes is quite beyond your
grasp.

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 Wollo University
Department of English Language and Literature
Directions: Answer the following questions using the information in the text above.
a. what is literacy?
b. why does someone who has impaired sight but who can read (and write) in Braille has greater
skills than their sighted counterpart?
c. why are reading and writing the most important of the basic skills you need today?
d. by using the analogy of shopping as an illustration, show how important reading and writing
skills are.
Directions: Say whether the following statements are ‘True’ or ‘False’. Support your
answers with evidence from the text.
a. literacy is is a powerful social tool.
b. generally disability involves the acquisition of a wider, more demanding range of skills.
c. there is very little in our modern lives which you can do with reading and writing, so these skills
are the least important of the basic skills you need today.
d. even the simplest book of recipes is quite beyond your grasp if you cannot write.
Directions: What do the words in italics refer to in the text?
1… and be able to use it (par. 1)
2…. has greater skills than their sighted (par. 2)
3. …they have the additional ability (par. 2)
4. …which you can do without them (par. 3)
5. …which went with them. (par. 3)
6. …how important these skills (par. 4)
7. …as to how they should be cooked (par. 4)
Directions: Guess the meanings of the following words and phrases as used in the reading
text.
a. impaired (par. 2)
b. Braille (par. 2)
c. raised matrix configurations (par. 2)
d. delicate (par. 2)
e. modern (par. 3)
f. illiterate (par. 3)
g. manual (par. 3)
h. analogy (par. 4)
i. rely on (par. 4)
j. purchases (par. 4)
k. are at a loss (par. 4)
l. recipes (par. 4)
m. beyond your grasp. (par. 4)

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 Wollo University
Department of English Language and Literature
Part II: Grammar
Conditionals
Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tenses.
1 If you (find) a skeleton in the cellar, don't mention it to anyone.
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2 I should have voted for her if I (have) a vote then.
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3 If someone offered to buy you one of those rings, which you (choose)?
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4 The flight may be cancelled if the fog (get) thick.
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5 You would play better bridge if you (not talk) so much.
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6 If you (read) the instructions carefully you wouldn't have answered the wrong
question.
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7 I could repair the roof myself if I (have) a long ladder.
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8 Unless they turn that radio off I (go) mad.
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9 You (not have) so many accidents if you drove more slowly.
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10 If you (wear) a false beard nobody would have recognized you.
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Tense Contrasts
The present simple, past simple, present perfect and past perfect in contrast
I. Use a simple past or a present perfect form (active or passive) in the following sentences.
1. TV and stage actress Peggy Mount (die) ____________ aged 86. The star (become)
____________ known to millions in the early ITV sitcom The Larkins.
2. Scotland (elect) ____________ its first Parliament in May 1999 while it (have) ____________
its own legal system for centuries.
3. Salman Rushdie (be) ____________ born in India but (spend) ____________ most of his life
in Britain.
4. The Ramblers’ Association (found) ____________ in 1935 and (help) ____________ to
develop the footpath network ever since.
5. Alcohol-related deaths (rise) ____________ by nearly half over the past five years, a report
(warn) ____________ yesterday.
6. The ancient Greeks (think) ____________ pearls (create) ____________ when lightning
(strike) ____________ the sea.
7. Environmentalists (make) ____________ significant progress in recent years: they (even
succeed) ____________ in preventing further destruction of the coral reefs.

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 Wollo University
Department of English Language and Literature
8. People (know) ____________ to die as a result of the fever they (contract) ____________
while travelling in the tropics.
9. Some artists (escape) ____________ the Soviet Union while others (send) ____________ to
one of the gulags.
10. The current year (be) ____________ a bad one for the economy: one airline alone (shed)
___________ thousands of jobs and many other industries (have) ____________ to sack workers
too.
II. Use the most appropriate simple or progressive form (present, past or perfect) of the
verb in brackets.
1. We (have) _______________ dinner last night when Alice (burst in) ________________ to
tell us about her latest conquest.
2. I (search) _______________ for the missing documents all day … and look: I (only find)
_______________ this draft contract.
3. (you still consider) ____________________ sacking your secretary or (you want)
____________________ to give her a second chance?
4. When I (come in) _______________ a few minutes ago the two little boys (punch)
______________ each other in the face.
5. More and more people (get) ______________ tired of the way the government (handle)
_______________ the country’s economic problems these days.
6. How (you normally react) __________________________________ when someone (call)
_______________ you an incompetent teacher?
7. What (you whisper) ____________________ into Amanda’s ear when I (see)
________________ you in that dark alley the other day?
8. A: (you finish) ____________________ those two book reviews yet?
B: No, I (work) ______________ on various other things lately.
9. Why (you complain) ____________________ about the food all the time? You (eat)
_______________ five big meals today.
10. We (send) _______________ an urgent message but (still wait) ____________________ for
a response.
Voice
1. Complete the sentences with the correct passive form of the verbs in brackets. Use the
Present Simple.
a. English ____________________ (speak) in many countries.
b. The post ______________________ (deliver) at about 7 o’clock every morning. c.
______________________________ (the building/use) anymore?
d. How often ______________________________ (the Olympic Games(hold)?
e. How _______________________ (your name/spell)?
f. My salary _____________________ (pay) every month.
g. These cars _________________________ (not make) in Japan.
h. The name of the people who committed the crime _____________________ (not know).
i. His travel expenses ________________________ (not pay) by his company.

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 Wollo University
Department of English Language and Literature
2. Complete the sentences with the correct passive form of the verbs in brackets. Use the
Past Simple.
a. My car ______________________ (repair) last week.
b. This song ________________________ (not write) by John Lennon.
c. ________________________________ (the phone/answer) by a young girl?
d. The film ________________________ (make) ten years ago.
e. When ______________________________ (tennis/invent)?
f. The car ________________________ (not damaged) in the accident.
g. The original building _________________________ (pull) down in 1965.
h. Where ______________________________ (this pot/make)?
i. When _______________________________ (this bridge/build)?
3. Change the following sentences into passive sentences using the words in brackets.
a. We sell tickets for all shows at the Box Office. (Tickets for all shows/sell/at the Box Office)
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b. Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb. (The electric light bulb/invent/by Thomas
Edison) __________________________________________________________________
c. Someone painted the office last week. (The office/paint/last week)
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d. Several people saw the accident. (The accident/see/by several people)
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e. Where do they make these video recorders? (Where/these video recorders/make)
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4. Rewrite these sentences in the passive voice.

a. Someone built this house 200 years ago.
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b. A thief stole my purse.
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c. The police will arrest the robbers.
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d. They produce cars in this factory.
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e. They serve breakfast at eight o’clock every day.
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f. People throw away tones of rubbish every day.
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g. They make coffee in Brazil.
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h. Someone stole Jim’s bike last night.
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