STARTING TO READ

Discuss these questions about reading.

1. Do you like reading?

2. What kind of books do you usually read?
3. How often do you buy books, magazines, etc.?
4. Do you read the newspaper every day? How often do you read it?
5. What kind of material have you read in English lately?

What is Reading?
Reading is one of the four language skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking.
It is a receptive skill. This means that reading involves responding to text, rather
than producing it. We can also say that reading involves making sense of the text.
To do this, we need to understand the language of the text at word level, sentence
level and the whole-text level. We also need to connect the message of the text to
our knowledge of the world.

LESSON 1: LEARNING ABOUT DICTIONARIES

A) Using a dictionary

You should use two dictionaries: a good bilingual dictionary (= English and Spanish) and
a good English-English dictionary.
The bilingual dictionary is easier to understand, but the English-English dictionary can
give you more information about a word or phrase. It’s good to work in English as
much as possible.

B) What information does a dictionary give?

Each entry gives:

 The meaning(s). Sometimes there is more than one meaning.
 The pronunciation (= the way that you say a word) using the phonetic alphabet.
  Grammar information (if the word is a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, etc.).
 example phrases or sentences.
 Common word combinations and expressions (in some dictionaries they are written in
bold).
 Words with opposite meaning, if there are any.

A dictionary Entry

market/ˈmɑːkɪt/
▶noun
 1 a regular gathering of people for the purchase and sale of
provisions, livestock, and other commodities.
■ an open space or covered building where vendors convene to sell
their goods.
 2 a demand for a particular commodity or service.
■ [often as modifier] the free market; the operation of supply and
demand: market forces.

C) How should I use my dictionary? Here are some ideas to help you.

 Many words have more than one meaning. The first meaning is not always the one
that you want. Look at all the different meanings.
 When you look up a word, put a √ next to it. When you go back to the page later and
see the √, check that and you’ll remember the word without looking at the meaning.
 If you see an English word in a text, try to guess the meaning and continue to read.
Then use your dictionary to check the meaning.
 If you look up an English word in a bilingual dictionary and find several different words
in your own language, look up the English word in an English-English dictionary to find
the right meaning.

Let’s practice. Take a look at these dictionary entries. They were taken from
WordReference English Thesaurus © 2012 (www.wordreference.com) As you can see, it’s an
English-English online dictionary.

1. Look at this entry for ‘heavy’, and answer the questions below.

heavy/ˈhevi/

▶adjective (heavier, heaviest)

 1 of great weight; difficult to lift or move.

 2 of great density; thick or substantial.
■ (of food) hard to digest; too filling.
■ (of ground) muddy or full of clay.
 3 of more than the usual size, amount, or force: a heavy cold.
■ (of a smell) overpowering.
■ (heavy on) using a lot of.
■ doing something to excess: a heavy smoker.
a) How many meanings are there?

b) Write the word in the phonetic alphabet.

c) Is it a noun, a verb, or an adjective?

d) What is its opposite?

2. Look at this entry for ‘job’ and answer the questions below.

JOB1

▶noun

 1 a paid position of regular employment.

 2 a task or piece of work.
■ a responsibility or duty.
■ computing an operation or group of operations treated as a distinct unit.
 3 informal a procedure to improve the appearance of something: a nose job.
▶verb (jobs, jobbing, jobbed)

 1 (usu. as adj. jobbing) do casual or occasional work.

 2 buy and sell (stocks) as a broker-dealer, especially on a small scale.
– PHRASES
be (or have) a job be or have a difficult task.

a) Can you use this word in the plural?

b) Are there any example phrases or sentences? (Write one)
c) In which expressions can you use the word ‘job’?
d) Is it a noun, a verb, an adjective or an adverb?

3. Now, look at this entry for ‘engineer’.

engineer/enʤɪˈnɪə(r)/

▶noun

 1 a person qualified in engineering.

 2 a person who maintains or controls an engine or machine.
▶verb

 1 design and build.

 2 skilfully arrange for (something) to happen.
– ORIGIN : from OFr. engigneor, from med. L. ingeniator, from ingeniare ‘contrive’, from L.
ingenium (see engine).
a) How many meanings does it have?
b) How many related words can you find?
c) Is it a noun, a verb or an adjective?

4. Read the entry for ‘build’.

build/bɪld/

▶verb (past and past part. built)

 1 construct by putting parts or materials together.

■ (build something in/into) incorporate something
as a permanent part of.
i.e They’re building over the old market.

 2 increase in size or intensity over time.

■ (build on) use as a basis for further development.
i.e. The new wing was built on the hospital last year.

▶noun

 1 the proportions of a person's or animal's body.

 2 the style or form of construction of something.
– DERIVATIVES
builder noun.

Now answer the following questions:

a) Write the pronunciation of the word.

______________________________________________

b) Write the past forms of the word.

_________________________________________________

c) Is it a noun, adverb or verb?_________________________

_____________________________

d) Write two example sentences.

________________________:___________________________

e) How many meanings does the word have?

__________________:_______________________

f) Identify and write one expression using this

word._____________________________________
 PARTS OF SPEECH

The parts of speech are classified according to the work they do or their function (s)
in a sentence:

1. NOUNS

A noun is the name of a person, thing, place, idea, or activity.

Nouns can be classified into:
COMMON NOUNS (they name any one of a class of people, thing, or place such as
writer, state, etc).
PROPER NOUNS (they name a specific person, place or thing. They always use Capital
Letters as in Chile, John, Monday, etc).

EXAMPLE: The toolbox is on the floor.

My best friend’s name is Ralph.

engineer - report - January - factory - industry - toolbox - advertising

- market – magazine – newspaper – journalist – slogan - stock - American –
Sunday – the U.S.A - Jackson - the Bible - the White House

2. PRONOUNS
A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun or group of words acting as a noun.
They can be subject pronouns (used before verbs) or object pronouns (used after
verbs)

EXAMPLE: John is in love with Marie. He loves her

I Me

You you
Marie
John He him

She her

3. ADJECTIVES It it
An adjective is used to describe a noun. It modifies the meaning slightly, it qualifies a
noun making its meaning clearer, fuller, or more exact. They are always used BEFORE
nouns.
If you want to use more than one adjective in a sentence, you have to organize them
as follows:
1. First, use those adjectives that express personal opinion (beautiful, ugly, nice, etc.)
2. Second, size or number (small, big, enormous, twenty, great, etc.)
3. Third, age (new, old, young, little, antique, etc.)
4. Fourth, shape (square, round, rectangular, wide, etc.)
5. Fifth, colour (red, white, black, greenish, etc.)
6. Sixth, origin (Japanese, Chilean, Asian, etc.)
7. Then, material (paper, glass, plastic, etc.)
8. Finally, purpose (industrial [company], washing [machine], etc.)
EXAMPLE:
She´s got beautiful long curly black hair.

opinion size shape colour

These are four red metal kitchen stools.

Number colour material purpose

4. VERBS
Verbs express the idea of action or being and support that a person or thing is, does or
suffers something.

EXAMPLE:

She is very busy. She works very hard.

5. ADVERBS

An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another verb.

An adverb that modifies a verb will answer one of these four questions: Where?
When? In what manner? To what extent?

EXAMPLE:

Where? When?

He’s going outside now.

In what manner? To what extent?

The computer is working slowly. It is really old.

6. DETERMINERS
They make clear which noun is referred to or give information about quantity.

POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES
ARTICLES
QUANTIFIERS
DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES
my/ your / his / her / our / their
a / an / the
a lot of / a few / many / a little
this / that / these / those
Example: His job is dangerous.
Example: a machine – an angle – the car
Example: There are a lot of materials.
In singular, we use this or that.
In plural, we use these or those.

7. PREPOSITIONS

Prepositions show the relationship between the noun or a pronoun and another word
in the sentence. There are different kinds of prepositions, for example:
Prepositions of place or location: in, under, in front of, across, next to, etc.
Prepositions of time: at, on, in, etc.
 EXAMPLE: Amy wakes up at 7 o’clock in the morning on
Mondays.

Her alarm clock is next to the bed

8. CONJUNCTIONS
Conjunctions are used to join words, phrases or clauses.
Some common conjunctions are and, but, or, because, however, and so.

EXAMPLE:
 He works hard because he wants to succeed.
 There are several cars and trucks in the street.
 Karate is tiring but fun.
 Do we turn right or left?
 Let’s write down the address so we don’t forget it.
 The computer is old. However, it is very reliable.

9. INTERJECTIONS
They express a sudden feeling or emotion. (No syntactical construction of a sentence).

 Ouch! Oh dear! Well done!

Practice

I. Identify the PARTS OF SPEECH. Choose words from the box to label the underlined
words in each
sentence.
NOUN ADJECTIVE PREPOSITION CONJUNCTION
PRONOUN ADVERB VERB DETERMINER

a) Amazon sells1 books and2 hundreds of3 other products4. You pay by credit card and
Amazon5 sends your6 products by mail7. It’s an excellent8 website.
 1. ___________ 2. ________________ 3. ______________ 4. __________

5. ___________ 6. ________________ 7. ______________

8.___________

b) Oh no! 1 It’s too late2, the movie3 is starting right now4. I need5 to buy two6 tickets
please.

1. ______________ 2._______________ 3. ________________ 4.________________

5.______________ 6. _______________

c) My1 boss usually is in2 his office at3 8.30 on Mondays4. He works very hard5 .

1._____________ 2.____________ 3._____________

4.______________5._____________

II. Read the following invitation. Complete the table using words from the text.

World famous photographer Ethan Armstrong has pleasure

in inviting you to the opening reception of his gallery.
PREPOSITIONS OF,
On Wednesday, June 10 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm
VERBS
At the Armstrong Gallery ADJECTIVES
NOUNS
Some photographs from his new book “A Bird’s Eye View”
will be sold. Part of the proceeds from the sale will be ADVERBS
donated to the Meredith Sullivan foundation for young CONJUNCTIONS
contemporary artist.