Topic 2: 1. Daily Routine.

               2. The Noun: Case. Gender.

               3. Phonetics: Open and Closed Syllables.

Topical Vocabulary

FOCUS ON VOCABULARY

I. Put one of the following prepositions in each space in the passages below:

in / to / up / for / past / of / after / on / at / into / during

Sarah gets up ... 6 o'clock. She puts her dressing-gown and slippers and goes ...the bathroom. She cleans her teeth, has a shower, does her hair and goes back ... her room. Then she wakes ... her room-mates and leaves ... the University. Her classes start ... 8.00 but she usually leaves the hostel... half ... 6 to drop ... the cafeteria ... breakfast. She usually has a cup ... coffee or tea and some sandwiches. She's ... her third year and according ... her time- table she has three or four classes a day. She always works hard ... her classes and she's very tired ... them.

FOSUC ON READING

Read the text:

DAILY ROUTINE

I`m a first-year student of the Belarusian State Pedagogical University named after M. Tank. I study at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. Not long ago I finished school. In June I took my centralized tests, passed them well and was admitted. I study at the budget cost My dream has come true and I am happy.

I live in the hostel in Artelleristov street. I share a room with two other students. They are students of the Physics and Maths Faculty too. We like our room. It’s not large, but it’s light and cosy.

Many people think that students live a lazy life. But it isn't so. I have to get up early to come to my classes in time. It's not very difficult for me as I'm an early riser, as everybody in our family. I prefer to take a shower in the morning but sometimes I simply wash, dress, brush my hair and have breakfast. On my days-off I always cook something tasty but my usual breakfast is a cup of tea or coffee with some sandwiches.

After breakfast we usually walk to the University. It takes us half an hour to get there. Sometimes when we get up later than usual we go to the University by bus.

At last I'm at the University, where I spend most of my day. Every day classes start at eight and are over at half past one and on certain days, somewhat later. Usually we have three classes. The classes always flash by very quickly. In general, I enjoy my studies because they are instructive and interesting. The University is the place where I feel myself at home, it is the centre of my activities. I do my best to work hard at the lectures and seminars.

After my classes I go to the canteen and have dinner. The canteen is open for light refreshments, sandwiches, salads, hot and cold snacks from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There’s a great choice of first and seconds courses in the canteen. For the first course I usually have cabbage soup or milk soup. For the second course I take roast or stewed meat or beefsteak or chops with fried or mashed potatoes.

After dinner we hurry to library to borrow some required materials in different subjects or to the reading hall to get ready for the next day.

Only at 7 p.m., tired and hungry, I come to the hostel. But my day isn't over. I have a lot of ideas for my evening: to listen to music, to read books, to speak on the phone with my friend, to see a thriller on my PC or to discuss a lot of things over a cup of tea with my roommates.

We usually go to bed at half past eleven or at twelve.

I. Look through the text, find the following words and word combinations there and translate them into Russian.

first-year student

at budget cost

hostel

early riser

to flash by

instructive

to do one’s best

refreshment

required materials

roommate

II. Answer the questions:

1. Do you think your working days are hard?

2. Are you a self-organised person?

3. Do you like mental or physical work more?

4. Do you have enough free time?

5. How long does it take you to get to the University?

6. What things about the house do your parents make you do?

7. Do you always do things in time or do you leave them till the last minute?

8. What is more important for you: a good career or a happy family life?

9. What would you like to change in your life?

III. Match each sentence from A) with the most suitable from B).

A

1. She always gets up at 6.30 a.m. on weekdays.

2. Max goes in for swimming, he has his trainings four days a week.

3. The hostel isn't far from their University.

4. Mary is especially interested in learning languages.

5. Jack returns home very tired after his classes.

6. I have so little spare time that even on Sundays I go to the library to read for seminars or to write my theses.

7. Late at night Fred feels tired and sleepy. Nevertheless, she always reads one of his favourite books in bed.

8. All she can do on Sundays is to sleep till 11 o'clock, watch TV, listen to music and read something in English.

B

1) Before starting to do his homework for the next day he takes a cold shower.

2) Reading is his hobby.

3) She is known to be an early riser.

4) It usually takes them 10 minutes to get there on foot.

5) By the end of the week she gets extremely tired. Her only wish is to have a rest.

6) It isn't necessary for him to do his everyday morning exercises.

7) You'll often meet her in the language laboratory listening to different texts and dialogues or in the reading-hall working with a heap of foreign papers and magazines.

8) So you see every day I'm as busy as a bee.

FOCUS ON GRAMMAR

1.2.: The Noun: Case. Gender. 

In some languages, nouns have gender. This means that a noun causes other words such as adjectives to change their spelling according to certain rules. Grammatical gender has little to do with biological gender. English does not have grammatical gender for nouns. On the other hand, the biological gender of the thing or person referred to does affect a few areas of English grammar.

Gender distinctions are relevant where personal pronouns (Personal pronouns) and possessive determiners (Determiners) have to be decided on. These distinctions are only noticeable in singular nouns.

• He found his book.
• He had been looking for it.
• She found her book.
• She had been looking for it.

There are also special cases, such as the association of neuter gender with babies and small animals, or feminine gender with a vehicle.

• I just saw a mouse. It was running across the room.
• The spider was spinning its web.
• The beetle crawled into its hole.
• The baby threw down its rattle.
• I’ve got a new boat; she’s a real beauty.

Nouns denoting male persons and animals are masculine in that they are used with the pronouns and possessive determiners he, him, his. Nouns denoting female persons and animals are feminine in that they are used with the pronouns and possessive determiners she, her, hers.

• Barry saw Linda. He called out to her that he had found her book.
• Marcia saw Paul. She called out to him that she had found his book.
• Madeleine saw Kim. She said ‘Hello’ to her.

The pronouns and possessive determiners used to refer to common or neuter nouns are: it, its.

• The truth will emerge. It always does.

Nouns denoting inanimate objects and abstract notions are also neuter.

• Some nouns denoting people have the same form for masculine and feminine. Nouns used for a group, e.g. government or team, have common or neuter gender, even when we know that the group is made up exclusively of male or female members.

• The government has changed its policy.
• The team has won its first medal at a major championship.

With some nouns of common gender it might be possible to specify the gender if we had sufficient information. But if we do not have this knowledge, the choice of pronoun or possessive determiner becomes a problem.

• a driver…he/she
• the cook…he/she
• doctor…he/she

As a way around this problem, in informal and spoken English, their is often used after a singular noun or an indefinite pronoun. See Pronouns. Some people consider this grammatically unacceptable, but it is widely used to avoid repetitions of his or her or him or her.

• Each student must apply to his or her tutor for an extension.
• Everyone must apply to their tutor for an extension.
• Someone has left their coat in my room.

The specialized terms used to name male, female and neutered animals show a number of gender differences.

Gender differences are also shown in the nouns that indicate relationships.

• Many nouns denoting an occupation have no explicit gender.

Some occupations and professions have a special feminine form for the noun.

• Call your bank manager today.
• Sue is manageress of a hairdressing salon.
• Actors from all over the UK attended the ceremony.
• Here in the studio to talk about her new book is actress Mary Farrell.

Many people prefer to avoid these forms, regarding the distinction as unnecessary.

• J.K. Rowling is a highly successful author.
• Judi Dench is one of our finest actors.
• Michelle Stewart has been promoted to Branch Manager.

The forms authoress and poetess are now considered patronising and are rarely used.Some speakers prefer to use a different form of the word or an entirely different word in order to avoid a gender-marked noun.

If necessary, the gender of a common noun can be made clear by adding a descriptive term such as woman or male/female.

• Would you prefer to see a woman doctor?
• Male staff should use locker room B.

If we are discussing a country from an emotional, economic, or political viewpoint we sometimes use feminine gender.

• Poland has made steady progress restructuring her economy.

1. 3 Phonetics: Open and Closed Syllables.

You are certainly acquainted with the concept of dividing words into syllables, like, for example, syl-la-ble. The general theory of syllables in English is somewhat involved, because syllables in the written form often don’t agree with syllables in pronunciation, but for our purposes it will suffice to say that a syllable is called open if its last letter (in the written form, not necessarily in pronunciation) is a vowel, and closed if it is a consonant. For example, “syl” is a closed syllable and “la” and “ble” are open syllables.

There are two factors that influence the pronunciation of vowels. First whether they are open/closed; secondly, the stress (whether it is stressed or not). There are three scenarios in which knowing this could be helpful:

1) If you know where the stress is and you know how to spell the word, you can usually guess the correct pronunciation of vowels; 2) if you know the correct pronunciation of a word, you can decide which syllables are open and which are closed, and this will help you to spell the word correctly; 3) if you know the ‘correct’ pronunciation and spelling, but you don’t know which syllable is stressed (which is quite common for learners), you can derive the stress position.

Practice your pronunciation with the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epk-hnVC10k

References:

1. Коммуникативная грамматика английского языка = Communicative English Grammar : учеб.-метод. пособие : в 2 ч. / Н. Г. Оловникова [и др.]. – 2-е изд. – Минск : Белорус. гос. пед. ун-т, 2010. – Ч. 1. – 192 с. C. 14–19.
2. Читайте и обсуждайте = Read and Discuss : учеб.-метод. пособие / А. Э. Черенда, Е. З. Шевалдышева. – Минск : БГУ, 2017. – 107 с. – C. 17 – 24.
3. Murphy, R. English Grammar in Use for Intermediate Students / R. Murphy. – Cambridge : Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014. – 350 p. p. 156-157.

1. Hancock, M. English Pronunciation in Use for Intermediate Students / M. Hancock. – Cambridge : Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014. – 200 p. p. 44-45.