A Workbook to Communicative Grammar of English (7 page)
Read A Workbook to Communicative Grammar of English Online
Authors: Dr. Edward Woods,Rudy Coppieters
Sections 70–81; 675–680; 697–699
Amount words like
all, some, none
can be used with both count and mass nouns. Amount words can specify more precisely the meaning such as
a large quantity, a small quantity
and
not a large quantity
.
Words like
all, both, every, each
and sometimes
any
carry a general or inclusive meaning.
Task one **
Consider the scale of amounts where
all
is the most inclusive and
no(ne)
is the most negative and organise the statements below so that 1 is the most inclusive and the highest figure is the most negative. Some items will have the same score. Also indicate whether they show whether the amount word is a determiner (D) or a pronoun (P).
1.
There are some great artisan ateliers hidden in Treviso’s backstreets.
2.
All the candidates spent the day hustling for votes.
3.
I’d like to welcome everyone here and thank you all for giving up your time.
4.
Anyone you ask is bound to know the way.
5.
Nothing I said could tempt her to tell us what she knew about the candidates.
6.
There are few things more tedious than hearing other people blaring into their mobiles.
7.
He read every scientific paper he could find on cheese, immersing himself in the finer points of microbiology.
8.
Although many of us stay fit and healthy well into our eighties and nineties, the risk of suffering some sort of health problem increases with age.
9.
This booklet aims to answer most of your questions about Capital Bonds.
10.
Each of the so-called multi-modal studies are “looking at some of the severe transport problems around the country”.
Task two **
Explain the (possible) difference of meaning in the pairs of sentences below. Say if two sentences have the same basic meaning.
1.
The manager gave all the staff a week’s holiday.
The manager gave each of the staff a week’s holiday.
2.
Some of the students could easily pass the exam.
Any of the students could easily pass the exam.
3.
Either date will be all right.
Neither date will be all right.
4.
Either date will be suitable.
Both dates will be suitable.
5.
He couldn’t remember some of their names.
He couldn’t remember any of their names.
6.
There are few books I’d like to read again.
There are a few books I’d like to read again.
7.
Speak to each of my parents about it.
Speak to either of my parents about it.
8.
Will he tell us whether he agrees with everything he said 17 years ago?
Or indeed whether he agrees with anything he said 17 years ago?
9.
Neither of us could help him.
None of us could help him.
10.
You can see him any Sunday morning walking by the canal.
You can see him every Sunday morning walking by the canal.
Task three **
Households with selected consumer durables: by type of household, 1999–00 (percentages) –
National Statistics – Social Trends
– 2001 ed.
With reference to the chart above complete the sentences below with the most suitable
amount
expressions:
all, few, a few, half, little, a little, the majority of, majority of, many, most, much, none, several, some
1.
………… homes with one adult with children had television.
2.
………… homes with one adult had a dishwasher.
3.
………… homes with two or more adults had a computer, but not all.
4.
Only ………… households had a dishwasher.
5.
Not ………… households with one adult had satellite TV.
6.
A large ………… households with two or more adults had a video recorder.
7.
………… families of two adults with children have a video recorder.
8.
Just over ………… the households of one adult with children have a tumble dryer.
9.
A ………… households of two adults have a microwave.
10.
Overall ………… households were without a telephone.
Task four ***
Television viewing and radio listening by age and gender, 1999 (hours per week) –
National Statistics – Social Trends
– 2001 ed.
With reference to the chart above and the chart in Task three complete the text below with appropriate
amount
words.
The figures show the number of hours per person by age and gender per week spent watching television and listening to the radio. As you can see ………(1)…….. time among 4–15 year olds of both genders was spent listening to the radio. A ………(2)…….. time was spent watching television by older people which reflects the fact that a ………(3)…….. older people own a television. However, a ………(4)…….. the television watched by those over 65 consisted of news programmes, whereas only a ………(5)…….. of those under 15 watched these. A ………(6)…….. of time was spent watching TV by women between the ages of 45 and 54.
The survey also showed the variations across the country. ………(7)…….. time spent watching television was in the Scotland BBC region. This was almost five hours more than the time spent by those in the South of England. Generally men spent ………(8)…….. their time listening to the radio. This was possibly because they did so in the car on their way to and from work.
Overall, there was ………(9)…….. of difference between the age groups at either end of the scale, but among those between the ages of 25 and 54, there was only ………(10)…….. difference.
Sections 82–90; 448; 475; 579; 597; 641; 747
Task one ***
Underline the definite articles, the indefinite articles and the places where zero article has been used in the texts opposite. Then list rules for their use in the table opposite. Ignore proper nouns.
1.
The owner of a pet shop in Leeds saved the life of a lizard by giving it mouth-to-mouth resuscitation after it choked on a locust. (
Metro
, 21 June 2001)
2.
Stolen property recovered by police in Sandwell, West Midlands, is to be sold on the internet to raise money to increase the number of bobbies on the beat. (
Sandwell Chronicle
, 15 June 2001)
3.
The outbreak of foot and mouth disease was detected in England on February 20. Since then the disease has spread in the U.K. in an explosive manner. By March 2, the disease had been found in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The virus causes foot and mouth disease only in hoofed animals, but may cause a transient infection in horses and people. Hoofed animal species include cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, deer, reindeer and elks. The disease causes no risk for humans. (Finland: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Food and Health Department – Press release, 5 March 2001)
4.
With Special Delivery we give you a guarantee that, if we fail to deliver by the guaranteed time, we will refund your money within five days. In cases of lost or damaged items, compensation is based on the loss suffered up to the market value of the item or the compensation level paid for up to £2,500), whichever is the lower. (Royal Mail’s
Code of Practice
, August 2000)
5.
Demos, the independent think tank, is looking for imaginative, experienced and forward looking people to join a growing team and broad-ranging work programme. (Ad. For Demos in
New Statesman
, 25 June 2001)
Task two***
Add any other uses not included in the texts above.
Task three **
Select from the list below the use of the definite article in the following texts.
A: | When the person or thing is generally known. |
B: | When the person or thing has been mentioned in the text before. |
C: | When the person or thing is defined later. |
D: | When the person or thing is unique. |
E: | For countries which are a federation of states. |
F: | For names of rivers and ranges of mountains. |
1. | We are boosting pensioner incomes and meeting |
2. | Victory for |
3. | Turner’s painting “ |
4. | The Shining with all his might: He did his very best to make The And this was odd, because it was The |
5. | After a fortnight of glorious indolence staying with friends in a diplomatic suburb of Damascus, I was woken this morning by |
6. | On a hill overlooking |
Task four **
In the following text, all the articles (definite and indefinite) have been removed. Rewrite the text with the appropriate articles. The first one is done for you.
I’d bought
the
revolver on impulse from morose, tubby man who said he went by name of ‘Lefty’. I gave him story about needing to defend my home from scum who were running around these days. He nodded in sympathetic but slightly bored way. He didn’t care what I was going to do with gun any more than car salesman cares where you plan to drive. All Lefty wanted to do was make sale. He proceeded to describe technical virtues and drawbacks of various models he had on sale. As he talked me through each one, he picked it up and
put it in my hand. It was odd feeling. I realised that I had never before touched something which was solely and specifically designed to kill.
(M. Dibdin,
Thanksgiving
, Faber & Faber, 2000)
Task five **
1.
Give reasons for your choice of articles in Task Four.
2.
Give reasons for leaving some words governed by zero articles.
Task six ***
