Tag: Read

At the zoo

At the zoo

Read the passage carefully and then answer the questions given below:

Mary and John went to the zoo with their father. They first entered the animal section. They saw a number of wild animals. Some animals like monkeys, rabbits and squirrels were in cages. Others like deer, tiger, lion and bear were in large, fenced areas. It allowed them some space to move about. The monkeys were eating bananas and groundnuts.

Next, they went to the birds-section. Mary and John were very happy to see different species of birds. They saw parrots, ducks, swans, cranes, cuckoos and also some white peacocks. They also saw a python. It was kept in a strong chamber. They saw the python through glass only.Their father explained the features of all birds and animals to them.

They enjoyed their trip to the zoo very much.

Q.1. Who went to the zoo?

Q.2. With whom did Mary and John go to the zoo?

Q.3. Which animals did they see?

Q.4. What were the monkeys eating?

Q.5. Which birds did they see?

Q.6. Did they enjoy their trip to the zoo?

Q.7. Consult a dictionary and give the meanings of the following words:

  1. Wild
  2. Fenced
  3. Species
  4. Strong

Q.8. Find the word in the text that means the same as:

  1. a place where we can see many birds and animals : _ _ _
  2. an animal with a long tail: _ _ _ _ _ _
  3. the king of the jungle: _ _ _ _
  4. a fruit with a yellow or green skin: _ _ _ _ _ _
  5. a long snake: _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Q.9. Composition: Have you ever been to the zoo? If yes, then describe the different birds and animals you saw there.

Capital letters and Punctuation

  • Read the following passage carefully:

Sara is six years old. She goes to Dolphin School. Her father, Mr. David Brown is a doctor. Her mother, Mrs. Emily Brown is a nurse. They run a clinic together. Sarah has a kitten. She calls her Silky. Sara has many friends. Her friends Lucy and Mary like Silky very much. On Sunday, they all go and play in the park.

  • Now notice that some words begin with a capital letter:
  1. The first word of every sentence begins with a capital letter.
  2. All special names begin with a capital letter (names of people, places, pets, days and months, festivals etc.).
  3. The word I is written in the capital form.

 

  • Punctuation is the use of full stops (.), commas (,) and question marks (?).

1.  All sentences end with a full stop.

2. We use a comma to show that there is a pause. It is used in place of ‘and’.

3. If we have more than two similar words, we separate them by commas; as,

Tom has two toasts, two eggs and a glass of milk every morning.

4.We separate a noun of address by a comma; as,

 John, please meet me after the class.

5. Commas are used after yes and no; as,

Yes, I am going to the market. No, you are not coming with me.

6. We put a question mark at the end of every question; as,

What is your name?

How are you?

Question-words

  • Read the following conversation between a student and a teacher. Study the use of question-words carefully:

 

Teacher – What is your name?

Student – My name is Jack.

Teacher – In which class do you study?

Jack – Sir, I study in fifth class.

Teacher – When do you come to school?

Jack – I come to school at 8’oclock.

Teacher – Where do you live?

Jack – I live near Oxford Street.

Teacher – What subject do you like?

Jack – Sir, I like English.

Teacher – Why do you like English?

Jack – Sir, English is an interesting subject. I love reading English stories.

  • The above sentences have words like what, which, when, where, why. These words help us to ‘ask questions’. They are also called question-words.
  • Who and whose are also question words; e.g.

Q. Who are you?

A. I am a student.

Q. Whose book is that?

A. It is my book.

  • When questions time.
  • Where questions place.
  • Why questions reason.
  • What questions identity, manner and action.
  • Which questions choice?
  • Who and whose question identity and possession.

Interjection

  • Read these sentences:
  1. Hurrah! The girls have won.
  2. Alas! He is dead.
  3. What! You have failed.
  4. Hush! Somebody is coming.
  5. Bravo! Well done, you have won.
  6. Oh! How beautiful the sky looks.

In the above sentences, the words Hurrah, Alas, What, Bravo, Hush, and Oh express some sudden feelings.

The words Hurrah, Bravo, Oh in the above sentences express feelings of joy, pleasure, and congratulation.

The word what expresses surprise here.

The word Hush expresses caution.

Such words are called Interjection.

  • An Interjection is a word which expresses some sudden feelings of the mind or heart. It expresses some feelings of joy, grief, surprise, approval, hate, anger, etc.
  • An Interjection is always followed by an exclamation mark (!).
  • Some common Interjections:

Hurrah!, Ha! Ha!, Alas!, Ah!, Oh!, What!, Good God!, Bravo!, Well done!, For shame!, Hello!, Hush!, etc.

Conjunctions

Conjunctions: Joining Words

  • Read the following sentences:

1.  Jack and Jill went up the hill.

2.  Bill is a clever but lazy boy.

3.  Work hard or you will fail.

4.  They are poor yet happy.

5.  I like John because he is intelligent.

6.  I will not go to see the film if you do not come.

In the above sentences the words and, but, or, yet, because and if join words or sentences together. Such words that join words or sentences together are called Conjunctions.

  • Some common Conjunctions:

And, but, or, nor, therefore, because, if, both, only, that, after, before, unless, as, else, till, until, whether, though, although, than, yet, etc.

Prepositions

  • Read the following sentences:

Joy keeps his room very neat and clean. His clothes are in the cupboard. His books are on the shelf. There is a small table near his bed. His bag is on the table. His toys are under the bed.

In these sentences, the words in, on, near, under show the relation of one thing to another. Such words are called Prepositions.

 

  • Let us look at some more sentences:
  1. The book is on the table.
  2. The book is under the table.
  3. The book is near the table.
  4. The book is in the table.
  5. The book is above the table.
  6. The book is below the table.
  7. The book is beside the table.
  8. The book is behind the table.

 

Each of the above sentences has a word (in italics) that shows the relation between the book and the table. All these words are Prepositions.

A Preposition is a word which is used before a noun or a pronoun to show its relation with another noun or pronoun.

  • Some common Prepositions:

In, on, under, near, behind, over, into, in front of, between, above, below, for, since, beside, with, from, after, before, up, down, of, by, at etc.

Articles

Use of a, an and the

Read the following aloud:

A ball, a cup, a mango, a lion, a rose, a goat, a tree, a pen, a deer, a chair, a horse…….

An apple, an orange, an elephant, an egg, an onion, an ice-cream, an umbrella, an eye……

We know that there are 26 letters in the English alphabet – ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.

Say the following aloud – a, e, i, o, u. These can be spoken alone and are called Vowel Sounds.

All the other letters usually produce Consonant Sounds.

  • Now  look at the above examples again:

A is used before words beginning with a consonant sound and an is used with words beginning with a vowel sound.

Remember: A and an stand for one –  a book means one book; an orange means one orange.

‘H’ in hour and honest is silent. These words begin with a vowel sound.

 

  • Now read the following sentences:
  1. The Earth is round.
  2. The Bible is a holy book.
  3. The boys are playing cricket.
  4. The Sun gives us light.
  5. The flowers in the vase are red.

 

We use a or an while speaking of any one person or thing.

We use the while speaking of a particular (definite) person or thing.

We use the with the special names of places, rivers, mountain ranges, books, etc. as, the museum, the White Hall, the Thames, the Bible.

We use the with unique objects; as, the Sun, the moon, the Earth, the sky, the world, the President etc.

is, am, are + ing form of the Verb

  • Read the following sentences:
  1. I am watching television.
  2. My sister is playing outside.
  3. Father is reading a newspaper.
  4. Mother is cleaning the cupboard.
  5. He is watering the plants.
  6. They are playing football.
  7. The bees are buzzing.
  8. The dog is barking.
  9. The cat is running after a mouse.
  10. The children are praying to God.

 

When we use is/am/are + doing word (Verb) + ing, we tell what is happening now i.e. at the time of speaking, as:

Mother: What are you doing, John?

John: I am reading a story, mother.

 Activity: Look around you and describe what different people are doing.

Use of has/have

  • Read  the following sentences:
  1. I have a pet dog.
  2. Rita has a kitten.
  3. Ann has a doll.
  4. We have colourful kites.
  5. I have a red balloon.
  6. He has a toy-cart.
  7. We have a big house.
  8. They have a big car.
  9. I have a new book.
  10. She has many clothes.
  11. We have two eyes, two ears and a nose.
  12. A cow has four legs and a tail.

 Has and have are also Verbs. They show what somebody has i.e. they point out possession. We use has when we speak about one person or thing. We use have when we speak about more than one person or thing or with pronouns you, we, they and I.

 

Nouns

Nouns – Naming Words

  • Look  at the following words:

Apple, airplane, bat, ball, butter, bread, balloon, bus, banana, bag, car, cat, crow, cow, cap, chair, chocolate, doll, dog, donkey, egg, elephant, fan, fish, flower, goat, grass, gun, hen, helicopter, ice-cream, ink, jam, jug, kite, kangaroo, lion, lamp, monkey, mango, orange, owl, parrot, peacock, park, queen, rat, shoes, school, ship, tap, tiger, umbrella, van, watch, zoo, mummy, papa, uncle, aunt, Mary, John, etc.

 

  • All these words are names of something, somebody or someplace.
  • Names are usually the first words which small children learn.
  • These naming-words are called Nouns.

 

  • Read the following  sentences carefully:

 

  1. James is a good boy.
  2. The cat ran after the rat.
  3. India is in Asia.
  4. The book is on the table.
  • The words James and boy are the names of persons.
  • The words cat and rat are the names of animals.
  • The word India and Asia are the names of places.
  • The words book and table are the names of things.
  • Words which are used as the names of persons, animals or birds, places or things are called Nouns.