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W5 Writing Formal Writing Editing exercise Exercise 1: The paragraph given below has mistakes in it. There are spelling, punctuation, sentence formation and grammatical errors. Rewrite the passage after rectifying the errors. have you heard of thomas alva edison he is one of the great inventors ever known. You cannot imagin what he would do to get ansers. He wood carry out experiments to found the answers. Once he even sat on eggs and tries to hatch them? Grate scientists are born every day in the world, but the name off Edison will always be ritten in golden letters among there names. 48
Creative Writing Biography writing When someone writes about someone else’s life, that piece of writing is called a biography. Exercise 2: Write the biography of a person whom you know and admire. Share the important details of his or her life and their special characteristics. Hints: • Where and when was he or she born? • Describe his or her childhood. • Give a few details of his or her adulthood. • What kind of a person is he or she? • Why do you admire this person? Writing 5 49
6 Articles Articles Remember The words ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ are called articles. ► ‘A’ and ‘an’ are called the indefinite articles. These are used depending on the first sound of a word. • If the first letter of a word makes a consonant sound, then the article ‘a’ is used before the word. • If the first letter of a word makes a vowel sound, then the article ‘an’ is used before it. a boy, an apple, a girl an egg Remember Remember that the first ‘sound’ and not the first ‘letter’ should be considered. Example: It is an honour to meet you. We say ‘an’ honour even though the first letter in honour is ‘h’, which is a consonant. This is because while pronouncing this word, ‘h’ is silent and we pronounce the word as ‘aunur’. The same goes for words like ‘uniform’ or ‘unicorn’. We use the article ‘a’ before them as the first sound in these words is /y/ even though the first letters are vowels. 50
► ‘The’ is called the definite article. It is used to: • refer to something that has already been mentioned, or where the noun is something specific or particular. • refer to something that is the only one of its kind. • refer to names of rivers, mountains, seas and so on. The thief who stole The Sun The Alps are the the diamonds has is shining highest not been caught. brightly. mountain ranges in Europe. Pronouncing ‘the’ Remember • We pronounce ‘the’ as the when the next word starts with a consonant sound. • We pronounce ‘the’ as thee when the next word starts with a vowel sound. Let us look at the examples given below. We write Vowel sound We pronounce the apple a ‘thee’ apple the elephant e ‘thee’ elephant the ice cream i ‘thee’ ice cream the orange o ‘thee’ orange the umbrella u ‘thee’ umbrella Zero articles A zero article is where a noun does not need an article in speech or writing. Let us look at a few instances where no articles are needed. We do not use an article while • I hate coffee. saying general things about plural • I love rock music. and uncountable nouns. • I am afraid of heights. Articles 51
We do not use an article before • Creativity and patience are important skills. abstract nouns. • My mother gives good advice. • Bhavna is from Switzerland. We do not use an article before • Satyam can speak French. names of people, countries, towns, • Zayed is studying Biology. subjects, languages or proper nouns. Exercise 1: Fill in the blanks with the correct articles. One is done for you. a) Mohan is a doctor. b) I was born on ______________ Wednesday. c) Paul eats ______________ egg and ______________ carrot every day. d) ______________ Sun rises in the east. e) ______________ apple a day keeps the doctor away. f) I want ______________ red apple. Exercise 2: The articles ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ have been used incorrectly at six places in the paragraph given below. Correct the errors and rewrite the paragraph. One is done for you. Long ago, the man had an goose. It laid an golden egg every day. A man would sell it and spend the money happily. But he was greedy. He wanted all the eggs at the same time. So he killed a goose, cut it open and looked for eggs. He searched for a hour. But there was no gold inside. He was sad and angry with himself for his foolishness. Ans. Long ago, a man 52
Exercise 3: Read the sentences given below. Write whether the article ‘the’ is pronounced as ‘the’ or ‘thee’ in each sentence. One is done for you. a) The principal of this school is Mrs Dias. – the b) Do you know the address of his house? – __________________ c) Shyam goes to the orphanage every Sunday. – __________________ d) That is the honest boy who returned my purse. – __________________ e) The utensils in this kitchen are very dirty. – __________________ f) Please keep the umbrella in there. – __________________ Exercise 4: Fill in the blanks with ‘a’, ‘an’ or ‘the’. Put a ‘0’ (zero) if you think that no article is needed. One is done for you. a) The Indian Ocean b) _______________ China c) _______________ strawberry d) _______________ uniform e) _______________ Ayub f) _______________ elf Exercise 5: Fill in the blanks with the correct articles. Write ‘0’ (zero) where no articles are needed. One is done for you. a) I am a student. (the/a/0) b) __________________ Nile is a very long river. (0/An/The) c) __________________ Rose feeds her baby. (0/The/A) Articles 53
d) This is __________________ candle. (an/a/0) e) What __________________ elegant lady! (the/0/an) f) I love eating __________________ apricots. (an/0/the) Exercise 6: Complete the paragraph by filling in the blanks with the correct articles. Write ‘0’ (zero) where no articles are needed. One is done for you. Zafar lives in a farm. He helps his parents by taking up __________________ important task in __________________ farm. He feeds __________________ chickens and the other farm animals. He listens to __________________ music when he feeds __________________ animals. 54
W6 Writing Formal Writing Persuasive paragraph writing Exercise 1: Fill in the gaps to complete the paragraph given below on ‘Why art, music, dance and language classes are as important as other subjects in school’. Children should learn ______________________________________________________________ _______________ at school. When we say subjects, we do not mean only ______________ ____________________________________________________________ but also ______________ ______________________________________________________. We learn Maths and Science to __________________________________________________________________. But arts and languages are _______________________________________________________. Music helps a student __________________________________________________ and also teaches _______ __________________________________________________________. It has __________________ ______________________________________________________. Dance can ________________ ________________________________________________________________________. Language helps _________________________________________________________________. One may want to become a ________________________________________________________________, and these classes also help one to _________________________________________________ ____________________________________________. Other forms of art that should be given importance and could be taught are _______________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________. We must remember that 55
arts and languages ________________________________________________________________ with Maths and Science. One cannot learn one without _____________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________. Creative Writing Speech writing A speech is a talk or lecture delivered to an audience. Read the sample given below to understand the different sections that make up a speech. Address to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Title listeners Good morning, ladies and Opening lines Closing line gentlemen! This sets the tone for Thank the audience. the speech and tells One of the initiatives launched the audience what by our Honourable Prime Minister, to expect. Shri Narendra Modi, is the much- needed Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Body of the speech that asks citizens to pledge and Make a case for devote themselves to cleanliness the speech. Include and hygiene. examples if needed. Several individuals, municipalities, Concluding lines organisations and even ministries, Close or end the such as the Ministry for Drinking speech with a Water and Sanitation and the conclusion or a call Ministry for Urban Development, for action. have pledged themselves to providing and maintaining a clean India under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Cleanliness plays a big role in the development of a nation – it helps in maintaining personal hygiene and eradicating diseases. Therefore, I ask that our school and each of us personally will remember to do our part to help achieve the cause of Swachh Bharat. To make a start in this direction, our school is sponsoring a cleaning of our locality this Sunday, and all are requested to participate. Thank you! 56
Exercise 2: You have been asked to give a speech on an invention that has changed the world. Given below is an outline of the speech. Fill in appropriate words, phrases and sentences to complete it. Title: Respected Principal, teachers and fellow students, I am here to talk about something important today. Today, I am going to speak about an invention that has changed the world. It is . In today’s world, we are dependent on Truly, life has changed . . ! Writing 6 57
R3 Reading Comprehension Passage 1 Read the passage and answer the questions given below. There was an old king who liked to ride his elephant to town just after sunrise. After the rides, he would send the elephant to its trainer and his wife, who would bathe and feed it. One day, the king fell ill, and his son decided to sell the elephant to the circus. The elephant was very sad. Its trainer said, ‘Don’t be sad. You will be taught many tricks, and you will be happy to see the children who will love you.’ True enough, as soon as he entered the ring, the children clapped their hands and called out to him. Everybody loved the elephant, and he was happy travelling across the country with the circus. On one of his trips, he arrived at his old hometown. His wish to see his trainer and the king grew stronger every day. One day, he ran away from the circus and reached the palace. He was shocked to see it broken and empty! The elephant turned back, and tears rolled down his eyes. Suddenly, he heard someone call his name. He looked back and saw his trainer. Immediately, he ran towards him, lifted him onto his back and went back to the circus. Everybody was happy to see the elephant. The trainer joined the circus and helped in training the other elephants. 1) Whom would the king send the elephant to after the rides? Ans. 58
2) What did the king’s son decide to do when his father fell ill? Ans. 3) Write the correct subject and object pronoun for each of the words given below. a) king – ___________________________ b) palace – ___________________________ c) wife – ___________________________ 4) A word from the passage that rhymes with ‘guide’ is . 5) Match the words with their correct meanings. Column A Column B a) trainer A) unexpectedly b) shocked B) coach c) suddenly C) felt upset and surprised Passage 2 Read the passage and answer the questions given below. It was a bright and sunny morning. A large group of young boys gathered in the forest with their bows and arrows. But they were not ordinary boys. They were the five Pandavas and the hundred Kauravas. A fierce rivalry between them had begun to grow when they were just children. The royal children learnt the skills of using weapons from Dronacharya. He was one of the greatest warriors of his time. He had learnt the secret of powerful weapons from Parasurama. The Pandavas and the Kauravas were quick to learn. Each of them had his own favourite weapon. Duryodhana and Bhima favoured the mace and Yudhisthira the spear. Arjuna was fascinated by bows and arrows. The twins Nakula and Sahadeva were most comfortable with swords. The guru treated all his disciples equally. Reading Comprehension 3 59
However, he liked Arjuna the most because Arjuna practised his art with great concentration. Soon, he became the best archer among all. Duryodhana and his brother Dushasana did not like this and openly criticised their guru for favouring Arjuna. As a reply to their criticism, Dronacharya arranged for a test to pick out the best archer from among them. On that day, Guru Dronacharya asked the students to gather by the forest near his ashram. He had placed a wooden bird with a clearly painted eye on one of the trees. The task was to hit the wooden bird in the eye. 6) What was Yudhisthira’s choice of weapon? Ans. 7) Who was the best archer? Ans. 8) Write the comparative forms of the adjectives given in brackets to fill in the blanks. a) R am’s house is ____________________________ to the school than Mohit’s house. (near) b) This painting is ____________________________ from here than it is from there. (clear) c) This bird has ____________________________ colours on its wings than the other birds. (bright) 9) T he word from the passage that means ‘did again and again to get better at something’ is . 10) Match the words with their correct meanings. Column A Column B a) rivalry A) preferred b) favoured B) disapproved c) criticised C) competition 60
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