RECOGNIZING ADJECTIVES (OCTOBER 18, 2015)

Good day, Grade 10 Rizal!

For those of you who participated in the annual campus writers’ convention in Singapore and others who missed today’s discussion, I have just uploaded the text containing the lesson. I suggest that you download and print it out as your review material for our moving exam next week. The exam will determine the 10% of your final grade so you’d better work hard on mastering the topic. The tabulation of scores has also been updated; look it up to know how you did in the quiz we had today. 

For questions concerning the topic or anything, please hit the comment box or inbox me at sirverbal@gmail.com if it’s something personal.

Yours,

Sir Verbal

RECOGNIZING ADJECTIVES
(Miguel, Revilla, & Barraquio, 2010)

KEY CONCEPT

•  An adjective is a word that limits or describes a noun or a pronoun. There are two major classes of adjectives: descriptive and limiting.

DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVES

Descriptive adjectives describe the characteristics of a noun or pronoun. It may be the color, size, quality if the noun or pronoun it defines.

Types of Descriptive Paragraphs

1.      Proper Adjective – an adjective formed from a proper noun

Philippine Eagle                                        Chinese food
Russian Army                                           European coast

2.      Common Adjective

majestic mountain                                     zealous priest
multicolored flags                                     useful harbors

3.      Many participles may also be used as descriptive adjectives.

broken arrow                                             untamed horses
shooting stars                                            praying mantis

LIMITING ADJECTIVES

A limiting adjective either points out or denotes the number of an object. It has three classes: articles, numerical adjectives, and the pronominal adjectives.

Ø  Articles – the articles the, a, and an indicate whether the noun is used definitely of indefinitely.

The church of St. John in Wales collapsed in ruins a minute after it was finished.

Ø  Numerical Adjectives – denote the exact number, rank, or position of a noun.

The first edition of Dante’s Divine Comedy which contained the original illustrations by Michael Angelo costs one million dollars.

Ø  Pronominal Adjectives – may also be used as pronouns. There are five classes: demonstrative, possessive, distributive, indefinite and interrogative.

§  A demonstrative adjective points out a definite person, place, or thing.

this                  that                  these                those
this statue        that man          these books      those pagans  

§  A possessive adjective denotes ownership of a noun.

his                    our                   her
my                   your                 its
our proposal
their commentaries

§  A distributive adjective refers to each person, place, or thing separately.

each                                         either
every                                       neither
every catholic                          neither plans

§  An indefinite pronoun points out no particular person, place, or thing.

all                    any                  several
many               another                        some

few                  much

several issues

another occasion

§  An interrogative adjective is used in asking questions.

which               what

Reference:

 Miguel, S., Revilla, & Barraquio. (2010). Smart English (Second Edition). Quezon City: C & E Publishing.

RECOGNIZING VERBS (OCTOBER 17, 2015)

Good day, Grade 10 Rizal!

If you missed any of the discussion today, don’t fret just yet for I have just uploaded the text containing the lesson. This comes with a more comprehensive explanation so I suggest you download this one and add this to your review materials for the first periodical exam. Also just an hour ago, I have updated your tabulation of scores; see it to know how you did in the latest exercise the class we had.

Don’t miss the English enhancement class tomorrow afternoon. Your parents will be notified of your attendance.

For questions concerning the lesson or anything, please hit the comment box or inbox me at sirverbal@gmail.com if it’s something personal.

Yours,

Sir Verbal  

RECOGNIZING VERBS
(Miguel, Revilla, & Barraquio, 2010)

KEY CONCEPTS

A verb shows action, links another word to the subject, helps another verb, or merely indicates existence.

Sometimes the verb is a single word; other times, the verb is made up of two or more words called a verb phrase.

A verb phrase consists of a main verb plus one or more helping verbs. Sometimes a verb phrase is interrupted by other words. Be careful to locate all the helping verbs that go with the main verb.

My songs and poems shall not always be heard.

Check out this funny video about verbs!

KINDS OF VERBS ACCORDING TO USE

 Action verbs are either transitive or intransitive. Non-action verbs are called linking (copulative) verbs or helping (auxiliary) verbs according to their use in sentences.

•  A transitive verb expresses an action which passes from the subject to a direct object of when the subject is acted upon. It needs a receiver of the action or a direct object.

A gland produces a fluid that the body needs to work properly. (The direct object is fluid receives the action of the verb produces)

·         An intransitive verb does not need an object or receiver of its action.

People snore when soft tissues in the throat collapse during deep sleep. (The verb snore does not pass its action to any word in the sentence.)

·         A linking verb is a non-action word that connects the subject to a word in the predicate. The word linked to the subject may be a noun, a pronoun, or an adjective that identifies or describes the subject.

Most metals are chemically reactive. (The verb are links the adjective reactive to the subject metals. The word reactive describes the subject metals and is a predicative adjective).

Many iron ores such as magnetic are oxides. (The verb are links the noun oxides to the subject ores. The word oxides identifies ores and is a predicative nominative.)

·         Below are the most commonly used linking verbs.

am                  were                taste                 look                 grow

is                     be                    feel                  appear              remain

are                  being               smell                become            stay

was                 been                 sound              seem

Reference:

 Miguel, S., Revilla, & Barraquio. (2010). Smart English (Second Edition). Quezon City: C & E Publishing.

PRONOUNS (OCTOBER 16, 2015)

Good day, Grade 10 Rizal!

If you missed the discussion today, here is the Powerpoint presentation containing the whole lesson. You can download this one and use it as your review material for our long quiz on Friday. And also, kindly drop by the "Performance Updates" page to see your scores in the quiz you took this morning!

See you tomorrow!

Yours,
Sir Francis

Pronouns from gherm6

RECOGNIZING NOUNS (OCTOBER 16, 2015)

Good day, Grade 10 Rizal!

As promised, I have just uploaded the text containing the lesson we had this morning (scroll down a little and you’re on it) as well as your assignment for the weekend. You may download and print this out as a review material for the first periodical exam which is coming in one month’s time. Also, I have just updated the tabulation of your quiz scores with the results of the exercise with had today. Again, I am happy that almost everyone nailed a high score. Keep it this up ‘til the end of the class, okay? J For questions about the lesson or anything, please hit the comment box or inbox me if it’s something personal.

Yours,
Sir Francis

RECOGNIZING NOUNS
(Miguel, Revilla, & Barraquio, 2010)

Nouns are commonly defined as names of persons, places, or things. They are either proper or common. Proper nouns are specific names and are, therefore, capitalized. Common nouns on the other hand, have various types (master these).

1. Collective Nouns, e.g., persons (jury, committee), animals (herd of cattle, school of fish), things (bunch of grapes, convoy of ships)
2. Count Nouns, e.g, box, package truck, house, chair
3. Non-Count Nouns e.g., cloth, water, coffee, wheat, lard, flour
4. Abstract Nouns e.g., imagination, anger, fear, love, honesty, (these refer to concepts and emotions)
5. Concrete Nouns, e.g., thunder, earthquake, fragrance, sweetness (these refer to phenomena which can be experienced by the senses)

SOURCES OF NOUNS

            Abstract nouns may be derived from various sources: concrete nouns, action verbs and descriptive adjectives.

• Abstract Nouns from Concrete Nouns

Abstraction results when the suffixes –ism, -ship, or –try are added to concrete nouns or when the final t of the concrete word is changed to c, and y, is correspondingly added.

hero – heroism
king – kingship
dentist – dentistry
president – presidency

• Abstract Nouns from Action Verbs

Such abstract words are formed or divided when the suffixes –ance, -ment, or –ion are added to verbs or when the final ate is replaced with –ance.

annoy – annoyance                                        exhaust – exhaustion
persevere – perseverance                               sponsor – sponsorship

enjoy – enjoyment                                          tolerate – tolerance

• Abstract Nouns from Descriptive Adjectives

When adjectives take either the suffix –ism, -ship, or –ity, abstract nouns result. Moreover, when the final ant of an adjective is changed to –ance and the final ate is changed to cy, abstract nouns are also derived.

          sentimental – sentimentalism                                      elegant – elegance

          good – goodness                                                         intimate – intimacy

          curios – curiosity                                                         spontaneous – spontaneity

Reference:

 Miguel, S., Revilla, & Barraquio. (2010). Smart English (Second Edition). Quezon City: C & E Publishing.

ASSIGNMENT:

Identify the nouns among the words in the box. 

HISTORY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE (OCT. 14, 2015)

Good day, Grade 10 Rizal!

If you have missed any of the discussion or the entire discussion today, here’s the complete transcription. You may download this text and print it out so you can have a ready reference for the assignment I gave you which is also embedded at the bottom of this page. One more thing, the tabulation of your quiz scores has just been updated; meaning the result of the exercise you took this morning is already out. I’m glad almost everyone nailed a high score. Keep it up!

Yours,
Sir Francis

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
(Miguel, Revilla, & Barraquio, 2010)

OLD ENGLISH

The language which you read today and which you have studied since grade school has a very interesting history. In fact, it traces its history back to the 5^th century CE when the three Germanic tribes–the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes—arrived in the British Isles. These seafaring tribes from Denmark and present-day northern Germany and Netherlands brought with them their own mix of language—dialects falling within Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. The Angles were named from Engle, their land of origin. Their language was called “Englisc” from which the word English is derived. Collectively, Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, became known as the Anglo-Saxons.

The conversion to Christianity brought some Latin words (the language of the church) into English language. They were concerned with naming the church dignitaries, ceremonies, etc. some words, such as church, bishop, baptism, monk, eucharis, and presbyter came indirectly through Latin from the Greek.

The Vikings, also known as the Norsemen, invaded England by the 8^th century, which in turn, gave English a Norwegian and Danish influence. Some words derived from the Norse include cake, take, egg, leg, window, husband, skill, sky, skin, anger, flat, odd, they, their and them.

Watch this 51-min documentary on the history of English language.
We will discuss this tomorrow.

MIDDLE ENGLISH

Then came the Norman Conquest of 1066. When William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, invaded England, he became its king. He brought home his nobles, who spoke French and formed the new government. The Normans imposed their language on the whole country. French became the language of the court, administration, and culture. It was the language used for instruction in schools. The English language became mostly the language of the uneducated classes and was considered a vulgar tongue.

Most of the English words rooted in French are words that have something to do with power, such as crown, castle, court, parliament, army, mansion, gown, beauty, banquet, art, poet, romance, duke, servant, peasant, traitor, and governor. Because the Anglo-Saxons, now considered the English underclass cooked for Norman upper class, the words for most domestic animals are English (ox, cow, calf, sheep, swine, deer), while the words for meats derived from them are French (beef, veal, mutton, pork, bacon, venison).

MODERN ENGLISH

Modern English developed after Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press in Germany around 1405 and William Caxtor established England’s first printing press at Westminister Abbey in 1476. The press made books available to more people; more people learned to read. Printing also brought standardization of English.

Between the 18^th and 20^th Centuries, the English language continued to change as the British Empire moved across the world—to the USA, Australia, New Zealand, India, Asia, and Africa. The Empire sent people to settle and live in these conquered places and because of interactions with natives, new words were added to the English vocabulary. For example, kangaroo and boomerang are words of the Australian Aborigines,; juggernaut and turban came from India; aardvark and wildebeest came from Africa; alchemy and algebra came from Arabian peninsula.

The majority of words in modern English have foreign, not Old English roots. In fact, only about 1/6^th of the known Old English words have descendants surviving today. This one-sixth, however, represents the most commonly used words in English today such as Water and Strong.

Reference:

 Miguel, S., Revilla, & Barraquio. (2010). Smart English (Second Edition). Quezon City: C & E Publishing.

ASSIGNEMNT:

Answer the following questions:

 1. How has English language changed over the time since its birth?

 2. Based on your own understanding, how have foreign influences helped in keeping English an alive language?