Punctuation Marks: REVISION

Punctuation Marks

Read the article below and then answer the questions. The article has been adapted from the Cape Argus.

From A to B and back, 100 different ways

July 18 2009

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

London - An 82-year-old Briton was celebrating on Friday after completing his bid to travel on 100 different types of transport within a year. Edwin Shackleton, a retired aircraft engineer from Bristol in south-west England, started off his odyssey with a ride in his car on New Year's Day. Seven months on, the bowel cancer survivor travelled by his 100th mode of transport by taking a ride in a hot air balloon. On his way to the 100 mark, Shackleton travelled in a sledge, a fire engine, a rubbish truck, a rickshaw, a police car, a chairlift, a quad bike and a microlight plane. Now the widowed pensioner has decided to carry on and try to take 240 different modes of transport, which he hopes will score him a Guinness World Record. Indeed, after disembarking from the hot air balloon, Shackleton was off for a ride in a catamaran. "Everything I've been on has been a fascinating experience," he told the Western Daily Press newspaper in southwest England. "Even the sand yacht that was so close to the ground that I thought I was going to scrape my bottom, and the catamaran on which quite a lot of people were sick and the smell was horrible." Shackleton has already made a Guinness World Record, for flying the biggest variety of aircraft as a passenger. On his bid for another record, he is scheduled to ride in a three-wheel car, a brewer's dray and a privately-owned Russian T-55 tank. Shackleton said he also wanted to travel on a Cessna 208 Caravan bush plane used in Scotland, plus a transporter bridge and a steam-propelled bus in northeast England. He said: "I was surprised by the wide variety of transport I found when I started to look into it." – AFP

Questions

1.         Explain the use of each of the following punctuation marks

1.1       hyphens (para. 1)

1.2       commas (para. 2)

1.3       capital B (para. 2)

1.4       apostrophe (para. 2)

1.5       comma (para. 3)

1.6       full stop (para. 3)

1.7       comma after mark (para. 4)

1.8       the rest of the commas (para. 4)

1.9       capital letters in Guiness World Record (para. 5)

1.10     first comma (para. 6)

1.11     second comma (para. 6)

1.12     apostrophe (para 8)

1.13     capital in Russian (para. 8)

1.14     capital in Scotland (para. 8)

1.15     comma after Scotland (para. 8)                                                             (15)                 

2.         Write the following in indirect speech:

"Everything I've been on has been a fascinating experience," he told the Western Daily Press newspaper in southwest England. He said: "I was surprised by the wide variety of transport I found when I started to look into it."                                                                                                                                                                                                            (5)

Revision Exercise on Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech

ACTIVITY 1

Identify the parts of speech of the underlined words.

Yesterday, we went to the zoo. I enjoyed being there again after so much time. The monkeys looked just as charming, the camels just as bored. We watched the seals being fed – oh, what grace and speed, and they seem to enjoy themselves so much. The pygmy hippo was not to be found, but the jackals were fighting over their lunch and the wild dogs lay panting in the heat.

(25)

ACTIVITY 2

Carefully explain how the differences in the verbs change the meaning of each of the sentences below:

1.         We could study tonight.

2.         We must study tonight.

3.         We shall study tonight.

4.         We would study tonight.

5.         We ought to study tonight.                                                                                       (10)

ACTIVITY 3

Fill suitable prepositions and conjunctions into the following sentences:

1.         …. we decide to go …a movie, will you come … us?          

2.         I have read the story … my little sister … she is now tired … wants to go … bed.

3.         The teachers congratulated the learners … their top achievements in the exam. … was written nationally.

4.         .... the formula 1 driver crashed his car … the barrier, he was taken …. the scene … the accident.

5.         The plane flew … the sea … its journey … the Far East.

6.         Please excuse me … class … I am not feeling at all well.

7.         The learner arrived in class … the skin of her teeth … the teacher was about to start the lesson.

8.         The children sat side … side, listening to the story read … the teacher.

9.         He asked me to fetch the parcel … his behalf … he has been kept late … school.

10.       I was filled … fear … I heard the police siren.

11.       My mother is annoyed …. me …  I cannot cope … my schoolwork.

                                                                                                                                               (30)

ACTIVITY 4

Read the article entitled “Crab escorts, walk this way…” published in the Cape Argus on July 18 2009. Ten of the prepositions have been left out. Decide on the correct preposition and number your answers 1-10.

A Taiwanese park is seeking for 30 volunteers …1 help escort land crabs …2 the journey …3 the sea …4 the breeding season.

Land crabs …5 the Kenting National Park, …6 the southern tip …7 Taiwan, live away …8 shore …9 most of the year.  During the breeding season, however, female crabs carry their fertilised eggs and migrate to the sea to release them.

Volunteers will remove any discarded fishing nets blocking the crabs’ access …10 the sea.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          (10)

Conjunctions- Revision Exercise

Conjunctions

Join the sentences together using the conjunction in brackets.

1.         Lunch has ended. We shall go to swimming practice.  (when)

2.         We shall not visit again this week. We saw our grandfather on Friday. (since)

3.         The pigeons are cooing on the balcony. We have tried to chase them away.   

              (although)

4.         The child dropped her doll. The child is crying.  (because)

5.         We are going away on holiday. My father can get the time off work.  (if)

6.         The teacher is giving extra lessons. The learners can get good marks. (so that)

7.         He ran very fast. He fell. (so …that)

8.         I can go home. I must finish my work.  (before)

9.         The Stuarts like to go out for a meal. There is a birthday in the family. (whenever)

10.       The patient feels better today. He is coughing.  (although)   

                                                                                                                                             (10)

ACTIVITY 2

Join the sentences together so that you have two clauses. Make one complex sentence.

1.         The park has been cleaned up. My neighbour complained about the park.

2.         The truck has delivered the bread. The spaza shop ordered the bread.

3.         The supporters will blow their vuvuzelas. The supporters will attend the World Cup.

4.         The washing is hanging on the line. My mother did the washing this morning.

5.         Sipho is celebrating his 18^th birthday. You bought Sipho a gift.

6.         My cousin is getting married on Saturday. My cousin has finally decided on a wedding dress.

7.         Granny needs a hot water bottle. Granny’s hands are so cold.

8.         The garbage collectors whistle and call. I hear the garbage collectors in the street.

9.         The refugees have been sent to a camp. The refugees arrived from Zambia last

            week.

10.       The children’s mother has come to fetch them. The children cannot be found.    

                                                                                                                                              (10)

ACTIVITY 3

Join each of the following sentences using a relative pronoun (i.e. who, whom, whose,  which or that)

1.         The person has just phoned. The person is my colleague.

2.         The ball was lost. The cricketer hit the ball.

3.         The cold drink is fizzy. The boy dropped the cold drink.

4.         The children are visiting their mother. Their mother is in hospital.

5.         The children are sad. The children’s mother is in hospital.    

6.         The painter has sold his first work. The painter is delighted. 

7.         The phonebook for next year has just been delivered. We have been waiting for the phonebook.

8.         The chicken will be eaten by the family. The chicken will be bought by the

            grandmother.

9.         The box of tissues might have vanished. I am looking for the box of tissues.

10.       The boy’s tie had been stolen. The boy was very upset.                                           (10)

                                                                                                                        [30]

Present Simple Tense continued

Present Continuous Tense and Present Simple Tense

Literary Devices

Adjectives to describe personality