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Demonstrative adjectives

Presentation / Objective


Hey there! How’s your English learning going? You must be doing a terrific job!! Congratulations!


Now get ready to have fun and learn more about this fascinating language.

Let’s start!

“Things that transformed our world”


foco de ideas

Jannoon028/Freepik. (2016). Persona dibujando símbolos que salen de una bombilla encima de un libro. Retrieved 21/02/17 from
http://www.freepik.es/foto-gratis/persona-dibujando-simbolos-que-salen-de-una-bombilla-encima-de-un-libro_985249.htm

Objective:

In this topic, you will learn about some inventions that helped shape our world. It will be exciting and enriching!

From the language perspective, you will learn about demonstrative adjectives (this, that, those, and these) and we will make a short review of the passive voice, which we use to talk about what things are made of, where they come from and how they are made.

By the end of the topic, you will use demonstrative adjectives to identify and describe the characteristics of specific objects.

Content

Demonstrative adjectives

Hey there! Maybe you think that grammar is boring, but in this section, we will try to show you that it doesn’t have to be boring. In this section, we will explore two aspects.


Firstly, in this module we will analyse:

  • Which the demonstrative adjectives are
  • What a demonstrative adjective does
  • How to differentiate and use them

We will also make a short review on the most critical aspects of the passive voice in present and past.

You’ll see it is not that difficult.


So, let’s get to work!



To start with, listen to the next dialogue:



This family has a conversation about one common object: tea bags. Let’s focus on the two grammar aspects of this module. Look at the following chart:


a. This is the best tea I’ve ever had!

The word THIS is an adjective. But it is a particular kind of adjective. It shows ONE element CLOSE to the person speaking.

Look at the picture:

this person

This Person


Stomne. (2007). Simpsonized. Retrieved 28/12/16 from https://flic.kr/p/2A3pX3
Doctorlizardo. (2007). Me simpsonized. Retrieved 28/12/16 from https://flic.kr/p/2uubae

b. That is not a New York mug.

The word THAT is another demonstrative adjective. It shows ONE element FAR from the person speaking.

Look at the picture:

That person

That Person


c. Look at all these tea bags you got!

The word THESE is another demonstrative adjective. It shows TWO or MORE elements CLOSE to the person speaking

Look at the picture:

These person

These People

d. Bring me one of those Indian Chai tea bags.

THOSE is another demonstrative adjective. It shows TWO or MORE elements FAR from the person speaking

Look at the picture:

Those person

Those People


Demonstrative adjectives are very easy to understand, look:

Singular

Plural

Close

THIS

THESE

Far

THAT

THOSE




There is ONE object close to me:

There is ONE object far from me:

element clos to me

THIS tea bag is made in India.

element clos to me

THAT tea bag is made in India.

There are TWO or MORE objects close to me:

There are TWO or MORE objects far from me:

element clos to me

THESE tea bags are made in India.

element clos to me

THOSE tea bags are made in India.
Emeraldimp. (2005). Teabag. Retrieved 16/02/17 from
https://flic.kr/p/6FHZk



PRONUNCIATION: THIS vs THESE



Before we start practicing our main topic, let’s review some verbs in past participle.

Exercise 1. Memory Game

Passive Voice

Finally, we will take a quick look at passive voice. To do that, listen again to the dialogue you heard before:



This time, let’s have a closer look at this passive voice sentence:

That mug was probably made in China!

Passive voice sentences have specific characteristics that make them different from active voice sentences.

A passive sentence begins with the object affected by the verb:

Click on the word:



The next element is the verb in passive structure:



After the verb in passive structure, you can have different factors: the subject of the action verb, when an action is done, or, like in this example, the place where something was done:



Now look at the following chart with the main characteristics of passive voice:

We emphasise on the object/action of a sentence and not the subject.

We give more importance to the object because we don’t know the subject of the action, because the subject is obvious, or just because it is not relevant to the information:


Passive
My mug is made in Vietnam.

Active
A Vietnamese person made my mug.


I want to talk about my MUG, not about a Vietnamese person.

The passive structure uses the verb to be & an action verb in participle.

The structure of the passive contains.


• The verb to be and it expresses the tense of the sentence.

Tea was produced in India.
Tea bags were invented in the US.
My mug is made in Vietnam.


The verb to be in the past tense means that the sentence changed to the passive voice. The second sentence also contains verb to be in the past, but the use of was means plural. Finally, in the third sentence, uses the verb to be in the present.


• The action verb in the past participle

This tea was produced in India.
Tea bags were invented in the US.
Tea bags were shipped from New York.


The main verb in the sentence must be in the participle form. This verb gives meaning to all the sentence because it expresses the action performed.

We use passive voice to talk about the characteristics of objects.

As we previously said, passive voice is used to emphasise the object, its description, manufacture and origin:


Tea bags were made by hand.
Tea bags were invented in the US.

Exercise 2. Completing the text

To say that a car is manufactured in only one country is wrong. Most of the pieces are made in different countries. Here we have an example of it.

Read about how cars are produced. Complete the sentences with the correct form of the passive voice and the correct demonstrative adjective. Look at the example:

Some automobile manufacturers are based (base) in Mexico.




To summarise, in this grammar explanation we talked about demonstrative adjectives and passive voice to specify the manufacture and origin of objects.

Exercise 3. Where are these things from?

Some of the things that we buy are grown and made in different parts of the world. But, do you know where they are from?



Reading

Activity

What do you know about the history of music players?


1. Look at these noun phrases:

  • iPods are used to listen to music
  • These devices can play more than 10,000 songs

2. Do you know how people listened to music in the 1800’s? Do you know what a boom box is?

Now you are going to read about the evolution of music players. We hope you enjoy it and keep practising with passive voice and demonstrative adjectives.


Evolution of music players

Read the following text about the evolution of music players. In this text, there are several verbs in parentheses, put them in past passive voice. Some spaces do not contain a verb, you have to write a demonstrative adjective in those spaces.

3. Now answer these statements as True (T) or False (F)


Listening

Activity 4

A visit to the museum

A teacher has taken her students to the Local Science Museum. Listen to the audio about the school field trip; then, listen again and select the pictures that represent the conversation.

Writing

Activity 5

Life before the lightbulb

1. In your notebook, write 2 positive ideas about life before the light bulb was invented. After that, write two sentences about negative thoughts about life before the light bulb was invented.

2. Write four sentences. The main point of this activity is to integrate your ideas (4 sentences) in a single paragraph.

Use the connectors but, and, also to connect your 4 sentences.

Remember:

  1. Use CAPITAL LETTERS in names, and at the beginning of the paragraph.
  2. Be careful with spelling and typos, double check your text.
  3. Make use of demonstrative adjectives and passive voice.

3. Write a brief paragraph (between 100 and 120 words) about an invention that has changed your life. Include in it the following information:

  • Description of the invention
  • The reasons why it has changed your life
  • What did people use before it was invented
  • How often you use it
  • What you think that might come to substitute this one and how you think it will be better.

Use demonstrative adjectives and passive voice as appropriate.

When your text is ready. Check your work using the following rubrics.

Speaking

Activity 6

What’s that?

Look at the following pictures. Match the photographs to the appropriate box of information.

Choose one of the pictures from the previous exercise and record yourself describing the objects. Remember to make use of this, that, these, those as appropriate. Watch the examples:


  • These oven mits are red and made of cotton.
  • That peeler is new.
  • These kitchen utensils are old.

In this activity you have to evaluate your work according to the following aspects:

  • Your recording must be at least 2 minutes long.
  • Make an appropriate description of the object using the information on the text.
  • Make use of demonstrative adjectives (this, that, those, these) in your description.
  • Make your recording sound interesting. Use of different intonation patterns.

When your recording is ready, check your audio according to the following rubrics.

Self-assessment

The life cycle of a plastic water bottle

All these sentences are about the process of production and consumption of a plastic water bottle. Did you know about the materials used to create one bottle? Choose the most appropriate option for the following statements. You can know your score at the end of the exercise.

References

Basic references

- Autonews.com. (2016). Top Supplier Rankings. Retrieved 12/11/16 from https://www.autonews.com/section/datalist40

- National Geographic (2016). Animals: Seahorse. Retrieved 17/11/16 from http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/seahorse/#sea-horse-closeup-face.jpg

- National Geographic (2016). Animals: anemonefish. Retrieved 17/11/16 from http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/clown-anemonefish/

- Quora. (2016). How do Pigeons work. Retrieved 17/11/16 from https://www.quora.com/How-do-messenger-pigeons-work

SoftSchools.com (2005-2017). Evolution of music players. Retrieved 16/02/17 from http://www.softschools.com/timelines/evolution_of_music_players_timeline/406/

Vocabulary.cl. (2016). Parts of a Car English Vocabulary - Vocabulario en inglés Partes del Auto Coche Carro. Retrieved 12/11/16 from http://www.vocabulary.cl/Advanced/Car_Parts.htm