TASK 9. Open the brackets and write the verbs in the correct form: singular or plural

1. In Dr. Jasper, the orientalist’s opinion, the Japanese borrowed a lot of fairy-tale characters from Chinese mythology.

2. Frenchmen (The French) are known to be rather quick-tempered while Germans are thought to be even-tempered.

3. In Russian all parentheses are marked out with commas while in English it doesn’t happen all the time.

4. English diphthongs consist of a nucleus and a glide. The nuclei of diphthongs are always pronounced with a greater force and more distinctly than the glides.

5. None of the hypotheses about the origin of these volcanoes has been proved. Some more research has to be made to find out their age and the degree of danger for the people who live nearby.

6. Crises happen in the life of every person. And the person’s future life depends on his attitude to this crisis. If he is able to accept all the changes positively and not resent the whole world but draw the right conclusions from his mistakes then it is a step forward in the development of his personality; otherwise it is several steps back.

7. I’m afraid we’ll have to offer Doctor Savage to leave our hospital. I have analysed all the diagnoses he has made in the recent year and all the recommendations he has given his patients and I have come to a conclusion that he is an absolutely incompetent doctor.

8. What criteria do you use to assess your students’ speaking skills? – Speaking skills are assessed according to such criteria as fluency of speech, presence of grammar and vocabulary mistakes and slips of the tongue, ability to react to the interlocutor’s remarks and some others.

9. London parks are the green oases of the British capital. They are also a unique phenomenon of the attitude of the English to nature. (Englishmen’s attitude)

10.Mrs. Smiley had three daughters–in-law but she liked none of them and thought that her sons had made the wrong choice. Her dislike also spread to all her grandchildren.

11.All the members of our family are stay-at-homes. We never go anywhere. We stay all summer in town and can’t be lured to any kind of party. We do not visit our relatives’ weddings and funerals. Don’t have hard feelings (hold grievance) against us and take us as we are.

12.One couldn’t look at the old man without pity. His clothes were dirty and shabby, his boots worn-out, and there were several women’s kerchiefs on his head instead of a hat. His life seems never to have treated him kindly.

13.The whereabouts of the criminal group is / are reported to have been found. Though the criminals are well armed, the police hope to capture them quickly and without losses.

14.When the car entered the outskirts of some big city Steve thought that he recognized the surroundings of Birmingham. But then he thought that all big industrial cities had such dirty and unpleasant/unappealing streets without any flowers or trees and with a lot of high fences.

15.Tina unpacked her clothes and put them away into the chest of drawers. All her belongings went into the two top drawers. In the bottom drawers she put the most precious thing – her father’s diaries which she hoped to publish one day.

16.Where are you going to place the contents of the book: after the title page or at the end? – I think it will be more convenient for the readers if the contents will be at the beginning. By the way, do you have any comments about the content of Chapter 4?

17.Dorothy was looking at her watch all the time. At first it seemed to her that it was very fast, but when both hands met at 12, it began to seem to her that her watch was slow. She hated to wait more than anything else on earth, but she had no choice.

TASK 13. Revision: The Noun. Fill in the words in the possessive case wherever necessary.

MIND YOUR SKIN!

We have become very conscious of conservation these days. A lot of people won't buy any goods made from animal skin (skins of animals). In many parts of the world, it is now unthinkable for a person to dress in a leopard-skin coat (a coat made of the skin of a leopard). We realize that the earth’s wildlife (the wildlife of the earth) needs protection. This affects such things as children’s clothes (clothing worn by children) and ladies’ coats (coats worn by ladies). If an actress’s fur coat (a fur coat worn by an actress) attracts admiration these days, it is probably created from man-made materials. Of course, we still farm animals for their skins, but the notice I saw in a shop recently must have been the crocodiles’ revenge (the revenge of the crocodiles). It was selling crocodile-skin bags (bags made of crocodile skin) and offering the following service: ‘Customers’ skins (skins of customers) made up’!

TASK 14. Revision: The Noun. Translate into English paying special attention to the use of nouns in plural and in the possessive case.

1. I’m sick and tired of (fed up with) all the useful advice (that) my friends and acquaintances give me. They advise me to pull myself together and hope for the better. But I don’t have any money at all and don’t know where to take it, as for two months I have failed to find a decent job. Why can’t anyone offer me a real way out of this situation instead of empty words?

2. I don’t feel like going anywhere in this wretched weather. I’d rather lie on the sofa with a good book in my hands. Let’s stay at home. What do we need this lecture for? – I don’t agree with you at all. We don’t often have lectures of such scientists as Professor Scott. For goodness’ sake, hurry up, otherwise we’ll be late.

3. Whose clothes are these and why are they not in the wardrobe? Why don’t you ever tidy your room? I can’t understand how it has happened that we have such a slop in our family. – Don’t be angry, mum. Granny told me that you had the same bad habits in your childhood as I have now, but that all passed with awkward age.

4. I ((had) always admired Professor Stevenson’s encyclopaedic knowledge. He fluently spoke seven foreign languages, knew a lot about the history of European peoples, and could cite Latin and Greek poets. He had always been interested in politics and he was considered to be an expert in foreign (international) relations. He could recognize classical music pieces from the first notes and dispute about literature for hours. And his speciality was nuclear physics whose study he devoted all his life.

5. Who are those two pretty girls talking with old Mrs. Barlow’s nephew? – They are Jill and Sam Greenbaum’ daughters. I would recognize them not even knowing (without even knowing) who they are; they are their parents’ spitting image.

6. Doctor Mason, do you know Miss Leider? – Yes, I met her at your aunt’s. She is the daughter of the Leiders who came to our town last year, isn’t she? – No, she is their niece.

7. Did you have a good journey, Uncle Ted? – Is it possible to have a good journey on a road like this? This two hours’ journey nearly killed me! But for your parents’ 50th wedding anniversary, I would have never taken this trip!

8. Are you sure Steve Baker’s article will be published in all tomorrow’s papers? – I’m sure it will. His boss’s interview was so shocking that all journalists’ interest is now attracted to Steve’s suggestions how to solve the problem of ‘hot-house effect’. His article is sure to be published in all major papers.

9. Do you think a five-minutes’ talk can change the whole person’s life? – Undoubtedly, if it happens in the right place at the right time and with the right person. It was like that with my father. He met my mum at the bus stop when he was hurrying to university. They spoke for even less that 5 minutes but my mother’s eyes impressed my dad so much that he had been looking for her for ten years. When they met again, they never parted.

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