History of civil engineering, ancient engineers were in fact military engineers with expertise

construction techniques, in military and civil works. During the era of battles or
prehistoric civil engineering structures operations, the engineers were engaged to assist the
soldiers fighting in the battlefield by making catapults,
By Aggeliki K. / Civil Engineering
50 towers, and other instruments used for fighting the
1 Civil Engineering is actually the oldest form of enemy. However, during peace time, they were
engineering, after military engineering. It was created concerned mainly with the civil activities such as
to distinguish non-military engineering from military building fortifications for defense, making bridges,
engineering in the 18th century. Architecture and Civil canals, etc.
5 Engineering are very closely linked, and it wasn’t until
55 Civil Engineering in the 18th – 20th Century
modern times that the two were even separated. The
Until the recent era, there was no major difference
term engineer and architect were often interchangeable
between the terms civil engineering and architecture,
and the two terms were really only a geographical
and they were often used interchangeably. It was in the
variation.
18th century that the term civil engineering was firstly
10 Manual labor: the first engineering tool 60 used independently from the term military engineering.
Civil engineering involves the design, construction, The first private college in the United States that
and maintenance of works such as roads, bridges, and included Civil Engineering as a separate discipline was
buildings. It's a science that includes a variety of Norwich University established in the year 1819. Civil
disciplines including soils, structures, geology, and other engineering societies were formed in United States and
65 European countries during the 19 century, and similar
th
15 fields. Thus the history of civil engineering is closely
associated with the history of advancement in these institutions were established in other countries of the
sciences. In ancient history, most of the construction world during the 20th century. The American Society of
was carried out by artisans, and technical expertise was Civil Engineers is the first national engineering society in
limited. Tasks were accomplished by the utilization of the United States. It was founded in 1852 with
20 manual labor only without the use of sophisticated 70 members related to the civil engineering profession
machinery, since it did not exist. Therefore, civil located globally. The number of universities in the world
engineering works could only be realized with the that includes civil engineering as a discipline has
utilization of a large number of skilled workers over an increased tremendously during the 19th and the
20th centuries, indicating the importance of this
extended period of time.
75 technology.

25 Prehistoric and ancient civil engineering structures

Modern concepts in Civil Engineering
It might be appropriated to assume that the science
Numerous technologies have assisted in the
of civil engineering truly began between 4000 and 2000
advancement of civil engineering in the modern world,
BC in Egypt when transportation gained such
including high-tech machinery, selection of materials,
importance that it led to the development of the wheel.
30 According to the historians, the Pyramids were 80 test equipment, and other sciences. However, the most
prominent contributor in this field is considered to be
constructed in Egypt during 2800-2400 BC and may be
computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided
considered as the first large structure construction ever.
manufacture (CAM). Civil engineers use this technology
The Great Wall of China that was constructed around
to achieve an efficient system of construction, including
200 BC is considered another achievement of ancient
35 civil engineering. The Romans developed extensive 85 manufacture, fabrication, and erection. Three-
dimensional design software is an essential tool for the
structures in their empire, including aqueducts, bridges,
civil engineer that facilitates him in the efficient
and dams. A scientific approach to the physical sciences
designing of bridges, tall buildings, and other huge
concerning civil engineering was implemented by
complicated structures.
Archimedes in the third century BC, by using the
Some of the world’s greatest examples of civil
40 Archimedes Principle concerning buoyancy and the 90
340 engineering include the Eiffel Tower designed by
Archimedes screw for raising water.
Gustave Eiffel located in Paris, France, the Pyramids in
The roles of civil and military engineer in ancient Egypt, the Great Wall of China by General Meng T’ien,
times and The Parthenon in Greece by Ictinus. Each of these
As stated above, civil engineering is considered to 95 structures would not be possible without the art of civil
45 be the first main discipline of engineering, and the engineering.
 UNIT II
GENERAL AND SPECIFIC INFORMATION

STRATEGY 1: Skimmimg
TASK 1. Skim the text given and find the information required below. Write it in Spanish.

1) Title: ______________________________________________________________________________
2) Subtitles: __________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
3) Text presentation and organization: _____________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
4) Introductory sentence paragraph 1: ____________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
5) Introductory sentence paragraph 2: _____________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
6) Introductory sentence paragraph 3:_____________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
7) Introductory sentence paragraph 4:_____________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
8) Introductory sentence paragraph 5:_____________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
9) Introductory sentence paragraph 6:_____________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
10) Introductory sentence paragraph 7:_____________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

Now, tell your classmates what the text is about.

STRATEGY 2: Scanning
TASK 2. Scan the same text to find the specific information required below. Write it in Spanish.
1) Why was civil engineering created?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
2) What does civil engineering involve?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
3) What happened in 1852?
______________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
STRATEGY 3: Guessing by using cognates
TASK 3. Look at the text again to find all cognates in paragraph 2 and write them in the space below.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

Do they give you an idea about what the paragraph refers to? Why?
____________________________________________________________________________________

Now, tell your classmates what the paragraph is about

STRATEGY 4: Guessing by using affixes

What are affixes?

TYPES OF PREFIXES
Location Size Time and order Number

Inter--- interphase Semi--- semicircle Ante--- anteroom Mono---monolingual

Super--- supersonic Macro—macrocosm Pre---- prehistory Bi---- bicentenary
Extra—extraordinary Micro--- microcelular Post--- postdated Tri----triangular
Ex ---- expresident Mini---- miniskirt Retro--retroactive Multi----multinational
Sub ---- subschema Mega--- megabyte
Infra--- infrared

Negative
Un ---- unlimited Mis ---- misfortune
In ---- incomplete Dis ---- disagree
Im ---- imposible Anti---- antisocial
Il ----- ilegal De----- decode
Ir ----- irregular Under ---- underestimate
Non---- nonexistent

TYPES OF SUFFIXES

Noun-forming suffixes Adjective-forming suffixes Verb-forming suffixes Adverb-forming suffixes

ance---- performance al ---- logical ize ---- characterize Ly ---- generally
ence---- independence ic ---- automatic ate ---- automate
er---- teacher ical ---- electrical fy ---- verify
or---- operator able ---- comparable en ---- given
tion---- information ible ---- divisible ing ---- sleeping
ness---- happiness ous ---- dangerous ed ---- walked
ion---- discussion ful ---- helpful
ing---- engineering less ---- careless
ment----development ed ----developed
ity---- electricity ing ---- interesting

Observe that the suffix –ed can be used either to form a verb or an adjective, and the suffix –ing can be either for a
verb, a noun or an adjective.
Example: The engineer is reading the report. The rain damaged the zone.
This reading is about the origin of petroleum. Now, the damaged zone is useless.
 This is an exciting experience about geological studies.
TASK 4. Complete this table to guess the meaning of the following words according to the affixes they have and
their grammatical function. Look at the text given.

Affixes Grammatical
Words Prefix Suffix function Meaning
oldest (line 1)
interchangeable (line 7)
buildings (line 13)
advancement (line 16)
skilled (line 23)
gained (line 28)
using (line 39)
raising (line 41)
building (line 53)
making (line 53)
firstly (line 59)
founded (line 69)
designing (line 88)

STRATEGY 5: Identifying noun modifiers

Modifiers are words or phrases preceding a noun to describe it in more detail.

Exa mple:
Modifiers Nouns

Adjective natural gas

-ing form engineering specialties
-ed form advanced technology
nouns water production

The following figure shows different meanings that an unskilled English reader in using noun modifiers can
give to some phrases.

High Frecuency Waves?

¿altas y frecuentes ondas? ¿frecuentes ondas altas?

¿ondas de frecuencia alta?

¿ondas de alta frecuencia?

The meaning of the phrase is: _____________________________________________

TASK 5. Write the modifiers of the following nouns which appear in the text given. Then, translate into Spanish
the resultant phrase.

Modifiers Noun Line Meaning

engineering 3
expertise 18
works 22
structures 25
construction 32
engineering 35
works 47
society 68
profession 70
software 86
structures 89
examples 90

STRATEGY 6: Detecting the topic and subtopics of a text

WHAT IS THE TOPIC? HOW TO DETECT IT?

TASK 6. Answer in Spanish the questions below to state the topic of the text given.
1) What is the title of the text? _______________________________________________________________
2) What is being discussed along the text? _____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
3) What is the word or phrase repeated several times? ___________________________________________

The topic of the text is: ______________________________________________________________________

TASK 7. Now, look at text structure to observe how it is divided. Then, read the paragraphs under the title and
each subtitle to determine the subtopics of each paragraph. Write the information in Spanish.
1) Title: ________________________________________________________________________________
Subtopic paragraph 1: _________________________________________________________________
2) Subtitle 1: ___________________________________________________________________________
Subtopic paragraph 2: ________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
3) Subtitle 2: _________________________________________________________________________
Subtopic paragraph 3: ________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
4) Subtitle 3: _________________________________________________________________________
Subtopic paragraph 4: ________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
5) Subtitle 4: _________________________________________________________________________
Subtopic paragraph 5: ________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
6) Subtitle 5: _________________________________________________________________________
 Subtopic paragraphs 6-7: ______________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
STRATEGY 7: Recognizing and understanding contextual referents
TASK 8. Look at the text again to find the referents of the following words or phrases. Refer back to the ideas
mentioned before.
1) “it” in line 2 refers to: _________________________________________
2) “the two” in line 6 refers to: ____________________________________
3) “these sciences” in line 16-17 refers to: ___________________________
4) “it” in line 21 refers to: ________________________________________
5) “their” in line 36 refers to: _____________________________________
6) “they” in 51 refers to: ________________________________________
7) “they” in line 58 refers to: _____________________________________
8) “it” in line 69 refers to: ________________________________________
9) “this field” in 81 refers to: _____________________________________
10) “this technology” in 83 refers to: ________________________________
11) “each of these structures” in 94-95 refers to: ____________________________

STRATEGY 8: Taking notes (main ideas)

TASK 9. Take notes of the main ideas of each paragraph of the text given. Do it in Spanish.
Paragraph 1.___________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2._________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 3.________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 4._______________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 5._______________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 6-7._____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________

TASK 10. Write the general idea of the text. Do it with your own words and in Spanish.