FIRST TERM E-LEARNING NOTES

SUBJECT: ENGLISH STUDIES

CLASS: JSS1
SCHEME OF WORK
1. Arrival of Jss1 students and retreat.

2. Oral work: Phonetic transcription of the English alphabets. Reading: Reading

for main points and central ideas. Grammar: Types of nouns. Writing:
Introduction to outlines. Literature: Introduction to Literature
(Functions/Purpose)

3. Oral work: Description of vowels /i:/ and /i/ sound. Reading: Reading as in
week 2. Grammar: Plural formation of nouns. Writing: Writing for supporting
ideas. Literature: Genres of Literature

4. Oral work: Description of vowels /e/ and /ɜ:/, /æ/ and /a:/ sounds. Reading:
Reading for main ideas, topic sentences and controlling ideas. Grammar: Plural
formation of nouns continues. Writing: Identifying the main and supporting
ideas.

5. Oral work: Description of vowels /ᴅ/ and /ɔ:/ sounds.

Reading: Reading to identify and understand the main ideas and supporting
ideas.
Grammar: Grammatical functions of nouns. Writing: Writing the main ideas for
a given topic.

6. Oral work: Description of vowels /u/ and /u:/ sounds. Reading: Reading as in
week 5. Grammar: Verbs- types and identification of verbs in sentences.
Writing: Writing appropriate introduction and conclusion for a given topic.

7. Mid Term Test/Break.

8. Oral work: Description of vowel /ʌ/ sound. Reading: Reading to answer

specific questions. Grammar: Transitive and intransitive verbs. Writing:
Practice on writing a story.

9. Oral work: Description of vowel /Ә/ sound. Reading: Reading to answer

specific questions. Grammar: Adjectives- definition and kinds of adjectives.
10. Grammar: Comparison of adjectives.
11. Revision.
12. Examination and closure.

WEEK 1
Arrival of JSS1 students and retreat

WEEK 2 TOPICS
Oral work: Introduction to speech organs and phonetic transcription of the
English alphabets. Reading: Reading for main points and central ideas.
Grammar: Types of nouns. Writing: Introduction to outlines. Literature:
Introduction to Literature (Functions/Purpose)
Period 1
Oral work: Introduction to speech organs
Content: Speech organs are the parts of human body that are involved in the
production of sounds. They include:
1. The lips: The teeth: The lower lip can touch the upper lip or make contact
with the teeth. The lips take different shapes and positions in producing
different sound. It can be rounded, spread or neutral.
2. The teeth: They are very useful in producing dental sounds /θ/ and /ᶞ/.
3. The tongue: The tongue is divided into four parts: the tip, the blade, the
front and the back. The shape and the position of the tongue are particularly
important for the production of vowel sounds.
4. The nose and the nasal cavity: The sounds which are produced with the nose
are called nasal sounds. The sounds are /m/n/ and /ɳ/.
5. The roof of the mouth: This is divided into three parts; the teeth ridge
located immediately after the upper front teeth, the hard palate situated on
the middle part of the roof, and the soft palate which is the lower part of the
roof of the mouth.
6. The larynx: It is also known as the voice box. It protects and houses the vocal
folds or cords. The vocal cords shake or vibrate when voiced consonants and
vowel sounds are produced.
Phonetic Transcription of the English Alphabets
There are twenty six letters of the English alphabets. The letters gave us the
speech sounds in English words. A letter may have different sounds in different
words. Words are produced according to the sounds of their letters.
The twenty six letters of the English alphabets and their sounds
1. A/ei/ 2. B/bi:/ 3. C/si:/ 4. D/di:/ 5. E/i:/ 6. F/ef/ 7.
G/ʤi:/
8. H/eits/ 9. I/ai/ 10. J/ʤei/ 11. K/kei/ 12. L/el/ 13. M/em/ 14.
N/en/
15. O/Әu/ 16. P/pi:/ 17. Q/kju:/ 18. R/a:/ 19. S/es/ 20. T/ti:/ 21.
U/ju:/
22. V/vi:/ 23. W/dʌblju:/ 24. X/eks/ 25. Y/wai/ 26. Z/zed/.
Introduction to English sounds
Words are formed from English letters but the ability to pronounce these
words correctly depends on the speakers’ knowledge of the various sounds
that make up the words. There are twenty six letters of English alphabets but
there are forty four speech sounds in English language. The speech sounds are
grouped into vowels and consonants according to the way each is pronounced.
Vowels
Vowels are speech sounds that are produced with no obstruction of air from
the mouth. This means that air is not obstructed from the mouth while
producing a vowel sound. All vowels are voiced because of the vibration in the
vocal cord during their production. All vowels are oral sounds because they are
produced through the mouth. The vowels are twenty in number. They are
divided into two namely, the monothongs or pure vowels and the diphthongs
or impure vowels.
The monothongs or pure vowels
A speech sound is a monothong when it has only one sound said in one breath
without any fall in tone. There are twelve pure vowels in English. Some of them
are long vowel while some are short. The long vowels have two dots like semi-
colon (:) at their end while short vowels have none. The twelve pure vowels
are:
1. /i: / e.g. bean, key
2. /i/ e.g. fish sit
3. /e/ e.g. bed, pen
4. /æ/ e.g. cat, man
5. /a: / e.g. calm, hard
6. /ᴅ/ e.g. dog, pot
7. /ɔ: / e.g. ball, saw
8. /u/ e.g. foot, book
9. /u: / e.g. food, fool
10. /ʌ/ e.g. cup, love
11. /ɜ: / e.g. work, shirt
12. /Ə/ e.g. about, actor
The diphthongs or impure vowels
The diphthongs or impure vowels are speech sounds that have two different
sounds said in one breath .The tongue moves quickly from one of the sounds
to the other in one breath .There are eight diphthongs and they are:
13. /ei/ e-i e.g. face, late
14. /Əu/ Ə-u e.g. boat, note
15. /ai/ a-I e.g. eye, ice
16. /au/ a-u e.g. cow, bow
17. /ɔi/ ɔ-I e.g. toy, boy
18. /iƏ/ i-Ə e.g. hear, tear
19. /eƏ/ e-Ə e.g. air, pair
20. /uƏ/ u-Ə e.g. pure, sure
CONSONANTS
Consonants are speech sounds that are produced with a total or partial of
obstruction of the free flow of air from the mouth. There are twenty-four
consonants in the English speech sounds. There are:
1. /b/ e.g. bug, box (b, bb)
2. /d/ e.g. dog, did (d, dd)
3. /f/ e.g. fish, fruit, phone (f, ph, gh )
4. /g/ e.g. gun, goat, ghost (g, gg, gh)
5. /h/ e.g. hoe, hen (h)
6. /j/ e.g. yam, yes(y)
7. /k/ e.g. kite, kick (k, c, ck)
8. /l/ e.g. lamp, leaf (l, ll)
9. /m/ e.g. mat, made (m, mm)
10. /n/ e.g. net, need (n, nn, kn)
11. /p/ e.g. pan, pot (p, pp)
12. /r/ e.g. rat, ram (r, rr)
13. /ɳ/ e.g. sing, ring (ng)
14. /s/ e.g. set, sun, certificate, scissors (s, ss, c, sc)
15. /t/ e.g. tap, tree (t, tt)
16. /v/ e.g. van, vest (v)
17. /w/ e.g. well, why (w, wh)
18. /z/ e.g. zoo, zip (z, zz)
19. /ʃ/ e.g. shoe, sure (s, sh, ss, su,)
20. /ʒ/ e.g. measure, vision (sur, s)
21. /ʧ/ e.g. chain, chalk (ch, tur)
22. /θ/ e.g. thin, thief (th)
23. /ᶞ/ e.g. then, father (the)
24. /ʤ/ e.g. jar, joy (j, dge, g)
Evaluation
1. What are speech organs?
b. Mention any four speech organs you know.
2. The English speech sounds are divided init two, name them.
3. List four words containing the following sounds
(a) /æ/, /ɔ:/, /i:/, /e/
(b) /ɔi/, /au/, /Əu/, /ai/
(c) /k/, /j/, /θ/, /ʧ/

Period 2
Topic: Reading to understand the main/central ideas
In every piece of writing, a short story or a comprehension passage, there
should be at least a main idea or main ideas the comprehension passage or the
piece of writing expresses.
Main idea is the most important point in a paragraph of a passage. It is
the chief statement in a paragraph. It is the central point around which all
other sentences revolve in a paragraph. The main idea of a paragraph is
written in the topic sentence. The topic sentence is the sentence that
summarises the main idea of a paragraph. It is usually, but not always, the first
second sentence in a paragraph. It is also called the focus sentence because
the entire paragraph is built around what the topic sentence says.
A good comprehension passage has paragraphs and each paragraph
contains a main idea or a topic sentence. A paragraph is a collection of
sentences related to a specific or central idea. It contains facts, statement,
opinions, examples-specific details which guide the reader to a full
understanding of the topic sentence. These are the supporting ideas or details.
They support or clarify, describe and illustrate the main idea. Supporting ideas
are usually introduced with transition words. These are words which help the
reader understand how the next idea is related to the previous one, e.g., for
instance, for example, also, furthermore etc.
Evaluation
Read the comprehension passage on page 18 of your text, New Concept
English for Junior Secondary Schools 1 and identify the main and supporting
idea of each paragraph.
Assignment:
Read the passage on ‘Automobiles’ carefully and answer the questions that
follow (No 1-10)

Period 3
TOPIC: Parts Of Speech-Nouns
SUB-TOPIC: Definition and types of nouns
CONTENT: In English language, words are classified into categories based on
the functions they perform in a grammatical stretch. Some words have the
preoccupation of giving names to persons, items or ideas, these are called
nouns. Some replace nouns to solve the problems of repetition, these are
pronouns. Some indicates the state of being of something or the action words,
these are called verbs. Also, some do nothing but to qualify/modify nouns or
adverbs, as the case may be. These are given the name adjectives and adverbs
respectively. Others are prepositions and conjunctions. These classifications
done on words, result in what is generally known as parts of speech. English
language has thousands of words and these can fall under the umbrella of any
of the parts of speech. Therefore, it is important to know these parts of speech
and their functions so as to be able to speak or write good English.
NOUNS
Everything you see around you has a name. There are things you cannot see
nor touch but you can feel them, they also have names. Therefore, a noun is a
name of a person, place, thing, animal, plant, idea, incident, event or action. In
other words, a noun as a part of speech is a name given to anything whether
abstract or concrete. It can also be defined as a word that represents a person,
a place or a thing. Nouns are naming words.
Examples
 Mother kept the clothes in the room.
 Beauty is the eye of the beholder.
 Singing is my hobby.
Exercise
Underline the nouns in the following sentences
 Dauda lives in Sokoto.
 The Palms is mall in Lagos.
 There was a war between Iraq and Iran.
 Love makes the world go round.
 Tigers are wild animals.
Types of Nouns
1. Proper Nouns: These are specific names given to persons, places, things,
institutions, months of the weeks, tittles of newspapers, tittles of novels etc.
Proper nouns begin with capital letters wherever they appear. Examples:
Persons: e.g, John, Adams, Chioma, Precious, Adaeze etc
Titles: e.g. Deacon, Archbishop, Alhaji, Oba, Things Fall Apart etc
Months: e.g. January, December etc
Days: e.g. Tuesday, Friday etc
Festivals: e.g. Id-el Fitri, Christmas, Easter etc
Cities: e.g. Lagos, Kaduna, Ado, Onitsha etc
Countries: e.g. Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Togo
Lakes: e.g. Lake Victoria, Lake Chad, River Niger
Mountains: e.g. Mount Everest, Mount Horeb, Mount Kilimanjaro
Schools and Institutions: e.g. Holy Innocents Juniorate Convent, Nkpor,
University of Nigeria Nsuka, Union Bank, Nigeria Airway.
Subjects: English language, Biology, Geography, Mathematics etc.
2. Common Nouns: These are general/common names given to persons,
animals, places or things that are of the same class or kind. They do not point
at a particular person, place or a thing but they are common to all persons,
places or things of the same class or kind. Common nouns do not start with
capital letters unless when they begin a sentence.
Examples:
Persons: woman, boy, girl, man, baby
Places: village, school, mosque, mall, university, school, city, town
Things: ball, mat, pencil, chair, table, ruler, sand
Animals: dog, lion, horse
Plants: rose, palm tree, orchid
Idea: freedom, peace, joy, happiness
Incident: war, accident
Using common nouns with ‘a’ ‘an’ and ‘the’.
The articles ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ belong to a group of words known as
determiners. A determiner is a word that is used before a common noun to
show which thing you mean.
‘An’ is used before words that begin with the vowels: a, e, i, o or u. For
examples: an apple, an envelope, an Indian, an opener, an onion or an uncle.
(But note that the vowel u can also be pronounced /j/ in some words, for
examples: a university, a union, a uniform etc.
‘A’ is used before words that begin with consonant sounds. Examples: a
teacher, a classroom, a ruler, a sink etc.
‘The’ is used to refer to a particular thing, person, event, incident or idea that
has already been talked about. Example: Chinwe goes to school. The school is
in Enugu.
3. Collective Nouns: Collective nouns are names given to a number of people,
animals or things that are grouped together. E.g. an army of soldiers, a troupe
of dancers, a crowd of spectators, team, committee, audience, assembly, a
flock of sheep, a swarm of bees, a plague of locusts, a herd of cattle, a bouquet
of flowers, a chest of drawers, a fleet of cars etc.
4. Abstract Nouns: Abstract nouns are names of ideas, qualities, concepts and
feelings that we cannot touch or see. Examples: happiness, education, truth,
envy, fear, gratitude, kindness, hope, wickedness, friendship etc. We can only
think of them but cannot see or touch them.
5. Countable Nouns: These refer to persons, animals and things that are
counted. They are nouns that can be counted. They usually take the singular
and plural form.
Examples: book-books, child-children, one horse-two horses, desk-desks, girl-
girls.
6. Uncountable Nouns: These refer to things, feelings or ideas that are not
counted.
Examples: sand, oil, water, anger, truth, love, beauty. To express the quantity
of uncountable nouns, we use partitives. A partitive is a word or phrase that
indicates a part or quantity of something different. It refers to a fraction of a
whole-a part of something bigger or greater in quantity or quality. Examples
are: a piece of advice, a cup of water, a piece of furniture etc.
7. Gerund: This is a special type of noun. It is formed by adding ‘ing’ to the
present verb of a verb, making it to do the work of a noun in a sentence. E.g.
Cooking is my hobby.
Jogging is a good exercise.

Evaluation:
1. What are nouns?
2. Explain these types of nouns with two examples each.
(i) Proper noun
(ii) Common noun
(iii) Abstract noun
(iv) Collective noun
Period 4
Topic: Introduction to outline
Content: An outline is the reduction of your topics into manageable bits that
you will later expand and write. It simply means writing out the main points of
a composition. It can also be defined as the skeletal form of a composition.
Importance of outline
1. Writing an outline shows that the writer has carefully thought about the
topic and has jotted down the points to be developed in the cause of writing
the composition.
2. It helps the writer to write on something that is related to the topic. The
writer will write on something that will be relevant to the topic.
3. The outline will enable the writer have a good plan of his work. It will enable
him to organise his points or ideas in a chorological and sequential order.
4. The outline will enable the writer write up to the length required.
5. The writer will not miss out any cogent points while writing.
Example: Outline on ‘A Composition about my school’
1. Name of my school, the year it is founded and its location.
2. Building in the school administrative offices, classrooms, laboratories, other
special rooms like halls, fine art room and so on.
3. Other facilities in the school like playgrounds – football field, indoor sports
hall, swimming pool, athletic tracks etc.
4. Staff- academic and non academic staff.
5. Any other special features.
Evaluation: Write out the outline of the topic, ‘The Teacher I like Best’

Period 5
Topic: Introduction to literature
Literature can be defined as an imaginative work of art that expresses
one’s mind or feelings in form of prose, drama and poetry.
Generally, literature is divided into two broad aspects: oral literature and
written literature.
Oral literature is the type that is not written down but handed down from
generation to generation by words of mouth or through oral means. Examples
of oral literature are: folktales, legends and myths.
Written literature is the type that is written down, printed and
documented for the use of the readers. Examples of written literature are:
prose, drama and poetry. They are known as the genres of literature.
Importance/functions of literature
1. It is for entertainment. That is, the different types of literature such as
prose, drama and poetry, entertain.
2. It educates. That is, it is a medium through which the author passes across
his believe to the reader.
3. Literature is didactic. It teaches moral lessons through whichever form it
takes (drama, poetry and prose).
4. Literature may be used to correct certain wrong doings in the society.
5. Literature exposes and promotes the culture of a people.
6. Literature increases one’s vocabulary and improves one’s written and
spoken English.
7. It is informative.
8. It helps to cherish other people’s value.
Features of literature
1. Literature is imaginative
2. Literature deals with life experience
3. It uses words in a powerful way.

WEEK 3 TOPICS
Oral work: Description of vowels /i:/ and /i/ sound. Reading: Reading as in
week 2. Grammar: Plural formation of nouns. Writing: Writing for supporting
ideas. Literature: Forms of Literature
Period 1
Topic: Oral Work-Description of vowels /i: / and /i/ sounds/
Vowel /i: /
This is a long vowel sound. It is produced by raising the blade of the tongue
close to the roof of the mouth while the lips are spread. Letter combination of
/I:/ are:
-I as in police, suite, machine.
-e as in be, me, we, cede
-ea as in seat, weak, please, ease, seal, zeal
-ei as in perceive, conceive, ceiling, receipt,
-ee as in bee, meet, feel, sleep, seek
-ese as in obese
-ete as in peter, meter
-ie as in brief, shield, relief, thief, achieve.
-ine as in iodine, kerosine
-ique as in physique, boutique
-ae as in faeces
-ey as in key
-Oe as in amoeba, foetus, oesophagus
Vowel /i/
/i/ is a short vowel sound. It is produced by slightly raising the tongue blade
towards the roof of the mouth with lips spread. Although the middle part of
the tongue is up, the tongue is not as high as when you produce the sound /i:/.
Letter combination of /i/
-i as in pit, bins, slippers, wicked, fit, is, kid, little.
-e as in equal, erase, elect, evade, employ, Egypt, English.
-y as in symptoms, ability, city, hymn, synod, system
-ay as in Monday
-ui as in build, guilt
-u as in minutes, business
-I as in village, hostage, savage, manage
-ey as in money, honey
-o as in women
Sound contrast
/i: / /i/
Bean/bi:n/ bin/bin/
Seen/si:n/ sin/sin/
Dean/di:n/ din/din/
Reach/ri:tʃ/ rich/ritʃ/
Sheep/ʃi:p/ ship/ʃip/
Beat/bi:t/ bit/bit/
Receipt/ri’si:t/ resit/resit/
Eel/i:l/ ill/il/
Leave/li:v/ live/liv/
Evaluation: From the words lettered A-D, choose the word that has the same
vowel sounds as the one represented by the letters under lined.
1. Shield A. tried B. dream C. bed D. thick
2. Foreign A. bite B. glue C.kit D. reign
3. Cede A. tide B. city C. mete D. died
4. Sieve A. police B. brief C. perceive D. milk
5. Magazine A. shriek B. thine C. till D. sign

Period 2
Reading comprehension
Topic: Diet and Nutrition (N C E page 45-46)
Content: Diet is the amount of food consumed by a person. Nutritious food
contains all essential nutrients – proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and
minerals. Read up the comprehension passage and answer the evaluation
questions.
Evaluation: New Concept English Book 1. Read the comprehension passage on
page 45 and the questions from 1-10.

Period 3
Topic: Plural formation of Nouns
Plural formation of Nouns can be done in various ways. Most singular nouns
become plural by adding the letters s or es. These nouns are known as regular
nouns. Many nouns do not form their plurals by adding s or es. Instead, they
do so in a number of other ways. These nouns are known as irregular nouns.
Various ways of forming plural of nouns:
1. Adding ‘S’ to the singular nouns.
Examples are:
Singular Plural
Cat Cats
Window Windows
Ear Ears
Street Streets
Dog Dogs

2. Adding ‘es’ to singular Nouns ending in s, ss, x, sh, ch.

Examples are:

Singular Plural
Gas Gases
Ass Asses
Bush Bushes
Lash Lashes
Loss Losses
Box Boxes
Bunch Bunches
Batch Batches
Fox Foxes
Brush Brushes
Watch Watches
3. Changing ‘y’ to ‘ies’ in Nouns that end in Y and have a consonant sound
before it.
Examples are:
Singular Plural
Baby Babies
Copy Copies
Duty Duties
Lily Lilies
Fly Flies
Family Families
Country Countries

4. Adding‘s’ to Nouns that end in ‘y’ but have a vowel before it.
Examples are:
Singular Plural
Bay Bays
Donkey Donkeys
Monkey Monkeys
Valley Valleys

5. By changing ‘f’ or ‘fe’ into ves in Nouns that end in ‘f’ or ‘fe’.
Examples are:
Singular Plural
Calf Calves
Half Halves
Leaf Leaves
Loaf Loaves
Life Lives
Knife Knives
Wolf Wolves
Thief Thieves
Shelf Shelves
Wife Wives
Note: The following Nouns end in ‘f’ but their plurals are formed by simply
adding‘s’ to the singular.
Singular Plural
Chief Chiefs
Grief Griefs
Gulf Gulfs
Roof Roofs
Proof Proofs
Hoof Hoofs

6. By adding ‘es’ to Nouns that end in ‘o’ but have a consonant before them.
Examples are:
Singular Plural
Buffalo Buffaloes
Echo Echoes
Hero Heroes
Volcano Volcanoes
Mango Mangoes
Note: Nouns that end in ‘oo’ form their plurals by just adding‘s’ to the singular.
Eg. Bamboo-bamboos
Plural of these words (piano, photo, dynamo are photos, pianos and dynamos)
Evaluation:
Give the plural of these words
 Chief
 Monkey
 Calf
 Baby
 Fox
Change all the singular Nouns in the sentences to plurals
The rabbit came out of the hole.
The woman took the sharp knife.
The player wore a light boot.
The thief jumped over the wall.
He opened my door with his key.

Period 4
Topic: Writing supporting ideas.
Supporting ideas refer to some details in the paragraph that are less important
than the topic sentence yet add more details to aid understanding. It is just like
adding flesh to the main points or the outlines. They are called supporting
ideas because they support the main idea and trying to confirm that what is
written in the main point is true.
The supporting sentence mainly clarifies and describes things mentioned in
the topic sentence (that is the main idea). The main idea of the first paragraph
of the passage of the passage is “My first day at Hope Secondary School was an
eventful one. The supporting idea from the paragraph is “as it is natural for
every student to remember the first day at school, I can vividly remember the
things that happened.
Evaluation:
Write a paragraph on the topic, “My first day at Secondary School”

Week 4
Oral work: Description of vowels /e/ and /ɜ:/, /æ/ and /a:/ sounds. Reading:
Reading for main ideas, topic sentences and controlling ideas. Grammar: Plural
formation of nouns continues. Writing: Identifying the main and supporting
ideas.
Period 1
Oral work: Description of vowels /e/,/3:/,/æ/ and /a/ sounds.
Description of vowel /e/
To pronounce the vowel /e/, the front of the tongue is raised a little from the
floor of the mouth. The tip of the tongue touches the lower teeth. /e/ is a short
vowel. /e/ can be spelt in various ways in English.
1. e - men, pen, red, seven, shell.
2. ea - death, head, read, spread.
3. a - many, any, Thames, ate.
4. ie- friend.
5. eo - leopard, Leonard, jeopardy, Geoffrey.
6. ei - heifer, leisure, Leicester.
7. ai - again, said
Others are guess, says, bury.
Description of /3:/ sound
To pronounce the sound /3:/, the centre of the tongue is raised and your lips
are neutrally spread. Your lips, tongue and jaw are in a relaxed position. The
/3:/ is a long vowel sound.
In written English, /3:/ takes different spelling forms:
1) ir- shirt, skirt, girl, first.
2) ur- nurse, burn, turn, church, purr, curse, hurt.
3) or- work, worth, worm, world, worse.
4) er- certain, serve, verb.
5) our- journey, courtesy, courteous, scourage.
6) ear- early, learn, heard.
 Sound contrast of /e/ and /3:/
/e/ /3:/
ten /ten/ turn/t3:n/
head /hed/ heard/h3:d/
Ben /ben/ burn/b3:n/
end/end/ earned/3:nd/
yen/jen/ yearn/y3:n/
bet/bet/ birth/b3:θ/

Evaluation:
From the words in the bracket, choose the word that has the same
vowel sound as the one represented by the letters underlined.
Nurse (corn, early, born, check)
Death (bed, her, serve, earth)
Bird (said, red, many, turn)
Work (burn, heard, worm, best)
Bread (here, shell, earned, jerk)
Description of /æ/ sound
To pronounce the sound /æ/, the tip of the tongue touches the lower front
teeth, the back of your tongue is down and your lips are spread. /æ/ is a vowel
sound.
/æ/ can be spelt in various ways except in the words plait and plaid, the sound
/æ/ is frequently spelt as ‘a’ especially at the initial and medial positions.
1. a- as in at, and, an, am, ant, apple, etc
2. a- as in man, land, pan, band, sand, can etc.

Description of /a:/ sound

/a:/ is a long vowel. To pronounce it, the front of the tongue remains low
on the floor of the mouth, the back is pushed backward. The mouth is fully
open. The lips are not quite spread, they for an oval shape.
/a: / occurs in the following words with these alphabet representatives:
 a- father, path, class etc.
 al- calm, alms, palm, calf etc.
 ar- arm, hard, farther, part, lark, darts etc.
 ear- heart, hearty, hearten.
 au- laugh, aunt, draught.
 er- clerk, sergeant.
 Sound contrast of /a:/ and /æ/
/a: / /æ/
mark /ma:k/ Mac /mæk/
cart /ka:t/ cat /kæt/
card /ka:d/ cad /kæd/
march /ma:ʧ/ match /mæʧ/
psalm /sa:m/ Sam /sæm/
lark /la:k/ lack /læk/
harm /ha:m/ ham /hæm/
Evaluation
From the words in the bracket, choose the word that has the same vowel
sound as the one represented by the letters underlined.
Dam (plan, card, purse, choose)
Harsh (dummy, game, alarm, peace)
Match (see, calf, love, cat)
Drama (past, pram, Sam, say)
Cram (laugh, cape, dark, tab)

Period 2
Comprehension
Topic: Immunization (N C E 68-70)
Content: Immunization is a process by which a person’s immune system
becomes strengthened against disease.
Evaluation: Read the comprehension passage on page 68 of the New Concept
English Book 1 and answer the questions that follow.

Period 3:
Topic: Plural formation of nouns continues
1. Some irregular nouns form their plurals by changing the inside vowels.
Singular Plural
Foot Feet
Goose Geese
Man Men
Mouse Mice
Tooth Teeth
Woman Women

2. By adding en to the singular noun.

Singular Plural
Ox Oxen
Child Children

3. Plural formation of compound words.

Singular Plural
Son-in-law Sons-in-law
Father-in-law Fathers-in-law
Maid-servant Maids-servant
Passer-by Passers-by
Commander-in-chief Commanders-in-chief
Note: In compound nouns, the key words are pluralised. In some compound
nouns, the two nouns are pluralised by
Singular Plural
Woman-principal Women-principals
Gentle-man-lawyer Gentle-men-lawyers
Man-servant Men-servants

4. Some irregular remain the same in both singular and plurals forms.
Sheep- sheep:
There is a sheep in the field.
These sheep have beautiful horns.
Deer- deer:
The deer eats grass.
There are many types of deer.
Furniture- furniture:
I have some pieces of furniture.
The furniture of my house is quiet new.
Fish- fish:
The fish is swimming in the pond.
Fish swim in water.
Dozen- dozen:
I bought a dozen pencil.
She gave us five dozen pencils.
Advice- advice:
My father gave us some pieces of advice.
Information- information:
He gave us a piece of information about the festival.
5. Nouns that are always used in the singular form.
News- The news is true.
Mathematics- Mathematics is a simple subject.
Physics- Physics is my favourite subject.
Measles- Measles is an infectious disease.
6. Nouns that are always used in the plural form.
Cattle- The cattle are grazing in the field.
Alms- Alms were given to the poor.
Trousers- His trousers were torn.
Scissors- My scissors are lost.
Spectacles- Where are my spectacles?
Clothes- Her clothes were very smart.
Note: The uncountable nouns because they cannot be isolated and counted,
have no plurals and so take partitives. A partitive is a word or phrase that
indicates a part or quantity of something. All abstract nouns and material
nouns (names of materials of which things can be made like iron, wood, gold,
and cotton) have no plural forms so they are classified as uncountable nouns.
Examples of uncountable nouns with partitives are:
A loaf of bread
Two loaves of bread
A piece of information
Two pieces of information
A packet of sugar
Two packets of sugar
7. Changing of singular sentences to plural.
When the subject changes from singular to plural, the predicate must also
change.
Examples:
Singular: That boy works hard.
Plural: Those boys work hard.
Singular: The child’s foot was injured.
Plural: The children’s feet were injured.
Singular: The woman goes to her work.
Plural: The women go to their work.
Evaluation: Give the plural of these words
1. Tooth
2. Buffalo
3. Mouse
4. Sheep
5. Baby
Change the following sentences from the singular in to the plural.
Example: A table is made of wood.
Tables are made of wood.
6. The goose is in the pond.
7. This ox is mine.
8. The house was made of brick and stone.
Change the following sentences to singular.
9. These books are very interesting.
10. These children have bath teeth.

Week 5
Oral work: Description of vowels /ᴅ/ and /ɔ:/ sounds.
Reading: Reading to identify and understand the main ideas and supporting
ideas.
Grammar: Grammatical functions of nouns. Writing: Writing the main ideas for
a given topic.
Period 1
Topic: Oral work: Description of vowels /ᴅ/&/ɔ:/ sounds
Description of /ᴅ/ sound
This is a short vowel. To pronounce it, the tongue is low in the mouth but it is
pushed towards the back. The lips form a round shape.
/ᴅ/ can be spelt in various ways.
1. o- as in pot, lost, cot, dog, doll, shop etc.
2. a- as in was, want, wash, etc.
3. ua- as in quality, quantity, qualify etc.
4. au- as in laurel, because, sausage.
5. ou- as in cough
6. ow- as in knowledge.

Description of /ɔ:/ sound

To pronounce /ɔ: /, the tongue position and the round shape of the lips
are the same as for /ᴅ/, but it is a long vowel.
/ɔ:/ can be spelt in various ways.
1. a-call, all, tall, ball, hall etc.
2. al-talk, walk, chalk etc.
3. ough- thought, fought, ought, bought etc.
4. ar- quarter,warn, warder, war etc.
5. au- cause, maul, taunt etc.
6. aw- saw, lawn, law, pawn etc.
7. our- gourd, four etc.
8. oa- broad, abroad etc.
9. or- hoarding, horn, port etc.
10. oar- hoarding, board, roar etc.
11. oor- door, floor, poor etc.
12. ore- before, store, ore etc.
Sound Contrast
/ɔ/ and /ɔ:/
1. cod /kᴅd/ cord /kɔ:d/
2. stock /stᴅk/ stalk /stɔ:k/
3. moll /mᴅl/ mall /mɔ:l/
4. pot /pᴅt/ port /pɔ:t/
5. don /dᴅn/ dawn /dɔ:n/
6. shot /ʃᴅt/ short /ʃɔ:t/
7. not /nᴅt/ naught /nɔ:t/
8. spot /spᴅt/ sport /spɔ:t/
9. fox /fᴅks/ foxs /fɔ:ks/

Evaluation
Choose the word that has the same vowel sound as the one represented by
the letters underlined.
1. walk (poor, love, doubt, brave)
2. squat (rake, bang, want, watch)
3. lord (break, poke, sure, watch)
4. hot (quantity, stroll, four, tough)
5. wander (wonder, court, shower, hobby)

Period 2
Reading Comprehension
Topic: Our March into the Desert (N C E page 83)
Content: The passage is on adventure. An adventure is an exciting experience
in which dangerous or unusual things happen. To undertake an adventure you
need to have a sense or spirit of adventure – a willingness to try new things or
take risks.
Now read up comprehension passage and answer the evaluation questions.
Evaluation: New Concept English Book 1 page 83. Answer questions 1-10.

Period 3
Topic: Grammatical functions of nouns
Content: The grammatical function of a noun in a sentence depends on its
position in a sentence. Nouns perform the following functions in English
grammar.
1. Noun functions as the subject of a verb: A noun that comes before a verb in
a sentence, functions as the subject of the verb.
Examples:
a) Obi killed the goat.
b) My mother is a teacher.
In the above sentences ‘Obi’ functions as the subject of the verb ‘killed’ while
my mother functions as the subject of the verb ‘is’. Note, a subject is the
performer/doer of an action in a sentence or what is being talked about in a
sentence. In the first example, Obi performed an action while my mother is
talked about.
2. Noun functions as the object of a verb: A noun that comes after a verb and
receives the action performs by the subject in a sentence, functions as the
object of the verb.
Examples:
a) Obi killed the goat.
b) Tom slapped Jerry.
c) Emeka kicked the ball.
In the above sentences, ‘the goat, Jerry and the ball’ are the receivers of the
actions performed by Obi, Tom, Emeka respectively. Therefore, the goat
functions as the object of the verb ‘killed’, Jerry functions as the object of the
verb ‘slapped’ while the ball functions as the object of the verb ‘kicked’. Note,
an object is that noun that receives an action performed by a subject in a
sentence.
3. Noun functions as the subject complement/complement of the verb: A noun
that completes the meaning of a subject in a sentence functions as the subject
complement or complement of the verb. In other words, any noun that
appears after a linking or state of being verb functions as complement of the
verb or subject complement.
Examples:
a) I am a candidate.
b) My mother is was a teacher.
 In the above sentences, a candidate and a teacher complement the subjects I
and my mother or the subject am and was respectively. Therefore they
function as the subject complement or the complement of the verbs ‘am’ and
‘was’
4. Noun functions as the object complement: A noun functions as the object
complement when it comes after a direct object in a sentence. A direct object
is the receiver of an action in a sentence. An object complement describes the
direct object in a sentence. It tells more about the direct object in a sentence.
Examples:
1. They named their daughter Natasha.
2. The convention named Deborah Vice President.
3. They crowned him king.
In the above sentence, Natasha, Vice President and king are object
complement to daughter, Deborah and him respectively.
5. Noun functions as the object of a preposition: A noun functions as the
complement of a preposition when it comes after a preposition in a sentence.
Examples:
1. I gave the book to John.
2. I take delight in sports.
3. He pulled the little red wagon to the store.
In the above sentences, John, sports and store function as object of
prepositions ‘to, in and to’ respectively.
6. Noun functions as noun in apposition to another noun. Any noun that
appears immediately after a noun just to explain the first noun functions as
noun in apposition to it.
Examples:
1. My sister, Ann is in town for the reunion.
2. The country, Sweden is very peaceful.
3. The footballer, Ikechukwu has been suspended.
In the above sentences, Ann functions as noun in apposition to ‘My sister’.
Sweden functions as noun in apposition to ‘the country’, while Ikechukwu
functions as noun in apposition to ‘the footballer’.
Evaluation: State the grammatical function of each of the underlined noun in
the sentences below.
1. My father was a headmaster.
2. My home, Manchester, is a wonderful place.
3. Mmesoma wrote the letter.
4. John performed very well in the examination.
5. I will buy books for the children

Period 4
Literature-Forms of literature
There are two forms of literature. They are the oral literature and the
literature.
Oral literature is the type that is not written down but handed down from
generation to generation through spoken words. The examples of oral
literature are folktales, myths and legends.
Written literature is the form that is written down and documented for the use
of the readers. Written literature is classified as the genres of literature. There
are three genres of literature. They are prose, drama and poetry. The writer of
prose is called a novelist, the writer of drama is called a dramatist or
playwright and the writer of poem is called a poet.
Evaluation
Mention the two forms of literature.
List the examples of oral literature.
Mention the three genres of literature and what the writer of each genre is
called.

WEEK 6
Oral work: Description of vowels /u/ and /u:/ sounds. Reading comprehension.
Grammar: Verbs- types and identification of verbs in sentences. Writing:
Writing appropriate introduction and conclusion for a given topic.
Period 1
Oral work: Description of vowels /u/ and /u: /sounds
To produce /u/, the back of the tongue is raised towards the roof of the
mouth. The lips are round. /u/ is a short vowel.
/u/ is sometimes spelt as o (woman, wolf), as in oo (good, foot, look), as in u
(bush, sugar, put, butcher), or ou (would, should, could)
The Vowel /u: /
To pronounce /u: /, the back of the tongue is raised towards the upper teeth.
The lips have a round shape as for /u/, but /u: / is a long vowel.
/u: / has many spelling forms in written English.
o as in move, do, who, prove
oo as in proof, pool, school, soon, moon
u as in rude, ruler, June
ui as in fruit, juice, suit
 ew as in drew, chew, crew
ue as in blue, true, sue
ou as in group, coup, through
oe as in shoe
Evaluation:
Choose the word that has the same vowel sound as the one represented by
the letters underlined.
1. fool ( dew, choke, stood, full)
2. cushion ( flute, tomb, shoot, cook)
3. you (wolf, pool, look, could)
4. sugar ( flu, could, chew, rude)
5. duke ( put, bull, tune, wood)

Period 2
Reading comprehension
Read the comprehension on page 56 of your text on ‘The forest of a thousand
baboons’ and answer the questions that follow (No 1-10)

Period 3
Topic: Verbs-types and identification of verbs in sentences.
Verbs are words that express actions, state of being or condition. Verbs are
hearts of English sentences because any expression without a verb does not
have a full or complete meaning. The verb is the most important element of
the sentence and it is the most important part of speech. Examples of verbs
include: dance, write, type, eat, call, look etc. Verb is an action word when it
describes what people or things do, did, have done or will do. An action verb
explains the actions of the subjects. Examples:
i. The boy kicked the ball.
ii. The boys are playing.
iii. Alero works hard.
A verb expresses a state of being when it shows the condition of the subject
or when it shows what someone or something is like. Note, a subject is a noun
or pronoun that appears before a verb in a sentence. Examples:
i. My father is a lawyer.
ii. My sister is a nurse.
iii. She remains faithful, even though it has been two years since her husband
left her.
iv. The boys are hungry.
v. You are a student
vi. I am a teacher
There are many state of being verbs. Examples are: verbs to be, to look, to
appear, to seem, to become, to feel, to grow, to remain, to sound, to smell.
The most commonly used state of being is verb ‘to be’. The verb to be has
eight forms. They are: am, is, are, was, were, be, been and being.
Evaluation: Underline the action verbs and circle the state of being verbs in the
following sentences.
1. My name is Nimot.
2. The babies are crying.
3. The man walked ten miles.
4. The children play every day.
5. They were in the class all day.
6. The couple seem happy.
7. Austin Okocha dribbles ball a lot.
8. The man shouted at the man.
9. The man looks handsome.
10. The man ran towards his father.
Forms of Verbs
English verbs can be regular or irregular, depending on their forms.
The five principle forms of verbs are:
Form 1 is used as the infinitive (e.g. to work), for commands and in the simple
present tense after I, you, we, they or plural nouns.
Form 2 is used in the simple present after third person singular pronoun he,
she, it or singular nouns.
Form 3 is used in continuous forms (past continuous or present continuous e.g.
is coming, were doing).
Form 4 is used in the simple past.
Form 5 is used in the perfect tense, that is past participle (the use of has, have
or had)
Regular Verbs
Regular verbs are those verbs that can form their past and past participle
in the same way or in a regular pattern by adding‘d’, ‘ed’ or ‘ied’ as the case
may be to the base form.
Forms of regular
Base 3rd Person Singular Continuous Tense Past Tense Past Participle
Look looks looking looked looked
Kick kicks kicking kicked kicked
Jump jumps jumping jumped jumped
Call calls calling called called
Invite invites inviting invited invited
Travel travels travelling travelled travelled
Shout shouts shouting shouted shouted
Irregular Verbs
Irregular verbs are those verbs which do not have their past and past
participle forms in the regular ways. They differ in the number of forms they
have and in the way they are formed.
Examples are:
1. Irregular verbs whose simple past and past participle forms are the same:
Base Form 3rd Person Singular Continuous Tense Past Tense Past Participle
Seek seeks seeking sought sought
Think thinks thinking thought thought
Teach teaches teaching taught taught
Buy buys buying bought bought
2. Irregular verbs whose past and past participle forms differ
Base Form 3rd Person Singular Continuous Tense Past Tense Past Participle
Sing sings singing sang sung
Draw draws drawing drew drawn
Fly flies flying flew flown
Drink drinks drinking drank drunk
3. Irregular verbs which have the same form in the base, past and past
participle forms:
Base Form 3rd Person Singular Continuous Tense Past Tense Past Participle
Burst bursts bursting burst burst
Split split splitting split split
Cut cuts cutting cut cut
Hit hits hitting hit hit

Types of Verbs
Lexical and Auxiliary Verbs
The lexical or main verbs are those action words that can stand alone as the
verb (elements) in sentences. It is the verb that carries the real meaning of a
sentence. They are not dependent on other verbs for their full meaning to be
achieved. They are also called full verb or principal verb. They include go, drink,
eat, sing, write, dance, kill etc.
Examples:
1. The young woman danced till dawn.
2. My father has a car.
3. Obi killed the goat.
4. We sang melodiously.
5. Amara goes to school everyday.
In the sentences, the verbs danced, have, killed, sang and goes are alone in the
sentences and make their full meaning.
Unless accompanied by auxiliary verbs, lexical verbs do not appear in the ‘-ing’
forms.
Auxiliary Verbs
The auxiliary verbs are the verbs that help the main or lexical verbs to
express their actions in sentences. When an auxiliary verb accompanies a main
verb in a sentence, the main verb provides the meaning of the sentence while
the auxiliary verbs usually mark the tense. The auxiliary verbs are called the
helping verb.
Examples:
1. I am writing.
2. She can do the work.
3. They will write the assignment tomorrow.
In the sentences, the verbs am, can, and will are auxiliary verbs and if they are
omitted, the sentences wouldn’t have made sense. Auxiliary verbs can at times
stand as the main verb in a sentence.
There may be more than one auxiliary verb in a sentence:
Examples:
Chisom may have gone to school.
The girls may have been washing their clothes.
Auxiliary verbs are placed immediately before the main verbs where they occur
together in sentences.
Note: A verb can be a main verb in one sentence and an auxiliary verb in
another.
Examples:
1. She has a book.
(main)
2. She has left.
(aux) (main)
Auxiliary Verbs
Auxiliary verbs are grouped into:
1. Primary auxiliaries
2. Modal auxiliaries
Primary auxiliary verbs are:
i. be verbs which have eight forms: be, am, is, are, was, were, being and been.
ii. have verbs which have the following forms: has, have, having, had.
iii. do verbs which have does, did, done, doing.
Note, the primary verbs can function as main or auxiliary verbs in different
sentences:
Kelechi has a house.
(main)
Kelechi has arrived.
(aux)
Has is singular whereas have is the plural. Had is past tense of has and have.
Examples:
She has a fine bag.
They have a house.
We had a house two years ago.
Being is used with am, is, are, was and were before it. Example:
He is being interrupted.
Been is used with has, have or had before it. Examples:
He has been sick.
Do is the plural form of does while did is the past tense of do and does. Do is
used with a plural subject while does is used with a singular third person
subject.
Examples:
Tochi does his work diligently.
They do their work diligently.
They did their work diligently.
The Modal Auxiliaries

The modal auxiliary verbs are used to express modality such as possibility,
ability, obligation, request, willingness, permission or necessity. Modal
auxiliary verbs cannot stand alone in sentences. They do not change their form
no matter the number and the person of the subject. Modal auxiliary verbs
are: can, could, will, would, shall, should, may, might, must.
Will/would- is used to show a wish, prediction, request, demand, promise.
Can/could- it is used to show permission, possibility and ability.
Must- it expresses necessity.
Might- often used to express an unlikely or uncertain possibility
Evaluation: Underline the auxiliary verbs in the sentences and circle the main
verbs.
1 She will like my sandals.
2 Can I take your pen?
3 She has been crying.
4 You would have been lost yesterday.
5 They are waiting.
6 I am twenty one years old.
7 It is going round.
8 I have been sleeping.
9 Ijeoma has gone to school.
10. She would have loved your outfit.

Period 4
Topic: Writing appropriate introduction and conclusion for a given topic
Introduction is the beginning of a composition. The writer starts with a forceful
topic sentence which is the statement of the main idea or the theme of the
composition. (It tells the reader the purpose of writing). It should catch the
interest and urge the reader to read on. There are different ways of beginning
a composition effectively.
1. A general statement indicating the writer’s point of view and purpose (topic)
of the entire composition. It provides enough provides enough information
about the composition.
2. A striking fact or example
3. A challenging question
Example: My First Day at Secondary School.
My first day at Holy Innocents Juniorate Convent, Nkpor, will ever
remain a memorable day in my life. It was date, month and year. I can vividly
recall what happened on that day.
The conclusion of a composition may be a sentences emphasizing
(reiterating) the subject matter at the end of a longer paragraph. It should
show that the reader has come to the end of the composition. There are ways
of writing the conclusion.
1. Summarise the main ideas of subject matter (topic)
2. Repeat (restate) in different words the main idea.
3. Make an important proposal.
4. Impressive method.
Evaluation: Write a suitable introduction and conclusion to the topic ‘My First
Day at Secondary School’.

WEEK 7: MID TERM BREAK

WEEK 8
Oral work: Description of vowel /ʌ/ sound. Reading: Same as in week 6.
Grammar: Transitive and intransitive verbs. Writing: Practice on writing a story.
Period 1
Oral Work: Description of vowel /ʌ/ sound
To pronounce the sound /ʌ/, the centre of the tongue is raised. The mouth is
open. It is a short vowel.
/ʌ/ is spelt in various ways
1. u as in much, luck, fun, cup, cut, hut, bun etc.
2. o as in dozen, love, month, son, come, one, done etc.
3. oo as in flood, blood etc.
4. ou as in country, tough, couple, enough, young etc.
5. oe as in does.
Evaluation: Write ten words with /ʌ/ sound and underline where it is realised
in each of the word.
Multiple-choice questions
From the words lettered A – D, choose the word that has the same vowel
sound as the one represented by the letters underlined.
1. son A. fond B. court C. bus D. bag
2. couple A. southern B. put C. cook D. can
3. flood A. shoot B. among C. coup D. decide
4. does A. done B. foe C. doe D. tone
5. luck A. lock B. court C. enough D. hot
Period 2
Reading comprehension
Read the comprehension on page 89 of your text on ‘Our March into the
Desert’ and answer the questions that follow (No 1-10)
Period 3
Topic: Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
The main function of a verb is to say something about the subject of the
sentence. The subject, which is usually a noun or pronoun, is the one that
performs the action of the verb. The thing that receives the action is known as
object and which is also a noun or pronoun.
Transitive Verb
A transitive verb is a verb that allows actions performed by the subject to be
passed to the object. In other words, it is a verb that takes or requires a direct
object to complete its sense. The action of a transitive verb is done on
something or someone
Sentence Examples on Transitive Verbs
1. The teacher flogged the students.
Subject verb object
2. The boy opened the window.
Subject verb object
3. Chike kicked the ball.
Subject verb object
4. The goat ate the corn.
Subject verb object
In the above sentences, one would notice that without the objects that allow
the action of the subject to pass to them, the sentence wouldn’t have a
complete sense.
Intransitive Verbs
An intransitive verb is a verb that doesn’t need to transfer the action of the
subject to an object. It is any verb that fulfils the criteria of not needing a direct
object to transfer action upon. In other words, they are verbs that do not take
a direct object. We can recognise an intransitive verb if it makes sense on its
own without a direct object.
Sentence Examples on Intransitive Verbs
1. The man died yesterday.
Subject verb adverb
2. The girl smiled.
Sub verb.
3. The baby slept peacefully.
Sub verb adverb
4. Kanu plays very well
Sub verb adverb.
From the above sentences, one can notice that the verbs do not require a
direct object and make sense on their own.
Note, some verbs can be used transitively and intransitively.
Transitive Intransitive
Fly= The boys fly kites. Birds fly in the sky.
Drives= She drives a car. She drives well.
Reads= She reads ten books a day. She reads well.
Writes= He writes novels. He writes legibly.
Cooks= my mother cooks rice. My mother cooks well.
EVALUATION
State whether the underlined verb in each of the sentences is a transitive or
intransitive.
1. Ada slapped Promise.
2. My father killed the goat.
3. The baby sleeps well.
4. My mother bought oranges yesterday.
5. He eats loudly.
6. Adaeze cooks well.
7. Ngozi washes the dishes.
8. Munachi reads well.
9. The girls cut the grass yesterday.
10. The birds fly so high.

WEEK 9
Oral work: Description of vowel /Ә/ sound. Reading: Reading to answer specific
questions. Grammar: Adjectives- definition and kinds of adjectives.
Period 1
Oral work: Description of vowel /Ә/ sound.
The sound is called the schwa. It commonly used in the week forms. It is the
sound that is in many unstressed syllables in English. When you say the sound,
the centre of your tongue is raised and your lips are neutrally spread and
relaxed.
Letter/letters combination of the sound
(a)The schwa sound could be found be found in the initial syllable like: address,
again, about, above, abuse ago etc.
(b) It could be found in the final-er e.g. teacher, debater, father, letter etc.
(c) it could occur in the final- ous as in gracious, famous, nutritious etc
(d)It could be found in the middle as in support, today, tomorrow, freedom,
system etc
(e) It could occur in the final –or as in doctor, tailor, actor, rector etc.
(f) It could occur in the final- our as in colour, neighbour, harbour etc.
(g) It could also occur in the final –ure as in nature, figure, adventure etc.
Evaluation: Write ten words with /Ә/ sound and underline where it is realised
in each of the word.

Period 2
Reading: Reading to answer specific to specific questions
Reading comprehension
Topic: Adjectives- Definition and kinds of adjective
Adjectives are words that qualify nouns or pronouns in sentences. They answer
the following questions about the nouns or the pronouns they qualify.
1. What kind- She is gentle.
2. What height- Ada is short.
3. What colour- His car is red.
4. What size- The baby finished a bowl of rice.
5. What shape- This is a round table.
Adjectives are mostly placed before the nouns and pronouns they qualify.
When they are placed before nouns, they are used in attributive way. When
they are used after verbs, they are used in predicative way.
Examples
1. We live in a beautiful house. (Attributive)
2. English grammar is interesting. (Predicative)
Types of adjectives
The following are some of the types of adjectives:
1. Descriptive/Qualitative Adjectives are the adjectives that describe the
quality or character/attribute of a noun or pronoun. They include: fine,
intelligent, friendly, fast, handsome etc.
Examples
 The man is handsome.
 Adaeze is an intelligent girl.
 The diligent student got a prize.

2. Possessive Adjectives are the adjectives that are used to show possession or
to show that something belongs to someone. They are also known as
possessive determiners. They are: my, our, your, her, its, their, etc.
Examples:
 These are my students.
 My sister gave me her dress.
 Nigerians obey their leaders.
3. Demonstrative Adjectives are the adjectives that point out the nouns they
qualify. Demonstrative adjective are also known as demonstrative
determiners. They include: this, that, these, those.
Examples
 This food is absolutely sumptuous.
 That woman is elegant.
 These children are peaceful.

4. Distributive/indefinite Adjectives are used to select members of a group of

nouns. They are used to refer to separate things of a group. They include: each,
either, every, either, neither, both any etc.
Examples
 Every student is asked to bring a jotter.
 Each girl has a book.
 Both groups will be rewarded.

5. Interrogative Adjectives are the adjectives that are used to ask questions
about the nouns they qualify. They include: which, what, whose. They must
precede the nouns or pronouns they qualify.
Examples
 Whose handset is this?
 What game does he play?
 What plan do you have?

6. Emphatic Adjectives are the adjectives that are used to emphasise the
degree of something. They include: very, own, complete, utter, pure, total,
serious etc.
Examples
 She made a serious mistake.
 He is an utter fool.
 This is the very girl I spoke to you about.

Formation of Adjectives
Some adjectives are formed from other parts of speech such as nouns and
verbs.
Examples:
Nouns Adjectives
 Pride proud
 Arrogance arrogant
 Information informative
  Education educative
 beauty beautiful

Verb adjectives
 love lovely
 care careful
 study studious
 punish punishable
Evaluation
Identify the adjectives in the following sentences
1. She told an obvious lie.
2. That woman has an ugly face.
3. Kosi stole my cup.
4. Your story is incredible.
5. We are moving over to a new house.
6. I love those cars.
7. Mr Okoro is a fat man.
8. Loveth is obedient.
9. Obiora looks sad today.
10. It was a wonderful display.

WEEK 10
Comparison of Adjectives
There are three degrees of comparison namely positive, comparative and
superlative. Now these three degrees of Adjectives, express the intensity of
Adjectives in increasing order.
A positive form shows the simple form of an Adjective. The comparative form
compares two persons or things using the ‘er’ suffix and the word ‘than. The
superlative takes the ‘est’ and the article ’the to compare more than two
nouns or groups of nouns.
POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPARLATIVE
Small smaller smallest
Tall taller tallest
Fine finer finest
Slim slimmer slimmest
Smart smarter smartest
Examples:
Ants are smaller than rats.
Janet is smarter than loveth.
Their house is the biggest in the area.
Ikenna is the youngest in their family.
 Adjectives that comprise more than two syllables take more plus than and
most in their comparatives and superlative forms.
POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE
Generous more generous most generous
Beautiful more beautiful most beautiful
Expensive more expensive most expensive
Careful more careful most careful
Wonderful more wonderful most wonderful
Examples:
Anita’s dresses are more expensive than Ngozi’s.
Chika is more careful than Ebere.
Uche is the most sincere of the three friends.
Nkiru is the most intelligent in their class.
Evaluation
Rewrite the following using the comparative or superlative forms of the
adjectives in the brackets
1. Lizzy is (generous) than Aisha.
2. Mrs Damian is the (good) Chemistry teacher in the school.
3. Vera is (tall) than her sister?
4. It is (bad) to be late, but (bad) to be absent.
5. Amaka’s bag is (superior) than chika’s.
6. Agnes is the (lazy) person I have ever known.
7. Ekenna is (young) than Nnenna.
8. Janet’s ruler is (long) than Jacinta’s.
9. Is your car (good) than mine?
10. Emeka is the (clever) in class.

References:
1. New Concept English for Junior Secondary Schools book 1 by F Ademola-
Adeoye and co
2. New Oxford Secondary English Course for Junior Secondary schools book by
Ayo Banjo and co
3. Mastering English by M. O. Odiaka.
4. Revision and Exercises on English Grammar by C. U. Anugwa.
5. Oral English for Beginners by Anke Nutsukpo.
6. New Oxford Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary.