1. My Early Home
COMPREHENSION (READING)
1. Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.
Most people associate twisters with tornadoes, but in fact tropical twisters come from
hurricanes. Hurricanes are what scientists call ‘strong tropical cyclones’. They are formed when
large areas of the ocean become heated and the air pressure over that area drops. This causes
thunderstorms and strong surface winds. Cyclones develop over tropical or sub-tropical waters
(for example, in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa or in the Pacific). As they travel long
distances, gathering energy form the ocean, they are often called strong tropical cyclones. When
the winds of a tropical storm reach 74 mph, the storm is classified as a hurricane.
One of NASA’s most important missions is to understand the total Earth system and study how
changes have occurred in the global environment due to natural and human causes. To achieve
these goals, NASA has developed satellites and ground programs which study and keep track of
hurricanes and other climatic events.
A. Tick (Right) the correct option.
The origin of tropical twisters is
i. Tornadoes.
ii. Hurricanes.
iii. Cyclones.
iv. Storms.
B. Answer the following question.
a. What leads to the formation of hurricanes?
___
___
b. A tropical storm is called a hurricane when
__
__
c. Of what use are the satellites which are developed by NASA?
__
__
d. Given here are abbreviations of some agencies involved in space research. Find out their
full names.
i. NASA : ___
ii. ESA : ___
iii. ISRO : ____
VOCABULARY
2. Choose the most appropriate option to complete the sentence, consult a dictionary, if
necessary.
a. I met him ____ afternoon at the bookshop. (last/yesterday)
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
Where were you ____ night? (last/yesterday)
He came to meet me ____ morning. (today/his)
I’ll see you at 6 o’clock ____ evening (today/this)
____ of the office staff wanted a holiday. (A third/ third)
____ the players did not come for practice. (A half/half)
It is _____ and we haven’t finished work. (half past three/3:30 p.m.)
The building is more than ____ (one hundred years / one hundred years old)
He is a young man of ___ but still doesn’t have a job. (twenty-five / twenty-five years of
age)
I will meet you ___ (on the weekend/at the weekend)
GRAMMAR
Countable and uncountable nouns
Read these sentences.
a) There are many insects here. (countable noun)
b) There isn’t much rice in the box (uncountable noun)
Common nouns like car, house, book and engine are nouns that can be counted. It is possible to say that
you have five books or two houses because it is easy to count these. Hence these are countable nouns.
There are, on the other hand, some nouns that cannot be counted. Oil, sugar and sand are also nouns.
These are uncountable nouns as it would be impossible to count each grain of sand or sugar such nouns
are called uncountable nouns.
Countable nouns can be both singular or plural.
For example : a horse, a book
For example : lots of friends, a few fruits. The word ‘many’ is often used with countable nouns.
Uncountable nouns are always used in the singular.
For example : ‘a few grains of sand’. The word ‘much’ is often used with uncountable nouns.
3. Write ‘a’ or ‘an’ in the blanks where necessary to make a grammatically complete sentence. Put
a (x) where the sentence is complete.
a. I like to eat ___ apple every day for ___ breakfast.
b. Can I have ___ milk in my ___ coffee, please?
c. Sumit doesn’t like to spread ___ butter on his ___ toast.
d. Samir loves ___ slice of cake after dinner.
e. Though Radhika isn’t generally fond of ____ chocolates, she doesn’t mind having ___
bar of Kit-Kat.
f. Please don’t given me ___ orange juice; I wouldn’t mind ___ glass of apple juice, though.
g. ____ Traffic nowadays is so bad that it’s pointless to buy ___ car.
h. My grandmother used to have ___ biscuit with ___ tea every evening. If ever here tea
would go cold, she would have ___ fresh cup make.
4. Complete the following paragraph using the nouns in the box. Be careful, some nouns may need
to be changed to the plural and some may be used more than once.
holiday suitcase luggage vacation bag adult belonging person child baggage piece
While going away on a ___ , always remember to keep your ___ to a minimum. Don’t take along
too may ___ or you will find that your ___ was spent just keeping track of your ____.
This is what happened to my family and me on one of our ___. We had taken along almost all,
or so it seemed, of our ___ as a result, we found that each ___ , child or ___ , had to carry one
___ each. Since we were six ___ and thirteen ____, you can imagine how may ___ we had in all.
The problem, we soon realized, was not just carrying the ___ around; it was also lifting and
shifting ___ from one place to another. While the ___ could push the ___ that had wheels, they
were too small to lift and place them onto conveyor belts and check-in counters. So the ___ had
to not just lift and carry their respective ___ , they also had to struggle with numerous ___ of
___. It
Adjectives
A banana may be sweet, green, ripe, unripe, had, soft. All the words which have been used to
describe the banana (noun) are called adjectives.
adjectives are words used with nouns to describe the person, animal, place or thing which the
noun names or to tell its number or quantity.
5. How many adjectives can you find for each of the things below?
a. A dress
___
__
b. A toy
___
___
c. A dog
__
__
6. Complete this alphabetical series of adjectives.
alert, bashful, coward, docile, easy ______________
___________
__________
7. Name game
All the students sit in a dale and one person says his/her name with an adjective with the first
letter of his/her name e.g. Active Aarti. The person on the left repeats 'Active Aarti' and adds
his/her name e.g. 'Lovely Item'. The chain goes on till everyone has participated.
Determiners
Determiners are used in front of nouns to indicate whether you arc referring to. something
specific by making it definite the child, indefinite a child by indicating quantity or amount many, three, some, any, a little, few, ere. and by demonstrating - these, those. this, that, etc.
by indicating possession - mine, your, his, hers, etc.
8. Ritu wants to buy a car. Veena is trying to sell her own car to Ritu. Complete their conversation
using ‘a', 'an' or ‘the’
Ritu: I Ii, Veena. I'm here to see ................car that you promised to show me.
Veena: Hi, Ritu. Here it is. This is ................car that I was telling you about.
Ritu: bit ................ old ear?
Verna: ............few years, about three, but in very good condition.
Rim: Were you ................ first owner?
Veena: Yes, I got it brand new from ................ company showroom.
Ritu: !lave you driven it ................ lot? I want to know if this car can withstand wear and tear
............... car I have right now is giving me .................... lot of trouble.
Veena: Well, I drive to . . office about five days ................ week, but not really anywhere else.
Parking is just such ................ big problem!
Ritu: Actually, now that you mention it, I have started thinking ................ metro may not be such
........had idea! It may not be ................ most comfortable way to travel, but it will save, me
............... lot of petrol, maintenance, expenditure and ................ trouble of finding ................
place to park!
9. Here are some more determiners in the box. Fill in the blanks by choosing. the correct one.
Some words may have to be used more than once.
some a few little much few any many a little
a) Father: Is there .................... bread left in the breadbox?
Mother: Yes, I think there is ......................
Father: Are you sure there was .................... left? I can't see ......................
Mother: Oh sorry, I forgot; Vishy had the last slice for breakfast!
b) I didn't like this movie very ...................... I think there were just too .................... plots and
sub -plots for .................... of themn. to make ......................sense!
c) What a waste of time that shopping trip was! Misha made so .................... noise over nothing!
d) She's new to the class; that's why she has .................... friends yet.
e) Asha: Would you like .................... milk in your tea?
Vibha: No, thank you. I don't take .................... milk in my tea or coffee.
I) Natasha: Were there .................... children in that shop?
Bhushan: Yes, there were .................... who were buying books.
g) I like to go to places that are .................... less known. There are hardly .................... people
there to disturb you and you can have as .................... fun as you'd like without worrying about
disturbing .................... one.
h) Natasha: Don't you care even .................... for me?
Deepa: No, not a bit. I have .................... respect for people who can't help their friends.
i) Do you have .................... friends? How .................... children should I expect at the party?
j) Anju told us she knew .................... people in the film industry, but when we quizzed her, she
didn't get .................... answers about them correct.
WRMNG
Message
10. Imagine that you are Arnav. You receive a phone call from your elder brother Aryan's friend,
Piyush, while Aryan is out. Read this conversation and then write a message for Aryan.
Arnav: Hello? Who is calling?
Piyush: Hello. This is Piyush. May I speak to Aryan?
Arnav: Piyush. How are you? I'm sorry, Arya.n is not here at the moment.
Piyush: Is that Arnav? Hi! I'm fine, thanks. Where has Aryan gone?
Arnav: He has gone to the market to get some charts and stationery.
Piyush: When is he expected back?
Arnav: In about 13 minutes. Can I take a message for him?
Piyush: Can you please tell hint that Vinay is not well? He has been advised complete bed rest
and can't leave the house. It's his birthday today. So.some of us have decided to go to Vinay's
house. We are all gathering at Greater Kailash McDonald's at 12:00 p.m. and then carrying on to
his house.
Arnavt Okay, I'm about to leave myself, but I'll definitely convey your message to Aryan.
Piyush: Arnav, I almost forgot! Can you also ask Aryan to bring his camera along?
Arnav: Sure.
Piyush: Thanks a lot! Bye.
Arnav: You're welcome. Bye. .................... (time at which the caller left the message)
.................... (name of the person for whom the message is meant) ....................
__
__
__
__
__
__ (name of the person who has taken the message)
Remember
* Give the name of the caller.
* Mention the time at which he/she called. Since the call will have to be returned or required
action will have to be taken within a short span of time, the day or date of the message do not
have to be mentioned.
* Mention only the most important details the main pieces of information and whatever action
or response is required from the person who was called.
* Grammatically incomplete sentences are acceptable since the tone of the message is quick
and casual.