The Onslaught of
Modern Civilization
Introduction
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The Philippines is a conglomeration of 7,000 or so emerald green islands. One
can find in them free pleasures under the tropical sun-white beaches in Luzon,
Visayas, and Mindanao, fisherman’s caves in Bataan, Cavite and Sulu, natural
wonders in Palawan, serenity in Lake Lanao Kissed by the early morning mist, the
marvel that is the Banawe Rice Terraces, the amazing Hundred Islands in
Pangasinan, the awesome Chocolate Hills in Bohol- all, these make the Philippines
a glittering set of islands in the sun. Rizal called his country Pearl of the Orient
Seas and rightly so.
The Filipinos are a hardy race, generally gentle and mery. Sometimes they can
hardly keep body and soul together but they can manage a brave smile. Our
women have given our homes and society many refinements we can be proud of.
Our brothers, and sisters who live up in the mountains and have kept their age-old
ways have enriched our culture. Proud as they have always been, they have
refused to bow to foreign invaders, even to the low landers who call them brothers
but no longer look and live like them.
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Period of Philippine History
The B.A Period
The A.A Period
Archeological Evidence
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The earliest archaeological remains of human habitation in the Philippines
were found in Tabon Cave, on the southwestern coast of Palawan Island. They
have been dated to around 22,000 B.C., and consist of a frontal bone and a
mandible, the characteristics of which suggest that they belonged to an individual
who was phenotypically more similar to the Australoid populations of the region
than to the Mongoloid. This individual must be the earliest ancestor yet
discovered of today's Australoid population of the Philippines, the Negritos.
Today, only about twenty-five distinct Negrito groups exist in the Philippines, but
in the distant past, prior to the arrival of the Austronesians, the archipelago must
have been home to perhaps hundreds of such groups. Archaeological
excavations of what must have been Negrito sites show that these peoples were
hunter-gatherers and fishermen and possessed a very simple technology.
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Around 3,500 B.C., the Negritos of Northern Luzon discovered
that people unlike any they had seen before had arrived on their
shores. They were not black-skinned like themselves but had fair,
reddish skin. They had straight hair, their bodies were tattooed with
intricate designs, and they spoke a language that was unintelligible
to the Negritos. Their arrival had a tremendous impact on the lives of
the Negritos, ultimately revolutionizing the way they lived. The
Austronesians had arrived and life for the Negritos would never be
the same. The lands that had once been their own unrestricted
hunting grounds, now had to be shared with the newcomers. But the
newcomers were not just hunters and gatherers; they had a way of
life that must have fascinated the Negritos.
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Archaeological sites from the Philippines and areas to the south in
Indonesia which have been dated prior to around 3,500 B.C. show none
of the cultural materials which gradually begin to appear in sites that are
dated subsequent to this. Several early sites, such as the caves at
Musang in northern Luzon and Tabon in the south of Palawan have two
distinct cultural levels (Thiel 1984-85:121, Fox 1970). The lower one
gives evidence of occupation by ancestors of today's Negrito population
of the areas, with simple flake and blade tools. The higher level
contained pottery, ground stone adzes, stone tools for harvesting grain,
spinning thread, beating barkcloth, some possible tattooing chisels, and
a variety of earrings and other ornaments of personal decoration made
from shell, jade, fired clay, and polished stone.
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Adjectives
Possessive Adjectives
Demonstrative Adjectives
Interrogative Adjectives
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Indefinite Adjectives
An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun by describing,
identifying, or quantifying words. An adjective usually
precedes the noun or the pronoun which it modifies.
In the following examples, the highlighted words are
adjectives:
The truck-shaped balloon floated over the treetops.
Mrs. Morrison papered her kitchen walls
with hideous wall paper.
The small boat foundered on the wine dark sea.
The coal mines are dark and dank.
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




A possessive adjective ("my," "your," "his," "her," "its," "our," "their") is
similar or identical to a possessive pronoun; however, it is used as an
adjective and modifies a noun or a noun phrase, as in the following
sentences:
I can't complete my assignment because I don't have the textbook.
In this sentence, the possessive adjective "my" modifies "assignment"
and the noun phrase "my assignment" functions as an object. Note that
the possessive pronoun form "mine" is not used to modify a noun or
noun phrase.
What is your phone number?
Here the possessive adjective "your" is used to modify the noun phrase
"phone number"; the entire noun phrase "your phone number" is
a subject complement. Note that the possessive pronoun form "yours"
is not used to modify a noun or a noun phrase.
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
The demonstrative adjectives "this," "these," "that,"
"those," and "what" are identical to the demonstrative
pronouns, but are used as adjectives to modify nouns or
noun phrases, as in the following sentences:
 When the librarian tripped over that cord, she dropped a
pile of books.
 In this sentence, the demonstrative adjective "that" modifies
the noun "cord" and the noun phrase "that cord" is the
object of the preposition "over."
 This apartment needs to be fumigated.
 Here "this" modifies "apartment" and the noun phrase "this
apartment" is the subject of the sentence.
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 An
interrogative adjective ("which" or "what") is like an
interrogative pronoun, except that it modifies a noun or
noun phrase rather than standing on its own (see also
demonstrative adjectives and possessive adjectives):
 Which plants should be watered twice a week?
 Like other adjectives, "which” can be used to modify a
noun or a noun phrase? In this example, "which” modifies
“plants” and the noun phrase “which plants” is the subject
of the compound verb “should be watered”?
 What book are you reading?
 In this sentence, "what" modifies "book" and the noun
phrase "what book" is the direct object of the compound
verb "are reading."
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 An
indefinite adjective is similar to an indefinite
pronoun, except that it modifies a noun, pronoun, or noun
phrase, as in the following sentences:
 Many people believe that corporations are under-taxed.
 The indefinite adjective "many" modifies the noun
"people" and the noun phrase "many people" is the
subject of the sentence.
 I will send you any mail that arrives after you have moved
to Sudbury.
 The indefinite adjective "any" modifies the noun "mail"
and the noun phrase "any mail" is the direct object of the
compound verb "will send."
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Degrees of Adjectives
Positive Forms
Comparative Forms
Superlative Forms
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
The positive of an adjective is the form in which the
word appears in the dictionary or vocabulary
lesson or that which can be described as its
standard form. Adjectives in the positive degree
don't compare the nouns they modify to others.
They don't use the suffixes "-er," or "-est" or take
the comparative "more" or the superlative "most."
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
Adjectives in the comparative degree often take the
inflected suffix "-er" without any spelling changes. However,
whenever a two-syllable adjective ends in "-y," the "-y" is
dropped and "-ier" is added instead of "-er." An example
would be the augmentation of "lovely" to "lovelier."
However, some adjectives, such as "beautiful," don't take
any suffixes, and instead take the word "more" in front of
them. Therefore, "beautiful" becomes "more beautiful."
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
The superlative degree is used to express the
most extreme degrees of comparison. For
adjectives that take suffixes, "-est" or "-iest" is
added. "Rich" becomes "richest" and "lovely"
becomes "loveliest." And while comparative
adjectives can take the word "more" in front of
them, superlative adjectives take the word "most."
When comparing three beauties, the superlative
example would be "most beautiful."
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Some Examples
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Positive
Big
Great
Short
Old
Large
Happy
Lucky
Heavy
Beautiful
Horrible
Good
Bad
Little
Many
Comparative
Bigger
Greater
Shorter
Older
Larger
Happier
Luckier
Heavier
More beautiful
More horrible
Better
Worse
Less
More
Superlative
Biggest
Greatest
Shortest
Oldest
Largest
Happiest
Luckiest
Heaviest
Most beautiful
Most horrible
Best
Worst
Least
Most
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Speech Improvement
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
Sounds in Focus: /f/ and /v/

The following words are from the listening text. They are arranged in two colums to show examples of
words with the /f/ and /v/ sounds. Listen as your teacher pronounces each one, the first column and the
second column next. Repeat after her.

/f/

forest
vine
leaves

fragrant
visit
leave

flowers
value
have

often
never
however

beautiful
covered
proved
life
received


/v/
Listen to your teacher read the following phrases, too. Then repeart after her.

beautiful fragrant flowers

beautifully shaped leaves of other trees

proved od attraction to travellers

travellers would visit

the vine grew fairly close to the ground

travellers never visit

to leave him

would not leave,however
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Practice Excersises
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
The sounds in focus are /f/ in Column 1 and /v/ in Column 2

Listen and repeat.
/f/
/v/

fan
file
van
vile

fine
offer
vine
over

fail
leaf
veil
leave

fast
proof
vast
prove

few
helf
view
shelve

feel
safe
veal
save
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Reading Selection
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A Strong and Beatiful People
The country is inhabited by people largely of Malay stock butsub-classified into
hundreds of tribes, ethnic groupings, and distinct languages. The colonizers, much to
their disgust, could not penetrate the mountain tribes living in the remotest fastness of
the Cordilleras nor subdue the “Moros” in the Muslim south, in Sulu,a nd other parts of
Mindanao. It is just as well. They havre remained today as our brothers and sisiters
who have lived lives, untouched by foreign influences and thus, have retained thier
cultural traditions just as they were before the first white man came.
One sees in the Filipino a strong and beautiful people. Legend has it that once upon
a time, long, long, , ago, there lived a maid and a man who loved each other dearly.. it
is said that Malakas and Maganda were born on the same night, at the same hour just
the new moon was rising. And thier people, whose loves were ruled by the movements
of the sun and the stars and the moon, knew that this strange coincidence had a
wondrous meaning. And even as they worshipped the newly-born babaies, thier
diviners decreed that Bathala, in his mysterious wisdom, must have meant them for
each other. And so it cameto pass that the two kingdoms which were ruled by the
parents of Malakas and Maganda held a joint festival to celebrate the double birth. And
at this festival, Malakas and Maganda were promised to each other. They would be
married after fifteen years.
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Comprehension Check
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Answer the following questions.
1.
To what racial stock did most of the people of the Phillipines belong?
2.
Are there groupings? What are they?
3.
Were the colonizers able to subdue these ethnic tribes or cultural
communities? Why not?
4.
Can you mention some of these communities and the places where they
can still be found today?
5.
What legend is retold here to account for the first Filipino? Do you know
of any other? Share it with the class?
6.
Relate the legend to the title of the reading text.
7.
What appealed to you most in the story of Malakas and Maganda? Why
did it apppeal to you most?
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Poem: “Like the Molave”
The End.