The Grammar Activity Book Bob Obee PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, United Kingdom 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011–4211, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press, 1999 The pages in this book marked ‘From The Grammar Activity Book by Bob Obee © Cambridge University Press 1999 P H O T O C O P I A B L E ’ may be photocopied free of charge for classroom use by the purchasing individual or institution This permission to copy does not extend to branches or additional schools of an institution All other copying is subject to permission from the publisher First published 1999 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge ISBN 521 575796 The Grammar Activity Book Map of the book KEY : E=ELEMENTARY; P=PRE-INTERMEDIATE; I=INTERMEDIATE; U=UPPER-INTERMEDIATE Activity title Language focus Level Time (minutes) Introduction Page Unit Time like the present 1.1 Global animal bingo 1.2 Wildlife whoppers 1.3 Adverb backgammon 1.4 Behind the screen Present simple/questions Present simple: facts Time adverbs/simple/continuous Present simple/continuous E–P I–U I–U E 20 25 25 20 10 12 14 Unit Questions and answers 2.1 So what’s the question? 2.2 Sporting chances 2.3 Do card quiz 2.4 Zig-zag questions Phrasing of common questions Present continuous questions Subject questions Appropriate short answers P–I P–U P–I P 30 25 40 25 15 18 20 22 Unit Talking about things past 3.1 Round about when Time adverbs: simple past 3.2 Joke go-betweens Simple past questions 3.3 Last week’s news Simple past/past continuous 3.4 Past identities Past continuous: background detail P–I I P–U P–I 20 25 30 30 24 26 28 29 Unit Making comparisons 4.1 Line up accordingly 4.2 Psychic partners 4.3 Comparative short straws 4.4 Ratio roulette Comparative adjectives/adverbs Superlative adjectives/adverbs Degrees of comparison Degrees of comparison P I U I 25 30 20 20 30 32 34 36 Unit Describing things 5.1 Sort yourselves out 5.2 Four-card adjectives 5.3 Collocation bridges 5.4 Square routes Adverbs: word order Order of adjectives Adjective/noun collocation Use of adjectives/adverbs E–U P–I I–U P–I 25 25 15–20 25 37 38 40 42 Unit Looking to the future 6.1 Arrangement squares 6.2 Pantomime fish 6.3 Collecting evidence 6.4 Dedication poem Present continuous (future) Use of will Be going to (present evidence) Conjunctions/use of will P P–I P I–U 20 25 25 25 44 46 48 50 Unit Using the perfect 7.1 Point in a story 7.2 Record-breakers 7.3 What have you done! 7.4 Jigsaw mischief 7.5 Adverb rummy Present perfect simple (just/already/yet) P–I Present perfect simple (unspecified past time) P–I Present perfect simple (present result) P Present perfect continuous (present effect) I–U Present perfect simple/continuous/past simple I–U 20 20 20 30 20 51 52 56 58 60 Activity title Language focus Level Time (minutes) Page Unit Things we can count 8.1 Determiner dominoes 8.2 Pieces of me 8.3 Building captions 8.4 Open ‘the’ doors Use of determiners Partitive nouns Use of the/zero article Use of zero article with certain classes of nouns P–U I–U I I–U 25 25 25 10–15 62 64 66 68 Unit Conditional meanings 9.1 Homophone healing 9.2 Blanks and brackets 9.3 Seeking scruples 9.4 Memory consequences zero conditional First conditional (if/will/in case) Second conditional Third conditional I I I I–U 30 20 35 20 70 72 74 76 Unit 10 Obligation and possibility 10.1 Headline investment Must/can’t/might/could (possibility) 10.2 Streetwise surveys Must/mustn’t/have to … (obligation) 10.3 Royal behaviour Must have/couldn’t have (past speculation) 10.4 Rules and lines Must/mustn’t/have to (obligation) I P–I I–U I 25 30 20 25 78 80 82 84 Unit 11 Indicating time, movement and place 11.1 Last card wins Prepositional phrases: time place manner 11.2 Opposite moves Verbs of movement (prepositions) 11.3 Time pieces In at on (time) 11.4 Preposition chequers In at on (place) P–I U P–I P–I 25 25 25 25 86 88 90 92 Unit 12 Using the passive 12.1 Signs of the passive 12.2 Whose house? 12.3 A causative day out 12.4 Fairytale jigsaw races Use of passive in signs/different tenses Simple past/past perfect passive Causative structure: have things done Simple past passive by + agent I U U I–U 25 30 25 30 95 98 100 102 Unit 13 Functional exchanges 13.1 Answer keys 13.2 On the floor debate 13.3 Conversation pyramids 13.4 Answer hopping Short exchanges Common discussion markers Short answers and follow-ups So/neither responses/tag questions P–I I–U P–I E–P 25 30 15–20 25 104 106 108 110 Unit 14 What someone said 14.1 Beyond belief 14.2 No more than seven words 14.3 Connecting speech 14.4 Who asked you … You said/told me that … Sentence patterns after reporting verbs Contrasts between say, tell, speak, talk Reported questions I I–U I–U I–U 25 30 25 30 112 114 116 119 Unit 15 Revision games 15.1 Slide rules 15.2 Tense squares 15.3 Throw-out puzzles 15.4 Sole mates Various structures Revision of tenses Various structures Various structures I–U P–U P E–I 25 20 30 35 120 122 124 126 unit Time like the present 1.1 Global animal Level elementary – pre-intermediate Class size whole class Language focus present simple Have … got questions about facts and habitual actions Pronunciation weak forms: you /dju/ you /j´/ Preparation time minutes Game time 20 minutes bingo Before class Make one copy of one Bingo card (p.9) for each learner or each pair of learners, depending on the size of the class In class Explain to learners that they are going to play a game like bingo, which is popular throughout the English-speaking world The game here, however, also involves learners asking questions If bingo, or an equivalent, is played in your country, you can tell learners about it Give each learner a Bingo card On it there is a grid of phrases Beneath the grid is a sentence about an animal and three pieces of information about that animal: what it has/has got, eats, likes doing, or where or how long it lives During the game, each learner will assume the identity of the animal on his/her card The aim of the game is to be the first learner to cross off all the phrases on his/her Bingo card and tell the class which animal each phrase referred to During the game, each ‘animal’ must introduce himself/herself However, it is very important that learners not reveal any other details about the animal On introduction, other learners in the class should pose questions to the animal, based on phrases in their Bingo cards For example, for the African elephant, the following is written: Hello, I’m an African elephant: I have a small tail, I eat leaves and I’ve got relatives in India The learner introducing himself/herself says: Hello, I’m an African elephant … The other learners then scan their Bingo cards for any phrases that might relate to the African elephant, and ask the elephant any questions that the phrases suggest long grass leaves seals BINGO sitting A learner with these bingo squares thus might bamboo sealsask: Do you eat leaves? down The African elephant answers: Yes, I (This is a detail on the card.) and all the learners who have this bingo square can cross it off Anotherlong learner with these same bingo squares grass dancing queenmight ask: Do you eat long grass? The African elephant answers: No, I don’t (because this is not a detail in front of him/her) After a question from three or four different learners, move on to another learner, who introduces himself/herself: Hello, I’m a polar bear, and so on If there is more than one African elephant etc in the class, this simply means that learners may ask the African elephant questions again 1.1 Global animal bingo ✂ Bingo cards sitting down bamboo seals long grass dancing queen Hello, I’m a pelican: I live in Romania, I eat fish and I like going on holiday BINGO China holiday longer than people Romania long sleep seals leaves fish yellow and brown Hello, I’m a bee: I have a queen, I like dancing and I like flowers BINGO long grass holiday bamboo leaves small tail group white relatives grass small birds Hello, I’m a polar bear: I like swimming under ice, I eat seals and I like a long sleep BINGO zebras long grass under ice small birds sitting down fish relatives in India China queen Hello, I’m a tortoise: I live longer than people, I have a yellow and brown shell and a long neck BINGO grass Romania leaves relatives in India holiday queen group zebras fish longer than people Hello, I’m an African elephant: I have a small tail I eat leaves and I’ve got relatives in India grass flowers BINGO small tail zebras dancing under ice sitting down flowers small birds long sleep leaves white relatives China ✂ relatives in India small tail long sleep longer than people group Hello, I’m a rhinoceros: I eat grass, I have white relatives and I like small birds on my back long grass ✂ under ice Hello, I’m a giant panda: I live in China, I eat bamboo and I like sitting down BINGO under ice BINGO BINGO dancing ✂ Romania in long neck relatives India grass yellow and small birds brown seals Hello, I’m a lion: I live in a group, I like long grass and I eat zebras From The Grammar Activity Book by Bob Obee © Cambridge University Press 1999 PHOTOCOPIABLE