Class-8 English Reader (Special), Lesson-8 English is Amazing / M.P. Board

Lesson-8

English is Amazing

Glossary

Fowl -  a bird that is kept for its meat and eggs

Vow-  To make a serious promise

Kine -  Plural of cows (in old English)

Trickiest -  difficult to do or deal with

Lone-  without any other person or thing

Feminine -  having qualities considered suitable for a female

Masculine – having qualities considered suitable for a male

Word Power

(A) Read the word given in the box:

Armies, foot, cherries, boxes, children, knives, lice, mango, mouse, woman, louse, feet, leaves, child, box, brother, knife, army, geese, goose, women, mangoes, cherry, brothers

Now classify them in the following table:

Singular	Plural
Army	Armies
Foot	Feet
Cherry	Cherries
Box	Boxes
Child	Children
Knife	Knives
Lice	Louse
Mango	Mangoes
Mouse	Mice
Woman	Women
Brother	Brothers

(B) Complete the following sentences by choosing the right word from the word given in brackets:

1. A knife is dangerous (difficult, dangerous)

2. It was raining heavily, so (because, so) we did not o for the picnic.

3. An iron ball will sink (sink, float) into the water.

4. People did not have computer in ancient (old, ancient) times.

5. The girl had a blue belt around her waist (waste, waist)

Comprehension

(A) Choose the correct answer:

1. The poem speaks about

a) geese or cows

b) why English spelling is so difficult to learn (✓)

c)  a child reading a book

d) a box

2. The poet is complaining that

a)   Making plurals in English is very easy

b)   There are feminine nouns

c)    English is a tricky language (✓)

d)   Making plurals in English is difficult

3. Which two difficult areas of English are discussed in the poem?

a)     Nouns and adjectives

b)     Clauses and prepositions

c)      Plurals and pronouns (✓)

d)     Verbs and adverbs

4. The feminine pronouns are:

a)     he, his and him

b)     she, shis and shim

c)      she, her and hers(✓)

d)     he, she and it

(B) Read the poem and mark the following statements as true or false:

1.   The plural of cow may also be kine. True

2.   English is called an easy language. False

3.   Making plurals in English is easy. False

4.   The singular form of feet is foot. True

5.   English is the trickiest language. True

 Let’s Read

Read the following passage:

The mother tongue is the first language that the child learns and picks up from the people around him. A foreign language is a language that one uses for a limited purpose. The mother tongues may have a different sentence structure. Often the method of translation is adopted for easy understanding of a foreign language. This is not a good way of learning a foreign language through translation one should learn and correct structure, grammar and vocabulary of the new language. The exposure to a language is also an important factor in learning.

Now answer the following questions:

Q1.   Which is the first language that a child learns?

Ans- The mother tongue is the first language that a child learns.

Q2.   What is the purpose of a foreign language?

Ans- The purpose of a foreign language is to be able to write and speak.

Q3.   How is the language learned?

Ans- A language is learned with its structure, grammar and vocabulary.

Q4.   Which method is often adopted to learn a foreign language?

Ans- The method of translation is often adopted to learn a foreign language.

Q5.   Which is the most important factor in learning a language?

Ans- Exposure to a language is the most important factor in learning a language.

Let’s Write

Here is a list of the likes and dislikes. Choose the five things you like and five things you dislike.

watching television cleaning my room keeping a dog doing homework reading storybooks studying mathematics

going to the cinema drinking milk brushing my teeth studying English eating green vegetables eating chocolates

I’m Mona. I study in class VIII. I like studying English, mathematics, reading storybooks and doing my homework. I like brushing my teeth, drinking milk and eating green vegetables. I also like going to cinema and eating chocolates but I don’t like watching television and keeping a dog. I also don’t like cleaning my room but I understand that I should keep it clean.

Let's do it

Divide your class in two groups. Arrange a debate on ‘English is Amazing’. After the debate sit together and write down five sentences on:

(a) What is it in English that you find difficult?

Ans- I find the pronunciations of many English words difficult. Besides this I find plurals of certain words tricky.

(b) What is it in English that seems easy?

Ans- English has only twenty-six alphabets including both vowels and consonants. Spellings are phonetic. English conversation is easy for beginners as they can do with just one tense (present continuous tense) and later get away with it as they learn more. It is a gender neutral language. Most English words act as both noun and verb! Plenty of English words have become international and have been adopted in other languages.

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