FROM GRAMMAR TO WRITING

PART 1 Editing Advice

1. Some plural forms are irregular and don’t take -s.

There were a lot of childrens at the Thanksgiving dinner.

2. Use a singular noun and verb after every. es

Every readings teach us something new.^ 3. Use the plural form of the noun after one of. s

One of my neighbor made a pumpkin pie. ^ 4. Don’t use a or an before a plural noun. (some)The code talkers had to create a new words.

5. Don’t put a or an before a noncount noun. (some) Clovis Boy’s bones give us a useful information about the past. 6. A noncount noun is always singular.

The American Indians gave the Pilgrims a lot of advices.

7. Use there is or there are to introduce a noun.

There are

Are a lot of Navajo Indians in the Southwest. 8. Don’t use a specific noun after there is/there are. T is

There’s the Grand Canyon in Arizona. ^ 9. Include of with a unit of measure. of

We used one cup sugar in the cranberry sauce. ^ 10. Omit of after a lot when the noun is omitted.

You ate a lot of turkey, but I didn’t eat a lot of. 11. Use a little/a few to mean “some.” Use (very) little/(very) few to mean “not enough.” (very) He went to a big city to find a job because there were a few jobs on the reservation. 12. Don’t use too much or too many if the quantity doesn’t present a problem. a lot of

She loves to go back to the reservation because she has too many friends there. 13. Don’t confuse too and too much/too many.

The potatoes are too much salty. I can’t eat them. 14. Don’t use a double negative.

a

The Navajo language doesn’t have no word for “submarine.”

or The Navajo language has no word for “submarine.”

PART 2 Editing Practice

Some of the shaded words and phrases have mistakes. Find the mistakes and correct them. If the shaded words are correct, write C.

C

I love Thanksgiving. Every years, the whole family comes to our house for this holiday and a few other

holidays. But Thanksgiving is my favorite. There are a lot of childrens in my family, and they love to see each

other on Thanksgiving. They don’t have many time to see each other the rest of the year. It’s so joyful to have

too many children in the house few times a year. There’s a lot of noise when they’re here, but we don’t mind.

We all bring some foods. One of my sister always makes a pumpkin pie. Her husband always makes a cookies

in the shape of turkeys. My other sister makes cranberry sauce. She uses a lot of sugars, and sometimes it’s

too much sweet, but I never say anything. My brother doesn’t like to cook, so he brings a lot fresh fruit. My cousin

brings about 10 big bottles soda. I prepare the sweet potatoes. My mother always makes the turkey. It takes

much time to cook a big turkey.

We have a lot to prepare before Thanksgiving. My mother has very little time the week before because of her

job. But I have a lot of because I don’t have no homeworks that week. So I clean the house. My father likes to help,

but he has very few experience in the kitchen, so my mother asks him to do the shopping. He doesn’t have much

experience shopping either, so she always gives him an advice about shopping.

It’s always fun to spend Thanksgiving with too many people. But there’s one thing I don’t like: are always a

lot of dishes to wash afterwards.

1. 2.

3. 4.

5.

6. 7. 8. 9.

10. 11. 12. 13.

14.

15. 16.

17. 18.

19.

20. 21.

22. 23. 24.

25. 26.

27.

28. 29. 30.

31.

WRITING TIP

There is/There are is a useful structure when you write a description. If you choose prompt 1 below, you can use there is/are to introduce food, clothing, and other traditions (e.g., There is one main food everyone prepares for Thanksgiving.). If you choose prompt 2, you can use there are to introduce different ethnic minorities in your country and then focus on one (e.g., There are many ethnic minorities in Vietnam. The largest ethnic group is. . .).

PART 3 Write

Read the prompts. Choose one and write a paragraph about it. 1. Write about a holiday celebration in your country. You may write about food, clothing, preparations, customs, etc. Use expressions of quantity. 2. Write about an ethnic minority in your native country or another country you know about. Where and how do these people live? Use expressions of quantity.

PART 4 Edit

Reread the Summary of Unit 5 and the editing advice. Edit your writing from Part 3.

UNIT 6

Modifiers Adverbs

Forest bathing in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, California, U.S.

A HEALTHY PLANET, A HEALTHY BODY

It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver. MAHATMA GANDHI