Utopia COMPLETE _ Describing Places

8/3/2019 Utopia COMPLETE _ Describing Places

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Utopia?

VOCABULARY AND LISTENING

An ideal home?1. Look at the photos and discuss what it would be like to live in each of the places shown. Write down ten words

that come into your mind when you think about apartments, houses, towns and cities.

2. Find out where each of your partners lives. First ask them to describe their bedroom... then the rooms adjoiningit... then the building... then the street... and finally the district they live in. During your discussion WRITE DOWNany useful new words you come across and note down any questions about vocabulary that you want to ask yourteacher later. If you have any difficulties with vocabulary, ask your partners or consult a dictionary.

3. Youll hear six people talking about their present homes (in Britain) and where theyd like to live. Match the nameof the speakers to the points they make.

Catharine

Melinda

Brain

Kate

Richard

Karen

American houses have screen doors to keep the flies out. American houses take up more land than British houses. My home isnt in the country, but it seems like it. My house is very isolated. My ideal home would be an old house in the country. My ideal home would have a large living room, with a bed.

4. Find out how your partners reacted to what each speaker said and the ideas they expressed. Then find out:

why your partners like their present home

what the differences are between homes in their country and Britain

what their ideal living room would contain about the advantages and drawbacks of living alone.

READING AND LISTENING

The perfect society?1. Read the article on the next page and MAKE NOTES on what you think are the most desirable and least

desirable features of Aldous Huxleys Pala (GOOD and BAD POINTS).

2. Compare your notes.

Do you agree which features are good and bad?

Which is the best feature?

Which is the worst feature?


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Island...The book that spelled out the

ingredients for Utopia

LONG BEFORE JOGGING in Central Park became the

fashion, intellectuals on the tropical island of Pala used to putin a couple of hours hard digging every day. They werent

obliged to. But the Palanese were very advanced in matters of

health: they didnt separate minds from bodies, venerating

brains at the expense of the whole human organism.

In economic matters too, Palanese thinking was very

advanced. Export crops were discouraged: the islanders were

fed first. Money was wasted neither on status symbols nor on

weapons. The government bought no armaments: there was no

army.

Where was this utopia? Only, unfortunately, between the

covers ofIsland, Aldous Huxleys final novel. In it he detailed

his prescription for a sane society especially for Third World

countries short on money but rich in human resources.Huxley showed how colonialism had carved out a false

channel for most developing countries, draining them of their

wealth and their culture. He advocated a siege economy, to

stop the leakage. Pala was closed to the outside world,

especially out of bounds to merchants, missionaries and

media-men, the usual links between the developing world and

the West.

Within the walls of the island fortress, radical changes

were brought about. For example, wealth was shared more

equally the richest Palanese earning not more than four or

five times as much as the poorest. And jobs didnt define

personal worth, since the Palanese swapped jobs regularly.

Being a doctor for six months and then a farmer for the rest ofthe year not only made a Palanese a more rounded person, but

also made sure he didnt consider himself superior to people

who got their hands dirty. The personal and social integration

achieved were, for the Palanese, worth more than the time and

money spent on making the changeover.

Huxley takes, one at a time, every important social

ingredient that he can squeeze into a 300 page novel schools,

newspapers, politicians, religious and scientific beliefs, ideas

about family life and examines it to find its value. What, for

example, is there worth saving in family life? And what is

constraining about it? Huxley doesnt polarise the issue into

pro-family or anti-family camps. He concocts his own

variation of a family that accommodates both the closeness and

security that come from a two-parent set-up as well as the

variety and freedom that come from a child having several

homes to choose from. Palanese society, therefore, is an

amalgam of the best in every society that Huxley knows.First published in 1962, Island had a powerful influence

on the young idealists of the day. Many of the ideas were so

advanced that they are only now being widely recognised

like Huxleys insistence that Western medicine and holistic

health care techniques should be allies, not enemies.

But there is one huge snag. Pala is fiction. Huxley is the

God of Pala. How are real people in real countries to shift to

this paradisal willingness to live cooperatively? For instance, it

might not help a real country to adopt a siege economy: who

would stop the big bad unequal world outside the fortress walls

from being reproduced within the walls as a small bad unequal

world?

Huxleys answer leads him out of the political realm intothe realm of spiritual values. His islanders have evolved

inwardly. They have all experienced a transpersonal dimension

where they are part of a universal oneness; when they return to

the material world, they remain inspired by the glimpse of the

ideal.

Dangerous waters. Perhaps to forestall critics tempted to

dismiss Huxley as a dreamy 1960 mysticism-junkie, he

included among his cast of characters a group of spiritual

fakes, charismatic guru figures who use their followers

gullibility to gain political power and line their pockets.

Huxley sets these vigorously apart from the genuinely spiritual,

whose spirituality is infused matter-of-factly into their

everyday lives, in everything they do eating dinner, makinglove, coping with an injury. It is their constant awareness of the

here and now a phrase popularised more by Island, surely,

than by any other book that does the trick.

In HuxleysBrave New World, everything from muzak to

mechanical sex was used to blot out consciousness and turn

people into manipulable zombies. The result was a hell on

earth. In Island, everything, including sex and drugs, is

partaken of consciously to heighten individual consciousness

still further. The result is Pala, Huxleys heaven on earth.

Anuradha Vittachi

1. Youll hear four short talks about these perfect societies:Platos Republic(360 BC)H.G. WellssA ModernUtopia (1905)

Thomas Mores Utopia (1516)James Hiltons Shangri-La (1933)

Match the features below to each perfect society by writing P for Plato, M for Thomas More, W for H.G. Wells orH for James Hilton in the space beside each feature.

a. Politicians are not elected by the people.b. There is no money.c. Everyone lives for a long time.d. Menial work is done by machines.e. Menial work is done by slaves.f. There is an army of well-educated men.

g. Nobody does any work.h. The men can choose their occupation.i. Only suitable people are allowed to have children.j. Tests determine each persons future career.k. The king is chosen by the people.

......

.....


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l. Children are not raised by their own parents.m. Unsuitable babies are killed.

..

2. Listen to the recording again and MAKE NOTES of the Good points and Bad points of each one, in the same styleyou used.

READING AND SPEAKING

The best of all possible worlds

1. Youll hear the rest of the above letter being read aloud. Make notes on the main points and compare your noteswith a partner.

2. Now read the leaflet on the next page and underline what you consider to be the most interesting points.

3. Decide together what would be the main advantages and drawbacks of life in Nosara. What were the two mostinteresting points you highlighted?

4. Work as a team to design your own Utopia Decide on these aspects:

the physical environment

government

possessions and wealth

public and private transport

education system

food and drink

work and employment

science and technology

family structures

law and order

5. Write a description of your own idea of Utopia. (about 250 words).


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GRAMMAR

Articles

1. Discuss the difference in meaning between these sentences:

A. She has some grey hairs.

She has grey hair.

B. Theres a hair in my soup!Theres the hair in my soup!

C. Ask a teacher if you have a question.

Ask any teacher if you have a question.

D. After leaving school he went to sea.

E. Im going to buy a paper.

Im going to buy the paper.

She has some grey hair.She has a grey hair.

Theres hair in my soup!Theres some hair in my soup!

Ask the teacher if you have a question.

After leaving the school he went to the sea.

Im going to buy some paper.Im going to buy paper.

2. Uncountable nouns (e.g. furniture,moneyand advice) cant be plural and cant be preceded by a oran. So wecan say:

I need some advice. How much advice do you need? Advice is free.

But NOT: I need an advice. How many advices do you need? Advices are free.

If we need to define an exact quantity, we have to refer to two chairs orone table,five pounds orten dollars, orboth pieces of advice.

Look at these pairs of words and decide which is countable (C) and which is uncountable (U). The first is done foryou as an example.

adviceU hintC

air breath

architecture plan

behaviour reaction

bridge engineering

cash coin

clothing garment

cooking kitchen

experiment research

fact information

flu cough

advicesX hints

gadget equipment

harm injury

job work

joke fun

journey travel

laughter smile

luck accident

luggage suitcase

peace ceasefire

permit permission

poetry poem

progress exam

report news

safety guard

thunderstorm lightning

traffic vehicle

tune music

university education

water weather

drop shower

3. Some nouns may be either countable (C) or uncountable (U), depending on their meaning. Look at these

examples and then write down your own examples for the nouns in the list below.

U Our house is built of stone.

C Theres a stone in my shoe. How many stones were thrown?

U Shes away on business. Business is improving.C The number of small businesses is increasing.

U How much fruit was sold?C An orange is a citrus fruit. Key favourite fruits are oranges and mangoes.

U Painting is not as easy as it looks.C What a beautiful painting! I enjoy looking at paintings.

bone brick cake cloth crime fish glass language life light metalnoise pain paper plastic pleasure religion sound space wood


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4. Find the mistakes in these sentences and correct them. One sentence contains NO errors.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

5. Write down what you would actually say if you were giving someone these pieces of information. The first is donefor you as an example.

6. Fill the gaps in this passage with this, their, a, the, or_(i.e. no article).60% of families in . UK own . own homes after borrowing money (known as .mortgage) from . building society or bank. They have to make . monthly repayments of

. total sum (plus interest) for 20-25 years. People can usually borrow . sum equivalentto three times . annual salary, but need to put down . cash deposit of 10% of .purchase price.. people in Britain tend to move . house several times in . lives.. typical pattern is for . young couple to start as first-time buyers in . small flator house, then move to . larger house when they have . family and, when .children have left . home, to move into . smaller house or bungalow. Usually they moveinto . other peoples houses or into . new home that has been built on . newestate by . builder. Families in . lower income groups are more likely to live in .rented accommodation, for example in . council house or flat.

Moving home can be . stressful experience, only slightly less traumatic than .bereavement or divorce. Often . buyer and seller of house are part of . chain, where. sale of one house depends on . whole series of strangers doing . same

thing at . same time. If one deal falls through at . last moment, . whole chainbreaks down and no one is able to move.


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SPEAKING AND CREATIVE WRITING

Describing a place1. Have you ever visited any of these cities?

RomeNew YorkAmsterdamAustin, Texas

What do you know about each of these cities?

2. Listen to the recording. MAKE NOTES on what each speaker likes about each place.

3. Read this description of another city and fill each gap with one suitable ADJECTIVE:


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BRASILIA UTOPIA IN THE HEART OF BRAZILBRASILIA, the capital city of Brazil, was designed as a .. Utopian city in the1950s by Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer, both followers of the .. Frencharchitect Le Corbusier. Brasilia is a purpose-built city twelve hundred kilometres from thecoast on a red-dirt plateau where no one lived or wanted to live. Its the most photogeniccity in the world with .. avenues, .. ceremonial buildings and.. sunsets.

The parliament building, shops, hotels, flats, .. suburbs for the middleclasses, schools, the university and the ministries are all located in separate zones. Butlooking more closelyat the .. buildings you can see that they are falling to bits because they werebuilt on the cheap. In a city where temperatures are normally over 30 degrees, the.. indoor shopping centre is not even air-conditioned. And the poorer workersand their families are accommodated in .. shanty towns on the edge of thecity.

Its a city designed for the automobile with .. multi-lane highways but nopavements or pedestrian crossings because, in the future, everyone would have a car.Unfortunately, even today only one in eight of the citizens of Brasilia has access to a car andthe public transport system is .. . Most of the time the highways are.. but twice a day they are jammed with cars and pedestrians have to dodgethe traffic to get across.

The one consolation for the very rich is that there are .. flights to Rio.Its scarcely surprising that on Friday afternoons all the flights out are fully booked. ThisUtopia is a place people want to escape from.

4. Discuss how you would answer these questions about YOUR OWN CITY, TOWN or VILLAGE (or the district youlive in if you live in a very large city). Try to imagine what it might seem like to a stranger. If youre very familiarwith a place its hard not to assume that its obvious what its like so you may have to try to distance yourself.

Firstimpressions

Basic facts

Districts

Buildings

Open spaces

Roads andstreets

Transport

Entertainment

Employment

Education

Visitors

YOU

Imagine youre returning there after being away as you arrive there, what strikes you aboutthe place? What kind of atmosphere is there? What is special about the place?

How big is it and where is it? (population of metropolitan area, distance from other cities,distance from coast, etc.)

What are the different areas and what are they like? (old town, commercial areas, industrialzones, shopping centre, residential districts, suburbs, slums and shanty towns, etc.)

What is the style of the architecture? Where do people live? (public and commercial buildings,blocks of flats, etc.)

Where do people gather together out of doors? (squares, parks, open-air cafes, etc.) When isthe weather suitable for this?

What kinds of roads are characteristic of the place? (main thoroughfares, back streets,avenues, boulevards, alleyways, etc.)

How do people get about within the city and how do they travel in and out? (amount of traffic,public transport, commuter travel, rail connections, airport, etc.)

What do people do in their leisure time? (sports, cinemas, theatre, music, museums andgalleries, nightclubs, restaurants, bars and cafes, etc.)

How do people earn their living? (manufacturing, commerce, public sector, etc.) What is theunemployment situation?

What facilities are there for secondary and tertiary education? (schools, colleges, university,evening classes, etc.)

What are the sights that tourists visit? What might a newcomer from abroad find strange ordifficult about living there?

How do you fit into all this? What do you like about the place? What do you dislike about it?


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5. Find someone from another group who does NOT know the place youve been discussing as well as you do. Findout about each others town, city, village or district.

Synonyms and opposites1. Arrange the adjectives in bold into one of these four categories:

VERY LARGE large small very smallcolossal big little miniaturebig colossal little miniature extensive gigantic immense insignificant majesticminuscule minute roomy spacious tiny tremendous vast wide

2. Use a dictionary to check the pronunciation of any youre not sure about.

3. Decide which adjective youd use to describe each of the following:

a city a mountain a lake a fortune a crowd a hotel room a ballroom a palace

a luxury car a car park a toy gun a mistake an avenue a city square

4. Now do the same with the adjectives in bold below:

A. very pleasant pleasant unpleasant very unpleasant

agreeable annoying appalling atrocious awful charming delicious delightful disgustingdreadful frightful picturesque spectacular splendid wonderful

a city a person a cocktail a village a beach a flight a holiday a meal a view

B. very beautiful beautiful ugly very ugly

attractive enchanting good-looking glamorous graceful grotesque handsome hideouslovely plain pretty unpleasant

a city James Dean Marilyn Monroe Frankensteins monster Sylvester Stallone a cathedral

a young child a palace a friends fiancee a friends husband

C. very old old new very new

all the rage ancient dilapidated disused fresh historical the latest obsoleterun-down traditional ultra-modern unfashionable up-to-date worn-out

a city a game a dress a carpet an airport a hairstyle a church a flat an idea

D. very safe safe dangerous very dangerous

deadly guarded fatal harmful harmless hazardous insecure precariousprotected reliable risky secure unsafe vulnerable

a city a castle a friend a method a pile of crockery a job a drug an apartment

block a flight in an airliner a flight in a hot-air balloon New York the district you live in

E. very far far near very near

accessible a long way away close convenient distant faraway handy isolatednearby next door opposite out-of-the-way remote

a city a grocers shop a friends flat a village Australia your flat a caf

F. very quiet quiet noisy very noisycalm deafening ear-splitting loud peaceful restful silent sleepy unobtrusive

a street a park a hotel room wallpaper a tie an explosion a party the sea

5. Note down the POSITIVE and NEGATIVE aspects of the place you live in.6. Write an article about the positive aspects and the negative aspects of your own town, city or village (about 250

words).

IDIOMS AND COLLOCATIONS

Hard, soft, difficult and easy1. Fill the gaps in these sentences with hard, soft, difficultoreasy.

A. A ..................... -hearted interviewer doesnt give candidates a very

................... time or makes life ..................... for them.B. Computer equipment is known as ..................... ware and the

programs are known as .....................ware.

C. A printout from a computer provides the user with a .....................copy.D. A computer can save data on a floppy disk but much more can be


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stored on a ..................... disk.

E. This new fabric is so ..................... -wearing that it will last a lifetime!

F. You can buy tools and screws and nails at a .................... ware store.

G. I realise that he makes people feel un .....................when hes being .................... , but deep down hesquite .....................-hearted and ..................... -going I must say I do have a .....................spot for him.

H. Its sometimes ..................... to understand her because shes rather.....................-spoken.

I. ..................... drugs like heroin are more dangerous than so-called ..................... drugs like marijuana.

J.Weve been too ..................... on customers who dont settle their accounts on time. We should start to takea ..................... line.

K. These arent guidelines, they are .....................-and-fast rules.

L. A paperback is often half the price of a ..................... back.

M. Take it ..................... ! Theres no need to get so worried just because youre ..................... up itspaydaytomorrow.

N. Im very thirsty, so Id prefer a ..................... drink is there any lemonade?

O. When would you like to come? I dont mind Im ......................

P. Some salespeople favour aggressive ..................... sell techniques, whileothers prefer gentle persuasion and go for the ..................... sell.

Q. Dollars and Swiss Francs (unlike the Gambian Kwacha or the Albanian

New Lek) are ..................... currencies.R. After a hard day at the office, I like to take it ...................... .

PERFECT WORLDAn ideal day1. Imagine your ideal day.

a) Choose places in the world you would go to in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening,b) Decide what you would do in each place.c) Find other students who would like to do similar things.

READING

2. The article below is by Stephen Berkoff from a series which asks famous people to describe where in the worldthey would like to be at different times of the day. Berkoff is a British actor who has appeared in several filmsincluding Beverly Hills Cop and Fair Game.

STUDENT A: You are going to read about his morning in Part A.STUDENT B: You are going to read about his afternoon and evening in Part B on the next page.

A slow jog onVenice Beach;

Part ASUNRISE ON VENICE BEACH

I wake early at my hotel on Venice Beach,Los Angeles, dash downstairs and grab acoffee from Toms Cafe next door. The sea isshimmering against the rising sun and thedistant hills over Malibu are still a deep blue.

I begin a slow jog to the Santa Monica pier,


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past the other early risers.At the open-air gym I do a few dozen dips

on the parallel bars and walk back as thescorched red dawn sets everything on fire.

BREAKFAST ON THE COTE DAZUR

The morning air is sweet and scented withpine, oleander and roses from the garden and

mixed with the distant aroma of the sea and

freshly-ground coffee. From the terrace of myhotel I feast my eyes on the wide,shimmering Cote dAzur in the south ofFrance. Its the bluest sea I have seen, adeep aquamarine blue.

Breakfast arrives on the marble table-top:a basket of croissants, freshly-squeezed

orange juice and earthy coffee. Afterwards Istroll past giant flowers with open trumpets

and throw myself into the sea, which is asclear as glass and warmed by the sun.

LUNCHTIME AT GLEN COESince I am not really a lunch eater, Id like totake a long walk along Glen Coe, one of the

last wild places in Europe. The clouds hanglow in the heavens and wild deer come down

in the winter and sniff around the houses.The moor is covered in all the colours of

Scotland purple, russet, deep green andthe eye sees nothing but cloud-capped cragsand soft hills. The mystery and the wildnessof the place send the imagination reeling.


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a samba in RioPart BAFTERNOON IN THE SOUK AT JAFFA

Jaffa has become almost a suburb of thegrowing city of Tel Aviv but the beach

between the two is still worth a stroll. You

watch the towers of the minarets get closerand closer, and when you arrive, althoughyou are only a mile-and-a-half from thebustling city, you are plunged into anotherworld; the endless alleyways and medieval

staircases of Arabia.The Arabic back-street cafes are the best places to eat

humous and falafel plus hatzillim (aubergine, my favourite)and small delicious pickles and olives. In the market, open

daily, I always find something and drag it back to London.

DINNER IN SYDNEY

A drive in warm air round the suburban back streets ofSydney reminds me of England in balmier days. Afterfrolicking on Bondi Beach, Ive built up an appetite for an

evening meal at Doyles famous fish restaurant.From Doyles the view is directly over the harbour to the

twinkling skyline of Sydney, and breathtaking it is, too. Thefamous bridge winks its solitary centre light as you sitoutside still tingling and glowing from the sea and sun.Doyles has a calmness and gentleness of spirit, andalthough it has expanded since I first made its acquaintancein 78, I still feel totally at home.

LATE NIGHT IN RIO

You cant beat a nice caipirinha. A cane rum called cachaga is mixed with crushed limes and crackedice, sprinkled with a liberal dose of sugar and served under a canopy of stars by the open-air pool of theCopacabana Palace Hotel.

Ronnie Biggs, stopping by for a drink, is in his usual ebullient mood. We decide to watch some samba

on top of one of the sugarloafs that so characterises Rio.We take a cab to the cable car, and on our ascent are treated to a breathtaking sight of Rio stretched

out before us. We enter the club in high and jubilant spirits.We drink more of the firewater and in the end hop on to the floor for some samba. Then well admire

the view again on the way dawn, a bit bleary-eyed this time.

Humous and falafel: both of these foods are made from chick peasRonnie Biggs: a famous robber exiled from Britain

From The Sunday Telegraph

3. Read your part quickly and tick which of the things below he writes about.STUDENT A STUDENT B

VeniceBeach

Cte DAzur Glen Coe Jaffa Sydney Rio

1. Things he does

2. The scenery

3. Smells

4. Food/drink

5. Atmosphere

4. Read your part again and make notes under the same headings as 1 5 above.5.

Use your notes to tell each other about each place say what he does, what he sees, what he feels and what hisimpressions are.6. Which place seems to you:

to have the best things to do?

to have the best scenery?

to have the best food and drink?


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to have the best atmosphere?SPEAKING

1. Have you visited any of the places Berkoff writes about?Are there any you would particularly like to visit? Why?

2. Which of the things in Berkoffs day would you enjoy / not enjoy?

VOCABULARY

1. Look back at the part of the text you read.a) Underline up to five or six words or expressions you dont understand or that are new to you.

b) Work with other students who read the same part. Can they tell you what the words / phrases mean?c) Find words which no one knows and split them between you. Guess their meaning from context and

check in a dictionary. How are they pronounced?d) Tell the other students in your group what your words mean.e) Now read the other part of the text. If you need help with vocabulary, ask a student who read it

before.

2. Mark the word stress on the adjectives in A and practise saying them.Example:shimmering

A1. shimmering2. rising3. breathtaking

4. freshly-ground5. cloud-capped6. open-air7. freshly-squeezed8. bustling

BA. coffeeB. gymC. sun

D. cityE. orange juiceF. seaG. hillsH. sight

3. Use some similar adjectives to those in the exercise above to talk about a place youve been to.

4. Work in groups and look at the photos below. How would you describe each of the places?Examples:fascinating, probably rather menacing at night.Think of some possible advantages / disadvantages of each as a tourist attraction.

WRITING

1. Choose a place you all know (for example, the town youre in now) or a place youve all heard about. What are

your impressions of the place? What makes it distinctive (the traditional festivals, the popular entertainmentresorts)?2. You are going to write a description of the place for one of these: A tourist guide. A travel brochure. A personal

letter.


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3. List some phrases which describe the attractions of the place.Examples: Tourist guide: magnificent gourmet cuisine, long-established department stores.

Personal letter: the people are tall / dark / very friendly.

4. Focus on one or two things that are worth a visit. What comes to mind when you think about them?Examples:picturesque market, the pungent smells, the varied colours.

5. Decide on the number of paragraphs, what will be in each and what order they will be in. You might want to do abare summary of your description first.

6. Decide what main verb forms you will use (present, past or future).

7. Decide on a strong introductory sentence.Examples: ... is an outstanding area of natural beauty.

Weve just been to this fantastic place.

8. Write a first draft as a group, using adjectives to bring the description to life.Read another groups draft. Make any comments on the writing (for example, say why you like it) and ask at leasttwo questions about the place. Example:What are the beaches like?Rewrite your description and show it to other groups.

Adjective word orderA. There are mistakes in the word order of the adjectives in these sentences. Try to correct them according to what

sounds right to you.

1. Theres an abundance of cycling good flat country.2. Locals fill the wooden old tiny two churches every Sunday.3. You pass by small terraced green fields in open broad areas where the river branches off.4. Sheer cliffs and pointed steep mountains rise on either side of the black huge river.

B. Put each of the adjectives in the exercise above under one of these headings.

NUMBER OPINION SIZE AGE SHAPE COLOUR MATERIAL COMPOUND

C. Check them against this language summary.


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ADJECTIVE WORD ORDERWhen adjectives come together they normally follow this order. However, it is unnatural to use more thantwo or three together in any one phrase.

D. Find three adjectives in the box below which could collocate with each of the nouns in these sentences and putthem in the sentence in the order which sounds natural to you.

1. I like your shoes.2. Can you see a rug?

3. Ive got some software.

4. Have you read this novel?5. Look at that tree.

6. Its an armchair.rectangular Russian old beautiful striped weird Italian scruffy suede runninglovely leather large oak 19th century new Internet blue exquisite antique brilliant

E. Describe something you can see in the room or out of the window. See if other students can guess what you aredescribing.

Adverb positionMost adverbs occur more often in one place in a sentence than another.

Examples:

FRONT (before the subject) I like French. However, I dont like the book were using. (linking)Arguably, it is not a very serious crime.(opinion / attitude / viewpoint)

MIDDLE (after the first auxiliary, or before a main verb form like went)He is quite nice.(degree) He has always seemed so rude.(frequency) Shellprobablyturn up.(certainty)

END (after the verb phrase)She cleaned her teeth quickly.(manner) I live abroad.(place) See yousoon.(time)

For a few of these the position is optional and linked to style. (She cleaned her teeth quicklyorShe quickly cleanedher teeth.)

Some adverbs have more than one function and have to be positioned (and / or stressed) appropriately.

Whats the difference in meaning in sentences 1 8 below? Use the sentence stress marks to help you.Example:a)Even the children enjoyed the concert.

b)The children even enjoyed the concert.

In a) it is surprising that the children, as well as everybody else, enjoyed the concert.In b) it is surprising that the children enjoyed the concert as well as everything else.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

a) Frankly, I told him what I thought.b) I told him frankly what I thought.

a) Really, I dont like her.b) I dont really like her.c) I dont like her really.

a) Tom eventually worked so hard he made himself ill.b) Tom worked so hard he eventually made himself ill.

a) Kates quite happy.b) Kates quite happy.

a) Actually, he told her he loved her.b) He actually told her he loved her.c) He told her he actually loved her.

a) Sue only went to the restaurant.b) Only Sue went to the restaurant.

a) I thought he was personally offended.b) Personally, I thought he was offended.

a) He stupidly talked.b) He talked stupidly.


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PracticeDESCRIBING PLACES1. What are the general aims of a guidebook in contrast to a personal letter to a friend describing a place?

a) In the extracts below find examples of:1 phrases with adjectives2 intensifying adverbs (e.g. entirely)3 different sentence structures (e.g. passives, relative clauses, parenthetical statements extra ideas

added to the main sentence)4 prepositional phrases (e.g. in the heart of, close to)

b) Compare the extracts. How do they differ in style? Which has more complex sentences?

2. a) What do you expect a tourist-guide description of a place to include (e.g. where the place is, itshistory)?


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b) Which adjectives in the box are most likely to describe 1 7 below. There are often severalpossibilities. Add others you know.

panoramic historic balmy breathtaking mouth-watering exquisite spaciousunrivalled relaxing beautifully-situated stunning rich lively quaint

1. the weather2. the views3. the buildings and monuments4. the people

5. the atmosphere6. the food7. the towns

c) How is a holiday brochure different from a tourist guide?

d) What tone do you think each should have when describing places? Why? positive-sounding? realistic(good and less good points)? neutral (factual without opinions)?

3. Read this extract from a brochure for a holiday in Buenos Aires.

a) Where is a positive-sounding flavour of the city given? What kind of language is used (e.g. typicalvocabulary, typical grammatical constructions)?

b) Where is detailed practical information given?

c) What other typical words / phrases might you find in a brochure?


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4. This is an extract from a draft of a brochure offering excursions in Iceland.


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a) Add the information belowand rewrite the extract.

Begin: There are manyoften very beautiful andvery wide fjords that penetrate deep into therugged plateau ...

...........

..........

1. The fjords are often very wide and very beautiful. They penetrate deep into the plateau.2. The plateau is high and rugged.3. The flight lasts 45 minutes.

4. The fjords are alluring.5. The mountains are craggy.6. The bus is our tour bus.7. The fjord is small. It has a long flat spit which protrudes into the

sea. On this spit lies the principal town in the West Fjord.8. Part of the town is old.9. The harbour is bustling.10. The shores are rugged.11. The views of the Djup are fascinating.12. The inlet is broad.13. The mountains have snow-clad sides even in summer.

) Can you improve your draft for a final version? Will it interest people? Are there enough adjectives? What verb

forms should be used?

fjord: long strip of sea between steephillsinlet: narrow strip of water that goes fromthe sea into the landspit: long, thin, flat beach which goes outinto the sea

Utopia COMPLETE _ Describing Places

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