406 LEARN GRAMMAR WITH POEMS Word Order Activities

Гимназия 406 LEARN GRAMMAR WITH POEMS

Word Order Activities: I. Read the texts carefully and comment on the grammatical form that is made use of. II. Review your knowledge of word order in interrogative sentences. III. Retell the contents of each poem in your own words. IV. State the central idea of each poem. V. Memorize the poem you like best.

Where Do Bugs Go? Can you tell me where bugs go when it’s cold and starts to snow? Are they all beneath the ground sleeping snugly, safe and sound? Are they burrowed in a tree hiding where no one can see? Did they leave this chilly land settling where the climate’s grand? Can you tell me where bugs go, or must I be a hug to know? Goldie Christenson Who Can Say? Who can say Why Today Tomorrow will be Yesterday? Who can tell Why to smell The violet, recalls the dewy prime Of youth and buried time? The cause is nowhere found in rhyme. Alfred Tennyson

Skyscrapers Do skyscrapers ever grow tired Of holding themselves up high? Do they ever shiver on frosty nights With their tops against the sky? Do they feel lonely sometimes Because they have grown so tall? Do they ever wish they could lie right down And never get up at all? Rachel Field Morning Will there really be a morning? Is there such a thing as day? Could I see it from the mountains If I were as tall as they? Has it feet like water-lilies? Has it feathers like a bird? Is it brought from famous countries Of which I have never heard? Emily Dickinson

Articles Activities: I. Read the texts carefully and thoughtfully. II. Review your knowledge of the Indefinite Article, the Definite Article and the Absence of Article. III. Retell the poems briefly in your own words. IV. State the central idea of each poem. V. Describe the feelings and thoughts the poems aroused in you. VI. Memorize the poem you like best.

a) The Indefinite Articles A Birthday My heart is like a singing bird Whose nest is on a watered shoot; My heart is like an apple-tree Whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit; My heart is like a rainbow shell That paddles in a halcyon sea; My heart is gladder than all these Because my love is come to me. Christina Rossetti *** Everything has its appointed hour, there is a time for all things under heaven: a time for birth, a time for death, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill, a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build, a time to cry, a time to laugh, a time to mourn, a time to dance, a time to scatter and a time to gather, a time to embrace, a time to refrain, a time to seek, a time to lose, a time to keep, a time to throw away, a time to tear, a time to sew, a time for silence and a time for speech, a time for love, a time for hate, a time for war, a time for peace. Ecclesiastes, III/1 -8

b) The Definite Articles Birds The peacock is silver, The eagle is gold, The wren is a stranger, The robin is bold. The dove is a neighbour, The blue-tit a guest, The swallow’s a traveler And the owl a ghost. The crow is black For the great fields of snow, And the swan is sailing For the lakes of to-morrow. Elena Fearn Past and Present I remember, The house where I was born, The little window where the sun Came peeping in at morn; He never came a wink too soon, Nor brought too long a day, But now, I often wish the night Had borne my breath away! I remember, The roses, red and white, The vi’lets, and the lily-cups, Those flowers made of light! The lilacs where the robin built, And where my brother set The laburnum on his birth-day, The tree is living yet. Thomas Hardy

Number of Nouns Activities: I. Read the texts carefully and comment on the grammatical form often made use of. II. Revise the Plural of Nouns. III. Retell the poems briefly in your own words. IV. State the central idea of each poem. V. Describe the feelings and thoughts the poems aroused in you. VI. Memorize the poem you like best.

Number of Nouns The Arbitrary English Language We’ll begin with box, and the plural is boxes, All the pretty things put by Wait upon the children’s eye, Sheep and shepherds, trees and crooks In the picture story-book. We may see how all things are, Seas and cities, near and far, And the flying fairies looks, In the picture story-books. How am I to sing your praise, Happy chimney-corner days, Sitting safe in nursery nooks, Reading picture story-books? Robert Louis Stevenson But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes. The one fowl is a goose, but two are called geese, Yet the plural of mouse should never be meese. You may find one mouse, or a whole nest of mice, But the plural of house is houses, not hice. If the plural of man is always called men, Why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen? The cow in the plural may be cows or kine, But a bow, if repeated, is never called bine; And the plural of vow is vows, never vine. If I speak of a foot, and you show me your feet, And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet? If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth, Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth? If the singular is this and the plural is these, Should the plural of kiss ever be nicknamed keese? Then one may be that and three would be those, Yet hat in the plural would never be hose, And the plural of cat is cats, not cose. We speak of a brother and also of brethren, But though we say mother, we never say methren, Then the masculine pronouns are he, his, him, But imagine the feminine she, shis and shim! So English, I think you all will agree, Is the greatest language you ever did see. Anonymous

Case of Nouns Activity: I. Read the texts carefully and review your knowledge of the Possessive Form of Nouns. II. Recount the contents of the poems briefly in your own words. III. Give your opinion of the poems. IV. Memorize the poem you like best.

Case of Nouns Sea Fever And all I ask is the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking, And a great mist on the sea’s face and a grey dawn breaking. I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life, To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s a whetted knife. John Masefield Monday’s Child is Fair of Face Monday’s child is fair of face, Tuesday’s child is full of grace, Wednesday’s child is full of woe, Thursday’s child has far to go, Friday’s child is loving and giving, Saturday’s child works hard for his living, And the child that is born on the Sabbath day Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay. Nursery rhyme

The Adjective Memorize the poem you like best. The Riddling Knight Out of Sight, Out of Mind O, what is louder than a horn? And what is sharper than a thorn? The oftener seen, the more I lust, The more I lust, the more I smart, The more I smart, the more I trust, The more I trust, the heavier heart, The heavy heart breeds mind unrest; The rarer seen, the less in mind, The less in mind, the lesser pain, The lesser pain, less grief I find, The lesser grief, the greater gain, The greater gain, the merrier I, Therefore I wish thy sight to fly. The further off, the more I joy, The more I joy, the happier life, The happier life, less hurts annoy, The lesser hurts; pleasure most rife; Such pleasures rife shall I obtain When distance doth depart us twain. What is heavier than the lead? And what is better than the bread? O, what is higher than the tree? And what is deeper than the sea? O, shame is louder than a horn, And hunger is sharper than a thorn. And sin is heavier than the lead, And the blessing’s better than the bread. O, Heaven is higher than the tree, And love is deeper than the sea. From A Collection of Rhymes and Poems (Chosen by James Reeves) Barnabe Googe

The Verb a) The Present Continuous Tense Activity: I. Read the texts and comment on the grammatical form made use of. II. Review your knowledge of the Present Continuous Tense. III. Retell the poems briefly in your own words. IV. State the central idea of each poem. V. Look out of the window and say what is going on outside. VI. Describe the view from your window at night. VII. Memorize the poem you like best.

The Present Continuous Tense In the Dark I’m talking to a rabbit I’m talking to a sun I think I am a hundred I’m one. I’m lying in a forest I’m lying in a cave I’m talking to a dragon I’m brave. I’m lying on my left side I’m lying on my right (Heigh-ho!) Good-night. A. A. Milne The Cry of the Children The young lambs are bleating in the meadows; The young birds are chirping in the nest; The young fawns are playing with the shadows; The young flowers are blowing toward the west, But the young, young children, O my brothers, They are weeping bitterly! They are weeping in the playtime of the others, In the country of the free. Elisabeth Barrett Browning

b) The Present Perfect Tense Activity: I. Read the texts and comment on the grammatical form made use of. II. Revise the Present Perfect Tense. III. Retell the poems briefly in your own words. IV. State the central idea of each poem. V. Answer the questions (work in pairs or small groups): 1. What have you already been at all stages and times of your life? 2. What haven’t you yet been? 3. What have you already done today? 4. What haven’t you done today yet? 5. Imagine yourself in a parent’s position. What are some of the questions you’d ask your son/daughter? 6. What kind of questions do you usually ask your parents? 7. What kind of person have you been since childhood? 8. What has happened for the past five years or so? 9. What have scientists done to make our lives easier and more comfortable? 10. What has civilization done to make our lives unbearable?

b) The Present Perfect Tense Memorize the poem you like best. In the Dark I’ve had my supper, And had my supper and all; I’ve heard the story Of Cinderella, And how she went to the ball; I’ve cleaned my teeth, And I’ve said my prayers, And I’ve cleaned and said them right; And they’ve all of them been And kissed me lots, They’ve all of them said: “Good night. ” A. A. Milne Acquainted With the Night I have been one acquainted with the night. I have walked out in rain and back in rain. I have outwalked the furthest city light. I have looked down the saddest city lane. I have passed by the watchman on his beat And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain. I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet When far away an interrupted cry Came over houses from another street, but not to call me back or say good-bye; And further still at an unearthly height, One luminary clock against the sky Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. I have been one acquainted with the night. Robert Frost

The Passive Voice Activity: I. Read the texts and comment on the grammatical form made use of. II. Review your knowledge of the Passive Voice. III. State the central idea of each poem. IV. Give your opinion of the poems. V. Get together with another student and try to find the answers to these questions: 1. What are different articles of clothing we wear made of? 2. What are things needed in a room, a house, an office made of? 3. What are the most popular foodstuffs made of? 4. Where are the best and most prestigious cars made? 5. What are books/houses/cities made of? 6. What’s popularity made of? 7. What are the animals” houses called and what are they made of?

Memorize the poem you like best. The Planets The Moon is made of silver, The Sun is made of gold, And Jupiter is made of tin, So the ancients told. *** What are little boys made of, made of? What are little boys made of? Frogs and snails And puppy-dogs’ tails, That’s what little boys are made of. Venus is made of copper, Saturn is made of lead, And Mars is made of iron, So the ancients said. But what the Earth was made of Very long ago The ancients never told us Because they didn’t know. Eleanor Farjeon What are little girls made of, made of? What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice And all things nice, That’s what little girls are made of.

The Modal Verbs Activity: I. Read the texts and comment on the grammatical form made use of. II. Review your knowledge of the Modal Verbs. III. State the central idea of each poem. IV. Discuss these problems together using modal verbs: 1. What can’t you do? 2. What can you do that makes you proud? 3. What can be done to make life happier and saner? 4. What are you permitted to do? (I may) 5. What must you do? What mustn’t you do? 6. What ought children/parents do? 7. What oughtn’t children/parents do? 8. How should a decent person behave?

Memorize the poem or poems you like best. The Wind I can get through a doorwat without any key, And strip the leaves from the great oak tree. I can drive storm-clouds and shake tall towers, Or steal through a garden and not wake the flowers. Furry Bear If I were a bear, And a big bear too, I shouldn’t much care If it froze or snew: I shouldn’t much mind If it snowed or friz I’d be all fur lined With a coat like his! For I’d have fur boots and a brown fur wrap, And brown fur knickers and a big fur cap. I’d have a fur muffle-ruff to cover my jaws, And brown fur mittens on my big brown paws. With a big brown furry-down up to my head, I’d sleep all the winter in a big fur bed. A. A. Milne Seas I can move and ships I can sink; I can carry a house-top or the scent of a pink. When I am angry I can rave and riot; And when I am spent, I lie quiet as quiet. James Reeves