Poetry
Poetry is a form of expression, either written or oral. It serves as a means of communication between the poet and the audience or reader. Poems can be sung, recited, or chanted using specific language designed to evoke the emotions of the listener or reader. Poetry essentially offers an opportunity for shared experiences on a variety of issues affecting society. In this lesson, the poem “You Watched” will be discussed.
Students reciting a poem
Words like thank you, excuse me, sorry, and please are used to express politeness. Etiquette, therefore, is defined as the conventional rules of behavior in polite societies or the courteous use of language.
Lesson Objective
By the end of the lesson, you should be able to use courteous language appropriately.
Language Etiquette
Etiquette in language refers to the correct and polite or courteous use of language in our everyday interactions with others. Examples include phrases such as “excuse me,” “may I go in,” “please,” and many others as shown below.
Excuse me, I would like to go in.
Oh! You have brought the pen?
Answer: Thank you for bringing the pen.
Give me some water?
Answer: Please give me some water.
I lost your book. I will get you another one.
Answer: I am sorry I lost your book. I will get you another one.
The statements below should appear on the left side of the text. The words excuse me, thank you, please, and sorry should be highlighted:
- Excuse me, I would like to go in.
- Thank you for bringing the pen.
- Please give me some water.
- I am sorry I lost your book. I will get you another one.
Grammar
What is grammar?
Grammar is defined as the way words are combined to form longer and meaningful units. The main objective of learning grammar is to help you understand how language works and to be able to use it correctly and appropriately in different contexts. The teaching and learning of the grammar of a language begins with the word. Therefore, it is important that learners master the characteristics and uses related to words as classified under parts of speech.
Learning how rules operate in a language is necessary, but it is much more important to know how to use the language in real-life situations. This means a learner who has mastered grammar knows how to apply the rules in order to communicate effectively and thus enhance positive interactions among people.
By the end of the lesson you should be able to:
- Identify different types of nouns correctly.
- Use nouns in sentences correctly.
Background Information
Read the sentences below each picture, paying close attention to the underlined words:
- Koech lives on a tree.
- Nairobi is the busiest city in Kenya.
- Omondi hurt his leg badly during the game.
- The accident claimed the lives of many children.
- Drought is a major problem in North Eastern Province due to poor rains.
All the underlined words are nouns. They name people, places, events, and things.
Nouns
Nouns are words used to name person(s), place(s), event(s), or thing(s). Name the nouns you can see in the picture below:
Nouns are divided into two main groups, namely:
- Proper nouns
- Common nouns
Activity:
Common nouns are names of ordinary things or groups.
Proper nouns are names of specific people, countries, months, and days.
Note that all proper nouns are written with an initial capital letter, e.g., March, Halima.
The hyenas put him in problems.
People are dying of hunger in drought-stricken areas.
Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.
His success came after a long struggle.
The teacher’s presence caused the pupils a lot of discomfort.
Discomfort, beauty, hunger, greed, success.
Study the sentences below.
There are pins on the table.
The elephant crushed the poacher to death.
Kimani secured admission into the university.
The underlined words are known as concrete nouns. These are things that we can see, touch, hear, smell, or taste.
Nouns that are not tangible, that is, they cannot be seen or heard, are called abstract nouns. Other examples include kindness, corruption, hunger, greed, among others.
Your basic knowledge of nouns, pronouns, and other parts of speech will be useful in this lesson.
Relate the sentences to the position of things mentioned in the animation.
Identify prepositions in sentences correctly.
Use prepositions appropriately in sentences.
Prepositions
A preposition is a word that is positioned before its object and shows the relationship between the object and another word (complement).
- The thief jumped over the fence.
- The goats run across the field.
- Joan dived into the swimming pool.
The words over, across, and into are prepositions.
Study the following sentences, paying attention to the underlined phrases and the highlighted words within the phrases:
- The cow ate grass.
- Most lions move in a pride.
- My new shoes have laces.
- That yellow cheese is made from milk.
- The sheep’s fleece is used to make warm sweaters.
The words the, my, most, and that are determiners. Determiners include articles, numbers, demonstratives, etc. New and yellow are modifiers because they tell us more about the shoes and the cheese. The words cow, lions, shoes, cheese, and sheep are nouns.
In each of the sentences, the underlined groups of words are known as noun phrases. They have a noun as the headword. A phrase then is a group of words without a subject or verb and they don’t make sense on their own.
Noun Phrases
A phrase is a group of words that does not make sense on its own. A noun phrase is a group of words that does the work of a noun in a sentence. The following are examples of noun phrases:
- the tall building
- our new books
- the dangerous path
The nouns building, books, and path are head words of the noun phrases above.
Match the pictures and the sentences:
- My beautiful ballerina won the championship.
- The jungle is a scary place to be.
- The boy woke up early.
- That school’s cyber cafe is operational.
- The rooftops are caving in.
Include a pictorial depicting the words that have been underlined:
- A picture of a beautiful ballerina.
- A picture of a jungle.
- A picture of a boy waking up.
- A cyber cafe.
- A caving rooftop.
The words my beautiful ballerina, the jungle, the boy, that school’s cyber cafe, and the rooftops are referred to as phrases. A phrase then is a group of words without a subject or verb and they do not make sense on their own.
For instance, the phrase my beautiful ballerina has no verb or subject and it requires the second part of the sentence, won the championship, to make it meaningful.
The second phrase, the jungle, has no subject or verb and it requires the part of the sentence, is a scary place to be, to make sense.
Note: The words ending in -ing are verbs and they are often referred to as action words.
Identify the different verb forms correctly.
Construct different types of simple sentences appropriately.
Verbs
Verbs are words used to describe an action or state, for example, run, jump, eat, drink, swim, is, am, and are.
The man in the picture is drinking coconut juice.
Activity 1:
Highlight all the verbs that are used in the sentences:
- The girl is walking to school.
- The bird is flying.
- The boy is reading a textbook.
- The man is eating yams.
- The girl is dancing.
The sentences are all in the present form and the action words have been highlighted. If the statement is changed into a past action, the focus will be on the action words (verbs).
Change the verb given in brackets into the Past Tense to make meaningful sentences.
Type from the keyboard the correct answer.
If the typed answer is right, applaud the student. In case the answer is wrong, encourage the student to try again to get the correct answer.
This is a drag and drop exercise. Applaud for the correct answer and give encouragement for the wrong answer:
Provide the appropriate verb from the list given in the box:
Quit
Put
Beat
Hurt
Hit
Joshua was _ in the field. (hurt)
She _ off the lights after preps. (put)
Mwikali _ the debating club this term. (quit)
The thief was _ by a speeding Matatu. (hit)
Our netball _ the visiting Sunrise Girls team. (beat)
Activity 5:
Type the correct answer to fill the blank spaces.
You need to be familiar with parts of speech, especially verbs and adjectives. Read the following sentences paying attention to the highlighted words:
- Juma runs quickly.
- This is a very sweet mango.
- Jane reads quite clearly.
In sentence 1, quickly shows how or in what manner Juma runs; that is, quickly modifies the verb runs.
In sentence 2, very shows how much or to what degree the mango is sweet; that is, very modifies the adjective sweet.
In sentence 3, quite shows how far or to what extent Jane reads clearly; that is, quite modifies the adverb clearly.
A word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb is called an adverb.
