Focus on language

1. Read the sentences. What grammar tenses are used?

§ We were tired because we had been experimenting all day long.

§ After I had worked in the lab for a few weeks, I felt I knew the equipment

very well.

§ They were making observations of the night sky for several years hoping todiscover the planet they had calculated.

§ First students had a short talk with a lab instructor about safety in the lab and then they were allowed to work with some chemicals.

§ The lecture finished before we got there.

§ The lecture had already finished before we got there.

Past Simple, Past Progressive, Past Perfect and Past Perfect Progressive  

• We use … talk about an activity or situation that began and ended at a particular time in the past.
• We use…to say that something was going on around a particular time in the past or a longer background action or situation which was interrupted by a shorter action.
• We use … to speak about an action which happened before another past action.
• We use … to talk about an action or event continuing up to a specific time in the past. We put the emphasis on ‘how long’.

2. List time expressions under the correct tense heading. Some expressions can be used more than once.

· for	· before	· already	· first,
· since	· after	· ago	· until
· when	· while	· as soon as	· during

Past Past Past Past

Simple Progressive Perfect Perfect Progressive

……….. ………… …………

……….. ………… ………. …………

……….. ………… ………. …………

3. Complete the sentences with the correct Past tenses.

a) Class (begin, already) ___________ by the time I (get) ___________ there, so I (take, quietly) __________ a seat in the back.

b) My group mate (discuss) ___________ something with professor when I (walk) ____________ into the room.

c) It was midnight. I (study) ____________ for five straight hours. No wonder I

(get tired).

d) Millions of years ago, dinosaurs (roam) _____________ the earth, but they (become) ____________ extinct by the time humankind first (appear) ____________.

e) I (call) Kate at nine last night, but she (be, not) ____________ at home. She (study) _____________ at the library.

f) Kevin suddenly realized that the teacher (ask) him a question. He couldn’t answer because he (daydream) _____________ for the last ten minutes.

g) I (see, never) __________ any of Picasso’s paintings before I (visit) ___________ the art museum.

h) The anthropologists (leave) ___________ the village when they (collect) ____________ enough data.

i) While Roger (write) ___________ an essay his roommate (clean) ___________ the room, so Roger (cannot) ____________ concentrate and (get) ____________ angry.

j) As I (pass) _____________ the hardest exam and (get) _____________ an excellent mark I (feel) ____________ a know-it-all.

Get real

Search the Internet or look in popular science magazines and books for the information about an accidental or joint discovery / invention made before the 20^th century. Report your findings to the class. Follow the outline below:

§ discovery/ invention

§ discoverer(s)/inventor(s)

§ circumstances

Listening

1. Before you listen answer the questions.

· How many discoveries or inventions of the ancient world do you know?

· How did they influence the development of science at that time?

· Do people still use them?

· Have any modern inventions or discoveries replaced them?

2. Label the parts of the abacus in the picture and complete the definition.

a) --------------- a frame rods beads

c) ----------------

b)---------------

The abacus is a device, usually of wood (plastic, in recent times), having.……… that holds ………. with freely sliding ……… mounted on them.

3. The words in A are in the story you are going to hear. Match a word in A with a definition in B.

1) to quantify	a) to name or list (the units of a group or collection) one by one in order to determine a total; number.
2) addition	b) a printed or written sign used to represent an operation, element, quantity, quality, or relation, as in mathematics or music.
3) positional notation	c) an arithmetic operation in which the difference between two numbers is calculated
4) to count	d) an arithmetic operation of summing; calculating the sum of two or more numbers.
5) symbol	e) to perform a mathematical process using mathematical or logical methods.
6) subtraction	f) to determine an amount or number by mathematics, especially by numerical methods and the use of computer
7) to calculate	g) to determine or express the quantity of sth.
8) to compute	h) a numeration system in which a real number is represented by an ordered set of characters where the value of a character depends on its position.

4. Listen to the Abacus story and answer the questions.

a) According to the speaker what led to the development of a modern computer?

b) What did the early people use to make their calculations?

c) What important concept in counting and calculation was developed?

d) When was the Chinese abacus invented? What was it like?

e) Is abacus still in use these days?

f) Is it capable of computing?

g) What is the process of calculation called nowadays?

Speaking

1. Look at the pictures of the inventions and label them.

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