Classwork Series and Exercises { English Language- JSS2}: Language Structure and Fiction versus Non-Fiction

Contents:

Language Structure

Literature: Fiction and Non-fiction

Vocabulary: Word Families

Language Structure

A. The Parts of Speech

Do you remember the parts of speech – the different classes we group words into? Here are some of them. Match them with their correct definitions:

A pronoun is	a naming word
A preposition	a describing word
A verb is	a word that can be used in place of a noun
A noun is	relates a noun to other words
An adjective is	a doing word

Other classes are conjunctions (and, but, or, that), which link phrases together; and auxiliaries (may, will, can, should, etc). ‘Auxiliary’ means ‘helping’ and auxiliaries are really verbs which stand directly before other verbs and so ‘help’ them.

Other classes of words are articles (a, an, the) and quantifiers – words like some, many, all, which  show the quantity oe amount of something.

B. Types of Sentence

A statement can be a statement, a question, an order, or instruction, or an exclamation. Find two of each from this list:

1. Rain is vital for farmers
2. Where did the old woman come from?
3. What heavy rain!
4. Do you believe in rainmakers?
5. The old widow was very kind
6. How I wish it would rain soon!
7. Don’t believe everything you read.
8. Look at that dark cloud!

C. Sentence Structure

Most sentences types must have have a subject and a verb

For example: Our team won
Sometimes the verb has an auxiliary before it:
Our team is winning
(Here, ‘ is’, which comes from the verb ‘be’, is an auxiliary.)

Often the verb is followed by an object:

Our team won the match
Our team  is winning the match.

Sometimes the verb includes a negative form. These different types of statement are set out in Table 1:

SubjectDogs	+ Verbbark
SubjectCattle	+ VerbEat	+ ObjectGrass
SubjectMy brother	+ AuxiliaryHas	+ Verbpassed	+ ObjectThe exam
SubjectMy brother	+ AuxiliaryHas	+ NegativeNot	+ Verbpassed	+ ObjectThe exam

D. Types of Subject

The subject of a sentence can be of any of the following:

• a common noun (with or without article, quantifiers, adjectives)
• a proper noun
• a pronoun

Make up sentences from the following table, and say what type of subject appears in each one:

Subject
Segun	Has left school
Water	Have died
They	Was stolen
Amina	Sells almost everything
All the goats	Is necessary for life
Our shop	Can speak French

Another type of subject is the -ing form of a verb, e.g reading, playing, hawking.

Here are some sentence examples:

Reading improves the mind
Playing daughts is popular in Nigeria
Hawking in the streets is not good for school children

E. Types of Object

An object  can be a proper noun, a pronoun, a common noun, and a oun with other words attached to it.

Find the different types of object in the table:

	Object
Segun met	Bola
They bought	A car
I didn’t know	Him
He wore	The most beautiful agbada they had ever seen

An object can also be a an -ing word, or to + infinitive. These objects usually follow verbs like enjoy, like, avoid, finish, keep on, etc

		Object
They	Enjoy	Playing football
They	Kept on	Dancing
I	Like	To dance
I	Hate	dancing

Make up some more similar sentences

F. Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

We have to use an object after some verbs. For example, these verbs must be followed by an object:

beat, enjoy, hit, need, contain

So we can say:
The Super Eagles beat Argentina
but not: The Super Eagles beat.

We call this kind of verb a transitive verb

Some verbs never take an object. For example:

arrive, come, ache, do, sit down, sleep, rain

So we can say:
They arrived a ten
but not: They arrived the station at ten

We call this kind of verb an intransitive verb

A few verbs can be used transitively or intransitively. These include:

begin, drop, hurt, ring, open, win

So we can say:
They Super Eagles won
or: The Super Eagles won the match

G. Intransitive verbs + complement

Some intransitive verbs are followed by a word or phrase – but we do not call it an object.
For example:
My name is Segun
My brother became a policeman

Here we have the verb is (one of the forms of be followed by a noun (Segun) and the verb became followed by a noun phrase (a policeman).

We call such a noun or noun phrase the complement of the verb. This is because it is needed to complete the sentence. (It would not make sense to say My brother became).

H. Expressing Negation

The most common way nof expressing negation is by using the word not. The simplest sentences using not are with the verb to be. 

Kenya is in West Africa
→Kenya is not in West Africa

That was an interesting story
→That was not an interesting story

It often rains in June
→It does not often rain in June

The chief welcomed the old woman
→The chieft did not welcome the old woman

As you can see, with the Present Simple and the Past Simple Tenses, we use the present (do, does) or past (did) form of the verb do to help us. This is another example of an auxiliary verb.

Notice that in speech, we usually use short forms:

Kenya is not in West Africa
→Kenya isn’t in West Africa.

When there is already a helping verb, we do not need to use do:

I have met Lucy Mokolade
→I have not met Lucy Mokolade

Lucy could marry Moses
→ Lucy could not marry Moses

Practice

Turn these sentences into the negative in the same way, using either the long form or short form:

1. I have been to Kenya
2. Anthony has asked Lucy to marry him
3. Lucy has agreed to his proposal
4. She had known he was going to ask her
5. She had decided to give him an immediate answer
6. The woman could save Simbi
7. You can find Simbi on a map

Now practise conversations like these, first with your teacher, and then in pairs. Notice how we use any in question forms, and in negative answers:

WOMAN: Do you have any stew?
WIDOW: No, I haven’t  any stew, but I have some porridge.

There are several other ways of expressing negation. These words all have a negative meaning:

hardly (hardly ever)
scarcely (scarcely ever)
seldom (not often)
rarely (almost never)
never

They are used without not.

Practice

In pairs, change each of the following sentences in three different ways, using the words in italics. For example:

John smokes. (not, never, hardly ever)
John doesn’t smoke
John never smokes
John hardly ever smokes.

1. Mary reads books (not, never, hardly ever)
2. Ibrahim watches TV (not, never, scarcely ever)
3. Emeka comes to football practice (rarely, seldom, never)
4. Bunmi goes to choir practice (rarely, hardly ever, scarcely  ever)
5. The woman visited the town (seldom, never, hardly ever)

Literature: Fiction versus Non-fiction

Fiction versus Non-fiction

Texts are commonly classified as fiction or nonfiction. The distinction addresses whether a text discusses the world of the imagination (fiction) or the real world (nonfiction).

Fiction: poems, stories, plays, novels

Nonfiction: newspaper stories, editorials, personal accounts, journal articles, textbooks, legal documents

Fiction is commonly divided into three areas according to the general appearance of the text:

• stories and novels: prose–that is, the usual paragraph structure–forming chapters
• poetry: lines of varying length, forming stanzas
• plays: spoken lines and stage directions, arranged in scenes and acts

Other than for documentaries, movies are fiction because they present a “made up” story. Movie reviews, on the other hand, are nonfiction, because they discuss something real—namely movies.

Note that newspaper articles are nonfiction—even when fabricated. The test is not whether the assertions are true. Nonfiction can make false assertions, and often does. The question is whether the assertions claim to describe reality, no matter how speculative the discussion may be. Claims of alien abduction are classified as nonfiction, while “what if” scenarios of history are, by their very nature, fiction.

The distinction between fiction and nonfiction has been blurred in recent years. Novelists (writers of fiction) have based stories on real life events and characters (nonfiction), and historians (writers of nonfiction) have incorporated imagined dialogue (fiction) to suggest the thoughts of historical figures

Non-fiction: The Argument And The Meaning

Non-fiction is fairly direct.  The author of a work of nonfiction has specific information or ideas to convey. Authors of nonfiction generally come out and say what they have on their minds.

Non-fiction (as noted elsewhere , as well as below) is characterized by a claim of truth. Nonfiction can include a wide range of subjective forms of discussion:

• assertions of personal preferences or belief,
• appeals more to trust, faith, or personal values than scientific evidence or logical proof,
• subjective analysis of otherwise objective data,
• conclusions asserted with varying degrees of certainty.

Critical readers will recognize these subjective elements in seemingly objective presentations.

We read nonfiction for knowledge, new ideas, or to understand someone’s perspective on, or analysis of, the world. We analyze works of nonfiction to recognize how choices of content and language shape the reader’s perceptions and encourage the reader’s acceptance.

Fiction: The Story And The Moral

Fiction is subjective and evocative.  It is “made up,” and indirect in its communication.  A work of fiction may evoke:

• the thrill of imagining impossible or unavailable experiences
• intrigue with playing out “what if” or” if only” scenarios
• feelings and perceptions of another historical period, or simply observations on the human condition

We thus read fiction not to gain new information so much as to experience the ideas and feelings a story inspires within us.

Readers have different expectations from fiction and nonfiction. Proof is a major issue with nonfiction; emotional involvement is a major issue with fiction. We expect a story (fiction) to grab us, an essay (nonfiction) to convince us. We will suspend belief when reading a romance novel or science fiction, but demand reason and evidence from non-fiction.

For passing time or sheer enjoyment, of course, simply reading the story can be satisfaction and reward enough. We do not have to analyze everything we read. The point is to be able to interpret when we want to—or have to.

Both fiction and nonfiction can be subjected to analysis and interpretation. These two forms of expression are, however, examined somewhat differently. One analyzes a non-fiction text

• to discover underlying themes and perspectives, as well as
• to realize how choices of content and language shape the reader’s perception and encourage the reader’s acceptance.

Analyzing Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, for instance, we can recognize not only remarks on the dedication of a cemetery, but comparisons between images of the living and dead, between what has been done and what must be done.

We analyze fictional works for recurring themes that reflect on the broader human experience. People do not really tell nursery rhymes so that children will know about a girl named Cinderella or about pigs who built houses. The stories have deeper, unstated meanings: virtue rewarded (Cinderella) or the folly of a lack of industry (The Three Little Pigs). We respond to both the story and an underlying message.

On the surface, Melville’s Moby Dick , for instance, might be seen as an adventure story about a man hunting a whale. On closer analysis and interpretation, the novel might be seen as a depiction of man’s battle to subdue nature or of a battle between good and evil. Since fiction is indirect, fiction can require a significant degree of analysis and interpretation if one is to get beyond simply following the story.

Fiction is Subjective

Fiction is, by definition, subjective. A novel, story, drama, or poem is the expression of an author’s imagination. The characters and situations are “made up.” Readers expect fiction to reflect the real world; they do not expect it to portray the real world. And yet fiction can seem very real without being factual. Poems can capture feelings or images to perfection. Events depicted in movies such as Schindler’s List , Amistad , or Titanic can appear just as they might have in real life.

Fiction can be true, however, only in the sense that the actions or behaviors “ring true” with what we know of the world. The sentiment may be real, but the characters and incidents are the fruits of the author’s imagination. And author and directors—as in the movies referred to above—often use “dramatic license” to distort history for dramatic effect.

Vocabulary: Word Families

Word Families : In the Hospital

Write out the following passage, choosing the best words from the box to go in the blanks.

Thermometer      samples     stethoscopeAntibiotics    pulse    patientsPressure      examine   temperatureAches        ward        nurse

On his first full day in the hospital, Emeka was woken early. He was in a (1) ___ with nine other people, but he didn’t feel like talking to any of his fellow (2)___.
He was given breakfast, and then a (3)___ arrived. ‘Good morning!’ she said. ‘Let’s take your (4)___, shall we?
She took out a (5)___ and put in his mouth. Then she held Emeka’s wrist in order to check  his (6)___.
‘Now I want to check your blood (7)___,’ she said, fixing some equipment to Emeka’s arm.

Shortly afterwards the doctor arrived to (8) ___ him. He wore a white coat, and carried a (9)___ round his neck. ‘Everything all right?’ he asked. ‘Yes thanks,’ said Emeka. ‘But my arm(10)___ rather a lot.’ ‘Hmmm. We’d better give you some (11)__,’ said the doctor. ‘Two pills every four hours should do the trick. Oh, and let’s have some blood and urine (12) ___, nurse. We might as well check everything out while he’s with us in the hospital.’

Medical Conditions

The state of being pregnant is called ‘pregnancy’. Pregnancy is not of course a disease – but here are some medical conditions that are diseases or illnesses of one kind or another. As you can see, the letters are all mixed up.  

1. IHATESPIT
2. MOCNOM CLOD
3. SIAD
4. RAAMLIA
5. SLEAMES
6. PLASMOXL
7. SPRYLEO
8. RADIOHEAR
9. CRANEC
10. ACHADHEE
11. SLEEPIPY
12. HOLECRA

Solution:

1. HEPATITS
2. COMMON COLD
3. AIDS
4. MALARIA
5. MEASLES
6. SMALL POX
7. LEPROSY
8. DIARRHOEA
9. CANCER
10. HEADACHE
11. EPILEPSY
12. CHOLERA

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