Reading (Aussie Customs) + homework

Australian Social Customs

This term means the common or usual way Australian behave in their day-to-day life. As a tolerant society with people from many cultures, each person is encouraged to maintain and share their cultural beliefs and practices. At the same time, we respect the right of others to do the same.

How do we greet people?

When meeting someone for the first time, it is usual to shake the person's right hand with your right hand. People who do not know each other generally do not kiss or hug when meeting. When you first meet someone, it is polite not to talk about personal matters. Many Australians look at the eyes of the people they are talking with. They consider this a sign of respect, and an indication that they are listening. Do not stare at the person for a long time.In the workplace and among friends, most Australians tend to be informal and call each other by their first names.

What are the clothing customs?

The types of clothing that people wear reflect the diversity in our society just as much as the variation in climate. There are no laws or rules on clothing, but you must wear certain clothing for work situations. Most workplaces have dress standards. Outside of the work situation, clothing is an individual choice; many people dress for comfort, for the social situation or the weather. Clubs, movie theatres and other places require patrons to be in neat, clean clothes and appropriate footwear.

Many Australians live close to the beach and the sea. On hot days, they may wear little clothing on the beach and surrounds. This does not mean that people who dress to go to the beach or swimming have low moral standards. It means that this is what we accept on and near beaches.People from other countries can choose to wear their national dress. They may be religious or customary items and include monks' robe, a hijab or a turban. As a tolerant society with people from many different cultures, clothing is a part of cultural beliefs and practices that is encouraged.

Homework:
1. Find 5 conjuctions

2. Find 5 noun groups ( adj+noun)

3. Find 5 noun compounds (noun+noun)

4. Find 2 collocations

Website of the week

Gangs,
Here's a fairly good website which in you find interactive exercises such the one below. Following our lesson today about collocations and phrasal verbs, I'd like you to get in to the link below and score yourslef when you have them all done.
Good luck and have a nice weekend.

http://www.flo-joe.co.uk/fce/students/strategy/mcclze/collocb.htm

Direct and reported speech

Following our lesson on Monday, first watch the video clip on the right hand side of the blog which is related to direct and reported speech and then rewrite the following sentences to reported speech.

1. Alex said, "I am going to meet a friend."
2. Ken asked, "What are you going to do tonight?"
3. I said, "I've been to Mexico."
4. Steve said, "I want to go to South Africa."
5. Allen said, "I'd like to come visit."

E-mail abbreviations and smileys

Emails are usually shorter and more informal than letters and people sometimes use abbreviations and 'smileys' in them. 'Smileys' (also called 'emoticons') are images which look like faces when you see them from the side. They are made using keyboard symbols and are used to express emotions.

Abbreviations
AFAIK as far as I know
BTW by the way
FYI for your information
HTH hope that helps
IMO in my opinion
IOW in other words
TAFN that's all for now
TIA thanks in advance

Smileys
:-) I'm happy
:-( I'm angry/unhappy
>:-( I'm very angry/unhappy
:-O I'm very surprised/shouting loudly
:-@ I'm screaming
:-* I'm sending you a kiss

Now write an email to me and invite me to your birthday party. Try to use some of those abbreviations and smileys. Use an informal writing.

website of the week

If you would like to improve your grammar here's a very good website to start with.
www.english-grammar-lessons.com
Good luck

A short recount (Our Excursion)

Hello everyone,

I hope that you enjoyed our last excursion to QLD state library and QLD museum. Take a look at the beautiful photos that Lili and Yuki have taken on that day and then write a few short paragraphs about these photos. Your recount should consist of a topic, orientation (who, when, where, how etc), records of events and a coda or reorientation (optional). I'd like you to use at least 5 noun groups (adj+noun), 10 conjunctions and different simple past verbs (regular & irregular) in your recount.

Make sure to check your spelling before posting your comment to me.

Good luck

Michael

Word Order

The main way of describing a noun is to use adjectives or words that are like adjectives. You add these words after a, the, my, her etc, before the noun. You can add as many as you want, but you sometimes need to be careful about the order in which you use them.

You have a choice of three kinds of word.
The largest group consists of adjectives.
a lovely day a small round table the best book

You may also use a ‘participle’ before the noun, the “ing” or “ed” form of a verb,
but here used to describe the noun.

a crumbling table her smiling face a cracked window the stolen car

You may also add one noun before another ‑ the first noun is used to describe the second noun, which is the main noun in the phrase.
the school boy a tourist attraction a Brisbane bus

WHICH ORDER?
As soon as you use two or more describing words, you have to decide which order to put them in.
In many cases, there is no rule: you simply say first what comes into your mind first. But many adjectives, and the other kinds of describing word, are typically used in a particular place before the noun.

You should think of these patterns only as a guide to help you, because there are a number of cases which do not follow the rule. But the following patterns are common:

1. Nouns go next to the main noun in the phrase, after any other adjectives.
Examples: a big London bus (NOT) a London big bus
the long country road (NOT) the country long road

2. Words which are closely related to nouns, such as the material something is made of or where something is from, also go next to the main noun.
For example: big leather boots (NOT) leather big boots
a serious social problem (NOT) a social serious problem

3. Participles usually go in front of groups (1) and (2).
a broken garden chair (NOT) a garden broken chair
a smiling American tourist ( NOT) an American smiling tourist
a happy smiling American tourist (NOT) a smiling happy American tourist

4. Adjectives with an ‘intensifying’ meaning, for example entire, whole, same go near the beginning, close to a, the, my, her etc.
the entire local committee (NOT) the local entire committee
the same old battered car (NOT) the old battered same car

5. Other adjectives follow (4) and go before (3). Those with a more general meaning usually come first, and those which describe properties of the noun which can be clearly seen, such as size and shape, usually come last. There are typical patterns here, too, as the table shows.
those lovely red curtains (NOT) those red lovely curtains
a strange triangular table (NOT) a triangular strange table

your opinion about s’th size age shape colour (where s’th is from) material
lovely big old round black American wool
beautiful little young square red French plastic
horrible small new round brown Japanese leather

WORD ORDER AFTER THE NOUN
Some adverbs of time and frequency usually come immediately after the main verb. These include:
always, almost, just, rarely, nearly, already, ever, never, still
She is always complaining. (NOT) Always she is complaining.
They are still working. (NOT) Still they are working.

Always and never are sometimes used at the beginning of a sentence in instructions and warnings, when the verb does not have a subject.
Always keep medicines away from children.
Never look directly at the sun through a telescope.

Adverbs and adverb phrases should not come between the verb and the object.
I like Japanese food very much. (NOT) I like very much Japanese food.
Adverbs and adverb phrases should not come between a main verb and an ‑ing participle, or between a main verb and an infinitive.
Tomorrow we’ll go sightseeing. (NOT) We’ll go tomorrow sightseeing.
In the evenings she likes to watch television. (NOT) She likes in the evenings to watch television.
Adverbs and adverbial phrases should not come between a modal verb (for example can, must, could) and a main verb.
I can speak Spanish quite well. (NOT) I can quite well speak Spanish

Direct and indirect objects

Four easy steps to find the direct and indirect objects in a sentence.

1 Find the subject of the sentence. Do this by asking yourself "who" is performing the action or "what" the sentence is about. Jimmy baked Rhonda a pizza. Who baked the pizza? Jimmy.

2 Determine if the sentence contains an action, linking or state of being verb.
Action verbs have the subject doing something (run, jump, skip).
Linking verbs "link" the subject to the rest of the sentence (am, is, are).
State of being verbs show a condition (seem, remain, feel).
In our example sentence we have an action verb (baked).

3 Find the direct object by asking yourself "whom" or "what" is receiving the action. What did Jimmy bake? A pizza. Congrats! You've found the direct object. Now let's locate indirect object.

4 Find the word between the action verb and the direct object that answers one of four questions: "to/for whom" or "to/for what." For whom did Jimmy bake a pizza? For Rhonda. It's as simple as that.

There are some more tips that you need to know about direct/indirect objects:

1. If the indirect object comes before the direct object, there is no preposition.
They gave Harold a new car.

2. If the indirect object comes after the direct object, a preposition must be used.
They gave a new car to Harold.

3. If the direct object is a pronoun (it, this ... ), it comes before the indirect object, which is introduced by a preposition.

I bought it for my sister.
Can you send it to him? (Not: I bought my sister it.) Can you send him it?)

4. If the verbs read and write are only followed by the indirect object, a preposition must be used.
Please, read to me. (Not: Please, read me).
But: Read me the letter. Read the letter to me. Because there are two objects in these sentences.
I'll write to you soon.
But: I'll write you a letter. I'll write a letter to you. (two objects)

5. We can use the verbs promise, show, and tell with the indirect object only, but without a preposition.
I can't promise you. (Or: I can't promise it to you.)
Show him. (Or: Show it to him.)
Can you tell me?