OU Degree 4th Sem English Unit 4 Vocabulary, Grammar
Exercise I.
Choose the correct phrasal verb from the options given at the end of the sentence.
1. I ______ but no one has seen my mobile. (asked out/asked around)
2. The firemen had to ______ the kitchen to rescue the residents. (break in/break into)
3. My boss ______ the meeting because of heavy rain. (called off/called back)
4. Don’t forget to take the room keys when you. (check in/check out)
5. Diabetic patients are advised to ______ sweets and oily food. (cut off! cut back on)
6. We ______ the bus when it reached our stop. (got off/got out)
7. This is your time to your old parents now. (look after/look for)
8. She loves to ______ with her friends on weekends. (hang out! hand on)
9. I ______ an old friend of mine at the theatre. (ran into/ran out)
10. She ______ her father. Both love to read books. (takes off/takes after)
Answers:
1. I asked around but no one has seen my mobile.
2. The firemen had to break into the kitchen to rescue the residents.
3. My boss called off the meeting because of heavy rain.
4. Don’t forget to take the room keys when you check in.
5. Diabetic patients are advised to cut back on sweets and oily food.
6. We got off the bus when it reached our stop.
7. This is your time to look after your old parents now
8. She loves to hang out with her friends on weekends.
9. I ran into an old friend of mine at the theatre.
10. She takes after her father. Both love to read books.
Exercise II.
Complete the phrasal verbs with the correct particle.
1. I don’t know where my phone is. I must look …………………….. it. (off/for/at/on)
2. Fill …………………….. the form with pencil, (up/with/in/on)
3. The music is too loud. Please turn the volume …………………….. (on/out/down/off)
4. Turn …………………….. the lights when you leave the room, (down/off/on/out)
5. Put …………………….. your slippers when you enter the bathroom, (off/on/out/up)
6. Please switch …………………….. the TV. I want to watch the match, (off/in/on/for)
7. Take off your shoes when you enter the computer room, (out/on/of/off)
8. The food was stale. I had to throw it …………………….. (off/away/down/in)
9. The firemen put …………………….. the fire, (off/on/in/out)
10. Hurry …………………….. we are getting late, (on/up/in/off)
Answers:
1. I don’t know where my phone is. I must look for it.
2. Fill in the form with pencil.
3. The music is too loud. Please turn the volume down.
4. Turn off the lights when you leave the room.
5. Put on your slippers when you enter the bathroom.
6. Please switch on the TV. I want to watch the match.
7. Take off your shoes when you enter the computer room.
8. The food was stale. I had to throw it away.
9. The firemen put out the fire.
10. Hurry up we are getting late.
Exercise III.
Choose the most suitable phrasal verb from among those given in the box and fill the blanks.
| bring forth | bring back | bring in | bring out | bring forward |
| bring up | bring down | bring on | bring off | bring about |
1. The administration wants to ………….. a change in the work culture.
2. Old photos never fail to ………….. old memories.
3. Because of the hot summer, the parents want the school to ………….. the exam dates.
4. No one expected the new player to ………….. a sensational victory.
5. The publisher hopes to ………………. the book next month.
6. The opposition party tried hard to ………………………. the government.
7. The government wants to ………….. a new law to deal with cyber-crimes.
8. His casual comments sometimes ………….. strong reactions.
9. He was advised to ………….. his proposal at the meeting.
10. Classical music does not ………….. a headache.
Answers:
1. The administration wants to bring about a change in the work culture.
2. Old photos never fail to bring back old memories.
3. Because of the hot summer, the parents want the school to bring forward the exam dates.
4. No one expected the new player to bring off a sensational victory.
5. The publisher hopes to bring out the book next month.
6. The opposition party tried hard to bring down the government.
7. The government wants to bring in a new law to deal with cyber-crimes.
8. His casual comments sometimes bring forth strong reactions.
9. He was advised to bring up his proposal at the meeting.
10. Classical music does not bring on a headache.
Grammar – Concord
A sentence has two main parts: subject and verb. Subject tells us who the doer is or what the sentence is about. Verb describes the action of the sentence. The subject of a sentence can be a norm (Amar, car, dog etc) or a pronoun (she, they, it etc). It can be singular (book, bird) or plural (books, birds).
To make a sentence meaningful and grammatically correct, the two parts of a sentence – subject and verb – should match or agree with each other. The agreement between the subject and verb in person, number, gender or case is called concord or subject-verb agreement. However, remember that it is the subject that determines the verb:
To find out whether there is concord between the subject and the verb or not, we must be able to identify the subject and the verb in a sentence.
Exercise I.
Identify the subject and the verb in the following sentences.
Example: The girl sings very well. (Subject: girl, Verb: sings)
1. A supreme court judge retires at 65.
2. The survey covering fifty villages reveals interesting facts.
3. The list of items is very long.
4. There were many important leaders at the meeting.
5. The manager is a hard worker who spends a lot of time in the office.
6. Everyone in the group is welcome to give suggestions.
7. His meticulous data amazes everyone.
8. During the celebrations, we all sat outside in the hot sun.
9. The laces on these shoes never stay tied.
10. The temptation is to treat children as though they don’t know anything.
Answers:
1. A supreme court judge retires at 65. (Subject: Judge; Verb : retires)
2. The survey covering fifty villages reveals interesting facts. (Subject: survey; Verb : reveals)
3. The list of items is very long. (Subject: list; Verb : is)
4. There were many important leaders at the meeting. (Subject: leaders; Verb : were)
5. The manager is a hard worker who spends a lot of time in the office. (Subject: manager (Who pronoun); Verb : is, spends)
6. Everyone in the group is welcome to give suggestions. (Subject: everyone (pronoun) Verb : is)
7. His meticulous data amazes everyone. (Subject: data; Verb : amazes)
8. During the celebrations, we all sat outside in the hot sun. (Subject: we; Verb : sat)
9. The laces on these shoes never stay tied. (Subject: laces; Verb : stay)
10. The temptation is to treat children as though they don’t know anything. (Subject: temptation, they (pronoun); Verb : is; do not know).
Exercise II.
Choose the correct form of the verb that agrees with the subject.
1. My father and my mother (is/are) attending the meeting.
2. Nobody (know/knows) what the truth is.
3. The news (are/is) at seven.
4. The management (don’t /doesn’t) know how to treat teachers.
5. Five hundred rupees (are /is) what I paid for the ticket.
6. There (was/were) ten books in that box.
7. Each one of those books (is/are) a classic.
8. The film, including all the advertisements, (take/takes) about three hours to watch.
9. Civics (were/was) my favourite subject.
10. (Are/ls) there scissors at home?
Answers:
1. My father and my mother are attending the meeting.
2. Nobody knows what the truth is.
3. The news is at seven,
4. The management doesn’t know how to treat teachers.
5. Five hundred rupees is what I paid for the ticket.
6. There were ten books in that box.
7. Each one of those books is a classic.
8. The film, including all the advertisements, takes about three hours to watch.
9. Civics was my favourite subject.
10. Are there scissors at home?
Exercise III.
Correct the verbs in the following sentences to make them agree with the subjects.
1. Ramesh and Robert is good friends.
2. Each of us have some work experience.
3. Here is my car keys.
4. My pair of pants require stitching.
5. Neither the student nor theparent know the answer.
6. Either the director or the actor are responsible for the failure.
7. Neither the script nor the dialogues was interesting.
8. The sale of water and soft drinks increase during summer.
9. Six months are all I have to find a job.
10. The book, including the CD and the free gifts, are not worth the money.
Answers:
1. Ramesh and Robert are good friends.
2. Each of us has some work experience.
3. Here are my car keys.
4. My pair of pants requires stitching.
5. Neither the student nor the parent knows the answer.
6. Either the director or the actor is responsible for the failure.
7. Neither the script nor the dialogues were interesting.
8. The sale of water and soft drinks increases during summer.
9. Six months is all I have to find a job.
10. The book, including the CD and the free gifts, is not worth the money.
Post-Reading Activity
Question 1.
What is your dream? Do you still remember it? Since when did you have the dream? Write about it.
Answer:
My dream is to become an independent human being, independent of all gender, racial, caste, and other biases. I can still remember that when I was in tenth standard, I set up my dream of becoming independent of all financial problems, including becoming independent of all biases. Then I thought of doing a good job in which I could earn money and extend a helping hand to my family and provide them financial support.
However, I have been unable to fulfil my dream due to many reasons. The main reason is that my parents do not want me to work because of my gender. I am a girl. They are under misconception that it may not be secure to send a girl to job places away from the family.
Moreover, I am the only girl in the entire village and it makes my parents more worried about my safety. In addition to that, I am 25 now and completed my post-graduation. My parents want me to get married immediately. They think that being girl will be judged in future by my household works, not by my studies and job. Therefore, I have been not allowed to do any job.
However, after having completed my PG, I did job in an MNC in Hyderabad for one and a half year. However, I faced some health issues due to the odd timings which were inconvenient for my family as well. Moreover, there is no support from my family and there are still some inexplicable restrictions and safety issues.
Since I did not want to be stubborn to go for the job, I felt helpless and resigned for the job. All I need is gender-free attitude from people at work place and support from my family, my parents without my dream cannot be fulfilled.