Exercise 1
Morning
1 It’s morning in the park. 2 A young man is walking with his dog. 3 Every day he buys a newspaper at the newsstand. 4 The news dealer greets him. 5 The man takes his newspaper to a nearby bench. 6 He sits by himself and reads. 7 His dog runs in the trees.
Practice 1. Copy the entire passage.
Practice 2. Rewrite the passage but, change young to old in sentence 2, and change nearby to empty in sentence 5.
Practice 3. Rewrite the passage, but change A young man to A young lady in sentence 2.
Practice 4. Rewrite the passage, but change A young man to Two young men in sentence 2.
Practice 5. Rewrite the passage, but change morning to yesterday morning in sentence 1, and take out the words Every day in sentence 3.
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Exercise 2
Adopt a Pet
1 Do you live alone in New York City? 2 Do you need companionship? 3 Do you like animals? 4 Adopt a pet. 5 Don’t buy a pet. 6 Animals are very expensive in a pet store. 7 Visit the A.S.P.C.A. (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) or one of the city’s animal shelters. 8 They have lots of animals for adoption – Siamese cats, German shepherd dogs, Irish setters, and many mixed breeds. 9 Look at the different animals. 10 Say. “I want a friendly, healthy pet.” 11 Pick one out and take it home. 12 Give it food and “tender loving care.” 13 That isn’t very difficult, and the reward is friendship and loyalty.
Practice 1. Copy the entire passage.
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Exercise 3
Anyone Can fix It
1 Today many people fix their own broken machinery. 2 They don’t take all their machines to repair shops. 3 They don’t want to pay someone else. 4 Instead, when they understand their own machines, they fix things themselves.
5 People find some machines harder to fix than others. 6 If they have cars, for example, they take a course in auto repairing. 7 If they have bicycles, however they just read a book on bike repairing. 8 If they have broken radios, they often teach themselves radio repair.
9 People enjoy fixing things. 10 For them, machinery isn’t a mystery. 11 It’s something exciting and fun.
Practice 1. Rewrite the entire passage, but change many people to The average person in sentence 1, and change People to The average person in sentences 5 and 9. Write about one person throughout the passage. Sentence 1 will be:
Today the average person fixes his own broken machinery.
Practice 2. Rewrite the entire passage, but change Today to Tomorrow in sentence 1, and write about the future. Sentence 1 will be:
Tomorrow many people will fix their own broken machinery.
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Exercise 4
Between the Covers
1 Every day more children discover a new world. 2 How do they do this? 3 They learn how to read.
4 When children make that step from speaking to reading; they discover the magic of print. 5 They don’t have to stay home anymore. 6 They aren’t “just children” anymore. 7 Time and space don’t limit them. 8 Books let them travel to any place and to any time. 9 They meet heroes from the past, or visit the mountains on the moon. 10 When they are lonely, they make new friends. 11 When they are bored, they explore new planets. 12 If they want to, they even become new people or try out new life styles.
13 Children enter an exciting world between the covers of books when they learn to read.
Practice 1. Rewrite the entire passage, but write about one child. Change more children to another child in sentence 1, and children to a child in sentences 4 and 13. Sentence 1 will be:
Every day another child discovers a new world.
Practice 2. Rewrite the entire passage, but change Every day to Tomorrow in sentence 1 and write about the future. Sentence 1 will be:
Tomorrow more children will discover a new world.
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Exercise 5
Bike for Fun
1 Rent a bicycle and enjoy Manhattan’s parks. 2 It’s a pleasant sport, and it isn’t very expensive.
3 There are many bike rental shops near Central Park. 4 Go to the nearest shop and pick out a bike. 5 Pay the fee and ride away. 6 Be sure to follow the traffic laws.
7 In Central Park, find the bicycle path and join the other cyclist. 8 On Sundays there aren't any cars on the park roads. 9 Then you can ride all around the park. 10 Maybe you can see an event on the Mall. 11 Stop and buy a Coke from the nearest vendor.
12 Biking is an easy way to enjoy the city. 13 It’s good exercise, too.
Practice 1. Copy the entire passage
Practice 2. Rewrite the passage but change the following words: Change pleasant to active in sentence 2; change event to concert in sentence 10; change Coke to orangeade in sentence 11; and easy to good in sentence 12.
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Exercise 6
The Cat Lady
1 Hilda Gurney lives in an apartment on Staten Island. 2 She doesn’t work because she’s very old. 3 She isn’t rich, but she has enough money to buy food and pay the rent herself. 4 She drives a yellow Volkswagen.
5 This old lady has one big problem. 6 She loves cats. 7 She has twelve cats and an ugly bulldog. 8 Her neighbors get angry at her because the cats make a terrible noise. 9 Hilda doesn’t mind the noise herself, but her neighbors certainly do.
10 Poor Hilda! 11 Her neighbors don’t like her, and her cats don’t care.
Practice 1. Rewrite the passage, but change the following words: Change apartment to house in sentence 1; change yellow to orange in sentence 4; change ugly to mean in sentence 7; and change terrible to awful in sentence 8. Sentence 1 will be:
Hilda Gurney lives in a house on Staten Island.
Practice 2. Rewrite the entire passage, but change the name Hilda Gurney to Frank Gurney. This means you will write about a man instead of a woman throughout the passage. Sentences 1 and 2 will be:
Frank Gurney lives in an apartment on Staten Island. He doesn’t work because he’s very old.
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Exercise 7
Dropping Out
1 Her father calls her lazy. 2 Her mother calls her a late bloomer. 3 Her friends call her a flower child. 4 She calls herself a free spirit.
5 Cynthia is twenty years old and she is a high school dropout. 6 She is an occupant of a commune in Vermont. 7 She works and lives on an apple farm with friends. 8 She shares the farm work and her possessions with friends. 9 Her friends treat her the same way. 10 She enjoys a healthy life.
11 Cynthia doesn’t want a lot of money. 12 She doesn’t want a successful career. 13 She loves her simple life. 14 She’s satisfied with herself.
Practice 1. Rewrite the entire passage.
Practice 2. Rewrite the passage but change the following words: change high school to college in sentence 5; change occupant to member in sentence 6; change apple to small in sentence 7; change healthy to outdoor in sentence 10; change a lot of to a great deal of in sentence 11; change successful to ambitious in sentence 12.
Practice 3. Rewrite the passage but change the name Cynthia to Cynthia and Christopher. Write about two persons instead of one. Sentences 1 and 2 will be:
Their fathers call them lazy. Their mothers call them late bloomers.
Practice 4. Pretend Cynthia lived in the past. Rewrite the entire passage in the past time. Sentence 1 will be:
Her father called her lazy.
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Exercise 8
English is Tough
1 English is an extraordinary language. 2 Sometimes it is simple and sometimes it is complex.
3 It has a very rich vocabulary. 4 If a person wants to describe a simple thing, he can find simple words. 5 On the other hand, if he wants to talk about a very complicated thing, he can think of the right words.
6 English has a difficult sound system and a ridiculous spelling system. 7 There are 14 vowel sounds and 26 consonant sounds in English, but there are only 26 letters in the alphabet. 8 This makes reading and writing a real problem.
9 An exceptional student can learn English in a few months, but most people need more time.
Practice 1. Rewrite the entire passage but change the following words: change extraordinary to curious in sentence 1; change very to extremely in sentence 3; change simple to uncomplicated in sentence 4; change think of to come up with in sentence 5; change ridiculous to stupid in sentence 6; and change exceptional to superior in sentence 9.
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Exercise 9
Explode the Myths
1 The following are true:
2 Dragons were intelligent.
3 Columbus discovered America.
4 Life was easier in time past.
5 Methusalah lived for 969 years.
6 When kissed by the princess, the frog turned into a prince.
7 People worked harder in the good old days.
8 Ponce de Leon found the Fountain of Youth.
9 World War II brought everlasting peace.
10 Men from Mars landed in New Jersey.
11 Henry VIII had eight wives.
Practice 1. Change the myths to facts by making each statement negative. Sentences 1 and 2 will be:
The following are true:
Dragons weren't intelligent.
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Exercise 10
Eyes of a Hawk
1 They call him Mr. Hawkeye. 2 He is the world’s fastest reader. 3 He works for a printing office. 4 He reads every single book printed in that office.
5 Mr. Hawkeye waits at the end of a big machine. 6 Piles of pages continually move toward him. 7 After he picks up a page, he scans it. 8 He looks for printing and typing errors. 9 Sometimes he notices mistakes. 10 He uses a pencil to mark them.
11 He doesn’t smile or look up. 12 He is a very fast worker. 13 The company pays him very well because he is the most valuable employee in the office.
Practice 1. Rewrite the passage, but change Mr. Hawkeye to Mr. Hawkeye and Mr. Scanner. You will write about two persons instead of one. Sentence 1 will be:
They call them Mr. Hawkeye and Mr. Scanner.
Practice 2. Pretend you are writing about a person who lived in the past. Sentence 1 will be:
They called him Mr. Hawkeye.
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Exercise 11
Free – Lancing
1 Jan Holmes is a free – lance writer. 2 She doesn’t work in an office for a company. 3 She doesn’t have a steady job. 4 Instead she works at home.
5 Jan writes articles and sends them to different magazines. 6 Sometimes a magazine chooses to print one. 7 Then the magazine pays for it.
8 Jan finds pleasure in this kind of work. 9 Nobody tells her when to work. 10 Nobody tells her what to write. 11 She can be as ambitious or as lazy as she wants. 12 Free – lance writing is the right work for her.
Practice 1. Rewrite the passage, but change Jan to John. Write about a man instead of a woman throughout the passage. Sentence 1 will be:
John Holmes is a free – lance writer.
Practice 2. Pretend that this person lived in the past. Rewrite the passage in past time. Sentence 1 will be:
Jan Holmes was a free – lance writer.
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Exercise 12
Fresh Bread
1 Kate likes to bake bread. 2 She doesn't mind the long process. 3 In fact, it’s a pleasure for her. 4 To her, breadbaking days are special.
5 First she softens yeast in warm water. 6 Meanwhile she melts shortening and combines it honey, salt, and warm milk. 7 She cools it and mixes in the yeast. 8 She adds flour and kneads the dough. 9 Later, she shapes the bread loaves. 10 Finally she bakes the bread.
11 The smell of fresh bread fills the kitchen. 12 Kate smiles. 13 She doesn't wait long for a taste. 14 The first bite delights her.
Practice 1. Rewrite the entire passage, but change the name Kate to Kate and Sarah. Write the whole passage about two persons instead of one. Sentence 1 will be:
Kate and Sarah like to bake bread.
Practice 2. Rewrite the entire passage, but pretend that Kate lived 30 years ago. Change everything to the past time. Sentence 1 will be:
Kate liked to bake bread.
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