a Various methods of dealing with the spread of malaria were suggested.
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b Dr Lee adopted an analytical approach to the inquiry.
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c Antibiotics were not available in the first half of the 20th century.
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d Her major contribution to the research was her study of folklore in Spain.
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e The precise number of people affected by the earthquake is unknown.
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f Some progress was made in the theoretical area.
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g A frequent complaint is that too much work is expected in the first semester.
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h We took a more critical approach to irrigation.
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i The Department of Social Policy is offering three courses this year.
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j Finally, the practical implications of my findings will be examined.
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6. Complete the gaps in the table below.
Noun Adjective
Noun Adjective
approximation approximate
particular superiority
reason strategic
synthetic politics
economy industrial
cultural exterior
average
7. Complete the sentences with nouns or adjectives from the table above.
a The
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
consequences of the war were inflation and unemployment.
b 365.25 days is an
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
of the length of the solar year. c One
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of British weather is that it is very changeable. d All
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doors are fitted with security systems. e They attempted to make a
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of all the different proposals. f The
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length of time patients have to wait is 34.6 weeks. g The traditional idea that the sun went round the earth
was
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, but wrong. h Ancient Japanese
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
was highly developed in areas such as poetry and ceramics.
1. Most nouns in English are countable, but the following are generally uncountable, i.e. they are not usually used with numbers or the plural ‘s’.
accommodation information
scenery advice
knowledge staff
behaviour money
traffic commerce
news travel
data permission
trouble education
progress vocabulary
equipment research
weather furniture
rubbish work
2. Another group of uncountable nouns is used for materials:
woodrubberironcoffeepaperwateroilstone Little wood is used in the construction of motor vehicles.
Huge amounts of paper are used to produce magazines.
Many of these nouns can be used as countable nouns with a rather different meaning:
Over twenty daily papers are published in Delhi. Many woods in the county have a long recorded history.
3. The most difficult group can be used either as countable or uncountable nouns, often with quite different meanings.
She developed an interest in bio-genetics. The bank is paying 4 interest on six-month deposits.
Other nouns with a similar pattern are used for general concepts lovefearhope.
Most people feel that life is too short. in general Nearly twenty lives were lost in the mining accident. in particular
Complete the following sentences to show the differences in meaning. a Three years’ experience
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b She had some exciting experiences while
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c Most small businesses have
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d In many countries it is normal to discuss business
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e A number of capitals such as Washington and Canberra are
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
f Huge amounts of capital
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g Two world wars in thirty years caused
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h War is a feature of
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i
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was the cause of six deaths. j Death is
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k New medicines are developed
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l Studying medicine at university can be
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10. Nouns: Countable and Uncountable
3.18 SingularPlural
cross reference
4. Note the importance of the type of noun in the following structures:
Questions: How much accommodation
U is available for rent? How many rooms
C are vacant next month? Negatives:
Not much Little equipment U was needed for the experiment.
Not many Few machines C were functioning in the IT room.
5. In the following sentences, choose the correct alternative.
a Littlefew news reached the prisoners in the castle. b He established three successful businessesbusiness in 1995.
c Substantial experiencesexperience of report writing areis required. d It has often been claimed that travel broadenstravels broaden the mind.
e Paper waspapers were very expensive in the Middle Ages. f
How much advicemany advices were they given before coming to Britain? g She had little interestfew interests outside her work.
h The insurance policy excludes the effects of civil warwars. i
Irons wereiron was first powered by electricity in the twentieth century.
j They studied the behaviourbehaviours of three groups of lions over two years.
6. Complete the gaps in the following paragraph with muchmanylittlefew.
Very a
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
data is available to students of housing of the 6th–9th centuries A.D. No complete examples survive, and researchers are not certain how b
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
information can be taken from the literature. It is not clear how c
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
people lived in each house, and in the d
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
sites that have been investigated only four in the whole country e
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
progress has been made towards finding a standard floor plan.
1. The passive is used when the writer wants to focus on the result, not on the cause:
The book was written in 1926. passive My father
wrote the book. active
In the first sentence, the emphasis is on the date, in the second on the writer. So the passive is used in written English when the cause a person
or thing is less important or unknown.
The treaty will be signed next year. by someone The tower was destroyed a century ago. by something
It is quite common to show the cause of the action by adding by …
The army was helped by good weather in the autumn of 1296.
2. The passive is also used in written work to avoid using I or we:
The findings were evaluated. An analysis will be made.
Change the following into the passive.
a We collected the data and compared the two groups. b I interviewed 120 people in three social classes.
c They checked the results and found several errors.
3. An adverb is often inserted in a passive form:
This process is commonly called ‘networking’.
Change the following sentences from active to passive and insert a suitable adverb from the box below.
a A storm damaged 40 of the houses in the port. b The Connors family ran the company until 1981.
c They had built the house near the station. d Picasso painted the portrait of the old man.
e They provided pencils for all students in the exam. f Doctors tested over 550 people for the disease over a three-year period.
g The researchers calculated the percentages to three decimal places. h They called their business the Universal Trading Company.
conveniently optimistically
helpfully brilliantly
regularly precisely
efficiently badly
11. Passives
2.10 Style
cross reference
3.2 Adverbs
cross reference
