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Task 6 Before reading the text in Task 5, record your predictions about the content
of the text in this Prediction Verification Checklist. After you read, put a thic
k √ in the appropriate column to indicate if the prediction was Accurate, Less Accurate or Inaccurate. Work in a group of four or five.
Group Members
: Text Title
: “Sixpence Worth of Trouble”
Prediction Verification Checklist
No. Prediction
Ac cu
rat e
L ess Ac
cu rat
e
In ac
cu rate
1.
1. According to the title of the text above, what do you think the story will be about?
Prediction: Correction after Prediction:
2. Look at the picture on the slide.
1. Who do you think the little boy is? 2. What was the boy doing?
Prediction: Correction after Prediction:
3. Look at the picture again.
1. Would George be able to take his money back? Prediction:
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Correction after Prediction:
4. Look at the picture again.
1. What would the men possibly do? Would they arrest George because he made a mess? Or would they help
George? Prediction:
Correction after Prediction:
5.
1. Do you think George would be upset after failing taking back his money?
Prediction: Correction after Prediction:
Task 7 Now, read again the text that you have in Tasks 5 and 6. Then, answer the
following questions.
Sixpence Worth of Trouble
Children always appreciate small gifts of money. For some children, if sixpences are not exchanged for sweets, they rattle for months inside money-
boxes. My nephew, George, has a money-box but it is always empty. Very few of the sixpences I have given him have found their way there. I gave him sixpence
yesterday and advised him to save it. But, he bought himself sixpence worth of trouble.
On his way to the sweet shop, he dropped his sixpence and it rolled along the pavement and then disappeared down a drain. George took off his jacket,
rolled up his sleeves and pushed his right arm through the drain cover. He could not find his sixpence anywhere even he could not get his arm out. A crowd of
people gathered round him and a lady rubbed his arm with soap and butter, but
George’s arm was firmly stuck. The fire-brigade came and two firemen finally freed George after they rubbed his arm with oil. George was not very upset by his
experience because the lady who owned the sweet shop heard about his troubles
307 and gave him with a large box of chocolates.
Questions: 1. What is the text about?
2. On his way to the sweet shop, he dropped his sixpence and it rolled along the
pavement and then disappeared down a drain paragraph 2. What do the underlined words refer to?
He refers to .... It refers to ....
3. How much money did the writer give to George? 4. ... but George was firmly stuck paragraph 2. Which of the following words
has the closest meaning to the underlined word? a. trapped
b. free c. painful
d. move
5. Where would George go when he lost his money? 6. What happened to George at that time that made many people gather round
him? 7. What made George not very upset although he could not find his money?
Task 8 Study the following rule. Then, do the exercise that follow.
Past Tense
Tense is the time that the action takes place in the text. It can be in the past already happened, in the present is happening now or in the future will
happen later. The verbs show the tense of the text. Recounts use the past tense. The past tense is used to express something that happened in the past. Here is the
pattern:
Examples: I gave him sixpence yesterday....
George was firmly stuck. Verbs that show the past tense usually end in
–ed, for example: advise - advised
drop - dropped disappear - disappeared
Other verbs change their form, for example: give-gave
buy-bought take off
–took off
S + V2 + O + Adv.
308 Usually, the following adverbs of time are used in the past tense such as:
yesterday; last week;
last ....; two days ago; and
... ago. Now, complete the following sentence by changing the verb in the bracket
into the right form. Pay attention to the adverb of time that each sentence has.
1. Mack, Jenny, and Javier walk their dog last Saturday. 2. When he be a kid, Ivan did not spend time with his friends.
3. We exercise on the treadmill last night. 4. I cut the watermelon yesterday.
