VIDEO TASK

"FRIENDS"

EXERCISE 1: Before watching the segment, try to fill in the blanks with the correct forms of the given verbs. Check your answers after watching it.

a) We ......... (go) to a self-defense class today.
b) Look, I .............. (study) karate for a long time.
c) ............. (be, not) that a kind of sushi?
d) Maybe it ........... (mean) that too.
e) Unagi ....... (be) a state of total awareness.
f) If we ........ (make) reservations, we .......... (can) have unagi in a half-hour.
g) You ....... (be) a freak!
h) At what point during those girlish screams ....................... (begin) to kick my ass?

EXERCISE 2: Identify if the relative clauses are reduced or not. If reduced, indicate the omitted word(s).

a) Of course you can defend yourself from an attack you know is coming. 

b) And there's a concept you should really be familiar with.

c) Please tell us what it is.

d) It's what the Japanese call unagi.

e) Only by achieving true unagi can you be prepared for any danger that may befall you.

f) A lesson in the importance of unagi.

EXERCISE 3: Watch the segment again and change the questions into a noun clause.

Example:  Why did the girls go to a self-defense class? 

- I wonder why the girls went to a self-defense class.

a) The girls want to defend themselves in case of a dangerous situation. What should they do to be safe?

- I don't know ................................................ .

b) Why doesn't Ross believe that they can defend themselves?

- I don't understand .............................................. .

c) The girls want to take revenge on Ross. How can they do that?

- Can you suggest .................................................. ?

d) They managed to take revenge on him. What did they do?

- Do you remember ................................................ ?

e) Ross was very scared when the girls took revenge on him. Why did he feel that way?

- Do you know ...................................................... ?

ANSWER KEY

EXERCISE 1:

a) went

b) studied

c) isn't

d) means

e) is

f) made, could 

g) are

h) would you have begun

EXERCISE 2:

a) Reduced relative clause, that/ which is omitted. (...from an attack that/ which you know is coming)

b) Reduced relative clause, that/ which is omitted. (...a concept that/ which you should really be familiar with)

c) Regular relative clause (noun clause)

d) Regular relative clause (noun clause)

e) Regular relative clause

f) Reduced relative clause, "that/ which is" is omitted. (A lesson which/ that is in the importance of unagi)

EXERCISE 3:

a) I don't know what they should do to be safe.

b) I don't understand why Ross doesn't believe that they can defend themselves.

c) Can you suggest how the girls can take revenge on Ross?

d) Do you remember what they did to take revenge on him?

e) Do you know why he felt that way when the girls took revenge on him?

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

52 PLACES TO GO IN 2015

BOLIVIA: THE 8TH ONE ON THE LIST

Finally stable and opening up to the world.

Bolivia’s days of relentless transportation strikes and roadblocks are mostly behind it. (simple present tense - expressing generalization) And travelers who (relative clause) try out the now tourism-friendly infrastructure will be (future tense - expressing future plans) rewarded with new attractions once they arrive. (adverbial clause of time)  Claus Meyer’s two-year-old fine-dining restaurant, Gustu,and the Melting Pot Foundation are helping set (infinitive) a new culinary tone around the country (present continuous tense - expressing an action that is happening at the moment of speaking) by starting Suma Phayata, an official street food tour in La Paz (reduced relative clause), and renewing interest in high-altitude wine routes in the Tarija region. Adventure excursions also abound, from luxe tent camp trips led by the Chilean operator Explora (reduced relative clause) across the Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flats (reduced relative clause), to community tourism projects on (preposition) coffee farms in the Yungas region, where (relative clause) a new road to Caranavi, expected to open this year will cut (future tense - expressing future plans) the travel time drastically from LA. 


VOCABULARY

Relentless: Never stopping or getting any less extreme
Roadblock: Something that is put across a road to stop people who are driving down it
Infrastructure: The basic systems, such as transport and communication, that a country or organization uses in order to work effectively.
Culinary: Related to food and cooking
Abound: To exist in large numbers
Excursion: A short journey made by a group of people for pleasure


ANALYSING THE TEXT

• Although the writer's tone is quite informative throughout the text, he also uses the descriptive tone a little. We can understand that it is an informative text in that he makes statements by giving examples and defines everything he means to tell. Furthermore, he gives descriptions by using relative clauses to create a more vivid picture about the information he gives in the readers' minds. Therefore, on the whole, it can be said that the tone of the writer is both informative and descriptive.
• The language he uses is not completely formal. Besides, it is a sort of travel writing. So, we cannot expect it to be strictly formal. To give the readers the best suggestions on where to go for a vacation and what can be done there, or just to give a brief information about the destination, the writer uses a reasonably informal tone.
• The writer uses simple present and future tenses mostly, which can be a proof that his tone is informative. As the function of the tenses he uses is either to express generalization or to give information about the future plans, it can be said that he supports his tone by using the tenses that best fit his purpose. 

MY COMMENTS

This text, which basically aims to give information about a place to visit, is quite fun to read in my opinion. The way that the author handles this topic is suitable as he uses the right language and tone. What is more, since he mostly gives information about Bolivia as a holiday destination, I don't think there is anything that I would disagree. It is an informative and descriptive text and I think he succeeds to capture the readers by his comprehensible descriptions. On the whole, I can say that I liked the text and the tone is as suitable as it could be.

• To get information about the whole list of the places to visit in 2015, you may check this link out and reach the full text:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/01/11/travel/52-places-to-go-in-2015.html?ref=travel&_r=0

TRANSITIVE & INTRANSITIVE VERBS

1. Smell

• The dish smells delicious. (Intransitive)
• The cook smelled the dish he had prepared in five minutes. (Transitive)

2. Pack

• She packed her bags in a hurry. (Transitive)
• The desperate woman was packing when her husband called her. (Intransitive)

3. Train

• He is training to be a lawyer. (Intransitive)
• I am trying to train my dog. (Transitive)

VİVA LA VİDA TASK SHEET 

The Poem About the King

I used to rock the world
Birds would keep quiet when I sang
Now in the morning I am alone
I can't even remember the songs that I used to sing

I used to shatter the records
Make millions sing along 
Listen as the crowd would sing my songs
"Now he is coming to stage!"

One minute I was the king of rock 'n roll
Next somebody else had the dice rolled 
I discovered that my era was long over
And there was no way to recover

The original song

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone 
Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice 
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing,
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand 
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

ERROR CORRECTION SHEET 

1. I had lived in Sivas until I came to Ankara, and I love that city so much because Ankara's climate is too cold for me to get used to.

2. I graduated from Nazilli Anatolian Teacher Training High School.

3. Now, I am at the same department with one of my best friends, whose name is Ayşe, but I wish I were at the same university with my other best friends also.

4. If you ask something about me to my friends, they will explain what a wonderful person I am.

5. I have lots of hobbies such as swimming, reading, learning new things etc.

6. I think both of them are the best teams in their league.

7. I think everything has a beauty. Therefore, look around more carefully because there are always new things to discover.

8. Many visitors are suprised to see that some animals remain outside during the whole year such as penguins, polar bears and timber wolves which are very happy at outdoors in wintertime.

EXERCISES FROM PAGE 165

1. 

a) It sounds as if they are having a good time.

b) This isn't the way you are supposed to be doing this

c) He looked as if he was carrying something.

d) I took up jogging as you suggested.

e) He behaved as though he owned the place.

f) The meat tasted as if it hadn't been cooked properly.

g) Peter didn't conduct the experiment the way he was instructed to.

2. Will human beings ever live on other planets?

Although we have become accustomed to the idea of space travel, and in films and fiction it seems as though space travel is inevitable, it appears unlikely that human beings will ever get any further than Mars, our nearest neighbour. No matter how many films we make about space travel, the fact is that it remains technologically challenging and extremely expensive. Since the distances involved are immense, any voyage outside our solar system would take hundreds of years using current technology. Wherever human beings went into space, they would have problems of how to eat and breathe, and their spaceship would have to carry vast amounts of fuel in order to cover the distance. Even Mars is so far away that it would take about six months to get there. As the distance between Earth and Mars varies, astronauts would have to wait for nearly two years before they could return using the shortest journey time. Even though it could cost as much as $100 billion, a manned mission to Mars is planned for sometime between 2010 and 2020.

EXERCISES FROM PAGE 164

1.
a) Tina was given the job, even though she did not have the required experience.
b) Seeing that it's his birthday today, Tom has decided to take a day off.
c) This is the way we deal with hooligans in this country.
d) We'd better take some money with us, in case we can't find a cash machine.
e) Much as I admire his earlier work, I think that his recent novels are rather poor.
f) The moment you see anything move, press this alarm bell.
g) No matter what you say, I still can't really forgive you for what you have done.
h) Unfortunately Carol didn't pass the exam, although she studied really hard.
i) Everywhere I look these days, I seem to see people dressed the same.
j) Considering that she's only been learning the piano for six months, Jan plays really well.


2.
a) Whenever you are in the area, drop in and see us.
b) As soon as I saw you, I knew I liked you! 
c) Fiona started training as a ballet dancer when she was six.
d) I won't leave until you come back.
e) You can park your car anywhere you like outside.
f) Now you're here, you'd better sit down.
g) Once the exams are out of the way, we can start learning something new.
h) The memorial shows where the plane crashed.


3. The Earth and the Sun
Although most ancient Greek philosophers considered the Earth to be flat, Eratosthenes calculated that it was a sphere and worked out its circumference around 240 BC. Considering that he used only rough estimates, his calculation is surprisingly accurate. As it seemed obvious that the Sun moved in the sky and the Earth stood still, this was the basis of astronomy until the work of Copernicus in the 16th century. Once Copernicus's work was published in 1543, it became increasingly difficult for scientists to see the universe in the way they had done before with the Earth at the centre of the universe. However, the theory was so controversial for religious reasons that it didn't become widely known. When Galileo came to the same conclusions as Copernicus in 1610, he was accused of heresy by the Church and imprisoned, in case his view of the universe encouraged people to doubt the existence of God.