Objective: can understand referencing words at a very basic level

TEXT 1

CASE STUDY: THE KOH FAMILY

Vincent and Helen Koh live in Arcadia, California. They have three children. They are all adults now.

Ellen, the oldest, lives in Arcadia. In fact, Ellen and her parents are next-door neighbors.
Unfortunately, she does not see her parents often. She is the busy mother of three daughters. She is
the CEO of the Arcadia Savings Bank. She also volunteers twice a week at the local hospital. These are
only three of her responsibilities.

The Koh's middle child, Tim, lives in Los Angeles, about an hour away from his parents. He visits often
and helps them with their computer problems. Tim is married to Sally. Their son, Steven, is in high
school. Tim stays home and takes care of his family. He works part-time selling houses. Tim loves
risky sports. He plays ice hockey once a week. Tim, his wife, and his son go skiing almost every
weekend in the winter.

Jeff is the youngest. He is the "baby," but he is almost 40 years old. He lives in Philadelphia far away
from his parents. Jeff got his Ph.D. in biology, and he is now a university professor. Like his sister, he
also volunteers at a hospital. On weekends he performs in a comedy club. He enjoys it. When he was
young, he always made his family laugh. Now people pay him to be funny.

Practice

A. Look at the reading The Koh Family and then read the sentences below. Choose the word or
phrase from the box that means the same as the underlined word.

Ellen’s doing stand-up comedy Tim and Sally’s

Tim, Sally, and Steve Vincent and Helen Koh being a parent, a CEO, and a volunteer

1. They have three adult children. (paragraph 1) ______________________________

2. Ellen and her parents are next-door neighbours. (paragraph 2) _____________________________

3. These are only three of her responsibilities. (paragraph 2) ______________________________

4. Their son, Steven, is in high school. (paragraph 3) ______________________________

5. They all go skiing almost every weekend in the winter. (paragraph 3) ________________________

6. He enjoys it. (paragraph 4) ______________________________

UNDERSTANDING WORD REFERENCE

A noun names a person, place, thing, or idea. A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun.

When you read, it is important to connect pronouns to the correct nouns. Understanding these
connections can help you understand what you read.

Sometimes the pronoun refers to a noun in the same sentence. Other times the pronoun refers to a
noun in an earlier sentence.
Subject pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, they
For example:

They have three adult children. (They refers to Vincent and Helen Koh.)

They all go skiing almost every weekend in the winter. (They refers to Tim, Sally, and Steve.)

Object pronouns: me, you, him, her, us, them

For example: He enjoys it. (It refers to performing stand-up comedy.)

There is also a connection between nouns and possessive adjectives (my, your, his, her, its, our,
their)

For example:

Ellen and her parents are next-door neighbors. (Her refers to Ellen’s.)

Their son, Steven, is in high school. (Their refers to Tim and Sally’s.)

The words this, that, these, and those make connections to ideas stated before.

For example: These are only three of her responsibilities. (These refers to being a parent, a CEO, and
a volunteer.)

There is also often used to refer to (to, at, or in) a place.

For example:

Our son Jim’s living in Barcelona. He wants us to go there for a holiday. (There refers to ‘to
Barcelona’.)

A: Where’s my cup of tea?

B: It’s there, on the little table! (There refers to ‘on the little table’.)

You use one or ones instead of a noun that has already been mentioned or known. ‘one’ requires a
singular and ‘ones’ requires a plural reference.

For example:

The next train leaves in an hour. The last one has just left. (One refers to train.)

Could you give me my jacket, please? – Of course, is it the brown one? (One refers to jacket.)

Are the new curtains longer than the old ones? (Ones refers to curtains.)

These shoes are better. The ones I tried before didn’t fit well. (Ones refers to shoes.)
Exercise 1

Read the following paragraph about Wakamaru. Underline the subject and object pronouns in the
paragraph and then draw an arrow to the noun that each pronoun refers to.

Engineers in Japan built a sociable robot named Wakamaru. They designed Wakamaru to help and
serve people in a friendly, caring, and intelligent way. Wakamaru can recognize faces and use
gestures. It knows 10,000 words and can use them to talk to people about the weather and other
subjects. Wakamaru can do many tasks for a family. For example, at night, it moves quietly around
the house, but it can wake family members up if there is any trouble. During the day, Wakamaru can
also send them email and text messages.

Exercise 2

A. Look at the sentences below. Write the word or phrase that means the same as the underlined
words.

1. Giant pandas are black and white Chinese bears. They have a big body, rounded ears, and a short
tail. These large mammals have a big head, too.

These large mammals: ______________________________________________________________

2. The Chinese call the panda "Da xiong mao." It means "giant bear cat" in Chinese.

It: ______________________________________________________________________________

3. The panda is a symbol of peace in China. There are roughly 1,000-1,500 pandas living there.

there: ___________________________________________________________________________

4. Pandas eat about 18 kilos of bamboo each day. Although the pandas eat this plant, they cannot
digest it very well.

this plant: _______________________________________________________________________

5. Bamboo plants grow in only a few places. This limits the range of pandas tremendously.

This: The fact that _________________________________________________________________

6. Pandas usually eat while sitting in an upright position. Sitting this way, they can use their front
paws to hold their food.

this way: ________________________________________________________________________

7. Pandas have very thick, oily, woolly fur. It keeps them warm in their cold, wet mountain habitat.

It: ______________________________________________________________________________

them: ___________________________________________________________________________

8. Female pandas give birth to one or two cubs, but usually only one survives.

one:

9. Panda cubs are white at birth. Their coats take on adult colouring about a month after birth.

Their: __________________________________________________________________________
10. The giant panda evolved during the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene period. During those times,
the giant panda's range extended throughout southern China.

those times: _____________________________________________________________________

TEXT 2

Read the text carefully. Find out what the underlined words mean and choose the correct option.

On November the second, Mexicans celebrate a holiday as 1. On that day refers to ____________.
a. on a school day
old as Mexican history itself. 1On that day, children don't
b. on November the second
have to go to school because, just as they celebrate
2. they refers to ____________.
Mother's Day or Father's Day, they celebrate a special day
a. children
to remember their dead relatives. How do Mexicans b. Mexicans
celebrate this special day? Traditionally, 2they make an
3. it refers to ____________.
offering in the main room of their house. To make an a. the photo of the beloved relative
b. the tablecloth
offering, they put a piece of cut-out paper (thin coloured
paper with a design cut out) like a tablecloth on a big table. 4. those refers to ____________.
a. the favourite food and drink of their
They find a photo of their beloved relative and put 3it in the
relative
front. Then they think of that person's favourite food and b. atole, mole and tamales
drink and add 4those to the offering. If they can't remember,
5. he or she refers to ____________.
they choose typical Mexican food, atole, mole or tamales. a. one of their relatives
b. the dead beloved relative
According to the tradition, that night 5he or she will come to
their house to share the dinner with them. To guide the 6. These refers to ____________.
a. the path of flowers
person, they light some candles and make a path of flowers
b. marigolds
6
with cempasuchit (marigolds). These have been considered
7. some refers to ____________.
the special flower of the dead since pre-Hispanic times. On
a. candy skulls
this day, Mexican people eat candy skulls and also give b. marigolds
7
some to their friends. In addition to that, they make a kind
8. this refers to ____________.
8
of delicious bread for this day. This is called the Bread of a. a kind of bread
b. the dead relative
the Dead. That night, people also go to the graveyards to
greet and visit their loved ones. If you go to 9one, you will 9. one refers to ____________.
a. a graveyard
see a lot of people singing and bringing flowers and food.
b. the house of a relative
This holiday in Mexico is unique in the world. Many
10. there refers to ____________.
foreigners who live 10there are amazed and enjoy seeing the
a. in the world
Mexicans remember their dead with such happiness. b. in Mexico
TEXT 3

Read the following paragraph. Find what the underlined words refer to and write them into the
parentheses.
I lose so many things that I’m sure that they (1 things) just get up and walk away. I am jealous of
some people. They are so orderly that they (2_______________) never lose anything. Pens and
pencils are never there when I need them (3_________________). I try to keep a pen near the
telephone so that I will use it when the phone rings. But it is never there when I need it
(4_________________). The situation was getting so bad that I decided to do something about it. I
bought a large cupboard with a number of shelves. I then put ten boxes on them
(5_________________). I put a label on each box: one (6_________________) I labeled “Pens and
Pencils,” another (7_________________) I labeled “Tools,” another “Needles and Pins.” I also bought
an address book and put it in the corner of the cupboard. Before this, I always lost all the addresses
and phone numbers I needed. Now I felt very proud of myself. But things did not change. Pens began
to disappear, and one day I found my hammer under the bed. There was only one solution. I locked
the cupboard and put the key on top of it (8_________________). The cupboard was always locked
and I was the only one who knew where the key was. Then I lost it (9_________________) . . .
TEXT 1 Northstar 1 Reading and Writing, p.153
Practice
A. 1. Vincent and Helen Koh
2. Ellen’s
3. being a parent, a CEO, and a volunteer
4. Tim and Sally’s
5. Tim, Sally, and Steve
6. doing stand-up comedy

Exercise 1 https://ngl.cengage.com/assets/downloads/pathways_pro0000000046/pathwaysrw_1_unit6.pdf
1. engineers: they 2. Wakamaru: it 3. 10,000 words: them 4. family members: them

Exercise 2 off-line readings 1_MetuPress, p.17

1. giant pandas 6. in an upright position
2. Da xiong mao 7. thick, oily, woolly fur / pandas
3. in China 8. one panda cub
4. bamboo 9. Panda cubs’
5. The fact that bamboo plants grow in only a 10. during the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene
few places period

TEXT 2 Adapted from off-line readings 1_MetuPress, p5

1.b 2.b 3.a 4.a 5.b 6.b 7.a 8.a 9.a 10.b

TEXT 3 5. shelves
http://englishusb112.pbworks.com/f/guia_focus_reading.pdf 6. box
1. things 7. box
2. orderly people 8. cupboard
3. pen and pencils 9. key
4. pen