Wednesday 19th March

Welcome back !

How was your vacation ? What id you do ? Where did you go ? Anything fun that you did ?

Today we are going to work on:

Reading Comprehension
Grammar
Oral Comprehension

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1- Reading Comprehension:

1. Renewing energy and the status of coal: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/us/a-push-away-from-burning-coal-as-an-energy-source.html?ref=science

Questions:

Is the main idea of the article that the US is shifting toward new energy sources?
Why wasn't it an easy decision to make for Bill Johnson to shut down some of the plants?
What could happen in 2016?
What is the main environmental benefit of closing the coal plants?
Are environmental groups fully satisfied with the changes?

Answers :

...
...
.
.
.

2. Article: The First Public Railway

The world’s first public railway carried passengers, even though it was primarily designed to transport coal from inland mines to ports on the North Sea. Unveiled on September 27, 1825, the train had 32 open wagons and carried over 300 people.

The locomotive steam engine was power by what was termed the steam-blast technique. The chimney of the locomotive redirected exhaust steam into the engine via a narrow pipe. In this way, the steam created a draft of air which followed after it, creating more power and speed for the engine.

The train had rimmed wheels which ran atop rails that were specially designed to give the carriages a faster and smoother ride. While the small carriages could hardly be termed commodious, the locomotive could accelerate to 15 miles per hour, a record-breaking speed at that time.

Subsequently, the inventor of the locomotive, George Stephenson, revolutionized his steam engine by adding 24 further pipes. Now containing 25 tubes instead of one, Stephenson’s second “iron horse” was even faster and more powerful than his first creation.

1. Which of the following is the best meaning of the word commodious as it is used in this passage?
A. small
B. uncomfortable
C. spacious
D. speedy

2. Why was the second locomotive that Stephenson invented an improvement on his first?
A. because it ran more smoothly
B. because it was more comfortable
C. because it could carry more passengers
D. because it ran with greater force and speed

3. From the information contained in the passage, it seems reasonable to infer which of the following?
A. Many passengers were frightened about traveling on his new locomotive.
B. George Stephenson’s inventions laid the basic foundations for modern day public trains and railways.
C. Profits in the coal industry increased after the invention of the locomotive.
D. Stephenson should have been able to invent a locomotive that could run faster.

2- Grammar:

TALKING ABOUT NUMBERS

This is an English lesson which teaches you all about numbers, including: ordinal numbers, fractions, decimals, dates,big numbers, and even the numbers that appear in the names of Kings and Queens.

Ordinal Numbers

Ordinal numbers are numbers used to indicate order, for example: 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd.

Most of them are formed by adding ‘th’ to the end of regular numbers, for example: fourth (four-th), sixth (six-th), seventh (seven-th). However, there are a few irregular ones: first (1^st), second (2^nd), third (3^rd), fifth (5^th), ninth (9^th) and twelfth (12^th). Here is a list of the ordinal numbers from 1^st to 19^th.

1st – first*
2nd – second*
3rd – third*
4th – fourth
5th – fifth*
6th – sixth
7th – seventh
8th – eighth
9th – ninth*
10th – tenth
11th – eleventh
12th – twelfth*
13th – thirteenth
14th – fourteenth
15th – fifteenth
16th – sixteenth
17th – seventeenth
18th – eighteenth
19th – nineteenth

For multiples of ten, the ‘y’ at end of the word changes to ‘ie’ and the suffix ‘eth’ is added. For example, ‘twenty’ becomes ‘twentieth’. Here is a list of the multiples of ten from 20 to 90:

20^th – twentieth
30^th – thirtieth
40^th – fortieth
50^th – fiftieth
60^th – sixtieth
70^th – seventieth
80^th – eightieth
90^th – ninetieth

Note: You say 100^th as ‘one hundredth’.

Fractions

In order to say a fraction, we say the top number (numerator) as a regular number and we say the bottom number (denominator) as an ordinal number. For example, 1/8 is spoken as ‘one-eighth’.

If the top number is more than 1, then we pronounce the ordinal number as a plural. For example, 3/8 is spoken as ‘three-eighths. Here are some examples:

3/5 – three-fifths

7/12 – seven-twelfths

99/100 – ninety-nine one hundredths

There are two irregular fractions: half is used in place of second and quarter is used in place of fourth. For example, ½ is not said as ‘one-second’, it is called ‘one-half’, ‘a half’ or just ‘half’. Likewise, ¼ is not spoken as ‘one-fourth’, it is called ‘one-quarter’ or ‘a quarter’.

1 ½ – one and a half

2 ¼ – two and a quarter

For fractions above 1, the terms of measurement is made plural:

1 ½ hours – one and a half hours

1 1/3 miles – one and a third miles

2 1/8 tons – two and one-eighth tons

3- Oral Comprehension:

Listen and answer.

COLLEGE - 9TH GRADE

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