Complete English Basics 1 student book sample/look inside

1

A class and homework course

THIRD EDITION

Rex Sadler Sandra Sadler

This edition published in 2021 by

Matilda Education Australia, an imprint

of Meanwhile Education Pty Ltd

Level 1/274 Brunswick St

Fitzroy, Victoria Australia 3065

T: 1300 277 235

E: customersupport@matildaed.com.au

www.matildaeducation.com.au

First edition published in 2007 by

Macmillan Science and Education Australia Pty Ltd

Copyright © Rex Sadler and Sandra Sadler 2007, 2010, 2017

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

All rights reserved.

Except under the conditions described in the

Copyright Act 1968 of Australia (the Act) and subsequent amendments,

no part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,

electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,

without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

Educational institutions copying any part of this book

for educational purposes under the Act must be covered by a

Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) licence for educational institutions

and must have given a remuneration notice to CAL.

Licence restrictions must be adhered to. For details of the CAL licence, contact:

Copyright Agency Limited, Level 11, 66 Goulburn Street, Sydney, NSW 2000.

Telephone: (02) 9394 7600. Facsimile: (02) 9394 7601. Email: memberservices@copyright.com.au

Publication data

Authors: Rex Sadler and Sandra Sadler

Title: Complete English Basics 1: A Class and Homework Course

ISBN: 978 1 4202 3709 2

Publisher: Emma Cooper

Project editor: Barbara Delissen

Cover and text designer: Dimitrios Frangoulis

Production control: Janine Biderman

Photo research and permissions clearance: Vanessa Roberts

Typeset in Heuristica Regular 10.5/12pt by Dim Frangoulis

Cover image: Shutterstock/Ipatov

Printed in Malaysia by Vivar Printing Pdt Ltd

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 25 24 23 22 21 20

Warning: It is recommended that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples exercise caution

when viewing this publication as it may contain images of deceased persons.

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

vii

viii

1 Enjoying texts 1

Comprehension Film review 1

Poem 3

Information report 4

Spelling and vocabulary Texts 6

Language Sentences 7

Phrases 9

Punctuation Why do we use punctuation marks? 10

The craft of writing Becoming a better writer 11

2 Ancient times 12

Comprehension Gladiators 12

Spelling and vocabulary Ancient worlds 14

Language Nouns 15

Punctuation Starting and finishing sentences 17

The craft of writing People from other times 18

3 Around the world 19

Comprehension Expedition to the jungles of Borneo 19

Spelling and vocabulary Getaway 21

Language Common and proper nouns 22

Punctuation Making sense with sentences 24

The craft of writing Life experiences 25

4 People26

Comprehension Mrs Pratchett 26

Spelling and vocabulary Occupations 28

Language Nouns—gender 29

Punctuation Capital letters and full stops 30

The craft of writing People 32

5 Climb every mountain 33

Comprehension Cliffhanger 33

Spelling and vocabulary On the mountain 35

Language Collective nouns 37

Punctuation Statements and questions 38

The craft of writing Overcoming adversity 39

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iii

iv Contents

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6 Feelings and emotions 40

Comprehension What it feels like to survive a volcanic eruption 40

Spelling and vocabulary That’s life! 42

Language Abstract nouns 43

Punctuation Types of sentences 44

The craft of writing What it feels like to … 46

7 Drive47

Comprehension Car accident 47

Spelling and vocabulary On the road 49

Language Revision—nouns 51

Punctuation Using capital letters for proper nouns 52

The craft of writing An accident 53

8 Marooned!54

Comprehension The blue dolphins 54

Spelling and vocabulary Survival 56

Language Synonyms 58

Punctuation Commas 59

The craft of writing Castaway 60

9 Food, glorious food! 61

Comprehension The pizza 61

Spelling and vocabulary Food, food, food! 63

Language Antonyms 64

Punctuation Apostrophes—abbreviating words 65

The craft of writing Food, glorious food 67

10 Cities68

Comprehension A city under siege 68

Spelling and vocabulary Cityscape 70

Language Homonyms 71

Punctuation Apostrophes—avoiding confusion 73

The craft of writing Cities, towns and other places 74

11 Fantasy75

Comprehension The Grand High Witch 75

Spelling and vocabulary The world of fantasy 77

Language Adjectives 79

Punctuation Apostrophes—ownership 80

The craft of writing Villains 81

12 Alien worlds 82

Comprehension The Tripod 82

Spelling and vocabulary Space mission 84

Language Verbs 85

Punctuation Capital letters 86

The craft of writing The time machine 88

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v

13 The animal kingdom 89

Comprehension Skunks 89

Spelling and vocabulary Creatures great and small 91

Language Idioms 92

Punctuation Uses of the comma 94

The craft of writing Animal experiences 95

14 Fashion96

Comprehension Jeans 96

Spelling and vocabulary Glitz and glamour 98

Language Adverbs 100

Punctuation Abbreviations 101

The craft of writing Clothes and fashions 102

15 Speaking personally 103

Comprehension Chased by a boar 103

Spelling and vocabulary Describing people 105

Language Word families 107

Punctuation Paragraphs 108

The craft of writing Eyewitness accounts 109

16 The long arm of the law 110

Comprehension The worst bank robbers 110

The noisiest burglar 111

Spelling and vocabulary Law and order 112

Language Prefixes 113

Punctuation Quotation marks for speech 115

The craft of writing A crime scene 116

17 The world of computers 117

Comprehension Space demons 117

Spelling and vocabulary Computers 119

Language Suffixes 120

Punctuation More about quotation marks 121

The craft of writing Inventions 123

18 House and home 124

Comprehension Bilbo Baggins’s house and home 124

Spelling and vocabulary Home, sweet home 126

Language Making comparisons using similes 127

Punctuation Direct and indirect speech 129

The craft of writing Houses and homes 130

19 Wildfire131

Comprehension Firestorm 131

Spelling and vocabulary Fire 133

Language Making comparisons—similes and metaphors 134

Punctuation Using quotation marks for titles 136

The craft of writing Disaster 137

vi Contents

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20 Family and friends 138

Comprehension A friend in need 138

Spelling and vocabulary Family and friends 140

Language Using better words 141

Punctuation Punctuating lists 143

The craft of writing Family and friends 144

21 Sun, surf and sand 145

Comprehension A shark tried to eat me 145

Spelling and vocabulary The beach 147

Language Shades of meaning 148

Punctuation Revision—punctuating sentences 149

The craft of writing The sea 150

22 Just in time 151

Comprehension The land that time forgot 151

Spelling and vocabulary Words in time 153

Language Prefixes and suffixes 154

Punctuation Revision—sentences 155

The craft of writing Long, long ago 156

Back-of-the-book dictionary 157

Preface

Complete English Basics 1 sets out to present essential English skills in an interesting and

meaningful way for junior secondary students.

This third edition covers essential language and literacy skills underpinning the Australian

Curriculum. It incorporates a wide range of comprehension texts, spelling and vocabulary

development, as well as language work on sentences, phrases, parts of speech, word families

and paragraphing. It is important to note that 22 creative writing tasks—linked to the ideas and

techniques contained in the Literature section—have now been added.

The workbook can be used as a class or homework text. One approach would be to have

students complete each unit over a two-week period.

The stimulus materials and exercises are designed to improve comprehension and

vocabulary skills as well as language usage and spelling. A special feature is the back-of-the-book

dictionary, which encourages students to expand their vocabulary by looking up the meanings of

unfamiliar words.

Correct spelling is essential for good communication. Research has shown that in those

classrooms where teachers are concerned about correct spelling and vocabulary enrichment,

the students’ spelling level improves significantly. It is a good idea, if time allows, to have a brief

spelling test at the end of each unit using the words from the spelling and vocabulary list.

The extracts are engaging and cover a diverse range of topics—from shark attacks to

gladiators. A range of genres is represented, including biography, crime, fiction and adventure.

Above all, we hope that students will enjoy their English studies as they gain basic English

skills.

Rex and Sandra Sadler

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vii

Acknowledgements

The author and publisher are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce copyright material:

Photographs

Alamy/A.F. ARCHIVE, 60, 102, /cbstockfoto, 4, /Pictorial Press,

116; Getty Images, 56, /Jetta Productions, 3, /Popperfoto,

109; iStockphoto.com/AlexRaths, 32, /Joel Carillet, 39, /

CoreyFord, 156, /Derek Dammann, 19, /DarthArt, 133, /

demaerre, 119, /Jacques van Dinteren, 54, /Emilie Duchesne,

67, /duncan1890, 74, /marta maria fontana, 96, /Georgijevic,

70, /Global_Pics, 145, /Karim Hesham, 14, /Imgorthand, 18,

/Kenishirotie, 123, /Iryna Kurhan, 75, /Catherine Lane, 98,

/Tina Lorien, 68, /Franklin Lugenbeel, 47, /Lysogor, 137, /

mandygodbehear, 82, /Mike Morley, 138, /Karen Mower, 53,

/Barış Muratoğlu, 153, /OJO_Images, 140, /Onfokus, 112, /

photocritical, 117, /RapidEye, 26, / John Sommer, 42, / Dieter

Spears, 84, / tirc83, 110, /Rex_Wholster, 77, /XiXinXing, 126;

THE KOBAL COLLECTION/DREAMWORKS/UNIVERSAL/

BUITENDIJK, JAAP, 12; Shutterstock/ Algol, 88, /Big Pants

Production, 89, // DM7, 151, /Alex Hinds, 15, /Brent Hofacker,

61, / JAZZDOG, 124, /K Jensen, 25, /Iakov Kalinin, 21, 147, /

Elena Kalistratova, 40, /Kencana Studio, 49, /Longjourneys,

46, /Lucky Business, 63, /mervas, 11, /NarongchaiHlaw, 105, /

Sean Pavone, 130, 131, /Dasha Petrenko, 95, /Pressmaster, 28,

/sivanadar, 91, /Vixit, 33, 35.

Other material

Extract from The Zoo Expeditions by David Attenborough,

Penguin UK, p191, © David Attenborough Productions

Ltd 1980, reproduced with permission of The Lutterworth

Press, 20; Account of Titanic sinking by George Brayton, 109;

Excerpt from Adrift by Steve Callahan. Copyright © 1986

by Steven Callahan. Reprinted by permission of Houghton

Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved, 150;

Extract from The Boy Who Was Afraid by Armstrong Sperry,

Heinemann Educational Publishers, 1969, 8; Cover of Adrift

by Steve Callahan. Copyright © 1986 by Steven Callahan.

Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Publishing Company. All rights reserved, 150; Extract from

Firestorm! by Roger Vaughan Carr, Thomas Nelson Australia,

reproduced with permission by Penguin Group (Australia)

and Roger Vaughan Carr, 131–2; Extract from The Witches

by Roald Dahl, Jonathan Cape Ltd. & Penguin Books Ltd, ©

Roald Dahl, reproduced with permission of David Higham

Associates, 75-6; Extract from Boy by Roald Dahl, Puffin Books,

UK, © Roald Dahl 1984, reproduced with permission of David

Higham Associates, 26; 47–8; Extract from The Story Makers:

A collection of interviews with Australian and New Zealand

Authors and Illustrators for Young People, edited by Margaret

Dunkle. Oxford University Press, 1987, 11; Extract and cover

from A Fortunate Life by AB Facey, Puffin, 1985, Reproduced

with permission by Penguin Group (Australia), 103–4; Extract

from Fear No Boundary by Lincoln Hall and Sue Fear, Hachette

Australia, 2005, 33; Extract from Collision Course by Nigel

Hinton, Oxford University Press, 1976, 53; Extract from Boy

Overboard by Morris Gleitzman, Puffin, 2002, 39; Extract from

The Rocks of Honey by Patricia Wrightson, Puffin, 1960, 8;

Extract from What it feels like ... by AJ Jacobs, HarperCollins,

UK, © Esquire Magazine (US) 2003, reprinted by permission

of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 40; Extract from I Can Jump

Puddles by Alan Marshall, Longman Cheshire, 1955, reprinted

by permission of Penguin Group Australia Ltd, 138–7; Extracts,

The Book of Heroic Failures by Stephen Pile, © 1979 Stephen

Pile. Reproduced by permission of the author c/o Rogers,

Coleridge & White Ltd, 20 Powis Mews, London W11 1JN, 110,

111; Extract from Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo by

Zlata Filipovic, translated by Christina Pribichevich-Zoric,

Viking 1994, first published in France as ‘Le Journal de Zlata’

by Fixot et editions Robert Laffont 1993, © Fixot et editions

Robert Laffont 1993, reproduced by permission of Penguin

Books Ltd, 68–9; Extract from Space Demons by Gillian

Rubenstein. © Gillian Rubenstein, 1986. First published by

Omnibus Books, a division of Scholastic Australia, 1986.

Reproduced with permission of Scholastic Australia Pty

Limited, 117–18; Extract from Cannery Row by John Steinbeck,

Viking Press, 1945, 8; Extract from The Light beyond the Forest

by Rosemary Sutcliff, The Bodley Head, 1979, 74; ‘How to

Train Your Dragon 3D’ by Andrew L Urban, The Sun-Herald,

23 March 2010 (Based on the original review published on

www.urbancinefile.com.au, March 23, 2010), 1; Quote from

Rosemary Sutcliff, 74; Extract from Blue Fin by Colin Thiele,

HarperCollins, 1974, 7; Extract from February Dragon by Colin

Thiele, HarperCollins 1965, 7; Extract from Blueback by Tim

Winton, Pan Macmillan Australia, 1987, 46; Book cover of

Lockie Leonard by Tim Winton, Penguin Books Australia, 2007,

144; Extract from Lockie Leonard Human Torpedo by Tim

Winton, Jenny Darling and Associates, 144; Extract from Time

and Tide by Tim Winton, 25.

The author and publisher would like to acknowledge the

following:

‘Our new teacher’ by David Bateson, 3; Extract from The

White Mountains by John Christopher, Penguin Books Ltd,

reproduced with permission of John Christopher, 82-3;

Extract, ‘A shark tried to eat me’ by Brian Rodger in Shark

Hunters by Ben Cropp, Rigby Ltd, 1964, 145. Extract from

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell, Copyright © 1960

by Scott O’Dell, renewed 1988 by Scott O’Dell, reprinted with

permission of McIntosh & Otis, Inc, 54–5; Extract from The

Hobbit by JRR Tolkien, Harper Collins, 1937, 81, 124–5.

While every care has been taken to trace and acknowledge

copyright, the publisher tenders their apologies for any

accidental infringement where copyright has proved

untraceable. They would be pleased to come to a suitable

arrangement with the rightful owner in each case.

viii 978 1 4202 3709 2

Enjoying texts

1

Comprehension

Read the following texts and answer the questions for each one.

Film review

How to Train Your Dragon 3D

CRITICS RATING 8/10

Rated PG

WHAT if your dad was the strong, not-so-silent

type, the leader of the Viking tribe, going about

his daily business of slaying dragons ... and you

were a spindly-legged weakling teenager?

You’d probably feel like Hiccup (voiced by Jay

Baruchel), a spindly-legged weakling teenager

who doesn’t fit his family’s long line of dragon

slayers in the land of Berk. It’s a constant source

of shame for his father, Stoick (voiced by Gerard

Butler), a big, burly Viking (with a big Scottish

burr).

But when Hiccup comes face to snout with

one of the most feared of the dragons, he

inadvertently discovers a more positive and

powerful way of dealing with the Viking’s ‘dragon

problem’ than using a sword or a sledgehammer

and goes on to change the lives of his entire

tribe—and that of the dragons. That’s the

essential moral of the story, that problems can be

solved without violence. Not a bad message. The

film also covers the father–son relationship with

an equally positive message.

Talk to the animals …

Viking teenager Hiccup befriends

Toothless the dragon

Magnificent 3D animation brings this family

movie to life. The screenplay is smart, funny and

has something to say. But perhaps the target

audience of 10- to 14-year-olds will be even more

impressed with the spectacular flying sequences,

with Hiccup riding bareback through the air—or

the mass fly-past by a dozen different types of

dragons.

The production elements all contribute to the

immersive experience of an adventure in which

humour plays a key role and the main characters

quickly become familiar and real.

There is a hint of romance as Hiccup and the

feisty Astrid (voiced by Ferrera) find common

ground and the charmingly fearsome, felineinspired

dragon, Toothless, makes an indelible

impression.

The screenplay is based on Cressida Cowell’s

popular book, which could become as hot as a

dragon’s breath.

Andrew L Urban

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2 Complete English Basics 1

978 1 4202 3709 2

Reading for understanding

1 How do you know from the first paragraph that the movie is a fantasy?

2 What evidence can you find in the first paragraph to show that Hiccup is not a character

you would expect to be the hero?

3 In what ways is Hiccup’s father different to him?

4 Where do Hiccup and his father live?

5 What is the essential moral of the story?

6 Give an example of an equally positive message in the film.

7 Who, according to the reviewer, is the target audience of the film?

8 What flying sequences did the reviewer feel would be likely to impress younger viewers?

9 Identify the reviewer’s simile that predicts an increase in popularity of the book on

which the film is based.

10 Using the back-of-the-book dictionary, give the meaning of:

a burr:

b inadvertently:

c fearsome:

d feline:

e indelible:

10 marks

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1 Enjoying texts 3

Poem

Our new teacher

This teacher has such scary teeth,

they look just like a shark’s;

His eyes gleam in the sunlight

like a pair of purple sparks.

His voice is just as booming

as the roar from some big gun;

He can imitate a thunderstorm

for a gruesome bit of fun.

And now Billy who was silly

almost every other day

Does his tables, writes his spellings,

hides his comic book away.

Every lesson lasts a lifetime ...

with our noses to each page,

We imagine bars on windows

and the classroom seems a cage.

So, please come back, Miss Fothergill:

though you won’t believe it’s true,

We all loved you as our teacher;

we were oh, so fond of you!

David Bateson


1 Who seems to be the narrator of this poem?

2 What does the simile ‘like a shark’s’ suggest about the new teacher’s teeth?

3 Identify the simile that describes the gleaming of the new teacher’s eyes.

4 What is the sound of the new teacher’s voice similar to?

5 How has Billy’s behaviour changed?

6 Explain the meaning of ‘with our noses to each page’.

7 Why do you think the narrator says, ‘We imagine bars on windows’?


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8 What is the narrator’s plea in the final stanza?

9 What contrast do you think there would be between Miss Fothergill and the new

teacher?

10 Write down words that rhyme with each of the following:

a

b

c

shark’s

page

true

10 marks

Information report

The taipan—the world’s deadliest snake

AUSTRALIA is home to two different types of

taipan—the inland taipan and the coastal taipan.

The inland taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus),

which grows up to 2.5 m, produces the deadliest

venom of any snake in the world, but luckily

it only lives in the deserts of central eastern

Australia, where few humans visit. No human

deaths caused by the inland taipan have been

recorded, because an effective antivenom has

been produced.

Inland taipans live in deep cracks in the soil

to escape the extreme heat of summer. During

summer their scales are a light straw colour to

reflect the heat, whereas in winter their scales

change to a dark brown in order to absorb the

sun’s rays.

The inland taipan’s favourite food is native

rats. When the rats are plentiful, the population

of the snakes rises dramatically—female taipans

lay between 12 and 20 eggs in the soil or in

abandoned animal burrows. In extremely dry

years, however, the rat population decreases

through starvation, so there is little food for the

snakes and their death rate rises.

The longest recorded coastal taipan was

3.35 m. Coastal taipans (Oxyuranus scutellatus)

live in northern Queensland and in the Northern

Territory. They are often seen in sugar-growing

areas and on grassy sand dunes. Their favourite

foods are small, warm-blooded mammals such as

rats, lizards, quolls and bandicoots.

Coastal taipans are very aggressive and

Coastal taipan

have large fangs through which they inject a

very potent venom. The venom is capable of

paralysing small marsupials in a very short time.

One strike could potentially deliver enough toxin

to kill several humans. Coastal taipans have been

responsible for many human deaths. The toxins

in the venom cause communication between the

body’s muscles and the brain to shut down. Once

bitten, the taipan’s prey convulses and suffers

from internal bleeding and the taipan waits for its

prey to die before devouring it.

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1 Enjoying texts 5


1 ‘No human deaths caused by the inland taipan have been recorded.’ Why?

2 Which type of taipan is the longer?

3 How does the inland taipan escape from the extreme heat of summer?

4 What is the reason for the difference in the colour of the inland taipan’s scales between

summer and winter?

5 What causes the death rate of the inland taipan to rise?

6 Why is the coastal taipan more likely to kill a human than the inland taipan?

7 What are the coastal taipan’s favourite foods?

8 Why is the taipan’s bite extremely dangerous for humans?

9 What effect does the toxin in the taipan’s venom have on an animal’s nervous system?

10 Using the back-of-the-book dictionary, write down the meaning of these words:

a dunes:

b potent:

c toxin:

10 marks


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Spelling and vocabulary

Texts

Spelling tests can be created

from the word list in each unit.

myth documentary advertisement poem magazine

legend autobiography interview ballad newspaper

recipe cartoon fantasy novel epitaph

drama narrative fiction symbol menu

comedy tragedy letter haiku atlas

diary speech dictionary elegy biography

What text am I?

Use the following clues to identify the texts from the list.

1 I enable people to read the news each day

2 I give people the meanings and spellings of words

3 I am a book of maps

4 I am a list of dishes served in a restaurant

5 I am a funny drawing or animated film

6 I am a three-line poem of 17 syllables

7 I am a story of a person’s life written by somebody else

8 I am a simple poem with short verses that tells a story

9 I am the words written on a tombstone

10 I am a list of ingredients in cooking instructions

11 I am a written message often sent by post

12 I am a record of daily happenings

13 I am a notice about something for sale

14 I am a story about imaginary worlds and creatures

15 I am a meeting in which someone is asked questions

16 I am a mournful poem ending in ‘y’

16 marks

Word skills

1 Write down the following words in alphabetical order.

haiku newspaper fantasy fiction documentary letter dictionary

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1 Enjoying texts 7

2 By adding the suffixes –ist or –er, write down the name of the person derived from each

of these words:

a diary c interview

b novel d biography

Back-of-the-book dictionary

The word ‘advertisement’ is derived from the Latin words ad and verto.

Ad means ‘towards’ and verto (versus) means ‘I turn’. The advertiser sets

out to sell a particular product by ‘turning’ the desire of the audience

‘towards’ it. Use the back-of-the-book dictionary to write down the

meanings of the following words derived from verto.

5 marks

divert:

reverse:

vertigo:

convert:

invert:

5 marks

Language

Sentences

A sentence is a group of words that makes complete sense by itself. A sentence is usually made up

of two parts. The part that tells us who or what does the action is called the subject. The number

of words in the subject varies. The subject can be a noun or pronoun or a group of words. The rest

of the sentence is called the predicate. The predicate always includes the verb. The subject in the

following sentences is in italics. The remainder in normal type is the predicate.

Gigantic updrafts and downdrafts of air swept through the vortex above them.

from Blue Fin by Colin Thiele

The whole crest of the slope above them suddenly boiled over with flame.

from February Dragon by Colin Thiele

Identifying the subject and predicate

To find the subject of a sentence, ask ‘Who?’ or ‘What?’ before the verb. Write down the subjects

of these well-crafted sentences.

1 A great column of water rose up out of the sea. (from Blue Fin by Colin Thiele)

Subject:

Predicate:


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2 Hundreds of tons of water seemed to crash down on the ship. (from Blue Fin by Colin

Thiele)

Subject:

Predicate:

3 A burst of lightning lit up the sea with supernatural brilliance. (from The Boy Who Was

Afraid by Armstrong Sperry)

Subject:

Predicate:

4 An instantaneous crack of thunder shattered the world. (from The Boy Who Was Afraid

by Armstrong Sperry)

Subject:

Predicate:

5 The anemones expand like soft and brilliant flowers. (from Cannery Row by John

Steinbeck)

Subject:

Predicate:

6 The greenish purple cloud was looming heavily over and along the opposite hills. (from

The Rocks of Honey by Patricia Wrightson)

Subject:

Predicate:

12 marks

Missing subjects

Complete the following sentences by adding a subject from the box.

Tokyo Joan of Arc The Nile Ned Kelly

Michelangelo Harry Potter Shakespeare Greenland

Mt Everest The Pacific Mercedes Alfred Nobel

1 is the least densely populated country in the world.

2 wrote the tragedy Romeo and Juliet.

3 painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

4 is a famous character in a series of novels.

5 is a very high mountain.

6 was an Australian bushranger.

7 is the world’s largest ocean.

8 is the longest river in the world.

9 invented dynamite in 1866.

10 is a French heroine.

11 is the make of a famous car.

12 is the capital city of Japan.

12 marks

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1 Enjoying texts 9

Phrases

A phrase is a group of words that does not make sense on its own. Unlike a sentence, a phrase does

not have a finite (or complete) verb.

at the zoo an elephant in the shower flying dragons

Identifying sentences and phrases

Write the word ‘phrase’ or ‘sentence’ next to each of the following examples.

1 At midday 7 She visited the zoo

2 By the river 8 Going away

3 He watched the movie 9 I‘ve been to school

4 They went home 10 A few days ago

5 I love cooking 11 Over the rainbow

6 Inside the cave 12 The computer crashed

12 marks

Completing phrases

Complete each of the following phrases by inserting the name of the missing object.

e.g. the pendulum of a

the pendulum of a clock

1 the radius of a 6 the yolk of an

2 the spokes of a 7 the lens of a

3 the fuselage of an 8 the kernel of a

4 the rungs of a 9 the summit of a

5 the hilt of a 10 the chapter of a

10 marks

Missing phrases

Phrases often give sentences greater vitality. In the following passage, Obie has fallen head over

heels in love with Laurie. The writer uses both phrases and sentences to communicate Obie’s

feelings. Correctly insert the phrases from the box that are missing from the passage.

in a rosy haze in love in the movies at the sight of her into the earth on his face

Obie in love

Obie was

. Wildly, improbably and wonderfully in love. The kind of thing he thought

happened only

. Her name was Laurie Gundarson and she was beautiful.

Obie’s legs dissolved

, and he felt as though he would sink

and disappear. He had never known such happiness or such sweet torture. He

lived his days and nights

and went around with a stunned and radiant

expression .

from Beyond the Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

6 marks


978 1 4202 3709 2

Punctuation

Why do we use punctuation marks?

When we are speaking, we naturally stop at the end of a sentence. We also use pauses to help our

listeners follow our meaning. We can even indicate a question or exclamation by changing the

pitch of our voice.

In our writing, we use punctuation marks to indicate these pauses and changes of expression.

Can you imagine how confusing it would be to read and write without punctuation? The purpose

of punctuation marks is to clarify written language. It is possible for one punctuation mark to

alter the whole meaning of a sentence. Look at the difference a mere comma makes in these two

sentences:

Let’s eat Grandma!

Let’s eat, Grandma!

Using punctuation to change the meaning

Rewrite the following sentences, changing the punctuation in each sentence to produce a more

accurate meaning. Hints are given in brackets.

1 Has the doctor rung Elizabeth? (Add a comma.)

2 Have you eaten Father? (Add a comma.)

3 The visitors ate ice-cream cheese chocolate pizza and meat pies. (Insert three

commas.)

4 The huskies, having eaten the explorers, moved on. (Remove the two existing commas

and add a new comma.)

5 Caesar entered on his head

A helmet on each foot

A sandal in his hand he had

His trusty sword to boot.

(Add full stops and capital letters.)

6 Emily gets enjoyment from cooking her family and her dog. (Add a comma.)

7 The amazing giant panda eats, shoots and leaves. (Remove comma.)

7 marks

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1 Enjoying texts 11

The craft of writing

Becoming a better writer

From time to time, successful writers give practical

advice on what techniques have helped them in their

writing careers. Here is a very important hint from author

Christobel Mattingley:

When you write about something you know, the words

come more easily. It may be real—a place, a person or a

happening. Or it may be something in your own mind,

that you’ve made up. It has to be so real to you that your

words make it live for other people. Then it is true to

itself. And you are true to yourself.

Here is an opportunity to write about something you know. Write 200 words on one of the

following:

• Recount some of your earliest childhood memories. Begin ‘I remember when …’

• Describe your first days at high school.

• Write a description titled ‘My bedroom’.

2 Ancient times

Comprehension

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

Gladiators

ROMAN gladiators were typically

slaves, prisoners of war or convicted

criminals. There were differ ent types

of gladiators. As the Roman Empire

expanded, many of the prisoners

of war who became gladiators wore

the clothes and weapons associated

with their conquered country. For

example, Samnites carried oblong

shields and short swords and

wore plumed helmets with visors.

Thracians used small, round shields

and fought with curved daggers.

The ‘net men’ carried large nets to

entwine their opponent and then

killed them with a trident, a threepronged

weapon.

Some gladiators, called bestiarii,

were trained to fight wild animals.

The number of animals killed in any

one day was astonishing. During the

special games, which Trajan held

when he became Emperor, 9000

animals were slaughtered.

Strangely enough, a number of free citizens

chose to become gladiators and to renounce

their rights as citizens. These were mainly poorer

people who chose this life because gladiators, on

the whole, were well fed and were given proper

medical care. Even members of higher social

status sometimes chose to enter a gladiator

school if their family had financial problems.

Most owners and trainers regarded their

gladiators as an investment and ensured they

were well looked after.

If a gladiator was wounded and unable to fight

on, he gave the sign for mercy. It was up to the

crowd to either give the thumbs-up sign to say

they wanted him to be spared or the thumbsdown

sign to say they wished to see him die.

Usually gladiators fought four or five matches

a year and could win their freedom by showing

bravery or becoming popular with the crowd.

If a gladiator survived, he could be granted his

freedom and may even be given a monetary

reward. Gladiators could never become Roman

citizens, but they could marry citizens and their

children could become citizens.

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2 Ancient times 13


1 What people were more likely to become gladiators?

2 Explain how gladiators came to dress differently and use different weapons.

3 What weapons did the Samnites carry?

4 What protective equipment for the head did the Samnites wear?

5 What weapons did the Thracian gladiators use?

6 Why were the bestiarii different from other gladiators?

7 What event took place when Trajan was Emperor?

8 Why did some free citizens decide to become gladiators?

9 Why did most owners ensure that their gladiators were well looked after?

10 What did a gladiator do if he was wounded or unable to fight on?

11 How did the crowd indicate that the gladiator should live or die?

12 How could gladiators win their freedom?

12 marks


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Ancient worlds

pharaoh weapon burial gladiator

pyramid shield conqueror centurion

tomb sword dungeon powerful

papyrus dagger heroes guard

treasure soldier emperor cavalry

chariot warriors sphinx military

Words and meanings

Write down a word from the spelling list for each of these meanings.

1 an Egyptian ruler

2 a group of soldiers riding horses

3 paper made from a tall water plant

4 a two-wheeled carriage

5 a huge Egyptian tomb

6 a dark underground prison

7 men or women admired for brave deeds

8 soldiers or fighting men

9 a person who fought at the Colosseum

10 a person who rules an empire

10 marks

Missing words

Insert appropriate words from the spelling list in the spaces below. The first letters are given to

help you. Each word should be used once only.

1 Sometimes gladiators were armed with a s and s .

2 A Roman c was a s in charge of a hundred men.

3 A Roman e was so p he could have any of his

subjects imprisoned in a d under g .

4 In Egypt, tourists can see a s and a pyramid of a famous

p .

5 T raiders broke into the b chamber of a p

in search of t .

6 Egyptian tombs sometimes contain a c , a w such as

a d and remnants of p .

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2 Ancient times 15

7 In ancient times, stories would be told of h and w .

8 The Egyptians were a m nation and had their own c .


The Latin word centum means ‘one hundred’. A centurion commanded

a hundred men. With the help of the back-of-the-book dictionary,

write down words beginning with cent- for each of these meanings.

a period of one hundred years:

one-hundredth part of one dollar:

one-hundredth part of one metre:

a small invertebrate animal with many (‘a hundred’) legs:

a temperature scale in which there are 100 degrees between freezing (0°C) and

boiling point (100°C):

22 marks

Language

5 marks

Nouns

Nouns are naming words. They are used to name:

people: gladiator mother teacher Roald Dahl Cate Blanchett

places: harbour school hospital Egypt Colosseum

things: sword apple chair car road

qualities: honour sadness love happiness bravery

Missing nouns

An analogy is a form of comparison; for example: Soldier is to army as sailor is to navy.

Complete the following analogies by supplying the missing nouns.

1 Day is to week as month is to .

2 Wing is to as fin is to fish.

3 is to son as mother is to daughter.

4 Cat is to as dog is to puppy.

5 Aunt is to niece as uncle is to .

6 North is to as east is to west.

7 Car is to as bicycle is to cyclist.

8 Tongue is to taste as is to smell.

9 Hearing is to ear as sight is to .

10 Food is to as water is to thirst.

10 marks


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Nouns in everyday life

Choose nouns from the list and insert them in the spaces below in their correct categories.

eagle Nile yacht mosquito peach Amazon

soccer bee Paris cherry anger golf

fear London cicada joy tennis Murray

canoe hawk banana Cairo dove catamaran

fruits cities boats birds

rivers sports feelings insects

24 marks

Noun pyramid

Find the words from the box hidden in the word pyramid. They may be horizontal or vertical,

or written forwards or backwards.

pyramid soldier burial shield

dagger tomb guard military

P

R Y E

D E R L Y

E L I A B D O

S B E D M A R T A

T O M I L I T A R Y N

H O H O H O D B U R I A L

G L O O T S S R E G G A D X H

8 marks

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2 Ancient times 17

Punctuation

Starting and finishing sentences

We write in sentences so that our words will be easier to read and understand. A sentence that

makes a statement begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop. For example:

Roman gladiators were typically slaves, prisoners of war or convicted criminals.

Punctuating sentences

Rewrite these statements, using capital letters and full stops.

1 the ancient Egyptian civilisation began more than 5000 years ago

2 tomb robbers broke into the pyramids to steal the treasures inside

3 water was lifted from the Nile using a device called a shaduf

4 the rulers of ancient Egypt were called pharaohs

5 the ancient Egyptians worshipped more than 1000 different gods and goddesses

6 the three pyramids at the town of Giza are more than 4500 years old

7 as god of the dead, Osiris was in charge of the underworld

8 each block used to build the Great Pyramid weighed as much as two-and-a-half

elephants

9 the Egyptians invented a form of picture writing called hieroglyphics

10 without the Nile, Egypt would be all desert

10 marks


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People from other times

Select one of the following people from a bygone age and write a description of about 200 words.

Give details of your character’s physical appearance, clothing, behaviour etc. Arthur Conan Doyle’s

description of an archer from the Middle Ages will give you some ideas.

• gladiator • slave • centurion • warrior • explorer

• queen • king • monk • peasant • maid

• pharaoh • artist • pirate • sultan • duchess

The archer

He was a middle-sized man, of massive build. His shaven face was as

brown as a hazel-nut, tanned and dried by the weather, with harsh,

well-marked features, which were not improved by a long white scar

which stretched from the corner of his left nostril to the angle of the

jaw. His eyes were bright and searching, with something of menace

and of authority in their quick glitter, and his mouth was firm-set

and hard. A straight sword by his side and a painted long-bow jutting

over his shoulder proclaimed his profession, while his scarred chainmail

and his dinted steel cap showed that he was even now fresh

from the wars.

from The White Company by Arthur Conan Doyle

Around

the world

3

Comprehension

Read the following passage and answer the questions.

Expedition to the jungles of Borneo

THE orang-utan hung above us, baring his yellow

teeth and squealing angrily. He must have been

nearly four feet tall and weighed perhaps ten

stone—I was sure that he was larger than any

I had ever seen in captivity. He climbed to the

top of a slender branch until it bent beneath

his weight and curved downwards towards a

neighbouring tree. Then he stretched out one of

his long arms and lumbered across. Occasionally

he broke off small branches and threw them

down at us in fury, but he seemed to be in no

hurry to escape. Before long we were joined by

other villagers, who helped us to carry our gear

as we followed the animal and enthusiastically

cut down saplings to give us a clear view of him.

We had to pause every few minutes for the damp

forest in which we were working abounded with

leeches. If we stayed in one particular place for

long they came looping across the leaves of the

undergrowth like small thin worms. When they

reached us, they crawled onto our legs and dug

their heads into our flesh, sucking blood until

they were swollen to many times their original

size. Preoccupied with watching the ape, we often

did not notice them until the Dyaks thoughtfully

pointed them out and shaved them off with their

knives, so that the places in which we had filmed

were marked not only by the fallen saplings but

by the severed oozing bodies of the leeches.

At last we decided we had secured all the film

we needed and began to pack up.

‘Finish?’ asked one of the Dyaks.

We nodded. Almost immediately there was

a deafening explosion behind me and I turned

to see one of the men with a smoking gun to

his shoulder. The ape had not been badly hit

for we heard it crashing away in the distance to

safety, but I was so angry that for a moment I was

speechless.

‘Why? Why?’ I said in fury, for to shoot such

a human creature seemed to amount almost to

murder.

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The Dyak was dumbfounded.

‘But he not good! He eat my banana and steal

my rice. I shoot.’

There was nothing I could say. It was the

Dyaks who had to wrest their livelihood from the

forest, not I.

from The Zoo Quest Expeditions

by David Attenborough


1 What was the orang-utan doing at the beginning of the description?

2 What information does the narrator give about the orang-utan’s height and weight?

3 What method did the orang-utan use to travel from tree to tree?

4 How did the orang-utan show his anger towards the humans?

5 How did the villagers help the narrator and the film crew?

6 What did the leeches do when they reached the narrator and the film crew?

7 Why did the narrator and the film crew often fail to notice the leeches?

8 How did the Dyaks remove the leeches?

9 ‘… there was a deafening explosion behind me …’ Why was the narrator angry?

10 How did the narrator know that the ape had not been badly wounded?

11 Why had the Dyak tried to kill the orang-utan?

11 marks

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Getaway

destination paradise departure souvenirs holiday

tourists arrival view vacation incredible

favourite abroad traveller scenery delight

location experience enthusiasm cruise accommodation

curiosity leisure luggage village journey

queue fascinating beautiful tropical quiet

An enjoyable holiday

Use words from the spelling list to complete the following passage. The first letters are given to

help you.

This was the h of a lifetime. We had reached our d :

a tropical island p . On our a we were taken to our

a at the small island v . Imagine our

d at the t s outside our window!

It was i . Our f e

was a c to v the b coral reef.

After this, we and the rest of the t

were able to purchase

s at a l nearby. When our v

a ended, we had to q at the d desk

because of our excess l .

A word for a phrase

Write down a word from the spelling list for each of the following phrases.

1 a trip from one place to another

2 a holiday

3 in another country

4 lodgings; a place to stay

5 hard to believe; unbelievable

6 to travel from place to place by boat

7 the place you are travelling to

8 the desire to know about something

9 things kept as a memory of a place or event

10 people who travel for pleasure

23 marks

10 marks


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The word ‘location’ is derived from the Latin word locus, meaning

‘a place’. Use the back-of-the-book dictionary to find out the

meaning of these words based on locus.

locomotion:

relocate:

locality:

allocate:

Language

4 marks

Common and proper nouns

A common noun is a general word used for any person, animal, place or thing belonging to a

category or class. Most nouns are common nouns.

girl dog table husband pen nose paper ambulance

A proper noun is the name of a particular person, place or thing. Proper nouns can be identified

easily because they always start with a capital letter. You come across proper nouns all the time in

your reading and writing.

David Attenborough Cherry Ripe Wednesday Anita Easter July Melbourne

Matching up proper and common nouns

Match the proper nouns from the box with the common nouns below.

Cleopatra Atlantic Africa Tasmania Edison

January Christmas India Saturn Smarties

Athens Wednesday Amazon Qantas Target

Toyota Rebecca Shakespeare Vesuvius Artemis Fowl

1 city

2 car

3 planet

4 month

5 island

6 inventor

7 airline

8 department store

9 lollies

10 continent

11 queen

12 volcano

13 country

14 river

15 playwright

16 novel

17 girl

18 ocean

19 day

20 festival

20 marks

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Proper nouns—countries and people

Next to each of the countries below, write down the name for the people who live there, for

example:

Egypt

1 Fiji

2 Greece

3 India

4 Japan

5 Afghanistan

6 The Netherlands

7 England

8 Poland

9 China

10 Russia

Egyptians

Decoding capital cities

The names of some capital cities around the world are written below in code. In the code, a number

represents a letter of the alphabet. In the example, the nine letters of the city name are given.

A M S T E R D A M

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2

11 Norway

12 Switzerland

13 France

14 Canada

15 Turkey

16 Sudan

17 Brazil

18 Iran

19 Wales

20 Portugal

As you work through each city, fill in the table below to help you break the code. Use the

AMSTERDAM letter code to help you get started. Then add every new letter you come across.

20 marks

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

A

1

6

6 8 2 5

1 4 14 5 12 3

2

7

2 1 7 6 9 7

13 5 6 15 9 12

3

8

2 8 3 10 8 11

15 8 12 7 8 12

4

9

10 1 9 6 8

16 9 5 12 12 1

5

10

10 1 12 13 5 6 6 1

17 1 6 9 3

10 marks


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Punctuation

Making sense with sentences

A sentence is a group of words that makes sense by itself. We organise words in a sentence to give

sense to what we want to say.

Jumbled sentences

Rewrite the following groups of jumbled words as sentences.

1 Dahl by written Boy Roald was

2 England of is the London capital

3 general famous was Napoleon a French

4 city rediscovered Italian of was in the Pompeii 1748

5 city is Scotland in Glasgow a

6 came the Scandinavia from Vikings

7 ruled Aztecs was by Mexico the

8 England Conqueror invaded the 1066 in William

9 lead all Rome roads to

10 bulb Edison the light Thomas invented electric

11 city was Greece in greatest Athens the

12 seat the 50 000 could Colosseum spectators

12 marks

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Life experiences

Read the following extract in which author Tim

Winton describes his first encounter with the sea.

Then select one of the listed topics and, in 200

words, describe an enjoyable experience in your

life and your feelings about it.

A wonderful experience

As a toddler I stood on the powder white sand

of Cottesloe Beach to see the winter shore break

hammer against the land. The vibration, the

sheer power, travelled from my feet and up my

legs. It made my knees knock and buzzed in

my spine. I was afraid but I wanted to be in it.

I learned to ride a Coolite surfboard between the

sandbars at Scarborough Beach. Foam fell behind

me like a growling avalanche and dolphins spun

out of my path.

from Time and Tide by Tim Winton

• An amazing experience

• My best-ever holiday

• ‘I’m very happy when …’

• A great weekend

4 People

Comprehension


Mrs Pratchett

HER name was Mrs Pratchett.

She was a small skinny old hag

with a moustache on her upper

lip and a mouth as sour as a green

gooseberry. She never smiled. She

never welcomed us when we went

in, and the only times she spoke

were when she said things like, ‘I’m

watchin’ you so keep yer thievin’

fingers off them chocolates!’ Or ‘I

don’t want you in ’ere just to look

around! Either you forks out or you

gets out!’

But by far the most loathsome

thing about Mrs Pratchett was the

filth that clung around her. Her

apron was grey and greasy. Her

blouse had bits of breakfast all over

it, toast-crumbs and tea stains and

splotches of dried egg-yolk. It was

her hands, however, that disturbed

us most. They were disgusting.

They were black with dirt and

grime. They looked as though they

had been putting lumps of coal on the fire all day

long. And do not forget please that it was these

very hands and fingers that she plunged into

the sweet-jars when we asked for a pennyworth

of Treacle Toffee or Wine Gums or Nut Clusters

or whatever. There were precious few health

laws in those days, and nobody, least of all Mrs

Pratchett, ever thought of using a little shovel

for getting out the sweets as they do today. The

mere sight of her grimy right hand with its black

fingernails digging an ounce of Chocolate Fudge

out of a jar would have caused a starving tramp

to go running from the shop. But not us. Sweets

were our life-blood. We would have put up with

far worse than that to get them. So we simply

stood and watched in sullen silence while this

disgusting old woman stirred around inside the

jars with her foul fingers.

from Boy by Roald Dahl

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4 People 27


1 What is Roald Dahl’s purpose in this description?

2 What is the unpleasant simile Roald Dahl uses to describe Mrs Pratchett’s mouth?

3 What did Mrs Pratchett mean by ‘Either you forks out or you gets out!’?

4 What was ‘loathsome’ about Mrs Pratchett’s blouse?

5 Why did Mrs Pratchett’s hands disturb Roald Dahl and his friends?

6 How did Mrs Pratchett remove the lollies from the sweet jars?

7 How are sweets removed today?

8 How does Roald Dahl believe a starving tramp would have reacted to Mrs Pratchett’s

handling of the sweets?

9 ‘Sweets were our life-blood.’ What does the writer mean by this?

10 What did the boys do while Mrs Pratchett ‘stirred around inside the jars with her foul

fingers’?

10 marks


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Occupations

librarian biologist novelist jeweller

professor botanist comedian electrician

plumber surgeon orator geologist

lawyer pharmacist optician pianist

jockey architect engineer removalist

shepherd journalist surveyor carpenter

Who am I?

Using words from the spelling list, write down the occupations for the following clues.

1 I ride racehorses professionally

2 I write articles for newspapers

3 I look after flocks of sheep

4 I make and sell spectacles

5 I fit and repair water pipes

6 I use instruments to measure landforms

7 I work in a library

8 I write novels

9 I wire new houses or fix appliances

10 I perform surgical operations

11 I study plants

12 I design buildings

13 I play the piano

14 I give legal advice

15 I study living things

16 I move furniture from one place to another

17 I make things with wood

18 I make people laugh on television, stage, etc.

19 I make and sell watches and jewellery

20 I design or repair machinery, bridges, etc.

20 marks

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4 People 29


A biologist is a person who studies living creatures. Bios is the Greek

word meaning ‘life’. Using the back-of-the-book dictionary, give the

meaning of these words based on bios.

biographer:

biochemistry:

biosphere:

biodegradable:

biopsy:

Language

5 marks

Nouns—gender

Look at the following sentence:

My brother and sister gave the child a present.

‘Brother’ refers to a male person (he). ‘Sister’ refers to a female person (she). ‘Child’ can be either

male or female (common).

• Words that identify the male gender are said to be masculine; for example: boy, king.

• Words that identify the female gender are said to be feminine; for example: girl, queen.

• Words that refer to either males or females have a common gender; for example: teacher,

student.

• Words that identify something that is neither male nor female belong to the neuter

gender; for example: car, table, book.

People—masculine and feminine

Write the masculine or feminine form for each of the following persons.

Masculine

Feminine

1 king

2 niece

3 aunt

4 brother

5 mother

6 god

7 heiress

8 prince

9 lady

10 duke

10 marks


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Gender—masculine, feminine, common and neuter

Arrange the words from the box under the correct headings below. Some examples are given to

help you.

boy tree widow wizard bride

woman dentist lawyer man river

teacher doctor student bicycle priest

architect witch princess caravan monk

rocket emperor hostess rain

Masculine Feminine Common Neuter

boy widow student tree

Punctuation

20 marks

Capital letters and full stops

We use capital letters and full stops to separate sentences and to make our writing easier to read

and understand.

Using capital letters and full stops

Each of the following examples contains two or three sentences. However, the capital letters

and full stops are missing. Rewrite the sentences and insert all the necessary capital letters and

full stops.

1 the tallest tree in the world is a redwood it is 112 m high

2 on 10 march 1876, alexander graham bell spoke the first words on his invention, the

telephone a few years later, he invented the first metal detector

3 the longest distance travelled by a bird was 26 000 kilometres the bird was banded in

finland on 30 june 1996 and was recaptured alive in victoria, australia in january 1997

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4 People 31

4 in 1867, russia sold alaska to the united states of America for 7.2 million dollars most

americans then believed that the purchase was a bad deal they were later proved wrong

when gold and oil were discovered there

5 the largest hailstone in the world was found in nebraska, north america, on 22 june 2003

it was 18 cm in diameter

6 the tallest man to have ever lived was robert wadlow at age twenty-two he was an

astonishing 2.72 m tall and weighed 199 kg

7 the great wall of china took centuries to build and many emperors added to it its

primary goal was to keep the ‘barbarians’ who lived to the north of china from raiding

chinese cities

8 because whales are mammals they breathe air some whales can hold their breath for

more than an hour before surfacing for air

9 the oldest living tree known is a bristlecone pine, which is located in the mountains of

california the tree is estimated to be 4767 years old it is about 16.8 m tall

10 the world’s largest spider is the male bird-eating spider its leg span of 28 cm is able to

cover a dinner plate

10 marks


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People

In the following passage, author Roald Dahl describes

Corkers, his maths teacher, whom he greatly liked.

Note how Dahl describes his physical appearance,

clothes, personality and behaviour.

An amazing maths teacher

Corkers was a charmer, a vast ungainly man

with drooping bloodhound cheeks and filthy

clothes. He wore creaseless flannel trousers and

a brown tweed jacket with patches all over it and

bits of dried food on the lapels. He was meant to

teach us mathematics, but in truth he taught us

nothing at all and that was the way he meant it

to be. His lessons consisted of an endless series

of distractions all invented by him so that the

subject of mathematics would never have to be

discussed.


Choose one of the following topics and write 150 words describing the person you have chosen.

• If you could be anyone for a day, who would you choose to be?

• If you could invite to dinner any person, past or present, who would it be?

• A person I dislike.

• If you could be a character in a movie or novel, who would you be?

Climb every

mountain

5

Comprehension


Cliffhanger

I rigged the rope ready to abseil, positioned

myself at the lip of the drop, and glanced across

to Jorge. For about the third time I asked, ‘Are you

right to go?’

‘Yes,’ he said for the third time.

I leant back so that the rope would take my

weight as I began to abseil, but instead the rope

was completely loose and I fell. I slammed onto

the rocks in the corner on my left side, and then

slid down the snow tongue. Unless I could stop

myself on the snow I was going to die.

Thoughts flashed through my mind: something

is going to block me. There is going to be

a huge bang against a rock, or I’ll go off the cliff

and splat onto the glacier hundreds of metres

below. Time was distorted but the words were

in my head, I’ll go splat! And then I’ll be dead.

I wonder what it’s like to be dead …

Then I vanished over the lip of the cliff.

I know now that Colin grabbed the rope,

burning his palms very badly as he tried to stop

it rushing through his hands. Jorge may have

helped him when he realised that things had

gone badly wrong, but it was Colin who checked

my fall. He saved my life. All I knew at that stage

was that I had stopped and that I was dangling in

midair like a piece of meat on a string.

I could not breathe because my harness was

pulled up under my diaphragm, so I could not

speak to say, ‘Let me down.’ Just below me I could

see a little ledge where I would be able to stand

and breathe if I could reach it. They could not see

me, and there was no move to pull up the rope.

Nor did they want to let me fall another inch.

I thought, My God! I’m going to suffocate. I’m not

going to make it.

The cliff was overhanging, but by swinging

and kicking frantically, I was able to hook my left

crampon on a ledge and wedge it there. I was

able to take just enough weight off the rope to

take a couple of breaths. Then I noticed that my

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abseiling device, a stitch plate, had jammed on

the rope and I realised that this had saved my

life. Colin stopped the rope above, but if my

stitch plate had not jammed, the rope would

have slipped through it as I fell and I would

have dropped off the end and fallen to my

death.

from Fear No Boundary

by Lincoln Hall with Sue Fear


1 What is happening at the beginning of the story?

2 What caused the narrator’s abseiling attempt to fail?

3 What did the narrator’s body hit?

4 What did the narrator think was going to happen to her?

5 Find three sound words used in the first three paragraphs. What are they? What do they

suggest?

6 What happened to Colin’s hands as he saved the narrator’s life?

7 Why couldn’t the narrator breathe?

8 What is the narrator compared to when she is dangling in midair?

9 How did the narrator enable herself to take a couple of breaths?

10 What had stopped the narrator from dropping off the rope and falling to her death?

10 marks

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On the mountain

challenge rescue attempt ambition

climbers summit collapse safety

ascent dangerous achieved disaster

descent altitude purpose avalanche

expedition decisive crevasse exhausted

mountaineer treacherous difficulty experience

Conquering Chomolungma (Mount Everest)

Complete the following paragraphs using words from the spelling list. The first letters are given

to help you.

The young people’s

had always been to climb Chomolungma

(Mount Everest). They knew that the would be , so

ensuring the

of all involved was a top priority.

The a went smoothly until the c reached an

a

of 6000 metres. Fierce snowstorms made the conditions t

and the party realised that their a to reach the s was impossible.

During the d , d struck when an a buried

one of the guides. The c

was to immediately start digging to

r the m . After ten minutes of frantic work, the group

a their p and pulled him free.

The e friends had learned from their e , but made a

promise to return for another attempt.

20 marks

Word families

Choose words from each box to fill in the spaces below.

danger dangerous endangered dangerously

1 Climbing Chomolungma is .

2 The narrator placed her life in .

3 She swung over the crevasse.

4 Abseiling her life.


978 1 4202 3709 2

decision decided decisive decisively

5 Colin acted .

6 The narrator’s to use her left crampon enabled her to breathe.

7 The narrator to jump after questioning Jorge.

8 Colin’s action saved the narrator’s life.

achieve achiever achievable achievement

9 The ascent of Chomolungma is .

10 The narrator is a quiet .

11 It is an to climb a mountain.

12 You can most goals if you are determined.

descend descended descent descendant

13 She is a of a famous climber.

14 The was difficult.

15 The climbers began to from the summit.

16 The narrator at an alarming rate.

16 marks


The Latin word altus means ‘high’. The altitude of a mountain is its

height above sea level. Using the back-of-the-book dictionary, write

down the meaning of these words derived from altus.

altar:

altimeter:

exalt:

alto:

contralto (‘contra’ means ‘against’, ‘opposite’):

5 marks

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Language

Collective nouns

A collective noun is a word used for a collection or group of similar things.

a plague of insects a bunch of bananas a band of robbers

Collective nouns in action

Write down the collective noun from the list for each of the phrases below.

choir team flock staff anthology

flight pack album bundle crew

library flotilla bouquet swarm kit

litter board galaxy forest gang

1 a of birds

2 a of oxen

3 a of thieves

4 a of singers

5 a of sticks

6 an of stamps

7 a of steps

8 a of books

9 a of pups

10 a of cards

11 a of ships

12 a of flowers

13 a of stars

14 an of poems

15 a of sailors

16 a of tools

17 a of bees

18 a of trees

19 a of directors

20 a of teachers

20 marks

Completing sentences—collective nouns

Add the correct collective nouns from the brackets to complete the following sentences.

1 The bushrangers fired a of shots at the of

policemen. (troop fusillade)

2 In the storeroom there was a of rags, a of fruit and a

of drawers. (crate bundle chest)

3 A of lions, a of antelope and a

of monkeys watched the slow progress of the

of soldiers.

(troop pride platoon herd)

4 A of pancakes and a of grapes had been placed on the

table. (stack bunch)


978 1 4202 3709 2

5 The woman wore a of pearls around her neck and her ring sparkled with

a of diamonds. (cluster string)

6 On the table there were a of cards, an of poems and a

of wool. (anthology skein pack)

7 On my aunt’s farm I saw a of geese, a of bees, a

of cattle and an of trees. (hive gaggle orchard herd)

8 An of ships was following the of fish around the

of islands. (school armada group)

23 marks

Punctuation

Statements and questions

A statement begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.

Then I vanished over the lip of the cliff.

A question mark is used at the end of a sentence to indicate that a question is being asked.

Was I going to live or die?

Forming questions

Create questions from the following statements using the first-word clues.

1 The mountaineer knew the climb to the summit was dangerous.

Did

2 Some climbers were trapped by the avalanche.

Were

3 Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary climbed Chomolungma in 1953.

Was

4 Mountain climbing is considered to be an unusual pastime.

Is

5 The descent from the summit should be easier than the ascent.

Should

6 Mountaineers often need to carry a supply of oxygen.

Do

6 marks

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Overcoming adversity

The word ‘adversity’ means a hardship or

unfortunate situation. There are many true-life and

fictional stories that describe people overcoming

adversity. Here is a passage from Morris Gleitzman’s

novel, Boy Overboard, that describes the rescue of a

boatload of refugees.

Rescued

We stagger onto the deck and my mouth falls

open.

Towering over us, huge, is a warship.

Some of its guns are longer than our whole

boat. Plus I can see rockets with armour-piercing

warheads. And machine guns with laser sights.

All pointing at us.

People on our boat are panicking. Some of

them are grabbing babies and toddlers and

running to the railing and holding them up to the

warship.

‘Don’t shoot,’ they’re yelling. ‘There are

children on board.’

from Boy Overboard by Morris Gleitzman

Write a brief story or give your thoughts on one of the following topics.

• Saved!

• Alone at the summit

• Free at last!

• A new land and a better life

6 Feelings and

emotions

Comprehension


What it feels like to survive a volcanic eruption

by Thomas Mather, 22, student

WHEN I heard the rumble, I knew something was

very, very wrong. Some friends and I (including

a woman I had just met a day earlier) had hiked

to the top of an active volcano just outside

Pacaya, Guatemala. From our vantage point,

we could see small red jets of hot lava shooting

out of the volcano’s cone, but our guides said

there was nothing to worry about; the volcano

always looked like that. We could see the bursts,

but not hear them—until all of a sudden, there

was a slow, deep rumble that sounded like an

avalanche. Then we started hearing the lava jets

as they exploded hundreds of feet into the air

instead of just a few. Next, a large yellow cloud—

sulfurous, like rotten eggs—enveloped us. It was

three in the afternoon, but the sky went black

and you could feel the heat of the explosion. It

was hot. Very hot. It was like you were standing

right next to a raging campfire, except much,

much bigger. It was so powerful that the air

pressure changed and suddenly there was a huge

wind sweeping over us. Still, I didn’t feel in too

much danger—until I turned around and saw

that our guides were running as fast as they could

and shouting at us to do the same.

I started running, but a few people stayed

to take pictures. One of them got hit with a bit

of lava that had solidified. It cut his head right

open. It was good we ran because I looked back

and there was a river of oozing lava where we

had been standing. Even the slowest person

can outrun lava, but you can’t outrun the debris

that comes raining down on you. When we had

gotten down to the base camp and were on our

bus three miles away, lava rocks continued to

pelt the tin roof of the bus. But we were safe. And

that woman I had just met? We ended up dating

and getting married. It was probably because we

always had something exciting to talk about after

the volcano.

as told to Gersh Kuntzman

from What It Feels Like … by AJ Jacobs

40 978 1 4202 3709 2

978 1 4202 3709 2



1 What is the setting of this story?

2 What did the tourists see from their vantage point to suggest that the volcano might be

active?

3 Why did the guides say that there was nothing to worry about?

4 What first caused the narrator to realise that something was wrong?

5 What change took place in the lava jets?

6 What did the large yellow cloud smell like?

7 ‘It was hot. Very hot.’ What does the narrator compare his sensation of the heat to?

8 When did the narrator realise that the situation had become very dangerous?

9 What happened to one of the people who had stopped to take photos?

10 How did the incident have a happy ending for the narrator?

10 marks


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That’s life!

wicked enthusiasm successful guilty forgetful

malicious hostile affectionate happiness desperate

sympathy anxiety miserable foolish exciting

terrifying famous prosperous ingenious angry

honest positive sorrow confident nervous

doubtful reliable courageous ambition innocent

Find a word

Insert a suitable word from the spelling list in each of the spaces below. The first letters are

given.

1 a g conscience

9 m weather

2 a s card

10 a t explosion

3 an i invention

11 a h enemy

4 a d diagnosis

12 a w witch

5 an h mistake

13 a p attitude

6 a s applicant

14 a p business

7 a n contestant

15 an a spectator

8 a m threat

16 an e race

16 marks

Same meanings

Write down words from the spelling list with the same meaning as each of the phrases or words

below. The first letters are given to help you.

1 able to be trusted r

2 truthful; free from deceit h

3 feeling of compassion s

4 cleverly thought out i

5 failing to remember f

6 feelings of worry or fear a

7 feeling uncertain d

8 desire for success or fame a

9 sadness s

10 wealthy p

11 stupid f

12 brave c

13 not guilty i

14 well known f

15 sure of oneself c

16 showing fondness a

16 marks

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Changing the word forms

Use the clues to help you create suitable words to fill the gaps.

1 an plan (ambition)

2 a doctor (sympathy)

3 an audience (enthusiasm)

4 an patient (anxiety)

5 a expression (sorrow)

6 future (prosperous)

7 extreme (foolish)

8 in all (honest)

8 marks


The prefix mal-, used in the word ‘malicious’, means ‘bad’, ‘wrongful’ or ‘ill’.

Use the back-of-the-book dictionary to find the meaning of these words

based on mal-.

maladjusted:

malfunction:

malnutrition:

malignant:

Language

4 marks

Abstract nouns

Abstract nouns are words that name qualities, emotions and actions—things you cannot see or

touch; for example:

curiosity happiness grief jealousy love peace

Abstract noun match-up

Choose abstract nouns from the box that have similar meanings to the ones below.

surprise stubbornness thankfulness sorrow velocity

bravery anger weariness politeness cure

1 remedy

2 courage

3 courtesy

4 fatigue


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5 speed

6 gratitude

7 obstinacy

8 fury

9 astonishment

10 grief

10 marks

Forming abstract nouns

Write down the abstract nouns formed from these words. For example:

happy happiness

1 lazy

2 honest

3 believe

4 lonely

5 proud

6 fail

7 prosper

8 think

9 careless

10 strong

11 stupid

12 agree

13 wise

14 brave

15 weak

16 coward

17 friend

18 frustrate

19 sad

20 free

20 marks

Punctuation

Types of sentences

There are four types of sentences: statements, questions, exclamations and commands.

Statements: Many sentences make statements. Every statement begins with a capital letter and

ends with a full stop.

Volcanic ash is dangerous to health.

Questions: These are sentences that ask for an answer and always end with a question mark.

How many volcanoes are there in the world?

Exclamations: These are sentences expressing strong emotions in which someone exclaims or

interjects. They end with an exclamation mark.

Oh, it’s incredibly hot!

Commands: These are sentences in which commands or orders are given. They are sometimes

referred to as imperatives. They may end with an exclamation mark or full stop depending on the

writer’s or speaker’s tone of voice.

Run for your life!

Please take more care.

Remember that all sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop, question mark or

exclamation mark.

978 1 4202 3709 2



Rewrite the following sentences with the correct punctuation.

1 a large yellow cloud enveloped us

2 is the volcano about to erupt

3 get out of the way

4 why do volcanoes erupt

5 what a horrifying experience

6 suddenly there was a strong wind sweeping over the tourists

7 the guides were running as fast as they could

8 look out the volcano is erupting

9 why is the debris from a volcano very dangerous

10 there was a slow deep rumble that sounded like an avalanche

11 you can’t outrun the debris that comes raining down

12 why were you delayed

13 watch out for the lava

14 was anyone hurt during the eruption

14 marks


978 1 4202 3709 2


What it feels like to …

Here is a scene from Tim Winton’s novel,

Blueback, where the main character, a young

boy named Abel, experiences the beauty of the

world beneath the sea.

The world underwater

A cloud of bubbles swirled around him, clinging

to his skin like pearls. Then he cleared his

snorkel—phhht!—and rolled over to look down

on the world underwater.

Great, round boulders and dark cracks loomed

below. Tiny silver fish hung in nervous schools.

Seaweed trembled in the gentle current. Orange

starfish and yellow plates of coral glowed from

the deepest slopes where his mother was already

gliding like a bird.

Abel loved being underwater.

from Blueback by Tim Winton

Select one of the examples below or one of your own and write 150 words depicting the setting,

experience and your responses.

What it feels like to …

• … win lotto • … perform in a rock band • … go snorkelling

• … go sailing • … rollerblade down a hill • … go to a theme park

• … go skiing • … go up in a hot air balloon

Drive

7

Comprehension


Car accident

DOWN the drive we went and out into the village

of Llandaff itself. Fortunately there were very few

vehicles on the roads in those days. Occasionally

you met a small truck or a delivery-van and

now and again a private car, but the danger of

colliding with anything else was fairly remote so

long as you kept the car on the road.

The splendid black tourer crept slowly through

the village with the driver pressing the rubber

bulb of the horn every time we passed a human

being, whether it was the butcher-boy on his

bicycle or just a pedestrian strolling on the

pavement. Soon we were entering a country side

of green fields and high hedges with not a soul

in sight.

‘You didn’t think I could do it, did you?’ cried

the ancient sister, turning round and grinning at

us all.

‘Now you keep your eyes on the road,’ my

mother said nervously.

‘Go faster!’ we shouted. ‘Go on! Make her go

faster! Put your foot down! We’re only doing

fifteen miles an hour! ’

Spurred on by our shouts and taunts, the

ancient sister began to increase the speed. The

engine roared and the body vibrated. The driver

was clutching the steering-wheel as though it

were the hair of a drowning man, and we all

watched the speedometer needle creeping up

to twenty, then twenty-five, then thirty. We were

probably doing about thirty-five miles an hour

when we came suddenly to a sharpish bend in

the road. The ancient sister, never having been

faced with a situation like this before, shouted

‘Help!’ and slammed on the brakes and swung

the wheel wildly round. The rear wheels locked

and went into a fierce sideways skid, and then,

with a marvellous crunch of mudguards and

metal, we went crashing into the hedge. The

front passengers all shot through the front

wind screen and the back passengers all shot

through the back windscreen. Glass (there was

no Triplex then) flew in all directions and so did

we. My brother and one sister landed on the

bonnet of the car, someone else was catapulted

out onto the road and at least one small sister

landed in the middle of the hawthorn hedge. But

miraculously nobody was hurt very much except

me. My nose had been cut almost clean off my

face as I went through the rear windscreen and

now it was hanging on only by a single small

thread of skin. My mother disentangled herself

from the scrimmage and grabbed a handker chief

from her purse. She clapped the dangling nose

back into place fast and held it there.

Not a cottage or a person was in sight, let alone

a telephone. Some kind of bird started twittering

in a tree farther down the road, otherwise all was

silent.

978 1 4202 3709 2

47


978 1 4202 3709 2

My mother was bending over me in the rear

seat and saying, ‘Lean back and keep your head

still.’ To the ancient sister she said, ‘Can you get

this thing going again?’

The sister pressed the starter and to everyone’s

surprise, the engine fired.

‘Back it out of the hedge,’ my mother said.

‘And hurry.’



1 Why was there not much danger of collision?

2 What did the driver do every time the car went past a pedestrian?

3 Why did the narrator’s sister increase the speed of the car?

4 How did his sister respond to the sharpish bend in the road?

5 What happened to the car when she slammed on the brakes?

6 Write down two sound words that the writer uses to describe the accident.

7 What happened to the front passengers when the car crashed into the hedge?

8 What injury did the narrator receive?

9 How did the injury occur?

10 What help did the narrator’s mother provide for his injury?

10 marks

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7 Drive 49


On the road

gauge mechanic warranty performance

accident garage stationary maintenance

cautious automatic steering repair

vehicle manual pleasure fuel

pedestrian passenger instrument chauffeur

engine accelerate tyre visibility

Word meanings

Give a word from the spelling list for each of the following meanings.

1 a person who travels on foot

2 not moving

3 to increase speed

4 a place for sheltering cars

5 an event resulting in loss or harm

6 done by hand

7 a person employed to drive someone else’s car

8 a person being driven by car

9 a person who repairs cars

10 this controls the direction of a car

11 a machine that creates mechanical energy

12 any kind of conveyance

12 marks

Phrases

The following are phrases associated with driving cars. Complete them using words from the

spelling list. The first letters are given to help you.

1 a c driver

2 e failure

3 a p crossing

4 a petrol g

5 an a gearbox

6 a p seat

7 an i panel

8 t pressure

9 p specification

10 poor v

10 marks


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Car for sale

Complete the following advertisement by inserting words from the spelling list. The first letters

are given to help you.

This two-year-old car has a transmission and a powerful e .

It can a quickly from a s position and uses f

economically. The car gives incredible p

in traffic. Its safety features include

four air bags, a padded i panel and a collapsible s wheel.

Cruise control makes long journeys a pure p

and there is still a two-year

w on the v .


Write down the meaning of these words, using the back-of-the-book

dictionary.

limousine:

coupé:

courier:

11 marks

convertible:

chassis:

The word ‘automatic’ means ‘done by itself’. The Greek word autos

means ‘self’. Using the back-of-the-book dictionary, write down the

meanings of the following words derived from autos.

autobiography:

autism:

autograph:

autonomy:

autocrat:

autopilot:

autopsy:

12 marks

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7 Drive 51

Language

Revision—nouns

Proper nouns

The following proper nouns are the brand names of cars. Write them down in alphabetical

order in the spaces.

Jaguar Toyota Holden Ferrari

Audi Subaru Mazda Skoda

Porsche Nissan Hyundai Renault

Ford Volkswagen Honda BMW

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

16 marks

Common and proper nouns

Complete the following sentences by inserting the appropriate common and proper nouns

from those in brackets.

1 is a continent, but is a .

(Africa country Kenya)

2 The is a that runs through .

(Egypt Nile river)

3 The of Troy by the is described

in the , which was written by .

(Homer Iliad Greeks siege)

4 was a famous French who was born on the

of . (general Corsica Napoleon island)

5 The Sahara is a , Vesuvius is a and

is an island. (Madagascar mountain desert)

6 is an in an animated .

(ogre movie Shrek)

20 marks


978 1 4202 3709 2

Collective nouns

In the spaces below, write down a suitable collective noun from the box to replace the word ‘lot’.

Use each collective noun once only.

cairn choir pack squadron

troupe swarm mob volley

1 A lot of kangaroos were crossing the highway.

2 A lot of bees attacked the hikers.

3 A lot of acrobats arrived in the town.

4 A lot of wolves attacked the settlers.

5 A lot of planes took off.

6 The explorers erected a lot of stones.

7 The infantry fired a lot of shots.

8 A lot of singers were on the stage.

Punctuation

Using capital letters for proper nouns

8 marks

Make sure you use capital letters to begin the names of people, places, commercial products, films,

poems and books.


Rewrite these sentences correctly with capital letters and full stops. Use capitals to begin your

sentences and full stops to end them. All proper nouns should begin with a capital letter.

1 the continents of the world are antarctica, europe, asia, africa, north america, south

america and australia

2 the largest known monument in the world is the great pyramid of cholula in mexico

3 the base of the great pyramid of egypt is large enough to cover ten football fields

4 the longest section of straight railway track across the nullarbor plain is 478 km long

4 marks

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7 Drive 53


An accident

In the following description from his novel Collision Course, Nigel Hinton uses action verbs and the

senses of hearing, seeing and feeling to evoke the dramatic impact of the accident.

Motorcyclist in trouble

The bike bucked and swerved sideways, and he felt himself

falling backwards as it slid away from him on the frosty road.

His right leg hit the road, and he crashed down half on his

side and half on his back. Then his head hit the tarmac, and

there was an explosion of light and a crack which sounded

inside his brain.

He was unconscious as the bike continued its brief slide.

He was unconscious as its weight knocked the old lady back

against the open car door.

from Collision Course by Nigel Hinton

Write a brief story involving one of the following topics. Make sure you use action verbs to convey

events, responses and feelings.

• Emergency! Emergency! • The driver didn’t see …

• I was in the car when it happened … • A lucky escape

• A pedestrian involved in a dramatic accident

8 Marooned!

Comprehension


The blue dolphins

THE canoe drifted idly on the calm sea while

these thoughts went over and over in my mind,

but when I saw the water seeping through the

crack again, I picked up the paddle. There was

no choice except to turn back towards the island.

I knew that only by the best of fortune would I

ever reach it.

The wind did not blow until the sun was

overhead. Before that time I covered a good

distance, pausing only when it was necessary to

dip water from the canoe. With the wind I went

more slowly and had to stop more often because

of the water spilling over the sides, but the leak

did not grow worse.

This was my first good fortune. The next was

when a swarm of dolphins appeared. They came

swimming out of the west, but as they saw the

canoe they turned around in a great circle and

began to follow me. They swam up slowly and so

close that I could see their eyes, which are large

and the colour of the ocean. Then they swam

on ahead of the canoe, crossing back and forth

in front of it, diving in and out, as if they were

weaving a piece of cloth with their broad snouts.

Dolphins are animals of good omen. It made

me happy to have them swimming around the

canoe, and though my hands had begun to bleed

from the chafing of the paddle, just watching

them made me forget the pain. I was very lonely

before they appeared, but now I felt that I had

friends with me and did not feel the same.

The blue dolphins left me shortly before dusk.

They left as quickly as they had come, going on

into the west, but for a long time I could see the

last of the sun shining on them. After night fell

I could still see them in my thoughts and it was

because of this that I kept on paddling when I

wanted to lie down and sleep.

More than anything, it was the blue dolphins

that took me back home.

Fog came with the night, yet from time to time

I could see the star that stands high in the west,

the red star called Magat which is part of the

figure that looks like a crawfish and is known by

that name. The crack in the planks grew wider so

I had to stop often to fill it with fibre and to dip

out the water.

The night was very long, longer than the

night before. Twice I dozed kneeling there in the

canoe, though I was more afraid than I had ever

been. But the morning broke clear and in front

of me lay the dim line of the island like a great

fish sunning itself on the sea.

54 978 1 4202 3709 2

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8 Marooned! 55

I reached it before the sun was high, the

sandspit and its tides that bore me into the

shore. My legs were stiff from kneeling and as

the canoe struck the sand I fell when I rose to

climb out. I crawled through the shallow water

and up the beach. There I lay for a long time,

hugging the sand in happiness.

from Island of the Blue Dolphins

by Scott O’Dell


1 Describe the setting of this recount.

2 Why did the narrator decide she had to go back to the island?

3 Why was she concerned about returning to the island?

4 How did the dolphins react when they saw the canoe?

5 ‘It made me happy to have them swimming around the canoe …’ Why does she say this?

6 What caused the narrator’s hands to bleed?

7 Explain the meaning of ‘More than anything, it was the blue dolphins that took me back

home.’

8 What does the narrator compare the island to when she caught sight of it?

9 ‘I crawled through the shallow water and up the beach.’ Why couldn’t she walk?

10 ‘… hugging the sand in happiness.’ Why does she react this way?

10 marks


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Survival

submerged horizon island peninsula

canoe lagoon marine dolphin

capsize venomous hurricane mosquito

foliage aboard anchor supplies

wreckage vessel message survivor

Words and meanings

For each of the following meanings, write down a word from the spelling list.

1 to overturn

2 a marine mammal

3 a piece of land almost surrounded by sea

4 able to inflict a poisonous bite or sting

5 the line along which the earth and sky apparently meet

6 a violent, tropical storm

7 a light, narrow boat propelled by paddles

8 the leaves of a plant

9 of, in, near or relating to the sea

10 a piece of land completely surrounded by water

10 marks

Word ladders

By altering one letter at a time, turn the top word into the bottom word in the following ladders.

Use the number of steps indicated, as in the example, and make sure you create a real word at

each step.

help

kelp

keep

keen

1 s u r f

2 s e a s

3

_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _

t o w n

k i t e

w i n d

_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _

s a f e

978 1 4202 3709 2

8 Marooned! 57

4 b o a t

_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _

c r a b

5 s h i p

_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _

f l o w

6

s a i l

_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _

t i l t

6 marks

Completing phrases

Add words from the spelling list to complete these phrases and expressions. The first letters are

given to help you.

1 m in a bottle

2 All a !

3 malarial m

4 the distant h

5 v snakes

6 Drop the a !

7 the sole s

8 s w

9 bottlenose d

10 the blue l

11 dense f

12 an i paradise

13 a seaworthy v

14 essential s


The Latin prefix sub- means ‘beneath’. Using the back-of-the-book

dictionary, write down the meaning of the following words that begin

with sub-.

14 marks

submerge:

subtract:

subdue:

subterranean:

subjugate:

subdivide:

submit:

substantiate:

8 marks


978 1 4202 3709 2

Language

Synonyms

A synonym is a word that is similar in meaning to another word. The following pairs of words are

synonyms.

conceal—hide assistance—help huge—enormous

Missing synonyms

Write down the synonym of each of the following words. The first letter is given to help you and

spaces are indicated for the missing letters.

1 commence b _ _ _ _

2 conclusion e _ _

3 altitude h _ _ _ _ _

4 slender s _ _ _

5 peculiar o _ _

6 unite j _ _ _

7 circular r _ _ _ _

8 courteous p _ _ _ _ _

9 exhibit s _ _ _

10 inquire a _ _

11 comprehend u _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

12 odour s _ _ _ _

13 remedy c _ _ _

14 roam w _ _ _ _ _

15 feeble w _ _ _

16 purchase b _ _

17 tranquil c _ _ _

18 stop h _ _ _

18 marks

Match up the synonyms

Select the synonyms from the box for each of the following italicised words.

choice busy unbeatable wealth

tranquil yearly dig brave

peak enough dwelling careful

fierce exterior moist liberty

1 great riches

2 an annual payment

3 a peaceful scene

4 a courageous soldier

5 a new residence

6 the outside wall

7 a damp cloth

8 deprived of freedom

9 the best option

10 a cautious driver

11 a ferocious dog

12 the mountain summit

13 sufficient food

14 to excavate

15 an invincible team

16 an industrious worker

16 marks

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8 Marooned! 59

Punctuation

Commas

A comma is frequently used to mark a natural pause in a sentence—the place where a person

would naturally take a breath when reading aloud.

When I saw the water seeping through the crack again, I picked up the paddle.

Inserting commas, capitals and full stops

Write out each of the following sentences from Island of the Blue Dolphins, inserting commas,

capitals and full stops. Check your answers by referring to the sentences in the passage.

1 more than anything it was the blue dolphins that took me back home

2 the night was very long longer than the night before

3 there I lay for a long time hugging the sand in happiness

4 they left as quickly as they had come going on into the west but for a long time I could

see the last of the sun shining on them

5 twice I dozed kneeling there in the canoe though I was more afraid than I had ever been

6 then they swam on ahead of the canoe crossing back and forth in front of it diving in and

out as if they were weaving a piece of cloth with their broad snouts

6 marks


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Castaway

A castaway is a person who has been shipwrecked

and stranded in an isolated place. Robinson Crusoe,

the main character in Daniel Defoe’s novel Robinson

Crusoe, is one of the most famous castaways in

English literature. Here are two entries from his diary

of 1659.

Shipwrecked

June 17. Going down to the seaside I found a large

turtle. Later, cooking the turtle, I found in her

threescore eggs, and her flesh was to me at that

time the most savoury and pleasant that ever I

tasted in my life, having had no flesh, but of goats

and fowls, since I landed in this horrid place.

June 18. Rained all day and stayed within. I

thought at this time the rain felt cold, and I was

something chilly, which I knew was not usual in

that latitude.

from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Select one of the following topics and write down your response in about 150 words.

• Two or three diary entries of a lone survivor.

• Imagine that you are an astronaut who has been left behind on Mars after your spaceship

has departed without you. Describe your experiences.

• What would you miss most if you were a castaway on a desert island?

• Imagine as a castaway you had written and sent a message in a bottle. Write the message

that you placed in the bottle.

Food, glorious

food!

9

Comprehension

Read the following passage then answer the questions.

The pizza

AS early as 500 bce, the Persian armies baked a

type of flat bread topped with cheese and dates.

Even the city of Pompeii, preserved by the ashes

of the volcano, Mount Vesuvius, still retains

evidence of pizza-making utensils.

The early Greeks baked a type of flat, round

bread which they topped with olive oil, spices

and vegetables. When the Greeks colonised

coastal areas of southern Italy between the fifth

and eighth centuries bce, they brought this type

of food with them, but it was seen as a food for

peasants. In fact, this unleavened, round bread

was used as plates by the poor and topped with

whatever food was available.

One of the main ingredients of the modern-day

pizza is tomato, but in early times, this fruit had

been thought poisonous by Europeans. In the

sixteenth century, European travellers to Peru and

Mexico returned with this exotic fruit and it soon

became a very important ingredient of the pizza.

In 1889, Queen Margherita and King Umberto I

toured the Italian provinces. The queen became

curious when she saw peasants eating a roundshaped

bread. Even though many of her advisers

frowned upon the fact that she tasted ‘peasant

food’, she loved the new taste and so it became

very popular throughout the whole of Italy. The

queen summoned a pizza chef, Rafaelle Esposito,

to her palace. Here he created a special pizza in

her honour. It was topped with tomatoes, white

mozzarella cheese and fresh basil—the colours

of the Italian flag (red, white and green). This

became one of the queen’s favourite foods and

Pizza Margherita is still popular today.

Pizzas were sold by street vendors who walked

the city streets with small, tin stoves on their

heads. In this way, the pizza's popularity spread

through the whole of Italy. The pizza was not well

known worldwide until after World War II when

troops returning from Italy spread the idea to

other European countries and North America.

Now it is one of the most popular take-away

foods in many countries, including Australia.

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61


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1 What were the first known pizzas made from?

2 What evidence is there to show the people of Pompeii made pizzas?

3 How were the pizzas of the Greeks different from those of the Persians?

4 How were pizzas used by the poor people of Italy?

5 How did the tomato become an important ingredient of the pizza?

6 How did Queen Margherita first discover the pizza?

7 Why did Queen Margherita’s advisers frown upon pizzas?

8 What are the toppings of pizza margherita?

9 How did street vendors make the pizza very popular throughout Italy?

10 What caused the pizza to reach North America?

10 marks

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Food, food, food!

sandwich savoury tomato appetite lettuce

biscuit cereal spinach sauce coconut

barbecue spaghetti banana frozen peach

sausage chocolate recipe digestion cinnamon

fruit vegetable delicious cocoa flavour

cherry potato cheese variety porridge

Criss-cross word

Fill in the following grids using words from the spelling list words. In each criss-cross word, one

letter has been given to help you. There may be more than one correct answer.

a

u

t

s

4 marks

Word skills

1 Write down a word from the spelling list for each of these clues or meanings.

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

an Italian pasta

a long, curved yellow fruit

desire for food or drink

a fruit containing clear milk

an outdoor stove

food made from grain

oats cooked with water or milk

different kinds

8 marks


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2 Write down the plurals of these words from the list.

a potato

e

b sandwich

f

c cherry

g

d cereal

h

peach

savoury

sausage

tomato

8 marks

3 Use words from the spelling list to complete the following descriptions of food. The first

letters are given to help you.

a f peas

b s bolognaise

c t sauce

d p chips

e f salad

f c milkshake

g c toast

h l leaf

i s roll

j v soup

10 marks


The Latin prefix bi- means ‘two’. A biscuit was originally a small

thin cake that had been twice cooked. Using the back-of-the-book

dictionary, find words beginning with bi- that have these meanings:

to cut or divide into two parts

a pedal-driven vehicle with two wheels

happening once every two years

the offence of being married to two people at once

a two-footed animal

an aeroplane with two sets of wings, one above the other

Language

6 marks

Antonyms

An antonym is a word opposite in meaning to another word. The following words are pairs of

antonyms.

war—peace love—hate laugh—cry clean—dirty east—west

Replacing with antonyms

Rewrite the phrases on the next page and replace each of the words in italics with an antonym;

for example:

a noisy street j a quiet street

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1 a shallow pool

2 a recent arrival

3 a full glass

4 a great victory

5 a sharp instrument

6 a narrow road

7 a loud laugh

8 a short person

9 cheap jewellery

10 a cold day

11 a happy ending

12 a sweet orange

13 a senior student

14 private property

15 an unusual exit

16 the ancient world

17 a winning team

18 neat room

19 maximum effort

20 a low pitch

20 marks

Using antonyms

Write down the antonyms of the following words. The first letters are given to help you.

1 south n

2 always n

3 enemy f

4 inferior s

5 closed o

6 borrow l

7 accept r

8 masculine f

9 strength w

10 pleasure p

Punctuation

11 create d

12 drunk s

13 absence p

14 question a

15 failure s

16 seldom o

17 remember f

18 sorrow j

19 alike d

20 tight l

21 soft h

22 add s

23 many f

24 last f

25 high l

26 night d

27 wild t

28 new o

29 front b

30 lose f

30 marks

Apostrophes—abbreviating words

In speaking and in writing we often shorten two words and use them as one word. An apostrophe

can be used to indicate where letters have been left out.

I’m tired. He’s coming. They’re late. What’s wrong?

Using apostrophes

Abbreviate the following sentences using apostrophes.

1 Who is going to be late?

2 They are not here.


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3 Do not cry!

4 What is your problem?

5 She cannot come.

6 It is not here.

7 We must not fail.

8 He could not win.

9 There is no danger.

10 I am going away.

11 I did not know.

12 He had rung earlier.

13 Here is my pass.

14 Where is the money?

15 Did you not hear?

16 You are next.

16 marks

Using the complete form

Write these sentences in full without apostrophes.

1 Don’t do that.

2 Let’s try.

3 You’ve lost.

4 There’s no hope.

5 I can’t help you.

6 It doesn’t matter.

7 All’s well.

8 We couldn’t sell it.

9 We’re all here.

10 I’m keen to go.

11 I’d like to write.

12 Didn’t he play?

13 They won’t be sorry.

14 That’ll be the day.

15 Isn’t she allowed out?

16 It’s not a problem.

16 marks

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Food, glorious food

Through the years, novelists, poets, food gourmets and

others have written mouth-watering descriptions of

appetising food. Here are a few tasty pieces.

Golden cheese

The kettle began to boil, and

meanwhile the old man held a

large piece of cheese on a long

iron fork over the fire, turning

it round and round till it was

toasted a nice golden yellow

colour on each side.

from Heidi

by Johanna Spyri

Piping hot chowder

It was made of small juicy

clams, scarcely bigger than

hazel nuts, mixed with

pounded ship biscuit, and

salted pork cut up into little

flakes; the whole enriched with

butter, and plentifully seasoned

with pepper and salt.

from Moby-Dick

by Herman Melville

Christmas pudding

Mrs Cratchit entered—flushed,

but smiling proudly—with the

pudding, like a speckled canonball,

so hard and firm, blazing

in half of half-a-quartern of

ignited brandy, and bedecked

with Christmas holly stuck into

the top.

from A Christmas Carol

by Charles Dickens

Write 150 words on one of the following topics.

• What I like to eat • Food(s) I dislike

• My favourite eating place(s) • Fast food

10 Cities

Comprehension


A city under siege

Dear Mimmy,

Saturday, 2 May 1992

Today was truly, absolutely the worst day ever

in Sarajevo. The shooting started around noon.

Mummy and I moved into the hall; Daddy was

in his office, under our flat, at the time. We

told him on the interphone to run quickly to

the downstairs lobby where we’d meet him.

We brought Cicko [Zlata’s canary] with us. The

gunfire was getting worse, and we couldn’t get

over the wall to the Bobars, so we ran down to

our own cellar.

The cellar is ugly, dark, smelly. Mummy, who’s

terrified of mice, had two fears to cope with.

The three of us were in the same corner as the

other day. We listened to the pounding shells,

the shooting, the thundering noise overhead.

We even heard planes. At one moment I realized

that this awful cellar was the only place that

could save our lives. Suddenly, it started to look

almost warm and nice. It was the only way we

could defend ourselves against all this terrible

shooting. We heard glass shattering in our street.

Horrible. I put my fingers in my ears to block out

the terrible sounds. I was worried about Cicko.

We had left him behind in the lobby. Would he

catch cold there? Would something hit him? I

was terribly hungry and thirsty. We had left our

half-cooked lunch in the kitchen.

When the shooting died down a bit, Daddy

ran over to our flat and brought us back some

sandwiches. He said he could smell something

burning and that the phones weren’t working.

He brought our TV set down to the cellar. That’s

when we learned that the main post office (near

us) was on fire and that they had kidnapped

our President. At around 20.00 we went back

up to our flat. Almost every window in our

street was broken. Ours were all right, thank

God. I saw the post office in flames. A terrible

sight. The fire-fighters battled with the raging

fire. Daddy took a few photos of the post office

being devoured by the flames. He said they

wouldn’t come out because I had been fiddling

with something on the camera. I was sorry. The

whole flat smelled of the burning fire. God, and I

used to pass by there every day. It had just been

done up. It was huge and beautiful, and now it

was being swallowed up by the flames. It was

disappearing. That’s what this neighbourhood

of mine looks like, dear Mimmy. I wonder what

it’s like in other parts of town? I heard on the

radio that it was awful around the Eternal Flame.

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10 Cities 69

The place is knee‐deep in glass. We’re worried

about Grandma and Grandad. They live there.

Tomorrow, if we can go out, we’ll see how they

are. A terrible day. This has been the worst, most

awful day in my eleven-year-old life. I hope it

will be the only one.

Mummy and Daddy are very edgy. I have to go

to bed.

Ciao!

Zlata

from Zlata’s Diary by Zlata Filipovic


1 Why did Zlata and her mother decide to seek refuge in their cellar?

2 Why was the cellar an unpleasant experience?

3 What was happening in the city above the cellar?

4 Why was Zlata worried about Cicko, her canary?

5 ‘I was terribly hungry and thirsty.’ Why?

6 What did Zlata’s father do when ‘the shooting died down a bit’?

7 How did they first learn that the post office was burning?

8 What did they discover about the houses in the street when they went back up to their

flat?

9 What smell was very noticeable throughout their flat?

10 ‘We’re worried about Grandma and Grandad.’ Why?

10 marks


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Cityscape

traffic bicycle celebration noise avenue

library gallery cathedral alley spectacular

theatre museum pollution concert population

quay excavate transport beggar crowded

restaurant supermarket escalator harbour subway

stadium fountain office screech system

Places

Write down places from the spelling list that match the following definitions.

1 a wharf where ships are loaded

2 a place where books are kept

3 a street or road, especially one with trees

4 a large church, containing a bishop’s throne

5 a very narrow street in a city

6 a large self-service shop selling food and other goods

7 a place where artworks are displayed

8 a tunnel under a railway or street

9 a large, often indoor, sports arena

10 a place of shelter for ships

11 a place where meals are served to customers

12 a building for presenting plays and other shows

12 marks

Missing words

Complete the following sentences by adding words from the spelling list. The first letters are

given to help you.

1 There had been an accident in the c street near the Olympic

s .

2 A s of brakes was heard by the diners in the r .

3 A long queue formed outside the ticket o of the t .

4 Many commuters complain about the public t s .

5 The tourists wished to visit the art g and the m .

6 A warship was tied up at the q at the far end of the h .

7 Riding a b in t can be very dangerous.

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10 Cities 71

8 P is a major problem for a city with a large p .

9 In the New Year’s Eve c there was a s display of

fireworks.

10 A beautiful tree-lined a led directly to the ancient c .

20 marks

Word boxes

Rearrange the letters in the following boxes to form words from the spelling list.

1 a a s

3 a h r

5

l e c

d e l

r t o

c a t

x a t

c a v

e e

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

2 n a o

4 l i o

6

u i f

l t o

t n

u n p

n o s

t t r

p r a

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

6 marks


The Latin prefix ex- means ‘out’. The word excavate means ‘to dig out’

or ‘to hollow out’. Using the-back-of-the-book dictionary, write down

the meaning of the following words beginning with ex.

exit:

exclaim:

exclude:

exile:

exhale:

5 marks

Language

Homonyms

Homonyms are words that sound the same but have different meanings. The following pairs of

words are homonyms:

pain—pane bear—bare ate—eight mane—main steal—steel


978 1 4202 3709 2

Identifying homonyms

Use the following clues and meanings to write down homonyms from the box in the spaces

below. There is an example to help you.

mane flea whale stationary scent pane pear week

main flee wail stationery cent pain pair weak

poor waste scene queue piece key lone male

pour waist seen cue peace quay loan mail

opposite of female male letters and parcels mail

1 suffering a sheet of glass

2 seven days in a feeble state

3 a small part absence of war

4 used to open a lock ships are loaded here

5 the middle of the body rubbish

6 solitary act of lending

7 a line of people used in billiards

8 a biting insect to run away

9 a perfume a unit of money

10 not moving writing materials

11 a part of a play perceived

12 having little money to tip out a liquid

13 an edible fruit two things of a kind

14 a large, marine animal a long, sad cry

15 hair on a horse’s neck most important

15 marks

Choosing homonyms

Complete the following sentences by choosing the correct words from the ones in brackets.

1 They their bikes along the . (road rode)

2 From the cliffs she could the huge waves of the . (see sea)

3 Nobody that the car belonged to us. (new knew)

4 You need to that the has been signed. (cheque check)

5 Put the CD player over so that I can the music.

(here hear)

6 The made a forced landing on the dusty . (plain plane)

7 She her books the window. (threw through)

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10 Cities 73

8 The robber was at the of the crime. (scene seen)

9 With my hand, I my notes. (right write)

10 We are not to read in class. (aloud allowed)

Punctuation

20 marks

Apostrophes—avoiding confusion

People are often confused about the difference between the following sets of words. It is important

to learn the differences so you can use the words correctly.

it’s (it is) I know it’s the right place.

its (possessive) The snake raised its head.

you’re (you are) You’re late.

your (possessive) Don’t forget to bring your lunch.

who’s ( who is/ who has) Guess who’s coming to dinner.

whose (possessive) Whose car is this?

they’re (they are) They’re the best students.

their (possessive) Where are their books?

there (a place) Don’t go there !

Inserting the correct words

Complete the following sentences by inserting the correct words from the brackets.

1 afraid of the big bad wolf? (whose who’s)

2 going to eat at the restaurant over . (there they’re)

3 The dog knows time for bath. (it’s its)

4 moving into new home tomorrow. (their they’re)

5 books are these? (whose who’s)

6 a beautiful harbour with yachts and ferries. (it’s its)

7 going to be late for exam. (your you’re)

8 Guess going on holiday. (who’s whose)

9 likely that car has lost exhaust pipe.

(its it’s your you’re)

10 friends are standing over (there their)

18 marks


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Cities, towns and other places

Rosemary Sutcliff, a famous writer of historical fiction, explains her creation of a place:

I get a feeling that I want to write about a particular place and a particular period, and

I sort of sit and brew on that and see what emerges. Often the characters step out of that

place and period.

Here is her description of King Arthur’s castle Camelot in

sixth-century England.

Camelot

On every side, Camelot climbed, roof above coloured roof,

up the steep slopes of the hill. About the foot of the hill the

river cast its shining silver noose; and at the highest heart of

the town rose the palace of King Arthur. And in the Great Hall

of Arthur’s palace stood the Round Table, which could hold

a hundred and fifty knights, each with his name written in

fairest gold on the high back of his chair behind him.

from The Light beyond the Forest by

Rosemary Sutcliff

Write 150 words to describe a real or imaginary place. Use these ideas or choose your own.

• A place I’d like to visit • A place I dislike

• The place where I live • A deserted house

Fantasy

11

Comprehension


The Grand High Witch

THE first thing I noticed about this woman was

her size. She was tiny, probably no more than

four and a half feet tall. She looked quite young,

I guessed about twenty-five or six, and she was

very pretty. She had on a rather stylish long black

dress that reached right to the ground and she

wore black gloves that came up to her elbows.

Unlike the others, she wasn’t wearing a hat.

She didn’t look to me like a witch at all, but

she couldn’t possibly not be one, otherwise what

on earth was she doing up there on the platform?

And why, for heaven’s sake, were all the other

witches gazing at her with such a mixture of

adoration, awe and fear?

Very slowly, the young lady on the platform

raised her hands to her face. I saw her gloved

fingers unhooking something behind her ears,

and then … then she caught hold of her cheeks

and lifted her face clean away! The whole of that

pretty face came away in her hands!

It was a mask!

As she took off the mask, she turned sideways

and placed it carefully upon a small table nearby,

and when she turned round again and faced us, I

very nearly screamed out loud.

That face of hers was the most frightful and

frightening thing I have ever seen. Just looking at

it gave me the shakes all over. It was so crumpled

and wizened, so shrunken and shrivelled, it

looked as though it had been pickled in vinegar.

It was a fearsome and ghastly sight. There was

something terribly wrong with it, something

foul and putrid and decayed. It seemed quite

literally to be rotting away at the edges, and in

the middle of the face, around the mouth and

cheeks, I could see the skin all cankered and

worm-eaten, as though maggots were working

away in there.

There are times when something is so frightful

you become mesmerised by it and can’t look

away. I was like that now. I was transfixed. I was

numbed. I was magnetised by the sheer horror

of this woman’s features. But there was more to it

than that. There was a look of serpents in those

eyes of hers as they flashed around the audience.

I knew immediately, of course, that this was

none other than The Grand High Witch herself.

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I knew also why she had worn a mask. She

could never have moved around in public, let

alone book in at a hotel, with her real face.

Everyone who saw her would have run away

screaming.

from The Witches by Roald Dahl


1 What was the first thing the narrator noticed about the woman on the platform?

2 How was she dressed?

3 What emotions did the other witches show as they gazed at the witch?

4 What did the witch do to her face while she was on the platform?

5 How did the narrator react to the sight of the witch’s real face.

6 What did the narrator think was happening around the witch’s mouth and cheeks?

7 What do you learn about the witch’s eyes?

8 Why wasn’t the narrator able to look away from the witch’s face?

9 Why had the Grand High Witch worn a mask?

10 Using the back-of-the-book dictionary, write down the meaning of these words.

a wizened:

b putrid:

c cankered:

10 marks

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11 Fantasy 77


The world of fantasy

wizard monster treasure tunnel weird

witch phantom invisible passage mysterious

sorcerer dragon ghost warrior menacing

fairy knight apparition castle pursue

elf magician vanish gnome magnificent

ogre mermaid appearance maiden disappear

giant heroine incredible enchanted supernatural

Word skills

1 Write down a word from the spelling list for each of the following clues.

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

a large, winged, fire-breathing animal

a woman with a fish’s tail

a female hero

not visible

a woman who practises magic

Shrek is one of these

a medieval mounted soldier

the opposite of ‘tiny’

a young, unmarried woman

a store of money, jewels, gold, etc.

threatening

to follow or chase

very odd or strange

a fortified building in times past

14 marks

2 Find words from the spelling list as indicated.

a

b

List four people who are able to use magic. The first letters are given to help you.

w

m

w

s

List two people associated with war. The first letters are given to help you.

k

w


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c

Find five words used in ghost stories. The first letters are given to help you.

p

s

a

v

d

3 Write the plurals of these words.

elf

fairy

sorcerer

monster

magician

heroine

11 marks

4 Build new words by removing the final letters and adding the new endings given.

magician al mysterious y

enchanted ment heroine ic

invisible ility pursue uit

6 marks

6 marks


The Latin prefix super- means ‘above’, ‘over’ or ‘beyond’. A

supernatural happening is one that cannot be explained by

the laws of nature—it is beyond what is natural or physically

possible. Find the meaning of these words beginning with superin

the back-of-the-book dictionary.

supervisor:

supersonic:

supermarket:

superstar:

superhuman:

supersede:

superfluous:

superlative:

8 marks

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11 Fantasy 79

Language

Adjectives

Adjectives are used to describe people, places, animals and things. They add colour, size, shape

and other qualities to nouns and give descriptions vitality. Look carefully at Roald Dahl’s use of

adjectives in these sentences from The Witches.

She had on a rather stylish long black dress that reached right to the ground.

That face of hers was the most frightful and frightening thing I have ever seen.

Adjectives in action

In the following brief descriptions, the authors use adjectives to breathe life into their

characters. Read through the passages and then write down the adjectives they have used.

The pirate

I remember him as if it were yesterday, a tall, strong, heavy, nut-brown man; his tarry

pigtail falling over the shoulders of his soiled blue coat; his hands ragged and scarred,

with black broken nails and the sabre-cut across one cheek, a dirty livid white.

from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

The policeman

The policeman came strolling slowly towards us. He was a big meaty man with a belly,

and his blue breeches were skintight around his enormous thighs. His goggles were

pulled up on the helmet, showing a smouldering red face with wide cheeks.

13 marks

from The Hitch-hiker by Roald Dahl

8 marks

Creating adjectives

Complete the phrases below by creating adjectives from the words in brackets; for example:

a friendly shopkeeper (friend)

1 a result (marvel)

2 a coat (wool)

3 a doctor (sympathy)

4 an deed (honour)

5 a snake (venom)

6 a task (labour)

7 an bear (anger)

8 an child (innocence)

9 an game (energy)

10 an driver (impatience)


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11 a cry (despair)

12 a speech (persuade)

13 a watch (value)

14 a concert (delight)

15 an meal (appetite)

16 a injury (pain)

17 a night (storm)

18 a kitchen (space)

19 a singer (fame)

20 a rescue (miracle)

20 marks

Punctuation

Apostrophes—ownership

Apostrophes are used to show ownership or possession in the following ways:

• when the noun that owns or possesses is singular, add ’s

the witch’s broom (the broom of the witch)

• when the noun that owns or possesses is plural and already ends in ‘s’, simply add an

apostrophe

the knights’ horses (the horses of the knights)

• when the noun that possesses is plural, but does not end in ‘s’, add ’s

the children’s cloaks (the cloaks of the children)

Using apostrophes to show ownership

Change each of the following so that an apostrophe is used to indicate ownership or possession;

for example,

the crown of the king j the king’s crown

1 the lair of the dragon

2 the wings of the fairies

3 the tail of the mermaid

4 the gold of the giant

5 the hats of the witches

6 the barking of the dogs

7 the playground of the children

8 the tiara of the princess

9 the library of the monks

10 the clothing of the men

11 the dress of the lady

12 the leaves of the trees

13 the quest of the hero

14 the eyes of the women

14 marks

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11 Fantasy 81


Villains

Often, the villains in stories and movies make very interesting characters. Darth Vader, Captain

Hook, the Joker, the White Witch, the Jabberwocky and Count Olaf are just a few who have become

very popular with audiences. The evil Gollum is a repulsive creature who appears in The Hobbit

and The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. Notice in the following description how Tolkien has

created a character who is both loathsome and treacherous.

Gollum

Deep down here by the dark water lived old

Gollum, a small slimy creature. I don’t know

where he came from, nor who or what he was.

He was a Gollum—as dark as darkness, except

for two big round pale eyes in his thin face.

He had a little boat, and he rowed about quite

quietly on the lake; for lake it was, wide and deep

and deadly cold. He paddled it with large feet

dangling over the side, but never a ripple did

he make. Not he. He was looking out of his pale

lamp-like eyes for blind fish, which he grabbed

with his long fingers as quick as thinking. He

liked meat too. Goblin he thought good, when he

could get it; but he took care they never found

him out. He just throttled them from behind, if

they ever came down alone anywhere near the

edge of the water, while he was prowling about.

They very seldom did, for they had a feeling that

something unpleasant was lurking down there,

down at the very roots of the mountain.

from The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

In about 200 words, create an evil character for one of the genres below. Make sure you describe

the character’s physical appearance, clothing, behaviour, etc.

• Fantasy • Crime fiction • Western • Historical fiction

12 Alien worlds

Comprehension


The Tripod

I felt the ground shiver, and again and again

with still greater force. Then one of the Tripod’s

legs plunged across the blue, and I saw the

hemisphere, black against the arc of sky, and

tried to dig myself down into the earth. At that

moment the howling stopped. In the silence I

heard a different whistling sound of something

whipping terribly fast through the air and,

glancing fearfully, saw two or three bushes

uprooted and tossed away.

Beside me, Beanpole said: ‘It has us. It knows

we are here. It can pull the bushes out till we are

plainly seen.’

‘Or kill us, pulling them out,’ Henry said. ‘If

that thing hits you …’

I said: ‘If I showed myself …’

‘No use. It knows there are three.’

‘We could run different ways,’ Henry said. ‘One

of us might get clear.’

I saw more bushes sail through the air, like

confetti. You do not get used to fear, I thought; it

grips you as firmly every time. Beanpole said:

‘We can fight it.’

He said it with a lunatic calm, which made me

want to groan. Henry said:

‘What with? Our fists?’

‘The metal eggs.’ He had his pack open already,

and was rummaging in it … ‘There are four.’ He

handed one each to Henry and me. ‘I will take the

others. If we pull out the rings, count five, then

stand up and throw. At the leg that is nearest. The

hemisphere is too high.’

This time I saw the tentacle through the bushes

as it scooped up some more. Beanpole said:

‘Now!’

He pulled the rings from his eggs, and Henry

did the same. I had taken mine in my left hand,

and I needed to transfer it to the right. As I did so,

pain ripped my arm-pit again, and I dropped it.

I was fumbling on the ground to pick it up when

Beanpole said: ‘Now!’ again. They scrambled to

their feet and I grabbed the last egg, ignoring

the pain of the moment, and got up with them. I

ripped out the ring just as they threw.

The nearest foot of the Tripod was planted on

the slope, thirty yards or so above us. Beanpole’s

first throw was wild—he did not get within ten

yards of his target. But his second throw, and

Henry’s, were close to the mark. One of them hit

metal, with a clang that we could hear. Almost

at once they exploded. There were three nearly

simultaneous bangs, and fountains of earth and

dust spouted into the air.

But they did not obscure one plain fact: the

eggs had done no damage to the Tripod. It stood

as firmly as before, and the tentacle was swishing

down, this time directly towards us. We started to

run, or rather, in my case, prepared to. Because

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12 Alien worlds 83

before I could move, it had me round the waist.

I plucked at it with my left hand, but it was

like trying to bend a rock. It held me with

amazing precision, tight but not crushing, and

lifted me as I might lift a mouse. Except that a

mouse could bite, and I could do nothing against

the hard gleaming surface that held me. I was

lifted up, up. The ground shrank below me, and

with it the figures of Beanpole and Henry. I saw

them darting away like ants. I was steeple-high,

higher. I looked up, and saw the hole in the side

of the hemisphere. And remembered the iron

egg still clutched in my right hand.

How long was it since I had pulled the ring

out? I had forgotten to count in my fear and

confusion. Several seconds—it could not be

long before it exploded. The tentacle was

swinging me inwards now. The hole was forty

feet away, thirty-five, thirty. I braced myself back,

straining against the encircling band. Pain leapt

in my arm again, but I ignored it. I hurled the

egg with all my strength, and what accuracy I

could muster. I thought at first that I had missed,

but the egg hit the edge of the opening and

ricocheted inside. The tentacle continued to

carry me forwards. Twenty feet, fifteen, ten …

Although I was nearer, the explosion was not

as loud as the others had been, probably because

it took place inside the hemisphere. There was

just a dull, rather hollow bang. Despair came

back: that was my last chance gone. But at that

instant I felt the tentacle holding me relax and

fall away.

from The White Mountains

by John Christopher


1 What was the first indication the narrator had of the weight and size of the Tripod?

2 Why was the Tripod ripping out all the bushes?

3 ‘I saw more bushes sail through the air, like confetti.’ What does ‘like confetti’ tell you

about the size and strength of the Tripod?

4 What did Beanpole suggest they should use to fight the Tripod?

5 Which clues inform you that the narrator was injured?

6 What happened when Beanpole’s and Henry’s eggs exploded near the Tripod’s legs?

7 ‘I hurled the egg with all my strength.’ What happened to the egg?

8 What indication did the narrator have that the Tripod had lost its strength and power?

8 marks


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Space mission

planets astronaut malfunction pressure telescope

satellite asteroid surface oxygen comet

alien astronomy gravity travel orbit

galaxy navigation calculate launching solar

rocket meteorite technology debris atmosphere

Completing the sentences

Complete each of the following sentences by inserting words from the spelling list. The first


1 The p of the s system all orbit around the sun to

which they are attracted by g .

2 The spacelab’s n instruments enabled the o of the

a

to be recorded.

3 The r began to m as it entered the Earth’s

a .

4 Using the latest t , the starship was sent to explore the distant

g .

5 The a wore a p suit with an o

unit attached.

6 The moon is a s of Earth.

7 The l of Apollo 11 led to Neil Armstrong becoming the first person

to set foot on the moon’s s .

8 The t has played an important part in the advances of a .

Missing letters

Add the missing letters to form words from the spelling list.

19 marks

1 _ e t _ _ r i t e

2 _ l _ _ n

3 d _ _ _ _ s

4 _ r _ v _ _ _

5 _ _ m _ t

6 _ _ l _ u l _ _ e

7 _ s _ e r _ _ d

8 _ o c _ e _

9 _ r e _ _ u _ _

10 _ _ y _ _ n

11 g _ l _ _ y

12 _ r _ i _

12 marks

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12 Alien worlds 85


The Greek word aster means ‘a star’. Using the back-of-the-book

dictionary, write down the meaning of these words derived from aster.

asteroid:

astronaut:

asterisk:

astronomical:

disaster:

Language

5 marks

Verbs

Verbs express all kinds of actions. They are doing, being and having words. A verb can be one word

or it can be a number of words. Look at these sentences.

• The tentacle was swinging me inwards now.

• One of them hit metal, with a clang that we could hear.

Note that when a verb is used in its infinitive form, it is preceded by ‘to’.

to explode to fall to run to leap to hurl to make

Identifying verbs

Identify the verbs and write them in the spaces below the sentences.

1 I thought at first I had missed, but the egg hit the edge of the opening and ricocheted

inside.

2 He had his pack open already, and was rummaging in it.

3 I had taken mine in my left hand, and I needed to transfer it to the right.

4 They scrambled to their feet, and I grabbed the last egg.

5 Before I could move, it had me round the waist.

6 Pain leapt in my arm again, but I ignored it.

6 marks


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Find the verbs

Next to each phrase, write down a verb from the box that matches the meaning. The first letters


escape embark wade starve unite

grow vanish postpone tremble imitate

rescue shrink decide purify resign

approach descend ignite resemble perforate

1 to go on board ship e

2 to save from danger r

3 to become smaller s

4 to copy someone i

5 to make up one’s mind d

6 to shake with fear t

7 to make pure or clean p

8 to put off till later p

9 to give up one’s job r

10 to disappear v

11 to come near to a

12 to increase in size g

13 to go down d

14 to join together u

15 to set on fire i

16 to die from hunger s

17 to make a hole through p

18 to walk through water w

19 to look like r

20 to get away e

20 marks

Punctuation

Capital letters

Capital letters help us to communicate clearly. They enable us to see quickly where sentences

begin. They also help us to recognise important names and places in texts.

Capital letters are used:

• to begin sentences

Space travel could damage the ozone layer around our planet.

• to begin people’s names

Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the moon.

• to begin the names of countries and places

The city of Moscow is the capital of Russia.

• to begin the names of the days of the weeks, the months and special occasions

Monday Tuesday January February New Year’s Day

• to begin each word in the names of books, films and products. (Note that words such as

‘of’, ‘a’, ‘the’, ‘and’ and ‘in’ are usually not capitalised in titles unless they begin the title.)

‘Lockie Leonard, Scumbuster’ ‘Romeo and Juliet’ ‘Finding Nemo’ Mars Bar

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12 Alien worlds 87

Using capital letters

Rewrite the following sentences and put in the capital letters where they are required.

1 it was long thought that the great wall of china, which is 7000 km long, could be seen

from the moon.

2 the russian cosmonaut, yuri gagarin, was the first person in space.

3 the mercedes, jaguar, lexus, porsche and daimler are luxury cars.

4 paris, canberra, london, beijing and islamabad are capital cities.

5 roald dahl wrote going solo, charlie and the chocolate factory and the witches.

6 the months of july and august were named after the roman emperors julius caesar and

augustus.

7 william shakespeare wrote his play hamlet during the reign of elizabeth I of england.

8 norway, denmark and sweden are scandinavian countries.

9 the scottish inventor, john logie baird, gave the first public demonstration of television

in 1926 in london.

10 the novel eragon, written by christopher paolini when he was a teenager, has been made

into a film.

10 marks


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The time machine

A time machine can conquer time and space

to reach its destination. In this edited passage

from The Time Machine by HG Wells, the time

traveller describes his journey through time.

Time traveller

I seemed to reel and I felt a nightmare sensation

of falling. I drew a breath, set my teeth, gripped

the starting lever with two hands. I pressed the

lever over to its extreme position. The laboratory

grew faint and hazy, then fainter and ever fainter.

To-morrow night came black, then day again,

night again, day again, faster and faster still. A

strange dumb confusedness descended on my

mind. I saw great and splendid architecture rising

about me, more massive than buildings of our

own time, and yet, as it seemed, built of glimmer

and mist. The whole surface of the Earth seemed

changed—melting and flowing under my eyes.

And so my mind came round to the business

of stopping. I lugged over the lever, and the

machine went reeling over, and I was flung

headlong through the air. I found myself sitting

on the soft earth in front of the overturned

machine. I was stunned for a moment …

from The Time Machine by HG Wells

Imagine you are the time traveller in the above passage. Choose a topic below and write a story or

description in 200 words, beginning with, ‘I found myself …’

• … living on Planet Earth in the year 2250. • … travelling west in a wagon train.

• … on an epic journey to a space station. • … in the city of Atlantis under the sea.

• … on board with pirates of the Caribbean. • … long ago in an amazing place.

The animal

kingdom

13

Comprehension


Skunks

ALL four species of skunks are omnivorous—

they eat insects, rodents, vegetation, eggs and

even garbage.

The claws on their front feet are effective for

digging, but rather than dig their own burrows,

most skunks choose to live in rock crevices,

under houses and so on. In winter, a group of

skunks may share a den to keep warm. Home

owners sometimes find that they have these

unwanted residents under their house. One of

the most effective eviction techniques is to

hang bags of mothballs around the area where

the skunks have taken up residence—they

hate this smell.

Skunks may also become nuisances by their

habit of digging up lawns and gardens looking

for grubs or preying on birds’ eggs.

Skunks are nocturnal and reclusive. If one is

seen acting aggressively during the day, it is likely

to be carrying rabies. If an animal or human

is bitten by a rabid skunk, they will suffer fatal

swelling of the brain unless treated quickly.

We have all heard about the foul smelling, oily

liquid or musk which a skunk can spray when it

is frightened. This can be sprayed as far as five

metres. However, the animal gives clear warning

signals beforehand by arching its back, stamping

its front feet and moving backwards. This musk

can cause severe burning of the eyes and even

temporary blindness.

Some states in the US allow skunks to be kept

as pets. These animals are ‘de-scented’ at the age

of about four weeks. The animals have very sharp

teeth but rarely bite if they are treated well. On

the whole, skunks are very quiet creatures. They

make a soft whistling sound to show curiosity or

affection. A loud, raucous screech shows they are

frightened or angry.

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89


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1 What do skunks eat?

2 Why would skunks be able to dig their own burrows?

3 Where do skunks live?

4 What is one way by which skunks keep warm in winter?

5 What is one method that home owners may use to remove skunks from their residence?

6 Why do skunks dig up lawns and gardens?

7 What behaviour could indicate that a skunk is likely to be carrying rabies?

8 Why is it dangerous for a human being to be bitten by a rabid skunk?

9 What warning signals does a skunk give before spraying musk?

10 How do skunks show that they are curious or affectionate?

11 Use the back-of-the-book dictionary to find the meaning of these words.

a nocturnal:

b reclusive:

c raucous:

11 marks

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Creatures great and small

leopard giraffe reindeer kangaroo platypus

elephant monkey koala chimpanzee tortoise

wallaby hyena rabbit camel porcupine

donkey emu otter gazelle baboon

ostrich cheetah turkey kookaburra antelope

zebra panda dingo penguin pelican

What animal is that?

Use the clues and definitions to identify animals from the spelling list.

1 a slow-moving creature carrying its shell on its back

2 sharp quills protect it from being attacked

3 an Australian native animal that lives on gum leaves

4 they don’t come any bigger on land than one of these

5 an Australian bird that makes a laughing sound

6 a small, long-eared member of the hare family

7 this animal pulls Santa’s sleigh

8 a marsupial similar to but smaller than a kangaroo

9 this animal’s long neck enables it to eat the leaves of tall trees

10 a black-and-white bear-like creature that eats bamboo

11 a native Australian wild dog

12 this animal may have one or two humps

13 a black-and-white striped animal

14 a mammal with a duck-like bill and webbed feet

15 a beast of burden

16 a fish-eating bird with a large bill

16 marks

Word skills

1 Write down the plurals of the following words from the spelling list.

a giraffe c platypus

b ostrich d pelican


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e zebra g tortoise

f gazelle h leopard

2 What are the three birds from the spelling list that do not fly?

3 What are the two animals from the list that belong to the cat family?

4 Name two animals from the list that move by hopping.

5 What are two mammals from the list that can swim underwater?


Use the back-of-the-book dictionary to find out the places of origin

of each of these animals.

12 marks

hyena

emu

penguin

panda

antelope

giraffe

elephant

leopard

zebra

ostrich

dingo

gazelle

Language

12 marks

Idioms

Idioms are sayings or expressions that are part of our everyday speech. They form a vital part of our

language. The real meaning of an idiom is not the same as its literal meaning. For example, if your

parent said, ‘Your room looks like a dog’s breakfast’, you would know that it needed tidying up.

Animal idioms

For each of the animal idioms at the top of the next page, choose the correct meaning from

the box.

to behave foolishly to cry without meaning it to spoil one’s chances

to be suspicious to do two things with one action to rain very heavily

to be obsessed by an idea to be a very clumsy person to give a false alarm

to reveal a secret the largest part of something in a straight, direct line

978 1 4202 3709 2


1 to let the cat out of the bag

2 to cry wolf

3 to kill two birds with one stone

4 to have a bee in one’s bonnet

5 to shed crocodile tears

6 to cook one’s goose

7 to be a bull in a china shop

8 to smell a rat

9 to rain cats and dogs

10 to act the goat

11 the lion’s share

12 as the crow flies

12 marks

Animal verbs

Write down the most suitable verb from the box next to each animal below.

grunts purrs squeaks brays quacks

roars barks gobbles coos bleats

neighs hisses croaks moos screams

clucks caws trumpets whistles hoots

1 a horse

2 a lamb

3 an owl

4 an elephant

5 a snake

6 a turkey

7 a frog

8 a dog

9 a cow

10 a lion

11 a duck

12 a hen

13 a crow

14 a donkey

15 a dove

16 a mouse

17 a pig

18 a cat

19 a canary

20 a seagull

20 marks


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Punctuation

Uses of the comma

A comma is used to indicate a short pause between several objects or between several things done.

A comma is not used before ‘and’ for the last item.

The eagle, the vulture, the hawk and the falcon are birds of prey.

Using commas

Rewrite the following sentences correctly by inserting commas and full stops.

1 A hyena laughs a donkey brays a rabbit squeals and a monkey chatters

2 We saw horses sheep pigs cows and ducks on the farm

3 The wind blows the rain lashes the thunder rumbles and the lightning flashes

4 She woke early ate breakfast went for a walk and then set out for school

5 The accountant bought a biro some textas a rubber and a notebook

6 The Italian chef was busy preparing the lasagne straining the spaghetti adding cheese to

the pizza and frying the veal

7 The tramp’s clothes were dirty torn and shabby from years of wear

8 Frogs jump lions stalk seagulls glide mice creep and snakes slither

8 marks

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Animal experiences

Most of us have a favourite animal novel, story, film or proverb. There are many classic animal

stories in literature. War Horse, Animal Farm, Wind in the Willows, The Lion King, Tarka the Otter

and Lassie are just a few. Read the following description of a dog that always causes trouble for

its owners.

The loaded dog

They had a big, black, young retriever dog—or rather an

overgrown pup, a big, foolish, four-footed mate, who was

always slobbering around them and lashing their legs with

his heavy tail that swung round like a stock-whip. Most

of his head was usually a red, idiotic, slobbering grin of

appreciation of his own silliness. He seemed to take life, the

world, his two-legged mates, and his own instinct as a huge

joke. He’d retrieve anything; he carted most of the camp

rubbish that Andy threw away.

from The Loaded Dog by Henry Lawson

Using one of the following topics, write a 150-word story or description.

• My favourite animal or pet • Funny things my pet has done

• My life as … (an animal) • My ideas for saving an endangered species

14 Fashion

Comprehension

Read the passage and answer the questions that follow.

Jeans

JEANS were popular in the eighteenth

century and are believed to have originated

in Italy where sailors’ pants were made from

denim. As Europeans migrated to the US,

they naturally brought their denim fabric and

jeans.

In the US, jeans were originally made from

a combination of materials, but cotton was

the most economical to use because of the

use of cheap slave labour. Cotton denim

was an extremely hard-wearing cloth and

consequently it was used to make clothing

worn by people doing labouring jobs. The

cotton material was dyed with indigo, taken

from plants in the Americas and India. This

gave the cloth a dark-blue colour.

In 1848, gold was discovered in California.

The thousands of gold miners needed clothes

that could stand up to harsh conditions.

Five years later, Levi Strauss began a

business supplying hard-wearing clothes to

the miners. But one big problem was that the

pockets easily tore away from the jeans. Jacob

Davis had the idea of using metal studs to hold

the pockets and jeans together. In 1872, he wrote

to Strauss telling him about his idea and asking

Strauss to pay for the patent. This was agreed on

and the pockets were secured using copper rivets.

In 1886, one of Strauss’s famous advertisements

depicted a pair of his jeans being pulled between

two horses to demonstrate their strength and

durability.

However, jeans were still seen as workmen’s

clothes. This changed in the 1930s when cowboys

in Hollywood Westerns often wore jeans. Boys

and men soon adopted jeans as a fashion

statement. In the 1950s, jeans became popular

dress items for teenagers wanting to copy the

screen idols who wore them—particularly James

Dean and Marlon Brando.

In the 1960s, hippies and anti-war protestors

wore jeans but changed the fashion by adopting

psychedelic colours and embroidered denim.

Since then jeans have changed with the times—

stone-washed, bell-bottomed, deliberately torn,

baggy, skinny and so on. Rather than being seen

as work clothes, jeans became fashionable for

both men and women in the 1980s.

Jeans have survived as a style for more than

200 years because of the changes that have

occurred to attract each new generation.

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14 Fashion 97


1 The dark-blue colour of denim is derived from:

a overnight soaking c sea water

b a plant dye d violets

2 Boys and men found jeans fashionable because of:

a top designers c Hollywood idols

b huge sales d quality of work

3 Cotton denim was first used for labourers’ clothes because it:

a was hard wearing c was comfortable

b appealed to workers d was derived from natural fibres

4 Jeans arrived in the US from:

a South America c England

b Canada d Europe

5 The Levi Strauss company reinforced the pockets with:

a double stitching c copper rivets

b inner lining d buttons

6 One of Levi Strauss’s ads showed jeans being pulled between two horses to show:

a their ability to stretch c the inside stitching

b their strength d the different sizes

7 Why did gold miners wear jeans?

8 What was the problem with the pockets of the jeans?

9 In the 1960s, what new changes occurred in the appearance of some jeans?

10 Why have jeans survived more than 200 years?

10 marks


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Glitz and glamour

mannequin beauty accessories glamorous

model jewellery synthetic unique

cotton costume exquisite lingerie

material umbrella handkerchief diamond

comfortable fashion knitted pyjamas

design parade perfume necklace

Words and meanings

Find words from the spelling list with the following meanings.

1 a top and pants worn to bed

2 a protection from rain or sun

3 a store dummy that models clothes

4 jewellery worn around the neck

5 cloth used for wiping the nose

6 made from wool woven on needles

7 women’s underwear

8 an artificial scent

9 not natural

10 pleasantly relaxed

10 marks

Completing sentences

Match the beginnings and endings to create sentences. Draw a line from the beginning to the

matching ending.

Beginnings

Cotton is a material

A diamond necklace

The woman had designed

His old, knitted jumper

Umbrellas are usually made

Exquisite perfume

Endings

of synthetic fabrics.

glittered in the jeweller’s window.

filled the air.

that is ideal for clothing.

expensive jewellery.

fitted him comfortably.

6 marks

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14 Fashion 99

Missing words

Choose the correct words from the ones in brackets to complete each sentence.

1 At the the wore

a outfit. (cotton fashion model parade)

2 boots, socks and camping

were for sale in the outdoor sports store. (accessories knitted comfortable)

3 The of the was .

(necklace unique design)

4 The swimming was made of .

(material costume synthetic)

Decoding

Three of the words from the spelling list have been written in code as:

m a t e r i a l

1 2 3 4 5 6 2 7

13 marks

h a n d k e r c h i e f

8 2 9 10 11 4 5 12 8 6 4 14

g l a m o r o u s

15 7 2 1 16 5 16 17 18

Use the same code to decode the following words from the list.

1 10, 6, 2, 1, 16, 9, 10 _ _ _ _ _ _ _

2 9, 4, 12, 11, 7, 2, 12, 4 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

3 14, 2, 18, 8, 6, 16, 9 _ _ _ _ _ _ _

4 12, 16, 3, 3, 16, 9 _ _ _ _ _ _

5 2, 12, 12, 4, 18, 18, 16, 5, 6, 4, 18 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

6 11, 9, 6, 3, 3, 4, 10 _ _ _ _ _ _ _

7 7, 6, 9, 15, 4, 5, 6, 4 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

8 10, 4, 18, 6, 15, 9 _ _ _ _ _ _

9 12, 16, 18, 3, 17, 1, 4 _ _ _ _ _ _ _

10 1, 16, 10, 4, 7 _ _ _ _ _

10 marks


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The Latin word unus means ‘one’. ‘Unique’ means ‘the one and only’.

Using the back-of-the-book dictionary, write down words derived

from unus for each of these meanings. Each word begins with uni-.

A mythical, horse-like creature with one horn

The singing or saying of the same thing as one

To join together as one

Two or more things or people joined together into one

Language

Adverbs

An adverb is a word that adds to the meaning of a verb, an adjective or another adverb. Adverbs

answer the questions How?, When? or Where?

• Adverbs add to the meaning of verbs.

Jessica walked quickly.

• Adverbs add to the meaning of other adverbs.

Andrew walked extremely quickly.

• Adverbs add to the meaning of adjectives.

They were very tired.

4 marks

Forming adverbs

Many adverbs end in -ly. Complete the following sentences, changing the words in brackets

into adverbs by adding ‘ly’, ‘ily’, ‘ally’ or just ‘y’. You may need to change the endings of some

words.

1 She answered (correct)

2 They won (easy)

3 He spoke (persuade)

4 She slept (peaceful)

5 He dressed (casual)

6 She smiled (happy)

7 It fell (sudden)

8 They argued (noisy)

9 The soldier fought (hero)

10 You sang (beautiful)

11 I nodded (drowsy)

12 We met (annual)

13 She danced (graceful)

14 The car moved (silent)

15 We trudged (weary)

16 He trod (careful)

16 marks

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14 Fashion 101

Using adverbs

Replace each phrase in italics with a suitable adverb from the box.

sometimes anxiously everywhere always here

there daily soon hastily immediately

1 She searched all over the place.

2 We looked around with anxiety.

3 The crowd left in haste.

4 Is he coming to this place ?

5 They must leave at once.

6 We visited her every day.

7 I must leave in a short time.

8 Are you going to that place ?

9 She paid her bills at all times.

10 We went out now and again.

10 marks

Punctuation

Abbreviations

Use a full stop for an abbreviation.

February—Feb. Tuesday—Tues. et cetera—etc. volume—vol.

However, no full stop is used if the abbreviation ends with the same letter as the original word

ending. These abbreviations are also known as ‘contractions’.

Mister—Mr Doctor—Dr Street—St Mount—Mt

Abbreviating words

Using the above rules, write down the abbreviations for each of the following words.

1 Road

2 Avenue

3 August

4 March

5 latitude

6 longitude

7 maximum

8 minimum

9 Department

10 postscript

11 continued

12 Captain

13 Sergeant

14 masculine

15 feminine

16 professor

18 marks


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Clothes and fashions

A person’s clothes can quite often reveal much about their character and lifestyle. Here is a

description of Miss Havisham, a very rich lady who is living in seclusion after she was jilted on her

wedding day many years before.

The strangest lady I have ever seen

She was dressed in rich materials—satins, and lace,

and silks—all of white. And she had a long white veil

dependent from her hair, and she had bridal flowers

in her hair, but her hair was white. Some bright jewels

sparkled on her neck and on her hands, and some

other jewels lay sparkling on the table.

I saw that everything within my view which ought

to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its

lustre and was faded and yellow. I saw that the bride

within the bridal dress had withered like the dress and

like the flowers, and had no brightness left but the

brightness of her sunken eyes.

from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens


• My favourite clothes

• Clothes I dislike

• Shopping for clothes

• Popular fashions

• Describe the clothes of a character in a

novel or a play

Speaking

personally

15

Comprehension


Chased by a boar

IN September, just after my twelfth birthday,

Frank wanted a boar pig for his six breeding

sows. He had bought the sows and they all had

little ones which were now being weaned. Some

had already been weaned and were getting into

the porker stage. Frank borrowed a large black

boar from his brother-in-law. This boar was very

savage and every time I went to feed the pigs he

tried to attack me. I had to be very careful; he had

large tusks and he used to froth at the mouth. I

had to jump from pig pen to pig pen to dodge

him when feeding them. I was scared stiff of this

boar and he seemed to know it. As soon as I went

near the pig pen he would have his eye on me.

One morning early in October, when the

weather was getting much warmer, I was passing

the pig pen to get the horses in. The boar seemed

worse than ever. He never usually bothered me

when I was just passing, but for some reason this

morning he left the sows and ran down to the

fence near where I was walking. He was frothing at

the mouth and making a kind of roaring sound.

At first it didn’t worry me, but then he tried

twice to get through the fence. The pig fence

joined the race where I had to bring the horses,

and if the pig did get through my chances against

him were nil. I reached the corner of the piggery;

beyond that point there were bushes and trees.

The boar followed the fence along to the corner. I

felt gamer now—I had the trees and scrub to run

to if he got out.

Being a boy, I couldn’t resist heaving a rock at

the boar. When I did this he made one terrific

charge at the fence and came straight through

and after me. I

ran for a large

tree leaning at

about a fortyfive

degree

angle. It was

a she‐oak tree

with a lot of

small limbs

attached

to its trunk

and, with the

boar right on

my heels, I

bounded up

it. I had never

known my

luck. I was

just in time—

another two

yards and he

would have

had me.

The boar tried to climb the tree but without

success. So there I was, up in this tree. It was the

nicest tree I had known, and I was pretty safe

as long as I could stay where I was. But what

about the horses? The sun had begun to rise. The

boar at first sat on his haunches looking up at

me. Then he rooted a furrow under the tree big

enough for his body and laid down.

I was trying to think of a way out of this pickle

that I was in. The sun was getting well up into

the sky, and guessing by the way my bottom and

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legs were aching, I had been there about an hour

or so. I broke off some small branches and used

them as spears. Each time I speared the boar he

would get up, walk around the tree, let out a roar,

then go back to his furrow and lie down again.

Then, looking down to the house, I saw Frank

walking towards us. This horrified me and I

wondered how I could warn him about the boar.

I made up my mind to call out to him when he

got within hearing distance. But Frank had other

ideas. He took no notice of me, although I was

yelling at the top of my voice. I paused to hear

what he was calling out to me and I heard him

saying, ‘I’ll give you bird-nesting when I send

you to get the horses.’ I called out to him that the

boar was loose and that he was here under the

tree, but Frank was too riled up and kept coming.

Then all at once the boar got up and bounded

towards him. As soon as Frank knew the danger

he turned and ran for the house.

It was downhill and if anyone had told me

that Frank could run as fast as he did I wouldn’t

have believed him. He had a little luck because

at one stage the boar almost grabbed him. Frank

was running along the side of the track and there

was a heap of stones about two feet high. Frank

jumped this but the boar, being so intent on

getting Frank, didn’t see the stones and struck

them with his front legs. He fell heavily and that

saved Frank.

Frank got inside the house and slammed the

door shut. I got down out of the tree and set off

for the horses. Then I heard two loud gun shots

almost together and I wondered if he had shot

the boar. When I returned to the house I saw the

boar lying dead about ten feet from the door of

the house. Mum had told me several times about

Frank’s temper but this was the first time I had

seen him properly raged.

My feelings had changed several times during

the few minutes of the race between the pig and

old Frank. At first I felt amused, then my feelings

turned to fear as the boar was catching him, then

relief when the boar fell. The fear again gripped

me until Frank dashed through the door and shut

it. When this happened I felt complete relief.

Frank never said a word when I returned to the

house for my breakfast. He looked terribly upset.

When Mum gave me my breakfast she asked

me what had made the boar get through the pig

paddock. I said that I didn’t know but that he had

seemed extra savage that morning.

from A Fortunate Life by AB Facey


1 How old was the narrator when this incident occurred?

2 What made the boar especially dangerous?

3 ‘I felt gamer now.’ Before he threw the rock, why did the boy feel reasonably safe?

4 What effect did throwing the rock have on the boar?

5 ‘It was the nicest tree I had known … .’ Why does the narrator say this?

6 What was the boy’s main concern while he was up the tree?

7 What were the boy’s feelings when Frank started walking up the hill?

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8 What did Frank think the boy was doing in the tree?

9 Why was Frank lucky to have escaped from the boar?

10 What kind of person was Frank?

11 What have you learned about the narrator’s character from the passage?

12 Using the back-of-the-book dictionary, write down the meaning of these words:

a

b

c

wean:

porker:

haunches:

12 marks


Describing people

admirable jealous impatient stubborn suspicious

capable ambitious imaginative sensitive lazy

fanatical modest foolish angry assertive

loyal considerate intelligent flexible thoughtful

corrupt helpful tolerant virtuous busy

determined creative energetic confident selfish

A word for a phrase

Write down words from the spelling list that match the meanings of the phrases below. The first


1 thinking of oneself rather than others s

2 determined not to change one’s mind s

3 easily bent or stretched f

4 silly or unwise f

5 faithful and true l

6 not liking work or effort l

7 showing respect for the rights of others t

8 desiring success, fame, etc. a


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9 having one’s mind made up and standing firm d

10 to be dishonest or able to be bribed c

11 clever and quick at understanding i

12 to be bold and insistent a

13 morally good v

14 unwilling to wait i

15 being imaginative or able to invent c

16 not showing too high an opinion of oneself m

16 marks

Using the clues

Use the clues and the given letters to create words from the spelling list.

1 _ _ _ _ _ c _ _ _ _ doubting 7 _ _ _ _ _ e _ _ _ lively

2 _ _ _ _ _ o _ _ honest 8 _ _ _ _ r _ _ _ open-minded

3 _ _ _ _ _ n _ _ _ _ _ creative 9 _ _ _ _ _ a _ _ _ commendable

4 _ _ _ _ _ s _ silly 10 _ _ _ _ _ _ t dishonest

5 _ _ _ _ _ i _ _ _ over-enthusiastic 11 _ _ _ _ _ _ e _ _ sure

6 _ _ _ _ _ d _ _ _ _ _ thoughtful

Opposites

11 marks

Add the prefix un-, in-, dis- or im- to make the opposite of the following list words.

1 helpful 7 tolerant

2 considerate 8 modest

3 sensitive 9 assertive

4 loyal 10 capable

5 flexible 11 intelligent

6 imaginative 12 selfish


12 marks

The word ‘creative’ comes from the Latin word creo, which means ‘I make’

or ‘I create’. The following words are derived from creo.

Using the back-of-the-book dictionary, write down their meanings.

creator:

recreation:

creature:

re-create:

4 marks

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Language

Word families

In the process of learning about nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, you may have noticed that

many words belong to a family. Some words have large families, while other words have smaller

families or no family at all.

Completing word families

See whether you can complete the following word families. The first one is done for you, and

the endings of the others are given.

Noun Verb Adjective Adverb

1 danger endanger dangerous dangerously

2 obedience

3 glory

4 protection

5 agree

6 attract

7 possess

8 suspect

9 perceptive

10 enjoyable

Word families in action

Choose the appropriate words from the boxed word families to complete the sentences.

action actor active act actively activist

1 Mt Vesuvius is an volcano.

2 Shakespeare was an as well as a playwright.

3 Charities are engaged in helping the poor.

4 The school principal took to prevent bullying.

5 She is a conservation .

6 The student was chosen to the part of the ghost.

enthusiasm enthuse enthusiastically enthusiastic enthusiast

7 She is an photographer.

8 The crowd cheered for the home team.

9 The politician is trying to the voters by offering tax cuts.

10 When it comes to rock music, I am an .

11 There is in the community for non-polluting sources of power.

27 marks

11 marks


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Punctuation

Paragraphs

A paragraph is a group of related sentences that deal with a single topic. Within a paragraph,

capital letters and full stops are used to separate sentences. Sometimes a question mark or an

exclamation mark is used instead of a full stop.

We use paragraphs to make our writing easier to read and understand.

Using sentences in paragraphs

Rewrite the following paragraphs, using full stops and capitals. The commas have already been

inserted. The number of sentences to be used is indicated in the brackets at the end of each

description.

Meeting Count Dracula

I heard a heavy step approaching behind the great door then there was the sound of rattling

chains and the clanking of massive bolts being drawn back a key was turned with a loud grating

noise and the great door swung back inside stood a tall old man with a white moustache and

clad in black from head to foot he held in his hand an antique silver lamp the old man motioned

me in with his right hand with a courtly gesture

adapted from Dracula by Bram Stoker

(six sentences)

Robinson Crusoe castaway

safe on shore, I began to look about me, and to thank God that my life was saved

I tried to ascertain what place I was in my clothes were soaking, I had no food, and only a knife

with which to defend myself a mood of deep despair took hold of me, but I resolved to find a

thick bushy tree in which I might spend the night.

6 marks

(four sentences)

4 marks

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Eyewitness accounts

An eyewitness account is a description given by

someone who was present at an incident or event.

Most eyewitness accounts give the audience

information about the time, the place and those

involved. The events are recounted in the order in

which they happened. The narrator may give his

or her views about the happenings they witnessed.

Here is an eyewitness account of the Titanic

striking the iceberg that sank it.

Iceberg ahead!

A number of us who were enjoying the crisp

air were promenading about the deck. Captain

Smith was on the bridge when the first cry from

the lookout came that there was an iceberg

ahead. It may have been 300 feet high when I

saw it. It was possibly 200 yards away and dead

ahead. Captain Smith shouted some orders …

A number of us rushed to the bow of the ship.

When we saw he could not fail to hit it, we

rushed to the stern. Then came a crash, and the

passengers were panic-stricken.

George Brayton

Write a real or imaginary eyewitness account of about 150 words on one of the following topics.

• Playground fight • Robbery • Famous historical event

• Sporting incident • Surf rescue

16 The long arm

of the law

Comprehension

Read the following passages and answer the questions that follow.

The worst bank robbers

IN August 1975 three men were on their

way in to rob the Royal Bank of Scotland

at Rothesay, when they got stuck in the

revolving doors. They had to be helped free

by the staff and, after thanking everyone,

sheepishly left the building.

A few minutes later they returned and

announced their intention of robbing the

bank, but none of the staff believed them.

When, at first, they demanded £5000, the

head cashier laughed at them, convinced that

it was a practical joke.

Considerably disheartened by this, the

gang leader reduced his demand first to £500,

then to £50 and ultimately to 50 pence. By

this stage the cashier could barely control

herself for laughter.

Then one of the men jumped over the

counter and fell awkwardly on the floor,

clutching at his ankle. The other two

made their getaway, but got trapped in the

revolving doors for a second time, desperately

pushing the wrong way.

from The Book of Heroic Failures by Stephen Pile


1 Where does most of the action in this story take place?

2 What problem did the robbers experience on their way to rob the bank?

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3 How did the staff of the bank help the robbers?

4 Why did the head cashier laugh at the robbers’ demand for £5000?

5 ‘The other two made their getaway …’ What went wrong for the third?

5 marks

The noisiest burglar

A Parisian burglar set new standards for the

entire criminal world, when, on 4 November

1933, he attempted to rob the home of an antique

dealer. At the time, he was dressed in a fifteenthcentury

suit of armour which dramatically

limited his chances both of success and escape.

He had not been in the house many minutes

before its owner was awakened by the sound of

clanking metal.

The owner got up and went out onto the

landing where he saw the suit of armour climbing

the stairs. He straightaway knocked the burglar

off balance, dropped a small sideboard across his

breastplate, and went off to call the police.

Under cross-examination a voice inside the

armour confessed to being a thief trying to pull

off a daring robbery. ‘I thought I would frighten

him,’ he said.

Unfortunately for our man, the pressure of

the sideboard had so dented his breastplate

that it was impossible to remove the armour for

24 hours, during which period he had to be fed

through the visor.

from The Book of Heroic Failures

by Stephen Pile


1 How did the antique dealer become aware that the robber was in the house?

2 What did the antique dealer do to ‘the suit of armour climbing the stairs’?

3 Why had the burglar decided to dress up in armour?

4 Why couldn’t the armour be taken off immediately after the thief was caught?

5 How was the problem of feeding the burglar solved?

5 marks


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Law and order

verdict accused assault victim illegal

forgery solicitor barrister judge thief

homicide prosecutor murder allege jury

guilty criminal condemn justice robbery

proof evidence detective trial investigation

A word for a phrase

Write down a word from the spelling list for each of the following phrases. The first letters are

given to help you.

1 a police officer who specialises in solving crimes d

2 a person whose job it is to hear cases in court j

3 someone who suffers harm or injury v

4 the opposite of innocent g

5 a copy of something made in order to deceive f

6 a person who is guilty of or convicted of a crime c

7 an unlawful physical attack a

8 the quality of being just or fair j

9 a judge’s or jury’s decision v

10 to state without giving proof a

11 not lawful i

12 the lawyer appointed to prosecute a case p

12 marks

Word skills

1 Identify four kinds of crimes given in the spelling list.

2 Find two law breakers in the spelling list.

3 Find four people in the spelling list legally qualified to take part in court proceedings.

4 Create verbs from the words in the brackets below.

a to (proof) c to (forgery)

b to (investigation) d to (victim)

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5 Complete these legal phrases by adding words from the list. The first letters are given to

help you.

a j duty c c investigation

b on t d a and battery

6 Write down the plural of these words:

a forgery c robbery

b

thief


14 marks

The word ‘homicide’ means ‘the crime of killing a person’. It is made

up of two Latin words homo (‘a man’) and cide (‘the killing of’). It

literally means ‘the killing of a man’. Here is a list of words ending

in -cide. Using the back-of-the-book dictionary, write down their

meaning in the spaces below.

regicide:

genocide:

insecticide:

patricide:

pesticide:

Language

5 marks

Prefixes

A prefix is a word part added at the beginning of a word to alter the word’s meaning or create a new

word. In these examples, the prefixes are shown in heavy type.

forecast conflict discontinue subtract unpleasant

Creating words by adding prefixes

Create a word by adding a prefix from the box to each word part.

bene sub fore post mono

tele hemi multi anti circum

1 pone

2 biotic

3 ference

4 cultural

5 tell

6 fit

7 phone

8 sphere

9 tonous

10 terranean

10 marks


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Prefixes as numbers

Some prefixes indicate an actual number. The prefix tri- means ‘three’.

A tripod is a stand with three legs.

The following table contains prefixes that have a numerical value and examples of words where

they are used. Find words in the table that match the meanings listed below.

Prefix Meaning Words containing the prefix

duo two duel, duet, duplicate, duplex

tri three triangle, tricycle, trisect, triplet, triplicate, trimaran, triplane

quadri four quadriplegic, quadrilateral, quadruped, quadrangle, quadruple

penta five pentagon, pentathlon, pentagram

octo eight octagon, octopus, octave, October, octogenarian

1 a song sung by two people

2 a sea creature with eight tentacles

3 having four limbs disabled

4 a sailing boat with three hulls

5 one of three children

6 a five-sided figure

7 a house divided into two dwellings

8 originally the eighth month

9 an aeroplane with three sets of wings

10 a fight between two people

11 to make two copies

12 to multiply by four

13 a range of eight musical notes

14 to cut into three parts

15 an athletic event with five parts

16 an eight-sided figure

17 an animal with four legs

18 a person in their eighties

19 a five-pointed star-shaped figure

20 a four-sided figure

21 to make threefold

22 a three-wheeled bike

23 a four-sided courtyard

24 a three-sided figure

24 marks

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Punctuation

Quotation marks for speech

In writing, we indicate the actual words a person speaks by putting them in quotation marks.

Commas, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks are also used with the quotation

marks. Speech patterns such as the following are typical. Notice how a comma is used after words

like ‘said’.

The prosecutor said, ‘ .’

The judge asked, ‘ ?’

The accused yelled, ‘ !’

Punctuating speech

Rewrite the following sentences by inserting the missing punctuation marks such as quotation

marks, capital letters, commas, full stops, question marks or exclamation marks.

1 The prosecutor said I believe that you are guilty of assault and robbery

2 The police officer yelled stop in the name of the law

3 The judge asked the jury have you reached a verdict

4 The foreman of the jury said we find the defendant guilty as charged

5 The accused protested I am not guilty and I shouldn’t be here

6 The bank robber walked into the bank and exclaimed hands up or I’ll shoot

7 The criminal asked how did you know it was me

8 The detective said to her colleague we must find more evidence as soon as possible


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A crime scene

A crime scene is the place in which a crime took place. In your description of the scene, it is

important to give specific details so that the audience is able to visualise it. Notice in Arthur Conan

Doyle’s abridged description of the fog how he creates an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear.

The fog-bound moor

Over the great moor there hung a dense, white fog. The moon

shone on it, and it looked like a great shimmering ice-field. The

farther wall of the orchard was already invisible, and the trees were

standing out of a swirl of white vapour. As the fog-bank flowed

onward we fell back before it until we were half a mile from the

house, and still that dense white sea swept slowly on. Suddenly a

dreadful shape sprang out upon us from the shadows of the fog.

A hound it was, an enormous coal-black hound. Fire burst from

its open mouth, its eyes glowed with a smouldering glare. With

long bounds the huge black creature was leaping down the track,

following hard upon the footsteps of our friend, Sir Henry. Then

Holmes and I both fired together, and the creature gave a hideous

howl. He did not pause, however, but bounded onward. Far away

on the path we saw Sir Henry looking back, his face white in the

moonlight, his hands raised in horror, glaring helplessly at the

frightful thing which was hunting him down.

from The Hound of the Baskervilles by

Arthur Conan Doyle

Your task is to use one of the following settings to write a 150-word description of a crime scene.

• A traffic jam • A cemetery • A deserted house

• A football stadium • A fast-food restaurant • A dark alley

• A park at night • A city train • On a luxury liner

The world of

computers

17

Comprehension


Space demons

ONCE again Andrew became absorbed by the

game. He felt as if his whole being was connected

up to it. He was tireless and invincible: he could

play forever. He knew exactly how and when to

move, first through the asteroids, then through

the space demons, without consciously thinking

what the was doing.

As he played, the game speeded up, almost

as though it was trying to stop him discovering

its secrets. It became harder, less predictable;

demons appeared in unexpected places. He

had to think on the spot, take split-second

decisions. The score was mounting: 16 000,

17 000. He was nearly there. He was hardly

conscious of Ben beside him, but when 19 752

came up on the screen Andrew heard him give

a yelp of excitement. The space demons were

immobilised, the module disappeared, and

a spaceman in a white suit and white helmet

appeared on the screen.

‘He’s waving at us,’ Ben said incredulously.

Across the bottom of the screen ran the letters

ACEACEACEACEACE

‘That’s me!’ Andrew said exultantly. ‘Andrew

Hayford, ace computer game player!’

‘Get the gun!’ Ben shouted. It was there, black

and sinister, flashing up in the top right‐hand

corner of the screen. In the bottom right‐hand

corner the number 3 appeared. Andrew

manoeuvred the joystick, the spaceman

responded, and immediately the space demons

came to life again. Before the spaceman had a

chance to reach his weapon, he was annihilated

by a fiery orange blast.

Andrew was devastated. He felt as though

he himself had been destroyed. But the screen

remained the same, and another tiny spaceman

was waving to them from its centre. The 3 in the

bottom right-hand corner was replaced by a 2.

‘Oh, great,’ Ben said. ‘You’ve got two more

lives. Try and get the gun this time.’

Andrew felt inside himself the vulnerability of

the little white figure, so heavily out numbered

by opposing forces, able only to avoid them,

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yet needing to go through them to reach the

gun. He wasn’t just moving the spaceman with

the joystick, he was reaching out to him with

his whole being, willing him to survive, to win

through. And when he saw that he was going to

make it, that the space demons were outwitted

and that the gun was within his grasp, he felt an

overwhelming surge of excitement.

‘You did it!’ Ben shouted. ‘Yippee!’

With the weapon in his hand, the spaceman

changed. Now he was the attacker. The game

began to pulse with an insistent high-pitched

throb like a heartbeat as he destroyed the space

demons with quick flashes of red fire. They

dissolved and disappeared with menacing

moans …

from Space Demons by Gillian Rubinstein


1 What is Andrew doing as the story begins?

2 What opposition did Andrew need to get through?

3 How did the game become harder and less predictable?

4 How did Ben react when 19 752 came up on the screen ?

5 What happened on the screen when 19 752 came up?

6 What did the spaceman in a white suit and helmet do when he appeared on the screen?

7 What happened to the spaceman before he could reach his weapon?

8 What were Andrew’s feelings when this happened?

9 What change took place in the spaceman when he had the weapon in his hand?

10 How did the space demons react when they were hit?

10 marks

978 1 4202 3709 2



Computers

screen program information communication accessible

compatible internet graphics megabyte digital

instruction message connection column monitor

service security command warranty specific

attachment transmitted address documents suggestion

virus necessary available option multiple

Word skills

1 Rewrite the following lists in alphabetical order.

a

program, information, necessary, documents, megabyte

b

accessible, available, address, attachment

c

compatible, column, communication, command

d

suggestion, service, screen, security, specific

4 marks

2 Add the missing consonants to complete these words from the spelling list.

a

_ e _ a _ _ _ e

g

i _ _ e _ _ e _

b

_ a _ _ a _ _ _

h

_ e _ u _ i _ _

c

_ i _ u _

i

o _ _ i o _

d

a _ _ e _ _ i _ _ e

j

_ e _ e _ _ a _ _

e

i _ _ o _ _ a _ i o _

k

i _ _ _ _ u _ _ i o _

f

_ o _ i _ o _

l

_ _ a _ _ i _ _

12 marks

3 Complete these sentences by adding the correct words from the brackets.

a With a camera, you will have the of using

additional . (option digital graphics)

b The for the were shown on the

computer . (screen instructions program)

c The provider sent a to

addresses. (multiple service message)


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d On the a vast range of is .

(internet available information)

e A device will usually prevent a being

to your computer. (transmitted virus security)

f The was sent to her email .

(necessary address document)

18 marks


The Latin word trans means ‘across’. If a message is transmitted, it is

‘sent across’. Using the back-of-the-book dictionary, write down the

meaning of the following words beginning with trans.

transfusion:

transcontinental:

translucent:

transplant:

transport:

Language

5 marks

Suffixes

A suffix is a word part added at the end of a word to alter its meaning or form. Most suffixes consist

of one syllable.

survey—surveyor happy—happiness self—selfish beauty—beautiful

Adding suffixes to form people

Add the suffix -or, -er, -ian or -ist to form the word for a person associated with each activity.

Sometimes you will need to change the ending before adding the suffix. For example:

history—historian

piano—pianist

1 visit

2 library

3 music

4 build

5 govern

6 teach

7 guard

8 magic

9 science

10 pharmacy

11 special

12 motor

13 manage

14 biology

15 compete

16 psychology

17 art

18 wait

19 instruct

20 edit

21 sing

22 educate

23 murder

24 novel

24 marks

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Forming nouns by adding suffixes

Change each of the words in brackets into a noun by adding the suffix -ion, -ment or -ance. You

may need to change the end of a word before the suffix is added.

1 health (insure)

2 a newspaper (advertise)

3 a marriage (separate)

4 a criminal (investigate)

5 a democratic (govern)

6 a delicious (refresh)

7 church (attend)

8 a financial (arrange)

9 a peaceful (demonstrate)

10 child (allow)

11 parental (guide)

12 a job (apply)

13 a vivid (describe)

14 building (equip)

15 an amazing (invent)

16 unjust (punish)

17 the latest (inform)

18 an engine (replace)

19 a sudden (appear)

20 a scientific (solve)

21 a house (renovate)

22 strong (resist)

23 a final (pay)

24 a birthday (celebrate)

Punctuation

More about quotation marks

24 marks

Another pattern to indicate in writing the actual words a person speaks is shown here. Note that in

this pattern the commas are placed inside the quotation marks.

‘ ,’ I said.

‘ ?’ he asked.

‘ ,’ they replied.


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Punctuating speech

Rewrite the following sentences using quotation marks, commas, question marks and

exclamation marks.

1 I will send you two attachments with the email said the scientist.

2 Is your computer able to show multiple screens asked the student.

3 I can download music from the internet boasted the musician.

4 What size monitor do you want asked the salesperson.

5 Make sure you have virus protection for your computer warned the technician.

6 Do you have an email address asked the employer.

7 Stop playing computer games yelled the teacher.

8 Is that program compatible with your computer asked the teacher.

9 Google is the best search engine said the author.

10 Have you done your homework yet asked the parent.

10 marks

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Inventions

Inventions have, for the most part, improved our lives. The

bionic ear, penicillin, TV, the internet, the iPad, the telephone,

the computer, the light bulb, email, the aeroplane and even the

humble toothbrush have helped make our world a better place.

Here is an invention that one student believes is very important

in our everyday lives.

The invention of the toothbrush

As early as 3500 BC, the Babylonians used a

chewed twig to clean their mouths. The Chinese

of the Tang Dynasty (619–907) pushed stiff hog

hairs into bone or bamboo and used these as

toothbrushes.

But our modern idea of a toothbrush began

in 1780 when William Addis was jailed for taking

part in a riot in England. Worried about his

foul-smelling mouth, he found a bone on his

cell floor and was given some stiff bristles which

he attached to the bone. After his release, Addis

made toothbrushes from horsehair and bone.

His toothbrushes became so popular that his

business rapidly expanded. By 1840, with his

son in charge, the Addis company employed 60

workers. When du Pont (a chemical company)

invented nylon in 1935, animal hairs were

replaced by the nylon bristles we use today.


• An invention that has made the world a better place.

• What do you think is the worst ever invention? Why?

• What’s your favourite invention, and why?

• Imagine you are a famous inventor or scientist. What invention(s) do you think the world

needs now?

18 House and

home

Comprehension


Bilbo Baggins’s house and home

IN a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not

a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of

worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare,

sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on

or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means

comfort.

It had a perfectly round door like a porthole,

painted green, with a shiny yellow brass knob in

the exact middle. The door opened on to a tubeshaped

hall like a tunnel: a very comfortable

tunnel without smoke, with panelled walls, and

floors tiled and carpeted, provided with polished

chairs, and lots and lots of pegs for hats and

coats—the hobbit was fond of visitors. The tunnel

wound on and on, going fairly but not quite

straight into the side of the hill—The Hill, as all

the people for many miles round called it—and

many little round doors opened out of it, first on

one side and then on another. No going upstairs

for the hobbit: bedrooms, bathrooms, cellars,

pantries (lots of these), wardrobes (he had whole

rooms devoted to clothes), kitchens, diningrooms,

all were on the same floor, and indeed on

the same passage. The best rooms were all on the

left-hand side (going in), for these were the only

ones to have windows, deep-set round windows

looking over his garden, and meadows beyond,

sloping down to the river.

This hobbit was a very well-to-do hobbit,

and his name was Baggins. The Bagginses had

lived in the neighbourhood of The Hill for time

out of mind, and people considered them very

respectable, not only because most of them

were rich, but also because they never had any

adventures or did anything unexpected: you

could tell what a Baggins would say on any

question without the bother of asking him. This

is a story of how a Baggins had an adventure, and

found himself doing and saying things altogether

unexpected. He may have lost the neighbours’

respect, but he gained—well, you will see

whether he gained anything in the end.

The mother of our particular hobbit—what is a

hobbit? I suppose hobbits need some description

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nowadays, since they have become rare and

shy of the Big People, as they call us. They are

(or were) a little people, about half our height,

and smaller than the bearded dwarves. Hobbits

have no beards. There is little or no magic about

them, except the ordinary everyday sort which

helps them to disappear quietly and quickly

when large stupid folk like you and me come

blundering along, making a noise like elephants

which they can hear a mile off.

from The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

Responding to the text

1 What is the writer’s aim in this description?

2 Identify the simile that reveals the shape of the door.

3 Why were there lots and lots of pegs for hats and coats?

4 Why were the rooms on the left-hand side considered to be the best?

5 Why did people consider the Bagginses to be respectable?

6 What evidence is there to suggest that Bilbo Baggins was fond of food?

7 What evidence is there to suggest that Bilbo Baggins liked clothes?

8 Why was Bilbo not like other Bagginses?

9 What is a hobbit’s attitude to the Big People?

10 What is noticeable about the height of hobbits?

11 How does ‘ordinary everyday magic’ help the hobbits?

11 marks


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Home, sweet home

architect design builder excellent plumber

renovate auction mansion storey resident

furniture inspection property entrance carpenter

ceiling garage construction view maintenance

cottage spacious luxurious site purchase

cellar loan negotiate vicinity permanent

A word for a phrase

Write down a word from the spelling list for each of the phrases and clues.

1 a person who makes things with wood

2 the chairs, beds, tables, fittings, etc. of a house

3 a very large, well-built house

4 a person who lives in a house

5 having plenty of room or space

6 to buy

7 a public sale of items to the highest bidder

8 to renew or to restore to good condition

9 to bargain or discuss in order to agree

10 places nearby

11 a small, one-storey house

12 very good indeed

12 marks

Word skills

1 Write down words from the spelling list that are opposite in meaning to the following.

a sell c temporary

b exit d hovel

2 Arrange the following words from the list in alphabetical order.

maintenance, ceiling, mansion, construction, garage, inspection, design

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3 Give the plural form of the following words.

a builder d view

b property e plumber

c garage f site

4 Write down the name of a person derived from each of the following. The first one has

been done to help you.

a renovate renovator d inspection

b auction e negotiate

c view f purchase


Referring to the back-of-the-book dictionary, explain the difference

in meaning between the following pairs of words.

storey/story:

16 marks

site/sight:

cellar/seller:

loan/lone:

Language

4 marks

Making comparisons using similes

Writers often make comparisons to help us picture more vividly what they want us to see or

experience. One of the most important types of comparisons is called a simile. A simile asks us to

picture one thing as being similar to another. It does this by using the words ‘like’, ‘as’ or ‘than’. For

example:

She grinned like a well-fed fox.

He was as happy as a clam at high tide.

Identifying similes

The sentences that follow were written by well-known authors. Write down the similes each

sentence contains.

1 Like silent, hungry sharks that swim in the darkness of the sea, the German submarines

arrive in the middle of the night.

(Theodore Taylor)

2 She fainted and went as limp as

3 The ballerina moves like

4 The car sped past like

6 He was as cold as

7 The day was as hot as

9 His eyes were as big as

12 He lived alone like


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2 Fat Cherry is my best friend. He’s got a head like a potato, eyes like a baby pig’s, and his

belly shimmies all over the shop when he walks.

(Tim Winton)

3 Martin’s eyes were as brown and cold as leftover coffee. (Nancy Price)

4 He was eighteen years old, thin and dark as an ancient snag in a river. (Archie Weller)

5 It was a killer smile. It was like a bomb going off. (Tim Winton)

6 The water made a sound like kittens lapping. (Marjorie Rawlings)

7 Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. (Charles Dickens)

8 His heart was thumping like a drum. (George Orwell)

8 marks

Completing the similes

Choose an appropriate comparison to complete the similes. Use each comparison once only.

the roar of a caged tiger a blast furnace a block of ice

fried eggs a fish out of water a hermit in a cave

the tinkle of silver bells a bat out of hell the bottom of a well

a squashed sandshoe a graceful swan a wet rag

1 The boxer’s battered face looked like

5 The angry teacher’s voice sounded like

8 The new student felt like

10 The room was as dark as

11 Her laughter was like

12 marks

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Punctuation

Direct and indirect speech

Quotation marks are used in direct speech to enclose the words directly spoken by a person.

Ernie’s father said, ‘As soon as we get settled we’ll enlarge the place and put in some

mod cons.’

When what has been said is reported, it is indirect speech, and no quotation marks are used.

Ernie’s father said that as soon as they got settled they would enlarge the place and

put in some mod cons.

Changing indirect speech to direct speech

The following sentences are written in indirect speech. Your task is to change them into

direct speech using quotation marks and other necessary punctuation. There is an example to

help you.

The builder said that he would have the house completed in six months.

The builder said, ‘I will have the house completed in six months.’

1 The carpenter said that the wood had already arrived on the building site.

2 The salesperson replied that the owner was prepared to negotiate.

3 The buyer asked whether the house was vacant.

4 The real estate agent said that it was the most luxurious house in the vicinity.

5 The architect stated that the design for the house had been completed.

6 The potential purchasers said that they would return in a few days.

7 The owner declared that the property had excellent views.

8 The resident said that an auction would take place on site in a few days.

9 The safety inspector replied that the ceiling was faulty.

9 marks


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Houses and homes

This description of a house in the outback was written over a hundred years ago. It shows the

harshness of existence and the extreme isolation of living in the bush.

A home in the bush

The two-roomed house is built of round timber,

slabs, and stringy-bark, and floored with split

slabs. A big bark kitchen standing at one end is

larger than the house itself, veranda included.

Bush all round—bush with no horizon, for the

country is flat. No ranges in the distance. The

bush consists of stunted, rotten native appletrees.

No undergrowth. Nothing to relieve the eye

save the darker green of a few she-oaks which

are sighing above the narrow, almost waterless

creek. Nineteen miles to the nearest sign of

civilisation—a shanty on the main road.

from The Drover’s Wife by Henry Lawson

Your task is to write a description of

150 words on one of the following topics.

• My home

• The best ever house or

apartment

• A mansion

• The farm

• A house in the slums

Wildfire

19

Comprehension


Firestorm

FIRE and smoke poured from Ben’s house and

the one on the corner beside it, poured up into

the air and made a ball above like an

A-bomb blast. A toadstool. A toadstool that was

alive with fire, its roots feeding on …

Ben covered his face with his hands. A

toadstool feeding on things like his books, his

shell collection, his pillow, his blankets, his footy,

his cricket bat, his surfboard, his pictures, his

clothes, the bed his father had made him.

‘Stop it!’ he screamed, uncovering his eyes and

shaking his fists. ‘Stop burning my things!’

Then the tea-tree along the yellow gravel road

exploded as fire crept in. There was fire in front

of fire, dancing along the riverbank, crackling like

bullets, rattling like machine guns. The cement

sheeting of his house joined the one next door in

simulated sounds of war.

But still the great wall of black and red

advanced from the north-west, and Ben’s head

jerked in sudden horror as he caught sight of

flames racing along the top of the dunes towards

him. He knew he should run—but how could he?

Someone from the family had to stay and watch

the house. He could not just let it burn away by

itself.

A growing roar which he realised he had been

hearing for some minutes now grew suddenly

louder and began to fill the sky. Jet planes! A

whole flight of jets!

Ben turned his eyes from left to right, then

looked out over the ocean a moment. But he

could not see any jets. Then his eyes opened

wide. The noise was not aircraft. The noise was

fire! Wind and fire! Fire mixed with a tornado!

That was the roar! A firestorm—not a bushfire,

a firestorm!

On the South Break hill a house suddenly blew

apart and scattered in the air, like something

made from cards. A red station sedan seemed

to come out of the very heart of the explosion

and begin a wildly swinging race down the steep

roadway towards the bridge. Houses rocked

and fell over beside it as it went. Then a truck

came from the same place, and it too rocked and

swung violently. The roaring grew and mixed with

the crackle of rifles, the rattle of machine-guns,

the blast of cannons. Ben had to block his ears

with the palms of his hands because they began

to hurt as shock waves from the sounds battered

against his ear-drums.

Another house broke apart, and tin from its

roof was flung out over the valley. Then, over the

South Break ridges, a tidal wave of fire rose from

the valley behind, broke away and flooded down

the hill.

‘No! No! No!’ Ben screamed in horror.

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131


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The blast exploded upwards in boiling sprays

of hellfire. Gas bottles blew apart within the

holocaust and sent bulging bubbles of pure fire

up through the smoke and flame.

Ben fell forward into the sand, covering his

face with his hands. The air was burning! The

sky was burning! The whole world was burning!

He forced himself to look again through slits in

his fingers. The whole valley was a great, molten

sea of fire: a rolling ocean of fire with red curling

waves breaking over the houses – but not pulling

back like ocean waves, just rolling on and on, up

the hill into town.

Ben found it hard to breathe.

I’d be dead, he thought. If it wasn’t for the

ocean behind. If there wasn’t a cold wind coming

off it, I’d be dead! The heat coming against the

ocean wind was burning his skin, burning his

lungs.

I should go down to the beach!

from Firestorm by Roger Vaughan Carr


1 What did Ben believe that the roots of the ‘toadstool … alive with fire’ were feeding on?

2 What made Ben realise that he should run?

3 What reason did Ben have for staying?

4 Why did Ben think that there was a ‘whole flight of jets’ in the sky?

5 Which words suggest the panic of the station sedan driver trying to escape from the fire?

6 Why did Ben have to block his ears?

7 What effect did the heat of the firestorm have on gas bottles?

8 ‘I’d be dead, he thought.’ What was saving Ben from death?

9 How was the heat physically affecting Ben?

10 Use the back-of-the-book dictionary to find out the meaning of these words:

a holocaust:

b simulated:

10 marks

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19 Wildfire 133


Fire

fiercely evacuate disastrous inferno

fiery billowed inflammable accidentally

temperature extinguish intense devastation

vegetation protection deliberately smoulder

natural severe explosion arson

ignite accidentally blazing suffocate

Word building

Build words from each of the following by filling in the blank spaces with the missing letters.

1 prot _ _ t protect _ _ n protect _ v _

2 devast _ t _ devastat _ _ _ devastat _ _ g

3 expl _ d _ explos _ _ _ explos _ v _

4 suff _ c _ te suffocat _ _ n suffocat _ _ g

5 sev _ r _ sever _ l _ sever _ _ y

15 marks

Find a word

Using the clues and the meanings below, write down words from the spelling list. The first


1 to die from lack of air s

2 complete ruin d

3 full of fire f

4 to put out a fire e

5 the opposite of artificial n

6 the plant life of an area v

7 surged in great waves b

8 able to catch fire easily i

9 happening by chance or accident a

10 to set on fire i

11 to burn slowly without flames s

12 causing ruin or disaster d

13 a sudden blowing up e

14 on purpose d

14 marks


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Adding list words

Complete the following sentences by adding words from the list. You should use each word

once only and the first letters are given to help you.

1 The old timber house was soon a b i .

2 After the e , the walls of the building began to s .

3 Someone had d tried to i the bushland.

4 After the d forest fires, rescue vehicles were used to e

injured animals.

5 Because of the i flames, the firefighters were not able to e

the v .

6 The t rose alarmingly as the flames and smoke b out

of control.

7 The firefighters needed p as they fought the flames from the

i chemicals which had been a spilt.

8 The n bushland began to burn quickly and f .


Using the back-of-the-book dictionary, find the meaning of the

following words.

arson:

inferno:

evacuate:

18 marks

crisis:

Language

4 marks

Making comparisons—similes and metaphors

Two of the most important comparisons used in literature are similes and metaphors. A simile asks

us to picture one thing as being similar to another. It does this by using the words ‘like’, ‘as’ or ‘than’.

The sun is like a golden ball in the sky.

A metaphor also makes a comparison, not by saying that one thing is ‘like’ or ‘as’ another, but by

asking us to picture it as though it is the other thing. In this way, the comparison is more direct

than with a simile.

The sun is a golden ball in the sky.

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19 Wildfire 135

Identifying similes

Write down the similes in the following sentences from Firestorm.

1 Fire and smoke poured from Ben’s house and the one on the corner beside it, poured up

into the air and made a ball above like an A-bomb blast.

2 On the South Break hill a house suddenly blew apart and scattered in the air, like

something made from cards.

3 There was fire in front of fire, dancing along the riverbank, crackling like bullets, rattling

like machine guns.

3 marks

Completing metaphors

Roger Vaughan Carr uses vivid metaphors to convey the speed, power and devastation of the

firestorm. Your task is to complete each metaphor by referring to his description. As you do so,

you will soon realise that the author has taken some of these images from the sea and war as he

depicts the fury and might of the holocaust. The beginnings of the metaphors are in italics.

1 Then, over the South Break ridges, a tidal wave of fire

2 The whole valley was a great, molten sea of fire: a rolling ocean of fire

3 The roaring grew and mixed with the crackle of rifles,

4 But still the great wall

5 A toadstool that was

5 marks

Finding the metaphors

In each of the following pairs of sentences, one sentence means exactly what it says while the

other sentence contains a metaphor. Write out the sentences that contain the metaphors.

1 There was a storm of protest from the crowd.

We could see the storm in the distance.

2 The sea was a deep green.

The pop star looked out from the stage over the sea of faces.


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3 Her eyes blazed with anger.

The fire blazed when new wood was thrown on.

4 The leading yacht flew across the water at great speed.

The migratory birds flew to their winter retreat.

5 There was a flood of letters protesting about the dam.

The flood subsided after three weeks without rain.

6 A wave of pain surged through her body.

The swimmers tried to avoid the huge wave.

Punctuation

Using quotation marks for titles

Quotation marks are used in handwritten texts to enclose the names of books, plays, poems,

magazines, films, songs, pictures, television programs and the names of ships. Each main word of

the title usually begins with a capital letter.

‘Boy’ and ‘Going Solo’ are two autobiographies written by Roald Dahl.

Punctuating titles

Rewrite the following sentences adding all the necessary punctuation marks such as quotation

marks, capitals, commas, apostrophes and full stops.

1 the incredible hulk peanuts and ginger meggs are famous comic strips

6 marks

2 dr who is the longest running science fiction television show of all time

3 the hobbit and the lord of the rings by jrr tolkien are considered by many to be two of the

greatest books ever written

4 henry lawsons the loaded dog and the drovers wife are two stories that describe life in

australia over a hundred years ago

4 marks

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19 Wildfire 137


Disaster

Since the beginning of time, the world has been

subject to all kinds of natural disasters such as

cyclones, tidal waves, earthquakes, tsunamis,

droughts, floods and infernos (large fires). In

addition, there have been many disasters caused

by people. These include chemical spills, nuclear

explosions, wars, hazardous materials, oil fires

and many others. Here is a description of a natural

disaster, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

The last days of Pompeii

The ashes in many places were already kneedeep;

and the boiling showers which came from

the steaming breath of the volcano forced their

way into the houses, bearing with them a strong

and suffocating vapour. In some places, immense

fragments of rock, hurled upon the house roofs,

bore down along the streets masses of confused

ruin. As the day advanced, the movement of the

earth was felt—the footing seemed to slide and

creep—nor could chariot or litter be kept steady,

even on the most level ground.

Sometimes the huger stones, striking against

each other as they fell, broke into countless

fragments, emitting sparks of fire, which caught

whatever was combustible within their reach;

and along the plains beyond the city the darkness

was now terribly relieved; for several houses, and

even vineyards, had been set on flames.

from The Last Days of Pompeii

by Edward Bulwer Lytton

Try your hand at writing 200 words on one of the following disaster topics.

• An avalanche • Cave-in! • The Towering Inferno

• A tidal wave • Flood! • A cyclone

20 Family and

friends

Comprehension


A friend in need

THE children who lived further down our road

called for me each morning and pushed me to

school in the pram. They liked doing it because

each one had turns in riding with me.

Those pulling the pram would prance like

horses and I would yell out, ‘Hup! Hup!’ and wave

an imaginary whip.

There was Joe Carmichael, who lived almost

opposite us—he was my mate—and Freddie

Hawk, who could do everything better than

anyone else and was the hero of the school, and

‘Skeeter’ Bronson, who always said that he’d ‘tell

on you’ when you hit him.

Two girls lived up our road; Alice Barker was

one. All the boys at the school wished she was

their girl but she liked Freddie Hawk. Maggie

Mulligan was the other girl. She was a big girl

and knew three terrible swears and would say the

three of them together if you got her wild. She

would clip you on the ear as quick as look at you

and I liked her wheeling me in the pram better

than anyone else because I loved her.

Sometimes, when we played ‘bucking horses’

the pram tipped over and Maggie Mulligan would

say the three swears and pick me up and call to

the others, ‘Here! Help me chuck him back before

someone comes.’

She had two long red plaits down her back,

and sometimes boys at school would yell out,

‘Ginger for pluck’ at her and she would sing back

at them, ‘Long nose eats the fruit. You’re lousy as

a bandicoot.’

She wasn’t frightened of any boy and she

wasn’t frightened of bulls either.

When McDonald’s bull got out and started

fighting with one of the road bulls we all stopped

to watch them. McDonald’s bull was the biggest

and he kept pushing the road bull backwards

till he got him against a tree then he drove at his

flanks. The road bull bellowed and turned to get

away. Blood was running down his back legs and

he made up the road towards us with McDonald’s

bull on his heels, goring him as he ran.

Joe and Freddie and Skeeter lit out for the

fence but Maggie Mulligan stopped with me and

wouldn’t let go the pram handle. She tried to pull

me off the track but she didn’t have time and

McDonald’s bull gave a side toss with its horns as

it passed and sent the pram flying, but I fell on

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ferns and wasn’t hurt and Maggie Mulligan wasn’t

hurt either.

But the wheel of the pram was buckled and

Maggie Mulligan put the Fireman’s Lift on me and

carried me home and she only had four spells

because Joe and Freddie counted them.

At school they always left my pram near the

door and I walked into the school room on my

crutches.

from I Can Jump Puddles by Alan Marshall


1 The narrator of the story has been disabled by polio. What evidence can you find in the

first sentence to show that he can’t walk by himself?

2 How would Maggie Mulligan respond ‘if you got her wild’?

3 Why did the narrator like Maggie wheeling him ‘better than anyone else’?

4 Why did the boys yell out ‘Ginger for pluck’ at Maggie?

5 How did Maggie respond to this insulting remark?

6 ‘She wasn’t frightened of bulls either.’ How do you know this?

7 What happened to the narrator when McDonald’s bull gave a side toss with its horns as it

passed him and Maggie?

8 How did Maggie manage to get the narrator home after the accident?

9 How did the narrator enter the school room?

10 Use the back-of-the-book dictionary to give the meaning of these words:

a flanks:

b bellowed:

c goring:

10 marks


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Family and friends

daughter companion niece family neighbour

nephew marriage divorce descendant reception

cousin wedding friend anniversary sympathy

acquaintance birthday occasion invitation congratulations

celebration society ceremony quarrel bachelor

welcome sincere pleasure woman grandfather

Find a word

Using the clues or meanings that follow, write down the correct word from the spelling list.

1 the legal ending of a marriage d

2 a word opposite in meaning to ‘enemy’ f

3 a person who lives near another n

4 a child, grandchild, great-grandchild, etc. of a person d

5 genuine, not pretended s

6 a warm greeting w

7 a person whom one knows only slightly a

8 a word opposite in meaning to ‘pain’ p

9 an argument or angry dispute q

10 a marriage ceremony w

10 marks

Word skills

1 Arrange the following words in alphabetical order.

nephew neighbour niece bachelor sincerely sympathy

2 Give the plural for the following words.

a family e daughter

b acquaintance f ceremony

c woman g descendant

d friend h cousin

3 Write down the verbs formed from each of the following words.

a marriage b celebration

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c pleasure f congratulations

d descendant g invitation

e wedding h reception

4 Complete these phrases by adding a word from the spelling list. The first letters are given

to help you.

a a d settlement j a very happy b

b

a memorable o

c a b pad

d

e

f

g

h

i

a warm w

a birthday i

nextdoor n

a bitter q

a close f

a travelling c

k a d -in-law

l

a wedding r

m a g clock

n

o

a young w

a golden wedding a

p a s apology

q

r

high s

a message of c


35 marks

The Latin word annus means ‘a year’. An ‘anniversary’ is a yearly

celebration of something that took place in an earlier year. Using the

back-of-the-book dictionary, find out the meaning of the following

words that are related to annus.

annual:

annuity:

per annum:

Language

3 marks

Using better words

Good writers often use a thesaurus in their quest for the right word. Words such as ‘got’, ‘a lot

of’ and ‘nice’ are often overused and do not give vitality to writing. You should try to make your

writing as interesting as possible by using an alternative to these words.

Avoiding ‘nice’

The word ‘nice’ is often overused. In the following examples, replace ‘nice’ with a suitable word

from the box.

delicious absorbing glamorous comfortable

fragrant melodious fertile affectionate

refreshing picturesque energetic sunny


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1 a nice perfume

2 a nice scene

3 a nice song

4 the nice dog

5 the nice book

6 a nice lounge

7 nice clothes

8 nice food

9 nice soil

10 a nice swim

11 a nice day

12 nice tennis games

12 marks

Avoiding ‘got’

‘Got’ is another word that is often overused. In the following examples, replace ‘got’

with a better word from the box.

employed arrived received became

caught retrieved borrrowed purchased

1 The motorist got a speeding fine.

2 The teacher got angry with the student.

3 The dog got the ball from the water.

4 We got videos from the library.

5 The developer got more land.

6 You got your cold from me.

7 They got there late.

8 The company got new workers.

8 marks

Using a better word than ‘said’

The word ‘said’ often introduces direct speech. However, there are more descriptive words that

can be used. Choose the most suitable word from the list instead of ‘said’ in the spaces below.

asked boasted accused estimated

cautioned screamed confessed yawned

reminisced groaned apologised forecast

1 ‘You need to slow down, driver,’ the police officer.

2 ‘I think my leg’s broken,’ the accident victim.

3 ‘You’re lying,’ the prosecuting lawyer.

4 ‘I’ve been up all night. I’m very tired,’ the child’s mother.

5 ‘Fire! Fire!’ the woman trapped in the burning building.

6 ‘I’m sorry I was late,’ the teacher.

7 ‘It was me. I did it,’ the suspect .

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8 ‘That summer was wonderful,’ the old man.

9 ‘It’ll be fine tomorrow,’ the weather bureau .

10 ‘No one can beat our team,’ the goalie.

11 ‘What’s the departure time?’ the passenger.

12 ‘The repair bill should be eight hundred dollars,’ the mechanic .

Punctuation

Punctuating lists

A colon is often used to introduce a list. Commas are used to separate each item and a full stop

completes the sentence.

The students were advised to bring the following items to the school camp: rucksack,

sleeping bag, cutlery, hat, sunglasses and hiking clothes.

12 marks

Using colons and commas in lists

Rewrite the sentences adding the missing colons, commas and full stops.

1 Work is available now for the following tradespeople plumbers painters carpenters

bricklayers car mechanics and carpet layers

2 The following sea creatures are able to be seen through the glass-bottom boat sharks

turtles octopuses starfish sting rays and lobsters

3 On our holiday we will be visiting these countries Spain Portugal France Germany Russia

Turkey Singapore and Indonesia

4 The school offers a wide range of sporting activities golf tennis archery hockey athletics

softball soccer cricket and rowing

5 At school in English we are studying the following genres romance fantasy horror war

science fiction and adventure

5 marks


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Family and friends

In the world of literature, we meet all kinds of interesting characters. We identify with them as

we share their experiences and problems in their relationships with others. Here is a description

of Vicki Streeton, one of the important characters in Tim Winton’s novel Lockie Leonard, Human

Torpedo. Lockie Leonard, the teenage hero of the novel, is madly in love with Vicki.

Vicki Streeton

He looked up and saw Vicki Streeton walking his way alone. She

didn’t walk anywhere alone. There were always a pile of girls with

faces like half-chewed Mars Bars following her round, or some

hunky footballers chatting her up.

She walked with her head up in the breeze and all that frizzy

hair rolling around in the wind behind her. She had nice legs, but

her feet turned out. Ballet dancer, he thought. Lockie’d never really

thought much about how girls looked until lately. Oh, he’d always

known the difference between awful and pretty, but he’d never

cared less. And now he couldn’t help looking. He was safe back here

against the hedge.

from Lockie Leonard, Human Torpedo by Tim Winton


• A person I admire • Let me introduce my family

• Let me introduce myself • What is your favourite day of the week? Why?

Sun, surf and

sand

21

Comprehension


A shark tried to eat me

THE attack took place on the 12th March about

2.30 p.m. on Aldinga Reef some forty-eight

kilometres south of Adelaide …

I was over half a kilometre from the nearest

point of land.

Suddenly I was startled to see two thirtykilogram

yellowtail kingfish swim below me in

about eight metres of water. I dived and shot a

spear after the fast-disappearing large fish.

At this moment it flicked through my mind

that after many years diving in South Australian

waters, at long last I had seen my first kingfish.

I thought, ‘Maybe from now on, the recent

uneventful chain of events which I have been

experiencing may change, and I may even see a

large shark today.’ To that day I had sighted many

sharks, but none had been over three metres in

length.

While just preparing for a dive, lying relaxed on

the surface, my body was suddenly thrown into

a convulsive shudder as I felt my left leg being

nearly wrenched from me. I swung around with

a stifled scream to witness the nightmarish sight

of a four-metre white pointer shark hanging onto

it. All panic was gone in an instant as the thought

‘You’re going to have to be good to get out of this’

thudded into my brain.

I remembered reading once about thumbing

a shark’s eye can make it let go, so I threw my left

arm out to try this, only to find the shark had let

my leg go and my outstretched hand went down

its throat. I dragged it back in desperation, little

knowing how close I must have been to losing it.

The white pointer then went into a fast, tight

circle and came charging straight back. It was not

without a sense of malicious glee that I swung

the gun around and dived to meet the onslaught.

Obviously it was now or never. The spear thudded

into its massive head about seven centimetres

behind the left eye. The impact appeared to stop

the shark and it shook its body, trying to free

itself of the one-and-a-half metre stainless steel

spear. This it soon did.

A great tail disappearing into the blue was the

last I saw of my attacker, heading in a southerly

direction.

from ‘A shark tried to eat me’ by Brian Rodger

in Shark Hunter by Ben Cropp

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1 Where did the attack take place?

2 What did the narrator do when he became aware of the two yellowtail kingfish?

3 What was the narrator doing when the shark attacked him?

4 What part of the narrator’s body did the shark grab hold of?

5 How did his body react to the shark attack?

6 What ‘nightmarish sight’ did the narrator see when he swung round?

7 What thought ‘thudded’ into the narrator’s brain when he saw the shark?

8 What was the narrator trying to do when he threw his left arm out towards the shark?

9 How did he nearly lose his outstretched hand?

10 ‘Obviously it was now or never.’ What does the narrator mean by this?

11 How did the narrator prevent the shark from attacking him a second time?

12 How did the shark react after it had been hit by the spear?

12 marks

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The beach

caravan depth forecast weather

beach dinghy aqualung injury

swimmer resort current emergency

assistance surfboard commenced buoy

precaution launch channel immediately

patrolling shore deserted situation

Surf rescue

Complete the following passage by inserting appropriate words from the spelling list in the

spaces provided. The first letters are given to help you.

The secluded b near the tourist r was d

as the man ran along the s

and dived into the breakers. He was soon out of his

d as the strong c quickly dragged him out into the

c . Fortunately a s rider saw him struggling for survival,

realised there was an e s and i came

to his a . The exhausted s had not suffered any physical

i

and was soon brought back to the beach by lifesavers, who had been p

the area in their l . They then took the p of warning the people in

the nearby c

park of the dangerous surfing conditions.

18 marks

Word skills

1 Complete the following phrases by adding words from the spelling list. The first letters


a necessary p c holiday r

b weather f

2 Give the plural of the following words.

a launch c beach

b injury d dinghy

3 Create words from the list by rearranging these groups of mixed letters.

a pethd d alunch

b neanlhc e yobu

c roseh f uuaaqgnl

13 marks


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The prefix fore- means ‘before’ or ‘in front’. ‘To forecast’ means to say what you

think will happen before it happens. Using the back-of-the-book dictionary,

write down the meaning of these words beginning with fore-.

foretell:

foreword:

foregone:

foreboding:

Language

Shades of meaning

The English language offers a writer or speaker many choices. Choosing the most appropriate

words will help make your meaning clearer and have a more powerful effect on your audience.

Sometimes there are subtle differences between words that are otherwise similar in meaning.

For example, ‘It is my dream to sail to Antarctica one day’ is more effective than ‘I hope to sail to

Antarctica one day’.

Missing words

For each word below choose two words from the box that have a similar meaning.

4 marks

loving chilly fatigued delicious massive

moist unhappy wet stupid elderly

small little foolish appetising enormous

affectionate cold despondent weary aged

1 tasty ,

2 sad ,

3 tiny ,

4 silly ,

5 cool ,

6 tired ,

7 fond ,

8 damp ,

9 large ,

10 old ,

20 marks

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Word groups

Complete the following phrases by inserting the most suitable words from each box.

1 yelping gibbering bleating

4 cyclone breeze wind

a the of an ape

b the of a dog

c the of a lamb

a

b

c

a refreshing

a devastating

a gust of

2 skiff kayak galleon

5 pirate kidnapper gangster

a

b

c

a seal-skin

a racing

a Spanish

a the cutlass of the

b the gun of the

c the ’s ransom note

3 investigate study prospect

a to a crime

b to for gold

c to for an exam

Punctuation

6 ancient antique old

a

furniture

b

Rome

c an man

6 marks

Revision—punctuating sentences

Rewrite the following sentences with all the necessary capital letters and punctuation marks.

1 wolfgang amadeus mozart began composing music at the age of five

2 didnt you know that trees help protect the worlds atmosphere asked the teacher

3 abandon ship shouted the captain

4 coyotes live in alaska canada the united states mexico and central america

5 the spanish explorer cortez brought tomatoes back to europe from mexico in 1519

6 the following problems can be the result of global warming deadly heatwaves floods

storms droughts melting glaciers and rising sea levels

6 marks


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The sea

Here is an excerpt from Steven Callahan’s survival story Adrift, in which he records his 76-day

ordeal adrift in a five-foot inflatable raft when his small yacht sank west of the Canary Islands.

He drifted nearly 3000 kilometres across the Atlantic until he was rescued by fishermen.

Adrift

It is my eleventh day in the raft. Each day passes as an endless

age of despair. I spend hours evaluating my chances, my

strength, and my distance to the lanes. The raft’s condition

seems generally good, although the tent leaks through the

observation port when nearby waves break. One night we shot

down the front of a big roller, for several seconds sliding upon

its tumbling foam as if we had fallen over a waterfall. Then last

night we nearly capsized again. Everything is soaked. Today,

though, a flat, hot sea surrounds me.

from Adrift by Steven Callahan

Try your hand at writing a fictional or non-fictional piece about one of the following topics.

• Adrift!

• The beach

• Select a sea creature. Describe its appearance and

behaviour and explain why you have chosen it.

Just in time

22

Comprehension


The land that time forgot

SUDDENLY I saw it. There was movement among

the bushes at the far end of the clearing. A great

dark shadow disengaged itself and hopped out

into the clear moonlight. The beast moved like a

kangaroo, springing along upon its powerful hind

legs, while its front ones were held bent in front

of it. It was of enormous size and power, like an

erect elephant, but its movements, in spite of

its bulk, were exceedingly alert. This beast had

a broad squat, toad-like face. Its ferocious cry

assured me that this was surely one of the great

flesh-eating dinosaurs, the most terrible beasts

which have ever walked this earth. As the huge

beast loped along it dropped forward upon its

forepaws and brought its nose to the ground

every twenty yards or so. It was smelling out my

trail. Then it would catch up again and come

bounding swiftly along the path I had taken.

Even now when I think of that nightmare the

sweat breaks out upon my brow. What could I do?

I looked desperately round for some rock or tree,

but I was in a bushy jungle with nothing higher

than a sapling within sight, while I knew that the

creature behind me could tear down an ordinary

tree as though it were a reed. My only possible

chance lay in flight. I could not move swiftly over

the rough, broken ground, but as I looked round

me in despair I saw a well-marked, hard-beaten

path which ran across in front of me. We had

seen several of the sort, the runs of various wild

beasts, during our expeditions. Along this I could

perhaps hold my own, for I was a fast runner, and

in excellent condition …

I set myself to do such a half mile as I have

never done before or since. My limbs ached, my

chest heaved, I felt that my throat would burst for

want of air, and yet with that horror behind me

I ran and I ran and ran. At last I paused, hardly

able to move. For a moment I thought that I had

thrown him off. The path lay still behind me. And

then suddenly, with a crashing and a rendering,

a thudding of giant feet and a panting of monster

lungs, the beast was upon me once more. He was

at my very heels. I was lost.

Madman that I was to linger so long before I

fled! Up to then he had hunted by scent, and his

movement was slow. But he had actually seen

me as I started to run. From then onwards he

had hunted by sight, for the path showed him

where I had gone. Now, as he came round the

curve, he was springing in great bounds. The

moonlight shone upon his huge projecting eyes,

the row of enormous teeth in his open mouth,

and the gleaming fringe of claws upon his short,

powerful forearms. With a scream of terror I

turned and rushed wildly down the path. Behind

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me the thick, gasping breathing of the creature

sounded louder and louder. His heavy footfall

was beside me. Every instant I expected to feel

his grip upon my back. And then suddenly there

came a crash—I was falling through space, and

everything beyond was darkness and rest.

from The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle


1 How did the narrator first become aware of the presence of the beast?

2 In what way was the movement of the beast similar to that of a kangaroo?

3 Why does the narrator compare the dinosaur to an elephant?

4 According to the narrator, what was the dinosaur’s face like?

5 ‘… it dropped forward … and brought its nose to the ground every twenty yards or so.’

Why did the dinosaur do this?

6 Why did the narrator think he might be able to outdistance the dinosaur?

7 Write down two sound words used in the third paragraph.

8 What did the moonlight reveal of the dinosaur’s features?

9 How did the narrator react when he saw the dinosaur’s features in the moonlight?

10 How did the narrator know that the dinosaur was rapidly catching up to him?

10 marks

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22 Just in time 153


Words in time

present decade daily legend autumn

past origin monthly previously occasionally

future centenary yearly recently calendar

today epitaph annually ancestor always

yesterday obituary diary season remember

tomorrow memorial early often memory

Word skills

1 Write down words from the spelling list that are opposite in meaning to the following words.

a late d descendant

b often e future

c forget f never

2 Write down the list word for each of the following phrases.

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

a period of ten years

a record of daily happenings

a hundredth anniversary

words written on a tombstone

the season of the year following summer

a table showing the days, weeks and months of the year

a story handed down from the past

to recollect or recall

someone related to you, who lived long ago

the beginning or source


16 marks

The Latin word decem means ‘ten’. In the old Roman calendar,

December was the tenth month. Using the back-of-the-book

dictionary, write down the meaning of the following words derived

from decem.

decimal:

December:

decagon:

decimate:

4 marks


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Language

Prefixes and suffixes

As you have already seen, many words in English are formed by adding a prefix or suffix to another

word. The use of prefixes and suffixes adds variation and vitality to the English language. Often

prefixes and suffixes are of Greek or Latin origin and their use can create interesting word families.

Using prefixes to form opposites

Use the prefixes un-, in-, im-, dis-, ir-, or il- to form the opposites of the following words.

1 patient

2 visible

3 appear

4 pleasant

5 polite

6 certain

7 legitimate

8 mortal

9 popular

10 responsible

11 formal

12 loyal

13 honest

14 healthy

15 legal

16 belief

17 courteous

18 convenient

19 regular

20 digestion

21 possible

22 conscious

23 agreeable

24 pure

24 marks

Creating adjectives by adding suffixes

Adjectives can often be formed from nouns or verbs by adding a suffix.

heart (-less)—heartless melody (-ous)—melodious rely (-able)—reliable

Use the suffixes -ful, -ous, -less or -able to create adjectives from the following words.

1 peace

2 noise

3 outrage

4 notice

5 laugh

6 care

7 dread

8 imagine

9 glutton

10 advantage

11 spite

12 study

13 fame

14 manage

15 delight

16 industry

17 advise

18 virtue

18 marks

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22 Just in time 155

Punctuation

Revision—sentences


Rewrite each of the following sentences with all the necessary capital letters and punctuation

marks.

1 the tunnel between england and france is the longest underwater and rail tunnel in

europe

2 the aid worker asked did you know that a fifth of all people dont have enough clean

water to drink

3 the following cereals are wild grasses that have been cultivated by farmers maize oats

wheat rice barley and rye

4 the amazon rainforest produces half the worlds oxygen supply stated the scientist

5 hawaii became the fiftieth state of the united states of america on 21 august 1959

6 didnt you know that roald dahl wrote the witches the twits and also fantastic mr fox

asked the student

7 actor russell crowe starred in the films gladiator and robin hood

8 the quiz compere asked which famous australian film was about a piglet

8 marks


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Long, long ago

In his novel The Lost World, author Arthur Conan Doyle gives

the reader a horrifying description of prehistoric pterodactyls.

A rookery of pterodactyls

The place was a rookery of pterodactyls. There

were hundreds of them congregated within view.

All the bottom area round the water-edge was

alive with their young ones, and with hideous

mothers brooding upon their leathery, yellowish

eggs. From this crawling flapping mass of

obscene reptilian life came the shocking clamour

which filled the air and the horrible, musty odour

which turned us sick. But above, perched each

upon its own stone, tall, grey, and withered, sat

the horrible males, absolutely motionless except

for the rolling of their red eyes or an occasional

snap of their rat-trap beaks as a dragon-fly went

past them. Their huge membranous wings were

closed by folding their forearms, so that they sat

like gigantic old women, wrapped in hideous

web-coloured shawls, and with their ferocious

heads protruding above them.

abridged from The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle

Select one of these topics and write a 150-word description of it:

• When dinosaurs ruled the Earth • Life in Ancient Greece or Rome

• In the land of the cave dwellers • A knight’s tale

• The Ice Age


allocate verb to set apart for a special purpose

altar noun a table used for religious

ceremonies in a church or temple

altimeter noun an instrument for showing

height above sea level

alto noun the highest adult male singing voice

annual adjective happening once a year

annuity noun a fixed payment made at regular

intervals

antelope noun a fast-running, horned

ruminant, found mainly in Africa and Asia

arson noun the deliberate burning of another’s

property or land

asterisk noun a star-shaped symbol used as a

reference mark

asteroid noun one of the hundreds of tiny

planets between Mars and Jupiter

astronaut noun a person who travels in a

spacecraft

astronomical adjective having to do with

astronomy; very large

autism noun a condition in which a person’s

ability to communicate or form relationships

with others is limited

autobiography noun the life story of a person

written by himself or herself

autocrat noun a person having or using

absolute power

autograph noun a person’s own signature

autonomy noun the ability to act and make

decisions independently

autopilot noun a device that steers an aircraft

or ship in place of a person

autopsy noun a post-mortem examination to

discover the cause of death

bellowed verb cried loudly and deeply

bicycle noun a pedal-driven vehicle with

two wheels

biennial adjective happening once every

two years

bigamy noun the offence of being married to

two people at once

biochemistry noun the chemistry of living

things

biodegradable adjective able to be decomposed

by living organisms

biographer noun a person who writes about

another’s life

biopsy noun the removal and study of a piece

of living tissue

biosphere noun the part of the Earth and its

atmospere where living things can be found

biped noun a two-footed animal

biplane noun an aeroplane with two sets of

wings, one above the other

bisect verb to cut or divide into two equal

parts

burr noun rough or indistinct pronunciation

cankered adjective covered by an ulcerous sore

cellar noun an underground storage room

cent noun one-hundredth part of one dollar

centigrade noun a temperature scale in which

there are 100 degrees between freezing (0°C)

and boiling point (100°C)

centimetre noun one-hundredth part of one

metre

centipede noun a small invertebrate animal

with many (‘a hundred’) legs

century noun a period of one hundred years

chassis noun the frame of a motor vehicle on

which the body, wheels and other fittings are

mounted

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158 Back-of-book dictionary

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contralto noun the lowest female singing voice

convert verb to change into a different form

convertible noun a car with a folding or

detachable roof; adjective having a

detachable top

coupé noun an enclosed car with two doors

courier noun someone who delivers messages

or packages for other people

creator noun a person who creates

creature noun any living thing

crisis noun a critical time or occasion

decagon

figure

noun a ten-sided, two-dimensional

December noun the twelfth month of the year

(originally the tenth month in the Roman

calendar before the time of Augustus)

decimal adjective relating to tenths or the

number 10

decimate verb to kill or destroy a large part of

(originally one in every ten)

dingo noun an Australian wild dog

disaster noun a sudden happening that causes

great suffering or damage

divert verb to turn aside from a path or course

dunes noun sand hills shaped by the wind

elephant noun a very large, four-footed animal

with trunk and tusks

emu noun a large, flightless, three-toed

Australian bird

evacuate verb to move from one place to

another place of greater safety

exalt verb to praise highly; to raise in rank,

honour or power

exclaim verb to say something suddenly and

loudly

exclude verb to shut out or keep out

exhale verb to breathe out

exile verb to force someone to leave their

home or country

exit noun a way out

fearsome adjective causing fear

feline verb belonging or relating to the cat

family

flanks noun the sides of something

foreboding noun a feeling that something bad is

going to happen

foregone adjective something certain to

happen

foretell verb to know or say something will

happen before it happens; to predict

foreword noun an introductory statement at

the front of a book

gazelle noun a small antelope found in Africa

genocide noun the deliberate killing of all

members of a national or racial group

giraffe noun a tall, long-necked, spotted

ruminant found in Africa

goring verb piercing with horns or tusks

haunches noun hindquarters

holocaust noun a great destruction of

life

hyena noun a dog-like carnivore found in

Africa and Asia

inadvertently adverb not intended or deliberate

indelible adjective incapable of being rubbed

out or removed

inferno noun a place of extreme heat or fire

insecticide noun a chemical used to kill insects

invert verb to turn upside down or put in the

opposite order

knoll noun a small, rounded hill

leopard noun a large, spotted member of the

cat family found in Africa and southern Asia

limousine noun a large, luxurious car often

driven by a chauffeur

loan noun anything that is lent to another

person (something to be returned to the

owner)

locality noun a place or district

locomotion noun the act of moving from one

place to another

lone adjective being alone or solitary

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Back-of-book dictionary 159

maladjusted adjective having emotional

problems that lead to unhappiness or

antisocial behaviour

malfunction verb to function incorrectly (can

also be a noun)

malignant adjective harmful, very dangerous;

nasty or evil

malnutrition noun a lack of proper nutrition

resulting from deficiencies in the diet

nocturnal adjective active at night; happening

at night

ostrich noun a large, two-toed, flightless bird

from Africa

panda noun a large, bear-like animal found in

China and the Himalayas

patricide noun the act of killing one’s father

peneplain noun a land surface, reduced almost

to a plain by erosion

penguin noun a flightless, aquatic bird of the

Southern Hemisphere

per annum adverb by the year (Latin)

pesticide noun a chemical used to kill pests

porker noun a young pig fattened for food

potent adjective full of power or strength

putrid adjective decaying or rotten

raucous adjective having a loud, harsh sound

reclusive adjective living and spending time by

oneself, apart from others

re-create verb to create again

recreation noun sport, pastime or amusement

regicide noun the killing of a monarch

relocate verb to move to a different place

reverse verb to turn back or to drive backwards

seller noun a person who exchanges goods for

money

sight noun the ability to see; something that

can be seen

simulated adjective pretended, feigned

site noun the piece of land on which

something is or will be built; the location of

something

storey noun one of the floors or levels in a

building

story noun a tale or narrative

subdivide verb to divide again or into smaller

parts

subdue verb to conquer or overcome

subjugate verb to conquer or to bring under

control

submerge verb to put under water

submit verb to surrender to the will or

authority of another

substantiate verb to provide proof for

subterranean adjective under the ground

subtract verb to take away

superfluous adjective more than is needed

superhuman adjective having greater powers or

knowledge than a human being

superlative adjective of the highest quality or

degree

supermarket noun a large, self-service shop

selling food and other goods

supersede verb to replace with something more

powerful, modern, etc.

supersonic adjective at a speed greater than the

speed of sound

superstar noun a very famous entertainer or

actor

supervisor noun a person who directs or

manages others

toxin noun a poisonous substance

transcontinental adjective extending across a

continent

transfusion noun the transferring of blood from

one person to another

translucent adjective allowing some light to

pass through

transplant verb to remove from one place to

another

transport verb to carry from one place to

another

undulations noun movements or shapes like

those of waves

160 Back-of-book dictionary

978 1 4202 3709 2

unicorn noun a mythical, horse-like creature

with one horn

union noun two or more things or people

joined together into one

unison noun the singing or saying of the same

thing as one

unite verb to join together into one

vertigo noun dizziness; a dizzy spell when

everything seems to be whirling

wean verb to gradually stop drinking mother’s

milk

wizened adjective withered or dried-up

zebra noun a horse-like animal with black and

white stripes found in Africa

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