Main Topic 17: Industries Lesson 94: Agriculture (20-25 minutes) Today, you will: 1. Learn useful vocabulary related to AGRICULTURE. 2. Review Passive Voice. I. VOCABULARY Exercise 1: What s the meaning? (5-6minutes) A. Choose the meaning of the underlined words from the choices that follow. 1. Agriculture is an important part of the economy in most countries. a. Selling b. Farming c. Exporting d. Working 2. Rice crops are popular in Asian countries like Thailand. a. old plants b. weak plants c. stored plants d. harvested plants 3. Farmers usually harvest crops in a timely manner. a. gathering of soil b. gathering of fertilizer c. gathering of ripe plants d. gathering of insecticide 4. The good yield of the harvest season made the farmers very happy. a. input b. status c. output d. process Page 1
5. Different kinds of insecticide are used by farmers depending on the type of pest. a. chemical used to produce pests b. chemical used to kill insect pests c. chemical used to decrease yield d. chemical used to strengthen crops B. Sentence-Making Practice (3-4 minutes) Practice using the words you ve learned in your own sentences. 1. Agriculture 2. Crop 3. Harvest 4. Yield 5. Insecticide Page 2
Exercise 2: What s the word? (4-5 minutes) Read the following dialog with your tutor and try to use context clues to fill in the blanks with the most appropriate word. You can find the missing word from the pool of words at the bottom. Mr. Clark is talking to his superior about the agricultural business Superior: Mr. Clark, I d like to know how the business is doing. Mr. Clark: Well Sir, the farmland experienced a slow growth this year. The tell us that the rate of crops being harvested this year went up by only 5% as opposed to 10% last year. Superior: Was it the head farmer who talked to you about this? Mr. Clark: Yes, Sir. And in fact, he told me that our supply of is also decreasing. He said that its price got very high which is why we have to buy in lesser amount. Superior: Okay. Tell him that I will increase the budget starting next month. This way, he can increase the supply of fertilizer and probably solve the problem of a lower rate of crops being harvested. Mr. Clark: Okay, Sir. Superior: Also, I will be visiting the rice next week. I would like to personally talk to the head farmer. Mr. Clark: Yes, Sir. I will schedule your meeting with him. Choices: a. figures b. field c. farmer d. fertilizer Page 3
II. GRAMMAR REVIEW: Topic: Passive Voice (5-6 minutes) General Description: Passive voice is used if the object of a sentence in active voice is more important than the subject, or if you don t know the subject in a sentence. To change the active voice to passive voice: ACTIVE VOICE Subject Verb Object The farmers harvested the crops. PASSIVE VOICE( Subject Auxilliary verb (to be verb) Main Complement verb(always in past participle form) The crops were harvested by the farmers. The object in the active voice becomes the subject in passive voice, and the subject in active voice becomes a complement of the verb in the passive voice. A complement is a phrase that completes the meaning of the verb. In the sentence, by the farmers is a prepositional phrase that describes the verb phrase were harvested. Thus, the prepositional phrase function as an adverb complement. Remember: Normally, the object in passive voice is introduced by the word by, but not all. Ex. The farmer was hit with a shovel. (the shovel did not hit the farmer; somebody must have hit him with the shovel). Examples: 1. The insecticide was applied by the farmers. 2. The crops were infested by pests. 3. The fertilizer was bought by Mr. Bergs. 4. Different crops were harvested in the Philippines. 5. The field was planted with new crops. Comprehension Check: Change the active voice into passive voice: The head farmer planted the seeds in the field. Page 4
Exercise 1: Incomplete Sentences (3-4minutes) Choose the word or phrase that would best complete the following sentences. 1. The crops by the farmers. a. was planting b. was planted c. were planting d. were planted 2. The corn field. a. were infested with insect pests b. was infested with insect pests c. were infested by insect pests d. are infested by insect pests 3. The new farmers were introduced the head farmer to the landlord. a. by b. in c. with d. from Page 5