COMPREHENSION 2

ENGLISH JSS2 FIRST TERM

WEEK TWO

THEME: READING

COMPREHENSION

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE

Students should be able to;

1. Identify the different expressions used by authors to point to the readers their intentions

2. Practice extensive reading

CONTENT

Read the following Comprehension

Human immunodeficiency virus infection/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). During the initial infection, a person may experience a brief period of influenza-like illness.

This is typically followed by a prolonged period without symptoms. As the illness progresses it interferes more and more with the immune system, making people much more likely to get infections, including opportunistic infections, and tumours that do not usually affect people with working immune systems.

Genetic research indicates that HIV originated in west-central Africa during the early twentieth century. AIDS was first recognized by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 1981 and its cause, HIV infection was identified in the early part of the decade.

 

Since its discovery, AIDS has caused nearly 30 million deaths (as of 2009). As of 2010, approximately 34 million people have contracted HIV globally. AIDS is considered a pandemic —a disease outbreak which is present over a large area and is actively spreading.

Origin of HIV/AIDS:

1. Through African Monkey To human.
2. Through Vaccine Programme
   1. Polio, smallpox vaccine from monkey’s kidney-Africa.
   2. Hepatitis-B viral vaccine-Los Angles and New York

The initial period following the contraction of HIV is called acute HIV, primary HIV or acute retroviral syndrome. Many individuals develop an influenza-like illness or a mononucleosis-like illness 2-4 weeks post-exposure while others have no significant symptoms.

Symptoms occur in 40-90% of the cases and most commonly include fever, large tender lymph nodes, throat inflammation, a rash, headache, and/or sores of the mouth and genitals. The rash, which occurs in 20-50% of cases, presents itself on the trunk and is classically maculopapular.

Some people also develop opportunistic infections at this stage. Gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea may occur, as may neurological symptoms of peripheral neuropathy or Guillain-Barre syndrome. The duration of the symptoms varies, but is usually one or two weeks.

 

THEME: WRITING

OUTLINE 2

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE

Students should be able to;

1. Read through a topic
2. Jot down main and supporting ideas as they occur

CONTENT

Makeup has become a necessity for most women and they believe that they cannot step out of the house without at least five different kinds of cosmetic products. The cosmetics market has boomed to such an extent that not only are there different cosmetics for every kind of body part, there are different ones for different seasons too! But before makeup is marketed to us, it is tested on animals. Do you ever wonder why is it so? Because the cosmetics we trust to make us beautiful are full of so many harmful chemicals. And even though these cosmetics make us look good temporarily, in the end, they are going to leave an ugly effect. Here are some of the most common side effects of the cosmetics that you apply without a second thought:

• An Unwanted Dependency Leading to Addiction

In an era where social media is all about creating the perfect image of ourselves, the idea that one can look perfect without makeup has become laughable. Some people have an extreme dependency on cosmetics and avoid social interaction if they are not fully made up. This dependency can lead to psychological problems like lowering the self-esteem of a person. Makeup helps create a perfect image and while everyone looks flawless, there is societal pressure to live up to these expectations. Therefore, this dependency becomes an addiction that leads to the erosion of self-esteem and self-confidence.

• Prolonged Exposure Leads to Headaches

Headaches are a common issue associated with cosmetics. Usually prolonged exposure to extensive makeup leads to dizziness, tiredness and nausea. It is, therefore, very important that while removing makeup, you remove every trace of it. The fact that cosmetics contain only chemicals, and some have certain ingredients that, if exposed to direct, could lead to bouts of unconsciousness. It is probably more harmful for people who suffer migraines and chronic headaches.

• Permanent Dark Circles

The skin around the eyes is more sensitive as compared to the rest of your face and it shows the effect of chemicals sooner too. Experts tend to suggest that fewer cosmetics should be applied around the eyes as it can lead to bags under the eyes and dark circles. Dark circles are not easy to get rid of and often create constant marks under the eyes. This creates an endless cycle because to hide their dark circles, people apply more makeup which in turn leads to the worsening of the condition.

• Eye Makeup Causes Several Diseases

Kajal is probably the one necessary cosmetic owned by every Indian girl and it is something without which their appearance is incomplete. However, this cosmetic which is applied on the inner lining of the eyes can cause not one but several harmful diseases. It can cause the development of chemical, toxic and infective conjunctivitis, glaucoma, uveitis, dry eye and the discolouration of the eyes. If you wear lenses the chemicals in the makeup can damage your lenses and result in thinning of eyelashes. Mascara, which can lead to thinning of eyelashes can also cause blindness as it contains Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a very harmful bacteria that is resistant to both heat and cold.

• Clogging of Pores and Acne

Cosmetics like foundation and primer that even out the complexion of your skin and make your skin smooth, do this by smoothening your pores and natural blemishes. This means that your skin is not allowed to breathe and therefore can end up causing several problems. Foundations and powders that clog your pores can aggravate acne. It can also flare up your blemishes, it can cause pimple and cause an acne breakout. So, avoid using oil-based cosmetics and go for non-acnegenic makeup that won’t block your pores.

Outlining the topic above, we look at;

1. Topic
2. Introduction
3. Body and paragraphs
   1. Effects of Makeup
   2. Alternatives while using makeup products.

 

 

THEME: SPEECH WORK

VOWELS

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE

Students should be able to;

1. Identify some vowels

CONTENT

The English vowels are A, E, I, O, & U. (Sometimes Y is a vowel, pronounced as if it were I. Sometimes W substitutes for U, especially in the digraph 'ow.') Each vowel can be pronounced in several ways.

Short Vowels

The most common sound for each vowel is its “short” sound:

 

• ă, pronounced /æ/ as in apple, pan, or mat,
• ĕ, pronounced /ɛ/ as in elephant, pen, or met,
• ĭ, pronounced /ɪ/ as in insect, pin, or mitt,
• ŏ, pronounced /ɒ/ as in octopus, ostrich, upon, or motto,
• and ŭ, pronounced /ʌ/ as in umbrella, pun, or mutt.

(The International Phonetic Alphabet symbol for each sound is inside the backslashes://.

When syllables end in a vowel and then consonant (as in the examples above), the vowel is usually short. If there is more than one consonant, the vowel is almost always short.

This becomes important as a way to keep the same vowel sound when adding -ed to put a verb into the past tense. We often double an ending consonant to keep a short vowel short. For example, the past tense of 'stop' is 'stopped.' Otherwise the silent 'e' rule below (which also applies when followed by 'd') would give it a long 'o' sound like soap or hope.

Long Vowels

The alphabet sounds (when the vowel “says its name”) are called “long vowels.”

We call them ‘long’ because we hold them longer than the short sounds.

However, they are completely different sounds-- not a longer version of the same sound.

• Long A (ā), pronounced /eɪ/ as in late or mate,
• Long E (ē), pronounced /iː/ as in eat or meat (or meet or mete-- all pronounced the same),
• Long I (ī), pronounced /aɪ/ as in mite or might,
• Long O (ō), pronounced /oʊ/ as in oats, mote or moat, and
• Long U (ū), pronounced /juː/ in mute.

Silent ‘E’ Rule: When a vowel and consonant are followed by an ‘e’, the ‘e’ is almost always silent, but it causes the preceding vowel to belong. (Examples: ate, plane, Pete, bite, nine, rope, note, cube, flute.)

Other Long Vowels: A vowel at the end of a syllable is almost always long. Examples: I, we, he, she, go, try, potato and tomato. (Some English speakers use a short ‘a’ in the 2nd syllable, while others use a long ‘a,’ but both ‘o’s are long for everyone.)

• -Igh and -ight are usually long I (and silent GH): bright, fight, high, light, might, night, right, sigh, sight, tight.

Often the first letter of the vowel combinations, especially ‘ai’, ‘ay’, ‘ea’ (sometimes-- see Digraphs, below), ‘ee’, & ‘oa,’ will be long & the second will be silent. (An old rhyme for children says “when 2 vowels go walking, the first does the talking.”) So ’plain’ sounds exactly like ‘plane,' ‘meat’ and ‘meet’ like ‘mete,’ etc.

Common Examples: Short and Long Vowels

These contrasts demonstrate the rules (in each column, first short, then long):

1. A: short

• Back
• snack
• fad
• mad
• Sam
• can
• plan
• tap
• at

 

2. E: short

• bed
• Ben
• men
• ten
• bet
• set

3. I: short

• lick
• hid
• slid
• dim
• fin
• lit
• sit

4. O: short

• rob
• hop
• mop
• cot
• not

5. U: short

• cub
• tub
• hug
• cut

 

 

6. A: long

• bake
• snake
• fade
• made/maid
• same
• cane
• plain/plane
• tape
• ate

 

7. E: long

 

• bead
• bean
• mean
• teen
• beat/beet
• seat

8. I: long

• like
• hide
• slide
• dime
• fine
• light/lite
• sight/site

9. O: long

• robe
• hope
• mope
• coat
• note

10. U: long

• cube
• tube
• huge
• cute

 

THEME: GRAMMATICAL ACCURACY

PARTS OF SPEECH

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE

Students should be able to;

1. Identify the features of pronoun
2. List the types and functions of pronoun
3. Make sentences with pronouns

CONTENT

Pronouns can have an abundance of different characteristics. One being that they can express three different kinds of point-of-views, such as the one speaking (I, my, myself, we, ours, etc.), the one being spoken to (you, your, and yours), and the one being spoken about ( he, she, them, her, they, theirs, him, etc.).

The Characteristics and Features of Pronouns

Section 1

Pronouns take the place of a noun or another pronoun, and there are numerous varieties of pronouns.

Such as...

5. He, She, They, It, I, Them, Which, Who, Whichever, Whosoever, Itself, Himself, Yourself, Herself, Yourselves, That, and many more as the list goes on.

 

Section 2

5. There are also three different kinds of pronouns, which include the demonstrative pronouns (this, that, these, and those), the relative or "self" pronouns (myself), and the indefinite pronouns (one, someone, anyone, no one, everyone, and each).

Section 3

5. Other characteristics include the ability to convey three kinds of genders, such as masculine (he, him, his), feminine (she, hers, her), and an odd one called neuter (it, its, they, them, theirs.

The last two features are the singular and plural expression of pronouns, such as I, me, mine, and yours (singular), and we, us, our, your (plural). Then the next variety of pronouns is their feature of displaying three kinds of cases, such as subjective (I, you, he, she), possessive (my, mine, your, and yours), and objective (me, you, him, and her).

Types of Pronouns

Pronouns can be divided into numerous categories including:

Indefinite pronouns –

those referring to one or more unspecified objects, beings, or places, such as someone, anybody, nothing. Notice in the examples below that there is no set position for where an indefinite pronoun will appear in a sentence.

Indefinite pronoun examples:

1. Anyone
2. Somebody
3. Whichever
4. Whoever
5. Other
6. Something
7. Nobody

Indefinite pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

5. Would anyone like a coffee?
5. Take whatever you like. Jamie took one cookie and Ben took the other.
5. Whoever owns this is in big trouble! I want someone to move this now.

Indefinite pronouns can also be used to create almost abstract sentences. Examples could include: this, all, such and something.

5. All was not lost.
5. Such is life.
5. Something tells me this won’t end well.

 

2. Personal pronouns –

those associated with a certain person, thing, or group; all except you have distinct forms that indicate singular or plural number. Personal pronouns are always specific and are often used to replace a proper noun (someone’s name) or a collective group of people or things. Personal pronouns have two main groups, one referring to the subject of the sentence and one to the object.

The first is used to replace the subject of the sentence: I, you, he, she, it, we, you and they. Notice that you" is repeated as you can be singular, addressing one person, or plural, addressing a group of people.

Personal pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

5. Jack and David are friends. They play basketball together.
5. I have more money than he
5. We will be late if you don’t hurry up.

The second group of pronouns replaces the object of the sentence: me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them. Consider the sentence again:

5. We will be late if you don’t hurry up.

In the above example, we is the subject of the sentence, but you is the object. Other examples of pronouns replacing the object:

5. Peter sang the song to me.
5. Missing the train will cause us to be late.
5. She packed them tightly in the suitcase.

 

3. Reflexive pronouns –

Those preceded by the adverb, adjective, pronoun, or noun to which they refer, and ending in –self or –selves. Reflexive pronouns are used to refer back to the subject or clause of a sentence. The list of reflexive pronouns includes: Myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.

Reflexive pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

5. Count yourselves
5. Annie only had herself to blame.
5. Peter and Paul had baked themselves cakes.

 

Demonstrative pronouns –

those used to point to something specific within a sentence. There are only four demonstrative pronouns – this, that, these, those – but the usage can be a bit tricky at times. This and that are singular, whereas these and those are plural. As you may have noticed, there can be some crossover with indefinite pronouns when using this and that.

Demonstrative pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

5. I prefer this.
5. These are beautiful, but those belong to Danny.
5. Did you see that?

While it can be confusing, this, that, these and those can sometimes be used as demonstrative adjectives. The difference between the two is that a demonstrative pronoun replaces the noun and a demonstrative adjective qualifies the noun.

 

 

THEME: LITERATURE

PROSE

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVE

Students should be able to;

1. Give examples of different types of prose
2. Differentiate the types of prose

CONTENT

What Is Prose?

Prose is verbal or written language that follows the natural flow of speech. It is the most common form of writing, used in both fiction and non-fiction. Prose comes from the Latin “prosa oratio,” meaning “straightforward.”

In writing, prose refers to any written work that follows a basic grammatical structure (think words and phrases arranged into sentences and paragraphs). This stands out from works of poetry, which follow a metrical structure (think lines and stanzas). Prose simply means language that follows the natural patterns found in everyday speech.

Common Types of Prose

Prose can vary depending according to style and purpose. There are four distinct types of prose that writers use:

1. Nonfictional prose. Prose that is a true story or factual account of events or information is nonfiction. Textbooks, newspaper articles, and instruction manuals all fall into this category. Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl, composed entirely of journal excerpts, recounts the young teen’s experience of hiding with her family in Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II.
2. Fictional prose. A literary work of fiction. This is the most popular type of literary prose, used in novels and short stories, and generally has characters, plot, setting, and dialogue.
3. Heroic prose. A literary work that is either written down or preserved through oral tradition, but is meant to be recited. Heroic prose is usually a legend or fable. The twelfth-century Irish tales revolving around the mythical warrior Finn McCool are an example of heroic prose.
4. Prose poetry. Poetry written in prose form. This literary hybrid can sometimes have rhythmic and rhyming patterns. French poet Charles Baudelaire wrote prose poems, including “Be Drunk” which starts off: “And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room.” metrical structure (think lines and stanzas). Prose simply means language that follows the natural patterns found in everyday speech.

In literature, the basic purpose of prose in writing is to convey an idea, deliver information, or tell a story. Prose is the way a writer fulfils her basic promise to a reader to deliver a story with characters, setting, conflict, a plot, and a final payoff.