deathless prose in an atmosphere of gloom and eucalyptus.’
‘Yes, (19),’ said Mother vaguely.
‘What we all need,’ said Larry, getting into his stride (20), ‘is sunshine … a country where we can grow.’
‘Yes, dear, that would be nice,’ agreed Mother, not really (21).
‘I had a letter from George this (22) – he says Corfu’s wonderful. Why don’t we pack up and (23) to Greece?’
‘Very well, dear, if you like,’ said Mother unguardedly. Where Larry was concerned she was generally very (24) not to commit herself.
‘When?’ asked Larry, rather (25) at this cooperation.
. . .
‘Don’t be ridiculous, dear,’ said Mother firmly; ‘that’s quite out of the question. It would be madness.’
. . .
So we sold the house and fled from the gloom of the English summer, like a flock of migrating swallows.
Total: 25
2. Answer the following questions about the extract you have just listened to:
(a) In the first line, what is ‘it’ that Larry started?
(b) The second sentence compares Larry to two things. What are they?
(c) In what way did Larry ‘attack’ their mother?
(d) The ‘trouble’ Larry thinks his mother caused is the sickness of everyone in the family and the fact that it is cold and miserable in England. What does Larry think will solve the problem?
(e) Why do you think Leslie might have cotton wool in his ears?
(f) Do you think Larry’s mother is listening to him? How do you know?
(g) Where does Larry suggest they go?
(h) Larry’s mother says ‘no’ to the idea of moving to Greece. Do you think this was the end of the conversation? How can you tell?
3. Imagine you were Larry. How would you convince your mother to sell the house and move to Greece? Write three or four sentences saying what you think he might have said.
The Island of Corfu with the Greek coastline
Personal pronouns
A pronoun is a word used to stand for (or take the place of) a noun. We use pronouns a lot in English because we do not use a person’s name every time we speak about them. Look at this example: ‘I had a letter from George this morning – he says Corfu’s wonderful. Why don’t we pack up and go to Greece?’ Can you tell from the context, who ‘I’, ‘he’ and ‘we’ are?
Look at the tables below:
Below is an example of how pronouns can be used:
Anna fed the cat.
Anna (pronoun – subject, singular, feminine) can be replaced with she and cat (pronoun – object, singular) can be replaced with it: She fed it.
A pronoun which replaces a noun must agree in subject, object, gender and quantity, just like the noun it replaces!
Anna (subject, singular, feminine) – she. The cat (object, singular) it.
1. The following sentences are about the extract from My family and other animals which you have just read. Identify the noun that each of the pronouns in bold is replacing. Also say whether it is plural or singular, masculine or feminine, subject, object or possessive.
(a) Larry tried to convince his mother to move the family to Greece.
(b) They sold the house and moved to Corfu.
(c) He removed a large quantity of cotton wool from his ears.
(d) She wasn’t really listening to him.
(e) I can’t be expected to produce deathless prose in an atmosphere of gloom and eucalyptus.
2. Change the underlined nouns into appropriate pronouns. Pay attention to where they are in the sentence to help you decide which pronoun to use.
(a) Larry is the oldest brother.
(b) Larry decided Mother was the cause of the problem.
(c) The Durrell family sold the Durrell family’s house.
(d) Leslie could not hear anything Larry was saying because there was cotton wool in Leslie’s ears.
(e) Mother was not really listening to Larry.
Question tags
In English there are different ways in which you can ask a question.
You already know that we have question words such as who, what, when, where, which and how.
Another way to ask a question is to use question tags. We use question tags when we want the other person (the listener) to agree with what we are saying. Question tags are a conversational device for keeping a conversation going. Question tags are added onto regular sentences. Look at these examples:
• It’s a nice, warm day today, isn’t it?
• He hasn’t been to Greece before, has he?
• She does still visit you, doesn’t she?
• He wrote you a letter this morning, didn’t he?
• It was a lovely story, wasn’t it?
Can you see from these sentences how to make a question tag?
If the sentence is positive, the question tag is negative.
(It’s a nice warm day today, isn’t it?)
If the sentence is negative, the question tag is positive.
(He hasn’t been to Greece before, has he?)
The question tag uses the same auxiliary noun (do, be, have, can, will) as the
