Lesson 2 Spare that spider

Key to Comprehension

Possible answers

1  We have reason to be grateful to insect-eating animals because insects include

some of the greatest enemies of the human race.

2  We can tell the difference between a spider and an insect because a spider has
eight legs, and an insect never has more than six.

3  ‘One authority on spiders made a census in a grass field…’means that an

expert on spiders formally counted how many spiders there were on a piece of ground
covered with grass.

Key to Vocabulary

A possible answer

No matter how hard people work to destroy rat-populations, no human habitation

is ever very far from a rat.

Brown locusts swarming at harvest time in Southern Africa can devour an entire
nation's cereal crop in less than a week.

It was just the briefest possible hesitation, only a fraction of second, but it was
enough to show that he was lying.

The refugees abandoned their homes and all their belongings and fled for their
lives.

The pilot estimated that the flight would take four hours and twenty minutes.

Key to Sentence structure

1.  See text.

2.  See text.

 3. A possible answer
1  I dislike finding spiders in the house because, unless I can pick them up and
put them outside, I imagine them coming and walking across my face in the dark.

2  I like watching spiders spinning their webs because it always seems

miraculous that anything so very small should be able to make such a large and
complex structure so quickly.

3  I like the way that spiders will go on repairing their webs when these have
been damaged by wind or by a large insect.

Key to KS Exercises

1.  A direct question with why + simple present tense simply asks for
information: Why are spiders our friends? If we wish to express our surprise or our
failure to understand something, we can use either, I wonder why + indirect question:
I wonder why spiders are our friends; or a direct question in which should + bare
infinitive replaces the simple present: Why should spiders be our friends?

a.  Why should he be so disappointed?

b.  Why should you be so unwilling to change your mind?

c.  Why should there be so many traffic accidents?

2.  In conditional sentences that use would in the main clause, the verb in the if-
clause is past in form, but does not refer to past time. In sentences like these, the if-
clause refers to imagined or unreal situations: If it were not for the protection we get
from insect-eating animals, and the main clause refers to their imagined, and unreal,
consequences: they would devour all our crops. Using were, rather than was in the if-
clause, emphasizes the unreality of the imagined condition.

a. were b. were c. were

3.  The basic rules here are:

the for specifying in a limited context: tell the difference, the south of England;

zero article for plural countables in general statements: Spiders are not
insects;

a/an with singular countables mentioned as an example of their class: a spider

has eight legs; or for the first time: a grass field; an acre.
 See text.

Special difficulties

1  All of them together: all of + pronoun or noun subject means ‘every individual
in the group’. Together is an adverb emphasizing the unity of the whole group: All of
the letters were posted together. All the children came out of school together.

Altogether is an adverb of degree meaning ‘entirely’, ‘absolutely’: The two ideas

are altogether separate.

I'm not altogether surprised.

2  We use the other to refer to the second of two things or groups: This
(one/book) is red; the other (one/book) is black.

Else, meaning ‘additional’, ‘more’ or ‘different’ , is especially common after

indefinite pronouns: someone/no one/anyone, etc.: Let somebody else do it. We also
use else after question words: Who else is coming? Where else would you like to go?

3  We use the least as an intensifier combining with adjectives to form negative

superlatives: the least able, the least intelligent, etc. In this example, however, the
least is a quantifier, and means ‘the smallest amount of’. As a quantifier the least
combines with uncountable nouns: the least opportunity, the least money. It also
occurs in the adverb phrase in the least, meaning ‘in the slightest degree’: I'm not in
the least impressed.

The last means ‘the final’, as opposed to ‘the first’, ‘the second’, etc.: the last
emperor of China; the last time I saw you; the last person in the room, etc.

4  Harm is either a noun: harm meaning ‘damage’,‘negative effect’: He means no

harm. He does no harm to anyone but himself. Or it is a verb: harm + direct object,
meaning ‘cause damage to’, ‘affect negatively’: Pesticides harm the soil.

Hurt is a verb meaning ‘cause mental or physical pain’: Remarks like that really
hurt. I fell and hurt my back We can also use it intransitively: My back hurts, i.e.
causes me pain.

5  Glance (noun) means ‘a quick look’ ---- that is a deliberate action, using the
eyes consciously: Take a glance at yourself in the mirror. It is also a verb: He glanced
up = ‘he looked up’.

Glimpse (noun) is ‘a quick involuntary sight’:I caught a glimpse of my reflection

in the mirror. i.e. I saw it fleetingly without intending to. Glimpse is also a verb: I
glimpsed him hurrying away.
 6  Work is uncountable, the act of working or the product of having worked: I
must do some work. My work involves a lot of entertaining.

Job is countable, either the task that one is paid for: He has a job in a bank; or a
task that one does or may do: It's a big job and will take at least two hours. He never
does any household jobs if he can help it.

7  Estimate (verb) is ‘make an informed guess’: estimate the number of pages in

this book, estimate the time needed to complete a job, etc.

Calculate is ‘make an accurate assessment’: calculate how much time you have
spent; calculate how many people were there.

2. We often use get in place of verbs with an underlying meaning of ‘obtain’ or

‘receive’, as in 1-4. Another common use of get is ‘succeed in hearing’, or ‘succeed in
understanding’.

1 obtain  2 bought  3 fetch  4 received  5 catch/hear  6 understand

3.  Tell someone something; also tell a story, tell the truth; say something (to
someone); also say prayers, say goodbye.

1 tell  2 telling  3 say  4 say  5 tell  6 said  7 tell

4.  Make = originate, create; do = complete (a task):

1 made  2 do  3 do  4 made  5 made  6 made  7 do

5.

1  You can see at a glance that nothing has been done for weeks.

2  There are at least thirty people still missing after the floods.

3  We may miss the next bus, but at any rate we'll be there before midday.

4  They had to move house as quickly as possible, even if it meant selling at a

loss.

5  When the auctioneer came, he offered to buy the vase straight away at sight.

6  No more than five people may be carried in this lift at a time.

Repetition drill

The impatient motorist

Chorus, group or individual repetition

 To elicit  Type 2 conditional statements involving the use of if it weren't for to
express frustrated wishes.

T: Drill 2. The impatient motorist. This is the situation. Listen. Do not speak. A
motorist is driving

home in heavy traffic. He is angry and impatient. He is complaining to his wife

who is sitting beside

him. This is how their conversation begins:

(1)  T: All this traffic! I'll never get home by the children's bedtime.

S: If it weren't for all this traffic, you'd be able to get home by the children's
bedtime.

(2)  T: Look at that lorry! I can't go faster.

S: If it weren't for that lorry, you'd be able to go faster.

(3)  T: This road's so narrow! It's impossible to overtake.

S: If the road weren't so narrow, you'd be able to overtake.

T: Now you do the same. Ready?

1  As in (1) above.

2  As in (2) above.

3  As in (3) above.

4  T : Darn this appalling road surface! I can't do more than fifteen miles an hour.

S: If it weren't for this appalling road surface, you'd be able to do more than
fifteen milesan hour.

5  T: Just look at that great bus in front! How am I supposed to see ahead?

S: If it weren't for that great bus in front, you'd be able to see ahead.

6  T: All this traffic noise! It's hard to hear what you're saying.

S: If it weren't for all this traffic noise, you'd be able to hear what I'm saying.

7  T: Now look at those traffic lights! I can't move forward.

S: If it weren't for all those traffic lights, you'd be able to move forward.

8  T: Oh no! That's a police car! I can't break the speed limit.

 S: If it weren't for that police car, you'd be able to break the speed limit.

9  T: That stupid woman in the middle of the road! I can't get past her.

S: If it weren't for that stupid woman in the middle of the road, you'd be able to
get past her.

10  T: That idiotic motor-cyclist! I can't overtake.

S: If it weren't for that idiotic motor-cyclist, you'd be able to overtake.

11  T: Look at this terrible rain! I can't see where I'm going.

S: If it weren't for this terrible rain, you'd be able to see where you're going.

12  T: Darn this wet road! I can't stop the car!

S: If it weren't for this wet road, you'd be able to stop the car.

(We hear the screeching of brakes, followed by a loud crash. )

Key to Multiple choice questions

1B               2c             3B            4d                  5c

6a                7c             8a            9a                  10d

11B              12c

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