Class 8 English Unit 8: Grammar I: Past Simple and Past Continuous and Writing I: Story Writing

 

Grammar I: Past Simple and Past Continuous

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTB5I8V9Eog

 

A.   Choose the correct alternative to complete the sentence.

a.      The climate of the city remained pleasant most of the time last year.

i.       is  remaining              ii. remained           iii. has remained

b.     While they were having the launch, some guests arrived.

i.       were having     ii. was having       iii. had

c.      Manita and Pasang were playing hide and seek at this time yesterday.

i.       played              ii. were playing     iii. have played

d.     Sonali had painted her house before she sold it.

i.       had painted                ii. painted              iii. paint

e.      Susan was working all the yesterday. He is not working today.

i.       was working               ii. had worked       iii. worked

f.       All the students were queuing for lunch when I reached there.

i.       was queuing               ii. had queued       iii. were queuing

g.     Last year,  we didn't celebrate any festival.

i.       hadn't celebrated        ii. didn't celebrate iii. celebrated  

 

Quiz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqNNR2kO9mY

 

B.    Use past simple, past continuous or past perfect forms of the verbs from the brackets to complete the sentences.

a.      When the burglars broke into the house, I was having a sound sleep. (have)

b.     They were watching TV when they heard a loud bang on the door. (hear)

c.      Namrata had called her parents before she left for her office. (call)

d.     Did you remember to call your mother last night? (you /remember)

e.      Sami called me twice yesterday but I did not reply to him.  (call)

f.       Their team scored 150 runs after they had had a lunch break. (have)

g.     The bus had already been there at the stop before we reached. (be)

h.     Bipana was mending the roof when she fell off. (fall off)

i.       After Alina had read a novel, she wrote it summary read. (read)

Quiz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzRhPjYkqaU&t=1s 

Writing I: Story Writing

A.   Choose the correct phrases/sentences from the box to complete the following story.

a.      who had just returned from her husband's funeral.

b.     She screamed and fainted.

c.      his wife was planning to meet him there

d.     A busy couple used to live in Chicago

e.      They booked a hotel room

f.       he accidentally left out one letter from her email address 

 

A busy couple used to live in Chicago, in America. They decided to go to Florida during a particularly icy winter. They booked a hotel room there because of their busy schedules, the couple could not go together. So, the husband left earlier, while his wife was planning to meet him there the next day.

The husband checked into the hotel. There was a computer in his room, so he decided to send a quick email to his wife. However, he accidentally left out one letter from her email address and sent the email without realizing his error. The email was headed to a widow who had just returned from her husband's funeral. When the woman checked the email, she screamed and fainted. At the sound, the family rushed into the room, found their mother on the floor, and saw the email:

Dearest wife,

I just checked in. Everything is prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then!... 

 

B.     Write a story with the help of the given clues. Give it a suitable title.

A man walking along a beach……sees a girl moving back and forth…..finds thousands of starfish on the sand …… picks them up one by one and throws into the sea….man asks her to stop the work as she can't make a difference to many of them….she throws one more saying, ' it's surely made a difference to that one.'

Video on Story Writing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5K4BRi6OF4 

Starfish Saver

One quiet morning, a man walked along a picturesque beach at sunrise. He noticed a girl in the distance, moving back and forth with determination. Curious, he approached and saw the shore littered with thousands of stranded starfish. The girl was picking them up one by one and gently tossing them back into the ocean.

“Why are you doing this?” the man asked. “There are so many starfish. You can't possibly make a difference.”

The girl paused, holding a starfish in her hand. She threw it into the sea and replied, “It made a difference to that one.”

The man was taken aback by her response. Inspired, he picked up a starfish and threw it into the ocean. The girl smiled, and they continued their work together.

Soon, more people on the beach noticed and joined in. A small army of beach-goers worked to return the starfish to the sea. The man's heart swelled with hope, realizing that even the smallest actions, when combined, could make a world of difference.

And so, the starfish savers continued, proving that even small acts of kindness could create a ripple of change.

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