1.3 Telling stories

Activity 4:

A little bit of language

[lo 5.2.1, 6.8, 6.9]

Read this newspaper report TO YOURSELF. Then do the following language exercises:

Rat Lady distraught: pets to be exterminated

CAPE TOWN – A young woman who had an estimated 500 rats running loose around her house, was taken to a city hospital “because she is distraught”.

The rat owner was told that police and health officials had ordered that her pet rats be exterminated by a pest control firm today.

Police first discovered the rats at a house in Parow Valley at 3:30 on New Year’s Day when they assisted the two occupants to enter their house.

After leaving their home without their keys, the occupants contacted the Parow Police Station.

The superintendent who responded to the call said, “I’ve been an officer for 21 years, but I have never seen anything like this in my life! The other officers thought I was joking when I said the house was full of rats. I was really scared!”

“One of our officers opened the door and believe me - I was certainly not prepared for what I saw! There were holes in the floor and just rats everywhere. We thought there was a person under the duvet, but it turned out to be more rats. The rats were even gnawing at the bed!” she said. “It was gross.”

One of the neighbours said, “This new neighbour moved in six months ago. She was very secretive and eccentric. She told my son that she was from a research unit and was going to keep small animals. We thought they would be birds. Then we saw the rats on the curtains.”

Health authorities ruled that the rat-infested house contravened health regulations. Police have not released the name of the rat owner .

Make sure that you answer the following questions clearly, correctly and concisely:

1. Choose the correct word of the pair given in brackets:

The lady and her friend (was/were) both fond of animals.

The neighbours (was/were) inquisitive about the newcomer.

Rats, as well as mice,(is/are) considered vermin by health authorities.

The entire colony of rats (was/were) exterminated.

Neither the police nor the health officers (was/were) impressed.

1. Fill in verbs which are idiomatically correct in the following sentences:

e.g. When pests are destroyed, the correct word to use is “ exterminate ”.

The firefighters hoped the rain would help them to e________ the veldfire.

If you want to grow better vegetables, you must e_____________the weeds.

1. Write down the correct form of the words in brackets in the sentences below. All the words appear in bold print in the newspaper report above.

Everybody would like to live a (health) life.

The (discover) of a house full of pet rats was an unpleasant surprise.

Police blocked the (enter) to the building to keep curious neighbours out.

The superintendent filed an (office) report on the case.

The lady said that she was doing research on a (secret) project.

1. Rewrite the sentence below filling in the necessary capital letters, full-stops, commas :

officials at melbourne zoo were not amused when rigo the lone gorilla there hurled a brick

at a visitor knocking him unconscious