STRUCTURE | Clauses – Subordinate and Insubordinate

English Language 1

A clause is a group of words that has a subject and a finite verb and which forms part of a sentence e.g. The referee blew his whistle and the match stopped. Clauses are of two types: Independent and Dependent Independent/Insubordinate Clauses: This is a clause that expresses a complete thought and can stand on … Read more

Structure: Affixation: Suffixes

English Language 1

This refers to the addition of prefixes, suffixes and infixes to words leading to new words, meaning and word classes.   Examples (verbs) verbs+  –ment e.g. Enslavement, achievement Management, movement Development verbs + –ion e.g. Action Conclusion Decision verbs+  –ation organise = organisation document = documentation mobilize = mobilization verb+–age marry = marriage drain = … Read more

Vocabulary Development: Hotel & Catering

English Language 1

Room service – this is a service that lets guests order food or drinks and have it delivered to their rooms. Bars – where you go to have a drink in hotels Brochure – a small piece of paper containing advent of local attractions. Continental breakfast – a light breakfast served in a common area … Read more

Speech Sounds /I/ and /I:/ contrasted

English Language 1

The /I:/vowel sound is long while the /I/ is short. They are contrasted using the following words. /I:/                                                                    /I/ eat                                                                   it beat                                                                 bit seat                                                                  sit heel                                                                  hill feel                                                                  fill seen                                                                 sin leave                                                                live wean                                                                win meal                                                                 mill least                                                                 list EVALUATION Write out five more examples to contrast these two sounds. Essay Writing: Expository: Raising a … Read more

Vocabulary Development: Words Associated with Films and TV

English Language 1

Slanting the news – expressing the news in a biased or prejudiced way so as to mislead the public censor – to approve whatever is published or broadcast before it is made public. Curtail – restrict Director – A person who directs the performance of a movie Producer – a person who has general control … Read more

Structure: Adjectival Clause

English Language 1

An adjectival clause performs the functions of an adjective i.e. it qualifies a noun or its equivalents. An adjectival clause begins with a relative pronoun such as who, which, that, whose, where, whom etc. hence it is called a (defining) relative clause as well. This clause is not separated by a comma from the noun … Read more

Essay Writing: Story Writing

English Language 1

A story is a description of events and people that a writer or speaker has invented in order to advocate or entertain. Examples include love story, detective story, adventure, science fiction story e.t.c.   There are two types of story writing  that are tested by WAEC and NECO: A story that is meant to illustrate … Read more

Speech Work: Stress Placement on Two or More Syllable Words

English Language 1

In this lesson, we will explain the morphophonemic approach at identifying a stressed syllable. In this approach, stress placement is determined as a result of the occurrence and arrangement of vowels (short, long, diphthongs) and consonants in syllables.   Guidelines A   (i) For two syllable words, Simple Adjectives, Adverbs and Prepositions, Stress the first syllable … Read more

Grammar: Rules of Concord

English Language 1

Concord is the agreement of the subject with the verb in a sentence   Rules When the subject is in the third person and singular, the verb in the present takes ‘s’ or ‘-es’ e.g. Monica listens attentively. When the subject is in the first person, second person and third person plural number, the base … Read more

Structure: Prepositional Phrase

English Language 1

A prepositional phrase is a group of words, which begins with a preposition and ends with a noun pronoun or noun phrase called its complement.   Examples Preposition + Noun He is in trouble. Trust in me. Preposition + Pronoun Please, bear with me. Go after them. Preposition + Noun Phrase She is always yelling … Read more

Writing: Article Writing

English Language 1

Definition, Features, Sample Question,Outline An article is a type of writing that is meant to be published in a school magazines, a newspaper or a journal.   Basic Features It must have a heading It must have an introductory paragraph Its body should contain at least three well development paragraphs which should serve as the … Read more

Vocabulary Development: Prefixes

English Language 1

A prefix is a group of letters or syllable which is attached to the front of a root word to form another word which usually changes its meaning.   The following are examples with their meaning. Prefix                    Meaning                     New Words/Derivative un-                         not                               unhappy, untrue dis-                        not                               discomfort, dislike non-                       not                               nonsense, non-smoker mis-                       wrong                          mismanage, … Read more

Structure: Active and Passive Voices

English Language 1

Voice is a term that is used to explain whether the performer of an action comes before the action (verb) or whether it comes after the verb in a sentence. When the performer comes before the verb (action) we say the verb is in the active form e.g. Dairokilled a snake. (Active voice) S                    … Read more

Speech Work: Stress Patterns

English Language 1

Identification and examples. In this lesson, we will explain the morphophonemic approach at identifying a stressed syllable. In this approach, stress placement is determined as a result of the occurrence and arrangement of vowels (short, long, diphthongs) and consonants in syllables.   Guidelines A   (i) For two syllable vowels, simple adjectives, adverbs and prepositions, Stress … Read more

Essay Writing | Speech Writing, Explanation and Features

English Language 1

This is a written composition that is expected to be delivered to a live audience. It is therefore necessary to consider the languagevis-à-vis the interest of the audience. Primarily, speeches should be very informative, educative and entertaining.   The basic types of speeches are: Address of welcome Farewell Address/Speech A Talk on any Topic   … Read more

VOCABULARY | Words Associated with Publishing

English Language 1

Publishing: The profession or business of preparing and printing books, magazines, CD-ROMS etc and selling or making them available to the public e.g. Evans Brothers is a reputable publishing company.
Manuscript: Copy of a book, piece of music etc before it has been printed or a very old book or document that was written by hand before printinge.g. The author has sold his manuscript to a publishing outfit.

Conditional Clauses | Definition,Types, Examples & Complex Sentence

English Language 1

Content: Definition,Types and Examples A conditional sentence has at least two clauses, one beginning with if (or ‘unless’ which means ‘if …. Not’) Examples: If inflation is high, the value of life insurance policies goes down. Explanation: The ‘if clause’ is the subordinate clause while the result clause is the main clause. The arrangement of … Read more

Structure – Making Uncountable Nouns Countable

English Language 1

The focus here is to see how uncountable nouns can be made countable. Countable nouns are those we can count, they usually have singular and plural forms Example:   girl – girls box – boxes man – men ox – oxen Uncountable nouns are those that cannot be counted, and they therefore have only the singular … Read more