Unit 1. Geographical Position

Part 1. Countries and Continents

Study the information in the table:

Definite Article with Geographical Names

with “the”	without “the”
1. continents: the European continent	1. continents: Africa, America, Europe
2. countries: a. + state, republic, kingdom: the United States of America (the USA), the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK), the Czech Republic b. in plural number: the Netherlands, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates	2. countries: Poland, Canada, France
	3. towns, cities: Madrid, Paris, Washington, St. Petersburg
	4. states, regions etc.: California, Utah, Central Europe
5. islands (a group):, the British Isles, the Hawaiian islands, the Caribbean islands	5. islands (one): Corsica, Cyprus, Madagascar
6. mountains (a range): the Urals, the Himalayas, the Appalachians	6. mountains (one): Everest, Snowdon, McKinley
7. oceans, seas, straits, gulfs, bays, rivers, channels, canals: the Pacific, the Baltic Sea, the Strait of Dover, the Bay of Bengal, The Gulf of Mexico, the Nile, the Panama Channel, the Suez Canal
8. lakes (a group): the Five Great Lakes	8. lakes (one): Baikal, Chad Lake, Great Slave Lake
9. deserts: the Sahara, the Gobi, the Namib Desert
10. directions: a. (noun + preposition of): the north of Russia, the south of Britain, the west of France b. (adjective + part + preposition of): the northern part of Russia, the western part of France c. the Middle East, the Far East	10. directions: a. (adjective): Northern Russia, Southern Britain, Western France, Eastern Siberia b. (noun): South America, East Africa, South-East Brazil

Exercise 1. Use the definite article where necessary:

1. The height of Everest is exceeded by the depth of the Mariana Trench.

2. New York is in east of USA.

3. Argentina is situated on South American continent and it is washed by Atlantic Ocean.

4. Africa is much larger than Europe.

5. Nile is the longest river in the world.

6. Madagascar is separated from Africa by Mozambique Channel.

7. Sweden is in northern Europe and Spain is in south.

8. Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in Alps.

9. Last year I was in Canada and now I am going to USA.

10. Black Sea is in south of Russia.

11. Niagara River rushes over famous Niagara Falls into Lake Ontario out of which flows St. Lawrence River.

12. All Great Lakes are connected by navigable channels.

13. Bengal Bay occupies the area of 2 172 000 square kilometers in Indian Ocean.

14. There are four inland seas in Russia: Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Aral Sea, and Sea of Azov.

15. Sahara Desert is the biggest in the world.

16. California became the part of United States in 1845.

17. Suez Canal joins Mediterranean Sea with Indian Ocean.

18. Alaska is still the land of icebergs and polar bears.

19. Philippines are a group of islands in Pacific Ocean.

20. Himalayas separate India from China.

Exercise 2. Fill in the gaps with the following Geographical Names using definite articles where necessary:

Canada, Philippines, Mojave Desert, Arctic and Bering Seas, Appalachians, North America, Caribbean Sea, Gulf Stream, Arctic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Asia

1. The American Mediterranean consists of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.

2. The Northern Equatorial Current turns to the right east of … and of Japan.

3. Scientists are still uncertain whether … can technically be called an ocean basin because structurally it is smaller than some seas.

4. The Arctic Ocean washes the coasts of … and Eurasia.

5. … were formed by a series of uplifts, foldings and erosion which took place over long periods of time.

6. The main belt of the Cordillera passes southwards from … to the west of the Eastern Ranges and Plateaus.

7. We can see the effects of … if we compare the winter conditions of the British Isles with those of Labrador in northeastern Canada.

8. Soil temperatures in … in southern California rise close to 95 C in midsummer.

9. The Eskimos were primarily a coastal people, setting along the shores of … .

10. Some anthropologists believe that people migrated from … to North America as long as 40 000 years ago.

Exercise 3. Look through the information in the texts of exercise 7 (on page 13, 14, of the Students’ Book) and comment the usage of definite articles:

Exercise 4. Look through the text “Geographical position of Brazil” (on page 15 of the Students’ Book) and comment the usage of definite articles:

Study the information in the tables below:

	Conjugation of Verbs: to be, to have in Present
	Singular
	Verb Person	to be		to have
	I	am am not		have haven’t
	You	are aren’t		have haven’t
	He She It	is isn’t		has hasn’t

Conjugation of Verbs: to be, to have in Present
Plural
Verb Person	to be	to have
We	are aren’t	have haven’t
You	are aren’t	have haven’t
They	are aren’t	have haven’t

Exercise 5. Using the information from the tables above, fill in the gaps in the sentences below with the suitable forms of the verbs to be and to have:

1. There are fifty states in the USA.

2. The plateaus have steep slopes.

3. Canada … in the north of North America.

4. The Great Rift Valley with a part of Lake Tanganyika … in the west of Burundi.

5. The Atlantic Ocean … the second largest ocean on the Earth.

6. The main part of the Arctic Ocean … frozen.

7. Forestry, urbanization, farming, road development, pollution, and climatic change … a great influence on the world’s vegetation.

8. The longest river in England … the Severn.

9. The south of the country … a hot, humid climate, with two rainy seasons.

10. Winters …dry in the northern savanna.

11. I … from Russia. I … a lot of friends abroad.

12. The Bhutanese … mainly of Tibet and Indian origin.

13. Bolivia … no sea coast.

14. I … Russian and my wife … American.

15. Brazil … situated on the South American continent. It … three main regions.

Study the information in the tables below:

Conjugation of Verbs: to do and other verbs in Present
Singular
Verb Person	to do	to V to work
I	do don’t	V1 work
You	do don’t	V1 work
He, She, It	does doesn’t	Vs/ Ves works

Conjugation of Verbs: to do and other verbs in Present
Plural
Verb Person	to do	to V to work
We	do don’t	V1 work
You	do don’t	V1 work
They	do don’t	V1 work

Present Simple Active – служит для выражения повторяемого или постоянного действия относительно настоящего времени. Time Markers – always, never, often, seldom, rarely, usually, sometimes, occasionally, from time to time, every … (every day, every time, every month, every season, every year, …)
Positive	Negative	Interrogative
□ V1/Vs ■. The polar ice cap extends over Greenland. □ – The polar ice cap Vs – extends ■ – over Greenland	□ don’t/doesn’t V1 ■. The northern part of the country doesn’t include a great variety of vegetation. □ – The northern part of the country doesn’t V1 – doesn’t include ■ – a great variety of vegetation	1. Optional: Do/Does □ V1 ■? Do the rain falls provide fresh water? – Yes, they do./ No, they don’t. 2. Special: Q.w. do/does □ V1 ■? What do the rain falls provide? – fresh water

Exercise 6. Using the information from the tables above, fill in the gaps in the sentences below with present simple forms of the verbs (positive, negative or interrogative):

1. The Amazon River … (flow) into the Pacific Ocean. – The Amazon River doesn’t flow into the Pacific Ocean.

2. Brazil … (occupy) almost half of South America.

3. Alaska … (belong) to Russia.

4. What … the Suez Canal … (join)?

5. The Bulgarian mountains … (include) the Balkans.

6. … people … (speak) English in Canada? – Yes, they … . Canadians also … (speak) French but they … (speak) German.

7. Where … you … (live)? – In Moscow.

… your sister … (live) in the same city? – Yes, she … (live) in the house next to mine.

8. Dense forests … (cover) about half of Cambodian land.

9. The territory of China … (exceed) the territory of Canada.

10. The USA … (border) on Canada in the north and on Mexico in the south.

11. The Sinai Peninsular, with a sandy plain, limestone plateau, and mountains in the south, … (link) Africa and Asia.

12. In the south the Alps … (separate) France from Italy and Switzerland.

13. The climate … (vary) from moist and cool in the north to dry and hot in the south.

14. Tall trees … (grow) in Greenland.

Study the information in the table below:

Present Continuous Active – служит для выражения действия, находящегося в процессе в настоящий момент или период. Time Markers – now, right now, today, tonight, this … (this week, this month, this year, this season, …), these … (these weeks, these months, these years, these days, …), at the moment
Positive	Negative	Interrogative
□ am/is/ are Ving ■. Tom is travelling round Europe at the moment. □ – Tom is Ving – is travelling ■ – round Europe at the moment	□ am not/isn’t/aren’t Ving ■. They aren’t studying Geography this year. □ – They aren’t Ving – aren’t studying ■ – Geography this year	1. Optional: Am/Is/Are □ Ving ■? Are you living in Belfast these years? – Yes, I am./ No, I am not. 2. Special: Q.w. am/is/are □ Ving ■? Why are you asking me about Bulgaria? – I am going there this summer.

Exercise 7. Using the information from the table above, write sentences out of the words below in present continuous (positive, negative, or interrogative):

1. What/ you/ do? – I/ watch/ a programme about the rain forest in Brazil. –

What are you doing? – I am watching a programme about the rain forest in Brazil.

2. Why/ he/ ask/ you/ about California? – He/ go/ there/ this/ summer.

3. it/ still/ snow/ in the mountains today? – Yes, it is. The snow/ still/ fall/ very hard.

4. I/ look/ for a place to spend my holiday. But/ I/ not/ leave/ at the moment.

5. Fasten your seat belts, please. Our plane/ lend/ in San Francisco airport.

6. Where/ you/ go/ this summer? – We/ go/ to Cyprus and then to the north of Africa.

7. you/ watch/ television? – Yes, I am. I/ wait/ for the information about the weather on the Mediterranean coast. We/ start/ there/ tomorrow.

8. Is your book interesting? – Yes, it is. I/ read/ about the formation of the continents.

Study the information in the table below:

Present Simple Active	Present Continuous Active
□ V1/Vs ■. The snow covers the ground about seven months a year in this region.	□ am/is/are Ving ■. It is the 1st of May today but the snow is still covering the ground.

Exercise 8. Using information given in the tables above choose the right form in present simple or present continuous of the verb given in brackets:

1. The river Nile … (flows/is flowing) into the Mediterranean Sea.

2. It … (snows/is snowing) very hard today.

3. The Gulf Stream … (gets/is getting) colder these years.

4. Cuba … (doesn’t belong/isn’t belonging) to the USA.

5. The British Isles … (consist/are consisting) of two large and a number of smaller islands.

6. The western winds … (create/are creating) the weather on the island today.

7. Ocean … (covers/is covering) 78.8% of the earth’s surface.

8. The Thames … (runs/is running) through London.

9. Look at those people. They are Brazilians. They … (speak/are speaking) Portuguese. – Oh, really? I was sure that Brazilians … (speak/are speaking) Spanish.

10. The English Channel … (separates/is separating) Great Britain from the continent.

11. Water … (doesn’t boil/isn’t boiling) at 90 C.

12. The weather is fine today. They … (don’t stay/aren’t staying) at the hotel. They … (hike/are hiking) in the mountains.