See the Unit 13 from the Oxford Practice Grammar by George Yule and follow the instructions.

Do the grammar exercises: Unit 13/13.1-13.3 p. 70 Oxford Practice Grammar. Supplementary exercises, 2007 by George Yule.

Self work tasks

Write an essay on modern information systems. Sky Marsen, Professional Writing, The complete guide for business, Industry & IT, 2003 (pp. 112-114)

Doing grammar exercises Unit 70/70.1-70.3 p. 141 Advanced Grammar in Use, 2006 by Martin Hewings.

Unit 11

Theme: The role of computers in modern life

Grammar: Prepositions and prepositional phrases

Objectives: By the end of this unit, students should be able to use active vocabulary of this theme in different forms of speech exercises. Students should be better at discussing The role of computers in modern life.

Methodical instructions: This theme must be worked out during two lessons a week according to timetable.

Lexical material: Introduce and fix new vocabulary on theme “The role of computers in modern life”.

Grammar: Introduce and practice Prepositions and prepositional phrases.

Ex.1 Before reading the text, answer the questions:

1. Can you remember professions where we don’t use computers nowadays?

2. Do you agree that the role of computers in our lives is great today? Why?

Ex 2 Read and translate the text

The role of computers in modern life

The fact that computers have considerably changed lives of human beings can hardly be denied, because today the majority of us cannot imagine life without them.

Computers make lives of people easier and more comfortable: they give opportunities to millions of people to keep in touch, while being in different parts of the world. Today people drive computerized cars, work for employers from other countries even without seeing them.

There exists also an idea that computer is an electronic brain that people can rely on. Yeah, I agree that computers are irreplaceable for business people and those who need them for work, for students to study and housewives to entertain themselves, but what do you think about using computers by young school boys and girls?

Personally I believe that their access to computer and the Internet should be limited. I have no objections if from time to time they play various games or chat with their friends online, but often it happens so that children start to search for their homework on the Internet and it becomes a bad habit. Instead of trying to cope with the task using their knowledge or information in textbooks, they prefer to find ready answers. It certainly has negative influence on their progress in studies.

Computers also affect health of young people. First of all, those who spend a lot of time in front of the screens of their computers suffer from lack of physical activity. Such children often have scoliosis and problems with their eyes, like glaucoma for instance.

To sum up, I want to emphasize the importance of computers in our day to day life, but I’m sure that if you…

It can be defined as a small, relatively inexpensive computer designed for an individual user. In price, personal computers range anywhere from a few hundred pounds to over five thousand pounds. All are based on the microprocessor technology that enables manufacturers to put an entire CPU on one chip. Businesses use personal computers for word processing, accounting, desktop publishing, and for running spreadsheet and database management applications. At home, the most popular use for personal computers is for playing games and recently for surfing the Internet.

Personal computers first appeared in the late 1970s. One of the first and most popular personal computers was the Apple II, introduced in 1977 by Apple Computer. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, new models and competing operating systems seemed to appear daily. Then, in 1981, IBM entered the fray with its first personal computer, known as the IBM PC. The IBM PC quickly became the personal computer of choice, and most other personal computer manufacturers fell by the wayside. P.C. is short for personal computer or IBM PC. One of the few companies to survive IBM's onslaught was Apple Computer, which remains a major player in the personal computer marketplace. Other companies adjusted to IBM's dominance by building IBM clones, computers that were internally almost the same as the IBM PC, but that cost less. Because IBM clones used the same microprocessors as IBM PCs, they were capable of running the same software. Over the years, IBM has lost much of its influence in directing the evolution of PCs. Therefore after the release of the first PC by IBM the term PC increasingly came to mean IBM or IBM-compatible personal computers, to the exclusion of other types of personal computers, such as Macintoshes. In recent years, the term PC has become more and more difficult to pin down. In general, though, it applies to any personal computer based on an Intel microprocessor, or on an Intel-compatible microprocessor. For nearly every other component, including the operating system, there are several options, all of which fall under the rubric of PC

Today, the world of personal computers is basically divided between Apple Macintoshes and PCs. The principal characteristics of personal computers are that they are single-user systems and are based on microprocessors. However, although personal computers are designed as single-user systems, it is common to link them together to form a network. In terms of power, there is great variety. At the high end, the distinction between personal computers and workstations has faded. High-end models of the Macintosh and PC offer the same computing power and graphics capability as low-end workstations by Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and DEC.

Ex 3 Give Russian equivalents for the following words and word combinations:

computerized cars, computers range anywhere from a few hundred pounds to over five thousand pounds, computer is an electronic brain, trying to cope with the task, has negative influence, the evolution of PCs, to pin down, single-user systems, faded, workstations

Ex 4 Retell the text

Grammar: Prepositions and prepositional phrases