Grammar Focus The verb “to be” in Present:

	to be	“+”	“-“	“?”
I	am	I am happy	I am not sad.	Am I right?
He, she , it	is	He is nice.	She is not (isn’t) fine.	Is it good?
We, you, they	are	We are ready.	You are not (aren’t) here.	Are they Ok?

Task 11. Insert the verb “to be”, make the sentences negative and put questions:

1. I … a student of the agro ecological faculty and my brother … a designer.

2. These winding streams … a real decoration of this garden.

3. This pillar … of stone.

4. The Palace of Versailles … famous all over the world.

5. Trees, shrubs and other plants … numerous in this garden.

“There is/are”

There is
“+”	There is a garden near the house.
“-“	There is no garden near the house. There isn’t any garden near the house.
“?”	Is there a garden near the house?
There are
“+”	There are flowers on the flower bed.
“-“	There are no flowers on the flower bed. There aren’t any flowers on the flower bed.
“?”	Are there flowers on the flower bed?

Task 12. Translate into Russian, make the sentences negative:

1. There is a stone vase in the corner of the garden.

2. There are many glassy slopes and green terraces in Oxfordshire.

3. There are magnificent fountains and cascades in the Palace of Versailles.

4. There is a flagstone around his house.

5. There are no pillars in his garden.

6. There are no wheelbarrows in the shed.

Task 13. Paraphrase the sentences using “there is/are”:

Example: This park has many monuments. – There are many monuments in this park.

1. The lake is near the park.

2. The column is in the centre of the flower bed.

3. The roses are along the path.

4. The garden has many fountains.

5. His garden has many fruit trees.

Task 14. Translate into English:

1. В Англии много садов.

2. На этом кусте много цветов.

3. Под деревом маленькая красивая статуя.

4. Около дома интересное вьющееся растение.

5. В этом городе много богатых людей.

Task 15. Read and translate the text. Fill in the spaces with the words from the box:

maze – лабиринт

deviate [‘divieit]–отклонить, изменить

waterwork – водопроводное сооружение

aqueduct [‘ kwid kt]– акведук, водопровод

evolve – развивать

Seine [sein] – Сена (река во Франции)

shrubs	cover	war	water	animals
fountains	places	exist	deviate	zoo

The Gardens of Versailles

Most of the Gardens of Versailles were laid out by Andre le Notre (1613 - 1700). The gardens (1) … over 250 acres of land. One of the most amazing things about the gardens are the 2) …. The King had to go to great lenghts to pump water from the Seine out to Versailles. The waterworks carried (3) … from the Seine to Versailles via aqueduct. Louis even tried to (4) … the course of the Seine River, but this project was cancelled due to the (5) … in 1668. In the end, the water works engineers had people running around ahead of the King turning valves to insure that wherever the King was, the fountains would be working.

The gardens evolved over the years. There are a couple of interesting (6) … that no longer (7) …. One was called the Maze which was, of course, a Maze. It was made up of (8) …. At one time there was also a (9)… which was called the Menagerie where the King had all kinds of exotic (10) … animals.

Task 16. Read and translate the text in the written form:

specimen – образец, экземпляр

gymnosperms – голосемянные растения

horticultural [,h :ti’k lt r l]– садоводческий

rubber tree – каучуковое дерево

Sri Lanka [‘sri ‘l nk ] – Шри-Ланка

menagerie [m ‘n d ri] – зверинец