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Chapter 5 – Weekend Plans
Situation: Laurie, Christie, and Sarah are making plans for the coming weekend.
Laurie: So, what are your plans for this weekend?
Christie: I don’t know. Do you want to get together or something?
Sarah: How about going to see a movie? Cinemax 26 on Carson Boulevard is showing Enchanted.
Laurie: That sounds like a good idea. Maybe we should go out to eat beforehand.
Sarah: It is fine with me. Where do you want to meet?
Christie: Let’s meet at Summer Pizza House. I have not gone there for a long time.
Laurie: Good idea again. I heard they just came up with a new pizza. It should be good because Summer Pizza House always has the best pizza in town.
Sarah: When should we meet?
Christie: Well, the movie is shown at 2:00PM, 4:00PM, 6:00PM and 8:00PM.
Laurie: Why don’t we go to the 2:00PM show? We can meet at Summer Pizza House at noon. That will give us plenty of time to enjoy our pizza.
Sarah: My cousin Karen is in town. Can I bring her along? I hate to leave her home alone.
Christie: Karen is in town? Yes, bring her along. Laurie, you remember Karen? We met her at Sara’s high school graduation party two years ago.
Laurie: I do not quite remember her. What does she look like?
Sarah: She has blond hair, she is kind of slender, and she is about your height.
Laurie: She wears eyeglasses, right?
Sarah: Yes, and she was playing the piano off and on during the party.
Laurie: I remember her now. Yes, do bring her along Sara. She is such a nice person, and funny too.
Sarah: She will be happy to meet both of you again.
Christie: What is she doing these days?
Sarah: She graduated last June, and she will start her teaching career next week when the new school term begins.
Laurie: What grade is she going to teach?
Sarah: She will teach kindergarten. She loves working with kids, and she always has such a good rapport with them.
Christie: Kindergarten? She must be a very patient person. I always think kindergarten is the most difficult class to teach. Most of the kids have never been to school, and they have never been away from mommy for long.
Sarah: I think Karen will do fine. She knows how to handle young children.
Laurie: I think the first few weeks will be tough. However, once the routine is set, it should not be too difficult to teach kindergarten.
Christie: You are right. The kids might even look forward to going to school since they have so many friends to play with.
Sarah: There are so many new things for them to do at school too. They do a lot of crafts in kindergarten. I am always amazed by the things kindergarten teachers do.
Laurie: Yes, I have seen my niece come home with so many neat stuff.
Christie: Maybe we can ask Karen to show us some of the things that we can do for this Halloween.
Laurie: Maybe we can stop by the craft store after the movie. What do you think, Sara?
Sarah: I will talk to her. I think she will like that. It will help her with school projects when Halloween comes.
Christie: Michael’s is a good store for crafts. It always carries a variety of things, and you can find almost anything there.
Laurie: There is a Michaels store not far away from Cinemax 26. I believe it is just around the corner, on Pioneer Avenue. We can even walk over there.
Sarah: So, we plan to meet for pizza at noon, go to the movies at two, and shop at Michael’s afterward. Right?
Laurie and Christie: Yes.
Questions/Answers Practice
| Q: What are you going to do this weekend? | A: I am going to the movies this weekend. |
| Q: What do you plan to see? | A: I am going to see Spider Man. |
| Q: Which theater are you going to? | A: I am going to the one in Long Beach. |
| Q: Which show are you going to? | A: I plan to go to the 2:00PM show. |
| Q: How much are ticket prices these days? | A: Six dollars for shows before 5:00PM, and eight dollars for after five. |
| Q: Do they offer discounts to students? | A: I am afraid not. |
| Q: What is Karen doing these days? | A: She is a teacher at Jefferson high school. |
| Q: What subject does she teach? | A: She teaches English. |
| Q: What grade does she teach? | A: She teaches twelfth grade students. |
| Q: Does she enjoy her work? | A: She really enjoys being a teacher. |
| Q: Does she have the summer off? | A: Yes, she does. She plans to travel during the summer. |
3) Comprehension test
- Does Christie have a plan for this weekend?
- Where do Sara, Christie, and Laurie want to go for movies?
- What do they want to do before going to the movies?
- Why do they want to eat at Summer Pizza House?
- What is Summer Pizza House known for?
- What times do they show Enchanted?
- Who is Karen?
- When and where did they meet Karen?
- Describe Karen.
- What was Karen doing when Christie and Laurie met her?
- What kind of work does Karen do?
- Why is it difficult to teach kindergarten?
- Why do kindergarten kids enjoy school?
- What do kindergarten kids do at school?
- What will Laurie, Christie and Sara do after watching the movie?
4) Discussion
- What is your usual plan for the weekend?
- What do you want to be after you finish school?
- If you are a teacher, what grade do you want to teach? Why?
GRAMMAR REVIEW
There are many types of pronouns and their uses depend on the role they play in the sentence. Besides the personal pronouns, there are:
- Relative pronouns
- Possessive pronouns
- Interrogative pronouns
- Demonstrative pronouns
Relative pronouns:
Relative pronouns (who, whom, that, which, what) replace the person or thing mentioned earlier in the sentence and connect a dependent clause to the main clause. As a substitute word, relative pronouns should correspond to the persons or things that they replace.
Who refers only to people and is used when it is the subject of a verb.
Karen is the girl who was playing the piano off and on during the party two years ago. John and Tim are the persons who coach our children in baseball.
Whom refers only to people and is used when it is the object of a verb.
The girl whom you talked to last night is Sara’s cousin.
The boy whom you just met at school is considered a genius in physics. Note:
Whom is used only in formal writing. Generally who is used instead of whom.
That refers to people, animals or things.
Summer Pizza house is the restaurant that has the best pizza in town. Karen is the person that wore eyeglasses at the party.
Which only refers to animals or things. Usually, that is used for a specific group of animals or things while which is used for animals or things in general.
The books that were written by John Grisham sell pretty fast. Books, which give information, are very useful in life.
What usually refers to things.
I do not know what you want.
He is questioning the meaning of what he heard on the street.
Other less common relative pronouns are: whoever, whomever, whatever and whichever. These pronouns do not refer to a specific person or thing.
Tell the idea to whomever you want.
Take whatever you want.
I don’t care whichever one you choose.
Possessive pronouns
Whose is a possessive pronoun that means belonging to whom.
This is the young girl whose father is a famous movie director.
I just talked to the lady whose house was damaged by the storm yesterday.
Interrogative pronouns
Interrogative pronouns who, whom, whose, which, what are used in asking questions.
What grade is she going to teach?
Who cleaned the house yesterday?
Whom did you call?
Which book is on the Bestseller list?
Whose car is parked in front of my house?
Demonstrative pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns this, these, that, those are used to express the distance of the person or object from the speaker.
This (singular form) and these (plural form) express nearness to the speaker.
This is my new car. (The new car is very close to the speaker)
These are my children. (The children are standing next to the speaker)
That (singular form) and those (plural form) express a certain distance from the speaker.
Look at that sports car! (The sports car is not close to the speaker).
Those paintings were done by Picasso. (The paintings are not near the speaker) Questions/Answers Practice
| Q: Who is Mrs. Anderson? | A: She is the one who drives the yellow car. |
| Q: Who is Karen? | A: She is the one who played the piano off and on during the party. |
| Q: Which house did you visit? | A: I visited the house that is on top of the hill. |
| Q: Which doctor did you choose for your personal care? | A: I chose the doctor that was referred by my friend Sally. |
| Q: Do you understand what I am saying? | A: I do not understand what you are talking about. |
| Q: Do you mind if I tell the news to Mary? | A: You can tell it to whomever you want. |
| Q: Who is that man? | A: He is the man whose car was stolen. |
| Q: Which ones are your children? | A: Here, these girls are my children. |
| Q: Are the books over there yours? | A: Yes, those are my books. |
| Q: Whose sandals is he holding? | A: Those are Sally’s sandals. |