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Unit Three: Nostalgia
How Much Do You Know about Memory?
Vocabulary Preview
Complete the quiz with the words in the box.
eyewitnesses recall long-term
perceptions stable short-trem
hippocampus neuroscientists
1. About 40% of people can recall being newborn
babies.
2. The more often eyewitnesses describe what they saw,
the less stable their memories become.
3. All memories are stored in a tiny part of the
brain called the hippocampus.
4. Almost all of our perceptions - what we see, hear,
taste, smell, and feel – are immediately forgotten.
5. Your short-term memory can remember only about
seven things for 30 seconds.
6. Once something enters your long-term memory, you
will never forget it.
7. After decades of studying the brain, neuroscientists
have developed drugs that can give laboratory mice
perfect memories.
Language Development
Reporting Information
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Writers use reporting verbs such as say, state, and explain
to give sources of information. These verbs are usually
followed by that and a noun clause.
My mother says that there were no lambs on the farm.
Complete the chart by using the reporting verbs in the box.
argue find claim say
explain believe learn show
assume indicate conclude state
demonstrate suggest
The author thinks the
Neutral meaning information ...............
... has been ... has not been
proven proven
say, explain demonstrate, argue,assume,
learn, conclude, believe, claim,
find, show, state indicate, suggest
Circle the correct reporting verb to complete the
sentences.
1. The report shows / claims that memory is
reliable, but offers no evidence.
2. A convincing new study has assumed /
found that doing crossword puzzles
improves people’s memory.
3. The effect of caffeine on memory is still
unclear; some studies have argued /
demonstrated that it has a positive effect,
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while others have shown / suggested this
isn’t true.
4. A recent experiment in Indonesia concluded
/ believed that elderly people who eat a
great deal of tofu have a higher risk of
memory loss.
5. The data from the experiment learns / shows
that a diet high in fish is good for people’s
memory.
6. A 2007 study in Canada clearly shows /
argues that people with long term back or
neck pain often have trouble remembering
things.
Rewrite the preceding sentences with the reporting
expressions in parentheses.
1. (according to) According to the report, memory is
reliable.
2. (in fact) Doing crossword puzzles in fact improves our
memory.
3. (according to...according to) According to some studies
caffeine is good for memory, but according to the others it
is not.
4. (according to) According to an experiment in Indonesia,
elderly people who eat a great deal of tofu have aproblem
of memory loss.
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Compound Adjectives
Writers use compound adjectives with past and present
participles to present information in a shorter way.
... effects that last a long time ¿ long-lasting effects
... a toy that you loved very much ¿ a much-loved toy
Circle the correct compound adjective to complete the
sentences.
1. Even though he is a well-paid / well-paying
lawyer, Ahmed lives in a tiny house and
doesn’t own a car.
2. The film is a heart-broken / heart-breaking
story of a hard-worked / hard-working man
who loses everything.
3. How could you forget Jill? She was the
pink-haired / pinked-hair woman in the
brightly colored / brightly coloring dress.
4. A smooth-talked / smooth-talking salesman
sold Joseph a memory training course that
didn’t work at all.
5. I’ll never forget our team’s record-broken /
record-breaking performance in this year’s
championships.
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6. In densely populated / densely populating
cities, taxi drivers need to memorize a large
number of street names and transportation
routes.
Rewrite the sentences. Replace the italicized and
underlined words with a compound adjective.
1. Jane is a person who has a strong will and
rarely changes her mind.
Jane is a strong-willed person and rarely changes her
mind.
2. Painful memories are often the cause of
problems that have deep roots.
Painful memories are often the cause of deep-rooted
problems.
3. It’s easy to remember Todd Splodd because
of his name that sounds odd.
It’s easy to remember Todd Splodd because of his odd-
sounding name.
4. Because Jim is a person who has an open
mind, he is always learning new things.
Because Jim is an open-minded person , he is
always learning new things.
5. This is a documentary that never ends!
When will it be over?
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This is a never-ending documentary !
When will it be over?
6. To remember the prefix tri-, think of a
triangle or a tricycle, which is a bicycle that
has three wheels.
To remember the prefix tri-, think of a triangle or a
tricycle, which is a three-wheeled bicycle.
