ENGLISH COURSE

TEACHER: Dr. NAZOTIN

E-mail:nazcharles2002@yahoo.fr

MPCI L1S1

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 ARTICLES
An article is a determiner, that is, it indicates the arrival of a noun after it. Articles are used with
nouns but not all nouns are not used with articles.

This is a pen

This is milk

There are two kinds of articles: the indefinite article and the definite

A- THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE

article

Introducing Exercise does not refer to the alphabet

letter.
Use « a » or « an »

1- ………university
- ‘a’ is used before a word beginning with a
2- …….Euro
consonant sound .
3- ……..umbrella
4- …..utopia E.g. a cat, a mango
5- …….SMS
6- ………USB drive
Do not forget the consonant sounds |j| and
7- ……unimportant date
|w|
8- ……useless story

e.g. a union, a year, A=a European, a one-

I- USAGE ON THE BASIS OF eyed man, a wing
SOUND
- ‘a’ is used before aspirated ‘h’

The choice between a or an is

e.g. a history, a house, a hen
determined by the initial sound of
the word following it. The sound - ‘an’ is used before vowel sounds

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e.g. an orange, an eye,

- ‘an’ is used before mute ‘h’. e.g. an hour, II- USE

an heir, an honor - The indefinite article is used with
countable nouns to indicate one
- an is used before acronyms/abbreviations
Eg. I’ve a got a dog
beginning with f, h, I, m, n, r, s, x because
- The indefinite article is used to show
each of these consonants has an initial vowel
a quality. Eg. He is a doctor. Ben is a
sound e/a: f (ef) h (eich) l (el) m (em) n (en)
fireman
r (aar) s (es) x (eks)
- For certain numbers
an MP, an RFI information, an SMS, an FBI Eg. A hundred, a thousand, a couple,
agent, an X-ray copy a dozen
- It is also used to indicate a cost, a
Xmas is an abbreviation for Christmas but it
speed, a frequency
is usually pronounced as 'Christmas', not
. The bananas are CFA 500 a kilo
'Ex-mas', so it takes a. If pronounced 'ex-
. she sees him twice a week
mas', the article should be an: a Xmas
. the car runs 100kms an hour
(Christmas) card. (not, an) This is an Xmas
(Ex-mas) card.

- an is used before a number beginning with

B- THE DEFINITE ARTICLE
a vowel sound: This is an 18- player team.
I- USE
He is an 80- year old man.
‘The’ is used in the following
- ‘an’ is used when the first syllable of a instances:
word starting with ‘h’ is unstressed. - Before any concrete noun in the
singular. the table, the horse, the girl,
e.g.an historic occasion, an historical novel,
- Before abstract nouns determined by
an heroic behavior.
context. The beauty of the girl, the
courage of the boy, the love of a
student.
- Before parts of the day: In the
morning, in the afternoon

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- Before nouns which are unique in the - Before abstract nouns: love,
nature: the sun, the wind, the sky,the democracy, unfaithfulness
earth, the moon - Indefinite plurals: mangoes, pens
- Before collective nouns: the family, - Before some names of countries;
the army, the government,the police Norway, England
- Before the names of rivers, - With by + means of transport
oceans,mountains: the mississipi, the To travel by plane
Mouhoun, the Atlantic,the - The names of science; chemistry,
kilimandjaro, the Boulgou computer science, accounting…
- Before cardinal points: the North, - The names of sports: football,
the South, the East, the West swimming
- Before adjectives used as nouns; the - The names of games:
rich, the poor, the blind To play hide-and-seek
- Before some names of countries: the To play marbles
USA, the Netherlands To play chess
- Before musical instruments: he plays To play leap-frog
the piano - The names of languages: German,
- Before superlatives and ordinal: Spanish, Russian
she is the finest girl in the class - Names of meals: breakfast, lunch,
That’s the third time she phoned me dinner
- Nationalities ending in[ ʃ, ʧ, s, z] : - Colours: red, green, pink
the English, the French, the Swiss, - Title with name of the holder:
the Japanese. President OBAMA, King Hassan II,
- Title on its own: the King, the Princess TIARA
Queen, the President, - Names of lakes: lake Bam, lake
Tanganyika
- Before the words church, school,
II- OMISSION/ZERO town, market, bed, home… when
ARTICLE they are used to indicate a purpose.
Aller au marche = to go to market
Here are the cases in which the
Aller en ville = to go to town
D.A. must not be used:

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 Aller au centre-ville = to go
downtown
Aller se coucher = to go to bed
Aller a la maison=to go home

NOUNS : GENDER AND PLURAL

GENDER

Gender is of four kinds: Masculine (denotes male) Feminine (denotes female) Common (denotes
both male and female) Neuter (denotes neither male nor female)

Note: The words masculine and feminine can be used as adjectives to describe the looks or
qualities of human beings. In this sense masculine means: having the characterstics of a man, so
it can be used of a woman or girl as well. The lady standing in the centre has masculine looks.
Similarly with feminine. Notice that in this sense masculine/feminine indicates characteristics or
attributes, not sex.

4.1 Masculine and feminine forms

The feminine of nouns is formed in two ways:

i) by adding ess to the masculine form

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ii) by adding she/girl/woman to the masculine form

i) By adding ess to the masculine form

Note: a) English has only a small number of feminine forms (noun + ess).

Professional activities are often referred to in the common gender. The feminine forms
authoress, poetess, directress, inspectress are no longer in use.

She is the director of this institute. (not, directress)

She is an inspector of police. (not, inspectress)

b) The feminine form of hero is heroine.

ii) By adding she/girl/woman

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 But in many cases, the feminine form is not derived from the masculine form. In the
examples listed below, the feminine form is a totally new word, not related to the masculine
form phonetically.

4.2 Common/dual gender

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Most of the nouns denoting profession/occupation are in the common gender:

4.3 Neuter nouns

Neuter nouns refer to things that have no gender (i.e. rock, table, pencil, etc.)

Unless its meaning makes it obviously male (e.g., "boy," "king," "boar") or female (e.g.,
"princess," "hen," "mare"), a noun in English is neuter by default. Here are two noteworthy points
related to gender:

 Large machines. Large machines such as ships and trains, which - by default - are neuter,
are sometimes affectionately given a female gender (i.e., referred to as "she" or "her").
 Animals. An animal is referred to as "it." It is only referred to as "he" or "she" when the
sex is known.

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 PLURAL

A The plural of a noun is usually made by adding s to the singular:

day, days dog, dogs house, houses s is pronounced /s/ after a p, k or f sound. Otherwise it is
pronounced Izl.
When s is placed after ce, ge, se or ze an extra syllable (/iz/) is added to the spoken word.
Other plural forms
B Nouns ending in o or ch, sh, ss or x form their plural by adding es: tomato, tomatoes
brush, brushes box, boxes
church, churches kiss, kisses
But words of foreign origin or abbreviated words ending in o add s
only:
dynamo, dynamos kimono, kimonos piano, pianos kilo, kilos photo, photos
soprano, sopranos
When es is placed after ch, sh, ss or x an extra syllable (/iz/) is added
to the spoken word
C Nouns ending in y following a consonant form their plural by dropping the y and adding ies'
baby, babies country, countries fly, flies lady, ladies Nouns ending in y following a
vowel form their plural by adding s-
boy, boys day, days donkey, donkeys guy, guys
D Twelve nouns ending in f or fe drop the f or fe and add ves These nouns are calf, half, knife,
leaf, life, loaf, self, sheaf, shelf, thief, wife, wolf:
loaf, loaves wife, wives wolf, wolves etc
The nouns hoof, scarf and wharf take either s or ves in the plural: hoofs or hooves scarfs or
scarves wharfs or wharves
Other words ending in f or fe add s in the ordinary way: cliff, cliffs handkerchief,
handkerchiefs safe, safes
E A few nouns form their plural by a vowel change:
foot, feet louse, lice mouse, mice woman, women
goose, geese man, men tooth, teeth The plurals of child and ox are children, oxen.
F Names of certain creatures do not change in the plural fish is normally unchanged, fishes
exists but is uncommon. Some types of fish do not normally change m the plural:
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carp pike salmon trout
cod plaice squid turbot
mackerel
but if used in a plural sense they would take a plural verb. Others add s:
crabs herrings sardines
eels lobsters sharks
deer and sheep do not change: one sheep, two sheep. Sportsmen who shoot duck, partridge,
pheasant etc. use the same form for singular and plural But other people normally add s for the
plural: ducks, partridges, pheasants.
The word game, used by sportsmen to mean an animal/animals hunted, is always in the singular,-
and takes a singular verb
G A few other words don't change-
aircraft, craft (boat/boats) quid (slang for £1)
counsel (barristers working in court)
H Collective nouns, crew, family, team etc., can take a singular or plural verb; singular if we
consider the word to mean a single group or unit:
Our team is the best or plural if we take it to mean a number of individuals:
Our team are wearing their new jerseys.
When a possessive adjective is necessary, a plural verb with their is more usual than a singular
verb with its, though sometimes both are possible:
The jury is considenng its verdict.
The jury are considenng their verdict
I Certain words are always plural and take a plural verb:
clothes police garments consisting of two parts:
breeches pants pyjamas trousers etc and tools and instruments consisting of two
parts:
binoculars pliers scissors spectacles
glasses scales shears etc.
Also certain other words including:
arms (weapons) particulars

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damages (compensation) premises/quarters
earnings nches
goods/wares savings
greens (vegetables) spirits (alcohol)
grounds stairs
outskirts surroundings
pains (trouble/effort) valuables
] A number of words ending in ics, acoustics, athletics, ethics, hysterics, mathematics, physics,
politics etc , which are plural in form, normally take a plural verb
His mathematics are weak But names of sciences can sometimes be considered singular:
Mathematics is an exact science
K Words plural in form but singular in meaning include news:
The news is good certain diseases:
mumps rickets shingles and certain games.
billiards darts draughts
bowls dominoes
L Some words which retain their original Greek or Latin forms make their
plurals according to the rules of Greek and Latin'
crisis, crises I kraisis/, /'kraisnz/ phenomenon, phenomena erratum, errata
radius, radii
memorandum, memoranda terminus, termini
oasis, oases /au'eisis/, /au'eisrz/
But some follow the English rules
dogma, dogmas gymnasium, gymnasiums
formula, formulas (though formulae is used by scientists)
Sometimes there are two plural forms with different meanings appendix, appendixes or
appendices (medical terms) appendix, appendices (addition/s to a book) index, indexes (in
books), indices (in mathematics)
Musicians usually prefer Italian plural forms for Italian musical terms: libretto, libretti tempo,
tempi

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But s is also possible, librettos, tempos.
M Compound nouns 1 Normally the last word is made plural:
boy-friends break-ins travel agents
But where man and woman is prefixed both parts are made plural: men drivers women drivers
2 The first word is made plural with compounds formed of verb + er nouns + adverbs:
hangers-on lookers-on runners-up and with compounds composed of noun + preposition
+ noun: ladies-in-waiting sisters-in-law wards of court
3 Initials can be made plural:
MPs (Members of Parliament) VIPs (very important persons) OAPs (old age pensioners) UFOs
(unidentified flying objects)

NUMBERS

Everyone working in business in English will, sooner or later, need to say numbers, in
meetings or on the telephone. This usually requires practice.

I- ZERO, OH AND NOUGHT

- For the number 0 on its own, we say zero.
- Before a decimal point we say either zero or nought. Eg. 0.5: zero point five or nought
point five
- After a decimal point we say oh. Eg0.001: zero/nought point oh oh one.
- We also say oh in the following situations:
 Telephones eg. Her number is 0022670025436
 Years: 1901, 2005
 Hotel room numbers: room 204: room two oh four
 Bus numbers: bus 102: bus one oh two

II- POINTS AND COMMAS

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In English we use a point and not a comma for decimals. We only use commas when writing
numbers greater than 999.
15.001: fifteen point oh oh one
15,001: fifteen thousand and one

III- DECIMALS

In English, we usually read all the numbers after a decimal point separately, especially if there
are more than two decimal places:
0.125: nought/zero point one two five
5.44: five point four four
3.14159: three point one four one five nine
0.001: nought/zero point oh oh one
But if numbers after a decimal point represent a unit of money, it is read like a normal number.
£1.50: one pound fifty
€3.15: three euro fifteen

IV- TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBERS

We usually say telephone, fax, car registration, bank account numbers as individual numbers
010 41 01273 315052: oh one oh four one, oh one two seven three three one five oh five two.
An exception is ‘double’
01712253466: oh one seven one double two five three four double six

V- FRACTIONS

Apart from ½ (a half), ¼ (a quarter) we use ordinal numbers

1/7: a seventh or one seventh
1/8: an eighth or one eighth
From 1/11 we no longer use ‘a’ but ‘one’. E.g. 1/12 one twelfth
Do not forget the‘s’ in the denominator when the numerator is beyond one.
2/3: two thirds

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3/10: three tenths

EXERCISE
Write down in letters
1/5 2/3 1/25 ½ 3/66 ¾ 12/30

VI- CALCULTING

10 + 6= 16: ten plus six is/equals sixteen

10 - 4= 6 ten minus four is/equals six
7 × 6 = 42: seven times six is/equals forty-two, or seven multiplied by six……..
20 :2= 10 : twenty divided by two is/equals ten, or twenty over two…..
102= ten squared, ten to the power of two
103= ten cubed, ten to the power of three
√5: the square root of five
10% ten percent
<4= less than four
>7= greater than seven
|x+2|= absolute value of

EXERCISE
Say the following:
1- In my first job, in 1976, I earned £38 a week, which was exactly £1,976 a year.
2- Today they are buying yen at 119.92 and selling them at 120.01.
3- It’s either 0.431 or 4.031, I can’t remember.
4- $1,000,000? But what over €1,090,000!
5- No, it’s 12,231 not 12.231!
6- You can fax them at 06622747
7- For further information, call 70773546
8- He’s 2m11 tall, like a basketball player
9- It only costs €13.95

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 10- It’s somewhere between 2/3 and ¾
11- 27 × 365 is 9,855
12- The equation is x2-y3 =z

TD
Use ‘a’ or ‘an’

1- ….honest family (an) 13- …….euphemism (a)

2- …..hospitable family (a) 14- ………..history of England (a)
3- …..uniform (a) 15- …….18th century painting (an)
4- Umbrella (an) 16- ……7 and……8 (a) (an)
5- ……year ago (a) 17- ……….ABC shop (an)
6- …..only child (an) 18- …..BA and….MA (a) (an)
7- ……one-way street (a) 19- ……SOS message (an)
8- ….ewe (a) 20- ……U-turn (a)
9- ……hare (a) 21- ….HP computer (an)
10- ……eel (an) 22- …..UNESCO magazine (a)
11- …….I (an) 23- Do you spell realize with ….s
12- …..hell (a) or………z (an) (a)

Fill in the article >a<, >an< or >the< where necessary. Choose >x< where no article
is used.

1) I like blue T-shirt over there better than red one.

2) Their car does 150 miles hour.

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3) Where's USB drive I lent you last week?

4) Do you still live in Bristol?

5) Is your mother working in old office building?

6) Carol's father works as electrician.

7) The tomatoes are 99 pence kilo.

8) What do you usually have for breakfast?

9) Ben has terrible headache.

10) After this tour you have whole afternoon free to explore the city.

Insert a, an, the or X (for zero article) if necessary.

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 2. The merchant accompanied by his
Q. Rewrite the following sentences
wife and daughters came to the
changing the Gender of the Nouns.
king’s palace.

1. His mother took him to the Zoo 3. The poet, the priest, and the prophet

where he had a look at the lions, are always inspired by a high ideal.

tigers, stags, rams, and peacocks. 4. The Count married a rich heiress, a
lass of fifteen, who was a Jewess by
birth

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 5. The Duke called the hunter to his 5. A duck is smaller than a goose.
presence and asked him how he had
Q. Rewrite the following sentences
caught the tiger.
changing the gender:
Q. Rewrite the following sentences
1. She is the heiress to this big estate.
changing the Gender of the Nouns.
2. When are you expecting your uncle?
1. The ways of the tempter, the 3. The bridegroom was a lad of
enchanter, the wizard, and the fourteen.
sorcerer are the same. 4. The headmaster gave away the
2. The prince declared that the author prizes.
had been his sole benefactor. 5. The widower is the father of four
3. The abbot declared that the waiter sons.
was a traitor and murderer. 6. He took the old gentleman for a
4. The Mayor was the patron of art and widower.
learning. 7. A hunter killed a tiger, a stag and a
5. This shepherd once acted as a host to lion.
the Marquis. 8. The tailor asked the priest to feed his
horse.
Q. Rewrite the following sentences,
9. A hunter requested a shepherd to tell
changing the gender of the nouns.
him when the tigress was last seen.
10. The bitch came bounding to meet its
1. May I come in, Sir?
master.
2. He keeps bitches and foxes.
3. He is an old bachelor.
4. The lion is the king of the forest.

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 Four Basic Operations of Arithmetic
We cannot live a day without numerals. Numbers and numerals are everywhere. On this
page you will see number names and numerals. The number names are: zero, one, two, three, four
and so on. And here are the corresponding numerals: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on. In a numeration
system numerals are used to represent numbers, and the numerals are grouped in a special way.
The numbers used in our numeration system are called digits. In our Hindu-Arabic system we use
only ten digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 to represent any number. We use the same ten digits over
and over again in a place-value system whose base is ten. These digits may be used in various
combinations. Thus, for example, 1, 2, and 3 are used to write 123, 213, 132 and so on.

A very simple way to say that each of the numerals names the same number is to write an
equation — a mathematical sentence that has an equal sign ( = ) 19 between these numerals. For
example, the sum of the numbers 3 and 4 equals the sum of the numbers 5 and 2. In this case we
say: three plus four (3+4) is equal to five plus two (5+2). One more example of an equation is as
follows: the difference between numbers 3 and 1 equals the difference between numbers 6 and 4.
That is three minus one (3—1) equals six minus four (6—4). Another example of an equation is
3+5 = 8. In this case you have three numbers. Here you add 3 and 5 and get 8 as a result. 3 and 5
are addends (or summands) and 8 is the sum. There is also a plus (+) sign and a sign of equality (
= ). They are mathematical symbols.

Now let us turn to the basic operations of arithmetic. There are four basic operations that
you all know of. They areaddition, subtraction, multiplication and division. In arithmetic an
operation is a way of thinking of two numbers and getting one number. We were just considering
an operation of addition. An equation like 7—2 = 5 represents an operation of subtraction. Here
seven is the minuend and two is the subtrahend. As a result of the operation you get five. It is
thedifference, as you remember from the above. We may say that subtraction is the inverse
operation of addition since 5 + 2 = 7 and 7 — 2 = 5.

The same might be said about division and multiplication, which are also inverse
operations. In multiplication there is a number that must be multiplied. It is the multiplicand.
There is also a multiplier. It is the number by which we multiply. When we are multiplying the
multiplicand by the multiplier we get the product as a result. When two or more numbers are

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multiplied, each of them is called a factor. In the expression five multiplied by two (5×2), the 5
and the 2 will be factors. The multiplicand and the multiplier are names for factors.

In the operation of division there is a number that is divided and it is called the dividend;
the number by which we divide is called the divisor. When we are dividing the dividend by the
divisor we get the quotient. But suppose you are dividing 10 by 3. In this case the divisor will not
be contained a whole number of times in the 20 dividend. You will get a part of thedividend left
over. This part is called the remainder. In our case the remainder will be 1. Since multiplication
and division are inverse operations you may check division by using multiplication.

There are two very important facts that must be remembered about division.

a) The quotient is 0 (zero) whenever the dividend is 0 and the divisor is not 0. That is, 0÷
n is equal to 0 for all values of n except n = 0.

b) Division by 0 is meaningless. If you say that you cannot divide by 0 it really means that
division by 0 is meaningless. That is, n: 0 is meaningless for all values of n.

Note reading of the following numbers and calculations:

23 is read “twenty three”

578 is read “five hundred (and) seventy eight”

3578 is read “three thousand five hundred (and) seventy eight”

7425629 is read “seven million four hundred twenty five thousand six hundred and twenty
nine”

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What is a computer?
Computer is an electronic device which can receive and store data, processes a set of reasonable
operations with the data and carries out or transmits the results of the processing. There are two
types of computer units – electronic and mechanical.

The characteristics of these are as following:

- Modern computer use electronic devices in this way their performance is superior to mechanical
machines.

- Speed of operation of computers is very fast since computer system operates at electronic speed
i.e., at the speed of light. while mechanical devices can never perform at speed of light therefore
they are slow.

- Operation of the computer is automatic under the control of stored programs as opposed to
mechanical calculating device in which operator's intervention is required at every step of the
sequence. - Due to use of electronic circuits in place of mechanical gears and wheels, the

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problems of maintenance are totally eliminated. Electronic computers are therefore very reliable
and highly accurate.

- While mechanical calculating devices can perform only limited arithmetic, computers are more
versatile and can perform logic operation and complex arithmetic operations by writing relevant
programs.

There are three main steps the computer's processing.

First, data is taken in and stored into computer's internal memory. Then, the computer produces a
set of instructions, which are called computer programs, and finally, computer gives out the
results in a specified format as information on the 82 display or in the printed form, or transmits
the exceeded results to the external storage unit.

A computer system consists of two parts: the software, which are instructions and programs of
the computer and the hardware, which consists of all electronic and mechanical parts of the
computer. The basic structure of a computer system contains three main hardware sections: the
central processing unit or CPU, the main memory or the internal memory and the peripherals.

The central processing unit is the brain of the computer. Its function is to carry out program
instructions of the software and to operate the processing of the other computer units. For better
video and sound performances or networking the user can add a specialized expansion cards to
the CPU of his computer. The main memory stores all the instructions and data which were
currently processed by the CPU. It usually consists of two sections: RAM (random access
memory) and ROM (read only memory). RAM is the memory used for creating, loading and
running computer programs. ROM is computer memory which holds the programmed
instructions in the system. The peripherals are the physical devices attached to the computer,
which include input/output units (mouse, keyboard, monitor, keyboard, scanner, printer, fax
machines, head-phones etc.) and internal storage devices (floppy, hard or optical disks, blue-ray
disks, external hard disk drive, flash disk drive etc.) Input units, such as the mouse and the
keyboard, give us an opportunity to transfer data into computer's memory. Output units, for
example, the monitor or the printer, enable us to give out the final result of the processing from
the computer system. Internal storage devices are used to store both data and programs
permanently.

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Using information from the text, answer the questions.

a What does the term “computer”mean?

b Which operations does the computer perform?

c What are the main components of a computer system?

d What is the difference between the software and the hardware of the computer?

e What is the difference between the terms “data” and “information”?

f What are the peripheral devices of the computer?

g Which electronic units help to store information permanently?

h.What is the difference between electronic and mechanical devices of the computer?

Decide whether the following statements are true or false:

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a The purpose of the main memory is to store computer instructions and data.

b Data and information are synonymous computer terms.

c A standard computer system consists of four parts: the CPU, the main memory, the peripherals
and printer.

d The type of memory used for loading and running programs is called random access memory.

e For better video and sound performances or networking the user can add a specialized
expansion cards to the hardware of the computer.

f The main memory is the brain of the computer.

g The CPU reads and interprets software and prints the result on paper.

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11.

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 Name the pictures: digital camera, mouse, screen/monitor, external hard
disk, laptop, smartphone desktop, , mouse portable speaker, tablet

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