Volleyball
I will send out some handy tips and useful exercises for adults learning to navigate and use the English language each week. Please feel free to share this newsletter with friends and colleagues.
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team’s court under organized rules. It is pretty easy to set up because all you need is a net and a ball, so although volleyball is often played on a court, it is also a very popular sport played on the beach.
Reading Tip
Language Level – B2
Adaptive volleyball emerged in the Netherlands in 1956 by combining volleyball with sitzball, a seated German sport without a net. The sport, which eventually became known as sitting volleyball, debuted at the Paralympics in 1980 and is still played today both recreationally and professionally by athletes with disabilities.
Learn more about Sitting Volleyball by reading this short article: https://www.braunability.com/us/en/blog/accessible-living/adaptive-sports-sitting-volleyball.html
Listening Tip
Language Level – B1
Watch this brief video that explains how Volleyball was invented in Massachusetts in 1895 as an alternative sport to basketball.
Turn on the CC to read along and practice reading and listening English together.
Grammar Tip
Language Level – B2
Gerunds – A gerund is a verb form that functions as a noun.
A gerund is created by adding the suffix “-ing” to the base form of a verb.
Like all nouns, gerunds can be used four ways : as subjects, objects of verbs, objects of prepositions, or complements. For example:
- Swimming is permitted in the lake. (subject of “is”)
- I hate running. (object of the verb “hate”)
- I was accepted after learning some Italian. (object of the preposition “after”)
- Her passion is dancing. (complement of the subject “her passion”)
Unlike a normal noun, a gerund maintains some verb-like properties. For example, like a verb, a gerund can take a direct object and be modified with an adverb.
- drinking a flagon (The gerund drinking has a direct object, a flagon.)
- driving erratically (The gerund driving is modified with an adverb, erratically.)
- regularly visiting the hospital (The gerund visiting is modified with an adverb, regularly, and has a direct object, the hospital. )
A gerund will often be at the head of a gerund phrase. A gerund phrase consists of a gerund, its objects, and all modifiers.
- Eating blackberries quickly will make you ill.
Even though all gerunds end with the suffix -ing, not every word that ends with -ing is a gerund. The other common type of word that ends with -ing is the present participle.
Like gerunds, present participles are also formed from verbs (making them verbals), but they are not used as nouns. They are used as adjectives or when forming verbs in a progressive tense. For example:
- Running the tap will clear the air pocket. (This is a gerund.)
- Can you fix the running tap? (This is a present participle as an adjective.)
- The tap was running for an hour. (This is a present participle used to form the past progressive tense.)
Let’s Practice!
Identify whether the italicized word in each sentence below is a gerund or a participle.
1. Hearing a loud noise, we ran to the window.
2. The motorcyclist was fatally injured in the accident and is now fighting for his life.
3. He ruined his sight by watching TV all day.
4. We saw a clown standing on his head.
5. Asking questions is a whole lot easier than answering them.
6. Waving their hands, the audience cheered the winner.
7. Picking flowers is forbidden.
8. Jumping over the fence, the thief escaped.
Vocabulary Tip
Language Level – B2
We continue to add to our vocabulary words from the Oxford 3000.
A list of 3000 words someone should know if they are taking the CEFR (Common European Framework Reference) language tests.
- Core (n, adj)
- Corporate (adj)
- Council (n)
- County (n)
- Courage (n)
- Crash (n, v)
- Creation (n)
- Creature (n)
- Credit (v)
- Crew (n)
Study these words with this quizlet.
Each week new words are added to the same quizlet, so all of the B2 level words will be in one list for practice.
Weekly Challenge
Language Level – B1
See if you can get all 15 questions correct on this Homophones quiz:
Questions?
