UNIT 1

Listening: Photos of people

Reading: Noun

WISDOM WHALE 01
01 PHOTOS OF ONE PERSON
For the photos of one person, the four subjects in the statements are alike but the verbs in
them are different. You should therefore listen carefully to the verbs.

Practice Listen and choose the best answer. 01 - 01

(A) A woman is wearing gloves.

(B) A woman is using a shovel.
(C) A woman is watering a plant.
(D) A woman is arranging flowers.

Attention!
For the photos of one person, the present continuous tense is mostly used to describe the action
of the person in each of them, so you have to listen carefully to the verbs in -ing form.

Exercises

A Listen and complete each statement with the missing words. 01 - 02

1. A man
2. A woman is
3. He is
4. She is
5. He is
B Listen and complete each statement with the missing words, then choose 01 - 03
the best description for each photo.

(A) A man is a pair of shoes. (A) She is _________ a document.

(B) A man is (B) She is __________
(C) A man is __________ (C) She is __________ a laptop.

WISDOM WHALE 02
02 PHOTOS OF TWO PEOPLE
For the photos of two people, the subjects in the statements may be different because each person
may be doing a different action.
Correct answer choices generally describe what the people in the photos are doing together or
what each of them is doing. You should thus listen to both the subjects and the verbs in the
descriptive statements.

Practice Listen and choose the best answer. 01 - 04

(A) They are sitting next to each other.

(B) They are signing their names.
(C) They are fixing a computer.
(D) They are looking at a laptop.

Attention!
You may hear the subjects They or The men/women/people and the present continuous tense in
the four statements, so you have to listen carefully to the verb that best describes their action.

Exercises

A Listen and complete each statement with the missing words. 01 - 05

1. They ____________________ into a truck.
2. They ____________________ a microphone.
3. The women ____________________ to a sink.
4. The men ____________________.
5. The people ____________________.
B Listen and complete each statement with the missing words, then choose 01 - 06
the best description for each photo.

(A) They __________ some vegetables. (A) The men __________ horses.
(B) They __________. (B) The men __________.
(C) They _________ on a __________. (C) The men __________ a picture of the
__________.

WISDOM WHALE 03
03 PHOTOS OF MORE THAN TWO PEOPLE

For the photos of two people, the subjects in the statements may be different because each person
may be doing a different action.
Correct answer choices generally describe what the people in the photos are doing together or
what each of them is doing. You should thus listen to both the subjects and the verbs in the
descriptive statements.

Practice Listen and choose the best answer. 01 - 07

(A) They are sitting at an outdoor table.

(B) The people are hiking in a park.
(C) One of the women is holding a basket.
(D) Some women are having a picnic.

Attention!
The subjects in the statements are often different. Each of the four statements may start with a
singular subject like A man/woman, One of the men/women, or a plural subject such as The
men/women, or a plural noun, or Some (of the) + a plural noun (e.g., people, workers), which
causes difficulty for you.

Exercises

A Listen and complete each statement with the missing words. 01 - 08

1. __________ are moving __________.
2. __________ is __________ a painting.
3. __________ __________ a newspaper.
4. __________ is taking a book __________.
5. __________ __________ carts.
B Listen and complete each statement with the missing words, then choose 01 - 09
the best description for each photo.

(A) __________ are __________ (A) A man __________ to a __________.

(B) __________ __________ under a tree. (B) Some people are __________ at a
(C) __________ looking _________ __________.
(C) __________ food on her plate.
WISDOM WHALE 04
KEY EXPRESSION
Read the following to familiarize yourself with some action verbs that are frequently found in
descriptive statements

1. The man is installing a projector. 6. Some men are unloading packages.

2. The doctor is examining a patient. 7. The man is wheeling the cart into the room.
3. The woman is lying on the grass. 8. He is vacuuming the stairs.
4. The man are facing each other. 9. A lot of people are boarding a train.
5. The man is leafing through his notebook. 10. The woman is watering flowers.

Practice with Listen and choose the statement that best

01 - 10
actual questions describes each photo.

1. (A) (B) (C) (D) 2. (A) (B) (C) (D)

3. (A) (B) (C) (D) 4. (A) (B) (C) (D)

WISDOM WHALE 05
01 FUNCTIONS OF NOUNS
A noun can function as the subject, object, complement, or object of a preposition in a sentence.

Subject The customer wanted to get a refund.

Object You must submit your résumé by Friday.

Complement The man over there is my colleague.

Object of a Some people are not interested in policies.

preposition

The architect/has designed/buildings and bridges/ in San Francisco.

Exercises

A Choose the correct option in the brackets for each sentence

1. Mr. Ross is very well qualified for the (position/positioned)
2. The manager is reviewing the (apply/applications) at the moment.
3. The two friends became (competitors/compete) in the end.
4. The (prepare/preparations) for the workshop are progressing well.
5. The (patient/patiently) arrived thirty minutes before her appointment.

B Choose the correct option to complete each sentence.

1. The bank building will under go ..................... to improve the telller counters.
(A) renovate (B) renovations (C) renovates (D) renovated

2. We apologize for the ...................... and thank you for choosing KLY Airlines.
(A) delay (B) delaying (C) to delay (D) delayed

WISDOM WHALE 06
02 POSITIONS OF NOUNS

A noun comes after an article, an adjective or a possessive adjective. When a noun is modified
by an adjective, the adjective stands before the noun, so the word order is as follow:
[article/possessive adjective + adjective + noun].

Article + noun The profit an article the contract

Possessive my furiniture his office their performance

adjective + noun

Article/possessive
adjective + adjective expensive products a productive meeting our annual report
+ noun

Did you receive /the e-mail/that my assistant/sent you/yesterday?

Exercises

A Choose the correct words to fill in the gap in each sentence.

my passport high apartment the rent contract an

1. What happens if I lose ........................ ?

2. He needs some help to finalize ......................... .
3. Susan is looking for ......................... with three bedrooms.
4. They will move to a different place because of the ...................... .

B Choose the correct option to complete each sentence.

1. Mr. Howard called the Service Department to tell them about the television's ...................
(A) renovate (B) renovations (C) renovates (D) renovated

2. Two major airlines will offer cheap ...................... to Hong Kong next month.
(A) flights (B) fly (C) to fly (D) was flown

WISDOM WHALE 07
03 COUNTABLE & UNCOUNTABLE

There are two types of nouns: countable nouns and uncountable nouns.
Countable nouns are people or things that can be counted. A countable noun comes after a(n),
the, many, a few, etc. A countable noun has the plural form that usually ends with -s or -es.

Uncountable nouns are people or things that cannot be counted. An uncountable noun has no -s
or -es ending form. Both plural nouns and uncountable nouns can stand alone without an article
or a possessive adjective in complete sentences.

many, few,
plural form a(n) the
much little
Countable noun desks a desk the money many desks few desks
(desk)

Uncountable noun
moneys a money the desk much money little money
(money)

They/are now conducting/research/on the effects/of stress.

Attention!
Some uncountable nouns that are often found on the TOEIC test include baggage, luggage,
information, traffic, furniture, equipment, machinery, merchandise, and research.

Exercises

A Choose the correct words to fill in the gap in each sentence.

1. All the (furniture/furnitures) at Living Space Co. is affordable.

2. Fast Pizza has received (complaint/complaints) about its late delivery.
3. Mr. Jeff Slim does not spend (many/much) money on office decorations.
4. I have a few (relative/relatives) who live nearby.
5. The agency offered (information/informations) about the city’s tourism industry.

B Choose the correct option to complete each sentence.

1. There was ................... traffic downtown this morning.

(A) a few (B) a little (C) many (D) a

2. High Fashion, Inc. on Broadway will have a sale to clear out holiday ................... .
(A) merchandises (B) merchandise (C) merchants (D) merchandising

WISDOM WHALE 08
04 PRONOUNS

A personal pronoun refers to a specific person or thing. There are subject pronouns and object
pronouns. The subject pronoun starts a sentence and comes before the main verb in the sentence.
The object pronoun comes right after a verb or a preposition in the sentence.
A possessive pronoun is used to substitute a noun phrase that indicates a possession relation.
A reflexive pronoun is formed by adding the suffix -self (or -selves in the plural form) to an object
pronoun or a possessive adjective. It is used to show that the object of a certain verb is the same
person or thing as the subject of a sentence. It is also used to emphasize the subject who does/did
the action.

Possessive Reflexive
Person Subject Object
pronoun pronoun

1st I me mine myself

Singul
ar
2nd You you yours yourself

He/She himself/herself
3rd him/her/his his/hers
/It /itself

1st We us ours ourselves

Plural 2nd You you yours yourselves

3rd They them theirs themselves

Exercises

A Choose the correct words to fill in the gap in each sentence.

1. Ms. Kelly called (him/he) this morning, but (he/himself) was out of town.
2. (We/Us) are so delighted that you have agreed to work with (us/ours).
3. If you contact (ours/us), (we/us) will send you the new brochure.
4. (I/mine) am sure my grades are worse than (yourself/yours).
B Choose the correct option to complete each sentence.

1. If this project goes smoothly, we will have more work with ................... in the future.
(A) they (B) them (C) themselves (D) theirs

2. We regret to tell ................... that we cannot deliver your recent orders.

(A) you (B) us (C) yours (D) yourself

WISDOM WHALE 08
 Practice with
PART 5: Incomplete sentences
actual questions

1. Because of some ................... about the 5. We shall finally have what is

noise, they had to stop the outdoor rightfully ................... .
performance. (A) we
(A) complain (B) us
(B) complaints (C) his
(C) complaining (D) ours
(D) being complained
6. A few ................... wrote positive
2. The ................... of maintenance has to reviews about the new dessert menu.
be reduced during the economic crisis. (A) critic
(A) cost (B) critics
(B) costly (C) critical
(C) costing (D) criticize
(D) more costly
7. Kelly Smith is a prospective
3. Ms. Page in the Marketing Department candidate for an upcoming
is excellent at ................... . ................... .
(A) present (A) promote
(B) presenting (B) promotes
(C) presented (C) promotion
(D) presentations (D) promoting

4. Airport security staff will search 8. The ................... at the FAL

................... for any illegal items. Language Institute should have more
(A) luggage than three years of experience.
(B) luggages (A) instructors
(C) a luggage (B) instructions
(D) some luggages (C) instructing
(D) instructive

WISDOM WHALE 05
 Practice with
PART 6: Cloze test
actual questions

Question 9-12 refer to the following letter

March 19

Dear Ms. Graham,

I am writing this letter to confirm that Elizabeth Owens (9) ......................... at Giga Engineer
for the last 8 years. Last year, (10) ........................ was promoted to technical supervisor and
received a performance bonus for her excellent work. (11) ......................... She has always .
(12) .......................... our expectations and has never been late or absent from work since
she started working here. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me
at (055) - 987 - 0987.

Sincerely,
Jane Dunn
Director, Engineering Department
Giga Engineering

9. 11.
(A) has worked (A) Therefore, she has been a great communicator
(B) have worked (B) In addition, she has displayed great work
(C) works ethnics.
(D) used to work (C) It is my pleasure to provide this letter of
recommendation
10. (D) Last summer, she took a year off from work
(A) she
(B) her 12.
(C) hers (A) exceeded
(D) herself (B) overlooked
(C) exaggerated
(D) disregarded
 Practice with
PART 7: Reading comprehension
actual questions

Question 13-14 refer to the following letter

To: Customer service <bestservice@shill.com>

From: Martin Russell <MRussell90@zzamil.com>
Date: July 14
Subject: Inquiry
Hi Customer Service Staff,
I have a question about the bill from the Shin Hotel, I stayed there from July 5 to July 9 during
the Agriculture & Food Conference. I looked closely at the bill before I submitted it to the
Finance Department, and I think you have overcharged me; the details are as follows.

1 room x 5 nights USD 920.67

Room service USD 55.00

Interney USD 30.00

Taxes USD 92.07

Total USD 1,097.74

First of all, I do not understand why I was charged for the Internet. I definitely used the
Internet service. However, I clearly remember that the Wi-Fi service is free of charge. In
addition, I did not order any food to my hotel room. I used the café downstairs with my co-
workers. Can you please review the charges and get back to me this week?

13. Why did Mr. Rusell write the e-mail? 14. What is suggested about Mr. Russell?
(A) To dispute some charges (A) He went on a business trip.
(B) To complain about some food (B) He ordered room service.
(C) To give feedback (C) He stayed at the hotel for 3 nights
(D) To reserve a room (D) He did not use the Internet.