Read the following text, translate the words and phrases in bold into your native language and then answer the questions.

Hello, my name is Samantha. I am 17 years old. I am a student, and I study at university. It is my birthday today. I am very happy. All my friends and classmates are here today.

This is Maria. She is my mother. My mother is 42 years old. She is a vet. She loves animals very much. My mother is not tall. She is short.

This man is my father. He is a teacher. His name is George. He loves his job a lot. I and my dad are really good friends. He is veryfunny.

This is my sister Abby. She is 7 years old. She is a pupil. Abby and I like to watch TV and play computer games together. We are happy girls.

This is Andrew. He is my brother. Andrew is 15 years old. His hobby is playing the guitar. My brother has brown hair and black eyes. He isn’t short. Andrew is a tall boy.

These girls are myneighbors. We are all live in one house. Alene has flowers for me. The flowers are white, yellow and pink. Alice has a toy cat. It is brown. Kate has a plate. There are cookies on it. Helen has a basket. There are apples for me. I am happy to have good neighbors.

Look at these two girls. They are Augusta and Carla. They are my classmates. We are all 17 years old. I am happy to see them on my birthday.

What a surprise! My uncle Alan and my auntDelia are here too. They are from England. They live in London. Alan is an engineer and Delia is a doctor. They have a baby boy. His name is Alfred. He is only three years old.

We have two pets. This is our pet dog Bimbo. It is brown. It has a black nose. His eyes are very small. Bimbo likes bones.

Look at our cat. It is very fat. Its name is Flaffy. Flaffy's nose is pink. His tail is long. His ears are big. Fluffy likes to catch mice.

I have a special birthday. My parents, my family and relatives, my friends and classmates are here today! There are so many presents! I love presents! My parents have a nice present for me. It is a bike. I will ride my bike every day. My bike iscool. The birthday party is a lot of fun. There are colorful balloons in my room.

1. What is the main heroine name?

2. How old is she?

3. What is the day for her today?

4. How old is her mother, father, sister and brother?

5. How many neighbors have come to her birthday?

6. Who are Samantha’s classmates?

7. Are Alan and Delia from England?

8. How many pets does Samantha have?

9. What kind of present do her parents have for her?

10. What are there in her room?

Tell about yourself to your classmates. Practice Introducing yourself before Giving a Speech, at a Professional Event etc.

Use of English

Punctuation marks.

There are two major styles of punctuation in English: American or “traditional punctuation” and British punctuation or “logical punctuation”. These two styles differ mainly in the way in which they handle quotation marks. · The apostrophe (‘) is used to mark possession as in John’s book, and to mark letters omitted in contractions, such as you’re for you are. · Brackets ({} [] () ) are used for parenthesis, explanation or comment: such as “John Smith (the elder, not his son…”) · The colon (:) is used to explain or start an enumeration. · The semicolon (;) is often used to break up listings with commas: “She saw three men: Jamie, who came from New Zealand; John, the milkman’s son; and George, a gaunt kind of man.” · The comma (,) is used to disambiguate the meaning of sentences. For example, · The dash (-) is a horizontal line that shows a pause or break in meaning, or that represents missing words or letters. a) Use a dash to show a pause or break in meaning in middle of a sentence: My sisters – Asya and Rukiya – are visiting China. b) Use a dash to show an afterthought: I attached the photo to my email – at least I hope I did it. c) Use a dash like a colon to introduce a list: Don’t forget to buy some food – bread, eggs, tuna and cheese. d) Use a dash to show that letters or words are missing: He will look – – – – the children. There are two kinds of dash: 1) the en-dash (-), which is width of the letter “n” And 2) the em-dash (–), which is width of the letter “m” · The hyphen (-) is a very short horizontal line between words. There is no space between a hyphen and the character on either side of it. a) Use a hyphen to join words to show that their meaning is linked in some way: book-case (or bookcase) b) Use a hyphen to make compound modifiers before nouns: a blue-eyed boy (but The boy was blue eyed) c) Use a hyphen with certain prefixes. The prefixes all-, ex-, and self usually need a hyphen: Ex-wife d) Use a hyphen when writing numbers 21 to 99, and fractions: twenty-one, two-thirds e) Use a hyphen to show that a word has been broken at the end of a line: It was conven- ient time. f) Use a hyphen with “suspended compounds”. When we use several very similar compounds together, it may not be necessary to repeat the last part of the compound: 1) They need to employ more full- and part- time staff. (not They need to employ more full-time and part-time staff.) 2) This rule applies only to 12-, 13- and 14- year olds. (not This rule applies only to 12-year olds, 13- year olds and 14- year olds.) · An ellipsis (…) is used to mark omitted text. · The exclamation mark (!) is used to mark an exclamation. · The full stop (Brirish), or period (American) (.) is used to mark the end of a sentence. It is also use to mark abbreviation of names as initials. · Quotation marks are used to mark Quotation. · The question mark (?) is used to mark the end of a sentence which is a question. · The slash or stroke or solidus (/) is used to indicate alternatives, such as “his/her”, or two equivalent meanings or spellings, such as “grey/gray. slash

Writing