Unit 2a Book

1. Introduction

Do you know what satellite TV, bar coding, joystick controllers, smoke detectors, laptop computers, translucent braces and portable cordless power tools have in common? Well, they are all spin-offs from NASA space programmes. Most of us come across these devices in our everyday lives without even knowing this. Unit 2a uses this context to revise and consolidate the use of the passive voice and some phrases used to describe a function.

Contents:

The Present Simple and Past Passive: Velcro was invented in 1948.

Describing a function: be used to.../for... -ing/in... The function of... is...:

• This fabric is used to protect astronauts from fire.                         (to-infinitive)
• This fabric is used for protecting astronauts from fire.                 (for + -ing verb form)
• This fabric is used in space suits.                                                    (in + a noun)
• The function of this fabric is to protect astronauts from fire.     (to-infinitive)
• The function of this fabric is protecting astronauts from fire.   (-ing verb form)

2. Unit 2a Forum

This forum will give you an opportunity to think about the origin of some devices you normally use. Answer at least two of the following questions and respond to at least one contribution of a fellow student.

1. What electrical appliances, devices or gadgets wouldn´t you be able to live without? Why?
2. What electrical appliances, devices or gadgets would you be able to live without, i.e. you find them unnecessary?
3. Do you know anything about the origin/invention of any of the devices you listed in points one and two?
4. This unit discusses by-products of space research. What spin-offs of this research do you know?

3. Reading: Spin-Offs from Space Programmes

Can you imagine your life without the technologies that are all around? Maybe it´s a shame, but many of them are by-products of military research. However, some of them are spin-offs of space exploration. Read about them in the book on p. 11 (Bonamy, D. (2013). Technical English Level 4 Coursebook. Pearson Longman, p. 11) and do this task.

4. Grammar: Passive Voice

When reading about the spin-offs in your book, maybe you noticed that to describe the spin-offs in full sentences, the Passive Voice was often used. For example:

Explosive devices that were used to jettison unwanted spacecraft launchers are now used for inflating airbags on boats to stabilise them.

That is, the grammar form is as follows:     “to be” + the past participle (-ed or irregular)

The reason for using the passive voice is logical:

1) The agent, i.e. the one who does the action, is not important or known. Sometimes it is not even desirable to mention the agent. Instead, the focus is on the activity itself or its result.

2) The sentence is part of a formal text. Generally, the passive voice sounds more formal than the active voice. Therefore, it is more often used in writing, rather than speaking.

What you should also know about the passive voice is how to convert an active sentence into a passive one. So now read about this grammar point here and then practise it by doing tasks A, B and C. If you think you need further practice, do the tasks in the Further Practice Section at the end of this unit.

5. Listening and Reading: NASA Spin-Offs

In fact, there are more NASA spin-offs than those mentioned in the text in your book. Watch the video to find out about more of them. While watching, complete this listening task.

Finally, read about NASA´s latest spin-offs in this reading task. The text in this task is long and complex, and there are 23 accompanying questions, so if you want to complete this task, make sure you have enough time. And do not be surprised if you find it a bit challenging. It is hard, as it is intended to satisfy the language needs of those students that are at the C1 level according to CEFR. 

6. Grammar: Describing a Function

In Section 4 above, you could see the following sentence:

Explosive devices that were used to jettison unwanted spacecraft launchers are now used for inflating airbags on boats to stabilise them.

Now that you know that the sentence is in the passive voice, let´s look at it from a different perspective. Focus on the phrase “(be) used to/for”. This phrase is very useful if you want to talk about an application and function of an invention or a device. As you can see, it can be followed by a variety of prepositions (for, to, in, during), which then affect the form of the following verb. In addition, the phrase has lots of synonyms, for example, “The function of explosive devices was to jettison unwanted spacecraft launchers.” Read about a variety of ways to describe a function here (the ones required in this course are highlighted in yellow). Then practise some of them here and here. Finally, complete this grammar overview to revise the grammar point fully.

7. Passive Voice: Further Practice

If you feel you need to practise the passive voice further, do the following exercises.

1)     Past Passive

2)     Past Passive Questions

3)     Translation

4)     Glass Recycling

5)     Car Recycling

8. Word List

The key terms related to the topic of Unit 2a can be found:

• in the Excel format here.
• in the interactive flash card format here. This format is particularly good for drilling the new vocabulary.
• in a zip file here. This file is downloadable, so that after unpacking it, you can drill the new vocabulary on your desktop, laptop or any other portable device where you have a browser installed. The recommended one is Mozilla Firefox. Important: after unzipping the zip file, make sure to keep all the related files in the same directory at all times. Do not change any file names and do not transfer or delete anything.

Recommendation: Remember that the best way to learn new vocabulary is to see each new word in a context; that is, seeing it in the contexts provided in the tasks you complete in the unit.

9. A printer-friendly version of Unit 2a exercises and the keys

A printer-friendly version of Unit 2a exercises and the keys to these exercises can be found here.