Unit 3a Book

1. Introduction

Technological products are not always perfectly fault-free. There is a big problem when a fault endangers people´s lives; in such a case, companies usually recall their products. Unit 3a uses this context to teach you how to talk about events happening right now. You will see that if you do not know the agent of an action or if it is simply not desirable to mention it, you can use the passive present progressive tense. Furthermore, you will have a chance to study phrases typical of such product recalls. Surprisingly, there is often a discrepancy between the seriousness of a product fault and the “soft” and “cautious” language used in its recall. Of course, companies do not wish to discourage their customers from buying their products in the future.

Contents:

Grammar: Present Continuous Passive for actions happening now:

More than ten thousand packages of this medicine are being recalled.

"By" for indicating the agent: The cars are being inspected by BMW technicians.

Vocabulary: language of product recalls

• expressions showing a decrease in certainty/probability: may, might, can, could (modals); a slight possibility, potential (other phrases)       
• phrases showing a decrease in frequency: under certain conditions, in the unlikely event that, in very rare instances, in a few isolated cases
• safety concerns: as a precaution; even though/although no accidents have been reported; take safety seriously

2. Unit 3a Forum

To what extent are you satisfied with the quality and the length of service life of current products? The older generation that remembers products which were available some 30 years ago sometimes say that, for example, their first, old washing machine lasted for twenty years before they had to buy a new one, while they have technical problems with this new one after just two years of operation. How this is possible? Discuss this topic in this forum.

3. Listening: Toyota Recall

As stated in the introduction, technological products are hardly ever perfectly fault-free. Sometimes a fault can endanger people´s lives, and that´s the reason why companies sometimes recall their products. You can see such a scenario in a video from 2009 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDYou3B8-hs. Complete this listening task while watching it.

4. Grammar: The Present Continuous/Progressive Active and Passive

Imagine such a tragedy has just happened. What do you think the Toyota company officials are now doing? Definitely, they are doing their best to prevent any lawsuits. Therefore:

Now practise this grammar point in this task by converting sentences from the active to passive voice.

5. Reading: Toyota Recalls

Now that you know about the usual style that journalists use to write about product recalls, read about Toyota recalls here. This reading task will give you a chance to expand your vocabulary and to find out more about car recalls. Before doing this reading comprehension task, make sure to watch the video above.

6. Vocabulary: Phrases Often Used in Product Recall Notices

An integral part of a product recall is a product recall notice informing the customers about the potential fault. Now, do this task to see what a typical recall notice looks like. Pay special attention to capitalized expressions indicating some ways to make a recall "softer", i.e. to make the occurrences of the fault seem less probable. Sort these expressions into the pre-set categories. Finally, try to fill in gaps in this recall notice.

7. Word list

The key terms related to the topic of Unit 3a 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.

8. A printer-friendly version of Unit 3a exercises and the keys

A printer-friendly version of Unit 3a exercises and the keys to these exercises can be found here.