Unit 5 bc Book

1. Introduction

Unit 5bc deals with instructions and rules given to prevent safety hazards. Your coursebook uses the context of mechanical engineering and aviation to introduce the basic grammatical structures used to talk about safety regulations and safety measures taken to prevent injuries. This Moodle course, however, takes into account the fact that your field is electrical engineering and therefore uses electrical engineering scenarios to present and practice the language of safety regulations.

Contents:

Language of safety regulations:

Revision: imperatives:

·       First, disconnect the appliance. Always disconnect an electrical appliance before you start repairing it.

Modals:

You must disconnect an electrical appliance before you start repairing it.

Phrasal modals:

·       You have to disconnect an electrical appliance before you start repairing it.

Passive modals:

·       An electrical appliance must be disconnected before you start repairing it.

Time clauses:

·       Only start repairing an electrical appliance after/if/when/once you´ve disconnected it.

·       Never/Don´t start repairing an electrical appliance unless/until/before you disconnected it.

Reduced clauses:

·       Only start repairing an electrical appliance after disconnecting it.

2. Warm-up: Forum

Electrical energy is vital to humans. We cannot imagine our lives without electricity. However, although electricity makes our lives easier, it can sometimes cause severe injuries or even deaths. Think about various ways electricity can be dangerous and discuss them in this forum.

3. Reading and Listening: Electrical Hazards

Although electricity makes our lives easier, it can sometimes cause severe injuries or even deaths. Basically, there are two ways to be injured by electricity: by electric shock and by arc flash. Do this exercise to see what electric shocks and arc flashes might result in. Then read a more detailed text concerning electrical hazards. Some of its parts have been taken out. Your task is to make the text complete. Finally, focus on safety precautions. Safety precautions are measures taken to prevent accidents. Read the safety precautions in this exercise and then listen to the recording. You are going to hear a student who witnessed an electric shock during his secondary studies. Listen and identify the precautions that are mentioned in the story. Put them in the correct order by typing a correct number in the boxes.

4. Language Study: Safety Precautions

Safety precautions are measures taken to prevent accidents. However, what should people do AFTER an accident happens?

Look at the picture. The electrician on the left has not been using safe work practices. He has just received an electric shock. The witness to the accident wants to help. Below, you can see some advice on how to treat the victim. Study the language forms in the table carefully to make sure you understand them fully and are able to distinguish between all the nuances in meaning the listed modals may have. They can be used to give recommendations and advice as well as to express permission and prohibition. Also, notice how a single meaning can be expressed in various ways using a variety of verb forms.

If you think you fully understand all the verb forms, complete this task without looking back at the table above. You will see if you drilled this grammar point sufficiently. If you think you fully understand this grammar, practice it by completing this exercise. Fill in the blanks in the sentences with a correct verb from the brackets. Sometimes you will need to change the form of the given verbs. After you finish, practise the same grammar point by trying to rephrase the sentences in this exercise. Rewrite the instructions using the expressions in brackets.

So far, you have used imperatives and active and passive modals to give instructions, recommendations, and advice. However, apart from modals, you can also use time clauses to express the same meaning. Study the table below:

At first sight, the sentences above do not seem to be difficult or any special. However, three tricky grammar rules are hidden within them. They will become more obvious and clearer when the sentences are converted into the Future Simple tense:

1) First, focus on the words in italics. You will notice that unlike in Czech, where both the main clause and the subordinate clause are in the future tense, in English, only the main clause is in the future tense. The subordinate time clause is in the present tense.

2) Now, focus on the underlined -ing verb form. This is called the present participle and is used for the reduction of the subordinate time clause. However, this reduction is only possible if the two clauses have the same subjects; here, it´s “I”. This rule is logical: as the reduced -ing form is not able to express the person, it is automatically assumed that the person is the same as in the main clause, i.e. I.

3) Finally, focus on unless (= ledaže(by)) and until (dokud/pokud ne). If you translate the sentence into Czech, you can see that the Czech sentence has negative particles in both the main clause and the subordinate time clause. (Nedotknu se oběti, dokud nezkontroluji, že…). English, however, only has the negative particle in the main clause. (I will not...). The subordinate clause is positive (I check). This is because the connectives unless and until carry a negative meaning themselves, so no other negative particle can be used after them in the subordinate time clause.

5. Writing: A Safety Handbook

Now, it´s high time to use the knowledge you have acquired in this unit to write a text. Choose ONE of the two tasks below and prepare a short text giving electrical safety instructions.

1. Imagine you have a company producing and maintaining high-voltage electrical equipment (you may specify the device if you wish). Prepare a short Dos and Don’ts list of what your employees should/ shouldn’t /must/ mustn’t /are allowed/are not allowed/can/can’t/may do to avoid work-related accidents. This list is intended to be displayed in your workshops. Your list should have at least 10 items.

2. Imagine you are going to give a lecture on electrical safety. The lecture is intended for 9-year-old children. Prepare a short transcript of what you are going to say. Write at least 10 sentences. Make sure you include an appropriate introduction and conclusion.

6. Word Llist

The key terms related to the topic of Unit 5bc 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.