32
Dinosaurs
Textbook: p. 37
GoalTalk about dinosaurs using was/were.
New words
dinosaur · dinozavrhuge · ulkanplant-eater · o‘simlikxo‘rmeat-eater · go‘shtxo‘r
Explanation
Dinosaurs lived on Earth millions of years ago. Scientists think that most of them died out about 66 million years ago. We talk about them in the past: “Dinosaurs lived on Earth.” The past of be: was (I, he, she, it), were (we, you, they). “Diplodocus was very long.” “Dinosaurs were big.” Negatives: wasn’t, weren’t: “There weren’t any people then.” Questions: “Was it dangerous?” — “Were they all big?” Tyrannosaurus rex was a meat-eater; Triceratops and Diplodocus were plant-eaters. Some dinosaurs were huge, but some were as small as a chicken.
Worked examples
“Giants of the past”. Millions of years ago dinosaurs lived on Earth. Some were huge. Diplodocus was a plant-eater and it was very long, about twenty-five metres. Tyrannosaurus rex was a meat-eater with sharp teeth. There weren’t any people then. Today we know about dinosaurs from their bones.
— Was Triceratops a meat-eater? — No, it wasn’t. It was a plant-eater. — Were there people then? — No, there weren’t.
Class activity
“Dinosaur cards”: a pupil says a sentence about a dinosaur; the class says “True” or “False”. (“Tyrannosaurus was a plant-eater.” — False.)
Practice
1
was or were: Dinosaurs ___ big.
were
2
Make a question: Triceratops / a meat-eater
Was Triceratops a meat-eater?
3
Make it negative: There were people then.
There weren’t any people then.
4
Why “Dinosaurs lived” and not “live”?
They lived millions of years ago, so we use the past.