IELTS Preparation Series 1, Episode 26: Archaeology

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Hello and welcome again to Study English, IELTS Preparation. I'm Margot Politis.

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Today we're going to look at classification - how things are sorted into classes or groups.

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We'll listen to an archaeologist talking about artefacts, things left behind from the past,

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and what sorts of groups they belong to.

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And we'll finish by doing some pronunciation practice on final 's' sounds.

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Well, these are all artefacts from the cesspits at Casseldon Place and there's a real assortment

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of different types.

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Some of the artefacts we've got relate to, I guess, the leisure time activity, the pastimes,

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people might've had.

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There are some gaming tokens. This is a lead disc with a horse figurine on it as well.

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It would've been used as some sort of betting token.

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The dice there, the bone dice as well. There's a couple of dominoes - one's made out of bone,

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one, we think's made out of slate.

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Some of the other pieces, we've got a lead rifle that would've been part of a child's

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toy soldier set.

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Yeah, these bones, again, from the cesspits of Casseldon, and quite clearly, it's been

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cut. These aren't natural breaks at all. These are what we refer to as butchering marks.

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So we're not just learning what sort of animals were eaten at Casseldon, we're also learning

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about the cuts of meat being provided, whether it's been done locally by individual house

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owners, or whether they're going to a local butcher.

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I think the artefacts from Casseldon Place and the other results of the archaeological

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process are important because they give us a really rare insight into the way Melbourne

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operated in its early years.

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The speaker, Jeremy Smith, is discussing the artefacts he's found in Melbourne. Let's look

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at how he classifies or sorts out these artefacts for us.

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First, the 'opening statement' tells us what is being classified. This is an orientation.

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Then the things are classified according to certain criteria. They're put into groups.

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Finally, at the end of the classification, there's a summary, or a comment on the groups

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and their significance.

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Let's listen to Jeremy's opening statement or orientation.

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Well, these are all artefacts from the cesspits at Casseldon Place and there's a real assortment

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of different types.

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So the topic of this classification is the artefacts from Casseldon Place.

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We are told that there is a real assortment of different types.

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From this opening statement, we would expect the rest of the passage to be about the different

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types of artefacts found there, and that's exactly what's given.

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Listen to how the first type is introduced.

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Some of the artefacts we've got relate to, I guess, the leisure time activity, the pastimes,

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that people might've had.

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The first category is of artefacts relating to leisure time activity, or pastimes.

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This is the first group or class of the classification.

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To make this clearer to the reader or listener, he could have used signals to show this was

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the first category.

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He could have said:

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Firstly, we have artefacts that relate to leisure time activities.

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What's the next group?

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Some of the other pieces, we've got a lead rifle that would've been part of a child's

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toy soldier set.

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So the second category is children's toys.

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Again, he could have introduced this by saying second, or secondly.

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Secondly, we have children's toys.

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And what about the third, or final category?

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Yeah, these bones, again, from the cesspits of Casseldon, and quite clearly, it's been

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cut.

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The third category is to do with bones, evidence of what people ate.

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So, "Thirdly, we have bones."

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So after describing the different classes or groups, Jeremy summarises by saying why

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the artefacts are important.

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I think the artefacts from Casseldon Place and the other results of the archaeological

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process are important because they give us a really rare insight into the way Melbourne

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operated in its early years.

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This is a summary statement. He finishes by giving a comment on the importance of the

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classification.

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Here he is saying the artefacts are important because of the rare insight they give us.

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They show what life was like in Melbourne many years ago.

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OK, now we're going to look at something completely different- the pronunciation of the letter

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's' at the end of words.

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But first, let's look at when you'll find an 's' on the end of words.

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Well firstly, there's the natural 's'. Some words are always spelt with a final 's'.

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Secondly, the letter 's' is added to plural nouns,

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thirdly, it's added to 3rd person singular verbs in the present tense,

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Finally, it's added to the possessive pronoun it, and possessive nouns.

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OK, so there are lots of times when you'll see and 's' on the end of words. For words

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where it's added on, it has three different pronunciations. Let's classify them!

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The first pronunciation of the final -s is 'uz'.

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It's pronounced this way after sounds such as s, z, sh, ch and j.

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Listen for an example in the passage.

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Some of the other pieces, we've got a lead rifle that would've been part of a child's

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toy soldier set.

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Did you hear it? The example was pieces, pieces.

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The 's' on the end is pronounced 'uz' because it followed an 'ess' sound.

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Other examples are:

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buzzes

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wishes

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churches

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judges.

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The second way 's' is pronounced at the end of a word is 'sss'. It's pronounced this way

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after voiceless consonants 'puh', 'tuh', 'kuh', 'ff' and 'th'.

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Some examples from the text are:

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artifacts

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types

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breaks

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marks

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and cuts

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The rest of the time, that is after voiced consonants such as 'buh' 'duh' 'guh' 'lll',

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'r', 'v', 'th' [hard] 'm', 'n' and after 'vowels and diphthongs', the final 's' is pronounced

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'zzz'.

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Examples from the text are:

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There's

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pastimes

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tokens

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dominoes

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child's

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bones

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animals

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years

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Now listen to the clip again, and try to hear the difference between these different final

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's' sounds.

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Yeah, these bones, again, from the cesspits of Casseldon, and quite clearly, it's been

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cut. These aren't natural breaks at all. These are what we refer to as butchering marks.

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Its is a word that even native English speakers have a lot of trouble with.

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Its can be written without an apostrophe, and with an apostrophe.

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But what's the difference?

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Well, with an apostrophe, it's is a contraction of it is, or it has.

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Without an apostrophe its is a possessive pronoun.

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The other possessive pronouns are: my, your, his, her, our and their.

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These are used to show possession. For example: Is that your dog?

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What is its name?

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Remember that possessive pronouns NEVER have an 's' added to them, but possessive nouns

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do.

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Is that Simon's dog?

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Apostrophes can often cause trouble for English language learners.

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They are used with contractions and with possessives.

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Don't EVER use an apostrophe to make nouns plural.

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There are many students at school.

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NOT

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There are many student's at school.

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And don't confuse the contraction of a noun and is with the possessive form of the noun.

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They look the same, but they mean very different things.

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"Mary's dog is ill," means the dog that belongs to Mary is ill.

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"Mary's ill today," means Mary is ill. Here, Mary's is a contraction of Mary is.

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OK, now let's listen to one last clip, then we'll see if you can add some apostrophes.

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Some of the other pieces, we've got a lead rifle that would've been part of a child's

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toy soldier set.

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He says:

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Some of the other pieces we've got are a lead rifle that would've been part of a child's

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toy soldier set.

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We've is a contraction of we have, so that needs an apostrophe.

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Would've is a contraction of would have, so that needs one too.

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And the last one?

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A child's toy soldier set. The toy soldier set belongs to the child. It's a possessive

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's', so that needs an apostrophe too.

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And don't forget to practice your pronunciation and punctuation at home whenever you can.

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You'll get the hang of it quickly, I'm sure.

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And thanks for joining me for Study English, IELTS Preparation. Bye bye.

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