The Crow and the Pitcher

One day a thirsty crow found a pitcher with some water in it, but there was so little water that she could not reach it with her beak. She tried as hard as she could but she was unsuccessful. It seemed as though she would die of thirst.

Finally she hit upon a clever plan. She began dropping pebbles into the pitcher; and with each pebble the water rose a little higher until at last it reached the brim, and the clever bird was able to quench her thirst.



The moral of the story is this: Necessity is the mother of invention.



VOCABULARY

In the first paragraph. . .
1. a “beak” is a bird’s (a) foot (b) feathers (c) mouth

2. to “die of thirst” means
(a) to be dead (b) to be really thirsty (c) to be deathly ill

In the second paragraph . . .
3. “She hit upon a clever plan” means
(a) She was very intelligent.
(b) She used a hammer.
(c) She thought about or came up with a solution.

4. “At last it [the water] reached the brim.” “brim” means
(a) the edge or rim of the vessel
(b) the bottom of the pitcher
(c) the water overflowed

5. “to quench her thirst” “quench” means
(a) to be thirsty
(b) to stop by satisfying
(c) to pour water into a glass

GRAMMAR

Write down fourteen subjects, their verbs, and tenses the infinitive
1. CROW FOUND past TO FIND
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.





15. There is / was introduces a singular subject
for example: (1) THERE IS A PEN on my desk.*
(2) THERE WAS A PEN on my desk yesterday.
.
NON-COUNT NOUNS are also singular
(3) THERE IS SOME WATER in the pitcher.


(a) so little [singular noun]
THERE IS SO LITTLE TIME to do my homework.

(b) so much [singular noun]
THERE WAS SO MUCH SALT in the food (that) I couldn’t eat it.

*[With THERE sentences, try also using a prepositional phrases.]
(c) Now you write a sentence using SO LITTLE


(d) Now you write a sentence using SO MUCH


16. There are / were introduces a plural COUNT NOUNS assubject
COUNT NOUNS are plural.

for example: THERE ARE PENS on my desk.
THERE WERE SOME PENS on my desk yesterday.

(a) so few (plural noun)
THERE ARE SO FEW PEOPLE here today.
(b) so many (plural noun)
THERE WERE SO MANY WOMEN waiting in line that they had to
open up another

(c) Now you write a sentence using SO FEW


(d) Now you write a sentence using SO MANY

SUPPLEMENTARY GRAMMAR

1. “She began dropping pebbles into the pitcher.”

Words such as begin,
start,
stop,
continue,
finish,
end up,
keep on are often followed by an ING word.
Try writing two of your own sentences using two of these words. You can change them to past tense or future or present perfect if you want to.





2. to rise is a verb that does NOT take an object. It just needs a subject.
For example:
(a) Everyone, please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,
and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.

RISE in the above example means ____________________.

(b) The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
RISES means __________________________________

(c) I rose at 6:30 this morning.
RISE means ___________________________________

(d) Gas prices are always rising.
ARE RISING means ________________________________

Please write your own sentence using RISE, ROSE, or HAVE/HAS RISEN
(e) ________________________________________________________



CONVERSATION
Talk with your partner and then write answers in complete sentence.

1. What kind of bird is in this story? ___________________________________

2. What did she find? _____________________________________________

3. What was the problem? __________________________________________

4. What was the solution. __________________________________________

5. What does this sentence mean? Explain what you think in your own words.
“Necessity is the mother of invention.” means _______________________________________________________________