The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg

One day a farmer was collecting eggs from the nests of his geese. In one of the nests, he found a heavy, yellow egg. He took it home and tried to break it open, but it wouldn’t break. He took it to the market where he learned that it was gold.
The next day, the same thing happened, but he observed very carefully and saw which goose had laid the egg. For the next several days, this wonderful goose continued to produce golden eggs; and the farmer sold them, becoming richer and richer.
However, as he steadily grew richer, he became greedier; and he thought that if he could get all the eggs inside the goose in one day, he could then retire and would never have to work again. So he killed the goose by opening it up, yet he found nothing.
The moral of this story is this: He who is greedy is never satisfied.
VOCABULARY
1. “he observed very carefully” “observed” means
a) watched b) listened c) killed

2. “For the next several days” “several” means
a) one more day b) three or four days c) seven days

3. “he steadily grew richer. . . .” “steadily” means
a) slowly b) quickly c) little by little

GRAMMAR

A. Find all the subjects and past-tense verbs. Then write the infinitives.
1. a farmer was collecting (past continuous) to collect
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
19.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.


B. Find any verbs that are used with modals (would, could, can, will, may, might, must or the negatives wouldn’t, couldn’t can’t won’t may not, might not, must not)

1.
2.
3.
4.



C. There is one sentence that uses the past perfect tense:
“The next day, the same thing happened, but he observed very carefully and saw which goose had laid the egg.



__________to lay__________________
present past present perfect past perfect
I lay laid have/has laid had laid
You lay
He/She/It lays
We lay
You lay
They lay

“ to lay” takes an object Look at these examples.

a. I always lay my keys on the table.
b. He laid his jacket on the bed.
c. That chicken has never laid a brown egg.

d. Please write your own sentence using lay.
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past perfect tense
expresses an activity that was completed before a particular time in the past
e.g. I had eaten when Bob came.
1 2
two things happened in the past, one before the other.
the first one that happened is in the past perfect.

He saw the goose that had laid the golden egg.
2 1

e. Please try writing a sentence using the past perfect of any verb.

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D. IF introduces conditional clauses [what would or could be possible.]
“If he could get all the eggs inside the goose in one day,
he could then retire and (he) would never have to work again.

f. Is there something your could do IF something else could or would be different?
If I could . . .
or
If my husband/wife/mother/sister etc. could ______, then what would or could happen?

Please write your own sentence:

E. “In one of the nests. . .” The prepositional phrase that follows ONE is always plural. For example One of the students, one of my books, one of her classes
and if these phrases are used as the subject of a sentence, such as this:
One (of the students) has a cold today.

Please write your own sentence using ONE and a phrase that follows.


F. Find all the descriptive adjectives in the story and tell what nouns they modify.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

CONVERSATION
1. What kind of eggs was the farmer collecting?
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2. What was so unusual about one of the eggs?
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3. What did the farmer do to get more eggs? and Why did he do this?
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4. How would you describe this farmer?
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5. What does “He who is greedy is never satisfied.” mean?

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