Animals and Plants Around Me
Primary 2 · English
Animals and Plants Around Me
Lesson 3 of 3
13 min
Let's begin
On Saturday, Umutoni goes to the market with her mother. The baskets are full and the sun is warm.
“There is one big pineapple,” says her mother, pointing. “And there are ten small tomatoes. Count them for me, Umutoni.”
Today you will learn the English names of plants, fruits and vegetables — and two little words you will use every single day: There is and There are.
Picture one bean plant in your garden. Start at the bottom and climb up:
A big tree in the school yard has the same parts, only bigger. Its thick stem is called a trunk, and it has many branches.
A fruit is usually sweet. It often has seeds inside. Most of the time we eat it just as it is, with no cooking.
Say these out loud: banana, mango, avocado, pineapple, passion fruit, orange, papaya, guava.
It is a sweet yellow banana. They are three green avocados.
A vegetable is the part of a plant we usually cook before we eat it. Some are leaves, some are roots.
Say these out loud: cabbage, carrot, onion, spinach, aubergine.
The cabbage is a big ball of leaves. The carrot is a root — it grew under the ground.
These are the plants your family grows in the field: beans, maize, cassava, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, sorghum, rice.
Now the two little words. Look at the table:
There is one mango on the table.
Now Mama puts more mangoes in the basket:
There are six mangoes in the basket.
Do you see it? One thing → There is. More than one thing → There are.
Two more:
There is a tall tree behind the school. (only one tree)
There are many green leaves on the tree. (lots of leaves)
Careful! In that last sentence there is only one tree — but we said There are. Why? Because we must look at the word that comes straight after. That word is leaves, and leaves are many.
Most of the time you just add s:
banana → bananas carrot → carrots bean → beans tree → trees
But three friends need an extra e. Look at their last letter — it is o:
mango → mangoes tomato → tomatoes potato → potatoes
And one word changes completely. Learn it by heart:
leaf → leaves
Tip
IS for one. ARE for more than one
Do not look at the whole picture — look at the word straight after there is or there are. That word tells you which one to use.
There is one cow. One cow → is.
There are many leaves. Many leaves → are.
Whisper it at the market: “Is one, are many. Is one, are many.”
Try each one first, then tap Show answer to check.
There ___ one avocado in the bowl.
Answer: is. One avocado, so we use is.
There ___ four carrots on the table.
Answer: are. Four carrots is more than one.
Is a banana a fruit or a vegetable?
Answer: a fruit. It is sweet and we eat it just as it is, with no cooking.
Write the many-word for mango.
Answer: mangoes. Do not forget the extra e!
Which part of the plant is under the ground and drinks the water?
Answer: the roots.
Keza said: “There is many beans in the pot.” Fix it.
Answer: There are many beans in the pot. Beans are more than one, so we must use are.
What you learned today
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