Grade 7 English LAND TRAVEL – READING:PRAISE SONGS Notes
English Notes — READING: PRAISE SONGS (Land Travel)
Topic: Land Travel — Focus: grammar in short praise songs. Age: 12 (Kenyan learners). Use these notes to find and practise grammar while reading praise songs about land, roads, hills and villages.
Short praise song (example)
Land of tall hills, we sing your name.
Roads of red earth carry our feet.
Open plains welcome our laughter.
We praise the river that leads us home. 🏞️🚶♀️
Key grammar points (simple)
- Nouns — names of people, places, things. From the song: land, hills, roads, plains, river. Proper noun example: Kenya (always capitalized).
- Adjectives — describe nouns. They tell what kind, which or how many. Examples in the song: tall hills, red earth, open plains. (Adjectives usually come before the noun.)
- Verbs — action or state words. In the song: sing, carry, welcome, praise, leads. Pay attention to tense (see below).
- Tenses — show time.
- Present simple (say facts or regular actions): "We sing" — used in praise songs to show a general truth or habit.
- Present continuous (action happening now): "We are singing" — less common in short praise lines but used for current action.
- Past simple (done in the past): "We sang" — used to tell what happened before.
- Adverbs — modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. Example idea: "We sing loudly" (loudly = how). Adverbs often end in -ly but not always (e.g., fast).
- Prepositions of place — show position or direction. Useful in land travel poems: on, over, across, through. Example: "Roads over the hills" or "We walk through the plain."
- Subject–verb agreement — the verb must match the subject in number. Example: "The river leads" (river = singular → leads), "The roads carry" (roads = plural → carry).
- Sentence types and punctuation — praise songs often use short sentences and exclamations:
- Statement: "We sing your name."
- Exclamation: "How beautiful the plains are!" (use ! for strong feeling)
- Imperative (command): "Praise the land!" — often used in songs to encourage action.
Quick practice (do this)
- Find and write three nouns from the short song above. (Hint: look for things and places.)
- Pick one line and underline the adjective(s) that describe a noun. Write the noun and its adjective.
- Choose the correct verb form:
a) We (sing / sings) praises every morning.
b) The road (lead / leads) to the village.
c) They (walk / walks) through the plains. - Fill in a preposition: "We walk ___ the red road." (choose from: on, through, over)
Answers (click to see)
1) Example nouns: land, hills, roads, plains, river.
2) Example: "tall hills" → adjective = tall, noun = hills. "red earth" → red, earth.
3) a) We sing praises every morning. b) The road leads to the village. c) They walk through the plains.
4) Best fit: "We walk on the red road." (You can also use "along" or "through" depending on meaning; "through the red road" is less common.)
2) Example: "tall hills" → adjective = tall, noun = hills. "red earth" → red, earth.
3) a) We sing praises every morning. b) The road leads to the village. c) They walk through the plains.
4) Best fit: "We walk on the red road." (You can also use "along" or "through" depending on meaning; "through the red road" is less common.)
Tips for reading praise songs and spotting grammar
- Read slowly and underline nouns and verbs in different colours.
- Look for adjectives before nouns — they give feeling and detail.
- Check verb endings (-s, -ed, -ing) to know the tense and who is doing the action.
- Try to write one line of your own praise song using at least one adjective, one noun and one verb.
Have fun reading and finding grammar in praise songs about our land! 🏞️📚