GRADE 8 English NATURAL RESOURCES:WILDLIFE – READING:SHORT STORY Notes
READING: SHORT STORY — Grammar Notes
Topic: NATURAL RESOURCES: WILDLIFE (English grammar for reading)
Age: 13 (Kenya) — These notes focus on the English grammar you need when reading short stories about wildlife (for example, stories set in the Maasai Mara, Amboseli or Tsavo).
Learning goals
- Recognise verb tenses used in stories (especially past tense).
- Understand direct and reported speech in dialogues.
- Identify adjectives, comparatives and superlatives used to describe animals and places.
- Use subject–verb agreement, plurals and simple passive for reading comprehension.
1. Verbs and Tenses (common in short stories)
Past simple: Stories usually tell events that happened — use past simple verbs. Example: "The ranger watched the elephant." (watched = past simple)
Tips when reading: Look for time words — yesterday, last night, then, that evening, suddenly — these often mark past tense.
- The lion roared and chased the gazelle. (roared, chased = past simple)
- The herders walked to the river and saw a herd of elephants. (walked, saw = past simple)
Practice A: Change to past simple:
- The boy (watch) the rhino.
- They (arrive) at the Maasai Mara camp.
Answers
1. watched 2. arrived
2. Adjectives, Comparatives and Superlatives
Adjectives describe nouns (animals, places). Comparatives compare two things (bigger); superlatives show extremes (biggest).
- Adjective: a tall giraffe.
- Comparative: The elephant is larger than the buffalo.
- Superlative: The silver-backed jackal is the smallest in that pack.
Practice B: Fill in the correct form:
- The cheetah is (fast) _____ than the zebra.
- The elephant is the (heavy) _____ animal in the group.
Answers
1. faster 2. heaviest
3. Direct Speech (Quotation) and Reported Speech
Short stories often contain dialogue. Use quotation marks for direct speech: "..." Reported speech (telling what was said) changes pronouns and verb tenses.
Direct: "Look! A rhino," said the guide.
Reported: The guide said that they had seen a rhino.
Rules when changing to reported speech:
- Present -> Past (e.g., "I am" → he said he was).
- Pronouns and time words often change (now → then, today → that day).
Practice C: Change to reported speech:
- "We found tracks," the ranger said.
- "I will take a photo," she said.
Answers
1. The ranger said that they had found tracks.
2. She said that she would take a photo.
4. Nouns, Plurals and Subject–Verb Agreement
Names of animals are nouns. Most animals form plurals by adding -s, but some are irregular (e.g., deer → deer).
- The lion runs. / The lions run. (singular verb vs plural verb)
- Irregular plural: one deer → many deer.
Practice D: Choose correct verb:
- The herd of elephants (is / are) near the river.
- Two cheetahs (was / were) chasing a gazelle.
Answers
1. is (herd = a group, treated as one unit) 2. were
5. Passive Voice (simple use)
Sometimes stories use passive to focus on the action: "The abandoned den was found by the ranger." (useful when the doer is not important).
Active: The boy fed the orphaned elephant. → Passive: The orphaned elephant was fed by the boy.
Practice E: Change to passive:
- The ranger recorded the bird's call.
Answer
The bird's call was recorded by the ranger.
Short Story Paragraph (read and practise)
One evening at Maasai Mara, Amos and his friend Amina walked to a quiet river. They saw an old elephant grazing near the water. "Look!" Amina cried, "It is so calm." The two children watched the elephant as the sun set. Later, the guide told them that the elephant had lost its herd. They felt sad but promised to help by telling the park rangers.
Questions (use grammar to answer)
- List all past simple verbs in the paragraph.
- Change the direct speech "It is so calm." to reported speech.
- Find two adjectives and say what they describe.
- Make the sentence "They watched the elephant" passive.
- Combine these two sentences using 'because': "They felt sad. They told the rangers."
Answers and notes
1. walked, saw, cried, watched, set, told, felt, promised (note: "cried" is an action word here = past simple)
2. Amina cried that it was very calm. (present 'is' → past 'was'; add 'that' and change pronoun if needed)
3. Examples: "quiet" (describes river), "old" (describes elephant), "calm" (describes elephant's behaviour) — any two valid adjectives in the paragraph are fine.
4. The elephant was watched by them. (or: The elephant was watched by Amos and Amina.)
5. They felt sad because they told the rangers. (Better meaning: They told the rangers because they felt sad.)
Final tips for reading short stories about wildlife
- Underline verbs and note the tense to follow the story timeline.
- Circle direct speech and practise changing it to reported speech.
- Look for descriptive words (adjectives) — they show mood, place and appearance.
- Check subject–verb agreement especially with groups (a herd, a troop).
Simple visual: 🐘 🦁 🐃 — Keep these animals in mind when you practise grammar in wildlife stories.
Use these notes when you read any short story on wildlife. Try writing one short paragraph and then check the grammar points above.