Sweet Love

These target skills the book exercises do not fully address: inference, text organisation, and evaluating the writer's purpose.

Exercise 1.1 - Writer's Purpose (Inference)

Read the statements below. For each one, decide: is the writer stating a fact (F), giving an opinion (O), or reporting what someone else says (R)?

#	Statement	F/O/R
1	"Many scientists believe our love of sugar may actually be an addiction."
2	"One-third of adults worldwide have high blood pressure."
3	"Sugar, we believe, is one of the culprits, if not the major culprit."
4	"It's obvious that we need to eat less sugar."
5	"The battle has not yet been lost."

Exercise 1.2 - Text Organisation

The five paragraphs (A-E) of "Sweet Love" follow a common structure used in expository writing. Match each paragraph to its function.

Paragraph	Function
A
B
C
D
E

Functions (write the correct letter):

• a) Describing efforts to solve the problem
• b) Introducing the problem and how sugar affects us
• c) Explaining why reducing sugar is difficult
• d) Explaining why our bodies crave sugar (evolutionary cause)
• e) Expert evidence linking sugar to serious illness

Exercise 1.3 - Reading Between the Lines

Answer the following questions in your own words. You will not find the exact answers stated directly in the text - you need to think about what the writer implies.

1. In paragraph A, the writer compares sugar to a drug. Why do you think the writer chose this comparison instead of simply saying "sugar is unhealthy"?
2. In paragraph C, the text says: "So the very thing that once saved us may now be killing us." What "saved us" in the past, and how is the same thing "killing us" now?
3. In paragraph D, the writer mentions that some foods "advertised as low in fat" actually contain a lot of sugar. What is the writer suggesting about food companies?

Four grammar points drawn directly from the reading text, with guided discovery and practice.

1. Passive Voice

Look at these sentences from the text. The underlined parts use the passive voice. Notice who or what performs the action - is it mentioned?

1. "Our bodies are designed to survive on very little sugar."
2. "...foods that are advertised as low in fat."
3. "...large amounts of sugar are often added."

Answer these questions:

• a) In sentence 1, who designed our bodies? Is this information important here?
• b) In sentence 3, who adds the sugar? Why does the writer not say who?
• c) Can you find the pattern? Passive = __________ + past participle.

Practice 1A - Form

Rewrite these sentences in the passive voice. Only include "by + agent" if the doer is important.

1. Food companies add sugar to many breakfast cereals.
   → Sugar ____________________________________________
2. Schools are replacing sugary desserts with fruit.
   → Sugary desserts ____________________________________
3. Doctors recommend that people cut down on sugar.
   → It ________________________________________________
4. Someone built new walking tracks for the community.
   → New walking tracks __________________________________

Practice 1B - Choose the Better Option

For each pair, decide which version (active or passive) sounds more natural in context. Circle A or B.

1. A: "They design our bodies to survive on very little sugar."
   B: "Our bodies are designed to survive on very little sugar."
2. A: "Sugar enters our blood and affects our brain."
   B: "Our blood is entered by sugar and our brain is affected."
3. A: "Many schools are replacing sugary desserts with fruit."
   B: "Sugary desserts are being replaced with fruit by many schools."

2. Present Simple for General Facts

These sentences from the text describe things that are generally true - not things happening right now. Notice the verb forms.

1. "When we eat or drink sugary foods, the sugar enters our blood."
2. "All tasty foods do this, but sugar has a particularly strong effect."
3. "One-third of adults worldwide have high blood pressure."

Answer:

• a) Are these sentences about a specific moment, or about things that are always or usually true?
• b) What verb tense is used?
• c) Complete the rule: We use the _____________ to talk about facts, habits, and things that are generally true.

Practice 2A - Error Correction

Each sentence below contains one mistake related to the present simple. Find and correct it.

1. Sugar enter our blood very quickly.
2. Many scientist believes that sugar is addictive.
3. Our body are designed to store fat efficiently.
4. The school replace sugary desserts every year since 2020.
5. He don't eat sugar because his doctor recommended it.

Practice 2B - Gap Fill (from context)

Complete these sentences with the correct present simple form of the verb in brackets.

1. Sugar __________ (affect) the parts of our brain that __________ (make) us feel good.
2. It __________ (seem) like every illness __________ (lead) back to sugar.
3. Today, most people __________ (have) more than enough food, but their bodies still __________ (store) sugar as fat.
4. Some manufacturers __________ (use) sugar to replace taste in low-fat foods.

3. Relative Clauses with "that"

Look at these noun phrases from the text. The highlighted parts give extra information about the noun.

1. "the parts of our brain that make us feel good"
2. "a drug, one that doctors recommend we all cut down on"
3. "foods that are advertised as low in fat"

Answer:

• a) What word introduces the extra information in all three examples?
• b) In sentence 1, what does "that" refer to? In sentence 3?
• c) Could you remove the "that" clause and still have a complete sentence?

Practice 3A - Combine the Sentences

Join each pair of sentences into one sentence using a relative clause with "that".

Example: Sugar is a substance. It affects our brain. → Sugar is a substance that affects our brain.

1. Breakfast cereals are foods. They often contain hidden sugar.
2. Richard Johnson is a scientist. He studies the link between sugar and disease.
3. Walking tracks are facilities. They encourage people to exercise.
4. The good feeling goes away. It comes from eating sugar.

Practice 3B - Complete the Relative Clause

Add a relative clause beginning with "that" to complete each sentence in a way that makes sense.

1. Schools need teachers __________________________________.
2. Sugar is a substance __________________________________.
3. People need foods __________________________________.
4. Diabetes is a disease __________________________________.

4. Phrasal Verbs in Context

The text contains several phrasal verbs - verbs made of two or three words that have a meaning different from the individual words. Find them in the text:

1. "doctors recommend we all cut down on" (paragraph A) → meaning: __________
2. "I find my way back to sugar" (paragraph B) → meaning: __________
3. "people are fighting back against sugar" (paragraph E) → meaning: __________

Practice 4A - Meaning Match

Match each phrasal verb on the left with its meaning on the right.

Phrasal Verb	Meaning
1. cut down on	a) to resist or oppose something
2. fight back against	b) to return to something (often unintentionally)
3. find one's way back to	c) to reduce the amount of something
4. end up with	d) to have as a final result (not planned)
5. give up	e) to stop doing or having something completely

Practice 4B - Gap Fill

Complete each sentence with the correct form of a phrasal verb from the box.

cut down onfight back againstfind one's way back togive upend up with

1. I tried to stop eating chocolate, but I always __________________ it.
2. Many people want to __________________ sugar, but they find it very hard to stop completely.
3. If you do not __________________ sugary drinks, you might __________________ serious health problems.
4. Communities are __________________ unhealthy food by demanding better options in schools.

These exercises are designed to be used with a TTS (text-to-speech) audio version of the reading passage. Play the audio at natural speed.

Exercise 3.1 - Listen for Numbers and Data

Listen to the full passage once. Write down every number or piece of data you hear.

What I heard	What it refers to

Check: You should have found at least 3 data points.

Exercise 3.2 - Listen and Sequence

Listen again. Number these events in the order the speaker describes them (1-6).

Order	Event
	Some schools are building walking tracks.
	Early humans had very little food.
	Sugar enters our blood and affects our brain.
	One-third of adults have high blood pressure.
	Food companies add sugar to "low-fat" foods.
	The good feeling from sugar goes away.

Exercise 3.3 - Dictation Gap Fill

Listen to paragraph C carefully. Fill in the missing words.

"Our bodies are designed to survive on very __________ sugar. Early humans often had very little __________, so our bodies learned to be very __________ in storing sugar as __________. In this way, we had __________ stored for when there was no food. But today, most people have __________ than enough. So the very thing that once __________ us may now be __________ us."

Exercise 4.1 - Think-Pair-Share: The Sugar Debate

Stage 1 (Think - 2 minutes): Read this statement silently:

"Schools should ban all sugary food and drinks completely."

Do you agree or disagree? Write 2-3 reasons for your position.

Stage 2 (Pair - 4 minutes): Work with a partner. Share your reasons. Your partner must listen and ask at least one follow-up question.

Stage 3 (Share - 5 minutes): Tell the class your partner's opinion (not your own). Use these sentence starters:

• "My partner believes that... because..."
• "One interesting point they made was..."
• "I agree or disagree with them on... because..."

Exercise 4.2 - Information Gap: Sugar Content Challenge

Preparation: Teacher prepares two cards (A and B) with different food items and their sugar content. Each student has information the other lacks.

Student A knows: the sugar content of Coca-Cola, yoghurt, and ketchup.
Student B knows: the sugar content of orange juice, breakfast cereal, and a granola bar.

Task: Ask your partner questions to complete your card.

• "How much sugar is there in...?"
• "Does ... contain more sugar than...?"
• "Which one has the most or least sugar?"

Follow-up: Together, rank all six items from most to least sugar. Were you surprised?

Exercise 5.1 - Guided Summary Writing (Scaffolded)

Write a summary of the text "Sweet Love" in 60-80 words. Use the structure below to help you.

Sentence 1 (Main topic): The text is about...
Sentence 2 (Problem): According to scientists, sugar...
Sentence 3 (Cause): This is because our bodies...
Sentence 4 (Difficulty): However, it is difficult to avoid sugar because...
Sentence 5 (Solution): Some schools are trying to...

Exercise 5.2 - Paragraph Writing: Your Own "Sweet Love"

Write a paragraph (80-100 words) answering this question:

"What is one food or drink that you know is unhealthy but you cannot stop having? Why do you think it is so hard to give up?"

Use at least THREE of these language items from today's lesson:

• One passive voice sentence
• One relative clause with "that"
• One phrasal verb (cut down on / give up / fight back against)

Model opening (if needed):
"One thing I find very hard to give up is ___. Even though I know it is not good for my health, I keep coming back to it because..."