Grade 10 English Study Notes

Welcome to Etiquette: Social

Etiquette refers to the rules of behaviour that society considers courteous, respectful, and acceptable. Good etiquette shows that you understand how to conduct yourself in public, at home, on the phone, in a hotel, and in any formal or informal setting.

In this strand you will develop skills across listening, speaking, reading, grammar, and writing — because good communication is etiquette in action. You will learn to listen carefully to recordings, read fluently, write correct sentences, classify words, and use polite language in real-life situations.

Key areas covered in this strand:

• Extensive Listening — enjoying recordings and identifying key details
• Reading Fluency — previewing, predicting, skimming, scanning, and collocations
• Speaking Etiquette — sounds /ɒ/ and /ɔː/, polite language, table, hotel, and telephone etiquette
• Sentence Fluency — using the comma correctly, correcting comma splices and run-on sentences
• Word Classes — nouns, pronouns, and phrasal quantifiers

Extensive Listening

Extensive listening means listening to a variety of audio-visual texts — stories, poems, or dialogues — mainly for enjoyment and general understanding. You do not need to catch every single word. Your goal is to follow the main message and identify the most important details.

Audio-visual recordings are materials that combine sound and visuals, such as videos, film clips, or recordings played alongside images.

Four Things to Listen For

In every recording, train yourself to identify these four elements:

Using Sensory Adjectives

When retelling events from a recording, use sensory adjectives — words that describe what is seen, heard, felt, tasted, or smelled — to make your account vivid and interesting.

Listening Text: "A Treat Gone Awry"

Read the story below carefully. In class, this type of text would be played as a recording. Practise identifying the four key elements as you read.

Mweseli and Ziro were best friends in Grade 10. One afternoon, Mweseli invited Ziro to lunch at a restaurant near school — his treat. They ate well and enjoyed themselves. When the waiter brought the bill, Mweseli reached into his pocket and froze. He had left his money at home.

He explained the situation to the manager.

Manager: Your story sounds very convincing. I will let you go if you promise to bring the money.

Mweseli: Thank you, sir.

Mweseli cycled home and returned with money — but while he was away, Ziro had ordered extra juice and a chicken pie. The amount Mweseli brought was no longer enough. Just then, a teacher who knew both boys walked in and settled the remaining balance. The two friends walked out, relieved but wiser.

Identifying the Four Elements

Connecting to Everyday Life

The listening skills practised here apply directly to real situations:

• Following public announcements at bus stations, airports, or schools
• Understanding instructions given by a teacher, employer, or official
• Listening to news broadcasts and extracting key information

Key Points

• Extensive listening is for enjoyment and general understanding — not word-for-word memorisation.
• Always listen for: title, characters, places, and memorable events.
• Use sensory adjectives (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell) when retelling what you heard.
• Active listening in class prepares you for real-life listening situations.

Previewing a Text

Previewing means looking at parts of a text before reading it fully, to form an idea of what it is about. It is a fast first step that prepares your mind before you read carefully.

When previewing, look at:

• The title
• Any sub-headings
• Photographs or illustrations and their captions
• The first sentence of each paragraph
• The author's name and source

Making Predictions

A prediction is what you expect to find in a text, based on clues from previewing. Predictions do not need to be perfectly correct — they prepare your mind and improve understanding as you read.

Example: Looking at the title "Let Us Observe Etiquette" and its sub-headings — Lateness, Flouting Traffic Rules, Speeding, Courtesy Brings Order — you can predict that the passage will criticise bad behaviour and encourage courtesy. That prediction turns out to be correct.

Skimming and Scanning

Once you begin reading, you can use two fast-reading techniques depending on your purpose.

The gist is the main idea or overall message of a text.

Practice Passage: "Let Us Observe Etiquette"

Read the passage quickly and practise both techniques.

As far as etiquette is concerned, Kenyans can do much better. In offices, in homes, on the streets or in markets, our behaviour demonstrates that we have little respect for rules or for one another.

Lateness: Some people report to work late and leave early. People wanting a service are often frustrated because many workers are reluctant to work as they are supposed to.

Flouting Traffic Rules: During festive seasons such as Christmas, some highways become parking lots. Last December, some motorists took twenty hours to drive to Nakuru from Nairobi — a distance of 158 kilometres that normally takes between two and a half and three hours.

Speeding: The speed limit on most highways is 100 kilometres per hour. However, it is not uncommon to see motorists doing 150 kilometres per hour. In the first half of 2024, 2,407 Kenyans perished on our roads.

Courtesy Brings Order: Etiquette means doing what is right and acceptable. It means always treating others with respect.

Scanning Answers

• Distance from Nairobi to Nakuru → 158 kilometres
• Road deaths in first half of 2024 → 2,407
• Speed limit on most highways → 100 kilometres per hour

Gist of the Passage

The passage criticises poor social behaviour (lateness, traffic violations, speeding) and calls for greater courtesy and respect in everyday life.

Reading Fluency

Reading fluency is the ability to read a text accurately, at the right speed, and with expression. Fluent readers sound natural and make texts easy and enjoyable for listeners.

Practice Passage: "The Magic Mirror"

Read this passage. Practise accuracy, speed, and expression as you read aloud.

In a busy little town called Sengeu, there lived the Onyango family — Mama Onyango, Baba Onyango and their three children: Achieng, Jotham and Daisy. They loved one another but occasionally their home became a place of arguments, forgotten chores and hurt feelings.

One day Mama Onyango came home with an unusual gift — a beautiful antique mirror with the words "Reflect and Respect" engraved at the top. "This," she said, "is the Magic Mirror of Family Etiquette. It shows us how to act as a family. Every evening, we will look into it to learn how to improve."

The children were curious. That evening after supper, Mama Onyango asked everyone to stand in front of the mirror. At first, the image showed a happy family. Then the image changed. It replayed Achieng snatching a toy from Jotham, Daisy yelling at Achieng, and Baba Onyango ignoring Mama Onyango when she asked him to close the windows.

Achieng gasped, "Why is the mirror showing this?"

Mama Onyango smiled, "The mirror reveals the truth. Respect means listening, sharing and speaking kindly to each other. Let us try to be more respectful tomorrow."

Key Points

• Previewing — check title, sub-headings, images, first sentences — before reading fully.
• A prediction is a reasonable guess based on preview clues; it does not need to be perfect.
• Skimming gives the gist; scanning locates specific facts.
• Fluent reading requires accuracy, right speed, and expression.

Using the Comma Correctly

A comma (,) is a punctuation mark that indicates a short pause or separates items in a sentence. Used correctly, it makes sentences clear and easy to read.

Four Correct Uses of the Comma

1. To separate items in a list
   Sheep, goats, cattle and dogs are domestic animals.
2. After an introductory word or phrase
   Fortunately, we are experiencing a good harvest.
   When she arrived, she said she was hungry.
3. After a direct address (calling someone by name)
   Atieno, have you read this book?
4. Before a direct quote
   "Please shut the door," Kamau said.

Comma Splices

A comma splice happens when two complete sentences (clauses that can each stand on their own) are joined by only a comma. This is an error because a comma is not strong enough to hold two complete sentences together.

Examples of Comma Splices

Three Ways to Correct a Comma Splice

Practice

Key Points

• A comma splice joins two complete sentences with only a comma — this is always an error.
• Correct it using a full stop, a semi-colon, or a conjunction.
• Always check: can each side of the comma stand alone as a complete sentence? If yes, a comma alone is not enough.

Types of Nouns

Nouns are naming words. The two main types are proper nouns and common nouns.

Proper Nouns

Proper nouns are names of specific people, places, or things. They always begin with a capital letter.

Examples: Beatrice, Naivasha, Red Sea, Paris

Common Nouns and Their Sub-types

Note: Some nouns fit more than one category. For example, torch is both a count noun (you can say "two torches") and a concrete noun (you can hold it).

Story with Nouns: "A Party that Never Was"

Nyambura had planned to host a surprise birthday dinner in Maua for her best friend, Eva. It was a beautiful evening, with the sun setting and the table set with sparkling glasses of lemonade. As the guests gathered around the table, Nyambura was feeling quite proud of her hostess skills. At the last minute, they learnt that Eva would not come. Her own family had arranged a surprise birthday dinner too.

Replacing Common Nouns with Proper Nouns

Listening for Key Details

While Lesson 1 focused on listening for general enjoyment, this lesson goes deeper. You now analyse what you hear to extract key details precisely.

Key details are the specific facts that give a recording its meaning:

• Characters — who is involved and what are they like?
• Places — where exactly do events happen?
• Events — what happens, and in what order?
• Message — what is the speaker or storyteller trying to communicate?

Active Listening

Active listening means you are fully engaged — not just hearing sound, but working to understand every moment.

Active listening involves:

• Focusing on the speaker and avoiding distractions
• Taking brief mental notes as you listen
• Noticing tone and emotion to understand characters' feelings
• Asking yourself: Who? What? Where? When? Why?

Retelling: Role-Play and Hot Seating

After listening, test your understanding through these two methods:

Role-play: Act out a scene from the recording. Each person takes the role of a character and speaks as that character would.

Hot seating: One learner sits in the "hot seat" as a character from the recording. The rest of the class asks questions as if that character is real.

Example using "A Treat Gone Awry": A learner sits as Mweseli. Classmates ask: "How did you feel when you checked your pocket?" The learner responds as Mweseli would — showing comprehension, empathy, and oral skill.

Key Points

• Listening for key details requires active analysis — not just relaxed listening.
• Always ask: Who? What? Where? When? Why? as you listen.
• Role-play and hot seating are ways to check your understanding after listening.
• In real life — follow instructions carefully, listen for main points first, then specific details.