Student guide 11

1.1 Replace the subject and active verb in each statement with it + a
passive reporting verb. Make necessary changes to the verb in the noun
clause.

1 They claim that a pregnant woman at a funeral will bring bad luck.

It is claimed that a pregnant woman at a funeral will bring bad luck

2 People believe that lightning will never strike a house where a fire is burning.

It is believed that lightning will never strike a house where a fire is burning.

3 They say if you hear thunder and the sound comes from your right side, then you can
expect good luck.

It is said that you hear thunder and the sound comes from your right side, then you
can expect good luck.

4 They say that letting the first rain in May touch your face brings you luck throughout
the year.

It is said that letting the first rain in May touch your face brings you luck throughout
the year.

5 some people hold that if you turn bread upside down after a slice has been cut from
it, you will have bad luck.

It is held that if you turn bread upside down after a slice has been cut from it, you will
have bad luck.
6 They estimate that more than 50% of people in North America won't rent an
apartment on the 13th floor.
It is estimated that more than 50% of people in North America won't rent an apartment on the
13th floor.

1.2 Rewrite each passive statement in Exercise 1.1, beginning with It used
to be. Make necessary changes to the verb in the noun clause.

1. It used to be claimed that a pregnant woman at a funeral would bring bad luck
2. It used to be believed that lightning would never strike a house where a fire
was burning.
3. It used to be said that you heard thunder and the sound came from your right
side, then you could expect good luck.
4. It used to be said that letting the first rain in May touch your face brought you
luck throughout the year.
5. It used to be held that if you turned bread upside down after a slice had been
cut from it, you would have bad luck.
6. It used to be estimated that more than 50% of people in North America
wouldn't rent an apartment on the 13th floor.

1.3 Rewrite each sentence, using a present or past passive form of the
reporting verb, depending on the information in the sentence.

1 (estimate) Ten percent of people worldwide suffer from some sort of phobia.

It is estimated Ten percent of people worldwide suffer from some sort of phobia

2 (believe) The mind and body were completely separate, but now we know otherwise.

It used to be believed the mind and body were completely separate, but now we know
otherwise.
3 (say) If a bee enters your home, you will soon have a visitor.

It is said that if a bee enters your home, you will soon have a visitor.

4 (claim) If you say good-bye to a friend on a bridge, you ‘Il never see that friend again.

It is claimed that If you say good-bye to a friend on a bridge, you ‘Il never see that
friend again

5 (think) The house was damaged by lightning before the fire, but that turned out not
to be true.

It used to be thought that the house was damaged by lightning before the fire, but that turned out
not to be true.

Activity 2: Reading Strategies

FOCUSING ON CONTRASTING INFORMATION

When reading an article that presents two sets of contrasting information, focusing on
these contrasts will help you better understand the article’s structure and the
information it presents.

Practice. Complete the chart about the placebo and nocebo effects, paying attention
to how they contrast with each other:

Placebo effect Nocebo effect

Meaning: Meaning: is also based on the power of
suggestion or expectation. If a patient
refers to a fake medication or a medical has been told that a medication is likely
procedure that patients believe will help to cause an adverse reaction (such as
them and then, as a result of that
 expectation, it does. dizziness or headache), he or she is more
likely to experience one

Example: the doctor-patient relationship. Example: When given a non-alcoholic

If the patient trusts the doctor beverage that subjects were told was
administering the “medication,” he or beer, they believed and acted as if they
she is more likely to be helped or cured were drunk. They slurred their speech,
by it. acted silly, and even fell and hurt
themselves.

Implications for medical practice: Implications for medical practice:

can be used in research to help evaluate the can present doctors with an ethical dilemma.
effectiveness of real medications Adverse reactions to particular medications
are typically experienced by a very small
percentage of patients.

“The Placebo and Nocebo Effects”

Two of the most fascinating examples of the power of suggestion in medicine are the
placebo effect and the nocebo effect. These two opposite phenomena are two sides of
the same coin. And while the placebo effect has been widely known for many years, the
nocebo effect has been largely overlooked until recently and thus less well understood.
The word placebo refers to a fake medication (one that contains no active ingredients)
or a medical procedure that patients believe will help them and then, as a result of that
expectation, it does. In one well-known study, three groups of patients who were told
they needed knee surgery underwent one of three procedures. One group had the
usual standard surgery. In a second group, the knee was opened surgically but the
interior was only washed. In the third group, the doctor made three tiny cuts in the
skin, but didn’t perform any surgery inside the knee at all. All patients believed they had
had the standard surgery. At the end of a year, the patients who had had no surgery
reported the same good results as those who had had the surgery.

It has been shown repeatedly that certain factors increase the effectiveness of
placebos. If a pill, for example, looks like a genuine medicine, the person taking it is
likely to believe it contains medicine. It has also been found that patients think larger
pills contain larger doses of medicine, and thus must be more effective. Similarly, it has
been demonstrated that taking two pills has a greater therapeutic effect than taking
only one. Another important determiner of placebo effectiveness is the doctor-patient
relationship. If the patient trusts the doctor administering the “medication,” he or she
is more likely to be helped or cured by it.

The nocebo effect is also based on the power of suggestion or expectation. If a patient
has been told that a medication is likely to cause an adverse reaction (such as dizziness
or headache), he or she is more likely to experience one. This has been demonstrated
both in experiments and in actual medical practice. One dramatic non-medical
experiment is often cited as an example of the nocebo effect:

When given a non-alcoholic beverage that subjects were told was beer, they believed
and acted as if they were drunk. They slurred their speech, acted silly, and even fell and
hurt themselves. Simply believing a substance will make one drunk can result in
drunkenness.
What are the implications of the placebo and nocebo effects for medical practice?
Placebos can be used in research to help evaluate the effectiveness of real medications.
If two groups of patients are treated with either a placebo or a real medication and
both achieve the same result, it is clear that the medication lacks real effectiveness.
Also, it is well known that some patients ask doctors for medications that are
ineffective and potentially harmful (such as antibiotics for a common cold). Doctors can
prescribe such patients a placebo, knowing that it may be effective and will cause no
harm.

The nocebo effect, on the other hand, can present doctors with an ethical dilemma.
Adverse reactions to particular medications are typically experienced by a very small
percentage of patients. Doctors wonder if they should inform patients of these
potential adverse reactions since they know they are very unlikely to occur. The power
of suggestion of the nocebo effect could interfere with the more likely positive effects
of a necessary medication, depriving patients of an effective treatment.

In conclusion, although we believe the body and the mind are separate, the existence
of the placebo and nocebo effects suggests that the distinction between the two might
be more complicated than we as yet understand. All humans are probably somewhat
susceptible to the power of suggestion.

2.1 choose the correct word or phrase to complete each statement:

1. something that has escaped notice has been (investigated/overlooked).

2 The opposite of a placebo is a (fake / genuine) medicine.

3 (A placebo / An adverse reaction) is a harmful effect caused by taking a medication.

4The false expectation that a substance is beer has been demonstrated to cause (silly
behavior / an adverse reaction).

5 Antibiotics are an (effective / ineffective) medication for colds

2.2 Complete each statement, based on the information in the article

1 The factor that doesn't contribute to the placebo effect is ...... .

a) the appearance of the medication

b) scientific research
c) trust in the doctor
d) the expectation that it will work

2 The knee surgery experiment demonstrates ......

a) the power of suggestion that surgery was performed

b) the value of washing the interior of the knee
c) the need for procedures in surgery
d) the harmful effects of fake procedures

3 The drunkenness experiment is an example of ...... .

a) the placebo effect

b) the nocebo effect
c) an ethical dilemma
d) the harmful effects of beer

4 ...... is one beneficial use of placebos.

a) The scientific evaluation of the effectiveness of new medications

b) The improvement of the doctor-patient relationship
c) Causing harmful adverse reactions
d) Reducing the cost of antibiotics

5 Under normal circumstances, adverse reactions to medications occur in ...... .

a) most patients
b) only a few patients
c) the sickest patients
d) the common cold

activity 3

VOGABULARY: EXPRESSIONS WITH MIND

1. make up one’s mind: He's afraid of bees and spiders, but he can't make up his
mind which are scarier.
2. change one’s mind: She was planning to see the dentist' but it was too scary, so
she changed her mind.
3. put (something) out of one’s mind: She's terrified of flying, but she's trying t0
put any thought of accidents out of her mind.
4. be all in one’s mind: He’s afraid there’s a monster under the bed. His mom says
it’s all in his mind.
5. Be out of one’s mind: Getting in the elevator w0uld give him palpitations. But
they think he's out of his mind to walk down thirty flights of stairs.

3.1 Complete each definition with the correct form of an expression from
the Vocabulary:

1 When you put (something) out of your mind, You try not to let it worry or bother you.

2 When you make up your mind to do something, you decide to do it no matter what
happens.

3 When something is not real and a person is imagining it, you can tell the person it’s all
in your mind

4 When your change your mind, You change your opinion or decision about something.

5 If people believe you are out of your mind, they think you're behaving in a way that
is crazy or foolish.
3.2 Listen to an interview. Then complete each statement' based on the
interview

1 Many people think phobias are ............... because phobias are irrational.

a) scary
b) funny
c) enormous

2 People who don’t suffer from phobias find them difficult to......

a) treat
b) overcome
c) understand

3 Phobias create both mental and ............... symptoms.

a) economic
b) physical
c) irrational

4 People with phobias can't ............... them'

a) control
b) cure
c) confront

5 The fight-or-flight response is a set of uncomfortable physical ...............

a) Fears
b) anxieties
c) symptoms

6 Exposure therapy and counter-conditioning are two effective ...............

a) Treatments
b) symptoms
c) responses

3.3 Listen to the interview again. Write a checkmark next to the

topics that were discussed in the interview and an X next to the
ones that weren’t. Then, summarize what was said about each topic
that you checked

1. ____ The number of people worldwide who suffer from phobias

2. ____ The way to avoid developing a phobia
3. ____ Some kinds of phobias that exist
4. ____ The danger of a rapid heartbeat
5. ____ The reason why people make jokes about phobias
6. ____ The physical responses to extreme fear
7. ____ Two popular treatments for phobias

3.4 NOUN AND ADJECTIVE FORMS Read the noun and adjective forms that name and
describe a person who suffers from acrophobia. Use the same spelling pattern to
complete the chart for the other phobias. Then listen and repeat.

Phobia Noun Adjective

acrophobia [heights] acrophobe acrophobic

agoraphobia [open
spaces]

arachnophobia [spiders]

aerophobia [flying]

claustrophobia [enclosed
spaces]
 ophidiophobia [snakes]

xenophobia [foreigners]

Activity 4

Subject / verb agreement

 When the subject and verb are separated by other words, the subject and verb
must still agree.

Beliefs in a supernatural event are common in many cultures.

The smart thing to do when someone tells you something is unlucky is to just listen.

 When two subjects are connected with and in a sentence, the verb must be
plural.

A black cat and a broken mirror are symbols of bad luck in several cultures.

 When verbs occur in a sequence, all the verbs must agree with the subject.

My sister believes in ghosts, avoids the number 13, and wears a lucky charm on a chain
around her neck.

 when the subject is an indefinite pronoun like each, everyone, anyone,

somebody, or no one, use a singular verb.

Nobody I know worries about the evil eye.

 When the subject is all, some, or none and refers to a singular count noun or a
non-count noun, use a singular verb. Otherwise use a plural verb.

lf salt is spilled by accident, some is immediately thrown over the shoulder.

Some superstitions are old-fashioned, but some are not.

4.1 Correct the errors in subject-verb agreement.

One common superstition in Western countries concern the number 13. Because they
are considered unlucky, many situations involving the number 13 is frequently avoided.
For example, in the past, the thirteen floor of tall apartment buildings were often
labeled fourteen. While that is rare today, there are still many people who are
uncomfortable renting an apartment on the thirteenth floor. In addition, there is a
general belief that Friday the thirteen brings bad luck, increases the chance of mishaps,
and make it more difficult to get things done effectively.