Your scale notation
Read your homework scale notation aloud. Do not worry about getting it perfect yet — that is Lesson 4.
Before you read your scale notation, predict:
1. Today is about asking and answering questions about a drawing set. What is usually hardest for a Portuguese speaker?
Two question shapes
Locating information
"Which sheet shows the existing conditions?"
"Where can I find the wall detail?"
"Is the drainage plan shown on L4?"
Three different questions, three different jobs: the first asks which sheet has something; the second asks for a location; the third checks a guess.
Check what each question is actually asking for.
1. "Which sheet shows the existing conditions?" is asking for…
2. "Is the drainage plan shown on L4?" is doing what job?
Question forms, and the passive that answers them
Question and answer, matched
| Question | Natural answer |
|---|---|
| Which sheet shows the existing conditions? | The existing conditions are shown on L1. |
| Where is the wall detail drawn? | It is drawn at the bottom of L5. |
| Is the drainage plan on L4? | Yes, it is shown on L4. |
The passive here is not decoration — it is the natural answer shape. "The existing conditions are shown on L1" sounds like a professional answering a question; "L1 shows the existing conditions" is not wrong, but it answers a different question ("what is on L1?") than the one that was asked.
Word order. English question words start the sentence and the subject/verb invert: Which sheet the existing conditions shows? → Which sheet shows the existing conditions? Portuguese question order is more flexible here, and the inversion is the piece that does not transfer automatically.
Match each question opener to what it is actually asking for.
Ask and answer
Complete each question or answer. One word per gap.
Which sheet the existing conditions? The existing conditions are shown L1. Where can I the wall detail? It is drawn the bottom of L5.
Each question has one word-order error. Rewrite it correctly.
1. Which sheet the existing conditions shows?
2. Where the wall detail is drawn?
3. The drainage plan is shown on L4 is?
Ask about the set
Task card
Your own sheet index, in front of your teacher
Your teacher asks five "which sheet / where" questions. Answer each with the passive form.
- Every answer should be a full sentence, not just a sheet number.
- At least one answer should be "I’m not sure — let me check," which is a correct answer, not a failure.
- Then swap: you ask your teacher five questions about a set you invent together.
Before you start asking questions, put these words into the correct question order.
Question or statement order?
Which questions came out in statement order without you noticing? Say the corrected version aloud now.
One more round — new sentences, not the ones from Phase 04.
1. Which sheet the grading plan is on?
2. Where the scale bar is?
Before the next lesson
Homework. Find three dimensions in feet-and-inches notation on your own drawings — any three. Try saying them aloud and notice where you hesitate.
One check before you go.
1. How many dimensions should you find for homework?