Why farming matters
Farming means growing crops and keeping animals. Rice, wheat and maize give much of the food on Earth. When the number of people grows, farmers must grow more food from the same land. They can do this with better seeds, water, and care.
Yuan Longping and hybrid rice
Yuan Longping (1930-2021) was a Chinese agricultural scientist, often called the "father of hybrid rice". He and his team worked from the 1960s and 1970s to make rice that farmers could grow in large fields.
What is hybrid rice? A hybrid is the child of two different parent plants. The farmer picks parents with useful traits. The child plant is often stronger and gives more grain.
In many fields hybrid rice gave noticeably more grain than ordinary rice (our 3D uses a rough 118 against 100 to show the idea). More food from the same land helped many families. Today hybrid rice is grown in several countries, including India.
Participles: -ing and -ed describing nouns
A participle is a verb form that works like an adjective. Put it before a noun.
| Type | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -ing (present) | doing now | a working farmer, growing crops |
| -ed / irregular (past) | done to it | harvested rice, broken plough |
Participles after the noun, and as time words
We can also put a participle after a noun: "the farmer working in the field", "rice grown in the north". A participle phrase can also start a sentence: "Working all day, the farmer felt tired." The person who works must be the farmer, the subject of the sentence.
Try it
Predict first, then check in the 3D: which rice gives more grain, ordinary or hybrid? Then find five participles at home or in the kitchen (boiling water, fried egg, falling leaves, locked door, sleeping baby). For each, say: is it -ing (doing) or -ed (done to)?
Key formulas and definitions
- -ing participle + noun = noun is doing it (working farmer)
- -ed participle + noun = done to the noun (harvested rice)
- hybrid = child of two different parent plants
- more grain per field = more food for people
- participle phrase: same subject doing both actions
Worked examples
1. Choose the participle: The (boiling / boiled) water is hot.
boiling. The water is doing the boiling now.
2. Choose: We ate the (frying / fried) fish.
fried. Someone fried the fish; it was done to it.
3. What is a hybrid plant?
The child of two different parent plants. It has traits from both and can give more grain.
Common mistakes
- Mixing -ing and -ed: "the interesting book" is right for a book that interests us; "the interested book" is wrong.
- Saying hybrid rice is made in a laboratory with chemicals. It is made by crossing plants.
- Putting a participle before a different subject: "Working all day, the rice grew" is wrong.
- Thinking Yuan Longping invented rice. He helped make high-yield hybrid rice.