Unit2 Mod1

Unit 2 The Study of English Engl ish Module 1 Grammar

At the end of this module you will:a) be able to find your way around a grammar b) have more understanding of grammatical terminology c) understand the importance of knowing grammar d) have begun to consider issues involved in teaching grammar

GRAMMAR

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This module is designed to make sure that you are aware of your own grammar, and aware that it is essential to get to grips with it. When you are teaching ESOL you do not need to tell your students the grammatical terminology unless they specifically ask for the information (language-conscious nationalities will, even at lower levels) or unless you are teaching advanced students who need the terminology. However you do need to know the terminology for yourself, both to be able to answer such questions if the students ask you and to be clear about what point you are teaching and why you are teaching it. In order to complete this unit you will need to use a reference grammar. If you have not examined different grammars, we do not suggest that you buy one at this stage, as there are many on the market and you may not be comfortable with the first one you see. A good library will have a selection to choose from. When you have examined a few we suggest that, for this work, you get hold of a copy of Practical English Usage by Swan Swan or a recent edition of A Practical English Grammar Grammar by Thomson and Martinet, whichever you feel you can most comfortably use. If you are already working in the field of TESOL and have a different grammar you should be able to use that so long as it was not written for use by Shakespeare! The English language is not static and some older grammars will now be out of date - both in the language they choose to describe and the way they describe it. Check for example what your grammar book says about the difference between ‘will’ and ‘shall’.

If it tells you that: the ‘correct’ way to use them is ‘shall’ with the ‘I’ form : ‘I/we shall’ and ‘will’ with other forms and gives examples like: ‘I shall not clean the kitchen, he will clean it ,’ ,’ then you are in trouble and need a new book! It is worth remembering that people enter the world of TESOL from a variety of backgrounds. Therefore some of you will find these tasks quite straightforward due to your academic background, while others will need to spend time searching through a grammar in order to make sense of them. Take your time, that is the advantage of a Distance Learning Course. After you have studied a topic in your grammar book it is useful to give yourself time to listen out for it in daily life, just as your students try to do! There is no pressure to be the first to finish. But there may be pressure on you from students if you do not take time do this section well! Do not depress yourself with the notion that there is somewhere one ultimate set of grammatical rules which we 'know' and you must learn. This is not true. The famous adage: Rules are made to be broken.’ broken.’ was never truer than for English grammar. But there are useful rules to share with students and knowing a rule can help them succeed. When you are teaching and you do not know the rule (let us assume this is













By definition you, as a native speaker (if you are a native speaker), 'know' the grammar of English perfectly - your problem is to see it as a foreign language, to know about it and to understand the problems it poses to a foreign learner. (Nonnative speakers have a distinct advantage here!) Think of this all the time that you are doing the tasks; think of simple examples where you are asked for them, make life easy for yourself and your future students!













DEDUCTIVE ANALYSIS Always check out any grammatical structure which you are unsure of and are expected to teach. Have your own 'bible' which you can rely on as a reference before a lesson. You will need your grammar throughout your TESOL career. In this unit you are expected to use your grammar, to familiarise yourself with the layout and become skilled at using it as a quick reference. BUT WHAT HAPPENS IF I HAVEN'T GOT MY GRAMMAR WITH ME? If you do not know a particular grammatical structure well, but you wish to explain it to your students try using DEDUCTIVE ANALYSIS. ANALYSIS. This means working it out for yourself. Write yourself yourself some some examples. examples. One example is very dangerous in English, there is a good chance it will be an idiom or an exception. Two examples have a better chance of illustrating an emerging pattern, but there is still a chance that one will be an exception. Three examples are much safer, hopefully two of the three will illustrate the structure and you should then be able to explain the structure successfully. In theory it should never happen that you do not know a grammatical structure well enough to be able to explain it, exemplify it and name it. HOWEVER, early on in your TESOL career it may happen. It may also happen if you are given no warning nor preparation time before a lesson. This can happen if you are substituting for an absent colleague or on badly organised summer schools. Otherwise you should MAKE SURE you know what you are teaching by thoroughly preparing your lessons. NB One hour of preparation is the minimum for a one-hour lesson, especially in your first year of teaching. SELF-CHECK 2:1 1 Try to use Deductive Analysis here:

1. Explai Explain n when when to use use the prepo preposit sition ion 'at' 'at' .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................. ..................................................................................................................................













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3. Explain Explain the the difference difference between between 'count' 'count' and and 'mass' 'mass' nouns nouns .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................. ..................................................................................................................................













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Work out some rules for the use of count and mass nouns. (Include the verb) MY RULES .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................. .................................................................................................................................. ..................................................................................................................................















Write examples to show the use of 'some' and 'any' in these cases: 1. Beginners Beginners - 'some' 'some' in positive positive sentenc sentences es (in contras contrastt to 'a') .................................................................................................................................. ..................................................................................................................................

2. Eleme Elementa ntary ry - 'any' 'any' in negati negative ve sente sentence nces s .................................................................................................................................. ..................................................................................................................................

3. Eleme Elementa ntary ry - 'any 'any'' in ques questio tions ns ................................................................................................................................. ..................................................................................................................................

4. Elementary Elementary - 'some' 'some' with questions questions (when (when you expect expect a positiv positive e answer) answer) .................................................................................................................................. ..................................................................................................................................

5. Interme Intermediat diate e - 'any' in positiv positive e sentenc sentences es .................................................................................................................................. ..................................................................................................................................













TEACHING GRAMMAR POINTS AND GIVING EXAMPLES TO STUDENTS. The days are gone when teachers used to stand at the front of the class and ‘tell’ the students about grammar. grammar. It helped them with what the grammar looked like but not with how to use it. These days we need to give the students clear examples in a context of how grammar works. SELF-CHECK 2:1 3 There are thousands of teachers and books all over the world trying to help learners by giving them ‘example sentences’ to help them with their grammar. Look at the exercises below. What is wrong with them? Why would they not help students with their grammar or verb tenses very much? Exercise 1 - Articles 1.

Jac Jackie kie ord ordered ered (the (the / an / a) print rinter er fro from Ebay bay.

2.

Every Everyda day y I exer exerci cise se with with (the (the / an / a) a) Den Denis ise e Aus Austin tin vide video o I got got for for my birthday.

3.

We enjo enjoy y (the (the / an an / a) love lovely ly dinn dinner er with with frien friends ds on Sund Sunday ay even evening ings. s.

4.

At the the zoo zoo,, we we saw saw (the (the / an an / a) seal seal and and (th (the e / an / a) a) ott otter er..

Exercise 2 - Tenses In these sentences fill in the verb in the correct tense.

1. John __________ ________________ _______ _ (play) (play) tennis tennis every every Sunday Sunday.. 2. I _______ _____________ ___________ ________(liv ___(live) e) in Egypt Egypt for 3 years years 3. I __________ ________________ ___________ _____(play) (play) football football next Sunday. Sunday. 4. I __________ _______________ ___________ _______(have _(have)) coffee with my my breakfast. breakfast.













The comment section does not appear for all self-check tasks but only for those where there are specific answers or discussion to be considered. Did you spot the problems? Articles exercise It is very difficult to practice articles in short out of context sentences, as the article we choose depends on the context. Look at the two options below.

Jackie ordered (the / an / a) printer from from Ebay. A: Any news on the printer? B: Jackie ordered the printer from Ebay rather than the one from the local shop in the end. A: How’s the business going? B: Badly. Jackie ordered a printer from e bay and it broke on the first day.

Everyday I exercise with (the / an / a) Denise Austin video I got for my birthday. The article chosen depends on how many videos there are and whether the video is shared knowledge or not!

Everyday I exercise with the Denise Austin video I got for my birthday. Everyday I exercise with a Denise Austin video I got for my birthday.

We enjoy (the / an / a) lovely dinner with friends on Sunday evenings.

We enjoy the lovely dinner with friends on Sunday evenings, the trip to the pub afterwards and the fact that we can walk home. We enjoy a lovely dinner with friends on Sunday evenings and I always provide the













The article choices depend on which animals are known about before (the) and which were seen unexpectedly (a an). Tense exercises. There are similar problems with these sentences. They do not have enough context to show students which tense to use. John _________________ (play) tennis every Sunday. John is going to play/plays/is playing/played. There is no clue as to whether he has started playing yet, or finished it or is still playing at the moment.

I _____________________(live) in Egypt for 3 years Lived (not anymore) /have lived (still there) am going to live (plan for later this year)

I _____________________(play) football next Sunday. Am going to (plan) am playing (diary plan) will play (promise to yourself or someone else etc…) I ______________________(have) coffee with my breakfast. Have (everyday) had (have just finished) have had(so I don’t want another) ‘ll have (selection from menu) So try to follow these rules when you are teaching grammar or tenses. Give key words ‘usually’, ‘next week’, ‘both’ to help them choose, for example, the difference between singular and plural, or present and past tense. Give contexts that they can understand and might want to use themselves. Where were you last night? I only saw Peter at the party. Is a more useful example than:













a student at the University of Durham where he worked some years ago: ME: FEMALE STUDENT: ME: FEMALE STUDENT:

You're in a no-smoking zone. Am I? The whole building's a no-smoking zone. (extinguishing (extinguishing cigarette) Thanks very much. (Grundy 1995: 96)

We know what the words mean, of course, but why exactly did Peter Grundy give the student the information about the no-smoking zone? He clearly wasn't just offering information or passing the time. On the contrary, his purpose was to stop the student smoking. And what are we to make of the student's second utterance? Is she really thanking her lecturer for giving her information that she didn't have before? Or does her Thanks very much really mean sorry ? Perhaps its purpose is to indicate to her lecturer that yes, she knows she was smoking in a no-smoking zone and since she's been 'caught', she has no option but to put out her cigarette? Peter Grundy might have chosen different words for the purpose, especially if, instead of a student, he had found the Dean, his boss, smoking in the corridor. Instead of stating, baldly, You’re in a nosmoking zone, zone, he might have said something like, Umm, not sure if I should point this out or not, but this building is a no-smoking area or maybe he would have employed a different formula of words altogether to get his point across. The issue that faces us here is that the words we use and what they actually mean in the context we use them, are not the same thing at all. There is no one-to-one correspondence, in other words, between form and meaning. Form and meaning Peter Grundy could have chosen a wide range of language language forms to ask the student to stop smoking, e.g. Could you put that cigarette out, please? , please? , Stop smoking , Please extinguish your cigarette or If you want to smoke, you'd better go outside. outside. There are many different ways of saying the same thing. This point is well exemplified by the different ways we have of expressing the future in English. Among the many alternatives on offer, we might say I will arrive at eight o'clock (a simple statement of fact), I'm arriving at eight o'clock (= that's the arrangement I have made), I'm going to arrive at eight o'clock (= that's my plan) or I arrive at eight o'clock (= that's the itinerary). Each of these constructions indicates futurity, but each means something slightly different, as we have shown. If we take one of the grammatical constructions used to construct a future sentence, the present continuous (I'm arriving at eight o'clock), another startling phenomenon becomes apparent. In our example, the statement refers to the future, but if we say Look at John! He's laughing his head off at















Purpose Many Many year years s ago, ago, the the phil philos osop ophe herr J.L J.L Aust Austin in iden identi tifi fied ed a seri series es of verb verbs s whic which h he call called ed 'performatives', that is verbs which do what those same words mean. Thus, if a speaker says I promise, the word promise itself performs the function of promising. If a celebrity says I name this ship 'Ocean 3' , the use of the verb name performs the function of naming. The idea idea that that lang langua uage ge perfo performs rms certai certain n functi functions ons is not restricte restricted d to the kind kind of verbs verbs Austin Austin mentioned, however. We saw above how This is a no-smoking zone had the purpose of having the student put out her cigarette, just as a sentence like It's cold in here might, in certain circumstances, perform the function of a request to the other person in the room to close the window. One major result of this interest in purpose was to lead linguists to propose a category of language functions such as inviting, apologising, offering and suggesting. Thus Would you like to come for a coffee? performs the function of inviting, whereas I just can't accept that performs the function of disagreeing, with the purpose of making your own opinion quite clear. Why don't you try yoga? performs the function of strongly suggesting, where the purpose is to provoke action, and I'll do it if you want , is clearly offering help, with the purpose of being helpful. The study of functions and how they are realised in language, has had a profound effect upon the design of language teaching materials, making language purpose a major factor in the choice of syllabus items and teaching techniques. Appropriacy and register A feature of language functions is that they do not just have one linguistic realisation; the following phrases, for example, show only some of the possible ways of inviting someone to the cinema: Would you like to come to the cinema? How about coming to the cinema? I was wondering if you might like to come to the cinema tonight? Cinema?













telephone? Are we speaking through a microphone to an unseen audience or standing up in a lecture hall in front of a crowd? Topic: Topic: the topic we are addressing affects our lexical and grammatical choices. The words and phrases that we use when talking or writing about a wedding will be different from those we employ when the conversation turns to particle physics. The vocabulary of childbirth is different from the lexical phrases associated with football. The topic-based vocabulary we use is one of the features of register - the choices we make about what language to employ. Tone: Tone: another feature of the register in which something is said or written is its tone. This includes variables such as formality and informality, politeness and impoliteness. For example, sophisticated women's magazines may talk of make-up, make-up, but teenage magazines sometimes call it slap. slap. Using high pitch and exaggerated pitch movement is often more polite than a flat monotone when saying things such as Can you repeat that? These, then, are some of the factors that influence our choice of language. When we have our students study the way language language is used in speaking or writing, we will want to draw their attention to such issues. We may ask why a speaker uses particular words or expressions in a specific situation. We may have our students prepare for a speaking activity by assembling the necessary topic words and phrases. We may discuss what sort of language is appropriate in an office situation when talking to a superior - and whether the sex of the superior makes any difference. Language is a social construct as much as it is a mental ability. It is important for students to be just as aware of this in a foreign or second language as they are in their own. Language as text and discourse Although, as we shall see, grammar and vocabulary are vital components of language (as are the sounds of English in spoken discourse), we also need to look at language at the level of text or discourse (that is, texts which are longer than phrases or sentences).













that long . Where ‘there’ refers back (and substitutes for) the classrooms of New York City, and ‘that long’ makes reference and substitutes for thirty for thirty years. These features are also present in spoken language, which also shows many examples of ellipsis (where words from a written-grammar version of an utterance are missed out without compromising the meaning of what is being said). The following two lines, for example, were spoken in a British pub: A: Another A: Another round? B: Might as well. Another round? is probably an elliptical version of the question Shall we have another round? (a round is an order of drinks for everyone in the group), and Might as well is well is an elliptical version of the sentence We might as well have another round. For conversational discourse to be successful, participants have to know how to organise the events in it. They need to know, for example, how and when to take turns - that is when to interrupt, when to show they want to continue speaking, or when they are happy to 'give the floor' to someone else. In order order to do this successfully successfully,, they need to be able to use discourse discourse markers effectively. effectively. Thus, Thus, phrases such as anyway , moving on and right are right are ways of beginning a new thread of the discussion (or sometime sometimes s of closing closing one down); down); d'you know what I mean? OK? and Right? are ways of encouraging encouraging a listener's agreement and yeah, yeah, but and but and OK (said OK (said with doubtful intonation) are ways of indicating doubt or disagreement. Genre One of the reasons we can communicate successfully, especially in writing, is because we have some understanding of genre. One way of describing this - and one much favoured by people who teach ESP (English for Specific Purposes) - is to say that a genre is a type of written organisation and layout (such as an advertisement, a letter, a poem, a magazine article, etc.) which will be instantly













Grammar The sentence I will arrive at around eight o'clock depends for its success on the fact that the words are in the right order. We could not say, for example *I arrive will at eight o'clock around (* denotes an incorrect utterance) because auxiliary verbs (e.g. will) always come before main verbs (e.g. arrive) in affirmative sentences. Nor can the modifying adverb around come after the time adverbial since its correct position is before it. There is a system of rules, in other words, which says what can come before what and which order different elements can go in. We call this system syntax. Grammar is not just concerned with syntax, however. The way words are formed - and can change their form in order to express different meanings - is also at the heart of grammatical knowledge. Thus, for example, we can modify the form arrive by adding -d to make arrived, so that the verb now refers to the past. If we replace e with -ing to make the form arriving, the verb now indicates continuity. We call the study of this kind of word formation morphology. Speakers of a language have a good knowledge of morphology, for if they did not, they would not be able to say I arrive arrive, but then change this to he arrives. arrives. They would not be able to use the different forms of the verb take (take, took, taken) without such knowledge, or be able to manipulate a word such as happy (adjective) so that it becomes an adverb (happily), a noun (happiness), or has an opposite meaning (unhappy). Grammar can thus be partly seen as a knowledge of what words can go where and what form these words should take. Studying grammar means knowing how different grammatical elements can be strung together to make chains of words. Choosing words When we construct sentences, we are constantly making choices about, for example, singular or plural, countable or uncountable, present or past, transitive or intransitive, and about exactly what words we want to use (e.g. like, enjoy, say or tell). A similar situation occurs with verbs which are either transitive (they take an object), intransitive (they don't take an object) or both. The verb herd (e.g. to herd sheep) is a transitive verb. It always takes an object. The verb open, on the other hand, can be either transitive or intransitive. The dentist says













SELF-CHECK TENSE EXERCISE 2:1 4 Read through the following article about using ICT in classrooms. Look at the underlined verbs then fill the verbs into the right space in the chart below the text.

Before I started teacher training, I thought a laptop was an optional extra, but I decided to buy one anyway. I’m glad I did. I’m using it constantly. You often hear teachers saying how children have stopped reading. Well if I was a modern child, I would find looking at a black and white textbook a bit tedious! With a laptop and projector you have instant colour and a change of focus. To go back to last Monday. It started badly. I had intended to do a lesson based on a section of DVD, projected onto my white board, but it was not to be. If I had checked my materials properly, perhaps I wouldn’t have been caught out. Five minutes into the lesson, however, just as I was getting to the focussed scene, the system crashed. I’ve learnt my lesson from this and I’m always going to have a backup plan from now on. What’s more, whenever I use the laptop, I’ll do a trial run first.















. ...............................................................……………………………………………… ...............................................................…………………………………………………

. ...............................................................……………………………………………… ...............................................................…………………………………………………

. ...............................................................……………………………………………… ...............................................................…………………………………………………

Future forms . ...............................................................………………………………………………













NAME & ADDRESS.......................................................................................................... TASK 1 Look at the 10 multiple choice questions on the assessment sheet overleaf. This is part 1 of a level assessment which is sent out to our overseas students. You will obviously have no problem in finding the correct answer, but explaining your choice can be more problematic. What do you think is being tested in each question? Explain in your own words or use grammatical terms if you know them.

1................................................................................................................................. ………………………………………………………………………………………………….

2................................................................……………………………………………….













9..............................................................………………………………………………… ...............................................................………………………………………………….

10.............................................................………………………………………………… ...............................................................…………………………………………………..

In question 9 alternative b) is the correct answer. Bear in mind that the situation/circumstances are important. Under what circumstances is c) possible? Explain. ...............................................................………………………………………………….. ...............................................................………………………………………………….. ...............................................................…………………………………………………..













This is not a task for you! This is one of our assessments for homestay students. ASSESSMENT SHEET In order to help us to assess your level of English, and therefore your needs, please complete the following. If you cannot understand a question leave it out. Do not ask anyone for help and do not use a dictionary or any other book to help you. PART 1 Write the correct answer in the space provided. 1. Sally often ......................... her lunch in a restaurant. a) has got b) is having c) has d) have

2. My friend is going shopping ....................... 3 o'clock. a) to b) at c) in d) on

3. John plays badminton ......................... than Sam.













TASK 2 Use an example of each of the following in a sentence and underline it. 1. an adjective 1..............................................................………………………………………………… ...............................................................………………………………………………….

2. an adverb 2..............................................................………………………………………………… ...............................................................………………………………………………….

3. a countable noun















7. a preposition of movement 7..............................................................………………………………………………… ...............................................................…………………………………………………

8. a question tag 8..............................................................…………………………………………………













TASK 3 Write an example for each of the following:1. a positive statement 1..............................................................…………………………………………………. .....................................................................……………………………………………… 2. a negative statement













TASK 4 Write as many ways of using the definite and indefinite articles as you can find in your grammar and explain each one. definite articles the definite article “the” is used: 1/ before nouns of which there is only one . eg: the sky , the moon , the earth . 2/ before a noun which became definite as a result of been mentionned a second













1. present simple a)..............................................................................................................................… ...............................................................………………………………………………….. b)..............................................................................................................................… ...............................................................…………………………………………………..













...............................................................…………………………………………………..

6. present perfect continuous (progressive) a)..............................................................................................................................… ...............................................................………………………………………………….. b)..............................................................................................................................…



























14. first conditional (probable condition)













TENSE TASK 2













1. She said, "I'm cold."

Unit2 Mod1

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