How non-English speakers are taught this crazy English grammar rule you know but you've never heard of — Quartz. English grammar, beloved by sticklers, is also feared by non-native speakers. Many of its idiosyncrasies can turn into traps even for the most confident users. But some of the most binding rules in English are things that native speakers know but don’t know they know, even though they use them every day. When someone points one out, it’s like a magical little shock. This week, for example, the BBC’s Matthew Anderson pointed out a “rule” about the order in which adjectives have to be put in front of a noun.
Judging by the number of retweets—over 47,000 at last count—this came as a complete surprise to many people who thought they knew all about English: That quote comes from a book called The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase. Mixing up the above phrase does, as Forsyth writes, feel inexplicably wrong (a rectangular silver French old little lovely whittling green knife…), though nobody can say why. Learning rules doesn’t always work, however. Ny dansk forskning rokker ved vores forståelse af grammatik. Når vi mennesker kigger ud i et rum, er der typisk et væld af visuelle indtryk, som vores hjerne skal bearbejde. Lænestolen i hjørnet, maleriet på væggen, gulvtæppets mønstre. Alle de ting kan vi se, men vores hjerne er ikke i stand til at fokusere på dem alle samtidig. Så den sorterer. Projektet Fakta Forskningsprojektet Program (PROminence and GRAMmar in mind and brain) er et forskningsprojekt på tværs af fakulteter ved Københavns Universitet.
Det samme gør hjernen, når vi skal læse en sætning eller en længere tekst under tidspres. Hvis man eksempelvis skal læse sætningen ’Peter har købt en cykel’, vil den udfordrede hjerne kun opfatte de såkaldt leksikalske ord ’Peter’, ’køb’ og ’cykel’, mens de grammatiske elementer som hjælpeverbet ’har’, bøjningsendelsen ’t’ og den bestemte artikel ’en’ træder i baggrunden, forklarer sprogforsker og leder af projektet Kasper Boye. Hidtil har man i vid udstrækning inden for sprogvidenskaben troet, at evnen til at forstå og bruge grammatik er medfødt. 10 Best Grammar Resources for English Language Learners - Grammarly Blog. English is already the most common second language (by number of speakers) in the world, and more people begin studying it every day. Fortunately, the availability of learning resources is growing right along with the number of English learners.
The publishing industry, web entrepreneurs, respected institutions, and enthusiasts who just want to help are producing a staggering amount of materials aimed at getting people to understand, speak, and write in English. Some of the materials are good, some of them not so much, and to help you figure out which is which, we’ve compiled a list of the ten best resources you could be using to learn English grammar. Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White The Elements of Style, commonly known as “Strunk and White,” is a classic style guide every American student is familiar with. Oxford Modern English Grammar by Bas Aarts Purdue Online Writing Lab Grammar Exercises from the University of Bristol’s Faculty of Arts Grammar Monster.
Teaching English Grammar to Speakers of Other Languages (Paperback) About the Book This practical and research-based introduction to current and effective English grammar instruction gives pre-service and in-service teachers and teacher educators a strong foundation for teaching second language grammar and helps them develop their professional knowledge and skills. Written in a highly readable style for an international audience, it provides a thorough and rounded overview of the principles, strategies, techniques, and applications currently dominant in teaching L2 grammar in a range of instructional settings around the world.
Chapter authors are world-class authorities in grammar and grammar teaching and learning. All chapters are based on theoretical frameworks and/or research foundations with a strong emphasis on practical applications and implications for classroom teaching, and highlight teaching methods, key concepts, and terminology associated with grammar instruction. Table of Contents Preface PART IPrinciples and Foundations of Grammar Teaching. Teaching Grammar: There Has to Be a Better Way (And There Is!) Editor's Note: Steve Peha is the President of Teaching That Makes Sense, an education consultancy based in Carrboro, NC. He writes regularly on education policy on The National Journal Education Experts Blog.
His work has also been featured in The Washington Post, DropoutNation, EdNews, and The Carborro Citizen. He is the author of three books on teaching: Be a Writer, Be a Better Writer, and Reading Allowed. Grammar instruction is making a comeback but in all the wrong ways. The purpose of learning grammar is to produce well-formed sentences. But mastering the Latinate content of traditional grammar instruction has little to do with achieving this goal. To help kids master sentence structure, I describe sentences with simple English words, not unfamiliar Latin words. In my experience, this approach helps kids learn almost instantly how to write well-formed sentences. Every Writer Serves a Sentence Take a look at this sentence: Like all sentences, this one is made up of parts. 1. 2. 3. 4. Teaching Grammar. Grammar is often named as a subject difficult to teach.
Its technical language and complex rules can be intimidating. Teaching a good grammar lesson is one thing, but what if you're in the middle of a reading or speaking activity and a student has a grammar question? Some students may have studied grammar in their home countries and be surprised that you don't understand, "Does passive voice always need the past participle? " But even if your student's question is simple and jargon-free, explaining grammar is a skill you will need to acquire through practice. Consider the following as you integrate grammar into your lessons. Acknowledge your role. The links below will help you understand and explain various grammar points. BBC Skillswise: Grammar Fact sheets, games, quizzes, and worksheets on a variety of practical English grammar skills.
ELT Journal Articles on grammar. Grammar and Vocabulary. Here you can find a list of our post related to teaching grammar and vocabulary. For grammar and vocabulary lesson plans, please visit the Lesson Plans section. Below the posts from this blog, you can also find links to articles by other bloggers which we’ve read and found really useful and interesting (if you’ve written an interesting post on Grammar or Vocabulary and would like us to add it to the list, please Contact us). TEFL Reflections articles: Using online corpora to teach grammarDrawing effective timelines – some tipsHow to concept check effectivelyPractise concept checkingA webinar on concept checkingClarifying meaning of new languagePractical ideas for reviewing vocabulary in classImprove the retention rate of new vocabulary by using MemriseUsing dictations in class in a communicative wayLearning vocabulary with Memrise – my response to criticsThe lexical aspect – a commonly overlooked aspect of teaching verb tenses Articles by other bloggers: Life Beyond Gap-fill?
Like this: Corpus-Informed Grammar Teaching : Grammar and Beyond. Even if you’re a native speaker of English, you probably don’t have completely accurate intuitions about the frequency of a word like intuition, for example, or what it collocates most readily with. Rather than relying on your own grammatical / lexical intuition—or that of a textbook author—check your thoughts with corpus tools. Many of them are available for free online, and they offer a great way to expose your students to authentic input. Appropriate corpus searches also create a sense of learner autonomy, and corpus skills are a learning tool students can use long after they leave your classroom.
One of the largest and most commonly known corpora is COCA, or the Corpus of Contemporary American English. You get 10-15 searches before the website will ask you to register your email and create a password. Students may need some training in how to use corpus software, and if you’ve never used it, you’ll probably want to familiarize yourself as well. Weaver Teaching Grammar in the Context of Writing. Grammar Handbook « Writers Workshop: Writer Resources « The Center for Writing Studies, Illinois.
Thank you for using the Grammar Handbook at the Writers' Workshop, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This Handbook explains and illustrates the basic grammatical rules concerning parts of speech, phrases, clauses, sentences and sentence elements, and common problems of usage. While we have done our best to be comprehensive and accurate, we do not claim to be the final authority on grammatical issues. We appreciate constructive emails with questions, suggestions, or corrections, but please understand we may be unable to respond to all of them. Handbook Sections Parts of Speech Nouns Verbs Adjectives and Adverbs Conjunctions Other Parts of Speech Phrases Clauses Sentences and Sentence Elements Common Usage Problems.
English syntax highlighter. The effect of overusing the progressive / continuous. Present Perfect Downloadable JM. Teaching the Two Main Meanings of the Present Perfect : Grammar and Beyond. The present perfect is one of the most challenging forms for ESOL students to learn because of its elusive meanings. The following activity uses consciousness-raising to draw students’ attention to the two different meanings of this verb form. These are: Present Perfect Meaning One To indicate an event or action that happened at an unspecified time in the past Present Perfect Meaning Two To indicate an event or action that started in the past and continues in the present This meaning-focused activity is used after teaching the structure of the present perfect (i.e. have/has + past participle form of the verb). 1) Make two columns (as in the downloadable exercise) on the board, on paper, or on a screen. 2) Ask students—individually, in pairs, or in groups—to come up with more present-perfect sentences. 3) Ask each student, pair, or group to read one of their sentences.
Download the classroom activity sheet from this post.