Grammar
The Skeletal System of the Language
ME VERY GRAMMAR
Once, when I was teaching intermediate ESL to adults, the teacher of the advanced class sent me one of her students. He had requested placement in the advanced group because he had studied English in his native country, but the material proved too difficult for him. The same proved true in my intermediate class. After an hour of struggle he shouted, “Me very grammar. You class no grammar!” and stormed out of the room.
Many people claim that they know the grammar of a language yet cannot compose intelligible sentences when they attempt to speak it. Grammar exercises taught in isolation can kill a lot of time and still leave the learner unable to produce a grammatical sentence. As part of a balanced course, however, the study of grammar can greatly enhance understanding and fluency. Grammar is simply a study of the rules that govern a language. Those rules are the skeleton upon which we hang the vocabulary. They can be mastered consciously, and through practice their application can become as automatic as they are for native speakers. My former student’s grammar lessons had taken him only half way. He understood the rules but was not able to apply them.
Do not assume that students will automatically absorb the rules of grammar. Sometimes it works out that way, especially with young students, but not always. A number of English learners manage to assimilate thousands of words of English vocabulary over several years yet have only the most tenuous grasp of English structure. Such individuals can express themselves with isolated or poorly connected words yet are quite limited in overall communication. If you are fortunate enough to have such students in your class, you may have the chance to dazzle your superiors and amaze your peers. Some vocabulary-rich but structure-poor students can be led from the “me-Tarzan-you-Jane” level to reasonable fluency in a few months.
WHEN TO START GRAMMAR LESSONS
It is best to avoid teaching explicit grammar until students have at least a survival command of the language. When they understand and can respond to a thousand words or so and have begun to at least attempt to produce sentences, they are probably ready. By this time, they should have already heard thousands of grammatical English sentences, and their mental fields should be well tilled by contact with their new language.
ENGLISH GRAMMAR ISN’T AS TOUGH AS WE THINK
As grammars go, that of English is not so complicated, even though we English-speaking chauvinists like to imagine that we have one of the most difficult languages in the world. Most of our verbs have only four forms, and only one, to be, has more than five. Only about fifty verbs of consequence are irregular, and most of them are irregular only in the past tense. No verb suffixes reflect politeness or respect, as with many Asian languages. English does not have masculine and feminine articles, and only our pronouns have cases.
FREEBIES: WHEN ENGLISH GRAMMAR MATCHES THE LEARNER’S NATIVE LANGUAGE
When an English structure parallels that of the learner’s native language, a simple grammatical explanation can lead to immediate mastery. If a Spanish speaker knows grammatical terminology in his or her own language and knows how to form the past participle of common English verbs, it is a small matter to teach the perfect mood, because the perfect in Spanish exactly mirrors that of English. Because he and han mean have, and the suffix ado is the equivalent to the English ed, it is easy for such a student to understand that Yo he estudiado is the same as “I have studied” or that Ellos han brincado means “They have jumped.” Structures that do not parallel those in the students’ native language will be more difficult, but not impossible, to learn.
THE GARDEN PATH TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR
A complete grammar lesson is, of course, beyond the scope of this book, but here is the quick-start version. Mastery of verbs and a knowledge of word order are sufficient to permit students to compose intelligible sentences in English. It is acceptable to tell your beginning students that mastery of the verb entails most of English grammar. By the time the students figure out that you were exaggerating, they will be advanced enough to have experienced success with their new language and will thus not turn back. Here is the garden path, or the easy way, to mastery of the English verb.
Regular English verbs have only three inflections: the third person singular s or its variant es, ed to form the past tense and the past participle, and ing to form the present participle and the gerund.
There are four classes of auxiliary verbs. The forms of to be (is, am, are, was, were) combine with the present participle to form the progressive tenses (I am singing, they were singing) and with the past participle to form the passive voice (Italian was spoken, English is spoken, French will be spoken). The modals can, could, should, would, might, must, may, will, and shall combine with other verbs without any inflections (I can work, you will play). The perfect is formed with have, has, had, followed by the past participle (they have studied, it had rained). The past participle is usually the same as the past tense, although there are about 20 common exceptions.
When an auxiliary verb is present, or the verb is a form of to be, form the negative by adding the word not or the contraction n’t. He is happy; he is not (or isn’t) sad. We should study; we should not (or shouldn’t) waste time. Otherwise, make the sentence negative by adding “do not,” “does not,” “did not,” or their contractions “don’t,” “doesn’t,” or “didn’t” before the main verb. I don’t like broccoli; he didn’t arrive late.
When an auxiliary verb is present, form the question by reversing the subject and the auxiliary verb. Mary is swimming becomes Is Mary swimming? John can help us becomes Can John help us? If the verb is the copula, reverse the subject and the verb. We are late becomes Are we late?
The simple present is the most difficult tense to teach. It has two forms, and the interrogative and the negative are formed with an auxiliary do or its third person variant does. Also complicating matters is that there are three ways to pronounce the third person inflectional s. Except for the third person singular, the simple present is only the simple form of the verb. The third person singular adds s or es, depending on the final phoneme. The inflexion es follows s and the s-like sounds, soft c, soft g, sh, ch, z, and x. After these sounds the e of es is never silent. Following a voiced sound (any vowel, b, d, g, l, m, n, r, v, or w) the inflectional s is pronounced like a z. In other cases, it is the sibilant s.
To form the negative, we place the auxiliary do not/don’t or does not/doesn’t between the subject and the main verb. The latter is for negative statements in the third person singular. The former is for all others. The question is formed by placing do/does before the subject, while the main verb follows the subject. Following the auxiliary does in either the question or the negative statement, the inflectional s is not added to the main verb.
The simple past of the affirmative statement is formed in most cases by simply adding the suffix ed. As with the inflectional s, the ed is pronounced three different ways, depending on the preceding sound. After d and t, the e of ed is pronounced. In other cases, it is silent. After voiced sounds (all vowels, b, g, j, l, m, n, r, v, w,), the d is also voiced and is thus pronounced as we usually pronounce d. After unvoiced consonants (ch, f, k, p, s, sh, x), the ed is pronounced like t.
About fifty commonly used verbs are irregular in the past tense. A few of them, like put, set, and knit, are the same in the past affirmative statement as in the present, except in the third person singular, which does not add an s as it does in the present. The past of the question is formed by using did instead of do or does. The past of the negative uses did not or didn’t instead of its do counterparts. After the did in both the question and the negative forms, the simple form of the verb is used.
The perfect is formed with the auxiliary verb have plus the past participle. The affirmative statement is formed with have/has/had between the subject and the participle. Placing not after or attaching n’t to the auxiliary forms the negative. The question is formed by reversing the subject and the auxiliary. He has eaten his lunch. He has not/ hasn’t eaten his lunch. Has he eaten his lunch?
Where there are no auxiliary verbs, verbs combine with “to” between them or by adding ing to the second, as in I like to swim or I hate shopping. That’s it. Understanding how to use these inflections and auxiliary verbs is roughly the equivalent of knowing all 70 forms of the Spanish verb.
Students need to understand when to use which tense, but it is not necessary to give them every application of a tense when they learn it. The present progressive is generally used to express action at this very moment, but this is not always the case. I am reading a good book can mean that I am reading it at this moment, or that I have started a book and intend to finish it, or that I will read it in the near future. When you introduce the present progressive, it is sufficient to provide a single application. Once the structure is mastered, you can explain others.
PRONOUN CASES
Pity the poor students of German when they study nouns. Before choosing an article, they must determine if a noun is masculine, feminine, neuter, singular, plural, genitive, dative . . . and so on. In English, different genders do not call for different articles, and we have cases only for pronouns.
I, you, he, she, it, we, and they are subject pronouns. Me, you, him, her, it, us, and them are object pronouns. You need only explain that the subject pronoun is placed before the verb and object pronoun is placed after, as in the sentences, He sees me or We know them. The only exception is when a form of to be is used as the copula, in which case only the subject form is used, as in Who is he? or It is I. Of course, most native speakers prefer the more commonly used but incorrect It’s me.
The possessive pronouns are my, your, his, her, its, our, and their, and mine, yours, his, hers, ours, and theirs. Those in the first set are really adjectives that must precede the nouns they modify, while the second are true pronouns that stand alone.
With the exception of himself and themselves, the reflexive pronouns are the same as the possessive with self attached to the singular and selves attached to the plural (myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves).
IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT GRAMMAR INSTRUCTION
Learning grammar is a bit like learning chess. One can learn the moves in a few hours, but it takes months or years to master the game. In like fashion, you can explain the rules of grammar in an hour or two, and your students can memorize them in a few weeks, but it will probably take a year or more before they can apply most of them automatically. As Erasmus discovered five centuries ago, the implicit and the explicit can work together.
We hear stories about people who studied vocabulary and grammar for several years and seemed to learn nothing, yet became reasonably fluent after living a few months where the language is spoken. It is not that those years in class were wasted. Inert knowledge can become active with practice. All contact with English serves to reinforce grammar lessons, but specific activities can help students to learn to apply grammar rules automatically. You may choose to do some of these activities first and reserve the explicit grammar explanations for later.
PATTERN PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT: WELL, NOT REALLY, BUT IT WORKS
Pattern practice can be useful as long as you know when to break the pattern. Many textbooks employ written pattern exercises, but pattern practice can be done orally as well. Model a sentence and then give students a cue to modify it. Patterns such as I run, you run, he runs oblige students to apply the third-person-singular rule. Say one of the sentences and then point to different people or groups of people and have a student provide the appropriate sentence. Patterns like Today I work, yesterday I worked, tomorrow I will work help students practice tenses. Model one of these sentences and cue by pointing to different dates on the calendar. Patterns can drill more than one concept at a time. I have a motorcycle, but I don’t have a car—She has a motorcycle, but she doesn’t have a car requires students to form compound sentences and practice the present tense in both the affirmative and the negative. Cue by nodding or shaking your head as you point to students and objects.
Exposure to patterns is useful, even before students are able to make conversions, especially if the patterns are fun. Carolyn Graham’s Jazz Chants offer pattern practice in a form that most students find agreeable. A mix of clever lyrics and background music is the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down. I strongly recommend Jazz Chants for Children, even for secondary students. The chants found in the book and accompanying tape cover the entire range of key English structures, and most students find them amusing. All of the Jazz Chant books are good, but some make some references to adult situations, like drinking alcoholic beverages, and therefore are not appropriate for classes with minors.
GRAMMAR IN ACTION: QUESTIONS, ANSWERS, JOKES, AND CONVERSATION
Controlled conversations in which students are obliged to make verb conversions drill grammar while approximating real-life use of language. If you are fortunate enough to have reasonably small classes, ask students questions that oblige them to convert the verb to a different form. Where do you study? Where does your sister study? What did you study yesterday? When will you study for the test?
You can evoke negative responses by asking students absurd questions. Do you eat cockroaches? Do you sleep in the bathtub? Does your brother wear a tie around his leg? When students are ready, it is a good idea to mix yes/no questions with “wh” questions. Do you live in a shoe? (No, I don’t live in a shoe.) Where do you live? (I live in an apartment.) Who lives in a shoe? (The old lady in the nursery rhyme with all the kids lives in a shoe.)
Early in the course, students will want to answer questions with only a word or two, or perhaps with only gestures. This is acceptable during the first few months of study. After that period, however, students should be required to answer in complete, correct sentences at least part of the time. This will help them to gain command of the structures they will need to communicate effectively in the English language.
There are many ways to evoke questions and commands. You may have students ask other students questions or give them commands. Ask him where he lives. Ask her if she is from Argentina. Ask them when they eat breakfast. Ask us what we ate for lunch. Tell Fulano to stand up. Tell Maria to tell us a joke. Tell Ngyuen to ask Mai if she likes her English class.
My favorite way of evoking questions in the past tense is with What did I do?, a technique taken from a Carolyn Graham Jazz Chant. The teacher or a student makes an accusation, such as You ruined it, and another student responds, What did I ruin? or He stole it, with the response What did he steal? or You offended her, with the response, Whom did I offend?
TAG, YOU’RE IT: CONVERTING STATEMENTS INTO TAG QUESTIONS
Students can learn a lot about grammar by converting statements into tag questions. Tag questions are created by adding final tags such as will you? have I? does he? did you? are they? hasn’t he? or can’t we? to statements. Their formation is not as simple as it may seem to native speakers of English. Affirmative statements require negative tags, while negative statements require affirmative tags. The affirmative statement You are happy requires the negative tag aren’t you? whereas the negative You aren’t happy requires the affirmative tag are you? Statements with modals require the same modal in the tag. He can’t lift that calls for the tag can he? They should study harder calls for the tag shouldn’t they? The forms of to be and the auxiliary forms of have also are repeated in the tags. The weather is nice requires the tag isn’t it. Yumiko hasn’t been to school this week requires the tag has she? Other statements require a form of “do” in the tag. We work too hard takes the tag don’t we? That computer didn’t work yesterday requires the tag did it? Once students understand that You like your English class requires the tag don’t you? while You’re not Argentine requires the tag are you?, they have a pretty fair understanding of the English verb.
In like manner, students learn appropriate structures by practicing appropriate short answers. Do you speak English? calls for the answer I do, while the question Are you in the United States? calls for the answer I am. Once students have mastered those most magic of little words is, am, are, was, were, can, could, should, would, might, must, may, will, shall, do, does, did, have, has, and had, they are well on their way.
Working With Younger Students
Although the study of grammatical rules when mixed with other language-learning activities can enhance language learning among older students, the explicit study of grammar is, for most younger children, a waste of time. In the first place, they will not understand the rules. In the second, they will not need them. Young children absorb rules more easily than they comprehend them. Pattern practices, at least the fun ones like Graham’s Jazz Chants, are effective ways to speed their absorption of the rules of grammar. Controlled conversation is also effective for all ages. With the very young, it is better to model grammar than to explain it.