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Verbs: the essentials

Fundamentally in English, and many (but not all) other languages, there are three types of verb.

1. Lexical verbs which carry intrinsic meaning and alter according to predictable patterns
Examples are smoke, go, enjoy, imagine, come, decide, think, spin etc.  These verbs
change form to show person (I smoke, she smokes), tense (I come, I came, I imagine, I
imagined) and aspect (I decide, I am deciding).
2. Auxiliary verbs which serve to alter the meaning, tense or viewpoint of the main, lexical
verb
Examples are can, may, might, have, get, be, could, should etc.  Many of these verbs do
not show the same changes for tense and aspect.  In isolation, these verbs carry no real
meaning.
3. Copula verbs which tell us directly what something is, is like or becomes
Examples are be, seem, appear, smell, become etc.

Lexical verbs
We can categorise lexical verbs in a number of ways.  The first two categories are the really
crucial ones.

1. Intransitive verbs
Some verbs never take an object and can stand alone.  We can say, for example, They
came, I responded etc. and the meaning is clear.
However, for example, we cannot say *She arrived the hotel or *It occurred the rain
because neither of these verbs can refer to a noun directly, i.e., they cannot take an
object.  We can, and frequently do, insert a preposition to get, e.g., She arrived at the
hotel or It occurred to me but the verb is still not taking an object in these cases.
Other examples of generally intransitive verbs include agree, appear, become, belong,
collapse, die, disappear, exist, fall, go, happen, inquire, laugh, live, look, remain,
respond, rise, sit, sleep, stand, stay, vanish, wait.
Most of these can be followed by a prepositional phrase such as about the weather, at six
o'clock, of hunger and so on but these are not objects of the verb.  Technically, they are
referred to as complements.
2. Transitive verbs
Verbs which are transitive must have an object complement.
For example, we cannot have a sentence such as *He brought or *She sent because the
verbs bring and send must have an object to make any sense.  We need to know both who
and what did it and what it was done to.
Other examples of generally transitive verbs include: buy, cost, get, give, make, owe,
pass, show, take, tell.
We can divide transitive verbs into two more categories:
1. Those transitive verbs which can take only one object.  These are called
monotransitive verbs.  For example, we can say She drank the coffee but not
*She drank me the coffee.  Other examples of verbs which only take one object
when they are transitive include eat, say, play, read, remember, suspect.
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 2. Those transitive verbs that can take two objects.  These are verbs which are
ditransitive.  For example, we can say He bought the drinks and that's a verb with
a single object (the drinks) but we can also say He bought us the drinks and here
we have two objects, the drinks (the direct object) and us (the indirect object). 
Another example is They sold me the car which has a direct object (the car) and
an indirect object (me).
Notice that you can also change the order and put the indirect object at the end but
then you have to insert a preposition: He bought the drinks for us, They sold the
car to me
Other examples of verbs which can or even must be ditransitive include allow,
appoint, ask, assure, award, bake, bet, bring, buy, call, cause, charge, cook, cost,
cut, deal, do, draw, feed, find, get, give, hand, lend, make, offer, order, owe, pass,
pay, promise, read, save, sell, send, show, teach, tell, throw, wish, write
3. Verbs which can be both transitive and intransitive
These verbs, and there are lots of them, can be both.
For example, we can say She eats (intransitive) and She eats fish (transitive).  Other
examples in this category include drink, explain, help, decide, travel, fly, play, continue.

transitive-intransitive pairings

There are a few verbs in English which derive from the same root but have transitive and
intransitive variants.  For example, both rise and raise derive from the same source (the Old
English ræran, to rear) but the first is intransitive and the second transitive.  The others are lie /
lay and sit / set so we get, for example:

 He rose early (intransitive) and He raised the question (transitive)

 They are lying on the beach (intransitive) and They are laying the foundations (transitive)
 He sat near the table (intransitive) and He set it near the table (transitive)

Other pairs of verbs which are unrelated in terms of origin also form intransitive-transitive
couples.  In English, for example:

 fall is intransitive but drop is transitive (The ball fell vs. She dropped the ball)
 speak is usually intransitive but tell is transitive (He spoke at the meeting vs. He told the
truth)
 die is intransitive but kill is transitive (He died in 1940 vs. She killed him in 1940)

Some other verbs take on slightly different meaning when used transitively or intransitively.  For
example

 He ran across the garden (intransitive) and He ran a good business (transitive)
 I can manage alone (intransitive) and He managed the school (transitive)
 The plane flew (intransitive) vs. He flew the plane (transitive)
 She called at 6 (intransitive) and She called her friends (transitive) or She called me an
idiot (ditransitive)

Other languages and teaching

Other people's languages do things differently.

While the essential distinction between transitive and intransitive verb use is common across
languages, the actual verbs in question will vary.  A verb that is intransitive in English may well

2
be transitive in another language and vice versa.
In English, the verbs wash and meet can be used intransitively as well as transitively:

 They washed the car (transitive) vs. They washed and then went out (intransitive)
 We met the manager (transitive) vs. We met on Thursday (intransitive)

In other languages, these two verbs can only be transitive so the reflexive pronoun is inserted
giving a translation like The washed themselves, We met us.  This can, of course, lead to error.
Some languages, such as Japanese, have large sets of pairs of verbs with slightly different forms,
the one transitive, the other intransitive.
It is, therefore, of great importance that we teach the nature of the verb's grammar along with its
meaning.  If we don't, we invite error such as *She died him, *He killed in 1940, *I laughed the
film, *She smiled him, *I assured, *He explained me it, *I complained the manager etc.

If you would like to see if you have understood this section, try this test.

Summary

For more about this section, go to the guide to lexical verbs.

Auxiliary verbs
Auxiliary verbs cannot stand alone and retain their meaning unless the lexical verb they refer to
is understood.  For example, I might means nothing on its own but I might go carries real
meaning.  The auxiliary verb might expresses the speaker's sense of likelihood.  It is possible to
say I might in response to Are you going to the meeting? but here the main lexical verb go is
understood by both speaker and hearer.

There are, fundamentally, two sorts of auxiliary verb.

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 1. Primary auxiliary verbs
These form tenses, voice or aspects with lexical verbs.  Traditionally, they are restricted
to the three verbs be, have and do but many (including this site) add get to the list.
For example
o We can alter the tense (and sense) of I work by using the auxiliary have in, e.g., I
have worked hard.
o We can change how the speaker wants to communicate his or her view of an
event by changing the aspect of I work by using the auxiliary be in I am working.
o We can change the emphasis of what we say also by using the auxiliary be,
changing, e.g., I broke the window to The window was broken by me.
o We can form negatives and questions by using the verb do as in Do you want to
come? or I don't see the problem.

There is a guide to primary auxiliaries on this site and you should consult that for more
information.

2. Modal auxiliary verbs

These alter the hearer's perception of how the speaker understands the situation.
For example
o We can express obligation by using the modal auxiliary have to, changing I think
to I have to think or I left to I had to leave.
o We can express our view of likelihood by inserting a modal auxiliary into They
arrive and making They might / should / must arrive soon.
o We can give or withhold permission by using a range of modals by changing You
go to You may go or You can't go.

The most common list of modal verbs is: can, may, shall, will, could, might, should, would, must,
ought to, used, need and dare.

Modal verbs are traditionally divided into pure modals, semi-modals and marginal modals.  Pure
modals include can, must, will etc., semi-modals include need to, dare to and used to and
marginal modals describes forms such as going to, be about to etc.

The pure modal auxiliaries are sometimes described as defective because they don't exhibit the
full range of forms in the way that lexical verbs do.  For example, must has no past tense (we
can't say *musted), we don't form questions with do (so we can't say *Do you can?) and we don't
add an -s in the third person (so we don't get *She mights).

Modal auxiliary verbs perform a large range of functions in English.  If you want to know more,
a good place to start is the guide to modality.

4
Here's the summary:

Copula verbs
These verbs serve to link the subject of a sentence directly to its function or its characteristics. 
There is a list in the guide to copula verbs on this site.  Briefly, however, copula verbs perform
two functions:

1. They link a subject to an object and tell us that they refer to the same thing.
For example: in Mary is a teacher or Mary became a teacher or Mary looks like a
teacher, we know that Mary and a teacher refer to the same person.
2. They link the subject to its characteristic.
For example: in Mary appears angry, Mary became angry and Mary is angry we know
that we are dealing with an angry Mary.

Verbs like be, become and turn into often function in both categories: He became angry vs. He
became a teacher, She was unhappy vs. She was an engineer.

Verbs of perception usually only function in the second category and are followed by an
adjective: It looks awful, It smells sweet, It sounds horrible, They appeared drunk, She seemed
unwell etc.

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Many copula verbs also function as lexical verbs in other circumstances: She appears happy
(copula use) vs. She appeared at the door (lexical use with a prepositional phrase).  A copula
verb can, therefore, only be defined by what it does, not what it looks like.

Summary of verb types

Try a last test on all of this.

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6
English Tenses
Here's the overview:
(NB: Many sources and course books use 'continuous' instead of 'progressive'.  This site
generally prefers the latter although there is, technically, a difference.)

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The chart and the following table is available as a PDF document.

Look through the chart and try to make your own examples of each of the tense forms and then
click for a quick matching test to see if you can remember the names.

What follows is not exhaustive but it covers the main uses of these tenses in English.

Tense Main uses Examples

Repeated or habitual
I play tennis every Thursday
actions
Generalisations Flamingos eat fish
Present simple
Schedules The train arrives at 8
Present conditions (with
I am here, He needs money
some verbs only)
Current actions He is writing a letter
Longer actions which may He is writing a book, He is
Present
not be occurring now studying French
progressive
I'm seeing the doctor
Arranged future
tomorrow
Finished past action or I ate at six, I lived in Brazil, I
Past simple condition was happy
Repeated past action I always ate at six
Interrupted past action I was eating when he rang
Progressive action at a
I was eating at 7
particular time
Past
progressive It was raining and the wind
Parallel past actions or was blowing, I was eating
events while she was watching
television
Past event at an unspecified
I have spoken to him
time
To describe experiences I have been to America
Present perfect I have learnt French (so now I
Past event, unspecified
can speak it), He has broken
time, which affects the
the pump (so now we can't use
present
it)
To show duration of a long
I've been waiting for hours
event or action
Present perfect Events which have She's been looking unwell for
progressive continued until now some time
Progressive events with He's been working too hard
present outcomes (so is now exhausted)

8
 Completed actions before I had already spoken to her
others in the past before he asked
Past perfect
Completed long events It had rained for a week before
before actions in the past the weather broke
(Un)completed long
I had been playing chess for
actions before events in the
two hours before he arrived
Past perfect past
progressive To show a causal
He had been working too hard
relationship between events
and was exhausted
in the past
Voluntary actions or I'll write soon, I'll do the
promises washing up
Predictions based on
Future simple This will be difficult
experience or hunches
There's no butter!
Spontaneous decisions
I'll go and get some.
He'll be working when you
Interrupted action
Future come
progressive Progressive future event at
I'll be working at 7
a specific time
Completed action before He'll have finished the book by
another the time I want it
To show causal He'll have repaired the car
Future perfect connections and then we can use it
Events occurring before I'll have been at the hotel for a
future actions (certain day or two before I can call
verbs only) you
Future progressive actions I will have been working for
or events before other over two hours before you get
Future perfect actions here
progressive
To show causal He'll have been travelling for
connections ten hours and will be tired
To express intention I'm not going to put up with it
'going to' To express prediction
Look at those clouds.  It's
based on current evidence
going to rain any minute
or past experience
I used to drink lots of coffee, I
used to' Past habits used to take my holidays in
Spain

9
Tense and aspect

What follows refers only to English.  Languages deal with these two issues very differently
indeed.

What's the difference between Tense and Aspect?

Tense refers to the time of an event and is often marked by a change in the verb ending.  So we
have, e.g.:

1. Rita believes in ghosts (present)

2. Rita believed in ghosts (past)

In fact, unlike most languages, English also has no inflection on the base form of the verb in
many cases (They believe in ghosts) but it is still a present tense.
Arguably, English has no future tense because we don't have a form of the verb to signify future
time.  We denote the future in many ways – She is going to talk to me, She will talk to me etc. 
More of that later.

Aspect refers to how an event or state is perceived with reference to time (hence the pretty
picture above).  So we have, e.g.:

3. Rita has broken the rule

4. Rita is breaking the rule

Sentence 3 tells us not only that the rule was broken in the past but also that it has some
relevance to the present.  The fact that she has broken the rule will have consequences now.
Sentence 4 gives a different aspect.  The -ing ending on the verb is called a present participle
ending and in English that tells us that the event is happening now.  Unfortunately, English
present tenses are a bit complicated.  Think what these actually mean and then click here for the
answers.

5. Rita walks to school

6. Rita is walking to school tomorrow
7. Rita is walking to school now

Sentence 5 implies that this is her habit, not necessarily what she is doing right now.
Sentence 6 is actually the present progressive used for a future event that has been arranged in
some way.
Sentence 7 is the only one which is truly a present form.

Aspect and tense are very closely related.  We can use other tenses with progressive (be + -ing)
aspects and with perfect aspects (have + the past participle of the verb).  Here are two examples:

8. Rita had walked to school (perfect aspect, past tense – we call this the past perfect tense)
9. Rita was walking to school (progressive aspect, past tense – we call this the past
progressive tense)

10
Before we go on, here's a summary of the all the present and past tenses and aspects with their
names, along with the future forms English also uses.

Example (form in italics) Tense name

She often speaks to her
Present simple (habit)
boss
She is speaking to her
Present progressive
boss
She spoke to her boss Past simple
She was speaking to her
Past progressive
boss
She has spoken to her
Present perfect
boss
She has been speaking to
Present perfect progressive
her boss
She had spoken to her
Past perfect
boss
She had been speaking to
Past perfect progressive
her boss
She will speak to her boss Future simple (factual future)
She is speaking to her
Present progressive (future)
boss tomorrow
She is going to speak to 'going to' future
her boss (intentionality)
She will be speaking to Future progressive (ongoing
her boss future)
She will have spoken to Future perfect (past in the
her boss future)
She will have been Future perfect progressive
speaking to her boss (past in the future)

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Voice

Compare these two sentences:

1. John kicked the ball.

2. The ball was kicked.

Sentence 1 is in the Active voice.  Sentence 2 is in the Passive voice.

Voice describes the relationship between the verb and what are called its arguments (subject,
object in this case).
Here are some more examples:

  Active voice   Passive voice

3 The police arrested her 7 She was arrested by the police
4 They have made the cake 8 The cake has been made
5 People admire him 9 He is admired
The dog dropped the bone in the 1 The bone was dropped in the
6
garden 0 garden by the dog

What is the difference in structure between active and passive sentences.  Think for a minute
and then click here.

In an active sentence, we have the following order: Subject (e.g., the dog) + verb (e.g., dropped)
+ Object (e.g., the bone)
In a passive sentence, we have the following order: Object (the bone) + tense of the verb to be
(was) + past participle (dropped) [+ by + Subject (the dog)]
In Sentences 8 and 9, we don't have the last part [in square brackets].  More about why later.

The first thing to remember about passive and active constructions is that languages deal with
these things very differently.  In some, such as Mandarin, there is arguably no true equivalent. 
Others, such as Greek use a special form of the verb and some, such as Spanish, make a
construction similar to the way English makes a passive.

Why can't you make a passive of something like The book fell or John arrived?
Right – the verb must be a transitive one (see the section on word class).  In other words, there
has to be an object to move to the front.

Is there a change in meaning?

You could argue that They baked the cake and The cake was baked by them mean exactly the
same thing.  In many older course books (and some not-so-old ones) this is strongly implied by
exercises requiring learners to transform sentences from one voice to another.
However, the grammar we use to express our thoughts is not randomly selected.  There is a
difference between Sentences 3 to 6 and Sentences 7 to 10 above.
In the passive sentence we have chosen to put the most important element of the sentence at the
front (that's why it's called fronting).  We do this for three main reasons:
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 1. Because we are less interested in who did something and more concerned with the
receiver of the action.  In Sentence 7, we are interested in what happened to her but in
Sentence 3, we are concerned with what the police did.
2. Because it's obvious what the subject is so unnecessary to state it.  Sentence 5 actually
sounds odd to many and the idea is better expressed by Sentence 9.  It's obvious that
people do the admiring.
3. Because we don't know what the subject is.  So, in sentences such as The window has
been broken or My car has been stolen we use a passive to avoid a clumsy 'someone has'
formulation.  In any case, it's the window and the car that concern us, not the vandal or
the thief.

There is a fourth use of the passive which, oddly, can be used to emphasise the Subject.  This is
usually a spoken form because we need to stress the Subject of the verb when we speak:
The window was broken by her (not me) or She was arrested by the police (not the customs
people)

In informal speech, we often use get instead of the verb be.  E.g., I don't know how the window
got broken.

One last question here: how do we transform this active sentence into the passive?
The bank lent John the money  Click here when you have the answer.

Either:
The money was lent to John (by the bank) or John was lent the money (by the bank)
If you have two objects, you have two possible passive sentences.  Which you choose will
depend on what's important.

Click to do a short test on all of this.

13
The present tenses
If you haven't followed the introductory guide to English tenses yet, please consider doing so
now.

talking about now

Present tenses in English (as in most languages) are actually reasonably straightforward.  It is
easier to understand the way English functions if you think of tenses being divided into two
types – past and non-past.
The reason for this is that, like many other languages, English uses a variety of 'present' forms to
talk about the future, because it lacks a dedicated tense form.
For more about how that is done, see the guide to four future forms here.

Compare these examples and see if you can figure out what the difference in meaning is:

1. Cows eat grass

2. She always complains
3. She's always complaining
4. I usually stay at The Grand but this year I'm staying at The Imperial
5. I type in my user name and then the password.  See?  Now we click on 'Proceed'
6. I'm taking it apart again so you can see how it all fits together
7. Johnson runs up to the crease and bowls to Smith who raps it away to the boundary for
four more

Click here when you have an answer.

  Tense Use Examples

The timeless present for statements
1 Present simple
which are always true.
A timeless use applied to a person for
2 Present simple
habit or habitual attitude.
A timeless use applied to a person
indicating the speaker's irritation.
Present
3 (This use often comes with a
progressive
frequency adverb such as always,
frequently, constantly, continually etc.)
The first verb expresses habit.
Present simple
The second verb indicates a departure
4 vs. present
from the habit for an action of limited
progressive
duration happening now.
The sun rises in the east
After June in Europe the
days get shorter
They never arrive on time
She always distrusts
innovation
We take our holidays in
France
He's constantly interfering
They are continually
moaning
He studies at Oxford but
this term he's doing a
course at Cambridge
She usually works in
Finance but she's helping
out in this department to
cover sickness
14
 I start with 2 measures of
Instantaneous use describing a
this, you see, and add one
sequence of actions.
5 Present simple of this like so and finish it
(A single action is expressed with the
off with some crushed ice
present progressive.)
and there you have it
Instantaneous use describing an action
taking place right now. He's watching television in
Present
6 (If no time is implied or marked in the lounge
progressive
some way, we assume this form refers They're cutting the grass
to the present.)
Instantaneous use confined to sports
Federer serves down the
commentator speech.
centre, the return comes
Also occurs in the performative use
7 Present simple too high and he easily puts
where saying the sentence performs
it away in the corner
the act such as I call upon everyone
I implore you to stop
here to ...)

It is important to remember that many languages do not distinguish between progressive and
instantaneous actions.  In French, for example, je lave la voiture could be translated either as I
wash the car or I am washing the car.  The context will usually make things clear.  In German,
Greek and many other languages, the same thing applies.

Now, as a test, can you complete this table?  Click on the table when you have filled in all the
blank cells in your head.

Last notes:

1. If an event is timeless we always use the present simple unless we are expressing
irritation
2. If an event is of limited duration, we use the present progressive
3. If an event is instantaneous we use either tense but the present progressive is more
common

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The present perfect
The distinction in English between the simple and perfect forms of all tenses is the key to
understanding how English conceptualises time.
If you haven't followed the introductory guide to English tenses yet, please consider doing so
now.

languages differ

Many languages have verbs forms selected to represent the speaker's view of time – that is what
tenses do.  However, they differ in terms of what they see as the important distinctions.  Some
languages, such as Mandarin, have no changes to verbs to signify time at all, relying on
adverbials, particles and the context to signal time concepts.  It is perfectly possible to be
understood (at least on a basic level) and use no tense forms at all:
I go tomorrow
I come yesterday
I always do this
I arrive recently
I finish work at 6 last week
are all perfectly comprehensible even if they need a little interpretation from the listener.
Briefly, many languages do not distinguish between the present perfect and the simple past in the
way that English does although they may have very similar forms.  (German, for example, can
form a sentence like Ich habe es gemacht (roughly translatable as I have done it) but this does
not necessarily signify present relevance or an uncompleted action and could be translated as I
did it.)
It is difficult to understand the concepts the present perfect in English indicates without
contrasting it with the past simple and that's the approach here.

Compare these examples and see if you can figure out whether:

1. the action took place at a particular point in time

2. the action continued over a period of time
3. the action continued up to the present
4. the action has some obvious present significance

Fill in the grid (you can tick one or more boxes).  You can do this in your head or on paper. 
Click on the table when you have an answer.

16
Notes:

1. (Past simple)  You may have decided that she smoked a cigarette is an action that takes a
period of time.  That's OK but the action is seen as taking place at a particular moment in
time.
2. (Present perfect)  Clearly, the second sentence tell us two things: the action has extended
over a period of time and it has extended up to now.  It is also possible but not certain
that she will smoke more in the future.  You may have ticked D for this sentence, too. 
That's OK, providing you have seen some present relevance.
3. (Past Simple)  The third example tells us two things.  It is completed (and we know when
it stopped) and it took place over an extended period of time.
4. (Present perfect)  The last example gives us the same kind of information that the second
sentence conveys but strongly implies that her action has some relevance to now (perhaps
she has determined to give up, perhaps this is her doctor's description of her life style
etc.).

As you can see, English uses the two different tenses to express these different meanings.

the past simple and the present perfect

Compare these and note the difference in meaning:

1. Jo lived almost all her life in India

2. Jo has lived almost all her life in India

When you have noticed two differences in meaning, click here.

1. The first difference is that in sentence 1 we know that Jo is no longer living in India but
in sentence 2 we would probably assume that she still does (or that her having spent time
in India has some relevance to now (for example, she can speak an Indian language, can
find her way around an Indian menu, knows about Indian cultures and so on)).
2. The second difference is that in sentence 1 Jo is quite possibly a historical character or,
sadly, no longer with us but in sentence 2, Jo is certainly alive and may continue living in
India into the future.

This distinction between the simple past and the perfect form lies at the heart of the way English
conceptualises past time.
It is because of the way that we think about past time that each of these tenses is associated with
different time markers (not, incidentally, the other way around).  Here's what we mean:

With the present

With the simple past With both
perfect
yesterday since 2010
last week up to now
today
last year recently
this week
on Tuesday lately
for 5 years
in 1956 already
two months ago yet

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Learners who don't have a good grasp of the concepts here will often produce incorrect sentences
such as:
I have lived here two years ago
I lived here since 2014
I did it already*
I worked up to now
and so on.  This is not usually because they don't understand the time markers, it is usually
because they haven't got the concepts of the times right.
* Note that standard American uses this kind of construction frequently, as in things like Did you
just arrive? etc.

the present perfect to talk about the present

You will readily see that sentences such as

I have been to America
They have seen the aurora borealis
We have never seen anything like it
She has never smiled at me
refer to a time between the speakers' earliest memories and now.  It is indefinite concerning the
time and focuses on the event alone.  It is for this reason that the tense is often used to comment
on the present or to introduce the topic of a conversation.  Here are some typical examples which
do not relate to recentness but use the tense in this aspect of discussing experience or raising a
topic:
Did you know that Mary has left her job and gone travelling? (introducing a topic for discussion
– it may be a recent event but that's not the point)
You've been to Paris, haven't you? (possibly a forerunner to some closer questioning)
I've discovered something about this program. (requiring the hearer to say something like Oh,
what's that?  Do tell. etc.)
Have you tried the new restaurant in the square? (a forerunner to asking what it's like or telling
the hearer what it's like if the answer is 'no')

It's pretty easy to make up examples of this very common use of the tense but the trick is to set it
in context and give people a reason to introduce a topic and that's usually because:

 they want to get some information

 they want give some information or
 they want to start a discussion

Teaching the present perfect simple

Here are some suggested contexts in which to teach and practise the form.

Learners make lists of things they have never done, have done, have done only once/twice
etc.
They then mingle with other students to see if their lists overlap or not, asking and
answering questions in the form.
You can extend this activity to make sure that people ask where? when? etc. in order to be
definite and, accordingly, select the past simple.
Learners think about / write about / talk about what they have done using the time markers
usually associated with the tense (see above).

18
Learners invent gossipy stories about each other / teachers etc. and then pass them on to a
colleague who in turn embellishes the snippet of scandal and passes it on again.
E.g., Did you know that John has moved in with Mary?  Yes, and she has decided he can't
stay much longer.
Learners decide on pieces of information they need to know about something and then find
out who can tell them by asking things like You've been to France, haven't you?  Well, I've
been wondering ...
You put up a list of seven things you claim to have done, only three of which you have
actually done.  Learners need to ask questions in the past simple to get more detail and try
to identify the false experiences.  Then they do it together with their own lists.

The present perfect progressive

We use the progressive aspect with the present perfect to do one of two things:

1. We emphasise the activity over the achievement.  For example:

I have finished the report emphasises that the report is now ready.  It is the achievement
that matters and that carries the present relevance (so now you can read it).
I have been finishing the report, however, emphasises my activity, not the achievement
and it is the activity which is relevant to the present (that's why I'm so late home)
2. We emphasise the recentness of the activity or state.  For example:
I have been running (so I'm hot and tired)
She has been drinking (so she's not making sense)
What have you been doing? (to get so dirty, tired, wet etc.)

The sense of an activity focus with the progressive vs. achievement focus with the simple aspect
becomes clearer with these examples:

 I have been working vs. I have worked

The first of these is comprehensible because the speaker is emphasising the activity.  The
second is almost meaningless because we need to know what has been achieved so the
sentence needs a complement such as on the report all this week
 She has succeeded vs. She has been succeeding
This is the reverse case.  Because the verb succeed implies an achievement, it is usually
used with the present perfect simple but the second sentence is meaningless because the
verb does not refer to an activity.
 I have taken a holiday in France many times vs. I have been taking a holiday in France
The first structure can be used with something like many times, twice, often etc. because
we are emphasising the achievement (so I now know a little about the country) but the
second cannot be used with a terms like twice because we are not speaking of an
achievement with present relevance but of the activity itself which is probably very
recent (so that's why I didn't answer your email)

Teaching the present perfect progressive

Because it is the activity that is emphasised over the achievement or the event, visuals which
emphasise present conditions caused by activities are effective.  It is vital to make sure the
context is understood.

For example
19
 How does he feel?
Tired
Why?
He's been walking all day and is exhausted.
He's been carrying a heavy pack ...
He's been climbing ...

Why's the window wet?

It's been raining
I've been washing them
etc. 

How does she feel?

Tired/Bored/Fed up
Why?
She's been studying/working/revising etc.
 
To make the distinction between achievement and activity, try something like:
Is it
He has won
or
He has been winning?

This works for both:

How does she feel?
Happy / Tired / Satisfied / Proud
She has been running
She has reached the top
etc.
 
And so does this:
What's he been doing?
(walking, hiking, climbing, camping, carrying etc.)
What's he done?
(crossed, found, seen, met etc.)

20
Four future forms
A note on language differences

English is slightly peculiar.  You knew that but the reference here is to the fact that there is no
obvious future tense in English.  English is not alone in this.
Some languages, such as Greek, Mandarin, Hebrew and so on, have ways of referring to the
future which don't demand a change to the verb form but rely on context and co-text to make the
meaning clear.  Greek uses a little particle (tha), Mandarin relies mostly on adverbs such as
tomorrow, next week etc. and Hebrew verbs are very different indeed.  Many Germanic and
Scandinavian languages have ways of making the future (often employing the verb to go or to
become) but also habitually use the present tense with an adverb marker to talk about the future
(e.g., I go tomorrow).  Italic languages, like French, Spanish and Portuguese do rely on changes
to the verb and therefore have real future tenses so we get, for example, the French aimerai and
the Spanish amaré (both meaning I will love).
Knowing how your students' first languages work is very helpful when you are teaching in
this area.

Task 1: think of the four most common ways English uses to talk about the future.  Click here
when you have a list.

Here are the most common ways English refers to the future.

I'll write soon, I'll do the

Voluntary actions or promises
washing up
Predictions based on experience
Future simple This will be difficult
or hunches
There's no butter!
Spontaneous decisions
I'll go and get some.
I'm not going to put up
To express intention
with it
'going to' To express prediction based on
Look at those clouds.  It's
current evidence or past
going to rain any minute
experience
Present I'm seeing the doctor
Arranged future
progressive tomorrow
Present
Schedules The train arrives at 8
simple

And here are some more forms you may have thought of but they are the subject of a separate
guide.  In this guide we will consider the four most commonly taught forms (above).

He'll be working when you come

Future progressive
I'll be working at 7
Future perfect He'll have finished the book by the time I want it

21
 He'll have repaired the car and then we can use it
I'll have been at the hotel for a day or two before I can call you
I will have been working for over two hours before you get here
Future perfect progressive
He'll have been travelling for ten hours and will be tired

the will/shall form

The first thing to note is that these are modal verbs as well as markers for future time and it's
sometimes almost impossible to separate the functions.  If you have done the section on modal
verbs, you will be aware that one of will's main functions expresses intention as in I'll write as
often as I can.  Is that a statement about the future or a statement of intention (a promise)?  The
answer will depend on the context.
The second thing to note is that learners will often use this as the default choice.  There are two
reasons:
a) it is the form they first encountered for the future
b) it is the form most clearly identifiable as a tense and a natural choice for people from many
language backgrounds

will or shall?
Traditionally, shall for the future is restricted to the 1st person singular and plural (I shall see
him, We shall arrive late).  In modern English, the forms are very restricted, arguably to formal
use in Southern British English only.  It may be important for learners studying or living in that
setting to know the form but it will rarely be heard elsewhere.  However, you should note that
the question tags, shall I?, shall we? are still very common.

Task 2: please stop now and consider these sentences which all contain this form.  How would
you explain the differences?  Click here when you have an answer.

The Grand National will be run on Saturday.

I'll never get him to spend the money.
I'll write to find out so you don't need to.
That'll be our neighbours' dog you can hear.

the neutral future

will is often called the neutral future because it indicates little or nothing of the speaker's
viewpoint (but note the comment above about the verb as a modal expressing intention).  It is
used for a fixed, certain future event:
At the third stroke it will be 6:25 precisely.  The show will begin at 5:30.  The sea will eventually
erode the cliff.  The Grand National will be run on Saturday. etc.

the predicted future

This is allied to the idea of the neutral future but is more often used to refer to the speaker's
experience of the world allowing a prediction to be made:
I'll be home by six as usual.  There'll be hell to pay later.  She'll certainly disagree.  I'll never get
him to spend the money. etc.
Notice that this is the function persistently seen in conditional sentences such as He'll be angry if
you don't get it finished.  The central idea of a conditional sentence is that an event is predicted
from a condition.

22
the spontaneous future
Traditionally, this is explained to learners as being used when a decision has just been made on
the basis of something heard such as There's no butter left or John doesn't know where we live. 
It is, however, probably best seen as will acting as a modal and expressing willingness or
intentionality (see above):
I'll get some from the corner shop.  Don't worry, I'll call him later.  I'll write to find out so you
don't need to.

Other uses of will such as expressing stubbornness (He will interrupt all the time), deduction
(That'll be Sheila at the door.  That'll be our neighbours' dog you can hear.) or requests (Will you
wait a minute, please?) are actually nothing to do with futurity and should be taught separately –
they are modal uses of the verb.  Mixing them up with future forms will confuse not clarify.

Task 3: please stop now and consider these sentences which all contain one of the remaining
three forms.  How would you explain the differences?  Click here when you have an answer.

I'm going to see the dentist.

I'm seeing the dentist tomorrow.
It's going to be cold.
When they arrive tomorrow John is bringing
them home.
The flight leaves at 7.
I am 65 next April.

the 'going to' future

This has been called 'the future fulfilment of the present' (Quirk and Greenbaum 1973:48).  I.e.,
it is a future based on present events.  There are three main uses:

1. present intention: When are you going to tell me?  I'm going to see the dentist.  This
form is usually used with people as the subject of the verb and it denotes a personal view
of the present situation and the future that arises from it.  It is concerned with the
speaker's current, present intention, not the speaker's view of the future per se.
2. present evidence:

The traditional way to present this use in class is via a picture, with the
statement
She's going to have a baby
This usually gets the message across that the form is used to talk about a
future which is based on current evidence.
Less entertainingly, you could use a picture of rain clouds and the
statement
Look, it's going to rain
This form is, in contrast to intentionality, often used with non-animate
subjects: The weather's going to turn nasty, The rope's going to break, The
money is going to run out, It's going to be cold etc.

3. past experience:
This is sometimes considered a sub-set of the present evidence idea.
In sentences such as
He's going to be very upset
23
 we are not expressing his intention but predicting his reaction based on our knowledge
and experience of him.  Similar examples are:
It's going to be really cold at that time of year in Toronto
The meeting's going to go on a long time
She's going to get very angry.
His lecture's going to be interesting and entertaining
etc.
The form in this use is often interchangeable with will used for a predicted future (see
above) and the meanings are very close.  For example:
He will be happy when he finds out (my prediction based on the fact that the news is
welcome) and
He's going to be happy when he finds out (my prediction based on the fact that the news
is welcome and I know something about him).

the present progressive

This form denotes an anticipated future based on an arrangement, a programme of events or a

plan.  Some typical examples are:
I'm leaving on Sunday (my travel plans are booked and arranged)
You are teaching in room 5 (that's the timetabled programme for the day)
I'm having lunch with the boss tomorrow (it's arranged and in the diaries)
John is bringing them home (he's agreed and committed himself)
Two things to note:

1. Because the same form is used to refer to the present, it is often necessary to make the
time apparent by inserting some kind of marker such as tomorrow, when I've finished
this, later etc.
2. This form is very commonly used with dynamic verb uses such as arrive, go, take off,
drive, play, take etc. and far less frequently used with state verbs such as hope, expect,
enjoy, live etc.  In fact, it's hard to imagine I am living in England referring to anything
except present time or I am arriving referring to anything except future time (leaving
inane on-the-train mobile calls aside).  The use is especially common with causative
expressions such as I am having my hair done or I am getting the house painted probably
because such events clearly depend on arrangements between suppliers and clients.

the present simple

1. Timetabled events.  This is often the only type taught and it refers to events such as The
train arrives at 6:20, the flight leaves at 7 but there are actually two more discrete uses:
2. Following subordinate clauses.  Two types of clauses are important:
1. conditional clauses which are introduced by words like providing, unless, if etc. 
if he comes tomorrow, unless we miss the train, providing the flight arrives on
time etc.
2. time clauses which are introduced by words such as when, whenever, until, as
soon as, before etc.  before you leave, as soon as they arrive, when they arrive etc.
3. When an event is of unusual certainty: night follows day, tomorrow is Wednesday, when
is the eclipse? I am 65 next April etc.

There is a guide to teaching these 4 future forms in the in-service training section of this site.  It
assumes knowledge of the above.

24
Teaching 4 basic future forms:going to vs.
the present progressive vs. will vs.the present
simple
This deserves a guide to itself because of the deep confusion that arises when people teach the
area without thinking things through.

If you are at all unsure about the three main uses of going to, the three main uses of will and the
way the present progressive and simple forms are used to talk about the future, you should go to
the guide to four future forms and work through that before you do this bit.

Overlapping uses
The first issue in this area is that, although it is temptingly simple to separate the uses of the
three types of future, real life, as always, is more complicated than it seems.  Here are some
examples of the uses of the three forms.  Separate them by function and then click here.

1. I'll be at the meeting this afternoon at 4.

2. We're having a meeting at 4.
3. I'm going to come to the meeting at 4.
4. I'm going fishing alone tomorrow.
5. I'll have my phone with me if you need anything.
6. He's going to be delighted with the result.
7. He'll be delighted with the result.
8. She's having a birthday party in June.
9. She's having a baby in June.

Comments:

1. I'll be at the meeting this afternoon at 4.

This is clearly an arrangement rather than anything else.  It's not a prediction in the
accepted use of the term but we have to use will/shall in this case because we have a
stative use of the verb be.  For an arrangement like this with a dynamically used verb,
we would normally select the present progressive, I'm presenting the report at the
meeting, for example.  However, it is unlikely to cause a communication problem or
sound odd if we choose to say I'm going to present the report at the meeting, is it?
All three of these forms can all be used to talk about arrangements quite naturally.
2. We're having a meeting at 4.
This is a example of what is usually called the arranged future with the present
progressive.  However, here there is one oddity: the verb have is being used dynamically
(to mean something like hold) so we can use the progressive form.  If you try to make
the meeting the subject, the problem reveals itself: *There is being a meeting at 4, *The
meeting is being at 4.  The passive is also a problem: we can have The meeting is being
held at 4 but not *The meeting is being had at 4.  Normally, in fact, we select the simple
present to do this: The meeting is at 4.
It is also possible to have There'll be a meeting at 4 / We'll have a meeting at 4 especially
if the information about the arrangement is new to the hearer.
25
 All three forms can be used to talk about arrangements but a 4th form, the present
simple, is preferred with the verb be, and can, in fact, be used for many arrangements,
especially formal ones: This meeting is / takes place at 4 / in Room 3 / with her in the
chair etc.  This, note, is not quite the same as a timetabled event because it is not a
repeated circumstance.  It could be a one-off event.
We can use all 4 forms to talk about arranged events.
3. I'm going to come to the meeting at 4.
Traditionally, the going to formulation is explained as being used for intentions.  It may
have that flavour here but it needn't.  This form is also used to talk about arranged
events and actions.  If the speaker had said I'll come to the meeting at 4, the meaning
might show willingness or a spontaneous decision.
We can also use the going to and will structures to talk about timetables, incidentally:
The train's going to arrive on Platform 6 at 4:15, The train will arrive on Platform 6 at
4:15.  Those are both predictions based on the timetable.
4. I'm going fishing alone tomorrow.
This is the use of the present progressive to talk about the future but it is probably not
an arranged event because of the word alone.  The issue here is twofold:
1. The use of the present progressive for intentions is often preferred with the verb
go to avoid the clumsy going to go fishing formulation.
2. We can use the present progressive to talk about intentions rather than
arrangements because it's not always clear what level of arrangement is meant
and how firmly fixed it is.  For example,
I'm taking a holiday in Spain where I'm going to use a hire car to get around
In that sentence we cannot be sure one way or the other whether the hire car
has actually been booked.  It may be an arrangement or it may be an intention.
5. I'll have my phone with me if you need anything.
You may be tempted to see this as the conventional use of will/shall to express a
condition, but it isn't, actually.  The sentence means something like I'll have my phone
with me so call me in the event that you need anything.  The form here is used to show
willingness to be contacted.
It is often hard to distinguish between will/shall to express willingness: I'll help you do
this and the form of going to to mean something very similar: I'm going to help you do
this.
6. He's going to be delighted with the result.
7. He'll be delighted with the result.
It's almost impossible to distinguish a difference in meaning between 6. and 7.
Both are clearly predictions and both are based on some knowledge of the nature of the
result and some knowledge of the person in question.
Both going to and will/shall can be used for predictions based on experience.
8. She's having a birthday party in June.
9. She's having a baby in June.
8. is probably an arrangement of some sort (although it could only be her intention and
no invitations have been sent).
9., however, is not an arrangement in any accepted sense and we could use the neutral
future with will to express the same idea.
We could also say, She's going to have a baby in June although that clearly has nothing
to do with intentionality because it is a prediction.

26
You can visualise the overlap something like this:

This is not an easy area to understand, is it?

It can be unravelled slightly by considering two sorts of futures rather than a lot of conflicting
and overlapping forms.

The future as an external event

When we say something like

The temperature will drop to zero tonight
The train arrives at 6
They are staying for a week
It's going to rain
etc.
we are referring to things outside our current control.  They are extrinsic to us.  For futures of
these sorts, the form we choose depends on the nature of the event.
If we are talking about a simple fact, we'll select will or the present simple:
It will be wet on the road because it's been raining.
The plane arrives at 7
etc.
If we are talking about a prediction based on evidence, we'll often select the going to form:
I've seen the forecast and the weather's going to turn nasty
He's going to win because he's the fastest
etc.
If we are talking about something fixed and arranged, we'll often select the progressive form:
He's studying Latin next year at Oxford
She's taking the train because her car's in the garage
etc.

The future as we see it

This is a form of modality because it concerns how the speaker perceives an event.  This is
where the going to future is common because it concerns intrinsic matters.  For example:
27
I'm spending my holiday in Scotland where I'm renting a cottage (fixed and booked so extrinsic
to me now)
While I'm there, I'm going to take lots of long walks and I'm going to try to work on my novel
(the events are not arranged because they exist only in my head at the moment)
When I finish school, I'm going to university (my place is assured and the future is settled)
When I grow up, I'm going to be a train driver (nothing is fixed and arranged but this is what's in
my head)

The generally accepted use of the will/shall future to show willingness (or spontaneous decision)
also falls into intrinsic meaning because it refers to my perception of the future and my mood
concerning willingness to do something.  For example
I'll come early to help you get ready
is not a determined future of any sort.  At this stage, it's an offer.  If you accept, it may well
become a fixed future and we'll say
I'm coming early to help you get ready, aren't I?

Summary of types of meaning

It looks like this:

Teaching the forms and uses

Diaries

Just about the most popular way of trying to make the concepts of these two future forms clear to
learners is to use some form of diary.  Usually, this is set up in such a way that learners have
different diary plans and have to negotiate a good time to meet using language such as I'm sorry,
no, I'm watching the football tomorrow night.  What about Thursday? and replying with Oh, I'm
sorry, I'm visiting my mother then etc.
If you don't believe this is popular, try putting "present continuous for the future using diaries"
and see some of the thousands of hits Google records.
So what's the problem?  It doesn't work, that's the problem.

This is because the writers of such exercises have usually lost sight of the fact that diaries used in
this way (to project forward) are not actually diaries at all – they are planners.  And the problem
with plans is that they cover things I am doing and things I am going to do.  In other words, we
use planners for both intrinsic futures and extrinsic ones.  The difference can never be made
clear this way.
28
Say, for example, you have a diary entry for Saturday afternoon which states: VISIT MUM.
Now, you might have written that because you have arranged with your mother to visit or
because it is your intention to visit her but no arrangement has yet been made firm.  It may even
be the case that you are going to drop in unannounced.  Who can tell?
So the 'correct' response for Saturday afternoon could be:

1. I'm visiting my mum on Saturday afternoon (I've arranged this)

2. I'm going to visit my mum on Saturday afternoon (I intend to do this and may or may not have
arranged it)
3. I'll visit my mum on Saturday afternoon (I have had the intention for some time and I'm only
now telling you about it)

If you are trying to use the diary to focus on 1. or 2., you will find yourself in the position of
rejecting the other responses.  But they are just as 'right'.

Moral: don't use diaries.  They confuse more than they enlighten.

This is not confined to the use of diaries (although that's very common).
The problem with many course materials is that they focus on the time and the event not on the
internal processes in speakers.

A better idea

The concept to make clear to learners is:

Is this an event that which is a real fact about the future or does it only exist in my head at the
moment?

Here's one way to make it clear:

 The present
situation is the
foundation for all
SITUATION
future acts.
NOW:
 You need to set
I feel ill the context and
the person's
current feelings.

THINK AND  This is an intrinsic

DECIDE: event.
I’m going to see  It goes on inside
the doctor his head.

29
  will/shall as a
ACT NOW: modal to show
I’ll call to make willingness or
an appointment  to signal a
(for you) decision made
now

 Two possible
tenses to express
arranged
timetables and
FIX THE FUTURE: events.
 The first is more
I’m seeing the
common for
doctor at noon.
mutual
I see the doctor agreements.
at noon.  The second is
more common
for external
events (like
trains)

DECIDE AGAIN:  going to is often

He told me to used as a way of
take some time saying how you
react to
off so I'm going
something
to talk to my  will/shall implies
boss. an immediate,
I'll talk to my unconsidered,
boss. action

 the first is an
arrangement
ARRANGE:  the second is
I’m taking a few intention against
days off work. the background
DECIDE: of the
I'm going to stay arrangement
 this is a common
in bed.
way of combining
the tense uses

Here's a similar idea with a different focus:

30
  The present
situation is the
foundation for
SITUATION NOW: all future acts.
I'm exhausted.  You need to set
the context and
  the person's
current feelings.

THINK AND  This is an

DECIDE: intrinsic event.
I’m going to book  It goes on inside
a holiday my head.
 

 We are talking
THE FUTURE IS about
ARRANGED: something
I'm taking a which is
holiday in booked.
Scotland and I'm  It is now an
staying in a hotel external fact,
not an internal
  by a lake.
intention.

THE FUTURE IS
IMAGINED:
I'm going to do  These are not
arrangements.
lots of walking.
 They exist only
I'm going to read in the internal
a lot. world.
I'm going to do
 
nothing at all.

Introducing the forms

The ideas above focus on contrasting the forms and that makes good sense because, when we are
talking about the future, what will happen and what we are going to do about it occur naturally
together.  In natural communication, therefore, we might get something like:

A: On the TV, they said it'll be wet and windy tomorrow, you know.
B: Well, if it is, I won't play golf.
A: Golf?  I thought you were taking the kids to the park tomorrow.
B: No, I'm taking them on Monday.  That's what we talked about yesterday.

31
A: We did?  OK but what are you going to do, then?
B: I don't know. I guess I'll take the kids to the cinema.  I'll phone the guys and tell them I won't
be free till Monday for the golf.

In that short exchange, we have three future forms being used in different ways to express
different ideas. It sounds reasonably natural because the topic stays firmly on the future seen in
different ways.
The problem, of course, is to introduce the forms rather than contrast them, especially for lower-
level learners.

Keep it focused

At the beginning, try not to have a context where more than one form is possible.  For example,
don't mix planning and intentionality.  It's fine to use planning a trip and booking things to set
the idea of the present progressive but if you mix in intentionality people will either get confused
or use the wrong form for their meaning.
If you have something like a focus on the idea of booking something, the concept of present
progressive for the future becomes clearer.
For example, planning a holiday or a journey requires things to be booked in advance and once
that’s done, we can naturally use the tense form for arrangements.  E.g.
We are holidaying in the Scottish Highlands, staying in a cottage and spending our time walking
and fishing etc. The idea to get across is one of extrinsic meaning.  These things refer to a fixed
future, not to someone's view of it.
It is fatal, however, to mix in speculation about what will happen once you get there, because
that will usually involve going to as in
When we get to the cottage, the first thing I'm going to do is find out where the nearest pub is.
That is what happens when you try to use diaries for the contrast.

The going to form should be carefully split between the use for prediction based on evidence /
experience and use for intentions.  The first is extrinsic, the second is intrinsic.

For the prediction use, images are good because we can actually see the evidence:

She's going to
have a baby

It's going to rain

32
 Is he going to buy
the book?
Is he going to
steal the book?
Is he going to
read the book in
the shop?

No. 3's going to

win

She's going to
step into the
road 

For the intention use, you need to set the context of what the situation is now and then people's
intentions based on the present become clear.

I'm
I'm
going
thirsty
to get a
so ...
drink

I'm
hungry
so ...

She's
tired
so ...

Her
back
 
aches so
...

The idea of volition is central.  In all of these, it's possible to use want to instead of going to so it's a
33
short step to the idea.
Teaching the verb intend is quite a useful thing to do in this context.  Then you can say how it differs
from arrange.

Clearly, the present simple is easily presented using timetables but they don't have to be
transport timetables.  School timetables work well, too, and are often a bit more interesting and
familiar, especially to younger learners.

will/shall for willingness can also be set in a present context of situation > problem > offer /
suggestion
Situation: People planning a dinner party.
Problem: There's no beer in the fridge!
Solution: Don't worry, I'll get some on my way home.

will/shall for prediction can often be effectively taught within the conditional but it doesn't have
to be.  We can extend the little dinner-party problem to
But it won't be cold.
Yes it will, I'll get it from the place with a fridge.  It doesn't matter, anyway, because we'll have
two hours to let it cool before they come.

Using these ideas

Keeping the context very tight and being very controlled will help you get the various concepts
and uses of the forms across but remember that it is only possible fully to grasp the ideas when
used in contrast to other forms and uses.  Sooner, rather than later, you will have to present and
practise the forms together.

There's no rule.  Use them as you will, or not.

A simple approach is to take one scenario and present it, practising the language as you go along,
and then get the learners to reconstruct the things said and the reasons for the use of each form
with a second set of picture prompts.
It is critical that:

1. You have a clear, memorable context and that's where the picture prompts come in.
2. You have a way or ways to alert your learners to whether the future is an internally imagined
one or an external reality.

34
Four past forms
If you haven't followed the introductory guide to English tenses yet, please consider doing so
now.

talking about the past

Here we consider four past tense forms.  English past forms are not hugely complicated but they
are more complicated than the ones used by many other languages.  English uses a variety of
forms to talk about different aspects or ways of seeing the past.  If you are unclear about the
difference between tense and aspect, it will help if you followed the guide to tense and aspect
before going on (new tab or window).

There is also a separate guide to the contrasts between past simple and present perfect so that
will not be covered here.

Compare these examples and see if you can figure out what the difference in meaning is:

1. I called you on the 14th June

2. I worked in London from 1998 till 2004
3. I always went to school by bus
4. I was reading a book
5. I was just getting on the bus when I saw her
6. He was watching television while she was gardening
7. I used to go to school by bus and ...
8. ... I would always try to sit at the back

Click here when you have an answer.

  Tense Use Examples

Referring to something that
occurred at a point in past The sun rose at 6:25
time and is finished.  Here She left the house and
1 Past simple
the tense refers to quite walked up the road to the
short or instantaneous bus stop
events.
She cycled from London
Here the tense refers to
to Paris
events of long duration.  As
2 Past simple They travelled for months
in example 1, the action or
He hated her for the rest
event is finished.
of his life
3 Past simple This is similar to example 2 He cycled to work in the
but with the insertion of the summertime
adverbial (usually, always, They usually took their
repeatedly, every year etc.) holiday in France
the sense is of a repeated
series of habitual actions. 
Remove the adverbial and

35
 you get a different
meaning.  The sense is also
that the habit is
discontinued.
He was studying German
Here we know neither when at Oxford
4 Past progressive the action began nor when The bus was running late
(or whether) it finished. She was working in
Finance
Here we have two actions. 
It is often referred to as the I was reading a book
Past progressive interrupted past because it when the telephone rang
5
vs. Past simple can be seen as a short action She was crossing the
(saw) 'interrupting' a longer road when the bus hit her
action (getting on the bus).
He was doing the
This use refers to two washing up while I was
actions or events happening fixing the car
6 Past progressive
simultaneously and of some They were cutting the
duration. grass and she was
picking apples
Here the verb carries the
They used to work here.
meaning of a discontinued
7 'used to' She used to visit more
past habit.  No adverbial (as
often
in example 3) is needed.
Here the verb also carries
I would often read on the
the meaning of a
beach
8 'would' discontinued past habit with
She would stutter when
no adverbial needed (but
she was nervous
one is often added).

It is important to remember that many languages do not distinguish between progressive and
instantaneous actions.  In German, for example, ich kam could be translated either as I came or I
was coming.  The context will usually make things clear or an adverbial such as at that moment
may be added.  In many other languages, the same thing applies.
Many languages do not have a form analogous to these uses of used to and would at all.

A few notes:

1. I called you on the 14th June

The simplest form of the past in English and the one usually taught first.  There is more
on this in the guide to basic verb forms including a discussion of pronunciation, spelling
and irregular forms.
2. I worked in London from 1998 till 2004
Note the finished nature of the action.  For more, see the guide to the present perfect
where the two forms are compared.
3. I always went to school by bus
As we noted above, if you remove the adverbial the sense changes to that in example 1: a
single finished, short past event unless the context makes it clear that this was a habit.

36
 4. I was reading a book
This form tell us a little about how the speaker views the action (its aspect) but gives no
further information except that the action was progressive.  We don't know when it
started and we don't know when it finished.  It's called a non-finite verb, incidentally.
5. I was just getting on the bus when I saw her
Note that we don't know from this whether the speaker continued to get on the bus or
stopped because he saw her.  We need more context to know (see below under time
lines).
6. He was watching television while she was gardening
This is the usual way of talking about two progressive actions happening at the same
time.  However, providing the context is clear, it is possible to use the simple past to do
this.  For example, He read while I watched TV.
7. I used to go to school by bus and ...
8. ... I would always try to sit at the back
Both these forms refer to discontinued past habits but would is rarer as a way of setting
the scene.  It is, however, very common to start with a used to expression and then
continue using would.  For example, We used to take our holidays in Margate where the
kids would go to the beach all day and we would spend our time reading or shopping.  In
the evening we would all meet up for dinner and then we'd go on to see a show or
something.

time lines

Time lines are simple, graphical representations of how languages use tense and aspect to
visualise events in time.  They can be simple, effective and clear but you need to get them right
to make sure that that's true.  In other words, you need to plan what you are going to present.
Here's a task:
On a piece of paper, draw a horizontal arrow and mark it something like this:

Now, take these examples and see if you can show the various uses of the past forms by drawing
time lines.

1. John hit him

2. John cycled from France to Sicily / John was reading on the train
3. John was reading the paper while I was doing my homework
4. John cycled to work every day
5. John was cycling to work when an idea hit him (but he carried on)
6. John was cycling to work when a bus hit him (so he didn't carry on!)
7. John used to go to France where he would visit old friends

Here's an example for sentence 1 (the easiest):

37
Click here when you have done that to compare your lines.

38
6

39
Using time lines

What are time lines?

Time lines are a very useful way of making the concepts of the tense system in English clear to
those who respond well to images and diagrams (i.e., most of us).
They are often a quick and easy way to demonstrate meaning rather than explain it.  They need,
however, to be properly planned and accurately reflect the concepts you are clarifying or they do
more harm than good.

Here's an example of a time line used to clarify what is called the future in the past using the
structure was / were going to.  In English, the structure is used to suggest a frustrated or
cancelled plan in, e.g., I was going to see the doctor but I felt a lot better and cancelled my
appointment.

A time line like this can be drawn on the board quite quickly but there are three important things
to notice.
Click here when you have noticed them.

1.
2.
3.

40
Now see if you can suggest what the time lines here represent.  Click on the when you think
you have got it.

Normally, of course, you would present the time line with an example, marker sentence so it
would look something like this:

41
Using time lines
There are two ways:

1. Off the cuff:

When you encounter a learner clearly having difficulties with the concept which lies
behind a tense form, it is worth considering whether quickly sketching a time line on the
board will help.  It is often a quick and efficient way of making a concept clear.
2. Prepared:
You can also integrate the use of a time line into the presentation part of a lesson focused
on a tense or tenses.  This means that you can make it very precise and more attractive. 
Adding in graphics provides extra information and aids memorisation.  Here's an
example, for the marker sentence:
We have been working hard in the garden all summer and I'm really pleased with how
it looks.

Building time lines

Whether you have prepared an attractive time line beforehand or are using one in response to an
emerging need, you need to carry the learners with you as you go.  Like this:

1. Start with the marker sentence:

I have been trying to telephone her but I give up and I'm going to visit her.

42
 2. Then add the place markers for time (Past, Before the Past, Future, After the Future etc.):

Concept check the direction of time.

3. Then draw in the nature of the events

Checking at each stage.

Check the concept again.

4. Give the learners time to copy this as a record to take away.  That's important.

Learners will rarely get the full benefit of thinking things through if you just present the finished
article.  If you use PowerPoint in your lessons or a smart board, this kind of slow build-up is easy
to prepare.
Here's an example for you to download and watch (and even use).
To view the presentation you must have a version of PowerPoint installed or the PowerPoint
Viewer which can be downloaded, free of charge, from this link.
The slides automatically transition every 7 seconds.  You may need to adjust that if you use it in
the classroom or pause the presentation to give yourself time to explain and check the concepts
as you go along.
Things like this are time-consuming to prepare but can be used again (and again).

43
The past perfect
If you have studied other languages, you may have found this tense referred to as the pluperfect
and it sometimes called that in English grammar, too.  Here, however, we'll use the usual term
for it.

What is the past perfect?

The past perfect tense refers to the past in the past or the past before the past.  For example:

1. She had visited France often before then

2. She had met him before and knew his reputation.
3. They had spent the afternoon skiing and were looking forward to a rest.

A simple time line can make it even clearer:

In fact, as sentence 1 above indicates, the past perfect often occurs without the past simple.  For
example,

4. He had arrived before me.

5. Before lunch they had played cards.

Note, however, that some other past event or state is always implied in these circumstances.  In
sentence 4, that implication is that I also arrived and in sentence 5, there is a clear implication
that they ate lunch after they had played cards.

What does the past perfect do?

Two things (basically):

1. To refer to the time before the past:

He had met the man before and recognised him
The horse had been raced hard and was exhausted
etc.
2. To distance the speaker from an event or state in the present:
I had hoped I would see you
I had meant to mention it

44
When is the past perfect NOT used?
Consider these six sentences and the verbs in black:

Simple Perfect
1. The rain was heavier
1. The rain was heavier
than he had expected.
than he expected.
2. I couldn't light it
2. I didn't light it because I
because I had lost the
lost the matches.
matches.
3. I came after the match
3. I came home after the
finished.
match had finished.

On the left are the simple past forms of the verbs (expected, lost, finished) and on the right the
past perfect forms (had expected, had lost, had finished).
What do you detect?  Click here when you have an answer.

There isn't much difference in meaning between sentences 1 and A or between sentences 3 and C
and there are two different reasons for that:

 The nature of the verb expect.  Clearly, expecting precedes an even or state so we know
which one came first.  The use of the past perfect here is, therefore, unnecessary.
 The presence of the preposition after in sentence 3 and C also mean that the past perfect
form is not needed.  The word tells us explicitly what came first.

However, in sentences 2 and B, there is a difference.  The causal effect of the conjunction
because needs explaining so the hearer/reader knows which event occurred first.  Most people
find sentence 2 unacceptable.

The general rule is, therefore, that when the two events are spoken of in the order in which they
occurred and without adverbials such as by then, before, up till then, just, already etc., we do not
need to use the past perfect form.  So we get:
I went home and had dinner – two events spoken of in the order they occurred so no past perfect
tense is needed.
He lived for 20 years in France and returned to England – a state and an event spoken of in the
order they occurred so no past perfect form is needed.

When should we use the past perfect?

When events or states are mentioned out of order:
Speakers and writers will often reverse the ordering of events to emphasise one of them.
It's fine to have He lived for 20 years in France and retired to England, using two simple
past forms but if we reverse the order, the past perfect is usually necessary:
He returned to England.  He had lived in France for 20 years or
He returned to England after he had lived in France or
Before he returned to England he had lived in France
etc.
When we have a when-clause referring to a later event:

45
 It's fine to have When he retired he went to England because the events happened at the
same time but when they don't, we usually need the past perfect to avoid ambiguity. 
Compare:
I made tea when they arrived
with
I had made tea when they arrived
When the time is not specified:
She had never seen him before that night
They hadn't tried whisky before they went to Scotland
(Note that *She never saw him before that night and *They didn't try whisky before they
went to Scotland are both wrong.)
In subordinating clauses:
Especially with causal relationships, the past perfect is commonly used (although two
past simple tenses are often possible)
I made tea because they had arrived
I didn't go because I had lost my ticket
But we can also have, e.g.,
I arrived late because the car broke down on the way (where the ordering and causality is
obvious).
The rule of thumb here is that it is never wrong to use the past perfect in these types of
sentences.

The past perfect progressive

The past perfect progressive and simple forms are different in exactly the same way that the
present perfect progressive differs from the present perfect simple.  (See the guide to aspect and
the guide to the present perfect for more.)  In brief, the progressive form emphasises the activity
itself rather than the outcome.
So, the difference between:
She has been writing a letter but is unhappy with the wording (action incomplete and may be
resumed) and
She has written a letter but is unhappy with it (action recently complete and/or with present
relevance)
is the same as the difference between:
She had been writing a letter but was unhappy with the wording (action incomplete and may
have been resumed) and
She had written a letter but was unhappy with the wording (action complete but with relevance
to the second past event)

By the way, using the past perfect progressive to distance oneself and sound tentative as in, e.g.,
I had been hoping you might help, make the speaker sound very diffident and polite indeed.

46
Reported or indirect speech
This first section mostly reiterates material in the initial training section and is here as a reminder
of the basics.  You can skip this if you are already aware of the basic issues or have recently
worked through the initial training section for this area.
If you want to move on now click to go to Reported Speech 2
Alternatively, skim through what follows, and / or do the mini-test and then move on.  It's up to
you.

Consider these pairs:

I was in London He said he had been in London

I can help She said she could help

On the left we have the direct speech – the words uttered.  On the right we have reported or
indirect speech – how the message is passed on.

On the face of it, there's nothing terribly difficult about this idea.  The tense shifts back one
(from, e.g., was to had been, from can to could).  At the same time I changes to he, we changes
to they and so on.
Here's a list of the changes in English.

Language item Change

Present simple changes to I am in London
past simple He said he was in London
I was in France
She said she had been in
France
Past simple, present perfect I have been to France
and past perfect all come She said she had been to
out as past perfect France
I had been to France
She said she had been to
France
I am writing to him
Present progressive changes
He said he was writing to
to past progressive
them.
Future 'will' changes to I'll go later
'would' He said he'd go later
I'll be seeing him tomorrow
Future 'will be'+ ing
She said she'd be seeing
changes to 'would be' + -ing
him tomorrow
Future 'will have' + past I'll have done it
participle changes to 'would He said he would have
have' + past participle done it
Other changes

47
 I / We / want to be there
Pronouns change as I / He / She / We / They
appropriate said I / she / he / we / they
wanted to be there
I like it here
She said she liked it there
Time and place expressions
I am going tomorrow
change as appropriate
He said he was going the
next day
I may see him
Modal verbs change to their
He said he might see him
'past' equivalents if there is
I must go now
one
He said he had to go then

Using common sense

Of course, not all changes are always appropriate (but using the changes will usually be correct).
If we are reporting something virtually simultaneously, then we often don't change the tense or
time expressions.  If we are reporting something in the same place, then we don't change the
place expressions.

So we might get:
A: I'm going there now.
B: What did he say?
C: He said he's going there now.

If an utterance remains true, we often don't change the tense so we get, e.g.,
I'm from South Africa = He said he's from South Africa
I love the countryside = She said she loves the countryside

Try this matching exercise.

Did you notice the changes, particularly with time and place expressions but also with the verb
'come' (which changed to 'go')?

Teaching issues

There is nothing very difficult about the form of reported speech changes (providing a learner is
already familiar with the tense forms of English).  However:

1. Because of the 'common sense' issues touched on above, you need to make sure that the
language is very clearly set in a time-and-place context.
2. It is almost impossible to practise the form changes in class by getting students to report
each other's utterances because time and place remain static.  You need to spread the
practice over time and place to be authentic.
3. You need to make sure that learners are aware of the common sense issues and don't
slavishly transform every utterance.
4. Languages deal with the issues differently.  Some, for example, reserve a subjunctive
tense for reported speech and some hardly make any changes at all.

48
Complex tenses
This guide assumes you are familiar with the form and meaning of all the tenses in English and
comfortable with the concepts of aspect and voice.
If that is not the case, you should refer to the introductory guide to English tenses or the guide to
tense and aspect.

complexity
If you have the familiarity suggested above, this will be known to you.

1. He arrived
2. He has arrived
3. She left
4. She was leaving

Sentences 1 and 3 are simple tenses but sentences 2 and 4 display an aspect of the tenses, perfect
aspect in sentence 2 and progressive aspect in sentence 4.
Many languages, as you will also know, do not have a way of differentiating between the senses
in 3. and 4., relying on context and adverbials to make the meaning clear.

Complex tenses are those in which English combines both perfect and progressive aspects and
they cause untold trouble for learners.  Here are three examples for you to figure out the
meanings.

1. I have been running

2. She will have been driving for hours
3. They had been working all night

Click here when you have decided what the senses of these examples are.

  Tense Use Examples

To emphasise the duration of an

I have been working without
event as well as its present
a break and I'm exhausted
Present perfect relevance.
1
progressive
To emphasise a repeated action She's been banging on the
and its present relevance door for an hour

2 Future perfect To emphasise the duration of an He will have been spending

progressive event seen from after its conclusion too much money and will be
with a following consequence. broke.

To emphasise a repeated action He will have been travelling

seen from after its conclusion with over 200 miles a day for

49
 a following consequence. weeks and will be fed up.

To emphasise the duration of an He had been out riding that

event in time before the past which morning and was feeling
had consequences in the past. refreshed and happy.
Past perfect
3
progressive He had been trying to fix the
To emphasise a repeated action in
pipe on and off for weeks
time before the past which had
before he called in a
consequences in the past.
plumber.

These complex forms share many characteristics with their simple forms:

 the present perfect progressive is used to speak about past actions leading up to now or with
present relevance just as the simple form is used
 the future perfect progressive, like the simple form, implies looking back at future events from a
point further in the future
 the past perfect progressive is used to talk about events further in the past than the past simple,
especially those with causal relationships, in the same way that the past perfect simple is used

For more on the uses of the tenses, refer to the individual guides.

Again, it is important to remember that many languages do not distinguish between progressive
or repeated and on-off instant actions and events.  In German, for example, Ich habe das Auto
gewaschen could be translated either as I have been washing the car or I have washed the car. 
The context or an adverbial (e.g., for hours) will usually make things clear.  In many other
languages, the same thing applies.

form

Complex tenses are quite hard to form correctly.  They work like this:

Tense Form

+
+
subject have / + verb + -ing + adverbial(s)
Present perfect been
has
progressive

It has been rain ing for weeks

+
+ +- +
subject will / + have + verb
Future perfect been ing adverbial(s)
shall
progressive

They will have been work ing for hours

50
 +
subject + had + verb + -ing + adverbial(s)
Past perfect been
progressive
She had been play ing poorly up to then

Understanding the forms is not at all easy and producing them fluently requires a good deal of
practice.

pronunciation

is another issue.  In spoken English, the auxiliary verbs are often contracted and the stress falls
on the main verb and the adverbial (usually) so we get, e.g.:

1. It's been raining for hours (/ ɪts bɪn ˈreɪn.ɪŋ fə ˈaʊəz /)

2. They'll've been working for hours (/ ˈðeɪləv bɪn ˈwɜːk.ɪŋ fə ˈaʊəz /
3. She'd been playing poorly up to then (/ ʃid bɪn ˈpleɪ.ɪŋ ˈpʊə.li ʌp tə ðen /)

If the phonemic script means nothing to you at the moment, don't fret.  Just try saying the
sentences rapidly and notice how been is pronounced as bin and how the 'o' in for and to is
reduced to a short sound such as the one at the end of sister on the 'e'.

This gets worse in the negatives where we get, e.g.:

They won't've been travelling for long (/ ˈðeɪ wəʊntəv bɪn ˈtræ.vəl.ɪŋ fə ˈlɒŋ /)

This sort of thing is tough to say in a foreign language and learners need lots of practice and
drilling before they get it right.
Hearing the form is also a challenge because of the consistent use of contractions and weak
forms.

meaning

For learners whose languages don't work at all like this (i.e., most of them), getting the concept
clear is also tough going.  Time lines help a lot.  As a sort of test, can you match the lines to the
forms?
Here are the examples again.  Click on the image when you think you have matched it to one of
these.
I have been working without a break and I'm exhausted
She's been banging on the door for an hour
He will have been spending too much money and will be broke.
He will have been travelling over 200 miles a day for weeks and will be fed up.
He had been out riding that morning and was feeling refreshed and happy.
He had been trying to fix the pipe on and off for weeks before he called in a plumber.

51
passives
Using these tense forms in the passive adds another layer of complexity (which explains why we
don't often choose to).  It is, however perfectly possible to make the passive forms like this:

Tense Form

+
+
have + + + past
Present subject adverbial(s
/ been being participle
perfect )
has
progressive
passive
The
has been being serviced for weeks
car

+
will + + + past +
Future subject + being
/ have been participle adverbial(s)
perfect
shall
progressive
passive
The
will have been being painted for days
house

Past subject + + + + past +

perfect had been being participle adverbial(s
progressive )

52
 interviewe
passive She had been being for 20mins
d

These forms are quite rare and, therefore, difficult to set in context for teaching purposes.  The
time lines above will still, however, be applicable.

modal verbs

In exactly the same ways that modals can be used with simple tenses, they can be deployed with
complex ones.  We get structures such as these

1. He must have been out walking because his boots are all wet and muddy
2. They will have to have been driving all night so they will be tired when they arrive tomorrow

It is worth noting that the past perfect progressive is not used with modal verbs.  When we need
to insert modality we use the present perfect progressive with the modal and follow it with a past
tense if need be.  For example:

3. He must have been out walking in the rain because he came with wet, muddy boots.
Compare 1. above.

We can even combine modality with the passive so it is, theoretically, possible to form examples
such as:

4. His car must have been being serviced if he came in a cab.

5. The room can't have been being painted recently.  There was no smell of paint.
6. He should have been being treated sooner but there will be a delay, I'm afraid.

These forms are rare, which is not to say they don't exist, of course.

causatives

What we can do with the passive and modal verbs, we can also do with the causative so, again,
the following are theoretically possible, albeit rare, apart from the present perfect progressive
causative which is actually reasonable frequently used.  See 9., below.

7. I will have been having my hair cut by then, I expect.

8. He must have been having to have his car serviced because he wants a lift.
9. Sorry I'm late.  I have been having my eyes tested.
10. He had been having his old shoes repaired for years before he bought a new pair.

The very complex forms with passives, modality and causative constructions are, because of
their comparative rarity, quite hard to teach but, at higher levels at least, the form and meaning is
not difficult to analyse.

Teaching complex tenses

This is not easy for three reasons:

53
 1. The forms and their pronunciation (see above) are challenging and require a good deal
of practice
2. The concepts are difficult to grasp and depend on knowing
1. how the simple forms work in English
2. how the progressive aspect is realised in English
3. how the use of the perfect aspect is dependent on the speaker's view of an
event
3. Other people's languages often just don't have equivalent constructions or distinctions

Combining form and concept

There's little point simply focusing on the forms if the learners have no idea why they should be
using them.  A good place to start, therefore, is by contrasting progressive and simple forms of
the three tenses (not, please, at the same time).  For example, Step 1 can be to get the learners to
figure out the difference in meaning between these pairs.

Sentence A Sentence B

He has been playing chess with his brother (for

He has played chess with his brother
three hours)

He had played the drums in a band before he He had been playing the drums but stopped
became a solicitor when the neighbours complained

We will have been working on this for 4 hours

We will have finished by 6
by 6

Learners who already know how the perfect aspect affects current meaning and who understand
the concept of duration and repeated action expressed through the progressive aspect will have
the ability to unpack these meanings (and it is unwise to try to tackle this area with learners who
don't).  They will also understand how the addition of the time adverbial affects meaning.

Once the concept is clear, for Step 2, you can focus on the form and the pronunciation in a
reasonably controlled way.  The trick then is to go on to get the learners to make their own
meanings.

Step 3:
The easiest tense to focus on is the present perfect progressive.  When learners have the sense of
that, they can transfer the concept to the other complex tenses.  The ideas or durative or repeated
actions are parallel across all three tenses.
A half-way house is to use visuals to get learners to use the forms correctly.
The following is for illustration purposes and mixes all the tenses.  It is far safer to focus on one
at a time but the same kinds of visuals can be used for all of them.
Start with the sentence completion exercise before you go on the more challenging task of
starting the sentences.

54
Prompt Finish the sentence Start the sentence

He has been sitting in the park for
hours and now he ...
He had been thinking about what
to do next when ...
He will have been sitting alone for
over an hour so it's time ...
... and now he's feeling
hungry so is going home.
... so he decided to tell his
father the truth.
... so he will be getting
hungry.

We have been thinking about ....

... and we have decided to ...
and we believe ...
... for 2 hours soon without
We'll have been talking about
getting anywhere.
this ...
... when she suddenly saw
We had been discussing the
the solution.
problem when ...

They had been playing chess

... when it began to rain.
outside the pub when ...
... when Joe decided he'd had
Joe had been thinking for over ten
enough.
minutes before ...
Harry: ...
Harry: You'll've been thinking for
Joe: Will I?  Sorry.  I'll make a
twenty minutes soon
move in a minute.
Joe: ...

... when I had to stop for

I've been driving too long so I ...
petrol.
He had been driving for 3 hours so
... he'll be tired when he gets
he ...
here.
He will have been driving for 7
... when he realised he was
hours so ...
lost.

etc.

Almost any visual of people doing something can be used in this way but it is important
continually to check the concepts, of course, or the students will just be parroting the form
without understanding its significance.

Step 4 is to get the learners to think about questions such as:

 Think of three things you will have been doing for a long time by the end of next year.
 Say what you had been doing before you came to class this morning.
 Say what you have been doing this week.
etc.
55
Then you can conduct a simple find-someone-who exercise as a way of getting feedback.
You will need to be very alert to the responses from your learners and prepared, for example, to
explain why *I had been opening the front door before I came to class is wrong.
Actions and events need to be durative or repeated for the forms to work.

56
Multi-word verbs: the essentials
Suggestion: If you are unsure about your ability to identify a preposition or an adverb, you
should follow the guides to those two areas before you start.

This is an essential guide and will not cover the complications of separating prepositional verbs
from phrasal verbs and phrasal-prepositional verbs.  If you want more, go to the more advanced
guide to multi-word verbs in the in-service section of the site.

Definitions
Multi-word verbs (hereafter MWVs) are verbs which consist of more than one word.  For
example, we can say I postponed the meeting or we can say I put off the meeting or I put the
meeting off with pretty much the same meaning.

See if you can identify the multi-word verbs in this paragraph:

He got off the train walked over to the taxi rank.  Getting into the first cab he found, he
told the driver to take him to the hotel and to hurry up because he was already running
late.  The trip to the city centre took up less than twenty minutes and he was was dropped
off at his hotel before noon.  He complained about the cost of the taxi but the driver
simply handed over an official list of airport fares and pointed at it.  He paid up and
carried his luggage into reception.  The receptionist looked up his name in the register,
gave him his key and pointed out where the lifts were.  He was delighted to find out that
they had put him in a room with a view of the Acropolis but he only had time to look at it
for a few minutes before he went down to the meeting.  He was looking forward to it.
Click here when you have done that.
He got off the train walked over to the taxi rank.  Getting into the first cab he found, he
told the driver to take him to the hotel and to hurry up because he was already running
late.  The trip to the city centre took up less than twenty minutes and he was was dropped
off at his hotel before noon.  He complained about the cost of the taxi but the driver
simply handed over an official list of airport fares and pointed at it.  He paid up and
carried his luggage into reception.  The receptionist looked up his name in the register,
gave him his key and pointed out where the lifts were.  He was delighted to find out that
they had put him in a room with a view of the Acropolis but he only had time to look at it
for a few minutes before he went down to the meeting.  He was looking forward to it.

That was not an easy task and you will be forgiven for not having the same answers.  There are a
number of possible reasons why your answers may differ.

1. Why isn't walk over in red?

Compare these two sentences:
1. He walked off his headache
2. He walked through the park

In sentence a., we have a real multi-word verb, to walk off, which means something like to make
something better by walking.  If you replace the particle off with another word, you will change
the meaning of the verb walk.  For example, we can't say *He walked over his headache.  Only
57
off will work.
In sentence b., we have a verb, walk, followed by a prepositional phrase through the park and
we can change it in lots of ways but retain the meaning of walk: He walked over the road, He
walked across the park, He walked out of the meeting etc.
This is the basic test of a multi-word verb.

2. Why isn't Getting into in red?

For the same reason.  This is simply the verb get followed by a preposition, into.  We
can get over an obstacle, get out of a train, get between two people and so on.  It is the
verb get in its meaning of move to a place or position.
However, consider these two sentences:
1. I got over my headache
2. I got over the river.

In sentence a., we have a real multi-word verb, to get over, which means to recover from.  If you
replace the particle over with another word, you will change the meaning of the verb.  You can't
have I got by / across / between / into / out of my headache etc. without changing the meaning of
the verb.
In sentence b., we have a verb, get, followed by a prepositional phrase over the river and we can
change the preposition to make new meanings but keep the meaning of get the same.  We can
have, e.g., I got across the river / into the river / out of the river etc. and still get means the same
thing.

This also explains why got off, take to, pointed at, carried into and went down are all left in
black.  They are simply verbs followed by prepositions.

3. Why isn't running late in red?

It is a metaphorical meaning of run in the sense of make progress but that doesn't make it
a MWV.  Here, the word late is an adverb and it can be replaced by something like on
time, early, quickly, onwards, behind etc. without changing the meaning here.

Website alert: There are rather too many sites out here that cannot distinguish between a real
MWV and a simple verb followed by a preposition.  For example, one site describes walk into a
trap as a phrasal verb.  It isn't.  It isn't even a prepositional verb.  It is simply the verb walk
followed by a prepositional phrase (into a trap).  It may be a slightly metaphorical use of walk
but that's another matter altogether.
Another describes walk through (as in guide carefully) in the same terms.  Again, it is simply a
slightly metaphorical use of the verb and has nothing to do with this area.
Yet another describes run after the bus as a phrasal verb.  No, it isn't.  It's the use of a verb (run)
with a prepositional phrase (after the bus).  We can change after for any number of other words
without changing the meaning of run: run behind the bus, run in front of the bus, run alongside
the bus, run past the bus etc.

Ordering the words

There's something else to note here:
Try moving the word in black around in these sentences and see what happens if you replace it
with it:

58
 1. He handed over the list.
2. He found out my name.
3. I got onto the train.
4. She looked at it.
5. She looked up the word.

Click here when you have tried that.

1. He handed over the list.

1. We can have:
He handed the list over.
He handed it over.
2. We can't have
*He handed over it.
2. He found out my name.
1. We can have
He found my name out.
He found it out.
2. We can't have
*He found out it.
3. I got onto the train.
1. We can have
I got into it.
I got into the train.
2. We can't have
*I got it into
*I got the train into.
4. She looked at the Acropolis.
1. We can have
She looked at it.
2. We can't have
*She looked it at.
*She looked the Acropolis at.
5. She looked up the word.
1. We can have
She looked the word up.
She looked it up.
2. We can't have
*She looked up it.

You will have noticed:

1. With some of these verbs you must put it (or any other pronoun) between the verb and
the particle.  These verbs are hand over, find out and look up.  They are all separable
MWVs.
2. With a verb followed by a prepositional phrase the only possible word order is Subject (I)
+ Verb (got) + prepositional phrase (into the train / into it).  The reason is that we are not
dealing with a true MWV here.
3. Some MWVs do not allow you to separate the particle from the verb.  The example here
is look at.  This is an inseparable MWV.

59
Separable and inseparable
As you saw, some verbs are separable and some cannot be separated.  Here's a short list of
verbs.  By making a sentence like the ones above in your head, you should be able to see which
ones are separable and which ones are inseparable.
Click on the table when you have identified the two sorts.

With and without an object

Some MWVs never take an object, some always do and some can do both.  For example:

1. She pulled off the trick.

A MWV which must have an object and is separable.
1. We can have
She pulled off the trick.
She pulled the trick off.
She pulled it off
2. We can't have
*She pulled off (in this meaning).
2. It amounted to €300.
A MWV which must have an object and is inseparable.
1. We can have
It amounted to €300.
2. We can't have
*It amounted €300 to.
*It amounted.
3. He complained about the service.
A MWV which may or may not have an object and is inseparable.

60
 NOTE: when these verbs are used without an object there is no particle so we have, e.g.,
they abstained vs. they abstained from the vote.
1. We can have
He complained about the service.
He complained about it.
He complained.
2. We can't have
*He complained the service about.
*He complained it about.
4. The headache wore off.
A MWV which cannot have an object and is inseparable.
1. We can have
The headache wore off.
2. We can't have
*The headache wore off her.

61
Teaching multi-word verbs (MWVs)
If you have followed the language analysis guide to multi-word verbs you will be aware that it is
not always easy to disentangle the 3 sorts of these:

 phrasal verbs which can be intransitive (e.g., Look out!) or transitive and must be separated by
the pronoun (e.g., look it up)
 prepositional verbs which are not separable and can be transitive (e.g., account for) or transitive
and intransitive, with or without the preposition (e.g., insist and insist on)
 phrasal-prepositional verbs which work similarly (e.g., run out of, look forward to)

Before you go on, you should have the distinctions clear in your head.
You should also be clear why the verb in He turned down the lane is not a multi-word verb but
the one in He turned down the offer is.
You have to understand this area before you can hope to teach it successfully.

Why are MWVs difficult for learners?

One obvious reason is that lots of languages don't have them.

Something like MWVs do exist in a number of Germanic languages (of which English is one) so
learners with those languages will not be surprised by them.  Usually, in these languages, these
sorts of verbs are simply called separable verbs.  There is some evidence of a few verb + particle
combinations in Polish, Italian, Spanish and French but they are not of the type of complexity
and commonness we find in English.
Other languages (Japanese and Hindi, for example) do exhibit something called compound verbs
made up of two related words but they are a far cry from multi-word verbs in English.
In summary, most learners of English will find MWVs novel and taxing to learn.

Here is an example of MWVs in action, taken from the language analysis guide:

verb + particle + object noun – He pulled up the weeds

verb + particle + object pronoun – He pushed for it
verb + object noun + particle – He pushed the boat away
verb + object pronoun + particle – He pushed them over

Think for a moment and come up with one problem relating to form and one to meaning which
will make this sort of language difficult for learners.  If you can think of more than one problem
in each section, that's good.
Click here when you are ready.

Form problems

1. Separability
We can have He pulled up the weeds and He pulled the weeds up but *He pushed it for
and *He pushed over them are not possible (and ?He pushed away the boat is a slightly
doubtful case).
Learners have to know a) what sorts of MWVs are separable and b) what can be used
to separate the verb from its particle.
A phrasal verb, strictly speaking, must be separated from its particle when the object is

62
 a pronoun.  We can't have *He looked up it in the dictionary.  When the object is not a
pronoun, the verb can optionally be separated so we can have either He looked the
word up or He looked up the word.
A prepositional verb, on the other hand, is not separated from its particle by the object
at all so we can't have *He looked it at or *He looked the timetable at.  The same
applies to phrasal-prepositional verbs such as run out of.
That's just hard to learn.
The result of the complication is that learners will separate when they shouldn't or not
separate when they should.
2. Transitivity
We can have He pulled up the weeds and He pulled up at the parking space but
transitivity changes the verb's meaning.
Intransitive phrasal verbs (such as those in The plane took off, The car broke down, Get
up early etc.) are possibly easier to learn because there's no problem with separability
of course, but remembering which particle goes with which for each meaning is still
difficult.  There is a problem with the inappropriate insertion of adverbs (*He's growing
quickly up).
However, prepositional verbs are a different matter.
Some are always transitive and take their particle with them wherever they go.  For
example, rely on, account for and long for are always transitive and occur with the
prepositions.
Others are less accommodating.  For example, insist, object and complain can be used
intransitively (I insisted / objected / complained) but when they take an object, learners
need to remember which preposition to tack on to the verb (on, to, about,
respectively).
One result of this complication is that learners may pick the wrong particle (if I can say
The inscription wore away, why can't I say *The painkiller wore away?).
Another result is that learners will use intransitive verbs transitively (*I insisted the
changes, *I quarrelled him) and the other way around (*I relied for the information). 
Often, this is because transitivity is variable across even related languages.
To add fuel to the fire, many verbs can be used both ways.  For example, something can
blow up and you can blow something up.  Some will also change the meaning when
transitivity changes: work out means to discover something when it's transitive but
either means to exercise or succeed when it's used intransitively.
3. Pronunciation
In MWVs we do not usually reduce the vowel in the particle to its weak form.  Compare
the pronunciation of for in He waited for ages and He waited for his friend.
4. Where does the verb stop?
It's not always easy for learners to identify which bit is the MWV and which is a
following prepositional phrase.  In something like He pulled up by the church, some
might be tempted to try to learn pull up by as a MWV and produce *He pulled up by
outside.  After all, we can have three-part phrasal-prepositional verbs such as get on
with, stick up for and put up with so it's not a mysterious error.  The reason for it is that
the learner has not recognised that by the church is a prepositional phrase replaceable
by many others (in the garden, on the bridge, outside the police station etc.) and the up
here is an adverb particle.  Telling learners about prepositions and adverbs is rarely
productive.  It's better to make sure that the presentation and practice make the
distinctions clear – context and co-text, yet again.

63
 5. Where is the verb?
This appears under Form but could just as well be under Meaning.  Consider a sentence
like They had to give their dream of saving up enough money to buy their first house in
London up.  The main verb here is give up but the object (the dream) separates the
particle from the verb by 14 words.  There's also another MWV in the sentence to
confuse the learner.

Meaning

1. Noncompositionality
That's a nice, long technical word which simply means that many MWVs cannot be
understood by knowing the meaning of the verb and the usual significance of the
particle.  This is not always true: some MWVs are transparent in meaning and some are
wholly opaque but most fall somewhere in between.
For example, Look at the cat can be readily understood, as can Load up the car but Don't
put up with it is probably completely opaque and Stand by your decision is only
interpreted with some understanding of metaphorical use.  The fact of the matter is that
most so-called opaque meanings can be traced to a more transparent use of the MWV,
often a prepositional verb which has evolved other meanings.
2. Polysemy
While not unique to MWVs, of course, multiple meanings of a single item can cause
problems.  For example, give in can be used transitively to mean hand in (an essay, for
example) and intransitively to mean surrender.  In the same way, we can have I'll break
down the figures and The car broke down.  As you can see, this problem is also one of
form because the meaning in which the verb is used may affect transitivity and
separability.  See above under transitivity for another example.
This also applies to the particles.  For example, the distinction between I give up and I
give in is sometimes so subtle as to be almost invisible.
3. Style
It is often stated that MWVs are stylistically less formal than any one-word equivalents. 
That's often true but not always the case.  Corpus research has done much to explode
this myth.  MWVs appear in even the most formal academic texts and, in any case, there
isn't always a one-word equivalent for some MWVs.  For example, what one-word
equivalent can you think of for slow down, take off (clothes), deal with, consist of?  A
term such as slow down, for example, is just as likely to appear in an academic text as an
informal text.  In fact, decelerate, is really very uncommon.  The truth of the matter is
that MWVs are not some kind of substandard colloquialisms; they are important and
indispensable lexemes in their own right.
Learners who have been told that MWVs are always informal may be tempted to
produce pompous prose such as She donned her track suit rather than using put on in a
natural way.
On the other hand, in an effort to substitute a one-word equivalent and avoid using a
MWV at all, learners can also sound overly formal and distant.
The moral: don't give learners half-truths.  Treat each item in terms of its style as you
would for any other lexis.
4. Collocation
Allied to the style issue is the one of collocation.  Many MWVs and their one-word
'equivalents' collocate very differently.  For example, this is OK: He decelerated coming
into the hairpin but this is not acceptable: *He knew he was talking too fast for me to
64
 understand so he decelerated.  As another example, you can call off a wedding, a party,
a meeting and a trip but you can't call off a holiday or a private lesson.  Then you have
to use cancel.

Teaching multi-word verbs

Don't do it!

There's quite a strong argument in favour of not deliberately focusing on MWVs at all but
treating them as and when they arise in the same way as any other lexeme.  This view is based on
some underlying beliefs:

1. that MWVs are so complex in form and meaning that any lesson which attempts to
cover the ground is doomed to fail
2. that learners will become disheartened and demoralised by the sheer number of form
and meaning complexities
3. that focusing on a single verb such as set and then adding particles to it (set off, set up,
set by etc.) will actually encourage confusion
4. that, equally, focusing on a particle and then on verbs that go with it (set down, bring
down, put down, hold down etc.) will be confusing

What counter arguments can you develop for these four views?  Think for a moment and then
click here.

Here are some thoughts:

1. Yes, MWVs are complex but so are a number of structures in every language (tense
forms and affixation rules in English, cases in German, irregular verbs in Greek etc.) but
that doesn't stop you teaching them.  It's just a matter of breaking things down and
teaching bit by bit
2. If this is true, then we wouldn't teach words at all.  There are millions of them and they
nearly all have associated grammar and collocational issues
3. This may be true if you overdo it (as some coursebooks do) but teaching sets such as
drive off, drive back, drive away, drive over, drive by etc. makes perfect sense in terms of
how the brain stores concepts together
4. But actually, as we saw, the particles often do have similar meanings with a range of
verbs.  For example, off is usually associated with a concept of detachment or
separation in verbs like break off (a piece), put off (a meeting), switch off (a light), turn
off (a tap), take off (leave the ground), call off (a dog), clear off (go away) etc.

Even if you take the first view, you are going to have to deal with MWVs in some way or other. 
If you take the second view, i.e., that we should focus on this important and difficult area
explicitly, then we need some strategies to help.  Here are some ideas.

Plan and focus

There's little point in planning a lesson which includes separable, transitive, prepositional,
phrasal and phrasal-prepositional verbs all in the same materials – that will confuse your
learners.  So introduce verbs which share formal characteristics together.

65
1. Dealing with separability and intransitivity.  Idea 1:
You could focus a lesson on transitive prepositional verbs such as abstain from,
comment on, quarrel about, react to and talk about in a lesson on the topic of friends
meeting and talking to plan an event or a formal meeting to discuss a local problem or
whatever.  It's not difficult to develop a text containing them if the context is clear.  For
example:
They met to talk about the party they were planning for John's 50th but soon began
quarrelling about whether it should be a surprise or not.  Mary, in particular reacted
badly to the idea saying that John hated being surprised by events like this ... etc.
All these verbs share a common structure: they are both transitive and inseparable. 
Your learners will not be tempted into mistakes such as *They talked the problem about
by analogy with a transitive separable verb such as in They tossed the ball about.
2. Dealing with separability and intransitivity.  Idea 2:
Equally, you could plan a lesson which does focus on separability of transitive MWVs
such as call off, think through, call up, count in, pass on, set up etc. and the same idea of
planning a party for someone would work well as a topic to hang it on along the lines of:
They decided not to give the party idea up but to set it up for the following Saturday. 
Unfortunately, they had to call the event off when it was clear they couldn't get in
enough people to make it a success ... etc.
3. Dealing with noncompositionality.  Idea 1:
Focus on a particle, such as the example of off above, and choose to introduce verbs
which show the gradual transition from literal to metaphorical meaning.
For example, for the idea of progress towards a target, you could select get on, then go
on, then carry on, then keep on, then move on then hurry on.  The idea that on often has
the sense of towards a goal (but some meanings are slightly metaphorical) is easy to
grasp.
Later, you could select another meaning of on, that of connection or joining, and
introduce tie on, stick on, turn on, switch on, hold on etc.  If you look at the final table in
the analysis guide, you'll find some more candidates.
Although it looks nice, the following sort of presentation is flawed

for two reasons: a) we actually have multiple meanings of the particle out (exit, emerge,
clearness, disappearance) and b) there's no exemplification or context to help the
learners.
There's nothing wrong in principle with this kind of presentation or in getting your
students to construct one but you have to maintain focus and contextualise with
examples.  It would be better like this

66
 because here we have one meaning only of out (the idea of making something
disappear or go away) and there are examples to help the learners.
4. Dealing with noncompositionality.  Idea 2:
If you focus on a verb rather than a particle then you need to show the connected
meanings of the particles in the same way.  You can, for example use the sense of break
(as in destroy or interrupt) to show how the particles alter its meaning with, e.g., break
into a meeting, break out of a meeting, break up a meeting and then go on to try a
different verb such as call with call someone up, call on someone, call someone in etc. 
Note the (in)separability issues with this approach with both verbs.
You can use the same kind of presentation (or get your learners to construct one) as
above but again, you need to keep the focus and exemplify.
5. Dealing with polysemy
Try to make sure that the materials you use don't confuse, especially at early stages.  It
may be tempting to add, when explaining The car broke down, "But understand that this
verb can be used with an object to mean something completely different, you know." 
That's very rarely helpful.  Make sure you have context and co-text to help
understanding.
6. Dealing with collocation and style
Not telling learners that MWVs are always informal is a good beginning (see above).
When you do use the one-word equivalent to explain, e.g., the meaning of speed up as
accelerate, make sure that you focus on the fact that you can't accelerate your speaking
or reading but you can accelerate a car or an object in a physics lesson.
7. Remembering the particles
Intransitive phrasal verbs and transitive prepositional verbs are not separable.  In the
first case, of course, because they have no object.  This means they can be taught,
practised and remembered as single items.
There's no need to teach people that I wake up at six every morning is an example of
wake plus an adverb particle.  It, along with a host of other verbs can be taught as a
single word with a space in the middle.
Equally, rely on, account for, talk about etc. can be taught and practised as if they were
single words.
Doing this may help your learners not to separate the verbs with other adverbs and say
things like I get early up, She relies definitely on him and so on.  It is possible to use
adverbs in this way (She talked loudly about ...) but never necessary so why confuse
people when they are acquiring the system?  Such subtleties can wait till advanced
levels (or even longer).
8. Finding the verb.  Idea 1:
If you are dealing with a complex expression such as He dropped me off by the cinema,
make sure you get students to notice the difference between a preposition introducing
a phrase such as by the cinema and get them to come up with alternatives (near, next to

67
 , opposite the cinema etc.).  That will help them to understand that drop off is actually
the verb they should learn.
9. Finding the verb.  Idea 2:
The problem of verbs being separated by lots of text from their adverb such as the
example above (They had to give their dream of saving up enough money to buy their
first house in London up) is not easy to tackle but once the learners are alerted to the
fact that the meaning of the main verb is relinquish, they can begin to look for the MWV
that they know.  Exposure to already known MWVs in this kind of environment is useful
but if the MWV is not known it's far too challenging to find it.  Build up the challenge
slowly and focus on simple ones that are already familiar in sentences such as
He handed his essay and mine in
He handed his essay and the ones that his classmates gave him in
He gave all the sweets and chocolate away
He gave all the sweets, the chocolate, the cakes and most of the rest of the food away
An alternative is to start with a 'normal' ordering such as They had to give up their
dream of saving up enough money to buy their first house in London and then focus on
the fact that it is possible to move the particle to the end without changing the
meaning.  Then get the students to do it with, e.g., a sentence or two like He pointed out
the new buildings and many of the other surprising changes in the city to me.
Practice of this sort will help learners to avoid panicking when they are reading texts
that do this and to keep calm and look for the particle if the verb alone is making no
sense.

Two cautions

1. MWVs, despite what is said above under problems of style, are very common in spoken
communication and it's tempting only to introduce and practise them that way. 
Remember, however, that they are difficult, especially for learners whose languages
don't use them (i.e., the majority) so it makes sense to introduce them and practise
them in writing before asking people to produce them orally.
Learners need space and time to absorb hard concepts and forms.
2. Make sure that what you are dealing with actually is a MWV.  We started the analysis in
the guide with the distinction between Turn down the lane and Turn down the offer.
Look carefully at lexemes that come up in a text or in a lesson and ask yourself if it really
is a MWV.
She walked across the road is not an instance of a MWV; it is the verb walk followed by
a prepositional phrase telling you where and could be replaced with through the park,
down the street, up the hill, over the bridge and many other phrases.
However, in She walked me through the procedure, we are dealing with a MWV,
meaning to show or guide, and if we substitute something else we change the meaning
of the verb, e.g., She walked me over the road / through the park (meaning helped me
or accompanied me).
If you don't do this, you will actually (and unforgivably) be wasting your learners' time
getting them to remember walk across as if it were a single lexeme rather than being
able to deploy prepositional phrases to say what they mean.

68
Materials

Almost all course books at appropriate levels will have something (often quite a lot) on MWVs. 
When assessing the value of materials think about:

1. Is the material logically presented or does it jumble up different forms and structures –
transitive and intransitive, phrasal and prepositional verbs, separable and inseparable
verbs and so on?
2. If it focuses on a verb, does it make the meaning clear or use the verb to cover many
different meanings?
3. If it focuses on particles, does it do so in a way which shows a single significance, such as
connection or superior relationship etc., which will help learners to grasp its essential
meaning or does it jumble, say, up to mean higher (bring up, hold up, look up to, sit up,
set up etc.) with up meaning complete as in clean up, blow up, cover up, finish up, clear
up, lock up and wash up?

If the answer is yes to the second part of each of these three tests, don't use the material or, if
you do use it, amend it in a way that makes it usable.

If you would like a list of multi-word verbs, there's a PDF format one here.

69
Reported or indirect speech
You are strongly advised to go through the guides on tenses, tense and aspect and modal verbs
before tackling this area.

Consider these pairs:

I was in London He said he had been in London

I can help She said she could help

On the left we have the direct speech – the words uttered.  On the right we have reported or
indirect speech – how the message is passed on.

On the face of it, there's nothing terribly different about this idea.  The tense shifts back one
(from, e.g., was to had been, from can to could.  At the same time I changes to he and so on. 
Here's a list of the changes in English.

Language item Change

Present simple changes to I am in London
past simple He said he was in London
I was in France
She said she had been in France
Past simple, present perfect
I have been to France
and past perfect all come
She said she had been to France
out as past perfect
I had been to France
She said she had been to France
Present progressive changes I am writing to him
to past progressive He said he was writing to him.
Future 'will' changes to I'll go later
'would' He said he'd go later
Future 'will be'+ ing I'll be seeing him tomorrow
changes to 'would be' + -ing She said she'd be seeing him tomorrow
Future 'will have' + past
I'll have done it
participle changes to 'would
He said he would have done it
have' + past participle
Other changes
I / We / want to be there
Pronouns change as
I / He / She / We / They said I / she / he / we / they wanted to be
appropriate
there
I like it here
Time and place expressions She said she liked it there
change as appropriate I am going tomorrow
He said he was going the next day
Modal verbs change to their I may see him
'past' equivalents if there is He said he might see him
one I must go now
70
 He said he had to go then

Using common sense

Of course, not all changes are always appropriate (but using the changes will usually be correct).
If we are reporting something virtually simultaneously, then we often don't change the tense or
time expressions.  If we are reporting something in the same place, then we don't change the
place expressions.

So we might get:
A: I'm going there now.
B: What did he say?
C: He said he's going there now.

If an utterance remains true, we often don't change the tense so we get, e.g.,
I'm from South Africa = He said he's from South Africa
I love the countryside = She said she loves the countryside

Try this matching exercise.

Did you notice the changes, particularly with time and place expressions but also with the verb
'come' (which changed to 'go')?

Teaching issues

There is nothing very difficult about the form of reported speech changes (providing a learner is
already familiar with the tense forms of English).  However:

1. Because of the 'common sense' issues touched on above, you need to make sure that the
language is very clearly set in a time-and-place context.
2. It is almost impossible to practise the form changes in class by getting students to report
each others' utterances because time and place remain static.  You need to spread the
practice over time and place to be authentic.
3. You need to make sure that learners are aware of the common sense issues and don't
slavishly transform every utterance.
4. Languages deal with the issues differently.  Some, for example, reserve a subjunctive
tense for reported speech and some hardly make any changes at all.

All the above has only touched on the issues in reported speech.  For more, go to the in-service
training section for reported speech.  Some of that guide will repeat sections of the above but
then it also considers reporting verbs and so on.

71
Modal verbs
What follows refers only to English.  Languages deal with the modality in a bewildering variety
of ways.

What's modality?

Modality differs from tense and aspect in that it does not refer directly to any characteristic of
the event, but simply to the status of the proposition. (Palmer, F. R, (2001) Mood and Modality,
2nd ed. CUP).  In other words, modality concerns how the speaker / writer perceives a state of
affairs.

Modality needn't be expressed using modal verbs.  We can say, for example, It seems
unlikely to me that she has seen a unicorn which expresses our view of the event.  We do
use modal verbs for this kind of thing quite often, however, as in She can't / mightn't /
couldn't / must've / may've seen a unicorn.
Essentially, modal verbs express: possibility, probability, likelihood, certainty, permission
or prohibition.  See if you can match modal to function in this little test.

It's not always as simple as it seems.  English uses modal verbs in a very complicated way and
the area causes endless problems for learners (and teachers).  For example, what do these
sentences imply about the perceptions of the speaker?  Click here when you know.

1. He may choose a book.

2. He can open the door.
3. He should be in London.

Sentence 1 means either He is allowed to choose a book or It is possible he will choose a book. 
Without a context, it simply isn't possible to know which.
Sentence 2 means either He is able to open the door or He is allowed to open the door.
Sentence 3 means either He is supposed to be in London or He is likely to be in London.

So, issue number 1 for teachers of English is always to provide a clear context for modal verbs. 
If you don't do this, you will do more harm than good by confusing your learners.
Here's a list of all the modals in English.  What can they mean?

True modal verbs

can / could
may / might
shall / should
will, 'll / would, 'd
must
ought to
Marginal modal verbs 
used to
need
72
dare

Why are the last three differently presented?

Think about:
How we make a negative with all of these verbs.
How we make a question with all of these verbs.
Whether we put an -s ending on the third person singular of the verbs.
Click here when you've done that.

For all true modals:

we make negative by putting not after the verb so we get, He can't (cannot) go, not *He doesn't
can go.
we make a question by simply reversing the order of verb and subject so we get Can we come?
not *Do we can come?
we do not put an -s on the third person singular form (He must not *He musts)

For the other modals (called 'marginal' or 'semi-' modals), the situation is more
complicated because they sometimes act as 'normal', lexical verbs:

we can make a negative by putting not after the verb: He needn't go, He use(d)n't to go, He
daren't go
we can also treat them normally: He didn't need to go / He didn't use(d) to go / He didn't dare go
we can make a question by simply reversing the order of verb and subject: Need he come?, Used
he to come? Dare he come?
we can also treat them normally: Did he need to come?, Did he use(d) to go?, Did he dare go?
we sometimes put an -s on the third person singular form of dare and need (He dares to go, He
needs the money) but never on used to.

You will be delighted to learn that the horrible complications of these marginal modal verbs is
not our subject here but you should think for a moment about how the meaning changes
depending on the grammar we use. There is a guide to the three semi-modals here.

We'll look at the true modal verbs one by one in the next section.

73
Semi-modal verbs

There is a general guide to modal verbs and a guide to pure modals on this site.  This section
focuses only on semi-modals.

There is a certain amount of disagreement about what constitutes a semi-modal.  For the
purposes of this guide, we are considering verbs which can act both as modals and as 'ordinary'
lexical verbs.

dare
Dare is an ancient word with connections to words pre-dating Old English.  Nowadays it means
something like 'to have the courage to'.  Consider these examples:

Modal verb Lexical verb

1. She daren't phone her mother
2. She dared not phone her
mother
3. Dare she phone her mother?
4. She wouldn't dare phone her
mother
5. I wonder if she dare phone her
mother
6. She doesn't dare (to) phone her mother
7. She didn't dare (to) phone her mother
8. Does she dare (to) phone her mother?
9. She wouldn't dare (to) phone her mother
10. I wonder if she dares (to) phone her
mother

The contention here is that all these sentences are correct grammatically.  What conclusions can
you draw?
Think for a little while and then click here.

Conclusions

1. Choices:
1. It is the speaker / writer's choice whether to treat the verb as a modal auxiliary
and make the negative as dare not / dared not or as a lexical verb and make the

74
 negative as doesn't dare / didn't dare.  Sentences 1 to 5 on the left carry the
same meanings as sentences 6 to 10 on the right respectively.
2. It is also the speaker's choice whether to make the questions as modal verbs
would and use dare she? or as a lexical verb and use does she dare?
3. Whether dare takes the 3rd-person 's' is, again, a matter of choice.
4. It is also the speaker's choice whether the lexical verb only is followed by the
infinitive with or without to.  (Sentences 6 to 10.)
2. However, modal use and lexical use cannot be mixed.  If the verb is treated as a modal,
then all the modal rules apply:
1. the infinitive with to cannot be used
2. the 3rd-person 's' cannot be used
3. the question forms require inversion of verb and subject
3. Less obviously, sentences 1 to 4 and 6 to 8 are all questions or negatives and sentences
5 and 10 are also non-assertive:
1. Modal use is confined to non-assertive uses of the verb – negatives and
questions mostly
2. If you want to make a positive, assertive statement then you must choose the
non-modal, lexical form – you can have She often dares to swim at night but not
*She often dare swim at night

To many, the modal forms of the verb sound slightly stilted and old fashioned and the non-
modal, lexical forms are, in fact, more common as corpus research has shown.  The non-modal
forms are also more common in American English.

There are three common set phrases with dare:

 I daresay he will come later

This is written as one word and is only used in the first person singular.  It means
something like I believe.
 How dare you!
This is an expression of outrage.
 You dare! / Don't you dare!
This is used as a threat of retribution or punishment if somebody does something.

Finally, there is a transitive use of dare to mean challenge in expressions such as I dare you to
jump, He dared me to do it, Did he dare you to do it? etc.  In this use the verb is always a lexical
verb, never modal.

need
Need is the only semi-modal which fits into the notions of possibility, necessity etc. along with
the true modal verbs.
It does, however, have two non-modal, lexical uses.  Consider these examples:

Modal verb Lexical verb 1 Lexical verb 2

1. She needn't 4. She needs to 7. I need a

phone her phone her drink
mother mother 8. I don't

75
 2. Need she 5. She doesn't need
phone her need to anythin
mother? phone her g else
3. Needn't she mother 9. Do you
phone her 6. Does she need
mother? need to anythin
phone her g?
mother?
7. Doesn't she
need to
phone her
mother?

What conclusions can you draw?

Think for a little while and then click here.

Conclusions

1. Often it is the speaker / writer's choice whether to treat the verb as a modal auxiliary
and make the negative as needn't and the question as need she? or treat it as a lexical
verb and make the negative with doesn't need and the question with does she need? 
Sentences 1 and 5, 2 and 6 and 3 and 7 all carry the same meaning.
2. There is no positive use of the modal.  You cannot have *She need phone her mother. 
The modal form of the verb is only used in non-assertive ways, usually questions or
negatives.
3. The modal form is followed by the bare infinitive; the lexical form by the infinitive with
to.
4. There are two forms of the lexical verb:
1. The first carries the sense of a modal and is followed by the infinitive with to. 
The meaning conveyed is one of necessity or lack of it
It is also used as the negative of must / have to (see the guide to pure modals)
and implies lack of obligation
2. The second lexical verb (sentences 7, 8 and 9) is perfectly 'normal' in the sense
that it is transitive and follows the form of a regular verb.  It is often used with a
gerund (The car needs washing)

There is fruitful ground for confusion here, not least in the distinction between She needn't have
phoned her mother (but did) and She didn't need to phone her mother (so didn't).

Again, to many, the modal form, especially the question, sounds formal and slightly stilted and
again, the form is rarer in American English.

used to
The verb is used to talk about

 things we did in the past but no longer do (I used to live in Manchester)

 habits we have discontinued (I used to eat chocolate when I watched TV)
76
  states that no longer exist (People used to be more friendly).

There used to be (!) two forms with identical meanings, thus:

Modal verb Lexical verb

1. She used to live in Margate 5. She used to live in

2. Used she to live in Margate? Margate
3. She usedn't to live in Margate 6. Did she use(d) to live in
4. Usedn't she to live in Margate? Margate?
7. She didn't use(d) to live in
Margate
8. Didn't she use(d) to live in
Margate?

Notes:

1. The modal forms are still encountered and should (perhaps) be taught for recognition
purposes but the non-modal, lexical verb is now more common and, it seems fair to
presume, will continue to grow in popularity.
To many, the modal form is formal, stilted and even wrong.
2. There is no requirement only to use the modal in non-assertive contexts.  This is unlike
need and dare (see above).
3. There is some spelling confusing.  The 'd' is optional where shown in brackets,
compulsory otherwise.
4. Confusion with the be/get used to structures can mostly be avoided if you don't present
them in the same lesson.
5. The pronunciation of this verb varies from the verb meaning to employ: the 's' is
pronounced /s/ in the former and /z/ in the latter.
6. Used to can be replaced by would usually after used to has been used to set the scene. 
For example, We used to take our holidays in Margate where we would stay in a
guesthouse and would go swimming every day ... .
However, only used to may be used to refer to past states (He used to be so slim not *He
would be so slim).

77
Teaching Modal verbs
There are three language analysis guides that you should have done / do / be familiar with
before you tackle this one:
    A general guide to modal verbs
    A guide to modals one by one
    A guide to semi-modals

Other languages
The concept of modality is common to all languages.  We all have a need to express things like
willingness, probability, likelihood and so on.  Modality may not only be achieved by the use of
modal verbs, of course.  Saying something like I'm almost certain he'll be late instead of He'll be
late is still using modality in language.
Modal verbs are, however, very variable across languages.  Here's a brief run-down by major
language groupings explaining a little of how it all works.  There won't be enough detail here for
your particular students and your setting but it is somewhere to start.  You can get more on line
but beware the unreliability of many sites.
Swan and Smith, 2001, is a usually reliable source albeit frustratingly inconsistent in covering
modality.

Languages What they do

Standard Arabic does not have modal verbs which correspond exactly
to English modals.
However, it does have many precise and detailed ways to express
modal concepts.  For example
must, have to, should, might, may, it is possible to, it is impossible to,
it is expected that, it is easy to, it is hard to, it's worth mentioning that,
it's well-established that, it's most likely that, it's forbidden to, it's
permitted to, it's more proper to and a range of other concepts are all
Arabic expressed through a form of modal construction.
The problem, of course, is that these categories do not mirror the
modal categories of English so expect a good deal of confusion,
especially with modals like may and could which have a range of
functions.
The concept of having a large range of modality in the language will
not be mysterious to learners from an Arabic background.
(Source: Arabic learning resources at
http://arabic.desert-sky.net/g_modals.html)
Chinese Modern Standard Chinese, too, has a range of modal verbs, as one
languages would expect of an isolating language.  They are, however, not at all
parallel to those in English.  There are, for example, three modal verbs
which perform the functions associated with can (ability, permission,
possibility) in English.  The most commonly used modals in Chinese
languages express
want; ask for; wish; desire
want to; would like to; feel like (something)
should; ought to; must

78
 can; be able to; be capable of
like; love; prefer; enjoy; be fond of
can; may
be good at; be skilful in
be willing to
Conceptually, modality poses no problems but overlapping meanings
will make life difficult.
(Source: Modal verbs at
http://www.sunrisemethod.com/pages/45/Modal_verbs_19)
Slavonic languages also have modal verbs but, as usual, the categories
don't exactly match (although they are closer than many languages).  A
Slavonic
single verb form (roughly translatable as must) serves in Polish for the
languages
English verbs must, need to and ought to, for example.
including
In Czech, there is a clear distinction between externally and internally
Russian,
imposed obligations, often rendered in English by must vs. have to,
Polish,
should or ought to.
Ukrainian,
Russian has a simpler modal system than English so you may
Czech, Slovak
encounter, e.g., He must not used to mean He needn't / doesn't have to.
etc.
(More on Polish at http://www.polish-dictionary.com/polish-modal-
verbs)
These languages use modality is ways quite similar to English which
makes life easier for learners from these languages.  The most
important exceptions often concern the negative uses.  For example, in
German the translation of needn't would be must not and that causes
confusion.
Germanic In these languages, too, there are more tense forms available so an
languages equivalent of had to may be rendered as '*musted'.  Learners may be
confused by a logically constructed tense form in their first language
not existing in English.
The overlap in meanings between cognate modal verbs is not precise
so expect errors such as It can be used to mean It might be.
There are few serious conceptual difficulties otherwise.
Italic These languages do not have a separate grammatical category for
languages modal verbs and usually render the concepts as a verb followed by an
including infinitive form, e.g., in French Je peux aller (I can go) or in Spanish
French, Puedo ir.  Expect, therefore, errors such as I can to eat, You must to
Spanish, enter etc. because many learners perceive the to-form as the infinitive
Italian, in English.
Portuguese, Some modal concepts, e.g., for obligation, are expressed in the passive
Romanian etc. (It is necessary that ...).
Scandinavian languages have a separate class of modal verbs although
Swedish, use is an issue.  The verb kan, for example, is used to talk about the
Danish and possible future where English would use may or might.  Expect,
Norwegian therefore, *It can rain tomorrow.
Other uses of modals are close parallels with English.
Japanese Japanese has two classes of modal verbs: those which are attached to
stems and cannot function independently and those which are ordinary
verbs which lose their meanings when acting as auxiliaries.  We have,
therefore, structures such as miru (to see) leading to mirareru (to be
able to see).
79
 The concept of modality will not be strange but the form will cause
problems in English.
Some languages have a very reduced set of modal verbs to call on. 
Greek, e.g., really has only two (must and can), one of which only
exists in the It is necessary / necessarily true that sense in the third
person.  Added to these problems is the tendency to make past modals
Other
in completely different ways (often rendering the modal in the present
languages
with the verb in the past) so mistakes such as *I can saw it (for I was
able to see it) are possible.
Turkish speakers will have few problems with the modal system of
English as such because the language has many parallel structures.

General problems for all learners

Whatever you students' first language(s), there are certain aspects of the English modal system
which will cause problems:

1. Form and function

If you have followed the analysis guides in the area, you will be alert to the issue that in
English one verb can perform a range of functions.  The modal could, for example, is
used to express:

present possibility That could be the postman now.

future possibility It could rain tomorrow.
past possibility He could have seen her.  I'm not sure.
present ability I could help with that, if you like.
future ability I could finish in hour if I get some peace.
past ability When I was only two, I could swim pretty well.
permission Could I ask you a question?
complaint You could have warned me!

2. This works both ways.  Permission, for example, can be realised using may, might, can,
could etc.
For more, got to the guide to modals one by one.
3. The modal system in English exhibits a range of anomalies.  For example, the negative of
It must be him used for deduction is It can't be him not It mustn't be him.  There are
numerous other cases of non-parallel structures.
4. Modal verbs are often contracted and, in natural speech, often rendered with weak-form
vowels.  So we get must pronounced as /məs/ and can as /kən/ or even /kn/ etc. as well as
needn't've or couldn't've etc. which are hard to perceive and harder to produce.
5. Few languages have verb forms analogous to English semi-modals (dare, need, used to)
and the forms will be difficult to master.

80
Teaching modal verbs
To master any modal-verb use we need to know two things:

 the speaker/writer's perception of reality

If a speaker chooses to say It'll rain rather than It might well rain the intention (arising
from the speaker's view of the future) is subtly different
 the context in which it is used
It is impossible to interpret something like I could leave earlier without knowing the
context.  It can mean I was given permission to leave earlier, I was able to leave earlier
or I may (in future) leave earlier.  We need to supply a good deal of information for
learners to be able to interpret the sentence accurately:
o How is the event situated in time (future or past)?
o What is the speaker's relationship in terms of authority with others?
o Is the speaker likely to be talking about ability or permission, given the preceding
text?

For example, the statement She must write to her mother has a number of possible
interpretations.  What are they and how does the hearer unpack the meaning?  Click here when
you have an answer.

1. She is obliged to write to her mother

2. She wants very much to write to her mother
3. She should write to her mother
4. She ought to / it is her duty to write to her mother

Only knowledge of the context of the utterance and the speaker's relationship to events (and
perception of them) can tell us which meaning is intended.  We may also draw on our knowledge
of the speaker's habitual responses to events and situations.

Handling other issues

1. The one-form-many-functions-and-one-function-many-forms problem needs careful

handling.  It is unwise to try to teach any modal in isolation.  What we need to do is to
focus on particular functions of the form independently.  Trying to teach may in contexts
where it means both possibility and permission (It may rain vs. May I ask a question?) is
a recipe for disaster.  We have seen above that many languages will reserve separate
structures for these functions.
2. Anomalous forms such as the difference between must not and don't have to / needn't
also need careful handling in context.  The context must make it clear what sort of
obligation (if any) is present.
Equally, modals of deduction must be presented in a way that makes it clear what sort of
deduction can be made with what level of certainty.  Here's an example of something
commonly used.  What are the problems?

81
 Click here when you have detected the two problems with exercises like this.

Problems:

1. There is a mix of tenses.  Are the learners expected to produce the perfect forms
(or the perfect progressive) or the present tense forms?
2. What level of certainty is permitted?  Some people are happy to make assertions
based on very little evidence; others are more cautious.  If you find cosmetics,
how sure can you be that the tenant left them (or that the tenant was female)? 
Was the tenant Spanish or learning Spanish?  Given the inexactitude, you can
never be sure that the learners' responses are 'correct' in the sense of matching
what their thought processes are.

There are ways to make such exercises work well and be intriguing but it needs a bit
more effort:

3. We need to make the context clearer.  One way is to kill off the ex-tenant so
deductions can only be in the past!
4. To tackle issues of certainty, learners can be asked to express in percentage terms
how certain they are and compare their responses with others so that in feedback
you can judge whether the statement matches the perception.  Additionally, giving
a little information about the previous tenant would help.
3. We need to provide lots of targeted listening and production practice in the weak and
contracted forms of modal verbs.  Drilling is one way but getting learners to select from a
multiple choice list whether they heard, e.g., must've, mustn't've, could've, couldn't've etc.
embedded in natural-speed utterances is another way to prepare them for listening in 'the
real world'.
4. Semi-modal forms are increasingly rarely produced as modals.  For example, dared not is
usually now didn't dare, didn't used to is preferred to usedn't to and so on.  We need to
ask ourselves whether at most levels it is wise to introduce the modal forms at all (except
where they may occur and then only for comprehension).  This means de-selecting texts
82
 which contain them.
The subtle difference between needn't have and didn't need to is another issue we could
leave well alone until learners are really competent in using modal verbs.

Modals and Genre approaches

If you have followed the guide to genre, you will aware that certain text types will use modality
in very different ways.
When we teach modals, especially to learners who need to write conventional texts, it is worth
bearing this in mind.

 Instructions sometimes employ modals such as must (usually in passives (the flame must
not be allowed to touch the oil etc.))
 Discussion texts (arguing both sides of a case) will often contain 'hedging' modals in
expressions such as It might be argued that ... or One could consider ... .
 Recounts and Narratives may employ modals for speculation and deduction as well as
possibility (I don't know what I must have been thinking, I must have been mad, It
couldn't have been worse, I can't tell you etc.
 Information reports contain very little modality normally because they don't usually deal
with possibilities and so on, confining themselves to facts.
 Explanations often involve modals of possibility (can cause ... , may result in ... etc.)
 Expositions (arguing one side of a case) employ modality to make a case (should be,
cannot be, must be, ought to be etc.)

In writing lessons, in particular, it is useful to keep this in mind because a genre approach, by its
nature, points learners towards noticing how the intention of the writer is realised in the use of
language structure.

References:
Campbell, G.L. (1995), Concise Compendium of the World's Languages. London: Routledge
Swan, M and Smith, B (2001), Learner English, 2nd Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press

83
Pure modals one by one
There is a general guide to modal verbs which you should follow before you access this area. 
This section focuses only on true modals.  There is another guide to semi-modals which covers
dare, need and used to.

What follows is a guide to the main modal verbs in English, taken one by one.  We will look at
the possible functions of each modal and how it is used.
Sections in this colour in the notes following each table concern areas which cause specific and
predictable problems for learners.  It is these in particular that you must be able to analyse and
explain in the classroom.
Tests in sections of this page only exist for the more complex verbs but there's a link to a test on
all of them at the end.  Try it now if you like.
You can use this menu to go to the verb which interests you or work through the page, taking the
tests as you go along.

could might should would must can may will ought to

could / was able to

Essentially, could performs the following functions in English:

Function Example
present possibility That could be the postman now.
future possibility It could rain tomorrow.
past possibility He could have seen her.  I'm not sure.
present ability I could help with that, if you like.
future ability I could finish in an hour if I get some peace.
past ability When I was only two, I could swim pretty well.
permission Could I ask you a question?
complaint You could have warned me!

Notes:

1. Present possibility and future possibility are not always easy to distinguish.  For teaching
purposes, it's rarely important to do so because the forms and functions are the same.
2. Most uses of could refer to possibility or ability.
Note that She could have left her keys with John can refer to both possibility and ability. 
It means either:
John offered to look after the keys so she was able to leave them with him
or
It is possible that she left her keys with John (and that's why she can't find them now)
Only the second use of could can be replaced with might (see below).
3. be able to is only an alternative if the sense expresses ability.  Note that a general ability
in the past can be expressed either with could or was able to (I could speak French = I
was able to speak French.)  However, if we refer to a specific instance of success, only

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 was able to is possible (I was able to say the word in French, NOT *I could say the word
in French.)
4. When used for permission, the verb is generally confined to formal(ish) questions
5. For the negative deduction uses of could/couldn't have, see under must below
6. When used for complaints, the verb is usually interchangeable with might and always in
the perfect tense
7. When used for future ability or possibility, the question forms often imply a request
rather than an enquiry about ability or possibility.  For example, Could you open the
door? clearly is not about enquiring about future ability but it could be enquiring about
past ability or a request for some help.

Try the test.

might

Essentially, might performs the following functions in English:

Function Example
present possibility Careful.  There might be a snake in the hall.
future possibility It might rain tomorrow.
past possibility He might have telephoned while I was out.
suggestion You might try taking an aspirin.
permission Might I talk to you?
complaint You might have warned me!

Notes:

1. Some of these are quite unusual and wouldn't be taught at lower levels.  E.g., might for
permission and suggestions.
2. might never refers to ability.  Note that She might have left her keys with John can only
refer to possibility: it means It is possible that she left her keys with John (and that's why
she can't find them now).  This use of might can also be replaced with could (see above).
3. The negative of the use for permission is usually expressed with mustn't or can't: We
mustn't/can't go
4. The negative of the use for past possibility:
when the speaker is quite sure of something this is usually expressed using couldn't
have/can't have: He couldn't/can't have got out
when the speaker is unsure we use might: He might not have tried to telephone me
5. might is often seen as adding 'distance' – making possibilities less likely and requests or
suggestions more polite.  Compare It could/might rain, Could/Might I go now? etc.

should

Essentially, should performs the following functions in English:

Function Example
advice You should see a doctor.
obligation You should not talk that way!

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conditional uses We should love to come (if we are invited).
logical deduction Mary should be home soon.

Notes:

1. The distinction between strong advice and obligation is often blurred – the roles of the
speakers usually give the game away.  If someone in authority uses should it usually
expresses obligation.
2. The conditional use of should for 1st person forms instead of would is often seen as
formal and pretty much confined to British English.  This is also called the contingent
use.
3. should is occasionally used in rather odd, formal expressions such as I regret that it
should have happened

would

Essentially, would performs the following functions in English:

Function Example
request Would you leave me alone, please?
conditional uses You would be in danger if you tried it without training.
habit We would always have tea at 5.
characteristic That's just the sort of thing he would say.

Notes:

1. Would is one of the most common words in English, ranking approximately in 60th place
2. The conditional uses are extremely common.  This is also called the contingent use.
3. When used to describe past habit, it follows an initial use of used to and often expresses
nostalgia

must / have to / needn't

Essentially, must performs the following functions in English:

Function Example
obligation Must I take the test?
logical deduction That must be his brother.  Aren't they alike?
advice You really mustn't make such a fuss.

Notes:

1. The difference between strong advice and obligation is often very blurred (if it exists at
all).
2. must can be replaced by have to in certain circumstances only.
External vs. internal obligation: it is often asserted that have to implies an external
obligation but must refers to an internal one.  (Compare I must get this done with I have
to get this done.)  Too much can be made of this dubious distinction and it's probably not
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 worth teaching it.
Tenses: must has no future or past forms for obligation (but not in other senses) so the use
of have to is obligatory in, e.g., I had to do it, We'll have to see etc.
3. The negative of must for obligation has two forms:
1. No obligation: needn't/don't have to (You needn't/don't have to go)
Note that only didn't have to/didn't need to express a lack of obligation in the past.  The
expression needn't have suggests something was unnecessarily done.  Compare He didn't
need to do it (so didn't) with He needn't have done it (but did).
2. Negative obligation: must not (You mustn't go.)
4. The negative of the use for deduction in standard British English is formed with could not
or cannot.  He can't have done it by himself, It couldn't have been the same man. 
(However, in some varieties must not is used for a negative logical deduction.)  Note that
this sense of the verb does have a past form: He must have escaped, He couldn't have
known etc.

can / able to

Essentially, can performs the following functions in English:

Function Example
ability Can you do it before tomorrow?
permission You can go now.
possibility The weather can be dreadful in March.
request Can you help me?

Notes:

1. When the request form uses the 1st person, it functions as an offer: Can I help?
2. The negative of the permission function can be expressed using can or must: You can't
leave yet.  You mustn't leave yet
3. cannot have/can't have only occurs as negative past deduction (see under must)
4. be able to is only an alternative if the sense expresses ability:
I can speak French = I am able to speak French.  However, able to is NOT possible in
other senses: you can't give permission by saying *You are able to ask questions at the
end and there is a functional difference between Are you able to help me? and Can you
help me? (ability vs. request)
Like must, can has no future form (although it does have a past in some senses of ability
only (see under could, above)).  For this reason, future senses are expressed as follows:
Future ability: She will be able to help (She can help tomorrow is also possible)
Future permission: They will be allowed to go (They can go later is also possible)
Future possibility: The weather might be dreadful next March (*The weather can be
dreadful next March is not possible)

may

Essentially, must performs the following functions in English:

Function Example
permission May I sit here?

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possibility/doubt That may be his brother.

Notes:

1. The permission use is often seen as a more formal version of can.  Compare might.
2. The possibility use often implies less likelihood than could
3. The negative is slightly peculiar:
may not cannot express impossibility.  We use can't/couldn't (That can't/couldn't be his
brother) for that function.  It can, however, express doubt in, e.g., That may not be what
you need.
may not for prohibition (i.e., negative permission) is used but is rarely contracted to
mayn't

will

Essentially, will performs the following functions in English (see also the section on tenses for
the use of will to talk about the future):

Function Example
requests Will you walk this way?
logical deduction That will be the postman.
intention I'll write when I can.
insistence He will keep complaining.

Notes:

1. The insistence use never contracts will to 'll

2. The intention use is almost always only first person unless we are reporting what
someone else intended to do (He said he'll write when he can, You said you'll do it etc.)
3. The negative of the use for deduction is often formed with cannot: That can't be the
postman but if the speaker is more certain or is basing the statement on evidence or
experience then won't can be used: That won't be the postman; it's too early.

ought to

Essentially, ought to performs the following functions in English:

Function Example
obligation You ought to go.
logical deduction She ought to be here around 6.
advice You ought to take him to the vet.

Notes:

1. The difference between strong advice and obligation is often very blurred (if it exists at
all).
2. It is often asserted that ought to implies a sense of duty rather than pure obligation or
advice.  Compare You should write to him with You ought to write to him.  For most
88
 learners of English, this is irrelevant.  (This distinction may stem from the fact that ought
is an old past participle form of the verb owe and we owe a duty.)
3. The negative of ought to for obligation has two forms:
1. No obligation: needn't/don't have to (You needn't/don't have to go.)
2. Negative obligation: ought not (You oughtn't (to) go.).  Omitting the 'to' is rare and
formal.
4. The negative of the use for deduction is formed with cannot.  She can't have arrived
already.
5. There is some evidence of the existence of ought as a non modal with forms such as
didn't ought to, did he ought to? etc.  Such forms are at best non-standard; many would
consider them illiterate.
6. In American English in particular (but increasingly evident in other standards) the bare
infinitive is quite common in the negative (You oughtn't do that).

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Lexical verb forms
If you have done the 2nd section on word class in this area of the site, you will be familiar with
the basic characteristics of verbs and with the concept of transitivity.
Here we look at what are called main or lexical verbs.  These are verbs like sleep, do, own,
enjoy, make etc. which have a meaning even when they stand alone.
There are other sorts of verbs, auxiliary verbs, such as have, be, must, may, could, will etc.,
which function to change or modify the tense and meaning of lexical verbs.  For more on that,
see the section on modal verbs.

How many parts to a verb?

This table shows the basic forms of verbs in English with an example of each use.  The table is
incomplete.
Fill in the empty cells in your head or on a piece of paper and then click on the table for the
answer.

In comparison to many languages, English verbs are quite simple.  Notice that except for the 3rd
person singular in the present tense, verbs don't change at all for I, you, we, they.  The only
change in the present tense in English for lexical verbs concerns he, she, it where we add a final -
s or -es.  In the past tense, there are no changes at all in English: everybody drank.
Other languages you may have learned or speak are very much more complicated.
Here's the terminology:

 drink is called the base form or the bare infinitive

 drinks is called the -s form
 drank is called the past tense form
 drinking is called the present participle or gerund (for more on this, see the section on
gerunds and infinitives)
 drunk is called the past participle

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For the examples here and in the test we used irregular verbs to show the differences in form. 
Regular verbs in English, i.e., most of them, have the same form for the past tense and the past
participle.  So, for example, the verb enter has the forms: enter, enters, entered, entering and
entered.

Pronunciation rules

You need to make yourself familiar with some of the material on phonology in this section
before this will be easy to understand.  If you want to do that later, skip to the next bit on
spelling.

Pronouncing the -s ending

1. If the base end in a voiced or voiceless sibilant (/s/, /z/, /ʧ/ /ʤ/, /ʒ/) then the -s is
pronounced /ɪz/.  For example, pass-passes, push-pushes, lodge-lodges, sabotage-
sabotages etc.
2. If the base ends in any other voiced sound (e.g., /d/, /b/, /ɡ/ etc.) or a vowel then the -s
ending is pronounced /z/.  For example, cab-cabs, dig-digs, pad-pads, throw-throws, fly-
flies etc.
3. If the base ends in an unvoiced consonant (e.g., /p/, /t/, /f/, /k/) then the -s is
pronounced /s/.  For example, hop-hops, pick-picks, drop-drops.

Pronouncing the -ed ending

1. If the base ends in /d/ or /t/, we pronounce the -ed ending as /ɪd/.  For example, fit-fitted,
pad-padded etc.
2. If the base ends in any other voiced consonant, apart from /d/, or a vowel, we pronounce
the ending as /d/.  For example, mow-mowed, show-showed, rob-robbed, slug-slugged
etc.
3. If the base ends in an unvoiced consonant such as /k/ or /p/ etc., then the -ed ending is
pronounced /t/.  For example, pass-passed, sack-sacked, slop-slopped etc.

Spelling rules

For many verbs, it is a simply matter of adding the ending we want to the base form.  For
example, the base form call simply adds -s for the -s form, -ing for the present participle and -ed
for the past tense and past participle.  However, note the following:

1. The spelling of the -s ending is dependent on the pronunciation but the rules are the same
for regular and irregular verbs.
1. When the ending is pronounced iz, it is spelled with -es unless the base form ends
in -e, so we get choose-chooses, catch-catches, push-pushes etc.
2. When the ending is pronounced z or s, the spelling is simply to add an -s so we
get fall-falls, sell-sells, cut-cuts, lop-lops etc.
3. Note the exceptions: do-does, go-goes, have-has
2. The -ed ending is added to the base form unless the form already ends in -e, in which
case we simply add -d so we get allow-allowed, hate-hated, water-watered etc.
3. Consonant doubling
1. If the stress comes at the end of the base verb, we double the consonant: permit-
permitting etc.
2. If the stress is at the beginning, we do not double the consonant: enter-entered
etc.
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 3. British English doubles 'l', 'm', and 'p' on some multi-syllable verbs but American
English does not (travelled vs. traveled).
4. There are alternative spellings of some past tenses and participles of regular verbs
which seem to break the stress rule: focused/focussed, benefited/benefitted etc.
4. 'y'
1. If the base ends in a consonant + 'y', we change '-y' to '-ies' or '-ied' but we do not
do this with the ending -ing so we get, e.g., marry-marries-married-marrying etc.
2. If the base ends in '-ie', we change it to 'y' before '-ing' so we get lie-lying, die-
dying etc.

Irregular verbs

There are some 650 irregular verbs in English (but many are rarely used).  For a full list, try the
Wikipedia entry.
There are NO irregular forms of present participles or gerunds.  None at all.

1. Most irregular verbs change the central vowel rather than the ending.  (This is a result of
their origin.  In Old English there were classes of what are known as 'strong verbs' which
changed the central vowel, a phenomenon which persists in, e.g., German and Dutch. 
Many common verbs, therefore, are 'irregular' in Modern English.  There is some
evidence of a tendency to regularise irregular verbs, which accounts for the dual forms of
the past tenses but also evidence of the reverse with, e.g., the past tense of sneak often
being heard as snuck despite the fact that the verb is regular.)
2. A large number of irregular verbs have the same form for the past tense and the past
participle so learners need only to remember one change.
3. Most irregular verbs actually fall into categories with predictable patterns, however.  So
we get:

Verbs which never

put, cut, cost, rid etc.
change
Verbs adding -t smell, learn, spill etc.
Verbs adding -t and dream, sweep, weep,
changing /i:/ to /e/ mean etc.
Verbs changing /ɪ/ to
cling, dig, win etc.
/ʌ/

For pedagogical use, it often makes sense to list irregular verbs in memorable groups rather than
alphabetically (which is the way most commercial teaching materials do it).  Like this:

There are some oddities to note:

 shine is irregular when it refers to light but regular when it means 'polish'
 hang is regular when it means 'execute' but irregular in other senses
 run, become and come are slightly odd in having only one change but to the past form not
the participle
 be and go have tense forms derived from different Old English verbs which accounts for
went and was etc.
 verbs that have regular -ed ending and irregular -t endings (such as learn, dream, smell
etc.) are more often used in the regular form in American than British English
 dive is regular in British English but irregular in American English (the past is dove)

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 gotten is the Old English form of the past participle of get which American English has
retained in certain senses

93
The Primary Auxiliary verbs
Definitions
An auxiliary verb is one which cannot usually stand alone and retain a clear meaning.  Compare,
for example,

1. He can
2. He went
3. They are
4. She smokes

It's clear that the meanings of sentences 1. and 3. are obscure unless we have some more
information.  We need to know what He can do and What they are doing.
Sentences 2. and 4., however, are complete in themselves and need no further elaboration.
The verbs can and are in these examples are auxiliary verbs and the verbs went and smokes are
main or lexical verbs.  This is a crucial distinction.

Complication 1

Some verbs can function in both ways.  They can be auxiliaries and they can also be lexical
verbs.  For example, in these sentences the verbs can, be and have are functioning in both ways. 
Can you identify which is which?
Click here when you have an answer.

5. The factory cans tomatoes

6. She can tell you tomorrow
7. She is a teacher
8. She is arriving now
9. She has the papers
10. She has been to the USA

5. The factory cans tomatoes: here the verb means something like preserve and is lexical.
6. She can tell you tomorrow: here the verb refers to ability or permission and has no
meaning without the verb tell.  It's an auxiliary verb.
7. She is a teacher: here the verb is lexical, telling you the relationship between she and
teacher.
8. She is arriving now: here the verb is an auxiliary and tells us how the verb arriving
should be viewed.  (That's called aspect, by the way.)
9. She has the papers: here the verb is lexical and means something like owns or possesses
or carries.
10. She has been to the USA: here the verb is auxiliary and tells us how the verb been should
be viewed.  (It's another example of aspect.)

Here, we are only concerned with the auxiliaries.

Complication 2

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There are two kinds of auxiliary verbs in English: Primary Auxiliaries and Modal Auxiliaries.
Modal Auxiliaries include, for example, can, may, might, should, ought to etc.  These verbs
express notions such as possibility, permission, obligation, likelihood and so on.  There are
guides to these elsewhere on the site.  The place to start is the guide to modality.
The ones in focus here are the primary auxiliaries and for our purposes, these are be, have, do
and get.

Complication 3

Some auxiliaries (notable will) are usually called modal but often act to give grammatical
information by forming a tense with a main verb.  For this reason, some people will classify will
and would as Primary Auxiliaries.  That is not the approach taken here.  If you want to learn
more about the functions of will and would, go to the guide to modality.

What do the Primary Auxiliaries actually do?

Auxiliary verbs in general are sometimes called 'helping verbs' and, although that is rather
babyish, there is a kernel of truth in it.  Primary Auxiliaries 'help' in the sense that they provide
grammatical information and tell us how to view the lexical verb which follows.
We'll take them one by one.

do
The first thing to note about this verb is that it is very frequently seen as a lexical verb in things
such as: He did the work carefully, She is doing her homework, They do that a lot etc.  The
lexical verb does not concern us here.

The second thing to note is that this verb only functions as a Primary Auxiliary in present simple
and past simple tenses.  Nowhere else.

do as a Primary Auxiliary

What function is the verb do performing in these examples?

1. Did you see the film?

2. I don't understand
3. I do demand it
4. Don't talk to me

Click here when you have an answer.

1. Did you see the film?

Here the verb signifies that what follows is a question.  Very few languages have a
dedicated auxiliary verb for this function and the form and use is difficult for learners at
lower levels.
2. I don't understand
Here the verb signifies that what follows is a negative.  Again, very few languages have a

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 dedicated auxiliary verb for this function and the form and use is difficult for learners at
lower levels.
3. I do demand it
Here the verb is signifies that the speaker wants to emphasise the following verb.  The
word will often be spoken more loudly and with a higher pitch in this case.
4. Don't talk to me
Here the verb is used to make the negative of an imperative or order.

The summary of do:

In questions, imperatives and negatives, the verb is not usually stressed.  The stress in these cases
is on the lexical verb because that is carrying the meaning.  In emphasising uses, however, the
verb is stressed.

have
The first thing to note is that have can function as a lexical verb and frequently does.  For
example:

 I have a shower every evening (meaning, roughly, take)

 I have his address (meaning, roughly, possess)

The second thing to note is that when it is a lexical verb, we can:

 Use it with the do auxiliary (as above) to make questions or negatives when have is a
lexical verb in, e.g., I don't have a shower every evening, Do you have sugar in tea?, Do
you have my address? etc.
 Make negatives and questions (especially in British English) without the do auxiliary but
only if the meaning is something like possess or own as in, e.g., I haven't (got) your
96
 address, Have you (got) the money? etc.
The use of got in these cases is almost obligatory in British English and leaving it out
sounds very formal.
American English almost always prefers the do auxiliary in these cases and there is
evidence that British English is tending that way.  It is certainly easier to teach it that
way.

The third thing to note is that when the verb is a Primary Auxiliary, we never use the do
auxiliary with it.  Never.  It is not possible to say something like *Do you have met him?  That is
a cause for error at lower levels especially.

The fourth complication is that have when it is followed by to + an infinitive is a modal auxiliary
akin to must as in, e.g., I have to leave now.

have as a Primary Auxiliary

What function is the verb have performing in these examples?

1. Have you seen the film?

2. I won't have done it by then
3. I haven't eaten this before
4. He has spent all his money
5. He had already left when I arrived
6. I hadn't expected something so beautiful, had you?
7. I had my tooth taken out
8. I'll have the window repaired

Click here when you have an answer.

1. Have you seen the film?

2. I won't have done it by then
3. I haven't eaten this before
4. He has spent all his money
In all these cases the verb have is acting to make what is called a tense in the perfect
aspect.  This usually implies an unfinished action, reference to our lives before now or a
recent event.  For more see the guide to the present perfect.
5. He had already left when I arrived
6. I hadn't expected something so beautiful, had you?
In both these cases the verb is used to form what is called the past perfect.  This usually
refers to an event before a past event.  For more, see the guide to the past perfect.
7. I had my tooth taken out
8. I'll have the window repaired
In both these cases the verb is used to form what is called the causative.  This usually
refers to an event which is either unwelcome (g.) or something one arranges for someone
else to do (h.).  For more, see the guide to the causative.

The summary of have:

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This diagram is incomplete.  The verb have as a Primary Auxiliary also performs the function of
making other perfect tenses as in, e.g., I will have finished by 6, Will you have had time to do it?
etc.

be
The first thing to note is that the verb be can function as a lexical verb and usually expresses:

1. The relationship between two things in, for example, She is a teacher, It is a mistake
2. The characteristics of something in, e.g., They are French, He is very clever

In these cases it is known as a copula verb and joins two things together.  For more, see the guide
to copula verbs.

The second thing to notice is that this verb has eight different forms (most have only four or
five): be (the base form), am, is, are (present forms), was, were (past forms), being (the present
participle and gerund) and been (the past participle, often of the verb go).  All of these can be
used when the verb is acting as a lexical verb or as an auxiliary.  That is confusing for learners at
lower levels.

be as a Primary auxiliary

What function is the verb be performing in these examples?

1. I am seeing him tomorrow?

2. They were playing tennis at the time
3. She was explaining it to me
4. The window was broken by a bird
5. The car has been repaired

Click here when you have an answer.

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 1. I am seeing him tomorrow?
2. They were playing tennis at the time
3. She was explaining it to me
In all these cases the verb comes before a participle form ending in -ing and tells us that
the action or event was continuous or progressive.  This is usually called the progressive
aspect.  For more about this go to the guide to tense and aspect.
4. The window was broken by a bird
5. The car has been repaired
In both these cases the verb is followed by the past participle of a lexical verb and used to
form what is called the passive voice.  The passive is often used when the doer of the
action is unimportant or unknown and to lay stress on the action itself and the object of
the action.  For more, see the guide to voice.  In sentence e. the auxiliary be is used
alongside the auxiliary have so this sentence shows both perfect aspect (see have) and
passive voice.

The summary of be:

get
This guide is slightly unusual in classifying get as a Primary Auxiliary but it can function this
way as well as functioning as a lexical verb.
As a lexical verb it has a very wide range of meanings.  Some dictionaries will list over 40
different meanings of the verb ranging from achieve, reach, arrive etc. to become, grow and
leave.  Adding particles to get such as on, out, over, to etc. adds even more meanings.
Here, however, we are interested in get as an auxiliary.

get as a Primary Auxiliary

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What function is the verb be performing in these examples?

1. I got the house painted

2. She got her foot trapped
3. The window got damaged
4. They will get arrested for it

Click here when you have an answer.

1. I got the house painted

2. She got her foot trapped
In both these cases the verb is being used in the same way as the auxiliary have was used
(see above) to make a causative sentence.  The meanings are the same: either to arrange
something or to suffer and unpleasant event.  Generally, causatives with get are
considered less formal than those with have.
3. The window got damaged
4. They will get arrested for it
In both these cases the verb is followed by the past participle of a lexical verb and used to
form the passive voice in the same way that be is used (see above).  Generally, passives
with get are also considered less formal than those with be.

So, in sentences a. and b., we can replace get with have and in sentences c. and d., we can
replace it with be.
In both cases get is usually less formal.

The summary of get:

100
Summary
Here's the overall picture:

101
Gerunds and infinitives

A gerund, simply put, is a verb acting as a noun.  For example, I enjoy reading (gerund: the verb
read is acting as a noun) vs. I enjoy books (plural noun).

What follows the verb?

Some verbs are followed by a gerund, some by an infinitive (the base form of the verb with to
before it).  Here are some examples:

I want to He offered They I hate flying I would like

help to to clear up expected to to go now
clear up have a
problem
They They We stopped Remind me I'm thinking
chose to regretted them to post the about going
do it doing it working letter

Can you categorise the following verbs?  Put them all in a sentence in your head and decide
whether they are followed by the infinitive (e.g., to go) or the gerund (e.g., going).  Then see if
you can find a pattern.  Click when you've done that.

allo avoi promis

advise aim deny instruct beg build threaten
w d e
enjo resu forbi perm persua promi sugge encoura
teach detest
y me d it de se st ge
arrang begi invit challen
finish miss ask admit hope force
e n e ge

Not difficult but do you see the pattern?

It is not a hard-and-fast rule by any means but verbs which take the infinitive look forward in
some way (expect to arrive, invite to come, threaten to attack, forbid to go and so on).
Verbs which are based on previous experience or look back in some way usually take the gerund
(enjoy playing, hate flying, detest eating, admit breaking, resume talking, deny involving and so
on).
You can see this clearly with the class of verbs which take either the gerund or the infinitive but
with a change of meaning.

102
Compare He remembered to post the letter with He remembered posting the letter and They
regretted telling me with They regretted to tell me.

Teaching this area

When it comes to teaching, of course, it is very important that learners are alert to the patterns so
we need to set the language in a context.  Here's an example of the sort of text one might use to
get students to notice the forms and perhaps work out the pattern for themselves with a little
help.  With a group at B1 or B2 level getting them to notice the words in italics and try to see
what they have in common would be a good place to start.

I was talking with an old friend last night and we discussed missing our oldest friends from
university.  We both regretted losing touch and not seeing them for so long.  We have both
always enjoyed being in their company and setting the world to rights over a glass of wine.
We decided to do something about the situation and resolved to get in touch with as many as we
could.  To this end, my friend promised to look on the internet to see if any of them are on
Facebook and I undertook to check with the university to see if they have records we could use. 
I don't expect them to give out details but they might agree to provide me with a list of names
and contact details.
If we manage to get a list together we have some ideas for things to do.  First off, we want to
invite everyone to meet up somewhere nice (perhaps for coffee or a drink in the evening) and
then we'd like to make it some kind of regular event so that we can all stay in touch and spend
hours remembering studying and socializing together.
Eventually, we want to establish our own website for the group where we can exchange ideas
and so on.

There's no test or exercise with this section but if you want to see some student exercises in this
area (and perhaps incorporate them into a lesson), click the link and select the gerund exercises.

103
Stative and Dynamic verb uses
The distinction
There is a fundamental and important distinction in English between stative and dynamic uses of
verbs.  In many texts, you will see them referred to as 'dynamic' or 'action' verbs or 'state' or
'event' verbs.  This is a little misleading because it is not the verb itself that is stative or dynamic,
it's the use to which it is put.

Look at these examples and try to identify which verbs describe an action and which describe a
state.
Click here for comments when you have done that.

1. He's being
6. He's growing
stupid.
up.
2. He's angry.
7. My foot hurts.
3. He's reading
8. The train
Tom Sawyer.
arrived on time.
4. It astonishes
9. He tapped me
me.
on the shoulder.
5. It belongs to
10. I love pizza.
John.

Verbs usually with dynamic use (i.e., those which describe an action, not a state) are:

1. Verbs which describe processes such as become, worsen, slow down etc.
Sentence 6 contains the example grow.
2. Verbs which describe sensation such as hurt, itch, agonise etc.
Sentence 7 contains the example hurt.
3. Verbs which describe activities or sudden actions such as read, write, hit, work, drink etc.
Sentence 3 contains the example read and Sentence 9 contains the example tap.
4. Verbs which describe a change such as die, depart etc.
Sentence 8 contains the example arrive.

Verbs with stative use (i.e., those which describe passive states, not actions) are:

1. Verbs of perception such as perceive, hear, imagine, dislike etc.

Sentence 2 contains the example is.
Sentence 4 contains the example astonish.
Sentence 7 contains the example, hurt.
Sentence 10 contains the example love.
2. Verbs which describe relationships between things / people such as cost, need, own,
sound, seem etc.
Sentence 5 contains the example belong.

Notice that Sentence 7 occurs in both lists.  The distinction between perception and sensation is
blurred.  We can have My foot is hurting as well as My foot hurts.
One sentence has not been mentioned and this gives the clue to why this areas matters so much
104
to learners of the language.
Look at Sentences 1 and 2.
In Sentence 2, the verb to be is used normally.  It usually refers to a state or condition, not an
action.
In Sentence 1, on the other hand, it has the unusual meaning of an action – behaving.

Tenses
What do you notice about the tense forms in these sentences?  Click here when you see it.

Verbs which are used dynamically can take the progressive aspect; those used statively cannot.
We do not usually say: I am understanding, I'm not wanting, It isn't mattering, I am
remembering unless we want to give a special meaning to the verbs.  Compare the following:

I think it's him I'm thinking of him

It costs a lot It is costing a lot
I am recognising his
I recognise him vs
rights
.
I wish I could come I'm wishing on a star
It depends on how
I'm depending on you
much

Teaching issues

Think about the implication for teaching, make a few notes and then click here for some
commentary.

1. When we introduce a verb students will assume it can be used in both ways unless we
make it clear.
2. When teaching the progressive aspects of tenses, we need to bear this distinction in mind
at all times.
3. We need to be aware that many languages do not make this distinction (often because
they don't use the same sort of aspect structures) so it is not an easy concept to grasp.

You may have thought of others.  Good if you did.

Aspect

The distinction between stative and dynamic uses is explicable by looking at aspect across
languages.
For example, in many languages there is only one verb for recognise and know.  The distinction
between the meanings will often be made by reference to the aspect of the verb: the perfective
(finished action) form for the sense of I knew him at once and the imperfective (unfinished state)
for the sense of I was acquainted with him.
It is also possible to explain the difference between It costs a lot (continuous, steady-state) and It
is costing a lot (progressive action) with reference to aspects of the verb.

105
Aspect
There is a basic guide to tense and aspect in the initial plus section of the site.  If you aren't quite
sure how aspect and tense are different, do that guide first.  It's quite short.

To repeat what was said in that guide, aspect refers not to the time itself but to how the event or
state is perceived.

Types of aspect
Because English language teachers are only concerned with the aspect structure of one language,
we tend to over-simplify the area.  In fact, there are lots and lots of different aspects in
languages.
English has a range but uses only a few ways to distinguish between them.  Worse, there is no
one-to-one equivalence between form and aspect in English (or most other languages for that
matter).
For example, take the following sentences:

1. I know.
2. I have eaten.
3. I walked to school as a child.
4. I used to play football.
5. He is still eating.
6. I broke the window.
7. I was playing football.
8. Fish swim.
9. It's going to rain.
10. I dreamed all night.

All of these sentences can be referred to as different aspects of the verb.  Traditional English
grammars, especially those written for learners, will only identify two aspects in these 10
sentences.  In fact, there are more than that and in many languages would be distinguished
grammatically using distinct verb forms, particles or auxiliary constructions.
One at a time:

This looks like a simple present tense but in fact, it's

in the continuous aspect because it describes a current
1 I know.
state of affairs, not an event or action.  In that respect,
it is in the same aspect as She is wearing a hat.
Most people will spot this as the perfect aspect in
English and that is what it is.  It draws attention to the
2 I have eaten.
fact that the eating has a present relevance in some
way.
I walked to Both of these can be referred to as the habitual aspect
3 school as a and we can add something like I would read for hours
child. as a child in the same category.
4 I used to Both of these can be referred to as imperfect (see
play below).

106
 football.
In some languages, this, the continuative aspect, is
He is still
5 distinguished by having its own form.  In English we
eating.
mark this with adverbs such as still, yet etc.
This is usually, in English, called the simple aspect
I broke the but a better term (not to be confused with perfect, see
6
window. below) is perfective.  It refers to an event viewed in
its entirety.
I was This, on the other hand is an imperfect, i.e., ongoing
7 playing or repeated.  It is also, in English, referred to as the
football. progressive.
English uses the present tense for this but some
8 Fish swim.
languages have a tense form for generic aspect.
This and other structures such as It's about to rain can
It's going to
9 be called the prospective aspect, referring to
rain.
something imminent.
You may think this is the same aspect as I broke the
I dreamed
10 window but it is clearly different in terms of duration
all night.
of the event.  It can be called a durative aspect.

That's not the end of the story and there are probably as many different aspects again as are listed
here.  The point to understand is that which aspects we analyse and consider significant will
depend on the structure of the language we are considering.  If a language, for example, has a
different form for an action which is repeated (e.g., He was banging the drum) distinguishing it
from one which is a one-off event (He banged the drum once) then what is called the iterative
aspect is important.
Note that in English, we have to insert some kind of marker such as once to make clear whether
an action was a single one or a repeated one.  If we have He banged the drum while she played
the violin, it is probable that the action was repeated so it's a progressive aspect but the verb is
not marked that way.  However, in He banged the drum and everyone fell silent implies that the
action was not iterative or progressive at all.

Moral 1: the aspects of verbs that we choose to analyse and teach in English are simply those
which are significant in English.  In other languages, other aspects are more important and will
be analysed and taught.
Moral 2: the aspects we focus on in English are not universals.  Languages differ dramatically in
how they represent the nature of events.

Examples may help:

Italian distinguishes actions which are recent, remote and perfect or imperfect.  The language
does not, however, distinguish between I was walking and I usually walked.
German does not distinguish between I have eaten and I ate, nor, in non-dialect standard,
between I write and I am writing.  It is arguable that German does not exhibit aspect at all except
through the addition of other markers such as adverbs and time expressions.
In Cantonese, there are two particles which may be added after the verb, one to signal the
progressive aspect (She is putting on her sandals) and one the continuous (state) aspect (She is
wearing sandals).  English does not distinguish grammatically between these two aspects.
For much more on other languages, go to the guide to teaching tense and aspect.

107
Perfective, imperfective and perfect

She ran (perfectly).

He's still running (imperfectly).

ELT is littered with terms which look almost the same but mean very
different things.  This is one of those cases.

perfective
is the term used to indicate that an event or state is completed.  For example, I went to
Margate last Thursday is a perfective form which may or may not have present relevance
but is clearly finished.  Napoleon died in 1821 is another example of a perfective form in
English.
imperfective
is the term which indicates that an event is not completed.  Examples are: She was
playing tennis with John and I have lived here all my life.  In neither case is the event
perceived as finished.
perfect
is the term used to signify an imperfective or perfective which has a certain tense
structure.
For example, I have been to America is a perfective (the act of going to America has been
completed) but is a perfect tense indicating a present relevance of some sort.
I have lived here all my life is imperfective (but still a perfect form) because it also
signifies some present relevance (in this case that the state is probably (not certainly)
current).
The perfect is, in English grammar, contrasted with the simple.

One way of visualising the aspect structure of English is like this:

108
109
There are advantages to seeing the English aspect system like this:

1. It helps to clear up the stative / dynamic verb use problem by positing both a continuous
and a progressive aspect.  This will be intuitively comprehensible to learners from many
language backgrounds.  It explains, e.g., the concept of I wore a blue shirt yesterday as a
simple past form being used to express the continuous aspect.  It also explains the
difference between, e.g., It costs a lot (continuous aspect) and It is costing a lot
(progressive aspect).
2. It shows how form and function may not be one-to-one equivalents and gets away from
the assumption that, e.g., the -ing form is all we use for progressive and continuous
aspects.
3. It makes it clear that the so-called present perfect is a present aspect (not a past tense as
the form is in many languages).
4. It puts the past perfect in its place (which is not something that always occurs before the
past).
5. It makes perfective and imperfective forms clear.

The durative in English

It is quite arguable that English also has, in particular, a durative aspect which is often realised in
different ways.  For example,

 He would keep asking

 I spent the evening trying to stay awake
 I was watching television when he called
 He will be working now
 She gave a very long presentation
 I slowly understood what the problem was

are all examples of English using a variety of forms to express the aspect, sometimes by
changing the tense form, sometimes by using a modal auxiliary and sometimes by using
adverbials.  For learners with some language backgrounds, that's easier to grasp than the usual
focus on the progressive aspect (i.e., signalled by the -ing ending but not in certain senses of
certain verbs).

Combining aspects
English happens to be quite adept at combining aspects.  Other languages do this, of course, but
not usually to the same extent.  For example:

 I told you again and again not to do that: perfective and iterative
 I have been running: perfect and durative / progressive
 They will have worn the same coat: perfect and continuous
 I had, as usual, arrived early: perfect and habitual

There's a short test on this.

Now it may be time to go on to the guide to teaching tense and aspect and consider a bit more
how other people's languages differ and what implications that has for ways of teaching tense
and aspect.
110
Teaching tense and aspect
If you have it in mind to teach a particular tense, there are guides to most of them on this site. 
The links are from the initial plus index.

Other languages
If you have learned another language, you will be aware that this is an area in which languages
differ quite dramatically in how they conceptualise time.
There is something of a debate concerning whether the ways in which our first languages chop
up and conceptualise time affect the way we think about time or whether the way we
conceptualise time determines how our language evolves its tense system.  The jury is still out on
this.

All languages have a way of dealing with past, present and future concepts.  There the
similarities end, unfortunately.
In general terms, inflecting languages such as the European italic languages like French, Italian
and Spanish, as well as Greek, will typically denote tense markers by amending the verb in some
way, often by using different suffixes or prefixes.  Other European languages, notably Germanic
ones, may also insert various auxiliary verbs.  English operates similarly with the exception of
not having a specific form to denote the future.  So we get, for example:

English I see she lived I will finish I was living

French je vois elle a vécu je finirai je vivais
ich werde
German ich sehe sie lebte ich lebte
beenden
Your
? ? ? ?
language

The difficulty will probably become apparent when you insert any other language you know or
speak in the last row.  Even in that simple table, there are obvious issues:

1. Aspect:
I was living is a progressive or continuous aspect form and implies, usually, that this was
a long-term state in something like I was living in France when I met her.  This is also
sometimes called the durative aspect.  Note, however, that German uses the same form
for both I lived and I was living, relying on context to determine the nature of the state. 
There is no marker for the progressive in standard German (although there are dialects
which do have the form).
French, arguably, does not really have a present progressive aspect either, often
preferring to use a phrase to mean something like to be in the middle of doing (en train
de).  The imperfect ending on the verb, above, does, however, carry some sense of
duration or an interruptible event.
The perfect aspect (I have lived, for example) will also be problematic because German
and English exhibit parallel forms but in German the concept is not parallel at all.  Ich
habe gesehen and ich sah are functionally the same tense.
The French j'ai parle is also just as easily rendered in English as I spoke or I have spoken.
2. Auxiliary verbs:
Both German and English in the table use an auxiliary to denote the future but both can,
111
 and frequently do, just use a present tense with a future time marker such as tomorrow. 
In fact, nearly all languages do that.

Aspect across languages

Here's an incomplete list and you should be aware that there are considerable variation with
language groups:

Perfect aspect Progressive aspect Issues

uses an auxiliary (have) there is a variety of uses
uses the tense of the verb
English and carries a variety of and the use of aspects is
be plus an -ing ending
meanings common
there are few
two particles exist,
conceptual problems
a particle exists to mark distinguishing (in
but form is consistently
Chinese a change in a situation, Cantonese) between
difficult to grasp as
languages something like a progressive (an action in
Chinese languages do
perfect aspect progress) and continuous
not have tense forms of
(a state in existence)
verbs at all
use a variety of verbs
(such as stay) in much expect:
no conceptual the same way English present tense used for
Italic distinction between uses be present perfect (I live
languages simple and perfect in the past, the here since ...)
aspects progressive and simple mistakes such as I drove
aspects are often when it started to rain
interchangeable
like some Chinese
no real conceptual there are few
languages, there is a
distinction between conceptual problems
Japanese distinction between a
simple and perfect but form is consistently
progressive action and a
aspects difficult to grasp
continuous state
no conceptual the perfect in English is
distinction between hard to grasp
the progressive aspect
simple and perfect the progressive is not
can be rendered in
Germanic aspects although a conceptually
dialect forms and by the
languages look-alike form exists problematic but
use of various other
the perfect may be learners often ignore
verbs
formed with either be the need for a
or have progressive form
no conceptual a past progressive exists
expect:
distinction between with be but is formed
Arabic she saw for she has seen
simple and perfect without changing the
she was talk him
aspects stem of the main verb
Scandinavian no real conceptual no progressive forms expect:
languages distinction between she saw for she has seen
simple and perfect the simple forms to be
aspects overused (She lived in
the perfect may be London when she met
112
 formed with either be
him)
or have
expect:
in some, the past
she saw for she has seen
simple is formed with in Russian, verbs of
and vice versa
Slavic an auxiliary motion have a
the simple forms to be
languages Polish and Russian progressive aspect; other
overused (She lived in
form a perfect aspect verbs to do not
London when she met
by prefixes
him)

Avoidance
English tense forms and their concepts are difficult to grasp but the verb itself has few inflexions.
Learning the forms of be and have and the single change between the infinitive and past
participle, along with the -ing ending makes it simple to form lots of tenses.  Expect some
avoidance, therefore, and the use of the perfect and progressive aspects where the simple aspect
is desirable.

Concepts
There are three main issues:

1. Many languages have similar forms to English (especially the perfect aspect forms) but
use them in significantly different ways and often don't distinguish one form from
another conceptually
2. Many languages, while have a conceptual difference similar to English, will form the
aspects in radically different ways (and some make distinctions between aspects that
simply do not exists in English)
3. English aspect forms are used for a variety of functions (consider, e.g., the uses of the
present perfect)

What implications do you see arising from these three issues?  Click on the diagram when you
have an answer.

113
Some languages, of course, will present double problems, using a similar form with a different
concept and having similar concepts realised in different forms.  We need to take care.

Some ideas
As you can see, concept needs to be made clear from the outset and that usually means setting
the language in a context which makes the meaning and the intention of the speaker explicit.

Meaning and intention

Time lines

are invaluable to help people grasp the concept of time realised by the target tense form. 
Consider the following and ask yourself whether the explanation is clear.  Then hover on the
explanation to see the picture:

This tense
is used in
English to
make it
clear that Example
one an :
event John
occurred cycled to
many school
times in when he
the past was a
but is boy.
probably
not still
happenin
g
These
two
Example
tenses are
:
used
He was
when a
skiing
long
when he
event is
broke his
stopped
leg.
by a short
event

114
This tense
is used Example
when we :
want to The town
look back will have
from the changed
future to a lot by
an event the end
occurring of the
before the decade.
future

Concept-check questions

are equally necessary to allow you and the learner to see if the concept has been grasped.  For
example, what questions would you use to check the following tense meanings are understood?

Think what questions you would ask and then hover over the example sentences when you want
to see suggestions.  (There's a guide to checking learning and understanding on this site.)

A: You've been to New York, haven't you?

B: Yes, I have.  Why do you ask?
1. I was cycling home when I saw Mary.
2. Mary was cycling home when she was arrested by a police
officer.

Will you have repaired the car by Tuesday?

Context

When you plan a lesson on any particular tense form, time is well spent thinking about a clear
context in which to set the language.  For example:

Exotic foods (I've never eaten etc.)

Present perfect for life
experiences up to now
Past perfect
going to future based on
present evidence
Cultural event (I've seen ..., I've visited the British Museum
etc.)
Conversational gambits (You've been to ..., haven't you? etc.)
Sequences of events in which subsequent ones depend on
early ones:
Absent-minded people (He had to go back because he'd
forgotten ... etc.)
Forecasting weather from sky pictures
Pictures of unstable events: volcanoes, inattentive drivers,
children playing ball games near windows etc.

115
Practice

also has to be in a context and have meaning for the learners or it's just form manipulation.  This
is particularly important if the learners' first language has a similar form used differently.  For
example:

Learners make lists of things they have never done, have done,
have done only once/twice etc.  They then mingle with other
Present perfect (life students to see if their lists overlap or not, asking and answering
experiences up to questions in the form.
now) You can extend this activity to make sure that people ask where?
when? etc. in order to be definite and, accordingly, select the past
simple.
Learners role-play a willing person and a demanding person:
A: There's no air in here.
will to show B: I'll open a window.
willingness A: I haven't got a pen.
B: I'll get you one.
etc.
Learners decide on pieces of information they need to know about
something and then find out who can tell them by asking things like
You've been to France, haven't you?  Well, I've been wondering ...
Present perfect as a Learners invent gossipy stories about each other / teachers etc. and
conversational gambit then pass them on to a colleague who in turn embellishes the
snippet of scandal and passes it on again.
E.g., Did you know that John has moved in with Mary?  Yes, and
she has decided he can't stay much longer.
Future perfect for Learners make predictions about how they, their home town, their
changes by a time countries, the world will have changed by (date).

Teaching back to front

A structural approach to teaching English focuses on the form and then considers its meaning. 
For example, we teach the form subject + be + -ing (They are talking) and then consider what it
might mean (future arrangement, current event etc.)
A communicative / functional approach may reverse this and focus on the function to be
expressed and see what ways the language has to express it.  For example, we might start by
focusing on making very polite requests and then teach a range of grammatical realisations such
as Would you mind awfully ..., Can I ask you to ..., Is it too much trouble to ..., I wonder if ... etc.
It is often the case, however, that we don't do this with aspect.  Aspect is usually taught
structurally as something secondary to the form of the verb (That's a present perfect. What does
it tell us about the speaker's view of the event?)
We can, however, focus on the aspect and look at the various ways English has of signalling it
because it, too, has a functional, communicative role.  Two examples:

1. How can English signal that an action is iterative (i.e., repeated)?

2. How can English signal that an action is prospective (i.e. imminent)?

Click here when you have some answers.

116
 She went on and on asking.
They did it continually / repeatedly.
I said it again and again.
He banged the drum for hours.
Iterative
I mow the lawn every Friday.
I used to get up late on Sundays.
We would take long walks in the country every week
etc.
It's going to rain.
She's about to get very angry.
He's on the verge of applying.
Prospective We're nearly at the point where ...
I'll be with you presently. (British English)
I was on the point of when ...
etc.

You may have thought of others.

An approach like this which identifies a communicative function and then focuses on the
language to achieve it, is perfectly legitimate in ELT and may be very fruitful as well as helpful
for learners whose first-language backgrounds lead them to focus more explicitly on aspects not
often identified as core aspects in English.

References:
Campbell, G.L. (1995), Concise Compendium of the World's Languages. London: Routledge
Swan, M and Smith, B (2001), Learner English, 2nd Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press

117
Participles

Essentially, there are two sorts of participles in English:

Present participles such as the words here in red:

I am spending more time on it
Having read the book, I returned it to the library
After opening the door, he crept silently in
Entering the museum, he was filled with awe.

Past participles such as the words in black:

I have spent the cash
The window was broken
I got the car repaired.

Present participles have the following main functions:

He is writing a new document, She's out swimming

To show that an action is progressive
at the moment
I heard John laughing, He caught me stealing
To show that two actions occurred simultaneously
apples, I spend too much time travelling
To show that one action followed another very
Putting up his umbrella, he left the restaurant
quickly
The lecture was unbelievably boring, It was a
As adjectives
fascinating story
To explain a reason Having no money for the fare, he walked to the party

Some notes:

1. If you have done the exercise on Tense and Aspect then the first row is familiar to you. 
Other examples include progressive perfect forms such as They will have been driving for
hours.
2. The second and third rows are very similar in meaning and it's often only our knowledge
of the world that tells us whether an action was simultaneous or subsequent.  In Opening
the door, he crept in, the creeping clearly has to follow the opening but in Arriving at the
party, he saw me the sense could be that he arrived first and saw me shortly afterwards in
the party itself or that he arrived and saw me waiting outside at the same time.
3. When participles are used as adjectives they cause some confusion for learners.  More
later on this.
4. The final row contains examples many feel are rather formal or literary and it's true that
they are infrequently used in spoken language.  We might prefer something like Because
he had no money ...

Past participles have the following three main functions:

118
 He has written a new document, She's has swum
To show that an action is in the perfect aspect
the Channel
To show that an action is in the passive voice (in The window has been broken, The car is being
all tenses) towed away, The match was abandoned
The students were unbelievably bored, The
As adjectives fascinated listeners were on the edge of their
seats

Participles as adjectives

Compare these:

The book is interesting I'm interested in ancient history

Everyone is depressed It's a depressing story
It was an exciting film The children got over-excited

Can you make a rule for the meaning of -ed adjectives and -ing adjectives?  Click here when you
have one.

The general rule is that -ing adjectives refer to what a thing or a person is and -ed adjectives refer
to how something (or someone) feels.
E.g., We can refer to what something was (the flight was frightening) or to how someone felt (I
was frightened).

One thing to note here is that it is often not possible to distinguish between a passive form and a
past participial adjective.  When we put the adjective before the noun, it's easier:
The passenger was frightened by the flight (passive use) and The frightened passengers hated the
flight (adjectival use).
Last note: it doesn't matter how many syllables these adjectives have, they never take the -er or -
est endings so we have most bored, not *boredest etc.

Participle vs. gerund

A gerund, simply put, is a verb acting as a noun.  For example, I enjoy reading (gerund: the verb
read is acting as a noun) vs. I enjoy books (plural noun)
A problem in English is that the language uses the -ing ending for both participles and gerunds. 
It is sometimes important to know which is which but the story is quite complicated.  There is a
separate guide on gerunds and infinitives here.

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Copula or linking verbs
Hey.  My dog's got no nose.
No nose?  How does he smell?
Terrible!

Ha, ha.  But there's an important language point buried in the old joke.  The joke, if there is one,
relies on the fact that the verb smell sometime operates as a 'normal' verb, describing what
something does, and sometimes as a copula verb, linking it to what something is like (that's why
copula verbs are sometimes referred to as 'linking verbs').
Compare these and work out the difference in meaning.  Then click here.

1. The dog smelt badly 4. The dog smelt bad

2. She turned nastily 5. She turned nasty
3. He stayed happily 6. He stayed happy

On the left are examples of the verbs acting normally and when they do this, we can modify
them in the normal way with adverbs (badly, nastily, happily).

On the right are examples of the verbs acting as copula verbs, directly linking the subject with its
attribute (in this case an adjective: bad, nasty, happy).

The meanings are:

1. The dog had a poor sense of smell

2. The way she turned was nasty
3. He was happy to stay
4. The dog had an offensive smell
5. She became unpleasant and aggressive
6. He remained in a happy state

To be clear:

A copula verb functions in the same way as the verb to be.  It directly links the subject with its
complement.  In a sentence such as
He is a policeman
the noun policeman is not the object of the verb to be, it is its complement.  A complement is
also called a subject predicate.
Copula verbs show the relationship between the subject and its complement as in

7. He appears angry and upset at the result

8. She acted unhappy
9. Mary ended up in prison
10. They became wealthy
11. They grew distant
12. It proved difficult to understand

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How to identify whether a verb is a copula or not

The simplest test is to replace it with the verb to be.  Obviously, in many cases this will alter the
meaning but if the sentence remains grammatical, you have identified a copula verb.
In sentences 7 to 12, all the verbs can be replaced in this way.
In the following six, they can't:

13. She appeared from out of nowhere

14. She acted without any skill at all
15. Mary ended up with a song
16. The colour became them (i.e., suited)
17. They grew oranges
18. He proved his point

There are a lot of verbs in English that can act as copulas (or copulae, if you prefer).  Some
grammarians will insist that only to be is a true copula and that all the others are 'pseudo copula
verbs'.  So be it.

Here's a list with some possible complements in black:

act the fool, appear unhappy, be on the table, become involved, come undone, come out in the
wrong colour, end up dead, get old, go stale, grow apprehensive, fall ill, feel sick, keep busy,
look miserable, prove impossible, remain unhappy, seem excessive, smell revolting, sound awful,
stay in the room, taste like tomato, turn aggressive, turn up dead, wax lyrical.
There may be more.  Almost certainly are more, in fact.

Teaching implications

One issue for learners is that the same distinctions do not apply universally across languages so
they may be tempted to use adverbs with copula verbs and produce sentences such as *I feel
badly.
Because there are so many verbs in English that act as copulas, learners may become confused
and fail to recognise them.  However, the range is also a resource which can be used to make
texts more interesting and vivid.  Here's an example which can be adapted for a lesson on the
area at any level.

Text 1: using only to be as the copula, in black italics.

Tom was late at the restaurant and Mary was unhappy because she was alone at the table for an
hour.  Tom was apologetic but excused himself by saying he had been late at work because the
job was more difficult than he expected.
Mary was unimpressed and said she would not be so forgiving next time.

Now replace the copula uses of be with more interesting alternatives to see what effect it has on
the text.  Then click here for a suggestion.

Text 2: using more interesting verbs as the copulas (one twice in slightly different meanings).

Tom turned up late at the restaurant and Mary appeared unhappy because she ended up alone at
the table for an hour.  Tom grew apologetic but excused himself by saying he had stayed late at
work because the job proved more difficult than he expected.Mary remained unimpressed and
said she would not prove so forgiving next time. Anyone can do that.  Even your students.

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The sentence: an essential guide
No, not that sort of sentence.

Note: if you don't know the difference between a subject and an object or your complement from
your elbow, it may be wise to follow the basic ELT training course grammar section which
introduces some fundamental concepts.

At some point, all approaches to English grammar take the sentence as a basic unit of language. 
But there's a problem:

What is a sentence?

Of the following, which, to you, constitutes a sentence?

Click on the table when you have looked at each one and decided whether it is a sentence in
English.

Whether you had the same answers or not doesn't matter at this stage.  Look again and decide for
yourself what the criteria are to get a tick in the box.  There are two essential criteria.  Click here
when you have decided what they are.

1. A sentence must contain a finite verb (that is a verb with a tense)

2. A sentence must contain a subject (usually a noun) which governs the verb

There's an exception to Rule 2 in the table.  What is it?

Right.  The sentence Go home now! gets a tick in the box but has no obvious subject.  The
subject of imperatives like this is usually implied in English.

Many grammars will use the term 'clause' instead of 'sentence'.  There's a good reason for this
which need not concern us here.  All you have to remember is that a clause is a group of words
containing a verb.  So, for example, I'm going is a clause but on Tuesday is not a clause (it's a

122
phrase).
There are four types of sentence in English:

Sentence type What it is Example Comment

Simple One noun and one Mary didn't This is a finite clause which can
(finite) verb believe him. stand alone
Compound Two clauses (or Mary didn't Both parts of a compound sentence
more) of equal believe him but can stand alone.  Usually, they are
importance John was joined with something like and, or,
adamant. but
Complex Two clauses, one Mary didn't The second part of this is a
of which is believe him subordinate clause: it cannot stand
subordinate although he alone and retain the same meaning
(depends on) the seemed very
other sure.
Compound- A combination of Mary didn't These sorts of sentences are
complex the two believe him sometimes difficult for learners to
although he unpack and occur more in writing
seemed very than speaking
sure but I
accepted what
he said.

What do sentences do?

Sentences have four fundamental functions in language.  Decide what the function of each
sentence below is and then click on the table for an answer and some comments.

Unfortunately ...

... there's another problem.  The sentence type does not always define its function.  For more on
this, see the guide to form and function but if you have already done that, the following will be
straightforward.
123
Can you complete the table again, stating what the form and function of each sentence is?  Click
on it when you have an answer.

Generally, people expect the form to indicate the function so this sort of mismatch will cause
problems for learners of the language.  There are general rules, however.

1. Any form of sentence can be interrogative with the right intonation.  (Some languages
rely wholly on intonation and have no question form at all.)
2. Offers are usually in the form of imperatives or questions (a phenomenon common to
many languages) so we can have, e.g., Would you like a drink? or Have a drink. etc.
3. Statements are frequently used as imperatives so we can have You left the door open
meaning Please close the door.
4. Interrogative forms can make positive or negative statements so we can have Do you ever
listen? meaning You aren't listening and You're driving, are you? meaning You are
obviously driving.
5. Tag questions such as She's managing the office, isn't she? can function as real questions
when the intonation rises and as simple positive statements when it falls.

Negatives

Can you make two types of negative sentences from this positive one?  Click here when you
have noted them down.

She saw a unicorn.

1. She didn't see a unicorn.  This is a negative statement.

2. Didn't she see a unicorn?  This is a negative question.

We can also make negative commands, of course, as in Don't look at the unicorn.

Interrogatives

Can you make four different question forms from the same sentence (She saw a unicorn)?  Click
here when you have a list.
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1. Did she see a unicorn?
This is a simple yes/no question, sometimes called a closed question when you ask it in
class.  It may also evince the answer I don't know., of course.
2. Tag questions:
She saw a unicorn, didn't she? (positive statement + negative tag).  Intonation usually
rises if this is a question rather than a statement asking for confirmation.
She didn't see a unicorn, did she? (negative statement + positive tag).  Again, intonation
usually rises if this is a question rather than a statement asking for confirmation.
She saw a unicorn, did she? (positive statement + positive tag).  Depending on the
intonation, this can express some form of threat or incredulity.
3. Did she see a unicorn or was I hearing things?
This is usually referred to as an 'alternative question'.  It's nearly always formed with or.
4. Wh- questions:
Who saw a unicorn?
Where did she see a unicorn?
When did she see a unicorn?
Why did she see a unicorn?
Notice that the last one of these questions requires a more elaborate answer than the
others.  That can be a useful thing when you are asking questions of your learners and
want them to say more than the garden.

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Cohesion
What is cohesion?

Cohesion refers to the way ideas are linked together to make meaning
and applies to both written and spoken language.  For example,

Look at the sentence and focus on the words in red and black.

John came into the house, walked through it and went into the garden where he picked two red
roses and a yellow one.

The words in red are examples of cohesion in English and they link to the words in black.  it
refers to the house, and links the two actions, where links the garden to the action, one at the end
tells us it's also a rose so we don't need to repeat the noun.  Notice, too, that we don't repeat John
in walked through it because we know who did the action.

We can refer back in a text like this:

This is called anaphoric referencing.

It's also possible to refer forward in a text but that is rarer and gives a different, literary, feel
sometimes.

This is called cataphoric referencing.

Types of cohesion

Reference:
Often this is achieved through the use of pronouns such as he in the sentence about John
above.  The pronoun refers either back or forward to the noun in sentences such as John
didn't tell me where he is or When she came in, I saw that Mary was very upset. 
Sometimes referencing is to a whole statement in examples such as, As I mentioned
earlier ... etc.
Ellipsis:
This means leaving out a word because the reader / listener knows what the reference is. 
In the example above, we don't repeat John for the second verb.  In spoken English, we

126
 very often get exchanges like, "What's for lunch?" "Cauliflower cheese" (is for lunch).
For more, go to the guide to substitution and ellipsis.
Substitution:
In this, we don't leave out the word but change it for something more general.  For
example, above, the use of one to mean a rose or in something like "What wines do you
prefer?" "I'll take the French ones".
For more, go to the guide to substitution and ellipsis.
Conjunction:
We use conjunction to join ideas (see the section on Word class) in both spoken and
written English.  For example, and went into the garden, above, or in exchanges like
"Why did you open the cage?" "Because I wanted to change the water."
Lexical cohesion:
This refers to the fact that in any text (written or spoken) there are likely to appear chains
of related words.  For example, in a text about hospitals it is likely that nouns such as
medicine, patient, nurse, ward, treatment and doctor will appear along with verbs such as
treat, admit, operate, sterilise and care for.
Grammatical cohesion:
This refers to the fact that we employ similar grammar in texts to keep the theme
consistent.  Here's an example of grammatical and lexical cohesion working together:
"While we were on holiday in a Spanish resort we used to go to the beach every morning
and then have lunch in a little restaurant in town where the tourists didn't go very much. 
The food was fantastic and very cheap and the fish dishes in particular were wonderful."
The tenses are consistently in the past (underlined), the nouns related to food and
restaurants are also present (in red) and there's a second lexical string concerning
holidays (in green).  The text also contains examples of other forms of cohesion.  Spot
them.

127
Substitution and ellipsis

There are many occasions in both speaking and writing when repeating ourselves is considered
poor form, poor style or quite odd.  For example, it is a simple matter (for you) to abbreviate the
following by replacing parts of sentences (substitution) or by leaving them out (ellipsis).
Click on the table when you've done it.

OK.  Let's see what's happening.

1. The noun shirt (with its article) has been replaced twice by it.  Pronoun substitution is
just about the most common form of substitution.  The third-person pronouns are used to
refer to things in the text and first- and second-person pronouns are used to refer to
people and things outside the text.  For example, I liked the shirt but you didn't like it.
2. In this example, two things are happening:
1. The noun phrase (dark green floor tiles) has been replaced with ones, another
common device.  This is a pronoun of sorts (the term pro-form would be better)
and it can exist in both singular and plural guises.
2. The whole clause have any dark green floor tiles has been simply elided (left out),
leaving only the auxiliary verb and the negative particle.
128
 3. Again, two things are happening:
1. The noun phrase (the post) has been replaced with it, as in 1.
2. The lexical verb come has been elided, leaving only the auxiliary verb and the
negative particle.
4. Here we have an example of so + the auxiliary standing for the lexical verb.  In these
cases the auxiliary is called the operator.  It is a common device within and across
sentences so we can also have, e.g.,
I love gardening
So do I!
5. Here again the auxiliary stands for the whole clause will take more exercise.  It can be
followed by do or the variant do so.
6. Here the word did (the operator) stands for the verb arrived.  It's a straight substitution
that is used with lexical verbs in simple past and simple present tenses.  In tenses in the
progressive and perfect aspect we can remove the main lexical verb and leave the
auxiliary to substitute but if we do that with simple tenses, there's nothing left.  We can't
have *I didn't think he would arrive but he so English inserts the operator to stand as the
verb or verb phrase.  It can stand for very long verb phrases as in
I was surprised that the government decided to pass a law making it illegal to study
grammar in school or even the privacy of your own home but it did.
7. Both the subject and the auxiliary verb have been elided because they are common to
both verbs.
8. Again, shared information has allowed the elision of the verb and its subject.

Ellipsis (or elision) has been described as substitution by zero and the concepts are very closely
connected.
Technically, ellipsis only occurs when the item that is omitted is 'uniquely recoverable'.  That is
to say, there is no doubt about what has been omitted.  In, say,
She often drinks sherry and probably will this evening
only drink sherry is the possible ellipsis.  In something like
I liked the car so I bought three
there are a number of possibilities (of them, cars, more etc.) so this is not a case of ellipsis in the
technical sense.  For our purposes, that doesn't matter.

Here's a graphical way of representing what we do with these devices.  The examples of ellipsis
are outlined in red and the rest are substitutions of one kind or another.

129
Here are some of the examples again with some things to notice.
Think briefly about why they have been selected and then click on the to reveal some
comments.

I liked the car so  Straight pronoun substitution can occur but in this case, it
I bought it is used to refer (anaphorically) to the car
I liked the car so  The word one in this case does not refer to this car at all. 
I bought one It substitutes grammatically for a car like it

 the same can actually substitute for many different items. 

In this case, it's a substitute for something like she liked the
car, too
 frequently, the same is a substitute for a noun phrase (as in
I liked the car
I'll have the same)
and she thought
 it can also substitute for a clause as in I thought the holiday
the same
was marvellous and I know you thought the same
 the same can even stand in for an adjective as in the music
was wonderful and the dancing was the same

I liked the car so some determiners only can allow omission of the noun
I bought 6
 demonstratives (these, those etc.), numerals (twelve, the
twelfth etc., possessives (his, ours etc.), non-phrasal
quantifiers (a few, plenty etc.), partitives (a bit, a cup, a
piece etc. ) and measures (a pint, a kilo etc.) all allow the
130
 elision of the noun phrase
 expressions with of are shortened
 articles and simple possessives do not allow elision of the
noun phrase

 The operators do, does and did can stand alone to

substitute for the verb phrase or they can be followed by
so.  We can have, therefore
I didn't enjoy the
He told me to read the book and I will / will do / will do so
film but she did
 One oddity is the pro-form so cannot be added to a
comparative expression:
*He plays tennis better than I do so

Someone must Note that when the lexical verb is omitted, the first auxiliary can
have done it but be left to stand for all the auxiliaries, in this case can't stands for
he can't can't have done it
These are somewhat irregular in English.

 The pro-form not occurs mainly with verbs signifying

belief or understanding:
I think not, I believe not, I hope not, I assume not
but its use is somewhat formal with many verbs and the
I hope not negative + so is often preferred
I think so I don't think so, I don't imagine so, I don't suppose so
 The pro-form so is also used with verbs of speaking
I say so, I told him so
but not with ask (*I asked so)
 so can be initial with a few verbs in the first person,
usually
So I hear, So we understand

All wh- words can function in this way:

He arrived early but I don't know exactly when
Something made I put it down but can't remember where
a noise but I She came with a girl but I don't who
don't know what He left early but nobody knows why
He wants me to play the game but I don't know how
Notice how these all follow a predictable structure and form a
good mini-teaching unit.
I was told to Note that the to doesn't always come at the end.  It can be followed
speak but I was by an adverbial in, e.g.,
too shy to I tried to get it finished but I was too tired to at the time.
Many hundreds of verbs can be used this way but they are all
normally followed by infinitives with to rather than gerunds.
hope to, be required to, remember to, forget to, want to, expect to
and so on are OK but you can't do this with verbs usually followed
by a gerund such as enjoy, practise, get used to, detest, deny,
admit etc.
Verbs which take either the infinitive or the gerund with no
131
 change in meaning, such as continue, prefer etc. can produce
somewhat doubtful utterances such as?

Cohesion and coherence

For the purposes of what follows and for ease of exemplification, we will focus on written texts. 
Don't, however, lose sight of the fact that these features occur frequently in spoken discourse,
too.

Cohesion vs. Coherence

Consider these two exchanges:

Q: Where's John? Q: Where's John?

A: He's in the garden. A: The grass needed cutting.

Two questions:
1. Are these both comprehensible?
2. What's the difference in making them comprehensible?
Click here when you have an answer.

Yes, they are both comprehensible to the speakers but only the first one is fully comprehensible
(or comprehensible at all) to an outsider.
The difference is that in the first dialogue it is clear that 'He' refers to John so the conversation is
cohesive.  In the second dialogue, there is no cohesion but if both people know that it is John's
job to cut the grass (or go and telephone the gardener, of whatever), then the answer could mean
the same.  In fact, it could contain more information because the hearer might well know more:
not just where John is but what he is doing.  The second dialogue is coherent (it makes sense)
but not cohesive.
The first dialogue is both coherent and cohesive.
Written texts, of course, need to exhibit greater cohesion because the writer and reader may not
share information and may not be in the same place at the same time so the reader cannot infer
meaning from context.
What follows concerns cohesion.  If you want to look at written coherence, try the guide to
genre, especially the part concerning Theme-Rheme structures in texts (opens in a new window
or tab).

Types of Cohesion in English

In the first dialogue, above, you saw that the pronoun he referred back to the name of the person,
John.  That is known as anaphoric reference.  It means referring back to something already
mentioned.

There are other sorts of referencing which can be set out like this:

132
Can you identify the four main sorts of referencing in this short email?

Hi,
Thanks for that.  It's going to help, I think.
By the way, I'm going to take the kids out next Monday and wondered if you wanted to come. 
It'll be a long drive for them but when we get there, I'll bet they'll love Chessington Zoo.
Let me know if you can make it.
Cheers

Click here when you have identified one example of each type of referencing.

In the first line, there are two exophoric references to it and that.  It isn't possible to know what
these refer to unless you are party to the conversation.
Arguably, the kids is another example of the same thing as the definite article is usually used to
refer to already given information.
It in It'll be a long way refers anaphorically to taking the kids out and them and they later also
refer anaphorically to the kids.  The kids have already been mentioned in the text so these two
references are endophoric as well.
Finally, there refers cataphorically to Chessington Zoo and is also endophoric.

For this section, you need to download the sample text which is used to exemplify the
discussion.  Save / print the text or have it open in a new tab to refer to as we go along.

This is not a complete analysis of the text but in the following table, the key types of referencing
and examples from the text are identified.

Type of cohesion Specifically Explanation Example

Using a pronoun to Line 3 - it refers to the

PRONOMIAL
refer to a noun council
REFERENCE
MARKERS Use this, that, these
DEMONSTRATIVE Line 5 - that refers to the
PRONOUN etc. to refer to a noun council's position
or clause

133
 Using a word to 'stand Line 7 - one refers to area of
NOMINAL
for' the longer noun the town.

Doing the same to Line 16 - do replaces

SUBSTITUTION VERBAL
'stand for' a verb encourage

Doing the same to Line 22 - do so replaces use

CLAUSAL
'stand for' a clause the town's facilities

Line 20 - the service is not

Leaving out a noun
NOMINAL repeated for the second verb
which is understood
is reduced

Leaving out a verb Line 4/5 - is suggesting is not

ELLIPSIS VERBAL
which is understood repeated

Line 18 - the sentences stops

Leaving out a clause
CLAUSAL at not, without repeating
which is understood
have access to etc.

Adding something of Line 22 - and Line 19 - What's

ADDITIVE
equal merit more (and lots more!)

ADVERSATIVE Adding a contrast Line 16 - but

CONJUNCTION:
CAUSAL Adding a reason Line 21 - therefore

TEMPORAL Time related linkage Line 12 - After

SAME ITEM Using the same word council is repeated often

SYNONYM OR public transport and bus

Using a related word
HYPONYM service
LEXICAL
COHESION: Using a more general facilities is used to refer to
SUPERORDINATE
term to cover a range shops, offices, banks etc.

Usually a vague
‘GENERAL’ ITEM Line 31 - exercises
generalised word

Notice, too, the expression in the same boat (line 27) which substitutes for almost everything in
the letter.

134
Conditionals
From "If" by Rudyard Kipling

Conditionals are a special form of sentences with a main and a subordinate clause (see the
section on Conjunctions in the word class area) which show how one event depends on another. 
Here are a few examples:

1. If you see John, will you ask him?

2. I would not bother with it if I were you.
3. You wouldn't have had an accident if you had looked where you were going.
4. If it rains all night, the road'll be flooded by dawn.
5. He would come if you bothered to invite him.
6. Had it not been for the rain, we would have won the match.

In this list, there are two examples of each of the three basic types.  Divide up the list and think
about what the sentences mean before you click for some comments.

This is the traditional way the area is handled in course books and student grammars.

Type of
Sentence Meaning
conditional
The speaker is not sure if the person will
If you see John, will see John but is asking for a clear
you ask him? commitment to ask him if the event
First happens
conditional
If it rains all night,
The speaker is sure that the road will
the road'll be
flood but only if it rains all night
flooded by dawn.
The speaker is not and can never be
'you' so it's a way of making a
I would not bother
hypothetical point and giving advice. 
with it if I were you.
Second This is an example of an 'unreal'
conditional conditional.
He would come if The speaker is sure that he would come
you bothered to but less sure that he is likely to be
invite him. invited
You wouldn't have The speaker is sure that if the hearer had
had an accident if acted differently the accident was
you had looked avoidable but knows, of course, that it is
where you were speculation about the past and can never
Third going. happen
conditional
The speaker is sure that the match
Had it not been for
would have been won but the rain
the rain, we would
prevented it.  Again, this is speculation
have won the match.
about the past

135
Did you get all that?

First conditional

The form is:

If present tense will infinitive will infinitive if present tense

or
If you come you will see You will see if you come
The form is easy enough and most learners get it quickly.
More difficult is the concept.  First conditional forms are concerned with future events and imply
that if one condition is met (seeing John) the other event will follow.  If it rains, I'll take an
umbrella.
Note that we can use modal verbs to make the outcome less certain but the consequences of one
action being followed by the other are still clear.  For example, If you come, you might see, If you
come, you could see.

Second conditional

The form is

If past tense would infinitive would infinitive if past tense

or
If you came you would see You would see if you came
Again, this is not too complicated but there are two possible concepts here.
Unlikely condition: the speaker does not believe there is a high likelihood of an event occurring
but if it does, the follow-on event is certain.  If I won the lottery I'd be happy.
Unreal condition: the speaker does not believe that an event is at all possible logically but is
happy to speculate about the outcomes of an unreal event.  If I were you, I'd buy it, If I had a
penny for every time I've said that, I'd be a wealthy woman.  An unreal condition is also one
which the speaker clearly does not think will be fulfilled.  If he came, I'd speak to him.
Note again that we can use (past) modal verbs to make the outcome less certain but the
consequences of one action being followed by the other are still clear.  For example, If you came,
you might see, If you came, you could see.

Third conditional

The form is

past past
would past would past
If perfect if perfect
have participle have participle
tense tense
or
you You
you had you had
If would seen would seen if
come come
have have
Now that is complicated and learners need lots of practice just to get the form right.
This form refers only to the past and, therefore, in part to clearly unreal, impossible events.  It is
used for speculation, criticism, regrets and wishes among other things.  If I'd had the money, I
would have bought it, If you had driven more carefully, you wouldn't have dented the car, If
Napoleon had won the battle of Waterloo, we'd all have had to learn French.

136
Again, we can use modal verbs to alter the sense slightly.  For example, if you had driven more
carefully, you might not have dented the car, If I'd had the money, I could have bought it.

Click for a quick test to see if you have grasped this.  It's important.

Other issues

The so-called zero conditional

A form such as If you mix black and white you get grey, with a present tense in both
halves and no will is sometime called a zero conditional.  There's an argument that it isn't
a conditional at all because if can be replaced with whenever or when.  It is quite an easy
form to learn and paralleled in many languages.
Speaker / writer perception
In particular when choosing between a 1st conditional and 2nd conditional form, it is the
speaker's perception which matters most.  Compare If I win the lottery, I'll by a new
house with If I won the lottery, I'd buy a new house.  In the first, the speaker appears
more optimistic than in the second.  The second is an unreal condition because the
speaker does not believe it will happen.
Mixed conditionals
When there is a time change from one half of the conditional to the other, the tenses no
longer make sense sometimes.  Look at If I had brought my car I would give you a lift. 
The beginning If I had brought usually implies an end of would have given but in this
case the fact that I didn't bring the car is in the past but the consequence of giving a lift
lies either now or in the future so the tenses shift to allow this.
Modals in conditional sentences
We can use other modal verbs instead of will or would to change the sense of a
conditional.  For example, we can change If I go to the meeting, I will complain about it
to If I go to the meeting, I might complain about it.  This can happen in all the conditional
types so we can get sentences such as: If you had spoken more softly, she might have
been more receptive, If I won the money I could buy the car and so on.
Other varieties of English
In colloquial American English (and other standards) it is common to have a sentence
like If I would have known I would have said or I would tell you if I would know and
there's a famous song with the line "If I knew you were coming, I'd have baked a cake".

There's a lot more to this area which hasn't been covered here but for most students, at most
levels, that enough.

137
Relative clauses
What's the difference in meaning between these pairs of sentences?  Click here when you have
an answer.

1. At the first meeting, which was held yesterday, the chair invited comments from everyone.
2. At the first meeting which was held yesterday the chair invited comments from everyone.
3. The kids, who came with me, had lunch on the train.
4. The kids who came with me had lunch on the train.

Sentence 1 contains a non-defining relative clause.  The fact that the meeting was held yesterday
is additional information which can be ignored because the sentence makes sense without it.
Sentence 2 contains a defining relative clause.  We are only talking about the meeting which was
held yesterday.  Other meetings were held yesterday but we are only concerned with the first of
these.
Sentence 3 contains a non-defining relative clause.  The only kids in question are those who
came with me.  All the kids had lunch on the train and the extra information that they came with
me is additional (and it could appear in brackets, like this).
Sentence 4 contains a defining relative clause.  There were other kids (who came alone or with
someone else) who had no lunch / had lunch somewhere else.  I only know that the kids who
came with me had lunch.

In the following, why is it not possible to take out the commas in the first sentence or to insert
them in the second?  Click when you have an answer.

5. The Nile, which runs through Egypt to the Mediterranean, is vital to the country’s
prosperity.
6. The man who asked me to marry him on that memorable evening is still my husband.

In Sentence 5, we know there is only one Nile so we don't need to define it.
In Sentence 6, we need to identify the subject of the verb is.  The subject of the verb is is not the
man, it is the man who asked me to marry him.

If you use phrases like all of which, either of whom, both of which, the majority of whom, none
of which, etc., would you normally expect to separate the clause off with commas or not?  Click
here when you have an answer.

Non-defining clauses are often introduced by expressions like all of, many of + the relative
pronoun so we get, e.g., The children, all of whom had lunch in the park, went on to visit the
museum.

In written English, commas are used to distinguish the two types.  How does this work in spoken
English?  Click here when you have an answer.

In written English, commas are used in non-defining clauses only.  In spoken English, the
distinction is in the phrasing and tone or key.
Try saying sentences 1, 2, 3 and 4 aloud.

There are five relative pronouns in English – what are they?  Click when you have written them
down.
138
pronou
use examples
n
The students who had the party are
who subject or object pronoun for people
now living over there.
1. What have you done with the
book which I lent you?
subject or object pronoun for 2. The dog which was lying in
animals and things the dark suddenly barked at
which me.

They fell in love and got married the

referring to a whole clause or
following month which surprised
previously mentioned idea
everyone.
object pronoun for people
Melissa, whom I met at the party,
whom (especially in non-defining relative
invited me.
clauses and formal)
Did you know the man whose sister
whose possession (a genitive pronoun)
married the vicar?
1. I don’t like the book that he
subject or object pronoun for people, gave you.
animals and things in defining 2. He’s the man that I saw.
that
relative clauses (who or which are 3. The kids that came with me
also possible) had lunch on the train.

Subject or Object?

It's important to know whether the relative is acting as the subject or the object of the verb. 
What's it doing in the following examples?  Click when you have an answer.

7. The man who bought the tickets really is just being generous
8. The tickets, which hopefully will allow us entry, are very welcome
9. The man that we thanked seemed genuinely surprised
10. The tickets which he bought were quite expensive
11. Only the senior doorman, who we gave the tickets to, noticed that they were fakes

Here are the answers:

7. The man who bought the tickets really is just being generous – subject – the pronoun who
is followed by verb phrase (bought the tickets)
8. The tickets, which hopefully will allow us entry, are very welcome – subject again –
which is followed by the verb phrase hopefully will allow us
9. The man that we thanked seemed genuinely surprised – object – that is the object of we
thanked
10. The tickets which he bought were quite expensive – which is the object of he bought
11. Only the senior doorman, who we gave the tickets to, noticed that they were fakes –
object after preposition to

139
A simple rule to tell students is:
If the pronoun is followed directly by a verb phrase, it’s the subject.
If the pronoun is not followed by a verb phrase (but by a noun phrase or pronoun) it is the
object.

Now, in which of sentences 7 – 11 can you omit the relative pronoun?  Why (not)?  Click here
when you have an answer.

In Sentences 9 and 10 only, we can omit the relative pronoun.

Why?
Rule 1: Subject relative pronouns must always be used.
In 7 and 8 it’s the subject (followed by verb phrase) in 9, 10 and 11 it’s the object (followed by
pronoun or noun phrase) but
Rule 2: Object pronouns can be dropped but only in defining relative clauses.  Sentence 10 is a
defining relative clause so it's OK to leave out the relative pronoun.  Sentence 11 is non-defining
so the relative can't be left out.
Is it possible to omit whose?
No.

Here are some more examples:

12. The man whom we met turned out to be his brother.

13. The man who met us was his brother.
14. he table which I wanted had been sold.
15. he table which cost too much was the only one left.

In which of the sentences 1 – 15 can that be used as the relative pronoun instead of who or
which?  What's the rule?  Click here when you have an answer.

In sentences 2, 4, 6, 7, 9 (obviously), 10, 12, 13, 14 and 15

What’s the rule?
Only in defining relative clauses and then it’s more informal.

Prepositions in relative clauses

The following sentences contain prepositions. How are these significant?

What is the rule for dealing with prepositions in relatives? Click here when you have an answer.

16. This is the car in which he arrived.

17. This is the car which he arrived in.
18. This is the car he arrived in.
19. This is the person with whom he arrived.
20. This is the person who(m) he arrived with.
21. This is the person he arrived with.

Rule 1: relative pronoun is usually the object so it can often be omitted.

Rule 2: the preposition is moved to the end in informal language.

Reduced relative clauses

22. The woman in the garden is my mother.

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 23. The kid acting the fool is my sister.

Conjunctions: the essentials

Warning: this is a complex grammatical area and authorities differ sharply in their analyses. 
What follows is an essential guide, not the end of the story by a long, long way.  For more, you
should look at the in-service guide to conjunction.

Definitions
A working definition of a conjunction is:

a word used to connect clauses or words within clauses

Can you identify the conjunctions in these examples?

1. It was raining but we went for a walk anyway.

2. There was no bread and no butter.
3. I came early so I could help you get ready.
4. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
5. If you can let me know tomorrow, it would be a great help.
6. I can give you a lift and I can take the dog, too.

Click here when you have an answer.

1. It was raining but we went for a walk anyway.

This conjunction joins two clauses together.  Notice that you can't reverse the order of the
clauses and keep the same meaning.  *We went for a walk anyway but it was raining is
nearly nonsense.
2. There was no bread and no butter.
Here the conjunction and joins two noun phrases, no bread + no butter.  We could
replace it with something like There was no bread or butter and retain the same meaning.
3. I came early so I could help you get ready.
This is similar to sentence 1. and you still can't reverse the clauses and get the same
meaning.
4. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Here, we have a conjunction which comes in two parts.  They operate together and must
both be present to make any sense.
5. If you can let me know tomorrow, it would be a great help.
This is a common conjunction but you can reverse the clauses and still retain the same
basic meaning (albeit with a shift in emphasis).
6. I can give you a lift and I can take the dog, too.
Here, the conjunction and is joining two clauses rather than two nouns, as in sentence 2.,
but the function is the same.

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Types of conjunctions 1
In these examples, we actually have three sorts of conjunction.  Can you classify them into the
following three categories?  Click on the table when you have an answer.

Conjunction also perform other functions but for most learners of English the table contains the
ones they need.

Types of conjunctions 2
Now we know what conjunctions do in sentences, we need to look at their grammar.
This is a tougher task but can you identify these three types in the example sentences?  Again,
click on the table when you have an answer.

Some notes:

1. Coordinating conjunctions can only be placed between the clauses they connect.
2. Subordinating conjunctions on the other had are a bit more mobile.  We can say, e.g., She
came because I asked her and Because I asked her, she came with approximately the
same meaning (although the emphasis varies).  However, some subordinating
142
 conjunctions require a certain ordering because of the logic of what we are saying.  We
can have, therefore, He was bored so he went to see his friends and we can have He went
to see his friends so he was bored but the meaning is radically different.
3. Some of the correlating conjunctions (the ones with a negative implication) sometimes
require us to insert a question form so we say, Barely had I taken my seat when the play
began.  This is called inversion, incidentally (and slightly misleadingly).

Lists
Here's a list of some of the most common conjunctions in English, ordered by type, with
examples.  Your task is to think of examples of your own so you are sure you understand.

Coordinating Subordinating Correlative

Example Example Example
conjunctions conjunctions conjunctions
I'll say it
He came
Not me but whether you
but  because because I whether ... or
Mary want me to
asked
or not
He is not
If you go
only
I came so I now, you not only ... but
so  if attractive
could help catch the (also) 
but he's also
bus
rich
He is as
I can't read He drove
stupid as
for  for the light although although he as ... as
the day is
is too dim was drunk
long 
Both my
He works
I went and sister and
and  than harder than both ... and
saw him her husband
she does
came 
I was no
He arrived sooner in
Either you no sooner ...
or  before before I the bath
stay or go than
was ready than the
phone rang 
She will
He works
That's why either
hard yet he
yet why you dislike either ... or explain it or
gets
him show you
nowhere
how to do it
I would
I won't go rather have
I'll come
nor  nor will I when rather ... than a tooth out
when I like
let you than watch
that

143
The only complete list in the table above is column 1.  There are only 7 coordinating
conjunctions in English by most reckonings.  The other lists can be extended very considerably
and the functions of much more closely defined and categorised.  Some of that is in the in-
service guide to conjunction.

Recognising conjunctions
As with other parts of speech, you can't tell what class a word is by looking at it.  You have to
look at what it is doing.  For example:

1. Has he arrived yet (adverb) vs. I know he has arrived yet I can't see him (conjunction)
2. I have only been once (adverb) vs. Once I've been, I'll know what the problem is
(conjunction)
3. When did you see him? (adverb) vs.  I'll come when I have the time (conjunction)
4. I did it for John (preposition) vs. I couldn't so it for it was too hard (conjunction)
5. I've been here since this morning (preposition) vs. I have since regretted it (adverb) vs.
I'll tell you since you ask (conjunction)

Issues for learning and teaching

1. As we saw above, conjunctions are not recognisable instantly by their form.  Learners
need to know what they do.
2. The form and use of conjunctions vary widely across languages and translation is
difficult.  In some languages, a two-part conjunction is required for ideas represented by
because and so and there is a temptation to produce *Because it was late so I took a taxi
etc.
3. English is rich in conjunctions and if we aren't careful, the sheer number and variation
can bewilder the learner.  We need to analyse carefully, therefore, when deciding what
we present and how we present it.
4. Communicatively, one can get away with short staccato sentences, neglecting
conjunction use altogether, but any level above the most elementary will require good
conjunction use.

There is a test on some of this.

If you did OK in the test and you'd like to learn more, go to the in-service guide to conjunction.

144
Conjunction
Definitions
Authorities do not fully agree about a number of areas of English grammar.  Conjunction is one
of those.  What follows is, therefore, debatable in places but with the intention of providing
working definitions to help language teachers analyse, explain and plan.

Conjunction vs. Conjunct

Consider these four, focusing on the bits in black.

1. I was very late but managed to catch up.

2. I came late.  However, I managed to catch up. or I managed, however, to catch up.
3. I went home because I felt unwell.
4. I felt unwell.  Consequently, I went home.

What happens if you remove the bits in black?  Click here when you have an answer.

1. I was very late but managed to catch up.

If you remove the bit in black here, you get an ungrammatical sentence (called a run-on
sentence, by the way) so you have to split it into two and re-insert the subject, I.
You also lose some of the sense.
2. I came late.  However, I managed to catch up. or I managed, however, to catch up.
In this, removing the bit in black does not produce anything ungrammatical although some
sense is lost.
3. I went home because I felt unwell.
If you remove the bit in black, you get an ungrammatical sentence (another run-on sentence). 
You also lose the sense of the reason.
4. I felt unwell.  Consequently, I went home.
Removing the bit in black leaves two perfectly grammatical sentence but, again, you lose the
sense of the reason.

In sentences 1 and 3 we have two types of conjunction.

Sentences 2 and 4 express similar concepts but they contain conjuncts, not conjunctions.

The test is: are the expressions an integral part of the clause or not?
If they are, you are dealing with conjunctions, if they are not, you are dealing with conjuncts.

Two important points

1. A conjunction proper is integral to the syntax of the sentence.  Removing it makes nonsense.

2. Conjunctions do not normally occur together so we do not have sentences such as

*She came with Mary and but they were late
or
*As much as before I left I enjoyed the play
Conjuncts, on the other hand, often occur with other conjuncts and also occur in
combination with conjunctions so we can have, e.g.:

145
 I wanted to talk to the boss but, obviously, she was too busy to see me
In my view, they play was good although, however, obviously under-rehearsed

Conjunctions
There are 3 sorts of conjunction in this list.  Can you separate them into three classes, two of
each?  Click here when you have.

whether ... or, but, because, if, not only ... but (also), so

Coordinating conjunctions Subordinating conjunctions Correlative conjunctions

but because whether ... or

so if not only ... but (also)

We can take these one at a time.

Coordinating conjunctions

These function to join two clauses of equal weight or value.  Some coordinating conjunctions
can join two words, two phrases or two clauses.  They can all be used to join two clauses.  There
are, in fact, only seven of them in modern English and two of them are quite formal and rare.
They are: and, but, yet, for, so, nor and or.
Think for a moment about what these do and then click here for the answer.

and

is the simplest and first learned.  E.g., well and good, John made lunch and Peter ate it. 
It's a simple additive, joining words, phrases or clauses.

but

works in the same way but is adversative or contrastive.  E.g., naughty but nice, John
cooked lunch but Peter ate it.  It also joins words, phrases or clauses.

yet

is similar to but in meaning and is adversative.  E.g., He wants to be an engineer yet he

speaks no English.  It can be used to join words or phrases rather than clauses but that is
somewhat unusual (tired yet happy, for example which would normally be tired but
happy).

for

offers a reason for something.  E.g., He is studying English for he wants to be an

engineer.  This one cannot be used to join items smaller than a clause.

146
so

also implies a reason.  E.g., She wants to be an engineer so she is learning English.  This
one also cannot be used to join items smaller than a clause.

nor

reiterates a negative when it occurs without neither.  E.g., I don't want to go nor do I
want to hear about it.  Notice that nor requires inversion (i.e., a question form) in
English and the negative is carried over from the first clause.  It is unusual for this one to
be used to join anything less than two clauses.

or

this also occurs without its partner either and serves to exclude something.  E.g., She will
write to him or she will telephone him.  It also joins words, phrases or clauses.

The grammar

1. These conjunctions must come between the two joined items.

2. Parts of the second item are often elided in sentences with or and nor, e.g., I don't want
to go nor hear about it, She will write to him or telephone
3. The conjunction and is conventionally elided (or replaced by commas) in lists of more
than two items (words, phrases and clauses).

Correlative conjunctions

These conjunctions serve to bind ideas closely together.  In that sense many of them function as
coordinators and are, in fact, often seen as a subset of those.  They are, in fact, not all
coordinating conjunctions but many are.  The ones that are coordinators join two clauses or
other items of equal weight and value.
Here's a list of some of the most common ones:

Conjunction Notes Examples

 this is commonly, but not exclusively,

used in similes, comparing adjectives, he's (just) as stupid as he
as ... as usually is wilful
 inserting just before the first as as sober as a judge
emphasises the degree of similarity

the use of both with and is a focusing both she and John avoided
both ... and
emphasiser the subject

hardly ...  grammatically, these require inversion hardly / scarcely / no

147
when/than
if they are fronted because their sense
scarcely ... is negative sooner / barely had I sat
 for the same reason, they can't be down when the phone
than/than
negated so you can't have, e.g., *No
rang
sooner didn't they ...
no sooner ... I had hardly / scarcely / no
 if they are fronted, the second element
than/than is normally when but in other positions, sooner / barely sat down
than is more frequent than the phone rang
barely ...  these are subordinators
when/ than

either ... or denotes exclusion of one possibility either you do it or I will

I will neither enjoy it nor

neither ... nor denotes that both possibilities are excluded
understand it

 this emphasises the conditionality of

the if structure
 it can be further emphasised with only
if the weather is fine then
if ... then then
then can only be used if the if-clause I will come
comes first
 this is a subordinator

 this usually sets up a clause which is whether you do it or I do it

evaluated as if it were a noun as the doesn't matter
whether ... or
subject of a verb it doesn't matter whether
 it also frequently follows an it-phrase you come or not

 this functions much like and but is a

much more emphatic way to link two
not only ... but clauses, words or phrases
also  because it carries a negative sense, it
requires the inversion if not only is
fronted
not only did he arrive but
he was (also) early
he not only arrived but he
was (also) early

this is quite rare and usually links two nouns or

rather dead than red
rather ... than two adjectives often in fixed or semi-fixed
rather you than me
binomials

The grammar

It is worth noting that some of these correlatives are actually rather complex.  In particular:

1. the issue of inversion with some of them requires attention

148
 2. as does the clause-order constraint with the if ... then construction.
3. verb concord is sometimes and issue.  The neither ... nor and either ... or structures
conventionally require a singular verb but this is often ignored.  Compare, e.g.:
either John or Mary does the cooking
either John or the children do (?does) the cooking
neither John nor Mary usually comes (?come) early
neither the men nor the women is (?are) waiting
The rule of thumb is that the verb will agree with the second element.  So we get:
either the children or the parent needs to be present vs. either the parent or the children
need to be present
This can lead to very awkward expressions such as:
Neither John nor I am (?is, ?are) coming
which are best avoided by rephrasing.
4. Note, too, the position of the optional also in not only but (also) construction.

Subordinating conjunctions

There are many of these and they are more complex in both structure and meaning.  They join
clauses.

They differ from coordinating conjunctions in that they are not used to join clauses of equal
value but to indicate that one clause is subordinate to or dependent for its meaning on the other
(hence the name).
Here's the list:

Type Conjunctions Examples

although / even
though / though it's
Concession  though
raining, I'll take a
indicate that the  although
walk
speaker/writer is  even though
 while while I understand
conceding a point
the point, I still
disagree

Comparison  than she is younger than

compare items or  rather ... than I am
clauses  whether I would rather go
 as much as
than stay
 whereas
I don't know
whether he's
serious or trying to
be funny
149
 as much as she
loves him, she
won't stay
I had eaten
whereas they went
hungry

she came after the

party had finished
they stayed as long
as it lasted
Time  after I showered before I
 since
indicate the  as long as had lunch
 till
 as soon as
relationship in time of  until I will have finished
 before
two clauses, one  when by the time you
 by the time
determined by the  whenever arrive
 now that
 while
other  once i have lived here
since I was a child
whenever I ask him,
he avoids the
subject

I left because he
arrived
 because I'll tell you, since
Reason  since
you ask
indicate the causal  so that
He was smiling so
connections between  in order (that)
 in order to (often contracted to 'to') that she would
acts or states
 why believe him
this is the reason
why I dislike it

I did it how I was

Manner  how told to do it
show behavioural  as though he speaks as
links between clauses  as if though / if he is the
boss

Place  where I will stay where /

show locational links  wherever wherever I like

Condition  if if it's raining we'll

show how one clause  only if go home

150
 only if you promise
will I accept
supposing he
 whether
 unless declines, what will
 provided / providing (that) you say?
depends on the  supposing (that) even if he does say
fulfilment of another  assuming (that) no, I'll go ahead
 even if she brought her car
 in case (that)
lest there were no
 lest
taxis around
I don't know
whether I dare ask

The grammar

The greatest difference between coordinating and subordinating conjunctions is clause ordering:

1. Coordinating conjunctions
1. fit between clauses only.  You can't have *And I had lunch I had tea.
2. with simple additive coordinators, we can often reverse the order of the clauses
without damaging the sense.  I like him and he is my friend is the same as He is
my friend and I like him (although speakers front items for a purpose; for more,
try the guide to fronting).
3. with some coordinators, the clause ordering carries the meaning.  Compare I was
bored so I went to the cinema with I went to the cinema so I was bored.
2. Subordinating conjunctions
1. allow more leeway in clause ordering and their positions.  We can have If you see
him, say hello for me and Say hello for me if you see him with equivalent
meanings (although, again, speakers front items for a purpose).
2. however, reversing the ordering of clauses requires us to move the conjunction
which is attached to the subordinate clause, too.  We can have She took a coat
because it was raining and Because it was raining she took a coat but It was
raining because she took a coat is not what we mean at all.

Some other notes on the subordinating conjunctions:

1. the concessives all mean pretty much the same thing but while cannot be used if there
is a chance of ambiguity so we would not normally encounter while it is raining, I'll take
a walk because that might imply something like when it is raining
2. some comparison subordinators also refer to time (I came as soon as I could etc.)
3. some words used as time subordinators are prepositions in other environments.  E.g., In
I showered before lunch, the word before is a preposition and since, after, until, till can
act similarly.
4. there are a number of conjunctions which have an optional that with no change in
meaning: now that, considering that, seeing that etc.
5. elision or substitution of verbs in the second clause is quite common: she went because I
did (go), is she being serious or (is she) not (being serious)?
151
 6. some analyses add in the relative pronouns because they function as conjunctions.  This
site has a separate guide to relative clauses.

Equivalent conjuncts

The meaning and function of most conjunctions of all types can be expressed using conjuncts
(i.e., connectors which lie outside the clause structure).  Conjuncts connect full sentences rather
than making connections between clauses within sentences.
There is a guide to adverbials on this site which includes more consideration of conjuncts.

So, for example, we can have the same ideas expressed in two ways:

conjunction conjunct

I asked to see him but he was busy. I asked to see him.  However, he was busy.

He is overbearing and people find him boorish. He is overbearing.  Moreover, people find him boorish

She was smiling.  He consequently believed she was n

She was smiling so he believed she was not serious.
serious.

A common error is for learners (and native speakers) to use conjuncts when they need a
conjunction and vice versa.  As you can see from the examples above, the grammar needs to be
adjusted in order to make them even near equivalents.  So we get, for example:
*I asked to see him, however he was busy
*I had lunch moreover it was delicious
*She was smiling, consequently he believed she was not serious
It is possible to make these sentences work by inserting a semi-colon after the first clause.
Conjuncts are usually more emphatic and, of course, do a great deal else in the language.

Classroom implications

The above may look (and is slightly) all rather theoretical

but there are significant implications for teaching.

Think for a moment about what these might be and then

click here.

1. The first obvious one is that these forms and the nature of conjunction vary widely across
languages and translation is fraught with difficulty.  In some languages, the distinction between
conjunct and conjunction is blurred or absent, in others a two-part conjunction is required for
ideas represented by because and so and there is a temptation to produce *Because it was late
so I took a taxi etc.
152
 2. In some languages, ideas which are expressed through conjunction in English are expressed
through extra-clausal conjuncts and vice versa.  That will cause significant formal and conceptual
difficulty.
3. English is rich in conjunctions and if we aren't careful, the sheer number and variation can
bewilder the learner.  We need to analyse carefully, therefore, when deciding what we present
and how we present it, breaking the area up into digestible units with similar conceptual
characteristics.
4. Some words, such as since, until, whether and others can appear in more than one guise.  They
may be conjunctions in one setting and prepositions in another; they may be subordinating
conditionals or subordinating comparatives, so we need to be able to analyse accurately or we
will give our learners confusing signals or the wrong information.
5. Written language relies heavily on precise conjunction use to show relationships and maintain
cohesion (in speaking we are often content to use simple coordinating conjunctions).  Learners
who need to use written English, for example, in their work or studies, will need careful training
and lots of practice in this area if they are to avoid mixing conjunct, disjunct and conjunction and
making formal errors.
6. The use of conjunction in both spoken and written language is essential to maintaining fluency,
cohesion and coherence so we should be sure to focus on the area at all levels.  It is often a
subject neglected in course materials.
7. Communicatively, one can get away with short staccato sentences, neglecting conjunction use
altogether, but any level above the most elementary will require good conjunction use.  A key
element of successful communication is not just the ability to say what will, did and might
happen but to say how actions and states are connected and related to each other – that's the
job of conjunctions and conjuncts.

There is, if you can face it, a test on some of this.

153
An essential guide to word order
Why is word order important?
For many people, especially those who don't speak any other languages, the ordering of words in
sentences seems too obvious to waste time worrying about.  That's a mistake.

Take these sentences for example:

1. Mary kissed John

2. John kissed Mary
3. She kissed him
4. He kissed her

That all seems very simple and an English speaker will have no difficulty deciding that John did
the kissing in sentences 2 and 4 and in 1 and 3, it's the other way round.

Now ask yourself how you knew that.  Click here when you have an answer.

You knew the answer because you are aware that in English, the most usual word order is to put
the Subject of the verb first, then add the Verb and then add the Object.
English has this word order: Subject-Verb-Object.  Other languages do things differently.
In sentences 3 and 4 we change the form of the pronoun to make it clear whether it is the subject
of the verb (she, I, he, we, they etc.) or the object (her, me, him, us, them etc.).  For more, go to
the guide to pronouns.
Many languages will change the verb to make it clear who kissed whom and they will also
change the form of the names to make it clear which one is the subject and which one is the
object.  English does not do this.

There are three parts to the simple sentences we have created: S(ubject) V(erb) and O(bject). 
How many other possible ways of arranging these, apart from SVO, are there?
Click when you have an answer.

Answer: 5 other possibilities: SOV, OVS, OSV, VSO and VOS so we can have:

1. He her kissed (Subject-Object-Verb)

2. Her kissed he (Object-Verb-Subject)
3. Her he kissed (Object-Subject-Verb)
4. Kissed he her (Verb-Subject-Object)
5. Kissed her he (Verb-Object-Subject)

And that is exactly what other people's languages do, in fact.  Although 75% of languages in the
world are either Subject-Verb-Object (like English, French, Italian, Russian, Norwegian and a
hundred or so other languages) or Subject-Object-Verb (like Japanese, Tamil, Dutch, Maltese,
Pashto and a hundred or so others).
For most of our learners, then, the natural word order will be:

154
John kissed Mary
or
John Mary kissed

It is, of course, possible in all languages, to vary the word order for effect so we can,
theoretically, have all kinds of word orders in English.  For example:

With this ring I thee wed (SOV)

John? Now him I know (OSV)

Poets and song writers will often vary the word order for effect or to make the rhyme and scan
work.  And, of course, we vary the word order in things like questions and to make passive
sentences (as do many languages).

However, what we are talking about here is known as canonical word order, i.e., the normal,
word order of simple sentences.

Free word order

There are some languages in which the speaker is far freer to vary the word order as he/she
pleases.  Examples of these languages are Latin, Modern Greek, Turkish and Finnish.  Most
languages with free word order have a way of marking the nouns to make it clear which is the
object and which the subject.  They also usually inflect the verb so its subject is clear.  A good
example is Greek in which the noun and the article are changed to indicate its status in the
sentence.

English does not have free word order and is, in fact, very strict normally.  This is because the
language has no way of telling you what is the subject and what is the object.  John kissed Mary
and Mary kissed John are only distinguished by the ordering of the names.

Some other languages

This is not a complete list, of course, and only Subject-Verb-Object and Subject-Object-Verb
languages are here (because they are the most common).
For more, investigate using the references at the end of this guide.

Subject-Verb-Object
Arabic, Chinese languages, English, Finnish, German, Italic languages (Italian, Spanish,
French, Portuguese and some others), Scandinavian languages (Norwegian, Danish and
Swedish), Slavic languages (Polish, Russian etc.)
Subject-Object-Verb
Basque, Bengali, Dutch, Gujarati, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Persian (Farsi), Punjabi,
Tamil, Turkish

Ordering other items

Apart from the  main ordering of S, V and O, there are other element of languages which are
usually ordered in certain ways.  These include numerals and adjectives.
English puts adjectives before nouns (e.g., a fabulous vase).  French and other Italic languages
such as Italian and Spanish prefer to put the adjective after the noun (e.g., in French, un vase
fabuleuse).

155
 
Classroom implications

The above may look (and is slightly) all rather theoretical

but there are significant implications for teaching.

Think for a moment about what these might be and then

click here.

1. Because word order is English is often the only way of knowing what's the object and
what's the subject, getting it wrong can have severe communicative implications. 
Especially at lower levels, therefore, we need to focus on canonical word order – most
sentences in English follow the SVO pattern.
2. Models are important.  As is mentioned above, poets and song writers often corrupt the
natural word order in English for effect.  Presenting songs and poems needs to be
carefully done and you need to inspect the content in order to alert your learners to any
unnatural ordering.

You may have thought of other implications.

Teaching word orders

As is mentioned above, much of this is involved with getting models right and encouraging
noticing.  However, there are some things to consider when you focus on this area.

1. Jumbled sentences to reorder are helpful but keep the focus and don't jumble all the
words or the learners will not see the patterns.  For example, presenting lower-level
learners with a task such as
Put these words in the right order:
lovely in vases of window for I my two those collection pottery want the
is too hard to do and doesn't provide any focus.
It would be better as:
Put the words and phrases in the right place
I want _______ _______ _______ vases _______ the window _______for _______
collection _______.
Choose from:
those | two | lovely | in | my | of pottery
This exercise focuses the learners on noticing which things precede or follow which.
2. It's also a good idea to get the learners to try to insert elements of the language into
utterances for themselves so they get a feel for what goes where.  For examples,
What words can go in the gaps in this?
A: Come _______ the garden, I want to show you a _______ flower.
B: OK.  Where is this _______ flower you want _______ to show _______?
A: _______ is ______ here, _______ the shed.
etc.
You can also focus the learners by giving them a list of words to insert, some possible,
some not.
3. At lower levels, it's important to focus on elements separately.  For example
Fill the gaps with the words in the list.

156
 There is no reason to worry _______ the _______ weather.  I have brought _______
umbrellas and _______ _______ coat for you.
two | warm| terrible | a | about
This focuses only on articles, numbers and adjective positions.
4. Spot the mistake activities are useful, too, to get people to notice the importance of word
order in English.
Take a story you have presented in class and make up sentences about it reversing the
order of some elements and keeping others intact.  For example:
Mark each sentence true or false:
She kissed him T / F
He gave her the flowers T / F
They gave the flowers to him T / F
She introduced him to the man T / F
etc.  Mixing direct and indirect objects is a good way to alert people to the relationships
indicated by English word order.
5. An awareness raising exercise involves taking these sorts of elements and embedding
them in sentences for the learners to translate into their own language in order to compare
the ordering of items.  For example,
I came today because I wanted to buy some tickets
becomes, in German
Today, came I because I some tickets (to) buy wanted
In other languages, the differences will be more or less extreme but they will, almost
certainly be different.  It can be both fruitful and fun to compare how things work,
especially in multi-lingual classes.  In mono-lingual classes, you have the advantage that
you can focus on specific differences, of course.

If you are interested in knowing more, there is a fuller guide to this area in the in-service training
section.
There is, of course a short test on this.

157
Word order

Why is word order important?

For many people, especially those who don't speak any other languages, the ordering of words in
sentences seems too obvious to waste time worrying about.  That's a mistake.
Look at the graphic above.  How many correct sentences can you make by combining phrases
from the first area with those in the other two areas?
Click here when you have an answer.

There are eight:

1. John took the money

2. The unicorn took the money
3. John took a fat cigar
4. The unicorn took a fat cigar
5. John borrowed the money
6. The unicorn borrowed the money
7. John borrowed a fat cigar
8. The unicorn borrowed a fat cigar

That all seems very straightforward and an English speaker will have no difficulty deciding that
John (or the unicorn) did the taking and borrowing and the money and the cigar was what they
acted on.  In sentence 3, for example, answer the following questions:

1. Who did the taking?

2. What did John do?
3. What was taken?

Three easy answers are a) John, b) took and c) a fat cigar.

Now ask yourself how you knew that.  Click here when you have an answer.

You knew the answer because you are aware that in English, the most usual word order is to put
the subject of the verb first, then add the verb and then add the object (if there is one).
The fact that English has this word order (Subject-Verb-Object) is the product of its history and
origins.  Other languages do things differently.

158
There are three components to the simple sentences we have created: S, V and O.  How many
other possible ways of arranging these, apart from SVO, are there?
Click when you have an answer.

Answer: 5 other possibilities: SOV, OVS, OSV, VSO and VOS so we can have:

1. John a fat cigar took

2. A fat cigar took John
3. A fat cigar John took
4. Took John a fat cigar
5. Took a fat cigar John

And that is exactly what other people's languages do, in fact.  However, 75% of languages in the
world are either SVO (like English) or SOV (like Japanese, Tamil, Dutch, Maltese, Pashto and a
hundred or so others).  VSO is rare (but included in that group are Celtic languages) and VOS,
OVS and OSV are very rare indeed with only one or two attested examples (Mallinson and
Blake, 1981).  For most of our learners, then, the natural word order will be:

John took a fat cigar

or
John a fat cigar took

Yes, but ...

It is, of course, possible in all languages, to vary the word order for effect so we can,
theoretically, have all kinds of word orders in English.  For example:

With this ring I thee wed (SOV)

John? Now him I know (OSV)
Eat the food, you (VOS)
The dragon slew he (OVS)
Eat you that food now (VSO)

Poets and song writers will often vary the word order for effect or to make the rhyme and scan
work.  And, of course, we vary the word order in things like questions and to make passive
sentences (as do many languages).
English can also have changes to basic word order in other types of sentence.  For more, see the
guide to cleft sentences and/or the guide to fronting on this site.

However, what we are talking about here is known as canonical word order, i.e., the normal,
unmarked word order of simple positive (declarative) sentences.

Free word order

There are some languages in which the speaker is far freer to vary the word order as he/she
pleases.  Examples of these languages are Latin, Modern Greek, Turkish and Finnish.  Most
languages with free word order have a way of marking the nouns to make it clear which is the
object and which the subject.  They also usually inflect the verb so its subject is clear.  A good
example is Greek in which the verb changes for number and person and the noun is changed to
indicate its status in the sentence.  For more on this, see the guide to case on this site.

159
English does not have free word order and is, in fact, very strict normally.  This is because the
language has no way of marking what the subject is and what the object is.  John loved Mary and
Mary loved John are only distinguished by the ordering of the sentence.

Mixed word order

Some languages show more complex patterns.  German, for example, has the usual order of SVO
(ich sah ihn [I saw him]) but in subordinate clauses it becomes SOV (weil ich ihn sehen will
[because I him see want]).  French, too, inserts the pronoun object after the subject (je le vois [I
him see]) so it partly shows SOV word order in these cases although it is canonically SVO (je
vois Marie [I see Marie]) when no pronoun is used.

Some other languages

This is not a complete list, of course, and only Subject-Verb-Object and Subject-Object-Verb
languages are here (because they are the most common).
For more, investigate using the references at the end of this guide.

Subject-Verb-Object Subject-Object-Verb
Albanian Indonesian Afrikaans Latin
Arabic Italian Armenian Maltese
Bulgarian Hebrew Basque Marathi
Catalan Norwegian Bengali Mongolian
Chinese Polish Burmese Pashto
languages Portuguese Dutch Persian (Farsi)
Danish Russian German (in Punjabi
English Slovak both lists) Sicilian
Estonian Spanish Gujarati Sinhala
Finnish Swedish Hungarian Somali
French Tagalog Japanese Tajik
German (in Thai Kazakh Tamil
both lists) Ukrainian Korean Turkish
Greek Kurdish
Icelandic

Ordering other items

Apart from the main ordering of S, V and O, there are other elements of languages which are
canonically ordered in certain ways.  These include demonstratives, numerals, adjectives and
genitive (possessive) markers.
Look at this sentence and figure out what it tells you about the ordering of these elements in
English.

I want those two lovely vases in the window for my collection of pottery.

Click here when you have an answer.

We have two preceding the noun so the English order is Numeral-Noun

Numerals (It is also Demonstrative-Numeral, by the way, and we can't have *two those
vases.)

160
 In English, adjectives always come before the noun so we have lovely vases not
*vases lovely
(There are some exceptions to that with adjectives such as proper but the rule is
Adjectives
overwhelmingly to follow the Adjective-Noun pattern.)
Note, however, that adjectives always follow certain words such as something (in,
e.g., I want to buy something nice).  See the guide to adjectives for more.
English is unusual in having two forms
When we use the possessive pronouns (my, your, her etc.), they come before the
noun (my collection).
However, we also have the option of phrases with the of-structure and can have
Genitives
expressions such as the policy of the company or the company's policy.  Few
languages can do that.
In this example, collection of pottery follows this pattern although it's not a true
genitive.  For more, see the guide to case.
English prefers Prepositions, putting the marker before the noun (in the window).
Prepositions Other languages use Postpositions, putting the marker for time, place etc. after the
noun.

Languages will differ and put all of the above in different orders.  For example:

numerals
all European languages prefer Numeral-Noun but many South-East Asian and African
languages reverse the order.  Some languages allow both and some, such as Egyptian
Arabic, prefer Noun-Numeral for 1 and 2 and then reverse the order for other numbers.
adjectives
French prefers the Noun-Adjective pattern in, e.g., un vase fabuleuse (although some
common adjectives precede the noun (un beau vase).  Greek and most Germanic
languages (German, Dutch etc.) and the Scandinavian languages follow the Adjective-
Noun pattern.
Slavonic languages such as Polish, Russian and Czech also usually have Noun-Adjective
as do Thai and the Italic languages (Italian, Romanian, Portuguese, Spanish etc.)
All forms of Arabic are Noun-Adjective, too.
genitives
many languages have a single ordering (unlike English).
(Note that many languages put a possessive before a noun (as in my life [English], ma vie
[French], mein leben [German], mit liv [Danish] but that is not the point here.  English
has an inflected genitive (Mary's book, for example) for which Italic languages do not
have an equivalent, always preferring a construction such as the book of Mary.)
Italic languages generally prefer the Noun-Genitive pattern but Scandinavian languages
use Genitive-Noun.
All forms of Arabic are Noun-Genitive but Chinese languages, Japanese and Thai are
Genitive-Noun.
prepositions
English has prepositions but other languages use post-positions (London in not in
London).  Among them are Turkish, Japanese, Korean and the Chinese languages.

If the languages of your learners aren't mentioned here and you don't already know how they
work, why not ask them?  A little comparative linguistics and guided thought about how learners'
first languages differ from English is often very helpful

161
.

Topicalisation

Some languages, for example, the Chinese languages, are known as topicalising languages.
Simply put, this means that instead of having a subject or object as the first item, these languages
front the topic of the sentence regardless of its grammatical function.
We get, therefore, something like:
Noodles I like spicy ones best (with a fronted object)
or
Marriage that is not yet for me (with a fronted subject)
or
Leave, I'll go tomorrow (with a fronted verb)

All languages are capable of this to some extent but it's quite rare in English.
Some European languages, such as Spanish, employ the tactic frequently and it is at least
arguable that the habit in German and Dutch (as well as some others) of putting the time
adverbial at the front of the sentence and altering the word order following it to Verb + Subject,
rather than the usual Subject + Verb, is also an example of topicalisation.

Learners with a topicalising language background will produce a range of connected errors, often
involving doubling the subject such as *That factory, there is where my father works.
Yes, that's why they do that.
There is a guide to how fronting works on the site.

 
Classroom implications

The above may look (and is slightly) all rather theoretical but there are significant implications
for teaching.

Think for a moment about what these might be and then click here.

1. Because word order is English is often the only way of knowing what's the object and
what's the subject, getting it wrong can have severe communicative implications. 
Especially at lower levels, therefore, we need to focus on canonical word order – most
sentences in English follow the SVO pattern.
2. Models are important.  As is mentioned above, poets and song writers often corrupt the
natural word order in English for effect.  Presenting songs and poems needs to be
carefully done and you need to inspect the content in order to alert your learners to any
unnatural ordering.
3. Postpositional first languages will cause potential problems when teaching prepositional
structures and especially prepositional phrases.  Handle with care.
4. Languages which are heavily inflected for case will often have very flexible word order.
That is definitely not the case in English and learners need to have their attention drawn
to the fact.  (English, for example, even requires a subject for the verb snow although it's
hard to see what it is.)
5. The genitive in English is unusual and needs careful treatment if you are to avoid errors
such as *the car's cost or *the pencil of Mary.  More in the guide to case on this.
6. At lower levels in particular, it is necessary to be explicit in exemplification of the
Numeral-Noun, Adjective-Noun and Demonstrative-Noun patterns.

162
 7. Topicalising is, as we noted, quite rare in English but learners with a topicalising first
language are likely to carry over the structure into English with usually erroneous or odd
production as a result.  They need guidance concerning how English identifies the topic
of sentences.

You may have thought of other implications.

Teaching word orders

As is mentioned above, much of this is involved with getting models right and encouraging
noticing.  However, there are some things to consider when you focus on this area.

1. Jumbled sentences to reorder are helpful but keep the focus and don't jumble all the
words or the learners will not see the patterns.  For example, presenting lower-level
learners with a task such as
Put these words in the right order:
lovely in vases of window for I my two those collection pottery want the
is too hard to do and doesn't provide any focus.
It would be better as:
Put the words and phrases in the right place
I want _______ _______ _______ vases _______ the window _______for _______
collection _______.
Choose from:
those | two | lovely | in | my | of pottery
This exercise focuses the learners on noticing which things precede or follow which.
2. It's also a good idea to get the learners to try to insert elements of the language into
utterances for themselves so they get a feel for what goes where.  For example,
What words can go in the gaps in this?
A: Come _______ the garden, I want to show you something _______.
B: OK.  What is this _______ thing you want _______ to show _______?
A: _______ is ______ here, _______ the shed.
etc.
You can also focus the learners by giving them a list of words to insert, some possible,
some not.
3. At lower levels, it's important to focus on elements separately.  For example,
Fill the gaps with the words in the list.
There is no reason to worry _______ the _______ weather.  I have brought _______
umbrellas and _______ _______ coat for you.
two | warm| terrible | a | about
This focuses only on determiners and adjective positions.
4. Spot the mistake activities are useful, too, to get people to notice the importance of word
order in English.
Take a story you have presented in class and make up sentences about it reversing the
order of some elements and keeping others intact.  For example:
Mark each sentence true or false:
She kissed him T / F
He gave her the flowers T / F
They gave the flowers to him T / F
She introduced him to the man T / F

163
 etc.  Mixing direct and indirect objects is a good way to alert people to the relationships
indicated by English word order.
5. An awareness raising exercise involves taking these sorts of elements and embedding
them in sentences for the learners to translate into their own language in order to compare
the ordering of items.  For example, I came today because I wanted to buy some tickets
becomes, in GermanToday, came I because I some tickets (to) buy wanted In other
languages, the differences will be more or less extreme but they will almost certainly be
different.  It can be both fruitful and fun to compare how things work, especially in multi-
lingual classes.  In monolingual classes, you have the advantage that you can focus on
specific differences, of course.

Word class
Generally, 10 classes of words are recognised in English.  These are sometimes called 'parts of
speech'.
Take a piece of paper and see how many you can remember from school and then click here.

Group A Group B

article – a(n), the

noun – Mary, laptop, ashtray, Prime
demonstrative – this, that, those
Minister
pronoun – he, she, it
adjective – happy, new,
preposition – of, without, in front of
uncomfortable
conjunction – and, when, although,
adverb – sadly, very, often
because
verb – go, smoke, lift
interjection – ouch, ugh, oh

Now ask yourself why these are divided into two groups.

When you have an answer, click for the answer.

Group A words are called 'open-class items' because in theory we can keep adding more to the
list indefinitely.  Languages consistently create new nouns, for example, to describe new events
or objects.
Group B words are 'closed system items'.  We do not usually create new prepositions (although
we can) and introducing a new pronoun into the language is extremely rare.

Determiners

There is, in fact, a word class missing from this list which is used in more modern grammars:
determiners.
Determiners are words which modify nouns (just as adjectives, demonstratives and articles do). 
In older grammars, determiners were often classed as adjectives (we can have few dogs and
fewer dogs) or as demonstratives (these books, that man) or as articles (the car, some sugar) or
even as pronouns.
This is not satisfactory in many ways so the modern term for words such as each, all, more,
several, these, either etc. is simply determiner.
How determiners work in English is not a simple matter to analyse and is the subject of a
separate guide.  Following that guide successfully will be quite difficult if the area is new to
164
you.  You will almost certainly need to understand issues of (un)countability in nouns before
tackling it.

Now click for a test to see if you can identify what these different word classes actually do in the
language.  Then click on continue at the top to go on to the next part of the guide.  To skip the
test and go to the next part, click here.

Word class 2
Now we look at some of the key characteristics of a few word classes

Click here to go the first part of the guide to word class.

Nouns

Apart from obvious (and slightly inaccurate) distinctions between abstract nouns (beauty, hope
etc.), concrete nouns (apple, table etc.) and proper nouns (James, Canada etc.), there is a key
distinction learners (and you) need to understand:
countability and uncountability.
Countable nouns can be preceded by a number (two cats), some (some dogs) and a few.  They
usually take plural endings.  In the plural, we use a plural form of the verb with them (are not is,
for example).
Uncountable nouns are sometimes referred to as mass nouns and cannot be preceded by a
number or a few (but can be preceded by some) and only take plurals in unusual meanings when
we make them countable.  We use the singular form of the verb with these.
Divide these

sugar, pea, furniture, happiness, sheep, army, money, attention, pliers, coffee, teacher, food,
door, discomfort, information, luggage, suitcase, chair

and then click here for some comments.

It's not as easy as it looks, is it?  There are two important things to understand.

 Some words (such as sugar and door) are clear cases of uncountable and countable examples. 
Others are more complicated because we can use them in both ways with different meanings. 
Compare You have my attention (uncountable) with His attentions are unwelcome (countable). 
Some nouns, such as sheep are countable but take no plural.  Some obviously countable things,
such as money, are treated as uncountable in English.
Virtually all uncountable nouns can be made countable in English when we are using them to
classify things. For example, There are some coffees which are too bitter for me, They have lots
of German wines on the list etc.
 Different languages deal with these things differently.  In German, for example, information is a
countable noun.  In Greek, so is money.  When introducing a noun, remember that students will
probably presume it's countable unless you make it clear otherwise.  So you'll get people saying
furnitures and it'll be your fault, not theirs!

Verbs

There is another key distinction here.  Can you divide this list into three groups?  Think about
how you use the words in a sentence.
165
smoke, give, go, enjoy, breathe, beat, come, arrive, listen, see, hear, feel, say, speak, think, carry, jump,
reciprocate

Click here when you've done that.

Used with an object Used without an object Used both ways

give go smoke
enjoy come breathe
beat arrive see
feel listen hear
say think speak
carry reciprocate jump

The issue here is called transitivity.  Transitive verbs take an object, intransitive verbs don't but
some verbs can do both.
We can say, I smoke and I smoked a cigarette.  We can say, She carried the box but not She
carried.  We can say I arrived but not I arrived / went / came the airport.  Sometimes, there's a
change in meaning: He can hear and He can hear it are different.
When you teach a new verb, bear in mind that languages deal with transitivity differently.  In
some languages, for example, you can say I jumped the table (meaning onto, not over) or She
listened the music.  Set verbs in a context and make sure that your learners are aware of whether
they are transitive, intransitive or both.

Conjunctions

Here's another list to categorise.  Conjunctions can coordinate two clauses or they can
subordinate one clause to another (making one clause dependent on the other).
For example:
He makes the beds and he does the washing up is an example of and working as a coordinating
conjunction.  Both parts of the sentence are meaningful without the other.
I won't make the beds unless you do the washing up is an example of unless acting as a
subordinating conjunction.  We can't understand the second clause without reference to the first.
Here's the list to categorise.

but, after, although, as, and, as soon as, because, before, if, in order that, so, unless, until, when

Coordinating Subordinating

but after
so although
and as
as soon as
because
before
if
in order that
166
 so
unless
until
when

Notice that so appears in both columns.  It can be coordinating (as in He is a farmer, so is his
brother) and subordinating I did the washing up so you can make the beds.  There are many more
subordinating conjunctions and they carry a range of meanings: conditionality (if, unless),
consequence (so), reason (because), time (when, until) etc.
Once a learner is able to use coordinating conjunctions, it's time to teach subordination.

There is a third type of conjunction you need to know about: correlating (or correlative)
conjunctions.  Here's the list:
both ... and, just as ...so, (n)either ... (n)or, whether ... or, not only ... but (also)
Can you make an example using these?  Note that this class of conjunctions is confined pretty
much to linking ideas inside sentences rather then linking sentences together.  Click here for
some examples of them in use.

Both John and Mary are coming

Neither Fred nor I can open it
Either you do it now or you can wait until I have time
I don't know whether they are coming separately or together
The problem is not only important but (also) urgent

Prepositions

This a notoriously difficult area of English because there's seems little rhyme or reason to which
preposition we use where.  The other issue, as usual, is that languages differ.  Some languages
don't use prepositions at all, preferring post-positions, so we get The bridge along.
But there are some rules.

 Distinguish between movement and position:

o I went to the station (direction of movement)
o I arrived at the station (position)
 Distinguish between exact place and general place
o He is in the station at the booking office
o He is in London at the station
 Distinguish between prepositions which describe absolute position and those which
describe things from the speaker's point of view
o The house is between two trees / the house is next to / near the cinema / the
house is opposite the church (wherever you are standing)
o The house is behind the trees / the house is in front of the garage (from where
you are standing)

Click for a test of the key elements of word class.

167
Collocation
What is collocation?
Simply put: the juxtaposition of words with other words with a frequency greater than chance
Another definition is the tendency in all languages for certain words to co-occur

For example, can you fill these gaps with a suitable word?

torrential ______ ______ carriage high ______

air-conditioning
 ______ and fro towering ______
______

an open and the black ______ of

flock of ______
______ case the family

Some are easy, aren't they?  flock of, for example, will only be followed by a restricted range of
other items (all nouns) such as sheep, birds, starlings etc.  Saying a flock of lions is absurd and a
flock of school children is unusual but possible if you want to conjure a particular image in the
hearer's mind.  (In fact, many authors deliberately use unusual combinations of words to jolt the
reader.)
It's reasonable to guess that you had torrential rain but waterfall seems possible, too, and to and
fro, the black sheep of the family and an open and shut case are clichés everyone knows.  Native
speakers know thousands of these 'chunks' and deploy them almost as single words to save
thinking time.
Other words such as high have a much greater collocational range and it's impossible to predict
what you might have put in the gap – velocity, wall, price, tree?  The list of possibilities is very
long.  Other words, in a middle range have a good number of collocates but not an endless list. 
There are far more words which can't naturally follow air-conditioning than can and there are
reasonably few words which can modify a noun like carriage or be modified by an adjective
such as towering.

Naturally, some collocations are stronger than others, as we saw above.  The nature of
collocation can be illustrated like this:

Note the overlap.  There is probably no principled way in which we can always distinguish, e.g.,
a strong collocation from an idiom or a binomial although it is easy enough to identify examples
of one or the other.
168
 1. Idioms
These are pretty much fixed and unalterable expressions in a language.  For example,
someone can be described as a one-man band, a jack of all trades, the life and soul of
the party etc.  Things can be talked about as the odd one out, a blessing in disguise,
chicken feed, a flash in the pan and so on.  There are literally thousands of such
expressions in every language which people can deploy almost as if they were single
words, saving thinking time and maintaining fluency.  There are a number of exercises in
the pages for learners which focus on this type of collocation.  For examples, go to here
or here.
2. Binomials
These are a special sort of idiom made up of two elements which always appear in the
same order.  If they are nouns, they are usually singular because they represent a single
concept.  They often contain words found in no other contexts.  Examples are: to and
fro, thunder and lightning, spic and span, neither here nor there, in and out, cheap and
nasty etc.  (There are also a few trinomials in English such as left, right and centre, bell,
book and candle, cool, calm and collected, hook, line and sinker etc.
3. Strong collocations
These can almost always be predicted by native speakers of a language (or at least have
very few alternatives).  For example, if you are asked to fill the gap in the following, your
answer is probably quite predictable.
Please __________ free to ask any questions.
Many collocations like this occur with general-purpose verbs such as make (mistakes,
money, friends), do (homework, the shopping, damage), take (advantage, an offer,
offence) etc.
4. Textual collocation
This refers to the tendency for sets of words to occur together in a text on a particular
topic.  A text about families will probably include, e.g., home, children, parents,
arguments and so on but one about smoking would have cigarette, health, addictive,
nicotine, secondary etc.

If you want to know more about idioms and binomials, see the guide to idiomaticity on this site.

Types of collocation
high wall, tall person, flat landscape, painful toothache etc. but not
adjective + noun:
painful taste or tall road

verb + noun: close a shop / door etc. but turn off a light

ecstatically happy, deeply depressed but not seriously lighthearted or

adverb + adjective:
medicinally interested

flock of sheep, herd of goats but not pride of elephants or an ingot of

noun + noun:
chocolate

verb + adverb: scream loudly, tiptoe noiselessly but not scream swiftly or tiptoe violently
169
verb + prepositional swing to and fro, descend into misery, explode with anger but not handle
phrase: with indifference or explode with tears

Teaching collocation
Collocations are very helpful for learning vocabulary.  There are some things to consider:

helping learners to notice collocation

It is unusual to find any kind of reading text which doesn't contain some obvious
collocations so make sure you focus on them at some time in a reading lesson. 
Eventually, your students should be able to spot them for themselves.  Highlighting
likely collocations in texts is effective.
A small trick is to design a short text in which the collocations are wrong and get
learners a) to notice them and b) to correct them.  At higher levels, this can make an
interesting change to a dictation.  You dictate the text with the false collocations and
the learners correct it as they go along.

teaching vocabulary thoroughly

Whenever you teach a new verb, remember to set it in a context of what sort of nouns
it collocates with.  For example, if you teach unearth try make sure that your learners
know what sorts of things can be unearthed – the truth, a body, an artifact, evidence
etc.  If you teach a new adjective, treat it similarly and make sure your learners know
what sorts of things it describes, for example, greedy applies to animate things, mostly,
but you can have a greedy bank.

focusing some lessons on collocation

This is such a useful area that it is worth making it part of your usual teaching
programme.  It is worth considering, for example, basing a lesson around notions such
as size, weight, length, temperature and so on so that you can focus the learners on
such things as tall building, high wall, narrow street, heavy load, scorching sunshine,
bitterly cold, extensive grounds, crushing weight etc.  This may help your learners avoid
saying things like thin street, flimsy load, boiling sunshine, severely cold or grave weight.

being clear

If you are a native speaker of English in particular, you may often feel that a collocation
such as shuddering with fear or burying an argument is conceivable (and they both are)
but your students want clear answers and access to more natural collocations so, unless
they are very advanced, stick to the clichés – we shiver or tremble with fear, resolve
arguments and bury hatchets.
170
Here are some examples of exercise types you could use in collocation teaching

Odd-one out:

Tall – person, mountain, tree,

wall?
Torrential – rain, water, river,
downpour, snow?
Adjective – Noun
Rain – gentle, heavy, strong,
hard, tough?
Problem – large, strong,
difficult, big, heavy?

Make / Do – homework,
money, a mistake, an effort?
Catch – cold, meaning, idea,
bus, lift?
Verb – Noun
Path – wind, turn, twist, coil,
spiral, twirl?
Wage – pay, earn, settle, gain,
give, achieve?

Word grids.  Students work with dictionaries and / or a text to put a X in the right boxes:

frozen your ou relationship into suga ic chocolat

 
food heart t s tears r e e

thaw X              

melt                

dissolv
               
e

Matchers.  Students draw the lines and end up with something like this:

Gap fills.  Students work together to see what can naturally go in the gaps:

171
We …………… the …………… path up the mountain until we …………… the summit.
The view was quite …………… and we …………… for over an hour just …………… it.

Selections.  Students choose the right collocations:

The tasteless / foul / bright hotel was in a dirty / unclean / polluted alley.
The receptionist was so abusive / cruel / spiteful that we felt undesirable / unwelcome /
objectionable from the outset.

There's no exercise or test in this area but in the section for learners on this site, there are some
exercises to do with collocation.  Check the exercise index under vocabulary for more..

172
Word formation: an essential guide

There is a more advanced guide to word formation in the in-service training area.  You may like
to go on to that after you have worked through this guide.

English (like all languages) uses its existing resources to make new words.  Here are some of the
ways it does it:

What we do For example

dry (adjective) dry (verb)

⇒
We use the same word but change its stable (noun) stable (verb)
word class and extend the meaning.
This is called conversion. The towel is dry so use that to dry
the dog.

We add a bit to the beginning of a interested uninterested

⇒
word. possible impossible
The thing we add is a prefix and the
process is called prefixation or
prefixing (and that's an example of a There are some who are
different kind of word formation).  interested, some who are
Suffixation and prefixation are together uninterested.
known as affixation.

We add a bit to the end of a word. friend friendly

⇒
The thing we add is a suffix and the friendly friendliness
process is called suffixation or suffixing
(and that's an example of this kind of
He sounds friendly enough but I
word formation).  Suffixation and
don't think his friendliness is
prefixation are together known as
sincere.
affixation.

tacky ticky-tacky
chat ⇒ chit-chat
We repeat the word or repeat it with a
so so-so
minor change.  This is called
reduplication.
It's not only tacky; it's made out of
ticky-tacky.

We combine two words to make a third cup + board ⇒ cupboard

meaning.  This is called compounding ocean + going ocean-going
173
and can be used to make nouns
Originally a cupboard was a board
(commonly) or adjectives and verbs
on which cups were hung.
(less commonly).

automobile auto
We shorten words.  This is called ⇒
telephone 'phone
clipping.  Sometimes we insert the ' to
show that a word has been clipped. 
If you 'phone tonight, let it ring
Not all clipped words are informal (but
because I can't always hear the
that's the way to guess).
house telephone from the garden.

motor + hotel
motel
smog + fog
We combine two words to form a ⇒ smog
breakfast +
third.  This is called blending and the brunch
lunch
word that results is a blend or
portmanteau word.  Notice that this is
I was too busy for breakfast today
different from compounding.
and I can't have lunch so I'll get
some brunch.

Notice that spelling is affected by many suffixes.

Now take this test to see if you can match the term for word formation to the examples.

This guide concerns only the ways we use some basic prefixes and suffixes.  At the end, there
are links to areas for further study.

Affixation (suffixation and prefixation)

The first thing to notice is that adding a prefix changes the meaning of the word.
For example, if we add im to possible, we get its opposite meaning.  If we add hyper to market, we get a
whole new (but related) meaning.

The second thing is that adding as suffix usually doesn't change the meaning but it does change the
word class.
For example, if we add -ness to hopeless we get the noun from the adjective.  If we add -ly to topical we
make the adverb from the adjective.

Prefixes

There are lots of prefixes in English.  These are their most common functions:

Negative Reversing an action Time and ordering Degree or size

un- de- fore- super-

in- un- ex- sub-
im- pre- under-

174
a- dis- post- over-
non- re- out-

Opposite, not or lacking These usually go with re- and fore- prefix These are common in words such as
in verbs such as disagree, verbs such as redo, superheavyweight, understate, overgen
Mostly for adjectives undo, deforest etc. foretell etc.  The
such as amoral, others go with nouns
incredible etc. mostly such as pre-
war, ex-husband etc.

Suffixes

As we noted above, these usually change word class while retaining the essential meaning of the
root form.  So friend changes to friend-ly but the sense remains.  Here are some examples:

Making nouns Making verbs Making adjectives Making adverbs

employ-ee democrat-ize friend-ly happi-ly

organis-ation simpli-fy music-al north-wards
boy-hood deaf-en hero-ic
keep-er attract-ive
happi-ness use-ful
ideal-ism/-ist use-less
manage-ment drink-able
friend-ship hair-y

Most suffixes make nouns or adjectives with very few making new verbs or adverbs.

Now try this short test.

If you want to learn more about how other words are formed in English and more about the two
areas above, try the in-service training guide to this area.  From that page, you can navigate to a
discussion of the teaching and learning implications in this area.
There is also a separate section on compounding.

175
Word formation
How does English make new words?
Here are some examples:

drive (verb) ⇒ drive (noun)

writer ⇒ co-writer

tick ⇒ tick-tock

cup + board ⇒ cupboard

perambulator ⇒ pram

motor + hotel ⇒ motel

happy ⇒ happily

Take this little test to see if you can match the term for word formation to the examples.

If you found that test too difficult, you would be wise to do the initial training guide in this area
before returning to try this again.

English makes a good deal of use of affixation (either suffix or prefix attachment), compounding
and conversion but less of the other means of word formation.  (Other languages may include,
e.g., infixing in the middle of a word, circumfixing to both beginning and ends of words and so
on.)  Affixation and Conversion are the focus of this guide.  Compounding deserves a section to
itself.

Affixation

Can you complete these sentences?  Click here when you have.

Inserting a prefix usually changes the __________ but not the __________.
Inserting a suffix usually changes the __________ but not the basic __________.

Inserting a prefix usually changes the meaning but not the word class.
Inserting a suffix usually changes the word class but not the basic meaning.

For example:
Changing friendly to unfriendly produces its opposite meaning but they are both still adjectives.
Changing friendly into friendliness produces no basic meaning change but the word classes are
now different (adjective to noun).

176
Prefixes in English

For this part of the guide, you need to download the worksheet.
The first exercise involves sorting the prefixes in the list into groups under the headings in the
table.  Do that now and then click for the answer.

Time
Critical / Place
Attitud Numbe Reverse and Degree
Negative Pejorativ (Locative
e r an action orderin or size
e )
g

co- un- pseudo- tri- de- sub- fore- arch-

pro- in- mal- uni- un- trans- ex- super-
anti- im- mis- di- dis- inter- pre- sub-
counter a- super- post- under-
- non- re- ultra-
out-

These Opposite Always There Not the super- as re- and super-
describ , not or negative are same as in fore- as in
e how lacking in tone more: negative structure prefix market
things in multi-, s, these , not verbs not
act on Mostly poly-, usually market structur
each for mono- go with e
other adjective verbs This
s but dis- group
goes includes
with over-
verbs and
hyper-

Three prefixes are missing from this list: be-, en- and a- because they do change the word class. 
For example, bewitch, enslave, asleep.  The first (be-) makes nouns into adjectives or produces
verbs.  The second (en-) makes nouns into verbs.  The third (a-) makes verbs into predicative
adjectives.
Additionally, there are rarer prefixes such as pan-, proto-, neo- etc. which have unusual
meanings.

Suffixes

As we noted above, these usually change word class while retaining the essential meaning of the
root form.  So friend changes to friend-ly but the sense remains.

Go back to the worksheet and try the task on suffixation before returning and clicking here.

177
Making nouns Making verbs Making adjectives Making adverbs

mob-ster democrat-ize friend-ly crab-wise

plut-ocracy simpli-fy music-al happi-ly
social-ite deaf-en hero-ic north-wards
act-or child-like
music-al attract-ive
employ-ee use-ful
organis-ation use-less
insan-ity drink-able
ideal-ist Japan-ese
boy-hood hair-y
keep-er fool-ish
drain-age courage-ous
happi-ness terrace-d
ideal-ism
slav-ery
engin-eer
republic-an
inhabit-ant
manage-ment
pig-let
hand-ful
friend-ship
Japan-ese
dismiss-al
Berlin-er

Notice how unbalanced the list is.  The majority of suffixes make nouns or adjectives with very
few making new verbs or adverbs.

Making nouns:
Many suffixes make nouns from other nouns: slav-ery, king-dom, child-hood, book-let, gang-
ster, Trotsky-ite, republic-an etc.
Only two suffixes make nouns from adjectives: happi-ness, abil-ity etc.
Some suffixes make nouns from verbs: disinfect-ant, hold-er, explor-ation, dot-age etc.

Making adjectives
Many adjectives with suffixes are made from nouns: cream-y, hope-less, dolt-ish, hope-ful etc.
Many adjectives are also made from verbs with -ible or -able: extend-ible, enlarge-able etc.

178
Making adverbs
There are very limited choices but -ly is by far the most common: odd-ly, interesting-ly, work-
wise, up-wards etc.

Making verbs
Choices are limited to three suffixes: quant-ify, hard-en, real-ize etc.  (There are, however, some
back formations using -ate to make verbs, such as, desiccate, abdicate etc.)

Conversion

Go back to the worksheet and try the final exercise on this area and then click when you have
done it.

Here are the answers:

I doubt he is right → I have a doubt

\ He smiled at me → He replied with a smile
He bores me → He's a bore

Don't make it dirty → Don't dirty it

Adjective → Verb
It will be dry soon → It will dry soon

Put it in a bottle → Bottle it

Noun → Verb
He's the nurse → He's nursed for years

Adjective → Noun He's a comic actor → He's a comic

A last word about conversion:

Note that some words function both as verbs and nouns.  Which way the conversion goes is
slightly arguable.  What do you notice when you read this list aloud?
The export business.  Whisky is one Scotland's exports.
He's a convict who was difficult to convict.
Can you give me a discount?  Can you discount that?
Don't insult him.  That's a nasty insult.
Right.  The stress moves.  First syllable for the noun, second for the verb.  There are lots of
verb-noun pairs that work like this.

Finally, note the change in pronunciation of the final consonant in pairs such as house (noun) and
house (verb), thief and thieve.  Usually, but not always, the spelling changes to reflect the
pronunciation.

If you are happy that you have understood the nature of word formation in English, you can go
on to considering the teaching and learning implications in this area.  Click here to do that.

179
Teaching word formation
affixation, suffixation, prefixation, conversion, circumfixing, reduplication, clipping, blending,
portmanteau words, compounding

If any of those terms are unfamiliar or little known to you, you should work through the guide to
word formation before tackling this section.  You should also have followed the guide to
compounding.
If you have been through the guides you will know the major ways in which English makes new
words.  If you are unsure whether you know enough, try this test.  (It will open in a new window
or tab so just shut it to return.)

Other languages

English makes a good deal of use of affixation (either suffix or prefix attachment), compounding
and conversion but less of the other means of word formation.  Other languages do things
differently and you should know how your learners' languages do things.  This will help you plan
what to teach and explain things clearly.

Here's a run-down of some major language groups and a little about what they do in this area.

Languages What they do

Arabic words take their form from their function.  Words have what
are called triliteral roots.  For example, from the three consonants K,
T and B, Arabic makes a large number of connected words by the
insertion of prefixes, suffixes and infixes:
KaTaBa, he wrote, yaKTuB, let him write, KiTaB, book, maKTaB, office,
KaTiB, clerk and so on.
Arabic has 28 consonants and that figure means there are 3000 or so
Arabic combinations of them available to generate words (but not all of
(and other Semitic them can be used for phonological reasons).  In theory, any triliteral
languages such as root can be expanded to make 40-odd connected words.
Hebrew and languages The process of affixation will not, therefore, be mysterious to Arabic
of north-east Africa) speakers.
The problem arises with compounding because that is an alien
concept to speakers of Semitic languages, a fact which causes
translators all kinds of problems.  Compounds are usually rendered
as paraphrases along the lines of an X that is used for Y or a thing
that is beyond another thing etc.
Simple conversion is very rare and instances in English will cause
some confusion, for example, using drink as a noun and a verb.

Chinese languages Modern Standard Chinese is an isolating language with a very large
number of monosyllables.  Affixation will be an almost wholly
unfamiliar concept to speakers of these languages.
Compounding is a different matter and the concept will be familiar

180
 (even if the way it is done is very different).  For example, in
Cantonese, the words great and space may be combined to render
the concept of emptiness.
Conversion exists but is normally signalled by a particle.

Slavonic languages are synthetic in the sense that grammatical

meaning is often expressed through affixation.  It is somewhat rarer
Slavonic languages to make new words by affixation but the concept will not be wholly
including Russian, strange.
Polish, Ukrainian, Compounding is common in these languages and the concept will be
Czech, Slovak etc. familiar; noun-noun, adjective-noun and noun-verb compounds are
all frequent.
Conversion is rare.

Germanic languages
These languages use both affixation and compounding to make new
including, e.g., Dutch,
words.  There will be few conceptual difficulties for speakers of these
Afrikaans and English.
languages.
Also Scandinavian
Conversion is rare with changes in word-class usually being signalled
languages including
by affixation.
Finnish (in this case)

Compounding and affixation are common in these languages, e.g., in

Italic languages Italian ferrovia (railway) is formed from ferro (iron) + via (way).
including French, There should be no conceptual difficulty but there is a tendency for
Spanish, Italian, learners with these first languages to guess and render Latin-derived
Portuguese, Romanian words in English in a familiar way (to them).
etc. Because these are inflected languages, conversion without a
signalling suffix is rare.

Japanese and Korean both have a tendency to agglutinate and uses

affixation (often or only suffixes) to change word class so, for
example, a noun may be converted into its adjective by affixing the
Japanese and Korean
adjective-forming suffix.  The concept is not alien.
Un-signalled conversion is alien.
Compounding, too, is common in both languages.

Issues for learners and teachers

It is clear, therefore, that many speakers of European languages will not face huge conceptual
problems with word formation in English but those whose first languages operate very
differently, will.
That said, English word formation phenomena do present considerable problems for all learners
and here are some of them.

Here are some examples of the most frequently encountered issues.  Think about why these
issues cause problems for learners and then click on the to check.

181
Form

There are over 20 suffixes used to form a noun and a dozen or so to form an adjective.  There are
around 5 different prefixes which make negatives and another three used to reverse an action. 

Learners will, of course, have difficulty remembering which suffix or affix to apply so we may get
*democrify, *possibleness or *idealness.  Learners will routinely have problems distinguishing between
in-, un-, im-, ir- etc.

A cooker is not a person who cooks, a doctor doesn't doct and what on earth does a scholar do? 

There is a certain randomness in how some suffixes are formed and used but learners like to deploy
rules so we may encounter *acter, *employor etc.  Additionally, learners (and teachers) may not know
the stem of a word because it is no longer in use.

-cian, -tion, -cion, -sion, -sian, -xion and -cean are all pronounced shun.  We drop the 'e' when
we add -tion to evolve and (in British English) we double the consonant in marvellous. 

This will lead to any number of spelling problems for even quite advanced users of the
language.  Many native speakers have trouble.

English almost never stresses an affix but suffixes usually affect word stress so we get the
predictable shifts on economy, economic and economical but also the unpredictable photograph,
photographer and photographic.
The suffixes -able and -ible don't change word stress normally (adapt, adaptable) but sometimes
they do: admire, admirable, demonstrate, demonstrable. 

Some languages (such as Greek) can stress prefixes so there may be a temptation to do so in
English.  Furthermore, because affixes are unstressed, they may not be heard thus negating the
possibility of unpacking a word and understanding it from its constituent parts.
Additionally, of course, we will encounter the mispronunciation of a number of suffixed words
because the rules are obscure and not absolute.

A green house and a greenhouse are differently stressed. 

Learners will have difficulty remembering to stress compounds on the first element or may
misinterpret a compound as only an adjective plus a noun.

Is it round up, round-up or roundup? 

Hyphenation is a mystery to many native speakers so we must expect problems for learners in
this area.

Meaning and Use

There are over 20 suffixes used to form a noun and a dozen or so to form an adjective.  There are
around 5 different prefixes which make negatives and another three used to reverse an action. 

182
Apart from the form problems above, the sheer number of possible affixes may mean that all but
the most advanced will not recognise all of them.  This is compounded by the stress issue above. 
In order to understand an affix, you have to hear it.

A word like unpredictability contains two prefixes and two suffixes.  A word like pre-teach is
easier to understand than predict. 

Recognising affixes is more difficult if the stem of the word is obscure (dict).  Adding more
affixes compounds the problem.

A salesperson sells things but a doorman does not 'door'. 

We have to understand both parts of compounds and use our top-down world knowledge very
often to make sense of them.  For example, a term such a debt relief is unknowable without
understanding both parts and applying some knowledge of the business world.

Teaching word formation

Most course books cover the areas of both affixation and compounding but not until B1 level in
most instances.
See, for example, Soars, L. & J. (2012) New Headway Intermediate Student’s Book 4th Edition
Oxford University Press, Unit 5.  (In this unit, both prefixes, altering meaning, and suffixes,
altering word class, are considered.  Some might think that's too much for a presentation but fine
for a revision exercise.)

Here are some issues and ideas to consider:

 For some learners, the morphological patterns in the target language are intrinsically interesting
and they are happy to search out patterns of meaning given, for example, a text containing
prefixed or suffixed words from which the meanings can be identified or inferred.  Almost any
text will contain compounds but advertising language and news reports are rich sources.
 An understanding of word class is, of course, fundamental to learning any language.  Learners
can, for example, be given a text which contains language such as

He was walking crabwise along the ledge, climbing upwards and holding on tightly to the rope. 
He thought to himself, "This is foolish insanity, I'm not a mountaineer and not particularly
heroic, either."  However, the satisfaction and happiness he felt on finally reaching the summit
lessened his moodiness.

There are tasks that can be set with texts like this:
a) to match suffix to word class and draw a table classifying them
b) to reconstruct the text substituting the words and word classes by choosing to use words with
different affixes or removing them.  Synonym dictionaries are helpful.  Like this:

He walked sideways along the ledge climbing energetically and holding glue-like to the rope. 
He thought to himself, "This is idiotic madness, I'm not a climber or particularly courageous,
either.  However, the contentment and pleasure he felt on eventually reaching the summit
heightened his mood.

 Prefixation can be handled similarly.  Take short texts like:

183
He thought it was impossible to re-do the work and he explained to his co-workers why
She was unhappy that her ex-husband had decided to rejoin the navy
He defrosted the pre-cooked chicken he got from the supermarket in time but miscalculated how
long it would take to reheat

The teaching points are a) to understand the effect of the prefixes, b) to see what other prefixes might
be substituted and what effect on meaning they have and then c) to get the learners to compose similar
texts for their colleagues to investigate.
What happens, for example, if you remove the prefixes from the first and second sentences?  What
substitutions and removals can you make in the third sentence?

 Compounds can be treated in ways which are similar to handling the teaching of collocation (for
obvious reasons):
a) matching exercises with words from the same field are helpful in terms of making them
memorable.  You can start by brainstorming things you need for school (or work, a holiday,
whatever) and then go on to focus on compounds with something like:

A B

note sharpener

school suit

pencil coat

reading book

track book

lab glasses

course bag

b) Compounds can sometimes be chained and patterned to help people with dominantly visual learning
styles.  Learners can be asked to make their own chains starting with certain common components. 
Start, e.g., with the word film and see what compounds you can elicit, teach or get your learners to
discover (in dictionaries or on-line corpuses).  You may get something like:

184
Then take each outlier in turn and assign one to each group of learners with the task of researching
further compounds so they come up for the word industry with something like:

Each group gets a different word.

You can of course, repeat the activity with words from a different 'daughter' chart ad infinitum.
The exercise works well with writing tasks based around the main topic words in the centres of the
charts.

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Compounding
If you have followed the guide to word formation, you will be aware that English makes new
words in a variety of imaginative ways.  Compounding is one of them.
Here are some examples:

candlestick noun + noun

dishwasher noun + verb
blackboard adjective + noun
heartbeat noun + verb
farfetched adverb + participle (-ed)
oceangoing noun + participle (-ing)
windmill noun + noun

All of these example are written as one word but that is not necessarily true of all compounds. 
For example:

whisky distillery noun + noun

bee-sting noun + verb
past tense adjective + noun
firing squad participle (-ing) + noun
quick frozen adjective + participle (-ed)
sea-green noun + adjective
washing machine noun + noun

The key point to understand is that in compounds, whether written as one word, hyphenated or as
two words, it is the sense that is important.  Compounds form discrete single-sense units and are
treated as single lexemes grammatically.  In this guide, some compounds are written as two
words, some as one word and some are hyphenated.  In many cases, it is the personal preference
of the writer how such words are written and dictionaries often differ.  You may be in the
majority choosing to write teacup as one word but coffee cup as two.  The senses and the way the
compounds are used are parallel regardless of how you write them.  A further little wrinkle is
that one person's compound is another person's double adjective and all double adjectives need a
hyphen (we write the wine-dark sea, not the wine dark sea and the brick-built house, not the
brick built house).  There is also some indication of a cline in the language as a concept becomes
increasingly common and conceptualised as a single idea, for example:

186
When gas for domestic lighting was first introduced, it was referred to as a noun-noun
collocation but gradually, as the system became more common, the term changed until it is now
considered a single compound lexeme.  A recent example you are familiar with is the term
mouseclick (a noun-verb compound making a noun) which appears to have entered the language
quite rapidly.  Each revision of standard dictionaries includes new compounds.

Types of compounds
There are three to consider – compounds acting as nouns, compounds acting as adjectives and
compounds acting as verbs.

Noun compounds

Verb + Noun (or Noun + Verb)

There are two fundamental types of these.  Can you see the difference between the following
pairs?  Click here when you have.

Type 1 Type 2
earthquake dressmaking
washing machine DVD-player
earache window cleaner

All of these are noun + verb or verb + noun compounds but ...
Type 1 compounds are subject + verb – the earth quakes, the machine washes and the ear
aches.
Type 2 compounds are object + verb – the dress is made, the DVD is played and the window is
cleaned.
Notice that whether the noun precedes or follows the verb is somewhat unpredictable.  The most
common way is noun first.

Verb + Adverbial
Many of these use a verb participle with -ing + a noun.  There are hundreds: printing paper,
walking stick, babysitting, sunbathing etc.  Notice that the verb may follow or precede the noun.
Other forms use the base of the verb plus a noun (again, following or preceding): flashlight,
daydream, homework, plaything etc.  Most of these are countable but note that homework is not.

187
Compounds without verbs
Almost all of these are noun + noun: oil well, sawdust, pain killer, fire engine, shirt-sleeve,
motorbike, headlamp etc.
There are a few which are adjective + noun compounds: softball, hardboard, fathead,
brownshirt, shot glass etc.
(For teaching purposes, it's useful to note the large group of compounds using containers:
matchbox, milk bottle, teacup, coffee cup, cigarette packet etc. and to help learners notice that
the formation with of changes the meaning: a teacup vs. a cup of tea etc.)

Adjective compounds

As with noun compounds, these are often formed with a verb + object.  For example,
breathtaking (the breath is taken), firefighting (the fire is fought) etc.

Other adjectives can be formed as follows:

1. Verb + Adverbial
ocean going, self-employed, easy listening etc.
2. Noun + Adjective
homesick, travel weary, tax free, battleship grey etc.
3. Adjective + Adjective
bitter-sweet, Franco-British, grey-green etc.  (Note that the first part of such compounds
can contain a derived adjective which cannot usually stand alone.)

Verb compounds

These are always Noun + Verb such as lip-read, sleepwalk, flat-hunt, pen push etc.

Yes, there's a test.

If you are happy that you have understood the main issues with compounding and have also
followed the guide to word formation, you may like to go on to consider the guide to teaching
and learning implications in this area.  Click here to do that.

188
Prepositions
You will already know a little about this area if you have followed the guide to word class.  You
learnt there that prepositions are a class of closed system items (meaning that there are a finite
number in the language).

Definition

Prepositions in English usually come before a noun and tell us the relationship between two
things.  For example, The man was standing on the street tells us the relationship between stand
and street.
Sometimes a preposition can come before a verb -ing clause in e.g., by using this website.

They are difficult to learn for a number of reasons.

1. They do not readily translate between languages so, for example, we have the English
She took it off the table being in German She took it from the table and so on.
It is also the case that a preposition in one language may be translated a number of
ways in English depending on the context and vice versa.
2. Some languages do not use prepositions at all, preferring to change verbs or to insert
post-positions such as She walked the road along.  (Note that English sometimes does
this, too, in things like The whole day through but it is unusual.)
3. Prepositions perform multiple tasks so we have I met her at the station at 1 o'clock
where at is performing two different, if related, functions.
4. Prepositions need not be single words such as on or out.  There are many which are two
words such as apart from or next to and some like as well as or as soon as which are
three words long.
5. There is a certain randomness about the use of prepositions in many languages and
English is no exception.  We say, e.g., in the morning, in the evening and in the afternoon
but at night.

The prepositional phrase

A prepositional phrase consists of the preposition and its complement (usually a noun or pronoun
but sometimes a verb phrase with -ing).  Because prepositions are structural or functional words,
they carry no meaning in themselves.  The word at means nothing but at the bus stop does carry
meaning.  A prepositional phrase is generally the target of teaching, therefore.

Common prepositions

A list of all the prepositions in English runs to over 200 words but many are rare or obsolete
words such as athwart, betwixt and pursuant to.  Except at quite advanced levels, these are
probably best left alone.
There are far fewer common prepositions which form the majority of prepositional phrases. 
Think of 10 and then click for a list.

about beside of since

above by off through

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across for on till
ago from onto to
at in out of towards
before into over under
below next past until
to

Not only are these prepositions the commonest ones, they are among the commonest words in
English.  It is hard to imagine a written or spoken text in which some don't appear.
(Note: ago is in this list but many would categorise the word as an adverb rather than here where
it forms the only example of a post-position.)

Making sense of prepositions

The two fundamental categories of prepositions are time and place.

Some of the prepositions above can naturally act in both ways (at 6 o'clock, at the bank), some
only refer to place (beside the road) and some only to time (since 1940).  Can you categorise
them?  Click when you have.

Time only Place only Both

since (the war, 4 o'clock)
until (7, dawn)
for (two hours, weeks)
till (midnight)
(six months) ago
through (the park) on (Monday, the table)
beside (the river) over (a week, the town)
from (London) past (four o'clock, the door)
into (the box) by (my side, 6 o'clock)
next to (the house) in (an hour, the class)
off (the road, the top) to (the end of the day, the corner)
onto (the table) under (a month, the table)
out of (the box) about (the house, twenty minutes)
above (the airport) at (the corner, 6:15)
across (the street) before (4 o'clock, me)
below (the plane) towards (the station, dawn)
of (a tramp)

OK.  Now we can look at each group separately and identify the important issues.

Prepositions of time
Preposition Use Example

on Monday, on my
on days
birthday

in months in January
time of day in the morning
190
 year in 1998
period of time in two years

at night (time)
night
at the weekend, at
at weekend / holidays
Christmas
point in time
at 4 o'clock

since then, since

since from a point in time
2009

for a period of time for a week

post-positional for
ago two years ago
period of time

earlier than a point in

before before 9
time

from now to
showing start and
to / till / eternity
finish
until until the end of the
duration
day

past / to time telling ten past, quarter to

by 10 o'clock at
by at the latest
least

Issues
since, for and ago

cause serious problems because their concepts vary across languages.  Errors such as I
have worked since 4 hours are common.

on, in and at

cause problems for similar reasons.  Teaching in the morning as a single item is a
solution rather than asking learners to match prepositions to time expressions.

by

is frequently used with future progressive forms (such as She will have finished by 6).  In
many languages until is synonymous so you will hear Be here until 6 o'clock (when by or
before is meant).

191
Now, can you come up with a similar list for prepositions of place?  Click here when you have.

Prepositions of place
Preposition Use Example

attached on the wall

for surfaces on the table
on sides on the right, on the front
transport on the bus
media on TV

buildings in the house

in private transport in a car
within in a book, in a box

exact place
in the station, at platform 6
(relatively)
at at the party
events
at work, school
work places

by me
by, next to,
lateral proximity next to her
beside
beside Mary

lower than (often

under under the road
covered)

higher than
over my head
more than
over over 21
from one side to the
over the table
other

above higher than above the city

from one side to the

(walk) across the road
across other
(be) across the road
on the other side

through between two limits through the park, tunnel etc.

give it to me
to movement towards
to London

into movement to inside into the room

192
 movement in
towards towards me
direction of

movement resulting
onto onto the table
in on

from the garden

from movement away
a present from her

movement to the get it out of the envelope

out of
outside get out of the car

downward or away take it off the wall

off
movement get off the bus

Issues
relative exactness

in and at are often used in tandem to say that one position is more exact than the
other.  For example, She is in London tomorrow and arrives at Paddington.  When she's
in the station, she'll ring and I'll pick her up at the entrance.  (Compare: I'll see here in
the morning at 11.)

above, over, below, under

sometimes cause problems because above and below imply relative height but over and
under often imply position exactly.  So we get, The plane flew below 5000 feet directly
over the town.  I couldn't see the key because it was under the paper.  In future, I'll hang
it on the hook over the door.

movement

is handled differently in many languages so expect error such as I saw it onto the table
or I looked into my pockets.
Additionally, onto and into only imply movement but on and in can imply position or
movement.
Out of usually implies movement but is often used by learners for position so we get It's
out of the box rather than It's outside the box.  (There are also times when out of does
refer to position: I left it out of the house.)

Here's a diagrammatic summary:

193
Source: adapted from Quirk and Greenbaum (1973:146)

This page is available as a PDF document.

There is a short video on this site intended to help elementary learners understand some of the
issues mentioned here.  Click here to view it in a new window.

There is a more advanced guide to prepositional phrases in the in-service training section of this
site.
Take a short test.

194
Adverbs: the essentials
Definition
An adverb is usually defined as something like

a word which modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb

Can you identify the adverbs in these examples?

1. He came to the door quickly and I was soon enthusiastically welcomed.

2. She frequently complains at length about things she thinks are really stupid.
3. Please arrive early and put the food there.
4. Wait outside until you are called.
5. I can't go now but I'll go soon.

Click here when you have answers.

The adverbs are highlighted in black in the following:

1. He came to the door quickly and I was soon enthusiastically welcomed.

2. She frequently complains at length about things she thinks are really stupid.
3. Please arrive early and put the food there.
4. Wait outside until you are called.
5. I can't go now but I'll go soon.

Some are easier to identify than others, aren't they?  Adverbs in English do a number of different
things.

1. They answer the question How?

quickly and enthusiastically in the first sentence are examples of these.
They are called Adverbs of manner.
2. They answer the question When?
soon, now and early are examples of these.
They are called Adverbs of time.
3. They answer the question Where?
there and outside are examples of these.
They are called Adverbs of place.
4. They answer the question How often?
frequently is an example of these.
They are called Adverbs of frequency (although some, including this site, prefer to call
them a sub-set of adverbs of time).
5. They answer the question How much?
at length and really are examples of these (although at length is, technically speaking, an
adverbial, not an adverb).
They are called Adverbs of degree.

Try a short mini-test to see if you can apply this to other examples.  The mini-test opens in a new
tab so just close it to return.
195
Recognising adverbs
There are literally thousands of adverbs which end in -ly and very often that is what students are
told is the defining characteristic but that can be misleading.  If you see a word which ends in -ly,
you may be tempted to classify it as an adverb.  That is the way to bet but be careful of
adjectives like friendly or wrinkly, verbs like sully and so on.  All of the following can be
adverbs and not one ends in -ly.
now, yesterday, next week, here, often, seldom, ad infinitum, afterwards, beforehand

If you want to identify an adverb, the only safe way is to look at what it is doing (see
above).

What adverbs modify

It's fairly clear (the clue's in the name) that adverbs modify verbs.  What else are they doing in
these examples?

1. He opened the box carefully.

2. He is completely against the idea.
3. That's a wonderfully simple solution.
4. She speaks extremely intelligently.

Click here when you have an answer.

1. He opened the box carefully.  Here, the adverb carefully is doing the obvious thing.  It is
an adverb of manner telling us how he opened the box.  Clearly, it's modifying the verb.
2. He is completely against the idea.  Here, the adverb completely is doing something rather
unusual.  It is modifying the preposition against and tells how against it he is.  It's an
adverb of degree.
3. That's a wonderfully simple solution.  Here, the adverb wonderfully is modifying the
adjective simple.  Certain adverbs are frequently used like this and examples are very,
absolutely, totally etc.  They are usually classified as adverbs of degree.
4. She speaks extremely intelligently.  Here, the adverb extremely is modifying another
adverb, intelligently.  We have an adverb of degree modifying an adverb of manner.

Adverb positions
One of the most vexing phenomena for learners of English is that adverbs are placed in sentences
in a rather complicated manner.  Look at the example sentences in this table and see if you can
figure out some rules.  Sentences which are considered wrong are marked with '*'.  Then click on
the table for some suggestions.

196
Look again at the examples.  There is one position where adverbs can never appear in English. 
What is it?
Click here when you have the answer.

Adverbs can never come between the verb and its complement or object.
We cannot say, therefore, *She must tell always him, *He drove carefully the car, *They saw
everywhere it, *He enjoyed greatly the play or *They are coming soon home.

If you want to learn more go to the guide to adverbs (and things called adverbials) in the in-
service training section.

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Adverbs

Note: if you have not yet followed the guide to adjectives, some of what follows will be more
difficult to understand.

Definitions
Easy questions: What's an adverb?  What sorts of adverbs are there?  (Hint: see if you can
identify four.)
Click here when you have answers.

Usually people's definitions include something like 'a word which modifies a verb'.  That, as we
shall see, is only half right.
You may have come up with some (or all) of the following types:

1. Adverbs of manner, answering the question 'How?'

so we get, e.g., he is cycling quickly, thinking hard, waiting patiently etc.
2. Adverbs of place, answering the question 'Where?'
so we get, e.g., they are waiting outside, walking everywhere etc.
3. Adverbs of time, answering the question 'When?' or 'How often?'
so we get, e.g., they are enjoying it now, going home tomorrow, she sometimes arrives late etc.
4. Adverbs of degree, answering the question 'How much?'
so we get, e.g., she enjoyed it enormously, hated it intensely etc.

You may have a slightly different list.  Some would put adverbs of frequency (sometimes, often,
frequently etc.) in their own category, some wouldn't.  The division between adverbs of manner
and degree is also slightly fuzzy.  In fact, there are those who would argue that this sort of
categorisation lacks utility in terms of analysis but is useful as a pedagogic tool only.

All of the examples above are single words but adverbs also come as adverb phrases such as far
more, from time to time, so very etc.  They act as single-word adverbs in many cases but
sometimes they have their own characteristics (see below).

What's the difference between an adverbial and an adverb?

This is where we get a bit technical.  All adverbs are adverbials but not all adverbials are
adverbs.  Any construction which modifies or describes a verb is an adverbial.
Look at these four sentences

198
 1. He often arrived late.
2. Mary spoke in German.
3. They went on holiday last year.
4. I came so that I could help with the cooking.

Two questions:

1. All of these sentences contain adverbials but only one contains an adverb.  Which is it?
2. What are the adverbials in the other three sentences?

Click here when you have an answer.

Sentence 1 contains a true adverb – often, which is an adverb of time, specifically frequency.
In the other sentences we have this:
Sentence 2: in German is a prepositional phrase but it still tells us something about the verb
spoke.
Sentence 3: last year is a noun phrase but it still tells us something about the verb went.
Sentence 4: contains the subordinate adverbial clause so that I could help with the cooking which
also tells us something about the verb come (in this case, the reason for it).

This is important but in this guide, we are only concerned with adverbs.  Relax.  There is a
separate (and more difficult) guide to adverbials on this site.

So what's an adverb?

There are two fundamental sorts:

1. adverbs functioning as adverbials (as in Sentence 1, above), for example, He spoke intelligibly
2. adverbs modifying adjectives and other adverbs, e.g., It's an extremely beautiful house, He spoke
barely intelligibly.  Adverbs sometimes modify other parts of a sentence, as we shall see.

Type a – adverbs as adverbials

When adverbs function as adverbials, they are of three sorts:

Adjuncts

These are the most familiar ones to us because the adverb is integrated into the sentence.  We
don't need any more information than the clause contains to understand them.  Some
examples:
She waited inside
They told me quickly
She rarely gets here on time
I want to leave now

Disjuncts

These are not integrated into the clause (and are often separated by commas) and they express
the speaker/writer's view of what is being said/written.  Some examples:
199
 They are certainly not in.
Obviously, he's not coming
Happily, I found my keys.

Conjuncts

These connect two separate clauses (they are, in fact, discourse markers).  Some examples:
If the beer runs out, then I'm going home
He looked everywhere yet he couldn't find her.
It was raining so I took an umbrella

Happily, this is not the place to discuss the technical difference between a conjunct and a
conjunction.  Relax, again.

word order for Type a

When adverbs function as adverbials, word order is sometimes problematic.

First, note that almost all adverbs can be fronted for effect or emphasis:
Suddenly, it started to rain
Frequently, he tells lies
Carefully, he opened the box
Lately, I've been having nightmares
Adverbs of degree are not normally fronted.  We do not find, *Intensely, he enjoyed the film.  If
you want to learn more, there's a guide to fronting on this site.  What follows applies to non-
fronted adverbs.
Before you go on, stop for 5 minutes and decide where in the sentence the following adverbs can
appear (apart from at the beginning):

carefully everywhere slightly tomorrow Try putting the ad

there eventually sometimes intensely  He drove th

 He saw it.
relentlessly often rarely frequently  She enjoyed
 I am leaving
soon seldom from time to time now and then/again  She plays th

When you have done that, click here.

1. Adverbs of manner
Usually, these follow the verb (if there's no object) or follow the object.  So we get:
He drove carefully
He drove the car carefully
It is also possible, but rarer, to place these before the verb:
He carefully drove the car
They never come between the verb and the object: *He drove carefully the car.
2. Adverbs of place
These, too, usually follow the object of the verb or the verb itself if there's no object.  So we get:
He saw it everywhere
They went there

200
 She came here
It is rare to front these, but possible.
3. Adverbs of degree
These also follow the same rules.  So we get:
She enjoyed the book slightly
He concentrated intensely
They pursued him relentlessly
These adverbs can be placed before the verb and this has the effect of making them slightly
more emphatic.
They never come between the verb and the object: *They pursued relentlessly him
4. Adverbs of time
These usually go to the end of the clause.  So we get:
I am leaving tomorrow
I want to leave soon
She arrived eventually
These are often fronted for emphasis.
Adverbs of frequency are a sub-set of time adverbs and act differently.  They come before a
main verb but after any auxiliary verb (or the first auxiliary if there are more than one) and after
the verb 'to be'.  So we get:
She often plays the piano
She has sometimes played the piano
He is frequently stupid
They would seldom have to ask for help
She rarely tells the truth
Note: multi-word adverb phrases of frequency do not follow this rule.  So we get:
He comes to my parties from time to time
She only helps me now and then/again

Type b – adverbs modifying adjectives, adverbs and other

parts of a sentence
into these sentences:
Try putting these adverbs: very unusually enough
 He has a good brain.
 He drove carefully.

Click here when you have done that.

It's easy to see that adverbs modify adjectives and other adverbs in exactly the same way.
Note one early problem.  When adverbs modify an adjective or an adverb (as many do) the odd-
man-out is enough because it follows rather than precedes the adjective or adverb.

other modifications

Some adverbs can modify prepositions or prepositional phrases.  E.g.:

She's dead against the idea
The bullet went completely through the metal

201
Adverbs modify determiners and numerals.  E.g.:
Almost everyone came back safely
More than 20 people came late

A few adverbs (such, rather, quite) can modify nouns and noun phrases.  E.g.:
That's quite a job.
It was such idiocy
The kitchen's rather a slum

Comparatives and superlatives of adverbs

There are exceptions but the rule generally is that we use the periphrastic constructions with
more and most to make these forms with adverbs, especially those ending in -ly, so we have:
more often not (usually) ?oftener, more deeply not *deeplier and so forth.
For a longer discussion of inflection vs. periphrastic forms, see the section on adjectives.
In very informal (wrong?) uses, we also find adjectives taking the place of two-syllable
(disyllabic) adverbs in clauses such as ?He drove quicker.  This really should be more quickly,
of course.  Would you accept any of these?
He spoke slower
He dressed scruffier
She answered happier
(It is, in fact, not always 'wrong' to use an adjective where an adverb would be expected although
some might object.  Would you accept these?
He played the music loud
I heard it loud and clear
I got it cheap in the market
The issue is often one of speaker perception.  In these sentences, it seems that the speaker is
paraphrasing something like: He played loud music, I heard it and it was loud and clear, I
bought it and it was cheap.)

exceptions

1. Some adverbs retain the same form as the adjective and for these we use the same rules as the
adjectives follow so we have:
He drove fast – She drove faster
He worked hard – She worked harder
She arrived early – He arrived earlier
He came late – She came later
2. Some adverbs are irregular so we have:
He drove well – She drove better
He drove far – She drove further/farther
He drove badly – She drove worse
3. The adverb soon has no adjective form and we get: soon-sooner-soonest.

two oddities
There are two adverbs, hardly and scarcely, which differ in meaning from the adjectives from
which it appears they are derived.  Both these are commonly post-modified with ever.If you
would like to see / do an exercise on emphasising adverbs (things like outright, completely,
quite, absolutely, simply etc.), there is one here.

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Pronouns
The clue's in the name.  Pronouns stand for nouns.
If you have done the guide to word class, you'll know that nouns can be proper (John, Paris etc.),
concrete (table, dog, water etc.) or abstract (love, happiness, anger etc.).  Pronouns can stand in
for any of these sorts of nouns.

Person and Case

Before we can understand pronouns, we need to understand two other grammatical categories:

person
this refers to who is doing what.  There are three categories:
First person – I, we, me, us, myself etc.
Second person – you, your, yours etc.
Third person – he, she, it, they, him, her, them, their etc.
case
this refers to who is doing what to whom or what belongs to whom.  There are four
categories:
Subject / nominative case – I or we refers to the subject of the verb.  For example, in I
smoke, the subject is I.  In John arrived, the subject is John.  In English the subject
usually comes first.
Direct object / accusative case – this refers to the recipient of the action.  For example,
in I told John, I is the subject and John is the object.  In She drank the whiskey, she is the
subject and whiskey is the object.
Indirect object / dative case (in many languages) – refers to the recipient of a direct
object.  In all languages a verb may have two objects:
In I gave the book to John we have one direct object (the book) and one indirect object
(John).  In English we can reverse the order of the objects (dropping the preposition, to: I
gave John the book.  Languages with case grammars will often distinguish between the
two types of object by changing the form of the article or the noun (or both).  English
does not have a separate pronoun for indirect objects but some languages do.
Possessive / genitive case – refers to, erm, possession.  For example, in I saw John's cat,
the 's is referred as the 'genitive s'.  In That's my book, my is the genitive or possessive
marker.
Many languages you speak or have studied make much ado about case but English is
(relatively) simple in this respect.

Before we go on, if there's any doubt that you have understood this, take a test to make sure.

There are three main classes of pronouns:

Personal pronouns

These are the most familiar and they look like this:

  subject object
1st singular I me
person plural we us
2nd singular you
203
person plural
masculine he him
3rd singular feminine she her
person neuter it
plural they them

Notes:

1. As we will discover throughout, English lacks many pronouns which exist in other
languages:
1. English has no polite and familiar forms of address for you.  Compare French tu
and vous, German du, Sie and ihr etc.  In fact, English makes do with only one
pronoun for both cases in the singular and the plural where other languages may
have up to four forms.
2. English uses it for both the subject and the object case.
3. English only distinguishes gender in the third person singular.  For the plurals, we
don't.  In this chart, it is referred to as neuter but, because English actually doesn't
worry too much about gender for inanimate nouns (with rare exceptions), a better
term is probably the non-personal pronoun.
2. Although English has both subject and object cases, it is, in fact, generally rather lax
(some would say downright sloppy) in the use of the correct case form.  Here's a short
pedantry test.  Which of the following would you consider 'correct'.  Make a note and
then click here for some comments.

1 Who did it?  Me. Who did it?  I.

I didn't know who did I didn't know who did
2 it but it turned out to it but it turned out to
be she. be her.
Between you and
3 Between you and I ...
me ...

In 1, me is actually correct although it refers to the subject case.  If we elide (leave out) the verb
because it is understood, English uses the object pronoun for the subject.  So we get: Who
came?  Them.  Who sold it to you?  Him. etc.  Put the verb back in and we have to revert to the
subject pronoun.  So we get: Who came?  They did.  Who sold it to you?  He did. etc.
In 2, it is actually grammatically correct to use she and many would insist on it but her and other
object pronouns are quite commonly heard in informal speech.
In 3, the correct form is me because all prepositions in English are followed by the object case. 
This is an example of people over-correcting because they imagine, wrongly, that I sounds
better.

Possessives

There are also two sets of these:

adjective /
noun / nominal
determiner
my mine
our ours
204
your yours
his
her hers
its  
their theirs

Notes:

1. The difference between the two columns:

In the first column, the pronouns are determiners.  They describe other nouns in some
way just like words like the, some and that do.  For example, I ate some bread, I ate her
bread, I stole the money, I stole their money and so on.  The words in the first column
are, therefore, usually called possessive adjectives or possessive determiners.
In the second column, the words can stand as nouns (just like 'proper' pronouns).  For
example, My coat is here, hers isn't.  Their car is more useful than mine.  We can replace
possessive pronouns by reverting to the noun with the possessive adjective so mine = my
car, hers = her coat etc.  These words are, therefore, referred to as possessive pronouns
or nominal possessives.
2. The reason its only appears once is that it is not possible to use it as a possessive
pronoun.  We can use it as a possessive adjective in, e.g., What's wrong with the table? 
Its leg is loose. but not as a possessive pronoun because that would give something like
*Which leg is loose?  Its.
3. The possessive adjective its is frequently confused with the contracted form of it is or it
has (it's).  So we get, e.g., *Its important to ... or *It's leg is broken.  Please don't do this. 
The form with the apostrophe is always the contraction of is or has.
4. Notice that his is both a possessive adjective and a possessive pronoun.  That can confuse
lower-level learners.
5. English uses possessive adjectives to refer to parts of the body.  Many languages will not
have parallel structures for something like She cut her finger (preferring She cut the
finger or even She cut herself the finger.  We do, however, often use the article in passive
sentences.  For example, I must have been dropped on the head as a baby but even here
the possessive is possible.

Reflexive pronouns

singular myself
First person
plural ourselves
singular yourself
Second person
plural yourselves
masculine himself
feminine herself
Third person
non-personal itself
plural themselves

Notes:

1. These are referred to as co-referentials (i.e., they refer to the same thing) in some
grammars.  We don't say, for example, Sue wrote Sue a note (unless there are two Sues)

205
 but prefer Sue wrote herself a note.  When we use an object to refer to the same noun as
the subject, in other words, English deploys the reflexive pronoun.
2. English has few obligatorily reflexive verbs.  We don't, for example, meet ourselves (as
we do in German), remember ourselves (as we do in many languages) or (usually) wash
ourselves.  However, we can make many transitive verbs reflexive if we want to: I poured
myself a drink, She drove herself home etc.
3. This is the area where English actually does have a full set of pronouns, even to the
extent of distinguishing between you plural and you singular.
4. You may hear or (perish the thought) be tempted to use theirselves instead of themselves. 
It's considered wrong in educated use.

Here's a summary as a graphic so you can save or print it out easily.

Adapted from Quirk, R & Greenbaum, S, 1973, A University Grammar of English, Harlow:
Longman (page 102)

206
Function words
10 classes of words are usually recognised in English.  These are sometimes called 'parts of
speech'.
Of these, some are 'open-class items' and some are called 'closed system items'.  If you don't
know the difference, go to the guide to word class and look through that.  Then shut that to come
back to this page.

Two sorts of words

Take a look at this sentence:

1. The glumpy finkleblender in the dwoodledam bongled bederously and flummbered all my
quitchicants.

In this sentence some of the words have been replaced by nonsense.

What's important here is that we can make a stab at the meaning of the sentence like this:

We can guess that glumpy is an adjective describing the noun

finkleblender because of the analogy with other adjectives (such as
wonky, shaky, slippery, happy etc.).
The glumpy We can also guess that the finkleblender is something or someone that
finkleblender performs an action by analogy with blender, gardener, writer, mixer
and so on (it may even blend finkles).  Because the phrase is introduced
by the definite article (the) we can compare it to something like The
swanky juicemaker or The wonky lawnmower.

in the This is obviously a place and a noun because a) something can be in it

dwoodledam and b) it is preceded by the definite article.

We can guess the verb is bongle and it has a regular past tense.  We
bongled
can also surmise that bederously is an adverb from the adjective
bederously
bederous because it follows the verb and ends in -ly.

and Again, flummber is probably a regular verb which takes an object and
flummbered all quitchicants is a plural noun following all my.  We also know that the
my quitchicants quitchicants have been flummbered by a finkleblender, by the way.

Easy.  Now try it with the second sentence:

2. Fleeb machine infuriated gruttle bibgle hoblem extent gringle jid threw jadd fotig immediately.

Hmm.  Not so easy.  We can understand that the sentence is probably about a machine and anger
but that's about all because we can't see the relationships that the words have with each other.

207
What made sentence 2 more difficult to understand than sentence 1?  Click here when you have
some sort of answer.

In Sentence 1 the words that have been replaced with nonsense are content words.
In Sentence 2 all the function words have been replaced.

The moral in the story is that meaning is made up not only of the meanings of the words but of
the grammatical function and relationships between the words.  We need both to make any kind
of sense.

Function words

Function words are words which are only meaningful when they are in company with other
words.
For example.  If you say house to people who speak English, they will know what you mean but
if you say at, they are unlikely to have a clue what you mean.

(By the way, this site uses the term 'Function words' but you may see the same concept called
grammatical words or structure words or even synsemantic words.)

Function words are all closed system items.  They are closed in the sense that we do not often
add new function words to a language in the way that we can add new content words for new
items and ideas.

Which of the following word classes are function words and which are content words?

nouns | demonstratives | verbs | conjunctions | prepositions | adverbs | articles | pronouns |

adjectives | interjections

Click here when you have an answer.

You should have this list:

Content words Function words

article – a(n), the

noun – Mary, laptop, ashtray,
Prime Minister
adjective – happy, new,
uncomfortable
adverb – sadly, very, often
verb – go, smoke, lift
demonstrative – this, that, those
pronoun – he, she, it
preposition – of, without, in front
of
conjunction – and, when,
although, because
interjection – ouch, ugh, oh

There are some things to note:

1. Some verbs are considered function words.

These include modal verbs such as can, might, should etc. which only carry meaning

208
 combined with a content-word verb such as decide.  Standing alone, could has no
obvious meaning but combined with imagine, for example, it does.
2. Some other verbs are similar.  These include be, do and have.  These are only function
words when they act to form part of a tense or other structure.  For example,
I have a house in Miami – the verb have is not operating as a function word here
because it has meaning – i.e., own.
I have been gardening – here, both have and been are function words because they are
making a tense structure, not carrying meaning apart from a grammatical one.
Do you want a drink? – here do is a function word which English uses to make a
question form in some tenses.
I'll do the work – here do is not a function word because it carries lexical meaning – i.e.,
perform.
3. There are some other words (sometimes called particles) which show the attitude of the
speaker rather than carrying meaning per se.  Words such as Well, ..., if, but etc. do not
always act as conjunctions joining clauses but can simply signal attitude.
4. Interjections such as ouch! certainly do carry meaning but they are considered function
words because you can't actually define the meaning and it may shift depending on
circumstances.  That word could mean, for example, She's singing off key or I have hurt
myself.
5. Words like no, right, yes, maybe are also considered function words for similar reasons. 
These are sometimes called pro-sentences because they can act as whole utterances in
themselves.

The General Service Word list

The General Service List (GSL) is a list of roughly 2000 words published by Michael West in
1953.  The words were selected to represent the most frequent words of English and were taken
from a corpus of written English.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Service_List)
Note the date: 1953.  Of course, the list has been updated since then (go to the Wikipedia article
for links to updated lists) but the list of function words remains serviceable simply because these
are closed system items.  The original General Service List did not contain some nouns and verbs
(such as computer and click) which are now frequent over 60 years later because times change. 
Function words don't.

The list

Conjun Deter
Prepositions Pronouns
ctions miners

after a abou near all this

althoug all t of anoth those
h anothe abov off er we
and r e on any what
as any acro onto anybo what
because both ss opposi dy ever
before each after te anyon which

209
both either agai outsid e which
but every nst e anythi ever
either neither ahea over ng who
for no d past both whoe
howeve other alon per each ver
r per g round either who
if some amo save every m
neither that ng since body whos
nor the amo throug every e
once these ngst h one you
or this arou till everyt
since those nd to hing
so whatev as towar few
than er at d he
that whiche bar under I
therefor ver befo under it
e re neath many
though behi until mine
thus nd up neithe
till belo upon r
unless w with nobod
until bene within y
when ath withou none
whenev besi t nothi
er de ng
where besi one
wherev des other
er betw sever
whethe een al
r beyo she
while nd some
yet but some
by body
dow some
n one
durin somet
g hing
exce that
pt these
for they
from
in

210
 insid
e
into
less
like

In this list, articles count as determiners and so do demonstratives.

No attempt has been made to list interjections or pro-sentences.

Alert people will have noticed that some words appear in more than one column.  That's because
they can function as different word classes in different environments.
Examples:

 another can be a determiner (I want another beer) or a pronoun (A beer was provided
and another for my friend).  The word both can do the same sort of thing (I wanted both
beers and both were provided)
 either can function as a conjunction (Either you do it or I must do it) or as a determiner
(Either beer will do)
 since can be a conjunction (I'll tell you since you ask) and a preposition (I have been here
since Tuesday)
 these can be a determiner (these beers are good) or a pronoun (but these are better).
And so on.

There's no proper test on this but to check you understand, identify the function words and what
sort of functions they are performing in this sentence.
When you have done that, click here.

Can you tell me the difference between content words and function words?

Classroom implications

This section does not consider teaching approaches to function words.  There are none.  The
range of types and functions means that lessons, or a series of lessons, can only sensibly be
focused on small subgroups of function words such as:
211
 conjunctions which add information (additives) or those which contrast
 indefinite pronouns (any, some, every etc.)
 the definite article
 prepositions related to proximity (near, at, against, beside etc.)

1. Don't be tempted to think that because function words are so familiar to you that they
will be easy for learners to understand and use.  All languages have ways of making
relationships between content words clear and to do that they deploy all kinds of
different functions but not necessarily function words as such.  Some languages will do
it by adding suffixes to the ends of words, some by using different sorts of markers in
sentences and so on.
Even in languages which are similar to English (i.e., most European ones) the variations
are enormous and complicated.
This means that you will need explicitly to focus on what function words are doing in
sentences and how they work.
2. Translation is fraught with problems.  It is relatively simple to translate many content
words from one language to another (although where word meanings stop and start is
an issue as are collocation, countability and connotation etc.).  So, for example, book is
variously, Buch, boek, ‫كتاب‬, libro, leabhar, βιβλίο, könyv, livre etc.
This does not work with any but the simplest function words.  Even something as simple
as the idea of either ... or provides problems with many languages rendering it as
something like or ... or (ose ose, vagy vagy, jew jew, ou ou etc.).  Other languages have a
single word to stand for the concept and some use three words.  Don't assume for a
second that any of the words for either in other languages can change into determiners
as the word can in English.
3. Don't rely on explanation.  Because of the variations in how people's first languages
function grammatically (and function words are grammatical) learners need to see the
words in action, understand the concepts they represent and deploy them to make their
own meanings.  That means teaching.
4. Keep the focus.  The lists above contain four different sorts of function words.  It makes
sense to focus on a few of one sort only at a time.
5. Even within the groups, there are conceptual subgroups.  For example, within the
determiners lie the articles and the English article system is itself complex and difficult
to understand.  The same goes for the other groups.  Prepositions, in particular, are
virtually non-translatable across languages and a source of persistent error and
confusion.
6. Take opportunities to focus on function words which come up when you are doing
something else.  They are so important that you should miss no chance to help your
learners understand them and use them successfully.

212
Countability and uncountability
If you have done the guide to word class, you'll know that nouns can be countable (table, dog,
etc.) or uncountable (water, love, sugar, anger etc.).  You'll also know that some can be both (the
seven seas, two sugars, please, the loves of her life).
Here we look a bit harder at this very important distinction.  In the picture above, therefore, we
can talk about an uncountable noun (weight) and a countable one (kilo[s]).  Note, too, that we
can have weights but in a different meaning.
This is not only a very important distinction, it is one that not all languages share and which
causes really serious problems for learners at all levels.

Mass and count nouns

The usual distinction made in classrooms is between countability and uncountability and that's
probably enough for most learners.  However, we teachers need to know a bit more about the
area so a better categorisation is between mass nouns and count nouns.  Often, the term
uncountable noun is wrongly used for count nouns which are only plural but obviously
countable.  We can say three people or six cattle and this means that the nouns are count nouns
but plurals (albeit slightly odd plurals).

(While the terms countable and uncountable nouns are helpful for some purposes, they are
misleading.  For example, money is a mass noun we can count and almost all mass nouns can be
made count nouns by the use of another noun (a slice of cake, a bit of cheese, a piece of
information, a pound of sugar, a pint of ale etc.).
By the same token, it is arguably advisable to tell our learners about count and mass uses rather
than count and mass nouns because that's nearer the truth of the matter.)

Count nouns

This is the simplest category but it's not always obvious from the form whether a noun is a
count noun or not.  The usual defining characteristic of a count noun is its ability to form a
plural (usually with -s) when it demands a plural verb form.  Secondarily, is the fact that one
can use the indefinite article (a[n]) before it.  There are some important exceptions and
irregular forms to consider.
count nouns which only appear in the plural

 cattle, people, police, vermin etc.  (But there are corresponding nouns which can be
used in the ordinary way (cow, police officer etc.))
 objects containing two equal parts (trousers, tongs, scissors, glasses etc.) are either
never found in the singular or have a different meaning in that form
 annals, arrears, earnings, outskirts, valuables etc. have no singular form.  You can put a
determiner such as few, many etc. before these but not a number (many valuables, *six
valuables)
 count nouns may have a plural-only form but a singular or mass form which has a
different meaning (arms / arm, grounds / ground, savings / saving, contents / content,
damages / damage etc.)
213
irregular plurals

There are quite a number of common irregular plurals (mostly the result of retaining older forms)
and some other oddities to know about:

 old plural forms: louse / lice, mouse / mice, ox / oxen, man / men, foot / feet, tooth /
teeth etc.  These are well known and can be taught as they occur.  There's no rule.
 zero plurals: sheep, deer, grouse, dozen (when it's exact, dozens when it means lots). 
The names of many different animals (especially fish) work this way.
 the f vs. v problem: plurals such as roofs, dwarfs, handkerchiefs are common but the
regular form (and increasingly the regular pronunciation) is to change the f to a v in the
plural and add -es.
 the -os vs. -oes problem: the regular plural of nouns ending in -o is to add -s (radios,
kilos etc.) but there are a number which add -es (potato, tomato) and some which can
do both (mosquito).
 foreign plurals: sometimes English retains the plural form of the language from which
the noun has come (phenomenon / phenomena, antenna / antennae, larva / larvae,
crisis / crises) sometimes we can choose either the foreign or English plural (syllabuses
or syllabi) and sometimes the word is pluralised in one use (index / indices in scientific
writing but indexes in 'normal' use)
 plurals made singular: graffiti, data and media are all plurals often treated as singular in
English.  The use of criteria instead of criterion as a singular is just wrong.

nouns modifying other nouns

Many count nouns can work to modify other nouns (e.g., a book sale, a pencil case etc.).  In this
use the singular is preferred unless there's a possibility of ambiguity.  So we get, a book shop, a
two-hour shift, a four-year-old child, boy scout, child actor etc.
There are some exceptions: men friends, women doctors and some avoiding ambiguity such as
arms race.
Notice here, too, that some nouns which are nearly always plural only appear in the singular
when modifying other nouns: spectacle case, binocular case, trouser pocket.

Mass nouns

It's easy enough to spot normal mass nouns because

 you can't put the indefinite article in front of them (*a

money, *a bread etc.)
 they normally have no plural form (*furnitures,
  *informations etc.)

So we get the common list of mass nouns: advice, anger, assistance, bread, chaos, courage, dirt,
education, information, leisure, luck, machinery, news, permission, poetry, rubbish, shopping,
transport, weather etc.  These are mass nouns in English but not in most languages.
But:

214
nouns with both mass and count uses

 These sometimes have subtle distinctions but the meaning is close.  Examples are:
business, chocolate, hair, noise, time as in Unemployment is affecting business vs.
Businesses are closing, Noise is a problem here vs. The noises can be disturbing,
Chocolate is addictive vs. These chocolates are delicious and so on.
 Sometimes the distinctions are much greater in meaning.  For example, dress, iron,
wood, work, experience as in Dress is formal vs. She's wearing a formal dress, It's made
of iron vs. Most people have electric irons, The works of Shakespeare vs. Finding work is
difficult etc.  Sex is another of these nouns, by the way.
 Occasionally, English users like to omit what are often called unit nouns.  Unit nouns are
the items we use to express a quantity of a mass noun.  So we have a blade of grass, a
pint of beer, a bit of cotton, a piece of furniture, a teaspoon of sugar, a cup of coffee etc. 
Sometimes, the unit noun is omitted to allow two sugars, three beers, a few coffees etc. 
This is not particularly common and can't occur with most mass nouns.
 Almost all mass nouns can be used as count nouns when we are classifying: Spanish
wines, Greek cheeses, spicy foods etc. but some remain resiliently mass nouns (furniture,
information, music, for example).

Unmarked uses

There are times when the amount of a count noun really doesn't matter – it's the concept we want
to express so we treat the nouns as mass nouns and leave out the article.  We get, therefore,
example such as:

go to / be in bed, church, school, hospital etc.

travel by / go by car, bicycle, plane, rail ferry etc.
at / before / after / by / in dawn, sunset, sunrise, autumn, day, night etc.

Many reference books treat these kinds of thing as idioms to be learned separately but it is
conceptually easier to see them as unmarked forms (Chalker 1987: 29).

There are a number of other expressions in which the noun is not marked for plural or singular
forms.  Here's a list (also based on Chalker, op cit.):

1. Other prepositional phrases (by chance, on call, by hand, in mind, at heart etc.)
2. Parallel structures (arm in arm, eye to eye, year after year etc.)
3. Double structures (hand over fist, life after death, hand on heart etc.)

Take the test.

References:
Chalker, S, 1987, Current English Grammar, London: Macmillan

215
English spelling
"a conspiracy to undermine a country that won't tow the western line" – BBC News website 17
December 2014

"Earlier this month David Cameron, the prime minister, visited Stonehenge ... and announced
plans to duel the A303"
 
The Daily Telegraph website 21 December 2014
(Image from Wikipedia)

We all make mistakes.  There are three sorts above.  Which is which?

1. Slips and typographical errors

2. Errors caused by the lack of sound-spelling consistency in English
3. Errors caused by simply not knowing how a word is spelled

Right.

The first two pictures (shcool and nohing) are just slips and they happen frequently.  For the
purposes of this guide, we can ignore them because they have nothing to do with spelling rules in
English.
The third picture (excellense) is the result of someone simply not knowing how a word is spelled
in English.
The quotations from the BBC and Daily Telegraph websites are errors caused by the lack of
sound-spelling consistency in English (it's called a homophone error because toe and tow, duel
and dual sound the same but are differently written and mean different things).  News sites are a
rich source of such errors because many news stories are submitted by journalists over the
telephone.  Another example, from the Daily Telegraph, sadly since corrected, is the description
of shelves which "grown with academic tomes".

English spelling is wholly irregular and random.  Right?

Wrong.

It is often claimed that English spelling is impossible (or at least very difficult) to learn.  For
example:

"English spelling is probably the most irregular spelling system of all those based on the
alphabetic system.  Not only can't you tell how to spell a word from hearing it spoken, you can't
predict how a word is spoken from the written word either." – The English Spelling Society

In fact, there are clear connections between how a word is pronounced and its spelling despite
the fact, which is not arguable, that there are numerous exceptions.  Here's a short list:

Long and short vowels

1. short vowels only usually require a single letter: bit, bat, sit, hat, kit, cut and so on.
2. long vowels are represented in two ways:

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 1. by inserting a vowel after the consonant: bite, bate, site, hate, kite, cute and so
on.  This is the Vowel-Consonant-Vowel (VCV) principle.
2. by inserting a second vowel before the consonant: beat, boat, heat etc.  This is the
VVC principle.

Consonant doubling

1. consonant doubling often occurs in an effort to 'protect' the short vowel sound.
If the consonant were not doubled in hatter, for example, the word would be pronounced
as hater (because the VCV pattern would compel it) and the same goes for very many
other words or word pairs such as diner-dinner, taper-tapper, cuter-cutter, fate, fatter,
later-latter etc.  This is the VCCV principle.
2. the consonant is doubled when adding an -ed or -ing ending only if the stress is on the
second syllable: befit-befitting, remit-remitting but offer-offering etc.
3. regardless of stress, British English doubles the consonant if it is 'p' or 'l'.  American
English does not.

Spelling the /k/ sound

the /k/ sound (as in, e.g., click, black, corn, bacon etc.) also obeys principles:

1. single 'c' is the most common (and the way to bet) and can occur anywhere: actor, cactus,
cart, because etc.
2. doubling of the 'c' follows the same principle as any other consonant doubling: it protects
the short vowel.  So we have tobacco, Mecca etc.
3. if the /k/ sound is followed by 'e', 'i' or 'y', 'k' is used instead of 'c': make, sketch, token,
sake, slinky, skin etc.
4. 'ck' similarly replaces 'cc' if it is followed by 'e', 'i' or 'y': panicky, tarmacked etc.
5. 'ck' always follows a short vowel: luck, duck, back, fickle etc.
6. 'k' follows any other vowel or consonant: soak, coke, musk, lark etc.
7. /kw/ is always spelled 'qu': queen, quince, equine etc.

Spelling the /dʒ/ sound

1. if the sound is followed by 'a', 'o' or 'u', the letter 'j' is preferred: injure, just, jangle,
jumble etc.
2. if the sound is followed by 'e', 'i' or 'y', the letter 'g' is preferred: aged, ginger, gauge,
original, mangy etc.
3. 'j' cannot be doubled (to protect a short vowel, again) so 'dg' is used instead: judged,
budgerigar

'v'
no English words end in 'v' so we always have a following 'e': thieve, save, have etc.

Endings

1. words ending in 'y'

1. if you add an 's', the 'y' changes to 'ie': worry-worries, cry-cries etc.
2. words ending in 'ey' usually do not change when an 's' or 'd' is added: valley-
valleys, player-players-played etc.  (But lay-laid, say-said etc.)
3. 'y' does not change when it's followed by 'i': dry-drying, cry-crying, spy-spying
etc.
2. words ending in 'e'
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 1. words ending in consonant + 'e' drop the 'e' when adding anything beginning with
a vowel: love-loving, response-responsible etc.  (But, in this case, the long vowel
is often protected by retaining the 'e': likeable, mileage etc.)
2. the soft 'c' (/s/) and 'g' (/dʒ/) sounds also mean that the 'e' is retained: manage-
manageable, outrage-outrageous etc.
3. words ending in 'ie' change to 'y': die-dying, lie-lying
4. words ending in 'ue' drop the 'e': argue-argument, true-truly
5. words ending in 's', 'z', 'x', 'ch' or 'sh' take 'es': watch-watches, match-matches, fizz-fizzes,
fix-fixes, bush-bushes, bus-buses etc.

Teaching the rules

You can't of course, teach all the rules listed here at one go.  Many would say that learning
English spelling rules is actually impossible, and unnecessary because people will pick up the
patterns by exposure.  That's certainly arguable and it is clear that the more exposure people have
to examples of the patterns, the more likely they are to absorb them.
It is, however, worth taking each of the regular patterns, one at a time, and focusing 20 minutes
or so on them now and again (weekly, perhaps).
Spelling rules lend themselves to light-hearted games, races and competitions in the classroom
because they have Right/Wrong answers.

Homophones
As we saw, not even the BBC is immune to the homophone trap.  Many native speakers trip up
in this area.
If you'd like a list of a couple of hundred common ones, click here.
It is helpful, then, to look through the language you are presenting just to see if there are any
homophone traps the authors or you have fallen into.
It is, however, not worth focusing on them because that can confuse as much as it enlightens.

There are, however, a set of homophones in English on which it is worth focusing.  In the
following, can you detect the problem to describe in the right-hand column?  Click on the table
when you have a few notes.

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English spelling: the good news
OK, so spelling in English is tough because a) there are lots of confusing rules and b) even when
you have mastered the rules, there's always an exception.  If you look back at the list above, you
can probably find an exception to every single rule.
English spelling is something of a mess because of its history:

 Early printers were often not native speakers of English, even in England, and the
influence of Dutch (their first language, frequently) is seen in, e.g., the insertion of the 'h'
in ghost.  (Even Caxton, the first well known English printer, had spent 30 years outside
the country and his grasp of English writing was shaky.)
 English has a higher proportion than most languages of what are called 'loan words' (i.e.,
words imported from other languages).  This means that spelling in English sometimes
follows the conventions of Scandinavian languages, French, Latin or Greek among
others.  Words may retain their spelling but the pronunciation is often Anglicised so the
mismatch between spelling and pronunciation arises.  The notoriously varied
pronunciation of ough (cough, rough, thought, plough, through etc.) is a product of this
sort of confusion.
 English does not have a regulating authority to rule on correct spelling or even introduce
reforms.  French and Spanish have and many other languages, German, Portuguese,
Norwegian etc. have undergone repeated reforms to try to simplify and codify the
spelling of words (often in the teeth of considerable opposition).
 English is spoken as a first or second language by around 800 million people and it is an
official language in around 60 countries.  There are small but significant differences in
spelling around the world.  It is not only a difference between British and American
spellings, either.  Canadian English, for example, generally prefers color to colour but
retains the British centre instead of the American center.  Indian English usually prefers
to follow British spelling conventions as does Australian English (at least nowadays)
despite Australia using an American computer keyboard layout, by the way.

One possible advantage of having a rather odd spelling system is that meaning can often be
inferred from spelling.  For example, in English, these three words are pronounced the same
(they are homophones):

rite, write, right

But, because of the different spellings we can easily see which are connected to the following
words and if we know the base word, we can have a good stab at inferring the meaning of the
others:

written, ritual, rightness, rights, writing, rites, righteous

The term for this is a morpho-phonemic writing system.  Spelling and meaning are connected, in
other words.
Reforming English spelling would probably mean that this handy reference would disappear and
all three words would probably be spelled rite.
That, many argue, would be a loss.  English, they point out, is not meant to have a phonetic
spelling system.

So, next time your students despair of being able to spell correctly, it may be worth pointing this
out.
219
Another thing to point out to despairing learners is that native speakers also have trouble.  We
often see, for example, dessicate, acommodation (or accomodation), embarass, wierd, definately
and so on.
You, of course, can correct all those.

Diacritics

The term diacritic refers to the accent marks which exist in many languages and show a
difference in pronunciation (or used to).
Modern English retains the use of some accent marks on imported words, almost always those
from French, but it is often a matter of personal taste.  Using role instead of rôle is common and
hôtel is almost never seen, for example.
When there is a possibility of ambiguity, the convention is to retain the accent markers (so we
have résumé and resume).  The accent is generally retained on café and on vis-à-vis, however,
when no ambiguity is avoided.
Loan words from other languages usually get stripped of their diacritics, although über from
German is seen alongside uber.  The words doppelganger and doppelgänger are in free variation
and English usually removes the capital letter obligatory in German on all nouns.  The Turkish
döner kebap is almost always spelled as doner kebab in English.

There's no test on all this but there are plenty of spelling tests to be had on line (with a good one
at http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/spelling-challenge/) and two on this site.  One for B1/B2-
level learners, here, and another for A1/A2-level learners here.

References:
BBC News: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30492348 [accessed 17/12/2014]
Chalker, S, 1987, Current English Grammar, London: Macmillan
Daily Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/archaeology/11303127/
Stonehenge-discovery-could-rewrite-British-pre-history.html [accessed 21/12/2014]
Oxford dictionaries on line: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/spelling-challenge/ [accessed
17/12/2014]
The English Spelling Society: http://www.spellingsociety.org/ [accessed 17/12/2014]

220
Adjectives: the essentials
...Definition

An adjective is usually defined something like

a word grammatically attached to a noun to modify or describe it

Easy question:
Spot the adjectives in these examples:

1. The tall trees bent in the fierce winds.

2. He finally came along half an hour late for the first meeting.
3. The green-jacketed, first-form students looked nervous.
4. The audience was fascinated by the short lecture.
5. The policeman involved in the nasty incident was quite upset.
6. The small, green sports car was thoroughly washed and polished till it shone as bright as
a new pin.

Click here when you have answers.

The adjectives are highlighted in black in the following:

1. The tall trees bent in the fierce winds.

2. He finally came along half an hour late for the first meeting.
3. The green-jacketed, first-form students looked nervous.
4. The audience was fascinated by the short lecture.
5. The policeman involved in the nasty incident was quite upset.
6. The small, green sports car was thoroughly washed and polished till it shone as bright as
a new pin.

Some are easier to identify than others, aren't they?  Here are some comments:

1. Adjectives in English usually come before the noun they modify.  We can see this with
tall trees, fierce winds, first meeting, green-jacketed, first-form students, short lecture,
nasty incident, small, green sports car and new pin.
This use of adjectives is called attributive.
Some adjectives are only used attributively.  Examples are entire, complete, perfect,
outright, pure.  We can't say *The truth was pure etc.
2. In sentences 3., 4. and 5., however, we have the alternative adjective position: looked
nervous, was fascinated, was quite upset.  Here the adjectives follow the noun they
modify and are connected to it either by the verb be or by another verb which works in
the same way.  These are called, incidentally, copula verbs and one of their functions is
to connect a noun with its adjective.  Others copula verbs include seem, appear, smell,
taste, become.  There's a guide to copula verbs on this site.
This use of adjectives is called predicative.
Some adjectives can only be used predicatively.  Examples are asleep, awake, alive, alert
etc.  They start with a-.  We can't say *The asleep dog, for example.

221
There is one oddball in the examples: the policeman involved.  A few adjectives in English
always follow the noun and they include involved, concerned, proper, elect and some others. 
They need not concern us here.

Did you identify any of the following as adjectives: finally, quite, thoroughly, washed, polished,
bright?

If you did:

1. Note that a word which modifies a verb as in finally came and thoroughly washed (i.e.,
which tell us how something was done) are adverbs, not adjectives.
2. The other issue is that we can't tell an adjective just by looking at its form.  We need to
know what it is doing in the sentence.  The words washed and polished are certainly used
as adjectives as in, e.g., the newly washed carpet or the polished glassware, but in this
case they are simply verbs (past participle forms, in fact).
Also, the word bright is often an adjective (as in, e.g., the bright sun, the bright student
etc.) but in this case, the word tells us how the car shone so it is an adverb, not an
adjective.  Many people would prefer brightly here but the use of an adjective form as an
adverb is actually quite common informally.

Tests for adjectives

There are two simple tests for adjectives:

1. We can make comparatives either by adding -er or -est or by putting more / most before
them
2. We can modify them with the adverb very

Try these tests with the adjectives we have encountered so far.  What do you notice?
Click here when you have done that.

1. We can have: taller, fiercer, more nervous, more fascinated, shorter, nastier, more upset,
smaller, greener and newer.
However, we can't have *firster, *more green-jacketed, *more first-form, *more sports.
The reason is twofold:
1. Some adjectives simply cannot be made more or less: you are either first or you
aren't, something is either impossible or it isn't.  Such adjectives are called
ungradable.
2. The second reason is that some adjectives tell us what class of thing we are
dealing with.  For example, French cheese tells us what sort of cheese we are
talking about, sports car tells us what sort of car it is.  These are called classifiers
and cannot be modified this way.  An adjective which is not a classifier is called
an epithet.
2. We can also have very tall, very fierce, very nervous, very upset, very new and so on. 
There's some argument whether we can have very first in this sense, because very means
truly here, or very fascinated because fascinated is usually considered too strong a word
to be modified by very.  Compare it with very amazing, very dreadful, very astounding
etc.  These adjectives, sometimes called extreme, are not usually gradable with very (we
prefer adverbs such as completely, totally, extremely etc. to modify them).  See the guide

222
 to gradability for more.
We can't have *very green-jacketed, *very first-form etc. because these are ungradable
adjectives or classifiers.  A car can't be *a very sports car.

There are a number of other tests for adjectives.  For more, see the more advanced guide to this
area.

  Comparing adjectives

Adjectives can be made comparative or superlative.  The former are constructions like the better
person and the latter single out one as the highest form, e.g., the best person.  The rules for how
we do this apply to both.

English has two ways to compare adjectives:

1. We can add -er or -est to the end of the adjective (dropping an 'e' or changing 'y' to 'i'
where we need to).  This is called inflection.
2. We can add more or most before the adjective.  This is called a periphrastic form.

Try modifying the adjectives here and work out what the rules are.  Click on the table when you
have the answer.  The following focuses on the comparative form but the superlatives follow the
same rules.

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There are some irregular ones (as in most languages) including, e.g., far-further/farther, good-
better-best, bad-worse-worst etc. and there's a bit more to it than that but this is the simplest
explanation.

Ordering adjectives
Many books for students delight in giving complex and elaborate rules for why we say small,
brown house not brown, small house or tall citrus trees not citrus tall trees or rude English
tourists not English rude tourists or even ugly, fat, porcelain, Chinese vases rather than
porcelain, Chinese, fat, ugly vases.  But actually the general rule is quite simple.  Any ideas? 
Click when you have some.

1. Classifiers like, English, Chinese and citrus go closest to the noun.  Some classifiers are
inseparable from the noun, e.g., schoolboys..  They form a compound.
2. Adjectives which are ungradable (i.e., cannot be more or less so) come next.  The
example here is porcelain.  Something is either porcelain or it isn't.  Often these relate to
the material something is made of.
3. Adjectives which are gradable but not very arguable come next.  The examples here are
fat, tall and rude.
4. Adjectives which are a matter of opinion come furthest from the noun.  The example here
is ugly (and probably, rude)).

The simple way to present this is on a cline, like this:

224
Adjectives
Easy questions:
What's an adjective?
Can you tell a word is an adjective by looking at it and seeing how it behaves?
Can you give a brief definition of 'adjective'?
Click here when you have answers.

Usually people's definitions include something like 'a word which modifies or defines a noun'. 
That, as we shall see, is only half right.
Others may have come up with some (or all) of the following tests for an adjective:

1. Adjectives occur after the verb 'to be'

so we get, e.g., He is young
2. Adjectives come after articles and before nouns
so we get, e.g., the new car
3. Adjectives can be modified with the adverb 'very'
so we get, e.g., very nice, very interesting
4. Adjectives can occur in the comparative and superlative by adding er / -est to the end or by
using more / most before them
so we get, e.g., nicer and most pleasant
5. Adjectives form adverbs with the addition of -ly
so we get, e.g., nice - nicely, stupid - stupidly

You may already have spotted that there are problems with all of these definitions.  Mentally put
a tick in the following grid if the word conforms to the tests above (A to E).

Click on the grid to see the answers.

As you can see, only 'happy' actually conforms to all the tests for adjectiveness.  We can have: he
is happy, a happy man, a very happy man, the happiest man, he spoke happily.  However, as we
go down the list some of the tests fail.  We can't have *oldly (but all the others work).  We can't
say *toppest (but we can have he is top, the top student and, cheating a bit, the very top).  We can
say he is two and the two students but we can't have *the asleep man and, of course, want isn't an
adjective at all.

225
Adjectives and Syntax
Stative or Dynamic?

Most adjectives are stative.  I.e., they refer to a state in being or a condition, for example, the
milk smells sour, the tall girl, the blue window etc.
There are two consequences:

1. They are not used with progressive tenses: we cannot have *the milk is smelling sour or
*the girl is being tall.
2. They are not used with imperatives: we cannot have *Be tall, for example.

A limited number of adjectives are, however, also used in dynamic ways.  They describe a
quality which can be varied by the noun it refers to and is open to subjective rating.  The nouns
with which they collocate are generally animate because we do not perceive inanimate objects
acting on themselves.  Occasionally, inanimate subjects may be used but generally as something
called a pathetic fallacy.  An example is the weather is being disruptive.  The list will, therefore,
include many adjectives which describe personality or behaviour.
The following are used dynamically but the list is not exhaustive.

mysteri
agreeabl good
cruel ous silly
e gratefu
disruptiv nice suspicio
angry l
e obedien us
awkwar grump
eager t thoughtl
d y
embarras obnoxio ess
bewilde happy
sed us uptight
red helpful
faithful patient vacuous
brave impati
fierce proud vain
calm ent
foolish repulsiv witty
careful jealous
friendly e worried
clever kind
gentle rude zealous
clumsy lazy
shy

Notes:
Not all of these can conventionally be used with the progressive form of the verb.
We can have He is being obedient and Be obedient! but not, arguably He is being grateful
although Be grateful! is acceptable in a way that *Be fat! is not.
We can also have Don't be bewildered! but not *She is being bewildered.  We can have Don't be
suspicious! but not, of course, *Be suspicious! or *They are being suspicious.
Some of these, mostly the negative ones, only allow a negative imperative: jealous, obnoxious
etc.

226
Predicative or Attributive?

An attributive adjective pre-modifies the noun it describes.  E.g., the lovely picture
A predicative adjective follows the noun (after a verb) and can be either a subject complement
(he is angry) or an object complement (you made him angry).  Note that the verb used with
subject-complement predicative adjectives need not be to be; it can be any of a number of copula
verbs such as seem, sound, appear, feel, look (like) etc.  (For more, see the guide to copula verbs
on this site.)
Predicative adjectives can refer to a clause (what you want is impossible, learning English is
quite easy, she thought what I said idiotic).  So, no, they don't always modify nouns.

Adjectives only used predicatively

These include mostly those beginning in a, such as afraid, afloat, awake, asleep, alive, alone,
ashamed, averse, aware etc.
When adjectives are used dynamically, predicative position is used.

Adjectives only used attributively

The most common of these are main, entire, complete, perfect, outright, pure, only, same,
precise and utter.  We can't use them predicatively – try it with the main reason or the utter
madman.
However, in some meanings, some can be used predicatively: compare his work was complete
with he is a complete fool.  Compare, too, the measurement was precise and the precise reason. 
When used as intensifiers or limiters, the adjectives can't be predicative.  See the guide to
intensifying adjectives for more.

Old and New

Note the use of old and new in, e.g., my old friend, a new acquaintance (and the difference
between those and my friend is old and the student is new).  This is because the adjective is not
referring directly to the friend or acquaintance but to the friendship and acquaintanceship.  It's
called a non-inherent adjective.

Adjectives derived from nouns

These adjectives are called denominal.  Some can only be used attributively so we have the civil
law (not the law is civil) and a medical school etc.  A few, such as concrete can occur in both
positions.

Attributive adjective position

Attributive adjectives in English usually come before the noun but there are exceptions (called
postpositive adjectives):

1. After words ending in -one, -thing and -body we always have postpositive adjectives.  So
we have, anything useful, somebody nice, anyone present etc.  The same occurs with
those, e.g., those accountable.
2. There are a couple of adjectives which usually follow the noun.  E.g., the chairperson
elect, the holiday proper.
3. Some compounds (often old-fashioned or rare ones) also show this word order.  E.g.,
court martial, heir apparent, attorney general, princess royal.

227
 4. A few adjectives conventionally follow the noun: the people involved, the police officer
concerned, the students present, the people absent.  It may be helpful to consider these
as examples of reduced relative clauses, the people [who were] involved, the police
officer [who was] concerned (spot the possible ambiguity) etc.
5. Two adjectives – aplenty and galore – always follow the noun.  (The latter, perhaps,
because that's the conventional ordering in Irish, whence the word comes.)

Modification with too, enough and so

Notice you can have If the learners are hard working enough, they will pass (that's a normal
predicative use) but when used attributively, it's not possible to include enough.  You can't have
*Hard-working enough learners.
Similarly, you can't have *a so stupid man or *a too easy game but the man was so stupid and
the game was too easy.

Adjectives as nouns

English allows adjectives to act as nouns (with the definite article usually) in expressions such as
the filthy rich, the wise, the extremely ill, the perfidious English etc. (with and without
modification).  Note, too, uses such as from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Nouns as adjectives

It is often tempting to imagine that something like a crime novel is an example of a noun acting
as an adjective.  In fact, both adjectives proper (note the postpositive use) and nouns can pre-
modify nouns without a magical change in word class.
Compare these:

Set 1 Set 2

the village pump a remote village

a brick wall a high wall

a love song a touching song

winter storms freezing weather

Set 1 comprises nouns used as modifiers of other nouns.  Set 2 comprises adjectives modifying
nouns.  How do you tell?  Think for a minute and then click here.

With Set 1 we can re-phrase all four like this:

the village pump the pump in / of the village

a brick wall a wall made of brick

a love song a song about love

228
winter storms storms (typical) of winter

It is not possible to do that with Set 2 because we aren't dealing with noun modifiers but true
adjectives.  What we can do is make them predicative and modify them, like this:

a remote village the village is (very) remote

a high wall the wall is (very) high

a touching song the song is (very) touching

freezing weather the weather is (really) freezing

And that's something you can't do with modifying nouns.

epithets and classifiers

One more thing:
When nouns are used adjectivally, they are normally classifiers.  The difference between a
classifier and an adjective proper (an epithet) is that classifiers can't normally be modified with
very or something like absolutely.  You can't have, e.g., *a very village pump, *a very brick wall
etc.  There's a bit more about this in the guide to modification.
We noted above under denominal adjectives, that a word such as concrete can be used both
predicatively and attributively and this indicates that it is sometimes difficult (but rarely
necessary) to distinguish between a denominal adjective and a noun modifier.

Participle adjectives

Language has an irritating habit of shifting about when you are trying to analyse it.  The area of
participle adjectives is just one example.  There is a short section on participles elsewhere on this
site.
Sometimes, the adjective retains a use or a form which the verb has lost.  For example:

The past participle of drunk is no

longer drunken but the form is
a drunken party
maintained in the adjective (compare
sunken)

Is this a passive verb form or an

he was offended adjective?  Can we say He was very
by my father offended by my father?  Yes?  Then it's
an adjective.  No?  Then it's a passive.

the manager Meaning 1: he felt relief (relieved must

was relieved be an adjective and we can use very
229
 before it)
Meaning 2: the manager was replaced
by someone else (relieved is the verb;
it's not possible to insert very)

the players
If this is a participle, what's the present
were not
tense of the verb?
downhearted

This is a participle adjective but it can't

the escaped
be used predicatively: *The leopard is
leopard
escaped

Adjective order

When there is more than one adjective modifying a noun, there is a conventional ordering. 
Much tosh is devoted to this area, not least in course books (possibly because it's easier to write
exercises for the area than to demonstrate its communicative value).
Insert these adjectives into the gap in this sentence between the and lorry: Greek, huge, old,
shabby, green, Volvo
The _________________________________________ lorry was parked outside.
Click here when you have done that.

You probably have something like:

The huge, old, green, shabby, Greek, Volvo lorry was parked outside.
but you also might have:
The huge, green, shabby, old, Greek, Volvo lorry was parked outside.
You will, for example, come across admonitions to make the order:
Opinion then Size then Age then Shape then Colour then Origin then Material then Purpose.  We
end up with
The idiotic, tiny, old, square, red, English, brick, rented cottage.
There are four problems with this kind of analysis:

1. It doesn't work.  It is just what's conventional and speakers/writers will vary the order
for effect or according to simple personal preference.
Would you say a green, circular blob or a circular, green blob?  Does it actually matter?
2. It ignores the difference between classifiers and epithets.
3. It is quite rare to have more than two or three attributive adjectives.  When more
description is needed, style dictates a combination so we avoid things like
The interesting, huge, old, blue pot.
preferring something like
I thought the huge, blue pot was interesting and it was obviously old.
or
The interesting old pot had a blue glaze and was huge.
4. Nobody is going to remember the rules for eight types of adjectives, of course, so we
need a general rule for guidance in the area rather than trying to teach our students to
recall the order of the eight attributes.  Here's one:

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 Put adjectives before nouns according to the cline between subjective and variable to
objective and fixed characteristics.  Like this:

idiotic tiny old square/red English brick

these two
invariable
can be
and
this is a reversed
subjective a relative invariable ungradable:
relative and are
judgements term but but it's either
term: a tiny only slightly
usually not quite gradable: metal or it
house is variable: it
precede so more isn't
still huge is just
other variable French is this is a
compared possible to
adjectives as size possible classifier,
to a virus say more
not an
square or
epithet
reddish

We saw above when considering nouns modifying other nouns that nouns normally function as
classifiers rather than adjectives proper.  Note here, too, that classifiers always come
immediately before the noun they modify.
In this scheme, learners only have to think about whether one adjective is more subjective or
more variable (gradable) than another so, e.g.:
Put open-minded before tall before French + woman
Put fascinating before short before science-fiction + story.
That can be taught in a single lesson at B1 / B2 level so you can skip the unit in the course book
and move on to more important matters such as attributive and predicative adjective use or
any of the other areas covered in this guide.

Comparative and superlative forms

It is often said that adjectives with two syllables or fewer take -er and -est but longer adjectives
must use more and most.  (The first of these is called inflection; the second is called the
periphrastic form.)  So we have, big-bigger, old-older, ancient-more ancient, enthusiastic-most
enthusiastic etc.  That's only partly true and it is possible to use periphrastic forms with all
adjectives, especially when use predicatively.
There's even more to it, however, particularly concerning two-syllable (disyllabic) adjectives.  If
the sound at the end of the adjective is an unstressed vowel, /l/ or /ə(r)/, then the inflectional
change is most common:
noisier, wealthier, chubbier, narrower, gentler, subtler, cleverer, maturer etc.  To this list we
can add some common disyllabic ones such as common, quiet etc.
With other disyllabic adjectives the periphrastic form is preferred:
more basic, most comic, more pot-bound, most hated etc.
Note that no participle adjectives, however long or short, inflect (we always have the periphrastic
more tiring and most bored, not *tiringer or *boredest).
It's also worth focusing your learners on the fact that the syllabic '-le' ending (/əl/) on words like
simple changes to a non-syllabic /l/ when used in the comparative or superlative form.
Oddballs
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There's a group of common adjectives which form comparative and superlative forms from
different roots:
good-better-best, bad-worse-worst, far-further/farther-furthest/farthest.
Note, too, that the form of older commonly used in family relationships, elder-eldest, can only
be used attributively (although it can be nominalised as the elder/eldest).  Note, too, that older
than is preferred to *elder than.

232
Nouns
Identifying nouns
That's easy.  Nouns are names of things, aren't they?  Well, yes and no.  Which of the following
would you classify as a noun?  Click on the table when you have an answer.

1. All of the above bar the word cultural can be nouns.

2. Some can also function as verbs (he is painting, Smile!, I wanted to capture it alive, it
punctured the tyre, he's tabling a motion etc.).
3. Form is not a reliable guide.  Although there are a number of suffixes which denote a
noun (-ity, -ness, -ment-, -tion, -hood), there are others whose function is less obvious
(wishful, vs. handful, -ure and -al endings, e.g., leisure, investiture, chemical,
pharmaceutical etc.).
In addition, not all nouns inflect for their plurals and some have no plural forms.
4. The only reliable guide to identifying nouns is not by looking at them; it's by seeing what
they do.

How nouns function

Here are some nouns being nouns.  Can you identify the grammatical function of each word in
black?  Click here when you have done that.

1. How do you feel about it, Mary?

2. That's John, the boss.
3. It looks like a crab.
4. The inspector is arriving tomorrow.
233
 5. She is inspecting the organisation.
6. The animal is a crab.
7. Who gave the children the food?
8. I brought it for the staff.
9. The window catch is broken.

1. Here, the Proper noun, Mary, is functioning as the addressee.  It's a vocative use
normally only applied to people or animals but can be applied to other nouns although
few of us spend any time addressing inanimate objects or abstract concepts.
2. Here we have a noun in apposition.  Functionally, John and the boss are the same thing.
3. Here the noun a crab is the object complement of the copula verb look like (the most
common copula verb is, of course, be).
4. In this, the inspector is the subject of verb arrive.
5. Here, the organisation is the direct object of the verb inspect.
6. Here the animal is the subject complement of the copula verb be.
7. In this, the children is the indirect object of the verb give.
8. In this, the staff is the complement of the preposition at forming a prepositional phrase.
9. The word window here is acting as a classifier and tells us what sort of catch it is.  Note
that it is not an adjective here.  The distinction between a phrase including a noun
classifier and a compound noun is fuzzy.

In summary, to identify a noun we need to look at what it does in the sentence and where it
comes.  If a word is performing any of the above functions, the way to bet is that it's a noun or
noun phrase of some kind.

Classifying nouns
You may have learned at some time that there are three sorts of nouns.  That's a traditional way
to divide them, like this:

1. Common nouns
1. abstract (such as love, happiness, envy etc.)
2. concrete (such as table, computer, paper etc.)
2. Proper nouns (such as Birmingham, Peter, The Labour Party etc.)
3. Collective nouns (such as army, flock, committee etc.)

This is a classification now considered somewhat out of date and unreliable.  Can you think
why?  Click here when you have an answer.

1. The distinction between abstract and concrete nouns is not sustainable.  It's clear that
happiness does imply an intangible abstract quality but what about a word like smile?  Is
that an abstract or concrete thing?
2. Nouns can slip between categories such as these.
1. The noun love may be an abstract in some cases (All we need is love) but in other
cases, the word is clearly a concrete (He is one of the loves of her life).
2. The noun Jones is clearly a proper noun in, e.g., Ask Jones to do it but can be a
concrete common noun in Ask the Jones who works in accounts to do it.
234
 3. The noun Russia is a proper noun but the noun Russian behaves just like a
common noun.

A more modern classification

Most grammars these days classify nouns into four main categories.  Like this:

There are two examples of each type in this list.  Click here when you have sorted them into the
4 main categories.

1. The crew mutinied.

2. Do you take milk?
3. She climbed Mount Snowdon in the winter.
4. The sheep are coming down the hillside.
5. He moved the pictures downstairs.
6. I've never been to Amsterdam.
7. The majority were in favour.
8. We keep the china over there.

Answers:
1 and 7 are collective nouns.
2 and 8 are mass nouns.
3 and 6 are proper nouns.
4 and 5 are count nouns.

Some things to notice:

Count nouns

This is the largest category in English and includes many so-called concrete nouns for
people and things: child, girl, chair, house, day, pound, piece, part, bit etc.
235
 There is a small group of these which have irregular plurals, usually either taken from
the language from which they come or from older forms of English: children, data, foci,
oxen, mice etc.
A subset of the irregular plurals contains those which have no plural form at all.  Often
these are the names of animals (sheep, trout, deer etc.).
Some count nouns occur only in the plural, marked with 's' or not: cattle, people,
vermin, glasses, binoculars, scales, jeans, belongings, clothes, surroundings, for
example.  You may see such nouns described as uncountable or mass nouns.  They are
not.  Grammatically, they are followed by a plural verb so, while the use of some may be
slightly irregular, they are not mass nouns.
Some count nouns also appear in different senses as mass nouns: made of wood vs.
cycling through the woods, some cloths to wipe it with vs. cloth is not expensive etc.

Mass nouns

This is the next largest category and includes many nouns to denote abstract qualities
(anger, happiness, significance etc.) substances (silver, iron etc.), nouns formed from
verbs (training, teaching, running etc.) and most infectious diseases (malaria, flu, pox
etc.).
English has many mass nouns which, in most other languages, where such differences
exist, are count nouns.  These include advice, information, furniture, accommodation,
machinery, money and many more.
Mass nouns can sometimes be pluralised in special senses: the waters of the Thames,
the wines of France, the peoples of the Americas etc.

Proper nouns

Persons: Dr Jekyll, Mr Hyde, Uncle Tom, Mother Nature etc.

Positions: The President, The Pope, The Queen etc.
Geographical entities and buildings: Britain, Germany, Margate, London, Lake Victoria,
Jamaica, The Thames, The Suez Canal, Baker Street, St Paul's Cathedral, The Tate Gallery
etc.
Note that the use or not of the article is irregular.  It is:

almost always used with:

    rivers, positions, mountain ranges and canals
almost never used with
    lakes, countries, islands, streets and cities
variably used with
    buildings and mountains
Some proper nouns are used as collectives: The Department of State has demanded, The
Home Office has decided etc.

Collective nouns

236
 This is actually quite a small group including nouns like army, navy, crew, staff,
committee etc.
In British English these grammatically singular nouns are often used with plural verbs:
The crew are mutinous, the committee are undecided, the jury is unanimous.  The use of
the verb often depends on how the speaker views the entity.  In US usage a singular
verb form is preferred.

A summary of count and mass nouns (for your classroom wall?):

(The terms countable and uncountable nouns are sometimes used for the two categories above. 
While this may be helpful for some purposes, the terms are misleading.  For example, money is a
mass noun we can count and almost all mass nouns can be made count nouns by the use of a
partitive (a slice of cake, a bit of cheese, a piece of information, three quarters of the loaf of
bread) or measures (a pound of sugar, a pint of ale, a kilo of oil).  As we shall see below, the
determiner and article systems for mass and count nouns are also different so it is a distortion to
describe mass nouns as singular.
By the same token, it is arguably advisable to tell our learners about count and mass uses rather
than count and mass nouns because, as we see above, that's nearer the truth of the matter.  We
should be careful not to mislead.)

Determiners and articles

When you are teaching in this area, you need to be alert to the ways in which we use determiners
and articles with nouns.  Here's a guide.

Noun
Determiners Articles Concord
category

Singular Zero article is not possible: a/an or

one, each, every, any, this,
count the must be used if no other singular verb form
that
nouns determiner is present.

237
Plural Zero article is possible.
many, some, several,
count a/an is not possible. plural verb form
these, those, a couple of
nouns the is possible.

Zero article is possible.

Mass much, little, less, more,
a/an is not possible. singular verb form
nouns this, that
the is possible.

plural or singular verb

Collective As for count nouns As for count nouns (singular or forms in British English
nouns (singular or plural) plural) singular verb form in
US English

singular verb forms

No determiners are used the may occasionally be used in
but plural for:
except when the rare plurals (e.g., dinner with
Proper mountain ranges,
distinguishing (e.g., this The Windsors).  It is also used for
nouns plural countries (The
Mr Smith, that River plural countries and mountain
Netherlands, The
Stour) ranges.
United States etc.)

For more, go to the guide to determiners.

Idiomatic uses

While there are certainly some irregularities and idiomatic uses of nouns with their articles and
determiners much can be explained more usefully and rationally as count nouns being used as
mass nouns.  The easy fall-back position taken in too many grammars written for learners and
some course books is that these uses are 'exceptions' which must be learned individually.  They
are not.
What they actually are is count nouns being conceptualised for the nature of the underlying
meaning rather than their number and used, therefore, in the same way as mass nouns.  We may
have two feet and two hands but we come to work on foot and make things by hand.  Other
examples include:
go to / be in: bed / church / university / school / hospital / court / prison etc.
travel / arrive / come by: bus / plane / car / air / bicycle / sea / ship etc.
by night / day, at dawn / sunset, in summer / autumn / winter / spring etc.

For more in related areas try the guides to:

concord for more about verb forms with nouns in English

articles for an overview of the article system and some ways to teach it

determiners for an expansion of the table above regarding these modifiers

modification to see how noun phrases are constructed and get some ideas about how to teach them

238
Punctuation

The following assumes some familiarity with terms like 'adverbial', the nature of relative clauses
and the differences between epithet adjectives and classifiers.
Most of it will, however, be accessible without that knowledge and there are links to take you to
the relevant guides.

Other languages
As usual, languages differ and punctuation conventions are very variable.

European languages
Most of these use the same marks as English but conventions vary considerably.  For
example, the usual double quotation marks in English ("text") appear in French as « text
» and in German as „text” or «text».  Greek uses ';' as English uses '?' (using a raised
point (·) as a colon or semi-colon) and Spanish demands an inverted sign before
exclamations and questions (¡ Text !, ¿ text ?  Note, too, how spacing varies with some
languages inserting a space before or after marks (notably French and Spanish).
Chinese languages
Modern written Chinese uses a range of marks imported from Europe including the
comma, semi-colon, colon, exclamation and question mark.  It also has some non-
European marks derived from older forms including different form of quotation marks, a
different form of the comma when used in lists as well as wavy underlines and separate
symbols for titles.  The form of the full stop is a small hollow circle.  It's complicated.
Japanese
is somewhat similar to Chinese in using a range of punctuation derived from Europe but
also some of its own (especially the use of brackets).  The form of the full stop is a small
hollow circle and the language also employs a middle dot to separate words.
Korean
also has a range of home-grown marks as well as using European conventions.  These
include the middle dot to separate items in a list and some different forms of quotation
brackets.
Thai
uses a range of marks: a separation indicator, an abbreviation indicator, marks which
show the beginning of a paragraph or the end of a story and so on.
Arabic
Modern Arabic now uses a reversed comma and reversed question mark.
Turkish
uses a range of punctuation similar to European uses.
Mathematics
Most languages, other than English, vary in their use of the comma for numeral.  In
English, the comma is used to separate thousands etc. as in 10,987,005 and the point to
separate decimals as in 10.987005.  In most languages, that would be 10.987.005 and
10,987005 respectively.
The ~ mark is commonly used in languages other than English to show a range 8 ~ 15,
for example, where English uses 8 - 15 or 8–15.
239
English punctuation
In English, punctuation has sometimes been compared to intonation written down but that's not
very accurate as we shall see.  Originally, however, punctuation was developed by printers to
guide the reading aloud of texts, especially bibles.  Conventions which arose from that source are
still evident but modern English punctuation use owes more to grammatical than phonological
influences.

Punctuation has two functions:

1. Separation
Some marks are used to separate units of language.  The full stop, the comma and the
colon are examples.  The separation can occur:
1. Between units: for example, we use a full stop or a semi-colon to separate discrete
sentences or clauses.  So we get, e.g., The sun was shining.  The overnight rain
had stopped or The weather was lovely; the rain had stopped.
2. Within units: for example, we use the comma to separate out a smaller unit inside
a larger one.  So we get, e.g., The rain, or what was left of it, finally stopped.
2. Specification
Some marks specify the function of language.  The most obvious examples are question
and exclamation marks but also included would be the apostrophe because that is used to
show the function of the noun (possessive when used, plural when absent).

We'll consider the most common and troublesome marks one by one.

the comma

The comma is a separation mark but it differs fundamentally from the full stop, the colon and the
semi-colon.
What is that difference?  Click here when you have an answer.

The comma is used to separate parts of a sentence.  Usually, the colon, the semi-colon and a full
stop are used to separate units which can stand alone and be separated by a full stop.
For example:
She wanted to tell me the truth: Mary wasn't coming.
She wanted to tell me the truth; it wasn't going to be nice.
She wanted to tell me the truth.  I knew it wasn't going to be nice.
None of those sentences would be correct with the insertion of a comma.  Putting one in results
in a comma splice.  For more on that, see the answer about what comma splices are.
A comma, on the other hand, separates off sense units within sentences or clauses.

By some measures, there are nearly 20 different rules for how we use a comma in English, and
we'll deal with some in a minute.  We can summarise more easily when a comma is allowed.

 The sentence parts must be joined together.  For example:

The station itself was dark and deserted, but the station bar was warm and inviting. is
correct punctuation use (although the comma is not obligatory).
*The station itself was dark and deserted, the station bar was warm and inviting is
incorrect because there's a comma splice between two stand-alone clauses.
 The sentence parts must be grammatically similar.  It is possible, for example, to have
The station was deserted, and there was no one around to ask but not possible to use a
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 comma like this:
*The station was deserted, and the workers are sitting in the bar because the change of
number and tense makes two sentences conventional.
 We can't leave out verbs in the second part of the sentence and still use a comma so
The station appeared deserted, and filthy is not possible although The station appeared
deserted, and it looked uncared for and dirty is OK with or without the comma.
In the first sentence, leaving out the subject and the verb appear makes a comma
impossible.
 The parts of the sentence must be connected semantically (in terms of meaning).  A
sentence such as Victoria station appeared deserted, although it was raining in Tokyo is
nonsense.

rules of comma use

Note 1: the rules and conventions are different in different languages.  Many will demand a
comma between all potentially independent clauses.  So we get errors such as *I think, he's
crazy.
Note 2: the comma and the full stop are by far the most frequent punctuation marks in English. 
The comma, however, is the one which allows the most choice to the writer.  Many
(non-)insertions of commas are matters of personal preference.

adverbials
A comma is never wrong, although not always necessary, when an adverbial is placed at
the front of a sentence.
Later, they went to the party but not They went to the party, later
You'll see her if you come but (usually) If you come, you'll see her
It is almost always essential to put a comma into the sentence if the fronted adverbial
contains a non-finite verb form or no verb at all:
In order to be sure to meet her, he went to the party
Hoping to see her, he went to the party
In hope of an encounter, he went to the party
Disjuncts and conjuncts, wherever they occur within the clause, are separated by commas
conventionally:
It is, in my opinion, less than perfect
She has, however, come round to the idea
He will not change his mind, whatever you say
See the guide to adverbials for more.
There are times when it is necessary to separate off the adverbial, wherever it comes in
the sentence, to avoid confusion, too.  For example, remove the comma from this to see
what is meant.
He came to the party hoping to see her, dressed in a gorilla suit
relative clauses
If the part of the sentence you are considering can be separated off from the rest by
putting brackets around it, it is non-integral to the sense and/or is a non-defining relative
clause so commas should be used.  See the guide to relative clauses for more.
So we can have:
I met the doctor, who lives near me, in the pub vs. I met the doctor who lives near me in
the pub
In the first, the fact that the doctor lives near me is additional information; in the second,
it defined which doctor we mean.
in lists

241
 Lists of anything and of any length are separated by commas.  Two items may also be
connected with and with no comma involved.  If there are more than two items, the final
comma is optional.
She slowly, carefully opened the parcel
He took a long, deep drink
They went in, around and through the garden without meeting
They can, may and probably will(,) come to the party
She brought beer, cokes and crisps.
She let herself in, unpacked the shopping, fed the cat(,) and went to bed.
Note: a classifier and an adjective proper (an epithet) are not separated by commas.  You
can have a tall, lanky boy but not *a fast, racing car.  See the guide to adjectives for
more.
in apposition
If two items in a sentence denote the same thing, they are in apposition and are separated
off by commas:
Ms. Smith, my landlady, has raised the rent
There are three animals, bears, snakes and tortoises, which hibernate in this country

Most of the 20 or so rules for comma use that appear on various websites and in books may be
accounted for by the four rules above.

the colon

Colons are quite rare in English and perform two related functions:

1. They indicate that what follows is caused or fulfilled by what came before:
It was raining heavily: that's why I didn't go out.
You are obviously very tired: I should go now.
2. They indicate that a list is to follow.  In this sentence you will find two each of: verbs,
nouns, adjectives and prepositions.

Notice that the colon can be replaced by a conjunct, conjunction or other expression:
It was raining heavily(,) so I didn't go out.
It was raining heavily.  Therefore, I didn't go out.
It was raining heavily, which meant I didn't go out.

the semi-colon

Semi-colons connect two independent clauses but in other respects, they function to separate
ideas just as the comma does.  They should be used with care and only when the two clauses are
sufficiently closely related to be part of the same sentence.
I was getting soaked through; it was still raining hard.
but not: *I was getting soaked through; the rain was easing

dashes and brackets

Dashes and brackets can be used instead of commas if there's a good reason for doing so. 
Dashes, in particular, should be handled with care and not used to separate fronted adverbials.

inverted commas, quotations etc.

242
For a direct quotation within a sentence, single inverted commas are usual:
That sign says 'No smoking'
Publishing houses vary their conventions concerning the use of double or singular inverted
commas for dialogue.  The usual convention is:
"I'm glad we could meet," she said (comma inside the inverted commas) or
She said, "I'm glad we could meet." (comma after reporting verb but with the full stop inside the
inverted commas).

the question and exclamation marks

The ? is, rather obviously, used to show an interrogative but may also be used to show how
something has been said in terms of its intonation (e.g., You're leaving early? vs. You're leaving
early.).
Some sentences with subordinate clauses may lose the questions mark (although it is technically
required) when the clause is long enough: Can you send me an email when you have finished all
the work because I need to get my bank to transfer the money into my French account before the
end of the financial year.
Exclamations marks should not be overused!  They are a sign of naive or immature writing!!!
If either ! or ? occur inside quotations, no comma or capital letter follows: "Go away!" he
shrieked.

a note on teaching punctuation

It is unlikely, and probably unnecessary, that you would devote whole lessons to this area
(although a focus on paragraphing conventionally in texts is another matter).
However, the temptation is either to ignore or simply correct errors in learners' written work and
that's not enough.
You do need to explain to learners where their L1 conventions may differ and make clear what
the rules are in English concerning the punctuation which is troubling them.

Try a short test.

References:
Chalker, S, 1984, Current English Grammar, London: Macmillan
Quirk, R, Greenbaum, S, Leech, G & Svartvik, J, 1972, A Grammar of Contemporary English,
Harlow: Longman

243
Idioms

What are idioms?

Idioms are expressions whose meaning is not apparent from the meanings of the individual
words.  For example, the two idioms above mean respectively to suffer something unpleasant but
unavoidable and to betray a secret.
They mean these things because speakers of English agree that they do.  The origins of many
idioms are often obscure and debated.
All languages contain very large numbers of idioms (one estimate for English puts the figure at
25,000) and they are troublesome for learners for three reasons:

1. You can't figure out what they mean even if you understand all the words individually.
You may understand he's pulling your leg to mean that someone is playing a joke on you
by telling a lie but you can't extract that meaning by understanding the verb and the noun.
2. You can't usually change the order of the words, leave any out or insert other words so
you have to learn the whole chunk as a single item.
You can't say release the cat from the bag or let the lion out of the bag and expect the
meaning to remain.  You also can't usually say something like let the cat out or let the
tortoiseshell cat out of the bag and retain the meaning of the idiom.
3. Idioms rarely if ever translate word-by-word from language to language.  You may think
that let the cat out of the bag is easy enough to understand but if you translate it into
another language it is usually meaningless or will be taken literally.  The idea will usually
translate but not the words themselves.

Opacity
The first of these problems is sometimes referred to as opacity.  Some idioms are more opaque
than others, however.  Which of the following are the easiest to understand for a non-native
speaker of English?
Click here when you have an answer.

1. a can of worms
2. a drop in the ocean
3. a piece of cake
4. a back-seat driver
5. find your feet
6. in the heat of the moment
7. kick the bucket
8. smell something fishy

Some comments:
There's no right answer here because we all have different ways of seeing the world, but:

a, c, e and g are almost wholly opaque.  Even if you have some context to help, it is unlikely that
you can guess the meaning.
b, d, f and h are, however, less difficult to understand.  It isn't a huge leap of imagination to
understand that a drop in the ocean means a comparatively very small quantity, that a back-seat
244
driver is a passenger who advises unhelpfully, that the heat of the moment means and exciting
event or that smelling something fishy means being suspicious.  Very little context would be
needed to make a good guess.

Fixedness
The second problem above is the extend of fixedness, i.e., how much the idiom may be changed
without losing the meaning.  Which of the following are completely fixed and which allow some
room for innovation?
Click here when you have an answer.

1. throw in the towel

2. smell a rat
3. under the weather
4. on tenterhooks
5. hale and hearty
6. out and about
7. use your loaf

Some comments:
a and b can be slightly changed only.  Because they are verb phrases, we can change the tense of
the verb (smelt a rat, will throw in the towel etc.) and it's just possible to insert an adjective into
one of them (smell a big rat) and the towel can be replaced with the sponge but still keep the
meaning.
All the rest are completely fixed.  It's very unusual to insert any words into any of them, to
change any of the words or to leave words out.
e and f, by the way, are called binomials and English has hundreds of these mini-idioms which
are remembered, used and perceived as single items: sooner or later, take it or leave it, seek and
destroy, short and sweet, sick and tired etc.

Translatability
As we noted above, idioms (and binomials in particular) very rarely translate exactly but it is
interesting (to some) that the notions and ideas they contain do translate, albeit with different
words.  Here are some examples for fun.  Can you match the English idioms on the left to their
equivalents in other languages on the right?  Click on the image when you have an answer.

245
Teaching idioms
There's nothing mysterious about teaching idioms.  Treat them as single items of vocabulary
(lexical chunks) and teach them the same way you teach any other vocabulary items.  See the
guide to teaching vocabulary for some ideas and more.

In the section for learners on this site, there are some exercises to do with idioms and binomials. 
Check the exercise index under vocabulary for more.

There is a more complete and more technical guide to idiomaticity in the in-service section of the
site which repeats much of the above adding detail and lots of terminology.

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Gradability
The following applies to both adjectives and adverbs because the considerations are the same.

Before we start, mark the following right or wrong in your head and then click on the table for an
answer.

If you have ticked a bit uniquely and crossed very blue, don't worry.  You are in good company.
The distinction here is that freezing, marvellously and uniquely are examples of ungradable
adjectives or adverbs but tall, warm, blue and humid are usually considered gradable.

Most adjectives and most adverbs are gradable

By some estimates (probably wild guesses, in fact) there are some 100,000 adjectives and
adverbs in English and the overwhelming majority will be gradable in the normal way.
We are, therefore, dealing with exceptions here.

Some aren't
Ungradable adjectives and adverbs are variously called, strong, extreme or superlative adjectives
and adverbs.  They either:

1. cannot be scaled.  So, for example, the adjective original (as in the original book) is not
gradable because it does not represent a point on a scale.  The same applies to
perfectly, for example.

or

2. already represent the limits of a scale.  The adjective cool (gradable) represents a point
on a scale from freezing (ungradable) to boiling (ungradable).  The same applies to
fantastically, for example.

Ungradable adjectives and adverbs are often distinguished by these tests:

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  They cannot be modified by very, slightly, a bit, a little, extremely, terribly, hugely,
immensely, somewhat, reasonably, incredibly etc.  We can't have: *very amazingly,
*extremely complete, *slightly wonderfully, *somewhat ghastly, *hugely stunning and
so on.
 When we do modify them we use an intensifying adverb such as absolutely, completely,
utterly, totally etc.  So we get absolutely terrifying, utterly wonderful, totally unfeasibly.
somewhat amazingly etc.
 They are not usually used in the comparative or superlative forms so we don't have,
e.g., *more priceless, *less dead, *the most unique etc.

There are problems with these tests, as we shall see.

The normal way to analyse the issue is to identify the basic classes of ungradable adjectives and
adverbs:

1. Those whose meaning is in some way absolute.

These include words such as ultimate(ly), unique(ly), perfect(ly) where is logically
impossible to conceive of a grade.  Terms like *more unique, *very perfectly and so on
are, therefore, often considered wrong although you will find plenty of examples of
their use: more average, less uniquely, very complete etc.
2. Words which refer to a specific on-off quality.  These are usually adjectives and adverbs
such as metal, pregnant, unlocked, French, fatally, justly etc.  The reason these are not
gradable is that one is either pregnant or not, something is either metal or it isn't,
locked or unlocked and you are either fatally wounded or not (there's no intermediate
stage).  Again, this is often a rule flouted in colloquial speech and terms such as She's
very French to refer to an attitude rather than a nationality are common.  Note , too,
that we can have less full, half empty and so on.
3. Words which in themselves include the concept of very or extremely.  It is often averred
(and it is often told to learners) that some 'extreme' adjectives and adverbs can only be
modified with words like utterly, completely, really etc.  The commonest lists include
items such as:

Gradable form Ungradable form

hot boiling

cold freezing

beautiful stunning

surprisingly amazingly

good wonderful

badly awfully

rudely obnoxiously

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 nice delicious

4. and so on.

There are some problems with this sort of classification:

1. because expressions such a the most delicious meal I've ever eaten, the most
objectionable person she met, the hotel was more awful, he spoke very obnoxiously, very
amazingly, he came on time etc. are really quite common.  One person's ungradable
term is another's gradable one.  Will you accept more amazing?  Many would.  Note
that the insertion of even before more makes the expression usually (even more)
acceptable.
2. because some purportedly ungradable adjectives and adverbs occur commonly in
superlative and comparative structures.  For example, the most stunning performance of
the evening, the most incredibly stupid thing he's ever done, it is hard to imagine a more
amazingly constructed plot etc.
3. because language changes.  Once, for example, the words incredible and awesome were
clearly superlatives in themselves and only gradable with intensifying adverbs such as
utterly, perfectly, absolutely etc.  Now, however, both words often mean something like
good and have become gradable in expressions very incredible, hugely awesome etc.

The distinction is, however, still a useful one for some teaching purposes if it's handled with
care.
It is true that some adjectives and adverbs can only generally be modified with intensifying
adverbs such as utterly, completely etc. but there are many exceptions and matters of personal
choice to take into account.
What is also true, however, is that wholly gradable forms cannot usually be modified with these
intensifiers: *I am completely cold, *it is utterly hot etc. are not allowed but even in this case
there are questionable examples.  Will you accept they are perfectly bad, she spoke utterly
rudely, we were absolutely well?

A different way to look at gradability is to consider what classes of adjectives and adverbs truly
are ungradable.  Here's a short list:

1. Adverbs which act to join ideas (conjuncts): we can't have *more however, for example.
2. Intensifiers and downtoners such as really and slightly: we can't have *more really, or *a
bit somewhat (although very slightly occurs).
3. Adjectives which are only used attributively (see the guide to adjectives for more) such
as main, principle etc.: we can't have *the very main reason, for example.
4. Additive adverbs: we can't have *more additionally, *most furthermore etc.
5. Adjectives describing origin:  *more German, *less Italian, *fully Martian are all wrong
unless they describe behaviour rather than provenance.
6. Classifiers: these are not true adjectives but serve to tell us what class of object we are
dealing with rather than what it's like.  For example, you cannot have *a more medical
doctor, *a hugely economic problem, *a very racing car etc.
7. Temporal and spatial adjectives and adverbs: *more soon, *extremely present, *less
daily, *most annual, *more here, *most above etc. are not allowed.  (Although we can
have extreme left, further east etc.)

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Modifiers used with both types

A small range of modifiers can be used with both gradable and ungradable adverbs and
adjectives:

fairly, really, pretty

although pretty is somewhat informal all three of these modifiers can be used with
gradable and ungradable words.  We can have, therefore, fairly amazing, fairly cool,
pretty stunning, pretty warm, really super, really poor etc.

quite and rather

these modifiers take on different senses with gradable and ungradable words.
quite interesting(ly) = fairly interesting(ly)
quite fascinating(ly) = absolutely fascinating(ly)
rather cold(ly) = fairly cold(ly)
rather wonderful(ly) = exceptionally wonderful
Note that the words are usually stressed with ungradable words and often used in
combination with really.  For example, it was really rather stunning.

Meaning changes
Some adjectives and adverbs are homonyms (words which look and sound the same but have
different meanings).  Compare these:

He is originally from London (ungradable: provenance)

He writes very originally (gradable: inventively)
She's my old English teacher (ungradable: former)
She's an old lady (gradable: elderly)
They have common concerns (ungradable: shared)
It's a common problem (gradable: not rare)

So beware.  Gradability is not at all a simple matter of telling people that some words are or are
not gradable.

Another cautionary note is that what are gradable adjectives and adverbs in English are treated
differently in other languages and vice versa.

Teaching
It's easy enough to write tests and exercises focusing on gradability but less easy to teach the
forms and variability.  The best advice may simply be to consider the issue of (un)gradability as
and when it arises.  What is not really arguable is that any attempt to learn lists of ungradable
words is likely to end in failure.  There are just too many and they come with too many
exceptions.
However, if you do want to centre a teaching routine on the topic, here are some ideas.
Any topic which is likely to require the deployment of a range of adjectives and adverbs is
suitable as a lesson theme aimed at gradability awareness.
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  Focus on a limited number of notions at once.  For example, you could plan a teaching
sequence around notions of:
moisture: soaking [ungradable], wet [gradable], dry [gradable], damp [gradable],
parched [ungradable] etc.
heat: hot [gradable], cool [gradable], chilly [gradable], boiling [ungradable], freezing
[ungradable], scorching [ungradable], warm [gradable] etc.
Both the above sets of notionally related terms could be easily incorporated in a lesson
with a focus on the weather or the environment.
 Equally, you could focus on emotional states:
cool [gradable], enthusiastic [gradable], angry [gradable], furious [ungradable], livid
[ungradable], calm [gradable], serene [ungradable], excitable [gradable], frantic
[ungradable] etc.
Such lessons could concern the topics of relationships, job suitability or personality
characteristics.
 Accommodation (sumptuous, spacious, cramped, slummy, palatial, magnificent etc.) is
also a rich source as are topics such as life styles, consumerism and so on.
 Encouraging ‘noticing’
Presenting gradable and ungradable items together and seeing if the learners can sort
one from the other also encourages the acquisition of a ‘feel’ for these things.  What, for
example, is the difference between my old teacher and an old woman?  Why can I say a
very old woman but not my very old teacher?  What’s the difference between a very old
friend and my friend is very old? etc.
 Book, film, resort and holiday reviews are also a rich source of adverb and adjective
use.  For example, It is the cheapest, most inexpensive, most readable etc. vs. it is an
absolutely wonderful hotel, was an utterly disastrous experience etc.
 A focus on adverbs may include lessons centred on people’s behaviour and activities. 
For example, he skied adventurously, he climbed carefully, they swam endlessly and so
on.

It is not desperately difficult to think of other topics which will evince the use of gradable and
ungradable adjectives and adverbs.  The devil is, however, in the detail.  You need to be quite
clear (gradable or ungradable use of clear?) in your own mind how the adjectives and adverbs
should be used.

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Cognates and false friends
What are cognate words?
Cognates are words which have the same origin but exist in more than one language.

For example, the English word beer and the German word Bier both come from the same root. 
One theory is that the words come from the Latin word biber [a drink] and another theory is that
the words come from a very early German word for barley.  It really doesn't matter, even if it is
quite interesting.  What is important is that the words have the same root and refer to the same
thing.  This, of course, makes it easy for English speakers to learn the German word and vice
versa.

What cognates are not

Cognates are not:

1. words which exists in the same language, with the same root but which mean different
things.  For example, in English, the words skirt and shirt both derive from the same
word (the Old English scyrte) but they are not cognates.  (The technical term is a
doublet.)
2. words which are imported into one language from another.
Partly for historical reasons, there are many hundreds of these in English taken from a
variety of languages.
For example, from the West African language Hausa, English has borrowed bogus, from
Arabic, there is a huge range from admiral to zenith and zero, from Hindi, English has
borrowed another large number, from avatar to veranda and from European languages
there are many hundreds more.  For a long, and quite interesting list see the Wikipedia
article here.
Words may come from other languages via an intermediary language so a word
borrowed from Arabic into Spanish (a common event) may then be borrowed again by
English from Spanish.  Clearly, such words can make it slightly easier for speakers of
some languages to learn some words in English but the words are not cognates, they
are, technically, loan words.
3. Words which look the same but have different origins.  For example, the German word
Gift [poison] and the English word gift [present] may look the same but they are not
closely connected.  Equally, the Japanese word for occur happens to be okoru but they
derive from very different sources.  The English word kitten, looks like the Tagalog word
kuting and they both mean the same thing but are wholly unconnected.  Coincidences
happen.  Technically, these are called false cognates, not, please note, false friends.

True and false friends

True friends

It is sometimes difficult (and rarely necessary) to distinguish between a loan word and a cognate
derived from the same source.  For example, in Modern English we have many words derived
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from Latin directly but we also have words imported from Norman French which in turn were
derived from Latin.  Most people would now call the words cognates, whatever their route into
English.
These are true friends to learners because the words not only look pretty much the same they
mean pretty much the same.  They make reading comprehension, in particular, much easier.

The following lists could be extended very greatly, of course.  They are examples only.
Latinate words in English and some Italic languages:

Portugu Roman
English Spanish Italian French
ese ian

administe administ amminist administr administ admini

r rar rare er rar stra

operació operazion operaçã operați

operation opération
n e o e

expressio expresió espressio expressio expressã expresi

n n ne n o e

communic comunic comunica communic comunic comuni

ation ación zione ation ação care

Right across Europe a number of words derived from Greek will also be familiar.  In the
following Italian is the only Italic language but the word will be similar in others (see last table).

English Greek Polish Italian German Danish

democrac δημοκρα demokra democra Demokra demokr

y τία cja zia tie ati

αθλητισμ
athletics atletyka atletica Athletik atletik
ός

theatre θέατρο teatr teatro Theater teater

mathema μαθηματ matemat matema Mathem matema

tics ικά yka tica atik tik

Greek still, of course, often forms the basis for coining new words, especially, in academic
(ακαδημαϊκός) areas.

Among Germanic (such as English and most Scandinavian) languages there are also a number of
commonalities but they are not usually as consistent as the ones above.  We get, for example, the
English noun cook as Koch (German), kok (Dutch and Danish), kokk (Norwegian) etc.
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Problems with true friends

1. Because the words look so similar, learners are tempted to pronounce them as they
would in their first language(s).  This results in lots of incorrect stress and phoneme
production.
2. Because word formation, and especially the use of suffixes, work differently across
languages, learners may mistake word class, confusing nouns with verbs and adjectives
and so on.
3. A word which is basically a true friend may have slightly different connotations.  For
example, Schwein in German means swine but does not always carry the negative sense
which the word has in English.  Similarly, the verb demander in French simply means to
ask and carries none of the sense of insistence and authority that the verb demand
carries in English.
4. Many true friends in English for speakers of Latin-derived languages are stylistically
inappropriate and too formal.  For example, while I administered an aspirin to him may
communicate the sense, it would be more usual to use I gave him an aspirin.

False friends

Cognates may have the same origin but often do not have the same meaning because languages
evolve in different ways.  For example, the word dish in English and the word Tisch [table] in
German both derive from the Latin for a disc but they no longer mean anything like the same
thing.  Fortunately, Tisch and dish look sufficiently different for learners of either language not
to get too confused.  Some pairs of words are not so obliging.
In other cases, a word may be a loan word rather than a cognate but has developed a different
sense in the language into which it was borrowed.  For example, the word Angst (German for
worry or fear) has been borrowed in English but only in a special psychological sense.  The word
smoking has been taken from English into French where it ends up meaning a kind of dinner
jacket.
In the following, some words are cognates and others are loan words.  It doesn't matter for the
purposes of helping learners recognise false friends and avoid making embarrassing mistakes.

By the way, whatever you may read on the web out here, these are false friends and are
specifically and definitely not false cognates (see above for a definition of those).  Some false
cognates may, in fact, be false friends but all false friends should not be called false cognates.

Take the following for example.  Can you fill in the gaps?  Click on the table when you have:

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The list for all these languages can be considerably extended.  Moreover, related languages will
often share characteristics so what is a false friend for an Italian speaker will probably be one for
a French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian speaker, too.

255
Managing feedback
On an initial training course, you'll probably learn a lot about making classrooms centred on the
learners rather than the teacher.  That is considered A Good Thing (and it probably is).
One way to make classrooms more centred on the students is to use lots of collaborative work so
that the learners work together without your persistent presence and then feedback the outcomes
somehow.  Therein lies the rub – how do you give and get feedback without the classroom
becoming a teacher-centred one?
Here's a list of tasks you might do with students working together.  Can you divide them into two
sorts?  Click here for the answer when you have had some thoughts.

1 You start a lesson on 'going to' by 4 You give the class three pictures that
asking people to work in threes to go with a text and ask them in pairs to
come up with three things they would speculate about what the text concerns
like to do this evening / this week etc.  and what vocabulary it might contain.
They make the plans and will later
express them using the target structure.
2 You have a text which contains five 5 You have a reading text with some
facts expressed in numbers.  To multiple-choice questions to go with
practise scanning, you get the class to it.  You get the class to work in pairs
work individually to locate the to find the answers.
numbers and make a brief note of what
they refer to.
3 To introduce a listening text, you put 6 For controlled practice in a lesson,
up a picture of two people sitting in a you have handed out a gapped text to
cafe ordering from a waiter and ask the get the students to complete in pairs. 
class individually to make a note of The gaps concern the target language
where they are and what they are of the lesson, of course.
doing.

Activities in which the outcome or product of the task is important:

1: you want to make sure that the ideas are sensible or the lesson will fall apart later
2: you want to know if the class has successfully scanned the material
5: if you use a reading text like this, it's important for you to know how well the class has done
6: if this is the target language test, you need to know if the learners can use it to fill the gaps
accurately

The other two activities are tasks in which the process is more important than the product.  You
mustn't suggest this but it actually doesn't matter what they think; this was just a way to get them
to think.

3: the purpose of the task is to set a context for listening and if the picture is well chosen, it's
obvious
4: this task just gets people thinking about the text and its content so if the pictures are well
chosen, the answer will be obvious

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Now look through the 6 tasks and ask yourself two simple questions:
If the product is important, how can I check it?
If the process is what's important, how will I get some feedback quickly and move on?
Click here when you have some ideas to see if the suggestions which follow match your
thoughts.

Activity 1
This is an activity you can monitor carefully and then give some feedback by focusing on
interesting ideas that arose.  While you are monitoring, you can check that the ideas are
OK.  You do not need to make everyone share their ideas with the whole class.  People
will get bored and you need to move on.
Activity 2
It is clearly important that you and the class know how well they have managed to scan a
text.  This probably calls for whole-class feedback but you can speed it up by having
answers prepared so you aren't writing everything on the board.  Because this is a key
reading skill, you also have to elicit how the learners approached the task (the right
answer is by moving their eyes quickly through the text looking for numbers and then
reading the section carefully to find out what the numbers mean – understanding the
whole text or reading every line is not necessary).
Activity 3
All you need is for one student to give you the correct answer.  Move on!
Activity 4
This is another activity you can monitor carefully and then give some feedback by
focusing on interesting ideas that arose.  You do not need to get everyone's ideas but you
can board some of the vocabulary they suggest.  The purpose is to get them to check their
ideas against reality when they read the text so what the ideas are doesn't matter.
Activity 5
Don't jump into whole-class feedback.  It's quite boring to listen to other people's
answers.  Combine the pairs into groups of 4, or swap the pairs around, and get them to
compare answers while you monitor, listening hard.  That way, you can focus on the
items that are causing problems.  If, say, everyone got number 4 right, why bother with
it?  Make sure, however, that you have a way of giving the class a list of the right
answers.
Activity 6
As for Activity 5, allow the class to check with peers before you get stuck in a dull
round-the-class feedback routine.  Your focus must be on the problematic items so they
check together while you monitor for issues.  Again, make sure they have access to the
right answers at the end.

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Teaching vocabulary
“Without grammar, very little can be conveyed.  Without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed.”
Wilkins (1972): 111

Read this passage and think about what the point of the story is.  Why is it amusing (to some)? 
Click here when you have an answer.

‘There's glory for you!’

‘I don't know what you mean by "glory",’ Alice
said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. ‘Of
course you don't – till I tell you.  I meant
“there's a nice knock-down argument for you”!’
‘But "glory" doesn't mean "a nice knock-down
argument",’ Alice objected.
‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in
rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I
choose it to mean – neither more nor less.’

The point is, of course, that we can't arbitrarily decide what words mean.  The meaning of words
comes about from an agreement within our speech community about what they mean.  What
words mean in English is what the majority of English speakers agree that they mean. 
Otherwise, communication would be impossible.

But what does 'mean' mean?

When we think about what words mean, we are usually considering denotation, i.e., what the
words signify.  For example,
ship = floating transport
table = flat surface on legs

What do these words mean?  Click here when you have an answer.

ceiling, pig, demonstrator, partisan, queer, fascist, tight-fisted, thrifty

We won't all have the same reactions but it is clear that words also have connotation.  They
come with negative or positive attributes.  The word ceiling is unlikely to have such attributes
but the others in this list clearly do depending on your culture and your own attitudes.  It's true
for most English speakers that thrifty is positive and tight-fisted is negative, just as stubborn is
negative, usually, and determined is usually positive.
If a word we are teaching is likely to have connotations such as these, we need to make sure we
teach them along with the word's spelling, its grammar, collocations and pronunciation.  If you
are unsure about the term 'collocation' go to the language guide to collocation for a short review.

Now finish this sentence in your head and click here.

At the end of the street was a bank …

258
… and he drove down it into the river.
If you had assumed that a bank was a financial institution, you are in the majority.  But it needn't
be because words take on meaning in context and that's the way we should teach them.

The next section explains and exemplifies a few teaching techniques for revising and analysing
lexis.

References:
Carroll, L, (1872) Through the Looking Glass
Wilkins, D, A. (1972), Linguistics and Language Teaching. London: Edward Arnold
Other references for lexis and vocabulary:
French Allen, V, 1983, Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary, Oxford University Press
Gairns, R. & Redman, S, 1986, Working with Words: A Guide to Teaching and Learning
Vocabulary, Cambridge University Press , 1986
Hoey, M, 2006, Lexical Priming: A New Theory of Words and Language, Routledge
Lewis, M, 1997, Implementing the Lexical Approach, Language Teaching Publications
Lewis, M, 2002, The Lexical Approach, Thomson ELT
Lindstromberg, S. & Boers, F, 2008, Teaching Chunks of Language: From Noticing to
Remembering, Helbling Languages
McCarthy, M, 1990, Vocabulary, Oxford University Press
Morgan, J. & Rinvolucri, M, 1986, Vocabulary, Oxford University Press
Schmitt, N, 2000, Vocabulary in Language Teaching, Cambridge University Press
Schmitt, N. & McCarthy, M, 1997, Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy,
Cambridge University Press
Thornbury, S, 2002, How to Teach Vocabulary, Harlow: Longman

Teaching vocabulary 2: some techniques

Guessing the meaning from context

In these examples, the assumed unknown word is in red.

There’s a really noisy bash going on next door.  The music is far too loud.
Students work together to decide:

1. What kind of word is it? (a noun)

2. What describes it? (noisy)
3. Where do you find it? (in houses)

So it must be a kind of gathering.

He has an unpleasantly raucous voice.  It's like a road drill.
1. What kind of word is it? (adjective)
2. Is it positive or negative? (negative [unpleasant])
3. What else could it describe? (machine noises, animal calls, a party etc.)

So it must mean unpleasant to listen to.

There's a really noisy party taking place next door.
1. What kind of word is it? (verb)
2. What does it? (a party)

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 3. What else could do it? (any kind of event)

So it must mean happen.

The disco was so deafeningly loud it made my head ache.
1. What kind of words are they? (adverb + adjective)
2. Is it a positive or negative thing? (negative [it made my head ache])
3. What else could they describe? (machines, all noises, parties etc.)

So it must mean extremely loud.

Focusing on lexical fields

Add to the list

nurse, doctor, medicine, hospital, ambulance, ward, emergency, ...
Spot the odd one(s) out
wet, soaked, humid, drenched, flooded, damp, rainy
Match the verb to the noun
builder, nurse, teacher, detective
treat, construct, arrest, prepare
Divide the list into 2 / 3 / 4 etc.
sweets, sugar, hammers, chocolates, nails, eggs, saws, newspapers, bacon, screwdrivers,
glue, paint

Dealing with lexis in texts

Chasing down lexical chains

Find all the words in the text that describe people
Find all the words connected to medicine
Find three words which tell you he was happy
Provide the definition and get the learners to find the words
Find a word which means very unhappy
Find a word which means a type of house

Lighter activities

In the manner of
Prepare cards with instructions such as Open the box extremely carefully, Open the
parcel frantically
Students mime to each other and try to guess the adverb.
Categories
One student goes in the hot seat and tries to guess the category from the example.  E.g.,
"Things that are hot".  Students in the team call out examples of such things: the sun, a
cooker, a cigarette, a car's engine, someone with a fever etc.  Other examples: "Things
that are sold in cans", "Things that are yellow", "Things that break easily".
Pictures
One student starts a drawing on the board and the team members guess the word as soon
as they can.  There are endless variations on this.

260
Varieties of English
All languages vary.  The number of speakers there are, the range of contexts in which the
language is used and the geographical spread of the language will determine just how much
variation occurs.
(The term 'variety' is preferred to such terms as accent, dialect, sociolect, idiolect and so on
because they are difficult, notoriously, to define.)

Before we go on, take a little test and then click to reveal the answers.

1. Approximately how many users of English as a first language are there worldwide?
2. In how many countries is English spoken as an official language?
3. How many different standard forms are recognised?

1. It depends a little on how you count but a figure of between 375 and 400 million is the
usual statistic.  Approximately the same number speak English as a second language
(often in official or occupational environments) and roughly 750 million speak it as a
foreign language.
2. In roughly 60 countries and there are others, such as Israel, where the language has no
official status but is widely used.  Click to go to the Wikipedia list.
3. It depends.  How do you define 'standard'?  By most definitions, however, there are at
least 12.  Included in that list would be British, US, South African, Canadian,
Singaporean, Hong Kong, Australian, New Zealand, Caribbean, Indian, East African and
more Englishes.

How does language vary?

There are a number of factors at work.  Pause for a minute and think of two different factors
which affect the sort of language we use.  Click when you have an answer.

Here's the overview and some notes:

There are two main factors to consider:

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Who is using the language?

Language use will vary depending on where people come from and their social class.

What is the language being used for?

Language use will vary by registers.  Occupational registers include things like jargon and
special forms of English (legalese, IT-speak, medical language and so on) and topic-
based registers will include things like sports registers, special hobby registers (can you
read a knitting pattern?) and so on.

Some examples

Dialect

This is not the place to enter into the argument about whether a dialect is a language or not.  If
you want to know whether a dialect qualifies as a language, check the Ethnologue site.
Clearly there are many differences.  What the United States calls a hood, the British call a
bonnet, what Canadians call an automobile or car, Indians might refer to as a motor, what the
British call a dunce might be called a bubu in Jamaica, what in parts of the USA are referred to
as britches would be pants or trousers elsewhere and so on and on and on.
There are grammatical variations, too.  In the USA the question might be Did you just get here?
but in Britain, that would probably be Have you just got here?  In Southern England, you was is
common, in the north, I were is similarly frequently heard.  For more on the grammatical
differences between British and American English, see the answer to a question here.
Pronunciation varies regionally, too, of course.  Everywhere.

Sociolect

This refers to the way that language varies by social class.

This is also not the place to enter the argument about how class is (or even whether it should be)
defined.  Suffice it to say that it is unlikely that you will hear the British royal family say Gis the
salt, mate or find Austria pronounced as Orstria or One wonders where one's drill has got to on
a building site.  Grammar varies here, too, with a noted preference in some classes to use we was
instead of we were and ain't instead of isn't and so on.
Pronunciation can vary markedly with social class.  For example, pronouncing the 'r' in father is
considered high status in some varieties (such as Southern USA) but low status in others (such as
Britain and the American East Coast).

Accent

This is the most obvious form of language variation and doesn't need exemplifying here.

English as an International Language

It is a truth not widely enough recognised that most learners of English are not learning the
language to speak to you or even to people like you.  Most learners want English as a means of
international communication.
There are around half a billion websites out here.  What percentage are in English?  Click when
you have guessed.

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Source Wikipedia

Websites in languages other than English are increasing rapidly but the figures are still startling. 
Here are some more startlers from the British Council's website:

 English is the main language of books, newspapers, airports and air-traffic control,
international business and academic conferences, science, technology, diplomacy, sport,
international competitions, pop music and advertising
 over two-thirds of the world's scientists read in English
 three quarters of the world's mail is written in English
 eighty per cent of the world's electronically stored information is in English
 of the estimated 200 million users of the Internet, some thirty-six per cent communicate
in English

The implications

Think for a moment about what the implications are for English Language Teaching and then
click for a short list. 

1. We should avoid (or at least be careful about) teaching regionally specific language.
2. We should know what our learners need English for.  Occupational and topic registers are
important here.
3. We should use language in the classroom which is not heavily influenced by our own dialect
and accent.  If that means learning to speak without such influences, so be it.
4. We should avoid teaching language which is confined to specific class- or topic-influenced
settings.  If that means cautioning students not to use non-standard grammar such as gonna
or ain't, so be it.

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5. We should expose our students to the main Englishes they are likely to encounter outside
our classrooms.
6. We should be careful about the kinds of materials we use in class.  If a song or other
authentic text contains instances of non-standard or regionally-influenced grammar or lexis
we should consider whether we should be using it and if need be warn the learners not to
use it as a model.

References:
The British Council, http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-faq-the-english-language.htm
[accessed December 2013]
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_used_on_the_Internet) [accessed December
2013]

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Lesson planning
Note: there is a guide to possible lesson structures which may help with this area.

Why have a plan?

Come up with three good reasons to have plans for a lessons and then click for a list of 4.

1. They encourage clear thinking concerning aims and procedures.  These should match.
1. What do you expect the learners to be able to do at end of lesson that they
couldn’t do before?
2. What do you intend to do to make that possible?
2. They assist in a rational approach to the design and structuring of a lesson.  It is
remarkably easy to see on paper that something does or doesn't make sense in the
order you have planned it.
3. They provide a working document during the lesson so you don't forget key stages.
4. They provide a record for the future so you can amend and repeat the lesson.

Aims

If you are taking a training course, your tutors will have spoken about how they want you present
aims.  There are, however, some general points.  Which of the following are aims for lessons? 
Check here.

1. Students will exchange ideas about sports and pastimes

2. The learners will be more confident speakers
3. The class will practise making question forms with conditional sentences
4. At the end of the lesson, the learners will be more aware of the importance of
collocation
5. The students will present the findings of their survey to the whole class
6. The learners will be able to understand, use appropriately and pronounce the following
10 lexemes ...
7. The students will improve their writing skills in terms of planning and selecting
appropriate stylistic conventions
8. I will present and revise the main uses of the present perfect progressive using a smart
board
9. The students will mingle to find someone who has selected the same three adjectives to
describe their families
10. Students will have gained a better understanding of the nature of verbs followed by
gerunds and infinitives and be able to use them confidently

Numbers 4, 6, 7 and 10 are real aims because they tell us what the learners will be able to do by
the end of the lesson.  The other ones are descriptions of what will happen, not what the
outcomes will be.

In an ideal world, aims should be clear, limited, explicit and achievable.  A good lesson plan
will also make it clear to the reader (and the teacher) how the aims will be achieved.  For
example, instead of ...
265
The students will have learnt 10 new words to describe emotions it would be more helpful to
state ...
The students will have understood the negative and positive aspects of the target language by
using the items accurately and realistically in a personalised framework.

Procedures

Procedures should be internally logical with clear evidence that you have thought about what
you and the learners will be doing and why throughout the lesson.  Try this short test to see if
you can order the procedures of a lesson logically.

Aims of procedures

It is useful at the planning stages to think about what each stage aims to achieve.  Try this short
test to see if you can match the stage of a lesson to its aims.

Other things to consider for all lessons

Checking learning

At key times in the lesson you need to plan a stage which will allow you to check that
the learning you hoped for has taken place.  If it hasn't, you need to depart from the
plan.

Varying interaction patterns

Look through the plan and decide what the patterns are at each stage.  If it's nearly
always teacher to students, you need to think more carefully about getting some
student-to-student interaction

Records

What will the students take away from the lesson as a record and aid to learning?

Recycling

Have you thought about ways to recycle key language as the lesson progresses?  Will
the students be given the chance to use target language items in speech and writing?

Materials

Have you checked that they are error free?  Will they actually assist the stages when
they are used?  Do they address the language aims?

Now carry on to the next step-by-step guide to see an example of how to plan a language lesson
and a writing skills lesson.

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Planning a lesson step by step: some
examples
Types of lesson
There are all sorts of lessons.

Task 1: Think for a moment about the kinds of lessons you have experienced in
your own life and make a short list of the sorts of lessons you encountered.  They
don't need to be language lessons.
Click here when you have a list of two or three.

1. Lessons that were intended to teach something new.

Lessons like this involved, probably, a stage when knowledge was presented to you, you
were expected to apply it and at the end you may have been asked to say what you had
learnt.
This is a presentation and practice lesson.
2. Lessons which were intended to improve some kind of skill.
These were probably quite practical and involved you doing something rather than
listening and writing things down.
This is a skills lesson.
3. Lessons which were intended to revise and reinforce what you already knew.
These lessons probably had a very short introduction which just told you what you were
going to practise or do and then you got on with it and did it.
This is, rather obviously, a revision lesson.

So, the first question to answer when you sit down to plan a lesson is: What sort of lesson is it?
The answer will determine how it is structured.

Stages
presentation lessons

These will need three stages at least.  Here they are:

1. presenting the new language or skill

2. carefully practising the language or skill in a situation which avoids too much error.  In
other words, this stage must be quite tightly controlled
3. using the new language or skill more freely and in a way which is personal and clearly
relevant to the learners

Now you need to download an example of a plan of this sort.  Click here to do that.  The plan
will open in a new window so you can have it on screen or print it out (or even use it!).

267
 Task 2: Read through the plan to identify :

1. When the language is presented

2. When controlled practice happens
3. When the learners use the language more freely

Click here when you have done that.

1. Stage 1 (15 minutes) is the presentation phase.

Here the learners look at the pictures and try to identify the name of the activity.  If they
can't, the teacher has to provide it (or the learners could use their dictionaries / ask each
other etc.).
Not that the teacher's job here is to supply and model language.  That's what presentation
is all about.
2. Stage 2 (15 minutes) is very tightly controlled practice.
All the learners have to do is change positive sentences to negative ones and vice versa. 
They change, e.g., I like fishing to I don't like fishing or I like shopping to I hate shopping
/ I don't like shopping.
The aim here is to get the learners to use the language accurately so the task is simple. 
The teacher's role is to monitor and spot problems, helping people to get it right.
3. Stage 3 (15 minutes) is freer practice and gets the students moving around (often A Very
Good Thing).
Notice that the language is, again, personalised for the students.  They have to ask and
answer questions in a way which is true for them.  Making language personal makes it
memorable.
4. Stage 4 (15 minutes) is revision and a bit of fun.  If the lesson has overrun (it is planned
for 60 minutes but could take longer and probably would with a large class) then this
stage can be left until later and form the basis of a revision lesson.

This is an example of what is called a PPP lesson: Present – Practise – Produce.  It is probably
the most commonly used plan in the profession.
The lesson staging can be used for many different purposes.  For example, it could easily be
adapted to present and practise things you are allowed to do (I can ...) and things that are
forbidden (We can't ... / mustn't ...).  All that's needed is some different pictures and a change to
the worksheet.

skills lessons

Task 3: Now download a skill lesson plan (WRITING A REPORT)and do the

same thing.  Read through the plan to identify :

1. When the skill is presented

2. When controlled practice happens
3. When the learners use the language more freely

Click here when you have done that.

1. Stage 1 presents the target of the lesson by getting the learners to look at a model text and
analyse it.
If this were a speaking lesson, this might be done through the learners reading /
watching / listening to a model dialogue or some other form of speaking.
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 2. Stage 2 focuses on the language the learners will need to complete the task.
This is an important stage because it is very frustrating to be asked to complete a task for
which you know you don't have the resources.
3. Stage 3 gets the learners to cooperate in brainstorming what they are going to write.
This, too, is an important stage because it allows the learners a bit of time and space to
get their ideas together.  We all perform better with a bit of preparation.
4. Stages 4 and 5 could be left to a later lesson.
This is the productive stage and again asks the learners to cooperate to produce a result. 
Note that the result is valued by, in this case, a poster presentation for everyone to read. 
It could be done orally but this is a writing lesson so it's logical to pair it with reading.

revision lessons

Task 4: There's no example for this because, rather obviously, it depends on what you
are revising.  For the two lessons above, however, think for a moment about how you
might revise the targets and then click here.

1. The personal likes and dislikes language could be recycled in a number of ways,
including:
1. getting the learners to carry out a survey of another group's likes and dislikes
2. reading a text about someone's likes and dislikes and reporting back
3. writing a letter / email setting out one's likes and dislikes
2. The report-writing lesson target could be revised by also:
1. getting the learners to tell you / each other how a report is written
2. getting the learners to write a report on something different
3. getting the learners to present an oral report to the class with one topic for each
group

The important thing is that language and skills lessons need to be revised.

There's no test in this area (there were enough already) but now you can go and plan a lesson!

There are some more examples of plans you can copy, use adapt or analyse in the teachers'
section of this site.

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Using time lines

What are time lines?

Time lines are a very useful way of making the concepts of the tense system in English clear to
those who respond well to images and diagrams (i.e., most of us).
They are often a quick and easy way to demonstrate meaning rather than explain it.  They need,
however, to be properly planned and accurately reflect the concepts you are clarifying or they do
more harm than good.

Here's an example of a time line used to clarify what is called the future in the past using the
structure was / were going to.  In English, the structure is used to suggest a frustrated or
cancelled plan in, e.g., I was going to see the doctor but I felt a lot better and cancelled my
appointment.

A time line like this can be drawn on the board quite quickly but there are three important things
to notice.
Click here when you have noticed them.

1. The line has an arrow pointing towards the future because that's how most of us perceive
the direction of 'time's arrow'.
2. There is a clear indication of where Now is on the diagram.
3. There is some indication of the speaker's perception of the events.  This is important
because many tense forms represent how the speaker feels about events and their
relationship to each other.
For example, if I say, I went to America, I am telling you about an event I see as finished
and completed in the past but if I say I have been to America, I am implying quite
strongly that the fact is relevant to the present or very recent or, often, both.
An eye looking right (to the future) or left (to the past) can be quickly drawn on the board

270
 with three curves and a small ellipse, like this:

Now see if you can suggest what the time lines here represent.  Click on the when you think
you have got it.

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Normally, of course, you would present the time line with an example, marker sentence so it
would look something like this:

Using time lines

There are two ways:

1. Off the cuff:

When you encounter a learner clearly having difficulties with the concept which lies
behind a tense form, it is worth considering whether quickly sketching a time line on the
board will help.  It is often a quick and efficient way of making a concept clear.
2. Prepared:
You can also integrate the use of a time line into the presentation part of a lesson focused
on a tense or tenses.  This means that you can make it very precise and more attractive. 
Adding in graphics provides extra information and aids memorisation.  Here's an
example, for the marker sentence:
We have been working hard in the garden all summer and I'm really pleased with how
it looks.

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Building time lines

Whether you have prepared an attractive time line beforehand or are using one in response to an
emerging need, you need to carry the learners with you as you go.  Like this:

1. Start with the marker sentence:

I have been trying to telephone her but I give up and I'm going to visit her.
2. Then add the place markers for time (Past, Before the Past, Future, After the Future etc.):

Concept check the direction of time.

3. Then draw in the nature of the events

Checking at each stage.

Check the concept again.

4. Give the learners time to copy this as a record to take away.  That's important.

Learners will rarely get the full benefit of thinking things through if you just present the finished
article.  If you use PowerPoint in your lessons or a smart board, this kind of slow build-up is easy
to prepare.
Here's an example for you to download and watch (and even use).
To view the presentation you must have a version of PowerPoint installed or the PowerPoint
Viewer which can be downloaded, free of charge, from this link.
The slides automatically transition every 7 seconds.  You may need to adjust that if you use it in
the classroom or pause the presentation to give yourself time to explain and check the concepts
as you go along.
Things like this are time-consuming to prepare but can be used again (and again).

273
Classroom organisation
Why have a guide to something so obvious?

Because it isn't.  Thinking a bit and taking a little time to move furniture around can make a huge
difference to how successful a lesson is and how comfortable the learners (and you) feel. 
Lessons sometimes fail because the teacher hasn't taken the time to organise the room and the
learners in a way that aids rather than hinders their efforts.
Think for a moment about a classroom set-up you know well and ask yourself why it was done
that way.  In other words, what (if any) thinking went into its design?

Elements of room plan design

Lesson structure

No lesson (well, not a good one) has all the students static and the focus of attention only in one
place for its entirety.  Any room plan must, therefore, cater for a variety of phases in the lesson
and accommodate changes in interaction and focus.

Constraints

In most rooms, key elements are fixed.  Windows are where they are as are doors and lights,
usually.  Other bits and pieces are also usually immobile.  These will usually include display
areas like whiteboards and screens as well as computers but other elements such as the teacher's
desk or podium may also be fixed.  Planning has to take this into account.
You may be working in an environment where even the tables and chairs are immobile.  That's a
constraint of course but the learners are not immobile so you can plan around the problem.

Interactions

Good lessons will usually have a variety of interaction patterns.  These may include Teacher to
Learner, Teacher to all Learners, pairs of Learners, groups of Learners and so on.  The
arrangement of the furniture has to allow for this.  For example, if you want people to work in
threes or fours, having the furniture arranged like this

is unhelpful because the ones at the ends can't talk to each other.  It's better done like this

Sight lines

1. Everyone has to be able to see everything.  There's little point in having a really useful and
engaging graphic if half the class can't see it.
274
 2. You have to be able to see everyone and make eye contact with all learners.
3. The learners have to be able to see other learners (usually face to face).

Activities

Students will rarely remain in their seats for the whole time in any engaging and motivating
lesson.  If the plan is for them to wander around and mingle at some point or to move seats to
work with different people, you have to make allowance for that.

The teacher's role

Usually, the most mobile person in a classroom is the teacher.  When you are planning how to
set up a classroom, think about what you need to be able to do.  Do you, for example, need to sit
with pairs or groups?  Do you need to get behind the students?  Do you need to lower your
profile and be out of the learners' sight lines? and so on.
Monitoring easily is the issue here and monitoring is often best done face to face rather than
standing over people.

Some common arrangements

The horseshoe

Here's a typical one:

The teacher's area and the whiteboard / screen are to the right.
This arrangement has some obvious benefits (which may account for its popularity) but also
some drawbacks.  Make a quick list of pros and cons and then click here.

Pros Cons

1. Everyone can see the 1. It's not very space

board. efficient.  In a
2. Everyone can see the small room, there
teacher and vice may not be much
versa. space behind the
3. It's ideal for the chairs.
presentation stage of 2. It works for
a lesson. pairwork but if you

275
 want groups of
4. Everyone can see all more than two to
the other students in work together,
the room. everything has to
5. There's a good-sized move.
space in the middle 3. In a large room,
for mingle activities the students may
and so on. be a long way from
each other.

Islands

Look like this:

This arrangement, too, has some obvious benefits (and it's almost as popular) but also some
drawbacks.  Make a quick list of pros and cons and then click here.

Pros Cons

1. It's not very space

1. Everyone can see the
efficient.  In a small
board.
room, the teacher
2. Everyone can see the
may have difficulty
teacher and vice
walking to
versa.
everyone.
3. It works for pairwork
2. Only half the
and groups of more
students can see
than two to work
each other face to
together.
face.
4. It's quite easy to
3. There's very little
change the make-up
space for mingle
of the groups.
activities and so on.

276
Circles without desks

In this arrangement, the tables are removed to the sides and the chairs arranged centrally, like
this:

This arrangement is commonly used when you want people to get to know each other at the start
of courses or if you want a group discussion.  It has obvious benefits in that respect.  Make a
quick list of pros and cons and then click here.

Pros Cons

1. Only half the class

can see the board.
1. Everyone can see
2. It's not very space
everyone face to face.
efficient.  In a small
2. There are no barriers
room, it may not
between people.
be possible at all.
3. It's very simple to
3. If space is needed
make pairs or other
for a mingle
group sizes
activity, all the
4. It's easy to change
chairs must be
the make-up of the
moved away.
groups.
4. It's difficult for
5. It's friendly and
people to write
informal.
unless you have
seminar chairs.

Rows

In some institutions, tables are bolted down and the usual arrangement is like this:

277
This arrangement has its benefits, too.  Make a quick list of pros and cons and then click here.

Pros Cons

1. Very few students

can see each
other face to face.
1. It's the most space 2. There's almost no
efficient open space for a
arrangement.  Count mingle activity.
the chairs. 3. It's quite formal.
2. Everyone can see the 4. It's very difficult to
board and the make groups
teacher. larger than two
3. The teacher can see who can work
everyone. together.
4. It's very easy to make 5. It's difficult for the
pairs. teacher to
monitor more
than the front
row.

Getting the furniture the way you want it so that it assists you and the learners is very important
and it's worth spending the time at the beginnings of lessons or in the middle of them arranging
the furniture the way you want it.

278
How learning happens
This is not a website about psychology but there are some fundamental ways of seeing learning
that you should know about.

Deductive vs. Inductive learning

Look at this:

In this language the past tense is formed by adding em to the front of the verb if it begins with a
vowel or just e if it begins with a consonant.  What is the past tense of the following verbs? 
Click on the table when you have an answer.

Easy?  Yes, but it was meant to be.  What you have demonstrated is your ability to learn
deductively.  You were given the rule and from it could deduce the correct form of the verb.

Now try this one.  In this language the plural of some common nouns is as follows.
What are the plurals of the three nouns at the end of the list?
What is the rule for forming plurals?
Click on the table when you have an answer.

279
Not quite so easy because you had three forms to consider.  However, if you successfully
completed the task, you have demonstrated your ability to learn inductively.  You were given
the examples and from there you worked out the rule and applied it to the three unknown items.

This distinction in how things are learnt underlies many teaching procedures and the way items
of language are presented in course books and other materials.

For example, we can give people a set of rules about how to lay out a formal letter (sender's
address at the top right, recipient's address on the left, date below the sender's address and so
on).  Then we can ask the learners to construct a letter with correct layout.  That's a purely
deductive learning approach.
On the other hand, we can give the learners two or three examples of formal letters laid out
conventionally and ask them to look at the layout.  Then we can ask them to work out what the
rules are and apply them.  That's an inductive approach.

There are arguments on both sides but the consensus view is often that inductive approaches are
more effective in terms of retention (because of the effort which is needed) but that deductive
approaches are time efficient in classrooms and good for revision.
It's up to you, of course, which approach you take but you need to know which it is and why you
are applying it.

Co-text, context and meaning

How many of the words in the spoof languages above are you able to remember?  Right, one or
two at best.
That's because the words were presented to you without any meaning or context attached to
them.  It is very difficult to remember language which has no meaning and is not set in context. 

280
If, however, we put a word in a sentence with some co-text, it's easier for you to take a stab at the
meaning and remember it.  For example,

If you don't dungol the dwintii, the water will just keep flowing out.

In this case, we know that dungol is a verb and that dwintii is a plural noun (because we
remembered the rule better than we remembered the example, incidentally).  It's possible that we
won't be wrong if we imagine dungol means turn off and a dwint is a tap.  That's much better
already.  We have added co-text (i.e., other words around the targets).
Language without co-text is not meaningful and very hard to learn.
Now let's add context (i.e., the setting in which the language occurs):

Scene: two people working in the garden, one old, one young.

A: Go and umblint the kluma, will you?  It's on the floor next to the spade.
B: OK and I'll bring a genge to cut the edge of the lawn.
A: Thanks.  Lokkertan the kluma with water, please.
B: Will do.

Now we have context and co-text so it's much easier to figure out what the language means and
how it's used.  How much can you understand now?  Click here when you have a list in your
head or on paper.

1. we know that umblint is a verb:

1. that can be done by people
2. that can be done to objects (it's transitive)
3. that might mean something like fetch or get (speaker B uses bring in the next
sentence so we know it's not that verb)
4. whose imperative form doesn't appear to change from the base form
2. we know that kluma is a noun:
1. which is singular (referred to as it)
2. which means something like watering can because nothing else is on the floor
next to the spade
3. which can be filled with water (unlike anything else in the picture)
3. we know that a genge is:
1. a noun which can be the object of bring (so it's probably concrete rather than
abstract)
2. probably the second object from the left because it looks like something to cut an
edge of a lawn with (we may not even know the word for this tool in our first
language – do you?)
3. singular (there's only one in the picture and the speaker refers to a genge)
4. we know that lokkertan is a verb:
1. which you can do to a watering can
2. which probably mean something like fill because our knowledge of the world tells
us about the relationship between watering cans and water
3. whose imperative form is lokkertan (the same as we did for umblint, above)

With a bit of luck, we can also guess that

Please umblint a glass and lokkertan it with beer = Please fetch a glass and fill it with beer.

281
We have acquired quite a lot of language from a simple scene and a four-part dialogue and that's
all due to our being given context and co-text and applying a bit of our knowledge of the world.
It is perfectly possible that you will remember the four unknown words even weeks after you
have read this page and that is, of course, very significant.

Personalisation
Right, everyone.  Please write down:

1. Two things you have at home that you can lokkertan with water
2. One thing you can lokkertan with petrol
3. When you last used a kluma and what for
4. Three things you must umblint today
5. If you have ever used a genge

Now, stand up and come to the middle of the room, please.  You need to talk to everyone to find
someone who has a list which is completely different from yours by asking questions.  Ready? 
You have 6 minutes.  Go.

What's the purpose of this activity?  Think for a minute and click here.

1. It revises the language and allows people to deploy it in a free(r) stage of the lesson.  That
helps memorisation.
2. It makes the language more memorable because people have to think about themselves
and things they have and have done using the target language.
3. It allows both you and the learners to check that they have acquired the targets of the
lesson.

Personalising the language targets is very helpful so it's worth thinking of ways to do it in every
lesson you teach.

Factors which affect learning

Before we start this section, think for a moment about what factors inherent to your learners will
affect how well they can learn.

Here's a list of factors with some space for comments.  Look through the categories on the left,
make up your own mind whether it is important and why and then click on the to reveal some
comments.

There is some evidence of a correlation between intelligence

(i.e., as measured by IQ tests) and language learning ability. 
The evidence is, however, mixed and theories of multiple
Intelligence
intelligence (including linguistic intelligence) are also
relevant here.  For more on that, see the guide to learning
styles on this site.
Aptitude There is quite a lot of evidence to show that some people are
simply better at learning languages than others.  Tests of
aptitude are based on testing the ability to: distinguish
between and memorise sounds, understand word class and
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 the functions of words in sentences, inductively work out
grammar and other rules and memorise vocabulary.
Of course, some individuals may be better at some of these
things than others.  For example, people may be blessed
with a good memory for words but unable to hear intonation
patterns and distinguish between sounds easily.
It is difficult to measure the effect personality factors may
have on learning success.  However, there is some evidence
that strongly adventurous and extrovert people are better at
Personality
language learning and some to suggest that empathy, self-
esteem and lack of inhibition are also factors.  The jury is
still out.
Positive attitudes and high motivation have been shown to
be factors aiding language learning.  The problem is to
decide whether high motivation leads to language learning
or good language learning feeds back into high motivation. 
Motivation
We enjoy doing what we are good at.
There is little doubt, however, that classroom techniques
which intrigue and involve learners and keep them
committed to tasks are beneficial.
There is some evidence to show that when the learners'
beliefs about how language is best learned are in conflict
Beliefs about learning
with how the instruction is provided that learning is less
successful.  This may be connected to the motivational
factors.
There is some evidence of a correlation between age and
learning success, especially with regard to pronunciation
and speaking skills generally.  The younger you start, the
more native-like will be your production.
Age There is also a good deal of evidence to show that pre-
puberty learning is more effective than learning as one ages.
Some studies have shown that there is a critical period for
language learning and that it lies between the ages of 3 and
15.

There are, of course, classroom factors over which you have some control such as the
atmosphere in the room and the nature of the environment.  Given that many of the factors which
affect learning are not amenable to change by teachers, we should take advantage of the ones that
are.

Noticing
Noticing is the being consciously aware of the language you see and hear (noticing language)
and the gap between what you produce and what you should be producing (noticing the gap).
References:
Lightbown, P and Spada N, Factors affecting second language learning, in Candlin, C and
Mercer, N (Eds.), 2001, English Language Teaching in its Social Context, Abingdon UK:
RoutledgeLightbown, P and Spada N, 2013, How Languages are Learned (4th ed.) Oxford:
Oxford University Press

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N ticing Noticing
There's nothing particularly new about the concept of noticing.  Teachers have long developed
ways to draw their learners' attention to particular aspects of grammar and lexis on which they
want them to focus.

Types of noticing
There are two:

1. Noticing aspects of the language to which you are attending – noticing the language.
2. Noticing the difference between what you hear or read and what you yourself produce –
noticing the gap.

Types of knowledge
There are two of these, too:

1. Explicit knowledge is shown when a learner can apply the rule and can also state the
rule he/she is applying.
2. Implicit knowledge is knowledge of the correct form without the ability (without
conscious effort) to state what the rule is.

One purpose of raising learners' ability to notice language is to make the implicit explicit and the
explicit automatic.

Learning vs. Acquisition

A central tenet of Krashen's view is that there is a distinction between learning (a conscious
process of rule gathering) and acquisition (an unconscious, natural process of learning which
comes almost without effort).  For more, see the guide to Krashen and The Natural Approach.
There are many, however, who do not agree and take the view that learning a language is a
conscious process and noticing is part of that.

Input vs. Intake

Underlying all of the following is the distinction between input (the information the learner is
exposed to) and intake (the information the learner actually assimilates).  The argument is that
without conscious noticing of language, intake simply doesn't happen.  In other words, it is not
possible to learn a language unconsciously.

Overall, Ellis (1994:363) sums up the arguments like this and suggests that:

"the distinction between conscious 'learning' and subconscious' acquisition' is overly simplistic. 
It is clear that 'acquisition', in the sense intended by Krashen, can involve some degree of
consciousness (in noticing and noticing the gap)."
He goes on to say that one possibility
"is that explicit knowledge functions as a facilitator, helping learners to notice features in the

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input which they would otherwise miss and also to compare what they notice with what they
produce."

Another way
There is one theory of learning that neatly combines the ideas of subconscious and conscious
learning with notions of implicit and explicit knowledge as well as showing the relationship
between learning and acquisition.  It looks like this (from Bialystok 1978:71).  Look at the model
and try to figure out what is going on.  When you have some answers, click on the diagram for
an explanation.

1.
1.
2.
3.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
4.
1.
2.

Naturally, such a grand theory of language learning has not been without its critics and the model
has undergone and will, no doubt, continue to undergo further changes.  However, the central
ideas of implicit vs. explicit knowledge and the learner's ability to inference between them have
not been seriously challenged.

Noticing in the classroom (and beyond it)

If you have come this far, you will have appreciated the need to encourage our learners to notice
language they receive as input and also to notice the gaps between their output and the language
they see and hear.
How do we do this?  Here are some ways.

The use of colour

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In any text, it is possible to draw learners' attention to what they should be noticing as the focus
of the teaching and learning cycle so, for example, in this text all the prepositions are highlighted
in bold red font to draw the learners' attention to the forms you want them to notice.  It's a simple
trick but one which in many people's experience brings rewards.

Being explicit

Teaching a form in class is half the battle (or less) and needs to be backed up with explicit
noticing of the form by the learners in other settings.  So, for example, if you are teaching
obligation forms or the meaning of must it pays off to make sure your class bring into school
examples that they have read or heard of the forms in use (e.g., Bicycles must not ..., No parking,
No smoking, It is against the law to ..., Please do not ... etc.)
Equally, for example, when handling a difficult concept such as the so-called second conditional,
it pays to make sure that learners listen out for it in your own speech or that of speakers of
English whom they encounter and notice and record what they hear.

Working on receptive skills

Learners cannot notice what they don't hear or understand so it is important that we pay attention
to receptive skills to provide them with the ability to hear, read and notice what more able or
native speakers say and write.  That way, when they are in any kind of interaction, or reading a
text of any kind they can be saying things to themselves such as Oh, I see, the stress is on the last
syllable, I would have said that this way ..., That interesting, the word can be used to mean ...
etc.

Avoiding cognitive overload

There is some evidence that if learners have to focus on form and meaning simultaneously, then
intake may be reduced rather than enhanced and if you go along with that theory, you need to
separate them in your teaching to give learners the space to notice one or the other.

Flooding

Once is never enough in terms of noticing.  If you really want input to result in intake, learners
have to be flooded with noticing opportunities.  Adapting or constructing texts in which the
target language occurs repeatedly is one way of doing that.  Authentic texts do not usually
exhibit this so it is a reason to construct specific materials for noticing tasks.

Demanding tasks

Tasks which demand the use and understanding of the target forms will be more effective than
those in which the learner can use alternatives so task construction needs to bear that in mind.  If,
for example, you want to focus on unreal conditional forms, make sure that the practice materials
require the use of the forms as in If I were a ... etc. which is the only possible structure to talk
about something you are not.

Gap fill tasks

Setting a listening task with a text containing gaps where the target form occurs forces learners
to listen specifically for what you want them to notice.  This is not the same as a testing
procedure; it is a real noticing activity.
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Salience

Whichever type of teaching approach you favour, be aware that learners will only easily notice
that which is made explicitly important.  Underlining, colour, highlighting etc. are all worthwhile
techniques as is the use of voice tone, volume and so on.

References:
Bialystok, E, 1978, A theoretical model of second language learning, Language Learning 28: 69-
84
Ellis, R, 1994, The Study of Second Language Acquisition, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Krashen, S, 1982, Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning on-line version
available at http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/books/sl_acquisition_and_learning.pdf.
Schmidt, R, 1990, The role of consciousness in second language learning. Applied Linguistics
11: 129-58.

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Checking learning
This guide is concerned with keeping your eye on the target language in a lesson and checking
as you go along that what you want to be learned is really being learned.

It is not a particularly simple thing to do because it requires you to see inside your learners'
heads in some way.

In tackling this guide, it will help if you have followed the guide to how learning happens.

Why is it important?
That's a pretty obvious question with straightforward answers.  Click here when you have some.

 Because if you don't check from time to time, you are in danger of going on too quickly
and wasting your and the learners' time.  In most lessons, what comes later depends on
how well earlier material has been absorbed.  This goes for a series of lessons, too, of
course.
 Because language in controlled practice activities can often be produced with adequate
accuracy but without the learner actually having acquired it.
 Because learners, too, need to know where they are and be able to judge whether or not
they can use the language they are supposed to be learning.

Ways to check
1. Asking

You can, of course, ask your learners what they think.  What's wrong with that?  Click on the
table when you have thought of something to put in the right-hand column.

288
  

You see the problem.  Asking direct questions such as these may get the answer you want to hear
(or the learner thinks you want to hear) or may simply demonstrate that the learner either doesn't
know or won't give a straightforward answer.  Bear in mind, too, that learners from some cultural
backgrounds expect you to expect them to say Yes.
Obviously, the better your learners know and trust you and the safer your classroom is as a place
to take risks and be open, the better will be your success with questions like this but there are
better ways to get at the data you need.

Asking smarter questions

Display questions vs. Real questions

display questions are those the teacher asks to which he/she already knows the answer. 
The learner has to display his/her knowledge.  Real questions are those you ask for which
you do not know the answer and may be more interesting for the learner to answer.
Asking display questions is a legitimate teaching technique but be aware that learners tire
of them.
For example,
What does it say in the text about the city? is usually a display question because you
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 know and the learners know you know the answer better than them.
What do you think of this character? is, however, a real question.  The learner knows that
you don't know the answer but the response can still tell you how much the learner has
understood about the character in a text.
Open vs. closed questions
Open questions require a much more elaborate answer than closed questions.  For
example,
Where is he? simply requires a one-word answer like Margate unless you insist on
making your learners produce inauthentic language ('Answer in a full sentence, please'). 
It's a closed question.
Is he happy? is also a closed question.
Why is he not happy? is an open question because it demands a fuller response.  It may,
of course, still be a display question.
Generally, questions which require the learner to say when, where, who, what are closed
questions but questions that require them to state a reason or speculate about why or how
are open questions and will give you more data about how the learners are thinking and
understanding.
Questions which use the word if are also open questions requiring more data from the
learners.  For example, What will/would happen if ... ?
Other types of questions
Clarifying questions: What do you mean by ..., Can you tell me more about ... etc. are
open questions which will tell you more than closed questions and will stretch your
learners.
Questions which ask for critical awareness such as: What are your reasons for saying
that? are useful to give you some insight into the thought processes of your learners.
Comparison questions: What is different about X from Y? etc. also require the learner to
demonstrate what he/she knows or has understood about X or Y.
Affective questions are generally real: What do you feel about ... ?, How did the story
affect you? etc. and these are important to engage and interest learners in a text's content
rather than just using the text as a vehicle for something else.

Now try a little test.  Can you think of better questions to ask than the ones on the left.  Click the
table when you have for some examples.

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Your suggestions will probably be different but you have the idea.

Concept checking

It was noted above that asking a learner to come up with a dictionary definition of a word or a
grammar rule is rarely successful.  Most native speakers will have trouble doing that and it's
unfair to ask a learner of the language to attempt it.
However, we do need to check whether learners have understood a concept expressed through a
particular structure or a piece of new lexis.
Concept-checking questions (CCQs in the trade) are one good way but they need to be thought
about.  The more experience you have the easier it becomes to ask good concept-checking
questions.
Two examples:

1. You have just taught the meaning of the verb in They unearthed a whole new temple.
Some possible CCQs:
1. Did they dig the temple up or bury it?
2. Does this verb take an object?  Always?
3. What else can you unearth, for example?
4. What's the opposite of unearth?
5. Can you unearth an idea?  A fish?  A secret?  A reason?
2. You have just introduced going to in a dialogue about someone's plans for the evening.
Some possible CCQs:
1. How sure is he that he is going to the restaurant on the corner?
2. When did he make the decision to go?
3. Has he just decided to go or did he decide yesterday when he was invited?
4. When did Mary invite him?  Did he say Yes or No?  When did he say Yes?

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 5. Why did he agree to meet at the restaurant?

and so on.  The purpose of a CCQ is to make it 100% clear to you and the learners that the
concept has been grasped.  If it hasn't you may need to abandon the plan and re-present the
language somehow or go back to the dialogue.
Notice that a good concept-checking routine will often include a check of meaning and form as
in Example 1 above, which also checks collocation and transitivity.

Can you come up with some good CCQs for the teaching points on the left?  Click on the table
when you have.

By the end of a lesson

All the above is about checking learning as you go along but we also need to check at the end of
a lesson somehow.  Learners, too, want some way if knowing whether their efforts have been
successful.
The most obvious way is to give the learners a test of some sort but if the ability to use the target
language or skill naturally was the objective of the lesson, that may not be a good guide.
Fortunately, there are ways to check which don't look like tests:

Reducing the amount of control

It's normal near the beginning of lessons (especially if the target is new to the learners) to
get them to understand and use the language in very controlled situations.  This may be
through things like recognition exercises, gap-fill texts or controlled writing of sentences
and so on.
As the lesson progresses, it is also normal gradually to reduce the amount of control so
that the learners start to engage with the language more personally.  For example,
exercises such as Finish the sentences in a way that is true for you, Find out three things
that the other two people at your table used to do and have given up etc.
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Free(r) practice
By the end, the learners should have control of the form or skill so they can deploy it
naturally in language which means something to them personally and which is produced
entirely by them.  Very few exercises in classrooms are entirely free of course because
you will still be bearing the targets in mind and requiring the learners to use language or a
skill you have taught.
Examples of this kind of exercise are writing a personal note to each other, skimming a
TV listing to find something they are going to watch tonight, talking to each other about
future plans and hopes, a group discussion about what's wrong with the place they live in
and so on.

When you plan a lesson, ask yourself whether you have included appropriate and clear ways to
check learning.  If you haven't, go back and think again.

Your role when activities like this are happening is to monitor and listen / read very carefully. 
You need to know if the learners have mastered the target language or skill and whether they feel
happy and comfortable using it.

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Drilling
What is a drill?
The usual definition of a drill is a tightly controlled, teacher-led form of repetitive practice.
You probably experienced some drilling as a language learner at school with the teacher
prompting and you responding in a very controlled and predictable manner.  Here's an example
of a language drill in English teaching:

Teacher: I go to school.  When

Student(s):  When do you go to school? 
Teacher: I go shopping.  Where
Student(s): Where do you go shopping? 
Teacher: I like tennis.  Why
Student(s): Why do you like tennis?
Teacher:  I cook fish.  How
Student(s): How do you cook fish?

This happens to be called a transformation drill because the students are required to transform
the teacher's prompts into a wh-question form depending on which wh-word the teachers adds to
the end of each statement.

Does drilling work?

There are conflicting theories concerning the usefulness of drilling learners.  The debate is
between those who believe that learning a language is essentially a process of acquiring new
habits and those who believe that learning involves a cognitive, thinking process.  The arguments
include:

In favour  Against 
Some learners find it
Most learners like it 
embarrassing 
It's essential for It makes no difference to
pronunciation work  learning 
It makes production It's based on an outdated
automatic  learning theory 
Drills give learners Drills are meaningless and
confidence  non-communicative
Drills provide valuable
Drilling is boring
speaking practice

Even teachers who would consistently agree with the right-hand column's statements will often
drill when focusing on pronunciation, by the way.

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 This guide does not attempt to answer the Who's right? question.  That is something you need to
decide for yourself.

Types of drill
repetition drills
As the name implies, these are very simple drills in which the learners just repeat, as well
as they are able, what the teacher (or another prompter such as a recording) has
produced.  Drills like this are frequently used for pronunciation work or for complex
grammatical units which the learners need 'to get their tongues around'.  For example:
Teacher: I'll come if I can Teacher: enthusiastic
Student(s):  I'll come if I can Student(s): enthusiastic
Teacher: I'll go if I should Teacher:   marvellous
Student(s): I'll go if I should Student(s): marvellous
substitution drills
These drills usually require a simple substitution from the students although they can get
quite elaborate.  For example:
I'll come if I can She's in America, isn't she?
Teacher: Teacher:
she Africa
Student(s):  She'll come if she can Student(s): She's in Africa, isn't she?
I'll go if I should He went to America, didn't he?
Teacher: Teacher:
Mary Germany
Student(s): Mary'll go if she should Student(s): He went to Germany, didn't he?
transformation drills
These drills require the students to manipulate the language in some way.  Again, the
manipulation required can be quite simple or quite elaborate.  The example at the
beginning was one of these.  For example
Teacher: I'll come if I am invited Teacher: The boy kicked the ball
Student(s):  I'd come if I were invited Student(s): The ball was kicked
Teacher: I'll go if I you ask me to Teacher: She broke the window
Student(s): I'd go if you asked me to Student(s): The window was broken

All three examples above can be called meaningless drills.  What do you think that might mean?
Click here when you have an answer.

Answer:
You don't have to understand what you are saying to get it right.  Simple repetition drills require
no understanding at all of the meanings of the words you are repeating and once you get the hang
of what's required, substitution and transformation drills are the same.

Meaningful drills
Some drills, however, do require the learners to understand the language they are hearing and
producing.  These can also be either substitution or transformation drill but the substitution or
transformation you are making requires you to understand the meanings.
For example:
Meaningful substitution drill:
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 I spent Friday marking your
Teacher: homework and I hated it
Maris?
I spent Friday lying on the beach
Maris:
and swimming and I loved it
Teacher: Joachim?
I spent Friday working on a report
Joachim:
for my boss and I quite enjoyed it

This kind of drill actually requires the learners to understand what they are saying because a
number of responses are possible.  However, structurally, the utterances remain parallel: I spent
+ -ing form + conjunction [and] + past simple verb for feelings.

Meaningful transformation drill:

Teacher: I'm exhausted.
Maris: Why don't you take some time off?
Fiona: You should take a holiday.
Joachim: Why don't you go and lie down?
Herbert: You should work less.
Ingrid: Why don't you go to bed?

In this drill, the transformation is functional, not structural, from complaint (I'm exhausted /
hungry / thirsty / bored etc.) to advice (Why don't you ...? You should ...) and the learners have to
provide a logical piece of advice which requires them to understand what they are hearing and
producing.  Again, this can be simple or very elaborate.

What makes a good meaningful drill?

Spratt (1991) suggests the following characteristics of good, meaningful drills:

1. They should look like real language, containing hesitations, proper social reactions such
as exclamations, questions, or comments that require a response.
2. The response should not be totally predictable.
3. They should involve genuine reactions between or among the speakers.
4. They should be purposeful and based on topics of relevance to students.
5. They should be sufficiently controlled and allow the teacher to observe how well learning
has taken place.
6. They should allow for sustained language practice.

Chain drills

Another form of meaningful drill is one which happens without the teacher's continuous
intervention.  The advantages are that it focuses on the students and increases their productive
time and allows the teacher to stand out and listen to hear how learners are doing.
For example:

Teacher: My name's Dave and if I were a piece of

furniture, I'd like to be a well organised desk. 
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 How about you?
My name's Maris and if I were a piece of
Maris: furniture, I'd like to be a big comfortable sofa. 
How about you?
My name's Fiona and if I were a piece of
Fiona: furniture, I'd like to be a little, antique bedside
cupboard.  How about you?
My name's Joachim and if I were a piece of
furniture, I'd like to be an old, pine kitchen
Joachim:
table where all the family eat together.  How
about you?

In the Teacher development section, there is a guide to ways to make drilling more interesting
and more effective.  It includes techniques for something called backchaining and has tips for
who to drill as well as things like disappearing text and growing text drills.  Click here to go to
the right part of that guide.

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Strand 3: Teaching techniques and
approaches

The shock of the new

If your students pretty much know what's going to happen in every lesson you teach, it may be
time to experiment with a few unusual techniques and approaches.

You would imagine that a quick search of the internet for something like 'teaching techniques in
ELT' would produce a rich harvest of interesting and effective ideas, wouldn't you?
Well, you'd be wrong.  In fact what you get is a mishmash of confused ideas ranging from fully-
fledged methodologies, through approaches to simple fun and games.  The distinctions between
methods, methodologies, techniques and approaches is little understood out here in the cyber
world.

The following assumes that you can do most of the teacherly things that we all do: elicit, use a
recorded text or a video, handle a reading text, run a find-someone-who activity, present new
language and so on.  Here are a few ideas with which to pepper your lessons to make them a
little less predictable and a bit more exciting.

A word of warning, however:

Any novelty, if carried on too long, will trigger adaptation.  No matter how exciting and
productive the innovation, people will tire of it.  They no longer respond.  It is important to
neutralize adaptation by switching continually from one activity to another.
James Asher (exact source obscure)

There are two areas of this site that contain some interesting and unusual ideas for lessons:

 Warmers, life-savers, fillers and coolers.  Many of these may be familiar to you, some
may be new and some you may have forgotten about.  You can access the list and the
ideas here.
 Alternative methodologies.  This guide briefly covers The Silent Way, Total Physical
Response, Community Language Learning, (De)suggestopedia and Dogme.  The guide
also provides you with some links to see the approaches in action and learn more.  Click
here to go there.

Here, we'll suggest some others you may know or may not know about.
It has often been said that teaching techniques are a bit like jokes: many people know them but
nobody knows where they come from.  If you can lay claim to having invented any of the
following, let ELT Concourse know and, if the claim is credible, you'll be credited.

Click on any of the following to go to the part that interests you.

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Dictation ideas Ways to drill Getting learners moving

Dictation ideas

Dictation is a neglected but useful technique.

Here are some ways to make it more student centred.

Dictogloss

This is a powerful technique which is intended to get students listening, talking, writing and
working on grammar and lexis simultaneously.  It can be used as a revision exercise or to
introduce a lesson (especially one which involves a written text).  Here's how it works

1. Select a text which is challenging but not too difficult for your group.  You could use:
o the first part of a text which will form the basis of a lesson
o an invented text which is relevant to the lesson's topic
o text that the learners have worked on in the past but whose features need
revising
2. Read the text at more or less normal speed.  In this phase the students only listen to get
the general gist of the text.  You may have to repeat this stage.
3. Now read the text again at more or less normal speed.  In this phase, the learners can
take quick notes of key words and phrases.  You are reading it too quickly for them to
write it down as in a 'normal' dictation.
4. Put the class into small groups.  Their task is to reconstruct the text as well as they can
by combining their memory of what you read.  In this phase, you are not inactive.  You
need to be on hand to help and nudge but not to give them the right answers.  If
something they have written is grammatically impossible, for example, then you could
point it out.  If, on the other hand, they have selected a word which is not in the text but
is a fair synonym, leave it alone.
You can extend this stage by recombining the groups so that they can draw on other
people's ideas.
5. Now you can do a number of things:
o Hand out or project the text and get them to compare their answers with the
original
o Re-read the text slowly for them to note differences
o Give the full text to one member of each group who reads it to the others while
they check
o Get one learner to read the text to the whole class while they check
6. Finally, focus on the language, especially any areas of grammar or lexis which will be
relevant to the rest of the lesson or which need revising.

Running dictation

1. Select a text as above.

299
 2. Make 3 or 4 copies of the text and stick them to the wall around / near your classroom.
3. Put the class in groups of not more than 4.  Pairs is fine.
4. Instruct as follows:
1. Members of the group take turns to go to the text, read and remember as much
of it as they can and return to the group
2. When they come back, they dictate what they have remembered and the group
write it down
3. The next runner then does the same with the next piece of the text
4. Runners may not:
 shout out the text before they have returned to the group
 take notes
5. You can make this as competitive or as cooperative as you please.

Note: if you have a class of children or teenagers, you may like to make this a walking rather
than running dictation.  Add a rule forbidding running.

Shouting dictation

With young, exuberant or excitable groups, this can get very noisy.  It encourages focus in
listening among other things.

1. Select a short text.  Twenty words is quite enough.

2. Arrange the class in two straight rows, sitting opposite each other.
3. Give the text to the people in one row only.
4. The task is to dictate the text to their opposite number who has only to listen to the
person directly opposite and try to ignore all the other noise.
5. Again, you can make this as competitive or as cooperative as you please.

The mechanical teacher

In this technique, the learners control the speed and frequency of the dictation.

1. Select a slightly longer text (say 100 words) which is difficult but not impossibly
challenging.
2. Arrange the class as individuals, pairs or groups as you like but each individual, pair or
group will only get one each of the following cards to hold up when they want to:

(You can copy that image, if you need it, copy and cut it up.)
3. Carry out the dictation as a 'normal' dictation but allow the students to make a sound
(such as Bleep!) whenever they want you to stop or do something else.
4. Obey.
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Bleeped dictation

This technique is useful for focusing on particular words or constructions you have presented
and practised before.  It is a practice technique, not teaching.

1. Select a text which contains multiple examples of the language targets.  This can be a
new text or one from a previous lesson.
2. Highlight all the target items.  These can be single words, complex tense forms or
whatever you choose.  It works well for articles , modals and prepositions, for example.
3. Conduct the dictation as normal but, each time you come to a highlighted item, insert
Bleep! in its place.  The learners' task is to insert what the item should be.

Ordering dictation

This is a simple technique to make students listen to each other and perhaps focus on sequencing
or discourse markers.

1. Choose a text and cut it into 4 or 5 logical sections.

2. Arrange the class in groups of 4 or five and give each student one part of the text.
3. The learners' task is to reconstruct the text in its entirety without showing the text to
each other.

Whoops dictation

1. Select a text as you would normally, making sure it contains some targets of recent
lessons.
2. Go through the text and replace some of the words with words that do one of the
following.  You can mix types but that makes the exercise very challenging indeed.
1. make no sense in the context
2. sound similar to but are not the same as the word you have removed (think-sink,
raise-rise, commute-compute etc.)
3. don't collocate in the same way as the word you have removed (strong vs. heavy
rain, make vs. do etc.)
3. Dictate the text as normal.  During the dictation phase or after they have written the full
text, the learners' task is to spot the mistakes and correct them.

Transformation dictation

This is challenging.

1. Select a suitable text which can be transformed appropriately.

2. Dictate the text but instruct the learners working individually to transform certain
items.  For example:
o replace all adjectives with an opposite one (pretty house : ugly house, tall man :
short man, marvellous : hideous etc.)
o change all verb + preposition units to their opposites (came in : went out, put
down : picked up, put off : brought forward etc.
o make all present tenses past

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 o replace all Latinate verbs with multi-word verbs or vice versa (cancel : call off,
split up : separate, reduce : turn down etc.
3. When it's done, get the students to compare their answers while you monitor and focus
on the targets, explaining as you need and teaching / drilling.

Go back.

Drilling ideas

Drilling has its detractors.

Some see it as too teacher centred and dependent on a discredited
theory of learning.
Others do too much of it and some confine it to lower levels.
Students, however, seem to like it.
There is a guide on this site to types of drills.  Go there for a reminder of things like repetition,
substitution and transformation drills and the difference between meaningful and meaningless
drills.  The page will open in a new tab or window so just shut it to come back to this guide.
Here are some other ways to make drilling more interesting and effective. 

Backchaining

Actors often learn their lines by breaking up the part and learning the last section first.  Dog
trainers sometimes teach the final part of a command before the beginning and so do animal
trainers in circuses.  The theory, such as it is, is that the learners focus on the form not the
meaning of what they are doing.

The procedure is simple.  Instead of drilling the whole of a long word, phrase or sentence from
the beginning, start at the end.  E.g.:

1. Don't drill: inde > indepen > independent > independently

Drill instead: ently > pendently > dependently > independently
2. Don't drill: I would > I would love > I would love t' come
Drill instead: t' come > love t' come > would love t' come > I would love t' come

Try it.  It works.

Who to drill

Many teachers confine themselves to drilling the whole class together or drilling individuals
only.
The problem with drilling the whole class, especially if it's large, is that a) you can't hear
everyone and b) people don't start and finish together so you get an overlapping cacophony.
Here are some alternatives:

 Drill in small groups. If you have island tables in the room, that's easy.  If you have rows
or sides of a rectangle, drill one row or side at a time.  It's easier for you and the learners
to hear if they are getting it right.

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  Drill males and females separately.  The mixed voice tones when they speak together
make it difficult to hear what's right and wrong.
 Select groups to drill randomly (or, actually, quite carefully):
o give everyone a letter and drill all the Bs, all the Ds etc.
o everyone wearing something red
o everyone wearing jeans
o everyone over 25
o everyone who drank coffee at breakfast time
etc.
 After you have modelled the target, get a learner to do the group selection or decide
who should repeat.

The vanishing-text drill

This gives lots of intensive practice without it becoming boring.

Interactive whiteboards are ideal for this but you can do it with any board.  Here's how it works:

1. Write a short text on the board.

2. Read the text aloud and drill it.  You can backchain it for greater focus, and drill in
groups (see above).
3. When the learners' production is satisfactory (and not before), erase two or three
words.
4. The learners have to repeat the whole text, remembering what goes in the gaps.
5. Repeat this until the learners are repeating the whole text with no cues on the board at
all.

The growing-text drill

Lots of people reserve drilling for pronunciation work but it can be challenging and motivating
to drill larger chunks of language which require the learners to recognise and reproduce sentence
stress, rhythm, timing, phrasing, contractions and weak forms accurately.
You can start with a short sentence such as I came home and work up to:

 I came home and found a cat

 I came home and found a cat on my doorstep
 I came home and found a tiny cat on my doorstep
 I came home and found a tiny cat sitting on my doorstep
 I came home a bit late and found a tiny cat sitting on my doorstep
 I came home a bit late last night and found a tiny cat sitting on my doorstep
 I came home from work a bit late last night and found a tiny cat sitting on my doorstep
 I came home from work a bit late last night, feeling quite tired, and found a tiny cat
sitting on my doorstep
 I came home from work a bit late last night, feeling quite tired, and found a tiny cat
sitting on my doorstep looking quite hungry
etc.

Students enjoy the challenge but you need to be alert to their production of the language,
especially stress, intonation, timing and weak forms as you go along. You may need to stop
frequently and drill sections of the text.

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If you have an interactive whiteboard you can prepare this in advance and have the models
marked with the stress and intonation patterns.

Getting learners moving

It is not only young learners with short attention spans who like
to move around in the classroom.
  Adults, too, appreciate the opportunity to get out of their chairs
and move a little.  Be careful, however.  Activities which involve
tossing little furry toys around may often be seen as childish and
inappropriate.  Pick your audience carefully and bear cultural
issues in mind.  Silly games are good occasionally, but don't
overdo it.

There is, incidentally, some evidence that physical movement induces the body to make
dopamine, a chemical which increases our ability to see patterns and learn.

Here are some simple examples of ways to get people moving.

Checking answers

Instead of checking the answers to tasks in pairs with the person sitting adjacent, ask
people to move around or mingle in groups.

Getting feedback from True/False exercises

Instead of asking people what they thought, get people to stand up if they thought the
answer to an item was false and remain seated if they think it's true, or vice versa.

Stress

Instead of drilling people in their seats, get them to stand up when they say the stressed
syllable or word.

Feedback

Instead of just eliciting the answers to a task, think about whether the learners can
come to the board individually and write their responses.

Brainstorming

We often ask learners to think about a topic in order to activate what they already know
by, say, coming up with a list of words or a set of ideas.  There's no reason why they
can't write the lists on the board in teams.

Try some Total Physical Response techniques.  For more, go to the guide on TPR.

Go back.

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305
Some 'alternative' approaches
Any novelty, if carried on too long, will trigger adaptation.  No matter how exciting and
productive the innovation, people will tire of it.  They no longer respond.  It is important to
neutralize adaptation by switching continually from one activity to another.
James Asher (exact source obscure)

The guide to the history and development of English Language Teaching covers: grammar
translation, audio-lingualism (including structural linguistics and behaviourist theories of
learning) and the rise of communicative language teaching.
The separate guide to Communicative Language Teaching takes it on from there and there's
another devoted to Krashen's hypotheses and the Natural Approach and yet another to Task-
Based Learning.  You should go to those guides for more on the background.  This guide serves
as an introduction to some other approaches which are often inserted into a communicative
approach or may form the basis for your experimenting with novel ways to teach language.

The Silent Way

The main source for this area is Gattegno (1963).  His book is available online at
http://issuu.com/eswi/docs/gattegno_-_teaching_foreign_languages_in_schools_t.

Characteristics

As the name implies, the central characteristic of the methodology is for the teacher to remain as
silent as possible.  The main reason for this is to devolve as much autonomy and decision
making as possible to the learners.
The teacher may be silent but that is not the same as being inactive.  It is the teacher's role to
monitor very actively, lead pronunciation practice (a major element of the approach), make
decisions about when to move on or introduce new structures and support the learners in their
efforts.  This may, for example, mean mouthing language silently, gesturing or intervening to
draw the learners' attention to errors or correct language in some way.
It's important to note that the teacher is not always silent, just for 90% of the time.  When the
teacher does speak, he/she should only say something once so that learners attend very carefully.

Cuisenaire rods
These are also widely used outside the Silent Way approach.  Sets of rods consist of
coloured pieces of wood or plastic of varying lengths.  They can be used to represent
words (showing, e.g., stressed syllables), whole clauses (showing stressed words or
important functional words such as articles and prepositions), floor plans (see picture)
and even abstract ideas.  Like this:
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 which simultaneously shows word class (nouns are orange, verbs blue, articles black
etc.), weak forms and stressed syllables (the length of the rods) as well as being
manipulable to show varying word order.  The possibilities don't stop there.
Colour charts
Colour is used extensively for three purposes:
    to link pronunciation to colour in the learners' minds, hence making it more memorable
    to link spelling to colour
    to link sentence structures to colour identifying content and function words
They look like this:

Theory

There are two fundamental premises:

1. people do not learn languages through imitation and drilling.  Learning is a creative,
cognitive process which is internal to the learner.  Learning consists of trial and error,
making hypotheses about language and testing them out to see what response the teacher
provides.  To do this, learners may draw on their first languages, other languages they
speak and their intuition.  Errors are, therefore, both natural and necessary.  This is,
therefore, a discovery approach.
2. the teacher's responsibility is to focus on how learners learn rather than on teaching
methodology or techniques.  As far as possible teachers should guide the learning process
rather than interfere with it.

Criticisms

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 1. The approach is severely structural with opportunities for real communication very
limited.
2. The teacher's rather distant and aloof role may be seen negatively by some learners who
expect more help and guidance.
3. The opportunities for more advanced learners may be limited by the constraints of charts
and rods (although efforts have been made recently to accommodate more advanced
materials).

Influences

1. Some will claim that the often obsessive and uninformed focus on limiting the dreaded
teacher-talking time is a direct result of the ideas of the Silent Way.
2. Cuisenaire rods are widely used to demonstrate structures and stress patterns among
much else (see above).
3. The idea of limiting modelling to single events to encourage learners to focus hard and
notice the new item may also derive from the approach.

Total Physical Response

Total Physical Response is an approach based on the work of James Asher.  In his words, it
derives from the premise that the human brain has a biological program for acquiring any
natural language on earth (Asher).

The approach is entirely based on what Asher and others consider the way in which a child
learns its first language.

Characteristics

The teacher's role

The teacher takes on the role of a parent teaching a child, using commands to force
learners to perform acts based on the language she/he uses.
For example, at beginner level, the teacher may use imperatives such as Bring me your
chair, Move to the seat near the door etc.  At more advanced levels the commands may
become quite complex, e.g., If you went to bed before 10 o'clock last night, ask the
person on your left a question about yesterday etc.
The learners' role
The learner is placed in the position of a child learning its first language, responding to
orders and commands.  Learners initially respond to commands only but will presently
move on to constructing their own commands for their peers and initiating language to do
so.
The role of language
Language is used to evince a physical response in the learners on the principle that in this
way memory traces will be consistently and continually reinforced.  The approach is one
which is well suited to the use of imperatives and the manipulation of objects in the
classroom.

Theory

There are twin premises:

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 1. that adults can (and do) acquire a second language in exactly the same way that they
acquired their first, i.e., interaction between parents and children combines verbal and
physical phenomena.
2. that children learn by responding to comments and imperatives such as Look at daddy! by
refocusing their gaze accordingly.  The response to the language is then reinforced by the
parents and the language patterns are absorbed.

The approach claims to increase the speed of learning twofold.

Criticisms

1. The approach is based on a behaviourist understanding of language (and all behaviour)

which has been significantly criticised for some time (see the guide to the history and
development of ELT for more on the debunking of behaviourism).
2. The syllabus allows only for a restricted, purely structural approach to language learning
with little space for imaginative and truly meaningful communication.
3. The approach is difficult to put into effect above quite elementary levels because of its
focus on the use of imperatives.
4. Learning imperatives is poor preparation for real-life, appropriate language use.

Influences

1. Some elements of TPR are often introduced into more 'mainstream' approaches because it
is recognised that for many learners a kinaesthetic approach is valuable and makes the
language memorable.
2. It is an approach suited to teaching the lexis of action verbs and can be used extensively
for this and for story-telling exercises.
3. Many argue that learners enjoy and are motivated by the need to get up and do things in
the classroom rather than remain in their seats.

Community Language Learning

This approach was developed by Charles Curran and draws heavily on theories of counselling
(and, some would argue, group therapy sessions).

Characteristics

The teacher's role

The teacher takes on the role of a counsellor or 'knower' whose responsibility it is to help
the learners perceive their strengths, weaknesses and needs for the target language.  In
essence the role is one of understander, informer and sympathetic listener.
The approach was originally intended for monolingual groups so it is important that the
teacher-counsellor is fluent in the learners' language as well as the target language.
The learners' role
The learner is the client.  The client is not expected to speak until ready to do so nor
respond unless he/she feels comfortable and prepared.  In this respect, the approach has
something in common with Krashen and Terrell's Natural Approach.
The stages of CLL 'lessons'
The nature of CLL lessons, by definition, varies depending on the needs and wishes of
the learners (the clients).  Here, however, is one possible approach:
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 At first an unthreatening environment must be created.  To this end, learners normally sit
in a circle and think about what they want to talk about and learn to communicate.  This
may involve some collaborative brainstorming in whatever language helps.
Then a tape recorder is switched on and the learners can contribute.  The teacher-
counsellor's role here is discreetly to input language, often via translation from the
mother tongue of the group.
The recorder is switched off and the learner-clients discuss how the conversation went.
Now the tape is played back and the learners transcribe the conversation (or, at least,
critical parts of it).
Finally, with the help of the teacher-counsellor, the learners analyse the language they
used and look for ways to improve it.
On-line CLL
It can readily be seen that the advent of web-based technology has given CLL a new
impetus.  Learners can form groups independently of where they or their teacher-
counsellor actually lives and come together as (in)frequently as they like.  Modern
conferencing software is ideal for this approach.

Theory

1. Learning happens best when the content of the 'lesson' is learner generated.
2. The learner-clients slowly develop from being dependent on the 'knower' for all language
input to the point at which they can act as knowers for others.

Criticisms

There aren't too many of these as CLL is a close fit with many communicative teaching
approaches and, in any case, is an approach chosen by the learners for themselves.  However,
there are some obvious difficulties:

1. It is difficult to implement the approach with anything but monolingual groups (although
it can be done with the teacher simply improving the clients' language through shaping
input rather than translation).
2. Because the 'syllabus' is internally generated and learner based, the approach does not
recommend itself to those situations in which there is an externally imposed syllabus
(examination classes, EAP and so on).
3. Some learners may feel disorientated by the amount of autonomy they are expected to
demonstrate, may not have adequate ideas or may be intimidated by the presence of the
tape recorder.  These are not insurmountable hurdles.

Influences

1. Outside of monolingual settings, the approach is not particularly influential insofar as it is

not used in a 'pure' form.
2. Some forms of CLL can clearly be embedded in a communicative approach and the
learner-centred nature of the approach may well have influenced Dogme in particular.
3. Many monolingual groups meeting for 'conversation' lessons may, in fact, be unwittingly
taking something like this approach.

Suggestopedia / Desuggestopedia
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This is an approach to language teaching based on the work of Georgi Lozanov, a Bulgarian
psychoanalyst.  It makes some extravagant claims (e.g., that it can speed up the process of
language learning by 500%) and has been labelled pseudo-science by some.  The name is a
portmanteau word taken from 'suggestology' and 'pedagogy'.  The former is, in Lozanov's words,
a science … concerned with systematic study of the nonrational and/or non-conscience
influences.
Also somewhat controversially, the approach has been characterised as being based on covert
and unethical hypnosis.  This is denied (see below).
The central tenet of the approach is to remove, as far as possible, all affective filters to learning
and create in the learner a state of mind conducive to memorising language.

Characteristics

The environment
In some versions of the approach, comfortable or even reclining furniture was
recommended but recently proponents suggest more conventional furniture arranged
around a central table.
Music (normally pre-classical) is a key element and used to accompany the initial
introduction of the language which is usually read by the teacher to the accompaniment
of the music and then by the learners in the same way.
Typical procedure
There is usually a three-step procedure:
Firstly, the language is introduced to the accompaniment of the music in what is intended
to be a very relaxing and unthreatening manner (playful, is a term sometimes used to
describe this phase).  In this phase, too, there is a concert section in which the learners
repeat the material together with the teacher while they listen to the music and the teacher
pauses at important moments.
Next, the learners are free to use the material spontaneously, to 'elaborate', to sing and
play while the teacher guides and consults.
Finally, for further elaboration, the learners speak freely in the target language without
interference or interruption.

Criticisms

This is a fraught area.  Original criticisms of the approach were arguably based on a false
understanding, indeed, some say a deliberate caricature, of the approach.  The combination of
soviet-era psychology and discredited hypnosis may have been influential.

1. The approach uses subliminal manipulation of the learners through a process close to
hypnosis.  Hence the name 'suggestopedia'.  That's unethical.
The response to this is that Lozanov (once a user of hypnosis) is now wholly opposed to
it and has redefined the approach as 'desuggestopedia' to emphasise the position.  He
claims that the term was based on the meaning of 'suggest' as in 'recommend', not the
meaning used in psychoanalysis.
He also now denies any connections to neuro-linguistic programming, the use of
reclining furniture, monotonous reading tones and any other techniques that may induce a
hypnotic state in the learners.
2. The approach is based on pseudo-science and a false understanding of how the brain
works.
There has been little evidence to refute this although there are many who support
Lozanov's claims.

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 3. Input is limited to reading and listening with little attention paid to communicative skills.
The elaboration phase of the process is claimed to provide just that kind of practice.
4. Lozanov's focus is on memorisation but language is much more than that.
The claim is that learners can both memorise language items more easily through these
techniques and be able to deploy the items naturally.

Influences

1. Suggestopedia is widely used around the world, and not only for the teaching of
languages.
2. Its influence can be observed in many classrooms in which the teacher tries, through the
use of music or other techniques, to reduce the learners' affective filters.
3. Many teachers use visualisation exercises in which the learners sit quietly and listen,
often with their eyes shut, as a way to introduce target language through a text.  They
may not realise that this is a central suggestopedia technique.

Dogme
Dogme is nothing if not communicative.
The originator is Scott Thornbury and the name comes from a film movement which demanded
the minimum use of technique and materials.  It encourages teaching without published materials
and with the minimum of intrusive technology.

Characteristics

Absence of published materials

A Dogme approach abjures the use of published materials and the importation of
technology so a Dogme lesson may have no materials at all (with all language coming
from the participants) or use materials imported by the learners (and, occasionally, the
teacher).
Planning
Only the general outlines of a lesson can be planned because learning is seen to happen in
conversation and the focus is on what emerges naturally from the learners rather than
imposed upon them.
Procedures
Procedures are, by definition, very flexible so the teacher's role will vary from equal
listener and participant to short periods of more recognisable teaching focused on
language issues that have emerged from the conversation.  Lessons may start from an
idea or question from individual learners or they may brainstorm (with or without the
teacher) what they would like to talk about.  At the outset, before the learners have
become accustomed to the approach, ideas may come from the teacher but, thereafter,
they should derive from the learners because that will maintain relevance and
involvement.]

Theory

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The movement (it is more that than a methodology) has a number of guiding principles (the
exact number rather depends on who is describing / advocating the approach).  They can be
condensed into:

1. Interact and engage: learning happens when learners are involved in what they are talking
about because it is relevant to them and interacting naturally with each other and the
teacher.  In other words, learning is dialogic.
2. Scaffolding: this much-abused term is used here to mean that the teacher's role is to assist
and shape emerging language.
3. Emerging language: the target of Dogme is to work with language that emerges from the
learners rather than impose a syllabus.
4. Empowerment: the learners and teachers are freed from the demands of externally
imposed syllabuses and materials and take control of the learning for themselves. 
Wherever possible, therefore, any materials should come from the learners.
5. Learning is conversation driven: the focus is on connected discourse rather than sentence-
level language analysis.

Criticisms

1. Dogme does not give teachers the opportunity to use a complete range of materials and
resources and is obsessively purist (Gill, 2000)
There is some debate about how anti-materials Dogme actually is.  Meddings and
Thornbury (2009) focus more on a critique of course materials (focus on structure,
cultural bias etc.) than on their non-use.  On the other hand, Dogme can address the
challenges of resource-poor teaching environments.
2. Dogme overly constrains the teacher to a single role
The teacher's role needs, in fact, to be quite flexible (see below) but it is true that the
approach, used consistently, could confine the teacher to that of informant and participant
rather than, e.g., teacher and manager.
3. There is no evidence that it works
True, research evidence is lacking, but advocates of the approach would aver that a) it is
an attempt to restore the basis of Communicative Language Teaching and b) that it shares
characteristics with approaches for which there is some evidence of effectiveness (such
as Task-based Learning in which meaning is constructed in a similar way).
4. Learners expect more
There is no doubt that some learners, paying good money for a course, either directly or
via general taxation, expect to see a rich material base and to use a range of technical and
print-based resources.  They may be demotivated rather than motivated by this approach.
5. Some situations require adherence to a syllabus and Dogme can't be used.
It's true that an examination-focused course is an unlikely place to find Dogme in action
but providing the learners are sophisticated enough to know what the demands of the
examination are and introspective enough to know where their weaknesses and needs lie,
there's no reason why the approach can't work with materials and concerns imported by
them.

You will note that in all the above a non-partisan view of the approaches has been taken by
preferring description to prescription.  However, as with all minority approaches, there are
strident proponents and opponents.  Tread warily if you tread at all.

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Learn more

There are many web-based descriptions and elaborations of these approaches but many are
written by enthusiastic proponents and may lack a certain objectivity.  This is true even for
normally reliable sources.  Some of the more reliable and less fervent of these are listed below.

There's a easy matching test for this.

References:
Asher, J, What is TPR? at http://www.tpr-world.com/what.html
Gattegno, C. (1963), Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools: The Silent Way, online at
http://issuu.com/eswi/docs/gattegno_-_teaching_foreign_languages_in_schools_t [accessed
November 2014]
Gill, S (2000), Against Dogma: a plea for moderation at http://archive.today/D3beB
Larsen-Freeman, D (2000), Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Lozanov, G (1978), Suggestology and Outlines of Suggestopedy. New York: Gordon & Breach
Meddings, L and Thornbury, S (2009), Teaching Unplugged: Dogme in English Language
Teaching. Peaslake UK: Delta
Stevick, E (1980), A Way and Ways, Boston, MA: Heinle and Heinle (Stevick's work covers a
number of methodologies under a general category of 'humanist' approaches)
Stevick, E (1980), Humanism in Language Teaching: a critical perspective. Oxford: Oxford
University Press (also available from
http://www-01.sil.org/lingualinks/languagelearning/booksbackinprint/
onhumanisminlanguageteaching/humanism.pdf)

Websites:
The Silent Way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWSLtlwZ5X8 a Silent Way lesson by an expert practitioner
Suggestopedia:
http://www.slideshare.net/syllwia05/suggestopedia-14826034 is an interesting overview with
examples of the approach
http://www.lozanov-international.com/suggestology-method-en-GB/ is the home page of
suggestopedia
Total Physical Response:
http://www.tpr-world.com/ is the home page for TPR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Mk6RRf4kKs for an example of TPR in action
Community Language Learning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4G9uY8Vq2Y for an example CLL lesson
Dogme:
http://www.scottthornbury.com/articles.html contains a link to the original article about Dogme
and much else besides

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Mistakes: slips and errors

Slip or error?
Traditionally in English Language Teaching, we make a distinction between two types of
mistake: an error and a  slip.  Errors are caused by a lack of language knowledge or
communication strategies and slips are caused by tiredness, inattention or just having too much
to think about at the time.
For example, two of the following are just slips which can be ignored (unless they persist) but
three are real errors that may need us to do something constructive in the classroom.  (All of
them are real, noted in the classroom, by the way.)
Can you identify which is which?  Click here when you have an answer.

1. He go fishing every Sunday (advanced learner talking about his father)

2. There are stone stairs down to the beach (low-level learner describing a picture)
3. The house's roof is blow off (intermediate learner summarising a newspaper report
about something which happened last week)
4. The car won't starting because something is wrong with the engine (intermediate-level
learner explaining a problem)
5. Please give that me (upper-intermediate learner asking a classmate to pass a pen)

Right.  Numbers 1, 4 and 5 are just slips or mistakes.  It's unlikely that an advanced learner
doesn't know that it should be he goes.  It's also unlikely that an intermediate speaker doesn't
know that won't is followed by the infinitive, not the -ing form and that an upper-intermediate
student doesn't know that it should be it not that in this case.

Numbers 2 and 3, however, are real errors.  In 2. the speaker clearly doesn't have the word steps
in his or her vocabulary and in 3. there are lots of errors: the form of the genitive (it should be
the roof of the house), the form of a passive (it should be the verb be followed by the past
participle, blown) and the tense of the verb (it should be was or has been).

Two views of error

With which of the following do you have the most sympathy?
Click here for some comments when you have an answer.

View 1: errors made by students are evidence that something has gone wrong in the teaching-learning
process.
View 2: making errors is a natural part of learning a language and should be viewed positively as an
opportunity to help the learner.

Here are some comments.  There is no right answer to this question but you should know that
what you believe about error is likely to affect how you handle it.
View 1: is often held by those who believe that learning a language is mostly about forming

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good habits and, through lots of practice an repetition, we can get the point where we are
producing correct language automatically, almost without thinking.
View 2: is often held by those who see language learning as a process of thought: learning by
testing hypotheses, adjusting our theories, comparing what we say with what we hear and
noticing gaps in knowledge for ourselves.
These are fundamentally different ways of seeing the process.

How do the different views change how we handle error?

Well, how might they?  Think for a moment and then click here.

If you hold view 1:

You may feel it's your duty to correct every error as soon as it's made for fear that
otherwise the learners will acquire bad language habits.  You may also try to avoid
putting your learners in a situation in which errors are going to happen.

If you hold view 2:

You will probably be rather more relaxed about error and focus only on those which are
important for the purposes of what you are teaching at the time or which seriously get
in the way of communication.  Note that none of the errors in the first list of five makes
the learner's meaning unclear.

Interlanguage

This is a key concept and describes where the learners' current language mastery stands on a
scale from knowing nothing of the target language to complete mastery.  Diagrammatically, it
can be pictured like this:

It is, of course, crucial to know where a learner's interlanguage currently is.  There are three
reasons (at least) for this.  Can you come up with them?  Click when you've made a note (or at
least thought about it!).

Reason it tells us what the learner is likely to know

1: already and that helps us plan what to teach. 

Reason it helps us to decide what to correct in class. 

2: There's little point in trying to correct a very
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 elementary student who is trying to produce a
complex third conditional form with a modal
verb because it will take too long and probably
confuse the learners.

it helps us to recognise whether an error should

Reason
be corrected by you or whether the error can
3:
be self-corrected by the learner.

Handling error in the classroom

The following assumes that you are closer to those that hold view 2 than view 1.

There are three main steps:

Step 1: RECOGNITION

This may sound obvious.  After all, we all know when something is wrong, don't we?
Usually, yes but there are two sorts of error we need to be aware of where it isn't so clear:

Receptive error

We can make a mistake in understanding what we read or hear so it is important that

we have ways in the classroom to find out whether something has been adequately
understood or not.  To do that, we ask questions or make sure the language has a clear
context so we can judge.

Covert error

If, for example, a student says, "She has been to London.", how do we know if it is right
or wrong?  The form looks and sounds OK but the learner might have meant, "She went
to London." or "She has gone to London." and that's another reason we need a clear
context for all the language we practise in the classroom.

Step 2: EXPLANATION

Can you think of any reasons why students may make errors?
Click here when you have thought of something.

Ignorance

the learner may simply have never learnt the form of the meaning and is just stabbing in
the dark.  This is most common at lower levels because that's where learners' needs
often outstrip their abilities to produce language.

Overgeneralising the rule

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 sometimes, when a 'rule' has been learned, learners will over-extend it.  For example, if
you have learned the rule to add -ed to make a past tense, it seems logical to form
catched.  Equally, over-extending a rule might lead to the production of wonderfuller.

First language interference

all learners, especially adult ones, will draw on language(s) they know to try to figure
out a new one.  This is most obvious in the area of pronunciation, of course, but occurs
frequently in other areas:
Structure: the learner's first language may have a structure that looks similar but means
different things.  For example, the German structure of ich habe gesehen [I have seen,
literally] often is better translated into English as I saw rather than I have seen.  That's
only one reason for finding out a bit about our learners' first languages.
Lexis: many languages, and not only European ones, have words which look the same
but have different meanings.  For example, simpatico in Italian means nice or friendly,
sensibel in German means sensitive and un smoking in French is a dinner jacket.  There
are many hundreds of these so-called false friends.  There's a set of exercises on this site
focused on false friends.
Appropriacy: in many languages, such as Greek, it is perfectly acceptable, for example,
to go into a shop and state I want ...or  Give me ... with no please to soften the
instruction.  That will not work well in most English-speaking cultures.

Step 3: REMEDY

Here is where teachers need to think on their feet.  There are questions to ask whenever you hear
an error.  What might these be?
Click here when you have thought of some ways to handle error.

Question 1: am I going to correct this?

If the error isn't holding up communication and has nothing to do with the subject of
the lesson, it may be that correcting it will lead you off on a tangent, chasing red
herrings and serve to slow down the lesson and confuse the learners.  If that's the case
ignore it.
If, on the other hand, the error is impeding comprehension or is made in the language
that is the target of what you are doing, then you will have to deal with it.

Question 2: do I need to correct this?

Very often, learners can correct their own production so a quizzical look or stopping
learners and getting them to retrace their steps and reconsider may be more effective
than your correcting the error.

Question 3: can anyone else correct the error?

If the learners can't correct their own errors, perhaps someone else in the class can.  If
you think this is the case, give them the chance to do so.
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Question 4: how will I correct?

A last resort is normally to give the correct answer yourself.  Often, learners can be led
to discover the right answer with questions and suggestions such as "There's something
wrong with the order of the words.", "What preposition do we need here?", "What
tense should this be?", "Are we talking about tomorrow or today?", or "Is this a long 'a'
sound or a short one?" and so on.
If all else fails, however, there are, obviously, times when providing the right answer is
the best approach providing you make sure that the learner can produce the correct
language independently after you have done so.

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Structuring lessons

There are many possible ways to structure a lesson in English language systems or skills.  Here
we look at two.

As our examples, we are going to take a reading skills lesson concerned with skimming and
scanning skills and a grammar (systems) lesson focused on using the present perfect tense to talk
about experiences which have changed your life.  We are assuming that the learners know little
or nothing about either.  If you don't either, it might be an idea to look at two guides: the guide to
the nature of reading skills and the guide to the present perfect first.

The nuts and bolts

The first things we need to decide on are the stages in
the lesson that have to be present if it is going to have
any chance of success.  Think for a moment about
what you believe must be present in lessons of these
types and then click here.

Introduction and focus

Learners need to know where they are going (and it helps if you give the impression that
you know the answer to that) and what they are going to learn.
Presentation of the focus
At some point in the lesson you are going to have to present the language or the skill you
are targeting.  This means personally (a teacher-led phase) or via the materials you use.
Controlled practice
In this phase, the learners will get some practice at actually using the language or skill but
it will be fairly closely controlled so they gain confidence and can focus on the targets.
Freer practice
At this stage the learners will use the targets in a way which is meaningful and personal
to them.
Checking learning
At some stage(s) in the lesson there should be an opportunity for both you and the
learners to see what they have learnt.  This could happen briefly and frequently or be a
clear and identifiable stage in itself.

You may have thought of other things you would like to include and that's fine as long as most of
the things in that list are also there.

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Approach 1: presentation, practice, production (PPP)
This is probably the most popular form of lesson structure and it is the one on which most
course-book writers seem to base their material.  Can you fill in (on paper or in your head) where
the 5 must-have stages come?  Click on the image when you have done the task.

A few comments

Presentation
This is a key stage where you explain and exemplify the language or skills point.
For our example of teaching the present perfect, you might start with a personal anecdote
about how 3 things you have done have changed your life (learned a language, had a
baby, become a teacher etc.).  A few concept checking questions would follow that.
Then you'd present the form and its pronunciation and concept check the meaning again
to make sure everyone has it right.
For the example of the skills focus, you could use examples of two real texts, one that
you would skim to find what you want (a newspaper is an example) and one you would
scan for data (a timetable, for instance).
Then you'd explain / elicit how you go about doing these two things.
If you have followed the guide to how learning happens, you will be aware that there are
usually two approaches to this stage: an inductive one or a deductive one (or, sometimes,
both).
Practice

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 At this stage you would set up a controlled task or series of tasks.
For a grammar point, this might include a range of task types such as picking the right
form to answer a question, gap-filling a sentence, expanding a skeleton sentence and so
on.
For the reading skills, this stage would probably involve some timed reading tasks such
as finding four dates and three numbers in a text (scanning) or a race to match headline to
text (skimming).
This is the stage in any lesson where your active monitoring and help functions in two
ways.
1. It allows you to check that the structure / skill is being applied correctly and help
where it isn't.
2. To gather data for a feedback stage which is focused on what they did rather than what
you hope they did.
Production
Here you want the learners to apply the language or the skill as authentically as is
possible in the classroom.
For the grammar point, this might mean sharing experiences together about three things
that they have done which changed their lives (refer back to your anecdote).
For the skills focus, you could set a realistic task such as deciding what to watch on TV
(scanning for timings and channels, skimming to see if it's interesting enough) or working
in groups to pick a present for each other from a catalogue (scanning for prices and things
etc.) or picking a class reader by skimming the first page or two of a book to see if they
are interested in reading it together).
Here again, you are checking learning so you need to be active, alert and supportive.

Approach 2: Test, teach, test

In this approach, you first find out what the learners can and can't do by setting them a task. 
Then, having identified the issues, you teach the target language or skill and then test again with
a different task.  Again, put together some ideas about what goes in the blank boxes before
clicking on the graphic.

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A few comments

Test
You still have to introduce the topic of the lesson, of course, but here you refrain from
explaining and simply set a task of some sort.  With the skills example, that could be a
reading text with two tasks to do, one requiring skimming, one scanning.
With the grammar structure, the opening test could be to talk about or write about life-
changing events.
In either case, you need to design a feedback phase and monitor carefully so you can
detect the learners current (lack of) knowledge or skill and focus them on it.
Teach
This section looks very much like the presentation and practice stage of a PPP approach
because that's what it is.  See above for what goes into it.
Test
Now you set a parallel task to the one in the first phase and get the learners to apply what
they have learned.  With any luck (or good planning and teaching) the learners will be
demonstrably more successful and / or accurate.
Follow up
In most TTT lessons a follow phase rather like the free(r) production stage of a PPP
lesson is necessary to help the learners internalise and personalise the language or skill.

And finally ...

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It is never a bad idea to reserve five minutes of the end of a lesson to get the learners to articulate
what they have learned.
You can put them in small groups to write a list of what they have learned and then report back,
get everyone to stand and tell you something they have learned before they leave, have a mingle
exercise to see if they have learned the same things as other people or use other methods.
This is not time wasted.

Which approach to use

By the way of things, the PPP approach is probably better suited to an initial presentation of
something new and a TTT approach to something that is being revised or revisited at a higher
level but there's no reason to confine yourself that way.  There are pros and cons on both sides:

If you like, you can now go on to the next obvious stage, the guide to planning.

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Testing in the classroom: an essential guide
You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.
George W. Bush

Testing is a complex and technical area which is littered (some might say infested) with
terminology.  There is a more complete guide to the area in the in-service section (most of which
you don't need to know for the purposes of testing in the classroom).

Defining terms
Which of following do you see as a test?  Click on the table when you have an answer.

Trick question?
No, not really.  The point is that any of these activities can be seen as a form of testing.  You are
asking questions or setting tasks to find something out about the learners' abilities.
We can take them one at a time:

a public examination

This sort of test is instantly recognisable to most of us.  It is usually a very formal
procedure with strict rules for its conduct.

doing that exercise

In this case, the exercise is only marginally a test because the only person who will look
at the result is you.  However, in a classroom, you might set a task like this to find out
what people already know.

asking someone if she understands

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 this is a kind of test but it's a pretty poor one because the answer won't tell you a great
deal.  A test to avoid.

using a multiple-choice exercise

You may be using such an exercise as a teaching tool, to alert people to the range of
choices, for example.  However, most learners will see it as some kind of test and the
outcomes will, presumably, be evaluated in some way.  So it's a test.

saying, "Can you pronounce this word?"

This is a test if you want to hear the learner pronounce it rather than being satisfied
with an answer like "Yes, thanks" or a nod.

using a role play exercise at the end of a lesson

The purpose of activities like this is twofold:

a) they gives the learners an opportunity to use the language in a freer way and make it
a bit more personal to them but
b) they also allows you to discover if they can actually use it in the way you hoped.
So it's a test.

asking what a word means

This is clearly a test.  You want to know if the person knows the word or not.  Be aware,
however, that giving an off-the-cuff definition of a word in a foreign language is very
challenging (that's what keeps dictionary writers in business).  It's perfectly possible to
know all you need to know about a word and still not be able to give a neat, clear
definition of it.

asking a learner to tell you about yesterday

This may just be a bit of social chit-chat but in a classroom, many learners will assume
they are being tested and their production evaluated.  Good teachers will be listening
carefully to see how well the learner can do this.

Some terms to help us think

If almost everything we do can be seen as some sort of test, what are the differences?  The
following is not meant to bamboozle you with terminology but to sort the wood from the trees
and help us focus.  There are only four terms to grasp and they are pretty self-explanatory.

Can you make a stab at what any of these mean?

1. formal testing
2. informal testing
3. formative testing
4. summative testing

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Click here when you have an answer.

1. formal testing
1. this is what public examinations are but also what end-of-week or end-of-course
tests usually are.
2. formal tests are very often written
3. formal tests are not frequent
4. formal tests are usually quite objective (or appear so)
5. formal tests often have a set marking scheme (two marks for this, three for that
etc.)
6. the results are communicated to the learners
7. learners recognise such tests for what they are and respond accordingly
2. informal testing
1. happens frequently in classrooms
2. can be anything from a simple question to a complicated role play
3. requires the teacher and the learner to evaluate rather than assess by recording
marks
4. does not rely on outcomes being given to the learners although feedback is often
supplied somehow
3. formative testing is designed to aid the learning process by
1. telling the teacher what has been learnt well so far and what needs more work
2. focusing learners on what needs to be mastered
3. is often quite frequent and done at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of
lessons
4. can be formal or informal
4. summative testing is what happens at the end of a process and is designed to discover
how well the targets have been learned.  Examples are:
1. a public examination
2. an end-of-course written test
3. a final speaking exercise in a lesson
4. homework tasks

It is, of course, not always so clear cut.  Tests can be:

formative and formal

end-of week tests

written homework to be handed in and marked etc.

summative and informal

tasks set at the end of lessons to see what progress has been made
end-of-course activities which combine many aspects of what has been learned / taught

summative and formal

end-of-course tests
public examinations

formative and informal

327
 checking understanding (Can you tell me what John said?)
checking pronunciation
checking grammar (What's the past of 'go'?)

The last of these is very frequently done because informal, formative testing goes on all the time
in classrooms:
whenever a teacher is asking a question and whenever a teacher is listening to the learners'
production or reading what they have written, informal, formative testing is happening.

A graphical way of seeing this is:

Try this little test to see if you have a handle on all of this.

Informal tests
Good informal testing is something that comes with training and experience.  It's not rocket
science and one of the best ways to do it is to listen carefully to your learners and ask questions
which target what you need to know.  There's more on this in the guide to checking learning.
What follows concerns more formal, often written, testing.

Formal testing
Validity

This is a term you will often hear applied to testing.  It means three things:

1. does the test measure what we say it measures?

For example, if we set out to test someone's ability to participate in informal spoken
transactions, do the test items we use actually test that ability or something else?

328
 2. does the test contain a relevant and representative sample of what it is testing?
For example, if we are testing someone's ability to write a formal email, are we getting
them to deploy the sorts of language they actually need to do that?
3. does the test look like a proper test?
You want your learners to take it seriously so presentation is important.

Simple.  Of course, we want our test to be valid so here's a short guide to how to write a good
test.

The test can be formative (in the middle of a course or even a lesson) or it can be summative
(coming at the end of a course or series of lessons).

The process:

Deciding what to test, prioritising and organising

This is where good record-keeping comes in handy.  Briefly, this means

 looking back and selecting the areas you think need testing.  You won't be able to test
everything (unless you have taught very little) so
 prioritise the list to make sure you are being fair to all your learners.  They will better at
some skills than at others so mix it up.
 now break the list down into skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening), grammar and
structures, pronunciation and lexis

Selecting test items and working out how to mark the test

Now you have your list, you can decide how to test the items.

Types of tests
true or false

This called an alternate-answer test.  You can expand it slightly to include True, False
and Don't know (the answer isn't in the text).

multiple-choice

This is sometimes called a fixed-response test.  Typically, the correct answer must be
chosen from three or four alternatives.  The 'wrong' items are called the distractors.

structured response

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 In tests of this sort, you give a structure in which to form the answer.  Skeleton sentence
items of the sort which require the subject to expand a sentence such as He / come/ my
house / yesterday / 9 o'clock into He came to my house at 9 o'clock yesterday are tests
of this sort.

free response

In these tests, no guidance is given other than the instructions (called the rubric,
incidentally) and the learners are free to write or say what they like.  A hybrid form of
this and a structured response item is one where the subject is given a list of things to
include in the response.

Have a look at this graphic and decide what goes in the columns on the right.  Then click on it to
compare your answers.

Some examples
  Data Task Comment

A text about someone's hobbies

and interests.  For example,
I much enjoy walking and reading
The longer the text and the m
but have little time for sports and
The writer states that she used to complex the sentence structu
outdoor games which are just too
1 do a lot of sports. the harder it is.
energetic for me now that I'm
True or False? The more the reader has to re
getting on a bit.  I don't watch
between the lines, the harder
much television these days because
I find it all rather dull and
depressing.

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 Choose the best answer:
a) She has never watched television
The nearer the distractors are
much
the truth, the harder it is.
b) She dislikes depressing television
2 The same as above. The more different the words
programmes
question are from the text, th
c) She never went in for outdoor
harder it is (see c)).
activities
d) She has never played sports

You usually need a bit of cont

Expand the sentences making the
3 She / sports / now / she getting
necessary changes
get reliable responses.  With t
text above, the response shou
She doesn't play much sports
because she is getting on a bit

This is sometimes called a Clo

She _______ play _______ many
4 Fill the gaps with a single word. test although it isn't technical
________ as she _______ to.
better term is a gap-fill test.

Now write a similar paragraph

about your hobbies and interests This is a hybrid between free
5 Same text as above.
using the text as a guide.  Write no structured response.
more than 150 words.

Marking tests

Notice that the some of these items require more judgement by the marker (usually you) than
others.
The more subjective the marking is, the less reliable will be the results.  For example:

 Item 1 and 2 are either right or wrong so easy to mark but remember that you can get
50% by guessing in item 1, and 25% in item 2.  You can also get it right even if you don't
understand most of the text.
 In item 4, would you accept She didn't play so many games as she wanted to when what
you actually wanted was She doesn't play as many sports as she used to?  To get round
the problem, you can give the learner a selection of words to choose from but that
makes it easier, of course.  The same issue arises with item 3.
 Item 5 demands most of the marker because you will have to assess against a range of
criteria, such as:
o use of lexis
o accuracy of grammar
o content
o ordering
o use of connectors

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 etc.
That's quite difficult to do and maintain fairness at the same time.

There are, of course, many more variants and types of test item than we can cover here.  Look at
tests in course books and be aware that most examination boards and ELT publishers have
examples of tests and test types on their websites.  Go there for more ideas.

Of course, there's a test on all of this: some formal, summative evaluation for you.

Reference:
A very accessible and clear text is:
Hughes, A, 1989, Testing for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

332
Teaching functional language
2 definitions
If you have followed the guide to form, function and meaning, you will be familiar with the fact
that a functional approach to analysing language is one which:

starts from the understanding that language is primarily a tool for getting meaning across and
that it is best analysed by looking at the functions bits of the language actually perform.

A functional view of language lies at the heart of a communicative approach to teaching it. 
Communicative Language Teaching is defined elsewhere on this site as:

an approach to teaching which focuses more on successful communication than structural or

formal accuracy.  There are two forms:
Weak form: in which the study of grammar is combined with a focus on function but
communicative competence remains the objective.
Strong form: in which there is no study of structure or form at all.  Competence in this area is
deemed to flow from authentic language use alone.

a word of caution

If you take the strong form of the approach, you may bewilder and worry your learners, many of
whom take the view that, although they need above all to communicate effectively, learning the
formal structures, grammar, lexical systems and pronunciation of the language is part and parcel
of being able to do so.
They would not be alone in thinking so.  As Widdowson puts it:

 ... language learning is essentially learning how grammar functions in the achievement of
meaning and it is a mistake to suppose otherwise.
 .... A communicative approach does not involve the rejection of grammar. On the contrary, it
involves a recognition of its central mediating role in the use of and learning of language.
Widdowson (1990: 97/8)

Add in lexical systems and pronunciation and you have (probably) the majority view.

Analysing functions
This is not the place to repeat what has been said in the guide to form, function and meaning but
two essential aspects stand out:

1. Form and function do not exist in a one-to-one relationship.  A single form can exhibit a
number of functions and a single function can be realised in a number of linguistic ways.
2. Functions rarely occur in isolation.  Communication is a two-way process and the
participants need to respond to the other person's functions with those of their own.

333
Think about those two statements a little and see if you can exemplify what they mean.
Click here when you have done that.

1. Form and function do not exist in a one-to-one relationship.

For example:
1. Can I get the plates? is a question form which could function as:
A simple question: Do I have the ability or permission to get the plates?
An offer: I will get the plates for you.
A question about something else: Is it time to get the plates?
A statement as a reminder: We need the plates now.
A suggestion: Should the plates be got?
2. The function of disagreeing with an opinion can be realised by:
Are you sure about that? (an interrogative)
I'm unconvinced (a statement)
Think that through a bit more (an imperative or order)
Doesn't that make it nonsense? (a negative question)
If you say so, I'll have to accept it but I'm still not too sure (a complex
conditional)
That can't be true! (an exclamation with a modal verb)
2. Functions rarely occur in isolation.  What happens is that we have what are called
adjacency pairs.  Offering is matched with accepting or declining, asking for
information is matched with giving information, excusing oneself is matched by
accepting or rejecting an excuse and so on.
For example, if someone makes a suggestion, such as Shall we go now?, there are three
possible responses:
1. Agree to a suggestion: OK, let's get our coats.
2. Reject a suggestion: I'm happy where I am, thanks.
3. Temporise: Let's stay a little longer.

It becomes obvious that we can't teach functions one at a time.  There is very little point in being
able to make an offer if you can't understand or produce the possible responses.

Two key publications listing lots of functions are from the Council of Europe and are available
on the web:
Waystage 1990 by Van Ek and Trim
Threshold 1990 by Van Ek and Trim

Teaching functional language

4 things to consider before you plan to teach

the intentions of the participants

Learners need to be aware of what they want to do with the language.  Am I offering
something, demanding something, asking for something, persuading someone or what?
the context and setting
You can't learn, use or understand language in a vacuum.  Where people are talking and
what they are doing is important data.  For example, a conversation at work will differ
from one in a café, a letter to a friend will differ from one to a landlord and so on.
the relationships
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 Who the people are, what the power relationships between them are and even what their
ages and sexes are is important information.
the medium
Am I speaking, reading, texting, emailing, writing formally, scratching a quick note or
what?  All of these will affect what language I select and the style of what I say / write.

Think of examples of the way in which what we say is affected by these 4 considerations and
then click here.

the intentions of the participants

Here are just two examples.
If I am asking for information, I have a number of means at my disposal.
I can, for example, use a question form (such as Do you have my address?), a question
tag (You have my address don't you?), a statement with rising intonation (You have my
address?) and so on.
If I am making an offer, I can also select from a range of forms:
Can I help?
Let me help.
I'll help.
You can't do that alone.
and so on.
the context and setting
Here the speaker / writer needs to consider style, i.e., the level of formality which is
appropriate:
Open the window.
Please open the window.
Do you mind if we have the window open?
I wonder if you could open the window.
Dear Bill,
Dear Mr William,
I am writing to enquire whether ...
Tell me ...
the relationships
Style matters here, too but so does the level of directness and the type of function which
is even appropriate at all.
Boss to employee: Come and see me tomorrow and talk about your holiday dates, will
you?
Employee to boss: Can you let me have a bit of time later on to discuss my holiday dates?
Employee to employee: Let's sort out my holiday dates today.
the medium
Spoken language tends, on the whole, to be less formal, come in shorter chunks, be
characterised by hesitation and false starts, leaves understood information out and is less
complex.  Writing is more complex, more coherent and includes all the data.  Prepared
speech is more like written language spoken aloud.
Spoken: There's he is!  That's him ... the man, I mean.  He was in the pub yesterday,
wasn't he?  He .. err you spoke to ... to him.  Well, had an argument really.
Written: Do you remember the man you spoke to, or rather argued with, who was in the
pub yesterday?

presenting

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Spoken language is often presented via a dialogue (read or heard) or some other kind of text.  It
can also be embedded in interaction in the classroom.  Whether this is done after the learners
have tried to express the target function for themselves (a test-teach-test approach) or at the
outset (a present-practice-produce approach) is not our concern here.
Visuals or other aids help to make the setting clear but learners still need the information under
the 4 sections above to make sense of the input.

At lower levels such dialogues can be pretty short and simple, along the lines of:

A tourist approaching strangers in the street.

1. Excuse me, can you tell me where the Police Station is?
I'm sorry, I'm a stranger here.
Oh, well, thanks anyway.
2. Excuse me, can you tell me where the Tourist Information Office is?
Err, I'm not too sure.  I think it's in the station.  Down there on the right but you should
ask someone else.  I may be wrong.
OK.  I'll try that.  Thanks.
3. Excuse me, can you tell me where the City College is?
Yes.  It's just down here.  Go to the end of the road, turn right and it's on your left.
Thanks.

This is a simple way to introduce how to use an indirect question to make a request for directions
and the three ways to respond to it.  The dialogues can be read, seen, heard or all three.

At higher levels, things can get a bit more sophisticated.  For example,

The situation:
John and Peggy are colleagues who have worked together for a long time.  They do the same
job.
Julie is their boss.
Peggy is single and lives alone.
John is married to Angela who works in a hospital and has two school-age children.
In their break, they are discussing holiday dates and trying to reach agreement.
Listen to / read / watch the conversation and see how they try to persuade each other.
Peggy: Fine.  OK.  Right.  Head Office has asked me for my holiday dates this year, by the way.
John: I got the same email.  They ask earlier every year.
Peggy: Don't they, though? (laughs) Anyway, I was, well, thinking a bit about it and ... err ...
thought, you know, I'd like to get away in summer for a change.
John: Oh, that's a change for you.
Peggy: Yes, well, actually, it's because someone's asked me to go with them to Greece.  In August,
actually.
John: I can see that's tempting but it's a bit awkward.  We can't both be away.  Julie will never
stand for it.
Peggy: I know.  She's made that pretty clear.  It's just that this is really important to me.  And,
well, I was thinking, you always get, I mean, nearly always, some time in August.  I know that's
because of the kids and all but I was wondering whether you could, like, erm, take July instead. 
Would that work for you?
John: It might I guess but Angela's already asked for time in August and it might be too late. 
They're pretty strict at the hospital nowadays.
Peggy: I know it's a bit awkward and so on but could you see if Angela could change her dates? 
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I don't need to go until the last two weeks of August.
John: Ouch.  Angela's booked the first three weeks already and the kids aren't back from camp
until the end of July.
Peggy: I can see it's difficult but this matters to me, John.
John: I know it does.  But what can I do?  You know Angela.
Peggy: Yeah, well, if that doesn't work, we could talk to Julie and see if we can overlap for a
week.  If we talk to her together, she might bend a bit.  I can't see it'd matter all that much.
John: OK.  Let's see if she's got some time this afternoon.  OK?
Peggy: Yeah, thanks John.

What language in particular is being presented here?  Click here when you have an answer.

A dialogue of this sort is intended to highlight the way we use a bit of give and take in
negotiations and are careful to show we understand the other person's position with phrases like I
can see it's difficult, I can see that's tempting, I know it does.
It shows how we appeal to outside people and pressures (Julie and Angela) to support our
position.
It shows how we back up requests and statements with reasons, e.g., someone's asked me, they're
pretty strict at the hospital etc.
It also shows that the language we use when we are persuading someone else to do something is
slightly different from the language we use when we are trying to get them to cooperate with us. 
Compare, e.g., Could you ... with Let's ... .
This whole exchange could, incidentally, be presented in written form as a series of emails
between John and Peggy.  The medium would change and with it the style but the functions
would remain the same.
It could then be contrasted with the way people talk to authority figures by going on to present
the conversation between Peggy, John and Julie later that day.

practising

Before learners can effectively and confidently produce language, it needs to be highlighted and
practised.  There are lots of ways to do this, including:

1. Listening to and repeating parts of the dialogue, aping intonation and so on.
2. Memorising the dialogue and acting it out together.
3. Reading the dialogue in a way that makes one or other of the characters aggressive or
meek.
4. Using the dialogue as a model to construct one in a similar vein on a different subject.
5. Practising small parts of the dialogue focusing on the intonation and stress on the main
verb in things like I can see it's difficult, I can see that's tempting, I know it does.

or any combination of these and other ways.

producing

It isn't really difficult to set up a similar situation and then get the learners to do the negotiating. 
However, we must bear in mind that:

 the role relationships should be equal.

 the participants are not close friends.

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  there are external pressures on both of them.  We will need to identify what those
pressures are, of course.

For example:

You share a flat with two friends and take it in turns to babysit once a week for your landlady
(who reduces the rent).  There are three roles (Learners A, B and C):

1. It is your turn tomorrow.  You have a new boy/girlfriend who has invited you out so you
don't want to babysit.  This is important to you.
2. You know it is A's turn and you have done the babysitting for him/her twice this month
already.  You have an essay to write and want the evening to yourself.
3. You are free tomorrow evening but you want to go to the cinema to see a film you have
read about.  The last night of the film is tomorrow.

This will have to be a carefully monitored exercise and the learners will need time to prepare it
together before they act it out.  They may need quite a lot of input and help.
Then they can try again with no preparation and different partners (with the same or a different
scenario).  And again, probably.  It may seem a bit dull to you to do the same thing three or four
times but if you change the grouping and alter the scenario, it won't be for your learners.
By the way, the learners may also need a nudge to realise that they can agree to appeal to the
landlady and see how important babysitting actually is tomorrow (see the model dialogue and the
agreement to appeal to Julie).

References:
Van Ek, J and Trim, J, Waystage 1990, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Van Ek, J and Trim, J, Threshold 1990, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Widdowson, H (1990), Aspects of Language teaching, Oxford: Oxford University Press

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Transcription: a teach-yourself guide

This guide does not cover all the subtleties of connected speech or any intonation.  It is a guide
to teaching yourself to transcribe words in what are called their citation forms, i.e., the way they
are pronounced when you ask someone to read a list and in normal but not very rapid or
mumbled connected speech.

dialect
The sounds transcribed here are those of an educated southern British speaker.  That is not
intended to imply that the dialect is somehow better than others, but it is the conventional way to
do these things.

phoneme or allophone
This mini-course is concerned with English phonemes.  Be aware that phonemic analysis is
language specific.

In English the sounds /p/ and /b/ are phonemes because changing one to the other affects the
meaning of a word (bat or pat).  In other languages, Arabic, for example, these two sounds are
not phonemes and changing one to the other will not change the meaning of a word (but it might
sound odd).  They are allophones in Arabic as are, incidentally, /f/ and /v/ in some varieties.
All languages have a number of allophones (i.e., slightly different pronunciations of certain
phonemes).  For example, in English the sound /t/ can be pronounced with and without a
following /h/ sound.  Compare the sounds in track and tack.  In English, these sounds are not
phonemes because you can change /t/ to /th/ without changing the meaning of a word.  In some
languages, Mandarin, for example, /t/ and /th/ are separate phonemes and swapping them around
will change the meaning of what you say.  The same applies to /k/ vs. /kh/ (ski vs. cat) and /p/
vs. /ph/ (spin vs. pot).
The /l/ sound in English also has two allophones, the light [l] as in lap and the dark version
(which has the phonetic (not phonemic) symbol [ɫ]) and occurs at the end of words like
moveable.  The word lull has one of each.

minimal pairs

Pairs of words which are distinguished only by a change in one phoneme are called minimal
pairs.  For example, hit-hat, kick-sick, fit-bit, sheep-ship, jerk-dirk, hot-cot, love-live etc. are all
distinguished in meaning by a single change to a vowel or a consonant.  That's in English, of
course.  It bears repeating that what is an allophone in English may be a phoneme in other
languages and vice versa.

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English phonemes
Here's the list you'll learn.  If you want to download this chart as a PDF document to keep by you
as reference, click here.

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consonants
The consonants are the easiest so we can start there.  Notice that most of them are actually the
same as the written form in many cases but be aware that spelling in English is not a reliable
guide to pronunciation.

To get started, take a piece of paper and transcribe the consonants in these words, using the right-
hand side of the chart.
Click on the table when you have done that.

Given here is a full transcription but you can ignore the vowels (for now).  You should have
noticed these things:

1. In cake both the 'c' and the 'k' are transcribed as /k/.
2. The common transcription of 'g' when it occurs alone is /ɡ/.
3. In judge both the 'j' and the 'dg' are transcribed as /dʒ/.  This is how the letter 'j' is usually
pronounced but the phoneme /j/ is the one at the beginning of yacht.
4. The 'th' in thin is different from the 'th' in this.  The first is unvoiced, the second voiced so
they are transcribed as /θ/ and /ð/.
5. The 'c' in cider is transcribed as /s/, of course.
6. The final 's' on matches is voiced so it is transcribed as /z/.
7. The 's' in ensure is actually pronounced as 'sh' so it is transcribed as /ʃ/.
8. But the 's' in leisure is not pronounced like that.  It is transcribed as /ʒ/.  That is not the
same as the /z/ at the end of matches.
9. The 'c' in nice is the same as the 'c' in cider.
10. The final sounds of ring and young are both nasalised and transcribed as /ŋ/.  Compare
them to the 'n' in nice.

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voicing

Voicing describes how phonemes may be different depending on whether the vocal cords vibrate
or not at the time of pronunciation.  For example, the /k/ sound is made without voicing but
the /ɡ/ sound is made with the mouth parts in the same place but with voice added.  If you put
your hand on your throat and say the words sue and zoo, you will see what is meant and feel a
slight vibration on the second word (/s/ is unvoiced but /z/ is voiced).
Of the consonants, 16 form pairs of voiced-unvoiced sounds:

Unvoiced Voiced
/p/ /b/
/tʃ/ /dʒ/
/f/ /v/
/s/ /z/
/k/ /ɡ/
/t/ /d/
/θ/ /ð/
/ʃ/ /ʒ/

You have to listen out for voicing when you are transcribing because voiced and unvoiced
consonants are full phonemes in English.  The words pit and bit, char and jar, fine and vine, sing
and zing, Kate and gate, tuck and duck, teeth (plural noun) and teeth (verb), ruche and rouge are
all minimal pairs in English (i.e., words distinguished by a single phoneme only).

vowels
Here's a list of the vowels in English (authorities may differ slightly about how many there are,
incidentally).

sleep sat here

/iː/ sheep /æ/ hat /ɪə/ beer
free flab mere
kid blood sure
/ɪ/ slid /ʌ/ cup /ʊə/ pour
blip shut poor
put part boy
/ʊ/ foot /ɑː/ large /ɔɪ/ deploy
suit heart toy
goose hot lair
/uː/ loose /ɒ/ cot /eə/ share
Bruce shod prayer
Fred happy lace
/e/ dead /i/ navvy /eɪ/ day
said sally betray
/ə/ about   /aɪ/ price
father wine
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 across shine
verse boat
/ɜː/ hearse /əʊ/ coat
curse note
fought south
/ɔː/ caught /aʊ/ house
brought louse

What do you notice about the difference between the first two columns and the third column?
Click to reveal:

The first two columns contain the 13 pure vowels in English.  The right-hand column contains
the diphthongs.

pure vowels

If you haven't already done so, to do this exercise, you may want to download the chart as a PDF
document so you can have it at your elbow.  Click here to do that.

Using the chart, transcribe the following words and then click on the table to check your
answers.

You did, of course, get the difference right between nurse and noose, didn't you?  If you didn't
get the final vowel of ago, that doesn't matter (yet).  It was the first one, the schwa, that was
important.

diphthongs

There are 8 of these and they are combinations of pure vowels which merge together.  We have,
e.g., /ɪ/ + /ə/ (the sounds we know from bid and ago) following one another to produce /ɪə/ as in
merely (mee-err-ly).  You can usually work out what the diphthong is by saying the word it
contains very slowly and distinctly.

Using the chart, transcribe the following words and then click on the table to check your
answers.

You have now transcribed words using all the vowels and most of the consonant sounds of
English.  As a check of your knowledge, try the following.

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Using the chart, transcribe the following words and then click on the table to check your
answers.

Did you get it right?  One thing to notice is that in rapid connected speech, the transcription of
come with me would probably be /kʌm wɪ miː/ without the /ð/ because we usually leave it out. 
You may also, depending on how you say things, have had /iɡ's/ or even /ik's/ at the beginning of
exactly.  That doesn't matter too much but note the convention for marking the stress on
multisyllabic words: it's a ' inserted before the stressed syllable.
There is also the convention of putting a stop (.) between syllables (as in, e.g., sentence
('sen.təns).  Your students may not need that but many find it helpful.

marking stress

As we saw, the main stressed syllable is conventionally indicated by ' before the syllable
(e.g., /'sɪl.əb.l̩ /).
It is sometimes helpful to mark secondary stress in longer words like incontrovertible by a
lowered symbol like this: /ɪnˌk.ɒn.trə.'vɜː.təb.l̩ / in which you can see a small ˌ before the /k/
sound indicating that the second syllable carries secondary stress and the main stress falls on the
fourth syllable and is shown by the 'vɜː in the transcription.  Most learners find just one stressed
syllable enough to cope with.

the schwa

The most common vowel in the spoken language has no letter to represent it.
It is, of course, the humble schwa.  If you teach no other phoneme symbol, teach this one. 
Including it in your transcriptions is simply a matter of listening out for it and making sure that
you aren't being influenced by the spelling of words.  You should also note that the schwa only
occurs in unstressed syllables.  You can't stress the schwa.
The schwa may be how any of the traditional spelling vowels are pronounced:

vowel a schwa in transcribed

a asleep /ə.'sliːp/
e different /'dɪ.frənt/

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i definite /'de.fɪ.nət/
o prosody /'prɒ.sə.di/
u tedium /'tiː.dɪəm/
ou tedious /'tiː.dɪəs/
io nation /'neɪʃ.ən/
and so on.
The schwa also occurs routinely in function words like and, of, for, to etc. which can be
transcribed as /ənd/, /əv/, /fə/, /tə/ etc. as that is how they are produced in connected speech.

How many schwa sounds can you detect when you say and transcribe this sentence?  Click on
the bar when you have an answer.

No fewer than 12 in 11 words.  Note:

1. The last bits of the words celebration and official are known as syllabic consonants. 
That is to say, there is no proper vowel sound between the /ʃ/ and the /l/ in official and
between the /ʃ/ and the /n/ in celebration.  Other examples are table, doable and so on
where there is no proper vowel between the /t/ and the /l/.
Some transcriptions would remove the schwa, transcribing them as /ə.'fɪʃ.̩l/ and
/se.lə.'breɪʃ.n/.  An alternative is to insert a raised schwa for these very short vowels
(e.g., /se.lə.ˈbreɪʃ.ən/).
A third alternative you may see is to place a dot below the final consonant to indicate the
pronunciation, using, e.g.,  /l̩ / and /n̩/.  You choose but be consistent with your learners.
(Many would omit or use the raised symbol in a word like simple (/'sɪm.pl/ or /'sɪm.pəl/),
but note that the comparative forms of these are usually with nothing between the two
consonants (/'sɪm.plə/).  In simple, the /l/ is dark ([ɫ]), in simpler, it is light.)
2. The first incidence of the definite article is not transcribed with a schwa because it is
followed by a vowel sound (so it's pronounced /ði/).
3. The syllables containing the schwa are all unstressed.

connected speech
intrusive sounds

There are three sounds which speakers insert between vowels in connected speech.  They need to
be included in your transcriptions.  They are:

intrusive /r/
Try saying law and order.  You will hear a /r/ sound like this: /lɔːr ənd 'ɔː.də/.  Now
transcribe The media are and I saw uncle Fred and you'll get the same phenomenon (/ðə
'miː.dɪər ɑː/ and /'aɪ 'sɔːr 'ʌŋk.l̩ fred/.
intrusive /w/
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 Try saying I went to evening classes and note what happens between to and evening.  The
transcription is: /'aɪ 'went tuw 'iːv.n.ɪŋ 'klɑː.sɪz/.  Try transcribing do it and do or die and
you'll see the same effect (/duːw ɪt/ and /duːw ɔː daɪ/.
intrusive /j/
Try saying I agree.  You will hear a /j/ sound between the words.  The transcription
is: /'aɪj ə.'ɡriː/.  This effect is common with words ending in 'y'.  Standing alone, the
transcriptions of fly, lay and they are /flaɪ/, /leɪ/ and /'ðeɪ/ but in combination with
following vowels we get the intrusion.  Now transcribe fly over, lay it down and they
aren't and you will get /flaɪj 'əʊv.ə/, /leɪj ɪt 'daʊn/ and /'ðeɪj ɑːnt/.

You may see an intrusive sound put in superscript (r w j) and that's a good way to draw your
learners' attention to the sounds.  There is, however, a case to be made that you don't have to
teach these at all because they are the inevitable effects of vowel-vowel combinations in speech. 
They aren't, of course, only applicable to English.

Try this mini-test.  As before, click on the table to get the answer.

the glottal stop

A glottal stop is formed by briefly blocking the airflow at the back of the mouth (the glottis,
hence the name).

In rapid speech a glottal stop is sometimes inserted instead of a consonant.  For example, the
usual transcriptions for football and Batman are /'fʊt.bɔːl/ and /'bæt.mən/ but many people will
pronounce them /'fʊʔ.bɔːl/ and /ˈbæʔ.mən/, inserting the stop instead of the /t/.
Try transcribing put on, pick up, hit him as they might sound in casual rapid speech and you'll
get: /'pʊʔ ɒn/, /pɪʔ ʌp/ and /hɪʔ ɪm / instead of the more careful forms of /'pʊt ɒn/, /pɪk ʌp/ and
/hɪt ɪm/.
We can even have butter as /'bʌʔ.ə/ not /'bʌt.ə/ or /ɪʔ ɪm/ not /hɪt ɪm/ in some common dialects
(London and Scots, for example).

/h/ dropping and /ŋ/ to /n/ conversion

Note, too that dropping the /h/ on him is not always sloppy speech; it is very commonly
acceptable.  And very common (but not in all dialects).
The /h/ in I have, when not contracted, is often replaced by an intrusive /j/ as in /'aɪj æv/ and this
happens frequently elsewhere, too (they have, we have, e.g., rendered as /'ðeɪjəv/, /'wijæv/). 
Notice, too, the tendency to pronounce have as /həv/ in they have but as /hæv/ in we have.
Hello is often pronounced /hə.'ləʊ/ sometimes /hæ.ˈləʊ/ but often /ə.'ləʊ/ or /æ.ˈləʊ/.  It may be
safer to stick with /haɪ/.

Similarly, in many dialects the final /ŋ/ in words ending with -ing is often rendered as /n/ but this
is generally considered low status.  We get, e.g., /'ɡəʊɪn 'aʊt/ instead of /'ɡəʊɪŋ 'aʊt/.  Oddly,
some high-status British accents also make this conversion, exemplified by the so-called huntin',
fishin' and shootin' set (the /'hʌnt.ɪn 'fɪʃ.ɪn ən 'ʃuːt.ɪn set/).

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/niːd mɔː 'præk.tɪs/?
You can easily get as much practice as you like by opening a book at random, selecting some
words and transcribing them.
You can then go online and check your answers.  A good source for that is PhotoTransEdit.

Lastly, try transcribing this sentence and then check your answer here:

/'lɑːst.li 'traɪ træn.'skraɪb.ɪŋ ðɪs 'sen.təns ən ðen tʃek jər 'ɑːn.sə hɪə/
Note the effects of the features of connected speech in how your and and are transcribed.
The final 'r' on your is sounded because it is followed by a vowel sound and the 'd' on and is
omitted because it is followed by a voiced consonant.

The pronunciation section of the in-service index on this site has separate guides to consonants,
vowels, connected speech and intonation.

If you are feeling strong enough, there are three tests here.

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Reading 1
The best way to improve your knowledge of a foreign language is to go and live among its
speakers.  The next best way is to read extensively in it.
Nuttall (1996:128)

If this is true, then one of the greatest benefits we can give our students is the confidence and
willingness to read extensively in English.  There are more reasons for this.

What the research shows:

 Frequent readers have better vocabulary

 Frequent readers use grammar more accurately
 Frequent readers have positive feeling about the language
 Frequent readers show higher motivation
 Frequent readers have better listening, speaking and writing skills

It can, of course, be argued that the causation may work both ways.  Frequent readers may read
frequently because they have better vocabularies and find it easier, are more motivated in any
case and so on.

Types of text.  What do we read?

Here's a list of possible text types that anyone might read in a day or so.

newspaper article a novel this web page

bus timetable TV schedule recipe

restaurant bill maintenance instructions news website

Now think about how we read these things.  Do we, for example, read every word?  Do we move
logically through the text, line by line?  Do we read very carefully or just glance about?  When
you have an answer, click for some comments.

1. When we are dealing with some texts, for example, a recipe or a set of maintenance
instructions, it's important that we understand nearly everything.  If the book says twist
anti-clockwise or do not allow it to boil, it's important that we get it right.
2. With other texts, we can be a bit more careless.  Typically, on a news website, people
will run their eyes across the links looking for a story that interests them and then
access the text for a more detailed look at the information.  Even when we are quite
interested in a story, we still often won't read every word, preferring to skip to the
important (for us) bits of the story.
3. Other texts, such a bus timetable require different approaches.  We can't usually just
read from top to bottom, left to right because we don't want the information from most
of the text.  We only want to know when the next bus goes to where we want to be,

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 usually.  If you are looking for a name in a telephone directory, don't start at page one
and read till you find it.
4. Depending on how much we are engaged, reading a novel requires a different approach,
too.  We will usually read with some care and even back-track to re-read sections but
we can ignore parts of the text and simply follow the story.  If we are getting a bit bored,
we may even start to glance through the text to find out what happened in the story.
5. If we are trying to learn something or prepare for an examination, we will often read
and re-read with some care, making sure we understand the text.  Is that how you are
reading this?

It's clear, then, that we deploy different skills depending on:

1. the sorts of text we are accessing

2. our reasons for reading

Types of reading.  How do we read?

Scanning

This is the bus timetable kind of reading.  We scan the text looking for key data such as
Destination, Time, Bus number etc.  It's also how we might find a telephone number or
scan an encyclopaedia entry to locate a specific bit of information such as numbers or
lists of events.

Skimming

This is how we might approach a TV schedule if we don't know what we want to watch. 
We run our eyes quickly across the text to get a general idea of what each programme is
about.  Once we find something that interests us, we read it for detail and find out when
it's on and where.  We are interested in the gist, not the detail at this stage.

Intensive reading

We deploy this skill when we are concerned to understand as much as we can. 

Maintenance instructions, recipes, study texts and so on are the typical things we read
like this.  Often we will read things more than once and we will usually try to understand
every word of the text.  We almost always use this approach with short texts containing
key information.

Extensive reading

We read extensively when we are reading for pleasure and also when we are hoping to
get some general information.  In this mode, we usually don't read extremely carefully
and we can ignore words we don't know.  We may backtrack sometimes if we get lost
but usually we simply read through the text, following the writer's organisation.  Novels,
magazines, newspaper articles etc. are all accessed like this.

To see if you have understood what you have read so far, try this short test.

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There is a clear implication here:
We need to make sure that we use a range of texts and procedures to ensure that our students
get adequate practice in all the reading approaches.
When you are happy that you have understood this page, click here to go on to some teaching
ideas.

Reference:
Nuttall, C. (1996). Teaching reading skills in a foreign language. Oxford: Heinemann English
Language Teaching
Other references you may find helpful include:
Alderson, J. C, 2000, Assessing Reading, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Bamford, J. & Day, R.R.(eds.), 2004, Extensive Reading Activities for Teaching Language,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Grellet, F, 1981, Developing Reading Skills, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Hudson, T, 2007, Teaching Second Language Reading, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Sanderson, P, 1999, Using Newspapers in the Classroom, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press
Urquhart, A. H. & Weir, C. J, 1998, Reading in a Second Language: Process, Product, and
Practice, Harlow: Longman
Wallace, C, 1992, Reading, Oxford: Oxford University Press

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Teaching reading
Almost all lessons require the learners to read at some point.  Often, this reading is used to
introduce some lexis, to kick-start a discussion or focus on a grammar point.  However, reading
skills in themselves should also be a central focus for a lesson or series of lessons.
Much of what follows assumes you have followed the guide to what reading actually is.
Before we go on, can you make a note of what you believe should be the target of a reading
programme in terms of enabling our learners?  Click here when you have an answer.

The aims of a reading programme are to enable our learners to read:

 authentic texts
 without help
 at appropriate speed
 silently
 and with adequate understanding

That's the eventual aim.  Here are some ideas for getting there.

All of the following can be done with paper-based materials and internet sites.  In fact,
scanning is a key skill when accessing internet sites because it is here that people are
most often looking for explicit information.
Wikipedia articles are very useful for these exercises if chosen with care and sensitivity
to the interests and levels of your learners.

Skimming

The aim of these skimming exercises is to train students to follow simple skimming steps.  These
are:

 Read the title.  It's often a short summary of what's in the text.
 Read the first paragraph.  It often sets out what questions are to be answered in the
text.
 Read the first line of each following paragraph only.
 Read the last paragraph completely.  It often summarises the whole text.

You can't just tell people to do this; we have to train students and give them the skills they need
to succeed.
All these exercises and tasks should be done with a clear time limit set for their completion.  If
you don't do this, learners will often fall back on trying to read and understand every word.  The
intent is to force them to skim the text for essential information.

1. Matching exercises:
On the board / projector put 4 headlines or titles, three of which would be suitable for a
set of three texts.
Set a short time limit to match the headlines / titles to the texts.
Hand out texts to everyone in the class.

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 2. Multiple choice exercises:
Use a longer reading text of at least 5 paragraphs.
Prepare 4 alternative summary sentences for each paragraph containing the paragraph's
main idea.
Set a time limit to match the correct summary sentences to the paragraphs.
3. Topic sentences:
Prepare a text by removing the first sentence of each paragraph except the first and last
paragraph.
Hand out the text and the topic sentences separately and get students to match topic
sentence to paragraph.
4. Raising awareness of text structure and where to look for information:
Find a text (or write one) which has a clear structure with signposts such as Firstly,
Secondly, In summary etc. and also has a clear first line which addresses the content of
the text.
Chop the text up into paragraphs and get the students to work together (with the usual
time limit) to put the paragraphs in the right order.

Scanning

The aim of these exercises is to give the learners the skills they need to follow these scanning
steps:

 Having a question or questions to answer firmly in mind before starting to read.

 Think about what the information is that you need.  Is it a name, a number, a place? etc.
 Skim the text to get an idea of its structure.  If there are subheadings in the text, read
them carefully.
 Run your eyes along the text looking ONLY for the kind of data you need.
 When you find a candidate sentence, read it intensively to extract the information.

1. Descriptive texts:
Find a text which describes a person or a location and contains data such as names,
numbers, places and dates.
Hand out the text face down to the students.
On the board / projector put up questions one at a time such as Where was he born?,
When did he die? What was his wife's name? etc. and get the learners in a race to turn
over the text after each question to find the answers.  You can also read out the
questions, of course, but it's useful to have them written down because it focuses the
learners.
2. Narrative texts:
Short stories or diary entries are useful for this exercise.
Proceed as above but this time the questions refer to the sequence of events in the
story such as What happened after he left the army?, Where did she go when she left her
husband? etc.
3. Information texts:
Hand out something like a TV guide magazine, a local information newspaper, a holiday
brochure etc.
Set questions as above but this time focusing on the sorts of information your students
might realistically need: times of TV shows, prices, venues etc.

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Intensive reading

Intensive reading is done for full understanding of (usually) a short text.  It is what we do when,
e.g., we have scanned a text and found the section with the information we need so the following
can be combined with scanning (above).
The skills involved in being able to infer the meaning of unknown words are crucial in this area
so if you haven't already been there, look at the ideas in the second part of the section on
teaching vocabulary.

1. Synonym matching:
Select some key vocabulary from a reading text and invent synonyms.  Be careful to
keep the word class consistent and make the synonyms easier than the items in the
text.  For example, if the words in the text are incandescent with rage make sure that
your synonym is a) an adjective and b) easier to understand.  Choose, therefore,
something like extremely angry rather than burning with ire.
Learners need to scan the text to find items which match the word class they are looking
for and then read intensively to locate the precise meaning they are looking for.
2. Multiple-choice exercises:
These are frequently used in examination of reading skills.
Select questions which force the learners to focus on key parts of the text to read
intensively.  Don't try to test everything.
Make sure only one answer is correct but ensure that the 'wrong' answers are not daft. 
If the learners can dismiss any of the alternatives because they make no logical sense,
you aren't developing intensive reading skills.
3. Spot the error:
Focus on particular word classes for this task.
Remove, say, 10 adjectives from a text and replace them with adjectives that make no
sense.  So, e.g., if the original text had He was absolutely delighted with the beautifully
cooked meal replace it with something like He was absolutely horrified by the beautifully
cooked meal.
The task, obviously, is for students to read the text intensively and spot the non-sequitur
expressions, replacing them with something more logical.  At the end, they can compare
their suggestions with the original text.
This kind of task can also be used to focus on grammatical non-sequitur items by
replacing, e.g., Even when he was on holiday last year he would check his work email
every morning with When he was on holiday last your he may check his work email every
morning.

Extensive reading

Reading extensively for pleasure is a great learning aid (see the first part of this section for more)
so the more we can encourage it, the better.
The issue here is often one of level.  Many learners (and their teachers, regrettably) assume that
lower level learners are unable to read extensively in English but there are actually a number of
resources that they can access, not least the large number of commercially published graded
readers.  Here's a list of some frequently used resources:

 Black Cat Readers

 Cambridge Readers
 Easy Readers
353
  ELI Publications
 Macmillan Guided Readers
 Oxford Bookworms
 Penguin Readers
 Scholastic Readers

There's a useful page of ideas for using graded readers on The British Council's website which
focuses on narrative texts but not all graded readers are narratives, of course.

If you would like to see some on-line reading exercises and lessons, go to the pages for learners
and click through to reading exercises or reading lessons.  These lessons and exercises can be
freely incorporated into your own reading lessons.

Take a short test.

References you may find helpful include:

Alderson, J. C, 2000, Assessing Reading, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Bamford, J. & Day, R.R.(eds.), 2004, Extensive Reading Activities for Teaching Language,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Grellet, F, 1981, Developing Reading Skills, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Hudson, T, 2007, Teaching Second Language Reading, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Nuttall, C. (1996). Teaching reading skills in a foreign language. Oxford: Heinemann English
Language Teaching
Sanderson, P, 1999, Using Newspapers in the Classroom, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press
Urquhart, A. H. & Weir, C. J, 1998, Reading in a Second Language: Process, Product, and
Practice, Harlow: Longman
Wallace, C, 1992, Reading, Oxford: Oxford University Press

354
Writing 1
The nature of writing

Writing is not usually speech written down.  Try filling in the right-hand column in this table to
alert you to the differences between speaking and writing.  Click on the table when you have
done that.

Of course, that's not the full picture.  Some speaking (in formal situations, for example) is more
like writing and some very informal writing (emails to friends, text messages etc.) is more like
speaking written down.  There's a cline in both, like this:

However, the differences are real and need to be taken into account.  What follows mostly refers
to writing towards (not necessarily at) the right-hand end of the cline.

What do we need to know in order to write well?

Here's another table to complete in your head (or on paper, if you like).  Think of what's meant
by the words in the left-hand column.

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All these areas pose some difficulty for learners.

graphology
this does not refer to reading people's characters from their handwriting but to the
mechanics of forming the symbols of the language (letters), using punctuation,
abbreviations and so on.  Obviously, this is more of a challenge for those whose first
languages use a non-Latin script but even within Latin-script users, conventions for
things like punctuation and capitalisation vary.  Only in writing do such things have an
effect.
vocabulary
writers are expected to use a wider range of lexis for stylistic reasons, to avoid repetition,
for example, and to choose lexis stylistically appropriate to their task.  Fortunately, the
nature of writing makes dictionary use feasible but there are still challenges concerning
whether to use, e.g., a multi-word verb or its Latinate equivalent and so on.  For more,
see the guides to teaching lexis on this site.
style
it's fair to say that most spoken language is stylistically quite informal but most writing is
formal and the choice of the wrong or inappropriate idiom, while not impeding
communication will have serious effect on the writer's success.  The use of modality is
particularly important.  See the guide to style and register on this site for more.
topic knowledge
is most important for people writing formally in an academic environment.  Writers are
expected to know the register they are writing in and to use referencing conventionally.
layout
varies conventionally across languages.  Even the conventional placing of things like
dates and addresses will vary in formal letters.  Some languages abjure the use of
subheadings in writing, some demand it.
cohesion
speaking can lack cohesion providing it's coherent but writing depends on the use of
cohesive devices to lead the reader through the text.  The use of conjunction, in
particular, is an area in which writing is much more demanding (speakers can often get
away with just joining ideas with and or and then etc.).  See the guide to cohesion on this
site for more.

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coherence and structure
can be considered together.  There are generic conventions in English concerning how
texts of various sorts are staged and how the information is presented.  For more, see the
guide to genre on this site.
communication
writers need always to bear in mind that their readers cannot ask them for clarification
(although repetition is simple) and will have expectations about how a text answers the
questions they have.  All written text can be seen as answering a question of some sort.

There's no test on any of this but you are encouraged to look at the guides to specific areas (see
above for the links) before we go on to see how we can approach the teaching of writing.

Reference:
Tribble C (1997), Writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Other references you may find helpful:
Cushing Weigle, S, 2002, Assessing Writing, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Harmer, J, 2004, How to Teach Writing, Harlow: Longman
Hedge, T, 2005, Writing, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Hughes, R, 2005, Exploring Grammar In Writing Upper Intermediate and Advanced,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Hyland, K, 2003, Second Language Writing, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Hyland, K, 2002, Teaching and Researching Writing, Harlow: Longman
Kroll, B.(ed.), 1990, Second Language Writing: Research Insights for the Classroom,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Raimes, A, 1983, Techniques in Teaching Writing, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Shemesh, R. & Waller, S, 2000, Teaching English Spelling: A Practical Guide, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Spiro, J, 2004, Creative Poetry Writing, Oxford: Oxford University Press
White, R. & Arndt, V, 1991, Process Writing, Harlow: Longman

357
Teaching writing
The following is premised on the understanding that you have already followed the first part of
the guide to writing skills.  It'll be harder and make less sense if you haven't.

Three approaches
Approach 1: product

This is a traditional text-based approach which relies on the presentation of a model and its
imitation or adaptation.  As the name suggests, it is focused on the outcomes of writing, not how
the outcomes are achieved.
The approach seeks to synthesise the components of the writing skill by focusing on each in
isolation first.  So we move, e.g., from the mechanics of the alphabet and punctuation systems,
through a focus on syntax and lexis including considerations of cohesion and style until we have
trained our learners to combine their knowledge of each to be able to produce a coherent,
effective and accurate text.  It can be visualised as an incremental system:

Typically, a writing lesson following this approach will start with the analysis of a model (not
always a complete text), looking at how an expert writer handles, e.g., lexical chains to create
cohesion in a text and then move to the creation of a parallel text by the learners in which they
attempt to apply the same skill to produce their own finished text.  Typically, a series of lessons
will be undertaken focusing on the elements of the system above in the same kind of way.

Naturally, the approach has been criticised for being atomistic and focusing too narrowly on
systems at the expense of the focus on skills and subskills.  It remains, however, a common
approach in many course books and classrooms because it allows for the content to be focused
on separately from the form and structure.  In other words, it breaks down a complex skill into
teachable and learnable sections, recognising that learners need to deploy a range of language
knowledge to achieve the final text.

Approach 2: process

Again, as the name suggests, this approach focuses the subskills of writing such as planning,
drafting and polishing and is cyclical in nature.
358
Based on research into how good writers construct texts, it breaks down the writing process into
a series of repeatable stages.  First, for example, expert writers generate ideas in a random way
and then evaluate each on the basis of relevance and importance.  Then, the writer will plan,
draft and re-evaluate before producing a final text.  Often the process, or parts of it, is repeated
until the writer is finally satisfied with the product.  It can be visualised as a process rather than
an incremental system:

As the diagram is intended to show, the draft-evaluate-re-write part of the cycle may be
frequently repeated.  Later re-writing is reduced to polishing.

Typically, a single lesson in this approach will not include all the phases.  Learners may work on
a text over a series of lessons starting with the idea-generation phase and culminating in the
finished article at a (much) later date.

Approach 3: genre

This approach draws on the work of genre analysis and, like the product approach, frequently
uses model texts as the subject of analysis, imitation and modification.  There, however, the
similarity ends.
This approach focuses on three fundamental aspects of all texts:

359
A genre approach will typically start by getting the learners to analyse a text in these terms
before going on to see how the types of language used contribute to the nature of the text (or are,
rather, a product of it).
There is more on this in the guide to genre on this site.  Here, it will be enough to present one
example.
In a text intended to tell an anecdote in writing to a friend (a Recount), we will find that the text
is organised in four steps:

1. Orientation: in which the writer sets up the topic (establishes the Field) [There's a guy,
John, I know at work who always tries a bit too hard]
2. Record of events: in which the writer says what happened [Yesterday he got too pushy
and managed to upset a really important client.  We nearly lost the contract but the boss
stepped in just in time and calmed everyone down.]
3. Reorientation: rounding up [The client eventually saw that nothing bad was meant and
said he was happy to go on using us.]
4. Coda: personal evaluation [I hope John's learned his lesson and will be a bit more
diplomatic in future or we'll all be out of a job!]

This is how this might happen in the classroom (over a series of lessons, of course).

1. The learners and teacher together read and analyse a model text like the one above and
identify the staging as well as the structure and the language used.  Here they also look at
the form of the language and see if the text is particularly formal (note the use of, e.g.,
out of a job rather than redundant and the use of '!').  The teacher and learners will also
look at the sort of verbs that are used.  In this case, most of the verbs are material and
behavioural processes (tries, got pushy, upset, lost, stepped in, etc.).  Analysis can also be
done of other elements of the language (e.g., the use of circumstances such as in future,
eventually, yesterday, just in time etc.) and so on.  (There's a guide to circumstances on
this site, too.)
2. The teacher and learners work together to produce a new text, referring back to the model
as they go along.
3. The learners write their own text based on the model and the jointly constructed text.
4. The learner(s) and the teacher discuss the text's effectiveness and redraft it.
5. Finally, the learners re-draft and polish their texts.

There's a bit more on this (applicable to both speaking and writing and concerned particularly
with recounts and narratives) in the guide to the function of relating experiences.

360
Graphically, the teaching-learning cycle looks a bit like this (adapted from Burns, 2001, after
Hammond, 1990)

The strength of the approach, it is claimed, is that all texts in the same genre follow the same
staging and all will exhibit the same sorts of verbal processes and circumstances etc.  Once this
is learned, then, the student can go on to construct, for example, conventional recounts in a
variety of styles based on any set of material facts.
Other genres, such as discussions, narratives, expositions, instructions, explanations, information
reports etc., which will have their own characteristics, can be tackled in the same way. 
Discussions, for example, will need learners to focus carefully on modality (it may be the case
etc.) and on hedging (it is arguable that, many would conclude etc.) as well as on the
conventional staging of such texts.
For more on genre go to this guide, for more on verbal processes, go here.

Combining approaches

It can readily be seen that these approaches are not mutually exclusive.  Elements of the product
approach, such as the focus on structural aspects of language can form part of the process
approach when students evaluate what they have written as a first draft and such a focus is
legitimately part of a genre approach when the language is being analysed.
A genre approach can also be usefully combined with a process approach or a product approach.

There is a writing lesson plan for teachers which, more or less, follows a genre approach to
writing a report here.
There is also a lesson for B1/B2-level learners about how to write a paragraph here.

Take the mini-test to check your understanding.

361
References:
Butt, D et al, 2001, Using Functional Grammar: an explorer's guide. Sydney: NCELTR
Burns, A, 2001, Genre-based Approaches to Writing, in Candlin, C and Mercer, N (Eds),
English Language Teaching in its Social Context. Abingdon, UK: Routledge
Halliday, M, 1994, An introduction to functional grammar: 2nd edition. London: Edward Arnold
Tribble C, 1997, Writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Other references you may find helpful:
Cushing Weigle, S, 2002, Assessing Writing, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Harmer, J, 2004, How to Teach Writing, Harlow: Longman
Hedge, T, 2005, Writing, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Hughes, R, 2005, Exploring Grammar In Writing Upper Intermediate and Advanced,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Hyland, K, 2003, Second Language Writing, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Hyland, K, 2002, Teaching and Researching Writing, Harlow: Longman
Kroll, B.(ed.), 1990, Second Language Writing: Research Insights for the Classroom,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Raimes, A, 1983, Techniques in Teaching Writing, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Shemesh, R. & Waller, S, 2000, Teaching English Spelling: A Practical Guide, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Spiro, J, 2004, Creative Poetry Writing, Oxford: Oxford University Press
White, R. & Arndt, V, 1991, Process Writing, Harlow: Longman

362
Speaking 1
Difficulties

Many learners of English, when asked, will state that speaking is the hardest skill to master.  It
often is, and there are good reasons for this.  Think for a moment about what makes speaking
difficult.  There are two sorts of factors at work: productive and social factors.

Productive factors Social factors

context dependent – what we say and how innovative – when we speak we often
we say it depends on the context (where we have to extemporise if, e.g., we can't find
are, what we are doing, who we are the right word or need a new concept
addressing etc.)
unplanned – unlike writing, we usually have informal – and often expected to be
very little time to plan what we are going to colloquial and idiomatic
say (or no time at all)
transient – no record is kept (usually) of rhetorical – speakers are often trying to 
what we say so we can't backtrack very far inform, persuade or motivate (compare
to amend and adjust writing which is often used very
logically and in an orderly way)
dynamic – speaking is interactional.  What inter-personal – we need to respond
we say depends heavily on what is said to directly to our audience which may be
us. sceptical, argumentative or downright
hostile

In what ways do you think these factors make speaking a difficult skill to master?  When you
have a few notes of what your initial reaction for each factor is, click here.

context dependent
speakers need to master competences to be able to speak effectively in a range of
settings.  They need to have
discourse competence (e.g., know how to respond to an invitation)
sociolinguistic competence (knowing how to address people etc.)
strategic competence (when and what level of formality is needed, when it is and isn't
appropriate to say things etc.)
On top of all this, of course, speakers also need to produce language which is acceptably
accurate structurally.  They have to have linguistic competence.
unplanned
time pressures mean that the amount of cognitive effort that is required to speak in a
foreign language is very great and speakers often become tired and distracted quickly.
transient
although speakers can, and often do, backtrack to correct and repair interactions (with
things like, No, that's not what I meant.  I meant ... etc.) opportunities to do so are
limited.  (In written communication, we usually have the opportunity to re-read what we
have written and make amendments for the sake of clarity, by contrast.)
dynamic
speakers have also to be listeners so skills are combined and misunderstanding what is
said to you is often as fatal as saying the wrong thing altogether.
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innovative
native speakers of all languages are adept at finding ways to make up for the speed at
which they have to think so, e.g., in English we make adjectives vague (with, e.g., a bit /
sort of / hard or coolish etc.) use generalised terms when we mislay a word (thingy,
whatshisname etc.) or use circumlocution (e.g., it's the bit you need to make sure the juice
doesn't spill over etc.).  All of these things are difficult in a foreign language.
informal
learners of a language often sound overly formal and precise because they are trying hard
to be accurate and orderly.  Native speakers care less about these things because they
have more resources and can be more innovative.
rhetorical
spoken language is often, for example, laden with modality (should, must, could, ought
to, probably, certainly, if you get a mo' etc.) and such forms are difficult to deploy
accurately in a foreign language.
inter-personal
picking up on the attitude of the person we are talking to and responding appropriately is
something that native speakers do unconsciously, taking clues from body language,
intonation, lexical choice and much else.  That's hard to learn to do in a second language.

Add all these factors together and we get three major processing pressures:

1. Time
2. Preparation level
3. Topic familiarity

and three main social pressures:

1. size of the audience

2. familiarity with the audience
3. roles of the people involved

Easing the pressure

To help our learners, we need first of all to look at the ways that native speakers deal with all
these issues.  Here's how they do it:

Processing
Coping strategies
pressures
Time Native speakers deal with this pressure in a number of ways:

1. they take account of what knowledge is shared so are happy to

use short cuts.  We can refer to things outside the conversation
which are known and we can make extensive reference to the
environment.  For example, I'll meet you in the pub ..., You see
that car over there ... etc.
2. they also leave things out when they aren't necessary (Not the
blue, the yellow, I wouldn't. etc.).  That's called ellipsis.
3. they use lots of formulaic expressions such as D'you see?, In
one way or another, Whether or not that's true, If you say so
etc.  Native speakers deploy these as if they were single words.

364
Preparation Native speakers don't plan.  They are happy to string ideas together as
level they occur using simple connectors like ... and ... and ... or ... and then
... and then ... or ...so... so ... etc.  That's called parataxis.
Speakers will also, more rarely, use what's called hypotaxis (The car
over the road, The man I saw in the café etc.  Listeners don't expect to
hear well-formed, planned utterances in most cases.
In this case, too, native speakers are happy to resort to colloquial and
imprecise language and to simplification.  One of the hallmarks of
spoken language is that it is simpler than written language, both
grammatically and lexically.
False starts (He was with his friends ... Actually not all of them were
his friends but anyway etc.) are common.
Topic Native speakers are least at ease and least competent when talking
familiarity about unfamiliar subjects so they tend to avoid them, keep quiet or
speak more slowly with lots of fillers such as, Well, let me think, I'm
not sure but .. etc.
Social
Coping strategies
pressures
Audience size If called on to speak to large numbers of people (and 'large' is a
relative term), native speakers take opportunities to prepare what they
will say carefully or use notes.
Familiarity When speaking to people we don't know, native speakers often use
with the more formal or neutral language, avoiding slang and colloquialism. 
audience They also say less.
Roles When roles are equal or the speaker is in a superior role, speakers feel
free to use all the tactics above to make speaking easier.  When
speaking to superiors, preparation is needed and a more formal tone
adopted.

Helping the listener

Apart from helping themselves process and produce language under pressure, native speakers
also help the listener in a number of ways in the effort to be clear.  These include:

 substituting one word for another (That image ... er ... photograph over there is ...)
 repetition (The picture of ...  the picture of the man and the woman ... with the woman in
the background ...)
 reformulation (It's set in a large building ... like a warehouse or a hanger or something ...
and there are ...)
 self-correction (I started to get on the train ... no, I was still on the platform, in fact, and I
saw him ...)

Turn taking

In addition to all this, speakers have a repertoire of ways to keep conversation moving along by
signalling opportunities to take turns in speaking.  There are five things that speakers have to
know about turn taking (from Bygate 1987):

1. Knowing how to show that you want to speak.  This can involve noises or phrases
(Hmm.  Yes, but ...), gestures, intakes of breath and a number of other tactics.
365
 2. Recognising when to take a turn.  Speakers often signal appropriate moments by
assuming eye contact, falling voice volume or stopping and looking.
3. How to hold one's turn by such techniques as starting with Well there are two things
here ... or keeping the intonation up to show you haven't finished.
4. Recognising other people's desire to take a turn (in other words, noticing the signals in 1.,
above).
5. Knowing how to let them have a turn by gesture, look or phrase such as the use of
question tags or straightforward questions.

So how can we make speaking skills easier to acquire and practise?  Here's a list of the pressures
on the speaker.  What would you put in the right-hand column.  Click on the table when you
have an answer for each.

The structure of conversation: IRF sequences

No analysis of speaking would be complete without some discussion of how conversation is

structured.  A simple but effective way of analysing this structure is to consider 3 main phases. 
The following is based on Tsui 1994:

1. Initiation.
There are four ways to start a conversation:
1. Elicit (ask if).  E.g., Have you eaten?
2. Request (ask to).  E.g., Can I ask you something?
3. Direct (tell to).  E.g., Pay attention to this; it's important.
4. Inform (tell that).  E.g., I noticed you didn't come to the meeting.
2. Response
There are three types of response to an initiation.  For example to the Initiation, Can you
do me a favour? we can have:
1. Positive (preferred): Yes, sure, what can I do?
2. Negative (dispreferred): Sorry, I need to go now.
3. Temporising (dispreferred): Maybe.  Will it take long?
3. Follow up
There are also three sorts.  Following from the three responses above, we can have:
1. Endorsement (positive).  Great.
2. Concession (negative outcome).  Oh, I see.
3. Acknowledgement (negative outcome).  It's OK, I'll get John to help.

So we can have an analysis like this in the three 'moves' in a conversation:

Utterance Move
Where did you buy your shirt? Initiate: elicit
From a company called Respond: positive
Homeware.
Thank you. Follow-up: positive
outcome

This is nice and simple but there's a problem.  Real people just don't talk like this.  Here's a more
natural-sounding conversation.  Can you do the analysis into I R F moves?  Click on the table
when you have.

366
Whether you got all that right or not doesn't matter too much now.  What does matter is that you
see why this conversation is more natural than the last one.  Click here when you see it.

Right.  Speakers conduct two moves in their turns.  The second speaker responds with Yeah, it's
great.  Cheap too but in the same turn starts a new initiation with Why?.  This is the way many
conversations go.
One of the reasons that learners often say that native speakers won't speak to them or that they
find it hard to keep conversations going is that they have failed to see that conversation requires
maintenance with new initiations in most response turns.

All the above is teachable but before we see how, take a test to make sure you have understood.

References:
Bygate, M, (1987), Speaking. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Tsui, A. B. M (1994), English Conversation. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Other references you may find helpful:
Brown, G. & Yule, G, 1983, Teaching the Spoken Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press
Bilbrough, N, 2007, Dialogue Activities: Exploring Spoken Interaction in the Language Class,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Hughes, R, 2002, Teaching and Researching Speaking, Harlow: Longman
Luoma, S, 2004, Assessing Speaking, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Maley, A. & Duff, A, 1982, Drama Techniques in Language Learning, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press
Porter Ladousse, G, 1987, Role Play, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Rogerson, P. & Gilbert, J.S, 1990, Speaking clearly: pronunciation and listening comprehension
for learners of English Student's Book, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

367
Teaching speaking
You should have followed the guide to what speaking skills actually are before tackling this.
Here's a brief recapitulation of the main concerns of that guide.

Speaking is difficult because it is (or should be): The cumulative effects of this result in

1. context dependent 1. Time

2. unplanned 2. Preparation level
3. transient 3. Topic familiarity
4. dynamic 4. Audience size
5. innovative 5. Familiarity with the audience (
6. informal 6. Responding to the roles of the
7. rhetorical
8. inter-personal

Native speakers have a range of coping strategies to deal with They also help the listener by:
these pressures, including:
1. substitution
1. taking account of what knowledge is shared and using 2. repetition
short cuts 3. reformulation
2. referring to things outside the conversation which are 4. self-correction
known and making reference to the environment
3. using lots of prefabricated formulaic expressions Native speakers are also (usually unco
4. stringing ideas together as they occur using simple elements of turn taking.
connectors like ... and ... and ...
5. resorting to colloquial and imprecise language and to Finally, in that guide we explained how
simplification according to Initiation, Response and F
6. false starting and backtracking moves.  At the end of that section, it w
7. using notes in formal situations all of this is teachable.

As you can see, there are a number of quite complicated issues here but, as with all else, we can
break things down and give our learners training and practice in the micro-skills they need before
plunging them into complex speaking tasks.

On not making things more difficult than they need to be

The first thing we can do in the classroom is lessen as many of the pressures as we can to give
our students confidence and the space they need to think.  We have seen what the pressures are. 
Now it's time to see how to reduce them.  In the following, there's a list of the pressures.  How
would you go about reducing them?  The answers are really quite simple.  Click on the table
when you have them.

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That's all pretty straightforward stuff but at the planning stages of a lesson which contains a
speaking component, take the time to go through the list and check that you have responded to
the predictable difficulties.

More explicitly

1. Shared knowledge
We need to allow our learners to develop the skill of using shared knowledge to make
speaking easier for them but still comprehensible for the listener.  Here are some ideas:
1. Get students to work together on a picture story to plan how to tell it to the rest of
the class (or another pair / individual) who does not have access to the pictures. 
While working together the learners will often take short cuts and refer to 'the
man' or whatever but if it is clear to them that they are going to have to tell the
story without a visual prompt, they will be encouraged to notice the extra
information they'll need to add to make it work.
Clearly this needs preparation so step 1 is to have a picture on the board (or
wherever) and invite your students to describe it.  Then hide the graphic and ask
them to do it again as if you had never seen it.  Whenever they start to use shared
information, interrupt with questions such as What house? Where is the car? etc.
to alert them to what is shared and what isn't and how to explain.
You can reverse this procedure and ask people to respond to a picture only one of
them can see by talking to a you or a partner and then run the same exercise with
both people having access to the picture.  Get them explicitly to notice differences
in language.  You can do this in three with two talkers and one noticer.  Then
swap roles around.
2. Get the learners to imagine a location within the school / college / campus where
you are teaching and direct a partner to it.
Now get them to do it with a building only one of them is familiar with.
Finally, get them explicitly to notice the different kinds of language they used.
2. Formulaic, prefabricated expressions
There are lots of these but they fall into some accessible categories so we should teach
them that way.  Here's an example or two:
1. Focus on 6 or so formulaic expressions to introduce personal opinion, e.g.:
as far as I'm concerned
to my mind
in my view
from where I stand
as far as I can see
it seems to me that
Introduce them via a dialogue or a text of an email (which often closely resembles
spoken language) and then set up groups of three.  Two students discuss a topic
about which they disagree, the third notes when all six expressions have been
used and calls a halt.  Then they change roles.
2. You can do the same with other types of formulaic language such as thinking time
fillers: well, let me see; give me a second to think; Hmm, that's an interesting
question; well, now, what can I say etc.  With these you can set up situations in
which learners spring unexpected questions on each other.
3. Using parataxis
This isn't usually taxing for learners because the structures are so simple.  What they
need, however, is sensitising to the fact that there's nothing wrong with being simple.  To
do this an authentic dialogue showing basic parataxis followed by an anecdote-telling
session is usually enough.
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 4. Using imprecise language, general items and circumlocution
1. This is often done through presenting the sorts of language we use when we aren't
clear what something looks like exactly: things like: roundish, sort of curved at
the top, near-enough flat, square shaped, bluish and so on and then using realia
with objects the learners do not know the precise name for or whose names they
are not allowed to use, getting students to describe the objects to each other until
the other person guesses right.
2. In the same way, it is possible to use either pictures or real objects and get
students to help others guess what it is without using its name.  For example, It's a
small plasticky sort of rectangular thing you stick in your camera to store images
on.
3. Learners like acquiring general item terms such as thingy, stuff, whatsit, doobrie
and any of the 50 or so alternatives and once presented (not all 50, please) they
are easy to practise in the same way with mystery materials or objects.
5. False starting and backtracking
These are a bit more challenging to practise because they are responses to error on the
part of the speaker.  However, one productive way is to allow a learner to start an
anecdote and then persistently interrupt with No, it was a ..., forcing them to backtrack
and restart.  For example:
A: I was walking down the road ...
B: No, it was a path.
A: Oh, actually it was a path but anyway I met this old man ...
B: No, he wasn't old.
A: Well OK, he wasn't really old but anyway ...
etc.
Note the need to teach the use of but anyway to do this well.
After a few demonstrations from you, the learners can have an enjoyable go at doing it to
each other.
The most important thing to recognise here is that in informal spontaneous conversation,
such tactics are not only permitted, they are expected.
6. Using notes
Some learners may never need this skill but giving practice in getting students to present
longer stretches of spoken language , using notes to guide them is not difficult to set up
or do.  The trick (see above) is to make sure they have adequate research and presentation
time.
Getting them to present to small groups rather than the whole class has two advantages:
1. it allows them to do it again (and again) building up confidence and familiarity
and learning from experience
2. it reduces the stress involved in speaking to larger groups

IRF sequences

It's easy enough to analyse example dialogues showing how the more natural ones involve a
speaker responding and initiating in the same turn, more difficult to practise them.  Here are a
couple of ideas to use after you have laid the groundwork and your students are aware of the
need to respond and initiate.

1. Pairwork in threes
Two students play the roles of questioner and informant (as in the example in the first
section of this guide) or discuss something familiar and simple such as their home town
or favourite sports clubs.
The third student listens for the times that either participant uses a response combined
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 with an initiation and at the end reports back, evaluating how the other two did.  Then
they swap roles.
2. Write and perform
Using a picture prompt, e.g.,

learners write a dialogue between two people on a train, taking care to incorporate the
idea of responses and initiations occurring in the same move.  They can perform (not read
aloud) the dialogue to others to see how the conversation is structured

Spontaneity

Speaking is something we occasionally need to do with neither preparation nor thinking time and
a good way to practise this is to demand instant responses from learners to projected images.  It
isn't difficult to find intriguing, cute or emotive images on the web (news pages are a good
source) but here are three examples of the kind of thing:
If the instant-response demand is frequently done, learners quickly become adept at and
accustomed to thinking quickly and reacting appropriately.  That's a confidence booster among
other things.

The only test on this is for you to evaluate whether you are teaching speaking or just practising
talking.  You should be doing the former.

References you may find helpful:

Brown, G. & Yule, G, 1983, Teaching the Spoken Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press
Bilbrough, N, 2007, Dialogue Activities: Exploring Spoken Interaction in the Language Class,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Hughes, R, 2002, Teaching and Researching Speaking, Harlow: Longman
Luoma, S, 2004, Assessing Speaking, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Maley, A. & Duff, A, 1982, Drama Techniques in Language Learning, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press
Porter Ladousse, G, 1987, Role Play, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Rogerson, P. & Gilbert, J.S, 1990, Speaking clearly: pronunciation and listening comprehension
for learners of English Student's Book, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

371
Listening 1
There is a saying that for many people the opposite of speaking isn't listening; it's waiting. 
However, for the purposes of this guide we shall be considering listening as one of the four
essential language skills our students need to acquire.

You acquired your first language(s) by listening.  The ability to hear and understand is
fundamental to the ability to communicate and learn in a foreign language, too.

Some of what follows will be easier to understand if you have followed the guide to reading.

A little history

Traditionally, listening has been used in the language classroom as a vehicle for other kinds of
learning and teaching.  A listening text can be used this way to introduce new items of
vocabulary or to focus on a particular structure.  If it is used this way a lesson involving a
listening text would normally follow a predictable pattern.  (Note, by the way, the use of the term
'text' here.  Texts are not only written.)
Like this:

(Adapted from Field 1998:110)

Starting from the left:

1. The teacher checks the text carefully to identify words the learners would be unlikely to
know and without which they will not understand the text sufficiently.  These words are
then introduced and practised before the listening part of the lesson begins.  At this
point, too, the scene is usually set: e.g., You are going to listen to a telephone
conversation between a man and a woman.
2. After or before first listening to the whole piece, learners are set 'gist' questions to see if
they have a global understanding of the text: What's it about? How many people are
speaking? Where are they? etc.
3. Then comes the listening proper and at this stage the text is usually interrupted to allow
the learners time to note answers to a set of questions designed to test their detailed
understanding such as Who does the caller want to talk to? Is that person at home?
What does the man offer to do? How does the woman respond? etc.  These sorts of
questions might also focus on the attitudes of the speakers, e.g., Is the man happy or
disappointed?
4. When that phase is satisfactorily completed, attention turns to the language content of
the text to focus on things like new lexis, intonation patterns, politeness strategies,
question intonation and so on.  Any language item at all can be introduced this way.
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 5. Finally, the listening text is revisited to ensure full understanding and recall.

It is not being argued here that using a listening text in this way is somehow 'wrong' or
misguided.  However, it has long been realised that such procedures do not teach people how to
become better listeners in a foreign language, they test how good they already are.

Types of text.  What do we listen to?

Here's a list of possible text types that anyone might listen to in a day or so.

a radio news programme a TV soap opera an anecdote

a set of instructions at
a train announcement the lyrics of a song
work

a waiter explaining the an answering service

a lecture
menu message

Now think about how we listen to these things.  Do we, for example, try to hear and understand
every word?  Do we concentrate hard or does our mind wander a little?  Do we or can we
interrupt the speaker for clarification or repetition?  Do we switch off at times and monitor what
we are hearing for something that interests us?
When you have an answer, click for some comments.

1. When we are dealing with some listening texts, for example, a travel announcement, a
set of instructions or a waiter explaining what's in a dish, it's important that we
understand nearly everything.  If miss something important we may get the wrong meal
or the wrong platform.
2. Some settings allow us to interrupt and ask for clarification or repetition, e.g., the work
instructions or the waiter's explanation.  Some don't so we have to be even more
careful.
3. With other texts, we can be a bit more careless.  Typically, in a news programme, people
will listen quite casually until a key word or two alerts them to an item of interest.  Then
they switch listening mode and apply more attention.  Travel announcements are often
dealt with this way.  If we recognise that the announcement does not concern our
journey, we just switch off until the next one comes along.
4. Other texts require different approaches.  A TV soap opera or an anecdote might require
our full attention but as long as we get the gist of what's going on, it isn't usually
necessary (or possible) to catch every word and every nuance.  Typically, an anecdote is
told face-to-face or over the phone so in this case we also need occasionally to show
interest and comprehension.  We do that through what's called back channelling
(grunts, exclamations, nods etc.)  There's more on that in the guide to speaking.
5. Finally, some texts require our full attention, even to the point of making notes to help
us recall important information.  Here, we need particularly to pay attention to the
speaker's signals.  For example, something beginning Here's the key point: ... is likely to
be important but something beginning By the way, ... can probably be safely ignored.

373
 6. Finally, some texts we don't even bother to listen to.  We may already know the lyrics of
a song and we mostly know what an answering service message is going to say so we
switch off and wait to hear the beep.  Here, the opposite of speaking really is waiting.

It's clear, then, that we deploy different skills depending on:

1. the sorts of text we are hearing

2. our reasons for listening

Types of listening.  How do we listen?

Listening for information

This comes in three modes:

First, we can be listening to try to understand as much of the text as we can.  This will
apply to a lecture or the waiter's explanation, for example.
Second, we may be listening for key words to trigger more intensive concentration.  This
occurs when we listen to a string of announcements waiting for our flight or destination
to be mentioned.
Third, we may be listening in a monitoring mode, getting the gist of what we hear only,
e.g., this news item is about sport, this one's about an accident etc.  We may do this
until we hear something that catches our attention and then we switch to a more
intensive mode.

Listening for discourse clues

This kind of listening involves paying conscious attention to what is being signalled by
the speaker.  There are examples above about how this might happen in a lecture but it
will also happen in other kinds of texts.  Anecdotes, for example, are littered with time
expressions to guide the hearer through the sequence of events and may be punctuated
by appeals for response of confirmation such as Don't you see? or You'll never guess
who it was ... .  Listening out for such things makes the task of listening and
understanding easier.

Intensive listening

In this mode we need to deploy our knowledge of the meaning and pronunciation of the
lexis as well as the way in which structures such as tenses inform us of the relationship
between events and things.

It isn't easy and it's made more complex by the need to switch between listening modes when, for
example, a key word triggers the anticipation that something important or interesting will follow.

Bottom-up and top-down processing

You will encounter these terms both in the discussion of listening and reading because they are
applicable to both.

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Bottom-up processing

involves the learners using knowledge of the meaning and pronunciation of words,
knowledge of the grammar of the language and how texts fit together to understand
the meaning of what they hear.

Top-down processing

involves learners using their knowledge of the world and the type of thing they are
listening to (its usual organisation and the topics) to fill in gaps with intelligent
guesswork and prediction.

To help you understand, think about this list of strategies that learners may use to understand
what they hear and ask yourself if they are depending on their language knowledge or on other
sorts of knowledge (bottom-up or top-down).
Click here when you have a few notes.

I know these two

I know how this
characters in the film I'm listening for the
person's tall stories
are enemies so I'm word 'Malaga'
1 2 3 usually end so I'm
listening to see what because that's
listening to see if I'm
the argument is where I'm going.
right.
about.

I'm waiting for a TV

This is obviously an
news story about the
important new I like this song and I
American
instruction so I want know it's about a
Presidential election
to understand lost love so I'm
4 5 6 so when I hear
everything.  I'll listening for words
'Democrat' or
interrupt when that will tell me how
'Republican' or see a
something's not the singer feels.
US flag I can start
clear.
listening properly.

7 I'm waiting till nearly 8 Ah!  He just said 9 This is a picture of a

the end of the news 'That's the first of hospital so I'll listen
report because that's the three obvious out for words I know
where the sports problems' so I've connected to
news always comes. written '2' in my hospitals and health
notebook and I'll try to understand the
to understand story.
where and when the
375
 next two come.

It is certainly not a simple either-or distinction.  Most of these strategies contain elements of both
top-down and bottom-up processing.  In fact, of course, that's what good listeners do – apply a
combination of strategies to match the task.  Here are some notes:

1. The learner is applying top-down knowledge of the plot and characters in a story so can
safely predict that he/she need only listen for the topic of a quarrel, not its existence. 
Then the learner applies bottom-up processing to understand what the characters are
talking about.  Knowledge of the plot will limit the possibilities, too, and make guessing
meaning easier.
2. In this case, the learner is deploying knowledge of how announcements are organised
(top-down) and then using a bottom-up strategy to identify the word 'Malaga' and the
flight number / time / gate number etc. that he/she knows will follow it.
3. The listener is using a top-down strategy reliant on knowing the structure of anecdotes
(they follow a familiar pattern) and is waiting for what's known as the coda (the final bit
where tellers of stories usually state their own feelings).  That's the bit we need to
respond to; the rest can pass us by.
4. This is mostly a bottom-up process.  The listener is working hard to understand every
word if possible but will also be using other skills to listen for names and departments,
times and deadlines etc.  The use of strategies such as asking for repetition / clarification
is also a skill worth having, of course, especially in situations like this.
5. The listener is hardly listening to most of the song and may just be monitoring for
adjectives to describe feelings.  That's a bottom-up strategy concerned with recognising
word class.  There's more on how we do this in the guide to reading skills.
6. This is bottom-up monitoring for particular words or expressions.  Top-down knowledge
is telling the listener to look out for images (flags, building etc.) to help the process.
7. The listener has used what's known as generic knowledge (part of top-down processing)
to be aware that sports reports come at the end of news reports, usually.  If it's a TV
programme, the listener may also be looking out for sporting images.
8. Listening to a lecture and monitoring for particular signals is a bottom-up process and
the sorts of things to listen for can be taught.
9. The listener is using top-down processing to deploy his/her knowledge of the world of
health services so is already alert to what sorts of lexis to expect (doctor, patient, ward,
ambulance, treat, care for etc.) which will ease the strain of bottom-up processing of the
text.

There is a clear implication here:

We need to make sure that we use a range of texts and procedures to ensure that our students
get adequate practice in all the listening skills.
Take a short test on all this to remind you of the most important ideas and when you are happy
that you have understood this page, click here to go on to some teaching ideas.

Reference:
Field, J, (1998) Skills and strategies: towards a new methodology for listening, ELT Journal
Volume 52/2 April 1998 Oxford: Oxford University Press

376
Teaching listening
If you have followed the first part of this guide, you will be aware of the range of strategies that
good listeners deploy in a foreign language to understand what they hear.  We use these
strategies in our first languages, too, but we need to focus on them explicitly if we are to help our
learners be aware of what to do when listening and get the chance to practise each skill in
isolation.
Just as we don't try to teach all the grammar and lexis of the language at once, so we can break
up skills in order to focus on what's realistically learnable.  We also need to recycle the data
because once is not usually enough.

Bottom-up skills
What do we need to teach?

Here's a list of bottom-up subskills (adapted from Field 1998):

listeners need to be able to distinguish minimally

Discrimination different words such as fifteen, fifty, six, sex, want,
won't, plan, plane etc.
listeners need the ability to identify where one word
ends and the next begins in continuous speech.  This
Segmentation
is particularly difficult in a language like English
because of its timing.
learners need to be able to make logical guesses at the
Extrapolation spelling of unknown words.  Spelling in English is
not the irregular mess it's often accused of being.
learners need to be able to guess what comes next. 
For example, So I went up to him and ... will normally
be followed by something someone said or did.  By
the same token, It was a really stunning ... can only
Anticipation
be followed by a limited number of items (event, film,
picture, view etc.) but they will all be things you
perceive.  Much of this is knowledge of likely
collocation but there's more, of course.
learners need practice in matching references
internally in what they hear.  For example, in the
sentence He opened it and out of the box came ...
Reference
learners will need to know that the pronoun it refers
forward to something that is to come in the sentence
to make meaning clear.
learners need to be practised in the skill of listening
Monitoring for out for key words in long listening texts and then
information applying themselves to understanding what is said
about them.
Relevance learners need practice in identifying if and how far

377
 points made are relevant to what they need to know.

How do we teach it?

These are all skills that we can practise in isolation and only later put together to give our
learners a realistic exercise in real-life listening.  Take a look at the list above and think of ways
that you might be able to practise each subskill separately.  Click here when you have a list of 7
ideas (one for each skill).

Ear training in minimal pairs:

1. The teacher can dictate pairs of closely

phonologically related items such as ship,
sheep, hit, hat, thing, sing etc. and the learners
have either to select which one they hear or
write it down.
2. The teacher can dictate sentences only
Discrimination
distinguished by a minimal amount such as I
can go to the park, I can't go to the park, I
would've seen him, I wouldn't've seen him, I
like an English breakfast, I'd like an English
breakfast etc.

For some examples of these types of exercise, see the

exercises for learners here and here.
Identifying words in continuous speech

1. The teacher dictates sentences which include

contractions, weak forms, elision, assimilation
etc. and the learners focus on writing down
what they hear.  E.g., the teacher dictates, at
natural speed, something like I would've been
Segmentation here on Thursday if you'd have asked me
earlier.
2. Learners listen with a transcript, paying
attention to weakly stressed words and noting
how many words are in each sentence.
3. Learners hear a piece of authentic text and try
to write it down word for word.

Extrapolation Working out the spelling of unrecognized words

1. The teacher dictates words in spelling groups

(rough, cough, enough; heat, beat, seat; keep,
seek, meet etc.) and learners guess (non-
randomly) at the spelling.
2. The teacher dictates multi-syllabic words
which have predictable spelling patterns to
sensitise learners to the spelling, e.g.,
revolution, education, dentistry chemistry,
378
 musician, mathematician, impossible,
improbable, immeasurable etc.

Working out what comes next

1. The teacher plays / dictates half a sentence

and the learners complete, or answer multiple
choice or multiple answer questions
concerning what is/are likely to come next. 
For example,:
He rushes up to me and
a) relaxes completely
b) explains breathlessly
c) whispers slowly
d) calms me down
Or,
They collected the parcel from the post office,
took it home as quickly as they could and
opened it
a) excitedly
Anticipation b) later
c) after lunch
d) when they had time
Or,
She told me a story which frankly I found
a) ridiculous
b) believable
c) beautiful
d) nonsensical
2. Learners select the most likely first half of an
utterance, for example,
... that we must not underestimate the
importance of prevention.
a) It is important ...
b) It is not the case ...
c) Nobody understands ...
d) It will help ...

Relating pronouns, etc., to the items they refer to

1. The teacher pauses a recording after each

reference and learners figure out what the
reference is and what it refers to.  E.g., I left
the house, went up to the top of the hill and
Reference
could see it from there.  What does it refer to
here?
2. Learners look through a tapescript, identify
references and then listen without their notes
to identify the references.

379
 1. Learners monitor a long text for key words in
a list.
2. Learners are asked to listen only for dates and
times etc.
Monitoring for 3. Learners listen only for a news story about
information football.

In this, different learners of groups of learners can be

given different types of things to listen for and share
their findings with other groups / individuals.
1. Learners write summaries of key points heard.
2. Learners are asked to listen and identify four
points concerning topic A only, ignoring what
Relevance is said about topic B.
3. Learners find 4 points about topic A and 2
about topic B.

Top-down skills
It's perfectly arguable, of course, that we don't need to teach these skills because we all use them
in our first languages.  However, there is evidence, albeit anecdotal, that these skills are not
easily transferred because learners are distracted by the difficulties of listening in a foreign
language.  We have, therefore, to make sure they get some explicit practice in deploying what
they know.

What do we need to teach?

As we have seen, top-down skills are mostly to with activating what the learner already knows
but there are different types of top-down knowledge:

Knowledge of the world in general

We all have varying amounts of this and the younger and less sophisticated your learners
are, the more you may have to teach content as well as language.  For example, if
learners are told that a listening text is of an interview with a zoo keeper and they know
nothing at all about the topic, the information is unlikely to be of much use.  If, on the
other hand, they know what a zoo keeper does and are acquainted with the topic of zoos,
it may be of great use in decoding what they hear.
Knowledge of the structure of texts (generic knowledge)
When we are listening to a text, it is very helpful to us to know what the structure and
staging of the text is likely to be.
For example, an anecdote is likely to have Orientation (Where, when and to whom did
things happen?), followed by a Complication (What was the issue? What went wrong?
etc.), a Resolution (How was the problem resolved?) and a Coda (How does the teller feel
about what happened?).
On the other hand, if we are being given instructions, the normal staging will be Goal >
What we need to reach the goal > What the steps are in reaching the goal.
If the listeners know all this, it is going to be a great help in understanding the content
because people will know what to listen for and at what stage.
Cultural knowledge

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 Simply knowing, for example, that sports coverage comes at the end of a news broadcast
(cultural, generic knowledge) or that in the USA the Foreign Minister is called the
Secretary of State and in Britain the Finance Minister is called the Chancellor of the
Exchequer is a great help in certain circumstances.  Equally, of course, knowing that tea
time means 4 o'clock (or thereabouts) in Britain may be crucial to understanding a text.

How do we teach it?

Just as you did for bottom-up skills, make a few notes about teaching the various types of top-
down skills and then click here for a commentary.

It is not our job, in most situations, to focus on general

education but we can make people aware of what they
already know and help them to use these data to
understand what they hear.
We rarely listen to anything entirely 'cold' and without at
least knowing the topic of what we are going to hear.  In
Knowledge the classroom, we can focus our learners explicitly on
of the world this knowledge by, e.g., brainstorming vocabulary they
know about the topic, discussing their current views of
the topic, exchanging ideas about previous times they
have encountered the topic and so on.
Additionally, we can activate their knowledge by using
visuals, videos and images etc.  This, by the way, is
sometimes known as schemata activation.
Textual or generic knowledge is something we can teach
Textual
through using model texts and analysing the staging in
knowledge
class.  For more on this, see the guide to genre.
Cultural knowledge is, again, something we don't usually
teach explicitly but, given that it is helpful in many
situations, we should be careful to provide the minimum
background.  We should also not forget that there is an
Cultural argument that learning a language involves learning
knowledge something of the cultures in which it is used and many
learners actually want that knowledge.  (However,
because English is in the unusual position of being an
international, culture-free lingua franca, this argument
can be challenged.)

Click here to take two short matching tests.

Reference:
Field, J, (1998) Skills and strategies: towards a new methodology for listening, ELT Journal
Volume 52/2 April 1998 Oxford: Oxford University Press

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