Grammar for Teachers: A Guide to American English for Native and Non-Native Speakers PDF
Preview Grammar for Teachers: A Guide to American English for Native and Non-Native Speakers
Grammar for Teachers Andrea DeCapua Grammar for Teachers A Guide to American English for Native and Non-Native Speakers Author AndreaDeCapua,Ed.D. CollegeofNewRochelle NewRochelle,NY10805 [email protected] ISBN:978-0-387-76331-6 e-ISBN:978-0-387-76332-3 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2007937636 (cid:2)c 2008SpringerScience+BusinessMedia,LLC Allrightsreserved.Thisworkmaynotbetranslatedorcopiedinwholeorinpartwithoutthewritten permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY10013, USA),except forbrief excerpts inconnection with reviews orscholarly analysis. Usein connectionwithanyformofinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware, orbysimilarordissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdevelopedisforbidden. Theuseinthispublicationoftradenames,trademarks,servicemarks,andsimilarterms,eveniftheyare notidentifiedassuch,isnottobetakenasanexpressionofopinionastowhetherornottheyaresubjectto proprietaryrights. Printedonacid-freepaper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 springer.com Preface Grammar for Teachers: A Guide to American English for Native and Non-Native Speakersis a resultof my frustrationsovermanyyearsof teachinggraduate-level structure courses and not being able to find an appropriate grammar text for the pre-andin-serviceteachersenrolledintheseclasses.Thestudentsinthesecourses haverepresentedavarietyofteachingbackgrounds:ESLandEFLteachers,native andnon-nativespeakersofEnglish,andmainstreamcontent-areateacherswithESL studentsin their classes, to name a few. Someof these studentshave hada strong knowledgeofEnglishgrammar,butoftenhavedifficultiesinapplyingtheirknowl- edgetoreal-lifediscourse.Otherstudents’exposurehasbeenlimitedtolessonsin “correctness,”andaregenerallyunawareofwhichlanguagefeaturesarecentralto teaching ESL/EFL learners. Some students are resistant to taking this course, but are requiredto do so, whether to satisfy specific degree requirements,for state or professionalcertification, or for other reasons. A few studentshave had some lin- guistics,manynot.Thechallengehasbeenfindingawaytoconveytheessentialsof AmericanEnglishgrammarclearly,toengagestudentsactivelyintheirownlearning andunderstandingofgrammarasapplicabletoESL/EFLlearners,andtomotivate themtoundertakeperceptiveanalysesofgrammaticalelementsandstructures,and ofESL/EFLlearnerneedsanddifficulties. The overall aim of Grammar for Teachers is to make grammar accessible and comprehensible.Thetextassumesnopriorknowledgeandcanbeusedwithactive and prospective teachers who have little or no background in grammar, linguis- tics, foreign languages, or other related fields. It is also intended for those users whoseexposuretoEnglishgrammarhasbeenprimarilylimitedtoprescriptiverules of what speakers should say and write with little or no consideration of the con- cernsandproblemsESL/EFLlearnersfaceinlearningandusingEnglish.Thetext encourages users to develop a solid understanding of the use and function of the grammaticalstructuresinAmericanEnglishsothattheymaybetterappreciatethe languagedifficultiesofESL/EFLlearners.Theunderlyingpremiseisthatteachers ofESL/EFLlearnersneedtounderstandhowEnglishworksfromapractical,every dayapproachof“WhatdoesthelearnerneedtoknowinordertoproduceX.”When teachersunderstandthegrammarofAmericanEnglishandtheproblemsandneeds of ESL/EFL learner,they are in a better positionto teach and explainelementsof grammar. v vi Preface Thetextreviewsessentialgrammarstructuresclearlyandconcisely,whileavoid- ingjargonortechnicalterms.Thetextapproachesgrammarfromadescriptiverather than a prescriptiveapproachand focuses on the structures of grammar of greatest importance to ESL/EFL learners. Grammar for Teachers encourages users to tap intotheirown,generallysubconscious,knowledgeofthe grammarofEnglishand make it a conscious knowledge that they can apply to their own varied teaching settings. The text strives to make the study of grammar interesting and relevant by presenting grammar in context and by using authentic material from a variety of sources. Discussions of areas of potentialdifficulties for ESL/EFL learners are included throughout the text. Grammar for Teachers also explores differences in formsacceptedinformalversuscasualorinformalwritingandspeakingbasedon thetypesofquestionsandconcernslearnersarelikelytohave. In each chapter, users of the text work through numerousDiscovery Activities thatencouragethem to explorefor themselvesdifferentelements of grammarand toconsiderhowtheseelementsworktogethertoformmeaningfuldiscourse.Addi- tionalPracticalActivitiesattheendofeachchapterprovidemorepracticeonstruc- tures presented in that chapter. Included in the Practice Activities are samples of relevant learner errors and error analysis exercises. These exercises expose users toauthenticESL/EFLlearnerdiscourseat differentlevelsofproficiencyandfrom manydifferentnativelanguages,andaffordthemopportunitiestopracticefocusing onspecificerrorsatanygivenmoment. Acknowledgments I especially thank the students at New York University, The College of New Rochelle,NewYorkandLongIslandUniversity,PurchaseCampuswhousedvari- ousdraftsofthetextovertheyearsandprovidedfeedback.Specialthanksaredue to Helaine Marshall, at Long Island University,Purchase, New York Campus and WillSmathers,NewYorkUniversitywhopilotedearlierversionsofthetext.Their comments,insightsandsuggestionswereinvaluable.ThanksalsotoJudyHausman, SusannahHealy,BetsyReitbauer,CherylSerrano,andWalter Oerlemannfortheir helpandencouragement. vii Contents 1 WhatisGrammar?.............................................. 1 Introduction..................................................... 1 GrammarasaSetofRules ........................................ 1 DiscoveryActivity1.............................................. 2 LanguageandChange ............................................ 4 DiscoveryActivity2.............................................. 5 LinguistsandGrammar ........................................... 6 LanguageisRule-Governed ....................................... 7 DiscoveryActivity3.............................................. 8 LanguageasaSetofRulesversusLanguageasRule-Governed ....... 9 PrescriptiveversusDescriptiveGrammar ............................ 10 PrescriptiveGrammar .......................................... 10 DescriptiveGrammar........................................... 13 DiscoveryActivity4.............................................. 14 DiscoveryActivity5.............................................. 14 Summary....................................................... 15 PracticeActivities................................................ 16 AnswerKey:Chapter1DiscoveryActivities ......................... 18 2 Morphology .................................................... 21 Introduction..................................................... 21 Section1:WordClasses .......................................... 21 DiscoveryActivity1.............................................. 22 ContextandFunction............................................. 23 WordPlaysandContext:AnAdditionalIllustration ................. 24 DiscoveryActivity2.............................................. 24 DiscoveryActivity3.............................................. 25 PartsofSpeechorLexicalCategories ............................... 27 OpenWordClasses ............................................ 27 DiscoveryActivity4.............................................. 28 ClosedWordClasses ........................................... 29 DiscoveryActivity5.............................................. 30 ix x Contents Overview:MajorPartsofSpeech................................... 31 Nouns ....................................................... 31 Adjectives .................................................... 32 Verbs ........................................................ 33 Adverbs...................................................... 33 Section2:Morphology ........................................... 34 DiscoveryActivity6.............................................. 35 BoundandFreeMorphemes....................................... 35 DerivationalandInflectionalMorphemes ............................ 36 DerivationalMorphemes........................................ 37 InflectionalMorphemes......................................... 38 RedundancyinLanguage ......................................... 39 DiscoveryActivity7.............................................. 39 Summary....................................................... 41 PracticeActivities................................................ 43 3 TheNounPhrase................................................ 45 Introduction..................................................... 45 Section1:IdentifyingNouns....................................... 45 ContextandFunction........................................... 45 SemanticClues................................................ 46 StructuralClues ............................................... 47 DerivationalClues ............................................. 48 MorphologicalClues ........................................... 48 Section2:DifferentTypesofNouns ................................ 50 CountandNoncountNouns ..................................... 50 DiscoveryActivity1.............................................. 51 DiscoveryActivity2.............................................. 52 DiscoveryActivity3.............................................. 53 CrossoverNouns .............................................. 55 DiscoveryActivity4.............................................. 56 Section3:StructureWordsthatSignalNouns......................... 57 DiscoveryActivity5.............................................. 58 DiscoveryActivity6.............................................. 59 Demonstratives................................................ 61 DiscoveryActivity7.............................................. 62 DiscoveryActivity8.............................................. 63 Quantifiers.................................................... 64 DiscoveryActivity9.............................................. 65 DiscoveryActivity10............................................. 66 Section4:Pronouns .............................................. 67 DiscoveryActivity11............................................. 67 TypesofPronounsbyFunction..................................... 68 SubjectPronouns .............................................. 68 ObjectPronouns............................................... 69 PossessivePronounsandPossessiveAdjectives..................... 70 Contents xi DiscoveryActivity12............................................. 71 ReflexivePronouns ............................................ 73 IndefinitePronouns ............................................ 74 Summary....................................................... 75 PracticeActivities................................................ 77 AnswerKey:Chapter3DiscoveryActivities ......................... 81 4 AdjectivesandAdverbs .......................................... 83 Introduction..................................................... 83 Section1:Adjectives ............................................. 83 IdentificationofAdjectives ........................................ 83 SemanticClues.................................................. 84 DiscoveryActivity1.............................................. 84 MorphologicalClues ............................................. 85 Derivational .................................................. 85 DiscoveryActivity2.............................................. 85 Inflectional ..................................................... 87 DiscoveryActivity3.............................................. 90 StructuralClues ................................................. 91 DiscoveryActivity4.............................................. 92 DiscoverActivity5:IdentifyingAdjectives .......................... 93 OrderofAdjectives .............................................. 94 AdjectiveTypes ............................................... 95 DiscoveryActivity6.............................................. 96 SpecialTypesofAdjectives........................................ 97 NounsFunctioningasAdjectives................................. 97 DiscoveryActivity7.............................................. 97 ParticipialAdjectives........................................... 98 DiscoveryActivity8..............................................100 Section2:Adverbs...............................................102 DiscoveryActivity9..............................................104 DifferentSubclassesofAdverbs....................................105 FrequencyAdverbs ............................................105 DiscoveryActivity10.............................................106 TimeandPlaceAdverbs ........................................106 The“Other”Adverbs...........................................107 DiscoveryActivity11.............................................108 DiscoveryActivity12.............................................109 Summary.......................................................111 PracticeActivities................................................112 AnswerKey:Chapter4DiscoveryActivities .........................118 5 IntroductiontoVerbsandVerbPhrases............................121 Introduction.....................................................121 Section1:IdentifyingVerbs .......................................121 SemanticClues..................................................121
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