Help with Grammar & Academic Writing (Website Recommendation)

If you like grammar to be explained to you very clearly then you probably want to take a look at this website. 

The Lecturette is a website with short, simple slideshows (like Powerpoints) about grammar and academic writing. Just click on something you want more explanation about and the slideshow in the middle of the page will try to explain it. It looks like the website has most of grammar points that you would find in a grammar book. However, what I really like are the extra slideshows about academic writing. Definitely worth looking at if you are preparing for university courses in English.

If you are on Twitter you can also get updates about new lessons from Piet.

Thinking about Superman a.k.a. Imaginary Situations (Conditionals)

Superman (Picture from Wikipedia)

Let's think about imaginary situations; these are situations that are not real. These situations are very common when we speak in English. Lots of our conversations talk about things which might happen and we have other conversations about things that probably will not happen, but we like to imagine and dream about them.

Imagining Situations in the Present

For example, in the future I will eat, but this depends on me being hungry or not.  If I'm hungry, I eat. This is a common and normal situation. However, in English we also like to talk about situations which are not normal. Let’s think about Superman.

Superman isn’t real... sorry to disappoint you. :-) He is imaginary so a lot of conversations about Superman are imaginary.

I like to be Superman = Something I enjoy regularly.  Hmmm... I can't be Superman so this is not a good sentence.

I would like to be Superman = This talks about something I want.  I can't be Superman but I can want to be Superman.

This is NOT possible - I will never be Superman... :-(

... but if I had Superman's powers then I would be very busy saving people all the time.
Or... if I could fly like Superman then I would save a lot of money.
Or... if I wore Superman's costume, I'd be embarrassed most of the time!
Or... if I were* Superman, I'd probably need to shave.

Let’s look at a few more examples.

Here is a young man thinking about money.

If I won the lottery, I'd buy a mansion.
If I had lots of money, I would move house.**
If I were* very rich, I would get a big red house.
(Pictures from Flickr: Man, Money, Mansion)

Do you see the patterns here?  It is a little bit confusing but I will explain.

Start with 'If I', 'If you', 'If he', 'If she', 'If we', 'If they' and then the past form of the verb (have, had, had; can, could, been able to; wear, wore, worn; etc, etc.)

Continue with 'I would' or 'I'd', 'you would' or 'you'd', 'he would' or 'he'd', etc. and then the basic form of the verb (be, was/were, been; save, saved, saved; buy, bought, bought; get, got, gotten).

Look at the sentences again.  Do you see the pattern?  Do you understand the imaginary situation in each sentence?

If I had Superman's powers then I would be very busy saving people all the time.
If I could fly like Superman then I would save a lot of money.
If I wore Superman's costume, I'd be embarrassed most of the time!
If I were* Superman, I'd probably need to shave.

If I won the lottery, I'd buy a mansion.
If I had lots of money, I would move house.**
If I were* very rich, I would get a big red house.

NOTES:

* 'If I were' - Usually we say 'I am, I was, I have been' but when we talk about imaginary/unreal situations we use 'If I were'.  This is grammatically correct English but you will hear a lot of native speakers using 'If I was'.  This is your choice; lots of native speakers use the 2nd option but the 1st option is grammatically correct.

** 'to move house' - This phrase does not mean to physically move a house.  It is the phrasal verb we use to describe changing your accommodation.

Imagining Situations in the Past

Let's look at imagining situations in the past.  Usually these are regrets; bad situations in the past that we wish we could change.  Here is a picture of a young boy who obviously had an accident.

If I hadn't ridden my bicycle, I wouldn't have broken my arm.
If I had been more careful on my bicycle, I wouldn't have broken my arm.
If I hadn't fallen off my bike, I wouldn't have broken my arm.
If I hadn't worn a helmet, my injuries would have been worse!
(Pictures from Flickr: Bicycle, Boy with Broken Arm, Arm)

Again, this is an area of English that we use a lot.  We often try to imagine things in the past being different.  Can you see the pattern here?

Start with 'If I had/If I hadn't' or 'If you had/If you hadn't' or 'If we had/If we hadn't' and then the past participle (ride, rode, ridden; break, broke, broken; fall, fell, fallen; wear, wore, worn).

Continue with 'would/wouldn't have' and past participle again.

'If the boy in the picture had been Superman, he wouldn't have broken his arm.'

The 2nd and 3rd Conditionals

You probably recognize these as the 2nd and 3rd conditionals.  I don't like these names for this grammar.  I think it's better to think of this grammar as imaginary situations in the present and the past.  Or, if you want to think about it in a different way: 'unreal present' (2nd) and 'unreal past' (3rd) conditionals.

More Practice with the 'Unreal Present'

A World without Planes - This article/story imagines a world without planes and air travel.  It is a great composition to read if you want more confidence with your conditionals.

Change the World by Eric Clapton - This song has a lot of examples of conditionals.  However, some of the lyrics have some confusing mixed conditionals. Can you find them and fix them?

If you are really adventurous, you can try the karaoke version. :-)

More Practice with the 'Unreal Past'

On Time - This short film is 6 minutes long and you can practise your 'unreal past' by talking about this video with a friend.  Share it with another friend who is learning English and use the 'unread past'/3rd conditional to have a conversation about it.

Enjoy these very useful parts of English!  Please comment below and let me know how successful your studies are.

Remember, what you need for confidence and comfort is practice, practice, practice. ;-)

75 Times

Yes.  In this case 75 is the magic number.  It is believed that a learner needs to hear a word about 75 times before they have acquired it.  If you don’t believe me, look here (http://langwitches.org/blog/2011/03/30/listening-comprehension-podcasting/).

First, let’s look at learned vs acquired.  There is a BIG difference.

Learned - How many times have you learned about the rules of the present perfect?  How many rules have you written in your notebooks?  How many times have you got it wrong when speaking?  How many times have you needed to stop and think if you should use present perfect or past simple?

Probably you have had LOTS of lessons about present perfect vs past simple.  You’ve learned it and you know the rules but you still need to think about it and sometimes you know you get it wrong.  That’s because you haven’t acquired it.

Acquired – Ok, now if I say to you, “Hey, how’re you doing?” then you will probably say something like “I’m fine thanks.”  Now, were you thinking about the grammar? 

Were you thinking, “Is it ‘I fine’ or ‘I am fine’?”   Probably not.  You don’t need to think about that because you have acquired it.  You have heard it so many times, from so many different people.  You don’t think about it, you just do it, you just know it, you just have it.

That’s the difference between learning and acquiring.  I never really learned English, I simply acquired it.  We don’t learn our native languages, we acquire them.  Yes, of course, we learn about our languages at school but we already know them because we have already acquired them.

So how long does it take to acquire new words and phrases in English?  75 times, more or less.  You need to hear the word, the phrase, the context approximately 75 times before it is comfortably part of your English.

But remember this is not only passive hearing.  It is active listening.  You can help yourself and speed up this process by actively listening.  I know lots of students who don’t have very advanced English, but they know every single exact word to their favourite English-speaking songs.  How many times do you think they listened to those songs?

It is important to learn the rules of a language we want to use well.  It helps our understanding.  However, you also need to make an effort, use the language you’re not sure about a lot, make sure you are corrected a lot and make sure you do lots of active listening for what you want to understand better.  Past tense verbs, phrasal verbs or conditionals, for example.

So, that English podcast you listened to, that TV show you watched, that IELTS listening practice you have… have you listened to them enough times?  Almost certainly not.  Just listen to it one more time, go on!

What do you think and what is your experience of learning and acquisition?  As always, I look forward to your opinions.

Gordon

Is English Difficult to Learn?

This post is inspired by a similar post on Warren Ediger’s Successful English blog.

Personally, I always thought English is an easy language for giving information but a difficult language for getting information.  As I continue with my Spanish studies, I think this is probably true of most languages.

For example, a low level learner’s vocabulary in English can be good enough to explain a problem they are having.

“I have very bad stomach-ache.”

But understanding the huge variety of possible replies needs a wider vocabulary (we say “wider” for vocabulary, not “bigger”).

“You should go to the doctor.” 

“You might want to see a doctor then.” 

“You’d best go and see a doctor.” 

“I’d go to the health centre, if I were you.” 

“You’d better make an appointment with the GP then.” 

“Do you reckon you need to see a doctor?” 

“There’s a clinic on the next street if you want to drop in.” 

“It sounds like you could do with an appointment to see the doctor.” 

“It’s probably a good idea to see your GP then.”

Think about all of these different phrases and parts of language you might need to understand the reply. There are modals verbs like ‘should’, ‘would’, ‘could’ and ‘might’.  Phrases like “You had better + verb” or “You had best + verb” which we use for suggestions.  Direct questions using phrases like “Do you reckon…” or indirect questions “…if you want to see him.”   The change in title from ‘doctor’ to ‘GP’ or not talking about the ‘doctor’ but about the ‘clinic’ or the ‘health centre’.  The variety of verbs you could use; ‘see a doctor’, ‘make an appointment’ and ‘drop in at the clinic’.

As you can see, there’s a lot of English that you might get from this one simple sentence, “I have very bad stomach-ache.”  For me, this also shows that vocabulary needs to be learned in phrases around topics instead of learning the grammar first.  What I mean is that there are some complicated conditionals in there "I'd go to the health centre, if I were you."  Do you think you should wait until you are Intermediate/Upper-Intermediate before you can understand that and reply to it?  You need a doctor!

But I don’t think this problem is limited to English because I know I have the same problem not understanding replies to what I say in Spanish.

One of my problems in Spanish is anxiety.   My worst skill is conversational listening.  This is very different from passive listening.  I can sit in a café or pub and listen to a group of people speak in Spanish and I will follow the gist of the conversation (gist = the general idea, the main points).  But listening in a one-to-one conversation is more difficult because you have less time to think about the language you are hearing and you need to think about what you want to say as well.

The problem is that worrying and anxiety do not help learning.  So how do we stay calm?  Well, it is good to work together with other people who also want to learn English or other people who want to help you improve your English.

So, is English a difficult language to learn?  Well yes, and no.

The main points I haven’t mentioned here are motivation and opportunity.  Are you motivated to improve your English?  What is your motivation?  Do you have the opportunity to use your English?  These are also important questions to ask if you want an answer to the question, “Is English hard to learn?”

What do you think?  As always I look forward to your opinions.

Gordon

P.S.  And for a more humorous opinion about why English is so difficult, click here. 

Grammar

Or is it?

Okay, so let's start with one of the oldest topics about language learning - grammar!

I have been following a few ELT (English Language Teaching) blogs recently. I have to admit it, I'm quite a geek - I love it!

Anyway, on one of the blogs, a very experienced teacher was talking about grammar, grammar rules and if they are necessary or not. (Click here to see his post.)

Now recently I have been thinking about how grammar is taught and if my students really benefited from "learning grammar".

Now for some people, they like to have the rules because they feel more comfortable and it gives them something to study and memorize. But for other people, learning the rules about the use of the present perfect (how many different uses are there - about a million, no?) doesn't help them to actually USE the present perfect in their English conversations.

I would suggest this -

Learning English Grammar is like learning how to use a keyboard. If you learn how a keyboard works, do you know how to use the computer and its operating system?

I'm don't think I completely agree with this idea. But I want to generate some discussion so I'm going to give an opinion for you to agree or disagree with. AND, my opinions aren't important here - yours are!

Thanks,

Gordon

P.S. The www.englishpage.com link that I've added about the rules of present perfect are NOT complete and, as with all things in English, there are exceptions to these rules. I added it to show a 'perfect' example (hehehe, English teacher humour) of lots of different rules.