The Benefits of Learning (and Teaching!) Grammar

Here’s a simple truth. Some people like grammar, and other’s don’t. Also, grammar can be learned directly or indirectly. So, should we teach it? Should students watch a grammar video or study a chart in a textbook? I’m all for learning a language through through conversation and authentic sources, including movies and books. They provide…

What We Gain from Digging Deeper

In my previous post, I explored different ways we create emphasis, and I included cleft sentences. The effort I put into making that list will pay off even more as I move forward to create a new YouTube lesson, which will offer students more examples to illustrate the patterns used for stressing words and highlighting…

10 Ways to Emphasize Ideas

Language is truly amazing because we often have multiple tools at our disposal. Think of all the ways we can ask a question. Imagine our friend had a job interview.– We might ask about it directly: How did the interview go?– We could use a tag question to broach the subject: The interview was today,…

Flexibility with Prepositions: Part 2

Once again, my students have helped me learn my subject matter better. One private student is working on GRE vocabulary, and we recently practiced the verb “gloat.” With some browsing, we confirmed two collocations. Both The Britannica Dictionary and the Cambridge Dictionary list examples using “gloat over” and “gloat about.” (In fact, the latter also…

Getting Causative Verbs Firmly Planted

I’ve recognized the need of some upper level students to review the forms of “get” and “have” as causative verbs. The meanings are relatively easy for them to grasp, especially with the overlap of getting and having something done. (E.g., She had her nails done./She got her nails done.) In contrast, the differences in forms…

Drawing Up Definitions of What’s Standard, Non-standard, or Dialectal

Not for the first time, I published a YouTube lesson that turned out to be longer than anticipated. The topic? Reflexive pronouns. (Click to view.) It’s true that I could have made a very basic presentation that addressed only the “reflexive” use (I see myself, I hurt myself, etc.), but I was targeting intermediate and…

Reflecting on Reflexive Pronouns

As a follow-up to an earlier post on reflexive pronouns, which focused more on meaning, I’d like to take the time and examine word order with reflexive pronouns. When do these pronouns have a fixed position and when do we have a choice about their placement? Do you yourself wonder about this? Or have you…

Venturing Out into Deeper Waters with Verb Tenses

Do advanced learners still have doubts about verb tenses? Yes. Perhaps fewer, but their accuracy and confidence are still growing. At this level, movement back and forth between focused practice and meaningful production continues. By this point, students have mastered the forms, but they need to be reminded of the uses and exposed to natural…

Oh! That’s a variation, not a mistake.

Not all my private students are based in the U.S. Actually, one travels back and forth between the U.K. and the States. Another resides permanently in England. A third lives in Eastern Europe and has interaction with both American and British English speakers. In the past, I did quite a bit of editing for a…

Is Grammar a Superpower?

Grammar can be a hard sell to students who say they just want to learn conversation. Those who dread a grammar lesson likely endured boring drills in the past, and they see grammar in terms of charts and lists of rules. Grammar has yet to come alive for them with the help of engaging presentations…

Adding Another Layer to Correlative Conjunctions

Some upper level students have strong comprehension in both reading and listening, and they’re comfortable expressing their ideas on nearly any topic, yet there are structures that cause a degree of hesitation because these learners haven’t directly studied the grammar or done focused practice with feedback. This happens with topics like correlative conjunctions. What adds…

Reflecting on Thanksgiving: Its associations, observance, and semantics

Both Canada and the U.S. designated a particular autumn day as a time to give thanks annually. Separated by roughly a month on the calendar, the two Thanksgiving holidays evoke quite a range of associations. It would be enlightening to have students share what connections they make with the events. In fact, some may be…