Search results for 'tag:Negatives tag:Tenses' matching tags 'Negatives' and 'Tenses'

Re: assumes the shape

CalifJim — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:34:06 GMT

New2grammar
I rarely hear that word used by native speakers to mean what it's supposed to.

You have to use 'rooster' for that meaning. The other word has now become almost exclusively used for the male sex organ -- though there may be some remnants of the original meaning in older writings.

My response was partially pretense, by the way, to give you an indication of what a strong negative impression you would be greeted by if you actually used that word in 'polite society'. Someone would surely take you aside and explain privately that that word is "just not used".

Re: would prefer

CalifJim — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:21:55 GMT

Subjunctive.

to be:

Present affirmative:

I be / you be / he, she, it be / we be / you be / they be

Present negative:

I not be / you not be / he, she, it not be / we not be / you not be / they not be

Past affirmative (negative):

I were (not) / you were (not) / he, she, it were (not) / we were (not) / you were (not) / they were (not)

to come:

Present affirmative:

I come / you come / he, she, it come / we come / you come / they come

Present negative:

I not come / you not come / he, she, it not come / we not come / you not come / they not come

Past affirmative:

I came / you came / he, she, it came / we came / you came / they came

Past negative:

I didn't come / you didn't come / he, she, it didn't come / we didn't come / you didn't come / they didn't come

_______

You can use any subjunctive after would rather or would prefer.

I would [rather / prefer] (that) he [go / not go / went / didn't go] to meet Mr. Brown.

I would [rather / prefer] (that) my husband [come / not come / came / did not come] with me for a holiday.

The Pentagon would [rather / prefer] (that) the plan [be / not be / were / were not] considered together with war funding.

He would [rather / prefer] (that) she [stop / stopped] calling him "Pacman".

___

I have no scientific evidence for it, but I believe the present subjunctive tenses occur more often with prefer, and the past subjunctive tenses occur more often with rather. Nevertheless, you will hear these in various combinations almost indiscriminately.

Re: Simple Past Lesson Plan

Mister Micawber — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:22:11 GMT

.
Oh, I can always find something else (but I may have messed up your formatted columns):

Lesson Plan

Preparation

Level : Elementary

Lesson Length: 45 minutes

Objective: To be able to use the Past Simple question forms and short answers.

Target Language: did + subject + base form of verb ( Did your mother call you? )

Question word + did + subject + base form of verb ( What did you do last night? )

Short answers:

Yes + subject + did ( Did it rain? Yes, it did.)

No + subject + didn't ( Did Helen come to the party? No, she didn't. )

Assumed knowledge: Past Simple (regular / irregular verbs, negative form)

Anticipated problems:

Students may use a past form of the main verb to make the question instead of using the base form. E.g. Did you went?

Solutions:

During the presentation stage, draw students' attention to the fact that 'Did' does not change its form. 'Did' is always used to form the question in the Past Simple.(This is not true for the verb 'be' and sometimes the verb 'have'.)
Point out the verb tense in the question form. Did + subject + base form of the verb
Drill individually and chorally.
Practice making questions. Monitoring for errors and having students unscramble sentences

can also help to work on sentence structure problems.

Preparation and Aids: Simple reading text ,dialogue, in the Simple Past, using vocabulary that

students are already familiar with. Handout for homework correcting sentences. Four pictures of people doing things.

Lesson Plan

Stage	Activity	Interaction	Timing
1	Warmer : Timed Scattergories (*spelling? I don't know this word) with pre-chosen* themes (food, things you do on the weekend, etc) Review homework from last class	TS ST	5 mins
2	Introduction : Have two students stand up for a moment to set the scene; elicit their names. Then they can sit down. Write them on the board. Hand out the dialogue between these two friends who are talking about their past weekend. (A dialogue that mostly contains vocabulary the students are familiar with)	TS SS	1 min
3	Have students read the dialogue and answer gist questions about it to check their understanding.	S ST	3 min
4	Ask students to focus on the language used by asking what question Â« A Â» asked Â« B Â». Write this question on the board.	TS ST	1 min
5	Presentation : Show students how it is formed Did + subject + base Did you have a good weekend ? Point out that we don't use the past form of the main verb in questions, but always the base (or dictionary) form	TS	5 min
6	Drill chorally and individually. Focus on pronunciation and correct structure.	TST	2 min
7	Elicit: Draw students' attention to the short answer and explain the positive and the negative structures. Yes + subject + did -- Yes, I did. No + subject + didn't -- No, I didn't.	TS
8	Drill chorally and individually and then conduct a controlled question-and-answer drill around the class : E.g : Â« Sandrine ask Didier...(point to an action on the board : - go to the restaurant / movies / market / bank / etc.) Â» Sandrine: Â« Did you go to the restaurant? Â« Didier: Â« Yes, I did. Â» etc.	ST SS	2 min 5 min
9	Pairwork : Students ask and answer questions from the board and note down their partners' answers. The focus here is on correct pronunciation and structure, so it is important to correct any errors by referring to the structures on the board.	PW	5 min
10	Controlled Oral Practice : Use dialogue text as a basis to talk about what the two characters did on the weekend. Also use visual support such as a picture of a restaurant to prompt questions. For example, show a picture of two friends having a conversation; encourage them to produce the following question : Â« Did they go to a restaurant ? -- Yes, they did / No, they didn't. Â» Give four picture examples as prompts.	TS SS TS	1 min 2 min
11	Monitor closely. Correct errors by using what's already on the board as a point of reference.	TS	1 min
12	If students are performing well, turn focus to what they themselves did on the weekend. They ask each other questions and give short answers.	PW	5 min
13	Follow up with controlled written practice. For example, use questions and answers in which the words are all mixed up ; students put the words back into the correct order.	S	5 min
14	Homework : a transformation exercise (changing affirmative statements into questions and short answers)

Re: Simple Past Lesson Plan

mzl14000 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:57:02 GMT

Hello again,
Here is a cleaned-up version of my lesson plan. I'm an insecure wreck, therefore I dare ask for another look at my work...
Thanks again for the earlier help.
MZL

Lesson Plan
Preparation

Level : Elementary

Lesson Length: 45 minutes

Objective: To be able to use the Past Simple question forms and short answers.

Target Language: did + subject + base form of verb ( Did your mother call you? )

Question word + did + subject + base form of verb

( What did you do last night? )

Short answers:

Yes + subject + did ( Did it rain? Yes, it did.)

No + subject + didn't ( Did Helen come to the party? )

Assumed Knowledge: Past Simple ( regular / irregular verbs ,negative form )

Anticipated Problems:

Students may use a past form of the verb to make the question instead

of using the Simple form. E.g. Did you went?

Solutions:

During the presentation stage, draw students' attention to the fact that 'Did' does not change its form. 'Did' is always used to form the question in the Past Simple.
Point out the verb tense in the question form. Did + subject + base form of the verb
Drill individually and chorally.
Practice making questions. Monitoring for errors and having them put scrambled sentences

in order can also help to work on sentence structure problems.

Preparation and Aids: Simple reading text ,dialogue, in the Simple Past using vocabulary that

students are already familiar with. Handout for homework correcting sentences. Four pictures of people doing things.

Lesson Plan

Stage	Activity	Interaction	Timing
1	Warmer : Timed Scatergories with pre-picked themes (food, things you do on the weekend...) Review homework from last class	TS ST	5 mins
2	Introduction : Have two students stand up for a moment to set the scene; elicit their names. Then they can sit down. Write them on the board. Hand out the dialogue between these two friends who are talking about their past weekend. (A dialogue that mostly contains vocabulary the students are familiar with)	TS SS	1 min
3	Have students read the dialogue and answer gist questions on it to check their understanding.	S ST	3 min
4	Ask students to focus on the language used by asking what question Â« A Â» asked Â« B Â». Write this question on the board.	TS ST	1 min
5	Presentation : Show students how it is formed Did + Subject + base Did you have a good weekend ? Point out that we don't use the past form of the verb in questions, but always the base ( or dictionary ) form	TS	5 min
6	Drill chorally and individually. Focus on pronunciation and correct structure.	TST	2 min
7	Elicit : Draw students attention to the short answer and explain the positive and the negative structures. Yes + Subject + did Yes, I did. No + Subject + didn't No, I didn't.	TS
8	Drill chorally and individually and then conduct a controlled question-and-answer drill around the class : E.g : Â« Sandrine ask Didier...(point to an action on the board : - go to the restaurant - go to the movies ) Â» - go to the market - go to the bank Sandrine: Â« Did you go to the restaurant? Â« Didier: Â« Yes, I did. Â» etc.	ST SS	2 min 5 min
9	Pairwork : Students ask and answer questions from the board and note down their partners' answers. The focus here is on correct pronunciation and structure so it is important to correct any errors by referring to the structures on the board.	PW	5 min
10	Controlled Oral Practice : Use Dialogue text as a basis to talk about what the two characters did on the weekend. Also use visual support such as a picture of a restaurant to prompt questions. For example show a picture of two friends having a conversation ; encourage them to produce the following question : Â« Did they go to a restaurant ? Yes, they did / No, they didn't. Â» Give four picture examples as prompts.	TS SS TS	1 min 2 min
11	Monitor closely. Correct errors by using what's already on the board as a point of reference.	TS	1 min
12	If students are performing well, turn focus to what they did on the weekend. They ask each other questions and give short answers.	PW	5 min
13	Follow up with controlled written practice. I could use questions and answers where the words are all mixed up ; students put the words back in the correct order.	S	5 min
14	Homework : a transformation exercise (changing affirmative statements into questions and short answers)	S	2 min

Re: Simple Past Lesson Plan

Mister Micawber — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:18:55 GMT

.
Overall, it should work fine, MZL. A few corrections and fewer comments:

Objective: To be able to use the Past Simple question forms and short answers.

Target Language: did + subject + base (or 'dictionary') form of verb ( Did your mother call you? ) -- It is best to save the term 'infinitive' for that function.

Question word + did + subject + base form of verb ( What did you do last night? )

Anticipated Problems: Students may use statements without using the auxiliary verb.

E.g. You went out yesterday? -- This is a common question form in current English. It cannot be considered incorrect.

Solutions:

During the presentation stage, draw students' attention to the fact that 'Did' does not change its form. 'Did' is always used to form the question in the Past Simple.
Point out the verb tense in the question form. Did + subject + base form of the verb

Preparation and Aids: Simple reading text ,dialogue, in the Simple Past using vocabulary that

students are already familiar with. Handout for homework correcting sentences

Lesson Plan

Stage	Activity	Interaction	Timing
1	Warm up : Timed Scatergories with pre-picked themes (food, things you do on the weekend...) Review homework from last class	TS ST
2	Introduction : Using a picture of two young women, elicit from students their names. Write them on the board. Hand out the dialogue between these two friends who are talking about their past weekend. (A dialogue that mostly contains vocabulary the students are familiar with) -- *This picture is a useless prop. Visual prompts, if used, should be rich in potential material.* *Have 2 students stand up for a moment to set the scene; then they can sit down.*	TS ST
3	Have students read the dialogue and answer specific gist questions on it to check their understanding.-- *There is no such thing as a 'specific gist' question. The two terms are antonymic. Questions are either for gist (a general impression) or for specific response.*	S ST
4	Ask students to focus on the language used by asking what question Â« A Â» asked Â« B Â». Write this question on the board.	TS ST
5	Presentation : Show students how it is formed Did + Subject + base Did you have a good weekend ? Point out that we don't use the past form of the verb in questions, but always the base (or dictionary) form.	TS
6	Drill chorally and individually. Focus on pronunciation and correct structure.	TST
7	Elicit : Draw students attention to the short answer and explain the positive and the negative structures. Yes + Subject + did Yes I did No + Subject + didn't No I didn't	TS
8	Drill chorally and individually and then conduct a controlled question-and-answer drill around the class : E.g : Â« Sandrine ask Didier...(point to an action the board : - go to the restaurant - go to the movies ) Â»	ST SS
9	Pairwork : Students ask and answer questions from the board and note down their partners' answers. The focus here is on correct pronunciation and structure, so it is important to correct any errors by referring to the structures on the board.	PW
10	Controlled Oral Practice : Use Dialogue text as a basis to talk about what the two characters did on the weekend. Also use visual support such as a picture of a restaurant to prompt questions. For example, show a picture of two friends having a conversation; encourage them to produce the following question : Â« Did they go to a restaurant ? Yes, they did / No, they didn't. Â» Give four picture examples as prompts.	TS SS TS
11	Monitor closely. Correct errors by using what's already on the board as a point of reference.	TS SS
12	If students are performing well, turn focus to what they did on the weekend. They ask each other questions and give short answers.	PW
13	Follow up with controlled written practice. I could use questions and answers where the words are all mixed up ; students put the words back in the correct order.	S
14	Homework : a transformation exercise (changing affirmative statements into questions and short answers)	S

Simple Past Lesson Plan

mzl14000 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:40:33 GMT

Would anybody be kind enough to tell me what they think of this lesson plan I've made for my TEFL module ? Any suggestions ??
Thanks so much .

MZL

Lesson Plan
Preparation

Level : Elementary

Lesson Length: 45 minutes

Objective: To be able to use the Past simple question forms and shot answers.

Target Language: did + subject + infinitive form of verb ( Did your mother call you? )

Question word + subect + did + subject + infinitive form of verb

( What did you do last night? )

Short answers:

Yes + subject + did ( Did it rain? Yes, it did.)

No + subject + didn't ( Did Helen come to the party? )

Assumed Knowledge: Past simple ( regular / irregular verbs ,negative form )

Anticipated Problems: Students may use statements without using the auxiliary verb.

E.g. You went out yesterday? Instead of, ( Did you go out yesterday? )

Students may use a past form of the verb to make the question instead

of using the Simple form. E.g. Did you went?

Solutions:

During the presentation stage, draw students' attention to the fact that 'Did' does not change its form. 'Did' is always used to form the question in the Past simple.
Point out the verb tense in the quuestion form. Did + subject + infinitive of the verb
Drill individually and chorally.
Practice making questions. Monitoring for errors and having them put scrambled sentences

in order can also help to work on sentence structure problems.

Preperation and Aids: Simple reading text ,dialogue, in the Simple Past using vocabulary that

students are already familiar with. Handout for homework correcting sentences

Lesson Plan

Stage	Activity	Interaction	Timing
1	Warmer : Timed Scatergories with pre-picked themes (food, things you do on the weekend...) Review homework from last class	TS ST
2	Introduction : Using a picture of two young women, elicit from students their names. Write them on the board. Hand out the dialogue between these two friends who are talking about their past weekend. (A dialogue that mostly contains vocabulary the students are familiar with)	TS ST
3	Have students read the dialogue and answer specific gist questions on it to check their understanding.	S ST
4	Ask students to focus on the language used by asking what question Â« A Â» asked Â« B Â». Write this question on the board.	TS ST
5	Presentation : Show students how it is formed Did + Subject + Infinitive Did you have a good weekend ? Point out that we don't use the past form of the verb in questions, but always the infinitive.	TS
6	Drill chorally and individually. Focus on pronunciation and correct structure.	TST
7	Elicit : Draw students attention to the short answer and explain the positive and the negative structures. Yes + Subject + did Yes I did No + Subject + didn't No I didn't	TS
8	Drill chorally and individually and then conduct a controlled question and answer drill around the class : E.g : Â« Sandrine ask Didier...(point to an action the board : - go to the resaurant - go to the movies ) Â»	ST SS
9	Pairwork : Students ask and answer questions from the board and note down their partners answers. The focus here is on correct pronunciation and structure so it is important to correct any errors by refering to the structures on the board.	PW
10	Controlled Oral Practice : Use Dialogue text as a basis to talk about what the two characters did on the weekend. Also use visual support such as a picture of a restaurant to prompt questions. For example show a picture of two friends having a conversation ; encourage them to produce the following question : Â« Did they go to a restaurant ? Yes, they did / No, they didn't. Â» Give four picture expamples as prompts.	TS SS TS
11	Monitor closely. Correct errors by using what's already on the board as a point of reference.	TS SS
12	If students are performing well, turn focus to what they did on the weekend. They ask each other questions ans give short answers.	PW
13	Follow up with controlled written practice. I could use questions and answers where the words are all mixed up ; students put the words back in the correct order.	S
14	Homework : a transformation exercise (changing affermative statements into questions and short answers)	S

Re: Tense in conditional sentence

Tanit — Sun, 04 May 2008 10:56:28 GMT

Hi, N2G,

Besides in indirect questions (the examples previously given), if + will works also to indicate volition (or refusal in its negative form, "if + won't" ) or insistence, and, yes, it can be used at the beginning of a sentence. Here are the links to some other threads where these kinds of if + will were discussed. Hope you'll find them useful.

http://www.englishforums.com/English/IfAdjectiveClauses/zjqbg/post.htm
http://www.englishforums.com/English/NoCondition/vrcvh/post.htm
http://www.englishforums.com/English/IfClauseFuture/2/cwgxp/Post.htm

Re: in a while / for a while ?

CalifJim — Fri, 02 May 2008 21:23:42 GMT

a while is an indefinite period of time. It is usually equivalent to some time. It can be short or long; it is relative to the context in which it occurs.

For example, the amount of time represented by while in I'll be in Europe for a while is greater than the amount of time represented by while in I'll be in the kitchen for a while.

_______________

for measures the amount of time that passes while an action is taking place. The action can be continuous, repetitive, or habitual.

The neighbors go jogging for [thirty minutes / an hour / a while] every day.

I walked in the park for [an hour / two hours / a while].

Marcy worked at Amerigenco for [two months / a year / a while].

As part of the research for his new book, Donald had to travel between Asia and Africa for [many years / a while].

________________

in measures the amount of time that will pass between the present time and the time of the action.

I'll be going to the park in [two days / a while].

So these two mean entirely different things:

I'm going to the bank for a while. / I'm going to the bank in a while.

The first says how long I will be at the bank. The second tells when I will start out to go to the bank.

You can even use both in one sentence: In a while I'll be going to the bank for a while. But it sounds awkward, so people don't normally use both like this.

Here's another similar group:

I'm going to Japan for a week. / I'm going to Japan in a week. / I'm going to Japan for a week in a week. / In a week I'm going to Japan for a week.

________

With negative statements in the perfect tenses, you have a choice.

in can be chosen if you think of measuring the amount of time between the action (when it last took place) and the present moment. for can be chosen if you think of measuring the amount of time during which the 'non-action' took place. In this context, for does not tell how long the action lasted, but how long the absence of the action lasted. I believe that the usual choice is in, but you will hear both.

I have not gone to the bank in/for [two weeks / three days / a while].

I haven't been to Japan in/for [several years / a while].

Gregory hadn't seen that film in/for [many years / months / a while].

______

The use of these expressions with the affirmative perfect tenses is unidiomatic, although it is somewhat less objectionable with for, where for can revert back to its meaning as a measure of how long the action was in progress.

I've been to Italy *in/?for [a year / a while].

Joe has been playing tennis *in/?for [three hours / a while]. (In the reading of one session of tennis playing)

Joe has been playing tennis *in/for [years / a while]. (In the reading of a lifetime of practicing the sport of tennis)

Re: Which sentence is correct?

Dawnstorm — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 08:18:42 GMT

Hi.

For the record, I agree with Clive, but I'd like to try a different analysis, just for the fun of it:

"With(out) Compaq, staying home has never been this fun."

Core sentence:

Staying home has never been this fun.

Look at two components and how they relate to the moment of speaking:

a) "has never been": present perfect. Something's in the past, but still - somehow - relevant to the present.

b) "this": Refers to the moment of speaking.

a+b) implies a disjunction between "tense" and "exophoric term 'this'" (exophoric = refering beyond the text to the real world; i.e. John? I know him. "him = endophoric." // While pointing at John: I know him. - "him" = exophoric): The "this" in "this fun" refers to the present; the "has never been" is in past, but it's being compared to present via the phrase "this fun".

Now add the condition:

"With(out) Compaq":

Do you align the phrase with the "this fun" part or with the "has never been" part?

Here, my intuition goes along with Clive:

"Without Compaq, staying at home has never been this fun," would instinctively make me align "Without Compaq" with "has never been". But I can kind of see how the newspaper editor comes up with "With Compaq," even though I don't think many people would have this as a first reaction, and it's really an editing artefact. All we have to do is find a way to align "with Compaq" with this. Let's try a change of punctuation:

"With Compaq! Staying at home has never been this fun."

Now, "with Compaq" on its own doesn't make much sense, but can somehow see it as short for something meaning "I'm at home with compaq now!" Again, I don't think that's a very natural interpretation (but people could prove me wrong). But if that's how the editor sees the sentence, then "With Compaq" would be aligned with "this", and the "this" would change from an "exophoric term" (referring to the situation) to an "endophoric term" (referring to the text); "this" would refer back to "(I'm at home) With Compaq!"

The interpretation of the whole sentence changes.

I would argue that this is a very unusual interpretation; but it could explain what the editor was thinking. (Still, the editing artefact caused by a confion about double negatives is probably more likely.)

Re: What did he say? What was it he said?

Philip — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:59:03 GMT

Why is it that we say, "What did he/she say?" or "What did I say?" even when it is past tense?
We use 'did' in making a past tense sentence interrogative or negative, using the base form of the verb.

As a follow-up question to those kind enough to answer, is there a difference between 'do' and 'have' that allows the different conjugation of the verb 'to say' in the different examples, or is this just simply a case of the strange way grammar works?
What did you say ~ What have you said.