Search results for 'tag:Numbers tag:Constructions' matching tags 'Numbers' and 'Constructions'

Re: One of many problems faced by English learners is their own misconceptions.

Avangi — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:27:00 GMT

Jackson6612

Avangi
either "learners of the English language," or "English language learners."
Why is article the essential here? There is only one English language. e.g. I'm learning Chinese language these days. Is there any need to specify Chinese language using the? The use of the is justified in sentences as in ''I'm learning the Southern American English dialect nowadays. The article is required in all of these. I honestly have no idea why. My guess is that "language" is the object of the verb "to learn," and would require an article if it were used without "English" as a modifier. To qualify for standing without the article, a "subject of study" must be one of a few very well-established courses. "I'm majoring in Romance Languages at university." Here, Romance Languages is the recognized name of a well-established course of study, as is Chinese. In the case of a dialect, the indefinite article would be used if there were more than one. Avangi
<<One - - is their own misconceptions.>> IMO there should be number agreement here. Possibly, "One - - - is dealing with their own misconceptions."
Yes, there should be number agreement between verb and object. If I followed your suggestion then the sentence would read: One of many problems faced by learners of the English language is that they are dealing with their own misconceptions. Is that what you suggested? That would be fine. I was considering "that they are" to be optional, as the gerund "dealing" may serve by itself as predicate nominative following the being verb "is." Avangi
This is about "learners." You refer back five times with "they." At some point you might remind the reader who "they" are. Eg, "these learners," "the students," something else of your choosing.
Is choosing'' used as a present participle in the above context? I'd say functionally it's a gerund, serving as object of the preposition "of." The other option, "choice," would of course be a noun.
Avangi
<<During the learning process, they should stop taking the machinery of their native tongue for granted.>> As the final sentence of the first paragraph, this seems enigmatic. It's very well phrased, but the meaning is less than obvious (to me.) I feel like I want an additional sentence by way of (=as means of, as a type of) explanation, or clarification. Optionally, you could make your "machinery" image a little easier to connect up.
How can I make the machinery image a little easier to connect up? How did I know you were going to ask me that danged question?? During the learning process they should remind themselves that the machinery of their native tongue was a long time in [the] building and fine-tuning, and they must be willing to devote an equal effort to the new language. (I'm not sure I have your intention right.)
Avangi
In the second paragraph, at first blush (=when first thought of or considered) the antecedent (=a word or phrase which a pronoun refers back to) of "They" would seem to be "English speakers."
Yes, you are right. I will be more careful about such constructions in future.
Avangi
Have you verified that "idiomaticness" is a word? Or is it a "nonce (=occurring, used, or made only once or for a special occasion) word"?
It is a proper word according to the Merriam-Webster's dictionary.

Congratulations on your hard work. - A.

Edit. "Why is the article "the" essential here?"

Re: One of many problems faced by English learners is their own misconceptions.

Jackson6612 — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:13:32 GMT

Hi Avangi,

Avangi
either "learners of the English language," or "English language learners."

Why is article the essential here? There is only one English language. e.g. I'm learning Chinese language these days. Is there any need to specify Chinese language using the? The use of the is justified in sentences as in ''I'm learning the Southern American English dialect nowadays.

Avangi
<<One - - is their own misconceptions.>> IMO there should be number agreement here. Possibly, "One - - - is dealing with their own misconceptions."

Yes, there should be number agreement between verb and object. If I followed your suggestion then the sentence would read: One of many problems faced by learners of the English language is that they are dealing with their own misconceptions. Is that what you suggested?

Avangi
This is about "learners." You refer back five times with "they." At some point you might remind the reader who "they" are. Eg, "these learners," "the students," something else of your choosing.

Is choosing'' used as a present participle in the above context?

Avangi
<<During the learning process, they should stop taking the machinery of their native tongue for granted.>> As the final sentence of the first paragraph, this seems enigmatic. It's very well phrased, but the meaning is less than obvious (to me.) I feel like I want an additional sentence by way of (=as means of, as a type of) explanation, or clarification. Optionally, you could make your "machinery" image a little easier to connect up.

How can I make the machinery image a little easier to connect up?

Avangi
In the second paragraph, at first blush (=when first thought of or considered) the antecedent (=a word or phrase which a pronoun refers back to) of "They" would seem to be "English speakers."

Yes, you are right. I will be more careful about such constructions in future.

Avangi
Have you verified that "idiomaticness" is a word? Or is it a "nonce (=occurring, used, or made only once or for a special occasion) word"?

It is a proper word according to the Merriam-Webster's dictionary.

another grammar check!

Ellisa — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 15:15:27 GMT

Hello teachers!
I have more here to be grammar checked.
Even I was sure about the grammar, there used to be the wrong grammar.
Thanks in advance!

B. Discovering grammar

Example 5 and 6 shows that students are encouraged to work out for themselves how language forms are constructed and used. The language should be familiar to them, however, not being properly taught them yet.

Ex5) First, play a dialogue in which people have been comparing things. Then teacher show the way that we make adjectives comparatives. Giving rules, ignoring technical information and showing the grammar rules on the board is all possible. Showing the comparative adjectives examples and its variations, make questions which can confirm what they are taught. Then practice the grammar doing comparison exercise.

Ex6) Start with asking students what signs they would see in many different places. Show them a number of different signs and ask where they would be and what they mean. After warming up, get the students to do a fill-in exercise where they have to distinguish between have to, don't have to, should, shouldn't and are/aren't allowed. Make them guess where the signs should be. Also the students can exercise crossing out the wrong usage or dividing sentences in the correct categories.

C. Practising grammar

Ex7) This activity is teaching students present continuous and past simple. The teacher tells the student think of a place where you want to be without talking where it is. Tell them again that imagine you are there. Then make students create sentences using the present continuous. Let each of the students present their sentences in front of the class. The others try to guess. One of the advantages of doing this activity is that students can have time to think what grammar they are studying, specially here, present continuous.

Ex8) First, make students read the text. The text should contains what the teacher is going to teach, here the past tenses. Then tell them underline all the past tenses in the text and classify them into three categories. Before checking the answers with the teacher, let the students have partners and check themselves first. Then ask students tell the story about the text without looking the text. Make them doing this repeatedly which helps in increasing students' fluency.

Ex9) Matching sentence halves is one of the best ways of making students think of sentence construction and sentence meaning. It can be done by giving the students two lists but much more enjoyable and interactive way is giving the cards written half of the sentence. Without showing their cards, students read out their own sentences and discuss which pair is possible or not.

Ex10) It's 'find someone who.....' activity. By going around the class, students ask questions and find someone who answers "yes". This activity can be adapted to suit any structure and structures. Also it's an excellent way to students to get to know each other. Mini-surveys are useful for grammar practice in any grammar constructs.

Ex11) This activity is forcing students to make sentences using a particular verb tense. Divide students in small groups. They need to create a sentence as an answer of what teacher mentioned. Questions might be requiring imaginations or sense of humour such as 'Can you explain why you bit my dog?' Award a point it their answers are correct or appropriate. Adding the element of humour, it can provoke great enjoyment.

Re: Grammatical mistakes

AlpheccaStars — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:04:10 GMT

4) Instead of "in this order", it might sound better as "in that order"

The rule for #5 is:

The conjunction or does not conjoin (as and does): when nor or or is used the subject closer to the verb determines the number of the verb.

(From the dictionary) Usage Note: When all the elements in a series connected by or are singular, the verb they govern is singular: Tom or Jack is coming. Beer, ale, or wine is included in the charge. When all the elements are plural, the verb is plural. When the elements do not agree in number, some grammarians have suggested that the verb should agree in number with the nearest element: Tom or his sisters are coming. The girls or their brother is coming. Cold symptoms or headache is the usual first sign. Other grammarians, however, have argued that such constructions are inherently illogical and that the only solution is to revise the sentence to avoid the problem of agreement: Either Tom is coming or his sisters are. The usual first sign may be either cold symptoms or a headache.

"The management or restoration of these systems are critical issues" >> not correct.

The management or restoration of these systems is a critical issue.

The management and restoration of these systems are critical issues.

Re: Is this noun singular or plural?

WilsonBR — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 03:18:50 GMT

Very clear information! Thank you, CalifJim!

Just one more question to make it even clearer.

If I saw a True or False Question. What should I check for each sentence?

( ) There is a growing number of people...

( ) There are a growing number of people...

Are both constructions acceptable?

Thank you once again!

comparitive conjunction

innamuris — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:42:09 GMT

can anyone help me in choosing the correct answer below?

The underlined portion below may have some grammatical mistake.

After the Colonial periodâs 50 percent mortality rate, life expectancy improved for children, but as late as the nineteenth century about one child in three died before reaching the age of six.

(A) After the Colonial periodâs 50 percent mortality rate, life expectancy improved for children, but
(B) Even though childrenâs life expectancy, which improved over the Colonial periodâs 50 percent mortality rate,
(C) Although life expectancy for children improved after the Colonial period, during which the mortality rate was 50 percent,
(D) While there was an improvement in life expectancy for children after the 50 percent mortality rate of the Colonial period, still
(E) Despite childrenâs life expectancy improvement from the Colonial periodâs 50 percent mortality rate,

The key for this question is 'as late as' which express the sameness in value w.r.t numbers or frequency or quality.

Re: Comma confusion

Clive — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:18:10 GMT

Hi,

Have I used the commas correctly, and is the sentence construction satisfactory (esp. article usage)?

With the growing popularity of the venue, the frequency of exhibitions and the drastic rise in the number of visitors to events led to the expansion of Earlâs Court One, with the addition of another single large hall, Earl's Court 2, which, too, was built with the provision of conference facilities.

The growing popularity of the venue, the frequency of exhibitions, and the drastic rise in the number of visitors to events all led to the expansion of Earlâs Court One with the addition of another single large hall, Earl's Court 2, which was also built with the provision of conference facilities.

Clive

Comma confusion

Vijay Marathe — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:01:14 GMT

Dear Friends,

Have I used the commas correctly, and is the sentence construction satisfactory (esp. article usage)?

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With the growing popularity of the venue, the frequency of exhibitions and the drastic rise in the number of visitors to events led to the expansion of Earlâs Court One, with the addition of another single large hall, Earl's Court 2, which, too, was built with the provision of conference facilities.

Thanks,

Vijay

the essay: new buildings should be built in the traditionial way?

ToastBaby — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:45:57 GMT

Hi guys. I am not a english-speaking person. But i want to improve my english gramma and vocabulory.
Before i found this fourm, i was lost in how to complete a discussion essay.
So.. could u help me to see which is the problem in my essay? thank you the warm-hearted man!

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Some people think new buildings in cities and towns should be built in traditional styles. To what extent do you agree?

Have you ever moved when you stand in a old house which existed several centuries? Have you ever felt sorry when you saw a traditional building was been destroyed to satisfy the demand of the real estate company? Have you ever seriously think about what the heritages ancestors left us but we did not treasured? If you have done above mentioned, you have to support my point of view - making new buildings in traditional style is a remarkable way to recover the losses what have already occured.

For one thing, traditional style is the product of the ancient civilization, it represents the history and culture of a community. The historian could find the details of the olden custom, the fiction writer could be inspired to create a story, the architect could acquire the wisdom from these construction.

For a second, human beings have made many mistakes in the process of the development, ruining the old buildings is one of these. For instance, when it comes to the 20th century, with the improvement of technology, some people claim that the old houses were not suitable to the requirements of the new age any more. Thus, a large number of projects of rebuilding made the city enter into the modernization. But when people were recalling their history, they found that there were nothing to prove what they had seen in the books.

For another, local tourism economy also could be boomed by the traditional style, it could attract lots of tourists from all over the world. People are curious about what the traditional buildings look like and what is the local custom in the olden times.

Finally, there are at least 2 method to solve the 'old buildings are not suitable to the modern life'. The first one is making the new buildings both have the features of traditional and modern styles -- traditional outside and fashion inside. The other one is dividing the city into two areas -- the ancient city and the new city.

In light of the above-mentioned facts, i would like to say that recovering the traditional style is a enormous way to let us remember the history and look into the future.

Re: These ones and those ones

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:25:00 GMT

Anonymous
It is true that "ones," according to proper grammar should not follow "these" or "those" only because one is a singular object. If there is a plural number, "one" becomes inappropriate however there are few people I know (I live in the midwest US) that do not use this construction, as in common speech leaving an object out of a sentence sounds strange or over educated.

My wife and I both hail from the Southwestern US (California and Arizona, mainly), and we disagree on this. I've never used "these ones" or "those ones", and I think it sounds clumsy and unnatural. She and her family have always used it, and don't don't an eyelash over it. It's sort of like when you're a good speller, but you need to see the written word, to see how it looks, to know if it's right or not. I'm not a grammar expert, but I understand English better than most, and when I hear that it just makes me wince ever so slightly.

Grammar Geek
Anon, what pronoun would you suggest then for something to replace "pens" in the second and third line below?

I'm looking for a particular set of drawing pens.

Are these the pens you're looking for?

Thanks, but no, those aren't the pens I'm looking for.

(I agree that "Those ones aren't the right ones" is wrong - it's simply "Those." But I don't agree that ones can't be plural.)

See, this the weird thing. While that last sentence doesn't sound right, this one does:

Are these the pens you're looking for?

Thanks, but no, those aren't the ones I'm looking for.