Search results for 'tag:Paragraphs tag:Grammar' matching tags 'Paragraphs' and 'Grammar'

Re: The Callan Method

Anonymous — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:20:08 GMT

Hi everybody,

I strongly disagree with the views mentioned on behalf of the Callan Method. Just because it promises to get the student where he or she wants to, doesn't mean the Method deserves criticism. I've been teaching English both the traditional way and the Callan Method way for about a year and a half now and I find that the Callan Method is much more productive (great emphasis on 'much') because it forces the student to cope with real language and real life situations, not just nonsensical vocabulary (words like 'juggle' or 'juggler', etc which I believe are to be found in almost all elementary books, not the Callan ones, though).

The Method completely fulfills every single promise it gives to the student provided that a skilled and well-educated teacher (not necessarily a native speaker) holds the classes. The problem is that many language schools actually applying the Callan Method do not have well-trained teachers. To make matters worse, many teachers who claim to be teaching the Callan Method way are no more than common frauds who are likely to fit into the groups they are teaching - but not as teachers, as ordinary students who have great gaps in their knowledge. Their only goal is to make money. Thus, they knowingly bring shame on their well-qualified colleagues and the Method itself.

As far as the qualifications of lectors teaching the Callan way are concerned, I must emphasize the great need that is placed on their in-depth knowledge and practical understanding of grammar as well as vocabulary. Every time a non-professional teacher is confronted with the grammar in the Callan Books, they find out they are not suitable for the position of a teacher. In short, they do NOT understand what defective verbs are, they have difficulty in comprehending the various nuances of the verb have - used either as stative or dynamic, for that case, with or without DO-support, using the marginal modal auxiliary verb DARE, keeping pace with Robin Callan's explanation of the sentence structure which is broken down into sentences - clauses - clause elements - phrases - words and phonemes (which is, by the way, something that is an acknowledged fact supported by Quirk and Greenbaum and other leading grammarians), etc. As a result, they commonly give up teaching English the Callan way and turn towards teaching the traditional way because there they are not required to understand any such 'high' grammar, ie they are limited to simple terms which put as little effort on the part of the teacher as possible. Laughable, wouldn't you say?

To comment on the vocabulary used in the books, I personally find it well chosen, though I'd fill in some more lexical items in the higher stages, mostly in the stages 11 and 12. Apart from that, the vocabulary is often witty and easy to remember. I've grown to like the way it is proportioned in the books, though I still find that stage 1 is quite difficult for beginners who start learning English from the scratch. Nevertheless, what one might describe as sexual harassment or hatred towards women, I consider a witty and hilarious approach to teaching. I've asked my students on many an occasion about their personal feelings when being confronted with such chunks of language and ALL of them agreed that it was something unusual but not in the negative sense. As the words and phrases are groupped together in witty sequences, it was easy for the students to remember the words not only for a couple of hours or days but for long periods of time - without learning them at home again (!!!) which is something students normally do after finishing a course which uses the traditional approach of teaching.

So much to my comments, though I could still write much more than just those few paragraphs.

To conclude, for those students who are still thinking whether to take up learning English the traditional way or rather try the 'English-in-a-quarter-of-the-time' method ... well, I'd go for the latter.

Please help me with my personal statement!

naima — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:17:35 GMT

hi, i am going to apply for economic major for Undergraduate Application, can you help me to correct my whole essay? I am not good at grammar and i hope to make each paragraph more link and smooth. we are require to show our knowleadge on economics in our essay, also, we are need to tell why the school should choose me and how i am outstanding or having advantage than others with same GPA, but i have not idea where to add these in. Could anyone of you help me out? These are some of the other requirment that i wanna to maintain in the essay:

-Is thoughtful and honest, reflective

-Strives for depth, not breadth

-Follows the conventions of good writing

-Conforms to guidelines

-Answers the question!

-Benefits from several drafts and feedback from others

-Contains a catchy introduction that will keep the reader interested

-Transforms blemishes into positives

-Demonstrates your knowledge of the major/college

-Exudes confidence--you will be successful no matter what

The personal statement...

Offers us an understanding of you as a unique individual within the context of your family, school, community, and the world.
Adds clarity, richness, and meaning to the information collected in other parts of your application.
Allows you to make your best case for why you should be admitted.
Clarifies the distinctions between applicants whose academic records appear to be quite similar.
Provides us with information that may not be evident in other parts of your application.
Is a forum for you to explain how factors outside of your school environment have enhanced or impeded your ability to maximize available academic and intellectual opportunities.

The most compelling personal statements often include discussion ofâ¦

Your academic record, accomplishments, and activities.
Any unusual circumstances, challenges, or hardships you have faced and the ways in which you have overcome or responded to them.
Your initiative, motivation, leadership, persistence, service to others, special potential, and/or substantial experience with other cultures.
Your achievements in light of the opportunities available to you.

Be clear. Be focused. Be organized.

Be careful with humor and clichÃ©s.

Donât manufacture hardship.

Use specific examples to illustrate your ideas.

My essay:

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Prompt #1 (transfer applicants)

What is your intended major? Discuss how your interest in the subject developed and describe any experience you have had in the field â such as volunteer work, internships and employment, participation in student organizations and activities â and what you have gained from your involvement.

My interest in economy dates back to my life in high school, where I was not good in economic. My failure in high school did not make me back down on economics, but firing up my will to overcome this subject.

When I was Grade 10, I met my economic teacher, Mrs. Tang. She is a very experienced teacher. She teaches very well and is patient with student. Although she was pregnant at that time, she still not gives up on us. She delayed her maternity leave for us, tried to finish up the chapters, since she worry that we cannot follow other teachersâ steps. We all appreciated her devotion of time to us and I was touched beyond words. In order to return her dedication, I make a promise to myself; I must need to spend more time on this subject, and get good grades on economics in the future. Hence, I pay extra effort on economic classes in the College. Thanks to the professors, I achieved some success on this subject. This sense of accomplishment makes me surer that I should make economics as my major.

The Cathy Pacific I Can Fly Program provides me a chance to know more about the world we are living with. This program consists of ground school training, aviation facilities visits and 1 self-designed social service activities.

In ground school training, Pilots teaches us the structure of planes, how it rise (something about physical science), and the aviation language. We are given an opportunity to practice the knowledge we learn, and divided into groups, pretending pilots and officers in the control centre. I was leaded by another group mates, and our team finally win the game. This activity makes me learn how to obey rules and orders from leaders, and cooperate with others. I think that this also enhanced my leadership, since we can learn the advantage from our leader. The skills I learned favored me on doing group work in school and in the program later on, making our team work more effective.

Among those aviation facilities visits, the visit that I remember the most is the visit of the Government Flying Service (GFS). This is a department responsible for search and rescue, air ambulance, firefighting, and law enforcement agenciesâ operations, and they are 24 hours stand by, in order to provide the fastest help to the citizens. When we walk inside, we can see all the black helicopters lining up in the entrance of GFS. Some of the pilots in are hurry running to the material room, and run to the helicopter stand by outside. They are so professional and fight for every second they can get. We all keep our sight on the running pilots, and our guide hurried us to move forward. An officer is waiting for us in the material room, ready to teach us the first aid. We are taught for how to save ourselves and others when the helicopter drops into the sea. After that, we all need to be tested and count on time, and make us to know how important time is when we are doing the operation. Pilots and doctors risk theirsâ neck to save the patient, which we should respect on and learn from them, and contribute to our society.

Our self-designed social service activity is going to the rest home to take care the elder. We need to find our own sponsor, design our own activity, and plan our transport by ourselves. This enhanced our organizational skills and how we handle problems. Although the budget was a problem, we solved it by cut down the price of the prize, and we asked for a lower price for the transportation. Since the boss of the transportation organization knows that we are non-profit, he willing to provide us service in a lower price. During the activity, we are divided into group s of three, one is responsible for the performance (some magic, and sing karaoke with them), one take care audiences under the stage (help the elders cut their hair after the performance) and my group is responsible for the preparing food and services. Luckily, we prepare emergency plans and extra foods; therefore, our activity is very success.

I dream to study in (school name) when I was young; the beautiful campus of (school name) activities (school name) provide to student makes me looking forward to enroll in (school name). This make them not only good at academic, but also good in personality. I hope that I can get into (school name) economics major, to deepen my knowledge on economics, so that I can know more about the society problems, and help making our community better. I hope to have the ability to contribute to my society, and I believe that (school name) is the only place that can train me to be that kind of person.

Prompt #2 (all applicants)

Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?

Taking economics classes not only developed my interest on economics, but make me understand that it is a matter about human behavior, about us, and about our world.

Most of us tried to earn money by the fastest way â the stock market, and my dad is not an exceptional ones. Since I was young, I am imperceptibly influenced by what my dad constantly sees and hears. My dad always tells me about stock market, from time to time, helps me to create a database about economy in my head. In these years, my dad did not stop for buying stocks. He does this for me, to support my life and hope to maintain a better living standard for the family.

During the recent international economic disruption, my dad makes a great loss. This discouraged him from buying stocks, but he still remembers to remind me to look up for news of the Lehman Brothers and the stock market, as I am majoring in economics, it is good for me to know more about the global economy. My dad forgets about sadness and fail stock market brought to him, and think everything that good to me, makes me learn to be considerate and be strong. No matter what challenges block our way, we still need to face it and work. Therefore, we better face it happily rather than facing it sadly.

After the death of my grandpa, which he dies for sudden heart attack, makes us understand that life is short, and we need to treasure and considerate each of the people around us. My relationship with my family becomes better than before. My dad and mum phone me regularly; they are always worrying about me, afraid that I got ill. In the past, I may feel that they are annoying; but as I grow up, I know that it is their way of caring me. Their care is no longer annoyed me; but warm my heart. I should treasure this kind of care from them since many of the children have parent divorce or abandon by their parents, and I am the lucky one.

I am proud of having my dad. I hope that one day, I could be a daughter that he can proud of.

Re: I need help as soon as possible!!!

Spring Season — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:40:01 GMT

Dear Grammar Geek,

I appreciate your effort with me.

I just want to do a strong introduction.

In addition, if I still can't do a strong introduction, how will I do a body paragraph?.

I can't build the tower from up to down.

I'm really appreciated your effort again and thank you so much.

Sincerely,
Spring Season

Can American fall asleep at university graduation ceremonies?

copysnake — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 13:26:59 GMT

Over the past century, all kinds of unfairness and discrimination have been condemned or made illegal. But one insidious form continues to thrive: alphabetism. This, for those as yet unaware of such a disadvantage, refers to discrimination against those whose surnames begin with a letter in the lower half of the alphabet.

ããIt has long been known that a taxi firm called AA cars has a big advantage over Zodiac cars when customers thumb through their phone directories. Less well known is the advantage that Adam Abbott has in life over ZoÃ« Zysman. English names are fairly evenly spread between the halves of the alphabet. Yet a suspiciously large number of top people have surnames beginning with letters between A and K.

ããThus the American president and vice-president have surnames starting with B and C respectively; and 26 of George Bush's predecessors (including his father) had surnames in the first half of the alphabet against just 16 in the second half. Even more striking, six of the seven heads of government of the G7 rich countries are alphabetically advantaged (Berlusconi, Blair, Bush, Chirac, ChrÃ©tien and Koizumi). The world's three top central bankers (Greenspan,Duisenberg and Hayami) are all close to the top of the alphabet, even if one of them really uses Japanese characters. As are the world's five richest men (Gates, Buffett, Allen, Ellison and Albrecht).
ããCan this merely be coincidence? One theory, dreamt up in all the spare time enjoyed by the alphabetically disadvantaged, is that the rot sets in early. At the start of the first year in infant school, teachers seat pupils alphabetically from the front, to make it easier to remember their names. So short-sighted Zysman junior gets stuck in the back row, and is rarely asked the improving questions posed by those insensitive teachers. At the time the alphabetically disadvantaged may think they have had a lucky escape. Yet the result may be worse qualifications, because they get less individual attention, as well as less confidence in speaking publicly.

The humiliation continues. At university graduation ceremonies, the ABCs proudly get their awards first; by the time they reach the Zysmans most people are literally having a ZZZ. Shortlists for job interviews, election ballot papers, lists of conference speakers and attendees: all tend to be drawn up alphabetically, and their recipients lose interest as they plough through them.

49. What does the author mean by "most people are literally having a ZZZ" (line 2, paragraph 5)?
ãã They are getting impatient.
ãã They are noisily dozing off.
ãã They are feeling humiliated.
ãã They are busy with word puzzles.

which one is the best answer?Â The answer reference is B

what do you think ? Can American fall asleep at university graduation ceremonies? what "literally" means here? why not A ?

Â "as" is a conjunction or a adv. in theÂ sentence âAs are the world's five richest menâ

Thank you very much for reply!

Re: essay: attending college or university

ferpectedit — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:03:57 GMT

I work for an online editing and proofreading service. Please see my profile for more information. I won't do the whole essay here, but I will show you how I would revise your first paragraph.

Study is the most important activity in which we can engage. We learn throughout our whole lives. Everyone wants to have more knowledge. University is where one goes to gain the highest level of education. In university, students can prepare for a career, increase knowledge, and be exposed to new experiences.

I tried to clarify, sometimes guessing at your meaning. I removed awkward, ungrammatical or overly informal phrases like "thing in our life" and "want to study more than what they get in the present." Also avoid vague references to "people" when you can. "Students" is a good substitute here. In the rest of the essay (and maybe starting in the first paragraph) you should try to be more specific, as the question instructs, about why someone you know or someone you have studied or admired went to university.

help me this paragraph please!

babyblue_girl08 — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 07:43:40 GMT

help me to check my grammar and verb tense please.

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I also had experienced like her too. When my first day in United States my family and I lived at San Diego for two months. While we live on that place my grand uncle who lives in Stockton called us and invited us to move in his place. It took two or three weeks my mom decided to move in Stockton. When my mom plans to go, she told to my grand auntie that we all going to move nest week. My grand auntie heard that she mad at us and she didnât talk to us for three days. Finally the day is came and we all packed all our stuff to ready for our new life in the new place. On that day we woke up so early and Iâm glad that my grand auntie took us to the bus terminal. She was nice and care for us. I know she mad at us because she donât want us to leave her alone. She bought some snacks for us to eat when we on the bus. In the bus had lots people and most of them is the elders. I felt tired when traveling because it took eight hours sitting on the bus; it made me bored and tired. When we arrived in Stockton my family and I live at my grand uncle the one who called my mom to move here. We at his house for two months and we moved again. I really hate moving because it tired to move to one place and to another place that terrible. But now Iâm glad that my mom doesnât have attention to move again. When I hear the world âMoveâ I felt tired and hate it. When moving you needs to buy new things for your new house and need to decorate and clean them. You also need to make new friends and neighborhood too. I think that situation is hard for young people like me because we need to deal with our new life and the things around us. If mom asks me to move to another place I would say no to her. I love the place I lived right now and I know someday I will move again.

Simple Present Tense and Past Tense

guzhao67 — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:46:18 GMT

hi: I have a question about English tense. could you explain the use of tense in the following paragraph? (bold italic added)
"In the 16th c. there are some traces of a perception that the word might have an extended application to other languages. But it was not before the 17 th c. that it became so completely a generic term that there was any need to speak explicitly of 'Latin grammar'."
My question is: why does the first sentence use "are" while the others use Simple Past Tense when they both refer to past event? thank you!

Re: grammar check!

AlpheccaStars — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:03:57 GMT

Ellisa:

This is a very long passage, and your other post seems to be even longer.

The editor at this web site makes it difficult to make corrections to long passages. Also, many teachers do not want to devote a long time working on a single post. If you post only one paragraph at a time, then different teachers can work on them and you will get your corrections faster.

Ellisa

Hello teachers!
I'm summarising a book which is about teaching methods.
I guess there are millions of errors.
Please ~~check those to right one~~ suggest corrections to my sentences.!
Thanks in advance!

13. Teaching grammar

There are two main ways to teach~~ing~~ grammar.(or you can say "ways of teaching grammar". The word "teaching" is a gerund, and must be used as a noun. In this example, it is object of the preposition "of")
One way is ~~both~~ planning grammar teaching in advance and relying on the coursebooks which can help us teach grammar. The other way is teaching grammar as a result of other work. In other words, it is ~~has~~ done as a peripheral activity. In this chapter, we will look at the various different ways to teach grammar. We will look at the range of activities which satisfy not merely efficiency but also ~~appropriacy~~ (not a word; you can use the adjective forms - a range of activities which are efficient as well as appropriate). . Lastly, we will discuss grammar books and their usages.

(You need to be consistent in using imperative versus declarative sentences)

A. Introducing grammar

The following ~~1 to 4~~ examples (, numbered 1 to 4,) are activities which represent a range of possibilities for introducing new grammar.

Ex1) It's making sentences using the present simple in the third singular. First, the teacher holds up a number of flashcards which are about a specific job. Then (? subject - the students )make sentences in ~~contained~~ present simple tense for ~~the~~ each pictures. It consists (or The exercise consists of) of three affirmative and three negative sentences. Then (? subject - the teacher )makes the students guess what kind of job it is. Once students are confident in ~~with~~ these sentences, the teacher asks them to think of one profession and make 6 sentences. Now, they can do activities guessing what profession is being described.

Ex2) It's using texts which contained (present tense) what the students are being taught (past simple irregular verbs). While the students read the text, they come across blanks that they must fill in with the past tense form of certain verbs. Then, (? subject - the teacher )makes them write these past tense verb forms down in the blanks and also write them phonetically using ~~which are shown~~ ~~their~~ phonemic symbols.

Ex3) This is aimed to show the differences between ~~reporting~~ direct speech and reporting things that were said in the past. The teacher draws ~~Draw~~ two people on the board. One, whose name is Jack, is holding a phone and smiling ~~whose name is Jack~~. The other is just standing. The teacher gives the ~~Give~~ students the information that Jack is talking to a girl who he met in the school canteen. Then, the teacher asks the students what Jack tells his friend while taking on the phone. The answers might be in the present form such as ' She says I'm really nice'. In this process, the teacher makes sure that the students understand how 'you' changes to 'I'. The teacher now tells the students that Jack is back home and he was spurned by the girl. He is telling to his mother that 'She said I was really nice' which is past form. The teacher can write both past and present forms on the board to help students.

Ex4) Here, the language which the students are ~~were~~ going to study is ~~was~~ embedded in the texts which they read. The teacher makes the students read the story first. After confirming that they ~~are~~ fully understanood the story by asking comprehension questions, the teacher asks them to make bad or insensible statements using the story. Then, the ~~get~~ students to come up to the board and write the sentences. ~~so that T~~he sentences have to use the modal auxillary "should," such as ~~ncluding~~ 'Should have p.p.' or' Shouldn't have p.p'.(especially here.)

Grammar correction .....

latam — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:09:09 GMT

Hello Teachers,
I did write this paragraph. Can anybody please correct my grammar and suggest me where should I improve.

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"All over the world, many people congratulating president-elect Barack Obama. Also they are hoping that he would be inclined towards their country. In Africa itself, people think that he would help their country because he is an African American. But in many other countries have been expecting more from him. However, in reality he is American president-elect not for the world. People should realize that he canât be voted for all over the world."

Thanks

Lata

Re: grammar and verb tense check please!

babyblue_girl08 — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:53:07 GMT

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thank you so much for always cheking my writing. Here i edited my paragraph.

All they eyes were looked on her and asked âNina, what did you do?â she said she didnât do anything. Suddenly her auntie Ashie yelled at her and asked her to apologize to her mom.

Her auntie pushed her toward her mom to say sorry. But her mom did not mad at her at all. She also adds everything seemed fine after she said sorry to her mom but her auntie start to scolded and yelled at her in their native language. Nina said, she was scared at her auntie shark voice. When Nina apologized to her mom and she gave her a hugged. Then she ran to her room, over there she cried some more and talk to her doll. After a few minutes Cynthia oldest sister came to her room and invite her to color with them. But she rejected it and asked them to leave her alone. After the Christmas day Cynthia and Nikki admitted that they breaking the vases but they didnât get the punish. She concludes that, she never forgot that Christmas Eve when her cousin and sister broke her mom antique vases.