Search results for 'tag:Present tenses tag:Pronunciation' matching tags 'Present tenses' and 'Pronunciation'

Looking for some tips and/or curriculum suggestions

mikesusangray — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:50:11 GMT

Hi all!

I've been giving English conversation lessons to a theology professor for about a year now. He's getting on in the years - a couple years from retirement - and his primary goal has been just to get his spoken English going a little stronger. His mother tongue is French but he's been teaching at a German language university for many years.

I'd like to add some more specific inputs to our lessons but I can't seem to find the right material. His passive skills are excellent - he reads widely and with perfect comprehension in his field - and he can communicate quite understandably. He is a linguistics specialist and can grasp any concept about the language immediately. I brought along Cambridge Advanced Grammar in Use and he could plow through a chapter in five minutes with perfect conceptual comprehension.

However, he also continues to make very simple errors - for example, he has trouble choosing between present simple and continuous or often uses the present tense for past events. Sentence order tends to get wander hither and yon while definite and indefinite articles come and go with the tide. (Prepositions are a problem too, but I won't beat him to hard there - prepositions are difficult in any new language.) In many cases his mistakes are typical of French or German speech patterns.

One other limitation is that he enjoys the weekly lessons (a good hour), but doesn't have much time to study in between.

Right now we spend about 15 minutes reading a chapter from Advanced Grammar in Use and about 45 minutes talking about just about anything under the sun, while I take notes and show him problems under the categories Pronunciation/Articles & Prespositions/Word Order/Other Grammar/Vocabulary/Idioms. However, I don't think the work book is a good choice - particularly since he doesn't do the homework - and it seems like he isn't making very good progress with his typical problem patterns - though he greets them like old friends when I point them out.

Any tips here?

Re: How to Speak English Fluently

CalifJim — Sat, 12 May 2007 01:34:57 GMT

Learn commonly used phrases thoroughly -- phrases of three to six words.
Practice the pronunciation over and over until the whole phrase becomes automatic. Without constant repetition you can't ever become fluent.
If the phrase is long or difficult, learn the end of the phrase first. Gradually add words that precede.
When you have mastered shorter phrases, pratice combining shorter phrases into sentences.
Always think of what the phrase means while you are practicing saying it; this is very important..

Group phrases by grammatical type. Combine into patterns that have the same structures.

Type A1: (Full) Infinitive governors:
I want, you want, we want, they want
I wanted, you wanted, we wanted, they wanted, he wanted, she needed
I need, you need, we need, they need
I needed, you needed, we needed, they needed, he/she needed
I remembered, ... I forgot, ... I tried, ... I plan ..., I planned ..., I have, ... I had, ..., I know how ...

Type A2: (Full) Infinitive governors with 'S-marker':
he wants, she wants, Who wants ...?
he needs, she needs, Who needs ...?
...
etc.

Type B: Infinitive expressions:
to do it, to say it, to tell you, to tell me, to go, to leave, to start, to read the book, to write the letter, to see the movie, to buy the coat, to sleep, to rest, to work, to open the door, to close the window, to wash the dishes, to eat, to drink, to finish the book, to solve the problem, to study the question, to ask a question, to answer the question, ...   [thousands of possibilities]

Combine any Type A expression with any Type B expression that makes a meaningful sentence. Make as many as you can and practice saying each several times, always thinking about what it means.

Type C: Introductory phrases that you can place in front of any sentence.
I think ..., Do you think ...?, We think ..., They think ...,
I think that ..., Do you think that ...?, We think that ..., They think that ...,
I don't think (that) ..., Don't you think (that) ...?, ...
[Same patterns for I know (that) ... I'm sure that ... I don't know if ... I'm not sure whether ... etc. etc.]

Place a Type C expression in front of the Type A + Type B combinations that you built earlier, keeping the present tenses with the present tenses and the past with the past, of course, as required by the grammar of English. (You can even have two Type C's.) Now you have thousands of sentences to practice.   You can add little words like and and but and or to make things more interesting.

I don't think he tried to do it. I'm sure that she wants to buy the coat. Did you know that she forgot to wash the dishes? They needed to open the window, but they didn't know how to do it. Do you think that she tried to write the letter?   He said that he didn't need to buy the car. I'm not sure whether he said that she wanted to write the letter. ... [Sentences by the thousands!]

Your textbooks should have all kinds of patterns like these to help you put together your own combinations with a varied vocabulary.

Good luck!

CJ

Re: read

Yoong Liat — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 16:51:25 GMT

Grammar Geek wrote:

I don't understand what you are saying about spread. In present tense (and continuous) it's reed. I am reeding, Jim reeds well for a first-grader. Not redding or reds.

past past participle

red (read) red (read)

spred (spread) spred (spread)

New2grammar asked whether he should say, "I have red (read)" or "I have reed (read)." He was confused by the past participle. That's why I told him that the past participle of 'spread' is pronounced as 'spred'.

Finally I told him, "If you remember the pronunciation of 'spread' (spred) you should have no problem with 'read' (red).

Re: help with æ

Marvin A. — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 17:25:26 GMT

Yep. I'm serious. Here's how I say these words as compared to General American. "N" represents "ng"; upper-case vowels represent lax vowels, and upper case vowels represent tense vowels. I listed the word, first, the General American pronunciation second, and my pronunciation third.
<ul class="anf_list">
<li>Word GA Me
</li><li>bang bæN beN
</li><li>bag bæg beg
</li><li>beg bEg beg
</li><li>vague veIg veg
</li><li>bay beI be
</li></ul>

Re: The sound of "S" at the beginning and in the middle of words

CalifJim — Fri, 19 May 2006 02:56:51 GMT

There are three possible pronunciations of the plural ending. (The third person present tense verb forms and the possessive forms follow the same pattern.)

[Note for the purposes of the discussion that follows that the six sibilants are /s/, /z/, /S/, /Z/, /tS/ ("ch"), and /dZ/ ("j"). An "x" is pronounced /ks/, so it, too, ends in a sibilant sound.]

1. /iz/ after a sibilant. This ending creates an extra syllable. The endings for Groups 2 and 3 (below) do not create an extra syllable.
    a) where the sibilant is /s/: misses, places, buses, bonuses, boxes
    b) where it is /z/: phases, roses, fuses, fizzes, lenses
    c) where it is /S/: wishes, dashes, marshes
    d) where it is /Z/: beiges (rare)
    e) where it is /tS/: latches, itches, arches, benches
    f) where it is /dZ/: ledges, ages, barges, ranges

2. /s/ after an unvoiced consonant other than a sibilant.
     (Only five possibilities exist in this category. /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, and /th/)
    a) caps, capes, hops, hopes
    b) kits, kites, nights, waits, tastes, facts
    c) bakes, looks, aches, oaks
    d) staffs, safes, laughs (few)
    e) Beth's (rare)

Final /f/ is often changed to /v/ before adding the plural ending; final /th/ is often changed to /TH/ in the plural form. ("f" changes to "v"; "th" remains "th" -- only the pronunciation changes.) Examples: self, selves; moth, moths.

3. /z/ after any other sound not classifiable within the previous two headings.
cabs, Abe's, raids, lads, dogs, wives, waves, moths, truths, games, Ken's, cars, falls, bays, trees, tries

Note: Within the first category you may want to think of the "e" in the "es" ending as a pronounced "e": It is pronounced /i/. Within the second and third categories, you many want to think of the "e" in an "es" ending as a silent "e".

CJ

Re: the "s" sound in "pals" and in other plural forms of other nouns

CalifJim — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 17:12:39 GMT

You're in the right place!
It's not a regional thing. The pronunciation of the pluralizing "s" is standard throughout the English-speaking world. The sound of the "s", as you point out, can be a true "s" sound or a "z" sound. And the only thing you need to know is which sound comes immediately before that final "s".

If the sound of "p", "t", "k", "f", or "th" (as in "thin") is the last sound before the written "s", then pronounce it as a true "s". Otherwise (and this is most of the time), pronounce the "s" as a "z".

In your list, for example, the words which have p, t, k, f, or th sounds just before the final "s" are hawks and rats, so pronounce final "s" in those words as a true "s" sound. In all the others, the final "s" is pronounced "z".

Remember: What's important is the sound that comes before the final "s", not the spelling. For example, in laugh, the final sound is the "f" sound, even though it is spelled "gh". So pronounce the final "s" of laughs as a true "s".

Note: The "s" that forms the third person singular of a present tense verb follows the same rule.
Note: The "s" that forms the possessive follows the same rule.
Note: In words like witches, the "es" is pronounced "iz", so the "i" sound is the last sound before the final "s". The use of the "z" sound for the final "s" is therefore correct according to the rule stated above.

Note: A final "s" which does not form a plural, present tense verb form, or possessive does not necessarily follow this rule: analysis, for example, is a singular form. Both "s"s are true "s" sounds.

CJ

Re: Su Cheng Zhong's Post: the Vocabulary Problem in Modern English

Su Cheng Zhong — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 00:21:08 GMT

If you don't like to use another explanation, then I try to explain it and you may correct it for me. The sentence of:
"I like him more than she gives the impression of I like him more than she likes him."
means: She expressed an idea that I like him more than she likes him. But in fact I like him more than this.
You said: "Why do people use irregular verbs? Depends on the origin of the verb, I guess. English did borrow from many languages."
But I have a different idea. The past tense of old English 'wear' was 'wered' not wore. This word is harder to pronounce than current 'wore'. You may repeat them several times to find it. So the economy of pronunciation is the first priority. Like wise, plenty of the irregular verbs have such property. Just think about 'taked' and 'took', 'seed' and 'saw' 'haved' and 'had', 'runed' and 'ran' etc. that means to say the English victim memory to remember a new word in order to reduce the times of oral action. Why this happened? Because English has not got enough phonetic patterns. Once the number of phonetic pattern increased, all the grammatical system would be changed. Some German linguists had found some thing about this.
Yes, it should be a hassle. But the full question is that the ancient people caring about the past and now, so they invent the past and present tense. Current people caring about every minutes, if keeping on the track, then we have to invent a suffix for every second for every verb. Yet when we separate them or free the suffix from the verb, then every thing would be simple. I think you agree with me at this point, but why not we free those suffix from the current verb?

May be this time I got what you want to say.
I like him more than she.
Means 'I like him more than she does.'
I like him more than her.
Means 'I like him better than her.'
If I am right, than the 'does' will divided the two meanings not 'she' or 'her'.

You said
"-Linguistic engineering is like genetic engineering -- it's something I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole! Maybe it's better to have consistent tense markers, but any artificial manipulation of the language is bound to have unintended consequences."
Any development in language would be step by step. Even the ancient monarchy couldn't change it overnight. The question is currently most of the linguists intend to explain the some ancient legacy or habit as linguistic science. It is a big mistake.

Re: Little understanding of reported speech.

munchun2004 — Fri, 21 Jan 2005 23:18:14 GMT

Thank you JTT, for your replya and your special advice on the English system we have. I am not a native speaker so I have been trying quite hard just to learn how English speaker think when they try to communicate with a Laguage full with rules. Sometimes I just don't get it that in such a short time they could produces so many different pronunciation and rules that occur in on long sentence. I just dont how I should follow them but to try to learn English from the mistake by talking as much as I can with the native speaker.

I think one of the reason I can speak English as fluent as the native speaker is because I have to think twice for the rules of grammar before I can speak out an English statement in a conversation.

I started reading the threads you wrote in the forum after getting the "different" answers you provided. I think you got a point that there are many special cases in English where a person can only learn the essense of English in daily conversation, not from book.

I don't know if you would do this, but could you list out the rules that you would use when you speak with other people about things you saw or heard in the past. Following is my own rules that I got from all the questions I have asked. I hope you could correct them for me.

Rule 1: Use the present tense if what you heard is still related to current situation or yet to come.
Ex: I heard from Jams last week that you are going to join the street race tomorrow.
Ex: I promised him I would finish the job before I go home. (Because of different task in time)
Ex: At first we were hesitate to ask you but finally we decided to tell you that we are against the act too.

Rule 2: Speakers have the choice to choose which tense they want to use (present tense or past tense) if what they heard still relate to current situation.
Ex: I saw from the TV commercial yesterday where it said your company is offering a special deal for all the retailers regardless of how small the retailers are.

Rule 3: If what you learned or found in the past still holds true for you, especially the thing you learned is being put in a clause, you can use the present tense to describe your dicovery.
Ex: Today at school, teacher taught us how to give a proper shut down to our computers if the computers hang suddenly.
Ex: Once I was in Hong Kong with this new friend of mine. While we were in the bar, he told me that if you meet the girl you like, you better introduce yourself to her. He said that if you ask, you have fifty-fifty chance, but if you don't, you don't have a chance.
Ex: My grandpa used to tell me that a good name is what a man can leave behind for over a hundred year. (!!!Do I have to strictly put the sentence in past tense if I am doubtful what my grandpa told me was true? That's why I always wander on which tense I should use in this dilemma of mine.)

Rule 4: There are special cases where you have to ignore the grammar rules from time to time.
Ex:
Marcus: Did you know that people here are suffering from a special disease called the skin painter?
Darrel: I did know that people here are(were also can be used) suffering from the disease. That is why I am here.
Ex: I was wondering if you want to go to theather with me tonight.
Ex: I was just thinking why this lamp post is being put here instead of the darker spot over there. (I am not sure if 'is' could be used instead of 'was'. Could you correct this for me?)

Rules 5: You can use present tense or past tense when you describe scene or story of a movie. This rules also stands for book and websites content.
Ex: I saw the movie last night. It was a movie about how a orphan becomes a greatman through years of struggle.
Ex: I still remember I screamed out as loud as I could when I saw the ghost suddenly turn it head towards the serial killer after the killer has just murdered a new victim. It was horrible.
Ex: I visited a website last week where it says there are currently 5 million people out of job. I think I might be as well as one of them. (!!!I am not sure if I can use present tense here because web contents tend to be changed from time to time. Should I use present tense?)

I think above are the 5 rules of mine that I would use from now on when I talk to other people. If anyone has anything to add to my rules, please write them down in this forum. I am just wondering if JTT has his own rules towards that English grammar. I really hope I could see a totally different view point from JTT.

Re: Hardest Language To Teach?

Guest — Sat, 15 Jan 2005 13:51:39 GMT

[Hello, All]

Being a Korean-Chinese (More Korean Blood),

I find Chinese rather easy in a way, yet very difficult in the other. It's easy to learn for its simple structure. Chinese does not have a past tense - present tense - future tense law.
For example: In English, we say "I [ran] yesterday."
In Chinese, it basically goes "I run yesterday."

However, It is very difficult to learn for its 4 major accents (Goes Upwards towards the end of pronunciation for the letter, Starts from High and stays in High, Starts from Low and remains in Low, and Starts from High and ends Low). Another major difficulty is its letters. There are approximately 40,000 "commonly" used characters, and many other minor characters that many people do NOT know about. The easy thing with letters is that one can create many sentences using the same letters.

For Example:

?=Me
?=To Be
?=No/Not
?=Han Dynasty
?=Country
?=Big/Grand/Giant
?=Citizen (cant think of a word for it, so using "Citizen" which is the closest)
?=middle, central, inner
?=same as above
?=Money/Silver
?=To move/Go around/Travel/Etc
?=person

Using these, we can create lots of sentences

????????????
?????=I am Korean.
??????=I am not Korean.
????=I am the bank.
?????=I am not the bank.
???????=I am Korean (longer term)
and So on...

Currently, I Find Finnish Most Bizarre Language To Learn.
Having so many noun-conjugations, I find it very difficult to learn. In addition to this, there is nothing similar to other languages.

Korean has one of the most simple characters, yet it is VERY difficult to learn for its verbs, nouns, words, pronunciation, and grammar. Grammar is very simple yet very confusing.

I personally think there is no such thing as "hardest language" to learn/teach. Each langauge has its pros and cons. To some people, for example, Spanish might be easy. To others, however, it might be impossible.

Regards.