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

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: Do away with (continuation)

Clive — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:30:55 GMT

Hi,

One further question regarding this idiom: is it possible to use it in other tenses, Yes. eg it was done away with

such as:

e.g.: Law 3 on sex descrimination is being done away with by next month;
Law 3 on sex descrimination is going to be done away with by end year;
Law 3 on sex descrimination will be done away with.

Here are a few edits.

e.g.: Law 3 on sex discrimination is being done away with, next month;
Law 3 on sex discrimination is going to be done away with by the end of the year;
Law 3 on sex discrimination will be done away with.

Clive

Re: Do away with (continuation)

Ruca — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:08:04 GMT

Hello,

One further question regarding this idiom: is it possible to use it in other tenses, such as:

e.g.: Law 3 on sex descrimination is being done away with by next month;
Law 3 on sex descrimination is going to be done away with by end year;
Law 3 on sex descrimination will be done away with.

Thanks a lot.

Rui.

Re: If you haven't .... I woud

CalifJim — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:24:01 GMT

Doesn't it bother you that a present perfect tense in an if clause is used with would?

Isn't the past usually used with would in that case?

It is unusual. The reason it's OK is that would like to (or would love to) is an idiom equivalent to want to (a present tense).

So it's like

I hope you've seen it, but if you haven't, I'd love to run it for you now. ~

I hope you've seen it, but if you haven't, I want to run it for you now.

Re: functionality of would and could in the present and past

CalifJim — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:37:49 GMT

Are they wrong since the modal usages lack the fundamental conditional uses of the modals 'would' and 'could'? Not sure what you're asking. The correct sequence of tenses applies to conditionals as well as to non-conditionals.

1. We are all watching in a sort of stunned silence waiting to see if we would be asked for money or if we are simply his audience.
No conditional element present, thus 'will' is correct? Right? will is correct, but not for the reason that no conditional element is present. will is correct because will goes with are.

2. While I am reading it, I could not help being concerned about young people in this country.
Same here too. No conditional element present, so 'can' is correct? Right or wrong? Same here. can is correct because it goes with the present tense I am.

So, except those modal uses like politeness for 'would', most modal uses of 'would' and 'could' involve conditional nature. Right or wrong? It depends on the text you're reading. You may find a text that uses would or could in non-conditional contexts quite often.

Could you please answer these? -- case of a modal use for politeness. True.

Generally, will and can go with the present tense; would and could go with the past tense. It doesn't matter whether they are used in a conditional pattern or not.

Henry wants to know where he can find a good restaurant. / Henry wanted to know where he could find a good restaurant.

Kate needs a dress that will make her look slim. / Kate wanted a dress that would make her look slim.

If they sign the contract, they can take possession of the car immediately. / If they signed the contract, they could take possession of the car immediately.

If he hurries, he will arrive on time. / If he hurried, he would arrive on time.

_________________

Occasionally would and could go with the present tense, but these should be regarded as special cases. For example, take the idiom would like to:

I would like to buy the coat which is on sale.

The would and could of politeness are also usually combined with the present tense.

Could you please help me move these books which are lying on the floor?

Re: Follow-up to "Nagging conditional problem"

CalifJim — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 01:35:00 GMT

Anonymous
Are these by Marius correct? I feel they should be since he is a guru but I don't understand how they could be so.

If you happen to have money (with/on you), could/would you lend me some? [this is more about present -- if the if-clause is in present tense, can we use the modals 'could' and 'would'? Does the phrase 'happen to have' make any difference here?

Should you have money (with/on you), could/would you lend me some? ["chancy" should -- To me, 'should' here is functionally equal to "if", so the sentence could be read:

If you have money (with/on you), could/would you lend me some?

They certainly seem correct to me. Perhaps it's the idiom happen to that's bothering you.

If you happen to have money = If, by chance, it turns out that you have money

Re: You're in luck//lucky.

Avangi — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:22:31 GMT

"You're lucky the cops didn't pick you up for drunk driving." It just occured to me that this might be considered an idiom. Perhaps someone can verify. It's really a special case. The "lucky" part is present tense, but the momentary luck applies to a (recent) past incident. In GG's "You're in luck" examples, the momentary incident is very much present tense.

It may also be expressed as "You were lucky," especially if the incident was in the more remote past. "You were lucky your father had a job during the great depression." OR You could be lucky now about a past event. "You're lucky your parents could afford to send you to college."

At any rate, these all apply to specific incidents, rather than a general trend.

- A.

Re: can you say

Avangi — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:32:07 GMT

You're too fast for me. You beat my edit again. I was going to add, "in front of you" may be ambiguous. I was thinking of it as which window? The window in front of you.

But in the original sentence, "I opened the window in front of you, haven't you seen?" - "in front of you" could be the fixed idiom (I think) meaning "I did it while you were addressing me." In other words, I had your attention. (I guess I'm using "addressing" as when a golfer says, "I'm addressing the ball.") If this is the meaning of "in front of you," then your call for past tense may be correct.

Re: Native-speaker/native language

Tanit — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:03:57 GMT

Forbes

I remember listening to a radio programme about the varieties of forms of speech in Italy ... They simply change language like they change clothes without worrying about the status of their "home" speech.

There's some truth in that article. My parents, for instance, used to speak in Sardinian (not a dialect, but recognised as an endangered language by the UNESCO) when talking to each other or to their relatives, but they would only speak Italian with my brother and me. I grew up monolingual, and although I can understand Sardinian, I am unable to articulate a sentence that contains more than a few words!

Many people who speak both Italian and their dialect, although able to switch from the first to the second depending on the context, speak a form of Italian that I would classify as regional and sub-standard. I noticed that people from Southern Italy (I have little experience of Northern Italy) who speak also a dialect usually don't speak standard Italian, but a form of language deeply affected by their dialect. Accent is not an issue. I find some grammatical structures odd, as well as the choice of some verb modes, tenses and aspects (ex. past simple versus present perfect, indicative versus subjunctive), and have problems with some vocabulary (let alone idioms, of course). I am usually able to understand the general meaning, though.

Re: 3 idioms, and my sentences with them, could you take a look?

Vorpar — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 07:38:30 GMT

1. to steal the show

a) Jack Nicholson stole the show in Batman. (question: is it possible to use this idiom as far as idioms are concerned? question2: would it be better to use here the pres. perfect?)

I think this is fine, though when talking about movies (especially describing action), we usually use the present tense.
b) Slash is the one who always steals the show at Guns & Roses gigs (question: is "at" ok here?)

"at" is fine.
c) She's stolen the show (doubt: I can't come up with a situation in which we would use this idiom in the present perfect)
It could be used during the show, just after a breakthrough scene.

2. to pull sb's leg

a) Oh come off it! Stop pulling my leg and tell me the truth!

This looks fine.
b) She has pulled my leg again!
c) Hey guys, listen, why don't we pull Jim's leg (and play a joke on him) ? It's gonna be fun!

I don't think this idiom is commonly used without the gerund (in a).

3. to foam at the mouth

a) He has been foaming at the mouth for the whole evening (doubt: I'm not sure if the use of the present perfect cont. is appropriate here)
b) He foamed at the mouth when his wife told him that she had been cheating on him. (VS He was foaming at the mouth, or VS has foamed at the mouth)
c) What did your dad say to this? He was foaming at the mouth when I told him (VS He foamed at the mouth)

All of these look fine.

MAIN QUESTION: Are the above-written sentences perfectly OK, and how often do you use the above-mentioned idioms?

Stolen the show is commonly used, but I don't hear the others much at all.