R2G2

The Null Comparative

2012-01-07T23:14:00.001-08:00

I just learned something new. A comparative that doesn't actually state what it is comparing to is called a 'null comparative'.

They are most often used in advertising:

"XYZ coffee gives you more flavor!" (More flavor than what? Toilet water?)

See the wikipedia entry here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative#Null_comparative

Create Backwards Text

2012-01-07T00:10:00.001-08:00

Here is a little tool I created just for fun. Enter text and it will reverse it. You can then copy and paste the reversed text:

roadtogrammar.com/backwardstext

Use it for whatever you like

RoadToGrammar now has PDF downloads for each quiz

2011-11-10T06:33:00.000-08:00

Here's a newly added feature:

Each quiz now comes with a PDF icon (see picture below). If you click on this icon, you will be able to download a PDF copy of the quiz, including the answer key. It should be useful for students who want to print quizzes out to try later and it should be a useful way for teachers to quickly source handouts on particular grammar topics.

Search Functionality

2011-09-09T19:46:00.000-07:00

A technical update...

I've just added search functionality to RoadToGrammar.com. Just below the main box, you'll find a search box. At the moment, it'll search the quizzes using key words or 'tags'. I'll be updating it to search through the notes and other features soon.

ESL TED Talks

2011-09-07T03:10:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard of the TED talks?

They are something like an 'Open University' concept of 10 - 20 minute videos for you to learn about something from an expert in the field. They are known for their excellent quality.

Some bright spark has set up a site called ESL TED Talks (http://esltedtalks.blogspot.com/). This site features TED videos and an accompanying ESL worksheet.

The site mentions that the videos are for 'intermediate to advanced' learners. Personally, I would say UPPER-intermediate to advanced. But if you have any students at this level, they could really benefit from this site.

The History of English in 10 Minutes

2011-08-05T01:32:00.000-07:00

Here is an interesting link. It's a YouTube video playlist featuring ten one-minute videos by the Open University.

Altogether, they make up the 'ten-minute history or English'.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?p=PLA03075BAD88B909E

Text Analysis Tool for ESL Teachers

2011-07-23T03:18:00.000-07:00

I have just completed a nifty little tool for ESL teachers who enjoy using various texts with their students.

Using the he Text Analysis Tool (http://www.roadtogrammar.com/textanalysis), you can copy and paste in a text from a word document or webpage and the tool will analyse it for you. The tool will give the text a rating using both the CEF standards and the IELTS standards. At the same time, it will generate a vocabulary list of suggested words to review before reading. You can even click to get the definitions for words on the list via ninjawords.com, which will generate all the meanings on a single page.

The tool works by comparing each word in the submitted text to a list of the 10,000 most commonly used words in English. Based on each word’s position on the list, an algorithm is used to rate the difficulty of the text. The rating has been calibrated (roughly) against the CEF and IELTS levels.

English Conventional Usage

2011-07-11T05:43:00.000-07:00

This is a topic I have been interested in for a while.

I've long understood that English works by 'conventional usage'. That is to say that a word means whatever everybody understands it to mean, as opposed to what some controlling body wants it to mean.

Hence, a word can change meaning. Something which goes 'against' English grammar can become acceptable, such as a split infinitive or using 'and' at the beginning of a sentence.

If everybody started using the word 'dinosaur' for breakfast (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wordplay_(The_Twilight_Zone)), then dinosaur would become an acceptable word to use for breakfast.

The Oxford Essential Guide to Writing has this to say (page 243):

Words Are Not Endowed with Fixed and "Proper" Meanings

When people object to how someone else uses a word, they often say, "That isn't its proper meaning." The word disinterested, for example, is frequently employed in the sense of "uninterested," and those who dislike this usage argue that the proper meaning of disinterested is "objective, unbiased. "

In such arguments "proper meaning" generally signifies a meaning sanctioned by past usage or even by the original, etymological sense of the word. But the dogma that words come to us out of the past with proper meanings—fixed and immutable—is a fallacy. The only meanings a word has are those that the speakers of the language choose to give it. If enough speakers of English use disinterested to mean "uninterested," then by definition they have given that meaning to the word.

Those who take a conservative attitude toward language have the right, even the duty, to resist changes which they feel lessen the efficiency of English. They should, however, base their resistance upon demonstrating why the change does make for inefficiency, not upon an authoritarian claim that it violates proper meaning.

As a user of words you should be guided by consensus, that is, the meanings agreed upon by your fellow speakers of English, the meanings recorded in dictionaries. We shall look at what dictionaries do in Chapter 29. For now, simply understand that dictionary definitions are not "proper meanings" but succinct statements of consensual meanings.

In most cases the consensus emerges from an activity in which individual language users participate without knowing that they are, in effect, defining words. The person who says "I was disinterested in the lecture" does not intend to alter the meaning of disinterested. He or she has simply heard the word used this way before.

Uncountable Nouns

2011-05-30T01:22:00.000-07:00

I've got a triple release for you today, original RoadToGrammar materials on uncountable nouns: an e-book, an e-learning module and an Android App, all free:

Part 1: Uncountable Nouns, free e-book:http://www.scribd.com/doc/56627819/Uncountable-Nouns

Part 2: Uncountable Nouns, free e-learning module:http://www.roadtogrammar.com/uncountablenouns/

Part 3: Uncountable Nouns, free Android App:http://bit.ly/jpx3Kj

5 Useful Links for ESL Teachers

2011-05-27T00:04:00.000-07:00

Here are some links that I have compiled recently that may be useful to ESL teachers:

1 A vocabulary profiler:

Dig out unusual words from a text

http://www4.caes.hku.hk/vocabulary/profile.htm

2 Tweet Speak

A site that has audio recordings of tweets so that students can hear 'real language':

http://tweet-speak.posterous.com/

3 This article argues against Chomsky's idea of a 'universal grammar' (which I also disagree with)

http://www.babelsdawn.com/babels_dawn/2011/05/more-evidence-against-grammatical-universals.html

4 A business English lesson on Brazil's economy (with video)

http://eltbakery.edublogs.org/2011/05/01/business-english-lesson-brazils-rising-star/

5 An English lesson based around Justin Bieber (if you happen to have teenage girls in your class!)

http://www.famouspeoplelessons.com/j/justin_bieber.html

Word List - Describing the Stock Market

2011-05-26T23:56:00.001-07:00

Here is a short list of words I compiled from Google searches on describing the stock market.

http://www.roadtogrammar.com/wordlists/list2.html

Word List - Figurative Language

2011-05-23T00:17:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start posting some word lists for ESL learners, beginning with this one:

http://www.roadtogrammar.com/wordlists/list1.html

This is a list of words and phrases connected to figurative language. I've always found that advanced learners have a lot of questions about these words. All definitions are from the open source dictionary (wiktionary.com). Please go ahead and use the list as you wish.

Grammar Nazi

2011-04-03T01:06:00.000-07:00

An interesting new phrase that has appeared in the last couple of years is 'Grammar Nazi'.

A Grammar Nazi is a person who enjoys pointing out mistakes that other people make when writing messages on the Internet. Ironically, most 'grammar nazis' focus on spelling mistakes rather than grammar mistakes. For example, many people mistakenly spell 'grammar' with an 'e' (grammer).

When the phrase Grammar Nazi first appeared, it was always used as an insult - 'Don't be a grammar nazi!' However, more recently, people are proud to be grammar nazis. Just search for the hashtag #grammarnazi on Twitter (or click here) and you'll see what I mean.

Is RoadToGrammar run by a Grammar Nazi?

No, I'm happy to say. I have always maintained that good grammar is a tool for ESL learners. If your grammar isn't perfect, you should just do your best to communicate. I'm also not in favour of teachers who spend too much time teaching grammar. That's one reason why I made this site, so that learners can practise grammar outside the class and focus on conversation practice inside the class.

I do wish Americans had better spelling skills, though!

Mobile Learning on Android

2011-03-03T23:36:00.000-08:00

Mobile devices are an excellent platform for short learning activities. Since RoadToGrammar is a Flash-based website, the Android platform is a natural choice.

So far, RoadToGrammar has two apps available for Android devices:

1 Idioms

https://market.android.com/details?id=app.idioms&feature=search_result

(Or search in the market for 'English Idioms')

2 Question Tags

https://market.android.com/details?id=air.questiontags&feature=search_result

(Or search in the market for 'question tags')

Both apps are free. Please download them and add them to your collection of apps.

RoadToGrammar also recommends this Word Game developed by associated site FlashByNight.com:

https://market.android.com/details?id=app.wordstrips&feature=search_result

(Or search in the market for 'Word Strips')

Linking Directly to a Quiz

2011-02-03T21:18:00.000-08:00

Road To Grammar is a Flash-based website, meaning that to navigate you don't need to go from one webpage to another. You'll notice that the URL at the top of the page is www.roadtogrammar.com, no matter which quiz you are doing. Hopefully, this makes the site faster and easier to use.

Now, what about a situation where you want to ask your students to do Quiz #3, for example. You don't want to have to tell them to go to roadtogrammar.com and then click on quiz number 3. You want to give a direct link.

Simple. Just give them this link: www.roadtogrammar.com?3 to go directly to quiz 3. To go directly to any quiz, just add a question mark and the quiz number after the URL.

A really fast dictionary

2011-01-18T20:54:00.000-08:00

I recently found this excellent site:

http://ninjawords.com/

Ninja Words claims to be 'A really fast dictionary... fast like a ninja.'

However, it's not the speed that is interesting, but the ability to generate word lists very quickly. Let's say that you want to get the definition of 'geography' but without using the search function, you can just type the following in the address bar:

http://ninjawords.com/geography

So far so good? Now to generate a list of definitions, we just need to add commas. Try this link:

http://ninjawords.com/geography,physics,algebra,anthropology,ethnology

So you could use this to generate a word list, copy, paste and print it out or pass the link on to students. Don't forget to use a service like http://bit.ly if you need to shorten it.

A great new quiz

2010-09-28T06:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a quiz that will come in handy for advanced level ESL students or ESL students struggling to read novels because they don't understand the specific action verbs:

www.roadtogrammar.com/specificactionverbs

There are over 200 verbs to practise.

Upcoming stuff on R2G...

2010-09-05T02:32:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to say what's coming up on Road to Grammar.

1 An interactive exercise on specific action verbs (like 'shrug', 'stagger' or 'twitch')

2 A selection of Android Apps featuring some of the games and activities on Road to Grammar

Idioms Galore

2010-07-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

A new activity is available on RoadToGrammar.com

This idiom quiz lets you practice 150 commonly used idioms. The questions come up at random and you get a running total of your score.

The URL is: www.roadtogrammar.com/idioms

What is an idiom?

An idiom is any phrase where the words themselves do not convey the actual meaning. For example, we can say that a job is a 'piece of cake'. We are not talking about dessert! 'Piece of cake' is an idiom for 'easy', so when we say a job is a piece of cake, we mean that it is an easy job.

Into it, over it, with it, done with it

2010-05-07T00:22:00.000-07:00

It’s not the long words in English that are confusing, it’s the short ones:

Example 1:

Jack: What kind of stuff are you into?

Jill: I’m really into kickboxing.

(If you’re into it, it means you enjoy it as a kind of hobby.)

Example 2:

Jack: Are you still upset about me breaking your mug?

Jill: No, I’m over it.

(If you’re over it, it means you have stopped being upset about it. Sometimes we say, ‘gotten over it’)

Example 3:

Jack: Fred told me he didn’t know what an MP3 was!

Jill: He’s not really with it, is he?

(If you’re not with it, it means you are not very clever or up-to-date. This phrase is most often used in the negative.)

Example 4:

Jack: Can I borrow your iPad?

Jill: Sure. I’m done with it for today.

(If you’re done with it, it means you are finished with it. We sometimes say, ‘through with it’ as an alternative.)

Suppose and Supposed to

2010-03-07T01:50:00.000-08:00

Here's an odd phrase: 'supposed to'

Have you ever wondered what it means?

When we use the word 'suppose', it means 'think':

I suppose so = I think so (but I'm not sure)

However, when we use it in the phrase 'supposed to', the meaning changes and, in fact, there is more than one meaning.

1 A rule which is often broken

Example: We are not supposed to bring our cellphones to class.

This means the rule is often broken - student often disregard the rule and bring their cellphones to class

2 Reputation

Example: He is supposed to be the best runner on the team.

People say that he is the best runner on the team

3 A rule, commitment or appointment that has been broken

Example: He is supposed to be here. Where is he? (He didn't show up)

Student Questions: Pronunciation or Pronounciation?

2010-02-02T00:10:00.000-08:00

One of my students asked which is correct: pronunciation or pronounciation?

The answer is 'pronunciation'. And it is pronounced the way it is spelled.

Did you know that 'misspelling' is one of the most misspelled words?
And mispronunciation is one of the most mispronounced words!

Meaning of AT LARGE

2009-12-29T16:48:00.001-08:00

I found this on Yahoo Answers and wanted to share it:

Q: Where does the expression 'at large' originate, when referring to escaped criminals?

A: The original meaning of the word "large" included, "abundant, copious, plentiful, liberal" (from the Latin largus), so that "at large" meant "liberated, free". Today, "large" simply means "big" and all the variants of "big", but not "free". But the old idiom "at large" meaning "free" survives on.

Interesting!

.

Frosty

2009-12-14T22:07:00.000-08:00

Feeling in the Christmas spirit?

Why not learn the lyrics to a Christmas song? It's fun and it'll help you improve your English.

Where is the word OK from?

2009-11-09T04:07:00.000-08:00

(From Yahoo Answers)

1839, only survivor of a slang fad in Boston and New York c.1838-9 for abbreviations of common phrases with deliberate, jocular misspellings (cf. K.G. for "no go," as if spelled "know go"); in this case, "oll korrect." Further popularized by use as an election slogan by the O.K. Club, New York boosters of Democratic president Martin Van Buren's 1840 re-election bid, in allusion to his nickname Old Kinderhook, from his birth in the N.Y. village of Kinderhook. Van Buren lost, the word stuck, in part because it filled a need for a quick way to write an approval on a document, bill, etc. The noun is first attested 1841; the verb 1888. Spelled out as okeh, 1919, by Woodrow Wilson, on assumption that it represented Choctaw okeh "it is so" (a theory which lacks historical documentation); this was ousted quickly by okay after the appearance of that form in 1929. Okey-doke is student slang first attested 1932. Greek immigrants to America who returned home early 20c. having picked up U.S. speech mannerisms were known in Greece as okay-boys, among other things.

H.L. Mencken once described "O.K." as "the most successful of Americanisms," an estimation verified by U.S. troops during the Second World War, who reported encountering the phrase all over the world. Of all the scores of theories (and sub-theories) as to the origin of "O.K.," the most widely heard traces "O.K." to the "O.K. Club," a political committee supporting Martin Van Buren's unsuccessful bid for the Presidency in 1840. The "O.K.," it is said, was short for "Old Kinderhook," Van Buren's nickname.

It appears that this theory is not so much wrong (the "O.K. Club" certainly existed) as it is incomplete. Chances are good the Van Buren's partisans would never have named their club "O.K." had the phrase not already been widely known as an abbreviation of "oll korrect," a humorous misspelling of "all correct." American speech in the early 1800s was awash in similar abbreviations, two of which, "N.G." ("no good") and "P.D.Q." ("Pretty Damn Quick"), are still heard today.

Ironically, while "O.K." didn't save Van Buren's campaign, the campaign gave "O.K." a new lease on life -- until then, it had never been as popular as a competing phrase, "O.W." (for "oll wright"). (By the way, before we start feeling too superior to the cornball 1800s, is "oll wright" really any worse than the "excuuuse me!" or "not!" fads of a few years ago?).

OK is without doubt the best-known and widest-travelled Americanism, used and recognised even by people who hardly know another word of English. Running in parallel with its popularity have been many attempts to explain where it came from — amateur etymologists have been obsessed with OK and theories have bred unchecked for the past 150 years.

Prescribe vs Proscribe

2009-10-14T23:46:00.000-07:00

To prescribe is to advise or recommend someone to do something, or to impose something authoritatively.

A doctor can prescribe a certain medicine for you (recommend that you take it) by writing you a prescription for it (i.e. its name and details of how you should take it), to be given to a pharmacist.

In addition, he may prescribe (advise) that you take some exercise, e.g. a brisk walk for half an hour daily, for your general health.

When a law prescribes something, it means it imposes something authoritatively on everyone in the country. For example, in certain countries, the law prescribes that parents are responsible for the actions of their non-adult children. So if their children do something against the law, the parents are taken to court and tried.

To proscribe something, on the other hand, means to forbid something through the law of a country, or regulations of certain bodies.

For example, athletes taking part in Olympic games are proscribed from taking certain drugs to improve their performance.

As the Concise Oxford Dictionary (1995) points out, it is important to see the difference between prescribed drugs (recommended by a doctor) and proscribed drugs (banned substances).

(courtesy of thestar.com.my)

21 Accents

2009-10-08T01:32:00.000-07:00

This is a great video showing 21 different accents (mostly) in English.

Tweet Tweet Tweet

2009-10-05T17:54:00.000-07:00

RoadtoGrammar.com now has a Twitter page and is looking for followers to engage in discussions related to grammar and ESL.

English learners, Twitter is a great way to know what is going on in the world and improve your English at the same time.

Follow RoadToGrammar at twitter.com/roadtogrammar

Going crazy with idioms!

2009-09-12T01:43:00.001-07:00

In English, if you want to say that someone is crazy, you have a lot of choices! We have many idioms for calling people crazy and some of them are very colorful!

You can say that someone is:

Crazy
Mad
Insane
Deranged
Mentally unsound
Loony
Loopy
Nuts
Daft (UK English)
Bananas
Bonkers
Out of his mind
Nutty
A basket case

or that someone...
has lost his marbles
is one can short of a six-pack
is a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic
has a screw loose

Looks great on a projector!

2009-08-22T03:56:00.000-07:00

A lot of teachers are lucky enough to have a laptop and projector set up in the classroom and with an internet connection too.

Heads up! Roadtogrammar.com is perfect for use with a projector! Project the quizzes onto the screen and go over the questions and answers with the entire class. I do it all the time and it really gets the students focussed.

Since almost every grammar topic is covered on roadtogrammar.com, it's a great resource that you can use anytime.

A new word every 98 minutes

2009-07-24T00:21:00.000-07:00

New words are coined in English all the time. However, I didn't realize how many until I read this article on the BBC website.

Apparently a new word is created every 98 minutes and there are already one million words in English.

Wow!

The nature of communication

2009-07-04T04:10:00.000-07:00

I have been reading up on linguistics and also reading about different definitions of communication. So far I haven’t found one that I am satisfied with, so I’m going to make my own:

Communication is a tool that we use to interact with the world around us.

When we are babies, we learn to interact with the world around us using our five senses, we see things, hear things, taste things, smell things and touch things. Perhaps communication is a sixth sense (no pun intended). Just as we poke at something with a finger to see how it reacts, we later poke at things with utterances to see how they react. As we grow, utterances become words, words become phrases, phrases become metaphors and so on. Hence when we communicate, we are not sending a message and waiting for a reply, we are sending an action and waiting for a reaction.

Take for example, the angry customer who shouts at the waiter. He isn’t sending a message. He is battering the poor waiter as a release for his frustrations and insecurities. When he sees the waiter react in an ‘appropriate way’, he stops. He then goes on to tell his dinner partners how you have to be tough with ‘these people’. Clearly, this communication is about psychology and status; even about causing pain and hurt.

Okay, from theory to practice. All this is nice, but how is it going to help us teach English? As we know, the communicative method is widely used in language teaching and one of the staples of the communicative method is role play. But how often do we give realistic role play scenarios to our students?
A typical role play may be a customer in a shop and it goes something like this:

Shopkeeper: How may I help you?
Customer: I would like to buy some sausages, please.
Shopkeeper: Certainly. How many would you like to buy…?

This kind of role play teaches communication as a way to send and receive messages. But when I go into a shop, the interaction is something more like the following. (I should add that I live in a country where English is spoken, but as a second language.)

Shopkeeper: (Sees me, recognizes that I am a foreigner, prepares to act accordingly)
Me: (Sizes up shopkeeper, wonder whether shopkeeper can speak good English or whether I should try another language, which would put me at a disadvantage.)
Shopkeeper: Hah? (local way of saying ‘Yes?’)
Me: Do you have sausages? (speaking slowly, still unsure how much English the shopkeeper speaks)
Shopkeeper: Sausages? (in case he heard me incorrectly)
Me: Yes. Four, please. (now confident that shopkeeper can speak English, but thinking to myself ‘this guy isn’t very polite, is he?’)
Shopkeeper: Three dollars. (plops bag on counter, thinks ‘I wonder if he’s American. I don’t like Americans since they invaded Iraq.’)
Me: ‘kay. (I’d usually say thank you, but since this guy is pretty rough and ready, I won’t bother.)

Of course, this is an interaction between a native speaker and a non-native speaker in a country where English is spoken as a second language. You may be thinking that your interactions with shopkeepers are rather different. But the point is that these conversations do not follow ‘textbook English’. So we owe it to our students to make role plays a little deeper. Give the characters some attitude. Put them in a socio-cultural setting. It’s not hard and it may even teach the students extra vocabulary. It will definitely help them to form a link between what they experience in English class and what they experience ‘on the street’.

So that is just one way that we can improve our teaching by taking a more realistic view of communication. Know any more? Feel free to leave a comment below.

You, You, You and You.

2009-06-24T23:12:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the word, ‘you’ has at least four meanings?

1 The first use is of ‘you’ as the second person singular:

Jack, where are you going?

We are talking to Jack and you refers to Jack. Hundreds of years ago, English speakers used the word, ‘thou’ as the second person singular and distinguished it from the second person plural, but this was lost in time.

2 The second use of you is the second person plural.

Class, you must complete your homework on time.

We are talking directly to a group of people and we refer to them by you (and your).

3 Next, we have something called the ‘generic you’. Although this is rarely mentioned in grammar books, it is extremely common. The generic you means ‘anyone’:

You can’t make a cake without eggs.

A more formal way of saying this is to use ‘one’:

One can’t make a cake without eggs.

In fact, this is called the ‘generic one’.

English learners first come across the generic you when they learn basic classroom language:

How do you spell that?
How do you pronounce that?

Perhaps that accounts for the common mistake:

How to spell that?

Learners feel that ‘you’ does not make sense, so they substitute it with ‘to’. But the reason it does not seem to make sense is that they have not yet learned the ‘generic you’. Of course, even advanced level students and teachers may not be aware of the generic you.

4 The final use of you is to talk about oneself. Consider this exchange:

Billy: How are you holding up since Linda passed away?

Grampa: Well, you do get lonely sometimes, but I will persevere.

Notice the use of you to distance the speaker from a sensitive topic. Once again, we could use ‘one’ in its place or we could just say ‘I’:

Well, one does get lonely sometimes, but I will persevere.
Well, I do get lonely sometimes, but I will persevere.

This last usage is the least common.

2009-05-26T23:26:00.000-07:00

ESL vs EFL

The world of teaching English is a world of acronyms. People often assume that EFL (English as a foreign language) students are basically the same as ESL (English as a second language) students. Here, I would like to point out one of the main differences and what this means to English teachers.

The EFL student learns English in the classroom, mentally puts it on a shelf, and brings it out to use as a tool, when necessary. The EFL student has less exposure to the language and may use ‘textbook’ or formulaic phrases in conversation. In many cases, even though the student has learned English at school for many years, this may not seem to be reflected in their ability.

The ESL student uses English as a second language. For example, in many families in the US, Spanish is spoken at home while English is spoken at work. It may be that the student has never formally studied English, but has picked it up from being ‘thrown in the deep end’, or forced to use it in the workplace. The ESL student has probably picked up slang and has been forced to speak English without paying attention to accuracy. They have great comprehension skills (listening, reading), but weaker production skills (speaking, writing) and much weaker core language skills (grammar) but excellent vocabulary in their field of work or study.

So which type of student should be easier to teach? For me, it’s the EFL student and I will explain why.

Have you ever heard this story about Zen Buddhism? A new student seeks to study under a great master and talks at great length to impress him with his knowledge of Zen. The master pours him a cup of tea, but continues to pour after the cup is full, spilling tea all over the table. The master explains, ‘You are like the cup. How can I fill you with knowledge when you are already full? Before you study with me, you must empty your cup.’

The EFL student is like an empty cup waiting to be filled. The ESL student, on the other hand, is like the cup that is already full. The ESL student may have ‘false friends’ that he uses to make himself understood. For example, some speakers of European languages like to say ‘no?’ – ‘It’s true, no?’ Because they are understood, they continue to use it and avoid using a more natural way of saying it – ‘It’s true, isn’t it?’ Simply teaching them what is correct and what isn’t is not enough. You are asking them to change the way that they have been speaking, maybe for years. What you are asking of them is behavioral change. And any training that involves behavioral change is a lot more challenging than training that simply involves knowledge transfer or gaining a new skill.

In summary then, one of the main differences between teaching ESL and EFL students is that, although ESL students often have better skills in many areas, to move forward, they need behavioral change.

2009-05-24T21:52:00.000-07:00

Some idioms

It's time to look at some idioms on the topic of punishments! The first idiom we will look at is, 'Heads will roll!' When someone says heads will roll, what they mean is that there will be strong punishments given out. This idiom goes back to the days where people got their heads cut off as a punishment (and the heads rolled along the ground).

The next idiom is 'call for his head', which pretty much works the same way. If you call for someone's head then you are asking for an extreme punishment to be given. Sometimes, people ask for 'his head on a plate'. This idiom refers to the Bible story of John the Baptist, whose head was presented on a plate. (Yuck!)

The final idiom is 'marching orders'. If someone is given their marching orders, it means they are asked to leave (the company). Occasionally, this idiom may be used in a different way, and it may mean to 'start something', such as a battle or fight.

Here are some examples in use of our three idioms:

The advertising campaign was a disaster! Heads will roll for this.
After the politician was caught stealing, the media are calling for his head.
After yet another mistake, Alan was given his marching orders.

Google the three idioms and see what you find!

2009-05-19T01:13:00.000-07:00

Fun vs Hard Work

I have known a lot of teachers who I would call ‘activity teachers’. They fill their class time with games and songs and physical activities. On the other hand, there are the ‘book teachers’, who go through the textbook, never missing an exercise and getting the students to do plenty of hard work.

So who is right?

My belief is that learning English should be a balance between hard work and fun.

The problem with the activity teachers is that a fun game may take twenty or thirty minutes to play and the students may end up learning a handful of words. Imagine trying to learn English this way. It would be a slow and, in the end, tedious process.

The problem with the book teachers is that books often do not put the language in context or make it fun. Although a lesson from a book may be richer than a game in terms of language knowledge gained, the students are less likely to relate and less likely to retain the knowledge.

So the learning process needs to be a balance to get it right. And in particular, games need to be focused and rich in learning points. Exercises from books need something to give them bite and make sure the students remember. A roleplay is a good example of a balance between these two styles – it is fun like a game, but it can be rich in learning and easily related to a book lesson.

2009-04-29T00:51:00.000-07:00

Word Forms

It is important to be able to recognize word forms. Why? So that when you learn a new word, you will be able to use it properly. Many learners struggle to know the difference between 'confidence' and 'confident', for example. However, if you understand word forms, and you have a dictionary, you can work it out for yourself.

There is a new exercise on Road To Grammar at www.roadtogrammar.com/wordforms that will allow you to practice over 300 word forms at easy or advanced level. The questions are randomized and you will be retested on incorrect answers. At the end of the quiz, you will have a chance to review any wrong answers.

Best of luck with your English!

2009-03-23T05:17:00.000-07:00

Learn about collocations

Collocations are word-pairs that go together. For example, we match the words, ‘afraid’ and ‘of’ – Tomi is afraid of spiders.

English is full of collocations and this is something that is often difficult for English learners. Let’s have a look at eight word sets that we can use to describe job responsibilities:

responsible for
report to
work for
liaise with
in charge of
deal with
come up with
take care of

You can use these phrases to describe your job:

I work for a company called Synnexia. I am responsible for the company website and I report to the IT manager. I am also in charge of our online ordering systems and I liaise with the Accounts Department. I come up with ideas for improving and upgrading the site. I deal with the online orders that we receive and I take care of any technical problems which occur.

For more practice on word combinations, try quizzes 1, 45, 342 and 343 at http://www.roadtogrammar.com/

2009-01-26T20:36:00.000-08:00

Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs have confused English learners for a long time. They seem to be made up of a verb plus a preposition; for example, 'watch over'.

Sometimes the meaning is clear, as it is in 'drive away', meaning to drive away from this place. Sometimes the meaning is tough to guess, as in 'take up', meaning to start a new hobby. There are thousands of idioms in English and they were made popular by William Shakespeare, who used them extensively in his plays.

Learn 80 of the most common phrasal verbs here:

www.roadtogrammar.com/phrasalverbs

2008-12-07T17:45:00.000-08:00

Australian Slang

I just returned from a short holiday in Australia. While I was there, I heard some Australian slang words that I would like to share.

I read in the newspaper that a man was arrested for 'driving like a hoon'. I found out later that a hoon is a ruffian or troublemaker.

The mayor of Melbourne wants to ban 'bogans' from the city. A bogan is apparently an ignorant or uncultured person. In America, we would say 'redneck'.

A schoolie is someone who goes to school. Daks are pants, and trakkie daks are tracksuit pants.

If you know any other Aussie slang, leave a comment here.

2008-10-08T17:38:00.000-07:00

A Poem about Plurals

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Then shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
Neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England .
We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
We find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,
Grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends
And get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English
Should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
While a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
In which your house can burn up as it burns down,
In which you fill in a form by filling it out,
And in which an alarm goes off by going on.

And, in closing, if Father is Pop, how come Mother's not Mop?

2008-04-21T21:57:00.000-07:00

How Long Does It Take To Learn English

Someone asked me this the other day and I do think that it is a fair question. However, it is difficult to give an accurate answer.

I have met people who started university life with an intermediate level of English and achieved perfect fluency in about two years. On the other hand, I have met people who use English every day at work or have lived in an English speaking country, and after 20 years still make basic mistakes.

Just look at Jacky Chan, for example. His English is still not up to par despite working in Hollywood for years!

So really, it depends on the learner. It depends on the person's natural ability to learn languages, and it depends on learning strategies and commitment.

In the end, you can expect to improve your English even on a short course, but real fluency may take years of practice.

Podcast

2008-04-21T21:44:00.001-07:00

Here is a little podcast that my students made, entitled 'How to use the Internet to improve your English'

Cast.mp3

2008-03-11T02:21:00.000-07:00

All English Learners Should Have a Blog

It’s 2008 and it’s time to think about new and different ways of improving your English via the Internet and using some of the great new technologies that are available.

Here’s why blogging is a good idea for ESL students:

1 It is a great habit to get writing and to write something new every day or every week. Don’t worry about English mistakes – many people using English on the Internet are speakers of English as a Second Language.

2 You can make friends and share your thoughts with the whole world.

3 If you have a teacher or someone who is willing, they can easily access you writing and correct it or give you tips on how to write better.

4 Best of all, it’s free and easy. You can get a blog up and running in minutes at blogspot.com.

My students have blogs, too. Please read them at:

http://eccentric-bb.blogspot.com/
http://sri-indianputra.blogspot.com/
http://shashikin-sharifah.blogspot.com/
http://kingkongkumar.blogspot.com/

2008-01-24T18:11:00.000-08:00

Learning English for the Olympic Games

2008 is the year that Beijing is host to the Olympic Games. Unfortunately, in an age when English is becoming more and more important, a lot of Chinese struggle with the language. A clip on the BBC recently showed an elderly Chinese man who couldn't answer the question 'Where is the nearest restaurant?' after months of English classes. In fact, the Chinese are notorious for their poor command of the language. But why is this?

After all, the Chinese are also famous for their work ethic, and they are willing to study hard to improve their English to help make the Olympics a success. But why is it so difficult for them to speak English. (Just listen to Jacky Chan!)

The reason is simple: English is different from Chinese in just about every way imaginable: the alphabet, the grammar, the pronunciation, the mechanics of the language are all 100% different. If we compare this to European languages, for example, the word for 'name' in German is 'namen'. Mein namen ist Fritz. You don't even need to know German to understand - and it works both ways. Therefore Germans and other Europeans learn English much faster. In Chinese, even the names of people and places can be very different. The word for America is 'Meiguo'.

Of course, that's not the only reason. Community classes in China often teach more than 50 participants at a time, and they learn by repeating phrases like 'What time does this bus leave?' over and over. Sometimes the teacher dresses up in a blonde wig to help the students get over their 'fear' of talking to a foreigner. Obviously, English teaching in China has a long way to go!

2008-01-13T19:29:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, everybody. I am attending a seminar today and tomorow on the topic of e-learning 2.0, and we have been asked to create a blog. Since I already have one, I'll just post a quick note.

While I'm here, I also want to suggest a great site for ESL trainers. http://www.quicktopic.com/ offers instant messageboards for you and your students. Your students won't even have to log in to use it; it's quick, easy and great. It's a great chance to practise some collaborative learning.

2007-12-10T22:01:00.000-08:00

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is one of the most popular children's Christmas songs. But it's not a traditional song; it was created by an advertising executive in 1939!

Still, the song has a nice story about a reindeer with a shiny red nose. The other reindeer used to laugh at him until he was given the special task of guiding Santa's sleigh at night.

Here are the lyrics:

Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
had a very shiny nose.
And if you ever saw him,
you would even say it glows.

All of the other reindeer
used to laugh and call him names.
They never let poor Rudolph
join in any reindeer games.

Then one foggy Christmas Eve
Santa came to say:
"Rudolph with your nose so bright,
won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"

Then all the reindeer loved him
as they shouted out with glee,
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer,
you'll go down in history!

...and he really did go down in history!

2007-07-11T18:23:00.000-07:00

Is English suited to being the International Language?

Well, this is an interesting question. English is the language of the world today, there is no denying it. However, it achieved this status as an ‘accident of history’ rather than by actually being the best language for international communication and commerce.

So is English suited to being the International Language? In short, my answer is NO, for the following reasons:

1 The grammar is terribly difficult, and not always standardised, although easier than some other European languages.

2 The pronunciation is difficult for speakers of other languages, especially the ‘th’ sounds (you did realise there are two, didn’t you?) – not many other languages have these sounds.

3 The spelling is not standardised. Why does ‘head’ rhyme with ‘said’?

4 The vocabulary is huge and we often have many words for one thing. Phrasal verbs can often cause problems for learners and there are thousands of them!

On the positive side, English adapts easily to scientific and technical language.
I have personally had some experience of learning Spanish, Turkish and Malay. I can tell you, all three of these languages are much easier than English. If only Spanish was the International Language, how much easier it would be for everyone (except English speakers, who are notoriously lazy when it comes to learning new languages!)

2007-06-06T04:52:00.000-07:00

Yahoo Pipes and Yahoo Answers!

Yahoo Answers is one of my favourite sites and I've found a way to put all questions related to ESL in one place using a program called Yahoo Pipes. (Yes, I'm such a geek).

Click here to try it out.

You will see the 10 most recent questions posted with the keywords: grammar, esl, learn english, language and english teacher

Try it, it's fun and it's constantly updated as new questions come in.

2007-05-20T02:35:00.000-07:00

Road To Grammar Junior

Following suggestions from several elementary school teachers, R2G presents ... Road To Grammar Junior!

The original site contains references to alcohol and contains vocabulary and examples unsuited to younger learners. Now teachers need worry no more! Road To Grammar Jr a version of Road To Grammar that has been cleaned up and made more attractive to younger learners.

Basically, the junior site should be suitable for up to age 13, and the main site should be suitable for those older than that. However, some discretion is advised.

Road To Grammar Jr can be found here: www.roadtogrammar.com/junior

2007-05-13T23:35:00.000-07:00

Even Dictionaries Make Grammar Mistakes?

A friend pointed out this sentence from the CD-ROM of the Cambridge Advanced Learners' Dictionary:

Understand (KNOW) 5 understand one another/each other When two people understand one another, they both know what the other means and wants and they have an agreement: Both sides must try to understand one another, to recognise each others' rights, feelings and beliefs. See also understanding (AGREEMENT).

Can you spot the mistake? The apostrophe is in the wrong place. According to www.yourdictionary.com:

The possessive forms of each other and one another are written each other's
and one another's: The boys wore each other's (not each others') coats. They had
forgotten one another's (not one anothers') names.

Tut tut, Cambridge.

2007-04-30T04:09:00.000-07:00

Sad Songs

Time for some sad song lyrics.

Sad song # 1: Gloomy Sunday

This is a song about a person whose lover has died and she (or he) is thinking about killing herself to join her lover in the afterlife. Then she wakes up to find it was a dream. The version I have is by Sarah Brightman, but the original version was in Czech!

Sunday is gloomy,
My hours are slumberless
Dearest the shadows I live with are numberless
Little white flowers will never awaken you
Not where the black coach of sorrow has taken you
Angels have no thought of ever returning you
Would they be angry if I thought of joining you
Gloomy Sunday

Sunday is gloomy
With shadows I spend it all
My heart and I have decided to end it all
Soon there'll be flowers and prayers that are said I know
But let them not weep let them know that I'm glad to go

Death is no dream for in death I'm caressing you
With the last breath of my soul I'll be blessing you
Gloomy Sunday

DreamingI was only dreaming
I wake and I find you asleep
In the deep of my heart dear Darling I hope that my dream never haunted you
My heart is telling you how much I wanted you
Gloomy Sunday
Gloomy Sunday

Sad song #2: A change is gonna come

This is a soul classic by Sam Cooke. He talks about how he's always been poor and nobody would help him. Awww ... so sad! But he's optimistic - he says that 'A change is gonna come'.

I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh and just like the river I've been running ever since
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

It's been too hard living but I'm afraid to die
Cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

I go to the movie and I go downtown somebody keep telling me don't hang around
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

Then I go to my brother
And I say brother help me please
But he winds up knocking me
Back down on my knees
Ohhhhhhhhh.....There been times that I thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

Sad Song #3: Dust in the wind

This classic ballad by Kansas is the saddest song of all. It talks about how we are unimportant compared to the vast size of space and time. We 'refuse to see' that all we are is 'dust in the wind'. Wow.

I close my eyes
Only for a moment, then the moment's gone
All my dreams pass before my eyes, a curiosity
Dust in the wind
All they are is dust in the wind

Same old song
Just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind, ohh

Now, don't hang on
Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away
And all your money won't another minute buy
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Dust in the wind
Everything is dust in the wind
Everything is dust in the wind

These are three great songs, by the way. I highly recommend you buy them if you can find them!

2007-04-01T02:12:00.000-07:00

WORD STRESS

It's not enough just to know individual sounds in English. To have a natural accent, you need to get the word stress correct.

For example, the DEsert is where camels live. deSSERT is a sweet treat like cake or ice cream!

Can you hear the difference or can you pronounce the different? The word stress in English is usually on the first syllable, but there is no set rule. (I know, ESL learners hate to hear 'there's no set rule!)

Practise word stress in English with this activity:

http://www.roadtogrammar.com/wordstress/

2007-02-18T18:46:00.000-08:00

It's Bedlam!

In English, when we say something is 'bedlam', it means chaos or madness.

The word bedlam comes from the name of a hospital for mental patients - Hospital of Saint Mary of Bethlehem. The common people pronounced Bethlehem as Bedlam.

In the 1700s people used to go to this hospital for entertainment. They would bring their families to laugh at the mad people there! Please don't try this today!

2007-02-18T18:42:00.000-08:00

New Stuff on R2G

Two new things on R2G at the moment:

1 You can win a copy of 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' by posting a link to R2G on your blog or website. Get the details at http://www.roadtogrammar.com/comp1

2 Try out a new activity to test your knowledge of sounds in English. www.roadtogrammar.com/rhymer

2007-01-21T02:42:00.000-08:00

Favourite Words of 2006!

The Marriam-Webster dictionary takes a poll of people's top ten favourite words at the end of every year. Here are the top ten for this year:

truthiness
google
decider
war
insurgent
terrorism
vendetta
sectarian
quagmire
corruption

As you can see, many of the words are linked to the war in Iraq. The top word, 'truthiness', sounds pretty stange to me. Apparently it means truthfulness based on feelings rather than facts. It has a certain truthiness to it.

Marriam Webster's excellent site is located at www.m-w.com

2006-12-07T00:35:00.000-08:00

New Look for R2G Site

Roadtogrammar.com has a new look, as of December 2006. Hopefully, also it will load up a little faster for users who do not yet have broadband. Let me know if you prefer it to the old one.

There is a word strips game at www.roadtogrammar.com/strips, and you can try to get a high score for the month.

The word search puzzles are also located more conveniently on the main page.

Finally, if anyone is taking the GRE test, you can practise your vocabulary on R2G's sister site: www.flashbynight.com/GRE

2006-11-19T23:22:00.000-08:00

Awe, Awful and Awesome

Have you ever wondered about these words? How is it that if something is awful - full of 'awe' - then it is terrible, but if something is 'awesome' - having some 'awe' - then it is great?

In fact, awful is closer to the original definition. Both words share the root word 'awe', which meant 'fear and terror'. Over time, influenced by biblical texts, 'awe' came to mean 'reverential fear' as in 'the fear of God' and then later took the meaning that we associate with it today - a sense of wonder or shock. It still retains something of its old meaning; American bombing campaigns in Iraq were said to cause 'shock and awe'.

So hundreds of years ago, awful and awesome meant the same thing. As the use of the root word awe changed, awesome came to mean excellent, while awful retained the original meaning.

It's another example of how a word can eventually come to mean the opposite.

2006-09-24T00:26:00.000-07:00

I'mma

Most students are familiar with the shortening of 'I am going to' to 'I'm gonna', but did you know that many speakers shorten it even further to 'I'mma'?

So 'I am going to tell him' becomes 'I'mma tell'im'.

As far as I know, this is not in any textbook, but it is becoming widely used. Just another way spoken English is different from written English.

2006-09-24T00:20:00.000-07:00

Weekend Tefl?!?

If you wished to learn a foreign language, would you have confidence in a teacher who had been certified after taking a 2-day course?

This site: weekendtefl.com offers two day certification for TEFL teachers. Judging by the blurb on the site, it is clearly targetted at people who just want to travel and find some way of financing it. Teaching English is better than washing dishes, right?

This kind of course and mentality cheapens our profession.

2006-09-07T04:46:00.000-07:00

Big and Small

When people learn a new language, they think that it is the big words that are difficult. But what I’ve noticed from my students is that it is actually the small words that are the hardest. Which words do students always get wrong? ‘a’, ‘the’, ‘make’ and ‘do’, for instance. A word like ‘get’ has about 20 distinct meanings if you check the dictionary, but ‘globalization’ has only one.

So my tip of the day is this: don’t worry about the big words; worry about the small ones!

2006-09-02T08:18:00.000-07:00

When Black meant White

English is such an odd language, but did you know that the word 'black' once meant 'white'?

In Middle English, blac, blak or blake technically meant 'lacking in colour'. Of course, if something lacks colour, it could be said to be black or it could be said to be white. During the Middle Ages, both these definitions existed side by side. Finally, in England, the modern meaning of black, as in dark, won out. In France, however, the opposite held true and the word blanc (white) in French is actually derived from the same root as black in English. Compare this with the word blank in English. Are blanks usually black or white?

Check http://www.etymonline.com/ for more interesting word histories.

R2G

2006-09-02T08:09:00.000-07:00

R2G2

The R2G2 blog is an extension of the Road to Grammar (R2G) website for ESL learners and instructors.

Road to Grammar is found here: www.roadtogrammar.com