Grammar is important in any language, including English though some people think of it as an obstacle. They argue that languages are all about communication, not about grammar. They, however, overlook the fact that grammar is inherent part of the language. It deals with rules or patterns of words or sentences. It helps us convey messages in an organized or patterned manner so that misunderstanding can be avoided. One of the basics of grammar in any language is word types. It is important to know this so that you will be able to understand any grammar explanations.
In English, there are eight word types (or some grammar books call them parts of speech): nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions and interjections. Some books add one more type, i.e. articles.
Let's define each of them.
Noun
A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, idea, living creature, quality, or action.
Verb
A verb is a word that describes an action (doing something) or a state (being something).
Adjective
An adjective is a word that describes a noun. It tells you something about the noun.
Adverb
An adverb is a word that usually describes a verb. It tells you how something is done, when and where.
Pronoun
A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun, to avoid repeating the noun.
Conjunction
A conjunction joins two words, phrases or sentences together.
Preposition
A preposition joins the noun to some other part of the sentence. It mostly lies before nouns.
Interjection
An interjection a word that expresses emotion or surprise and is followed by exclamation marks.
Article
An article is used to introduce a noun.
Now, I want you to classify the following words into their types. One word may have more than one type.
1. Oops!
2. Time
3. Above
4. Well
5. We
6. Indonesian
7. Pretty
8. Hardly
9. Seem
10. Exercise
11. The
12. Some
13. Now
14. Or
15. Before
16. However
17. House
18. Study
19. Hi!
20. Ours
Send your answers to me and I'll get back to you right away with responses. You can find out my email in "Contact" menu above. Good luck.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
A Few bugs in English writing
A friend of mine, when I was student at this university, asked me, “What is your score in Writing?” I plainly replied “A”. What about yours?” My friend cynically responded, “Don’t ask me about that. It’s lame. I know why, though. I’m poor at grammar while the lecturer, you know, gets crazy about it.”
The above illustration, though it’s just fictitious (rarely did English students speak English at campus in such a situation, right?), is more likely to happen in our academic setting. Students oftentimes feel what bothers them in either writing or speaking English is Grammar, which is considered ‘a bug’. They often claim that grammar always bugs their fluency. They argue that what is apparently needed in real-life communication is not grammar. Instead, communication is all about getting across ideas. Is it true?
Well, irrespective of whether or not grammar is a necessity in communication, what strikes the students when writing or speaking in English is a few (not to mention some or in fact many) seemingly unavoidable errors. Like the earthquake in Jogjakarta or Tsunami in Aceh, those errors can be typified as a national emergency because they seem to have been fossilized or internalized by most English students in Indonesia. I am not making a generalization. Let’s suppose so truthfully. What’s more, a linguist in Indonesia once reveals that the errors are becoming typical characteristics of a possibly new emerging English variety i.e. IndoEnglish. A variety that is characterized by ‘commonly accepted errors’. Erroneous, right?
Anyhow, the concept of error is a fuzzy one. It most probably necessitates a more technical explanation from linguistics point of view. Too delicate. Forget it. What concerns me at present is any deviations from the internationally accepted standard use of English particularly in English writing. You indeed have the rights to express yourself in any way you wish, not necessarily stick to the Standard use. But, if you don’t want to be said ignorant or even less educated by sophisticated English users such as professional writers, teachers, editors, and the like, you’d better not fall into the non Standard use (the errors) because you don’t know the better one.
Let me list a few identifiable errors that frequently bug my students especially when they write a research paper.
1. Combining singular and plural forms in the same sentence.
e.g. Each respondent was asked about their opinions.
Right: Each respondent was asked about his and her opinions.
2. Using an unnecessary comma.
e.g. The data are collected, and then analyzed.
Right: The data are collected and then analyzed.’
3. Writing fragmented sentence.
e.g. For days interviewed the subjects.
Right: For days I interviewed the subjects.
4. Confusing the use of “its” and “it’s”.
e.g. It’s aim is to describe the classroom interaction.
Right: Its aim is to describe the classroom interaction.
5. Using an apostrophe to indicate a plural form of a word.
e.g. The subject’s of the research were observed for several days.
Right: The subjects of the research were observed for several days.
6. Using “he” or “she” when referring to both sexes (men and women)
e.g. Before interviewing the subject, the researcher asked him to complete a questionnaire.
Right: Before interviewing the subject, the researcher asked him or her to complete a questionnaire.
Right: Before interviewing the subject, the researcher administered a questionnaire.
Ups. I hope that’s not exhaustive. Though I have yet to conduct particular research on this matter, the above list of errors is worth considering. So, ponder upon this! Beware of the bugs!
By Eri Kurniawan
The above illustration, though it’s just fictitious (rarely did English students speak English at campus in such a situation, right?), is more likely to happen in our academic setting. Students oftentimes feel what bothers them in either writing or speaking English is Grammar, which is considered ‘a bug’. They often claim that grammar always bugs their fluency. They argue that what is apparently needed in real-life communication is not grammar. Instead, communication is all about getting across ideas. Is it true?
Well, irrespective of whether or not grammar is a necessity in communication, what strikes the students when writing or speaking in English is a few (not to mention some or in fact many) seemingly unavoidable errors. Like the earthquake in Jogjakarta or Tsunami in Aceh, those errors can be typified as a national emergency because they seem to have been fossilized or internalized by most English students in Indonesia. I am not making a generalization. Let’s suppose so truthfully. What’s more, a linguist in Indonesia once reveals that the errors are becoming typical characteristics of a possibly new emerging English variety i.e. IndoEnglish. A variety that is characterized by ‘commonly accepted errors’. Erroneous, right?
Anyhow, the concept of error is a fuzzy one. It most probably necessitates a more technical explanation from linguistics point of view. Too delicate. Forget it. What concerns me at present is any deviations from the internationally accepted standard use of English particularly in English writing. You indeed have the rights to express yourself in any way you wish, not necessarily stick to the Standard use. But, if you don’t want to be said ignorant or even less educated by sophisticated English users such as professional writers, teachers, editors, and the like, you’d better not fall into the non Standard use (the errors) because you don’t know the better one.
Let me list a few identifiable errors that frequently bug my students especially when they write a research paper.
1. Combining singular and plural forms in the same sentence.
e.g. Each respondent was asked about their opinions.
Right: Each respondent was asked about his and her opinions.
2. Using an unnecessary comma.
e.g. The data are collected, and then analyzed.
Right: The data are collected and then analyzed.’
3. Writing fragmented sentence.
e.g. For days interviewed the subjects.
Right: For days I interviewed the subjects.
4. Confusing the use of “its” and “it’s”.
e.g. It’s aim is to describe the classroom interaction.
Right: Its aim is to describe the classroom interaction.
5. Using an apostrophe to indicate a plural form of a word.
e.g. The subject’s of the research were observed for several days.
Right: The subjects of the research were observed for several days.
6. Using “he” or “she” when referring to both sexes (men and women)
e.g. Before interviewing the subject, the researcher asked him to complete a questionnaire.
Right: Before interviewing the subject, the researcher asked him or her to complete a questionnaire.
Right: Before interviewing the subject, the researcher administered a questionnaire.
Ups. I hope that’s not exhaustive. Though I have yet to conduct particular research on this matter, the above list of errors is worth considering. So, ponder upon this! Beware of the bugs!
By Eri Kurniawan
4 Easy Ways to Learn English Online
When you learn a new language the only way to improve is to practice, practice and practice! However it can often be boring to keep studying from books so I’d like to recommend some interactive learning methods and resources - all using the internet.
Chat Your Way to Better English
Chatting with others, either native or non-native speakers of English, is a great way to practice your written skills in a stress-free and uninhibited environment. This is a particularly good method if you’re shy about speaking English as it will allows you to be anonymous online and will build your confidence to eventually speak the language face to face. By joining a chat room like TheChatPage.com you can discuss any special interest topic you like, or write posts in the forums. (Either that or you can go to Englishchatting.blogspot.com to practice your English with some Indonesians) Having an email pen pal can also be a fun and effective way to practice English and make friends.
Online Grammar Exercises
For a more fun and interactive approach to practicing grammar exercises, try one of the many online grammar exercise sites available on the internet. You will find varied exercises and quizzes for most grammar points where you will be given corrections to your answer and useful explanations. Joining an EFL community will also give you access to volunteer EFL teachers who are available to answer all your grammar questions. Being part of a community such as EnglishForums.com is also excellent way to meet and communicate with other English learners.
Online Radio
Understanding native speakers and their accents is often one of the hardest parts of learning English according to EFL students. A great listening exercise, particularly for advanced EFL students, is listening to English radio stations online. Radio hosts often speak quite fast which makes this exercise rather difficult; however, this will help sharpen listening skills and be very good practice for phone conversations or meetings with native speakers. It is also an excellent way to pick up new words and learn about a variety of cultural topics.
Podcasts
If you don’t have constant access to the internet, downloading podcasts is a great alternative to listening to radio. The advantage of a podcast is that you can listen to it at your leisure until you feel you have completely understood the topic. You can also pause the audio while you look up new words or take notes on the subject. There are some great sites available which offer podcasts specifically to EFL learners. The podcasts often come in manageable 15-20 audio files, complete with full transcripts, additional vocabulary, cultural explanation, general notes and sometimes comprehension questions. This additional information means podcasts are effective language learning tools even at a lower level of English.
These resources should enable you to practice your English in a more inventive way rather than relying on books and classroom time. Of course face to face interaction is really important but these are excellent alternatives and will contribute to acquiring more fluency and confidence in your skills.
by Nadia Zehni
http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Nadia_Zehni
Chat Your Way to Better English
Chatting with others, either native or non-native speakers of English, is a great way to practice your written skills in a stress-free and uninhibited environment. This is a particularly good method if you’re shy about speaking English as it will allows you to be anonymous online and will build your confidence to eventually speak the language face to face. By joining a chat room like TheChatPage.com you can discuss any special interest topic you like, or write posts in the forums. (Either that or you can go to Englishchatting.blogspot.com to practice your English with some Indonesians) Having an email pen pal can also be a fun and effective way to practice English and make friends.
Online Grammar Exercises
For a more fun and interactive approach to practicing grammar exercises, try one of the many online grammar exercise sites available on the internet. You will find varied exercises and quizzes for most grammar points where you will be given corrections to your answer and useful explanations. Joining an EFL community will also give you access to volunteer EFL teachers who are available to answer all your grammar questions. Being part of a community such as EnglishForums.com is also excellent way to meet and communicate with other English learners.
Online Radio
Understanding native speakers and their accents is often one of the hardest parts of learning English according to EFL students. A great listening exercise, particularly for advanced EFL students, is listening to English radio stations online. Radio hosts often speak quite fast which makes this exercise rather difficult; however, this will help sharpen listening skills and be very good practice for phone conversations or meetings with native speakers. It is also an excellent way to pick up new words and learn about a variety of cultural topics.
Podcasts
If you don’t have constant access to the internet, downloading podcasts is a great alternative to listening to radio. The advantage of a podcast is that you can listen to it at your leisure until you feel you have completely understood the topic. You can also pause the audio while you look up new words or take notes on the subject. There are some great sites available which offer podcasts specifically to EFL learners. The podcasts often come in manageable 15-20 audio files, complete with full transcripts, additional vocabulary, cultural explanation, general notes and sometimes comprehension questions. This additional information means podcasts are effective language learning tools even at a lower level of English.
These resources should enable you to practice your English in a more inventive way rather than relying on books and classroom time. Of course face to face interaction is really important but these are excellent alternatives and will contribute to acquiring more fluency and confidence in your skills.
by Nadia Zehni
http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Nadia_Zehni
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