Q & A

What are parts of speech?

A) They are words classified according to their function. Nouns, pronouns, verbs, determiners, adjectives, adverbs, preposition and conjunctions

What is a phrase?

A) Group of words that gives us an incomplete sense are called phrases. For example, in the kitchen, 2 dozen bananas, My friends and I. Phrases may or may not accommodate verbs. 

What is a sentence?
A) A sentence gives us a complete sense. It has  a subject and a verb.For example, I am a man, a child smiles. Imperative sentences—those that make a command or request—are  used with or without a subject because the subject is felt not written. For example: Stand up, Be quiet and so on.

What is a clause

Sometimes the sentence stretches us and If one part of a sentence has a subject and a predicate, it is called a clause. There are different types of clauses, but they all contain a subject and a predicate.

Unlocking the Adjectives

In Pakistan, I have observed that adjectives are not given the importance they truly deserve. The indifference, shown by the teachers, regarding adjectives, is deplorable.


A typical Pakistani student completes his matriculation and enters intermediate level of education. From there he or she progresses to a university and academically evolves into a graduate-- but very seldom intellectually.

During all this time, he lumps verbs and adjectives together and ravishes his sentence structure.

First of all a student must realize that Adjectives describe nouns by pointing towards them. For example:

I am honest because I have honesty (The adjective 'honest' points to my 'honesty')
I am tall because my height reflects my tallness ( The adjective 'tall' indicates the level of tallness)
 

Now, let's move to the common errors that are made consistently:

1. The words that end with 'ed' are commonly considered as verbs, if you ask a student to differentiate between "I am disappointed"  or "I disappointed", most would feel confused.
2.  Most don't know that link verbs such as be, seem, become have to be used with adjectives.
3. Many students do not have any idea that most adjectives can be placed before noun or after a link verb but some come before a noun only (attributive) while others follow a link verb (predicative)

List of adjectives that only come before a noun

 elder, eldest, little, live (meaning living and not dead),  intensifying adjectives like mere, sheer.    


 I  would write some sentences to show their position:

• She is the eldest sister
• Do not touch the live wire

  But you cannot say I am live

List of adjectives that only come after a link verb :

afraid, asleep,ill, well, afloat


And now the examples:

I am afraid but you cannot say the afraid man

The magic of the word called "To"

The word "To" has several functions, as a preposition it shows that  one noun or  pronoun is taking some action in some  direction. This  can be observed  in the subsequent list:

1. I am going to Canada
2. He is talking to you.
3. Let's go to the beach (the verb 'let' is telling the pronoun 'us' to go to the beach)

As a particle of the infinitive verb, it tells us the following:

1. The reason of an action ( I am studying French to work in France)
2. The reason of a reaction (To watch her sing makes me cry)
3. Result  (He was able to complete the report in time)

Infinitives are verb forms that combine with "To" or without it to talk about reasons and reactions in relation to different kind of actions.

Should we use "In" or "At"

 Non-native speakers have a lot of confusions regarding the use of prepositions. Simply put, prepositions show the relationship between a noun with another noun or pronoun.

If you concentrate a little, you will learn to identify the difference between “In” or “AT”. In shows that you are inside something, you are within the limits of something. On the other hand, if you are not concerned with limits or being inside or you have to refer to a point then use at.

  Try to imbibe the following examples:

1. There is a hole in the door. (It means within the limits of the door there is a hole)
2.  I am at the door (Here, the door is being used as a point).
3. I am in the cinema (you are inside the building).
4. I am at the cinema (you can be anywhere, Inside or outside the building)
5. I am at the restaurant (you are telling everyone that you are at a point where food is served).
6. I am in the restaurant (you are inside it).

 At is also used to talk about activities taking place at some point:

• I am at the disco, pub, stadium.

Brazilian Students

The Brazilians have started to take the English language very seriously because the World Cup is near and it would unlock numerous opportunities for them and like all non-native learners they have their unique inconsistencies.

1. When talking about age the Brazilians say ” I have  X years” instead of ” I am X years old.
2. They have problems with the word ‘Do’ especially in “Do you  do your own work”.
3. In Portuguese the second syllable is stressed so they also have a tendency to stress the second syllable in English. For example "office" is pronounced "offi-say".
4. Many write well but have great problems in listening and speaking.

I love them and want to see them here, in large numbers.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Vocabulary

The English Language offers us numerous words to talk about the  illustrious career of Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

Before he entered films he was:

1. A phenomenal body builder.
2. A highly-sexed athlete.
3. A pro-active individual who always took action.
4. A man with a lot of attitude.
5. A man who could be called arrogant.
6. A highly promiscuous man

After he entered films he was:

1. A closet groper (his groping scandals were not revealed at that time)
2. A dedicated performer
3. A so-called loyal husband (Maria Shriver didn't know or she pretended).

Before he entered politics he was: 

1. A known groper.
2. A man with a past.
3. A power-hungry man.
4. A shrewd businessman
5. A man with a supportive-wife
   

How to count uncountables?

The uncountable nouns in the English language pose a lot of problems even to the advance learners of English.

The basic definition of an uncountable noun is that it cannot be counted.  Furthermore, you cannot put an indefinite article before it or pluralize it.

Even if the non-native speaker identifies uncountable nouns,  he or she is not able to count them but there is certainly a way to do that. For example:

1. You cannot say “an information” but you have to  say “a piece of information” or if they are more, “Two pieces of information”.
2. As above, you can give a piece, a bit or a word of advice.
3. In Urdu, we say “khabrain” the plural of “khabr”. In English you have to say a piece of news or an item of news.

Has the information helped you?

As if, like, As though

As if and As though (meaning a situation seems to be) are the same in meanings. Americans use "like" in informal English as the substitute of As if or As though but many experts regard it as incorrect in formal English.

Following are some examples:

1.  He treats her like he was her husband__a better structure would be he treats her, as if, he was her husband.
2. He sat in a manner, as if, he was the president.
3. It looked, as if, they were trying to conceal the truth. 

Practice more!

The Problems of Pakistani English Learners

As an English teacher in Pakistan, I have encountered a number of language problems  that are typical to a Pakistani student and some are discussed in the following lines:

1. Most think 'A' is an Alphabet. They do not know that 'A' is a  letter. The whole arrangement A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z is called the 'English Alphabet'.
    
2. Many are confused about the subtle verb "be". They use it inappropriately, it is common to find expressions like "I was told" instead of "I told" or "I was given" in place of "I gave".
    
3. Most Pakistanis learn British form of English in the beginning, but the teachers try to teach them formula English to pass the exams because they themselves never tried to make friends with the language. Consequently,  the level of the student remains uniform and he struggles with the language through out his life. If you drive through a big city, you will find residential areas getting converted into English language domains,that promise improvements, but a vernier caliper will be required to measure them.
4. The word "Parlour" is pronounced "Paw-ler" when it should be pronounced "Paa-ler". The word "Chassis" is pronounced  "Chase-zis" instead of  ˈShae-see, which is the correct pronunciation.

Vocabulary

There are a plethora of courses offered on the net that boast about enhancing your vocabulary. They claim to quadruple your vocabulary in a month or sometimes even days. I understand these claims. The people who conduct them have to run their kitchens.

If you desire to have a vigorous vocabulary, start  following the profitable pointers below:

1. Never be indifferent to a new word. Try extracting the meaning by reading the context deeply and google the meanings in a variety of dictionaries. The dictionaries are a click away.
2. Reading and Listening help a lot only when you do them regularly not casually
3. Try to associate the word with a person you like or hate deeply or to an event. The more a word catches your attention, the better are the chances for its retention. People with terrible memories never forget the word “fuck’ or “breasts”.
4. Make a habit of putting a word in a sentence structure. The worth of a word is  in a sentence.
5. Lastly, large vocabularies are not mastered in a day or two. They require persistent efforts. The efforts become effortless if you have a passion for words.

The above mentioned strategies are not difficult. The only difficulty is persistence.

Grammar

In my teaching experience, I observed many students who deliberately blocked themselves from growing by putting too much focus on grammar. Having a sound grammar is commendable but getting entangled in grammatical rules weakens one’s motivation.

Firstly, like humans, every language has its distinct temperament and a wise student puts his or her efforts to understand the temperament of the language rather than excessive obedience to rules.

Secondly, grammar is learnt naturally by trying to understand the different word-combinations; and also by reading voraciously and listening avidly.

Lastly, fear of grammar creates a number of problems. We feel inhibited when we speak or write. Our content becomes unbalanced. Moreover, we focus on grammar instead of the ideas that we desire to express.

Introduction

The purpose of this blog is to encourage non-native and native speakers to bring their umpteen problems in relation to the English language.

The blogger sincerely believes that, to master a language, a person needs to understand the temperament of the language. Every language has its distinct temperament . This temperament expresses itself in the various word combinations.