Learning American English

Beginning? Middle? End? My students, in general, do not know what to do with their adverbs -- they will often "like very much this film" or "read again this book" or on occasion even elicit the dreaded "speak very well English," though I hope it's only to see my face writhe in agonizing grimaces as I react. All right, first of all, let's try and define what we mean by these little beasties.  Adverbs are words that modify verbs -- very simple indeed.  Adverbials are groups of two or more words that modify, usually adding to, verbs.  In English, adverbs are very easy to distinguish because many of them end in /-ly/, like their Modern German second cousins end in /-lich/ and their Dutch first cousins end in /-lijk/.  Romance languages have similar constructions:  French /-ment/, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian /-mente/, Catalan /-ment/, with Romanian having three, namely /-eşti/, /-iş/, and /-âş/ 1 .  Other languages will obviously have oth...

To Post on Your  Bulletin Boards Present Perfect Continuous Adverbial Markers Now, can you add your own?

To Post on Your Bulletin Boards Present Perfect Adverbial Markers: Now, can you add your own?

To Post on Your Bulletin Boards Many students find it easier to make little reminder notes ( fiches  in French) for common mistakes or words or other tools that are easy to categorize.  So I have begun to help them by creating this very simple series of information stickers that learners can use in their study, review or just as a reminder. Print the sticker (preferably in color) and put it up in your wall near your regular work space so that you can have easy reference to the information each one contains.  Leave a little space on the bottom of each so that you can add more words as you go along.  Once you have done this, remember to (1) go on to the internet and find concrete examples of each one in your reading and (2) use each in an original sentence or two to get your mind around the terms. And have fun! Paul Now, can you add your own?

  The Room of Acquirement* “Will I have to use a dictionary to read your book?" asked Mrs. Dodypol. "It depends," says I, "how much you used the dictionary before you read it.” ― Alexander Theroux , Darconville’s Cat Let's face it, learning new vocabulary is a pain in the neck for many of us.  You have to develop your own vocabulary retention capabilities, besides those that your language teacher -- because this isn't just an issue in English -- provides you with.  Thinking back to our Anglo-Saxon linguistic ancestors , we realize that as a Germanic language and like nearly all of the other Germanic languages , verbs ended in /-en/ just as they do in modern German ( a second cousin ) , D utch (a first cousin) and Frisian (a double cousin or just about), and were highly inflected .  The Anglo-Saxons ruled England just after the Romans pulled out in the 5th centur y until (officially) 1066 with the Norman...