Grammar is sweet!

James Hurford, author of "Grammar- A Student's Guide" (Cambridge UP 1994) has wittily dedicated this book:

"For Sue N. Davis,
superlative, perfect, proper,
active, positive, agreeable relative"

I wish I had thought of that dedication myself! (I wish I could write a book on grammar, too)
1- Think of what each word refers to.
2- Write a dedication using other grammar words. (Come on, it cannot be that difficult! I will try myself)

Sing standard English, man!

Songs are a great tool in the EFL classroom, all teachers know that. My point here is that they are great because they help our students resist our deep-rooted obssessive tendency to demand correct use of English when native speakers hardly speak "correctly" (in traditional prescriptive terms) at all.

Here are some examples (they may sound old-fashioned to you but you will surely provide up-dated examples of your own favourite bands). Comment on the forms that would surely be criticised by prescriptive grammarians:

Bob Marley: "no woman no cry"
Rolling Stones: "all the dreams we held so close seemed to all go up in smoke
Tracy Chapman: "I got no plans I ain't going nowhere" "You got a fast car
And I got a plan to get us out of here" "I been working at the convenience store"
"You see my old man's got a problem //He live with the bottle that's the way it is"
The Beatles: "when I'm home, feeling you holding me tight, tight"

Grammar is fun

What do you call Santa's Helpers?
Subordinate clauses!

What does Santa call his wife at tax time?
A dependent Claus

Why did Cinderella's soccer team always lose?

Because her coach was a pumpkin

Describe the processes involved in the words that make these jokes possible.

THE TRAIN TO OXFORD (a good example of how to avoid wasting words!)

This dialogue is a good example of the process of ELLIPSIS. It was originally assigned as an excercise to show the importance of intonation to convey meaning but I find it interesting also for you to supply what has been left out in the process of ellipsis; you will need to punctuate accordingly too. (source: English course for teachers, Bath, England 2000; not done by me!)

A: Um cigarette

B: Thanks

A: Oxford

B: Yes you

A: Um that's right student

B: Nurse you

A: Unemployed

B: Long

A: A year er married

B: Divorced

A: Really me too

B: Kids

A: One you

B: Three

A: Erm dinner

B: When

A: Tonight

B: Ah busy tomorrow

A: Lunch

B: OK where

A: Um Browns

B: Browns

A: When

B: One

A: Fine Oh Oxford

B: Already

A: Tomorrow

B: Tomorrow

A: Oh

B: Yes

A: Name

B: Sarah

A: Andrew

We'll miss you, George!

Did you know that George Bush was very generous? Well, he was in the sense that during his presidency, he provided us with lots of samples of incorrect and nonsensical use of the language. He's gone but luckily he has left a vast legacy of speeches full of mistakes for us to spot. Let's try!

"One thing is clear, is relations between America and Russia are good, and they're important that they be good."
“I tell people, let's don't fear the future, let's shape it."

"This has been tough weeks in that country."

"The federal government and the state government must welcome those faith-based programmes for the embetterment of mankind.”

Grammar jargon

We have to admit that grammarians' terminology is very creative. Some words are quite obvious and easy to recognize, like "negator" or "hesitator" but some others look a bit pompous, like "empty carrier as marker of the infinitive"!!!
My favourite one is "dummy element". What specific word has called your attention when studying grammar? Post your favourite so as to have a ranking, something like the "grammar jargon top ten".

Grammar puzzles

Here's a challenge for you. Punctuate the following so that it makes sense. Then, identify subordinate clauses:
1- I think that that that that the student has written is wrong.
2- I think that the fish and and chips are too apart on this sign.
3- Peter where Mary had had had had had had had had had had the teacher's approval (cue: there are two sentences here)
Come on! Use your loaf! (for the meaning of this expression, ask sb who speaks cockney!)