The grammar is the nuts and bolts of a language. It is the foundational stone to get the grip of a language and master it.
So, a sound knowledge and clarity in comprehending English grammar is mandatory for every English language teacher. Just like the nuts and bolts need to be used for the smooth functioning of an engine, similarly sound knowledge of English grammar is a must.
An English teacher could inspire confidence in a classroom scenario when she has comprehended the English grammar. She will be able to re-structure and apply it under different tenses without altering the meaning of the sentences or use the sentences differently to highlight the different meaning implied.
It is only through the understanding of grammar one comes to know the use of ‘will’ and ‘shall’ and tenses and its usage which are the fine points of grammar that in turn reflect the language proficiency of a teacher.
When the teacher is thorough in her grammatical skills, she could ensure the students grasp it too.
e.g.1) The boy sits on the elephant. {Here the subject is the boy, sits is the verb and the elephant is the object)
2) The elephant sits on the boy. { Here the subject is the elephant, sits, the verb and the boy is the object}
Seeing e.g. 1 and 2, just when the word order is changed, it would be a tragic event for the boy in 2 when the elephant sits on the boy.
Another example is: Did you sleep good(adjective) today?
This is a commonly used wrong sentence. In fact it should be as:
Did you sleep well (adverb) today?
As illustrated above, we can infer that just like the driver could drive a car without knowing how a car works yet knowing it well would help him a lot. Therefore, one must understand the mechanics of English grammar.
Moreover, when a student asks to clarify a certain point in grammar, a good English teacher may not be dumbstruck or need not sway away from the topic but explain practically the rules of English grammar with accurate and detailed information.
Whether an English teacher is a native speaker or non-native speaker, he must have a correct knowledge of English grammar. A native speaker though can speak English fluently and correctly, still she may not know how the language works. Whereas, the non-native speaker, a teacher might subconsciously use the grammatical rules of her first language which might be ungrammatical or have ambiguous meaning. In either cases whether we are a native teacher or non-native English teacher, knowledge of grammar does not enable to describe or teach the rules of grammar to a language learner.
For these reasons, we must know the rules of grammar consciously.
Besides, teachers of English to speakers of other language should know grammar as it is one aspect of language learning on which instruction can have a lasting effect. As a teacher we can make a difference in our students’ ability to speak and write grammatical English even if they are no longer the age where they pick the English language naturally. By giving the right grammatical instructions via additional support we can help students increase their grammatical accuracy.
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Top Books To Learn English Grammar
English Tenses
nglish tenses can seem very confusing! And unless you truly understand them, you really can get quite confused. I mean, there are twelve of them! Sounds pretty complex to begin with, doesn’t it?
Well, it doesn’t have to be. Let’s make it simple.
First of all, what does a TENSE mean?
A TENSE is a form of a verb that shows when the action happens.
It comes from the Latin word “tempus”, which means “time”.
We will start with the basic three tenses:
The Simple Tenses
The simple tenses simply indicate the action and the time of the action. That’s it. No further data is given to us.
For example:
“Lisa dances like crazy at parties” indicates the action of dancing happens in the present.
“Lisa danced like crazy last night” indicates the action of dancing happened in the past.
“Lisa will dance like crazy tomorrow” indicates the action of dancing will happen in the future.
So far pretty simple, isn’t? Let’s take it further.
The Progressive Tenses
This is the next group of tenses. They play a somewhat different rule. We use them when we want to show an action which is IN PROGRESS. So a progressive tense actually gives data about the action, the time of the action and the fact it is in progress.
For example:
“Joe is running around the house right now” indicates the action of running is in progress in the present.
“Last night at seven o’clock, Joe was running around the house” indicates the action of running was in progress in the past.
“Tomorrow at five o’clock, Joe will be running around the house” indicates the action of running will be in progress in the future.
Ok, we made it through these tenses too, the end is not far. The next group of tenses…
The Perfect Tenses
So… The PERFECT tenses… What’s so perfect about them, anyway?
The truth is – not much. Actually, PERFECT in this case does not mean that something is “100%”. The meaning of PREFECT here is: complete, finished.
We use the perfect tenses when we want to show an action which is finished before a certain time. In Present Perfect, the action is already finished in the present. In the Past Perfect, the action is already finished in the past. In the Future Perfect, the action is already finished in the future.
What exactly does it mean?
Examples:
The sentence “Bob has written his homework” means that Bob wrote his homework at some point in the past. Now, in the present, when I tell you the sentence, the homework is already done. He has finished writing it.
The sentence “Kate has lost her bag” means that Kate lost her bag at some point in the past. Now, in the present, when I tell you the sentence, the bag is already lost. She has “finished losing it”.
The sentence “George has walked for two hours” means that George started to walk in the past, walked for two hours, and has already finished. When I tell you the sentence, the action of walking is already complete.
Those were examples for the present. What about the past and future?
Look at these examples:
Simple Overview
A verb is a word, or a group of words, which indicate an action or a state. For example: “eat”, “swim” and “study” all describe actions and are therefore verbs.
“Like”, “have” and “be” are verbs too since they describe states.
A verb can be composed of more than one word. For example: “cut out”, “bring up”, etc.
A verb can be in the first, second, or third person. Now, what does that mean?
First person = I / we (the speaker) Second person = you (the listener) Third person = he / she/ it / they (someone else you are talking about)
When you say a verb is “in the first person” it means the speaker is doing the action. For example: “I go home.” “We play cards.”
When you say a verb is “in the second person” it means the listener is doing the action. For example: “You look nice.” “You guys work hard.”
When you say a verb is “in the third person” it means that someone else is doing the action. For example: “He is a smart guy.” “She will leave soon.” “It was too hot.” “They visited us yesterday.”
Next, verbs are used in different tenses. A tense is simply a form of the verb which shows the time in which action happened.
Tenses give us such information as:
– When?
– Is it in progress?
– Is it complete?
For example, the Simple Past tense merely tells us an action that happened in the past: “I went home.”
The Future Progressive tense tells us an action will be in progress in the future: “He will be dancing all night.”
The Present Perfect tense tells us an action is already complete in the present: “They have bought a new house.”
And so forth.
In English, when you use verbs in sentences, you change them according to things like person and tense. This is called conjugation.
To conjugate, a verb means to change it according to the rules of grammar. This can be very important if you want to be understood.
For example, have a look at the following sentence. Can you understand it clearly? “They speak all the time.”
It doesn’t sound quite right, does it? It is not clear whether the speaker is talking about one person or more. This is because he is used a verb in the third person singular (“speaks”), when he should have used a verb in the third person plural (“speak”).
Here’s another one: “I have quit my job tomorrow.”
Well… What is wrong with this guy? Is he going to quit his job? Or, has he left already? I’m not sure…
So what is the lesson?
When speaking or writing, make sure you conjugate (change) the verb correctly to fit the subject of the sentence and the time of the action.
The subject of verbs has many more aspects and “complications”, but this one rule can definitely save you a lot of mistakes and misunderstandings!