Adverb
Adverb
An adverb is a part of speech. It is any word that modifies any other part of language: verbs, adjectives (including numbers), clauses, sentences and other adverbs, except for nouns; modifiers of nouns are primarily determiners and adjectives.
Adverbs typically answer such questions as how?, when?, where?, To what extent?, In what kind or how often? This function is called the adverbial function, and is realized not just by single words (i.e., adverbs) but by adverbial phrases and adverbial clauses.Adverbs also describe adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs.
An adverb as an adverbial may be a sentence element in its own right.
They treated her well. (SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT + ADVERBIAL)
Alternatively, an adverb may be contained within a sentence element.
An extremely small child entered the room. (SUBJECT + ADVERBIAL + OBJECT +VERB)
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ADVERBS: position (details)
ADVERBS: position (details)
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connecting adverbs
These adverbs join a clause to what came before.
Examples: however, then, next, beside, anyway
Position: beginning of clause
Some of us want to a new system; however, not everybody agrees.
I worked until five o’clock. Then I went home.
Next, I want to say something about the future.
Mid-position is often possible in a more formal style.
I then went home.
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Indefinite frequency
These adverbs say how often something happens.
Examples: always, ever, usually, normally, often, frequently, sometimes, occasionally, rarely, seldom, never.
Position: mid-position (after auxiliary verbs and am/are/is/was/were; before other verbs.
Auxiliary verb + adverb
I have never seen a whale.
You can always come and stay with us if you want to.
Have you ever played American football?
Am/are/is/was/were +adverb
My boss is often bad-tempered
I’m seldom late for work.
Adverb +other verb
We usually go to Hawaii in February.
It something gets very windy here.
When there are two auxiliary verbs, these adverbs usually come after the first.
We have never been invited to one of their parties.
She must sometimes have wanted to run away.
Usually, normally, often, frequently, sometimes and occasionally can also go at the beginning or end of a clause. Always, ever, rarely, seldom and never cannot normally go in these positions.
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focusing adverb
These adverbs ‘point to’ one part of clause.
Examples: also, just, even, only, mainly, mostly, either, or,, neither, nor.
Position: mid-position. They can also go in other places in a clause, directly before the words they modify.
Auxiliary verb + adverb
He’s been everywhere – he’s even been to Paris.
We’re only going for two days.
Am/are/was/were + adverb
She’s my teacher, but she’s also my friend.
The people at the meeting were mainly scientist.
Adverb +other verb
Your bicycle just needs some oil – that’s all.
She neither said thank-you nor looked at me.
Adverb directly before word(s) modified
Only you could do a thing like that
I feel really tired.
He always wears a coat, even in summer.
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adverbs of certainly
We use these adverbs to say how sure we are of something.
Examples: certainly, definitely, clearly, obviously, probably.
Position: mid-position
Auxiliary verb +adverb it will probably rain this evening
The train has obviously been delayed.
It will probably rain this evening.
Am/are/was/were + adverb
There is clearly something wrong.
She is definitely older than him.
Adverb + other verb
He probably thinks you don’t like him.
I certainly feel better today.
Maybe and perhaps usually come at the beginning of a clause.
Perhaps her train is late.
Maybe I’m right and maybe I’m wrong.
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adverbs of completeness
These adverbs say how completely something happens or is true.
Examples: completely, practically, almost, nearly, quite, rather, partly, sort of, kind of, more or less, hardly, scarcely.
Position: mid-position
Auxiliary verb +adverb
I have completely forgotten your name.
Sally can practically read.
Am/are/is/was/were + adverb
It almost dark.
The house partly ready.
Adverb + other verb
I kind of hope she wins.
It hardly matters.
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adverbs of manner; comment adverbs
Adverbs of manner say how something happens or is done.
Examples: angrily, happily, fast, slowly, suddenly, well badly, nicely, nosily, quietly, hard, and softly.
Position: most often at the end of a clause, especially if the adverb is important to the meaning of the verb and cannot be left out. Adverbs in –ly can go in mid-position if the adverb is not the main focus of the message.
End position
He drove off angrily.
She read the letter slowly.
You speak English well.
Mid position
She angrily tore up the letter.
I slowly began to fell better again.
Mid-position is especially common with passive verbs.
Her books are always well written.
Comment adverbs (which give the speaker’s opinion of an action) most often go in mid-position.
I stupidly forgot my keys.
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adverbs of place
These adverbs say where something happens.
Examples: upstairs, around, here, to bed, in London, out of the window.
Position: at the end of clause
Come and sit here.
The children are playing upstairs.
She’s sitting at the end of the garden.
Initial position is also possible, especially in literary writing and if the adverb is not the main focus of the message.
At the end of the garden there was a very tall tree.
Adverbs of direction (movement) come before adverbs of position.
The children are running around upstairs.
Here and there often begin clauses. Note the word order in here/there is, here come and there goes.
Here/there +verb +subject
Here comes your bus.
There’s Alice.
There goes our train.
Pronoun subject come directly after here and there.
Here it comes.
There she is.
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adverbs of time and definite frequency
These adverbs say when or how often something happens.
Examples: today, afterwards, in June, last year, finally, before, eventually, already, soon, still, last, daily, weekly, every year.
Position: mostly in end position; initial position is also common if the adverb is not the main focus of the message. Some can go in mid-position, adverbs of indefinite frequency (often, ever etc) go in mid-position.
I’m going to London today. / Today I’m going to London.
She has a new hair style every week. / Every week she has a new hair style.
Finally, eventually, already, soon and last can also go in mid-position; still and just only go in mid-position.
So you finally got here.
I’ve already paid the bill.
I still love you.
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emphasising adverbs
These adverbs modify particular words or expressions in a clause, and go just before them.
Examples; very, extremely, terribly, just, almost, really, right.
I’ll see you in the pub just before eight o’clock.
She walked right past me.
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mid position: detailed rules
Mid-position adverbs usually go after auxiliary verbs, after am/are/is/was/were, and before other verbs.
She has never written to me.
It certainly looks like rain
When there are two or more auxiliaries, the adverb usually goes after the first.
She never definitely been working too hard,
She would never been promoted if she hadn’t changed jobs.
But other positions are possible, especially when the first part of the verb phrase is modal auxiliary, used to or have to.
They sometime must be bored.
She could have easily been killed.
When adverbs of completeness or manner go in mid-position, they are normally put after all auxiliary verbs.
I will have completely finished by next June.
Do you think the repair has been properly done?
When an auxiliary verb is used alone instead of a complete verb phrase, a mid-position adverb comes before it.
‘Are you happy?’ ‘I certainly am.’
I don’t trust politicians.
I never have, and I never will.
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mid-position adverbs with negative verbs
In negative sentences, adverbs generally come before not if they emphasise the negative: otherwise they come after. Compare:
I certainly do not agree.
I do not often have girlfriend.
Both positions are possible with some adverbs, often with difference of meaning. Compare:
I don’t really like her. (Mild dislike)
I really don’t like her (strong dislike)
When adverbs come before not, they may also come before the first auxiliary verb; they always come before do.
I probably will not be there.
He probably does not know.
Only one position is possible before a contracted negative.
I probably won’t be there.
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mid position adverbs with emphatic verbs
When we emphasise auxiliary verbs or am/are/is/was/were, we put most mid-position adverbs before them instead of after. Compare:
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She has certainly made him angry.
She certainly has made him angry!
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I’m really sorry.
I really am sorry.
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mid-position in American English
in American English, mid-position adverbs are often put before auxiliary verbs and am/are/is/was/were, even when the verb is not emphasised. Compare:
He probably has arrived by now.
He has probably arrived by now.
As an extreme example, here are four sentences in a journalistic style taken from an American newspaper article on crime in Britain. The most normal British equivalents are given in brackets.
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end position: details rules
Some sentences are in complete without adverb complements. For example, a sentence with put, go or last may not make sense unless one say where something is put, where somebody goes or how long something last. To say how well somebody does something, one is likely to need an adverb of manner. These ‘essential complements’ usually go in end position, and before other adverbs.
Put the butter in the fridge at once.
Let’s go to bed early
Except for essential complements, adverbs in end position usually come in the order manner, place, and time.
I worked hard yesterday.
She sang beautifully in the town hall last night.
DETERMINERS
DETERMINERS
Determiners are words coming at the beginning of noun phrase that precede noun but they are not Adjective.
The sun This book every week
A nice day Some people enough money
My parent either arm several students
There are two main groups of Determiners:
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Group 1 determiners
These help to identify things─ to say whether they are known or unknown to the hearer, which one (s) the speaker is talking about, whether the speaker is thinking of particular examples or speaking in general.
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Articles: a, an, the
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a/ an is called indefinite article. The is called definite article
Discovery of Linguistic
Discovery of Linguistic Up: Discovery of Linguistic Relations Previous: Discovery of Linguistic Relations
Subsections
1.1 The case for lexical attraction
Language understanding
Language acquisition
1.2 Bootstrapping acquisition
1.3 Learning to process a simple sentence
1. Language Understanding and Acquisition
This work has been motivated by a desire to explain language learning on one hand and to build programs that can understand language on the other. I believe these two goals are very much intertwined. As with many other areas of human intelligence, language proved not to be amenable to small models and simple rule systems. Unlocking the secrets of learning language from raw data will open up the path to robust natural language understanding.
I believe what makes humans good learners is not sophisticated learning algorithms but having the right representations. Evolution has provided us with cognitive transducers that make the relevant features of the input explicit. The representational primitives for language seems to be the linguistic relations like subject-verb, verb-object. The standard phrase-structure formalism only indirectly represents such relations as side-effects of the constituent-grouping process. I adopted a formalism which takes relations between individual words as basic primitives. Lexical attraction gives the likelihood of such relations. I built a language program in which the only explicitly represented linguistic knowledge is lexical attraction. It has no grammar or a lexicon with parts of speech.
My program does not have different stages of learning and processing. It learns while processing and gets better as it is presented with more input. This makes it possible to have a feedback loop between the learner and the processor. The regularities detected by the learner enable the processor to assign structure to the input. The structure assigned to the input enables the learner to detect higher level regularities. Starting with no initial knowledge, and seeing only raw text input, the program is able to bootstrap its acquisition and show significant improvement in identifying meaningful relations between words.
The first section presents lexical attraction knowledge as a solution to the problems of language acquisition and syntactic disambiguation. The second section describes the bootstrapping procedure in more detail. The third section presents snapshots from the learning process. Chapter 2 gives more examples of learning. Chapter 3 explains the computational, mathematical and linguistic foundations of the lexical attraction models. Chapter 4 describes the program and its results in more detail. Chapter 5 summarizes the contributions of this work.
1.1 The case for lexical attraction
Lexical attraction is the measure of affinity between words, i.e. the likelihood that two words will be related in a given sentence. Chapter 3 gives a more formal definition. The main premise of this thesis is that knowledge of lexical attraction is central to both language understanding and acquisition. The questions addressed in this thesis are how to formalize, acquire and use the lexical attraction knowledge. This section argues that language acquisition and syntactic disambiguation are similar problems, and knowledge of lexical attraction is a powerful tool that can be used to solve both of them.
Language understanding
Syntax and semantics play complementary roles in language understanding. In order to understand language one needs to identify the relations between the words in a given sentence. In some cases, these relations may be obvious from the meanings of the words. In others, the syntactic markers and the relative positions of the words may provide the necessary information. Consider the following examples:
(1) I saw the Statue of Liberty flying over New York.
(2) I hit the boy with the girl with long hair with a hammer with vengeance.
In sentence (1) either the subject or the object may be doing the flying. The common interpretation is that I saw the Statue of Liberty while I was flying over New York. If the sentence was “I saw the airplane flying over New York”, most people would attribute flying to the airplane instead. The two sentences are syntactically similar but the decision can be made based on which words are more likely to be related.
Sentence (2) ends with four prepositional phrases. Each of these phrases can potentially modify the subject, the verb, the object, or the noun of a previous prepositional phrase, subject to certain constraints discussed in Chapter 3. In other words, syntax leaves the question of which words are related in this sentence mostly open. The reader decides based on the likelihood of potential relations.
(3) Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
In contrast, sentence (3) is a classical example used to illustrate the independence of grammaticality from meaningfulness1.1. Even though none of the words in this sentence go together in a meaningful way, we can nevertheless tell their relations from syntactic clues.
These examples illustrate that syntax and semantics independently constrain the possible interpretations of a sentence. Even though there are cases where either syntax or semantics alone is enough to get a unique interpretation, in general we need both. What we need from semantics in particular is the likelihood of various relations between words.
Language acquisition
Children start mapping words to concepts before they have a full grasp of syntax. At that stage, the problem facing the child is not unlike the disambiguation problem in sentences like (1) and (2). In both cases, the listener is trying to identify the relations between the words in a sentence and syntax does not help. In the case of the child, syntactic rules are not yet known. In the case of the ambiguous sentences, syntactic rules cannot differentiate between various possible interpretations.
Similar problems call for similar solutions. Just as we are able to interpret ambiguous sentences relying on the likelihood of potential relations, the child can interpret a sentence with unknown syntax the same way.
PHRASE AND PHRASE STRUCTURE RULES
ENGLISH PHRASE
Sentences are not formed by simply stringing words together like beads on necklace, Rather, sentences have a hierarchical design in which words are grouped together into successively larger structural units, namely phrases. In grammar, a phrase is a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence. It can also be defined as a term used in grammatical analysis to refer to a single element of structure containing more than one word, and lacking the subject-predicate structure typical of clauses. What is meant by a phrase is a slot in which one or more words can occur, or indeed other phrases can occur.
For example the house at the end of the street (example 1) is a phrase. It acts like a noun. It contains the phrase at the end of the street (example 2), which acts like an adjective. Example 2 could be replaced by white, to make the phrase the white house. Examples 1 and 2 contain the phrase the end of the street (example 3) which acts like a noun. It could be replaced by the cross-roads to give the house at the cross-roads.
Most phrases have a head or central word which defines the type of phrase. In English the head is often the first word of the phrase. Some phrases, however, can be headless. For example, the rich is a noun phrase composed of a determiner and an adjective, but no noun.
Phrases may be classified by the type of head (vs. Tail) they take
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Prepositional phrase (PP) with a preposition as head (e.g. in love, over the rainbow). Languages that use postpositions instead have postpositional phrases. The two types are sometimes commonly referred to as adpositional phrases.
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Noun phrase (NP) with a noun as head (e.g. the black cat, a cat on the mat) Please come in vs. She goes down + ?
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Verb phrase (VP) with a verb as head (e.g. eat cheese, jump up and down)
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Adjectival phrase with an adjective as head (e.g. full of toys)
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Adverbial phrase with adverb as head (e.g. very carefully)
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Is there any Conjunction phrase (conjP) ? Phrasal Conjunction? e.g. in case, as far as, in spite of, etc.
Endocentric and exocentric constructions (phrases).
Endocentric phrase? NP, VP, AP, AdvP
Exocentric phrase? PP
Specific types of phrases:
1. Participial phrases (functioning like Adjective and adverb):
a. present participial phrases.
b. past participial phrases.
2. Gerund phrases (functioning like noun)
3. (To) infinitive phrases (functioning like noun, adjective, and adverb
4. Absolute construction phrases (functioning based on the form)
A phrase is a syntactic structure which has syntactic properties derived from its head. A phrase can contain another phrase, e.g. the rather intriguing results of the examination. A phrase can also contain a clause, e.g. the woman who came to see him. Phrases can be extended indefinitely, different types of phrase have different types of head. Phrases occur in clauses, but clauses can also occur inside phrases
A complex phrase consists of several words, whereas a simple phrase consists of only one word. This terminology is especially often used with verb phrases:
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simple past and present are simple verb, which require just one verb
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complex verb have one or two aspects added, hence require additional two or three words
“Complex”, which is phrase-level, is often confused with “compound“, which is word-level. However, there are certain phenomena that formally seem to be phrases but semantically are more like compounds, like “women’s magazines”, which has the form of a possessive noun phrase, but which refers (just like a compound) to one specific lexeme (i.e. a magazine for women and not some magazine owned by a woman).
“The Preposition”
“The Preposition”
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A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. The word or phrase that the preposition introduces is called the object of the preposition.
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Prepositions are the words that we use to indicate location. Usually, prepositions show this location in the physical world.
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A preposition is a word used to show the relationship of a noun to something else, usually a location in space or time. A preposition is one type of a larger grammatical category referred to as adpositions. Virtually all adpositions in English are prepositions — with a few exceptions that can be used as postpositions, such as hence and thereafter.
In most languages, the set of prepositions is extremely subject to change, and English is no exception. Over time a word may take on meaning as a preposition, or may lose that meaning and no longer be classified as a preposition. For this reason, “complete” lists of prepositions in any language are a questionable affair, though many grammar textbooks still attempt to provide such a reference. When trying to determine whether a word is a preposition, one need only look to the role it serves in the sentence — is it being used to demonstrate a spatial or temporal relationship between the subject and object of the sentence, or between two objects? If so, the word is likely a preposition.
Common prepositions include the words: about, above, after, among, around, at, before, behind, beneath, beside, between, by, down, from, in, into, like, near, of, off, on, out, over, through, to, up, upon, and with. This is only a sampling of the many, many prepositions found in English. Many prepositions are also formed by combining multiple words, such as the phrases ahead of, in front of, on top of, on to, and prior to. Additionally, many archaic prepositions are no longer in common usage, but still sometimes crop up in writing or speech, such as betwixt, versus, unto, and sans. A word such as but or except may be classified by some as a preposition, while others hold these words to be similar to prepositions, but not strictly belonging in that class.
In sentences such as four score and seven years ago or all evidence aside, we see examples of a different type of adposition, known as a postposition. English has few postpositions, and in most cases they may also be used prepositionally — we can change our example of aside in the above to be prepositional by simply changing the order, as in, aside from all evidence. A prepositional phrase is formed by combining a preposition with a noun and adding any additional modifiers that may be desired. In the phrase at work, for example, the word at is a preposition, and the noun work combines with it to make a prepositional phrase.
A prepositional phrase may serve a number of functions. It may be the object or subject of a sentence, or it may function as an adjective or adverb. In the sentence The women ran with vigor. for example, the prepositional phrase with vigor is acting as an adverb to modify ran. In the sentence The men are in denial. on the other hand, the prepositional phrase in denial serves as an adjective to modify the men.
There is some debate in English as to whether it is acceptable to distance the preposition in a sentence from its object, or to end a sentence with a preposition. Different grammarians have different feelings about these issues — though in most cases tensions run high. Usage recommendations seem to be tending towards the liberal as time passes, with few mainstream grammarians arguing against terminating a sentence with a preposition in a case such as This is something I can’t put up with.
A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence as in the following examples:
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The book is on the table.
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The book is beneath the table.
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The book is leaning against the table.
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The book is beside the table.
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She held the book over the table.
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She read the book during class.
In each of the preceding sentences, a preposition locates the noun “book” in space or in time.
A prepositional phrase is made up of the preposition, its object and any associated adjectives or adverbs. A prepositional phrase can function as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. The most common prepositions are “about,” “above,” “across,” “after,” “against,” “along,” “among,” “around,” “at,” “before,” “behind,” “below,” “beneath,” “beside,” “between,” “beyond,” “but,” “by,” “despite,” “down,” “during,” “except,” “for,” “from,” “in,” “inside,” “into,” “like,” “near,” “of,” “off,” “on,” “onto,” “out,” “outside,” “over,” “past,” “since,” “through,” “throughout,” “till,” “to,” “toward,” “under,” “underneath,” “until,” “up,” “upon,” “with,” “within,” and “without.”
Each of the highlighted words in the following sentences is a preposition:
The children climbed the mountain without fear.
In this sentence, the preposition “without” introduces the noun “fear.” The prepositional phrase “without fear” functions as an adverb describing how the children climbed.
There was rejoicing throughout the land when the government was defeated.
Here, the preposition “throughout” introduces the noun phrase “the land.” The prepositional phrase acts as an adverb describing the location of the rejoicing.
The spider crawled slowly along the banister.
The preposition “along” introduces the noun phrase “the banister” and the prepositional phrase “along the banister” acts as an adverb, describing where the spider crawled.
The dog is hiding under the porch because it knows it will be punished for chewing up a new pair of shoes.
Here the preposition “under” introduces the prepositional phrase “under the porch,” which acts as an adverb modifying the compound verb “is hiding.”
The screenwriter searched for the manuscript he was certain was somewhere in his office.
Similarly in this sentence, the preposition “in” introduces a prepositional phrase “in his office,” which acts as an adverb describing the location of the missing papers.
THE ROLE OF FORMAL INSTRUCTION IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
THE ROLE OF FORMAL INSTRUCTION IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Introduction
This chapter looks at second language acquisition in a classroom setting. It considers whether instruction makes a difference to SLA. This is an important issue, because it addresses the question of the role played by environmental factors in SLA. It is also an important educational issue, as language pedagogy has traditionally operated on the assumption that grammar can be taught.
Two board types of SLA can be identified according to the acquisition setting;
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Naturalistic SLA.
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Classroom SLA.
It was pointed out that classroom discourse can be distorted, in comparisons to naturally occurring discourse. An important question therefore is in what ways this distortion, which is largely brought about by the attempt to instruct rather than to converse, affects the route and rate of SLA in the classroom. By considering how formal instruction affects SLA it is possible to address the wider issue of the role environmental factors.
In many instructional methods an assumption is made that focusing on linguistic form aids the acquisition or grammatical knowledge or to put it another way, that raising the learner’s consciousness about the nature of target language rules helps the learner to internalize them.
In the case of deductive methods this is self-evidently the case. But it is also true in ‘habbit methods’ methods such as audio-legal lingualism , as the purpose of the practice provided is to focus on specific linguistic forms, which the learner is encouraged to induced and of which ultimately he will form a more or less, conscious mental representation.
Another assumption of formal instruction is that the order in which grammatical features are taught will govern the order in which they are learnt. Language syllabuses are organized in such a way as to facilitate the correlation between the teaching order and the learning order.
The investigation of the role of formal instruction can be undertaken in two ways. First, an answer to the question ‘Does formal instruction aid SLA?’ can be sought. Secondly, the question ‘What kinds of formal instruction facilitate SLA the most?’ can be tackled. In the first question there is an assumption that all types of formal instructions share certain basic premises and that it is, therefore possible to talk generically of ‘ Formal instruction’. In the second question there is an assumption that formal instruction in general is facilitative and that the important issue is what is distinguishes the more successful from the least successful types.
What the different instructional methods had in common was a focus on form, manifested, for instance, in the provision of feedback by the teacher for correcting formal errors.
This chapter has four sections. The first examines its effect on the route of SLA. The secondly examine its effect on the rate/success of SLA. In the third section, explanations of the result reported in the first two sections will be reviewed. Finally, the conclusion briefly considers the implications for both SLA theory and language pedagogy.
The effects of formal instruction on the route of SLA
The route of SLA was considered in term of general sequence of development and the order in which specific grammatical features were acquired. The evidence for the reported universality of the sequence and the minor differences in the order come from (1) morpheme studied (2) longitudinal studies. These studies how ever were of either pure naturalistic SLA or mixed SLA. The morpheme and longitudinal studies will again be considerers separately.
Morpheme studies of classroom SLA
The morpheme studies can be divided into two groups. In the first group are five studies that investigated second language learners. In the other group are four studies investigated foreign language learners
Perkins and Larsen freeman (1975) investigated the morpheme; they used two tasks to collect data;
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A translation test.
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A description task based on a non-dialogue film.
On (1) the morpheme orders before and after instruction differed significantly, but on (2) there was no significant difference. In other words, the teaching and learning orders were different. Taken together, these studies suggest but do not prove that formal instruction does not alter the order of acquisition of grammatical morphemes when the learners is engaged in language use and is focused on meaning.
This general conclusion holds true irrespective of whether the learners are children or adults and most interestingly, irrespective of whether the learners are in foreign or second language environments. Formal instruction appears, then to have only a negligible effect on the morpheme order manifest in spontaneous language use. However, morpheme orders measure accuracy rather than acquisition. In order to obtain a more reliable picture of the effects of instruction on L2 development, it is necessary to turn to the longitudinal studies of translation structures.
Longitudinal studies of classroom CLA
Curiously the case-study approach, so central to the methodological baggage of first and second language acquisition researchers has not typically, been thought sensible for learners in class. There are very few longitudinal studies of classroom SLA. The three that will be discussed here are Felix (1981), Ellis (1984a) and Schumann (1978b). The available longitudinal evidence, therefore is even slighter that provided by the morpheme studies. The general teaching method was a traditional audio-lingual one, the grammatical structures that Felix report on are negation, interrogation, sentence types, and pronoun. For each structure, parallels were found between tutored and naturalistic SLA. In a classroom where the instruction is very formal, learners are constantly being forced to produce structures they are not ready for. Felix suggests that they solve the problem that this poses for them in one of two ways. Either they select random from the structures in their repertoire, irrespective of syntactic or semantic appropriateness, or they follow the same rules that characterize the early stages of naturalistic language acquisition.
Ellis examined negatives, interrogatives, and a number of verb phrase morpheme. All of these structures were formally taught at one time. When the communicative speech produced by the learners in the classroom was analysed, it was shown to display a pattern of development more or less identical to that observed in naturalistic SLA.
In Schumann’s study a deliberate attempt was made to teach an adult L2 learner how to negate. This took place in the context of a longitudinal study of what was otherwise naturalistic SLA. Prior to the instructional experiment the learner’s negative utterances were collected, Schumann concluded that the instruction influenced the learner’s production only in test-like situations, while normal communication remained unaffected.
Taking these studies together, the following can be hypothesized:
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Instruction does not circumvent the processes responsible for the sequence of development evident in transitional structures such as negatives an interrogative in naturalistic SLA.
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When classroom learners are required to produce structures beyond their competence, idiosyncratic forms are likely to result.
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The distorted input may prolong certain stages of development and slow down the emergence of some grammatical features.
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Classroom learners are able to make use of knowledge acquired through formal instruction when they are focused on form.
Verb
Verb
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One of the sentence cores.
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The verb is the most complex part of speech. Its varying arrangements with nouns determine the different kinds of sentence – statements, question, commands, and exclamations.
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A word that serves as the predicate of sentence.
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A content word that denotes an action or a state of being.
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A word that means event or action, and it combines things involved in the event in a sentence.
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A part of speech that usually denotes action (bring, read), occurance (to decompose (itself), to glitter), or astate of being (exist, live, soak, stand).
Properties of verbs:
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Tense – special verb endings or accompanying auxiliary verbs to signal the time.
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Voice – special verb forms arranged in certain positions with nouns to indicate whether the grammatical subject of sentence is performing an action (active voice) or is itself being acted upon (passive voice).
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Mood – special verb forms marking (a) commands and requests, (b) statements expressing wishes, unreal conditions, or matters of urgency or importence.
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Aspect – certain verb forms, often with accompanying adverbial expression, indicating whether an event is to be regarded as a single points on a time continuum, a repetition of points, or a single duration with a beginning, a middle, and an end.
It is misleading to think of a verb simply as the action in the sentence. While there are any number of action verbs, such as run or jump, sometimes the action is merely emotional or intellectual, as in believe or think. Other times, verbs indicate no action at all, as in be or seem, but instead serve to link the subject with its state of being.
To delineate between action that is received by an object and action that is not received by an object, action verbs are divided into transitive and intransitive verbs. Those verbs that indicate a state of being rather than an action are defined as linking verbs. Determining whether the verb indicates an action or a state of being is easier with a clear understanding of verb tense and structure.
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Verb Tense and Structure
The tense of a verb indicates the relative time of the action or state of being. Rarely are journalists required to know a verb’s tense other than to understand its usage and agreement. In other words, it is less important for the average journalist to know that in the sentence “Bill is running,” the verb “is running” is in the present progressive tense than it would be to know that “running” is the main verb and “is ” acts as its helper. It is also important to know that the form of the helping verb must agree with the subject. (i.e. “Bill is running” not “Bill are running” or “Bill were running.”)
Writers would be wise to recognize that the verb is the force behind the sentence and, therefore, will improve their writing by being able to recognize what the verb is and how it is being used.
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The first step in that process is understanding the structure or parts of a verb.
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Verbs in the simple past or simple present tense have only a lexical (main) verb:
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The woman ran the marathon.
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He gives his money to charity.
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The kangaroo hopped quickly toward the fence.
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Sentences in other tenses have more complicated verb structures:
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Tim was organizing the award dinner last week.
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Every Friday this year, Gloria has taken her dog to obedience training.
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Taking any chance to avoid work, Carton will pretend to be asleep.
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In these more complicated tenses, auxiliary (helping) verbs and lexical (main) verbs make up the complete verb.
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A LEXICAL VERB is the MAIN verb of the sentence.
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Think of the lexical verb as the main action the subject is engaged in.
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Consider the following sentence:
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Ellen Castro will be attending the movie premiere this evening.
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ATTENDING is Ellen Castro’s main action. The other parts of the verb (will be) simply help out.
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Please note that a lexical verb does not require an auxilary verb, but an auxilary verb exists only to help a lexical verb. It cannot exist alone.
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Susan Raymond rested in the shadow of a canyon oak tree.
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Susan’s action, which occured in the past, is RESTED. RESTED is the lexical verb and has no auxilary verb.
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Alfred should give his jacket to someone who will wear it.
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Alfred’s action, which is conditional, is GIVE. GIVE is the lexical verb and SHOULD helps it and is auxilary.
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The barber has been giving that man a haircut every month for 30 years.
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The barber’s action, which has continued to occur over time, is GIVING. GIVING is the lexical verb. HAS and BEEN help it and are auxilary.
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Linking verbs (those indicating a state of being rather than an action) can include lexical and auxilary verbs.
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Danny Lee is not a member of the legal team.
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Danny is not engaged in an action. He is simply BEING. The lexical verb IS has no auxilary verb.
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If he pleads guilty, the prosecutors will be surprised.
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The prosecutors are not engaged in an action. The complete verb WILL BE links them to their state of being. BE is the lexical verb and WILL helps. It is the auxilary.
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The actress has felt nervous since she was chosen for the part.
The actress is not engaged in an action. The complete verb HAS FELT links her to NERVOUS. FELT is the lexical verb and HAS helps it and is auxilary.
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An AUXILIARY VERB is a SUPPLEMENTAL verb that is “helping” the main verb.
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Susan Raymond was resting in the shadow of a canyon oak tree.
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While Susan’s action is “resting,” it is supported by the auxilary verb “was.”
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With everything going on, the captain might decide to resign his commission.
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The captain’s action is “decide” and “might” helps or is auxilary to that action.
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For the past 10 years, President Marcos has given several awards for bravery.
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The President’s action is “given” and is helped by “has.”
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COMMON AUXILIARY VERBS:
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In the following examples, the auxiliary verb is bold and the lexical verb is underlined.]
TO BE: is, am, ar[e, was, were, been
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The commission is using stocks to purchase development rights.
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The agencies are restricting logging and road building in the forests.
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Brill was lagging in the polls behind Richards.
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The agencies were completing the inventories.
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Moskowitz has been offered a similar project.
TO DO: do, did, does
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Volunteers do spend their weekends mapping the nation’s forests.
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Clinton did agree to ban logging on 40 million acres.
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Time does run out for these wildlands.
TO HAVE: has, had, have
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Brent has planned this party down to the last detail.
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The governor had exhausted all of the options.
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Someone should have predicted these complications.
SHALL, WILL, MAY, CAN, SHOULD, COULD, WOULD,
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This portion will not be eligible for protection under the 1964 Wilderness Act.
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The Clinton Administration may try to make the most of public support for preserving open space.
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Only Congress can formally protect lands under the Wilderness Act.
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They should limit its real estate holdings.
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Preservation could become one of Clinton’s most significant accomplishments.
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The legislation would provide guaranteed funding.
Identifying the various configurations that make up a complete verb helps in understanding the type of verb being used. Once again, this is not because journalists necessarily need to remember the specific type of verb they are using, but because using a verb properly with the correct modifiers strengthens anyone’s writing.
What is a Preposition?
What is a Preposition?
A preposition links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. The word or phrase that the preposition introduces is called the object of the preposition.
A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence as in the following examples:
The book is on the table.
The book is beneath the table.
The book is leaning against the table.
The book is beside the table.
She held the book over the table.
She read the book during class.
In each of the preceding sentences, a preposition locates the noun “book” in space or in time.
A prepositional phrase is made up of the preposition, its object and any associated adjectives or adverbs. A prepositional phrase can function as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. The most common prepositions are “about,” “above,” “across,” “after,” “against,” “along,” “among,” “around,” “at,” “before,” “behind,” “below,” “beneath,” “beside,” “between,” “beyond,” “but,” “by,” “despite,” “down,” “during,” “except,” “for,” “from,” “in,” “inside,” “into,” “like,” “near,” “of,” “off,” “on,” “onto,” “out,” “outside,” “over,” “past,” “since,” “through,” “throughout,” “till,” “to,” “toward,” “under,” “underneath,” “until,” “up,” “upon,” “with,” “within,” and “without.”
Each of the highlighted words in the following sentences is a preposition:
The children climbed the mountain without fear.
In this sentence, the preposition “without” introduces the noun “fear.” The prepositional phrase “without fear” functions as an adverb describing how the children climbed.
There was rejoicing throughout the land when the government was defeated.
Here, the preposition “throughout” introduces the noun phrase “the land.” The prepositional phrase acts as an adverb describing the location of the rejoicing.
The spider crawled slowly along the banister.
The preposition “along” introduces the noun phrase “the banister” and the prepositional phrase “along the banister” acts as an adverb, describing where the spider crawled.
The dog is hiding under the porch because it knows it will be punished for chewing up a new pair of shoes. Here the preposition “under” introduces the prepositional phrase “under the porch,” which acts as an adverb modifying the compound verb “is hiding.”
The screenwriter searched for the manuscript he was certain was somewhere in his office.
Similarly in this sentence, the preposition “in” introduces a prepositional phrase “in his office,” which acts as an adverb describing the location of the missing papers.
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