Free TEFL Course – Topic Four: Lesson Planning

No victory was ever won without a plan.

Planning a lesson and integrating that lesson into a course is essential when teaching.
This is based on understanding and monitoring the key goals of students and school.
Once you have identified the goals of the students and school through consultation you
can begin to make your course. Your goal is to arrive at each lesson with clear simple
goals, all the material you need, simple games/activities, extensions,
handouts/homework, revision activities, and a few tricks and treats.

Your lesson plans are a cooperative exercise. Your plans must integrate the wishes and
parameters of the school, the needs and wants of the students, your interests and
aspirations, other teachers’ experience and advice. Most important is to not ‘over-think’
it, a clear simple goal broken down into its basic parts will generate better results than
an extremely detailed and regimented plan. Plans need to suit the students\, not just
the teachers.

A lesson plan can be broken down into the following;

·
Title – Subject, Connection, Organised.
Clear and Simple, with any additional details
Numbers work well, to classify your plans as part of a series
You will be making many of these a good title allows you to be better organised.

· Objectives – Learning, Revision, Primary, Secondary.

What is your goal for this lesson?
What do you want your students to have learnt?
What do you want your students to have revised?
What do you want your students to have completed?

Breaking these down into Primary and Secondary Objectives can be useful. More advanced
students can be challenged to progress further after achieving primary objects.

Timings – schedule, activities, goals, contingencies.

How long would you like each activity to take?
How long will each activity take?

Timings are a tricky thing, not everyone learns at the same pace.
Be prepared to be flexible – prepare more than you think you need and be ready to change your
plan as needed. A common problem with new teachers is to rush an activity, in order to stick to
their plan. Relax! Step back and give students time to learn and build confidence. Whilst
unprepared or jaded teachers can sometimes let activities run too long. This will result in a loss
of motivation and energy as students become bored and give up.

Learn about your students, try, fail, plan better next time. Planning a lesson is an art form not a
science. Repeat what works, ask for advice and plan better next time.

Physical materials list

What do you need to bring?
What do you need to prepare?
How will you integrate your material into lessons?

Having a physical example, prop or realia can make a huge difference to your lessons. Trying to
explain, an apple by waving hands and shouting the word apple can only take you so far.
Flashcards, pictures or even the apple itself means less time explaining what you are trying to
teach and more time teaching. Plus it is fun for both the student at teachers to interact with
something as they both learn and share ideas.

· Setup – Mental warm-up, prepare, vocabulary & Ideas, connections.

What are you teaching today?
How is it connected to previous studies?
How is it related to their goals?

Introduce your topic; this prepares the students by thinking about the subject in their own way.
Once your students understand the topic friction will be reduced, as students begin searching
their own vocabulary and ideas related to the subject, from previous lessons. Taking a few
minutes to explain the goals of the lesson to students makes a world of difference. When goals
are clear, students and teachers move forward in the same direction.

· Teaching – Break-down, explain, demonstrate, inspire.

What will you teach?
How can it be broken down; can you break it down further?
How will you explain it to various levels of students?
How will you connect the abstract teaching to practical examples?
How will you motivate students to use it?

Your goal is to break down your teaching objective in a very clear and simple way. The smaller
the bite the better we digest. Small parts individually understood and synthesised together by the
students are the best, as they enable a sense of achievement in all students. This also enables you
to isolate and follow-up individual sections of the teaching to troubleshoot with students whom
struggle. Once all the parts are understood and put together the students can take the lead by
themselves.

· Activities – class, group, pairs, individual, co-operative, competitive.

How will the students practice, without you?
How can you make the practice more interesting?
How can you use practice to develop other skills?

Activities are the backbone of students’ application. It is in activities that students develop
confidence with the new material and have their first attempt to apply it in a useful manner.
Think of creative ways to get students to use the target-language. This is your best chance for
troubleshooting with struggling students and pushing more advanced students. Use the
opportunity: Circulate!

Devise a mixture of activities that incorporate different motivations. Some students thrive on
competition, whilst other prefer quite co-operation with partner. Include a mix of activities based
on the students wants and their needs/goals. A balance must be struck, based on your students
interests and attitudes. There are no cookie-cutter solutions, but there are definitely some popular
favourites.

· Summary – Re-cap, Summarize, conclude

What did you do today?
What were your goals?
How were the goals achieved?
How much praise and feedback can you give?
How can today’s lesson be used?
Providing a summary is a great way to ensure the new material was correctly understood, in-case
some student s became side-tracked during activities. This also provides you tithe opportunity to
highlight common mistakes you have identified during circulation. Most importantly it’s your
chance to give encouragement, usage advice and build the confidence of students. Considering
praising publically on those whom have worked-hard and those whom need encouragement, an
acclamation from a teacher is worth a million gold stars.

· Evaluation – test, identify, feedback, revise.

What did you teach?
How well did you teach it?
How much was learnt?

Testing is often seen as a negative aspect of teaching. If not well handled, testing can sever the
delicate social bonds between teachers and students. Your best option is not to view testing as a
final crescendo to the course but rather, as a useful tool integrated within your teaching. Testing
is an opportunity to check what is and isn’t working for the class and individual students.
Integrate little tests in the correct manner into your classes to create feedback loops that identify
weakness and in your teaching and the students understanding. Fix these problems and testing
becomes a rewarding and worthwhile aspect.

· Risk assessment – problems, solutions, precaution

What could go wrong?
How can you prevent it?
Do you have a back-up plan?
Everything in war is very simple, but even the simplest things are difficult”
C. von Clausewitz, Friction of War.

Much the same may be said about teaching. Things go wrong! We would be foolish to expect
anything else. Being prepared and ready to handle anything can be a challenge for a new teacher,
but eventually you will grow in confidence and be able to handle any situation in a clam,
graceful and professional way. Until such a time plan and prepare based on the likelihood of
things going wrong. Your school ought to help you plan for safety and security contingences.
Your goal ought to be on your teaching and ensuring a quality outcome. What will you do if your
projector is broken? How will you cope if the students have not bought their books? What is
your plan for a class who refuses to talk?
A few moments spent thinking and preparing yourself for these situations can make an incredible
difference to your performance under pressure.

Post lesson analysis – successes, defeats challenges.

What worked?
What didn't?
How can you make it better next time?

Free TEFL Course – Topic Five: English Grammar

English Grammar is the structure of the language. The Connection and Modification of
ideas is seen and transliterated through: the structure, the phrasing, the use of clauses,
and the formation of sentences. This is especially important in the English language.
English is a diverse language, from a plethora of areas, cultures and histories. We must
recognize that though English is one language, it contains differences in the use of both
spoken and written grammar. Here we will consider standardised forms of English
grammar appropriate for public discourse. Standardised English is used in Media &
Communications, Government & Service, Business & Education; and appropriately
suite both formal and informal speaking. We must recognise there exists differences in
the, Lexicon & Pronunciation of different forms of English: American, British and
Antipodean. However linguistic differences are much smaller in the use of grammar.

Phrases and Word Classification

The English Lexicon may be broken into eight categories, based on different uses or
parts of speech. These eight categories are Adjectives, Adverbs, Conjunctions,
Determiners, Prepositions, Pronouns, and Verbs. Of these we must note; Determiners
can be considered to be a form of adjectives, and Interjections, which do not form
sentences and clauses, in normal usage.

The label Open-Class, is used to denote word categorises which are ‘open’, to new
words. This allows English flexibility to respond the new ideas and create abstractions
of ideas, transferring ideas from the zeitgeist into lexicon tools. Consider the
example Corny being modified into Cronyism. The change addition of the suffix ‘-ism’
serves to modify the idea, from one person to an entire system of socio-political power.
Additionally we create verbs, often replications of colloquial spoken English: ‘Working
365’.
Words may be classified in multiple classes, walk maybe used as both noun and a verb.
Thus identifying word class for learners of English can prove difficult. Words may also
cross classes as they are changed in modern usage. Ensuring you are fully aware of
these feature of the English language will help you explain them better to you students.
often this can prove difficult for teachers, as we learn our native language as much from
listening than from textbooks. Native speakers develop an intuitive understanding which
can be hard to effectively communicate.

A combination of words is, a phrase. Phrases can be categorised similarly to words

based on their central idea. The phrase, ‘your very tall father Chris’can be categorised
as a noun phrase. A noun phrase would be used in a sentence in the place of a noun
the same may be said about adverbs/adverb phrases and adjectives/adjective phrases.
However there is a distinct shift in category terminology. We may consider the following
examples; a verb phrase requires the grouping of a verb together with an object(s) and
dependent(s), a phrase consisting of a preposition and its complement is labelled as
a prepositional phrase.

Nouns
The largest category of words in the English language is, Nouns. Nouns, naming words,
can be modified and used as a suffix: Adage (-age), and Comradeship (-ship). Nouns
are mostly used in base form: apple, fish, tree, Australia. New Nouns can be created by
the conversion of verbs and adjectives, this is often a notable feature of modern
language use.

Unlike French and other languages; English, does not assign gender grammatically.
Engendering is replaced with specialised nouns, used to specifically refer to a gendered
subject: daughter, son, cow, rooster. Nouns are sub-categorised in the following
categories: proper (Henry, Russia), common (rabbit, juice), sensory (look, touch) and
abstract nouns (anger, cowardice). A further distinction is made between countable
(apples, T-shirts) and unaccountable nouns (milk, hay). There also exists a crossover,
nouns which are both countable and uncountable (that was a bad dinner, I like a healthy
dinner)

Countable nouns are made into plurals, most often, by the addition of –[e]s (drums,
ditches ). Another method is used for Irregular forms (man/men, box/boxes).
Occasionally nouns will use the same form for both singular and plural (deer, fish)

Nouns can in some cases be used with plural verbs to refer to a different level of the
words idea. Take for example: The persons were... (Here persons is used to refer to
several legal persons in a trial). This for is often associated with British English.

Nouns in the English language take the Possessive Form to show ownership. This is
achieved by the addition of: -´s (Tom’s, people’s). Multiplicity of ownership is indicated
by the addition of the apostrophe after the word (cats’ owners). Possession can be
 shown in two common ways; as the determiner (Tom’s cat), and also as a noun
phrase (Chris’s is the red car).

Noun phrases
In the same way we use nouns in a sentence we can use a noun phrase within a
sentence. Most often we will see the noun at beginning of the noun phrase; these are
often the subject/object of a verb.
A simple sentence structure, which you could find useful both for your study and
teaching is:

This example we can note the following:

l Determiner: could be an article or similar (a, an, the). Nouns sometimes require a
determiner to be included in the noun phrase.
l Pre-modifiers: could be one or more; adjectives (yellow, quite good), adjectival
modifiers, noun adjuncts (university in the phrase the university),

· A complement or postmodifier may be a prepositional phrase (… of London),

a relative clause (like …which we saw yesterday), certain adjective
or participial phrases (… sitting on the beach), or a dependent clause or infinitive
phrase appropriate to the noun (like … that the world is round after a noun such
as fact or statement, or … to travel widely after a noun such as desire).

An example of a noun phrase that includes all of the above-mentioned elements is that
rather attractive young college student that you were talking to. Here that is the
determiner, rather attractive and young are adjectival pre-modifiers, college is a noun
adjunct, student is the noun serving as the head of the phrase, and that you were
talking to is a post-modifier (a relative clause in this case). Notice the order of the pre-
modifiers; the determiner that must come first and the noun adjunct college must come
after the adjectival modifiers.
Coordinating conjunctions such as and, or, and but can be used at various levels in
noun phrases, as in John, Paul, and Mary; the matching green coat and hat; a
dangerous but exciting ride; a person sitting down or standing up.
See Conjunctions below for more explanation.
Noun phrases can also be placed in apposition (where two consecutive phrases refer to
the same thing), as in that president, Abraham Lincoln, … (where that
president and Abraham Lincoln are in apposition). In some contexts the same can be
expressed by a prepositional phrase, as in the twin curses of famine and
pestilence (meaning “the twin curses” that are “famine and pestilence”).
Particular forms of noun phrases include:
Phrases formed by the determiner the with an adjective, as in the homeless, the
English (these are plural phrases referring to homeless people or English people in
general);
· Phrases with a pronoun rather than a noun as the head (see below);
· Phrases consisting just of a possessive;
· infinitive and gerund phrases, in certain positions;
· certain clauses, such as that clauses and relative clauses like what he said, in
certain positions.
·
Determiners
Determiners (such as: a, an, the, and sometimes some) are a small class. Other examples of determiners are some
demonstrative/interrogative words (which, this that), and possessive words (whose, you). We may also cite;
possessive nouns (Tom’s, the boys), qualifying nouns (much, several, all) along with numbers (ten, nine, eight).
Phrase can alos be considered determiners (a pair of). Some determiners (such as much Determiners are used in the
formation of noun phrases (see above). Many words that serve as determiners can also be used as pronouns
(this, that, many, etc.)
Determiners can be used in certain combinations, such as all the water and the
many problems.
In many contexts, it is required for a noun phrase to be completed with an article or
some other determiner. It is not grammatical to say just cat sat on table; one must
say my cat sat on the table. The most common situations in which a complete noun
phrase can be formed without a determiner are when it refers generally to a whole class
or concept (as in dogs are dangerous and beauty is subjective) and when it is a name
(Jane, Spain, etc.) This is discussed in more detail at English articles and Zero article in
English.

Pronouns
Pronouns are a relatively small, closed class of words that function in the place of nouns
or noun phrases. They include personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, relative
pronouns, interrogative pronouns, and some others, mainly indefinite pronouns.

Personal pronouns
The personal pronouns of modern standard English, and the
corresponding possessive forms, are as follows:

The second-person forms such as you are used with both singular and plural reference.
(An archaic set of pronouns used for singular reference is thou, thee, thyself, thy,
thine.) Youcan also be used as an indefinite pronoun, referring to a person in general
(see generic you) compared to the more formal alternative, one (reflexive oneself,
possessive one’s).
The third-person singular forms are differentiated according to the sex of the referent.
For example, she can be used to refer to a female person, sometimes a female animal,
and sometimes an object to which female characteristics are attributed, such as a ship
or a country. A male person, and sometimes a male animal, is referred to using he. In
other casesit can be used. (See Gender in English.) The word it can also be used as
a dummy subject, in sentences like It is going to be sunny this afternoon.

The third-person plural forms such as they are sometimes used with singular reference,
as a gender-neutral pronoun, as in each employee should ensure they tidy their desk.
This usage is sometimes considered ungrammatical. (See singular they.)

The possessive deteminers such as my are used as determiners together with nouns,
as in my old man, some of his friends. The second possessive forms like mine are used
when they do not qualify a noun: as pronouns, as in mine is bigger than yours, and as
predicates, as in this one is mine. Note also the construction a friend of mine (meaning
“someone who is my friend”). See English possessive for more details.

Demonstrative and interrogative pronouns

The demonstrative pronouns of English are this (plural these), and that (plural those), as
in these are good, I like that. Note that all four words can also be used as determiners
(followed by a noun), as in those cars. They can also then form the alternative
pronominal expressions this/that one, these/those ones.

The interrogative pronouns are who, what, and which (all of them can take the suffix -
ever for emphasis). The pronoun who refers to a person or people; it has an oblique
form whom(though in informal contexts this is usually replaced by who), and a
possessive form (pronoun or determiner) whose. The pronoun what refers to things or
abstracts. The word which is used to ask about alternatives from what is seen as a
closed set: which (of the books) do you like best? (It can also be an interrogative
determiner: which book?; this can form the alternative pronominal expressions which
one and which ones.) Which, who, and what can be either singular or plural,
although who and what often take a singular verb regardless of any supposed number.
For more information see who.
All the interrogative pronouns can also be used as relative pronouns; see below for
more details.

Relative pronouns
The main relative pronouns in English are who (with its derived
forms whom and whose), which, and that. The relative pronoun which refers to things
rather than persons, as in the shirt, which used to be red, is faded. For persons, who is
used (the man who saw me was tall). The oblique case form of who is whom, as in the
man whom I saw was tall, although in informal registers who is commonly used in place
of whom.

The possessive form of who is whose (the man whose car is missing …); however the
use of whose is not restricted to persons (one can say an idea whose time has come).
The word that as a relative pronoun is normally found only in restrictive relative
clauses (unlike which and who, which can be used in both restrictive and unrestrictive
clauses). It can refer to either persons or things, and cannot follow a preposition. For
example, one can say the song that [or which] I listened to yesterday, but the song to
which [not to that] I listened yesterday. The relative pronoun that is usually pronounced
with a reduced vowel (schwa), and hence differently from the
demonstrative that (see Weak and strong forms in English). If that is not the subject of
the relative clause, it can be omitted (the song I listened to yesterday).

The word what can be used to form a free relative clause – one that has no antecedent
and that serves as a complete noun phrase in itself, as in I like what he likes. The
wordswhatever and whichever can be used similarly, in the role of either pronouns
(whatever he likes) or determiners (whatever book he likes). When referring to
persons, who(ever) (andwhom(ever)) can be used in a similar way (but not as
determiners).

There as pronoun
The word there is used as a pronoun in some sentences, playing the role of a dummy
subject, normally of an intransitive verb. The “logical subject” of the verb then appears
as acomplement after the verb.
This use of there occurs most commonly with forms of the verb be in existential clauses,
to refer to the presence or existence of something. For example: There is a
heaven; There are two cups on the table; There have been a lot of problems lately. It
can also be used with other verbs: There exist two major variants; There occurred a
very strange incident.

The dummy subject takes the number (singular or plural) of the logical subject
(complement), hence it takes a plural verb if the complement is plural. In colloquial
English, however, the contraction there’s is often used where there are would be
expected.

The dummy subject can undergo inversion, Is there a test today? and Never has there
been a man such as this. It can also appear without a corresponding logical subject, in
short sentences and question tags: There wasn’t a discussion, was there? There was.

The word there in such sentences has sometimes been analyzed as an adverb, or as a
dummy predicate, rather than as a pronoun. However, its identification as a pronoun is
most consistent with its behavior in inverted sentences and question tags as described
above.

Because the word there can also be a deictic adverb (meaning “at/to that place”), a
sentence like There is a river could have either of two meanings: “a river exists”
(with there as a pronoun), and “a river is in that place” (with there as an adverb). In
speech, the adverbial there would be given stress, while the pronoun would not – in fact
the pronoun is often pronounced as a weak form, /ðə(r)/.

Other pronouns
Other pronouns in English are often identical in form to determiners (especially
quantifiers), such as many, a little, etc. Sometimes the pronoun form is different, as
with none(corresponding to the determiner no), nothing, everyone, somebody, etc.
Many examples are listed at Indefinite pronoun.

Verbs
Verbs form the second largest word class after nouns. The basic form of an English
verb is not generally marked by any ending, although there are certain suffixes that are
frequently used to form verbs, such as -ate (formulate), -fy (electrify),
and -ise/ize (realise/realize). Many verbs also contain prefixes,
such un- (unmask), out- (outlast), over- (overtake), andunder- (undervalue).Verbs can
also be formed from nouns and adjectives by conversion, as with the
verbs snare, nose, dry, and calm.Most verbs have three or four inflected forms: a third-
person singular present tense form in -(e)s (writes, botches), a present
participle and gerund form in -ing (writing), a past tense (wrote), and – though often
identical to the past tense form – a past participle (written). Regular verbs have identical
past tense and past participle forms in -ed, but there are 100 or soirregular English
verbs with different forms (see list). The verbs have, do and say also have irregular
third-person present tense forms (has, does /dʌz/, says /sɛz/). The verb be has the
largest number of irregular forms (am, is, are in the present tense, was, were in the past
tense, been for the past participle).

Most of what are often referred to as verb tenses (or sometimes aspects) in English are
formed using auxiliary verbs. Apart from what are called the simple
present (write, writes) andsimple past (wrote), there are also continuous (progressive)
forms (am/is/are/was/were writing), perfect forms (have/has/had written, and the perfect
continuous have/has/had been writing), future forms (will write, will be writing, will have
written, will have been writing), and conditionals (also called “future in the past”)
with would in place of will. The auxiliariesshall and should sometimes
replace will and would in the first person. For the uses of these various verb forms,
see English verbs and English clause syntax.

The infinitive is the basic form of the verb (be, write, play), although there is also a “to-
infinitive” (to be, to write, to play) used in many syntactical constructions. There are also
infinitives corresponding to other aspects: (to) have written, (to) be writing, (to) have
been writing. The second-person imperative is identical to the (basic) infinitive; other
imperative forms may be made with let (let us go, or let’s go; let them eat cake).

A form identical to the infinitive can be used as a present subjunctive in certain

contexts: It is important that he follow them or … that he be committed to the cause.
There is also a past subjunctive (distinct from the simple past only in the possible use
of were instead of was), used in some conditional sentences and similar: if I
were (or was) rich …; were he to arrive now …; I wish she were (or was) here. For
details see English subjunctive.
The passive voice is formed using the verb be (in the appropriate tense or form) with the
past participle of the verb in question: cars are driven, he was killed, I am being tickled,
it is nice to be pampered, etc. The performer of the action may be introduced in a
prepositional phrase with by (as in they were killed by the invaders).

The English modal verbs consist of the core

modals can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would, as well as ought
(to), had better, and in some uses dare and need. These do not inflect for person or
number, and do not have infinitive or participle forms (except synonyms, as
with be/being/been able (to) for the modals can/could). The modals are used with the
basic infinitive form of a verb (I can swim, he may be killed, we dare not move, need
they go?), except for ought, which takes to (you ought to go).

The copula be, along with the modal verbs and the other auxiliaries, form a distinct
class, sometimes called “special verbs” or simply “auxiliaries”. These have different
syntax from ordinary lexical verbs, especially in that they make their interrogative forms
by plain inversion with the subject, and their negative forms by adding not after the verb
(could I …? I could not …). Apart from those already mentioned, this class may also
include used to (although the forms did he use to? and he didn’t use to are also found),
and sometimes haveeven when not an auxiliary (forms like have you a sister? and he
hadn’t a clue are possible, though becoming less common). It also includes the
auxiliary do (does, did); this is used with the basic infinitive of other verbs (those not
belonging to the “special verbs” class) to make their question and negation forms, as
well as emphatic forms (do I like you?; he doesn’t speak English; we did close the
fridge). For more details of this, see do-support.

Some forms of the copula and auxiliaries often appear as contractions, as in I’m for I
am, you’d for you would or you had, and John’s for John is. Their negated forms with
followingnot are also often contracted (see Negation below). For detail see English
auxiliaries and contractions.

Verb phrases
A verb together with its dependents, excluding its subject, may be identified as a verb
phrase (although this concept is not acknowledged in all theories of grammar). A verb
phrase headed by a finite verb may also be called a predicate. The dependents may
be objects, complements, and modifiers (adverbs or adverbial phrases). In English,
objects and complements nearly always come after the verb; a direct object precedes
other complements such as prepositional phrases, but if there is an indirect object as
well, expressed without a preposition, then that precedes the direct object: give me the
book, but give the book to me. Adverbial modifiers generally follow objects, although
other positions are possible (see under Adverbs below). Certain verb–modifier
combinations, particularly when they have independent meaning (such as take
on and get up), are known as “phrasal verbs”.
For details of possible patterns, see English clause syntax. See the Non-finite
clauses section of that article for verb phrases headed by non-finite verb forms, such as
infinitives and participles.
Adjectives
English adjectives, as with other word classes, cannot in general be identified as such
by their form, although many of them are formed from nouns or other words by the
addition of a suffix, such as -al (habitual), -ful (blissful), -ic (atomic), -
ish (impish, youngish), -ous (hazardous), etc.; or from other adjectives using a
prefix: disloyal, irredeemable, unforeseen, overtired.

Adjectives may be used attributively, as part of a noun phrase (nearly always preceding
the noun they modify), as in the big house, or predicatively, as in the house is big.
Certain adjectives are restricted to one or other use; for example, drunken is attributive
(a drunken sailor), while drunk is usually predicative (the sailor was drunk).

Comparison
Many adjectives have comparative and superlative forms in -er and -est, such
as faster and fastest (from the positive form fast). Spelling rules which maintain
pronunciation apply to suffixing adjectives just as they do for similar treatment of regular
past tense formation; these cover consonant doubling (as in bigger and biggest,
from big) and the change of y to iafter consonants (as in happier and happiest,
from happy).

The adjectives good and bad have the irregular forms better, best and worse, worst;
also far becomes farther, farthest or further, furthest. The adjective old (for which the
regular olderand oldest are usual) also has the irregular forms elder and eldest, these
generally being restricted to use in comparing siblings and in certain independent uses.
For the comparison of adverbs, see Adverbs below.

Many adjectives, however, particularly those that are longer and less common, do not
have inflected comparative and superlative forms. Instead, they can be qualified
with more andmost, as in beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful (this construction is
also sometimes used even for adjectives for which inflected forms do exist).

Certain adjectives are classed as ungradable. These represent properties that cannot
be compared on a scale; they simply apply or do not, as with pregnant, dead, unique.
Consequently, comparative and superlative forms of such adjectives are not normally
used, except in a figurative, humorous or imprecise context. Similarly, such adjectives
are not normally qualified with modifiers of degree such as very and fairly, although with
some of them it is idiomatic to use adverbs such as completely. Another type of
adjectives sometimes considered ungradable is those that represent an extreme degree
of some property, such as delicious and terrified; the same point about modifiers applies
to these, although it is not rare to find them in comparative or superlative form.

Adjective phrases
An adjective phrase is a group of words that plays the role of an adjective in a sentence.
It usually has a single adjective as its head, to which modifiers and complements may
be added.
 Adjectives can be modified by a preceding adverb or adverb phrase, as in very
warm, truly imposing, more than a little excited. Some can also be preceded by a noun
or quantitative phrase, as in fat-free, two-metre-long.
Complements following the adjective may include:
· prepositional phrases: proud of him, angry at the screen, keen on breeding toads;
· infinitive phrases: anxious to solve the problem, easy to pick up;
· content clauses, i.e. that clauses and certain others: certain that he was right, unsure
where they are;
· after comparatives, phrases or clauses with than: better than you, smaller than I had
imagined.
An adjective phrase may include both modifiers before the adjective and a complement
after it, as in very difficult to put away.
Adjective phrases containing complements after the adjective cannot normally be used
as attributive adjectives before a noun. Sometimes they are used attributively after the
noun, as in a woman proud of being a midwife (where they may be converted into
relative clauses: a woman who is proud of being a midwife), but it is wrong to say *a
proud of being a midwife woman. Exceptions include very brief and often established
phrases such as easy-to-use. (Certain complements can be moved to after the noun,
leaving the adjective before the noun, as in a better man than you, a hard nut to crack.)
Certain attributive adjective phrases are formed from other parts of speech, without any
adjective as their head, as in a two-bedroom house, a no-jeans policy.

Adverbs
Adverbs perform a wide range of functions, typically modifying verbs (or verb phrases),
adjectives (or adjective phrases), or other adverbs (or adverb phrases), although they
also sometimes qualify noun phrases (only the boss, quite a lovely place), pronouns
and determiners (almost all) and prepositional phrases (halfway through the movie),
indicate an attitude or comment on a whole sentence (frankly, I don’t believe you), or
indicate the relation between clauses or sentences (he died, and consequently I
inherited the estate).

Many English adverbs are formed from adjectives, by adding the ending -ly, as
in hopefully, widely, theoretically (for details of spelling and etymology, see -ly). Certain
words can be used as both adjectives and adverbs, such as fast, straight, and hard. The
adverb corresponding to the adjective good is well (note that bad forms the
regular badly, although ill is occasionally used in some phrases).

There are also a large number of adverbs that are not derived from adjectives, including
adverbs of time (today, soon, then), of place (here, there, everywhere), of degree
(very,much, quite, so, too), and with other meanings (only, just, however, therefore).
Some suffixes that are fairly commonly used to form adverbs from nouns are -
ward[s] (as inhomeward[s]) and -wise (as in lengthwise).

A few adverbs retain irregular inflection

for comparative and superlative forms: much, more, most; a
little, less, least; soon, sooner, soonest; well, better, best; badly, worse, worst;far, furthe
r (farther), furthest (farthest); or follow the regular adjectival
inflection: fast, faster, fastest, etc. However most adverbs form comparatives and
superlatives by modification with more and most: often, more often, most
often; smoothly, more smoothly, most smoothly (see also comparison of adjectives,
above).

Adverbs indicating the manner of an action are most usually placed after the verb and
its objects (We considered the proposal carefully), although other positions are often
possible. Many adverbs of frequency, degree, certainty, etc. (such
as often, always, almost, probably, and various others such as just) tend to be placed
before the verb (they usually have chips), although if there is an auxiliary or other
“special verb” (see Verbs above), then the normal position for such adverbs is after the
special verb (or after the first of them, if there is more than one): I have just finished the
crossword, she can usually manage a pint, we are never late, you might possibly have
been unconscious. Adverbs that provide a connection with previous information (such
as next, then, however), and those that provide a context (such as time or place) for the
sentence, often come at the start of the sentence: Yesterday we went on a shopping
expedition.

A special type of adverb is the adverbial particle used to form phrasal verbs (such
as up in pick up, on in get on, etc.) If such a verb also has an object, then the particle
may precede or follow the object, although it will normally follow the object if the object
is a pronoun (pick the pen up or pick up the pen, but pick it up).

Adverb phrases
An adverb phrase is a phrase that acts as an adverb within a sentence. An adverb
phrase may have an adverb as its head, together with any modifiers (other adverbs or
adverb phrases) and complements, analogously to the adjective phrases described
above. For example: very sleepily, all too suddenly, oddly enough, perhaps shockingly
for us.
Another very common type of adverb phrase is the prepositional phrase, which consists
of a preposition and its object: in the pool, after two years, for the sake of harmony.

Prepositions
Prepositions form a closed word class, although there are also certain phrases that
serve as prepositions, such as in front of. A single preposition may have a variety of
meanings, often including temporal, spatial and abstract. Many words that are
prepositions can also serve as adverbs. Examples of common English prepositions
(including phrasal instances) are of, in, on, over, under, to, from, with, in front
of, behind, opposite, by, before, after, during, through, in spite
of or despite, between, among, etc.

A preposition is usually used with a noun phrase as its complement. A preposition

together with its complement is called a prepositional phrase. Examples are in
England, under the table, after six pleasant weeks, between the land and the sea. A
prepositional phrase can be used as a complement or post-modifier of a noun in a noun
 phrase, as in the man in the car, the start of the fight; as a complement of a verb or
adjective, as in deal with the problem, proud of oneself; or generally as an adverb
phrase (see above).

English allows the use of “stranded” prepositions. This can occur in interrogative
and relative clauses, where the interrogative or relative pronoun that is the preposition’s
complement is moved to the start (fronted), leaving the preposition in place. This kind of
structure is avoided in some kinds of formal English. For example:
· What are you talking about? (Possible alternative version: About what are you
talking?)
· The song that you were listening to … (more formal: The song to which you were
listening …)
Notice that in the second example the relative pronoun that could be omitted.
Stranded prepositions can also arise in passive voice constructions and other uses of
passive past participial phrases, where the complement in a prepositional phrase can
becomezero in the same way that a verb’s direct object would: it was looked at; I will be
operated on; get your teeth seen to. The same can happen in certain uses
of infinitive phrases: he is nice to talk to; this is the page to make copies of.

Conjunctions
Conjunctions express a variety of logical relations between items, phrases, clauses and
sentences. The principal coordinating conjunctions in English are and, or, and but, as
well as nor, so, yet and for. These can be used in many grammatical contexts to link two
or more items of equal grammatical status, for example:

· Noun phrases combined into a longer noun phrase, such as John, Eric, and Jill, the
red coat or the blue one. When and is used, the resulting noun phrase is plural. A
determiner does not need to be repeated with the individual elements: the cat, the dog,
and the mouse and the cat, dog, and mouse are both correct. The same applies to other
modifiers. (The word but can be used here in the sense of “except”: nobody but you.)

· Adjective or adverb phrases combined into a longer adjective or adverb phrase: tired
but happy, over the fields and far away.·
· Verbs or verb phrases combined as in he washed, peeled, and diced the
turnips (verbs conjoined, object shared); he washed the turnips, peeled them, and diced
them (full verb phrases, including objects, conjoined).
· Other equivalent items linked, such as prefixes linked in pre- and post-test
counselling,[20] numerals as in two or three buildings, etc.·
· Clauses or sentences linked, as in We came but they wouldn’t let us in. They
wouldn’t let us in, nor would they explain what we had done wrong.

There are also correlative conjunctions, where as well as the basic conjunction, an
additional element appears before the first of the items being linked. The common
correlatives in English are:
· either … or (either a man or a woman);
· neither … nor (neither clever nor funny);
 · both … and (they both punished and rewarded them);
· not … but, particularly in not only … but also (not exhausted but exhilarated, not only
football but also many other sports).
Subordinating conjunctions make relations between clauses, making the clause in
which they appear into a subordinate clause.[21] Some common subordinating
conjunctions in English are:

· conjunctions of time, including after, before, since, until, when, while;

· conjunctions of cause and effect, including because, since, now that, as, in order
that, so;
· conjunctions of opposition or concession, such as although, though, even
though, whereas, while;
· conjunctions of condition: such as if, unless, only if, whether or not, even if, in case
(that);
· the conjunction that, which produces content clauses, as well as words that produce
interrogative content clauses: whether, where, when, how, etc.

A subordinating conjunction generally comes at the very start of its clause, although
many of them can be preceded by qualifying adverbs, as in probably
because …, especially if …. The conjunction that can be omitted after certain verbs, as
in she told us (that) she was ready. (For the use of that in relative clauses, see Relative
pronouns above.)

Negation
As noted above under Verbs, a finite indicative verb (or its clause) is negated by placing
the word not after an auxiliary, modal or other “special” verb such as do, can or be. For
example, the clause I go is negated with the appearance of the auxiliary do, as I do not
go (see do-support). When the affirmative already uses auxiliary verbs (I am going), no
other auxiliary verbs are added to negate the clause (I am not going). (Until the period
of early Modern English, negation was effected without additional auxiliary verbs: I go
not.)

Most combinations of auxiliary verbs etc. with not have contracted

forms: don’t, can’t, isn’t, etc. (Also the uncontracted negated form of can is written as a
single word cannot.) On inversion of subject and verb (such as in questions; see below),
the subject may be placed after a contracted negated form: Should he not
pay? or Shouldn’t he pay?

Other elements, such as noun phrases, adjectives, adverbs, infinitive and participial
phrases, etc., can be negated by placing the word not before them: not the right
answer, not interesting, not to enter, not noticing the train, etc.
When other negating words such as never, nobody, etc. appear in a sentence, the
negating not is omitted (unlike its equivalents in many languages): I saw nothing or I
didn’t see anything, but not (except in non-standard speech) *I didn’t see nothing.
Sometimes, multiple negations are used for humorous purposes, and are understood to
follow the rules of multiplying negative numbers in math: an even number of negations,
including zero, means a positive, while an odd number means a negative. For
example, There is not no cow over there is understood to mean there is at least one
cow, which is positive. He didn’t never not bow after a performance is understood to
mean there has been at least one instance of him not bowing, which is negative.

Clause and sentence structure

A typical sentence contains one independent clause and possibly one or
more dependent clauses, although it is also possible to link together sentences of this
form into longer sentences, using coordinating conjunctions (see above).
A clause typically contains a subject (a noun phrase) and a predicate (a verb phrase in
the terminology used above; that is, a verb together with its objects and complements).
A dependent clause also normally contains a subordinating conjunction (or in the case
of relative clauses, a relative pronoun or phrase containing one). English syntax is
essentially of SVO (subject–verb–object) type; the verb precedes its object in the verb
phrase, and the subject of the clause precedes the verb.

Questions
Like many other Western European languages, English historically allowed questions to
be asked by inverting the positions of verb and subject. Modern English requires the
use of the auxiliary verb do, along with inversion of the word order, to form a question
from a simple (one-word) affirmative (I go → Do I go?, Where do I go?), apart from
when the main verb is “be” (I am here → Am I here?, Why am I here?). When the
affirmative verb is compound, a question is formed by inverting the auxiliary verb with
the subject (John is going → Is John going?).
Combining the formation of a question with negation involves both insertion of do, if the
verb is not already compound, and inversion of the auxiliary verb with the subject: John
is going → Is John not going?; John goes → Does John not go?. However, the
word not can optionally (especially in informal English) be contracted with the auxiliary
verb, in which case the word order is further changed: Isn’t John going?, Doesn’t John
go?.

Dependent clauses
The syntax of a dependent clause is generally the same as that of an independent
clause, except that the dependent clause usually begins with a subordinating
conjunction or relative pronoun (or phrase containing such). In some situations (as
already described) the conjunction or relative pronoun that can be omitted. Another type
of dependent clause with no subordinating conjunction is the conditional clause formed
by inversion (see below).

Other uses of inversion

The clause structure with inverted subject and verb, used to form questions as
described above, is also used in certain types of declarative sentence. This occurs
mainly when the sentence begins with an adverbial or other phrase that is essentially
negative or contains words such as only, hardly, etc.: Never have I known someone so
stupid; Only in France can such food be tasted.
 In elliptical sentences (see below), inversion takes place after so (meaning “also”) as
well as after the negative neither: so do I, neither does she.
Inversion can also be used to form conditional clauses, beginning
with should, were (subjunctive), or had, in the following ways:

· should I win the race (equivalent to if I win the race);

· were he a soldier (equivalent to if he were a soldier);
· were he to win the race (equivalent to if he were to win the race, i.e. if he won the
race);
· had he won the race (equivalent to if he had won the race).

Other similar forms sometimes appear, but are less common. There is also a
construction with subjunctive be, as in be he alive or dead (meaning “no matter whether
he is alive or dead”).
Use of inversion to express a third-person imperative is now mostly confined to the
expression long live X, meaning “let X live long”.

Imperatives
In an imperative sentence (one giving an order), there is usually no subject in the
independent clause: Go away until I call you. It is possible, however, to include you as
the subject for emphasis: You stay away from me.

Elliptical constructions
Many types of elliptical construction are possible in English, resulting in sentences that
omit certain redundant elements. Various examples are given in the article on Ellipsis.
Some notable elliptical forms found in English include:
· Short statements of the form I can, he isn’t, we mustn’t. Here the verb phrase
(understood from the context) is reduced to a single auxiliary or other “special” verb,
negated if appropriate. If there is no special verb in the original verb phrase, it is
replaced by do/does/did: he does, they didn’t.
· Clauses that omit the verb, in particular those like me too, nor me, me neither. The
latter forms are used after negative statements. (Equivalents including the verb: I do
too or so do I; I don’t either or neither do I.)
· Tag questions, formed with a special verb and pronoun subject: isn’t it?; were
there?; am I not?
The complexity and nuance of English grammar is often drawn upon in humour and
word play. This classic skit by comedy duo Abbott and Costello draws on nouns as an
open class to frustrate a conversation between two native English speakers.
Now that we have established a solid understanding of English grammar, let’s review
with a quick quiz.
Free TEFL Course – Topic Six: Contemporary Issues In English
Language
Vape, Selfie, Bitcoin, Sharknado, Binge-Wathcing, Twerk, Truthiness, Plutoed,
Superprime, Hashtag, Doppelgänger, Nom, The 99%, YOLO, Flog, Y2K, WMD,
Cluster-, Catfish, Job-Creators, Cloud, -Shaming, Gleek, Dogging, Maverick, W00t,
Chav, Credit Crunch, Omnishambles.

New words’enter the English Language lexicon everyday. Not all hold-up to the same ‘high-
standards’ of diction and common decency our grandparents would have hoped. But this is one
of the key strengths of the English Language. New words give voice to new ideas; new ideas
reflect the changing world and give the language a true global vibrancy. Unlike other languages
English has not central governing authority and seems to be ready to accept new and useful
word/ideas into its lexicon rapidly. New words and ideas come not only from the English world,
but from all the cultures of the world which interact and offer useful turns of phrase, idioms or
just plain useful/fun words.

As society and technology develop, adapt and modernise, so too does our language. Telephone
was once a new word which was said with all the brightness, optimism and scepticism of the new
age. These days it is commonly replaced with more common usages: phone, cell, iPhone,
android. In a changing world we can struggle to truly pin-down what is the “correct” English?
Certainly we can look to hallowed institutions such as the Oxford Dictionary and Queens-
English to guide use. However we must balance this against new more open and adaptable
institutions in lexiconic definition such as urban-dictionary and google define. There remains a
chasm of grey between ‘new words’ and their admission into official sources such as
dictionaries, for better or worse.

The variations and differences between different styles of the English language cans seem
daunting, confusing and redundant to learners. Consider for example the different usages and
spelling of words in American and British English. Both stem for the same origin but through
separation, isolation and different interactions have evolved is quite different ways. These factors
have produced simultaneously divergent and unified languages. Selecting the correct spelling,
usage, structures, meanings and pronunciations is a challenge for students. It will be your task to
ensure your students develop the language skills suited to their goals and become aware of the
issues and change in modern English.

Due to the spread and popularity of American popular-culture students are often more familiarly
with American spoken English. This can be evidenced by American, style expre3ssions and turns
of phrase. More specifically a teacher will notice the use of idiosyncratic speech patterns based
on their chosen form of media and the adoption of non-native idioms. Being aware of your own
diction is important. ensure you teach ‘Standard English’ and point about differences and
deviations worthy of note.

Be aware of your students’ goals. Where and when will they use the language? Why are they
studying? What specific vocabulary do they need? Ensure you take the time, especially with
older students, to discuss their goals and intended purpose of study. Tailor your teaching to suit
their goals and expected outcomes. There is little point in teach American English to students
intending to study in Britain.