Editorial
This article first appeared in Modern English Teacher , Volume 22/1, Jan 2013

The Things They Said: Using Quotations for Teaching

Simon Mumford, Turkey

Simon Mumford teaches EAP at Izmir University of Economics, Turkey. He has written on using stories, visuals, drilling, reading aloud, and is especially interested in the creative teaching of grammar. E-mail: simon.mumford@ieu.edu.tr

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Introduction
Quotation 1
Quotation 2
Quotation 3
Quotation 4
Quotation 5
Quotation 6
Quotation 7
Quotation 8
Quotation 9
Quotation 10
Conclusion

Introduction

Teachers, course books and reference books often provide sentences exemplifying grammatical structures. However, if these are artifically constructed, they may not be very meaningful or relevant to students. Even if authentic sentences are used, i.e. from a corpus of real language, there is no guarantee that the examples will be interesting or memorable. An alternative is to use short texts that have some intrinsic interest, such as quotations from well-known personalities. This article provides a number of quotations, explanations of the language points exemplified, and possibilities for working with them in class.

Quotation 1

‘I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not quite sure.’ Tommy Cooper, British comedian Language point: Used to for past states/habits contrasted with the present

Teaching suggestion

Write the joke and following choices on the board and ask the class to choose the correct answer.

1. The speaker is more indecisive now.
2. The speaker is less indecisive now.
3. No change.

Solution: Because the speaker is no longer sure that he is indecisive (i.e. not good at making decisions), he is probably more indecisive now compared to the past. The humour comes from the fact that we expect a contrast after the first clause, i.e. a change from negative to positive, but the second clause implies a change for the worse.

Quotation 2

‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink’. Anonymous

Language point: Strong and weak forms of can This is a well-known English saying which means that you can help/encourage someone to do something, but you cannot force them. It illustrates the weak and strong forms of can. The first can is weak and unstressed. The second is strong both because it is negative, and also because carries contrastive stress to emphasize the impossibility of the second action.

Teaching suggestion

Divide the quotation into blocks of words and ask students to put them in order.

horse to / lead a / make it drink / you can / but you can’t / water

Check answers and practise the sentence, emphasizing the contrastive stress on can’t. Point out the rhyme in horse to water /hɔ:stə wɔ:tə/. Note also that the way the words are chunked above reflects the catchy rhythm created by the repetitive alternation of strong and weak syllables in the original version: strong weak / strong weak / strong weak /strong weak, / strong weak strong / strong weak strong.

Quotation 3

‘The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything.’ Oscar Wilde, Irish writer and poet

Language point: Simple tenses for stative verbs

This quotation illustrates that, in English, verbs representing mental states are almost always in the simple tenses, and very rarely in the continuous. Explain that suspect means think something is true without being sure.

Teaching suggestion Give students some more mental state verbs, eg

understand, consider, remember, recognise, want, appreciate, love, hate. Ask them to make up their own version, eg the old love everything, the middle aged recognise everything, the young remember everything.

Quotation 4

‘I've had a wonderful time, but this wasn't it!’ Groucho Marx, American comedian

Language point: Present Perfect: recent event vs indefinite time in the past

This joke demonstrates two uses of the present perfect tense. I’ve had a wonderful time is commonly used to thank a host of a party, meal, or visit which has just finished. However, the second part of the quotation makes us think again, and realise it means that the wonderful time was at some unknown time in the past, and does not refer to the event that has just past. By switching to the past tense, the speaker breaks the connection with the present, and emphasizes his disappointment with the recently finished occasion (this). Thus, Groucho cleverly changes a compliment into an insult.

Teaching suggestion

Drill the quote, emphasizing the enthusiasm in the first clause, followed by a quieter and more cynical second clause.

Follow up

Ask students to write and act out short sketches contextualising this joke, with A as the unhappy guest, and B as the host. For example

A. Sorry, but I must go now.
B. Why so early? Stay a bit longer.
A. No, I have to feed my cat.
B. OK. I hope you enjoyed the party.
A. Well, I’ve had a wonderful time...
B. Oh, good!
A. ...but this wasn’t it!
B. Oh!

Quotation 5

‘I was walking along the road with two friends. The sun set, and the sky turned blood red. I felt a touch of melancholy, and I stopped and leaned against the railing, extremely fatigued. Blood-red clouds and tongues of fire were floating above the city and the blue-black fjord.’ Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter

Language point: Past Simple vs Past Continuous

The artist is describing how he was inspired to create his masterpiece, The Scream. Note how the suddenness of the disappearence of the sun causes instant changes in colour, and also in the artist’s mood and actions: the sun set..., the sky turned..., I felt... I stopped and leaned….This is contrasted with the slower processes in the background: I was walking, clouds were floating.

Teaching suggestion

Give out the quotation without the author’s name, deal with any vocabulary problems (e.g. a touch of melancholy, turned blood red, extemely fatigued), and ask students to read it. Write all the verbs on the board (stop, feel, float, lean, walk, set, turn,) and then students, without looking at the quotation, try to remember which ones were in the continuous (floating, walking). As a follow up, students guess the profession/identity of the speaker (the very visual nature of the description is a clue). Finally, show the picture The Scream (below) as prompt to elicit the quotation in as much detail as possible.

Follow up: Ask students to draw a picture of a personal incident, and to write a few sentences describing it using Past Simple and Continuous. Put students in groups to explain their event to each other.

Quotation 6

‘If only I had known, I would have become a watchmaker.’ attributed to Albert Einstein, German-born physicist

Language point: If only + noun + Past Perfect, noun + would have + Past Participle

The structure is used to express regrets, and is a form of the third (unreal past) conditional. Here, Einstein expresses perhaps one of the greatest regrets of all time, making the discoveries that led to the invention of the atomic bomb.

Teaching suggestion

Write on the board: If only I had known, I would have…

Ask students to complete the sentence, without revealing the author at this stage. After getting suggestions, explain the context and ask them to guess which alternative career Einstein would have chosen, and elicit the full quotation (clue: he was interested in time).

Quotation 7

‘I came, I saw, I conquered.’ attributed to Julius Caesar, Roman Emperor

Language point: Regular vs irregular Past Tense forms

Ceasar uses these immortal words to describe his invasion of Britain. In the English version, two of the three past tense forms are irregular, showing that many of the most common past tense verbs do not follow the rule of adding suffix -ed in the past tense, but change the vowel sound instead. Only conquered, a much less common verb, is regular. Note that in this quotation, the irregular past tenses are one syllable words, and the regular verb has two syllables, which is a common pattern.

Teaching suggestion: Ask students to find the regular and irregular past tenses in the anedotes below.

1. A man (approach) Mozart for some advice on how to compose a symphony. Since the man was young, Mozart (recommend) that he start with ballads. Surprised, the young man (answer), ‘But you (write) symphonies when you (be) only ten years old.’ ‘But I didn’t have to ask how’, (respond) Mozart.
2. Someone (ask) Einstein’s wife if she (understand) her husband’s Theory of Relativity. ‘No she (reply), ‘but I know my husband, and I know he can be trusted’.
3. A hostess (see) George Bernard Shaw standing alone in a corner during a dinner party. ‘Are you enjoying yourself, Mr Shaw?’, she (inquire). ‘Certainly’, Shaw (say), ‘There is nothing else here to enjoy.’

Solution: In line with the tendencies noted above, all one syllable verbs are irregular except ask, and all two and three syllable verbs are regular, except understand.

Quotation 8

‘Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.’ Steve Jobs, American Entrepreneur

Language point: Going to vs will future

This advice is worth reading in itself, but a language point is found in the first and last sentences. Notice how going to describes a future that is already predetermined, in contrast to the reduced form of will in the final sentence, which represents a sudden, spontaneous realisation.

Teaching suggestion

Without revealing the source, write on the board the two sentences below, and ask students to find the correct future tense form for each verb in brackets.

Your work (fill) a large part of your life. You (know) when you find what you want to do.

Check and explain the reasons for the answers, and then give out copies of the whole quotation (minus author) and ask students to guess the source of this excellent advice. Provide clues if necessary (American, male, born 1955, died 2011, worked in technology, inventor, entrepreneur)

Quotation 9

‘Europe was created by history, America was created by philosophy’. Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister

Language point: active vs passive

Teaching suggestion

Write the following pair of sentences and question on the board:

a. Europe was created by history, America was created by philosophy.
b. History created Europe, philosophy created America.

Which of these did Margaret Thatcher say?

Clue: Is a politician more in the differences between history and philosophy, or between Europe and America?

Solution: Mrs. Thatcher was more interested in the continents, so she made these the subjects of passive verbs. This could lead in to discussion about differences between European and American views of the world, i.e. a grammar point can be a starting point for a speaking activity.

Follow up: The underlined verbs in the quotations below have been changed from passive to active. Ask students to reconstruct the original.

1. The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, it transforms both.
2. One of the greatest problems is that we school many but educate few.
3. The way to love anything is to realise you might lose it.
4. We may learn a man’s character from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation.
5. I am very attracted to someone who makes me laugh and is that charming. Really, anyone could charm me.

Solutions

1. The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed. (Carl Jung)
2. One of the greatest problems is that many are schooled but few are educated. (Thomas Moore)
3. The way to love anything is to realise it might be lost. (G.K. Chesterton)
4. A mans’s character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation. (Mark Twain)
5. I am very attracted to someone who makes me laugh and is that charming. Really, I could be charmed by anyone. (Beyonce Knowles)

Quotation 10

‘A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition’. Rudyard Kipling, British writer

Language point: too much for uncoutable nouns vs too many for countable nouns

Not everyone will agree with this rather old-fashioned view of life, but the clever alternation of uncountable and countable structures makes this quotation fun to say and play with.

Teaching suggestion

Ask students to make their own sentences using this quotation as a template with the words below.

For example: Children can never have too much love, too many toys or too much happiness.

Conclusion

There are many opportunities to use quotations in place of artifically-constructed sentences, as examples of grammar structures, and in gap-fills and other grammar exercises. They are also ideal for drilling and repetition because they tend to rely on stress and intonation for emphasis, and because they often involve the use of parallel structures, and therefore have strong and memorable rhythms. The internet contains an almost unlimited supply of quotations from every kind of writer and celebrity, which represents a significant resource for language teachers.

Sources of quotations

www.all-art.org/modern_art_20cent/munch1.html
www.batchmates.com/bmtimes/content.aspx?contentId=1212
www.brainyquote.com
history.inrebus.com
www.thinkexist.com

Please check the Methodology and Language for Secondary Teachers course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Teaching Advanced Students course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the CLIL for Secondary Teachers course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the CLIL for Universities course at Pilgrims website.