Exercises from Companion to Cambridge Grammar of English
Simon Mumford, Turkey
Simon Mumford has taught English for 18 years. He teaches at the University of Economics, Izmir, Turkey. His interests include designing classroom activities that are fun but have a serious purpose. He edits the Practical Teaching Ideas column in IATEFL Voices. Email: simon.mumford@ieu.edu.tr
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Introduction
Ellipsis and fronting hypothesis testing
Word limit conversations
Coming or going?
Two/three step questions
Sentence transformation toss-up
Describing vaguely
John and Joanna
The Cambridge Grammar of English (CGE) (Carter and McCarthy, 2006) has revealed some interesting details about the grammar of spoken English. This corpus based grammar shows that features such as ellipsis, use of headers and tails and fronting are standard forms in native speaker language. Here are some suggestions for the productive teaching of spoken grammatical forms. All references are to CGE.
Aims: Awareness of word order and ellipsis possibilites
Take the sentence Have you ever been to France?
Tell students to try different word order, leaving out different words when asking you the question. Students should note how you respond; an answer shows whether the form is acceptable. eg.
S Ever been to France? T Yes, I have.
S Been to France? T Yes, I have.
S Been France? T Yes, I have. (borderline case)
S Have you France? T Sorry, I don't understand.
S France, you been? T Yes, I have.
S France have you? T Sorry, I don't understand.
S To France you have been? T Yes, I have. (borderline case)
S Ever have you been France? T Sorry, I don't understand.
S Been to France, ever? T Yes, I have.
S Been to France, you? T Yes, I have. (T indicates that the form may not be considered polite)
S Been to France, have you? T Yes, I have.
This needs a native speaker teacher or an answer key.
Rationale: In spoken language, word order is more flexible than written language. Students can see which forms are acceptable.
Fronting, p.780, Ellipsis, p. 181 - CGE
Aims: Using ellipsis in informal conversation.
There is a five word limit to each turn, to ensure ellipsis is used. The object is too keep the conversation going as long as possible. Example:
A: Been anywhere nice?
B: Went to France last week
A: Have a good time?
B: Great. Wonderful food.
A: Learn any French?
B: A little. Lovely wine!
A: Nice...Going again?
Each pair has another student who acts as judge to see the word limit is enforced. When more than five words are used the conversation ends and the judge changes roles with the student who broke the five word rule.
Variation: pronouns and auxilaries are forbidden, but there is no word limit.
Rationale: The insistence on five words may seem a bit unnatural, but it is a way of ensuring students become accustomed to using ellipsis.
Pronoun/auxillary ellipsis, p. 181 - CGE
Aims: Using intonation to understand ellipsis.
The phrases Have a nice day! and Have a nice day? use the same words but have a different meaning. One is a statement about the future, wishing someone a nice day (I hope you have a nice day), the other a question about the past (Did you have a nice day?) Whether the phrase is a wish or question therefore depends on intonation, question or statement. A wish is used when someone leaves home, the question when they arrive back. Examples:
Have fun! Have fun?
Play well! Play well?
Enjoy yourself! Enjoy yourself?
Have a good meeting! Have a good meeting?
Score lots of goals! Score lots of goals?
Students listen to the teacher saying the phrases and say which type it is. Then they are drilled. Finally, set up a roleplay with people going out of the door then coming in, saying each sentences in an appropriate way, using the classroom or imaginary doors.
Variation
A similar contrast between instructions and questions could be exploited.
Get some bread! (Instruction/request) Get some bread? (question = Did you get some bread?)
Rationale: Ellipsis gives less information than full forms so students need to be aware of how context contributes to meaning.
Auxilary ellipsis, p181 - CGE
Aims: learning to make requests appropriately and becoming aware of indirectness used to make requests more polite.
Questions are often prefaced with another question
Eg You know your car?
Are you using it this weekend?
Could I borrow it?
Instead of the very direct Could I borrow your car this weekend.
That news paper...
Is it yours?
Can I borrow it?
Instead of Can I borrow your newspaper, the three elements of newspaper, your and borrow are spread across three utterances.
Variation: This can also can be done as a movement activity:
Example Can I borrow your umbrella for five minutes? (take one intimidating step towards addressee, as a metaphor for directness)
Compare with:
Is that your umbrella? (one small step)
Are you using it? (another small step)
Can I borrow it? (a third small step)
Students stand opposite eachother in pairs and are given requests on slips of paper to break into steps.
Two step questions, p 201 - CGE
Aims: Transforming sentences using headers and tails
Put students in groups of three. One student has a coin and tosses it. Just before tossing, he says a simple sentence, eg Mary has got a new bicycle. The two students then have to indicate whether they think it will be heads or tails by the way they rephrase the sentence: either by using a header: Mary, she's got a new bicycle, or a tail: She's got a new bicycle, Mary. These have to be called while the coin is in the air (sentences should not be too complex). If the coin lands on heads, the person who used a header has won! Of course both could win or lose. The winner tosses the coin next time.
Rationale: The idea is to practise using headers and tails (p. 192-196) while using an element of competition and pressure to make the activity fun.
Aims: Practising vague language.
Vague language consists of words like sort of, stuff and thing, adj+ish. Spread some pictures around the classroom and let students look at them. Then collect them back. Now describe one of them, but without using any nouns but use 'stuff' and 'thing' instead. Eg There's a tall green and brown thing and some short green stuff under it. There's a hairy thing on the green stuff. It's blackish. (trees, grass and a dog) Students listen and try to guess which picture it is. Let students practise in pairs.
Rationale: Vague language (p.148) is an important part of spoken grammar and shows skill in speaking rather than sloppiness. This activity provides a strong motivation for listening and matching adjectives, colours etc with a picture that has already been seen. For the speaker, the challenge is to avoid using nouns, which will also involve concentration.
Aims: Production of native speaker-like question forms: Second person present simple questions.
Attention can be drawn to different (reduced) spoken forms by using other English words that sound like the spoken form. There would need to be some explanation of ellipsis, elision and reduciton first.
Examples:
John a coffee (a reduced version of D'y(ou) (w)an(t) a coffee?)
Joanna coffee (D'you wanna coffee?)
Johnny toothpaste (D'y(ou) (w)an(t) (an)y toothpaste?)
July some Icecream? ((woul)d'you li(ke) some icecream?)
Jaw children argue? (D'your children argue)
Write on the board and drill the phrases. When they have practised them, answer the 'questions'. Don't tell the students that they are questions at this stage.
T: Jonny Soup? Ss: Johnny Soup? T: yes please!
See if students can guess what they are really saying by the way you answer their 'questions'. If not, tell them. Let students practise in pairs.
Rationale: Ellipsis and weak forms may seem strange to students used to pronouncing words as they are written. By using words which they are familiar with (John, Joanna July) we can give them confidence to produce the sounds of natural spoken English.
Reference
Carter, R and M. McCarthy, 2006, Cambridge Grammar of English, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Please check the What's New in Language Teaching course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the English for Teachers course at Pilgrims website.
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