Editorial
This article was first published in Modern English Teacher, Vol. 19/4, October 2010

Learning Grammar Through Doggerel Verse

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
Past vs present perfect
Gerund vs infinitive
Active vs Passive
Defining vs non-defining relative clauses
Direct vs indirect reported speech
Can vs be able to
Conditionals limerick
Conclusion
Reference

Introduction

Poetry has long had a place in language teaching. Maley and Duff (1989, 9-12) describe the advantages of using poetry as including its universal nature, motivational benefits, the practice of rhythm, its use in performance, and the fact that it creates its own context.

However, poems with literary and metaphorical language may not be suitable for learners focused on learning grammar rules and passing exams. Another type of poetry is known as doggerel verse. This has no literary value, rather it is written to entertain, but its simpler style means it may be more suitable for language learners. This is a very flexible verse form in terms of rhyme, verse structure and line length. The subject matter of such verse is also wider, and can even include grammar rules themselves, focusing on contrast between structures, and giving examples and rules. This article presents seven grammar poems, with suggestions for use in class.

Past vs present perfect

1. John asked, Have ever you had a pet?
Jane said, I once had a black cat.

2. John said have you ever had,
Jane said only had,
So was her answer bad?

3. No, it was absolutely fine!
John was thinking of no particular time.

4. John was thinking of Jane’s whole life, you see.
But Jane was thinking of one time in the past, definitely.

5. So use Present Perfect with have for the question asked.
But answer without have for a definite time in the past!

Procedure: Write the first two verses on the board. Ask the class if the answer was ‘bad’ or not. Elicit (or tell students) that it was a good answer. Write the third and fourth verses on the board, but leave blanks for whole and one. See if students can guess these words. Write the last verse on the board. Point out that as(k)ed rhymes with past, because k is usually not pronounced before a past tense suffix. Finally, practise the whole poem with the class.

Gerund vs infinitive

Put the verbs into the poem.

1.Some verbs are followed by other verbs with –ing at the end,
Don’t ___________, _____________ or ____________ learning these, but _____________.

2.Others are followed by a verb with to,
Learn them! I won’t ___________ to _____¬¬________to __________ you.

3.Others have either form with no change of heart,
Such as __________,__________, _____________, ___________ and ___________.

4. Others have either to or –ing, but the meaning changes,
You’ll ____________ not ____________ing to ______________ these dangers!

Solution

1.Some verbs are followed by other verbs with –ing at the end,
Don’t avoid, resist or dislike learning these, but understand.

2.Remember that others are followed by a verb with to,
Learn them! I won’t refuse to promise to help you.

3.Others have either to or -ing with no change of heart*,
Such as like, love, prefer, begin and start.

4. Others have either to or –ing, but the meaning changes,
You’ll regret not trying to remember these dangers!

(*change of heart=change of meaning in this context)

Explanation: Some verbs can be immediately followed by other verbs. Depending on the verbs, the following verbs have either the –ing form (as in verse 1) or infinitive (to+base form) (as in verse 2). A number of verbs can be followed by verbs with either form. These can be divided into two groups, those in which the different forms cause no difference in meaning (as in verse 3) and those that change meaning (as in verse 4). The verbs in italics are examples of each type, for example, avoid is a verb which can be only followed by verb +ing.

Procedure: Ask students to put verbs in the right places; note that rhyme is a clue, for example start rhymes with heart. Different orders are possible in verse 1 and 3. When they have finished, check the answers, then practise the poem. Emphasise the verbs in italics while reading.

Active vs Passive

Part 1
A thief stole my car,
His name was Jonny Parr.
I got it back today,
So I said, ‘Hurray!’
Johnny Parr stole my car,
But he didn’t get very far!

Part 2
My car was stolen.
Was it a man or a woman?
Was it an alien or human?
I don’t know, I don’t care,
Because I wasn’t there!
I’ll never know who did it,
The mysterious person who’s got it.
That’s why I say,
In this special way,
My car was stolen,
(By someone unknown).

Procedure: Draw a picture on the board of a car, the owner and a man called Jonny Parr. Write Jonny Parr stole my car under it. Draw a second picture in the same way but instead of Jonny Parr, draw a question mark. Elicit/write My car was stolen under it. Discuss the difference between the two structures (active and passive), and the reason (we don’t know who stole the car in the second picture). Then give out the poem and practise it with the class.

Defining vs non-defining relative clauses

1.Defining relative clause

‘The man who is walking towards me is Billy’1.
It’s clear who I mean,
There are other men to be seen,2
But only Billy is coming towards me,
And so no comma is necessary.

2. Non-defining relative clause.

‘That young woman3, who lives near here4, plays the guitar.’
I used that to point her out5,
I’m not comparing her with anyone else about6.
I added a fact, just for something to say,
With commas between7, to show I mean it this way.

Procedure: Give out copies of the poems. Practise reading them with the class, including the following gestures at the points indicated by numbers.

1. Hold out hand as if to shake Billy’s hand.
2. Gesture to other (imaginary) men.
3. & 4. Make a gesture with your finger to represent a comma.
5. Point to an imaginary woman.
6. Wave hands in a dismissive gesture showing you are not interested in other people.
7. Make a gesture with your finger to represent a comma.

Direct vs indirect reported speech

Part 1
‘Hello’, said Jo, I said Hello.
‘Where are you going?’ she asked.
I told her I was going to France.
She asked me, ‘Why?’
And I explained that I
Had a friend in Paris.
‘Not Pat Harris?’
She asked, surprised.
I looked into her eyes,
and confirmed that it was Pat Harris
That I knew in Paris.

Part 2
Then Jo said, ‘But, answer me correctly’,
‘Why do you always speak indirectly?’
I told her that it was the only way I could speak!
And added that I’d call her next week.
And she said, ‘Goodbye!’
'I’m late, I really must fly*.’
‘Say hello from me to Pat,
And her lovely black cat.’

(*I must fly= I must hurry)
Procedure: Give out Part 1 only. Ask students how many different reporting verbs there are (five in Part 1: said, asked, told, explained, confirmed). Point out that all these verbs can be used in direct or indirect speech. In indirect speech, verbs may, but do not have to be followed by that. Ask the students about the different ways the narrator (‘I’ in the poem) and Jo speak (the narrator uses indirect speech, Jo uses direct speech, we know this because her words are all in quotation marks). Give out Part 2. Point out that there is another reporting verb, added. Practise the whole poem with the class, using a different accent, volume and pitch to distinguish Jo’s direct speech from the rest of the poem.

Can vs be able to

I’d like to introduce Mr. Can,
He is really a very strange man.
Present tense is no trouble,
Mr. Can is Be able to’s double!
But the past, he is Mr. Was able to / Could,
Saying Mr. *Canned is not any good.
And in the future view,
He is only Mr. Will be able to!
He is a very strange man,
Mr. Be able to / Can!

*incorrect form

Procedure: Draw the chart on the board. Point out that can and be able to are similar in meaning. The verb be able to has past, present and future forms and is regular. Can is a modal verb that has an irregular past form, could. Will be able to is the only possible future form because can has no future equivalent.

Put the poem on the board and read it, pointing to the forms on the chart at the appropriate point, e.g. point to can and am/is/are able to on line 4. Practise it with the class. Put students in groups of three. Student A has a copy of the poem, B the chart and C has nothing. A reads the poem, without showing it, while B listens and points to the appropriate place on the chart. C listens to A while watching B. They each have a turn in each role.

Conditionals limerick

Procedure. Write the first verse on the board and practise it. Point out that limericks have two long lines, two short lines and a final long line. The long lines rhyme with each other, as do the short ones. The long lines have three stresses, the short lines two. Put students in groups and give out the second two verses on strips of paper, i.e ten strips of paper, mixed up, to each group. Ask them to put them in order to create verses 2 and 3. Check the answers in class and practise all three verses.

Follow up: Cut all verses into strips, i.e. 15 strips, and give out one to each member of the class at random. Ask student to think which verse their line comes in, and which line it is. Students read out their lines in order, so as to recreate all the verses. If you have more than 15 students, you can duplicate the strips, so that two students read the same line at the same time.

Conclusion

Literary poems are more likely to be suited to a minority of students with linguistic and literary interests. Other students may be resistant to such activities, seeing them as waste of time compared to the serious business of learning grammatical information. However, activities that combine verse with the direct learning of grammar can appeal to a wider range of learners, and make difficult-to-remember language rules more enjoyable and perhaps easier to retain. Recitation can be combined with a variety of techniques, including gestures, gapfill, grammar charts and putting lines in order to make learning more interactive. For teachers interested in learning more about doggerel verse, an internet search will provide plenty of examples and advice.

Reference

Maley, A., & Duff, A. (1989) The Inward Ear. Cambridge University Press.

Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.