UNIT 1

GRAMMAR  

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Grammar can be defined as the structure of a language in terms of combination, organization and changes made in words, parts of words or groups of words to communicate and express meaning. In English we have different types of grammatical forms and those are parts of speech, grammatical structures, and words that contain affixation. In other words, grammar forms refer to how the speaker structures the words when taking or in a written way to express an idea.

On the other hand, we have different parts of speech in writing, which are used to describe how each word behaves in a sentence. In total, there are nine parts of speech, and those are nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, determines, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions and exclamations. The nouns have the function to name people, things, place, and also, they act as a subject and object of a verb. Verbs work as words that show an action, experience or state. Adjectives are used to describe the characteristics of something or to give more information about the subject. Adverbs are used to give more information about when, how, where an action or situation happens. Determines are used to have a clear idea on which noun we are referring to when speaking. Prepositions are used to show a relation between a noun phrase, noun or pronoun. And finally, exclamations are used to show strong feelings like doubt or a pain.

Also, in grammar we have grammatical structures that are the ways words, phrases and clauses are arranged in a sentence to express an idea. In English, we also have grammatical structures that are the organization that the speaker can give to a group of words to make meaning like for example the past continuous, passive voice, contrast clauses, etc. Additionally, grammar structures can have different grammar uses according to what the speaker wants to say to communicate a specific meaning.

To improve student’s knowledge in grammar, the teacher can develop some activities related to the practice of some grammatical structures to express an idea. To do this, teacher can start the class by showing the student a video about a conversation between two people to give them context. After that, students should give some ideas about the topic according to what they have seen before in the video. Consequently, students must develop some sheets of paper with different kind of activities related to grammar.

Another useful activity to improve students’ knowledge of grammar is to give them the opportunity to read and write a lot. It is something known that people learn by doing, and this is something that happens here. If students are exposed to the language with more frequency, probably they are going to improve each of the skills that form part of the English language learning.

Additional Information:

Grammar


References

Youtube.com. 2021. Before you continue to YouTube. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh-Zzu1G2Yw> [Accessed 21 May 2021].

Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, M. (2011). The TKT Course Modules 1, 2 and 3 (2nd ed., TKT Course). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139062398