英语学习策略与技巧教程教师用书unit11

Unit 11 Learning Grammar
Aims and Objectives
The objective of this unit is to introduce the skills and strategies of learning English grammar.
After learning this unit, students you should know:
1. what grammar and grammar learning mean;
2. what the guidelines of grammar learning are which you should observe when learning
English grammar.

3. how the ways to deal with the different relations in grammar learning.
4. how to learn grammar by using use different strategies in different situations.
Tasks
1. 1) For most people, the essence of language lies in grammar. Knowledge of grammar
is the central area of the language system around which the other areas such as
pronunciation and vocabulary revolve. No matter how important the other
components of language may be in themselves, they are connected to each other
through grammar.
2) It does not mean the same thing in the two languages. For example, in Chinese word
form seldom expresses grammatical meaning while in English it does. In English,
there are different forms of the same verb, adjective, adverb, noun, but in Chinese,
the same word always keeps the same form. In English, there are articles, but there is
no article in Chinese. There is the subjunctive mood in English, but there is no such
mood in Chinese, and so forth.
2. These are two opposite ideas about learning grammar. According to the first idea,
whenever you are confronted with a piece of language, you should approach it from a
grammatical angel before thinking about what it means. You usually analyse a structure
into small units. And then you think about the grammatical function of these units. In
doing so, you are actually putting the cart before the horse: if you know the grammatical
functions of different parts, you know the meaning of them. So there is not need of
analyzing it. You attach too much importance to grammar ignorant of the fact that
grammar is only a means to an end and it is not an end in itself. The ultimate of goal of
learning L2 is to be able to communicate in L2. We should lay emphasis on the message
conveyed and should not be too concerned about the form.
According to the second idea, human beings are born with the device and competence
to acquire a language. The grammar rules will be internalized through speaking, listening,
reading, and writing in the language. This idea attaches much importance to the language
situation. For example, most native speakers of a language can produce grammatically
acceptable language without much formal instruction (some of them never went to
school). This is so because the grammatical rules are internalized after the speaker ‘s
constant contact with the language.
In the case of L2, grammar rules are learned rather than acquired. For one thing, L2
learners do not have access to the environment where the target language is generally
used. The artificial L2 environment of classroom, English corner etc.

is too limited to
bring about internalization. Moreover, L2 learners are not like native speakers in that they
have already had their first language under their command. The existing L1 rules will
interfere with the internalization. Therefore, conscious learning efforts will help reinforce
learn the grammatical rules.
3. 1) Grammar can facilitate L2 input in that it can help you understand L2 in listening
and reading. Grammatical knowledge will help you understand the meaning when
you have difficulty in approaching a complicated structure. But the grammatical
approach of meaning is encouraged advised only when you have understanding
problems when receiving the discourse. You are not encouraged to take up every
piece of L2 grammatically first without thinking about its meaning.
The second function of grammar is that it monitors your L2 output. When you
are speaking or writing producing L2 in oral or in written form, grammar can help you
produce well-formed L2. Though no one can speak or write grammatically perfect
English and you may be told not to be too concerned about grammar, it is also true that
poor grammar will prevent you from expressing yourself freely and exactly. After all,
the goal of English learning is to be able to speak and write English fluently and
accurately.
2) The purpose of this task is for the students to understand the shade of meaning
expressed by if-conditional here.
In the first, the if-conditional expresses a kind of regularity by using the simple
present tense. From the grammatical device here, we know they usually use credit card
when they don‘t have any money because this is usually the case.
In the second sentence, the if-conditional is in the simple past form, that is, it is in
the subjunctive mood. This indicates the thing in question is less likely to happen than
that described in the first sentence.
In the third sentence, the if-conditional, again, is in the subjunctive mood, and is
expressed through the past perfect tense. This expresses supposition contrary to
present fact. That is, you have actually waited so long. From this, we know the result
expressed in the second half is most unlikely to happen.
4. 1) The different aspects of L2 learning are:
(1) The macro-skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
(2) Grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation and intonation.
(3) Communicative competence, such as sociolinguistic ability and discourse
strategies.
2) Presumably, grammar played an important role in your middle school learning
experience. The negative effect is that you habitually pay paid too much attention
to grammar learning when approaching English. And you are more concerned with
grammatical knowledge which you believe may be tested in the examinations than the
language ability which is essential for English learners.
5. 1) (1) 《英语语法手册》..薄冰..赵德鑫..(A Handbook of English Grammar)。北
京..

商务印书馆。2002。
(2) 《实用英语语法》..张道真..(A Practical English Grammar)。北京..商务印
书馆。1979。
(3) 《薄冰英语语法》..薄冰....Bobing English Grammar..。北京..开明出版社。
1998。
(4) 《新编英语语法》..章振邦..(A New English Grammar)。上海..上海译文出
版社。1989。
(5) 《新编英语语法教程》..章振邦..(A New English Grammar Coursebook)。上
海..上海外语教育出版社。2000。
(6) 《牛津实用英语语法》(Thomson, A. J., A. V. Martinet) (A Practical English
Grammar)。北京..外语教学与研究出版社。1991。
(7) 《通用英语语法》(第二版)..章振邦....An English Grammar for General
Readers....2nd edition..。上海..上海外语教育出版社。2001。
(8) 《现代英语语法》..李基安....A Modern English Grammar..。北京..外语教
学与研究出版社。1998。
2) It is advisable that the teacher suggest some good grammar books for the students
to read through.
6. It is advisable to involve the students in such comparison so that they may be conscious
of the differences and may intentionally avoid the negative influence of Chinese in
learning English.
For example, one of the outstanding differences of Chinese is that the most important
part of the sentence is often fronted, which is quite natural without making the sentence
marked, e. g.:
这本书我看过了。
房间他已经收拾了。
鸡她不吃了。
If these sentences are translated word for word into English, they will be very marked
with objects in the fronted position, which only appears in certain specific context for
particular purpose.
This book I have already read.
The room he has tidied up.
The chicken she will not eat.
7. 1) Give an example for each of the three situations where exceptions may arise.
(1) For example, you are told to add .-ed‘ to a verb to form the past form and past
participle of a verb. But such words as go, take, sleep, make, think, cut, etc. are
exceptions to the rules.
(2) For example, you are told that water is an uncountable noun, and it has no plural
form. But in a restaurant, you may find yourself speaking to the waiter ―Two
waters, please.‖
Actually, language users, especially L1 speakers are producing a lot of such
exceptions everyday. As L2 learners, you should not regard this kind of usage as
ungrammatical. Instead, we you should try to understand the meaning with the
help of the context.
(3) For example, we are taught that such words as: be, cost are stative verbs and they
are not used in progressive aspect. But in our reading, we may find that they are
used in progressive aspect by native speakers, e.g., "He is being foolish", "The
mistake is costing us dearly". We may feel puzzled when confronted with such
examples which go against what we have learned in grammar books. When
approaching language, So, we need to keep it in m

ind that language is a living
thing. We should not cut the feet to fit the shoes. People use language to express
meaning and . , which means we need to analyze the language item with reference
to what the speaker means to say. In doing this we should need to take into
consideration the context, the time, the participants, the purpose of the speech and
many other factors. For example, when a person says, ―He is being foolish‖, he
may mean that he is not foolish by nature, but he is acting foolishly at the
moment of speaking.
2) This is not always true. For example, we say ―Would you like some tea?‖. Though In
a question we prefer ―some‖ to ―any‖ here because the utterance is an offer rather a
question. The point here is that whether the hearer would accept the offer. rather
than whether there is water for the speaker is sure there is some water he can offer to
the hear.
3) This activity is to engage students to do it. Let the students do it themselves.
8. 1) For example, there are American English, British English, spoken English, written
English, formal (relatively stiff, cold, polite, impersonal) English, informal
(relatively relaxed, warm, friendly, and sometimes rude) English, Black American
English and the English spoken by well-educated people, etc.
2) The phrasal verbs and the single-word verbs are roughly of the same meaning. But
the single-word verbs are generally more formal.
9. All these sentences use the present continuous tense, but they do not refer to the present.
The first one is referring refers to a future arrangement, the second one is actually a story
about the past, and the third one is referring refers to a repeated habit. The same form
(present continuous) can be used to mean many different things: the same form has many
functions.
10. All these grammatical constructions structures are different, and they all convey different
meanings represent differences in meaning. The first sentence is neutral in predicting the
future event. The second sentence suggests that the meeting tomorrow has been definitely
arranged, whereas the third sentence suggests that it is a plan, though not yet a definite
arrangement. The fourth sentence suggests it is a subjective plan. The last sentence
implies that the arrangement is official. The definiteness of the fifth sentence is between
the last one and the third one in its definiteness .
11. 1) It is not a good way to learn grammar by doing exercises. For one thing, though the
students may be able to get a high mark in examinations, they still may still have
difficulty in producing correct English, especially oral English.
For another, we learn English grammar for the ultimate goal of understanding
and producing correct English. Examinations and exercises may help the students
remember some rules. There are many other more effective ways for the students to
learn grammar. For example, they can improve the

ir grammar through actual L2 use.
Furthermore, what students are supposed to know in exercises or examinations
may not be the most important grammatical items in actual use. For example, the
subjunctive mood is one of the examination setters‘ favourite items, but it is used
much less often than such items as articles, tense, number and so on. That is to say,
grammar exercises may be misleading. It may make the students pay too much
attention to grammatical items which are not very important in actual use. And good
result in examinations does not necessarily mean the students have a good command
of the L2.
2) There is no definite answer to this task.
12. These adjectives are derived from verbs that express emotions or feelings. When we talk
about an emotion, we can focus on the source (i.e. who or what causes it) or on the
experiencer (who or what is affected by it). When you are talking about the source, you
use the –ing form. If a book (or a lesson or a person) causes the emotion, then it is boring,
interesting, or exciting. When you are talking about the experiencer, you use the –ed form.
If people experience the emotion, then they are bored, interested, or excited. The cause is
boring, the experience is bored. The following adjectives have a similar meaning
distinction:
Source or cause is –ing
Things or people are:
Experiencer or the affected is –ed
People (mostly) are:
amazing, amusing, annoying, amazed, amused, annoyed
astonishing, bewildering astonished, bewildered
boring, confusing, depressing,
embarrassing, exciting,
exhausting, fascinating,
frightening, horrifying,
interesting, intriguing
irritating, puzzling, satisfying,
shocking, surprising,
terrifying, tiring, worrying
bored, confused, depressed,
embarrassed, excited,
exhausted, fascinated,
frightened, horrified,
interested, intrigued,
irritated, puzzled, satisfied,
shocked, surprised,
terrified, fired, worried
13. 1) In the first group, the conditionals are used to express a relationship between two
events as generally happening or normally being true in the circumstances described.
They are used to express generalizations. Or they present the main clause event as a
possibility in the future which depends on the prior occurrence of the situation in the
if- clause.
In the second group, the conditionals present the main clause event as unlikely,
yet possible, given the situation expressed in the if-clause. The use of past tense
forms in the if-clause indicates the remoteness of the possibility of the event.
Modal forms associated with remoteness of possibility are typically found in the
main clause.
In the third group, the conditionals present the main clause event within the
context of an if-clause event that is known to be impossible. The presentation of
actions or states that are impossible is marked by forms that indicate extreme
remoteness, both in time and possibili

ty.
2) In many cases, we find there is only –s after words ending with o. After we have
encountered many exceptions we may find: we add –es to such words as hero,
tomato, potato, tornado, volcano, torpedo, etc., which are full forms. And we add –s
to such words as photo, kilo, hippo, radio, etc., which are shortened forms.
14. This task gets asks the students to study the future in terms of how sure the speaker is
of the future action.
the speaker is sure the speaker is not sure
(1), (2), (3), (6) (4), (5)
15. 1) It is impossible for you to ignore the grammatical terms. But it is unnecessary
for you to remember all of them. The most important thing is to know what is the
basic grammatical fact referred to by a certain term. And you only need to
remember this fact by a term that is commonly used. Don‘t worry about the
differences between different terms.
2)
word group
词组
Phrase
短语
genitive case
属格
possessive case
所有格
hypotactic
sentence
从属句
complex sentence
复杂句
bare infinitive
原形动词不定式
infinitive without
.to‘
不带to 的动词不定
式
relative clause
关系从句
attributive clause
定语从句
paratactic sentence
并列句
compound sentence
并列句
present
progressive aspect
现在进行体
present continuous
tense
现在进行时
subject complement
主语补助语
predicative
表语
16. 1) It is advisable to learn grammar in context. The advantage of context-based
grammar learning lies in two ways. First, it is true to the nature of language. In
actual use, every piece of language appears in a particular context. Only with
respect to the by context, can we better understand the meaning of language items
in question. Any Grammar is the rules people summed up found from actual use. In
this way, you can really realize that language is not just a collection of rules.
Secondly, it will be easier for you to apply the rules in actual context. If you learn it
in context, you are more likely to be able to use it in context.
2) When each entity is introduced for the first time (i.e. new information), the writer
uses noun phrases with a, the indefinite article (e.g. a woman, a supermarket, a
friend, a small child, a bottle). When an entity is mentioned again (i.e. given
information), the speaker uses pronouns (e.g. she, they, it) or noun phrases with the,
the definite article (e.g. the child, the first woman). Although they are brief forms,
English pronouns remind us that the referent (among those we already know) is
female (she) or plural (they) or neuter (it). That is, pronouns carry some grammatical
information.
Noun phrases with the (e.g. the child) carry even more information and are used
to establish a known entity as the focus of attention. That is, after having the woman
and her friend (they) as the focus of attention, the writer in line 4 establishes a

different focus of attention with the child. If there is a possibility of confusion
among the known referent, then an adjective is often included, as in the first woman.
If a referent can be inferred on the basis of assumed knowledge, then a noun phrase
with the (e.g. the shelf), can be used. Since this writer has mentioned a supermarket,
there is no need to say that ―supermarket has shelves‖, as if it is new information.
This is treated as inferable given information, but clearly not so predictable that a
pronoun could be used.
17. There is definite answer to this task.
Home Assignment
The three activities are designed to make the students to rethink and reflect on what has
been discussed. Answers may vary a great deal. Whatever answers are given, students are
supposed to justify them. You can have your own answers to the questions, but you should be
able to justify yourself.