A New Television Was Bought By Me Yesterday

Roger HuntIH Barcelona

A New Television Was Bought By Me Yesterday

The sentence above does not break any grammatical rules nor rules of usage as described in many course books, but it is not a ‘happy’ sentence: it breaks rules beyond surface level grammar. In this talk I will combine some new analysis of old language points with some practical classroom approaches to teaching grammar which can be used at any level.

Guided Discovery 1Meaning based

1. If I criticised her unfairly, then I always apologised

2. If you’re going to buy a house, then you’re going to need a lot of money

3. If you ate too much over the holidays, then it’s no surprise you’ve put on weight

4. If you would all follow me, I’ll show you to your rooms

5. If paying by direct debit, please make sure that you…

Sentence level grammar vs discourse

1. By next Tuesday your black cat will have been taken to Canada by a man in a blue raincoat.

2. Have you ever climbed Mount Everest?3. What a beautiful, big, red, handmade,

Moroccan, brass cooking pot.4. What a handmade, Moroccan, brass, red, big,

beautiful cooking pot.

Discourse 1Information structure

Salvador Dali was a Spanish SurrealistA Hundreds of pictures were painted by himB He painted hundreds of pictures

John Glen was the first American in spaceA He was made a national heroB The American people made him a national hero

Eskimos used to live in IgloosA They made them out of snowB Igloos were made out of snowC They made them out of snow

Why discourse not sentence level?

• John went to the harbour. John looked up at the ship. The ship was huge. John saw a person on the ship. The person on the ship suddenly waved to John.

• John went to the harbour and looked up at the ship, which was huge. He saw a person on the ship who suddenly waved to him.

Discourse 2 socio-cultural language use

• Has a dog ever bitten you?• Have you ever been bitten by a dog?

• A new jacket was bought by me last week• I bought a new jacket last week

• On her world tour a lot of places were visited by the Queen

• The Queen visited a lot of places on her world tour

Reformulation(all grammar apart from word order has been removed)

Think he drink alcohol, Gary pick up salsa jar take swig gasoline. After spit up onto clothing, recover shock light cigarette...

Reformulation(original text)

Thinking he was drinking alcohol, Gary picked up a salsa jar and took a swig of gasoline. After spitting it up onto his clothing, he recovered from the shock by lighting a cigarette...

From Darwin Awards

Propositional Cluster Task

A: Policeman killed in riotB: Policeman kills in riot

C: yacht desert island wreck coconuts storm

D: Lottery win 1 million euros ticket trouser-pocket washing machine

Pad it out

• The cat sat on the mat• The fat cat sat on the mat by the fire.• The big, fat, old, ugly, tabby cat sat snivelling

on its master’s brand new, Persian, hand-made mat by the roaring coal fire that smelled of autumnal acorns.

Subject Verb Complement

Indirect object/recipient

Direct object

Adjunct of place

Adjunct of time

1.In Alaska/is/really cold/it/in the winter2.On my birthday/me/John/gave/a new DVD player3.Skiing/went/we/at the weekend4.In bed/watched/she/all day/TV5.Last week/really ill/was/I6.Very friendly/seemed/she

Subject Verb Complement

Indirect object/recipient

Direct object

Adjunct of place

Adjunct of time

It is really cold

in Alaska in the winter

John gave me a new DVD player

on my birthday

We went skiing at the weekend

She watched TV in bed all day

I was really ill last week

She seemed very friendly

Lewes Bonfire Night(From: the Lewes tourist office web site)

Roads in the town are closed, meaning that there are no parking facilities. Those using public transport are likely to find that it is very crowded and that they will have to queue for long periods before arriving in Lewes. The journey home could be even more horrendous. This can be an unpleasant experience, particularly when it is cold or raining - which is likely in November. Lewes Bonfire is a particularly unsuitable event for younger children, who are unlikely to get a view of the celebrations, and who may find the event confusing and frightening. Children in pushchairs and buggies are particularly vulnerable to injury due to the density of the crowds.

Roads in the town are closed, meaning that there are no parking facilities. Those using public transport are likely to find that it is very crowded and that they will have to queue for long periods before arriving in Lewes. The journey home could be even more horrendous. This can be an unpleasant experience, particularly when it is cold or raining - which is likely in November. Lewes Bonfire is a particularly unsuitable event for younger children, who are unlikely to get a view of the celebrations, and who may find the event confusing and frightening. Children in pushchairs and buggies are particularly vulnerable to injury due to the density of the crowds.

Roads in the town are closed, meaning that there are no parking facilities. Those using public transport are likely to find that it is very crowded and that they will have to queue for long periods before arriving in Lewes. The journey home could be even more horrendous. This can be an unpleasant experience, particularly when it is cold or raining - which is likely in November. Lewes Bonfire is a particularly unsuitable event for younger children, who are unlikely to get a view of the celebrations, and who may find the event confusing and frightening. Children in pushchairs and buggies are particularly vulnerable to injury due to the density of the crowds.

Roads in the town are closed, meaning that there are no parking facilities. Those using public transport are likely to find that it is very crowded and that they will have to queue for long periods before arriving in Lewes. The journey home could be even more horrendous. This can be an unpleasant experience, particularly when it is cold or raining - which is likely in November. Lewes Bonfire is a particularly unsuitable event for younger children, who are unlikely to get a view of the celebrations, and who may find the event confusing and frightening. Children in pushchairs and buggies are particularly vulnerable to injury due to the density of the crowds.

Roads in the town are closed, meaning that there are no parking facilities. Those using public transport are likely to find that it is very crowded and that they will have to queue for long periods before arriving in Lewes. The journey home could be even more horrendous. This can be an unpleasant experience, particularly when it is cold or raining - which is likely in November. Lewes Bonfire is a particularly unsuitable event for younger children, who are unlikely to get a view of the celebrations, and who may find the event confusing and frightening. Children in pushchairs and buggies are particularly vulnerable to injury due to the density of the crowds.