Traffic

[paochai01]

How do I explain (the way a teacher would) that the sentence 'It's traffic' is incorrect? I just know that it doesn't sound good and that 'traffic' is not an adjective when you mean 'you got stuck in traffic' or 'traffic was heavy' or 'you caught a heavy traffic'.
And what are other possible alternatives?

[jctgf]

-why did you take so long?
-it was the traffic.


hi,
is this dialog possible, please?
thanks.

[Raymott]

How do I explain (the way a teacher would) that the sentence 'It's traffic' is incorrect? I just know that it doesn't sound good and that 'traffic' is not an adjective when you mean 'you got stuck in traffic' or 'traffic was heavy' or 'you caught a heavy traffic'.
And what are other possible alternatives?

"It's traffic" is a correct sentence.
A: What do you call all those cars and bikes and buses?
B: It's traffic.
"I'm late because of the traffic".

No, it doesn't sound good if the sentence is used with an incorrect meaning.
"It was the traffic." is the excuse your students want.
You need to explain that they should use the past tense, because they are talking about something that happened in the past.
"It was the traffic that made me late".

[paochai01]

They keep saying 'It's traffic today...'
This word may function as an adjective but not in any context they want. Am I right?

[Anglika]

Who keep saying and in what context?

[bhaisahab]

They keep saying 'It's traffic today...'
This word may function as an adjective but not in any context they want. Am I right?

Are they trying to say it"s busy/there is a lot of work today?

[paochai01]

Sorry if I didn't make myself more clear.

They say 'It's traffic today.' like 'It's a rainy day.'

I told my students that it was not the right usage and I gave them these examples:

We got/were stuck in traffic for several hours.
There wasn't much traffic on the roads.
They must have got caught in rush-hour traffic.
There was a lot of/heavy traffic on the roads this morning.

I just don't know how to explain to them (the English teacher way) that 'It's traffic today' is wrong...

[Anglika]

Tell them is it slang and makes no sense. It may be a coming use of the word, but that is no reason to use it in formal settings.

[paochai01]

Tell them is it slang and makes no sense. It may be a coming use of the word, but that is no reason to use it in formal settings.

Thanks! :)

[Raymott]

Thanks! :)

Tell them if they keep talking that way, they'll end up slaving away in a Nike factory, being under-payed, undervalued, and resentful that they didn't put enough effort into their English at school.
BUT: Are they saying it to you as an attempt at standard English? If not, I wouldn't panic too much. All kids have their slang. As long as you're hearing it in the play-ground, it's probably not so bad.