Grammar brush-up

[longhorn]

I'm going to take the ESL supplemental certification test in Texas next week, and from the review materials it's apparent I need to learn formal grammar. By this, I mean the names of the different tenses, what a gerund is, how to diagram a sentence, etc. There are a lot of online resources but they're all broken up; I need a book that lines out all the information for me.

I was an English major and I never had to learn any of this stuff!!!

Thanks.

[Raymott]

Originally Posted by longhorn

I'm going to take the ESL supplemental certification test in Texas next week, and from the review materials it's apparent I need to learn formal grammar. By this, I mean the names of the different tenses, what a gerund is, how to diagram a sentence, etc. There are a lot of online resources but they're all broken up; I need a book that lines out all the information for me.

I was an English major and I never had to learn any of this stuff!!!

Thanks.

This is shocking. You're an English teacher in the US and you don't know basic English grammar? Is this usual?
Is there anybody in the education system there who is concerned about this?
By the way, you're not going to learn grammar in a week, and neither are your students when they grow up and find that their education system has screwed them badly. However, perhaps I shouldn't be surprised if they award you an ESL licence with one week's knowledge of grammar.

OK, I know this sounds harsh - it's not personal.

[Anglika]

Originally Posted by longhorn

I'm going to take the ESL supplemental certification test in Texas next week, and from the review materials it's apparent I need to learn formal grammar. By this, I mean the names of the different tenses, what a gerund is, how to diagram a sentence, etc. There are a lot of online resources but they're all broken up; I need a book that lines out all the information for me.

I was an English major and I never had to learn any of this stuff!!!

Thanks.

When did US universities stop their obligatory English writing courses that all students had to take, even those from the UK with an "A" level in English?

Go to the Grammar Glossary on this site and spend the week working through it. There are tests.

[rubberlady]

I so hear you! I am doing the same thing here in Thailand. My grammar is absolutely fine but knowing the 'names' is a whole other thing! I see your post was from August so how did it go and did you find a book that helped you?

Regards from Bangkok