[Grammar] Grammar points

[waterrat]

How do I find the most likely grammar point.


A. I would go if I had the time.


B. What have you done with your hair?


C. That sign was just painted.


D. He could have phoned but I doubt it.


E. She´ll have finished by the time we arrive.

 

[2010]

How do I find the most likely grammar point.


A. I would go if I had the time. (Conditional statement "if")


B. What have you done with your hair? (Interrogative)


C. That sign was just painted. (Past tense)


D. He could have phoned but I doubt it. (Improbability)


E. She´ll have finished by the time we arrive. (Future perfect tense)

Welcome waterrat!

What do you exactly want to know grammatically?

 

[Rover_KE]

What do you mean by grammar point?

 

[steve24183309]

The Question I asked the grammar department: Is there any particular rule or way of finding the grammar point."the grammar point most likely is." How is the grammar point defined.


The answer received:


Hi,

Thank you for your interest in our Grammar Advisor. The best way to find the most important grammar point in a sentence is to try to think what students might have problems with when dealing with that sentence. You will find that with experience this will become easier. However, at first you might need to carefully think of all the options, all the patterns contained in each sentence, and try to find which is the most relevant or most difficult in each case. The truth is there is no rule for this!


I do not want to know the answer, I would like to know how to find the answer.





Survey of the Basics & Teaching Grammar

1 Describe how you would drill the past tense (or another grammar point) with a repetition drill, a yes-no question drill and a substitution drill.

2 Explain how you would teach the difference between active and passive verbs (or another grammar point) using Guided Discovery.

3 Determine what the most likely grammar point will be in each of the following and summarize or define it.


A. I would go if I had the time.


B. What have you done with your hair?


C. That sign was just painted.


D. He could have phoned but I doubt it.


E. She´ll have finished by the time we arrive.

 

[Raymott]

It seems then, that a "grammar point" is simply an aspect of grammar which is illustrated by a certain sentence, and "the most likely grammar point" of a sentence is that grammatical aspect of English which the sentence seems to be illustrating.

Assuming that, the way to find the "most likely grammar point" would be to find all the possible aspects of grammar that a sentence contains, and identify the one that is least trivial.

Example:
"A. I would go if I had the time." presents such aspects of grammar as i) agreement of subject and verb (trivial), ii) word order (trivial), iii) punctuation (trivial), iv) formation of a second conditional sentence (not trivial) ...

I would therefore call iv) the "grammar point" of this sentence.

 

[steve24183309]

What do you mean by grammar point?

Reply from the grammar department where I am studying. I had assumed that there were rules for guidance in the use of the English language. But in the questions below, "determine the most likely," it seems this is not always the case.

Hi,

Thank you for your interest in our Grammar Advisor. The best way to find the most important grammar point in a sentence is to try to think what students might have problems with when dealing with that sentence. You will find that with experience this will become easier. However, at first you might need to carefully think of all the options, all the patterns contained in each sentence, and try to find which is the most relevant or most difficult in each case. The truth is there is no rule for this!


Best,

Karina Zew
Grammar Advisor






3 Determine what the most likely grammar point will be in each of the following and summarize or define it.


A. I would go if I had the time.


B. What have you done with your hair?


C. That sign was just painted.


D. He could have phoned but I doubt it.


[FONT=&quot]E. She´ll[/FONT][FONT=&quot] have finished by the time we arrive[/FONT]