When learning new words, it is very important to pay attention to their environment - words-partners, with which a word new to us is usually used, and the grammatical constructions in which it is used - I talk about this more than once in the course "English words forever".
Some of my students don't always understand the difference between the two. I explain.
GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES - this is a framelanguage.
They structure, order, give support. Some words themselves create a construction, more precisely, predetermine those components that will appear to the left and / or to the right of them. The most typical case is a verb. In general, the English verb has a “compressed” sentence structure.
For example,
to complain:
Somebody complains to somebody about something:
here, the obligatory grammatical components of the structure will be the prepositions to (+ animate noun) and about (+ indication of the situation)
cause:
Somebody causes something for somebody(there is often a preposition for before pointing to a person) or
Somebody causes sb/sth to do sth(with the verb in the infinitive with to).
STABLE COMBINATIONS - this is 2-3 FUNCTIONAL WORDS that are usually used together. Linguists call them collocations, or words that go together, and it is in this combination that words sound natural:
make breakfast, have a shower, get lost…
About stable combinations, I bno wrote in one of the previous articles.
Let's analyze the case of the adjective available:
Readily available, widely available- typical combinations of words, or collocations.
BE available TO sb / FOR some activity / TO DO sthare grammatical structures.
So, DIFFERENCE between grammatical constructions and collocations in that
designs is about sentence structure (what other structural components are used around our word), and
collocations- about WORDS-partners with which our word is combined.
If we use the wrong preposition or omit the verb be when we want to say that we are tired (* I tired instead of I AM tired), we make a grammatical error =(= wrong design).
If we choose not the partner word that native speakers would choose (* The milk has become sour instead of The milk HAS GONE sour, or even better gone off), there will be no grammatical error, there will be a lexical one (wrong word choice), and this will “cut the ear” - they don’t say that.
And now JOB for you:
Determine what is in front of you in each combination:
G = grammatical construction
C = stable combination of words
1. Then it TURNED COLD and started to rain.
2. I AM tired OF listening to him.
3. Who WAS paper invented BY?
4. I TOTALLY AGREE.
5. I DOn't agree WITH you ON it, I'm afraid.
Waiting for your answers in the comments!
For children over 6 years old
Test.1 Understanding logical-grammatical structures
Questions are presented in the form of logical and grammatical turns of speech constructions (LGK) of various types, and it is proposed to answer them.
Inverted:“VANIA HIT PETIA. Who hurts? Comparative:“SVETA IS OLDER THAN NATASHA. Who is younger? Genitive attributive case:"WHO IS MOTHER'S DAUGHTER, AND WHO IS DAUGHTER'S MOTHER?" Refundable:
Which of the two sentences is correct - the first or the second?
1) "THE EARTH IS LIGHTED BY THE SUN." 2) "THE SUN IS LIGHTED BY THE EARTH."
The inability to understand LGC while being able to understand and use the morphological means of the language in other less complex verbal and contextual conditions indicates that violations of the morphological code of the language are of a non-rough nature. The inability to understand LGC along with the inability to use the morphological means of the language are a systemic consequence of the insufficiency of more elementary levels of function. The lack of understanding of LHC with the ability to understand words and other turns of speech, as well as in the absence of other focal symptoms, indicates that this function was not sufficiently mastered in premorbidity and did not receive local representation in the brain.
Formation:
1) the ability to understand the morphological means of the language as a whole;
2) operations of word formation and inflection.
The syntax of the language
4.1. Non-verbal basic code component - symbolic level
For children over 6 years old
Test. Establishing the order of story pictures
A series of plot pictures is presented (out of order). The task is given to decompose them so that a story is obtained. Some plot pictures can be borrowed from X. Bidstrup's book, some from Wexler's methodology, and some from other, mainly children's books and games.
· Inability to lay out in order the pictures, which are the links of any plot.
· Posting pictures in random order.
· Inability to determine the initial, climactic, final link of the plot, etc.
The inability to arrange a series of consecutive pictures in order indicates a delay in psychoverbal development. The qualification of this defect, not just as a speech defect, but as a psycho-verbal one, is due to the fact that establishing the order of plot pictures requires the formation of a rather complex mental function of programming.
Damage to the brain area that performs programming functions (tertiary fields) of the posterior frontal cortex of the left hemisphere.
Priority methods of function formation and correction.
Development of the planning (programming) function of thinking in different types of activities:
1. Arrangement of plot pictures in order.
2. Retelling of texts according to plans.
3. Playing on the predicative link of the statement according to the functional characteristics of objects, with the gradual unfolding of each of them in the form of successive phrases, the composition
telling the plot.
4.2. Verbal code component - symbolic level
Note. The commentary on the tests of this section of the methodology is not built according to such a detailed plan as for the samples related to other sections of the methodology, because. the main purpose of examining the syntactic code of a language is limited to elucidating qualitative differences in the state of coherent speech of varying degrees of development. It is difficult to indicate the area of pathological functioning in the brain in such types of speech activity as retelling, spontaneous monologue, etc., since they are not local in the strict sense of the word.
Dialogic speech
Test. Conversational and everyday dialogue
A series of tests is proposed, providing answers to the following situational questions presented by ear:
For children 2.5-3.5 years old:
"What is your name? What toy should I give you? Tell me what it's called"(the child chooses a toy from 3 lying in front of him and says its name). “Let's play with a car (or a doll)! What does the machine do?(drives, hums, etc.)
For children over 3.5 and under 5 years old:
"How is your mother's name? What toys do you have?
For children over 5 years old.
« What have you eaten (ate) today? Can you call home on the phone? Do you watch cartoons on TV at home?
Test 2. Non-situational dialogue
For children over 5 years old.
The following questions and non-situational simple instructions are suggested:
“Why did you come here? Do you love fairy tales? What fairy tale do you remember?
The main pathological symptomatology.
- Reduced answers.
- agrammatical answers.
Hypervoluntariness of speech activity, i.e. the absence of clichéd, stereotypical turns of speech.
- Decrease in the degree of speech activity.
A small amount of compensatory (substitutive) means of communication - gestures, facial expressions, attempts at written communication.
The diagnostic value of the test results. The test reveals the ability to use: a) the rules of grammatical, in particular, syntactic structuring within the framework of dialogical speech; b) the volume of automated speech structures accumulated in premorbid speech practice (meaning mainly patients with aphasia).
The inconsistency in the use of dialogical speech is an indicator of: a) the rough formation of the lexical and morphological codes of the language; b) the absence of the necessary incentives for verbal communication. In addition, many features of expressive dialogic speech are informative for assessing the state of speech understanding, articulatory praxis, volume and quality of the dictionary. Their disorders and at the same time signs of spontaneous compensation are manifested in the presence of: I) verbal and literal paraphasia, logorrhea, fragmentation of the statement while holding its main idea, etc.; 2) individual speech constructions built according to syntactic clichés reinforced for the patient, as a rule, inadequate in style of the situation of speech communication and reflecting his premorbid “linguistic portrait”.
Priority methods for the formation of dialogic speech and its correctional training Stimulation for dialogic speech in the most significant communication situations for the child, focusing his attention on the turns of speech typical for each of them, and repeatedly returning to them for the purpose of automation.
monologue speech
Test 1. Composing a phrase based on a plot picture
Plot pictures are presented, designed to receive phrases of varying degrees of semantic and grammatical complexity. Some of them are intended to verbalize the "nuclear" phrase (the same subject performing different actions or different actions performed by the same subject); others can be phrased in a simple phrase that does not require significant verbal stock and grammatical competence; others involve the possession of various means of syntactic connection of words in a sentence. A special place is occupied by pictures that require the use of prepositions. For children from 5 years of age:
1. Pictures with the same subject performing different actions: a boy is walking, a boy is sitting, a boy is sleeping, a boy is reading, a boy is drawing, etc.
2. Pictures with different subjects performing different actions: the boy is running, the girl is jumping, the mother is cooking dinner, etc.
3. Pictures that require the construction of subject-object relations: a cat laps milk, a worker builds a house, a girl combs her hair with a comb.
The main pathological symptomatology.
Inability to build a nuclear phrase, replacing it with separate words.
· Inability to build a simple, but not a nuclear, but a detailed phrase that requires grammatical transformations.
The diagnostic value of the test results. The inability to construct a "nuclear phrase" (subject + predicate) indicates an inability to master the most important of the syntactic operations - predication, and, consequently, an unformed elementary cause-and-effect thinking. The inability to voice the picture with a simple common phrase indicates the unformed ability to grammatically transform the deep syntactic structure of the phrase into a superficial one, and, consequently, the insufficiency of the process thinking necessary for this. This insufficiency is also an indicator of the weakening of mental activity.
Area of pathological functioning in the brain. At the stage of speech maturation, the ability to spontaneous monologue speech is the result of the immaturity of the integrative activity of the brain.
Priority methods of function formation and correction of disorders.
1. Stimulation from the sense of language, due to which the assimilation of the predicate as the generative center of the phrase takes place: questions that emphasize the semantic "valencies" of the predicate, playing them out on pictorial and verbal material; automation of the most frequent syntactic patterns of a phrase.
2. Bringing out the semantic links between the members of the sentence. The introduction of various visual supports to facilitate their understanding and the development of appropriate generalizations.
Test 2. Retelling
The text of a short fairy tale is read out, which needs to be retold.
The main pathological symptomatology.
· Inability to catch the logical sequence of text fragments or reproduce it.
Verbatim transmission from memory of fragments of text.
Diagnostic value of the sample. The inability to retell indicates insufficient development of procedural thinking or the loss of speech skills necessary for the implementation of this type of speech activity. The specificity of retelling also makes it possible to obtain information about whether there is activity in the construction of a phrase or whether it occurs mainly due to reliance on auditory-speech memory.
Test 3. Spontaneous monologue on a given topic
The task is to tell something on a given topic.
The main pathological symptomatology.
· Inability to reproduce a series of phrases.
Lack of semantic connection between the phrases of the text (fragmentation, fragmentation of presentation).
Diagnostic value of test results. The test reveals the lack of formation or violation of programming thinking, as well as the state of the ability to translate an intra-speech intention into external speech. The state of spontaneous monologue also shows how capable the child is of relying on causal relationships between text fragments.
Written syntax
Note. Samples 1-3 have a common goal - to reveal the child's ability to syntactically structure written speech. In this regard, a general commentary is given to them.
For children of primary school age:
Test 1. Written dialogue
The task is to write a note to someone.
Test 2. Composition
The task is given to write an essay either on a given topic, or on any other thought up by the child independently.
The main pathological symptomatology.
The main violations of a written monologue are the same as those of an oral one, but they are much more common (due to the greater objective psychological and linguistic complexity of a monologue compared to a dialogue). The state of one of the most important components of thinking is revealed.
The diagnostic value of the test. The inability to write monologue hinders schooling and intellectual development in general.
Priority methods of function formation and correction.
1. The development of verbal-logical procedural thinking in oral speech, namely the ability to build the most detailed oral texts.
2. Reliance on graphic images of words as additional mnemonic means for mastering typical models of written speech (cliches).
Very often we need to underline, emphasize or emphasize certain information when speaking. We usually do this with intonation.
But in English there are special constructions for this. With the help of them, we focus on certain information in the proposal.
In this article, I will tell you about 4 such constructions and teach you how to build sentences using them.
From the article you will learn:
So, let's begin.
Strengthening the action with the verb do in English
We can use the verb do in affirmative sentences to reinforce the meaning of the verb (the action we are talking about).
Such amplification is translated into Russian as “really”, “in fact”, “after all”, “nevertheless”, “for sure”, “mandatory”.
For example: She really loves him.
Depending on the tense in which you strengthen the sentence, the verb do can take the following forms:
1. Present tense - do/does
Using it's high time in English
In English there is a construction It "s time, which literally translates as "this is the time." But, of course, using this construction, we do not translate it literally, but say "it's time."
We use it when we say that the time has come to do something.
It's time for him to move into his apartment.
To strengthen this construction, we add the word high to it.
The design It's high time is translated into Russian as "it's high time, it's high time." It is usually used when we express dissatisfaction or criticize someone.
It's time for him to move into his apartment.
The scheme of such a proposal:
It's high tense + character + past tense verb
For example:
It's high time she cleaned her room.
It's time for her to clean her room.
It's high time they started to work.
It's time for them to start working.
What at the beginning of an affirmative sentence
The word what is translated as "what". We can put it at the beginning of an affirmative sentence to make it more emotional.
In Russian, such sentences are also used.
For example:
What I need right now is some sleep.
In English what we usually use in a sentence with words:
- like - like
- dislike - don't like
- need - need
- love - love
For example, we have a sentence:
I need a cup of coffee.
I need a cup of coffee.
To reinforce this offer, we:
1. Put what at the beginning of a sentence
What I need...
What I need
2. Add the verb to be - is
What I need is a cup of coffee.
What I need is a cup of coffee.
Here are some more examples:
What she likes is her job.
What she loves is her job.
What I need is one day off.
What I need is one day off.
So, we have considered the basic designs, and now let's move on to practice.
Reinforcement task
Translate the following sentences into English. Leave your answers in the comments below the article.
1. It was he who helped me.
2. He really wants to come.
3. It is high time for them to get married.
4. What he needs is a glass of water.
5. Be sure to call me.
When you start learning English, at first your eyes run wide from the countless rules, exceptions and constructions that you need to know, understand, and even use correctly. Only after some time you realize that this language is not as creepy as it seemed at the very beginning, and you begin to distinguish set expressions, phrasal verbs, and so on in the text.
It is for those who are just starting to learn English, who still have mess in their heads and who want to isolate the so-called must have or, in our case, must know, from all this grammatical chaos, I wrote this article. Today I will tell you about the basic constructions and speech turns that are important to know and that will help you express your thoughts.
1. There is/there are
The main purpose of this construction is to tell the interlocutor that something is somewhere, present. We use there is/there are when we talk about what sights are in our city, when we describe our room or house, when we talk about what is in our bag or backpack.
Please note that sentences with this construction are translated from the end, and there is/there are not translated at all. There is we use with singular, and there are, respectively, with the plural.
For example:
2. To be going to
Design to be going to translates as "gather". We use it when we say that we will definitely do something in the future. It is important to remember that this construction works in cases where the decision was made before the conversation, that is, you decided to learn Italian and after making the decision, you talk to a friend and share your plan with him:
I am going to learn Italian.
Now let's look at how to embed it in a proposal. Verb to be as always changes to am/is/are/was/were/will be depending on the pronoun and tense; going to remains unchanged and is translated as “gather”, and then there is always a verb that says what exactly you are going to do.
They are going to get married this winter. They are going to get married this winter.
We are going to earn a lot of money next summer. - We're going to make a lot of money next summer.
I am going to leave for London tomorrow. - I'm going to leave for London tomorrow.
3. The way
This turn of phrase is, in my opinion, the most interesting, because it can be applied to many situations. The very word way translated as "road" and "direction". Very often, beginners in English cannot understand what the road has to do, for example, with the description of a person. We will talk about such situations now.
turnover the way can convey an action pattern. For example, you can say that you like the way she dances or the way she looks. In this case, “how” is our turnover the way:
I like the way you dance. - I like the way you dance.
He likes the way I cook. He likes the way I cook.
Also turnover the way can be translated as "way". For example:
Working hard is the only way to get your goal. - Working hard is the only way to achieve your goal.
I would like to note that this is not the only meaning and possibility of using the way. With this turnover, there are both stable expressions and verb constructions, but for the first time the meaning discussed above will be quite enough.
4. It takes
This design is also quite common and will definitely be useful to you when traveling abroad. This phrase is used when we say how long an action takes. We can use it to ask how long it will take to fly to a destination, or how long a taxi ride to the city center will take.
It takes me an hour to get to work. It takes me one hour to get to work.
The flight to Moscow takes 3 hours. - The flight to Moscow takes three hours.
My morning exercises take me 15 min. - My morning exercises take me 15 minutes.
Let's summarize and repeat once again what situations each of these designs is suitable for:
- there is/there are we use it when we tell what objects are in a room, house, bag, city, and so on;
- to be going to use when we are going to do something;
- the way suitable for describing the manner of action;
- it takes we use when reporting how long an action takes.
And finally, I would like to give a little advice for those who are just starting to learn English: do not try to understand all the rules at once. Accumulate knowledge in stages, first learn simple words, rules and tenses, and then move on to more complex ones. And, of course, be patient with yourself and with English.
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