In the following four short videos I attempt to sketch out what grammar is, and how it is variously perceived. I then present the broad elements of phrase structure, and then explore the verb phrase in depth, discussing along the way tense and its shaky relationship to time, aspect, mood, and voice.
A second theme running through the videos is how some of these concepts may be misunderstood, misrepresented and mistreated, especially within published courseware and in orthodox advice to trainee teachers during their initial training.
Total run-time is just over half an hour. I hope you find these videos clear and useful; I’d welcome comments and discussion so please leave a reply.
Hi Anthony,
I have just watched your first video and really like your introduction to how the various grammatical elements of any given structure interrelate by way of an excellent analogy about puzzles. I have studied languages for many years, but this analogy was something of a ‘penny drop’ moment to me; highlighting how every aspect of a given structure (morphology, syntax, semantics etc.) is intrinsic to the success of the sentence.
I’ll keep watching the rest for more fresh perspectives on my trainee teacher books 🙂
Thanks again,
Rachel
Hi Rachel,
Glad you found this useful; I’m a bit of an analogy fan, and it’s nice to know when one of them works!
It’s good way to show the complexity in tenses and when can we use it . It’s really precious to continue lessons with you .
Excellent reasoning and extremely helpful