If you just started learning English, you first need to know
some basic rules of the language. Developing a solid foundation in English
grammar will not only help you create your own sentences correctly but will
also make it easier to improve your communication skills in both spoken and
written English.
Study all the lessons below and incorporate your learning into your speaking and writing.
Study all the lessons below and incorporate your learning into your speaking and writing.
5 Easy Ways to Learn Grammar With The New York Times
Alejandro Yegros
For our first guest post, we’ve
invited the good people at Grammarlogues,
a software- and Web-based tool “founded on the premise that grammar matters
most when it has meaning beyond a set of memorized rules,” to write about ways
to use The Times to bring grammar lessons to life. Come tell us how you make
grammar come alive, below!
Grammar, Party of One
By Danielle Hoagland and Judith McCaffrey for Grammarlogues.com
By Danielle Hoagland and Judith McCaffrey for Grammarlogues.com
National Grammar Day. Three words
that might elicit an even greater sigh than the term grammar itself.
The holiday conjures up images of
celebrants frantically grabbing red pens and running through towns and cities,
adding, crossing out, and otherwise correcting abuses of syntax and diction.
Innocent passersby and unsuspecting onlookers are interrogated: True or false:
You cannot end a sentence with a preposition. Infinitives should never be
split. Passive voice is always wrong.
Let’s reclaim this national
holiday right here and now. Boycott the red pen that ensnares us in syntactical
games of right and wrong, and pick up a piece of literature, any piece of
literature, and explore the English language with fresh eyes.
Or just read The New York Times,
which provides a panoply of grammar concepts that rivals any handbook. Consider
the following five possibilities:
1. Variation Exploration
Reporters and editorial writers
have one job in common: holding their readers’ interest. An essential tool for
doing this is sentence variety, or using different sentence structures to avoid
monotony.
The three-sentence paragraph
below by Adam Liptak is a good example—he follows a simple sentence with a
complex sentence, which he extends with two fairly hefty participial phrases,
and he concludes the paragraph with a simple question:
“The proposed trial of Khalid
Shaikh Mohammed in Manhattan presented perhaps the most extreme example of this
conundrum. Had the trial proceeded there, a change of venue motion based on
local news coverage and community outrage was almost inevitable, given Mr.
Mohammed’s confession to planning the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But would
that intensity of feeling be any less anywhere else in the United States?”
— “Finding Untainted Jurors in the Age of the Internet”
— “Finding Untainted Jurors in the Age of the Internet”
Try this: Find
one other example of sentence variety in a paragraph from an article in The
Times that interests you. Analyze it as we did here to describe why it works.
For more on complex sentences, click here.
2. Punctuation Station
The Times is a one-stop shop for
punctuation, with virtually every mark used in every issue.
In the sentence below, for
instance, Jonah Lehrer uses a semicolon to separate two independent clauses.
Are alternate punctuation marks possible? What would happen, for instance, if a
comma were used instead?
Darwin, of course, was wrong; his
recurring fits didn’t prevent him from succeeding in science.
— “Want a Better Listener? Protect Those Ears”
— “Want a Better Listener? Protect Those Ears”
There is no better model for the
punctuation of dialogue than an article containing dialogue. The example below
of an interrupted quote is a good demonstration:
“We need to look at noise as
something that is dangerous,” Ms. Nadler said, “like sharp tools or a hot
stove.”
— “Depression’s Upside”
— “Depression’s Upside”
Try this: Pick a
type of punctuation mark, the semicolon for example, and scan an article to see
where these are placed and how they are used. Then use one of those sentences
as a model to try your own use of that mark. (And for more on semicolons, click
here.)
3. Rule Breaker
You must understand the “rules”
of grammar before you break them. If you read The Times regularly, you’ll see
instances when writers intentionally break the “rules” to achieve a purpose.
For example:
Is one of the sentences below a
fragment? If so, what effect does it have on the article?
“Then came overtime. Pressure
anyone?”
— “Crosby’s Goal Ends Thriller as Canada Beats U.S.”
— “Crosby’s Goal Ends Thriller as Canada Beats U.S.”
Does the following sentence end
in a preposition, and if so, is this the only way to express the idea? For the
answer, click here.
“The Knicks (20-39) have lost 10
of their last 11 games and have 23 games left to muddle through.”
— “James Shows Knicks Just Why He Is Their Fondest Wish”
— “James Shows Knicks Just Why He Is Their Fondest Wish”
Why might a writer use a string
of passive verbs in a particular sentence? In the following sentence, how do
these passive constructions emphasize the topic?
“The roles of most of the 20,000
or so genes in the human genome are still poorly understood, but all can be
assigned to broad categories of likely function depending on the physical
structure of the protein they specify.”
— “Human Culture, an Evolutionary Force”
— “Human Culture, an Evolutionary Force”
Try this: How
many Times sentences can you find that “break the rules”? Which work best? Why?
4. Sherlock Holmes
Incorporating quotations to
support a thesis effectively and correctly is difficult, but journalists deal
with this aspect of writing constantly, whether the text is a factual account
or an opinion. Consider the indirect quote below from an article on the
upcoming election in Iraq. Readers do not know whether these were Suliman’s
exact words; however, the statement must accurately convey his thought:
“His most prominent Sunni ally,
Sheik Ali Hatam al-Ali Suliman, said the voting bloc he represented in Anbar
would never vote directly for Mr. Maliki.”
— “Vote Seen as Pivotal Test for Both Iraq and Maliki”
— “Vote Seen as Pivotal Test for Both Iraq and Maliki”
Try this: You
won’t have to read far to find examples in The Times of both direct and
indirect quotations. Try conversion practice yourself by changing a direct
quote into an indirect quote, following the punctuation approach you see in the
Times article. For more on direct quotes, click here.
5. Confusion Central
The best of us sometimes get
tangled up in lengthy sentences, sidetracked by the ancillary ideas in
subordinate clauses or prepositional phrases.
Take a sticky sentence apart in
order to get to its core. For instance, the fundamental information in the sentence
below about the actor Jeff Bridges is quite brief: Duane is the subject; set is
the verb; the template is the direct object.
