Școala Gimnazială Plosca, Comuna Plosca, Județul Teleorman 2013-2015 UNIVERSITATEA DIN CRAIOVA FACULTATEA DE LIMBI ȘI LITERATURI STRĂINE MEANS OF… [301429]

[anonimizat] I

[anonimizat]. Dr.

[anonimizat]: [anonimizat]. [anonimizat], Județul Teleorman

2013-2015

UNIVERSITATEA DIN CRAIOVA

FACULTATEA DE LIMBI ȘI LITERATURI STRĂINE

MEANS OF EXPRESSING A PAST ACTION

IN ENGLISH AND ROMANIAN

̶ A METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH ̶

[anonimizat]. Dr.

[anonimizat]: [anonimizat]. [anonimizat], Județul Teleorman

2013-2015

CONTENTS

Introduction.

Chapter I:

Motivation.

Working hypothesis.

Chapter II: Theoretical considerations on grammatical categories of the verb in English.

2.1. The category of mood.

2.2. The category of voice.

2.3. The category of person and number.

The category of tense.

The category of aspect.

Chapter III: Means of expressing a Past action in English language.

Past Tense Simple and Continuous.

Present Perfect Simple and Continuous.

Comparison between Past Tense Simple and Present Perfect Simple.

Past Perfect Simple and Continuous.

Chapter IV: The Tense aspect system of Romanian Finite Moods: Indicative:

The “Imperfect” Tense.

The “Perfect Simplu” Tense.

The “Perfect compus” Tense.

The “Mai mult ca perfect” Tense.

Chapter V: Teaching English Grammar Methods:

Humanistic Approaches:

The Grammar Translation Method.

The Silent Way Method.

The Communicative Language Learning Method.

The Total Physical Response Method.

The Suggestopedia Method.

Behaviorism Approaches:

[anonimizat].

Cognitivism Approaches:

Structural-Situational Approaches.

Socio-Cultural Turn: Communicative Approach.

The Communicative Language Teaching.

The Direct Method.

6. Chapter VI: Methodological aspects of teaching the Past Tense in English in comparison with Romanian. Teaching tenses in the classroom: issues and implications.

6.1. Presenting means of expressing the Past.

6.2. [anonimizat]-lingual Method.

6.3. The Communicative Approach— the Communicative Language Teaching Method.

6.4. Tests—Common mistakes—Conclusions.

6.5. Difficulties encountered by Romanian learners in using the Past.

6.6. Conclusions about teaching the Past.

6.7. The book analysis.

Conclusions.

References.

Annexes.

Introduction

English has become a global language. [anonimizat] a better life through enhanced social and economic opportunities. Grammar rules and vocabulary can simply be taught to eager learners as they can use English for social and economic advancement.

The importance of English as a global language is unquestionable and to become a competent user of this language is the demand of the time. English language learning in the simplest way can be to integrate and use them through suitable strategies as the situation demands.

Language is a way of communication among people. [anonimizat] a tendency to learn more languages in order to be able to communicate with people from different countries. Learners need motivation which gives them the energy and desire to spend time on learning. [anonimizat], opinions. Nowadays there is a [anonimizat] is a process of acquiring the system of sounds, words, phrases, sentences in the written as well as spoken form and using this system appropriately. The task of languages teachers is to hand on information concerning foreign language, it means grammatical rules, vocabulary, learning strategies, etc. and showing the learners how to deal with it, helping them practise it, motivating them, correcting their mistakes, etc. The process of language learning – as mentioned above – also contains learning grammatical rules which give the learners the idea of correct combination of the words and forming sentences.

Communication plays an important role in human’s life. In communication, language is the most important means to be used when interacting with others to exchange information, knowledge and ideas. Every country has its own language and its citizens are expected to be able to use the language well. In the globalization era, people are expected to master more than one language. Besides their own mother-tongue language, they are also expected to master at least a foreign language, such as English. Since English is used widely in the world today, it is undeniable that people have to master it. According to some statistics, more than 85% of information in the world today is abstracted in English.

People start learning languages for various reasons. Adult people usually need it for their job. They want to learn the language and improve their level when they know it is connected with their promotion. Such people learn the language because of extrinsic motivation. We can talk about the extrinsic motivation also in the case of pupils and students who did not choose learning languages voluntarily but they have to study it at school they attend. Sometimes they are not interested in the language at all and when we ask them why they learn the language, their answer may be: “Because I want to pass the test, or because I want to have good marks.” Different group of people have an intrinsic motivation. It means that the needs of learning languages come from themselves. In case of English, they can be for example interested in the culture of English-speaking countries or they simply do not want to look uneducated when they travel abroad. The basic task for an English teacher is definitely to motivate his or her students. He or she must show the importance of English knowledge.

But learning English is more than mastering a certain number of words and memorizing a set of rules. Grammarians state that effective learning is achieved by interacting with each other, either orally or in writing. This interaction gives a social aspect to grammar that brings with it hidden social messages.

However, we cannot escape grammar, it is the backbone of any language and it must be understood in order to communicate effectively. Every time we write or say something we are being judged for our grammar, be it good or bad. So, having good grammar makes us look intelligent, it gives us confidence in our further actions.

From discourse analysis viewpoint, grammar and especially the production and the uttering of well-formed and grammatically correct sentences is essential to the organization of messages, in controlling the information flow and helps maintaining a coherent point of view.

This paper is aimed to describe the objective condition of the teaching and expressing a Past action in English and Romanian languages. It includes the teaching preparations, the instructional material used by the teacher and the means of evaluation used by the English

teacher.

The purpose of the present paper is to find evidence of the effectiveness and usefulness of teaching and learning grammar, and especially of teaching how to express a Past action in English and Romanian languages, using the Audio-lingual Method and the Communicative Language Teaching Method.

This paper contains an introduction, five main chapters, conclusions, references, annexes and bibliography.

Chapter I contains the motifs for which this paper stands for. It also presents the motivation and the working hypothesis.

Chapter II, named ”Theoretical Considerations on Grammatical Categories of the Verb”, aims to introduce certain theoretical concepts and terms which have relevance to the subject under discussion, words like: “mood”, “voice”, person and number” and “aspect”.

Chapter III deals with” Means of Expressing a Past Action in English”. It encompasses concepts and terms which will be defined and compared, namely: ”Past Tense Simple and Continuous”,” Present Perfect Simple and Continuous”,” Comparison between Past Tense and Present Perfect”, “Past Perfect Simple and Continuous”.

Chapter IV is entitled” The Tense Aspect System of Finite Moods: Indicative” and deals with the following notions: ”Imperfect”, “Perfect Simplu”, “Perfect Compus”, “Mai Mult ca Perfectul”.

Chapter V describes the traditional and modern approaches of teaching English language and it is named “Teaching English Grammar Methods”.

Chapter VI presents “Methodological Aspect of Teaching the Past Tense in English in Comparison with Romanian”. It also speaks about the issues and implications of teaching tenses in the classroom. There follows the difficulties encountered by Romanian learners in using the Past. Furthermore, there are presented the methods of teaching: from Traditional Approach–“The Audio-lingual Method” and from Communicative Approach— “The Communicative Language Teaching Method”, accompanied by different activities, samples of tests, recordings of common mistakes and conclusions.

CHAPTER I

Motivation

The purpose of this paper is to outline the importance of learning and teaching grammar in English language, and to know how to express a past action in order to make grammatically correct sentences so as to achieve communicative competence, thus meaning our interlocutors to understand what we are talking about when we are trying to communicate something.

One of the reasons consist the fact that language is a way of communication among people, so learners need motivation which gives them energy and desire to spend much of their time learning, especially a foreign language. Learning a language means to acquire the system of sounds, words, and sentences in the written as well as in the spoken form and to use this system appropriately. So the task of English language teachers is to supply them information concerning the language they are about to teach. This information regards the grammatical rules, vocabulary, learning strategies and especially showing the students how to deal with it. The teacher will do that by helping them practice it, motivating them, correcting them, encouraging them to keep on learning in order to improve their performances.

When we communicate, we usually send a message. But the receiver of the message needs to understand what he/ she is being communicated. For this reason, grammar plays an important role in learning and teaching processes. Penny Ur (2009) states that “There is no doubt that knowledge- implicit or explicit- of grammatical rules is essential for the mastery of a language.” I consider that knowing grammar and vocabulary is the very base of English language. It is important to know words, but it’s not enough; we need to know what to do with them in order to communicate effectively. To achieve that, learners have to learn how to make well-formed and grammatically correct sentences, so to make sense of what they say/ write.

A second reason is that, in case of this paper, it is important how to express a past action and form Past Tenses (affirmative, negative, interrogative) so that the reader/ hearer should know exactly what he/ she had intended to say/ write. In other words, it helps them to achieve grammatical competence. This is part of the communicative competence. This concept involves” knowing how to use grammar and vocabulary of a language to achieve communicative goals and knowing how to do this in a socially appropriate way,”as Thornbury (1999) states in his work.

The value of grammar teaching and, consequently, of learning is important in English language domain. It is the very base of English language. Grammar knowledge is not acquired naturally; it needs to be taught, to be instructed. A third reason which I consider Grammar vital is the fact that it operates at sentence level and masters the syntax of a language. Moreover, it also works at sub sentence level as it affects number and person agreement between the subject and the verb of every sentence.

In conclusion, to one that hopes to use English language accurately and fluently at any purpose, it is necessary for him/her to receive grammar rule instructions.

Working hypothesis

In this extremely fast era of globalization, English has gained an essential role because it is one of the international languages which are being used in most aspects of life such as business, tourism, and economy, social and nevertheless education. So English language is not merely used to communicate with people from foreign countries, but also to carry out the educational institutions, considering the fact that many English learners want to get a certificate for “International English Language Test (IELT)” or “First Certificate in English (FCE)” or “Certificate of Advanced English (CAE)”.

English Language is a compulsory subject in Secondary School Plosca, where I have been teaching English since I entered the Romanian System of Education, and it is an extremely enjoyed school subject, children are very interested in learning it. In knowing more about the English culture and civilization, and the best of them have been tested in order to be admitted in High school in classes with bilingual teaching. As Brown(1999, p:4) quotes “The Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language”, “language is a systematic means of communicating ideas, feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, gestures, or mark having understood meanings.”

There are four basic skills in a language: listening, speaking, reading and writing, which are related to each other and students should engage them all in order to learn and use effectively the language. But to do all these, learners need to master very well language components, such as structure, vocabulary, pronunciation, and spelling. Out of all, grammar has proved to be the most challenging, demanding aspect for its learners. Maybe grammar is considered to be an uninteresting, boring part during the learning and teaching processes, some of them try to avoid it, to escape those segments because they find it hard to understand.

For many years up to 2000, most state schools in England taught very little or no grammar, and it is still normal for schools leavers to know virtually nothing about grammar. For example, in 1998 it was found that “younger teachers had generally not been taught grammar explicitly as part of their own education”. This situation is by no means inevitable. Many countries consider grammar as an important part of the school curriculum. In the Romanian curriculum, grammar is obligatory in secondary level of education, for both Romanian and English languages, and in higher education is obligatory at the classes whose specialization is the study of Romanian or English languages. Furthermore, grammar matters a lot in the communities of researchers and to school teachers, but also I think it should concern the general public.

CHAPTER II

Theoretical Considerations on the Grammatical Categories

of the Verb in English

Grammatical categorization consists in denoting word classes (parts of speech, i.e. nouns, verbs, adjectives etc.) and their specific features (case of noun, aspect of verb etc.). The term of grammatical category refers to a group of elements recognized in the description of particular languages.

Before starting to talk about the grammatical categories of the verb, some general characteristics of the verb must be pointed out:

It is a part of speech that denotes a process in the wide meaning of the word; it expresses an action, a state, the existence of things or phenomena;

It has strong connections with the other components of the sentence;

It performs the central role in the expression of the predicative functions of the sentence;

It distinguishes itself from the other parts of speech by its morphological categories and syntactic functions;

Semantically, the verb possesses the grammatical meaning of verbalism which is the ability to denote a process developing in time. Lexical verbs denote actions, processes or states and serve to establish the relation between the participants in an action, process or state, according to Biber et al (2002).

Syntactically, the most important characteristic of the verb is its ability to form the predicate of a sentence. It is well-known that only finite forms can perform this function while non-finite forms can be used in any function but predicate. Furthermore, any verb in the infinitive can be combined with a modal verb. The other parts of speech around it are in a permanent relation of interdependency and determination to get well-formed, grammatically correct and meaningful sentences.

The grammatical categories of the verb are: tense, aspect, mood, voice, person, number. The formative elements expressing these categories are grammatical affixes, inner inflection and function words. Some categories have only synthetical forms (person, number), others-only analytical forms (voice). There are also categories expressed by both synthetical and analytical forms (mood, tense, aspect).

The most universal feature of the verb is the ability to be modified by adverbs.

It possesses quite a lot of grammatical categories: mood, voice, person and number, tense, aspect.

Classification of verbs:

Verbs may be classified in accordance with several criteria: their form; lexical meaning; complementation.

1. Classification of verbs in accordance with their form: There are three ways of classifying verbs on the basis of their forms: in accordance with their morphological structure, derivation, their base forms:

1.1. Classification of verbs according to their morphological structure (or Composition)

According to their morphological structure (or composition) verbs may be classified into:

1.1.1. One-word verbs, represented by:

a) simple verbs: verbs which cannot be further subdivided into morphological elements, e.g. go, eat, sit;

b) Compound verbs: verbs formed of two or more

morphological elements written together, e.g. broadcast, underline, blackmail;

c) derivative verbs, i.e. verbs formed by means of affixes (prefixes and suffixes): discover, mislead, deafen, symbolize.

1.1.2. Multi-word verbs: A multi-word verb is a lexical verb which may be combined with one or two particles to function as a verb with a unitary meaning. There are three kinds of multi-word verbs: phrasal verbs; prepositional verbs; phrasal-prepositional verbs.

a) Phrasal verbs: A phrasal verb consists of a verb and an adverbial particle (e.g., sit down, go away, get off, give in, etc). The verb is usually a common English verb (be, break, come, fall, get, give, go, make put, take, turn); The adverbial particle is usually an adverbial of place (across, away, back, down, in, off, on, out, over, up). Phrasal verbs raise two sets of problems: semantic and syntactic.

i. The meaning of phrasal verbs.

– Quite a large number of phrasal verbs have a ‘literal’ meaning. They retain the individual meanings of the (base) verb and the adverbial particle, i.e. the meaning of the phrasal verb is simply a result of the meanings of the two elements (the verb and the particle), e.g. to sit down, to run away, etc.

In some cases, the base verb retains its meaning and the particle simply adds a special sense (so, we can fairly easily infer the meaning of the phrasal verb):

on can mean ‘forward’, as in go on, read on, etc.

up, off, out can mean ‘completely’, ‘thoroughly’, as in eat up, drink up, finish off, tire out (=exhaust completely)

In a fairly large number of phrasal verbs, the particle can be omitted without changing the meaning of the sentence. However, the sentence sounds a good deal better (or more natural) with the particle, for instance:

Turn round and see who is behind us.

She usually wakes up at about six.

– The meaning of the phrasal verb cannot be inferred from the individual meanings of the (base) verb and the adverbial particle.

The meaning of the phrasal verb is much more opaque or ‘idiomatic’. The particle changes the meaning of the base verb to such an extent, that we have to learn their meanings as a single unit, almost without association with the base verb: to make out (= to decipher, to understand), to let down (to disappoint), to come round (= to regain consciousness), to turn up (= to appear, arrive).

Phrasal verbs are quite common in spoken, informal English. In more formal style they are sometimes replaced by one-word verbs (if there is a synonym):

We decided to carry on. (= continue)

The two girls fell out. (= quarrelled)

Don’t give away any information. (= reveal)

Don’t leave out anything important. (= omit)

A large number of phrasal verbs are polysemantic and, depending on the context, they can have a literal or idiomatic meaning. For instance, bring up:

Bring the piano / visitor up. (the phrasal verb has a literal meaning, i.e. carry it (the piano) up, bring him (the visitor) upstairs;

They brought Tom up as their own child. (the phrasal verb has an idiomatic meaning: to raise, to educate)

ii. In addition to problems concerning their meaning, transitive phrasal verbs, (i.e. phrasal verbs that take a direct object) also raise syntactic problems:

– When the direct object is expressed by a noun, the noun object is placed either before or after the adverbial particle (or: the adverbial particle can either come before or after the noun object):

They turned the offer down. / They turned down the offer.

They managed to put the fire out. /… to put out the fire.

The verb and particle may be separated by a fairly short noun phrase. If the direct object is expressed by a long noun phrase, the particle is placed immediately after the verb (the object is placed after verb + adverbial particle):

They turned down lots of perfectly good suggestions.

When the direct object is expressed by a (personal) pronoun, the adverbial particle is placed after the object, i.e. a pronoun object always comes before the adverbial particle:

They turned it down. / They managed to put it out.

b) Prepositional verbs

A verb may also form a combination with a preposition (e.g. call on, look for, look after, etc.). The verb and the preposition express a single idea:

I’m looking for my keys. (= seeking)

She takes after her grandmother. (= resembles)

Like all prepositions they are always used with objects (noun phrases/ pronouns). The noun phrase following the preposition is termed prepositional object. In fact, the purpose of the preposition is to link the (noun phrase) object to the verb. With prepositional verbs, the objects are always placed after the preposition, for instance:

Look at the picture. / Look at it.

I’m waiting for Mary. / I’m waiting for her.

In some cases phrasal verbs with objects look identical to verbs followed by a prepositional object (prepositional verbs). But we can see they are different when we use a pronoun as an object. For instance, run down:

He ran down his own wife. / He ran her down (phrasal verb)

He ran down the hill. / He ran down it (verb+ preposition)

c) Phrasal – Prepositional verbs are combinations consisting of three parts: a base verb, an adverbial particle, and a preposition (e.g. look forward to, look down on, catch up with, put up with, etc.). They are partly phrasal verbs and partly prepositional verbs. The purpose of the adverbial particle is to change the meaning of the base verb. The purpose of the preposition is to link the noun phrase object to the verb. Both particle and preposition come immediately after the verb. Phrasal – prepositional verbs are quite common in informal spoken English. They can often be replaced by a single-word verb in more formal English:

The car ran out of petrol. (= finish supplies);

I get on with my teachers very well. (= to have a friendly relationship with);

I refused to put up with his rudeness any longer (=tolerate);

I’ve got a bad cold. You’d better keep away from me. (= avoid)

Other phrasal – prepositional verbs are: to cut down on (= reduce), to look up to (=respect), to face up to (= confront), to stand up for (= defend), etc.

d) Idiomatic expressions: combinations of verb + other parts of speech, especially nouns, e.g. give way (= yield), make haste (= hurry, hasten), make fun of / poke fun at (= ridicule), etc. In these expressions, the verb itself has a diminished lexical value, while the main semantic load is carried by the nominal element.

1.2. Classification of verbs in accordance with their derivation. Verbs can be derived from other parts of speech through affixation and conversion.

a) Affixation is the device by means of which a verb can be derived from other parts of speech through suffixes and prefixes.

Some of the most productive verb-forming suffixes are:

-ize: analyse/A.E. analyse, recognize, modernize, characterize

-ify: certify, simplify, clarify, magnify

-en: it is a very productive suffix added to adjectives or nouns. It has the causative meaning = “to cause something to be”. Eg broaden, deafen, deepen, soften, widen, shorten; strengthen, lengthen, heighten.

Prefixes are used to a lesser extent to form verbs from other parts of speech. Nevertheless, one of the most productive verb-forming prefixes is en- added to adjectives or nouns: enlarge, enable, ensure, enrich; endanger, enjoy, encircle, enrage, encourage, entrust.

b) Conversion refers to the derivational process by which a word belonging to a part of speech is changed into another part of speech, without the addition of an affix.

– Quite a large number of nouns can be converted to verbs: to paper (a room), to park (a car), to service (a car), to process (leather, cheese, data). Most nouns representing various parts of the body can be used as verbs: to head (an expedition, revolt), to elbow (one’s way through a crowd), to eye (someone with suspicion).

– Adjectives may be converted to verbs: to dirty, to empty, to blue, to brown.

1.3. Classification of verbs in accordance with their base (inflectional) forms. The forms of English verbs are:

1. The base form. It is the uninflected form (given in dictionaries) which can be used as:

the infinitive (often preceded by the Infinitive marker to);

the imperative (2nd person singular/plural);

the subjunctive (present synthetic);

simple present tense (all persons except 3rd person sg.):

E.g. work, write, put, bring, be (am, are).

2. The past tense form (Ved): worked, wrote, put, brought, was / were

3. The past participle form (Ven): worked, written, put, brought, been.

4. The –(e)s form: is added to the base for the 3rd pers. sg. simple present tense: works, writes, puts, brings, is.

5. The –ing form, also called the form for the present participle. It is formed by adding –ing to the base: working, writing, putting, bringing, being.

The conjugation of the English verb is based on the first three forms (they are the dictionary forms of the English verbs): worked -worked – worked; write – wrote – written. Depending on how they form the past tense and the past participle, the English verbs are either regular (work) or irregular (write).

The Category of Mood

The category of mood is the most controversial category of the verb. It must be distinguished from “grammatical tense” or “grammatical aspect”. It expresses the nature of connection between the process denoted by the verb and the actual reality, either presenting the process as a fact that happened, happens or will happen, or treating it as an imaginary phenomenon.

Mood is a grammatical concept in which a speaker/writer can express that a sentence is factual, a command, a formal request, a wish or a false or improbable condition.

E.g.: 1. My sister goes to work by train. (a fact)

2. Would you like a cup of coffee? (a formal request)

3. I wish I were a millionaire! (a wish)

4. If it hadn’t rained, we would have gone into the country. (Improbable condition).

It is often described as the category that refers to the objective evaluation of the truth of the statement by the speaker. As such, mood can be divided into two types: Realis, which presents the content of an utterance as a fact and corresponds mainly to Indicative; and Irrealis, which presents the content of an utterance as non-factual and encompasses Conditional, Optative, Desiderative, and other hypothetical moods. Some grammarians state that because Mood and Speech Act/Sentence Type are closely related, the grammatical correlates of Speech Act (i.e. Sentence Type) are sometimes referred to as Mood (Interrogative Mood, Imperative Mood).

Mood is one of the kinds of modality, which can be expressed also by lexical means (modal verbs and modal words) and intonation (melody). Mood modality is based on the opposition reality unreality. It follows from this that the functional opposition underlying the category as a whole is constituted by forms of oblique mood meaning, i.e. those of unreality, contrasted against the forms of direct mood meaning, i.e. those of reality, the former being the strong member, and the latter being the weak member of the opposition.

Means of expressing modality: lexical (modal verbs), lexico-grammatical(modal words), morphological (mood), syntactic (structure of the sentence), phonetic (intonation). Linguists distinguish between objective modality (expressed by mood-forms) and subjective modality (expressed by lexical and lexico-grammatical means). The category of mood is proper to finite forms of the verb. It is closely connected with the syntactic functions of the predicate. The category is revealed both in the opposition of forms and syntactic structures. So the category of Mood has strong syntactic relation of the significance. Linguists distinguish from 2 to 16 moods in Modern English. The reasons are as follows:

The category of mood is in the state of development. Some forms have a limited sphere of use (he, be), new forms are coming into the system (let).

There is no direct correspondence of meaning and form. There are no special forms for expressing unreal actions (with the exception of the forms “he be, he were”). The same forms are used to express facts and non-facts: “should/would do/did”. They are treated either as homonymous or as polysemantic.

It is difficult to distinguish between mood auxiliary and modal verbs: “may, let’. All the scholars organize the opposition of 2 moods: Indicative and Imperative. Indicative is represented by a system of categories, i.e. tense, aspect, voice etc. It is a fact-mood or a direct mood. The best description of the category of mood is given by R.J.Binnick (1991) in his book on “Time and the Verb”: ‘It has in part to do with (very roughly) the speaker’s ‘attitude’ toward what is said—it may be asserted, hypothesized, expressed as a wish, and so on—is usually marked by the use of ‘modal’ auxiliary verb as may, might, should(…) Modal sometimes is used to refer to a formal category of the verb, and sometimes to a meaning category marked by such a form”.

In conclusion, while it is not concerned with temporal relations, it interacts both with tense and aspect.

The Category of Voice

The voice of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state) that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its arguments (subject, object etc.).

A verb has three voices: Active Voice, Reflexive Voice and Passive Voice.

2.2.1. The Active Voice is the voice used most of the time. In the active voice the subject is the performer of the action and the object is the receiver of the action. Syntactically, the sentence constituents are in their linear order and the subject is assigned the Nominative case. Semantically, the external Ө-roles of the subject are expressed and these may be: “agent/actor”, ” instrument”, “affected”, “ recipient”, “locative and temporal”, “empty IT”. The object, be it direct or indirect, have Ө-roles expressed in the active voice sentences. The direct object may have one of the Ө-roles: “affected participant”, “locative”, “affected object”, and the indirect object may have few Ө-roles as well: “recipient”, “affected” (in a limited number of cases, with one of the verbs “pay, give”). So in active voice sentences, the grammatical organization is not affected, the sentence constituents are in their natural order, as English is considered to be a relatively fixed word-order language (S. V. O.).

According to pragmatics and taking into consideration the information structure, the subject is considered given information, so the reader/hearer knows who performs the action of the verb, whereas the object is considered new information, which the reader/hearer finds out about for the first time.

E.g.1: Cats eat mice. (Active voice)

↓ ↓ ↓

Subject verb object

The performer the action the receiver

E.g.2: The king made his speech.

↓ ↓

Given, old information; it coincides with definiteness; new information; it is now when

the referent is identified, which means that nobody else the reader/hearer knows this.

but “the” king performed the action.

Active voice is common to transitive verbs, not only the ones which can be used in the passive voice. It is those verbs which, together with the reflexive pronouns, form the reflexive verbs. So they are related to the active voice. But there are some intransitive verbs which are used in the passive voice.

Usage of the active voice

There are certain situations when it is preferable to use sentences in the active voice. These situations can be described as follows:

1. Active voice is used because it makes the documents stronger by showing responsibility or giving credit for an action, because when we avoid showing responsibility, we don’t give enough information to explain the problem and how to fix it.

2. Active voice sentences use fewer words to communicate the same information. It resembles the spoken language, or at least the ideal spoken language, because when we speak, we use active voice without thinking, instinctively. We would never say:” My car was driven to work by me.” (Passive voice). Instead, we would certainly say:” I drove my car to work.”(Active voice)

3. Active voice sentences are shorter and more direct in telling things, in conveying information, therefore more forceful. Such sentences have greater clarity, meaning that the reader/hearer knows immediately who is doing what. They produce sharper imagery that is the reader/hearer gets the picture the second they read or hear the sentence.

2.2.2. The Passive Voice: From syntactic point of view, it must be pointed out the movement of constituents from their linear order and the correlation between grammatical functions such as subject and object. From morphological point of view, the verb morphology is affected, the external Ө-role is absorbed, the Accusative case assigned by the verb is also absorbed, and therefore passive verbs are considered un-Accusative. In the passive voice sentence, the NP which is assigned the internal Ө-role of the passive verb moves to a position where it can be assigned case. The movement of the N P is obligatory in the view of the Case-filter Theory and this movement is allowed because the subject position is empty. The agent of the activity is no longer expressed by an NP in the argument position. If we want to express the agent of the activity, we may do that by means of an adjunct phrase, which is a Prepositional phrase headed by preposition “by” which carries the meaning, the agentivity.

Semantically, the passive subjects have different semantic roles such as “goal”, “recipient”, “arrival”, “beneficiary”, and “place”.

In the fields of Pragmatics, the choice of a passive construction is associated with the information structure and two pragmatic effects: the agent demotion/patient promotion and agent promotion. According to the principle of information structure, the given information precedes the new information. In relation to the pragmatic effects, the emphasis on non-agent passive sentences is on the action, which is associated with the pragmatic effect of agent demotion/non-agent promotion. The emphasis of agent including passive sentences is also on the action but in this group the agent is considered as the late news, which is associated with the pragmatic effect of non-agent promotion only.

Syntactically, all the passive constructions consist of compulsory past participle and the auxiliary verb” be”, which will take the tense of the verb from the active voice sentence (“am/is/are” for Present Simple, “been” for Present Perfect Simple, “being” for continuous tenses, “be” for Future Simple).

The changes from Active to Passive sentence are:

The subject of the active voice sentence becomes the agent in the passive voice sentence, it will move from the first position, which is specific to the subject, therefore to the Nominative case, it will be introduced by preposition BY and it will fill the end position in the passive voice sentence. If the subject of the active voice sentence is a pronoun, it will take the Accusative forms when turns into the passive voice, because the subject will no longer be in the first position, so it can’t be assigned the Nominative case:

Nominative forms → Accusative forms

I → me

You = You

Sg. He → Him

She → Her

It = It

We → Us

Pl. You = You

They → Them.

The object of the active voice sentence becomes the subject of the passive voice sentence, it will fill the first position in the sentence, because it will be now assigned the Nominative case, it will benefit from the action of the verb. If the object is expressed by a pronoun in the Accusative or Dative case, it will take the Nominative forms when turned into passive voice, because an object (direct or indirect) cannot be assigned the Nominative case:

Accusative/Dative forms → Nominative forms

(to) me → I

(to) you → You

Sg. (to) him → He

(to) her → She

(to) it = It

(to) us → We

Pl. (to) you → You

(to) them → They.

Right after the subject of the passive voice sentence auxiliary verb BE is introduced and it will take the tense of the verb from the active voice sentence. It is followed be the verb of the active voice sentence, but in the Past Participle (V+ED/V-en).

E.g.:1. “They make artificial flowers of silk”. (Active voice, Present Simple)( Thomson, A.J.&Martinet, A.V.,”A Practical English Grammar”, OUP,1986)

↓ ↓ ↓

Doer, verb object, it receives the action of the verb

Performs the action

→Artificial flowers of silk are made (by them). (Passive Voice)

↓ ↓ ↓

Subject, new information Passive Present Simple agent, doer

Aux.”be”+ Past Participle

2. “They are pulling down the new theatre.” (Active Voice, Present Continuous)

→The new theatre is being pulled down (by them). (Passive Voice, Present Continuous).

“Beth has finished the report.” (Active Voice, Present Perfect Simple)

( Dixson,R.J.,”Grammar Essentials-Graded Exercisesin English”,Pearson Education Longman,2004)

→The report has been finished by Beth. (Passive Voice, Present Perfect Simple)

4. I have been painting my room. (Active Voice, Present Perfect Continuous)

→ My room has been being painted (by me). (Passive Voice, Present Perfect Continuous)

5.”They threw away the rubbish.” (Active Voice, Past Simple)( Thomson, A.J. &Martinet, A.V.,”A Practical English Grammar”, OUP,1986)

→The rubbish was thrown away (by them). (Passive Voice, Past Simple)

6.”The firemen were putting out fires all day.” (Active Voice, Past Continuous).( Evans,V.&Dooley,J.,”Access Grammar 3 Plus”, Express Publishing,2008)

→ Fires were being put out all day (by firemen). (Passive Voice, Past Continuous).

7. “The burglars had cut an enormous hole in the steel door.” (Active Voice, Past Perfect Simple)( Evans,V. &Dooley,J.,”Access Grammar 3 Plus”, Express Publishing,2008)

→An enormous hole had been cut in the steel door by the burglars. (Passive Voice, Past Perfect Simple).

8.”He had clearly been listening to our conversation.” (Active voice, Past Perfect Continuous)( Evans,V.&Dooley,J.,”Access Grammar 3 Plus”, Express Publishing,2008)

→Our conversation had clearly been being listened to (by him). (Passive Voice, Past Perfect Continuous). ( Evans,V.&Dooley,J.,”Access Grammar 3 Plus”, Express Publishing,2008)

9.”The Company will not fire the employees”. (Active Voice, Future Simple).( ( Thomson, A.J.&Martinet, A.V.,”A Practical English Grammar”, OUP,1986)

→The employees will not be fired by the company. (Passive Voice, Future Simple). ( Thomson, A.J.&Martinet, A.V.,”A Practical English Grammar”, OUP,1986)

10.”Sam will be cleaning the house all day tomorrow”. (Active Voice, Future Continuous). ( Thomson, A.J. &Martinet, A.V.,”A Practical English Grammar”, OUP,1986)

→The house will be being cleaned all day tomorrow by Sam. (Passive Voice, Future Continuous).

11.”She will have finished her exams at school by then.” (Active Voice, Future Perfect Continuous). ( Thomson, A.J.&Martinet, A.V.,”A Practical English Grammar”, OUP,1986)

→Her exams will have been finished by then (by her). (Passive Voice, Future Perfect Simple).

12.” You will have been driving the car for 6 hours by tonight. (Active Voice, Future Perfect Continuous). ( Thomson, A.J. &Martinet, A.V.,”A Practical English Grammar”, OUP,1986)

→The car will have been being driven for 6 hours by tonight (by you). (Passive Voice, Future Perfect Continuous). ( Thomson, A.J. &Martinet, A.V.,”A Practical English Grammar”, OUP,1986)

13.”The artist is going to draw a nice picture.” (Active Voice, Going to Future) Dixson,R.J.,”Grammar Essentials-Graded Exercisesin English”,Pearson Education Longman,2004)

→A nice picture is going to be drawn by the artist. (Passive Voice, Going to Future)

14.”We must warn them of the danger.” (Active Voice, Modal Verb) Dixson,R.J.,”Grammar Essentials-Graded Exercisesin English”, Pearson Education Longman,2004)

→They must be warned of the danger. (Passive Voice, Modal Verb)

Usage of the Passive Voice:

According to Thomson and Martinet (1986), passive constructions are used on certain occasions:

When it is not necessary to mention the doer of the action as it is more than obvious who he/she is/was or will be:

E.g.:” The streets are swept every day.”

2. When we don’t know, or at least we don’t know for sure, or we have forgotten who did the action:

E.g.: “My car has been moved!”

3. When the subject of the active verb would be “people”:

E.g.: “He is suspecting of receiving stolen goods.” (←People suspect him of receiving stolen things.)

4. When the subject of the active verb would be the indefinite pronoun “one”:

E.g.: “One sees this sort of advertisement everywhere.” (←You see this sort of advertisement everywhere.)

5. When we are more interested in the action than in the person who does the action:

E.g.: “The house next door has been bought (by a Mr. John.)

6. To avoid awkward or ungrammatical sentence. This is usually achieved by avoiding a change of subject:

E.g.: “When he arrived home a detective arrested him.” (←When he arrived home he was arrested by a detective.)

7. For the “have+ object+ past participle” construction:

E.g.: “I had my car repaired.”

8. With verbs that are common in the passive voice: “aligned(with), based(on), born, coupled(with), deemed, effected, entitled(to), inclined, obliged, positioned, situated, stained, subjected(to), approved, associated(with), attributed(to), classified(as), designed, distributed, estimated, labeled, linked(to/with), plotted, stored, viewed”:

E.g.: “Brandon Lee was born in Oakland, California.”(Biber, Douglas et all(2002), “Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English”, Longman, Pearson Education Limited)

The reasons would be that these verbs are more effective in the passive voice, especially in the academic prose (referring to scientific methods and analysis, to report findings or express logical relationships), in news (here the agent is unimportant, unknown, or previously mentioned), and very rarely in conversation:

E.g.: 1. “The same mechanism was analyzed on each.” (Academic prose)(Thomson &Martinet, 1986).

2. “Neither man was injured during the incident.” (News) (Thomson &Martinet, 1986).

3. “I can’t be bothered to play the piano.” (Conversation) (Thomson &Martinet, 1986).

9. In discourse structure, there are several principles which must be respected in order to communicate effectively. Among them, we find: the Given-New Contract and the End Weight.

The first principle is involved in the choice of passive constructions in written discourse such as fiction, newspapers and academic articles. This principle means that the given or old information comes first in a sentence, i.e. information that is known to the reader/hearer, it is previously mentioned in the co-text, and its referent can be identified from the context in the co-text as the referents are introduced by definite expressions. The new information comes at the end of the sentence as it is treated by the speaker/writer as being unknown to the reader/hearer, it is then introduced for the first time to the reader/hearer, it is considered new if the speaker/writer assumes that the reader/hearer cannot identify a referent to it.

E.g.:” In the time-warping thriller’ Frequency’, a lonely son talks to his dead father across decades with a ham radio. This connection had somehow been established by sunspots…” (=the passive sentence is used to continue the topic described in the first sentence, which is the theme of the son talking to his dead father. The passive enables the writer to place the old information, “this connection” first. So the reader/hearer knows what the writer is referring to because he can find a back referent, which is expressed by the definite expression, a demonstrative adjective, “this”).

The second principle favors the choice of long, complex or heavy passive sentences over its corresponding active sentences. According to this principle, a complex noun phrase is placed at the end of a sentence to facilitate processing. Therefore, the reader/hearer does not have to bear in mind all the information or details about that noun phrase from the beginning of the sentence. The reader/hearer will make the necessary identifications of the referents only at the end of the entire construction, so it is easier to process such a sentence.

E.g.: “Roman writings on agriculture were condensed into one volume by a senator of Bologna, Peter Crescentius, whose book was one of the most popular treaties on agriculture of the time.” (=a long, “heavy” NP, the reader/hearer can identify a referent, “a senator “, he/she can also identify more information about it, “of Bologna”, “Peter Crescentius”; moreover, the NP is followed by a Relative Clause which is adding supplementary information about another noun from the sentence, “writings”).

2.3. The Category of Person and Number

The categories of person and number are closely connected with each other, connection which is conditioned by two factors: firstly, by their situational meaning, referring the process denoted by the verb to the subject in the situation, and secondly, by their direct and immediate relation to the syntactic unit which expresses the subject as the functional part of the sentence. Both categories are different in principle from the other categories of the finite verb, in so far as they do not convey any inherently “verbal” semantics.

The category or person expresses the relation of the actions and its doer to the speaker, showing whether the action is performed.

For this matter, the speaker is the first person. In a speech act, there is someone who is addressed, that is the addressee, the second person. Besides them, there is the third person who represents someone or something other than the speaker or the speaker addressed.

In the process of communication, the deictic center keeps changing: I→ you, you→ I. The three deictic categories or persons are lexicalized in the personal pronouns. It is often grammaticalized, i.e. a special form of the verb additionally shows which person is meant:

E.g.: I go

You go

He/She/It goes

We go

You go

They go.

The expression of the category of person is essentially confined to the singular form of the verb in the Present Tense of the Indicative Mood, and, in addition, it is singularly presented in the Future Tense. As for the Past tense, the person is alien to it except for a trace of person in the archaic conjugation.

In the Present tense, the expression of the category of person is divided into three peculiar subsystems:

a) The first subsystem includes the modal verbs that have no personal inflections:” can, may, must, shall, will, ought to, need, dare), i.e. the modal remains the same regardless the person. So, in this case, the category of person is neutralized with these verbs.

b) The second subsystem is made up by the unique verbal lexeme BE, which has three different suppletive personal forms. An observation must be made with regard to the verb BE whose Present and Past form are as follows below:

To BE in the Present: To BE in the Past:

Sg.: I am Pl.: We are Sg.: I was Pl.: We were

You are You are You were You were

He/She/It is They are He/She/It was They were

Also, the verb HAVE has special forms in the Present Tense:

Sg.: I have Pl.: We have

You have You have

He/She/It has They have.

c) The third subsystem presents just the regular, normal expression of person. The mark is confined here to the third personal singular “-s/-es”, the other two persons (the first and the second) remaining unmarked.

In the Future tense, the person finds quite another mode of expression, namely it marks not the third but the first person in distinction to the remaining two and it also includes in its sphere the plural. The very principle of the person featuring is not in morphemic inflection, as it is in the case of the Present, but in the positional use of SHALL-WILL specially marking the first person.

The category of number shows whether the action is performed by one or more than one persons or non-persons. It is a two-member opposition: singular-plural. Number is mostly restricted to the Present Tense Simple:

E.g.: James walks to school every day.

As opposed to: John went to school yesterday, where a Past form is used, which corresponds to the irregular verb “go”.

The grammatical number of the English finite verbs is hardly featured at all from the very morphemic point of view. Distinct morphemic features can be seen only with the archaic forms of the unique BE, both in the present tense and in the past tense. As far as the rest of the verbs are concerned, the blending of morphemic expression of the categories of person and number is complete, and the only explicit morphemic opposition in the integral categorical sphere of person and number is reduced with these verbs to the third person singular, i.e. the Present Tense of the Indicative Mood), thus being contrasting against the unmarked finite form of the verb.

2.4. The Category of Tense

It is assumed that understanding a sentence requires the reader/hearer locate the event or state, spatially and temporally: time is one of the basic coordinates for truth conditional assessments. In all languages, sentences convey information that allows us to determine the temporal location of the situation expressed. One would like to understand how this happens.

The definition of the term TENSE is reflected in standard definitions such as the following: Comrie (1985: 11): “Tense is the grammaticalized expression of location in time”.Bybee (1985): “Tense refers to the grammatical expression of the time of the situation described in the proposition, relative to some other time”.

Other grammarians like Declerck distinguishes between TENSE and TIME, and states that TIME is “an extralinguistic category”, meaning that it exists independently of language, whereas TENSE is “a linguistic concept: it denotes the situation referred to in time, i.e. to express the temporal relation between the time of the situation in question and an ’orientation time’ which may be either the’ temporal zero-point’(which is usually the tie of speech) or another orientation time that is temporally related to the temporal zero-point.”

Tense is a grammaticalized expression of location in time. It is considered a deictic category and it is defined as representing the chronological order of events in time as perceived by the speaker at the moment at which he speaks, also called “speech time”(ST). So tense is deictic as the moment now is central, meaning that time past and time present are directions whose orientation depends on ST. We know that ST/NOW is the central point on the temporal axis of orientation according to which we interpret the ordering of the events or states.

X

Past Now/ST Future

Fig.1. Temporal axis of orientation

Tense is interpreted in terms of analysis of the relation between tense inflection (a) and temporal adverbials (b). The descriptive idea of the verb is the idea of event. But events can’t be conceived without taking into account the explicit lexical means which place the event in time, namely time adverbials. Reichenbach’s scheme for the interpretation of tenses proposes three points in time—speech time (ST), reference time (RT) and event time (ET). ST is defined as a deictic element which designates the moment of speech and which is anchored by the utterance time. RT represents an abstract moment of time which is postulated by the linguists as present, past or future. ET is pragmatically observable.

The value of temporal expression is the result of the relation of order established between RT, ST and ET. For this reason, RT is established by the combination of tense affixes and adverbials which are supposed to have compatible relational values. ST is the keystone of the temporal system and RT is oriented to it. The temporal interpretation of English sentences is given by means of tense inflections and temporal adverbials. Each tense can be interpreted in terms of two main components, the referent component and the relation component. The first represents the relation between RT and ST, and the latter stands for the relation between ET and RT.

Tenses have consistent relational values: anteriority, posteriority and simultaneity, with the present moment as deictic center, past, present and future, according to Comrie (1985), and Smith (1991). Klein (1994), introduced “the basic time concept”, which divided the time spans into “before”, “after” and “included” in the temporal relationship between the TU (time of utterance) and the TT (topic time). Other grammarians claim that there are only two tenses in English, present and past, since English has no future inflected form of the verb. In other words, a finite verb marked with “-ed” or without the that marker could be categorized into tense, however, non-finite verbs can have voice and aspect, and phase, but not tense. Furthermore, the English “future” auxiliary “will” in earlier times expressed not so much futurity as intention or desire; the “present” tense is also used to narrate past events to make the narrative more vivid and the use of the “past” tense to express the present with regard to cognition and emotion.

Some languages have specific means of expressing a wide variety of aspects. In English we can express these aspects, but certain tenses can express more than one aspect and these are not recognized in their names. For example, the past simple tense can be used for an event that is considered by the speaker to have been the case for a long period of time in the past (“Shakespeare lived from 1569 to 1613.”), for a single completed event in the past (“You killed the little bird.”) or for a series of repeated events in the past (“Every day, she danced and every evening, he told her a story.”)

Halliday incorporates aspect in his system network for finiteness. As far as participles are concerned, there are three types of non-finite verbs in English and each can be used with finite auxiliaries to make a tense. These verbs are: infinitives, present participles (-ing forms) and past participles (-en forms).

IMPERFECT (participle)= – ing form

NON-FINITE –- ASPECT TO-infinitive

FINITENESS PERFECTIVE

FINITE=TENSE options ZERO -infinitive

Fig.2. Halliday’s system of tense and aspect

All present participles end in –ing, but most past participle end in –ed and only some irregular verbs have participles ending in –en (for example:” beaten, been, seen, eaten”).

The infinitive is the form of the verb that is listed in a dictionary. In a clause, it may form part of a group, where it may follow a modal operator (for example: “We will tie a rope around your waist, and then he can pull you up.”) An infinitive can be also used with the preposition TO, as in the following example: “The soldier bought some new clothes to wear at the wedding.”)

The –ING form is used with a finite operator and sometimes other auxiliaries to form the progressive. We should notice that although it is called the Present Participle, it is used in both present past and future continuous verbs:

E.g.: 1. The nightingales are singing near the Covent of the sacred Heart.

2. Little Claus was crying as he walked through the dark wood.

3. I will be teaching my son to wash, iron and darn.

When it is not used as a part of a tense, this form can function as a non-finite verb, stand alone to form the head of a nominal group (a gerund), or modify a noun, as in the examples below:

E.g.: 1. Beating a kettle drum, the old man led the way. (Non-finite verb, it realizes a material process).

2. They couldn’t tell when the singing came and end. (Nominal group, it functions as subject of “came”).

3. Birthday fireworks lit up the faces of the marching protesters. (Epithet, it modifies “protesters”).

The Past Participle (-en forms) is used to construct the perfect tenses when combined with the verb HAVE as operator (as in the examples: I have finished, they had eaten). In addition, it combines with forms of the verb BE in the passive, which can exist in any tense, as in the examples: It was trapped, we had been educated, and they will not be admitted). It can also function as a non-finite verb, stand as a head of a nominal group, and modify a noun, as we can see below:

E.g.: 1. Held in custody for five years, the banker was yesterday granted a final appeal by the High Court. (Non-finite verb, it realizes a material process).

2. There is evidence of contact between the accused and the victim. (Nominal group, it is linked with another nominal group).

3. Another half-hour’s walk brings us to the deserted village. (Epithet, it modifies “village”).

Declerck also gives an account of the traditional names of the tenses in English as follows:

“Present Tense”: “I live in Romania.”

“Past Tense”: “My mother made a cake.”

“Future Tense”: “He will help you.”

“Present Perfect”: “We have not met yet.”

“Past Perfect” or” pluperfect”: “I had not known that thing about him.”

“Conditional Tense”: “We would soon find out the truth.”

“Conditional Perfect”: “She would have left him by now.”

Considering all the things mentioned above, there are still some points to keep in mind when talking about tense. Firstly, it is only the Indicative forms that are tensed. Secondly, all tenses have non-progressive and progressive forms. Thirdly, when we are dealing with a verb in a complex form which involves an auxiliary or more auxiliaries, it is the first auxiliary that is marked for tense and not the main verb.

To sum up, we can say that TENSE refers to the role of specific verb forms in a language to locate situations in time. From the linguistic point of view, tense expresses the temporal relation between the time of actualization of the situation and some other time (i.e. zero-point or other location in time.

2.5. The Category of Aspect

Aspect is defined as a different way of viewing the internal constituency of a situation, of conceiving the flow of the process itself. It is non-deictic and it relates the time of events described in the sentence to a time of reference (RT), informing about the contour of the event. So it describes the internal structure of the event, it can be seen as the relation between ET and RT, whereas tense relates RT to ST.

Aspect is concerned with whether an event has duration or not, whether it is completed or not, whether it is repetitive or not, or whether it is connected to the time of speaking or not. In English, verbs have distinct forms to indicate continuousness, completeness and time. Time can be expressed by tense, whether present, past or future. Continuousness can be expressed by progressive aspect of the verb, whereas completeness can be expressed by the perfective aspect of the verb, According to Leech and Svartvik (1975), aspect is related to “the manner” in which is considered “complete” or “in progress.” Huddleston and Pullum (2002) define aspect as “a system where the basic meanings have to do with the internal temporal constituency of the situation.”

There are some semantic distinctions covered by aspect, that is the semantic aspectual opposition between perfectivity (a) and imperfectivity (b).

The perfective aspect gives a holistic, summarizing or unifying view on an event with respect to a chosen reference time. It presents a situation on the whole without concern for its internal constituency, meaning that the situation is presented as a single unanalyzable unit and no attempt being made to divide that situation up to the last phrase. It can’t be defined as describing a situation with limited duration. Since it indicates a short period of time, it can be related to its characterization as indicating a punctual, momentary situation. By not giving direct expression to the internal structure of a situation, the perfective has the effect of reducing it to a single point. It indicates a completed action, not complete, meaning that the perfective does denote a complete action, in the sense that it involves beginning, middle and end, but to say completed, it places too much emphasis on the end of the situation.

The imperfective aspect. The difference between perfective and imperfective consists in the fact that: the perfective looks at a situation from outside, paying no attention to the internal structure of that situation, whereas the imperfective aspect considers a situation from the inside, being crucially concerned with the internal structure of the situation. It can look backwards at the start of the situation and at the end of it, forwards.

This distinction is not totally captured by the inflectional forms of the verb. For example, the simple perfect is often perfective. We consider the sentences: “She has arrived”, He has been to Italy”. We can say that they are both perfective. But if we say “They have lived here all their lives”, this sentence is imperfective.

An observation is to be made here, namely, this distinction is possible only in the past tense or in the future or in case a modal verb is present, but not in the present, moreover, it can’t be used to refer to a present process that is unfolding.

Aspectual systems have two components, situation type and viewpoint, according to Smith (1991). These components interact in the sentences of any language. The notion of situation type is based on the categories proposed in Vendler (2002). Situation type indirectly classifies a clause as expressing a situation with certain internal temporal properties. There are three temporal features: Static-Dynamic, Telic-Atelic, and Durative-Punctual. These features cluster in the situation type categories: State, Activity, Accomplishment and Achievement. The verb and its arguments convey situation type, together with adverbs.

Aspectual viewpoints make visible for semantic interpretation all or part of a situation. Viewpoint is usually expressed by a morpheme associated with the verb. Perfective viewpoints make events visible as bounded, including endpoints. Imperfective viewpoints make situations visible without information as to endpoints, unbounded.

Vendler’s proposal seemed to incorporate the claim that the category of verbs of any particular language can be split up into these four categories, as follows:

States: “Believe desire, have, own, resemble, love etc.”

Activities: “swim, walk, push (a car), breath etc.”

Accomplishments: “draw (a circle), make (a chair), deliver (a sermon), recover (from illness).”

Achievements: “realize, recognize, spot, lose, find, reach.”

Being kept at lexical level, i.e. at verbal level, Vendler’s classification is based on the following criteria: duration over time, change, endpoint and homogeneity.

One of the things Vendler pursued was the way in which the 4 categories are to be grouped together. He argued that states and achievements should be set apart from activities and accomplishments on account of the fact that the first two categories lack the progressive.

E.g.: “John is swimming.

John is building a house.

*John is knowing the answer.

*John is recognizing his lost sister.”

States lack the progressive because, although they last “for a period of time”, they do not denote a process over time, they “cannot be qualified as actions”, according to Smith (1991). They may endure, persist over stretches of time; they are homogeneous.

Achievements encode the inception or termination of an act and “occur at a single moment”, as Smith (1991) states in his book. They occur with IN-phrases time adverbials: “John noticed the picture in a few seconds.” But they don’t occur with adverbs like: “deliberately, attentively, obediently etc. „It is to be underlined the fact that they capture either the inception or climax of the occurrence that can be dated or they can be indefinitely placed within a temporal stretch, but not over it.

Activities and accomplishments differ from states and achievements in that they “are processes going on in time (…) they consist of successive phases following one another in time,” sa it is specified in Klein’s “Time in Language”. They involve no culmination or anticipated result, ant part of them is of the same as the whole, they are homogeneous. Unlike activities, accomplishments have an important feature, namely they “proceed toward a terminus (i.e. a set terminal point) which is logically necessary to their being what they are”, meaning that their parts are not of the same as the whole, according to the same author.

The Progressive Aspect

The sense of the progressive aspectual form is that of a process unfolding at a certain reference time, meaning that it began some time before the respective RT.

There are process verb phrases which can occur in the progressive aspect when they are considered at a certain RT: look at, rain, sweep (the floor), squeeze, travel, skate, run, walk, smile, grow, sleep etc.” They can occur with durative adverb phrases: “at the time, for the last x time, all day/night long, meanwhile, for some time.” Such verbs describe 2 simultaneous processes which is rendered either by 2 different sentences and/or by a subordinate adverbial clause introduced by” while, all the time while, as.”

There is a class of non-durative or instantaneous processes which can’t be used in the progressive form in order to denote the single instance of the respective process, i.e. the process being momentary they are not described as happening by stage. This class contains verbs like: “jump, kick, slam/bang (the door), knock, nod, fire (a gun), and tap.”

As a conclusion, process verb phrases occur in the progressive aspect to indicate with respect to a certain RT, that the process is about, the fact that it is unfolding at a respective RT. Non-durative processes do not occur in the progressive aspect when they indicate one single instance of the respective process.

Event verb phrases indicate that a certain goal is reached over and above the activity which lands to that goal. In the progressive form, they are described as unfolding at a certain RT. For example, “I am cutting the bread.”

State verb phrases are described as having an abstract quality and an atemporal interpretation. Such sentences do not occur in the progressive form.

Verbs that are not normally used in the Continuous Forms:

Thomson’s and Martinet’s “Practical English Grammar” gives a detailed account of the verbs that cannot normally be used in the continuous forms, and this happens because continuous tenses are used for deliberate actions, therefore these verbs have only present tenses. These verbs can be groups as follows:

Verbs of senses (feel, see, hear, smell, notice, observe= notice, and feel, look, taste, the last three being used as link verbs):

FEEL + adjectives: “angry, pleased, happy, sad, hot, cold, relaxed, nervous etc., indicates the subject’s emotions. It can be used in the simple tenses, but also in the continuous:

E.g.: How do you feel? /are you feeling?

I feel/am felling better today.

FEEL (=touch) can be used in the continuous forms, conveying the idea of having something to learn about:

E.g.: The doctor was feeling her pulse. (=to find out information about her condition).

But FEEL can’t be used in the continuous forms when it has the following meanings:

Of “sense”: “Don’t you feel the house shaking?”,

Of “ thinking”: “I feel you are wrong” (=I think you are wrong),

When it is used as a link verb: “The water feels cold to my feet”.

LOOK as a link verb can’t be used in the continuous forms, but when it has the meaning of deliberate actions, it can be used in such a situation, especially in the phrasal verbs: “ look at/ for/in/into/out/on”:

E.g.: He is looking for his glasses. (=to seek for them, he wants to find them, so he deliberately does this action).

c. SMELL, having its proper meaning, i.e.” perceive a scent/an odor”, it cant be used in the continuous tenses, but when it realizes the meaning “sniff at”, and functions as a link verb, it can be used in the continuous:

E.g.: Why are you smelling the milk? Does it smell sour?

d. TASTE, functioning as a link verb, is not used in the continuous tenses. When it conveys the meaning “to taste the flavor of”, it can be used in the continuous tenses:

E.g.: She was tasting the soup to see if it was salty enough.

e. SEE can be used in the continuous tenses only when it means “meet by appointment (usually on business context), interview”:

E.g.: The director is seeing the applicants. (=is discussing with them).

When it conveys the following meanings, it can be used in the continuous tenses, as it can be seen in the sentences below:

e.1. SEE about (=make arrangements):

E.g.: We are seeing about a work permit for my sister. (=we are trying to arrange this).

e.2. SEE to (= arrange, put right, deal):

E.g.: The plumber is seeing to the leak in the tank. (= he is trying to fix it).

e.3. SEE somebody out (=to escort)/home (=to accompany, to escort)/to + place (=to escort):

E.g.: Is John seeing you home from the party?

No, he is seeing me to the bus station. (= to accompany to a place).

e.4. SEE off (=to say good-bye at the starting point of one’s journey, usually at the station/train/plane/airport):

E.g.: We are leaving tomorrow. James is seeing us to the airport.

f. HEAR can be used in the continuous tenses when it means “listen formally to (complaints/evidence)”:

E.g.: The Court is hearing the evidence tomorrow.

When it means “receive news or letters” it can also be used in the continuous tenses, especially with he Present Perfect Continuous and Future Continuous:

E.g.: I’ve been hearing about the accident.

I will be hearing about the new scheme at our next meeting.

Verbs expressing feelings and emotions, such as ADMIRE (=respect), ADORE, APPRECIATE, CARE FOR (=like), DESIRE, DETEST, DISLIKE, FEAR, HATE, LIKE, LOATH, LOVE, MIND (CARE), RESPECT, VALUE, WANT, WISH, can take continuous forms only when they have the following meanings:

Appreciate =increase in value

Admire = look at with admiration

Care for = look after

Long for/mind = look after, concern oneself with

Value = estimate the financial worth of

Enjoy/like/love = enjoy

Hate = love.

E.g.: He is enjoying his holiday in Mexico.

I’m minding my own business.

Verbs of mental activity: agree, appreciate (=understand), assume, believe, expect (=think), feel (=think), feel sure/certain, forget, know, mean, perceive, realize, recall, recognize, recollect, remember, see (=understand), see through someone (=penetrate his attempt to deceive), suppose, think (=have an opinion), trust (=believe/ have confidence in), understand.

E.g.: What are you thinking about?-I’m thinking about my future plans.

I’m assuming that that you’ll have to do a lot of work. (=accept as a starting point).

I’m expecting a letter. (= await)

Verbs of possession: belong, owe, own, possess.

Auxiliary BE when followed by certain adjectives: quiet, noisy, good/bad, wise/foolish, implying that the subject is showing a quality at that certain time:

E.g.: Tom is being foolish.

Auxiliary HAVE may realize other meanings and only on these occasions it can take continuous forms:

Take a meal: (What are you doing?) I’m having lunch.

Give a party/entertain guests: She’s having twenty people to dinner.

Encounter difficulties: I’m having a hard time with this car.

Experience/enjoy: I’m having a lovely time here.

In sum, the progressive aspect covers the semantic sphere described as belonging to the imperfect aspect, i.e. it views a situation under the ontological species of a process, while, doe to its constitutive properties of subsidiarity, is viewed at the interval now (or then, or after) as unfolding or going on. Whether or not it will continue going on after that RT depends on the course the situation takes.

Chapter III: Means of Expressing a Past Action in English

Learners are learning grammar by using it, not by knowing it. Before grammarians introduce the notions of Simple Present and Simple Past, verbs become the focus of the discussion. Greenbaum and Quirk (1990) have distinguished moment from time and tense from aspect by drawing two parallel lines: one indicates the time of event that happened, and the other refers to the moment of speaking about the event. These observations help the learners understand the difference between tenses: the Present Tense indicates a location at the moment of speaking and the Past Tense refers to a time before the moment of speaking. Declerck (1991) said that “tense does not usually locate a situation in time solely, and sometimes, it needs the cooperation of time adverbials or context.” But Greenbaum and Quirk presented the tenses in varieties of ways, not simply the help of time adverbials; they reminded the learners that English sentences are not always so perfect and complete by providing all the components like a “subject +verb +object” string , with a couple of adverbials indicating time, place, or purpose. They also draw attention on the fact that sometimes learners should be sensitive to the core of a sentence, that is the verb, since it conveys much more meanings beyond the meaning itself.

Tense encodes temporal information directly; it gives information about three times and their ordering relations of sequence or simultaneity. Present conveys that all three times are simultaneous; Past Tense conveys that RT precedes ST, and the Future Tense conveys that RT follows ST, always with the element of uncertainty that inheres in the future.

3.1. Past Tense Simple and Continuous.

A lexical verb can be conjugated by adding the morphemes /ing/, /d/, /z/ to mark gerund/present participle, past tense/past participle, and the third person singular for Present Tense Simple.

Past tense refers to an interval of time which precedes the literal point of time. It denotes events which coincide with the RT, which in its turn precedes the speech act. It is imperfective or neutral from aspectual point of view.

From the prospect of realizing Past Tense, verbs are: REGULAR and IRREGULAR.

The regular past tense inflection of -ed applies to 86% of the 1000 most common verbs (Pinker, 1999). Irregular forms tend to be high-frequency, and high-frequency verbs tend to be irregular.This is often explained by noting that only high-frequency words could remain irregular withoutbeing subsumed by the regular rule (Pinker, 1999). Other explanations include the idea that highfrequency verbs become irregular due to frequent production costs which may lead to irregularly abbreviating past tense forms (Lupyan & McClelland, 2003). Regardless, it is clear that there are at least two different ‘types’ of verb inflection; what remains highly contended is whether or not these types are categorically distinct or merely two ends of a spectrum. The debate is largely fought by proponents of two competing theories of the past tense: single- and dual-mechanism models. While other types of models exist, the focus of this paper is on these two leading models.

As previously mentioned, the English past tense has become a battleground for a larger theoretical war (Rumelhart & McClelland, 1986; Fodor & Pylyshyn, 1988; Elman et al., 1997; Pinker, 1999; Marcus, 2001). The debate focuses on the core mechanisms responsible for language and cognition: are they rule-based (Classical) or analogy-based (Connectionist or otherwise non-Classical)? While it is not always clear how much can be extrapolated from the tiny sliver of language phenomena that is the English past tense, when compared contextually with other inflectional morphologies in other languages, it is hoped that overarching themes will emerge. Thus, the English past-tense, while relatively uninteresting in and of itself, has become an unavoidable microcosm of a long-standing debate.

Throughout the past two decades, Pinker and his colleagues (Pinker & Prince 1988; Marcus et al. 1992; Prasada & Pinker 1993; Ullman et al. 1997; Pinker 1999; Pinker & Ullman 2002) have outlined a dual-mechanism approach, the Words-and-Rules theory (WR). Building on the traditionally recognized dichotomy between lexicon and grammar, WR claims that irregular forms are stored in the lexicon (declarative memory) while regular forms are produced on-the-fly by a combinatorial operation (procedural rule) appending the suffix -ed as a rule. For example, Chomsky & Halle (1968) claim that inflected (e.g., past-tense) forms are created by the carrying out of productive rules inherent in the inner structure of the word’s representation in the mind. While these theories explain well the large swaths of regularity and consistency among verbs (e.g., all ‘regular’ -ed forms and ‘semi regular’ forms like sweep-swept, keep-kept), they posit “implausibly abstract underlying representations (e.g. rin for run, which allows the verb to undergo the same rules as sing-sang-sung)” (Pinker & Ullman, 2002) to handle counterexamples.

Thus, regular past-tense forms are not stored in the lexicon but produced on-line, whereas irregulars are retrieved solely from lexical memory. More specifically, WR claims that all verbs enter two different routes, and the route that finishes first ‘wins out’. The rule mechanism begins to add the -ed suffix to the stem while the memory system performs a lookup for any stored forms in the lexicon. In the model the lookup is quicker than the rule application, and if a stored irregular form is found, it inhibits the rule mechanism and outputs the irregular; if the lookup fails because no form is found, the rule system will continue unabated and produce the regular form. This satisfies the pre-theoretic intuition (see English lessons in grade school) that there is a general rule for forming past-tense verbs and a list of exceptions that just have to be memorized.

Indeed, the role of the rule in dual-mechanism models is critical. Thus it deserves clarification as to what exactly is meant by a ‘rule’. Firstly, WR claims that the rule is not merely descriptive, but is actually a mechanism employed by the brain in language processing. An example of a descriptive-only ‘rule’ would be something like “the sun rises every morning”. Though the rule may always be true descriptively, nothing about the rule is involved in the actual process of making the sun rise (or seems to rise from our vantage point). By contrast, the rule itself is proposed to be involved in the actual inflection of regulars in WR. This actually posits something about the brain, not something about the language. In other words, the debate comes down to whether the brain has explicit rules or merely analogical systems which produce rule like behaviour.

In later versions of WR, modifications have been made to accommodate certain empirical findings. For instance, WR now allows that regular verbs can be stored in the memory as well as produced by rule. This overcomes the problem of verbs that can be inflected either regularly or irregularly (such as dived/dove), because anytime an irregular is found in the memory system, it inhibits the rule process (as per WR), and thus forms like dived wouldn’t be likely, given the presence of dove. Clearly the evolution and devolution of irregular verbs throughout the history of English shows that multiple forms can be present simultaneously in the language. Unfortunately, there is no specific account of which regulars would or would not be stored in the lexicon in WR, but it seems that the vast majority of regulars are not stored in the lexicon.

Additionally, while the earliest WR theories proposed that the lexicon is served by a standard lookup procedure, it has been accepted that within the memory mechanism there may be an associative system, not unlike a Connectionist network, but that “lexical entries have structured semantic, morphological, phonological and syntactic representations of a kind not currently implemented in pattern associators [Connectionist networks]” (Pinker & Ullman, 2002). Pinker, Prince, and others have positioned the dual-mechanism as a sort of hybrid compromise between generative phonology’s combinatorial capacity and Connectionism’s associative memory, though they clearly envision something more complex than just a rule system strapped onto a pattern associator. To some extent, WR can be seen as a “best of both worlds” type of scenario, maintaining that the past tense system arises as an epiphenomenon of two distinct linguistic faculties (lexicon and grammar), which rely on each other to produce systematic language in the first place (Pinker & Ullman,2002). Furthermore, lexicon and grammar are parallel to the well-known dichotomies in other domains such as the distinction between declarative and procedural memory (Cohen & Squire, 1980; Ullman, 2001).

One criticism of this model is its “inability to generalize to multiple paradigms cleanly. A word may be irregular (and thus a memorized exception) with respect to one syntactic form but others––‘go’ takes an irregular past tense, but its plural is the regular ‘goes’ instead of *‘wents’. These variations cannot be explained without resorting to further rules and a detailed (and complex) theory of the timing of rule application” (Plunkett & Juola 1999). Thus, while WR seems a clean, straightforward theory when applied to only one morphology, trying to expand it to other morphologies at the same time makes obvious its complications with handling different complex inflectional systems.

REGULAR VERBS: Grammar books state that almost 98 percent off all English verbs are regular, i.e. in terms of their forms. All English regular forms have just four forms: the lexical verb base form, the –S, the –ED, the –ing.

The lexical verb is used in the following situations:

Throughout the Present Tense, except for the third person singular:

E.g.: I/you/we/they help, but: he/she/it helps;

It is also used as the Imperative:

E.g.: Help!

It appears as the second word in the Future Tense and the Conditional sentences:

E.g.: They will call you tonight.

or “If I see them, I will tell them the news.”

It makes up the second word in the Modal constructions:

E.g.: They might/ can/should call you.

When preceded by TO, the lexical verb base form is used as infinitive, and it is widely employed in complement clauses.

With Present Subjunctive:

E.g.: They demanded that she called them.

As a non-finite form in the bare infinitive structure:

E.g.: He may call you tonight, and in the TO-infinitive sentence: We waited her to call us.

As Participle (V-ing), it occurs as non-finite form in the progressive aspect after BE:

E.g.: He is calling her now, and as –ING Participle Clauses: Calling him early, he had plenty of time to prepare for the interview.

As a Past form, it occurs as a finite form in the Past Tense:

E.g.: Someone called you yesterday.

The –ED form is used as a non-finite form in :

The progressive aspect following HAVE:

E.g.: He has called twice today.

b. the Passive Voice after BE:

E.g.: His brother is called John.

c. -ED Particles Clauses:

E.g.: Called last week, he arranged a meeting.

IRREGULAR VERBS: The 300 or so verbs that are irregular are predictable from the base form viewpoint. But they differ from regular verbs in that either the Past inflection, or the –ED inflection, or both of these, are irregular. The major differences are stated in “A comprehensive Grammar of the English Language”, by Quirk et al (1985), as follows below:

Irregular verbs either do not have the regular –ED inflection, or else have a variant if it from /d/ to /t/ : burn-burnt/burned;

Irregular verbs have variations in their base vowel: choose—chose—chosen;

Irregular verbs have a varying number of distinct forms, but the most listed are: the base form (=infinitive), the Past (V-ed) form and the Past Participle (V-en) forms. These forms are known as the “Principal Parts” of the verb, according to the same author.

The irregular verbs can be grouped into seven classes according to their mechanism of forming each class:

Tabel 1. Classes of Irregular Verbs.

Past Tense Simple

Formation rules:

Affirmative:

E.g.: The children played tennis last week. (Regular verb)

She drove her car to work last month. (Irregular verb)

Interrogative:

E.g.: DID the children play tennis last week?

DID she drive her car to work last month?

Negative:

E.g.: The children DID NOT play tennis last week.

She DID NOT drive her car to work last month.

Some observations must be made with regard to the pronunciation of regular Past Tense ending:

–ED[d] after verbs ending in ”b/ g/ ge /l/ m /n /r /ve /ze”:

E.g.: rubbed[d], tugged[d], managed[d], filled[d], dimmed[d], listened[d], stirred[d], loved[d], and seized [d];

–ED[t] after verbs ending in: “ck/ ss/ ch/ sh/ gh/ p”:

E.g.: packed[t], passed[t], watched[t], washed[t], laughed[t], and tipped [t];

–ED[id] after verbs ending in “t/d”:

E.g.: added [id], visited [id].

Spelling of regular verbs must also be underlined:

Verbs ending in –E add only –D to form Past Tense: “phone, agree, die etc.”

E.g.: phone + D= phoned

Agree + D= agreed;

Verbs not ending in –E add –ED to form Past Simple: “ask, clean etc.”

E.g.: ask + ED=asked

Clean + ED=cleaned;

Verbs spelled with a single vowel letter followed by a single consonant letter double the final consonant: beg, stop:

E.g.: beg + ED= begged

Stop + ED=stopped;

In the case of two-syllable verbs, the final consonant is doubled when the last syllable contains a single vowel letter followed by a single consonant letter and is stressed: “prefer”:

E.g.: prefer + ED=preferred.

As compared to verbs like “benefit, differ, profit”, which are stressed only on their first syllable and which therefore do not double their final consonants:

E.g.: benefit + ED= benefited

5. When there is a consonant before –Y, the -Y changes to –I before adding –ED ending specific to Past Tense:

E.g.: cry + ED= cried.

The uses of Past Tense Simple:

To show complete actions, i.e. actions that are now finished. The time or the approximate time that the event took place is stated or is understood from the context. It may be in the very recent past as in the sentences below:

E.g.: a. Your mother phoned a few minutes ago. (Specified time)

b. Who opened the door? (Understood from the context).

2. To express past habits or regular events, as it is illustrated in the next sentences:

E.g.: a. He got up at 7 o’clock every morning to go to work. (Habitual event)

b. He smoked for most of his life. (Past habit or situation of some duration underlined by the use of adverbial phrase” for most of his life”).

3. To show past situations occurred at a point in time, usually with state verbs:

E.g.: In 1950, there were fewer than 50 million cars in use around the world.

In such cases we can also use the expression USED TO, with its similar meanings. The formation rules are as follows:

Affirmative:

E.g.: They used to travel a lot when they were younger. (But they don’t any more).

Interrogative:

E.g.: Did they use to travel a lot when they were younger?

Negative:

E.g.: They did not use to travel a lot when they were younger.

The uses of this expression are:

To talk about past habits or actions that happened regularly in the past, but they no longer occur:

E.g.: He used to eat a lot of sweets when he was a kid. (But he doesn’t do that any more).

For repeated actions or routines in the past, with both USED TO and WOULD. But WOULD does not occur with state verbs because they describe states and not actions:

E.g.: They would/ used to eat out on Sundays. (They don’t do it any more).

Through construction BE USED TO +noun/pronoun/-ing form:

E.g.: They are used to hot weather. (Hot weather is not something new to them).

Through construction GET USED TO +noun/pronoun/+ing form:

E.g.: They are getting used to driving on the left. (They become accustomed to doing the action of “driving on the left”).

4. In Indirect Speech, Past Simple becomes Past Perfect Simple, but in spoken English it remains unchanged, provided this can be done without causing confusion about the relative time of the action:

E.g.: He said, “I loved her”. (=Past Simple)

→He said he had loved her. (=Past Perfect Simple)

5. In the second type of Conditional Clause, known as “tentative, hypothetical condition”, according to B.D.Graver (1986), where Past Simple has several meanings:

Tentative, but possible action:

E.g.: If you caught the 8 o’clock train, you could get home in time.

Hypothetical, but not impossible:

E.g.: If I came into a fortune, I would give up my job.

Contrary to the present fact, so unreal:

E.g.: If I knew how it worked, I would tell you more.

6. In the structure “IF + SUBJECT + WERE”, which is more usual than in the case of “WAS”, and it expresses advice:

E.g.: If I were you, I would wait for a bit. (=supposing I was in your place).

Such a structure is more usual in the infinitive sentence:

E.g.: If he were to get in touch, he could explain all. (=supposing he got in touch).

7. In the structure WISH + SUBJECT + PAST SIMPLE, the verb in the Past Simple expresses regret about a present situation:

E.g.: I wish I knew his address. (= I’m sorry I don’ know the address).

Unreal past tenses do not change in Reported Speech:

E.g.: He said, “I wish I lived nearer my work”.

→He said he wished he lived nearer his work.

8. In the structure IF ONLY +SUBJECT + PAST SIMPLE, the verb in the past simple expresses regret, but it is more dramatic than in the case of WISH.

E.g.: If only we knew where to look for him!

9 .In Tag-questions:

E.g.: You walked/ran on grass, didn’t you? (=the expected answer is “Yes.”)

You didn’t walk/run on grass, did you? (=the expected answer is “No”, and it shows amazement).

10. As a hypothetical future marker, especially in IF-Clauses:

E.g.: You’d be glad/¹ if I sold the old house.”2 (Supposing I sold it.) (Future hypothesis).

( Graver, B.D.-“Advanced English Practice”, OUP, 1986)

Adverbials with Past Tense Simple

The association of past tense with adverbials that tell us WHEN something happened is very important. These adverbial must refer to the past. Such adverbials are: “yesterday, last night/summer/week/month/tear/spring”; “ago” can combine with a variety of expressions to refer to the past, as in the constructions: “two years ago, six months ago”.

Past Tense Continuous

Formation rules:

Affirmative:

E.g.: He was learning at 9 o’clock yesterday night.

Interrogative: BE (past) +Subject + Main Verb in the Present Participle (v-ing)

E.g.: What were you doing at 8 o’clock last night?

Negative:

E.g.: She was not reading at 10 o’clock last night.

Spelling rules:

Most verbs add the ending –ING: help + ing = helping

Verbs ending in –E take away the final vowel and add –ING: give +ing= giving

Verbs ending in –EE just add –ING: agree + ing= agreeing, see +ing = seeing

Verbs ending in –IE change –ie into –Y and add –ING: lie +ing = lying, die +ing = dying

Verbs ending in one vowel + consonant double the final consonant and add –ING: stop +ing= stopping, sit + ing = sitting

Verbs ending in two vowels + consonant add -ING: read + ing =reading, cook + ing = cooking.

The uses of Past Tense Continuous:

1. To describe an action this was in progress at a state time in the past. The time at which the action was unfolding can be expressed by time adverbial phrases specific to past time: “in 1979” (now is 2013), “in May last year”, “at 5 o’clock yesterday”:

E.g.: a. In 1979, we were living in a small in Liverpool.

b. I was cooking at 5 o’clock yesterday.

2. To describe the background and set the scene for a narrative in the past:

E.g.: I was lying on the beach at 6 yesterday morning. The sun was shinning brightly, the wind was blowing softly through my hair, the birds were singing and the waves were striking the shores…

3. With adverbials beginning with “all” (for example: “all night/morning/afternoon/week/yesterday”) to show that an action/event was in progress throughout that specified time:

E.g.: I was cleaning the house all day yesterday.

4. For an action which was in progress when another action interrupted it. This happens with When-Clauses introduced by conjunctions “when, as”. The action which is in progress is longer and it will be in the Past Tense Continuous, but the action which interrupts it is shorter and it will be in the Simple Past:

E.g.: Claire was playing football when she fell and sprained her ankle.

↓ ↓ ↓

Past Continuous Past Simple

Action in progress in the past complete actions in the past, they interrupted the first action

5. To illustrate two or more actions which were happening at the same time in the past. This happens in When-Clauses introduced by conjunctions “while, as”:

E.g.: Linda was talking on the phone while she was driving the car.

↓ ↓

Past Continuous Past Continuous

Two actions in progress in the past

6. In polite requests, but in this case the use is more polite and tentative than in the Simple Past:

E.g.: I was wondering if you could give me a lift. (Polite request).

7. In the structure WISH + SUBJECT + PAST CONTINUOUS, the verb in the Past Continuous shows regret:

E.g.: I wish he was coming with us! (=I’m sorry he isn’t coming).

8. In the construction IT’S TIME +SUBJECT + PAST CONTINUOUS; the subject is expected to do the action:

E.g.: It’s time he was coming. (=generally speaking, everyone is expecting this).

9. In Reported Speech, Past Continuous becomes Past Perfect Continuous, but in practice, it remains unchanged except when it refers to a completed action:

E.g.: She said, “We were thinking of selling the house, but we have decided not to”.

→She said they had been thinking of selling the house, but they had decided not to.

10. To account or demand an explanation for an action which is not usually permitted:

E.g.: What were you doing with my bike? (=the time of the action is not specified, but it may be understood from the context; in this case, the answer might be: “I was riding it.”

Contrast between Past Simple and Past Continuous

Past Simple describes a complete event in the past whereas Past Continuous does not describe the complete event, but it shows it in progress, at some time between its beginning and its ending.

State verbs, which describe thoughts, feelings, states, cannot normally be put into the continuous form, as we can see in the sets of sentences below”

A. He was cooking dinner when I arrived. (I.e. he started cooking before my arrival and the cooking was in progress at the time of my arrival).

As compared to:

B. He cooked dinner when I arrived. (I.e. I arrived and then he cooked the dinner. So there are 2 complete events in the past).

2. A. I was having a bath at 8 o’clock. (I.e. the bath started before eight o’clock and it was in progress at 8 o’clock).

As different to:

B. I had a bath at 8 o’clock. (I.e. it is a complete/finished event which started at 8 o’clock).

Thompson and Martinet (1986) give an account of other uses of Past Tense Continuous in “A Practical English Grammar” as follows:

As a past equivalent of the Present Continuous:

a. in Indirect Speech:

E.g.: He said: “I am living in London.” (Direct Speech)

↓

Present Continuous

→ He said he was living in London. (Indirect Speech).

Past Continuous

b. Just in the same way when Present Continuous can be used to express a definite future arrangement:

E.g.: “I am leaving tonight. I’ve got my plane ticket.”

In the Past Continuous, it can illustrate this sort of future in the past:

E.g.: “He was busy packing, for he was leaving that night.” (I.e. the decision to leave had been made some time previously).

c. Past Tense Continuous with the adverb “always”:

E.g.: He was always working long hours.

2. As an alternative to the Simple Past:

Such a situation occurs to indicate a more casual, less deliberate action:

E.g.: I was talking to James the other day. (I.e. Past Continuous gives the impression that the action was in no way usual or remarkable. It also tends to remove responsibility from the subject. It is not very clear even who started the conversation, and this is not the point here. What matters is the fact that, when using Past Simple, meaning, “I talked to James the other day”, it indicates that the subject takes the initiative).

Present Perfect Simple and Continuous

The tense value of the Present Perfect sentences is present (i.e. RT=ST), but the aspectual value depends on the situation type aspect, that is the lexical aspect of the verb, the arguments of the verb, the time adverbials.

Present Perfect sentences share with present sentences the value of relation between RT and ST and, in some cases, with past sentences, between ET and ST. The Present Perfect can be defined as a marker or prior events which are included within the whole period of the present.

Present Perfect Simple

Formation rules:

Affirmative:

E.g.: They have forgotten the address.

Interrogative:

E.g.: Has she arrived home yet?

Negative:

E.g.: They have not finished lunch.

The Uses of the Present Perfect Simple:

Present Perfect shows a relationship between past time and present time. So, in the sentence “I’ve had lunch”, the Present Perfect implies that I did so very recently. But if I say “I had lunch”, I also have to say when the action took place, “I had lunch an hour ago.”

In the Present Perfect Tense, the time reference is sometimes undefined, often we are more interested in the present results of the action. Therefore, Present Perfect can be seen as a tense which looks backwards into the past.

It can be used to express re cent actions when the time is not mentioned.

E.g.: I have read the instructions, but I don’t understand them. (It does not say when the subject did the action).

As opposed to the sentence:

E.g.: I read the instructions last night. (Past Tense, time given)

b. To show recent actions in the Present Perfect often have results in the present:

E.g.: Tom has had a terrible car crash. (Result: he may be in the hospital now).

The lift has broken down. (Result: we have to take the stairs).

For actions which occur further back in the past, provided the connection with the present is still maintained, that is that the action could be repeated in the present:

e.g.: I have seen wolves in that forest. (I.e. it is still possible to see them again)

With such a sense, we are not necessarily thinking of any particular action or of the exact time when that action had occurred, because if we do that, we are more likely to use Past Simple.

2.

a. For actions occurring in an incomplete period of time, which can be represented on a diagram as follows:

TS

▐…………………X…………….X…………X…………▐

I.e. X= an action;

TS= “time of speaking in the present”.

An incomplete period of time may be indicated by “today, this morning/ afternoon/ week/ month/ year/ century etc.” However, an observation must be made with regard to “this morning”, in the sense that it can be used up to one o’clock, because after that time it becomes a complete period and, as a result, the actions occurring in it must be put in the Past Tense:

E.g.: Tom has rung up three times this morning already. (It’s 11 o’clock now).

As being different to:

Tom rang up three times this morning. (It’s 2 p.m. and he didn’t ring any more).

Being used with incomplete period of time, it implies that the action happened or didn’t happen at some undefined time during this period:

E.g.: Have you seen him today?

Yes, I have (i.e. at any time today)

Or, Yes, I have seen him today. (I.e. at some time during the day).

But if we know that an action usually happens at a certain time or in a certain part of our incomplete period, we use Past Tense Simple. In the context of a sentence as the following one, wee will say:

E.g.: (If my alarm clock goes off at 6 o clock, I might say at breakfast):

My alarm clock didn’t go off this morning. (Past Tense).

Adverbs “lately, recently”, used with Present Perfect, also indicate an incomplete period of time:

E.g.: Has he been here lately/ recently? (= at any time during the last week).

He hasn’t been here lately/recently. (= at some undefined time during the last week/ month).

3. Present Perfect can be used with “ever/ never/ always/ occasionally/ often/ several times”, “since + a period of time/ a clause/ an adverb:”

E.g.: a. Have you ever fallen a horse? (Personal experience)

Yes, I have fallen occasionally/ often.

b. I haven’t seen him since January.

c. Has he rung since she left?

Present Perfect used for an action which lasts throughout an incomplete period of time. The time expressions which occur with Present Perfect in order to get the meaning expressed above include: “since, for, all day/night/week/my life/the time, always, lately, never, recently”.

Here, the action usually begins in the past and continues past time of speaking in the present:

E.g.: He has been in the army for two years. (He is still in the army).

We have waited all day in your office. (We are still waiting).

He has lived in Italy all his life. (He still lives there).

Such sentences may be represented in the diagram as follows:

TS

▐___________________________●_ _ _ _ _ _ _

b. Sometimes, the action finishes at the time of speaking:

E.g.: I haven’t seen you for ages. (= but I see you now)

I haven’t cleaned the house for weeks. (= but I am doing it now).

On the diagram, these sentences can be represented as follows:

TS

▐––––––––––-●

c. Verbs of knowing, believing and understanding cannot be used with Present Perfect except for sentences like: “I have known him for a long time.”

d. In questions/ answers such as: “How long have you been here?”, “I have been here for six months”, when the Present Perfect actions occur within the period mentioned, which is regarded as an incomplete period. This happens because the actions of staying, being etc.are not yet finished.

5. Present Perfect with “since” and “for”:

a. “Since” is used with a period of time and it means “from that point to the time of speaking”; it is always used with the Present Perfect:

E.g.: She has been here since seven o’clock. (I.e. and she is still here).

It can be followed by a clause:

E.g.: I’ve worked here since I graduated school. (I.e. and the subject is still working there).

6. Other uses consist in constructions of the type: IT IS+ PERIOD OF TIME +SINCE + PAST/PRESENT PERFECT:

E.g.: It’s three years since I (last) saw Jill.

It’s three years since I have seen Jill.

Present Perfect Continuous

The Present Perfect Continuous is used for shorter spans of time; it focusses on the iterative feature, whereas if a sentence refers to a habitual situation, the Present Perfect Simple is more neutral.

E.g.: We have been playing chess lately.

As compared to:

E.g.: We have played chess lately.

Although state verbs describe situations that last, which can go on indefinitely, which are atelic and do not have a natural end point, when used in the Present Perfect Continuous they refer to a situation which began in the past and which continues into the present.

E.g.: She has liked her boyfriend since she met him.

Activities are ambiguous between an open and a closed reading:

E.g.: She has worked for 2 hours. (=open—still working, close—not working any more, the reading is existential).

Achievements cannot be associated with a continuative reading. When used in the progressive, they are interpreted as iterative:

E.g.: They have been kicking the ball for an hour.

Accomplishments are telic events; so their only possibility to refer to a continuative situation is to use the Present Perfect Continuous. In such situations, they are no longer accomplishments as they focus on the incompleteness of the situations. The existential perfect refers to the existence of the event as such prior to ST, while the resultative perfect focusses on the result of an event which took place prior to ST.

E.g.: They have been fixing the washing machine for an hour.

Formation rules:

Affirmative:

E.g.: You’ve been cooking! (I can smell it!)

Interrogative:

E.g.: Have you been painting the room.

Negative:

E.g.: It has not been raining since last month.

Uses of the Present Perfect Continuous:

For actions which began in the past and are still continuing or have only just finished:

E.g.: I’ve been waiting for an hour and he still hasn’t turned up. (=I am still waiting)

2. A repeated action in the Simple Present Perfect can sometimes be expressed as a continuous one by using the verb in the Present Perfect Continuous:

E.g.: I’ve written six letters since breakfast. (I have finished writing).

I have been writing six letters since breakfast. (But I’m going to write some more).

3. When we want to place emphasis on the duration of an action which started in the past and continues up to the present, especially with time expressions like: “for/since + time, all morning/day/week/year/month etc.”

E.g.: “Sam has been talking on the phone for half an hour.” (=he began talking on the phone half an hour ago, he is still talking).( Thomson, A.J.& Martinet, A.V.- “A Practical English Grammar”, OUP, 1986)

4. To express an action which started in the past and lasted for some time. This action may still be going on, but its results are visible in the present:

E.g.: “Her feet hurt. She has been walking all day.” (The result of the action is visible in the present, her feet hurt).( Evans, V.& Dooley, J.- “ Access Grammar 4”, Express Publishing, 2008)

5. To express anger, irritation, annoyance:

E.g.: “Somebody has been giving away our plans.” (Irritation). (Evans, V.& Dooley, J.- “ Access Grammar 4”, Express Publishing, 2008)

6. Verbs like: “work, live, teach, feel (=have a particular feeling)” can be used with the Simple Present Perfect or Continuous without any difference in meaning:

E.g.: We have lived/have been living here for ten years.

7. Present Perfect Continuous is used with the following expressions of time: “since/for + time, how long, lately, recently.

Comparison between Past Tense Simple and Present Perfect Simple.

Grammar books give various interpretations of the Present Perfect which follows two lines of analysis: a. the Present Perfect refers to an indefinite past, locating the event somewhere prior to ST, but without identifying any particular past time interval, and b. the Present Perfect refers to situations or events which began prior to ST, but which extend into present.

The first theory tries to account for the difference between the Present Perfect and the Past Simple, namely that the ET of the Simple Past Tense is seen as definite, whereas the ET of the Present Perfect Simple is seen as indefinite. What is important here is the relation between the temporal forms and adverbials. Adverbials are divided into two main classes:

Definite adverbials: “yesterday, last week/month/year, ago etc.”, which are compatible with Past Tense Simple;

Indefinite adverbials: “once, by now etc.”, which are compatible with the Present Perfect.

An observation must be made here with regard to some adverbials such as “this morning/week/month, never, ever, always”, which are compatible both with Past Tense Simple and Present Perfect Simple.

b. Definiteness is not enough to account for the difference between the Past Tense and the Present Perfect, because there are definite adverbials that can occur with the Present Perfect as well.

E.g.: He has been here from last Friday till now.

The Present Perfect can be defined as a marker or prior events which are included within the whole period of the present, whereas the Past Tense can be defined as referring to events which are assigned to a past which is separate from the present.

The Past tense differs from the Present Perfect in aspect, i.e. complete, neutral. While the Present Perfect may represent a backshift of the present in a past context, the Preterit is used to foreground information. It also forms the backbone of narrative, whereas the imperfect backgrounds information. The Preterit advances narrative time, generally speaking, while the imperfect does this only under special circumstances.

The differences between the Past Simple and the Present Perfect Simple can be explained as follows:

We use Past Simple in sentences like: “Did you see the postman come this morning?”, because we are thinking about a complete period of time even though we do not mention it.

The adverb “recently” is used with Past Simple having the meaning of “a short time ago”:

E.g.: He left recently. (I.e. a short time ago).

c. In a context when the subject’s actions are over, we would have:

E.g.: A: Did you ever fall a horse? (Past Simple).

B: Yes, I did occasionally/frequently.

d. When we are dealing with complete actions in the past:

E.g.: He was in the army for 2 years. (=he is not in the army now).

He lived here all his life. (=presumably he is now dead).

e. Even when the time is not mentioned, recent actions must be expressed by the Simple Past Tense:

E.g.: Did you know that he was going to be married?

f. The adverb FOR used with Past Tense Simple denotes a terminated period of time:

E.g.: We lived there for three years. (But we do not live there any more).

g. In a conversation about a past action which often begins with a question and answers in the present Perfect, but it normally it continues in the Simple Past, even when no time is given. This happens because the action first mentioned has now become definite in the minds of the speakers/hearers:

E.g.: A: Where have you been?

B: I’ve been at the supermarket.

A: What have you bought/did you buy?

B: I’ve bought/bought some fresh fruit.

Past Perfect Simple and Continuous:

Past Perfect Simple

Formation rules:

Affirmative:

E.g.: When I got there, the meeting had finished.

Interrogative:

E.g.: Had they heard the news before I told them?

Negative:

E.g.: She had not got my mail when I asked her.

Uses of the Past Perfect Simple:

1.To express an action which happened before another past action or before a stated time in the past:

E.g.: She had finished work/¹before she met her friends./² (=she finished work first and then she met her friends).

2. For an action which finished in the past and whose result was visible in the past:

E.g.: He was happy. He had signed an important contract. (=the action finished first in the past ant its result was visible in the past, too).

Past Perfect Simple is equivalent to Present Perfect Simple:

E.g.: Ann has just left. If you hurry,/¹ you’ll catch her./² (=Present Perfect).

When I arrived,/¹ Ann had just left./² (=Past Perfect).

Unlike the Present Perfect, Pas Perfect is not restricted to actions whose time is not mentioned:

E.g.: He had left his case for the 4.40 train.

3. Past Perfect Simple can be used with SINCE. FOR, ALWAYS for an action which began in the past and is still ongoing or has just finished. It can be used similarly for an action which began before the time of speaking in the past and:

a. was still continuing at that time, or

b. stopped at that time or just before it, or

c. for an action which stopped some time before the time of speaking.

E.g.: a. Bill was in his uniform when we met him. He had been in the army for ten years. (=was still continuing at that time).

b. The old tree, which had stood in our yard for 100 years, suddenly crashed to the ground. (=stopped at that time or just before it).

c. He had served in the army for 15 years, and then he retired. (=for an action which stopped some time before the time of speaking).

The three sentences above can be represented on the temporal axis as follows:

TS

▐–––––––●–––––––▐

A B

TS

▐–––––––––––▐

A B

TS

▐––––––▐- – – – – – – – – ●

A B

Past Perfect Simple is also equivalent of the Simple Past Tense and it is used when the narrator or the subject looks back on earlier action from a certain point in the past:

E.g.: “He met her in 1967 and again ten years later. Her hair, which had been grey at their first meeting, was now white.” (Thompson&Martinet, 1986)

But if the events are merely given in the order in which they occurred, then no past perfect is necessary:

E.g.: a. She heard voices and realized that there were three people in that room. (=past simple).

b. She saw empty glasses and cups and realized that three people had been in that room. (=but they were no longer there).

5. a. As previously mentioned, Past Perfect Simple expresses a past action completed prior to another event or time in the past. Hence, the Past Perfect Simple occurs in complex sentences with Main Clause and a subordinate clause introduced by AFTER, WHEN:

E.g.: She gave the book to her brother AFTER she had read it.

She had already mailed the letter WHEN they called her.

The presence of Past Perfect Simple insures that the event it describes is interpreted as having occurred before the event in the other clause.

b. In subordinate clauses introduced by certain subordinators, such as BEFORE, AFTER, AS SOON AS, it is possible to use past simple instead of Past Perfect Simple, because it is these terms that establish the sequence of events.

E.g.: He left /¹AS SOON AS he had spoken to Karen/².

He left/¹ AS SOON AS he spoke to Karen/².

But in some contexts, Past Perfect Simple is required, especially in sentences where the events have a longer duration:

E.g.: John left the country /¹AS SOON AS he had written his dissertation paper./²

c. In subordinate clauses introduced by TILL, UNTIL, BEFORE, Past Perfect Simple is used to emphasize the completion or at least the expected completion of an action. It should be underlined the fact that in constructions with TILL/UNTIL + Past Perfect Simple, the Simple Past actions may precede the Past Perfect actions. Whereas, in sentences with BEFORE + Past Perfect + Past Simple, the Simple Past actions will always precede the Past Perfect actions:

E.g.: He refused to go/¹ TILL he had seen all the pictures./²

He did not wait/¹ TILL we had finished dinner./²

BEFORE we had finished dinner,/¹ he left the restaurant./²

6.Verbs of knowing, of understanding etc. are not normally used in the Past Perfect tenses, except the situations when they are accompanied by an expression denoting a period of time:

E.g.: When he had known me for a year/¹ he invited me out.²

7. In Indirect Speech, Past Perfect Simple is obtained when we change a sentence with the main verb in the Past Simple, and we know that Past Simple becomes Past Perfect Simple:

E.g.: He said, “I knew her well”.

→He said he had known her well.

But if the sentence we want to report is in the Past Perfect Simple, then the tense remains unchanged.

8. In IF-Clauses, respectively in the third type of conditionals, known as “unreal condition” (Thompson&Martinet, 1986), which has a past time reference and where the condition cannot be fulfilled because the action in the IF-Clause didn’t happen.

E.g.: If he had learnt more,/¹ he would have passed the exams./² (= the condition in the clause didn’t fulfill in the past, so neither the action in the main clause happen).

9. In constructions with IF ONLY +PAST PERFECT, the subject wants to place greater dramatic emphasis on the action of the verb in the Past Perfect Simple:

E.g.: If only we had asked someone’s advice! (=but we didn’t, so now we regret it).

10. In constructions with WISH + PAST PERFECT to show regret about a past situation.

E.g.: I wish you had written to him. (=I’m sorry you didn’t write to him).

11. The Past Perfect from the third type of Conditional Clauses remains unchanged when such complex sentences are reported:

E.g.: He said, “If she had loved Tom, she would have married him”.

→He said that is she had loved Tom, she would have married him.

Past Perfect Continuous

Formation rules:

Affirmative:

E.g.: They had been looking for a house for some time.

Interrogative:

E.g.: Had they been looking for a house for some time?

Negative:

E.g.: They had not been looking for a house for some time.

Uses of the Past Perfect Continuous:

Past Perfect Continuous bears the same relation to the Past Perfect Simple as Present Perfect Continuous is to the Present Perfect Simple:

When the action began before the time of speaking in the past, and it continued up to that time without any interruptions, or stopped just before it, either forms are possible:

e.g.: It was seven o’clock and he was tired because he had worked hard since dawn.

As well as:

e.g.: It was seven o’clock and he was tired because he had been working hard since dawn.

2. A repeated action in the Past Perfect Simple can sometimes be expressed with Past Perfect Continuous:

E.g.: He had tried many times to get her on the phone.

And:

E.g.: He had been trying many times to get her on the phone.

3. With verbs WANT and WISH, although these verbs cannot normally be used in continuous tenses. But in the context like the sentences below, one can say:

E.g.: The boy was delighted with his new bike. He has been wanting/wishing one for so much time.

4. In sentences which are reported from the Direct Speech, the verbs in the Past Perfect Continuous remain unchanged in the Indirect Speech:

E.g.: He said. “They had been making that mistake for so much time”.

→ He said that they had been making that mistake for so much time.

Differences between Past Perfect Simple and Continuous:

If we consider the following sentences:

E.g.: a. By six o’clock, he had repaired the engine. (=the job had been completed).

b. He had been repairing the engine. (=he spent the previous time doing that action, but he doesn’t tell us if the action was completed or not).

2. Another difference is that an action in the Past Perfect Continuous continues up to, or beyond the time of speaking in the past. Whereas an action in the Past Perfect Simple may occur shortly before the time of speaking, but there could be quite long periods of interruptions between them:

E.g.: a. He had been painting the door. (=the paint was probably still wet).

b. He had painted the door. (=perhaps recently, or perhaps some time ago).

There are some final remarks which must be made with regard to the Past Tenses, as follows:

The majority of past forms in usual conversation are occur in narrative lines;

The progressive aspect is also find in narrative and its aim is to provide the narrative “frame” for the key events in the narrative; it is also used for reporting verbs;

Progressive forms are uncommon in conversation, the majority are used in the present; this aspect is more common in American conversational data than in British data;

Perfect aspect is also far less frequent than simple forms in conversation, even taking into account “have got”, which is the single most common present perfect form in British English. Still, even rarer seem to be the combinations of perfect and progressive aspect. Present perfect is most commonly used in its present forms, i.e. have been, have done, whereas the past perfect is even rarely met, and its role is to refer back at a time prior to the main focus of a narrative.

Chapter IV

The Tense-Aspect System of Romanian Finite Moods: Indicative

The grammatical structure and the basic word stock of the Romanian language have been inherited from Latin. As in all the other Romance languages, in Romanian there is a substratum (i.e. those elements of the native dialects which were incorporated into the Vulgar Latin) and a superstratum (i.e. the new elements that penetrated the new Romanian language as a result of the invasions of the migratory peoples). In Romanian, the substratum is Dacian, and the superstratum is mostly Slavic. The elements of the substratum are difficult to identify, since there are no reliable sources. The criteria linguists unanimously accept would be the comparison with the Albanian language, considered to be the direct continuation of the Thracian dialects. Linguists have studied the Romanian language in comparison with other Balkan languages, especially Albanian, in an attempt to find words of Dacian origin. Some 160 such words have been identified, among them terms related to the human body, family relationships, pastoral activities, agriculture, viticulture, pisciculture, etc.

Over the centuries, the new language experienced numerous external influences, mostly at the lexical level. At the grammatical level, Romanian is one of the most conservative Romance languages, which is due to the fact that the speakers belonged to a marginal area, isolated from the rest of the Romance world. Some scholars consider Romanian the most "pure" Romance language in terms of grammar, i.e. the closest to Latin. However, the nature of this language, especially its vocabulary, has been shaped by various historical influences. Romanian has assimilated Slavic, Hungarian, Turkish, and neo-Romance elements.

The Romanian verb marks the grammatical categories of moos, tense and aspect at syntactic level (by inflection) and at analytical level (by paraphrase), the latter showing different degrees of grammaticalization.

We have a unique axis of tenses, with a main point (prezent) with two derivations, one going up (viitor) and one going down (trecut). Of course, we know there are various kinds of past tense – “perfect simplu”, “perfect compus”, “imperfect” and ‚mai mult ca perfect”– and they differ from the point of view of usage (the first is informal, colloquial; the second is the most present in written communication; the third involves, in a way, continuity), but they cover the same position in the scheme. There is an intermediate tense which functions between present and future (called “viitor anterior” or “viitor apropiat”), expressing an action in the future taking place before another fact of the future. And there is another relational tense, named “mai mult ca perfect”, which represents an action in the past happening before something else in the past. The Romanian golden rule is that there is no rules but let us have some examples: -“prezent” in combination with “trecut”: “A spus că vine.” -“trecut” in combination with “viitor”: “A spus că va veni.” -“mai mult ca perfect” in combination with “viitor”: “Spusese că va veni.”So, the Romanian structure seems to be very permissive, the indicative mood being perceived as a succession of tenses situated in a certain order on a continuous axis.

● ● ● ● ●

Mai mult ca TRECUT PREZENT Viitor VIITOR

Perfect anterior

Fig.3: The Romanian axis of tenses

The Category of Conjugation of the Verb

The dictionary form of the verb is the infinitive. The ending of the infinitive indicates the conjugation of the verb.

There are four conjugations in Romanian. The final vowel or vowels of the infinitive indicate the conjugation of the verb:

The 1st conjugation – verbs ending in -a: a cânta to sing, a lucra to work, a întârzia to be late, a parca to park etc.;

The 2nd conjugation – verbs ending in -ea: a vedea to see, a putea to be able to etc.;

The 3rd conjugation – verbs ending in -e: a merge to walk, to go, a face to do, to make, a umple to fill up, a scrie to write etc.;

The 4th conjugation – verbs ending in -i and -î: a fugi to run, a veni to come, a opri to stop, a locui to live, a hotărî to decide, a coborî to climb down etc.

The most numerous groups are the verbs in -a and the verbs in -i.

The Category of Mood

If aspect views directly the semantic level of the grammatical category of the verb, then the grammatical category of mood views the semantic level of the verb from a temporal point of view.

Through this category, it is expressed the implication of the engagement of the subject-speaker in the development of the semantic relation between the verb (as a linguistic expression) and the action (as a state, extralinguistic reality).

We know that the verb is the center of the linguistic process and the nucleus of the speech act, so it is characterized by the qualities of realizing the predication and the temporality. It results that the mood also engages these two features.

Being basically deictic, viewed as an expression of the speaker’s attitude towards the content of the message, mood is also a syntactic category. For example, the verb “a trebui” imposes the choice of the conjunctive mood when it is a predicative verb (“Trebuie să plece din țară.”), and when it functions as an auxiliary verb (“Trebuie să fi plecat.”).

In the Romanian language, the category of mood has its own identity; i.e.it exists and functions through the relations of opposition which it realizes at the semantic and expression levels. Under this interpretation, the Romanian verb brings 5 terms specific to the grammatical category of mood: “Indicativ”, “Conjunctiv”, “Optativ”, “Prezumtiv” and “Imperativ”.

The semantic level of the grammatical category of mood is based on three antithetical pairs of terms: a) certainty/uncertainty; b) reality/ireality; c) subjective involvement or engagement/objective detaching. These three pairs interfere and combine with one another as it can be seen below:

Certainty combines with reality and objective detaching; i.e. the subject-speaker only sees/states the development of an action, he does not get involved in the action, the action is certain, for sure because it is real. This level is specific to the “Indicativ” mood: “A plecat de vineri la mănăstiri.”

Uncertainty combines with ireality; i.e. the action is unfulfilled or the speaker does not know if it is fulfilled because he does not have the knowledge about this fact, but he does not know if the action is fulfilled either.

Ireality stands against the opposition certainty-uncertainty and makes a pair with subjective involvement or detaching.

Taking into consideration all the remarks above, D.Irimia (2008) gives an account of the variants which the grammatical category of mood develops:

Moods of Certainty: a) The “Indicativ”—mood of certainty and of reality;

b) The “Imperativ”—mood of presupposed certainty;

Moods of Uncertainty: a) The “Conjunvtiv”—mood of deliberating, both of possible and uncertain actions;

b) The “Prezumtiv”—mood of hypothesis, of assumption;

Moods which neutralize the opposition certainty/uncertainty:

Potential, assumptive—mood of virtuality, of the speaker’s detaching from the semantic content of the verb;

The “Optativ”—mood of the wanted, desired action.

The Category of Tense

As it can be seen in almost all languages, tense is a universal grammatical category of the verb, alongside with the categories of person and number. Irimia D. (2008) states that “Its categorical content is deictic and syntactic and it originates from the relation between the temporality of the process of linguistic communication and the temporality of the action of the verb as an object of communication.”

This relation generates the “notional tense” and it has three terms each of them corresponding to the three fundamental items in the temporal adverbial representation in the subject’s point of view and of the speaking act:

“azi” = simultaneity, the time of the action = the time of the communication →”prezent”;

“ieri’ =anteriority, the time of the action ← the time of the communication = trecut (perfect);

“maine” = posteriority → the time of the communication = “viitor”.

The grammatical tense is the linguistic expression of the “notional tense” and its semantic features differ from a language to another, depending on the relation between the notional tense and the grammatical tense, on the double nature (deictic and syntactic) of the category of tense and on its complementarity with two other important categories of the verb: aspect and mood.

The double nature has a great importance in the development of two categories of tenses from the semantic point of view: a) absolute tenses, which are deictic, and B) relative tenses, which are basically syntactic.

The semantic values of the absolute tenses come from the direct reference of the time of the action to the moment of speech: “Ieri am vazut-o pe Maria.” Absolute tenses are: “prezentul”, “perfectul (“simplu” and “compus”) and “viitorul I (“simplu”).

The semantic values of the relative tenses come from the reference to another verbal tense and this is observable especially with Complex Sentence (“fraza”): “Cand a venit tata,/¹ Tudor deja plecase./²”Relative tenses are: “mai mult ca perfectul”and “viitorul II (“anterior”).

In the Romanian language, the grammatical category of tense also encompasses the grammatical categories of aspect and mood.

The Category of Aspect

As Dindelegan (2010) states, aspect is seen as “the linguistic expression of the unique way of transformation of the state of being from the point of view of its unfolding in time” as follows:

As an unique event, usually of shorter duration (“momentary aspect”) or as an event occurring in o longer period of time (durative/ ongoing aspect”):

E.g.: Maria deschide fereastra. (State, momentary aspect)

Cade o frunză din copac. (Event, momentary aspect)

Tina se plimbă prin parc. (Activity, durative aspect)

Plouă. (Process, durative aspect).

As a complete action (perfective aspect) or unfinished/ incomplete action (imperfective aspect):

E.g.: A căzut o frunză. (perfective aspect)

Mă uitam la o frunză care cădea. (imperfective aspect)

As a single time occurrence or repeating itself (iterative aspect):

e.g.: A inchis ochii, speriat de fulger.

Închidea ochii mereu, deranjat de lumina puternică.

As being at the starting point (prospective aspect), or on the verge of beginning (inchoative aspect), or taking place (continuative aspect) or at its ending point (terminative aspect):

e.g.: Afară stă să plouă. (Prospective aspect)

Fata începe să scrie. (Inchoative aspect)

Solistul continuă să cânte. (Continuative aspect)

Acum termină de scris. (Terminative aspect).

The perfective –imperfective opposition correlates with another opposition, i.e. fulfilled-unfulfilled.

The imperfective aspect states the absence of the subject’s knowledge of the moment of development of the action: it is possible that the action have ended/ interrupted, but it is also possible that it have continued: “Când am întâlnit-o, cânta într-un restaurant.”

This opposition is best underlined through the characteristics of the “trecut” tense in the Indicative mood: a) perfective aspect: “perfect compus, perfect simplu, mai mult ca perfect”; b) imperfective aspect: “imperfect”.

In the “present” tense, this opposition neutralizes at the grammatical level. There is a component engaged at the semantic level of the verbs which depends on the oppositions such as: momentary/durative: e.g.: “cade/alunecă”.

In the “viitor” tense, the aspectual opposition comes over the temporal antithesis “viitor I-imperfect” and “viitor II-perfect”: e.g.: “voi cânta—voi fi cântat”.

The Category of Person and Number

a. The grammatical category of person can be seen with the verb and the pronoun. With the pronoun it is a semantic constant which differs from a pronoun class to another. With the verb, it originates and manifests itself in the speech act and its syntax, and within the interdependent relation between subject and predicate. Moreover, it intervenes in the agreement relation.

It displays its content through the realization of an internal opposition among correlative terms: “persoana I”, “persoana a II-a”, “persoana a III-a”, as follows:

“persoana I”= it is the subject-speaker, the protagonist, the grammatical subject:

E.g.: Eu spun că eu cânt.

↓ ↓

Interpreter grammatical subject

“persoana a II-a”: the interlocutor is revealed by the subject-speaker as being the protagonist of the action of the verb:

E.g.: Eu spun că tu ai cântat.

↓ ↓

The subject-speaker protagonist of the action of the verb

“persoana a III-a”: the subject-speaker assigns the action of the verb to a protagonist who is interpreted as the grammatical subject of the verb, but he does not participate in the action:

E.g.: Eu spun că el a cântat.

↓ ↓

The subject-speaker grammatical subject

Some observations must be made with regard to the impersonal verbs in the Romanian language. They stay outside the grammatical category of the person. There are some relative impersonal verbs which can be unchanged towards the protagonists of the speech act (“a se întâmpla”, “a trebui”, “a fi frig “) or they can rise to the level of the protagonists/participants in the action in an indirect way (“a < i >se întâmpla”, “a< I > se cuveni”, “a<-i> fi dor/teamă/sete/frig”). But the relative impersonal verbs which imply a participant in the speech act, but this does not necessarily mean that they become real participants, can be considered as lacking the 1st and the 2nd persons. These verbs are “unipersonal” verbs: “Mi-e teamă/ dor/ frig/ rece; Ți-e cald/ foame/ bine; I-e cald/ rece”. Although their semantic level is oriented towards the protagonist of the speech act which is expressed by personal pronoun forms in Dative (“mi”, “ți”, “ i”), they still keep the characteristics expressed above.

The category of person is expressed by some suffixes which are attached to the root of the verb or to the simple base verb(“cant/-a, cant/-a/-se/-m”), but in the case of the modal and compound temporal forms and in the case of the passive voice forms, they find expressions in variable forms of the auxiliary verbs: a) “am, ai, a, am, ați, au = Present Participle of the main verb”—for the “Perfect compus”; b) “voi, veți, va, vom, veți, vor = bare infinitive of the main verb’—for the Viitor I”; c) “aș, ai, a, am, ați, ar = the bare infinitive of the main verb”—for the “Condițonal-optativ”.

Special verbs in Romanian language:

Singular Plural

“A FI”: a)”Prezent”: Eu sunt Noi suntem

Tu ești Voi sunteți

El/ea este ei/ele sunt

b)’Imperfect”: eu eram Noi eram

Tu erai Voi erați

El/ea era Ei/ele erau

c)”Perfect simplu”: Eu fui/fusei noi furăm/fuserăm

Tu fuși/fuseși voi furăți/fuserăți

El/ea fu/fuse ei/ele fură/fuseră

d)”Perfect compus”: eu am fost noi am fost

tu ai fost voi ați fost

el/ea a fost ei/ele au fost

e)’Mai mult ca Perfect”: eu fusesem noi fuseserăm

tu fuseseși voi fuseserăți

el/ea fusese ei/ele fuseseră

f)”Viitor I”: eu voi fi noi vom fi

tu vei fi voi veți fi

el/ea va fi ei/ele vor fi

g)”Viitor II (anterior)’: eu voi fi fost noi vom fi fost

tu vei fi fost voi veți fi fost

el/ea va fi fost ei ele vor fi fost

“A AVEA”: a) „prezent”: eu am noi avem

Tu ai Voi aveți

El/ea are ei /ele au

b)”Imperfect”: eu aveam noi aveam

tu aveai voi aveați

el/ea avea ei/ele aveau

c)”Perfect simplu”: eu avui/avusei noi avurăm/avuserăm

tu avuși/avuseși voi avurăți/avuserăți

el/ea avu/avuse ei/ele avură/avuseră

d)”Perfect compus”: eu am avut noi am avut

tu ai avut voi ați avut

el/ea a avut ei/ele au avut

e)”:Mai mult ca prefect”: eu avusesem noi avuseserăm

tu avuseseși voi avuseserăți

el/ea avusese ei/ele avuseseră

f)”Viitor I (simplu)”: eu voi avea noi vom avea

tu vei avea voi veți avea

el/ea va avea ei/ele vor avea

g)”Viitor II (anterior)”: eu voi fi avut noi vom fi avut

tu vei fi avut voi veți fi avut

el/ea va fi avut ei/ele vor fi avut.

b. The grammatical category of number is similar to that of person both at semantic and at expression levels. The categorical opposition of number places the antithesis of person between two terms: “singular” and “plural”.

“persoana I singular/plural”: “(eu) zbor/ (noi) zburăm”; “(eu) citesc/ (noi) citim”;

“persoana a II-a singular/plural”: “(tu) zbori/ (voi) zburați”; “(tu) citești/ (voi) citiți”;

“persoana a III-a singular/plural”: “(el/ea) zboară/ (ei/ele) zboară”; “(el/ea) citește/ (ei/ele) citesc”.

The grammatical category of the number is not specific to verb, but it indicates if the subject is the one that speaks (“Eu învăț pentru examen.”), or the one that is talked to/addressed (“Tu gătești cina.”), or the one that is talked about (“Ea spală vasele”). This is realizable through the form of the verb and the personal pronouns that accompany the verb.

Unlike the noun and the person, the category of number does not have a proper content with verbs at the sematic level; it does not correspond to a sentence from the extralinguistic reality. It comes from the syntactic relation between verb (as a predicate) and the noun/pronoun (as a subject).

In the third person, this opposition remains at the semantic-syntactic level, i.e. the actor of the action of the verb sets the semantic level through “singular/plural” opposition (E.g.: “el<acesta/ copilul>”, for the singular, goes to “ei<aceștia/ copiii>”, for the plural”).

Being in an interdependency relation with the subject, the verb as a predicate subscribes to this syntactic opposition, “singular/plural”, due to the agreement rules as well:

E.g.: a. El (acesta/ elevul) vine. (Singular);

Ei (aceștia/ elevii) vin> (plural).

In the “persoana I” and “persoana a II-a”, this anthitesis involves also some distinctions which are imposed by their deictic components. Therefore, for the “persoana I”, plural represents the whole category of plurality of the author of the action:

E.g.: Vom merge la munte.= [Eu spun că] Noi [i.e. eu și copiii] vom merge la munte.

Or it can reflect the association of the actor of the verbal action in the development of the action, as in the sentence:

E.g.: Vom merge la munte.= [Eu spun că] Noi [i.e. eu și cu tine] vom merge la munte.

A similar distinction is common to the “persoana a II-a” as well, meaning “plural inclusiv”, which represents the interlocutor in the “persoana a II-a”, and the object of communication, i.e. “persoana a III-a”, which is represented by “tu” and “el”, and the “pluralul exclusiv”, meaning the interlocutor as a whole, but excluding the object of communication, as in the example below:

E.g.: Veți merge la munte.= [Eu spun că] Voi [i.e. tu și amici tăi] veți merge la munte.

At the level of expression, the understanding of the categorical antithesis of persons and number is made at the same time by means of the suffixes which are specific to each person, both numbers and to each tense.

The Category of Voice

It is defined as the grammatical category specific to the verb, which regards the relation between the action of the verb and its doer/-s. According to Dindelegan’s “Gramatica de bază a limbii române” (2010), voice must be considered both from syntactic and pragmatic points of view:

Syntactically, it affects not only the structure of the verb, but also the internal structure of the whole sentence, whose word order is: Subject +Verb + Object.

Pragmatically, because it moves the attention from the communicative point of view from the subject as the agent (in the Active voice sentence) towards subject-patient (in the Passive voice sentence).

E.g.: Ionel a citit o nuvelă. (Active voice).

→O nuvelă a fost citită de Ionel. (Passive voice).

Romanian language has three voices: Active, Reflexive and Passive.

The Active Voice: the sentence constituents are in their original position: Subject + Verb + Object, the subject is the agent, the doer, the author of the action of the verb, the result of the action is conveyed upon the object.

The Passive Voice: It is on operation that affects not only the structure of the verb, but also the internal constituency of the whole sentence: the semantic roles are differently assigned, the subject of the active voice sentence moves from its initial position in the sentence from final position and will be introduced by the preposition” de (către)”, the object (direct or indirect) is given the role of the subject and moves to the first position in the passive voice sentence; the auxiliary verb “A FI” is introduced and it takes the tense of the verb from the active voice sentence, it is followed by the verb of the active voice sentence, but in the “Participiu trecut (-s/-t)”.

E.g.: a. Sabina citește o poveste. (Prezent, active voice).

↓ ↓ ↓

Subject, Verb, direct object,

The agent prezent the affected

→O poveste e citită de Sabina. (Prezent, passive voice)

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

Grammatical subject, aux.A FI+Participiu trecut the agent

Beneficiary

The “Indicativ” Mood

We have already seen that the categorical content of the mood organizes itself into five correlative terms: “Indicativ”, “Conjunctiv”, “Condițional-optativ”, “Prezumtiv” and “Imperativ”.

Judging from its usage, this mood expresses a real and certain action. It does not have any specific markers for its forms; it can be used both in main dependent clauses and in subordinate clauses. In order to express tense, it displays the most forms: “present”, “imperfect”, “perfect simplu”, “perfect compus”, “mai mult ca perfect”, “viitor I (simplu)”, “viitor II (anterior)”. Those temporal and aspectual forms are:

Simple, synthetical (with suffixes and inflection suffixes): “dorm, dormi, dormeam, dormisem”;

Compound, analytical (with auxiliary verb): ‘am dormit, voi dormi, voi fi dormit, o să dorm, am să dorm”.

At the semantic level, through the action it expresses and the different temporal variants it uses to do so, this mood comes in an opposition with other moods like the “Conjunctiv” and the “Condițional-optativ”, at the semantic level. At more explicit level, the opposition becomes more visible at the extremities of the opposition, i.e. “realitate-irealitate” and “certitudine-incertitudine”. Moreover, the various ways of expresses the “viitor” tense weighs a lot. At the other side, the “Imperativ” mood comes closer to the “Indicativ” mood, especially when looking at its future forms.

At the level of expression, the “Indicativ” mood opposes to other moods through the lack of a general morpheme which would accompany all its temporal forms as in the case of the “Conjunctiv” mood, which has conjunction “să”, or in the case of the “Optativ-potențial, which has the forms “aș, ai, a, am, ați, ar”, or in the case of the “Imperativ” mood, which displays the intonation.

By means of the multitude of meanings and of the main tenses, the “Indicativ” mood opposes to the other moods once again.

4.1. The “Imperfect” Tense

It expresses an action which was taking place at the same time with another past action. It has a specific character in that it expresses “duration” and “iterativeness”, which are two aspectual components.

From the semantic point of view, it has a multitude of values:

“absolut” tense, especially in tales, novels, prose:

e.g.: “Era odată un moș și o babă…”

a. there is a “de durată” tense, considering the aspectual opposition “durativ-momentan”: E.g.: “Când vedea un drumeț…întindea dreapta și se milogea”.

b. from the “iterativ/noniterativ” opposition, the tense has at most times the ‘iterativ” meaning: “Credință pe toți vecii,/Când pe scări se scuturau/ De flori, toți liliecii”.

c. considering both perspectives, the tense has both values at the same time: ”A noastre inimi iși jurau/Credință toți vecii,/Cînd pe cărări se scuturau/De floare, liliecii”.

2. “relativ” tense, used in complex syntactic structures, when the verb is in a subordination relation with the other past verbs: “Vai! Tot mai gândești la anii când visai în academii…”

The morphological structure: It is a synthetic form, which is made up with the “imperfect” theme and the verbal suffixes: “-m, -i, -Ø, -m, -ți, -u”, which are common to all the verbs without any exception. But we must point out the fact that there are two forms which can constitute the thematic base: one is made up with the suffix “-a” and the other one is made up with the suffix “-ea”, depending on the type of verbal flexion. Furthermore, the “-a” suffix is part of the structure of the type I of flexion and of class 2 of the type II of flexion:

E.g.: cînt-a-m/ cânt-a-i/ cânt-a-Ø/ cânt-a-m/ cânt-a-ți/ cânt-a-u.

Whereas, the suffix “-ea” is part of the structure of the other verbs:

E.g.: dorm-ea-m/ dorm-ea-i/ dorm-ea-Ø/ dorm-ea-m/ dorm-ea-ți/ dorm-ea-u.

The negative sentences in the “imperfect” tense are made up with negation “nu” which comes before the main verb:

E.g.: Ea nu citea cand am sunat-o.

The Values of the “Imperfect” Tense:

The “Imperfect” tense can have temporal values, cases in which it reports to the “prezent” tense and also to another past moment. This past moment may be indicated by a time adverbial, or by a temporal clause, or by another independent sentence as in the examples below:

E.g.: Atunci era mai înțelegător. (adverb)

Copilul citea [când tatal lui a ajuns acasă.] (temporal clause)

[Am ieșit pe terasă.] Soarele strălucea cu putere. (independent sentence).

Aspectual values: It is considered a means of indicating aspect in the past rather than being a tense in itself. Its general value is to mark the “durativ” aspect, the development of a process. The action of a verb in the “imperfect’ tense is presented as taking place in a period of time which includes also the “imperfect”. In the history of grammars, it is presented as being “the time of an unfinished action”.

Judging by its aspectual values, the “imperfect” tense is used mainly with verbs which have a “durativ” sense, verbs of “stare, activitate, process”.

E.g.: Afară ploua, iar tu stăteai pe terasă și citeai un roman.

↓ ↓ ↓

“proces” “stare” “activitate”

It can also have an “iterative” aspect, i.e. it shows the fact that an action repeats in the specified period of time:

E.g.: Deschidea și închidea fereastra de trei ori pe zi.

It can have the aspectual value of “perfect”, in which care indicating a completed action, and it is used in the folk epic, or in passages where it has this value, or in the passages from the folk lyric, which have a descriptive or an epic characteristic:

E.g.: “Ghimiș iute-ncăleca

Și spre Dunăre pleca,

Apa-n două despica.

Se sălta din val în val

Pân’ sosea la cela mal!”

The aim is to render in the present a vision of the actions which occurred in the past.

Periphrases made up with the “imperfect” tense such as “ avea să, trebuia să, urma să”, which are considered as being units, express posteriority towards a past time:

E.g.: “Ochii lui vedeau apriat muncile groaznice ce aveau îndată să-l ajungă…”

The Usage of the “Imperfect” Tense

1.As we have already said in the beginning, this tense is used to indicate an action or a state in the past which is perceived as being progressive, continuation, repeated or habitual; it is well-known that the “imperfect” is the tense of story-telling, of narration:

e.g.: Fata stătea ore în sir pe malul apei și privea cerul nesfarșit. (an action which was in progress in the past).

Anul trecut mă trezeam la 6 și lucram neîntrerupt până la ora 2 p.m. (habitual, repeated action).

In temporal clauses which are introduced by CAND; when two past actions are to be expressed in a sentence, the “imperfect” renders either a continuous background action in contrast with a momentary action, or a subsequent action:

E.g.: a. –Ce făceai/ când te-am sunat aseară? (Two actions occurring at the same time, the first being in development, and the second being a “compound perfect” action).

b. Când o vizitam,/ ea era mereu ocupată. (Two actions occurring at the same time, but the first shows a repetead action in the past, whereas the second shows the continuing background action in the past).

c. Am prins trenul/ care pleca în cinci minute. (A subsequent action).

3. In elliptical constructions with the conjunctions DACĂ/DE, if the “imperfect” verb can show an unfulfilled action or wish, or a regret:

E.g.: Dacă știam! (=but I did not know, unfulfilled action)

De rămâneai…! (Unfulfilled wish)

De aveam bani! (Regret).

4.The “imperfect” can be used instead of the “prezent” when we want to make a polite request:

E.g.: (–Cu ce vă pot fi de folos, domnule?)

–Voiam doar să mă uit.

5.When used with the verbs “a ști, a crede, a considera, a bănui”, the “imperfect” indicates a permanent state of awareness or a presupposition, both in the present and in the past:

E.g.: –Credeam/¹ că ați plecat deja. /²

6.The “imperfect” is also used in children’s speech, where it has the value of a fictional present or future, and it is also used to assign the roles in the game:

E.g.: Eu eram mama și tu erai tatăl.

7.As an equivalent of the question “Did you know…?”:

E.g.: Știați că [Pământul e rotund?]

8. It can have values that are typical for other moods or tenses. The most frequent and common conversation is when the “imperfect” is used as a past conditional:

e.g.: Dacă luai rochia ieri,/¹ erai foarte elegantă în ea./²

4.2. The “Perfect Simplu’ Tense

It is defined as an “absolut” tense (Dindelegan, 2010), kind of being synonymous to the “perfect compus” tense. It presents the action of the verb as being completed at the moment of speaking. But unlike the “perfect compus”, its action is closer to the present of the act of communication.

Another distinction would be to consider it from the point of view of the relation “timp-aspect”, because it goes into the aspectual opposition “durativ-momentan”. Furthermore, it opposes the “imperfect” tense, which is considered as being a tense of a “durativă” action, a fact achieved through its “momentan” feature of the action.

The “perfect simplu” tense places greater emphasis upon the opposition between an action which lasts and one that is considered punctual, coming from the outside:

E.g.: “Ea tăcu. Dânsul se uită la o rază de soare ce se oglindea în părul ei…”

With its lexical content and through the “momentan” characteristic of the “perfect simplu” tense, the “durative” verbs are rarely used in this tense. But in the opposition “iterativ-noniterativ”, it presents a “non-iterativ” characteristic, so, as a result, it rarely accepts adverbials to show temporality, or regularity, or repetitiveness.

The morphological structure: According to the “Gramatica limbii române” (Irimia, D., 2008), the “perfect simplu” tense is a simple tense which has a synthetic structure, being made up upon the secondary theme of the “perfect simplu”, which is a derivation from the main theme of the “imperfect” tense—“-Ø”, and the inflexion suffixes for person and number. So, the specific suffixes, “-a-, -u-, -se-, -i-, -î-”, are added to the root of the verb and then there come the inflexion suffixes which differ from the point of view of the number and person: “-i, -și, -Ø, -răm, -răți, -ră”.

Depending on the manner of realization of the specific suffixes, they fall into seven categories, having their own characteristics, as follows below:

Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-a” get the specific suffix “-a-” and the inflexion suffixes mentioned above; the accent is placed on the specific suffixes:

E.g.: “ a pleca: plec-a-i plec-a-răm

Plec-a-și plec-a-răți

Plec-a-Ø plec-a-ră.”

Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-ea” get the specific suffix “-u-” and the inflexion suffixes mentioned above; the accent is placed on the specific suffixes:

e.g.: “a vedea: văz-u-i văz-u-răm

văz-u-și văz-u-răți

văz-u-Ø văz-u-ră”.

Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-e” and having the “participiu” ending in “-ut”, get the specific suffix “-u-” and the inflexion suffixes mentioned above; the accent is placed on the specific suffixes:

E.g.:” a face: făc-u-i făc-u-răm

Făc-u-și făc-u-răți

Făc-u-Ø făc-u-ră”.

Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-e” and having the “participiu” ending in “-s”, get the specific suffix “-se-” and the inflexion suffixes mentioned above; the accent is placed on the specific suffixes at the “persoana I” and the “persoana a II-a”, while on the root of the verb for the rest of the persons and number:

E.g.: “a merge: mer-se-i mer-se-răm

Mer-se-și mer-se-răți

Mer-se-Ø mer-se-ră.”

Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-e” and having the “participiu” ending in “-t”, get the specific suffix “-se-” and the inflexion suffixes mentioned above; the accent is placed on the specific suffixes at the “persoana I” and the “persoana a II-a”, while on the root of the verb for the rest of the persons and number:

E.g.: “a frige: frip-se-i frip-se-răm

Frip-se-și frip-se-răți

Frip-se-Ø frip-se-ră”.

Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-i” get the specific suffix “-i-” and the inflexion suffixes mentioned above; the accent is placed on the specific suffixes:

E.g.: “a dormi: dorm-i-i dorm-i-răm

Dorm-i-și dorm-i-răți

Dorm-i-Ø dorm-i-ră.”

Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-î” get the specific suffix “-î-” and the inflexion suffixes mentioned above; the accent is placed on the specific suffixes:

E.g.:” a coborî: cobor-â-i cobor-â-răm

Cobor-â-și cobor-â-răți

Cobor-î-Ø cobor-â-ră”.

In the negative, the negation NU is placed before the verbal form, according to the general rules: e.g.: “nu strigai”. If the initial vowel of the verb is “-a/ -î”, elision is possible, but not always required: e.g.: “nu apăru→n-apăru, nu înțelesei→nu-nțelesei”.

The Usage of the “Perfect Simplu” Tense:

Dana Cojocaru gives a very detailed account of the uses of the “Perfect simplu” tense in Cojocaru’s “Romanian Grammar” (2003). It has already been said that this tense expresses a past accomplished action. It must be added the fact that it is not frequent in standard speech. The general tendency is to use the “perfect compus” tense to express a past action which is perceived as a completed action at the moment of speaking. The same author very well makes the observation according to which the “perfect simplu” tense is actively used in the south-western part of Romania, especially in Oltenia, but also in Banat and in the western Muntenia, and mostly in the rural area of the points previously mentioned. The uses are as follows:

In every day speech in standard Romanian language when it indicates an action which completed recently. Its aim is to create a comic effect or to suggest surprise:

E.g.: Tocmai îl văzui pe Ionel, vecinul meu, la televizor!

2. In questions about finishing an action in progress which is supposed to be over. They resemble tag-questions, but they lack the subject:

E.g.: – Gata, terminarăți treaba?

–Ei, cum e, înțeleseși?

3.In written narrative discourse, especially with the verbs “a zice, a spune, a țipa, a răcni, a răspunde, a preciza”, when the dialogue line is necessary and the word order is: “verb+ subject”:

E.g.: –Avem de-a face cu o crimă odioasă! zise polițistul.

4.It is also used by the narrator’s voice simply to indicate past actions in a narrative text, which makes the text look more vivid. The most used forms of this tense are with the “persoana a III-a” in the singular and the “persoana I” in the singular as well:

E.g.: –Phii! Fir-ar să fie de treabă! Cred că iar am ratat începutul meciului…of!

Deschise repede televizotul și se asezară cu toții în fotolii…

4.3. The “Perfect Compus” Tense

It presents an action as being realized/accomplished and finished/completed in the past.

The morphological structure: It is a compound tense, as it is obvious from its name, being made up by the auxiliary verb “a avea” in the “prezent” tense and the “participiu” of the main verb. The forms of the auxiliary verb are: “am, ai, a, am, ați, au”, whereas the “participiu” forms of the main verb can end in: “-at, -ut, -it, -ît, s, -t”. These final forms are the only ones which present differences among the verb classes.

According to “Gramatica de bază a limbii române”(Dindelegan, 2010), the distribution of the specific suffixes of the “participiu:” is as follows:

Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-a” get the specific suffix “-at” and the auxiliary verb forms mentioned above:

E.g.: a asculta (infinitiv) → am ascultat (“perfect compus”)

2. Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-ea” get the specific suffix “-ut” and the auxiliary verb forms mentioned above:

E.g.: a vedea (infinitiv) → am văzut (“perfect compus”)

3. Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-e” get the specific suffix “-ut” and the auxiliary verb forms mentioned above:

E.g.: a face (infinitiv) → am făcut (“perfect compus”)

4. Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-e” get the specific suffix “-s” and the auxiliary verb forms mentioned above:

E.g.: a merge (infinitiv) → am mers (“perfect compus”)

5. Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-e” get the specific suffix “-t” and the auxiliary verb forms mentioned above:

E.g.: a rupe (infinitiv) → am rupt (“perfect compus”)

A frige (infinitiv) → am fript (“perfect compus”)

6. Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-i” get the specific suffix “-it” and the auxiliary verb forms mentioned above:

E.g.: a dormi (infinitiv) → am dormit (“perfect compus”)

7. Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-î” get the specific suffix “-ît” and the auxiliary verb forms mentioned above:

E.g.: a coborî (infinitiv) → am coborât (“perfect compus”).

The negative is made by adding the negation NU before the auxiliary verb and the main verb: nu am venit.

The aspectual values which can be taken by the “perfect compus” tense:

As its name states, this tense has a perfective aspectual value by the fact that it indicates an action or a state which is finished or completed:

E.g.: “Am ajuns la Sinaia. Am stat pe iarbă și am mâncat. La plecare, am mai făcut câteva poze de grup.”

But the “perfect compus” is mainly “punctual”, i.e. it narrows a development in time, if we consider the example “Am citit cartea”, but it is compatible with the “durativ” aspect: “Am citit cartea timp de 2 ore”.

A succession of verbs in the “perfect compus” tense clearly indicates a succession of actions, but they can have a synthetical, resultative sense:

E.g.: Am ajuns acolo. Am văzut dezastrul. Am chemat poliția imediat.

The Usage of the “Perfect Compus” Tense:

1. As it has already been shown, the “Perfect compus” tense is used to show a past action considered completed at the moment of speaking. In the English language, it corresponds to the Present Perfect, since the Romanian language does not have present perfect and does not formally express the opposition between simple and continuous. It also corresponds to Present Perfect simple or Continuous:

E.g.: Numai ce-am văzut-o pe Andreea! (A recent action)

Am lucrat o săptămînă la asta! (An ongoing action).

With modal adverb such as “mai, și, cam, tot, mai și” between the auxiliary and the “participiu trecut” of the verb:

E.g.: Am stat de vorbă mult, dar am mai și lucrat.

Ai cam întarziat.

Am fost stresat și am tot mâncat.

4.4. The “Mai mult ca Prefect” Tense:

It is a relational tense, showing an action which finished before other completed action in the past. Moreover, it can be used in relation with a predicative verb, or an infinitive verb functioning as a time complement, or a complement expressed by a noun, pronoun, adverb.

E.g.: Înainte de a se întuneca, trecuse pe la noi.

Înainte de asta, te sunase.

Până atunci, înțelesese problema.

The morphological structure: As far as the form is concerned, the “mai mult ca perfect” tense is a synthetic tense. It has the root identical with that of the “particitiu” and of the “perfect simplu”. This root is attached a suffix which has 2 components:

a. one that is differentiated from the classes of verbs and yet identical with the suffix for the “perfect simplu”, i.e. “-a-, -u-, -se-, -i-“;

b. one which is common, i.e. “-se-“, and the inflection suffixes, i.e. “-m, -și, -Ø, răm, -răți, ră”.

The inflexion suffixes for the plural are also analyzable, meaning that there is a component, “-ră”, which sets the significance of number, and there ia also another component which marks the number and person, i.e. “-m, -ți, -Ø”.

In the “Gramatica de baza a limbii romane”, by Dindelegan (2010), the distribution of the specific suffixes and of the inflexion suffixes is presented as follows:

Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-a” get the specific suffixes “-a-“ + “-se-” and the inflexion suffixes mentioned above, and the accent falls on the specific suffix:

E.g.: a pleca: plec-a –se-m plec-a-se-răm

Plec-a-se-și plec-a-se-răți

Plec-se-Ø plec-a-se-ră.

Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-ea” get the specific suffixes “-u” + “-se-” and the inflexion suffixes mentioned above, and the accent falls on the specific suffix:

E.g.: a vedea: văz-u-se-m văz-u-se-răm

văz-u-se-și văz-u-se-răți

văz-u-se-Ø văz-u-se-ră.

Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-e” and having the “participiu” ending in “-ut”, get the specific suffixes “-u-“ + “-se-” and the inflexion suffixes mentioned above, and the accent falls on the specific suffix:

E.g.: a face: făc-u-se-m făc-u-se-răm

făc-u-se-și făc-u-se-răți

făc-u-se-m făc-u-se-ră.

Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-e” and having the “participiu” ending in “-s”, get the specific suffixes “-u-“ + “-se-” and the inflexion suffixes mentioned above, and the accent falls on the specific suffix:

E.g.: a merge: mers-e-se-m mers-e-se-răm

mers-e-se-și mers-e-se-răți

mers-e-se-Ø mers-e-se-ră.

Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-e” and having the “participiu” ending in “-t”, get the specific suffixes “-se-“ + “-se-” and the inflexion suffixes mentioned above, and the accent falls on the specific suffix:

E.g.: a frige: frip-se-se-m frip-se-se-răm

frip-se-se-și frip-se-se-răți

frip-se-se-Ø frip-se-se-ră.

Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-i” get the specific suffixes “-i-“ + “-se-” and the inflexion suffixes mentioned above, and the accent falls on the specific suffix:

E.g.: a dormi: dorm-i-se-m dorm-i-se-răm

dorm-i-se-și dorm-i-se-răți

dorm-i-se-Ø dorm-i-se-ră.

Verbs ending at the infinitive in “-î” get the specific suffixes “-î-“ + “-se-” and the inflexion suffixes mentioned above, and the accent falls on the specific suffix:

E.g.: a coborî: cobor-î-se-m cobor-î-se-răm

Cobor-î-se-și cobor-î-se-răți

Cobor-î-se-Ø cobor-î-se-ră.

The negative is made by adding the negation NU before the auxiliary verb and the main verb: nu venisem..

The aspectual values which can be taken by the “mai mult ca perfect” tense: like the “perfect” tenses, this tense has a perfective aspectual value, considering the fact that it shows actions or states accomplished. Moreover, it presents a “punctual” aspectual value, like the “perfect compus”, but it can easily combine with verbs which have a “durativ” sense, i.e. verbs which designate states, activities, and whose content is presented rezumativelly:

E.g.: Muncise toată ziua în gradina și adormise imediat.

The Usage of the “mai mult ca perfect” tense:

In the beginning of the discussion about the “mai mult ca perfect” tense we have said that this tense designates an action or a state which is seen as accomplished before other past action or moment. So, it expresses a situation of anteriority towards the moment of the speaking act, but also towards another moment from the past. The moment from the past can be implicit or explicit, or be indicated by another sentence or even another verb:

E.g.: La ora 6, [când l-am sunat], nu se întorsese de la cursuri.

↓ ↓ ↓

Past moment sentence, “mai mult ca perfect” tense

Another past moment

In the narration, its usage means to interrupt the linearity of the narrative line, a turning back into the past, which is often seen as an explanation of a cause-effect relation.

E.g.: A rătăcit mai multe ore printe blocuri identice. Pierduse adresa.

3. In subordinate clauses which contains declarative verbs and which sets the temporal moment, this tense indicates the anteriority:

E.g.: Mi-a spus /¹că fusese plecat la țară./²

4. Being given the particular value of this tense, it is often accompanied by adverbs or adverbial phrases such as: “până atunci, înainte de, înainte să, înainte ca să, deja, niciodată”.

We will focus on some problematic aspects, both at the theoretical and at the practical level, with respect to certain English and Romanian moods and tenses with aspectual and modal values and the possibility of establishing definite equivalents in English. Unlike modality and illocutionary force – which are universally incorporated in human speech – the grammatical category of mood is present in many languages but not in all of them (Lyons 1977: 848). Usually two or three moods in a language are enough to express a variety of modal shades. The very labels used in standard descriptions of moods are often confusing for reasons such as the following:

1) The labels may suggest narrower or more specific functions than in reality. Lyons illustrates that by the French “conditional mood”, and the same is true of the Romanian conditional.

2) Generally speaking, the same term may apply to different functions in different languages, just as different terms may actually apply to the same function (Lyons 1977: 874). Apart from that, nomenclatures may differ within the same language from grammar to grammar. Also, perfect coincidence is unlikely to occur between a morphological and a semantic classification. In defining moods, the morphological criterion often prevails in the sense that, within the same mood structure, one can distinguish central modal values from peripheral modal values. Introducing different labels for different modal values of the same form in unrealistic. In Romanian, for instance, splitting the ”condițional-optativ” (Dumitriu, 2008) mood into two or even three (condițional, optativ and potențial) in order to reach a finer degree of granularity is an unnecessary complication since the formal structure is the same (in this respect see Dimitriu 1999: 557.) On the other hand, although both the Romanian conjunctiv and condițional-optativ express hypothetical or non-factual acts in opposition to the indicative mood, this semantic aspect is insufficient for treating them as a single mood since both their forms and their sets of values are generally distinct. By limiting our interest to the moods traditionally called personal or predicative in Romanian (and finite in English), on the basis of the criteria formulated above, we opt for the identification in Romanian of five such moods, namely, indicativ, conjunctiv, condițional-optativ, imperativ and prezumtiv.

As for English, we will distinguish two tendencies. (1) Grammars addressing native speakers of English may simply elude the notion of mood and add the modal / periphrastic forms to the types of verb phrases. The treatment of the subjunctive occasionally fills less than one page, as in Quirk et al (1971), and the imperative is treated as the occurrence of the base form in imperative sentences. (2) Pedagogical foreign grammars of English often extrapolate the richer modal systems of other languages to the English verb system. The former tendency will match the theoretically oriented studies, whereas the latter will practically orient the learners of English as a foreign language towards making useful connections between their mother tongues and English.

The Romanian Imperfect in comparison with Past Continuous and Past Perfect

This brings us to the issue of the multiple values of one and the same Romanian verb form compared to the higher specialisation of the English verb forms. The best illustration for the translation intricacies related to a single Romanian form is the imperfect, commonly included among the tenses of the Romanian indicative mood, and its several aspectual and modal values, which lead to different verb forms in English. This issue is the opposite of the conditional structures discussed above in the sense that, whereas several Romanian (synonymous) structures correspond to a unique English structure, the Romanian imperfect covers several values rendered by a wide range of semantically and formally unrelated English structures. Here are a few examples in which the imperfect forms and their English equivalents are underlined:

1. Ningea când am ieșit din casă. (descriptive value within the realm of the factual)

􀃖 Past Continuous: It was snowing when I went out.

2. Când eram studentă, fumam mult. (durative / iterative value)

􀃖 I used to smoke when I was young.

3. Mai degrabă studiam chineza. (= Preferam să studiez chineza / Aș fi preferat să

studiez chineza) (Optative value, counterfactual)

􀃖 I’d rather have studied Chinese.

4. Mai degrabă studiai medicina decât engleza. (Optative value, counterfactual)

􀃖 I’d rather you had studied medicine than English.

5. Mai bine nu-mi urmai sfatul.

􀃖 It would have been better if you hadn’t taken my advice.

6. Dacă veneai cu noi, n-ai fi regretat. (Conditional value, conditional clause)

􀃖 If you had come with us you wouldn’t have regretted.

7. Să fi fost aici, rezolva problema.(Conditional value, main clause)

􀃖 If he had been here, he would have solved the matter.

8. Dacă nu era el, ne rătăceam. (See supra 6, 7.)

􀃖 If it hadn’t been for him… / But for him we would have got lost.

9. Poate că nu voia să-l vadă. (Subjective value, refusal)

􀃖 Perhaps she wouldn’ / t see him.

10. Trebuia să înapoiați cărțile până la 1 aprilie. (=ar fi trebuit) (Deontic value).

Unfulfilled action, also resulting from the semantic content of the verb.)

􀃖 You ought to / should have returned the books by 1 April.

Summing up, the Romanian imperfect may correspond to the English past progressive, to the expression of discontinued habit used to + V, to the expressions of preference or regret, and to non-factual conditional structures rendered by past perfect or “past conditional” (= would + V-Perfect Infinitive).

The “Perfect Compus” Tense and the Past Simple/The Present Perfect Simple

One of the most puzzling problems that is apparent when attempting a DRT analysis of the Romanian complex past has to do with the fact that, unlike its English counterpart, PC appears as ambiguous between an ‘eventive’ and a ‘stative’ interpretation. This ambiguity has been frequently mentioned in the literature (Iordan 1937, Iordan, Guțu, Niculescu 1967, Graur 1968, Săteanu 1980, Călărașu 1987 inter alia). Compare for instance the first set of examples, where PC expresses a completed action closely related to ST, in the good old ‘perfect’ tradition, to the second set, where PC appears to express a completed action which is anterior to speech time:

(1) a. Ion s-a uitat la televizor până acum.

Ion has watched-PC at TV till now

‘Ion has been watching TV so far.’

b. Ion a plecat de la ora 5.

Ion has left-PC since hour 5

‘Ion left at 5.’

(2) a. Ion a plecat ieri la ora 5.

Ion has left-PC yesterday at hour 5

‘Ion left yesterday at 5.’

b. Maria a mâncat acum o oră.

Maria has eaten-PC now an hour

‘Maria ate an hour ago.’

According to the system of analysis we are employing here the first set of examples have a clearly aspectual, resultative dimension and are interpretable as expressing an event resulting into a state (e >< s ) within the DRT framework. These examples place PC in the same league with the English Present Perfect, itself analysed as introducing events resulting into states in the discourse. On the other hand, the second set of examples might be more of a problem if we consider the past value of the time adverbials combined with PC (i.e. ieri la ora 5, acum o oră). We must remember that Present Perfect excludes this kind of combination, a phenomenon known under the name of ‘the Present Perfect Puzzle’ (Klein, 1992):

(3) *She has arrived at 5.

It thus appears that PC violates the ‘past adverb constraint’ and is not subject to any ‘Present Perfect Puzzle’ effects. If we are then to provide consistent treatment for this tense within the DRT framework, we need to account for this apparent violation. In a previous paper (Vișan 2000) we claimed that the interpretation of the Romanian perfect is unitary, thus declaring ourselves in favour of an ‘extensional’, ‘monosemic’ approach to PC (see de Swart & Molkedijk 2002, Caudal 2003 for further details for French). The arguments we brought in favour of this claim had to do with both historical data1 (Vișan 2006) and data from modern Romanian. Let us list here some of them:

a) An extremely appropriate argument in favour of the stative/resultative

interpretation of PC is the fact that a bare PC form, stripped of any contextual

material, is always read as resultative:

(4) a. Am venit.

Have-1st pers.sg. come-past.part

‘I have come.’

b. S-a dus să mănânce.

Se-refl. have-3rd pers.sg. gone-past part to eat

Caudal (2003) offers a similar kind of argumentation for the ‘aspectual’ value of the French PC, which is still a ‘perfect’, due to its ‘resultative legacy’: “the origins of perfects in general and of the English perfect in particular are resultative constructions, themselves derived from stative forms. Perfects are born and die along the lines of a universal cycle beginning with stative forms, evolving into resultative statives, which are gradually grammaticalized as flexional affixes (that is, perfects), describing some result state (their semantics is essentially resultative at this point). Perfects then gradually acquire non-resultative properties; they become notably compatible with narratives based on temporal succession, or with past temporal modifiers (although they are morphologically some kind of present tense), as is the case with the French passé composé, which acquired this property in the XVIth century” (Caudal 2003: 9).

‘He’s gone to eat.’

c. Maria a scris o scrisoare.

Maria have-3rd pers.sg. written-past. part. a letter

‘Maria has written a letter.’

Consider also the sentences below, where the resultative PC is accompanied by a Present sentence, that lays emphasis on the result of the action in the first sentence:

(5) a. A venit apa mare și ne-a luat iar puntea, lua-o-ar ciorile! (…) N-ai pe unde

trece îmbrăcat.

‘The flood has come and taken the bridge away, damn it. There’s no way you can cross it with your clothes on.’

b. Creștinii nu mai vor să muncească, asta-i. Și s-au pus pe făcut sărbători.

‘ The Christians no longer want to work. And they have started creating holy days.’

c. Apoi vezi, nici asta nu se mai poate acum (…). Toate sărbătorile cele mari au fost prinse de alții.

‘See, you can’t have that any longer. (…) All the big holy days have been taken by others.’

b) Another argument in favour of the resultative, non-preterite, non-narrative dimension of PC is the fact that this tense exhibits ‘reverse order’ phenomena, unless placed in an explicitly narrative context. Compare the sentences under (6) and (7), which demonstrate the opposition between the simplex and the complex past in Romanian:

(6) Ion căzu. Marin îl împinse.

‘Ion fell-PS. Marin pushed him-PS’

e1…………e2

The example under (6) demonstrates that PS does not violate the “reverse order constraint”, whereas in (7) it is obvious that PC does not obey the rule:

(7) Ion a căzut. Marin l-a împins.

Ion fell-PC. Marin pushed –PC him.

e2…………e1

This fully demonstrates that the Romanian perfect simplu behaves like a preterite, narrative tense, unlike PC, which exhibits ‘temporal inversion’ phenomena.

c) The third argument we are bringing in favour of the resultative, stative value of PC comes from combination with time adverbials. It has been noticed (Vișan, 1996, Crăiniceanu 1997, 2003, 2004) that PC can combine with adverbial phrases that normally do not appear in combination with other Romance perfects (de-phrases, for example). This brings the Romanian PC closer in meaning to its English counterpart:

i. Stative PC sentences can be coupled with de – phrases, resulting in the Universal

value of PC:

(8) a. M-a iubit de mic copil.

Me-cl has loved DE little child

‘He has loved me ever since he was a child.’

b. Urât mi-a fost mie de cand lumea, frate Avacume, sfântul care umblă cu șiretlicuri la țintar.

‘Brother Avacum, I have always hated a saint who cheats at board games.’

Interestingly enough, the sentences under (8) have a Present parallel, which stands in favour of the interpretation of PC as a genuine “present perfect”. Such examples support the fact that Romanian exhibits instances of ‘continuative’ perfect, although it normally prefers to use Present sentences:

(9) a. Mă iubește de mic copil.

me-clitic has loved-PC ever since little child.

‘He has lived me since childhood.’

b. M-a mințit dintotdeauna.

me-clitic has lied-PC since always

‘He has lied to me all his life.’

ii. Another such puzzling example is supplied by the combination between accomplishment PC forms and de-phrases:

(10) a. Am scris scrisoarea de trei zile.

have written-PC the letter DE three days.

‘It’s three days since I wrote the letter.’

b. A venit de două ore.

has come-PC DE two hours

‘It’s two hours since he came.’

c. Am predat lucrarea de o săptămână.

have delivered-PC the paper DE a week

‘It’s a week since I delivered the paper.’

The example under (10) combines an event with a durative adverbial. Such examples are all the more puzzling as they are banned by other Romance languages. Even more, these examples have a clearly stative counterpart in the sentences under (11), which use the Present:

(11) a. Scrisoarea e scrisă de trei zile.

the letter is written-PRES for three days

‘It’s three days since the letter was written.’

b. E venit de două ore.

is come-PRES for two hours

‘It’s two hours since he arrived.’

c. Lucrarea e predată de o săptămână.

the paper is delivered-PRES for a week

‘It’s one week since the paper was delivered.’

All the data presented above argue for treating PC sentences as stative, as expressing events resulting into states. Taking all of the above into consideration, our proposal will look upon PC as a perfect that is ‘semantically richer’ than its English counterpart. Consider the diagram proposed by Kamp & Reyle (1993), which covers the stages of a complete event (i.e. accomplishment):

(12) I II III

preparatory culmination result

stage point stage

Kamp & Reyle (1993) show that the English perfect makes visible the last phase of the diagram, i.e. the result state. The difference between the English Present Perfect and the Romanian one ( Swart & Moledijk 2002, Caudal 2003) is that the latter perfects make visible more than one phase of the diagram, thus appearing to be richer in meaning. This happens because the function of these two perfects (i.e. the Romanian) is to locate some result stage but also some inner stage in the past. It is what makes these perfects compatible with either type of adverbial. This is why these perfects are semantically richer: they contribute a ‘double time’ inasmuch as they impose a double temporal constraint on the situation they describe, that of anteriority and of current relevance. Conversely, the English perfect contributes only a ‘single time’, focusing only on the result stage being related to speech time. This explanation validates our treatment of PC as a ‘perfect’, a tense whose basic value is that of expressing events resulting into states. We thus lay stress on the aspectual dimension of this tense and on the fact that it is subject to the semantic effect of the perfect proposed under (12) by Kamp & Reyle (1993). Our proposal relies heavily of the fact that this tense is ‘deictic’, as opposed to the ‘nondeictic’ PS. The simple fact that the sentences under (2) do not have a PS equivalent pleads in favour of treating PC as stative, instead of eventive:

(13) a. Ion mâncă ieri la ora cinci.

Ion eat-PS yesterday at hour five

b. Maria plecă acum o oră.

Maria leave-PS now one hour

In both sets of examples under (1) and (2), there is a clear link with speech time. We insist therefore that PC is still a ‘perfect’, due to its ‘deictic’ character2 that it still possesses.

Chapter V

Teaching English Grammar Methods

This chapter provides a brief listing of the salient features of the methods used in language teaching, grouped in four sections: (2.1.) The humanistic approach (Grammar Translation, The Silent Way, Community Language Learning, Total Physical Response, Suggestopedia); (2.2.) Behaviourism (The Audio-Lingual Method); (2.3.) Cognitivism (The structural situational approach); (2.4.) The socio-cultural turn (Communicative language teaching).

A method is considered to be a plan for teaching language. And it is based on a theory about the way in which language is best learned and taught to people (children, teenagers, adults).

A method also describes the role of the teacher in the classroom and of the learners during the classes; it points out what is learned in what order, it specifies how interaction takes place during the process of learning (teacher-student/-s, student/-s-teacher, student/-s-student/-s). It tells a teacher what materials and classroom activities are used. It describes is learners’L1 will be used during the teaching process.

There are various language teaching methods: Grammar translation, Communicative Language Learning, the Silent Way, Suggestopedia, Total Physical Response, the Natural Approach, Communicative Learning Teaching, and Audio-lingual Method.

All these methods have their own objectives, features, characteristics for both teachers and learners, their specifications regarding error correction, classroom activities and the use of L1 in the classroom.

It is the teacher’s great task to thoughtfully analyze their objectives, the learners’ needs of learning and teaching, the context of the learning and teaching processes in order to choose the most appropriate method(-s). It must also be pointed out the fact that a teacher may mix techniques from different methods in order to achieve their teaching objectives.

It must be distinguished between a method and methodology. Methodology is the general study of the way language is taught, while a method is one approach to the learning process of language.

The selection of one method or another depends on many factors, as follows:

The purpose of the teaching process (English for specific purposes…);

The teacher’s language level, thus taking into consideration the fact that for some methods and approaches teachers should speak L2 very fluently;

The resources available, meaning that different methods require great amount of materials in order to support teaching;

The age, number in class and the motivation of the learners.

5.1. Humanistic Approaches

A humanistic approach to language learning allows for personal growth orientation and for the development of learners’ responsibility; the learners are encouraged to use discovery techniques, being no longer spoon-fed by the teacher.

5.1.1. The Grammar Translation Method

This approach said to have a humanistic grounding (Grenfell and Harris, 1999), although other scholars claim that it is not based on any approach (notably Morgan and Neil, 2001). Furthermore, it can be said to emphasize knowledge for knowledge’s sake. It is heavily indebted to the teaching of classical languages and it prevailed from the end of the 19th century to the 1940s. Richards and Rogers (1986) list several tenets of the Grammar Translation, as follows:

The main goal of learning the language is to read the literature of the foreign language and refine intellectually; secondly, learners are expected to develop a greater understanding of L1; thirdly, students will be able to cope with difficult learning materials and situations;

Reading and writing are taught to the detriment of listening and speaking;

Teaching vocabulary is reduced to the words encountered in the literary texts; vocabulary items are listed and students are asked to learn their translations;

Translation skills, alongside reading and writing, are taught using the literary texts;

Grammar is taught deductively, the presentation stage, consisting of long explanations or rules and exceptions to the rules, is followed by practice; learners follow the prescribed route to the technicalities of syntax. The structures to be translated are presented in a disconnected way, the learners being asked to identify the grammar items used in the text and state the rule(s);

English language teaching is done through English.

We will enlarge on these tenets in the sections below:

The Grammar-Translation Method focuses on developing students’ appreciation of the target language’s literature as well as teaching the language. Students are presented with target language reading passages and answer questions that follow. Other activities include translating literary passages from one language into the other, memorizing grammar rules, and memorizing native language equivalents of target language vocabulary. Class work is highly structured, with the teacher controlling all activities.

Features of the Grammar-Translation Method

Goals: to be able to read literature in target language; learn grammar rules and vocabulary; develop mental acuity.

Roles: Teacher has authority; students follow instructions to learn what teacher knows.

Teaching/learning process: Students learn by translating from one language to the other, often translating reading passages in the target language from the native language.

Grammar is usually learned deductively on the basis of grammar rules and examples. Students memorize the rules, and then apply them to other examples. They learn paradigms such as verb conjugations, and they learn the native language equivalents of vocabulary words.

Interaction: Student-Teacher & Student-Student: most interaction is teacher to student; student-initiated interaction and student-student interaction is minimal.

Dealing with Feelings: n/a (not available, not applicable)

Aspects of Language the Grammar-Translation Approach Emphasizes:

Vocabulary; grammar; reading, writing are primary skills; pronunciation and other speaking/listening skills not emphasized.

Role of Students’ Native Language: native language provides key to meanings in the target language; native language is used freely in class.

Means for Evaluation: tests require translation from native to target and target to native language; applying grammar rules, answering questions about foreign culture.

Response to Students’ Errors: heavy emphasis placed on correct answers; Teacher supplies correct answers when students cannot.

According to St. Krashen (1981), Grammar-translation usually consists of an explanation of a grammatical rule, with some example sentences, a bilingual vocabulary list, a reading section exemplifying the grammatical rule and incorporating the vocabulary, and exercises to practice using the grammar and vocabulary. Most of these classes are taught in the student’s first language. The grammar-translation method provides little opportunity for acquisition and relies too heavily on learning.

St. Krashen (1982) also made a distinction between acquiring a language and learning a language: the acquisition of a language is a natural process, whereas learning a language is a conscious one. In the former (acquisition of a language) the student needs to participate in natural communicative situations. Children acquire language through a subconscious process during which they are unaware of grammatical rules. This is similar to the way they acquire their first language. In order to acquire language, the learner needs a source of natural communication.

In the latter (learning a language), on the other hand, language learning is not communicative. It is the result of direct instruction in the grammatical rules of language – the study of grammatical rules is isolated from natural language; error correct is also present.

5.1.2. The Silent Way Method (Caleb Gattegno, 1972)

The teacher keeps his/her talking time at a minimum (keeps silent), yet, directing and controlling the learners. The input provided by the teacher is reduced to model sentences that the teacher utters only once and the learners are asked to repeat. Information transmission and feedback are given through visual aids. A well known technique includes Cuisenaire Rods, enabling the learners to deduce meanings or forms: a set of coloured rods, wall charts and a pointer. The teacher takes a rod and says “a rod” to the students. Next, by using mime the teacher induces the students to repeat the name of the object. The teacher combines the names of colours to the object saying “a red rod”, “a blue rod”, etc. The students are eventually expected to say “a red rod”, “a blue rod”, etc. without the teacher’s model. With reference to the wall charts, the students are made to form strings of words using the words they have learnt orally by pointing to a series of words that then they read in the order indicated.

The theoretical basis of Gattegno’s Silent Way is the idea that teaching must be subordinated to learning and thus students must develop their own inner criteria for correctness. All four skills – reading, writing, speaking and listening – are taught from the beginning. Students’ errors are expected as a normal part of learning: the teacher’s silence helps foster self-reliance and student initiative. The teacher is active in setting up situations, while the students do most of the talking and interacting.

Goals: to use language for self-expression: to develop independence from the teacher, to develop inner criteria for correctness.

Roles: Teaching should be subordinated to learning. Teachers should give students only what they absolutely need to promote their learning. Learners are responsible for their own learning.

Teaching/learning process: Students begin with sounds, introduced through association of sounds in native language to a sound-colour chart. Teacher then sets up situations, often using Cuisenaire rods, to focus students’ attention on structures. Students interact as the situation requires. Teachers see students’ errors as clues to where the target language is unclear, and they adjust instruction accordingly. Students are urged to take responsibility for their learning. Additional learning is thought to take place during sleep.

Interaction: Student-Teacher & Student-Student: The teacher is silent much of the time, but very active setting up situations, listening to students, speaking only to give clues, not to mode speech. Student-student interaction is encouraged.

Dealing with Feelings: Teachers monitor students’ feelings and actively try to prevent their feelings from interfering with their learning. Students express their feelings during feedback sessions after class.

View of Language, Culture: Language and culture are inseparable, and each language is seen to be unique despite similarities in structure with other languages.

Aspects of Language the Approach Emphasizes:

All four skills areas worked on from beginning (reading, writing, speaking, listening); pronunciation especially, because sounds are basic and carry the melody of the language. Structural patterns are practiced in meaningful interactions. Reading and writing exercises reinforce oral learning.

Role of Students’ Native Language: Although translation is not used at all, the native language is considered a resource because of the overlap that is bound to exist between the two languages. The teacher should take into account what the students already know.

Means for Evaluation: Assessment is continual; but only to determine continually changing learning needs. Teachers observe students’ ability to transfer what they have learned to new contexts. To encourage the development of inner criteria, neither praise nor criticism is offered. Students are expected to learn at different rates, and to make progress, not necessarily speak perfectly in the beginning.

Response to Students’ Errors: Errors are inevitable, a natural, indispensable part of learning.

5.1.3. Community Language Learning/Councelling Learning

(Charles Curran)

Teaching languages is paralleled to psychotherapeutic counselling, where there is concern with removing tension and negative feelings. Admittedly, the teacher is the counsellor/knower and the learner is the client. They gradually build a trusting or maximum security relationship compared to the growth of the individual from childhood dependence through adolescent rebellion and self-assertion to adult independence. There is a high degree of flexibility in the syllabus design, which virtually develops as the teaching unfolds.

5.1.4. The Total Physical Response Method (TPR) (Harold Palmer, James Asher)

Physical action and learning are linked in language teaching. Production is delayed until learners feel confident (comprehension skills are developed first). J. Roberts (1998: 35) states that “learners execute teacher’s commands for about 120 hours before conversation is encouraged” (1998: 35). Imperative forms (commands) are used by the teacher to elicit learners’ action. The teacher plays a traditional role (controller) and the syllabus is grammar-based.

TPR is a method developed by James Asher, professor of psychology, to aid learning second languages. Asher’s approach begins by placing primary importance on listening comprehension, emulating the early stage of mother tongue acquisition, and then moving to speaking, reading, and writing. Students demonstrate their comprehension by acting out commands issued by the teacher; teachers provide novel and often humorous variations of the commands. Activities are designed to be fun and to allow students to assume active learning roles. Activities eventually include games and skits (= short performances).

Features of the Total Physical Response

Goals: to provide an enjoyable learning experience, having a minimum of the stress that typically accompanies learning a foreign language.

Roles: at first the teacher gives commands and students follow them. Once students are “ready to speak”, they take on directing roles.

Teaching/learning process: Lessons begin with commands by the teacher; students demonstrate their understanding by acting these out; teacher recombines their instructions in novel and often humorous ways; eventually students follow suit. Activities later include games and skits.

Interaction: Student-Teacher & Student-Student: Teacher interacts with individual students and with the group, starting with the teacher speaking and the students responding nonverbally. Later this is reversed; students issue commands to teacher as well as to each other.

Dealing with Feelings: The method was developed principally to reduce the stress associated with language learning; students are not forced to speak before they are ready and learning is made as enjoyable as possible, stimulating feelings of success and low anxiety.

View of Language, Culture: Oral modality is primary; Culture is the lifestyle of native speakers of the target language.

Aspects of Language the Approach Emphasizes: Grammatical structures and vocabulary are emphasized, embedded in imperatives. Understanding precedes production; spoken language precedes the written word.

Role of Students’ Native Language: method is introduced in students’ native language, but rarely used later in course. Meaning is made clear through actions.

Means for Evaluation: Teachers can evaluate students through simple observation of their actions. Formal evaluation is achieved by commanding a student to perform a series of actions.

Response to Students’ Errors: Students are expected to make errors once they begin speaking. Teachers only correct major errors, and do this unobtrusively. ”Fine tuning” occurs later.

According to St. Krashen (1981), Total Physical Response involves the students listening and responding to commands given by the teacher such as “sit down” and “walk”, with the complexity of the commands growing over time as the class acquires more language. Student speech is delayed, and once students indicate a willingness to talk, they initially give commands to other students. Theory predicts that TPR should result in substantial language acquisition. Its content may not be always interesting and relevant for the students, but should produce better results than the audio-lingual and grammar-translation methods.

5.1.5. The Suggestopedia Method (Georgi Lozanov)

Learning takes place in a tension-free atmosphere, special attention being paid to furniture and surroundings. Music is played (Baroque instrumental music) to enhance learning. The typical scenario (“the concert”) runs as follows: students sit comfortably while the teacher reads a lengthy dialogue. Students are provided with the text and the L1 translation. Slow movement music is played. After the interval (no smoking and no drinking), the teacher re-reads the dialogue while students listen without reading the text this time. Thus, learners are supposed to remember best from the teacher playing an authoritative role.

Lozanov’s method seeks to help learners eliminate psychological barriers to learning. The learning environment is relaxed and subdued, with low lighting and soft music in the background. Students choose a name and character in the target language and culture, and imagine that person. Dialogues are presented to the accompaniment of music. Students just relax and listen to them being read and later playfully practice the language during an “activation” phase.

Features of the method

Goals: to learn, at accelerated pace, a foreign language for everyday communication by tapping mental powers, overcoming psychological barriers.

Roles: Teacher has authority, commands trust and respect of students; teacher “desuggests” negative feelings and limits to learning; if teacher succeeds in assuming this role, students assume childlike role, spontaneous and uninhibited.

Teaching/learning process: Students learn in a relaxing environment. They choose a new identity (name, occupation) in the target language and culture. They use texts of dialogues accompanied by translations and notes in their native language. Each dialogue is presented during two musical concerts; once with the teacher matching his or her voice to the rhythm and pitch of the music while students follow along. The second time, the teacher reads normally and students relax and listen. At night and on waking, the students read it over. Then students gain facility with the new material through activities such as dramatizations, games, songs, and question-to-answer sessions.

Interaction: Student-Teacher & Student-Student: At first, teacher initiates all interaction and students respond only nonverbally or with a few words in target language that they have practiced. Eventually students initiate interaction. Students interact with each other throughout, as directed by teacher.

Dealing with Feelings: Great importance is placed on students’ feelings, in making them feel confident and relaxed, in “desuggesting” their psychological barriers.

View of Language, Culture: Language is one plane; nonverbal parts of messages are another. Culture includes everyday life and fine arts.

Aspects of Language the Approach Emphasizes: Vocabulary emphasized, some explicit grammar. Students focus on communicative use rather than form; reading, writing also have place.

Role of Students’ Native Language: Translation clarifies dialogue’s meaning; Teacher uses native language, more at first than later, when necessary.

Means for Evaluation: Students’ normal in-class performance is evaluated. There are no tests, which would threaten relaxed environment.

Response to Students’ Errors: Errors are not immediately corrected; teacher models correct forms later during class.

According to St. Krashen (1981), Suggestopedia classes are small and intensive, and focus on providing a very low-stress, attractive environment (partly involving active and passive “séances” complete with music and meditation) in which acquisition can occur. Some of the students’ first language is used at the beginning, but most in the target language. The role of the teacher is very important in creating the right atmosphere and in acting out the dialogues that form the core of the content. Suggestopedia seems to provide close to optimal input while not giving too much emphasis on grammar.

5.2. Behaviorism (Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, Edward Thorndike, Burrhus Skinner)

5.2.1. The Audio-Lingual Method

Behaviourism: in psychology, b. is a theory that presents behaviour as the product of heredity and environment, and in particular of a process of conditioning in which certain stimuli promote certain responses. I. Pavlov, was a forerunner, and F. Skinner was a major proponent of the theory. It influenced ESL teaching from the mid-1950s to the late 1980s, especially in the US, part of an association of structural linguistics, behavioural psychology, and language teaching promoted by L. Bloomfield. This led in the 1950s to the audio-lingual method, in which human learning was compared to that of rats in laboratory mazes and pigeons taught to play table tennis. Language learning was seen as a process of habit formation. In 1959, Noam Chomsky challenged both behaviourism and structuralism in a critique of Skinner’s work, as a result of which the use of teaching techniques and materials based on behaviourism had by 1980 greatly declined. The audio-lingual method is based on the behaviourist belief that language learning is the acquisition of a set of correct language habits. The learner repeats patterns until able to produce them spontaneously. Once a given pattern, for example, subject – verb – prepositional phrase – is learned, the speaker can substitute to make novel sentences. The teacher directs and controls students’ behaviour, provides a model, and reinforces correct responses.

This method is to be dealt with in a separate chapter of the present paper.

5.3. Cognitivism/ Mentalism

5.3.1. The Structural Situational Approach

The Chomskyan revolution discredits the development of linguistic competence via the stimulus-response-reinforcement cycle as creativity is part of this process: speakers are able to generate an infinite number of novel sentences (performance, i.e. actual use of the language) starting from a finite number of rules that they have internalized (competence, i.e. knowledge about the language system). He advocates the existence of universal grammar, i.e. of mental blueprints or a mind-set specific to human beings (innate competence as opposed to skill-based behaviourism). Language competence is somehow idealised, being linked to nativeness and perfect knowledge of the language.

Chomsky presents the ideal speaker-hearer in a completely homogenous speech community, who knows his language perfectly and is unaffected by such grammatically irrelevant conditions as memory limitations, distractions, shifts of attention or interests, or errors (random or characteristic) in applying his knowledge of the language in actual performance (Chomsky, 1965: 48). Chomsky’s ideal speaker-hearer is unaffected by limitations of memory, distractions, shifts of attention, etc.

Chomsky’s notion of competence refers to language as a merely abstract entity. Every speaker is believed to be able to generate language through the absorption of examples (Language Acquisition Device – LAD). What Chomsky does not put into this equation is the socialising function of language, i.e. there is no reference to socio-cultural embeddedness.

The Structural-Situational Approach/ Situational Language Teaching has the following features:

It is a far-reaching 3-stage lesson template, labelled the P-P-P cycle, consisting of presentation, practice and production.

Grammar is central to language teaching (grammar-based methodology).

During the presentation stage, the teacher presents the new grammar items, based on conversation or a short text. The identification of the grammar structures is followed by the teacher’s explanation and checking of students’ comprehension.

The practice stage involves the use of drills (controlled or mechanical practice).

There is smooth progress from semi-controlled/meaningful practice to free/communicative practice.

The P-P-P cycle was seriously criticized as “fundamentally disabling, not enabling (Scrivener, 1994: 15). Johnson (1982) had already suggested the deep-end strategy as an alternative: students are pushed into immediate production (the deep end) and the teacher decides to return to presentation or practice according to the students’ performance.

Harmer (2007: 65 ff) endorses the ESA sequence: Engage → Study → Activate. During the Engage stage, learners are engaged emotionally in the process. The second stage corresponds to Presentation and Practice, while Activation overlaps with Production. The model is flexible enough to allow for the re-ordering of stages: E → A → S (a “boomerang” procedure”), E → A → S → A → E → S (“patchwork lesson”). The author concludes that the approach is “extremely useful in focus-on-form lessons” with beginners, and “irrelevant in a skills lesson”.

5.4. The Socio-Cultural Turn: The Communicative Approach/ Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

5.4.1. The positivist view in social sciences is replaced by an ethnographia mundi concern in the 1960s. There is a shift of emphasis from language per se to its instrumentalization (language as a means of communication in social contexts) and to a more naturalistic view. From a linguistic perspective, CLT draws on the Speech act Theory (J. Searle, 1969), shifting attention to the relationship between language and its users, from habit formation to the real intended meaning.

R. Mitchell (1994: 38-39) points out some of the best features of the CLT:

Classroom activities should maximize opportunities for learners to use the target language for meaningful purposes, with their attention on the messages they are creating and the tasks they are completing, rather than on the correctness of language and language structure.

Learners trying their best to use the target language creatively and unpredictably are bound to make errors; this is a normal part of language learning, and constant correction is unnecessary, and even counterproductive.

Language analysis and grammar explanation may help some learners, but extensive experience of target language use helps everyone.

Effective language teaching is responsive to the needs and interests of the individual learner.

Effective language learning is an active process, in which the learner takes increasing responsibility for his or her progress.

The effective teacher aims to facilitate, not control, the language learning process.

According to Grenfell and Harris (1999: 21), the popularity of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) lies in:

The status of the foreign language in the classroom, i.e. the extent to which it is used in the instruction process.

Attitude to error: what, when and how to correct? In the traditional model, error was seen as a heavy impairment, being sanctioned immediately and error correction was the teacher’s central pedagogic tool. In CLT, there is tolerance to error, which is understood as a natural stage in the learner’s linguistic development.

Authenticity of language: a wide range of authentic or real life materials (realia) is used in the classroom. Besides exposing learners to real life situational language, these materials also immerse them in the foreign language culture and raise the learners’ motivation for learning the language of the other speech community.

Spoken and written language are treated as separate entities, requiring different teaching techniques.

practice vs. real language: even if, to some extent, the learners still perceive the

Classroom environment as not genuine, there is meaningful interaction in and through the foreign language, relating back to the intention to mean and legitimacy of tasks.

The Post-Communicative Turn

Jacobs and Farrell (2003) advocate a paradigm shift, which led to 8 major changes in ELT:

Learner autonomy: learners are given a higher degree of autonomy with respect to the learning content and process. Thus, they are encouraged to develop self-assessment skills and the ability to prioritize their language learning.

The social nature of learning: there is no value-free knowledge, but only knowledge serving individual and collective needs or goals.

Curricular integration: English is given a place in a coherent whole, being connected to other subjects in the curriculum. For instance, project work in English classes requires knowledge acquisition from other subjects or from the real world (encyclopedic knowledge).

Focus on meaning: meaningful content is of paramount importance, being the driving force of learning.

Diversity: the teachers should be aware of the learners’ profile (age, personality, type of motivation, learning styles, linguistic proficiency, etc.) and try to cater to this diversity of needs and interests.

Thinking skills: language learning should foster critical and creative thinking skills (cognitive development). For example, learners should be able to select relevant information from a text.

Alternative assessment: there is need for complementing traditional forms of assessment (M/C, Reading comprehension questions, Error correction exercises, etc.) by forms that assess higher-order skills (e.g. portfolios, observation sheets, interviews, etc).

Teachers as co-learners: teachers accrue experience (learning by doing) and capitalize expertise, while also pursuing professional development.

5.4.2. Communicative Language Teaching is an approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. Communicative language teaching began in Britain in the 1960s as a replacement to the earlier structural method(s). This was partly in response to Chomsky’s criticisms of structural theories of language and partly based on the theories of British functional linguists, such as J.R. Firth and M.A.K. Halliday, as well as American sociologists, such as D. Hymes, J. Gumperz and W. Labov, and the writings of J. Austin and J. Searle on speech acts. Some of the areas of linguistic research in this view of language are: functional grammar, sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and semantics.

Functional grammar: describes any approach in which the notion of ‘function’ is central. Functional grammar (M.A.K. Halliday, An Introduction to Functional Grammar, 1994) was devised as an alternative to the abstract view of language presented by transformational grammar. Based on the pragmatic view of language as social interaction, it focuses on the rules governing the linguistic expressions that are used as instruments of this activity. In foreign language teaching, a functional syllabus is one where the syllabus content is organized in terms of language functions, such as requesting, persuading, inviting, etc.

Sociolinguistics: is a branch of linguistics which studies all aspects of the relationship between language and society. Sociolinguists study such matters as the linguistic identity of social groups, social attitudes to language, standard and non-standard forms of language, social varieties and levels of language, and so on.

Pragmatics: this term is applied to the study of language from the point of view of the users, especially the choices they make, the constraints they encounter in using language in social interaction, and the effects their use of language has on other participants in an act of communication. Pragmatics includes aspects of deixis, speech acts and discourse structure.

Speech act theory is associated with two linguistic philosophers, J. L. Austin and J. R. Searle (J. L. Austin, How to do Things with Words, 1965; J. R. Searle, Expression and Meaning: Studies in the Theory of Speech Acts, 1979). They developed a functional view of language based on the notion that the social use of language is primarily concerned with the performance of certain communicative acts. There are a variety of reasons which may prompt the act of communication. We use language for requesting, informing, ordering, promising, reprimanding, to mention just a few. In all these cases we could say that language is being used to perform certain speech acts.

Semantics refers to the study of meaning in language. Structural semantics applies the principles of structural linguistics to the study of meaning through the notion of semantic relations (also called sense relations), such as synonymy and antonymy. The theory of semantic fields views vocabulary as organized into areas within which words (lexical items) interrelate and define each other.

Approach: Theory of language: The functional view of language is the primary one behind the communicative method. The communicative or functional view of language is the view that language is a vehicle for the expression of functional meaning. The semantic and communicative dimensions of language are more emphasized than the grammatical characteristics, although these are also included.

Theory of learning: The learning theories behind the communicative approaches are based on some principles:

– Activities that involve real communication promote learning;

– Activities in which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks promote learning;

– Language that is meaningful to the learner promotes learning;

This method is also to be dealt with in a separate chapter of the present paper.

5.4.3. The Direct Method

The Direct Method allows students to perceive meaning directly through the language because no translation is allowed. Visual aids and pantomime are used to clarify the meaning of vocabulary items and concepts. Students speak a great deal in the target language and communicate as if in real situations. Reading and writing are taught from the beginning, though speaking and listening skills are emphasized. Grammar is learned inductively.

Features of the Direct Method

Goals: to communicate in the target language, to think in the target language.

Roles: Teacher directs class activities, but students and teacher are partners in the teaching/learning process.

Teaching/learning process: Students are taught to associate meaning and the target language directly. New target language words or phrases are introduced through the use of realia, pictures or pantomime, never the native language. Students speak a great deal in the target language a great deal and communicate as if in real situations. Grammar rules are learned inductively – by generalizing from examples. Students practice new vocabulary using words in sentences.

Interaction: Student-Teacher & Student-Student: Both teacher and students initiate interaction, though student-initiated interaction with teacher or among each other, is usually teacher-directed.

Dealing with Feelings: N/A (not available, not applicable)

View of Language, Culture: Language is primarily spoken, not written. Students study common, everyday speech in the target language. Aspects of foreign culture are studied such as history, geography, daily life.

Aspects of Language the Approach Emphasizes:

Vocabulary emphasized over grammar; oral communication considered basic, with reading, writing based on oral practice; pronunciation emphasized from outset.

Role of Students’ Native Language: Students’ native language is not used in the classroom.

Means for Evaluation: Students tested through actual use, such as oral interviews and assigned written paragraphs.

Response to Students’ Errors: Self-correction encouraged whenever possible.

According to St. Krashen (1981), using the “Direct Method”, the teacher uses examples of language in order to inductively teach grammar; Students are to try to guess the rules of the language by the examples provided. Teachers interact with the students a lot, asking them questions about relevant topics and trying to use the grammatical structure of the day in the conversation. Accuracy is sought and errors are corrected. This method provides more comprehensible input than grammar-translation and audio-lingual method, but unlike the communicative method, it still focuses too much on grammar.

Chapter VI

Methodological Aspects of Teaching Past Tense in English in Comparison with Romanian

Teaching Tenses in the Classroom: Issues and Implications

Chapter VI presents “Methodological Aspect of Teaching the Past Tense in English in Comparison with Romanian”. It also speaks about the issues and implications of teaching tenses in the classroom. There follows the difficulties encountered by Romanian learners in using the Past. Furthermore, there are presented the methods of teaching: from Traditional Approach–“The Audio-lingual Method” and from Communicative Approach— “The Communicative Language Teaching Method”, accompanied by different activities, samples of tests, recordings of common mistakes and conclusions.

Research Aims

The research aim is to show the importance of learning tenses in English and Romanian languages, i.e. learning to express a past action in the English language with children learning English as a second/foreign language, and learning to express a past action in Romanian language with children learning Romanian language as a native language.

There are many reasons why children should learn about grammar, and some of them can be formulated as follows:

Learning grammar is important if the students want to develop their grammatical competence, i.e. to be aware of the grammatical structures and of how to use them correctly, facts which helps them to enlarge their linguistic competence, to include more grammatical patterns in their conversations as adults to be, structures which they don’t possess as children.

To change their competence into actual performance, i.e. to gain, to develop all the language skills (writing, reading, speaking, listening), because this will help them to connect with their teacher and other students from the class, it will allow them all to communicate things better.

To encourage and support the students’ process of learning a foreign language, i.e. to give the students all the explicit instructions whenever they need, even if the teacher has to use their native language in order to accomplish his objectives.

To develop the students’ thinking skills, i.e. it is grammar that helps them realize all the logical connections such as classifications, temporal and causation relations, chronological order of the events, etc.

To develop the students’ skills of investigation, i.e. referring to those situations when grammar is taught using methods like that of investigation which is made by children’s previous knowledge; it is also regarded as a very good introduction to scientific method;

To give them a high appreciation of their own minds, i.e. grammar is considered to be a highly interconnected mental system, and when it is taught well, and as a consequence learned well, most people find it to be extremely interesting, even fascinating;

To develop a critical attitude to the ways in which some people use language in their every day life, i.e. to “punish” and correct grammatical errors.

Based on the ideas expressed above, the problem of the research may be formulated as follows:

What are the issues and implications of teaching Past Tenses in English in comparison with Romanian language?

To discover the appropriate method/-s in differentiating between the use of the Past Tense Simple and the Present Perfect Tense;

What are the difficulties encountered by Romanian learners in using the Past?

Which is the most effective way of teaching Past: from Traditional Approach, using the Audio-lingual Method, or from Communicative Approach, using the Communicative Language Teaching Method?

The writer expects that the research will be useful by increasing her knowledge about the methods of teaching and learning.

Research Methods

The research part deals with the aspects of teaching the Past Tenses in English in comparison with Romanian and the process of teaching tenses in the classroom.

In order to do my study, I am going to choose two parallel classes, namely the 8th graders, A and B, then I intend to explain my student what the activities are intended to and what are the objectives of the lessons I will teach them. To be more specific, I want to teach Past Tenses to the two classes at the same time, but the difference will be that with one class I am going to use the Traditional Method, i.e. the Audio-lingual Method, whereas with the other class, I intend to use the Communicative Approach, i.e. the Communicative Language Teaching Method.

During the teaching process, I will observe the students from both classes and record my findings, which depend on several things I want to analyze:

Which method of teaching is more effective, or the most;

How many of the students from both classes will have learnt to express correctly a Past action in English;

What are the difficulties they encountered during the learning process;

What are the most common errors they made while learning the Past forms of the irregular verbs;

What are the most common errors they made when turning an affirmative sentence into a negative and interrogative one.

In order to do all these things, I will give them tests to check them upon Past Tenses, with items which will verify:

1. The basic forms of the irregular verbs;

2. Choosing the correct answer from items in different past tenses;

3. To find equivalents of English past tenses into Romanian language.

Another way to do the analysis is to give them a questionnaire which will be concerned with the following issues:

1. The importance of teaching grammar in schools;

2. The effectiveness of each method of teaching;

3. To find out how many of the basic forms of the irregular verbs students will have learnt, and therefore use them correctly;

4. To grasp possible motifs for which the students want to learn how to express past actions in English and Romanian languages;

5. How well they manage to express such things in both written and orally;

6. Which are the most difficult ways to express past actions, in English or Romanian language.

The research part will contain lesson plans concerned with ways of teaching past tenses into classes, being accompanied by practice activities.

At the end of the study, conclusions must be drawn and these will concern some issues:

How many students know the basic forms of the irregular verbs;

What are the easiest learnt forms;

If my students are able to express past actions in both English and Romanian languages;

If their skills improved at all;

What are the improvements I should do with my future classes;

If each of the methods used in teaching was effective enough;

If teaching grammar is really effective;

What are the difficulties encountered by the Romanian learners when learning past tenses in English.

6.3. The Experiment

In order to do my study, I chose two parallel classes, namely the 8th graders, A and B, to whom I intended to explain what the activities were meant to take place during the whole year and what were the objectives of the lessons I had taught them. To be more specific, I wanted to teach Past Tenses to the two classes at the same time, but the difference was that with one class I used the Traditional Method, i.e. the Audio-lingual Method, whereas with the other class, I intended to use the Communicative Approach, i.e. the Communicative Language Teaching Method.

During the teaching process, I have observed the students from both classes and record my findings, which depended on several things I wanted to analyze:

Which method of teaching was more effective, or the most;

How many of the students from both classes will have learnt to express correctly a Past action in English;

What are the difficulties they encountered during the learning process;

What are the most common errors they have made while learning the Past forms of the irregular verbs;

What are the most common errors they havemade when turning an affirmative sentence into a negative and interrogative one.

In order to do all these things, I have given them a pre-test to check them upon Past Tenses, with items which will verify:

1. The basic forms of the irregular verbs;

2. Choosing the correct answer from items in different past tenses;

3. Turn into interrogative and negative.

Pre- test

Complete the passage, putting the verbs in brackets in the past simple:

My trip to the USA started 0)(start) badly for me. I………………1)(have) a lot to do so I……………2)(get) up early. First, I………………….3)(go) to the travel agent’s to collect my ticket.

Then I………….4)(get) some American dollars from the bank. After that I………….…5)(take) my two goldfish to my neighbour’s house and………………6)(leave)them there for the week.

Suddenly I………………7)(remember) my library books and ……………..8)(run) to the library and ……………9)(take) them back. On the way back from the library I……………10)(stop) at the shops and ………………11)(buy) some sunglasses and films for my camera.

I…………….12)(come) home,………..13)(eat) a sandwich and………..14)(make) myself some coffee. Finally, I……………..15)(pack) my bags, …………..16)(walk) out of the door and ………….17)(catch) the bus to the airport. At the airport, I…………….18)(find) the right check-in desk and……………. 19)(show) the man my ticket. He…………..20)(shake) his head and ………………..21)(say) “I’m afraid you’re a day early. This ticket is for July 12-th. It’s July 11-th today”.

(50 p)

Write questions and answers in the past simple:

Q. (you/ find) your swimming costume?

…………………………………………………………………………………………

No, so I (not/ go) swimming.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Q. How long (the journey/take)?

…………………………………………………………………………………………

It (not/take) very long. About an hour.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Q. What (they/ do) in Amsterdam?

…………………………………………………………………………………………

They(not/go) in the end. They (miss) the plane.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Q. Where (she/buy) her purple jeans?

…………………………………………………………………………………………

She (not/buy) them. I (give) them to her.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Q. (your sister/ lose) her passport?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

No, She (not/lose) her passport. She (lose) her plane ticket.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

(50 p)

The results of the pre-test are illustrated in the diagrams below and they show the percentage at which the students have succeeded in completing the tasks given.

The diagrams for the first subject also show that regular verbs in general are easily recognized and therefore learned, verbs like:”remember, walk, show, and pack”. So Past Simple of regular verbs is easier to form. However, there are some irregular verbs which have been learned more quickly in point of their Past forms, verbs like “get, come, make, catch”.

As far as the second subject is concerned, the diagrams reveal the fact that there are many students in both classes who succeeded to form correctly affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences in the Past Simple.

Conclussions:

Students have learned to apply the rules of formation of Paast Simple of both regular and irregular verbs;

They have come to master the order of constituents in affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences by practicing enough, and, as a result, they have gained correctness in using Past Simple;

Besides having achieved correctness, they have also become more accurate using the linguistic information.

The results registered with the 8-th grade B are higher than the results from the 8-th grade A, both at subject I and at the second subject.

Diagram 1: Representation of the results of the initial test, the 8-th grade A, subject I

Diagram 2: Representation of the results of the initial test, the 8-th grade A, subject II

Diagram 3: Representation of the results of the initial test, the 8-th grade B, subject I

Diagram 4: Representation of the results of the initial test, the 8-th grade B, subject II

Tabel 3: Comparison between the results of subject I, initial test

Tabel 4: Comparison between the results of subject II, initial test

Presenting means of expressing the Past.

It has already been stated that Past tenses are a part of the English grammar, and, as a result, to learn English implies to learn grammar and tenses as well. Yule (2006) defines grammar as “the analysis of the structures of phrases and sentences”, whereas Swan (1996) sees it as “the rules that show how words are combined, arranged or changed to show certain kinds of meaning”. Teaching English past tenses is associated mainly with sentence grammar, which in its turn is comprised of syntax and morphology. Thornbury says that syntax is concerned with “the rules that determine the way words can be combined to make well formed sentences”, whereas morphology involves “knowing how to construct verb phrases”, according to Thornbury.

Teaching grammar involves grammar and language factors. Although the teaching framework tends to be mostly communicative nowadays,teachers are to integrate grammar in it. Grammar should not be taught isolated. Students should be provided with the context, they should be able to create realistic picture of English and apply what they have learned in actual situations. Celce-Murcia and Hilles(1988) describe three kinds of factors which should teachers take into account when presenting new grammar.

Social factors are described as the factors that refer to the social roles of interlocutors,their relationship to each other, and the purpose of the communication. When communication the learners are not only to use the structures grammatically correctly but also they should be aware of the politeness and appropriateness. They should be able to distinguish which reaction would be inappropriate or even offensive in English.

Semantic factors involve meaning. Expressions of time, space, degree, quantity and probability are most naturally taught from a semantic perspective. (For example, the difference between few and a few is semantic when used in a sentence.) Such expressions could be taught most effectively with a focus on morphological, lexical and syntactic contrasts that signal a difference in meaning.

Discourse factors include continuity, word order and the sequencing of new and old information. This category includes the elements of language which are more effectively defined with reference to their function in discourse than to their sociolinguistic function or semantic content. For example the connectors function would be explained in the best way when the teachers provide the learners with several examples. It would be more useful than just definition of them.

Cases for and against grammar

S. Thornbury (1999) tries to avoid taking an entrenched position on the issue of teaching grammar. In his book he gives arguments for putting grammar in the foreground as well as the arguments against grammar. I would like to mention just some of them which in my opinion rank among the most significant.

The case for grammar:

necessity of sentence making

Some English courses use the method of item-learning. It is the way when a student does not learn grammar or rules but they learn some items by heart, various phrases and practise it in particular situations. For travelling for example it can be sometimes worth to know useful phrases by heart. The difficulties come when an unexpected situation appears and we find out that none of our learnt phrases is suitable. In case we did not study grammatical rules, we would probably not be able to construct the sentence that we want at that time. Learning grammar helps us make sentences and communicate.

avoiding misunderstandings

Knowledge of grammar helps us avoid ambiguity. It is especially case of written language. In spoken there is a possibility of clarification, using other means such as a mimic, gestures, etc. to avoid misunderstanding. When we do not know grammar properly we can easily exchange some terms (example can be bored and boring). The incorrect usage of word ending changes the meaning of the whole sentence and can easily cause misunderstanding.

recalling the rules after some time

When learning a lot of grammatical rules, there is common that a learner does not remember everything but very likely he or she forget it in case he or she does not use it in their everyday life. When such learner begins to use the language again (it may be the case of the stay in a foreign country) the structures that he or she had learnt some time ago are noticed very quickly, the process of brushing up follows.

organising language

The language becomes more understandable and easier to learn when it is organized

into categories.

The case against grammar:

There exist some arguments against teaching grammar as such. These theories claim that it is not enough to explain grammatical rules and make students study it. It is important to experience. This way of learning is called experimental learning.

1.communication argument

Some theorists argue that communication is the most important part of a language, in other words that it is the language itself. They prefer using the grammar and vocabulary, practising it in life like situations. They claim that studying rules of grammar is a waste of time.

2. acquisition argument

The linguist Stephen Krashen´s theory gives the argument against learning grammatical rules because of the fact that he believes when one is learning a foreign language the same principles work as when one is learning the first native language as a baby. He does not call it language teaching but language acquisition. He says acquisition is a natural process and a person who is to learn a foreign language must be exposed to the particular language environment and natural communication when the form of sentences is not as important as the communicative act. He distinguishes between “the acquired system” and “the learned system”. According to Krashen, “learning” is less important than “acquisition” (acquisition-learning hypothesis) Krashen's theory of second language acquisition consists of five main hypotheses:

the Acquisition-Learning hypothesis,

the Monitor hypothesis,

the Natural Order hypothesis,

the Input hypothesis,

and the Affective Filter hypothesis.

The Monitor hypothesis explains the function of the learned grammar as a monitoring function. First an utterance system is acquired, then “monitoring” follows.

The Natural Order hypothesis suggests that there is a natural order of the grammatical structures acquisition which is to predict. Particular grammatical structures are acquired earlier than others and the order does not depend on the learner´s age.

The Input hypothesis is the explanation of how second language acquisition takes place. This hypothesis does not deal with the learning but only with the acquisition. It claims that a learner gets a particular level of the language through the acquisition and the learner should be exposed to the “input” which is one step beyond his or her current stage. ”If a learner is at a stage 'i', then acquisition takes place when he/she is exposed to 'Comprehensible Input' that belongs to level 'i + 1'. Since not all of the learners can be at the same level of linguistic competence at the same time, Krashen suggests that natural communicative input is the key to designing a syllabus, ensuring in this way that each learner will receive some 'i + 1' input that is appropriate for his/her current stage oflinguistic competence.” (http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html)

The Affective Filter explains various “affective variables” which are significant in second language acquisition. They are motivation, self-confidence and anxiety. Krashen claims that learners with high motivation, self-confidence, a good self-image, and a low level of anxiety are better equipped for success in second language acquisition. Low motivation, low self-confidence, and anxiety can form a “mental block” and form an obstruction in making a progress. Krashen´s view mostly derives from the Noam Chomsky´s work. Chomsky has maintained that the most of knowledge is innate. He implies that children need only learn certain parochial features of their native languages. This innate knowledge is called universal grammar. As an evidence of existing universal grammar he provides the fact that small children are able to acquire their native language in a very short time.

Spoken and written grammar:

It is obvious that there is a significant difference between the spoken language and written language. In spoken language the listener is able to tolerate certain mistakes, repetition of words, omitting words, short and simple sentences. When we read the speech transcribed, it does not make a good impression. The speech can be interrupted. It is created in fact during the time when all the speakers take part in conversation. The speaker can change the topic as often as he or she wants, the clarification can be added when the other speaker asks for it. It is also normal that the speakers complete each other´s utterances. Certainly there is a difference in the choice of vocabulary.

In speaking we do not care much about the appropriateness of the vocabulary, the most important feature is the content, it means what a person wants to say is more important than what the structure of the text looks like. In writing not only content is the most important, however, we care about the form that the text should have. Written text contains longer complex sentences while the spoken text prefers simple sentences. The repetition of the words is inappropriate that is why we should find and use synonyms. Passive structures are used more frequently than in speaking. Writing compared to spoken text is always a monologue without immediate feedback. Question tags are one of the features of spoken text. Still it can appear in written text, too.

To compare written and spoken text M. Swan (2005, p.41) provides following example:

“-Writing: Peter´s failure to gain a degree, and his subsequent refusal to look for work, caused his parents considerable concern.

-Speech: Peter, you know, he didn´t get a degree, and then he wouldn´t do anythingabout getting a job, and of course, his parents, they got really worried.

The message of both parts of texts is the same. Still there is a huge difference in the form. Written form is much longer and sometimes the sentences can be of double size comparing to spoken form.”

In the past the most emphasis was put on the written language. The course books were not composed for the communicative approach. There was hardly any opportunity to communicate in the lesson. The typical structure of the lesson contained the introductory reading of an article where the new grammatical phenomenon occurred as much as possible. It was followed by the teacher´s explaining the new grammatical rules and finally students were to do the grammatical exercises where they should practise just this one new grammatical rule. In my opinion it must have lead to the fact that the students cannot use the language properly. The language is the combination of grammatical rules and no one tells you which rule you should use.

Nowadays there is a tendency towards combination of teaching written and spoken language. Teachers today undoubtedly pay attention to grammatical rules and accurate writing, however, they combine it with speaking. The most of the course books allow students to practice all of four skills-writing, reading, listening and speaking. They provide students with neutral language which can be used in common conversations. When teaching grammar, we should practice it in written as well as in spoken form. First of all, the clear idea must be given. There is a plenty of structures which belong to grammar. Some of them are easy to understand as they are based on the same principle as those in our native language. Some are easy in their meaning but to be able to use them needs learning the enormous amount of difficult forms (example is the past simple and the irregular verbs).

P. Ur (1988, p.6) comments on the spoken and written form: “When we teach any of these types of structures, we are – or should be – getting our students to learn quite a large number of different, though related, bits of knowledge and skills: how to recognize the examples of the structure when spoken, how to identify its written form, how to produce both its spoken and written form, how to understand its meaning in context, and produce meaningful sentences using it themselves.

P. Ur (1988, p.6) gives a table which presents all the “bits” mentioned above:

Tabel 5. Aspects of the Teaching/Learning of Structures

Apart from these, it should be differentiated between written and spoken grammar. English that is taught at school is based on written grammar and this is due to the fact that written grammar is considered to be neutral, without taking into consideration regional or cultural features.

To know English means both to learn it and to acquire it and theorists make distinctions between the two terms. This distinction is based on the fact that children acquire their natural language (L1) subconsciously. Yule(1986) describes acquisition as “the gradual development of ability in a language by using it naturally in communicative situations with others who know the language”, while learning is “a more conscious process of accumulating knowledge of features, such as vocabulary and grammar, of a language, typically in an institutional setting”.

Harmer maintains the opinion according to which learning a foreign language happens under condition that acquisition of a mother tongue. Children acquire language gradually from one-word to utterances to complex sentences. This exposure to language takes place all the time and in real-life situations, when they are extremely motivated and feel they have the opportunities to try out and use it.

Ur (1999) contributes with the opinion that teaching and learning grammar help learners learn a foreign language, “provided it is taught consistently as a means to improving mastery of the language, not as an end in itself”

Teaching English as we know it today is the result of theories and practical activities.

Ur (1999) suggests that grammar should be presented “in a way that is clear, simple and helpful”, and she recommends that for effective grammar presentation, teachers should set the context of new grammatical structure first and then present “both oral and written form and both form and meaning.”, as it is ststed by Biber et al. (2002:p 82). It is essential to check whether learners understand the meaning and provide them with a lot of examples. Teachers should make clear presentations, appropriate and use the terminology carefully, considering mainly the learners’ age and goal. The same condition applies to the decision whether explanation should be given in learners’ mother tongue or only in English, or in a combination of the two languages.

As far as the rules about a new grammatical structure are concerned, teachers have to decide weather inductive or deductive method will be more effective for learners.

The deductive approach is sometimes being connected with the grammar translation method because of the fact that it carries similar features. It needs a teacher who has proficiency both in the mother tongue and in the English language, a fact which offers the advantage of saving time, because it can be time consuming find the rules starting from the examples. Much quicker is to explain the rules to them and get to practice. According to Thornbury, it also has the advantage to the learners who have an analytical learning style.

But the method has also disadvantages:

1. Beginning the lesson with a grammar presentation may be off-putting for some learners, especially younger ones;

2. Younger learners may not able to understand the concepts or encounter grammar terminology given;

3. Grammar explanation encourages a teacher-fronted, transmission-style classroom, so it will hinder learner involvement and interaction immediately;

4. The explanation is seldom as memorable as other forms of presentation (for example, demonstration);

5. The deductive approach encourages the belief that learning a language is simply a case of knowing the rule.

The inductive approach presupposes that the examples to be first studied and then the learners derive the rules. It has some advantages:

It assures a better memorizing of the grammatical structures because a rule that is discovered by themselves is better fixed in their minds;

Students’ activities are higher than by using the other method because they can get more language practice during group work when they are expected to solve problems and are forced to communicate in the target language. So, it supports and also encourages learners’ autonomy.

This approach presents also disadvantages:

1. The approach is time and energy-consuming as it leads learners to have the appropriate concept of the rule;

2. The concepts given implicitly may lead the learners to have the wrong concepts of the rule taught;

3. The approach can place emphasis on teachers in planning a lesson;

4. It encourages the teacher to design data or materials taught carefully and systematically;

5. The approach may frustrate the learners with their personal learning style, or their past learning experience (or both) would prefer simply to be told the rule.

Thornbury (1991) gives two basic principles which should be followed when teaching. The principles are the E-Factor and the A-Factor.

E-Factor: E-Factor got its name according to the beginning letters of the words economy, ease and efficacy. These words in fact can be included in one simple word which is efficiency. The most important question that a teacher should ask themselves is whether the activity, presentation of the grammar and practising it is as efficient as possible. The teacher must consider all the steps of their lesson and decide whether activity is appropriate to use and which are not. The time of the lesson is very limited especially at primary or secondary school where one lesson lasts forty-five minutes. It is difficult to incorporate into the lesson everything that the teacher would find useful. Unfortunately it is the question of choice and decision and the decision must be made by a teacher. The explanation of new grammar should be as short as possible but of course the teacher must recognize whether the students understand it. The explanation must be short, quick, clear and understandable. This is what is called economy. The teacher should follow the ease factor. It says that there is no need to prepare a plenty of materials and resources. Usually the teachers have a significant number of lessons a week and in case the teacher would prepare the plenty of handouts and aids for various activity, they would not do anything else than devote their free time to preparing long elaborates. The activity should be easy and the easier the activity is the better it is. After have the activity prepared the teacher is to ask themselves, whether it will work. It is proved by the feedback from the learners. From the results of various tests and tasks the teacher can observe how effective the methods were. This is called efficacy. The efficacy of a grammar activity is recognized partly by the degree of attention and memory. It is important whether the activity arouses the learners’ attention and understanding. It goes hand in hand with memory it means the amount of the subject matter that the learners remember after the lesson. To make the teaching efficient there is a need to motivate them sufficiently. The proper motivation depends on the choice of activities and tasks. The learners must see that the subject matter is useful and that it will help them in their everyday life. Thornbury (1991) consider efficiency as the optimal setting of three related factors: economy, ease, and efficacy. In other words the question should be asked whether the time and resources spent on preparing and executing a grammar task are justified in terms of its probable learning outcome.

A-Factor: A-Factor in teaching grammar arouse from the beginning letter of appropriacy. The teacher must consider not only the efficiency but also the degree of appropriateness of tasks and methods for a particular group of students. One activity may fit the certain study group but need not be suitable for different one. Thornbury (1991, p.27) listed the“factors to consider when determining appropriacy:

the age of the learners;

their level;

the size of the group;

the constitution of the group, e.g. monolingual or multilingual;

what their needs are, e.g. to pass a public examination;

the learner’s interests;

the available materials and resources;

the learner’s previous learning experience and hence present expectations;

any cultural factors that might affect attitudes, e.g. their perception of the role

and status of the teacher;

the educational context, e.g. private school or state school, at home or abroad.

Activities that fail to take the above factors into account are unlikely to work. The age of the learners is very important. Research suggests that children are more disposed to language learning activities that incline towards acquisition rather than towards learning. That is, they are better at picking up language implicitly, rather than learning it as a system of explicit rules. Adult learners, on the other hand, may do better at activities which involve analysis and memorisation.”

To sum it up, grammar activities should take into account the level of efficiency and appropriateness. The efficiency level depends on how much time it takes (economy), how easy it is (ease) and how is it consistent with learning principles (efficacy). Appropriacy considers students’ needs and interests, attitudes and expectations.

Celce-Murcia (2001:p.275) gives a very detailed account of some useful set of principles for which should be taken into account in the process of teaching grammar and which can be presented as follows:

“grammar teaching should be planned and systemic, driven by a strategic vision of eventual desired outcomes;

Grammar teachers should be ‘rough tunned’, offering students at different stages a range of opportunities to add increments to their understanding of grammar;

The process may involve acceptance of classroom code switching and mother tongue usage, at least with beginners;

Grammar should be taught ‘little and often’ and doing a lot revising;

Text-based, problem-solving grammar activities may be needed to develop learners; active, articulated and useful knowledge about grammar matters;

An active corrective feedback and also elicitation will promote their active control of grammar;

This process needs to be supported and embedded in meaning oriented activities, tasks which give them immediate opportunity for practice and use.”

As far as presenting and explaining grammar are concerned, it must be added that the subject which teachers want to teach must be presented in a long enough segment of the lesson as to ensure a good understanding and memorizing of the rule presented. So, the teacher must find a balance between these two items. Presentation must be done by giving a model structure and then allow the students to repeat it, and this can be achieves best by using visual aids. Among visual demonstration, the writing belongs as well the using of time lines when explaining the grammatical tenses. After that, an appropriate feedback must be given, in which case students have the chance to ask any question regarding the subject matter, get a better, maybe simpler, explanation from their teacher, repeat, practice again, fix what has been taught.

In the “Course in Language Teaching”, Penny Ur formulates guidelines on presenting and explaining a new grammatical structure. These can be formulated as follows:

“Any presentation should involve both written and spoken forms;

The teacher should give students a lot of examples dealing with the new subject matter, using especially visual aids, as it has already mentioned above;

The teacher should be able to foresee the learners’ needs; this can happen if the group is analytically oriented and, as a result, they will benefit more from the use of the terminology;

Very important roles are played by the current situation and the teacher’s judgment in using the mother tongue or the target language during the presentation and explanation stages in a lesson;

It is better to generalize the subject matter because too many details can be confusing; but it depends on the age and the previous level of the learners’ knowledge, so that the teacher should know how much to tell them;

An observer can be of great help to the teacher in taking notes on the faults of the process, because the teacher can’t always see them by him/herself; this can be helpful for the further planning of the lessons;

The teacher decides which approach he/she should use, because it depends on the group itself or on the subject matter and the teacher should predict whether the students can find the rules easily or whether it would be just wasting the time to let them guess it”.

In the 3rd Chapter we have discussed about Past Tenses, formation rules, their usages and comparison with other tenses. So, Past Tenses are very often used, they referring to finished past actions, or actions which were developing at a certain moment in the past, or which had happened before another past action, or which had been developing at a past moment and still continued after it.

In Romanian syllabus learners begin to have a clue about Past Tenses starting with the second grade, if English is the first foreign language, and with the 5th grade, if English is the second foreign language. Regardless the level or the specific of the classes, be it the 1st or the 2nd foreign language, Past Tenses are presented gradually, i.e. a) the distinction between regular and irregular verbs; b) the formation rules of the past tenses; c) information about their uses; d) specification of specific time adverbials; e) comparison between past tenses and with other tenses; f) what is their equivalents in their mother tongue.

The teacher is the one who chooses which method to adopt when presenting past tenses to students. Grammarians like Ur (1988), Scrivener (2003, 2005), Thornbury (2005) give detailed accounts of practice activities which can help teachers in planning and sustaining of their grammar lessons, and not only:

Listening to stories: this activity presupposes that the teacher read a story focused on past activities or it could be played from a recorder. The students are asked to recall some sentences which contain past tense verbs. (According to Ur, 1988)

Telling a story: here, the teacher needs to prepare in advance his/her story, come to the class and start telling it to the students. The children are given just the key words from the story randomly. They are supposed to guess what the story is about and, if possibly, to try to make the story. There follows the telling of the teacher’s story and then the students’ task is to put the key words into the correct order. Finally, the children write the story by themselves. (According to Scrivener, 2003).

Pilling up events: during this activity, each student is given a verb in the past tense and they have to form the story. It is considered like a chain of events and each student is supposed to repeat the preceding sentences and add his own at the end. As a follow up activity, the teacher can ask them to write as much as they can remember from it, practicing thus the writing activity. (According to Ur, 1988)

Dictating key words: the teacher dictates some verbs in past tenses to the students. These verbs are part of a story which the teacher must prepare in advance. Working in pairs or in small groups, the students have to make a story which will comprise the words dictated by the teacher, but respecting that order. The various stories are told to the whole class and then the original story is told. (According to Scrivener, 2003).

Chain story: this activity resembles the beginning of the previous one, but the teacher begins to tell the story and he/she stops after a few sentences and asks the students to continue until the story finishes and each one has his/her own contribution to the making of the story. There is one difference though, in the fact that there is no repetition of the previous sentences. Here, the learner just adds their own sentences. This activity helps the student to concentrate on the story itself not only on the correctness of the sentences they make up. (According to Ur, 1988)

Miming: the teacher asks the students to mime some actions and the others are asked to guess what it is. All the sentences comprise verbs in the Past Simple. (According to Scrivener, 2003).

Pictures into stories: A simple picture story is all the material which the teacher needs in such an activity and which can be found in the students’ books. Pictures are taken one by one and students must write or narrate the story using past tenses. At the beginning, the teacher may just ask questions about the respective picture and the students ask the questions, and afterwards they are asked to make a list of the verbs used in different past tenses. There follows the teacher’s telling the story according to the pictures which were shown to the children and the learners can check their lists of verbs. (According to Ur, 1988)

Putting stories into order: this activity follows the same principle as the previous one, except for the fact that the students are given to the students separately or together but not in logical order. The goal is to achieve the logical order of the events and then make up a story. (According to Ur, 1988)

Change in one’s life: students are asked to think about a past event in their lives that made a significant change upon them. The teacher starts the activity with telling their own stories and makes them ask questions about them. But students can get very curious about teacher’s personal life and that’s why they ask about some details. After the teacher’s story, the students’ stories follow in the same way. Writing activity comes when students are given the task to write their change as a short story. (According to Ur, 1988)

Sounds interesting: for this activity, the teacher needs a recorded series of recorded sounds. The tape is played and students are supposed to guess what happened. After hearing the sounds and following them, the children are asked to write/make a story. (According to Ur, 1988)

Questionnaires: the students’ task is to survey one another. After that, they make their own questionnaires in which they arbitrarily include questions with verbs in the past tenses and they find out the information they want. Then they tell the result of the questionnaire in front of the whole class. (According to Scrivener, 2003).

Alibi: the activity presupposes a scene set in which two students are considered the suspects; they go outside the classroom and prepare their alibi for the particular time when their presence is needed in the classroom. The suspects come back after some time and they are asked questions. If they corroborate each other’s stories, they are proved to be innocent, and in opposite case, they are declared guilty as charged. (According to Ur, 1988)

Cooperative story: each student is given a sheet of paper having a title of the stories on it as well as the names of the two main characters, a male and a female. Each student is supposed to write a first sentence and then pass the paper on to the next student. He/she will write the next sentence and passes it to the next colleague. He/she folds the paper to hide the title and also the first sentence, leaving only his/her own sentence exposed and so on till all students have written his/her sentence down the paper. (According to Ur, 1988)

Grammar quiz: the activity employs verbs in past tenses forms and there are two teams involved, and the teacher uses a noughts and crosses grid to score on-the team must get three symbols in a row. Someone from a team says the infinitive of some verbs and someone from the other team says the past forms. Whether it is correct, he/she can make a nought or cross on the board. (According to Scrivener, 2003).

The Traditional Approach –The Audio-lingual Method.

To start from the foundations, first I have to define the root word: ‘method’. In the definitions of this term, Webster’s Third New International Dictionary often uses expressions such as “a procedure or process for attaining” a goal or “a systematic procedure, technique” or “a set of rules” very often related to a science or art (Method). In agreement with this Webster’s definition, Hunkis claims that “methods have form and consistency,” and later on draws attention to the form by stating that methods “have definite steps or stages and sub-behaviours that are recurrent and applicable to various subject matters” (qtd. in Henson 3). As Henson states, some examples of methods are: a lecture, a simulation game, a case study, or an inquiry.

The second step is to define the recurrent term ‘methodology.’ According to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, methodology is “a body of methods, procedures, working concepts, rules and postulates employed […] in the solution of a problem or in doing something” (Methodology). This expression can be used as an equivalent to the words teaching and strategy. Henson states, that “strategies represent a complex approach to teaching which often contains a mixture of teaching methods, utilizing a number of techniques with each method” (Henson 3). To summarize, we can say that methodology, or teaching in this sense, is a set of methods based on the same rules and having a common aim, e.g. to encourage students to use the language, involve the students in the lesson, or explain the language to students who have to listen attentively.

Now we can turn our attention to the comprehensive description of the key terms, ‘traditional methodology’ and ‘modern methodology’. I will first focus on traditional methodology, its aims, philosophy, and procedures, and some examples of its methods. Clearly, one of the aims of any methodology in foreign language teaching is to improve the foreign language ability of the student. However, traditional methodology is based largely on a reduction of the integrated process of using a foreign language into sub-sets of discrete skills and areas of knowledge. It is largely a functional procedure which focuses on skills and areas of knowledge in isolation. Following on from this, traditional methodologies are strongly associated with the teaching of language which is used in a certain field related to the students’ life or work. As stated in the book “Teaching English as a Foreign Language” by Geoffrey Broughton et al, “the recognition that many students of English need the language for specific instrumental purposes has led to the teaching of ESP – English for Special or Specific purposes.” The same authors illuminate the impact of this approach on the teaching output created; they inform the reader about “the proliferation of courses and materials [being] designed to teach English for science, medicine, agriculture, engineering, tourism and the like” (Broughton 9), which actually meant that the content of the course was limited to the specific vocabulary and grammar of the chosen field. For example, agricultural courses included exclusively agricultural vocabulary and all grammar was presented only in an agricultural context. Vocabulary, phrases, and sample sentences from other fields and activities, even from the realm of specifically communicative English, were excluded.

A very typical feature of traditional methodology, as Broughton and his colleagues claim, is the “teacher-dominated interaction” (Broughton 22). The teaching is deeply teacher-centred. The reason for this approach is explained by the statement of Assist. Prof. Dr. Abdullah Kuzu, who asserts that it is based on the “traditional view of education, where teachers serve as the source of knowledge while learners serve as passive receivers” (Kuzu 36). This idea corresponds to the simile of Jim Scrivener, who claims that “traditional teaching [is imagined to work as] ‘jug and mug’ – the knowledge being poured from one receptacle into an empty one.” This widespread attitude is based on a precondition that “being in a class in the presence of a teacher and ‘listening attentively’ is […] enough to ensure that learning will take place” (Scrivener 17). In his book Communicative Language Teaching Today, Jack C. Richards highlights that in traditional methodology “learning was very much seen as under the control of the teacher” (Richards 4).

To sum up, the traditional methodology puts the responsibility for teaching and learning mainly on the teacher and it is believed that if students are present in the lesson and listen to the teacher’s explanations and examples, they will be able to use the knowledge.

Traditional methodology, however, also appears to have some disadvantages. According to some authors, there is not enough attention paid to teaching the basic skills, reading and writing, speaking and listening. As mentioned above, “reading” in a foreign language seems to have more to do with deciphering than with reading in one’s mother tongue (Tyler 23). The student tries to understand every single word and its grammatical form, because he believes it is essential for understanding the text. As I have pointed out above, other authors agree on the lack of speaking and pronunciation practice in traditional teaching methodology (White 8, Broughton 9). Instead of trying to speak and get the meaning through, the students are smothered with linguistic information, “rules with examples, its paradigms […] and related exercises” (Broughton 39). In the view of Broughton and his colleagues, this approach “ha[s] for so many years produced generations of non-communicators” (Broughton 39). The same authors highlight that many learners experienced significant frustration at the moment of realizing that they were not able to speak in common life situations (Broughton 9).

Concerning writing, Donald H. Graves makes a notable point: Writing has been used as a form of punishment: ‘Write your misspelled worry 25 times.’ (This is called a reinforcement of visual memory systems.) ‘Write one hundred times, I will not chew gum in school.’ ‘Write a 300word composition on how you will improve your attitude toward school.’ Most teachers teaching in 1985 were bathed in the punishment syndrome when they were learning to write. Small wonder that most of us subtly communicate writing as a form of punishment. We have no other model of teaching. (Graves 3)

The traditional methodology teaches the written language as the highest priority in learning a foreign language. However, it presents writing in a very unpleasant way. This forms a significant contradiction in the students’ attitude to the foreign language itself: writing in the language is essential and it is highly appreciated; if one can write in the language he is considered to have reached the goal; yet on the other hand, the same activity is a form of punishing students. For the students, this approach can be highly demotivating.

To sum up the above mentioned ideas, we can say that traditional language teaching is based on a traditional approach to the target language, which regards the language as a body of grammatical rules and an enormous number of words that are combined according to the rules. Traditional methodology thus focuses on grammatical structures and isolated items of vocabulary. Jim Scrivener adds that “the teacher spends quite a lot of class time using the board and explaining things – as if ‘transmitting’ the knowledge” (Scrivener 16). Students are expected to learn the rules and the items of lexis, and it is supposed that they will be able to use the language. However, students mostly explore only narrow avenues of the language, because, according to Broughton and Scrivener, the syllabuses are grammatical and the language is grouped by purpose (16, 31). The primary skills, such as reading, writing, listening and speaking, are generally taught at an insufficient level. Nevertheless, as Scrivener says, this method, with all its potential disadvantages, has been used very often in schools worldwide, “and is still the predominant classroom method in some cultures” (Scrivener 16, 38).

Grammarians state that transfer is the central learning strategy in the process of acquisition of a second or a foreign language as well as in any other domain of learning. It also enables the learner to draw on his/her preexisting linguistic knowledge in order to understand and produce utterances in the target language.

Being quoted in O’Malley &Chamot (1990:p531), Oxford defines learning strategies as being the “behaviors or actions which learners use, to make language learning more successful, self-directed and enjoyable.” To be more specific, the same authors define learning strategies as “special ways of processing information that enhance comprehension, learning or retention of the information.” Cohen (1998: p4) places the emphasis on the differences between language learning and language use strategies, defining them as follows: “processes which are consciously selected by the learners and which may result in action taken to enhance the learning or the use of a second language or foreign language, through storage, retention, recall, and application of information about the language.”

To acquire new language, the learner has to take the following steps:

The specific information is being focused on with the aim of being stored in the short-term memory;

This information is acquired by an active transfer from short-term memory to a long-term memory;

There are connections established between these ideas from the short-term memory;

There might be an appeal to the knowledge of related content from the long-term memory in order to make understanding of the current knowledge possible.

In 1950s and 1960s, in the USA a new method appeared, which is used even today, and which is called the Audio-Lingual Method. The principle of this method lies in the learning of particular blocks of language and then students are supposed to learn the rules of how to combine it. The language skills are taught in order of listening, speaking, reading and writing. It uses the dialogues as the main form of language presentation and drills as the main training techniques. What is to be noted is the fact that mother tongue is not used in the classroom. In addition, teaching techniques using tape recordings and language lab drills offer practice in speaking and listening fields, which are considered to have primary importance in language teaching. The reading and writing activities are limited in usage, but not completely ignored, it should be presented gradually and only after the students are considered capable enough and the material should be kept seriously to what learners has heard and repeated. The aim is to fasten the acquisition of listening and speaking by drilling the students into the use of grammatical sentences patterns.

The main features of the method are listed by Celce-Murcia (2001) as it can be seen below:

Each grammar lesson is begun with a dialogue;

Language learning is considered to be a habit-formation; that is the reason why mimicry and memorization are used here;

Grammatical rules are taught using the inductive approach, and the grammatical structures are sequenced;

Skills are sequenced too, i.e. listening, speaking-reading, whereas writing is postponed. It is believed that a more effective way to learn something is to present it orally first, and in the written form finally.

Achieving a correct pronunciation is extremely important and it is stressed out.

It is also vital to prevent learners’ errors, because these constitute bad habits and can hardly be corrected, even impossible to succeed it.

Language is often manipulated without context or meaning.

H.H.Stern (1996: p.462) makes a list of other characteristics of this method as it can be seen below:

The separation of the skills-listening, speaking, reading, and writing- and the primacy of the Audio-lingual over the graphic skills;

The use of the dialogue of the main means of presenting the language;

The focus upon certain practice techniques, mimicry, memorization, and pattern drills;

The appeal to the use of the laboratory;

Establishing a theory as the basis for teaching method by means of the linguistic and psychological theory;

So, the writer assumes that in the case of Audio-Lingual Method, the learners should have a great effort to get the language acquisition. They do a lot of listening and speaking by imitating and repeating after the teacher, and they also memorize the structure. It is thus clearly seen that one of the teacher’s major roles is to be a model of the target language. Teachers should provide students with a native-speaker-like model and they present the material gradually, beginning with listening, to speaking, reading and then writing. What matters here is the fact that all the process is emphasized on spoken language as its teaching objective.

Although it is true that this was a very brief experience with the Audio-Lingual Method, Diane Larsen-Freeman makes some observations regarding the teacher’s behavior and the activities he/she uses with such a method. According to the observations that she made in her book (2000: p.42-45), to each activity there is a principle which sustains it.

Activity = the teacher introduces a new dialogue; the students memorize it by using mimicry and applied role-play;

Principle = language forms do not happen by themselves, but they need a context to make possible such a development;

Activity =teacher use only the target language in the classroom; they make an appeal to other means such as pictures, actions, realia in order to achieve meaning;

Principle = we know that the native language and the target language have their own system, and these should be kept apart as much as possible in order to avoid the interferences of their mother tongue into the acquisition process on the target language;

Activity = the teacher introduces a new dialogue by drilling it two times, i.e. she/he introduces the drills by modeling the correct answers, and, at other times, the teacher corrects mispronunciation by modeling the proper sounds in the target language;

Principle = teachers must provide with a good model to their students. So by listening how it supposed to sound, students should be able to mimic the model they hear;

Activity = the children repeat each line of the new dialogue as many times as it needs to perform it correctly;

Principle = It was stated above that language learning is a habit formation, so the more often they repeat the lines proposed by the teacher, the stronger their habit becomes and the greater the effect of the learning process becomes, too;

Activity = It often happens that a child stumble over a line from the dialogue, and the teacher uses a backward building-up drill with that line;

Principle = the teacher must draw attention that errors are not permitted, due to the fact that they constitute the premise for bad habits of learning. So, when errors happen, they must be immediately corrected by the teacher;

Activity = the teacher initiates a chain drill in which each student is supposed to greet another;

Principle = the purpose of language learning is to use language in order to communicate, and to do it effectively and meaningfully;

Activity = the teacher uses single-slot and multiple-slot substitutions drills;

Principle = each part of speech occupies a particular place in a sentence, so learners need to know which place is occupied by which part of speech in order to achieve correctness and meaningfulness in communication;

Activity = the teacher says “Very good!” when the children ‘answers are correct;

Principle = children need to be encouraged, sustained in their activities and whatever small their progress is, they should be encouraged, because a positive reinforcement helps them to develop correct habits of learning;

Activity = the teacher uses spoken cues and picture cues;

Principle = learners need to and should learn to respond to both verbal and nonverbal stimuli;

Activity = the teacher conducts transformation and question-and-answer drills;

Principle = we know that each language has a finite number of patterns, these help students to form habits which enable the learners to use the patterns;

Activity =every time students can handle the subject-matter, the teacher poses the questions rapidly;

Principle = students learn to respond automatically, without stopping to think about the answer; that is “overlearning”;

Activity = the teacher gives the children cues, he/she calls on individuals,

she/he smiles with encouragement, and holds up picture one after another;

Principle = the teacher’s role is to be an organizer, a conductor, a guide, a controller and nevertheless an observer of students’ behavior and attitudes in the target language;

Activity =new vocabulary is introduced through lines of dialogues an the amount of vocabulary is limited;

Principle= one of the major objectives of the language teaching should be for students to acquire the structural patterns, they will learn the vocabulary afterwards;

Activity = students are given no grammatical rules; grammatical patterns are learned through examples and drills;

Principle= the learning of a foreign language should be the same as the acquisition of the mother tongue, because we do not need to memorize rules in order to use our native language; so the inductive method applies here;

Activity = the teacher does a contrastive analysis between the mother tongue and the target language in order to find out those places where she/he expects the students will have troubles;

Principle = one of the great challenges a teacher of foreign languages has to face is the effort of getting his/her students overcome the habits of their native language. Such a comparison will tell the teacher which are the areas where the learners will encounter difficulties;

17.Activity = the teacher writes a piece of dialogue on the blackboard toward the end of the week; the students are asked to do some limited written work with the dialogue and the sentence drill;

Principle = speaking act is more basic to language than the written form, as it well-known; so the natural order of skills acquisition is: listening, speaking, reading and then writing;

Activity = subject matters concerning culture and civilization, as the supermarket alphabet game or a discussion of American supermarkets and football, are included;

Principle = we know that language cannot be separated from culture, and culture does not include only literature and arts, but people’s every day behavior who use the target language. So, one of the teacher’s responsibility is to present them information about that culture.

From the techniques and principles above, the writer concludes that language acquisition is acquired by habit formation through oral exercises by imitating and repeating. In this approach, the teacher is like a leader, a controller, a director of the students’ language behavior.

Activities:

Drill is a method of teaching technique used for practicing sound or sentence partners concerned with the fixation of specific association for automatic recall. The final goal is a more or less effortless exchange of ideas in real – life conversation. The “Drill”is here refers to the “Response drill” in teaching grammar.

One of the best general criteria as to how a lesson is going is the proportion of time spent by the student in trying to speak in comparison to the time spent in speaking by the teacher. A competent teacher should be able to maintain a student participation of 60-70% with ease. Some techniques can increase this a lot further for a time and one of them is replacement or substitution drills.

1.1. A substitution drill is a classroom technique used to practise new language. It involves the teacher first modelling a word or a sentence and the learners repeating it. The teacher then substitutes one or more key words, or changes the prompt, and the learners say the new structure.

Substitution drills work best at the beginning levels. They enable students to focus on structure while learning related vocabulary. Teachers first teach a dialogue or sentence structure, then allow students to substitute different content words.

Like many other practice techniques the basic principle is to set a pattern which the student follows. Usually he repeats a sentence and then changes an element in it. Suppose we have a student who needs some drill on the simple past tense:

T: How many times did you go to the theatre last year?
S: I went to the theatre about 10 times last year.
T: And the cinema?
S: I went to the cinema about 30 times last year.
T: And your wife?
S She went to the cinema about 30 times last year too.
T: And the theatre?
S: She went to the theatre about 5 times last year.
T: And the children?
S: They didn't go to the theatre last year.
T: And to school?
S: They went to school about 230 times last year.
T: And on holiday?
S: They went on holiday 3 times last year.
T: And last month?
S: They didn't go on holiday last month.
T: And you and your wife?
S: We didn't go on holiday last month too.
T: Either!
S: We didn't go on holiday last month either.

(http://mark.yates.net/english/teaching/bk09.htm)

The use of prompts, or cues, to elicit a new sentence instead of a full question cuts down the teachers intervention time considerably. The potential for drill like this in even a simple sentence is enormous: subject, object, verb, adjective, adverb, tense – all can be changed to create a new sentence. If we take a simple sentence: "John goes to Brighton twice a week by car."

John=A, Brighton=B, Twice = C, Week=D, Car=E. Each element A-E can be changed in a replacement drill. A few simple examples:

A: Peter, Mr Jones, My assistant, The man next door, A girl who works with me, you, me, my husband and I.

B: Newhaven, the country, the seaside, work, a nice little pub by the river.

C: Once, 5 times

D: A day, a month, a year, an hour,

E: By taxi, by bicycle, on foot, in his veteran steamroller.

A slightly more sophisticated use of replacement drills is to use them to elicit structural elements, especially tenses.

T: How many times did you take a plane last year?
S: I took a plane 5 times last year.
T: And so far this year?
S: I have taken a plane only once so far this year.
T: and last week?
S: I didn't take a plane last week.
T: and this week?
S: I haven't taken a plane this week either.

(http://mark.yates.net/english/teaching/bk09.htm)

The student must switch from simple past to present perfect and back again according to the prompt. Numerous variations on this theme are possible and are useful to find out if a student can use tenses correctly and spontaneously – that is without the teacher using the tense in a question. Another example might check a sequence of perfect tenses. We can make it more difficult by using passives and getting the student to ask the questions:

T: How many French cars were exported last year?
S: I have no idea!
T: Ask me then.
S: How many French cars were exported last year?
T: 300,000…. And by the end of June last year?
S: Err…. How many cars had been exported by the end of June last year?
T: Good, 120,000…. And so far this year?
S: How many cars have been exported so far this year?
T: Only 100,000 … and by the end of this year?
S: How many cars will have been exported by the end of this year?
T: 400,000…. Now let’s try it with "imported".
S: How many …….etc.

(http://mark.yates.net/english/teaching/bk09.htm)

Once again the teacher is using a very short prompt and this time the student has a lot of work on his plate to adjust his sentence accordingly. It should be clear from the foregoing that this kind of drill is appropriate at virtually every level of teaching for it can be used not only for basic practice of certain structures which just require a lot of repetition but also for the kind of exploratory work which can tell a teacher what needs to be done with more advanced students.

1.2. Transformation drills:

Rewrite the sentences in the negative and then into interrogative:

They collected postcards.

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

You jumped high.

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

Albert played squash.

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

The teacher tested our English.

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

Fiona visited her grandma.

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

He washed the car.

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

You were thirsty.

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

He had a computer.

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

I bought bread.

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

You saw the house.

(http://mark.yates.net/english/teaching/bk09.htm)

Substitution drills

A substitution drill is a classroom technique used to practice new language. It involves the teacher first modeling a word or a sentence and the learners repeating it. The teacher then substitutes one or more key words, or changes the prompt, and the learners say the new structure.

Substitution drills work best at the beginning levels. They enable students to focus
on structure while learning related vocabulary. Teachers first teach a dialogue or sentence structure, and then allow students to substitute different content words.

E.g.: “I went _______________ last week. “

swimming
skating
shopping

(http://englishteachingtechniques.blogspot.ro/2012/09/unit-1-substitution-drills.html#!/2012/09/unit-1-substitution-drills.html)

Response drills:

To further develop the grammar point a ‘yes/ no’ drill can be used. The teacher elicits the positive response to Simple Past Tense Questions by holding up pictures of the respective action taking place.

E,g. Teacher: “Did she walk?” / “Did they run?” / “Did he smile?” / “Did it jump?”

Student: “Yes, she walked.” / “Yes, they ran.” / “Yes, he smiled.” / “Yes, it jumped.”

Then elicit a negative response from the students.

E,g. Teacher: “Did she walk?” / “Did they run?” / “Did he smile?” / “Did it jump?”

Student: “No, she didn’t walk.”/“No, they didn’t run.”/“No, he didn’t smile.”/“No, it didn’t jump.”

(http://englishteachingtechniques.blogspot.ro/2012/09/unit-1-substitution-drills.html#!/2012/09/unit-1-substitution-drills.html)

End by mixing the responses up. Ensure that the students know what is expected from them. Give clear instructions concerning the form you want them to drill.

Cued Response Drill

In this drill language learners are provide with a cue before or after the questions.

E.g.: Teacher : What did the man buy? (A book)

Students : The man bought a book.

Teacher : Who helped us? (His brother)

Students : His brother helped us.

(http://englishteachingtechniques.blogspot.ro/2012/09/unit-1-substitution-drills.html#!/2012/09/unit-1-substitution-drills.html)

E.g.: Read each statement. Then write a yes/no question with the words in parentheses

( ). Give a short answer.

E.g.: The Wright brothers were inventors. (Lindbergh)

Was Lindbergh an inventor? No, he wasn’t.

The airplane was an important invention. (the telephone)

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Thomas Edison was an inventor. (the Wright brothers)

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Amelia Earhart was American. (Lindbergh)

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Travel by plane is common now. (100 years ago)

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

There were telephones 100 years ago. (airplanes)

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

You are in class today. (yesterday)

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

I was interested in the story about the aviators. (you)

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

I wasn’t born in the U.S. (you)

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

(http://englishteachingtechniques.blogspot.ro/2012/09/unit-1-substitution-drills.html#!/2012/09/unit-1-substitution-drills.html)

Expansion Drill

Language learners build up a statement by adding a word or phrase.

Example: Teacher : Mathematics

Students : We studied mathematics

Teacher : everyday

Students : We studied mathematics everyday.

Contraction Drill

Language learners replace a phrase or clause with a single word or shorter expressions.

Example: Teacher : I didn’t mean to kill the bird.

Students : I didn’t mean it.

The Final Test

At the end of the study, a final test was given to both classes. The test comprised two subjects. The first subject aimed to test the students’ ability to put the verbs in brackets into the correct Past tense (Past Simple, Past Continuous, Past Perfect Simple, and Past Perfect Continuous). The Verbs were both regular and irregular. The results obtained by the students in both classes are presented in Diagrams 5 and 6 and they show the number of sudents from each class who succeeded to to put the verbs given in the correct tense. A comparison between the results registered with both classes was made and it is presented in Tabel 6. The comparison reveals the fact that the results of the students from grade B are higher than the results of the students from grade A.

The second subject asked the students to write about what they did last summer. Their compositions were corrected by applying the marking scheme (Task Achievement, Language Accuracy, Register and Vocabulary, Organization, Cohesion Layout, Overall Effect), and the results are presents in Tables 7 and 8. The results from the second subject reveal the fact that most students from both classes are able to express correctly a past action, so as to achieve accuracy, cohesion, communicative competence, even if it is in writing process.

Conclussions:

Most students from both classes have managed to use correctly regular and irregular verbs in the appropriate Past Tense;

A great number of students have become and gained fluency, cohesion, coherence in using the language;

Final Test

Fill in the spaces with the correct form of the verb in any aspect of the Past Tenses:

“Eric and Ilsa are brother and sister. They (grow) _______ (1) up together in the city that used to be known as West Berlin, in the former West Germany. Eric (move) _______ _______ (2) to the United States decades ago, before the eastern and western parts of both Berlin and Germany were reunited in 1990. Ilsa and her family (visit) ___________ (3) Eric and his family last year. llsa's family (fly) ____________ (4) from Berlin to Detroit for the visit. Although the children (never, meet) _______ _______ _______ (5) before, except through e-mail, the families (have) __________ (6) a great time together.

Every day for a week, the adults and the children (play)_______ _______(7), talking, and eating together. One day, they (cook) _______ (8) some German recipes that (be) _______ ________(9) in the family for generations. For years, Ilsa (save) _______ _______ _______ (10) them and treasuring them in a box their mother (give) _______ _______(11) her just before she (die)_______ (12). One of their mother's favorites (be) _______ ________(13) a dessert called Apple Kuchen.

One night after everyone else (already, go) _______ _______ ________(14) to bed, Eric and Ilsa (quietly, sit) _______ _______ ________(15) and talking. "What have you (miss) ____________ (16) most about Berlin?" Ilsa wanted to know. Eric (pause) __________ (17), then answered, "Mostly, I miss living in a city with such wonderful landmarks. The kids and I (look) _______ _______ _______(18) at some books about Berlin and Germany for a while before you and your family (arrive) __________(19). We (discuss) _______ _______ (20) the Brandenburg Gate when Franz interrupted to ask why its image (use) _______ _______ _______ (21) as a design on some of the coins back when Germany had converted its money to euros." "What (do) _______ (22) you tell him?" Ilsa asked.

"I (say) _________ (23) that I (not, be)_______ _______(24) sure," answered Eric, “but that I (think) _______(25) it was because the gate (become) _______ _______(26) a symbol for Germany, like the Statue of Liberty had emerged as a symbol for the United States”.

(50 p)

( Taken from “www.EnglishForEveryone.Org © 2008”)

Write about what you did last summer. (Do not use more than 150 words.)

(50 p.)

Diagram 5. Results of the Final Test, Subject I, the 8-th Grade, A

Diagram 6. Results of the Final Test, Subject I, the 8-th Grade, B

Tabel 6: Comparison of the results from the final test applied to both classes, subject I

Tabel 7. Results of the subject II, Final Test, the 8-th Grade A

Tabel 8. Results of the subject II, Final Test, the 8-th Grade B

The Communicative Approach- the Communicative Language Teaching Method.

Let us now turn our attention to modern methodology, its aims, philosophy, and procedures, and some examples of its methods. Unlike traditional methodology, modern methodology is much more student-centred. According to Jim Scrivener, the teacher’s main role is to “help learning to happen,” which includes “involving” students in what is going on “by enabling them to work at their own speed, by not giving long explanations, by encouraging them to participate, talk, interact, do things, etc.” (Scrivener 18, 19). Broughton adds that “the language student is best motivated by practice in which he senses the language is truly communicative, that it is appropriate to its context, that his teacher’s skills are moving him forward to a fuller competence in a foreign language” (Broughton 47). Briefly put, the students are the most active element in this process. The teacher is here not to explain but to encourage and help students to explore, try out, make learning interesting, etc.

Though being essential, the aim of learning a foreign language according to modern methodology is still discussed, and there is a variety of possible aims. In his book Learning Teaching, Jim Scrivener claims, that nowadays a great emphasis is put on “communication of meaning” (Scrivener 31). Jack C. Richards also highlights the communicative competence which is, as he defines it, “being able to use the language for meaningful communication” (Richards 4). Thus many professionals refer to this methodology as the Communicative Language approach. Another group of authors headed by Broughton propose a different idea. They point out that foreign languages are taught “not simply for the learner to be able to write to a foreign pen friend” but to broaden his or her horizons by introducing “certain ways of thinking about time, space and quantity [and] attitudes towards” issues we have to face in every day life (Broughton 9,10). Briefly put, some people learn a foreign language most importantly to be able to communicate with foreign people and other people learn a foreign language above all to see the world from a different point of view, to discover new approaches to life or to find out about other cultures.

Since modern methodology is aiming for something different, also the way to achieve the goal has changed. As pointed out by Jack C. Richards, “attention shifted to the knowledge and skills needed to use grammar and other aspects of language appropriately for different communicative purposes such as making requests, giving advice, making suggestions, describing wishes and needs and so on” (Richards 8). Teachers’ methods, courses, and books had to be adjusted to new needs of the learners to fulfil their expectations. Instead of grammatical competence, communicative competence became the priority. Ronald V. White articulates three principles of modern methodology: firstly,“the primacy of speech; secondly, an emphasis on“the centrality of connected text as the heart of teaching-learning process; and thirdly, an “absolute priority of an oral methodology in the classroom” (White 11). Instead of memorizing grammatical rules and isolated vocabulary, modern methodology prefers to present contextualized language and to develop skills.

Let us now focus on one important part of modern teaching – teaching skills. The main skills are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. They can be classified into two groups: receptive (listening and reading) and productive (speaking and writing). These skills consist of sub-skills; for example, reading includes skimming (reading for gist), scanning (reading for specific information), intensive reading, and extensive reading. While listening, students can listen for gist, or for specific information: for some details, like numbers, addresses, directions etc. In real life we do not normally listen for every word spoken. Therefore, as many professionals today agree, the task should be realistic too. The tasks should improve skills, not test memory. According to Jim Scrivener, with receptive skills it is always better to assign one task, let the students accomplish it, have feedback, and then assign another task, let the students read or listen to the text again, have feedback, etc. Scrivener also points out that the tasks should be graded from the easiest to the most difficult, or, in other words, from the most general to the most detailed, and the students must know what the assignments are before the listening or reading itself is done. If the students do not manage to accomplish the task, the teacher should play the listening again or give them more time for reading (Scrivener 170-173).

Concerning productive skills, writing and speaking, there are some important issues to mention too. While students practice production skills, a teacher using modern methodology is aware of a contradiction between accuracy and fluency. According to Jack C. Richards, “fluency is natural language use occurring when a speaker engages in a meaningful interaction and maintains comprehensible and ongoing communication despite limitations on his or her communicative competence” (Richards 13). As stated by Richards, modern methodology tries to keep a balance between the fluency and accuracy practice (Richards 14). There is another aspect important in speaking activities. This vital aspect is context and purpose. This is supported by the opinion expressed by Jill and Charles Hadfield who claim, that activities which mirror real life situations and which have a goal, for example finding a rule, are “more interesting and motivating for the learners (Hadfield 4).

We can recapitulate the above mentioned ideas by stating that skills should be taught in a context which is close to real life situations in which students might well find themselves, the practice should be involving and the activities should be well aimed and executed. This approach helps learners to be motivated and interested in the subject matter.

Teaching grammar in a modern way is an essential part too. Unlike the traditional method, however, the presentation of new grammar also involves students very much. Jim Scrivener also makes a good point by stating “Keep it short” (Scrivener 267). Keeping this rule in mind when teaching is essential, since long explanations often become confusing and boring. Scrivener also emphasizes, that “the monologue may provide useful exposure to one way of using language, but it isn’t sufficient to justify regular lessons of this kind” (Scrivener 16). This point highlights the need for the students’ participation and interaction. Some ways to involve students in the grammar presentation are elicitation and personalization. These two methods appear to be very useful tools. Students always seem to be interested in their teacher’s personal affairs, friends, etc. In fact, situations that the teacher presents as personal do not always have to be true. Elicitation meanwhile invites students to be active, to take part in the lesson, to present their knowledge and ideas. Since most of the interaction is going on in English, modern methodologists recommend checking understanding throughout the grammar presentation. Teacher can carry out this essential procedure by using timelines, examples, (if suitable) visual aids, or by asking concept questions. Concept questions highlight the meaning of a target language item and are simple to understand and to answer (usually ‘yes’ or ‘no’, possibly ‘we do not know’). However, very often they are not easy to make up. They are asked in the target language, though they must not contain the structure or word being taught. The presentation should be followed up by appropriate practice which is usually controlled, guided and free respectively (Zemenova). These suggestions agree with Jim Scrivener’s statement that the “ability to use language seems to be more of a skill you learn by trying to do it […] than an amount of a data that you learn and then try to apply” (Scrivener 19). It appears that encouraging students to ‘play’ with the target language is very effective in helping them learn to speak it.

Modern methodology includes a number of methods. One of the effective methods for presenting new language is so called ‘guided discovery.’ Scrivener defines it this way: the teacher is “leading people to discover things that they didn’t know they knew via a process of structured questions” (Scrivener 268). The teacher can also introduce a situation, a context, and elicit the language from the students. A suitable reading or listening can be used as a source of the new language. Vocabulary or lexis is a very important part of learning a language. However, what does teaching a word involve? What should a learner know about a word to be able to say “I know this word”? In a guided discussion in the methodology trainingat Masaryk University the students and teachers agreed that the important issues are itsmeaning(s), its pronunciation (both individually and in a sentence), its spelling, its various forms (tenses, plural, etc.), its uses (position in a sentence), its connotations, and its collocations (among others). All of them do not have to be taught in one lesson, of course (Zemenova).

We will now consider the modern ways of teaching lexis. One has probably met many ways to teach or revise vocabulary. As suggested by Jim Scrivener, the most popular or the most common methods in modern teaching are:

Match the words with the pictures.

Check the meaning of these words in the dictionary.

Match the words with the definitions.

Brainstorm words on a set topic (i.e. collect as many as you can).

Divide these words into two groups (e.g. food words and hobby words).

Label the items in a picture with the right names.

Complete gapped sentences with words from a list.

Discuss a topic (that will feature in the text).

Say which words (from a list) you expect to be in a text about… (Scrivener 231).

Besides these methods, there are other ideas too:

miming, drawing or showing a flashcard to indicate the meaning of a word.

using timelines or percentage (in comparison with some similar words).

eliciting some words for a short preferably funny or personal (possibly

repetitive) dialogue or story.

letting the students get the meaning from the context.

using synonyms and opposites.

crosswords, riddles.

for some difficult words, such as abstract items or verbs, translation is useful

too; however, it is preferable to elicit the translation from the students(Zemenova).

These lists definitely do not include all the methods a teacher can use. However, these

methods can be used in a variety of activities, such as pre-teaching, listening for lexis, reading for lexis, using a dictionary, etc Pre-teaching lexis can help students to recall items they have met before as well as learn new words. Jim Scrivener points out that “the main aim is to help ensure that the following activity will work (because there will be fewer stumbling blocks of unknown lexical items).” Scrivener adds that pre-teaching can be used successfully to practice some words “useful in [their] own right” (Scrivener 230-233). In classrooms, pre-teaching seems to be helpful and can be very exciting and involving. Introducing and establishing the meaning of new item of lexis is, nevertheless, not enough. Scrivener claims that learners need to “meet new lexical items and understand their meaning(s), the ways they are used and the other lexical items they often come together with,” practice using the new vocabulary, remember them and finally “recall and use the lexical items appropriately” (Scrivener 228). This can be done in a vocabulary lesson. The vocabulary lesson is a lesson with the main aim of teaching and practising vocabulary, not grammar or skills. As stated in the book Teaching English as a foreign Language: “Language item which is not contextualised is more difficult to remember and to use” (Broughton 41-43). We can see that in a vocabulary lesson it is important to keep new words in context. This aim can be achieved by observing six stages of such a lesson, suggested by Jim Scrivener, which are “1. Preteach lexis […], 2. Written practice of lexis […], 3. Oral practice […], 4. Reading to fiind specific information […], 5. Further lexis work […], 6. Communicative activity […]” (Scrivener 233-4).. This procedure is also in accordance with Jim Scrivener’s above mentioned statement that “ability to use language seems to be more of a skill you learn by trying to do it […] than an amount of a data that you learn and then try to apply” (Scrivener 19). Many people agree that with remembering lexis, using is the best method.

To sum up, the modern methodology principles, we can highlight the student-centred interaction which is connected to the involvement of the students in everything going on during the lesson. This shifts the teacher’s role to not causing the learning, but helping learning to happen. The teacher’s task is to choose activities suitable for their learners to guide them in the lessons and to encourage them to experiment with the language.

The modern methodology comprises a rich variety of methods which should have some common features: activities involving students and close to the real-life situations. To be effective, the methods follow after each other in a suitable order, and there should be a balance of teaching focused on different aspects of the language.

Communicative Language Teaching can be understood as a set of principles about the goals of language teaching, about how learners learn a language, about the kinds of classroom activities that best facilitate the process of learning, about the roles of the teachers and of the learners in the classroom.

Communicative Language Teaching sets as its goals the teaching of communicative competence. In order to understand this term, we must compare it with the grammatical competence. Grammatical competence refers to the knowledge of a language that tells us about our ability to produce sentences in a language, and to be more specific, it refers to the knowledge of producing blocks of sentences (i.e. parts of speech, tenses, clauses etc.) and how sentences are formed.

Communicative competence involves the following aspects of language knowledge:

Knowing how to use language for different and various purposes;

Knowing how to vary the use of language according to the setting and the participants involved, i.e. the cases in which we must use formal or informal speech, or the situations when we are supposed to use language appropriately in written or spoken communication;

Knowing how to produce and understand different kinds of texts, i.e. narratives, reports, interviews, conversations etc.;

The ability to maintain communication despite having limitations in one’s language knowledge, i.e. by using distinct kids of communication strategies.

Historically, Communicative Language Teaching has been seen as a response to the Audio-Lingual Method and as an extension or development of the Notional-Functional Syllabus. If it is considered this way, then it places great emphasis on helping students use the target language in a variety of contexts and on learning language functions. The learners are lead to be able to say something, to find out more facts, information, express their likes or dislikes etc. It contains also notions which can be asking for directions, apologizing etc. During the classroom activities, the students are encouraged to use the target language as much as possible and use it for communicative purposes. The activities are meaningful and the learners can feel the language they use really helps them and it can be practiced easily every day. The materials used are related to the children’ age, level of studying, hobbies, interests, real life segments.

Activities that are truly communicative have three common features, according to Morrow (in Johnson and Morrow, 1981) and these are: information gap, choice and feed-back. Meaningful communication means that there is an actual purpose for the learners to communicate in the target language. Information gap means that one learner has a piece of information that the other one doesn’t. Choice means that the learner has a choice of how to communicate, and feedback means that the learner receives some response as to whether or not he/she has successfully communicated.

The common aspect is the usage of authentic materials which keeps them motivated for learning. Among these materials are newspapers, recipes, telephone directories, videos, discussions programmes etc. Their textbooks are used but not entirely; they function as a starting point of their activities. The teachers add their own materials including the use of stimuli and rely on their professional expertise. The learners’ needs are fulfilled and the learners are exposed just to formal language, but they can have access to idiomatic language which will be heard in every day language or in common conversation between people.

The teaching process does not contain repetitions and drills, but the learners’ creativity and spontaneity are encouraged as well. Pupils have the opportunities to hear a lot of information about a particular topic so that they can assimilate it easily.

This approach proposes classroom activities in which both the teacher and the learner are assigned new roles. Now, the learners have to participate in classroom activities that are based on cooperative rather than individualistic approach to the learning process. Students have to become comfortable with listening to their colleagues while working in group or pair, and not to rely so much on the teacher’s support. Above all, students are communicators, being actively engaged in negotiating meaning—in trying to make themselves understood and also in understanding the others–, even when the knowledge of the target language is incomplete. The teacher is now a facilitator, a monitor; rather than being a model who offered correct speech and writing, and also the one who had the primary responsibility of making his/her students produce errors free sentences, the teacher has now to develop a different view of the learners’ errors and to create his/her role in facilitating language learning.

Grammarians like Van Ek and Alexander argued in their book (1998) that a syllabus should identify the aspects of language use in order to be able to develop the learner’s communicative competence, and these aspects can be summarized as follows:

A detailed consideration about the purpose for which the learner wishes to acquire the target language, i.e. business, in the hotel industry, tourism etc.;

Some ideas about the setting in which they want to use this language, i.e. office, airport, store etc.;

The learners have to have socially defined roles and their instructors as well, i.e. a traveler, a student etc.;

The communicative events which the learners will attend, i.e. every day life, vocational or professional situations, academic situations etc.;

Establishing the language functions involved in such events, or what the learner will be able to do with the language i.e. making introductions, giving instructions, offering advice, accept/refuse something etc.;

The notions or concepts involved, or what the learner will need to be able to talk about, i.e. leisure, finance, history, religion etc.;

The skills involved: discourse and rhetorical skills, i.e. story telling, providing an effective business presentation etc.;

The varieties of the target language that will be needed, such as American, Australian, or British English;

Establishing the grammatical content which will be needed;

Establishing the lexical content or vocabulary which will be needed.

Another goal of the Communicative Language Teaching is to develop fluency in language use. Fluency is defined as “the natural language use occurring when a speaker engages in meaningful interaction and maintains comprehensible and ongoing communication despite limitations in his or her communicative competence. Fluency is developed by creating classroom activities in which students must negotiate meaning, use communication strategies, correct misunderstandings and work to avoid communication breakdowns,” as Richards states in his book “Communicative Language Teaching Today”(1998).

According to the same author, fluency practice can be distinguished from accuracy practice, which focusses on creating correct examples of language use. Based on the previous statement, there are different activities specific to each concept.

Activities which focus on fluency:

Reflect the natural use of the target language;

Focus on the process of achieving communication;

Require meaningful use of language;

Require the use of communication strategies;

Produce a kind of language which may not be predictable;

Seek to link language use to context.

Activities which focus on accuracy:

Reflect the classroom use of the target language;

Focus on the formation of correct examples of language;

Practice language out of the context;

Practice small samples of language;

Do not require meaningful communication;

The choice of the language is controlled.

In other words, learners do not go through a learning experience in which they acquire the structural properties of a language and then learn to use this structural system in communication. As a matter of fact, they discover the system itself as they learn how to communicate in a language. This version proposes that teachers provide learners with ample opportunities to familiarize themselves with how language is used in actual communication. Other authors in the field have defined and characterized Communicative Language Teaching in various ways (Brown, 2001; Larsen-Freeman, 1986; Littlewood, 1981; Richards, 2006; Savignon, 1991). According to Larsen-Freeman (1986), the most obvious attribute of Communicative Language Teaching is that ‘‘almost everything that is done is done with a communicative intent’’ (p.132). In Communicative Language Teaching, meaning is given prime importance, which is achieved through interaction between reader and writer, and through negotiation between speaker and listener. There are a variety of communicative activities (e.g. games, role plays, simulations, and problem-solving tasks), which offer learners an opportunity to practice their communication skills meaningfully in different contexts and by taking on different roles. In the process of utilizing these kinds of performance activities, learners avoid using their native language and teachers occasionally, if ever, correct students’ mistakes.

Another typical feature of communicative language teaching is that “it gives planned emphasis on functional as well as structural features of language, combining these into a more completely communicative view”.(Littlewood, 1981, p. 1).

Teachers who espouse this method move beyond teaching structural rules of the target language, and create opportunities for learners to use the target language in a meaningful way. In doing so, they help their learners build up communicative competence. Small group work can also be regarded as an important tenet of Communicative Language Teaching. Larsen-Freeman (1986) puts forward that activities in a communicative class are commonly carried out by students in small groups. Negotiation of meaning can be accomplished by involving learners in group work in which they can freely interact with each other. Through small group activities, the students are engaged in meaningful and authentic language use rather than in the simply mechanical practice of language patterns. Emphasizing the importance of pair and group work as an indispensable aspect of Communicative Language Teaching classroom, Richards (2006) argues that carrying out activities in pair and group work will benefit the learners in the following ways:

•They can learn from hearing the language used by other members of the group.

•They will produce a greater amount of language than they would use in teacher-fronted activities.

•Their motivational level is likely to increase.

•They will have the chance to develop fluency.(p. 20)

In this respect, using authentic materials can be helpful for language teachers to expose their students to the target language the way it is used by native speakers. Richards (2006) lists the following arguments in favor of the use of authentic sources as the basis of communicative classroom learning:

•They provide cultural information about the target language.

•They provide exposure to real language.

•They relate more closely to learners’ needs.

•They support a more creative approach to teaching. (p. 20)

Another feature of Communicative Language Teaching is "its learner-centered and experience-based view of second language teaching" (Richards & Rodgers, 1986, p. 69). As cited in Li (1998), individual learners have their unique interests, learning styles, needs, and goals that should be reflected in the design of instructional methods (Savignon, 1991). Li (1998) further states that it is crucial for teachers to develop materials-based on the established needs of a particular class. Besides, in a Communicative Language Teaching classroom, students must be made to feel secure, unthreatened, and non-defensive, so teachers adopting this method should avoid taking on a teacher-centered, authoritarian attitude (Taylor, 1983). Brown (2001), in describing the key principles of the Communicative Language Teaching, offers the following six characteristics:

Classroom goals are focused on all of the components (grammatical, discourse, functional, sociolinguistic, and strategic) of communicative competence. Goals therefore must intertwine the organizational aspects of language with the pragmatic;

Language techniques are designed to engage learners in the pragmatic, authentic, functional use of language for meaningful purposes. Organizational language forms are not the central focus, but rather aspects of language that enable learner to accomplish those purposes;

Fluency and accuracy are seen as complementary principles underlying communicative techniques. At times fluency may have to take on more importance than accuracy in order to keep learners meaningfully engaged in language use;

Students in a communicative class ultimately have to use language, productively and receptively, in unrehearsed contexts outside the classroom. Classroom tasks must therefore equip students with the skills necessary for communication in those contexts;

Students are given opportunities to focus on their own learning process through an understanding of their own styles of learning and through the development of appropriate strategies for autonomous learning;

The role of the teacher is that of facilitator and guide, not an all-knowing best owner of knowledge. Students are therefore encouraged to construct meaning through genuine linguistic interaction with others. (p. 43)

Finally, other activity types that are typically implemented in a Communicative Language Teaching classroom can be listed as follow:

Information-gap activities: The concept of information gap is an important aspect of communication in a CLT classroom. This essentially is based on the fact that in their everyday lives people generally communicate in order to get information they do not possess. This is referred to as an information gap. If students can be involved in information gap activities in order to exchange unknown information in language classrooms, more authentic communication is likely to occur in the classroom. By doing so, they will draw available vocabulary, grammar, and communication strategies to complete a task.

E.g.: Fill in the gaps with the verbs in the paranthesis and put them in the past simple or the past progressive:

“1. It ……………………….(begin) to rain while Amanda and I……………………….(walk) to school this morning.

2. While I ……………………………………..(wash) dishes last night, I…………………….(drop)a plate and………………(break) it.

3. I ……………(see) Ted at the student cafeteria at lunchtime yesterday. He……………………….(eat) a sandwichand……………………………….(talk)withsome friends. I ……………….(join) them.

4. While I …………………………………..(walk) under an apple tree a few days ago, an apple……………………………….(fall) and ……………………………………….(hit)me on the head.

5. Robert didn't answer the phone when Sara called. He ………………………………..(sing)

his favourite song in the shower and …………………………(hear, not) the phone ring.

6. A: I saw a whale!

B: Really? Great! When?

A: This morning. I …………………………(walk) on the beach when I……………..(hear)a sudden "whoosh!" It (be) the spout ofa huge gray whale.

7. A: There was a power outage in our part of town last night. ……………………………………..(your lights, go out)too?

B: Yes, they did. It…………………………. (be) terrible! I ……………………………….(take) a shower when the lights went out. My wife ………(find) a flashlight and rescued me from the bathroom. We couldn't cook dinner, so we…………… (eat) sandwiches instead. I…………………………. (try) to read some reports by candlelight, but I couldn't see well enough, so I…………………………………………… (go) to bed and ………………………………………………(sleep).

How about you?

Yesterday Tom and Janice ………………………..(go) to the zoo, where they……………………….. (see) many kinds of animals and ………………………….(have) a few adventures. While they……………………………………………. (walk) by an elephant, it ……………………(begin)to squirt water at them, so they run behind a rock and ……………….(dry) themselves. Later, while they …………………………….(pass) the giraffe area, one of the tall, purple-tongued animals……………………………………. (lower) its head toward Tom and ……………………………..(start) to nibble on his green hat. Janice said, "Shoo!"* At that point, the giraffe …………………………………(stretch) its head toward Janice and ………………………….………..(try) to eat her ice cream cone. Janice……………………..…………… (let, not)the giraffe have the ice cream because she …………………(stand)right in front of a sign that said, "DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS." She…………………………… (point) at the sign and ……………………………….(say) to the giraffe, <Can't you read?>"(Taken from “Fundamentals of English Grammar, Third Edition Workbook”,Copyright © 2003, 1992, 1985 by Betty Schrampfer Azar).

Jigsaw activities: These activities are also based on the information-gap principle. The class is divided into groups and each group has part of the information needed to complete an activity. The class is supposed to fit the pieces together to complete the whole. In that way, they need to use their language resources to communicate meaningfully and so take part in meaningful communication practice.

E.g.: Alibi Jigsaw Reading Activity: Have a look at the following interview between Mr. Jones and a police interviewer. For each space, choose the best question that you need to ask for that information.

“Policeman: OK, Mr. Jones. Now just tell us what happened last night and what you were doing between 7 o'clock and 10 o'clock.

Mr. Jones: Well, at 7 o'clock I was __________ (1) and I was watching a film called 'Last Chance in Bandit County'. I was sitting next to _________(2) who was wearing a yellow dress. Just after the film started, she _________(3) so I'm sure she will remember me.

The film finished at about 7.30pm and I left the cinema _______(4) later.

Policeman: Why?

Mr. Jones: Because I was seeing what films were on for next week. Anyway, when I got outside into the street, it _______(5) and so I decided to go to a bar. As I was walking to the bar a friend telephoned me on my mobile phone so I stood in a shop doorway to speak to him for a short time.

Policeman: What shop was it?

Mr. Jones: Oh. I think it was a ______(6) shop. It was called Travers or Trovers or something. I went into the bar at about ten to eight. As I walked in, there were only 2 customers there and they were __________(7). The barman was watching television also! I ordered a pint of beer and sat down near _________(8).

Policeman: So will these three people remember you being there?

Mr. Jones: Oh yes. As I was drinking my beer, the barman was talking to me about the weather and the football meci on Saturday. I left the pub at _________(9) and went to find my car. When I arrived at my car, there were 2 teenagers leaning on my car talking so I shouted at them to get off. They'll remember me!! I drove home while listening to the radio and got home at about __________(10).

Policeman: Who did you see at home?

Mr. Jones: When I arrived home, my wife was cooking dinner and my two sons were __________(11) in the living room. We all ate dinner together and that finished at about 10 o'clock. Now I really must telephone my lawyer…”

1. Where were you at 7 o'clock?

Where did you stay at 7 o'clock?

2. Who was you sitting next to?

Who were you sitting next to?

3. What she did?

What did she do?

What did she did?

4. What hour did you leave the cinema?

Which time you left the cinema?

What time did you leave the cinema?

5. What was the weather like?

What was the weather?

How the weather was?

6. What type of shop it was?

What type of shop was it?

7. What did the customers were doing?

What the customers were doing?

What were the customers doing?

8. Where did you sit?

Where were you sit?

9. What hour did you leave the pub?

What time you left the pub?

What time did you leave the pub?

10. What time did you get home?

What time you did get home?

11. What your sons were doing?

What were your sons doing?

What did your sons doing?

(From http://www.esl-lounge.com/student/grammar/2g22-alibi-jigsaw.php)

Communication games: These games primarily involve information-gap activities which are intended to provoke communication in the classroom. The games are generally in the form of puzzles, drawing pictures and putting things given in the correct order. The students have a piece of information which is part of the total, what they need to do is to walk around to get the necessary information in order to reach the entire information, through which an artificial need on the part of the learners is created to get them to speak. Students feel it as a challenge to participate; thus an unconscious learning and practicing of knowledge occurs which erase out the fears learners have for speaking in the class (Johnson &Morrow, 1981).

E.g.: They End In “-ed”!

Students enjoy playing this oral language game! All the players are practicing their simple past tense verbs while playing this engaging board game.

•Game Cards (Use cards for just one sound of “ed” or all 3)

•Game Board

•Number Cards

Play in groups of 2 to 4.

The objective is to be the first player to reach the finish line. Shuffle the game cards and put them face down on the draw pile. Shuffle the number cards and place them face-down on the gameboard. Each student chooses a game piece. Use colored cubes, beans etc. for game pieces. Students draw a number card to see who goes first. The player who draws the highest number is the first to play. Play will go clockwise from the first player.

•The first player draws a card from the draw pile.

•Player reads the card outloud and finishes the sentence.

•Player places the card face up on the table for all to see.

•The group repeats the sentence outloud correctly as a chant.

•If the player is correct she/he draws a number card and moves her/his game piece that number of spaces.

•If the player answers the question incorrectly, she/he loses a turn and play goes to the next player.

•Play continues until the first person crosses the finish line.

Directions:

• Roll a die to see who goes first.

• If you go first, draw a card from the draw pile.

• Read the card outloud and finish the sentence.

• Place the card face up on the table for all to see.

• The players all read the sentence outloud correctly as a chant.

• If you were right you draw a number card and move that many spaces.

• If you were wrong you lose a turn and play goes to the next player.

• Game goes until someone crosses the finish line.

(From Woodward, S.W.(1997)-“Fun with Grammar”, Prentice Hall Regents)

E.g.: Memory Round Game

Materials: A 3” x 5” card per student, with a verb in past tense written on each card.

Dynamic: Whole class.

Time: 20 minutes.

Procedure:

1. Give each student a card with the simple form of a different verb, written large. (You may mix irregular and regular pasts, or just focus on irregular past forms.) Let each student decide what the correct past form of his/her verb is.

2. Have students sit or stand in a circle. Instruct them to think of a sentence that uses the verb on their card. They will have to remember the sentences, so they should not be overly long.

3. Students hold their cards facing the circle at all times. The first student says his/her sentence. The next student in the circle says his/her sentence and repeats student one’s sentence. Continue around the circle. The last student repeats all the previous sentences.

Example:

Student 1: I needed to buy groceries yesterday.

Student 2: I ate breakfast at 7:00, and he needed to buy groceries yesterday.

Student 3: I drove to the mountains last weekend, she ate breakfast at 7:00, and he needed to buy groceries yesterday.

NOTE: You can begin with a student who seems weak (he/she will not have to remember so many sentences) or with the person next to the person who has the best memory. No writing is allowed; students must focus on what their classmates are saying.

E.g.: Ghosts: Past tense speaking game for groups

Aim: To practice speaking/ telling stories using past tense

Level: Intermediate/advanced

When teaching writing a narrative paragraph, I sometimes use a speaking activity as a lead-in and presentation of the language model before other stages of writing. This activity is called ‘Ghosts’. It is a stage of encouraging both cooperative and competitive learning from the learners. Students have to cooperate in their group while they have to compete with other groups and become a winning team. I adapted this speaking game from http://www.eslflow.com/ESLgameGhosts.html. It helps students review past simple of many verbs, both regular and irregular verbs.

Procedure:

1. Start by telling a story of ‘what happened to me yesterday’ to the students.

Example: I had so many things to do yesterday. First, I cleaned up my bedroom. Next, I went outside to empty the trash bin. Then, I started cooking for my kids. After that I drove the kids to their music school. Finally, I had a hair perm.

2. Tell students they’re going to make up similar stories using first, next, then, after that and finally. They will work in groups; each group takes turn to create one sentence. They have three lives to save. They will lose (become a ghost) if all the three lives die.

3. Then show students details of how the game goes. First, the teacher draws three stick figures on the whiteboard and uses them for explaining the game rules.

4. Here are the game rules:

Step 1: Students work in teams of 3-5 (depending on the class size).

Step 2: Each team tries to brainstorm and write down the past simple form of as many words as they can. For example, they can think of words like “went, read, said, found, sank, ate, ran, etc. ” and keep them as reference.

Step 3: Each team takes turns to make sentences in the past tense.

Example round:

First team: First, he got out of bed.

Second team: Next, he brushed his teeth.

Third team: Then, he went for a run.

Fourth team: After that, he had a shower.

Fifth team: Finally, he ate breakfast.

Every time students come round to “First” the story can start a new situation.

Step 4: A team loses a life if

1) they repeat a verb already used

2) they make a grammar mistake

3) they take too long

4) they make a ridiculous sentence and they have to cross out a life of their stick figures.

Step 5: The teams that lose three lives die and become ghosts.

The last team alive is the winner.

5. After explaining the rules and demonstrating a round as an example, I will then erase my own stick figures and divide the board into 5 parts, if I have 5 teams. Let students draw their own stick figures on the board and then start the game.

6. If some students start to dominate the talk or they are the only speakers in the groups, I will set a tougher rule. That means each group member has to have his/her turn saying a sentence or they lose a life if the same person says two sentences in a row.

Variations: 1. This game can be used for practicing other tenses, too. However, the teacher has to give language models of the focused language before starting the game.

2. With students of lower level of English proficiency, it may help if the teacher gives out a chart of some commonly used irregular verbs. When students cannot come up with a sentence, the words they see in the chart may help them in creating something.

Here is the example of the list:

arise arose arisen

bear bore born

become became become

bend bent bent

bite bit bitten

break broke broken

bring brought brought

cut cut cut

hold held held

steal stole stolen

take took taken

wear wore worn

However, students should be reminded that there are many other regular and irregular verbs that they can think of. It’s not necessary to use only the words given by the teacher.

The teacher may have small pieces of paper with a verb written on each piece. Put all the pieces in a box or a hat. Each group takes turn to draw a piece of paper from the box and create a sentence with the verb written on the paper. This helps the teacher draw students’ attention to practice certain targeted words.

(http://litu.tu.ac.th/2012/images/litu/pdf/Teaching_Tips/Sripathum03.pdf)

Discussion and debates: They are of widely utilized activity types due to their low effort demanding nature of the teacher. Every now and then, an intimate atmosphere of discussion occurs in the classroom, however, when appropriately exploited, these discussions will undoubtedly end up in speaking opportunities of extreme worth, both in terms of language presentation and practice. Either encouraging competition or cooperation, which one to choose is a matter of familiarity with the students; the teacher may foster discussion over debate.

E.g.: 1. Talk about a time when you felt very happy.

2.Debate: What subject did you like most in school?

3.What do you think was the most important scientific advancement in history?

4. What was the most important invention in history?

Prepared talks and oral presentations: These are the talks which are prepared by students about a specific topic and given in the class with the aim of persuading, informing students about a topic or just to entertain them.

After presentation and explanation the stage of practice comes. Ur (1991) explains the need of practice as the need for students to absorb the learnt material into long-term memory. After presentation and explaining the learners can understand the principles well but it cannot be said that they have mastered it. The material learnt is perceived and taken into the short-term memory. Practice helps to the ability of the learners to produce their own examples. Practice activities can be either passive – the learners are exposed to spoken or written input- or active – it is the case when learners are to produce certain language items.

The aim of grammar practice activities is to make students manage the particular subject matter. It does not only mean coping with the grammar exercises but it includes also the master the structures in speaking or writing. It is common that learners are able to do exercises on the certain subject matter without any faults but they are not able to use the new grammatical structures when they are asked to compose a piece of writing or a speech. Ur (1991, p.83) sees the task of teachers as follows: “One of our jobs as teachers is to help our students make the ‘leap’ from form-focussed accuracy work to fluent, but acceptable, production, by providing a ‘bridge’: a variety of practice activities that familiarize them with the structures in context, giving practice both in form and communicative meaning.”

The activities should be constructed in such way that the certain grammatical structure should be repeated in the activity as much as possible. On the other hand it does not mean the mechanical repetition of forms but the students’ production of many various examples either in written form or in the spoken form. The practice should be composed in such a way as to make it likely that the students will be successful when doing it. It encourages them and makes them feel more confident. The activity which would carry the risk of many possible students’ mistakes would make the learners feel demotivated and would cause the tension and anxiety.

The exercise should be heterogeneous. It means that there is a possibility to do it in various ways at various levels. The exercise lacking the heterogeneity is for example multiple choices. As the most of the group are mixed ability group such exercise can be easy for stronger students and on the contrary too difficult for weaker ones. The example of heterogeneity is given by Ur (1988). The first arbitrary sentence is said or written and students add the continuing sentence. The advantage is that the stronger students give longer and more complex sentences while the weaker provide simple sentences, which is all right.

The role of a teacher during practice activities lies in assisting the learners in their production and supporting them rather than continuous correcting mistakes. Ur (1988, p.14) sees the teacher’s assistance as “simply giving extra time to reread or think; repeating or simplifying a text; approving the beginning of an utterance in order to encourage production of the whole; suggestions, hints, prompts. All this means that we have to be very alert to sense when and where help is needed and what form it should take. Again, there is a wider message: I, the teacher, am here to help you, the learner, succeed and progress in your learning, not to judge, scold or make you feel inferior.”

The practice activities must arouse learners’ interest and make them motivated. It depends among others on the choice of the topic. The topic should be somehow related to the students and it should have something to tell them. It can be topics concerning geography or history, entertainment and spending free time – films, television programmes, celebrities, well-known personalities, etc.

Activities:

I.Put the verbs in brackets into the correct form (simple or progressive) of the past, present perfect or past perfect tense.

1 Sam ………………. (practise) the same tune on his guitar for over two hours, I wish he’d stop.

2 Tom’s hands ………………… (shake) because he ………………. (think) he …………………….(see) a ghost.

3 When she was at university, Gill ……………………. (read) all the novels of Charles Dickens, but she ……………………. (not finish) the latest Harry Potter yet.

4 Sally ……………………. (burst) into tears when she ……………………. (get) her exam results.

5 “Your hair looks great. You ……………………. (be) to the hairdresser’s?”

6 “I ……………………. (not / speak) to Dave since last year.”

7 “I ……. (meet) him in the supermarket yesterday. He …………. (buy) some things for a party.”

8 “I …………………………..…. (try) to get through to the dentist all morning but the line’s always engaged.”

9 He ……………………. (ride) to school on his bicycle when he ……………………. (fall) off and ……………………. (break) his arm.

10 Mike ……………. (live) in Japan for 25 years and then he ………………. (come) back to Europe.

(From http://www.oebv.at/sixcms/media.php/229/MYW%205-Grammar%20review_exercises_LO.pdf)

II. Read the transcript of an interview with singer Matt Reeves and then complete the report for a pop magazine.

Question: How many records have you sold so far?

Answer: About a million worldwide.

Question: What are you going to do next?

Answer: I’m going record a new album.

Question: What sort of album will that be?

Answer: Hip-hop, it’ll be very different from my usual style.

Question: How do you think your fans will react to that?

Answer: I don’t honestly care – I’ve made enough money and I can do what I want.

Matt Reeves was asked how many records (1) ……………………………… so far and what (2)………….……………… next. He said that he (3) ………………… about a million worldwide and (4) ……………… a new album. When asked (5) ….……………………..…… he replied that it (6) ..………… hip-hop and very different from his usual style. The reporter wondered (7) ……………………….…………… to that and Matt said (8) …………………………… because (9) ………………… money and (10) ……………………………………..……… .

(From http://www.oebv.at/sixcms/media.php/229/MYW%205-Grammar%20review_exercises_LO.pdf)

III. For the gap text on the next page, decide which tense you need for each verb in brackets. Then write the correct forms in the gaps.

“Dear Diary,

Yesterday I (get) ________________________________ a letter from Alex. He (visit) ________________________________ me tomorrow! After more than 50 years! His train (arrive) ________________________________ at 3 p.m. I (pick) ________________________________

him up. My heart (beat) ________________________________ right now. (I / recognize) ________________________________ him after so many years? I remember my last phone call with Alex like it was yesterday… After my mother and I (leave) ________________________________ London to live in Manchester with my aunt, I (phone) _____________________________ him and (tell) __________________________ him that we (can / not see) ________________________________ each other any more. I (be) ________________________________ so sad!

But now I’m so happy! I (make) ________________________________ a cake for Alex; my chocolate cake (be)________________________________ his favourite all those years ago. And tomorrow I (phone) ________________________________ the little French restaurant to reserve a table for two. How romantic! I (feel) ________________________________ like a young girl again. When we (be) ______________________________ young, we often (go)___________________________ to that cheap Italian place and (order) ________________________________ pizza, family size. We (spend) ________________________________ every day together: We (watch)______________________________ films, (listen to) ________________________________ music, (go) ________________________________ into town for coffee. But after we (read) ________________________________ that horrible old diary, we (can / not do) ________________________________ any of those things any more. I (not want / leave) ________________________________ him then, he (be) _________________________ perfect! (be / it) ________________________________ like that again?”

(From http://www2.klett.de/sixcms/media.php/229/Gram_GL3_U2_mixed_tenses.770273.pdf)

IV. Verb Tense Stories

The story below is written in the present tense with the action happening now. Circle the verbs. Write each one in the past tense form. Then rewrite the story using the past tense verbs.

The Playground

It is time for recess. I am on the playground with my friends. First, we play hopscotch. Next, we throw a ball. Later, we see the swings, and we race over to them. I pump my swing faster and higher than my friends Jennifer and Peter. We get off and run to the slide. We have to wait in line for the slide. When my turn finally comes, I climb to the top of the ladder and sit down on the slide. I push off with my hands and go down very fast. I laugh because it is fun. Then the bell rings. I quickly drink some water and wave goodbye to Jennifer and Peter.

Past tense form of the verbs:

1. _______________ 2. _______________ 3. _______________ 4. _______________

5. ________________6. _______________7. _______________ 8. _______________

9. _______________ 10. ______________ 11. ______________ 12. ______________

13. ______________ 14. ______________ 15. ______________ 16. ______________

17. ______________ 18. ______________ 19. ______________ 20. ______________

Rewrite the story using the past tense verbs.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

(From http://www.k12reader.com/verbs/verb_tense_stories.pdf)

V. All regular verbs end in –ed, but can have three different sounds. This section of the test will assess your listening skills and ability to identify the correct ending sound. Listen to the verbs carefully as the teacher speaks. Complete each sentence with the correct form of the verb. Then mark the correct ending sound (d, t, id) on the chart.

When Ms. Cohen awoke from a good night’s sleep, she (walk) __________ to the bathroom.

She (look) _________ in the mirror.

Oh, my! She was (frighten) _____________ by what she saw.

Her face was (cover) ____________ in purple and green spots.

Ms. Cohen quickly (call) ___________ the doctor.

The doctor said she (need) _______________ to come in to the office right away.

At the doctor’s office, both the nurse and the doctor (examine) _________ Ms. Cohen’s face.

They were both so (surprise) ______________. No one had ever had this kind of rash

Ms. Cohen’s doctor (call) ____________ a skin specialist.

He said if Ms. Cohen (want) _________ to look normal, she would have to stop eating pickles and blueberries at the same time.

(From “AzarGrammar.Com- Teacher created Worksheets”)

VI. Each irregular verb takes a different form in the past tense—that’s what makes it irregular. This section of the test will be divided into several parts to assess your ability to identify the correct verb form in affirmative and negative sentences, as well as your ability to construct/answer questions.

“Part 1: What’s the past tense?

Go _____ Take ______ Eat _______ Sleep ________ leave _______

Put _____ Have ______ Buy _______ Know ________Be __________

Part 2: Change the verb to the correct form:

Ms. Dubman _______ the bus to school this morning (take)

The students ________ around the classroom yesterday (run)

When the weather was cold, everyone _________indoors (stay)

The boss ________ his employee, “you’re fired.” (tell)

Laura ________ frightened when she moved to the Prairie. (be)

Part 3: Change the sentence to negative:

The students studied for the test.

____________________________________________________________________________

Tom thought his best friend was lying to him.

____________________________________________________________________________

Ms. Cohen drove her car too fast.

____________________________________________________________________________

Mary swam faster than the other people on the team.

____________________________________________________________________________

Part 4: Answer the questions:

What time did you get up?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Where did you put your pencil?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

How many students were absent yesterday?

………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Did the girls speak to the boys in the hall? (answer Yes . . . .)

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Why did you come to America?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Part 5: Make a question about the words in bold print.

1. ________________________________________________________________________

(I wrote a letter to my penpal.)

2.________________________________________________________________________

(The books cost $5.00 each. )

3.________________________________________________________________________

(Maria spoke to her boyfriend last night.)

4.________________________________________________________________________

Many of the students came from El Salavador.

5.________________________________________________________________________ „

(From “AzarGrammar.Com- Teacher created Worksheets”)

VII. “The following passage contains ten errors in irregular verbs. Cross out each error. Then, in the space provided, write the correct form of each verb.

1. Zamil readed and writed a lot in high school.

2. Once she becomed a student at Haverford College, she finded that reading and writing were even more important in college.

3. She also learned that reading in her dorm room could be difficult.

4. Friends often camed by to visit her when she needed to be working.

5. At other times, she growed tiredworking in her room.

6. She even catched herself falling asleep.

7. She knowed that she needed to find other places to do her school work.

8. She taked her books to the library and tried studying there.

9. The library quickly became one of her favorite places.

10. It was beautiful and quiet.

11. She getted her work done more easily there.

12. Now, you can often find Zamil hard at work in the library.

1. _____________________________________________________________

2. _____________________________________________________________

3. _____________________________________________________________

4. _____________________________________________________________

5. _____________________________________________________________

6. _____________________________________________________________

7. _____________________________________________________________

8. _____________________________________________________________

9. _____________________________________________________________

10. ____________________________________________________________

11._____________________________________________________________

12._____________________________________________________________”

(From http://www.share-pdf.com/ce93a5a145c64033a21d8f5d5a0b132c/Lan71602_ch03_048_059.htm)

VIII. “Fill in the gaps with the past simple or past continuous form of the verbs in brackets. In which gaps could you use used to?

I 1……………………..(have) a wonderful biology teacher, Mrs Hughes. She 2……………..

(make) us excited about the subject because she was so interested herself. I remember one lesson in particular; we 3…………………… (study) different types of plants, and Mrs Hughes 4 ……………………….(describe) the different parts of the flower. She 5…………..

(pick up) a purple flower, I can’t remember exactly what it was, and then suddenly we

6 ……………….(notice) that she 7 …………………..(cry)! She 8 ……………….(apologise)

and 9………………… (say) that sometimes nature was so beautiful it just made her cry! We

10 ……………………….(not/know) what to do at first, but it certainly 11 …………..(make)

us think. Something similar 12 ……………….(happen) while she 13………………………..

(show) us how to work the microscope. She 14…………………………. (examine) a slide of

some plant tissue and she 15 …………………………(smile) all over her face. She suddenly

16 ……………………..(get) all excited and 17 …………..(say), ‘Isn’t it wonderful?’ Some

students 18 ……………………(laugh) at her when she 19…………………. (not/look) but I

didn’t. Somehow her enthusiasm 20 ………………………(inspire) me, and I 21…………..

(start) to like biology.

IX. A teacher and student are talking about local customs. Fill in the gaps with the verbs in brackets in the correct form. Use would or used to where possible.

Teacher: What sort of things 1………………………………… (you/do) as a child?

Yoko: Oh, when I was a child growing up in Japan there were many customs that we

2 ………………………….(follow). For example, I remember we 3………………………….

(move) house when I was seven and we 4 (visit) our newneighbours with gifts. At that time the tradition was that people 5……………………….(give) gifts of Japanese noodles, but it is different now and people tend to give things like soap or towels or nothing at all.

Teacher: 6…………………………….. (have) one tradition that you particularly remember?

Yoko: Yes, one tradition that I 7 ……………………..(really/like) was in the spring when

the cherry blossoms were out. As a family we 8 ……………………..(go) into the countryside and we 9………………………… (spend) the day eating, drinking and singing. One year my father 10……………………………………… (take) a lovely photo of me and my sisters and I still keep that picture on my wall today.

Teacher: And 11 …………………………………..(you/have to) do anything you didn’t like?

Yoko: Yes. I remember how we 12…………………………….. (have to) clean the house thoroughly. This ceremony is called Osoji and my sisters and I 13 …………………………….(not/look forward to) it very much!”

(From http://www.selfstudy.cambridge.org/media/10721/9780521604628c02_p008-017.pdf)

X. “Read the test task and a student’s response. Tick (✓) the underlined verbs if they are right, and correct them if they are wrong.

Describe an unforgettable trip you once made. You should say: where you went/ why you went there/ what happened and explain why you remember it so well.

I remember a trip I once 1) made to my grandmother’s house. She 2) would live about 30 kilometres away from us and we 3) used to going there quite often with our mother. On this occasion we 4) set off to my grandmother’s after school on a cold winter’s day. When we were about to leave we 5) were noticing that some snow was beginning to fall, and as we 6) were driving along we 7) were realising that it 8) snowed more and more heavily. Suddenly we had to brake hard as the car in front stopped suddenly. We 9) were skidding and 10) went off the road into a ditch! It was pretty scary, but we were lucky and none of us were hurt. We got out of the car, and my mother 11) was phoning for help on her mobile phone. While we 12)were waiting for help it 13) was stopping snowing and we 14) sang lots of songs to keep ourselves cheerful. Eventually the truck 15) was coming and pulled our car out of the ditch. The car wasn’t badly damaged, but we 16) decided to turn round and go home. We didn’t manage to see our grandmother that day, but it was so frightening that I will never forget it.

1…………………………………………… 2……………………………………………

3……………………………………………. 4…………………………………………….

5…………………………………………… . 6…………………………………………….

7……………………………………………. 8…………………………………………….

9……………………………………………. 10……………………………………………

11…………………………………………… 12…………………………………………….

13…………………………………………… 14…………………………………………….

15…………………………………………… 16……………………………………………..”

(From http://www.selfstudy.cambridge.org/media/10721/9780521604628c02_p008-017.pdf)

XI. Read the conversation. Then look at the answers below and write the correct answer in each space.

Tessa: Hello, Robert. I (►) haven't seen you for ages.

Robert: Hello, Tessa. Great to see you. What have you (1)…………………………… doing lately?

Tessa: (2)………………………….. just started a new job in computer software.

Robert: You (3)……………………………. working for Tuffex Plastics when we last met.

Tessa: That's right. I hadn't (4)……………………….. working there long before I got fed up. (5)…………………….. ……..realized what a horrible job it would be. But what about you? (6)…………………. …………..you found a job?

Robert: Well, six months ago I (7) …………………………………..working for a car hire company, but then they (8)………… ……………………..bankrupt. So I'm out of work now. (9)……….. ……………………. been looking around for another job.

Tessa: Well, I'm sure you'll find one soon.

► a) didn't b) hadn't c) haven't d) wasn't

1 a) been b) had c) has d) was

2 a) I'd b) I'll c) I'm d) I've

3 a) did b) had c) have d) were

4 a) be b) been c) done d) had

5 a) didn't b) hadn't c) haven't d) wasn't

6 a) Did b) Had c) Have d) Were

7 a) been b) had c) have d) was

8 a) go b) going c) gone d) went

9 a) I'd b) I'll c) I'm d) I've

(From http://deg.zahodi-ka.ru/test_c.html)

XII. Check sentences that use the correct tense. On this sheet, correct those that are incorrect.

___ Vinita passed all her courses this summer.

___1. I was working too hard when I became ill.

___2. They hadn’t visited their mother before they left for Canada.

___3. Yu Xi has eaten some bad fruit last week.

___4. Last week, my brother was arriving at Pearson Airport.

___5. As if is takes Mechanical Technology last semester.

___6. It was 9 am, and I was being hungry.

___7. She was not believing that he told the truth.

___8. I discovered lots of interesting things since January.

___9. He was feeling that he loved her.

___10. Had you ever saw this teacher before?

(From http://deg.zahodi-ka.ru/test_c.html)

XIII. All these sentences use the correct tense. Write SP (simple past), PP (past progressive) or P Perf (past perfect) at the start of each sentence. Circle the time words and phrases:

___ sample: Hardik was working at Future Shop until Wednesday.

___ 1. At that time, Maricel was living in Hong Kong.

___2. In the past, women didn’t have many rights or freedoms.

___3. We hadn’t enjoyed such a good meal for years.

___4. Mrs. Li always missed her husband when he went away.

___5. As a child, she often used to go to Costa Rica.

(From http://deg.zahodi-ka.ru/test_c.html)

XIV. Complete the sentences with the correct passive form of the verbs in brackets. Use the Past Simple.

a. My car ______________________ (repair) last week.

b. This song ________________________ (not write) by John Lennon.

c. ________________________________ (the phone/answer) by a young girl?

d. The film ________________________ (make) ten years ago.

e. When ______________________________ (tennis/invent)?

f. The car ________________________ (not damaged) in the accident.

g. The original building _________________________ (pull) down in 1965.

h. Where ______________________________ (this pot/make)?

i. When _______________________________ (this bridge/build)?

(From http://deg.zahodi-ka.ru/test_c.html)

XV. Choose the correct form of the verbs in brackets.

FIAT

Fiat 0 was started (started/was started) by a group of Italian businessmen in 1899. In 1903, Fiat, 1_________________ (produced/was produced) 132 cars. Some of these cars 2_____________________ (exported/were exported) by the company to the United States and Britain. In 1920, Fiat 3_________________ (started/was started) making cars at a new factory at Lingotto, near Turin. There was a track on the roof where the cars 4____________________ (tested/were tested) by technicians. In 1936, Fiat launched the Fiat 500. This car 5____________________ (called/was called) the Topolino – the Italian name for Mickey Mouse. The company grew, and in 1963 Fiat 6_____________________ (exported/was exported) more than 300,000 vehicles. Today, Fiat is based in Turin, and its cars 7_________________ (sold/are sold) all over the world.

Form the question.

E.g.: Paper is made from wood.

Is paper made from wood ?

a. The telephone was invented by Mr Bell. __________________________________________________________________________?

b. This picture was painted by Peter.

_________________________________________________________________________?

c. The thieves will be arrested by the police. _________________________________________________________________________?

d. Champagne is made in France.

_________________________________________________________________________?

e. The letters will be sent next week.

________________________________________________________________________?

f. The animals are fed three times a day. _________________________________________________________________________?

g. This article was written by Stanley.

________________________________________________________________________?

h. CDs are made of plastic.

________________________________________________________________________?

i.The party was organised by Paul.

________________________________________________________________________?

(From http://macprizren.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/the-passive-voice1.pdf)

XVI. Read and complete. Use Past Simple.

a. The toothbrush / invent / in the 15th century.

__________________________________________________________________________

b. The first public basketball game / play / in 1892.

__________________________________________________________________________

c. The first eyeglasses / wear / in the 1200s.

__________________________________________________________________________

d. The first bicycle / ride in 1791.

________________________________________________________________________

e. The first hot dog / eat / in the 1860s.

__________________________________________________________________________

f. The first CDs / sell / in the 1980s.

_________________________________________________________________________

g. The first electric guitar / play / in 1923.

__________________________________________________________________________

h. The first computer mouse / use / 1964.

(From http://macprizren.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/the-passive-voice1.pdf)

XVII. Put the verbs in brackets into Past Simple Passive.

Two men _________________________ (see) breaking into a house in my street last night. The police _____________________ (call) and they arrived very quickly. One man _____________________ (catch) immediately. The other escaped, but he ______________________ (find) very soon. Both men _____________________ (take) to the police station where they _________________________ (question) separately by a police officer. The two men ________________________ (charge) with burglary.

(From http://macprizren.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/the-passive-voice1.pdf)

XVIII. Rewrite the following passage in the Passive.

Someone broke into a local jewellery shop yesterday. The owner had just locked up the shop when a robber with a gun threatened him. The robber told him to unlock the shop and give him all the diamonds in the safe. Then the robber tied him up. The police have organized a search for the robber. They hope they will find him in a few days. Doctors are treating the owner of the shop for shock.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(From http://macprizren.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/the-passive-voice1.pdf)

XIX. Circle the correct answers:

1. I didn't recognise / hadn't recognised Sue, because she cut / had cut her hair.

2. I arrived / had arrived at the shop at 6.45, but it already closed / had already closed.

3. David didn't play / hadn't played the match because he hurt / had hurt his leg.

4. When I looked / had looked everywhere for my car keys, I started / had started to panic.

5. When he had finished / finished his dinner he sat down / had sat down to watch TV.

6. It was / had been a film I didn't see / hadn't seen before.

(From http://www.ispilledthebeans.com/exercises/PDF/exercisespastperfect.pdf)

XX. Complete the Conditional Sentences (Type II) by putting the verbs into the correct form. Use conditional I with would in the main clause.

1. If we (have) _________________ a yacht, we (sail) _________________ the seven seas.

2. If he (have) _________________ more time, he (learn) _________________ karate.

3. If they (tell) _________________ their father, he (be) _________________ very angry.

4. She (spend) _________________ a year in the USA if it (be) _________________ easier to get a green card.

5. If I (live) _________________ on a lonely island, I (run) _________________ around naked all day.

6. We (help) _________________ you if we (know) _________________ how.

7. My brother (buy) _________________ a sports car if he (have) _________________ the money.

8. If I (feel) _________________ better, I (go) _________________ to the cinema with you.

9. If you (go) _________________ by bike more often, you (be / not) _________________ so flabby.

10. She (not / talk) _________________ to you if she (be) _________________ mad at you.

(From http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/conditional-sentences/exceptions/exercises?05)

XXI. Study the following situations. In every sentence, the 'if' clause expresses a situation in the past (Type III). Decide, however, whether the consequences refer to the present (Conditional I) or past (Conditional II).

1. It didn't rain yesterday. So I had to water the plants yesterday.

If it (rain) ______________________ yesterday, I (water / not) ______________________ the plants.

2. It didn't rain yesterday. So I am watering the plants now.

If it (rain) _____________________ yesterday, I (water / not) _____________________ the plants now.

3. I went to bed late last night. So I am still tired now.

If I (go) ______________________ to bed earlier yesterday, I (feel / not) ______________________ so tired now.

4. I went to bed late last Tuesday. So I was very tired the following day.

If I (go) ______________________ to bed earlier that Tuesday, I (feel / not) ______________________ that tired the following day.

5. After a night out, I want to drive home now. I haven't drunk any alcohol.

If I (drink) ______________________ alcohol, I (drive / not) ______________________.

6. After a night out last weekend, I drove home. I hadn't drunk any alcohol.

If I (drink) ______________________ alcohol, I (drive / not) ______________________.

7. We won the match last week. So when we came home, we looked really happy.

We (look / not) ______________________ that happy if we (win / not) ______________________ the match.

8. We've just won a match. So we look really happy now.

We (look / not) ______________________ that happy if we (win / not) ______________________ the match.

9. My daughter is blamed for having done something. She tells me now that she didn't do it. I believe her.

She (tell) ______________________ me if she (do) ______________________ it.

10.Last year, my daughter was blamed for having done something. She told me that she hadn't done it. I believed her.

She (tell) ______________________ me if she (do) ______________________ it.

(From http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/conditional-sentences/exceptions/exercises?05)

XXII. Match the beginnings of the sentences to the correct endings, to make logical conditional sentences.

1. If I were taller, a. …if I thought he really loved me.

2. I'd buy a new computer… b. …you lost your job?

3. How would you feel if… c. …if you apologized.

4. If you could visit any country in theworld, d. … I'd come to the party with you.

5. He'd be really upset… e. …if he knew about the theft.

6. I'd marry him tomorrow… f. … I wouldn't have to wear high heeled shoes.

7. I'd forgive you… g. …if I had enough money.

8. If I didn't feel so ill, h. … where would you go?

(From bbclearningenglish.com)

XXIII. Choose the 5 words which complete each sentence:

1. ……………marry him, would you say yes?

he to if would asked asks you

2. How would we keep in touch ……………?

to didn't we have if did computers

3. ……………if the pay was lower than it is?

leave you left job your if would

4. If she… …, … … … going out with her.

He beautiful wouldn't isn't wasn't being be

5. If people …… …, ……be fewer wars.

More would there tolerant wouldn't were are

6. If you ………, … … be able to communicate.

speak spoke speaking couldn't wouldn't we

(From bbclearningenglish.com)

XXIV. Choose the correct verb tense in each of the following sentences.

1. If I were hungry, I __________________________ a sandwich.

2. I would buy a new car if I __________________________ more money.

3. If he __________________________ his homework everyday, he would get better marks.

4. If our parents were here, they __________________________ us what to do.

5. I would help her if she __________________________ me.

6. If I found a $20 dollar bill on the street, I __________________________ it.

7. I __________________________ to your party on Saturday if I didn’t have to work.

8. I would call them if I __________________________ their telephone number.

1. a) make b) will make c) would make

2. a) had b) have c) will have

3. a) does b) did c) will do

4. a) told b) would tell c) tell

5. a) will ask b) asked c) asks

6. a) will keep b) kept c) would keep

7. a) came b) would come c) will come

8. a) knew b) know c) will know

(From http://www.esl-library.com/pdf/lessons/637.type1.pdf)

XXV. Match the first part of the sentence on the left with the correct ending on the right.

1. If I were hungry… ________ A. if I were bald.

2. If I were thirsty… ________ B. if the neighbors were very noisy.

3. I would go to the dentist… ________ C. I would take it again.

4. I would buy a wig… ________ D. if I came to work late again.

5. I would quit my job… ________ E. I would eat something.

6. If I saw a bad car accident… ________ F. if I had to work overtime every day.

7. I would move… ________ G. I would move to Mexico.

8. If I spoke Spanish… ________ H. I would make some lemonade.

9. If I failed the course… ________ I. I would call an ambulance.

10. The boss would fire me… ________ J. if I had a tooth ache.

(From http://www.esl-library.com/pdf/lessons/637.type1.pdf)

XXVI. Complete the following sentences using your own words.

1. If I had some freetime______________________________________________________.

2. I would move to a bigger apartment if _________________________________________.

3. If I had a bike, ___________________________________________________________.

4. I would walk to school everyday if ___________________________________________.

5. I would go to the doctor if __________________________________________________.

6. If I had a roommate, _______________________________________________________.

7. If I knew his name,________________________________________________________.

8. If I had a dog, ____________________________________________________________.

(From http://www.esl-library.com/pdf/lessons/637.type1.pdf)

XXVII. Class Discussion: Imagine

Directions: Work in small groups. Complete the chart below by asking your classmates the following questions using the second condition.

1. If you won a million dollars, what would you do with it?

2. If you could have three wishes, what would you wish for?

3. If you could buy a any new car, what kind would you buy?

4. If you could spend a day with any famous person in the world, who would you choose?

5. If you had enough money to travel any place in the world, where would you go first?

6. If you could have any job you wanted, what would it be?

7. If you could live any where in the world, where would you choose to live?

8. If you were the leader of your country, what would you try to do first?

(From http://www.esl-library.com/pdf/lessons/637.type1.pdf)

XXVIII. Directions: Read the following situations and then give advice using the second condition.

ex. Your friend eats a lot of junk food and sweets and then complains that he is fat.

If you ate healthier, you wouldn’t have a problem with your weight.

1. Andrea doesn’t pay attention in class. Then she doesn’t understand the homework.

______________________________________________________________________

2. Bob is always late because he doesn’t wear a watch.

_______________________________________________________________________

3. Maria is not a good tennis player because she never practices.

_______________________________________________________________________

4. Father always burns the dinner because he doesn’t set the timer on the oven.

________________________________________________________________________

5. Johnny’s mom often gets mad at Johnny because he doesn’t pick up his toys.

________________________________________________________________________

6. Ben gets a lot of speeding tickets because he drives too fast.

________________________________________________________________________

7. Andrew coughs a lot because he smokes.

________________________________________________________________________

8. Claire doesn’t feel good because she doesn’t exercise.

________________________________________________________________________

9. Betty can never take a vacation because she spends all her money on new clothes.

________________________________________________________________________

10. Kevin doesn’t get good grades because he doesn’t study much.

(From http://www.esl-library.com/pdf/lessons/637.type1.pdf)

XXIX. Are these sentences correct (✔) or incorrect (✘)? Rewrite the incorrect sentences.

1 I wish I had live two hundred years ago.

2 If only I hadn’t eaten so much for dinner.

3 If he had succeeded, history would have be different.

4 Everyone knows my secret! If only I haven’t told you.

5 I wish I had listened to my teacher when I was in class.

6 If I haven’t missed the bus, I wouldn’t have been late.

(From http://www.esl-library.com/pdf/lessons/637.type1.pdf)

XXX. Write these sentences in full, using the words given. Put the verbs into the correct tense:

E.g.: What/would /you/done /rt/l not/lend /you /the money?

What would you have done if I hadn't lent you the money?

lf /you / asked / me for tickets/ I / could /get/you some.

l/ not / marry / him /if /she / know / what he was like.

l/ not/ hire a car /if /l/ know/ how expensive it was.

lf / we / got /to the cinema earlier / we /not / miss / the start of the film.

If I /be born/ a year earlier /l /have to do / military service.

lf /you / ask I me/ I / lend /you my car.

lf / I /go /to university/ I/ get/ a better job.

I / wouldn't / go out / yesterday / if / you asked / me not to.

l/ could / give you / if / I my car / not broken down.

I / not go/ to Berlin / if/ I know / what was going to happen.

I would / stay / Ionger / if / she / wanted me to.

l/ not come /to this school/ if I /know/what itwas like.

we/would go/to his party /if /we /abretoi find a baby-sitter.

l/ visit /you / in hospital /if / I know /you were there.

(From http://www.esl-library.com/pdf/lessons/637.type1.pdf)

XXXI. Description: A card game for practising the first, second and third conditional.

Skill: Grammar

Focus: Matching the beginnings and endings of conditional sentences.

Time: 20 minutes

Preparation:

• Print out all four pages of this file.

• Make a copy of the second page (How to play the game) for each student.

• Make copies of the third and fourth pages, on stiff paper if possible, for every three, four or five members of your class.

• Cut along the dotted lines to obtain decks of 32 cards. (Ideally you should use a different colour of 120 g/m2 paper for each deck of cards.)

Procedure:

• Divide the class into groups of four if possible. (The game can also be played in groups of three or five.) Each group should sit around a table.

• Give each group a complete deck of 32 cards, and give each student a copy of the instruction sheet.

• Some of your students may have played similar card games when they were children, in which case they can help you explain it to the rest of the class. In this particular version there are sixteen pairs of cards that fit together to make conditional sentences.

How to play the card game Conditional Cards:

• Form groups of three, four or five players. Each group should sit around a table.

• The goal of this game is to get matching pairs of cards forming sentences in the first, second and third conditional.

• Before you play the game, spread out all the cards on the table and sort them into pairs, so you can see which ones fit together.

• In each group someone (the dealer) mixes the cards and deals out all the cards to the players. Some players might have one more card than others, but this does not matter.

• Look at your cards and see if you have any pairs that fit together to form a conditional sentence. If you do, put these pairs face up on the table so everyone can check that that they really belong together. (Ask your teacher if you are not sure.) If you have made a mistake, you have to pick up the cards again and go on playing with them.

• The dealer begins.

• When it is your turn you must offer your cards spread face down to the player on your left. That player selects a card from your hand without seeing it, and adds it to his or her hand. If it makes a pair that person puts the two cards on the table for everyone to see.

• The player who just took a card then offers his or her cards face down to the next person on the left, and so on.

• When you have no more cards you are out of the game.

• When all the pairs are on the table, count up your score as follows:

➔ One point for each pair of cards that makes a first conditional.

➔ Two points for each pair of cards that makes a second conditional.

➔ Three points for each pair of cards that makes a third conditional.

(From http://www.klett-langenscheidt.de/_downloads/lehrwerke/308/ELT-P04_57_conditional.pdf)

XXXII. Change the following sentences into reported speech.

3. The young lady said: “I did not make such a mistake.”

He said: “In Japan paper-folding was valued for its decorative function”.

The police said: “Youssef planned the World Trade Centre bombing”.

“I watched a documentary about dolphins on TV yesterday,” said John.

Al Gore said: “As a teenager, one of the books that I read was Silent Spring.”

“I was taught information technology in this course,” she said.

28. Michael asked her: “Where did you find these trainers?

30. “What time did the film start?” she asked.

He said to me, "I saw your friend a the cinema yesterday",

She said to him "I called you up but you didn't answer an hour ago"

He asked me, "How much did you pay for this book?"

My brother asked, "Has anybody called while I was out".

„There was a good documentary on TV yesterday,” Gregory said.

“I got an A in my History exam yesterday,” she said to me.

My sister said, “You wore my dress without asking me!”

He said to his mother, „No I didn‟t tidy my room.”

“Did you go to the party last night?” Jill asked.

“Why did they miss their flight to Canada?” Paul asked.

‘I saw an interesting film last evening,’ said my friend.

Sarah to me: “My car was stolen yesterday.”

Sylvia: “I have been reading a lot today.”

Martin: “My sister has had a baby.”

My father to me: “If I were you, I would take a rucksack.”

“I was reading a book when the phone rang.”

(From https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hg1_c_BPAB8WQprtwut41EWwq5f4ilPgbkJhBnr5Ycw/edit?pli=1)

XXXIII. Reported Speech (Telling stories)

THE MOST UNSUCESSFUL PET RESCUE

„Mrs. Sarah Greenfield was worried because she hadn’t seen her pet cat, Percy, for nearly two days. She told her neighbour, Frank Armstrong about it. Frank said he knew where Percy was and took her to a tall tree in the street. He pointed up at a branch near the top of the tree where Percy was sitting. Mrs. Greenfield called out to her cat but it did not move. Then she asked Frank Armstrong what she should do. He suggested that she should telephone the fire brigade and ask them to help.

Mrs. Greenfield went back to her house and phoned the local fire station. She told them about the cat and asked them to come and save the cat. Twenty minutes later, a big red fire engine parked outside Mrs. Greenfield’s house. Mrs. Greenfield showed the fire officer where Percy was sitting in the tree. The fire officer asked Mrs. Greenfield what the cat liked eating. She told him that Percy’s favourite food was sardines. The fire officer said it would be difficult to catch the cat because it would be very frightened and asked her if she had got any sardines.

Mrs. Greenfield opened a tin of sardines and gave it to the fire officer. The fire officer extended the tall ladders on the fire engine and climbed up to the cat. He held out the open tin of sardines and called to the cat. Percy was very hungry and he could smell the sardines. He scrambled towards the fire officer who caught him easily. From the top of the ladder, the fire officer called to Mrs. Greenfield and told her he had caught the cat.

Mrs. Greenfield was very happy and thanked the fire officer as he was climbing down the ladder. After the fire officer had handed the cat to Mrs. Greenfield, she put it on the ground with the tin of sardines. Mrs. Greenfield thanked the fire officer again and invited him to have a cup of tea and a slice of cake at her house. The fire officer accepted the invitation and they walked to her house.

Twenty minutes later, after two cups of tea and three slices of cake, the fire officer got into the big red fire engine and started the engine to drive away. Unfortunately, as he was reversing the fire engine, he ran over the cat and killed it”.

(From http://www.pearsonlongman.com/adult/pdf/reported_speech_st.pdf)

XXXIV. Read the story and work out who said…

a) “It’s all right. I’ve got him!” ________________________________________________

b) “Would you like to have a cup of tea and a slice of cake?” _________________________________________________________________________

c) “I haven’t seen Percy for two days.” _________________________________________

d) “He loves sardines.” ______________________________________________________

e) “I know where he is. I saw him this morning.” _________________________________

f) “What do you think I should do?” ___________________________________________

g) “Why don’t you phone the fire brigade?” _____________________________________

h) “The cat’ll be very frightened so it’ll be difficult to catch”. _______________________

i) “Have you got any sardines?” _______________________________________________

j) “Would you like another slice of cake?”_______________________________________

(From http://www.pearsonlongman.com/adult/pdf/Reported_speech_TN.pdf)

XXXV. GAME 1:

XXXVI. Game 2

XXXVII. Game 3

XXXVIII: Game 4:

XXXIX: Game 5:

XXXX: Game 6:

XXXXI: Game 7:

XXXXII: Game 8:

XXXXIII: Game 9:

XXXXIII: CHAIN STORIES

“Materials: A 3” x 5” card per student, with a verb written on each.

Dynamic: Large groups

Time: 20 minutes

Procedure: 1. Give each student a card with the simple form of a verb written large. The verbs may have regular or irregular past forms, or you may use a mixture. The students supply the past form.

2. Put students into groups of five or six. Give each group a sentence to begin their story. Going around in their circle, the students each add a sentence to their story, using their verb. The stories may be serious or funny, but they should make some sort of sense.

Example:

Starting sentence: Yesterday, I decided to go to the park.

Student 1: I saw an old man sitting on a bench.

Student 2: The old man was reading a newspaper.

Student 3: The newspaper fell off the bench when

the old man got up.

3. After the groups have finished, they may repeat their stories for

the class, write their stories, or just end the activity in the groups.”

(From Woodward, S.W.(1997) -“Fun with Grammar”, Prentice Hall Regents)

XXXXIV: BALL TOSS ( irregular past forms)

“Materials: Any soft ball or beanbag

Dynamic: Whole class

Time: 5 minutes

Procedure: 1. This is a review game for irregular past forms. The game can be played to review all irregular verbs, or you can limit students to the one or two sections they have just memorized.

2. Arrange students in a circle, either standing or at their desks. Call out the simple form of an irregular verb and toss the ball to a student. That student says the simple past form. Then he or she tosses the ball to another student, who provides the past participle. This second student then calls out a new verb and tosses the ball to a classmate.

Example:

Instructor: swim

Student 1: swam

Student 2: swum, eat

Student 3: ate

Student 4: eaten, feel

Think of this game as chains of three. The third person must both finish the chain and start a new one.

NOTE: Encourage students to toss the ball easily. Even though it is soft, you don’t want it hurting anyone. Also, if the ball comes close to a student, he or she must attempt to catch it, not avoid it.

For lower levels:

Instructor: swim

Student 1: swam

Instructor: eat

Student 1: (throws ball)

Student 2: ate

Instructor: drive

Student 2: (throws ball)

Student 3: drove.”

(From Woodward, S.W.(1997) -“Fun with Grammar”, Prentice Hall Regents)

XXXXV: TIC TAC TOE

“Materials: Board,Worksheet 13 (optional)

Dynamic: Teams

Time: 10 minutes

Procedure: 1. Draw a tic tac toe grid on the board with the simple form of irregular verbs written in. Decide if you want the students to supply the past tense or the past participle. (You can also draw the grid with the past tense forms and ask for past participles). Divide the class into two groups. A student from team X comes to the board and writes in the past form for any verb on the grid. If correct, he/she draws an X in the square. If the form is incorrect (spelling counts), he/she cannot draw his/her team mark. Erase the answer.

3. A student from team O comes to the board. That student may choose to correct a square that was done incorrectly earlier, or choose another verb. The teams alternate turns. The first team with three marks in a row wins.

NOTE: You will probably want to explain game strategy such as blocking, but often the student’s choice is based on which verb he/she knows.

4. As a follow-up, divide the class into groups of three and use the worksheet. One student is X, one is O, and the third is in charge and can have his/her book open to the verb page to judge whether an answer is correct. After the first game, the students should rotate roles so that the judge is now one of the players. Continue until all students have had a chance to be the judge.

Worksheet : TIC TAC TOE

teach catch buy

grow hear bring

fight shoot see

be bite build

choose cut draw

fit drive feed

hide hurt keep

leave let lend

light lose hold „

(From Woodward, S.W.(1997) -“Fun with Grammar”, Prentice Hall Regents)

XXXXVI: PICTURE SENTENCES (Past Progressive)

“Materials: Worksheet 16 or pictures with a lot of activity going on

Dynamic: Small groups

Time: 25 minutes

Procedure: 1. Divide the class into groups of three or four. Give each group the same picture, or put it on an overhead.

2. Instruct the groups to use the past progressive to make as many sentences as possible in the time allowed. The sentences must be grammatically correct and accurately depict what is happening in the pictures.

3. The team with the most correct answers at the end of the time limit wins. To determine accuracy, have each group read their sentences or write them on the board.

NOTE: Good sources for pictures are a picture dictionary (especially if the students have the same one), lower-level student ESL books containing drawings for students to discuss or write about, and magazine advertisements.

Variation 1: Give each group a different picture.

Variation 2: Give each group a different picture. Follow step 2. After 15 seconds, say “Pass” and have the groups pass their pictures to the next group.

Continue until all groups have written sentences for all pictures. Score the correct answers as in step 3.

”

(From Woodward, S.W.(1997) -“Fun with Grammar”, Prentice Hall Regents)

XXXXVII: LINE-UPS (Past Perfect)

“Materials: 3” x 5” cards or Worksheet 19

Dynamic: Whole class

Time: 20 minutes

Procedure: 1. Give each student a question card. If making your own, use two different colors of 3” x 5” card. If copying the worksheet, use two different colors of paper. Call all students (half the class) with a yellow card (for example) to the front and have them stand in a line facing the class.

2. The other half of the class stands in front of the first line. If there is an odd number of students, either one questioner waits for someone to question, or the extra person in the answer line waits until the line moves.

3. Each person with a question card (in the first row) asks the questions of the student standing in front of him/her. The student asking the question fills in the blanks with the correct form of the verb given on the card. When everyone has answered the question, the students in the answer line move down one and are asked a new question. Continue until all the students in the answer line have talked to every student in the question line. (The students in the question line do not move.)

4. The students in the lines now switch positions, and the former answerers are now the questioners. Continue as in #3 above.

Explanation: Using two different colors of cards or papers makes it easier to divide the class into questioners and answerers. When all the students with yellow cards have questioned all the students with pink cards, switch lines so that the students asking questions

have pink cards.

NOTE: Before doing the line-ups, you may want to do a sample card on the board so that the students know what is expected of them. Ask them how to fill in the blanks.

Worksheet 1:

Worksheet 2:

„

(From Woodward, S.W.(1997) -“Fun with Grammar”, Prentice Hall Regents)

XXXXVIII: Speaking activities

“It Happened Last Week

Real-world purpose: To engage in social interactions. To describe one’s personal

experiences and to inquire about another person’s experiences.

Listen for: What people did. Names, times of day, location words.

Communication task: Get more information by asking past tense questions.

Elicit question words from learners and write them on the board (who, what, where,

when, why, how, how long, how many/much, how often), do/did, and is/are, was/were .

Explain that you will tell a brief story (1-2 sentences) about something that happened in your life the previous week. Example: My family went on a trip this weekend.” Tell learners to think of questions to ask you in order to get more details about your story. When finished with all the learners’ questions and your answers, put learners in pairs. The first member of the pair talks briefly about something that happened to him/her last week (at work, with their family, with friends, etc.) The second member of the pair listens and asks follow up questions – trying to form a question for each of the six Wh- information question words. The first member answers the follow-up questions, elaborating on the story as initially told. Members of the pair switch roles so each person has a chance to tell a story and answer questions and each person has a chance to ask follow up questions.”

(From Golmes, D.(2004)- “Speaking Activities for the Classroom”)

Picture Story

“Real-world purpose: To hear accurately in order to avoid misunderstanding. To relate

aural cues to visual information. To complete a task.

Listen for: Key vocabulary, adverbs of time, prepositions of location.

Locate or create a picture story sequence (6-10 pictures) that is pertinent to the life skill topic or subject matter currently being studied. (The individual pictures are typically 2” x 2” so they can easily be laid out on a single 8” x 11” piece of paper.)

Prepare a written story about the sequence using level–appropriate vocabulary and sentences. Make enough photocopies of the picture story sequence for two per learner. Set aside half the copies. With the other half, cut each sequence apart so you have one set of 2” x 2” pictures for each learner. Shuffle each set so the pictures are out of sequence. Before handing out he picture sets, read aloud the complete text using a natural pace while learners listen to get the gist. Next, hand out sets of the pictures. Read the text aloud a second time while learners arrange the pictures in order. Read the text aloud a third time so learners can check their work and make any revisions. Hand out the uncut photocopies so learners can check their work. Gather the cut sets for reuse and let the learners keep the uncut photocopies for review. Learners can write the story sequence for homework and retell the story the next day in pairs.”

(From “Fun to Teach!- Teacher Guide. Games to Play! Activities to Do!”)

Picture Description – That’s Not Right!

“Real-world purpose: To hear accurately. To repair communication breakdowns. To relate

aural cues to visual information. To make appropriate conversation.

Listen for: Words and phrases in context.

Communication task: Politely correct a person’s mistake.

Find a large magazine photo or textbook illustration that shows a specific setting (a city, park, kitchen, school, office, hospital, store etc) and several people engaged in one or a variety of activities. Have each learner make a 2” x 2” card, labeled “That’s not right!” Show the picture to the entire class (or provide each student with a photocopy). Pre-teach any key vocabulary. Give learners a few minutes to study the picture. Explain to learners that you’re going to describe the picture. If you make any mistakes, they should hold up their “That’s not right!” card. Orally describe the picture, using level-appropriate vocabulary and sentences, occasionally stating something that is not true about the picture. For example, if the picture has two boys, you might say three boys. Or if a person in the picture is running, you might say swimming. Learners listen and when they hear a discrepancy between the oral account and the actual picture, they raise their card. Call on learners to say a corrected statement about the picture. Teach the politeness strategies, “I think you meant to say ________.” or “I think you said _______. Did you mean to say _________?”

(From “Fun to Teach!- Teacher Guide. Games to Play! Activities to Do!”)

EASTER DAY

“What would you say if someone asked you about Easter around the world? How much do you know about customs in Greece as well as in other countries? Let’s see what some students discovered about Easter customs working on a school project.

“ …On Easter Day, all the people of this Greek village attended the mass and then walked to the countryside. The Easter tables were set and the men were roasting the Easter lamb. They sat down at the tables, offering Papa-Kyriakos, the priest, a special seat. And then the feast began. They were eating happily, enjoying their Easter meal after a 40-day fast. Grown-ups were drinking local wine and joking while children were playing and singing, wishing everybody “Happy Easter”.

From “Eξοχική Λαμπρή” by Aλέξανδρος Παπαδιαμάντης

“…At Easter there were programs on the Norwegian TV of another kind: detective series. Nobody quite knew why, but for some reason Easter is the most popular time for reading crime stories and detective novels in Norway. The TV stations all had at least one detective series on the air at Easter. The series and the books were referred to as “Easter-crime”. Going skiing in the mountains is for many Norwegians what Easter holidays are all about. Getting away from the city, enjoying the snow and the weather and not to mention getting a tan to show off when back at work are popular things to do during the vacation….”

From Olaf Amundsen, Norway

“…In many communities in Mexico, the full Passion Play is enacted from the Last Supper, the Betrayal, the Judgement, the Procession of the 12 Stations of the Cross, the Crucifixion and finally, the Resurrection. The enactments are often nicely staged, costumed and acted, with participants preparing for their roles for nearly the full year leading up to Semana Santa (Holy Week)….”

From Esther Martinez, Mexico City

Now discuss for a few minutes with your partner. Refer to the customs mentioned in the texts above and which you found were different from those in your country. Then talk about any other Easter customs you may know about. Report to the class.

• Now, work in groups of 3-4 pupils and make a story of your own. Imagine that last Easter you visited one of the three countries mentioned above. When you came back you wanted to write this story and send it to another friend who lives in Australia. Can you agree with your partners and write what you saw and did in the country you visited?”

(From “Fun to Teach!- Teacher Guide. Games to Play! Activities to Do!”)

5.Dialogue

“Write your questions and answers here and ask your teacher to check them over. Practice in pairs and perform the dialogue.

1. When were you born?

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _

2. Did you go to ____________________________________________

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___ _ _ _ _

3. Did you _________________________________________________

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

4. What were_______________________________________________

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

5. ________________________________________________________

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

6. _______________________________________________________

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

7. _______________________________________________________

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

8. _______________________________________________________

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

9. _______________________________________________________

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___ __ _ _ __”

(From “Fun to Teach!- Teacher Guide. Games to Play! Activities to Do!”)

6. Find Someone Who…

“It’s amazing how these “someone who” tasks make students feel so unselfconscious and spontaneous that, while they are interacting in the lager group, they almost forget that the teacher is in the room. Sooner or later, when things start to go quiet this means they are finished asking one another the questions. That’s when the teacher says, “O.K. let us put our chairs in a circle now and let me ask you what you have learned from your survey.” Subsequent survey tasks will use the past or past perfect or the continuous tense, so there is some grammatical progression in this series of tasks. Teachers can make up forms that will be appropriate for their groups.

Here’s another model to follow as an example by asking questions such as:

Who was a beautiful baby? “Were you a beautiful baby?”

Who was the oldest child? Were you the oldest child in your family?

Was the youngest child?

Was an only child?

Was born in Bangkok?

Was always in trouble?

Was a very quiet child?

Was a fat baby?

Was a very thin girl?

Was a very noisy boy?

Was a very clever student?

Was a slow learner?

Was a generous sister?

Was never scolded by her mother? Were you ever scolded by your mother?

Was a naughty child? Were you a naughty child?

Was an ugly child? Were you an ugly child?

Was born into a large family?

Was always a good singer?

Was good at Thai dancing?

Was a good football player in school?

Was a poor swimmer in school?

Remember that asking the question using correct grammar is important when doing these exercises: Question : “Were you the oldest child?” Answer : “No, I was not the oldest child.” “Who was the oldest child in the family?” “Nid was the oldest child in the family.” The teacher should always allow students time to prepare the questions before everyone stands up to perform the group activity.”

(From Golmes, D.(2004)- “Speaking Activities for the Classroom”)

7.Get the Class to Make-up a Story

“Put a group of about twenty students with their chairs in a circle, and start with a

sentence like: “Once there was a beautiful young girl of eighteen.” Then, each successive student, going all the way around the circle to the right, must add a new sentence to keep the story going. Here is a model that may serve as an example :

1. Once there was a beautiful young girl of eighteen.

2. It had always been her dream to study at English at Chula.

3. She did everything she could to prepare herself.

4. She knew the entrance exam would be very important.

5. Her family sent her to the British Council for extra lessons.

6. They spared no expense when it came to her education.

7. She often told her friends that she had no time for fun.

8. The entrance exam was the only thing she thought of.

9. She never thought about boys or falling in love.

10. She never took time to listen to music or go dancing.

11. She never went to the movies or watched TV.

12. Half the time she even neglected to eat regular meals.

13. She studied so much that she neglected to exercise.

14. She was so stressed that she always had trouble sleeping at night.

15. In the weeks before the entrance exam she was very nervous.

16. She worried so much that her friends were concerned about her.

17. Some people even thought that she might go crazy.

18. Towards the end, she even began to lose weight and look a little strange.

19. Eventually, however, she did extremely well on the entrance exam.

20. She was filled with joy when she won a place in the Faculty of Arts at Chula.

This is such a typical story that it is a little bit too boring. It would be more fun to write unique tale that was more unusual and exciting and which did not have such a conventional ending. Try to create one that uses a little more imagination and in which the steps of the story are not quite so predictable :

1. There once was a pretty girl who came from a poor family.

2. One day she was shopping with her mother at the market.

3. She turned from her mom to look at some goldfish in a bowl.

4. When she looked back her mother was no longer there.

5. She looked everywhere but she couldn’t find her mom.

See if you can finish this story and make her life unexpected and surprising.”

(From Golmes, D.(2004)- “Speaking Activities for the Classroom”)

8.Write a Story

“Start off the task by providing a beginning sentence to get the story started, and

then go around the classroom from student to student, getting each one to add a new sentence to keep the story going. This task should be done spontaneously, allowing only a little time to think, while the other students write down the sentences in order so that they can read them back to the teacher later. For example :

„

(From Golmes, D.(2004)- “Speaking Activities for the Classroom”)

9.Using Word Suggestion to Tell a Story.

“Put the students all in a big circle. The first student starts off a story by saying

a sentence such as, “There once was a pretty young girl.” Then, the first student tells the next person to his/her right a word, like “castle” with which the second student must make up a new sentence to keep the story going. The following example will help to illustrate :

Complete the story by saying a word we can use to complete the next sentence.

„

(From Golmes, D.(2004)- “Speaking Activities for the Classroom”)

XXXXIX: Reading activities:

Read the letter and answer the question.

1. washed My with lice special mum shampoo. hair my

____________________________________________________.

2. was smelly. It very

______________________________________.

3. washed Then hair. sisters’ she my

___________________________________________________.

4. washed my hair. brother’s She

____________________________________________.

5. my washed hair. mother’s Finally, my father

_________________________________________________.

6. my brushed hair. my mum Then

_____________________________________________.

7. father’s, sisters’, brother’s Then checked she my hair. an

Who wrote this letter?

…………………………………………………………..

Write sentences using the words below.

1. washed My with lice special mum shampoo. hair my

____________________________________________________.

2. was smelly. It very

______________________________________.

3. washed Then hair. sisters’ she my

___________________________________________________.

4. washed my hair. brother’s She

____________________________________________.

5. my washed hair. mother’s Finally, my father

_________________________________________________.

6. my brushed hair. my mum Then

_____________________________________________.

7. father’s, sisters’, brother’s Then checked she my hair. and

____________________________________________________.

8. forgot hair. to her check She own

__________________________________________.

Put the events from the story in the order in which they happened (1-12).

_____ Kim walked home with her brother and younger sister.

_____ Kim felt sick because she forgot her homework.

_____ A clever classmate helped Kim do her maths problems.

_____ Kim’s best friend gave Kim her spare hat.

_____ Kim woke up very late.

_____ Kim wrote herself a long list.

_____ Kim’s classmate shared her lunch with Kim.

_____ Kim came to school late.

_____ Kim and her brother and younger sister waited for their mum to pick them up from school.

_____ Kim’s teacher reminded her to bring her homework to school the next day.

_____ Kim grabbed a chocolate biscuit.

_____ Kim’s teacher just smiled at Kim when she was late.

*Remember to look at the story again to check your answers.

(From Golmes, D.(2004)- “Speaking Activities for the Classroom”)

Narrative tenses: Past Perfect and Past Continuous

Task 1- Mr Bean in Hospital

Try to combine the pairs or groups of sentences below into one true sentence about the short film you are going to see. To do so you will need to guess which thing happened first or if they happened at the same time, and so maybe change some tenses, change the punctuation and add words such as adverbs. You cannot change the order of the sentences (so that you have to use more complex grammar to make the sentences correct). The sentences are in the same order as the film.

They couldn’t open the ambulance doors. Mr Bean parked behind it.

The girl queued. Mr Bean threw her doll.

The men started fighting. Mr Bean pinched one of the men’s bottoms.

Mr Bean took a number ticket. He sat down.

The old man walked towards the chair. Mr Bean ran around the table and sat down.

Everyone saw Mr Bean’s hand in the teapot. They laughed.

Mr Bean tried to steal his ticket. The old man woke up.

Mr Bean turned the number display over. The receptionist talked on the phone.

The number 25 came up. He took the ticket with number 52 on it.

Mr Bean slept. His number was called. He dropped his ticket on the floor.

Mr Bean threw his ticket away. He got his hand stuck in the bin. He took a ticket with his teeth.

Watch the video and check. As you watch, using those sentences and your own ideas, try to explain everything that happened while one student wasn’t watching/ was out of the room.

Other useful vocabulary to explain what happens in the film:

to follow padlock wheelchair; ticket dispenser receptionist walking stick; plaster (cast) sling neck brace; bandage impatient giggle; compare suspicious saucepan; clipboard cheer felt tip (= colouring) pen; search black eye angry.

(From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoI57NeMwCc)

Task 2- Goodnight Mr Bean

When your teacher stops the video, take turns making one sentence about what happened in that section until there is nothing more that any of you can add. Make sure you use the right tense if you fill in details about things that happened before or things that happened at the same time.

Useful vocabulary for describing what happens

Check you know the meaning and pronunciation of the words below before the video starts.

Duvet; pillow; pant; calculator; TV commercial (= TV advertisement); lose count; drawer; sigh; meow; bark (= woof); eyebrow; teddy (bear); yawn; lump/ lumpy; lie on your back— lie on your stomach; snap your fingers (= click your fingers); cardboard box; tick (tock); electric toothbrush; vibrate/ vibration; cheeks; water pistol; growl; sink/ washbasin; squirt; spit; broom handle; suffocate.

Are there any words you couldn’t use when you were describing what happened? Check with the rest of the class when those things happened in the film.

(From http://www.youtube.com/embed/2ajUewCO6zQ)

Task 3- Mr Bean Goes to the Swimming Pool

When your teacher stops the video, take turns making one sentence about what happened in that section until there is nothing more that any of you can add. Make sure you use the right tense if you fill in details about things that happened before or things that happened at the same time. Then predict what happens next, discussing how things were actually different next time the video is stopped.

Useful vocabulary for describing what happens.

Check you know the meaning and pronunciation of the words below before the video starts.

Queue; Shout; Stamp; Finger tips; Stare; Point; Splash; Slide; Lifeguard; Whistle; Ladder; Scared.

(From http://www.google.com/search?q=mr+bean+swimming+pool&rls=com.microsoft:ja:IE-Address&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7TSJH_ja)

6.7. Difficulties encountered by Romanian learners in using the Past.

In a foreign language teaching process, teaching grammar is one of the stressed points that teachers cannot disregard. In the literature, studies and articles, there are different points of view concerning whether grammar should be taught or not, having been outlined pro and against arguments, debates. But, in spite of all these, there is a general agreement on the matter that a systematic and purposeful teaching of it is vital if people/students want to master the target language.

It has already been pointed out the fact that in our country, grammar is an obligatory component in the secondary education curriculum, and in higher education only in the classes which have a bilingual mode of studying, and in universities where students want to become teachers of foreign languages.

The general pattern for the teaching of grammar is to give some rules using a lot of technical terminology, talk about the rules and the exceptions to the rules, and ask students to solve exercises and practice upon those items a lot. But, even if the students’ performance in a grammar test is very good, this is no guarantee of the fact that they would be able to speak or write in English correctly. Grammarians claim that in most cases, grammar is taught as an end in itself rather than as a means to itself. Ideally, the teaching of grammar must help students to produce utterances that exemplify the grammatical rules, but it seems that generally the teacher focusses on teaching the rules of grammar and ignores the communicative aspect of language.

Being composed on tenses, grammar is an essential, even indispensable, part of a language, and also of language learning, and it constitutes the backbone of it. As a consequence, tenses need to be learned or acquired by the learner either consciously or unconsciously. As it has an essential role in language teaching, the teachers of foreign language need to tackle with it within syllabus skillfully so that the learners can grasp it well.

The ability of using English is the main demand nowadays, regardless the domain or field which require people/student to have knowledge or certificates of proficiency in English language. If students want to be able to use English, they have to master English grammar. Past tenses are important tenses in the English language and commonly used. Irregular verbs in English are complicated and therefore cause many difficulties to learners.

In general, L2 learners have great difficulty mastering aspects of grammar in a second language learning process, and especially with the marking of grammatical features at certain parts of speech. These difficulties can be observed directly in students’ L2 spoken or written productions, both in spontaneous productions and in controlled tasks.

Tense is a matter of inflection, i.e. the changing of the shape of the word by adding a morpheme. It must be pointed out that there is a difference between “tense” and “time”, i.e. “tense” is “used to refer to a verb form, not to chronological time,”according to Graver (1986). English verbs are used to express the aspect (simple, continuous and perfect) of an action or event. The choice of a verb form is quite difficult and so it is the usage of the language appropriately for the appropriate situation of communication. This can happen because, as they have not developed on the stressed points efficiently, they fail to get their message across.

The difficulties encountered by the Romanian students when using Past Tenses can be outlined as follows:

1. One of the main problems which Romanian learners come across with when learning and using Past Tenses in English is the very difference or their trouble in differentiating between regular and irregular verbs. This happens because they do not master well enough the formation rules of Past Simple of the affirmative sentences with irregular verbs, and also they do not have the knowledge of the basic forms of the irregular verbs. Therefore, there is a tendency at learners to add the inflection suffix “-ED”, which is specific to regular verbs, to the irregular verbs as well. Perhaps they have learnt that the rule applies to the formation of Past Tense of the regular verbs, an inflection suffix which is common to all persons and number, so they thought that irregular verbs should get it as well. I have often met such tendency to add the inflection suffix specific to Simple Past to irregular verbs, as it can be seen in the example below:

E.g.: *She TEACHED us English last year.

But, correctly, it is to say:

She TAUGHT us English last year.

2. Another difficulty would be the learning and the usage of the irregular verbs which have forms also made up by adding the inflection suffix specific to the regular verbs, so being and acting like a regular verb and also having its own meaning, and three basic forms like an irregular verb, but having a different meaning than its other form derived from the infinitive.

E.g.: a) hang (regular) →hanged (Past Tense), →hanged (Past Tense)

i.e. to kill or die by dropping with a rope around the neck;

b) hang (irregular) → hung (Past Tense), →hung (Past Participle)

i.e. to fix a picture, a frame at the top on a wall.

Most of the students tend to use the forms presented in example b) because they do not pay too much attention to the context in which the verbs are used, so that they do not choose the appropriate verb according to the meaning needed in the sentence.

3. Problems with learning and using Past Tense Simple and Past Tense Continuous are also met with Romanian learners, i.e. these are misusings and misinterpretations especially of the Past Tense Continuous. This can happen because Past Tense Continuous is another confused tense with Past Simple, i.e. the misinterpretations of this tense arise due to the lack of practice and mainly to the mother tongue interferences. Moreover, learners tend to disregard what kind of actions Past Simple and Past Continuous express each in its turn, meaning that when they say Past Continuous, they immediately think of a complete, finished action or event, so the use of Past Tense instead of Past Tense Continuous. Another reason would be the interference of the mother tongue, due to the fact that, perhaps, they do not master the tenses here as well, and from here the inability to differentiate between them, the difficulty in finding the equivalents of Past Simple and Past Continuous in the mother tongue.

4. Difficult can also be to differentiate between Present Perfect and Past Simple, because learners tend to view the Present Perfect Simple as expressing a completed action or event, and so their impulse to use the Past Tense Simple for the verbs in question. Another reason would be the fact that learners do not pay too much attention to the time adverbials and adverbs of frequency which are mentioned in the sentences, or perhaps they do not keep in their minds the specifications made by grammar books regarding the adverbs “since, for, yet, already”, which need the use of the Present Perfect Simple.

Also tricky can be the fact that other adverbials such as “this week, today” are used both with perfect and past tenses, but this depends on the standpoint or fact. But in case no adverbial is used, learners should know it is clearly the case for Past Simple, whereas the Present Prefect Simple implies a present tense, if we are to paraphrase Chalker (P.104).

5. The usage of Present Perfect Simple and Present Perfect Continuous can be considered difficult to Romanian learners as well, because they tend to see them as being one and the same, or at least their meanings, especially if they bare in minds the fact that both tenses can occur with the adverbs of frequency “since” and “for”. Indeed, Chalker suggests that “In some contexts both present prefect tenses are possible <I have lived/ I have been living here ten years> but…the implications are often very different only one tense, not the other is possible.”

6. When making a difference between Past Prefect Simple and Past Perfect Continuous, and especially in using them, Romanian learners can also have problems because of the misunderstandings of the moment from the past or of the completion stage of the action or event. As in the cases discussed above, the role of the context is huge and vital, because it contains enough information so as to make clear the tense needed with the verbs in question,

E.g.: a) When I got home, Jill had been cooking dinner.( Past Tense Continuous)

↓

the activity is seen as uncompleted then, i.e. when I got home

b) When I got home, Jill had cooked dinner.( Past Tense Simple)

↓

the activity is seen as completed then, i.e. when I got home

To sum up, tenses always become the most problematic case in learning English not only for the second language learners, but also for English as foreign language learners. They say that English tenses are confusing; therefore they often ignore an appropriate tense usage either in speaking or in writing, as it is stated in Harvey’s book (2003: p.17).

Ron Cowan (2008) speaks about the influence of the native language when learning and using a second/foreign language, since it constitutes an element which affects these processes. He states that “Many of the ungrammatical sentences that English language learners produce result from the transferring of grammar rules from their native language to English. These L1 transfer errors can take many forms. For example, sometimes a grammatical property associated with certain L1 verbs is transferred when the students begins to learn English.”

Researchers have also raised the problem of whether errors which learners make while learning and using a second/foreign language can be overcome with focused instructions that involves correction. In order to do this, we should look at the development of interlanguage. This concept “refers to the language system (the grammar) that evolves as a learner studies an L2.” During this process, some aspects of the interlanguage grammar may be identical to L2 grammar, but other aspects may be different as well. Cowan also states that the eventual result of instruction and years of practice speaking an L2 will produce an interlanguage which grammarians call the “end state grammar” (White, 2002) or “stabilized grammar” (Long, 2003).

We understand from the things expressed above that this is the grammar that the learners will use in order to communicate with native speakers of the L2 from that moment on. Cowan also underlines the fact that there may be no big changes, or it may not be identical to the grammar of a native speaker. What matters is the fact that it may be very close to it.

The most recognized source of foreign language learning errors is that of L1 interference, i.e. those elements that are similar to the learner’s native language will be simple for him, and those that are different, will be very likely to produce errors. Some of our mistakes which our students make in learning English are also based on false analogies within the foreign language, but the majority of the mistakes result from carrying over into the English language the speech habits of Romanian learners, habits of pronunciation, of morphology, of syntax, of word order.

In conclusion, the process of learning English is a process by which a learner begins to develop an interlanguage and it continues to grow more and more similar to the English grammar of a native speaker until it gets stabilized.

In the beginning of this section we have shown that Romanian learners come across difficulties when learning and using English, and in this particular case, when using Past Tenses. We understand from this that a difficulty with a certain grammatical pattern is somehow similar to the errors which are made by learners.

Aitken (1992) gives a very detailed account of the errors which learners make while acquiring Past Tenses. These errors are of two types, i.e. the first concerns errors of form, spelling and pronunciation, whereas the last type is concerned with errors of meaning and function.

Errors with Past Tense Simple:

Errors of form, spelling and pronunciation: This aspect has already been discussed in the first part of this chapter, i.e. when irregular verbs are often taken as regular verbs, and as a result, learners add the inflection suffix –ED to form Past Simple: run → * runnED.

Another error would be the case in which one irregular form is patterned on another: “swim → swam”, so “think → * thunk”.

Learners do not pay enough attention to the special verbs in English, which have special forms to express Past Simple, and the learners tend to add the inflection suffix –ED to form affirmative, negative or interrogative sentences: * He did be →He was

*Did she be…? → Was she…?

*He did not was → He was not.

b) Errors regarding the meaning and the function of the Past Tense Simple: Some students perceive the Past Tense Simple as a literary tense, which is usually used in writing, but not in speaking. Other students may consider it as a narrative tense which is used to describe recent events or actions in the mother tongue. But they also use The Past Perfect Tense to describe even more distant events such as the example: “*Dinosaurs had lived on earth.”, or “*I had left Italy when I had been only a child.”

Errors with Past Tense Continuous:

In addition to the things which have been expressed in the beginning of the chapter, there are few more to say from the two perspectives.

Errors of form, spelling and pronunciation: Sometimes elementary students tend to produce sentences such as: “*you was” instead of “You were”, whereas others, even if not elementary, have difficulties with the spelling variations, especially with doubling the final consonant at monosyllabic verbs: “run + ING = ruNNing”, instead they produce: “*I was RUNING”.

Another difficulty would be the unintentional misuse of the auxiliary BE in the Past to form Past Tense Continuous: “*I met him while I running down the alley”.

Errors regarding the meaning and the function of the Past Tense Continuous: Students whose mother tongue has a more developed system of tenses for denoting incomplete actions, as The Romanian language is, may do one of the following things:

Avoid the usage of the Past Continuous Tense when the action clearly continued after the time marker or verb: “*I read when you called me”, instead of “I was reading when you called me”;

Use the Present Continuous to indicate that the interrupted action continues to the present time: “*I am gardening when the postman came”, instead of “I was gardening when the postman came”;

Attempt to make incomplete interrupted actions by another tense: “*I have gardened when the postman came”, instead of “I was gardening when the postman came”.

Errors with Past Perfect Simple:

Errors of form, spelling and pronunciation:

Difficulties regarding the Past Participle forms of the irregular forms are to be taken into account in the case of the Past Perfect Simple Tense as well. Students may get confused when encountering the short form “he’d come”, which they are tended to take it as referring to “ he WOULD come”, and which had the same short form.

Learners often tend to fail to hear the difference between the Present Perfect and the Past Perfect, and thus confuse these tenses: “I HAVE done” and “I HAD done”.

Other learners may fail to hear the contracted /d/ and use the participle as a tense, because there is not always obvious where a regular ED participle is involved: “I walked/ I had walked”.

b) Errors regarding the meaning and the function of the Past Perfect Simple Tense: Students whose mother tongue marks the distant past as being distinct from the recent past, and the Romanian language has such a system of past tenses, may use the Past Perfect as a distant past tense, as in the example :” Dinosaurs had lived on earth…”

Many students perceive the Past Perfect Simple Tense as being a difficult tense and avoid using it; instead, they use Past Tense Simple. The sentences are grammatically correct, but there slightly different meanings.

Errors with Past Perfect Continuous:

Errors of form, spelling and pronunciation: Spelling this tense creates difficulties regarding the spelling of the present participle, especially with verbs which end at the infinitive in –E or with monosyllabic verbs which end in consonant and should double the final consonant before getting –ING.

Elementary students may hear the tense in use and attempt to reproduce it in a form which appears to echo what they have already known: “*I happy knitting”.

Confusions may appear when using the passive form of this tense: “*I have been walked”.

Errors regarding the meaning and the function of the Past Perfect Continuous Tense:

Many learners may perceive the tense as denoting only incomplete actions or events as a more distant version of the Past Continuous Tense, perhaps on a mother tongue pattern: “I had been painting the walls when he arrived” for “I was painting the walls when he arrived”.

The tense may also been perceived as a version of the mother-tongue “anterior tense”, because of the apparently “double” past “had been”; it may be used to describe very remote actions: “*Dinosaurs had been living for millions of years”.

Errors with Used To:

a) Errors of form, spelling and pronunciation: Spelling problems with USED TO occur both in the affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences, where UESD TO and USE TO are pronounced identically, /ju: stƱ/, leading the learners to produce variant spelling forms: “*Did you used to…?” for “Did you USE TO…?”, or “*I didn’t used to…” for “I didn’t USE TO…”. This is widespread as the form is rarely used formally written.

b) Errors regarding the meaning and the function: The construction is sometimes avoided in favor of a translation nearer to the mother tongue equivalent, especially on “stylistic” grounds: “*I had the use to ride a bicycle”, “*I had the habit to ride a bicycle”.

Conclussions

Now that all the research has been carried out, some conclusion can be drawn. The chief research part has been the application of two distinct methods to teaching and learning English Past Tenses in a grammar-school environment and assessing their effectiveness. On the premise that we took only the students’evaluation of the four lessons into consideration, we could come to the conclusion that the most effective and successful lessons were those in which some tasks and communicative atmosphere were present. This was the case of the audio-lingual and CLT lessons. On the other hand, the researcher’s evaluation of the lessons and methods, in which Thornbury’s way of assessing was used, and also the extent to which the set aims of the lessons were achieved, showed different results. In the above-mentioned methods, there were always some drawbacks found; whether it was the lack of positive evaluation of efficiency and appropriacy, or the fact that the aims of the lessons were accomplished only partially. Not only were the aims of the lesson achieved and the efficiency and appropriacy factors were fully satisfied, it also was evaluated in one of the groups of students as the most beneficial lesson.

However, it must be conceded that that are also other variables that play their role in the effectiveness of the analysed teaching methods. One of them is the students’ long-term memory; to be precise, how memorable the input and output have been. All the four lessons were taught in the course of two months, nevertheless, no follow-up lessons were given regarding the target language structures. It means that the students were exposed to the grammar structures only once (not including their previous experience with the verb forms in their English classes with various teachers). This is the reason why it might be inferred that no conclusive proof of effectiveness of one or other method results from this research. Nonetheless, a few remarks about the role of a teacher in the teaching and learning process should be made.

Finocchiaro and Brumfit found some distinctive features of the two approaches discussed above and these differences are listed in Richard’s and Rodger’s book as follows:

Table 6: Comparison betweem the Audio-lingual and the Communicative Methods

As Thornbury (1999: 153) suggests, a teacher dealing with English grammar in his/ her language lessons should bear in mind several rules. Firstly, grammar ought to be taught in context and grammatical forms in association with their meanings. Secondly, there should always be some communicative use present in the process of learning grammar. Thirdly, a teacher ought to economise the presentation stage in favour of the practice stage. Teaching the grammar that the learners have problems with and referring to similarities with their mother tongue are another rules that should be embedded in English lessons. The final rule that Scott Thornbury mentions with regard to teaching grammar is the rule of appropriacy. He concludes that all the above-mentioned principles ought to be interpreted according to the level, needs, interests, expectations and learning styles of the specific learners. Regardless of the method the teacher uses, teaching grammar should always be varied and motivating for the students.

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Aitken, R.(1992)- Teaching Tenses—Ideas for Presenting and Practising Tense in English, UK;

Austin, J.L.(1965)- How to do Things with Words;

Azar, B.S.(2003,1992,1985)- Fundamentals of English Grammar, Third Edition Workbook;

Biber, Douglas et all,(2002)- Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, Longman, Pearson Education Limited;

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Broughton, Geoffrey, et al.(1994)- Teaching English as a Foreign Language, 2nd ed. London: Routledge;

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Caudal, P., (2003)- The English Perfect and the Semantic-Pragmatics Interface, LLF, UMR 7110, CNRS & U. Paris 7, (paper presented at the Annual Conference of the English Department, University of Bucharest);

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Celce‐Murcia, M.,ed.(2001)- Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, NY:Heinle&Heine, 3rd edition;

Chalker, S.- Current English Grammar, London: Macmillan Education LTD, p.104;

Chomsky, N. (1986)- Knowledge of Language: Its Nature, Origin and Use, New York: Praeger;

Chomsky, Noam (1965)- Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, MIT Press;

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Cohen, A. (1998)- Strategies in Learning and Using a Second Language, London, NY, Longman, p.4;

Cojocaru, D. (2003)- Romanian Grammar, SEELRC;

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Course. Methodology I & II. Brno: Masaryk University, 2006-2007;

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Annexes

LESSON PLAN 1

Teacher: Caragea Carmen Secondary School Plosca

Day: Textbook: PATHWAY TO ENGLISH

Class: the 5-th grade Lesson: WHAT DID YOU CHOOSE?

No.of students: 23 Level: Starter

Aims: 1.To ask specific questions about past events;

2. To distinguish between two similar sounds:[Э:]≠[Эi];

3. Simple Past—YES-NO questions;

Skills involved: reading, speaking, writing;

Resources: textbooks, notebooks, worksheets.

Methods: conversation, brainstorming.

LESSON PLAN 2

Teacher: Caragea Carmen Secondary School Plosca

Day: Textbook: REWARD

Class: the 8-th grade Lesson: HOW WE MET

No. of students: 23 Level: Intermediate

Aims: 1. To learn words to describe personal qualities;

2. To read some articles for specific information;

3. To talk about past events using PAST SIMPLE and PAST CONTINUOUS of REGULAR and IRREGULAR VERBS.

Skills involved: reading, speaking, writing;

Resources: textbooks, notebooks, worksheets.

Methods: conversation, brainstorming.

LESSON PLAN 3

Teacher: Caragea Carmen Secondary School Plosca

Day: Textbook: Voyages

Grade: the 6-th Lesson: You changed, didn’t you?

No.of students:20 Level: Pre-intermediate

Aims: 1. to sequence events in chronological order;

2. to talk about past experiences;

3. to compare the past with the present;

Objectives: 1. Students will be able to sequence events in chronological order;

2. Students will have the ability to ask someone about the past;

3. Students will have the ability to talk about past experiences;

Skills involved: reading, speaking, writing, and listening.

Resources: textbooks, handouts, notebooks, blackboard.

LESSON PLAN 4

Teacher: Caragea Carmen Secondary School Plosca

Day: Textbook: SNAPSHOT

Class: the 7-th grade Lesson: THE CAR WAS SINKING.

No.of students: 23 Level: pre-intermediate

Aims: 1.To talk about past incidents;

2. To revise Past Simple and Past Continuous;

Skills involved: reading, speaking, writing;

Resources: textbooks, notebooks, worksheets.

Methods: conversation, brainstorming.