A while ago, I pointed out that the main problem with a lot of writing is incorrect usage of commas. Of course, once I said THAT, I started noticing other problems that could be THE main error plaguing English writers and speakers. During Camp Nicole, as I tried to explain algebra the best way I can (in terms of language), I found myself in the weird position of explaining that "obtuse" means "intellectually dull," but that's not really related to an angle of more than 90 degrees. My brother thought it was funny and wanted to use it as an insult, but he couldn't put it into a sentence. Then, I began to notice that they sometimes have trouble transitioning a word from one part of speech to another. They would just add "-ize" or "-tion" onto a word and assume the work was done. It left me scratching my head in confusion (and decidedly against ever attempting to teach algebra again…).
Without going into an in depth morphology lesson, words can change lexical categories with the change of a morpheme. Sounds fancy, but this is a simple computation that our brains seem to do naturally. It's how we're able to change the verb "invite" into the noun "invitation." Further, we've been given rules of thumb to make this work, like adding a "-tion" makes a word a noun or adding "-ly" makes it an adverb. This is true a lot of the time, but there are enough exceptions to the rule to create confusion and user error. I think that instead of learning all the rules of morphology, simply understanding the parts of speech -- that it, what words do in a sentence -- will help fix the issue.
When it comes to English, simplicity is key. Unfortunately English education isn't always so straightforward. Early in school we're all taught that the eight parts of speech are noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, interjection, conjunction, and preposition. Later we learn about articles. Depending on how old (or young) you are, interjections are left off the list entirely. And depending on how deep into the study of language you decide to go, there are more parts of speech and you're told to abandon the label "parts of speech;" they're "lexical categories." (All this confusion for the sake of accuracy...) For the purposes of clarity, you only need to worry about the nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives right now.
Use this awesome sentence as a reference:
Anything that is something is a noun. If it answers the question "Who?" or "What?" it is a noun. This can be as simple as "ball" or as complicated as "floccinaucinihilipilification." In the example sentence, Julie and vase are nouns.
Something by another name is a pronoun. If you're calling something by name and then you switch it up and call that something "it," you have used a pronoun. She refers to Julie in the sentence. She is a pronoun.
Anything something can do is a verb. Verbs can take a lot of different forms and tenses, but they always tell you what the subject is doing. "Wrote," "read," and "living," are all verbs in different tenses. To scream and to throw are used in the above sentence in past tense.
Adverbs tell you how something carried out the action. These are a little tricky. They often describe the manner in which something is done (cautiously, well, happily), but they can also explain time (first, long) and location (far, high). How did Julie scream? Loudly. How did she throw the vase? Hard.
Finally, adjectives describe something. When you say that something is "tall" or "red" or "calm," you are using an adjective. In the sentence, antique and red describe the vase.
Of course, knowing the rules of thumb associated with suffixes is useful knowledge, especially for standardized tests. However, that's only as useful as your knowledge of the parts of speech. When I took the SAT, it still had analogies and we were told to ignore word definitions and focus on matching the parts of speech. This is difficult if the parts of speech are meaningless to you.
If this seems oversimplified, it's because it is. My brothers, who do not enjoy English as much as I do, and who probably will not grow up to be writers or English teachers, need a strong, albeit cursory, knowledge of their language. This is how I explained the parts of speech to them, and I hope some of it sank in and they will be able to communicate effectively because of it. I hope I've helped some of you, too.
All this came from my head, but if you need a second opinion, the Purdue Online Writing Lab is a great resource (and definitely a better academic source than "this chick who writes this blog about everything…) =]
Without going into an in depth morphology lesson, words can change lexical categories with the change of a morpheme. Sounds fancy, but this is a simple computation that our brains seem to do naturally. It's how we're able to change the verb "invite" into the noun "invitation." Further, we've been given rules of thumb to make this work, like adding a "-tion" makes a word a noun or adding "-ly" makes it an adverb. This is true a lot of the time, but there are enough exceptions to the rule to create confusion and user error. I think that instead of learning all the rules of morphology, simply understanding the parts of speech -- that it, what words do in a sentence -- will help fix the issue.
When it comes to English, simplicity is key. Unfortunately English education isn't always so straightforward. Early in school we're all taught that the eight parts of speech are noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, interjection, conjunction, and preposition. Later we learn about articles. Depending on how old (or young) you are, interjections are left off the list entirely. And depending on how deep into the study of language you decide to go, there are more parts of speech and you're told to abandon the label "parts of speech;" they're "lexical categories." (All this confusion for the sake of accuracy...) For the purposes of clarity, you only need to worry about the nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives right now.
Use this awesome sentence as a reference:
Julie screamed loudly and threw the antique red vase as hard as she could.
Anything that is something is a noun. If it answers the question "Who?" or "What?" it is a noun. This can be as simple as "ball" or as complicated as "floccinaucinihilipilification." In the example sentence, Julie and vase are nouns.
Something by another name is a pronoun. If you're calling something by name and then you switch it up and call that something "it," you have used a pronoun. She refers to Julie in the sentence. She is a pronoun.
Anything something can do is a verb. Verbs can take a lot of different forms and tenses, but they always tell you what the subject is doing. "Wrote," "read," and "living," are all verbs in different tenses. To scream and to throw are used in the above sentence in past tense.
Adverbs tell you how something carried out the action. These are a little tricky. They often describe the manner in which something is done (cautiously, well, happily), but they can also explain time (first, long) and location (far, high). How did Julie scream? Loudly. How did she throw the vase? Hard.
Finally, adjectives describe something. When you say that something is "tall" or "red" or "calm," you are using an adjective. In the sentence, antique and red describe the vase.
Of course, knowing the rules of thumb associated with suffixes is useful knowledge, especially for standardized tests. However, that's only as useful as your knowledge of the parts of speech. When I took the SAT, it still had analogies and we were told to ignore word definitions and focus on matching the parts of speech. This is difficult if the parts of speech are meaningless to you.
If this seems oversimplified, it's because it is. My brothers, who do not enjoy English as much as I do, and who probably will not grow up to be writers or English teachers, need a strong, albeit cursory, knowledge of their language. This is how I explained the parts of speech to them, and I hope some of it sank in and they will be able to communicate effectively because of it. I hope I've helped some of you, too.
All this came from my head, but if you need a second opinion, the Purdue Online Writing Lab is a great resource (and definitely a better academic source than "this chick who writes this blog about everything…) =]
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