Noticing the Patterns to Learn English
In English, forming plurals nouns has some rules, but many nouns have group rules. If a learner cannot notice those rules, he/she may invite trouble.
This article is intended for both teachers and learners of English. It discusses the idea of noticing the patterns in English with the help of examples from plural forms of nouns and past forms of verbs, later linking them in the case of subject–verb agreement.
Noticing, Teaching and Learning
Learning a foreign language is always a challenge even for those who can notice the patterns of that language quickly. This is because each language has some predictable generalized patterns, but other patterns that a learner cannot easily make out. There are systems one can figure out only after rigorous practice and adequate exposure to the use of the language. In this article, I have picked sample patterns of word grammar and presented the ideas from the English language teacher's point of view.
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English Teacher Killed due to Plurals
"Mr. Piretti, why did you kill your language teacher?" asked Detective-Inspector Smith.
The excited little foreigner sucked at his cigarette, then gesticulated with it toward the body on the rug.
"Sure, sure, I'm a kill him. He's a teach me English, see? Good man, good teacher, till we come to the fifth day - plural of nouns. “You name-a one thing, you use a singular noun; you name- a more than one thing, you use a plural noun. It's a simple,” he say to me.
"I say, ‘Fine. Now how we make these-a plurals?'
"He say, ‘Simple: add a s.'
“I say, Simple: man-mans.”
"He say, ‘No. Men. Change-a the a to e.'
"I say, 'Good: potato-poteto.'
"He say, ‘No! Potatoes. Just a add a es.'
"I look at him. Now, I'm a patient man. I'm a calm like a deep sea, see? I got restraint. But I'm a begin to lose a leetle control, see?
"I say, Half -halfes”'
"He say, `No! Halves! Musta change the f to v.'
"I'm a just a stand there, holding my hands back with one another, and I'm a try not to look at his throat, see? Control.
"I'm a unclench my teeth enough to say, 'O.K. The rule is, then, add a s and es, change - a middle a to e, ands f to v. Now that's a clear. Let's a try one: alumnus-alumnuses:
"He's a say, `Not at all Alumni.'
"It is then that I strangle him with my plural handes."
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The English language teacher definitely needs to know the language and how to use it. The teacher also needs to possess an in-depth language awareness, which means the ability to notice the patterns crucial in developing proficiency in this language. As a teacher, one also needs to facilitate the process of 'noticing'. This means the teacher has adequate language awareness to be able to guide the learner to the patterns of English, in a general process of consciousness-raising.
Language awareness is important in the process of English language learning because English has more deviations and exceptions that general rules. A good ‘noticer’ can observe the patterns even in those deviations and exceptions. Noticing helps the learners to anticipate and predict and right anticipation and predication is the ability to discover rules of that language. The knowledge that has been discovered by the learner goes into the long-term memory.
Noticing the plurals
In English, forming plurals nouns has some rules, but many nouns have group rules. If a learner cannot notice those rules, he/she may invite trouble. The story below from a grammar book now out-of-print exemplifies what might happen if we cannot make the learners aware of the crazy patterns which exist in the number system of the English nouns.
One might gasp and say: this can't happen. Yes, this can't and should not happen. But this story indicates how frustrating the experience can be if learners do not see the patterns in a way that makes sense. So, the teacher needs to use materials and techniques that raise the awareness in learners about what to anticipate as they move further. The more they can anticipate, they better they can notice and learn the patterns.
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Past Forms of English Verbs
The verbs in English are a fright.
How can we learn to read and write?
Today we speak, but first we spoke;
Some faucets leak, but never loke.
Today we write, but first we wrote;
We bite our tongues, but never bote.
Each day I teach, for years I taught,
And preachers preach, but never praught.
This tale I tell; this tale I told;
I smell the flowers, but never smold.
If knights still slay, as once they slew,
Then do we play, as once we plew?
If I still do as once I did,
Then do cows moo, as they once mid?
I love to win, and games I’ve won;
I seldom sin, and never son.
I hate to lose, and games I lost;
I didn’t choose, and never chost.
I love to sing, and songs I sang;
I fling a ball, but never flang.
I strike that ball, that ball I struck;
This poem I like, but never luck.
I take a break, a break I took;
I bake a cake, but never book.
I eat that cake, that cake I ate;
I beat an egg, but never bate.
I often swim, as I once swam;
I skim some milk, but never skam.
I fly a kite that I once flew;
I tie a knot, but never tew.
I see the truth, the truth I saw;
I flee from falsehood, never flaw.
I stand for truth, as I once stood;
I land a fish, but never lood.
About these verbs I sit and think.
These verbs don’t fit. They seem to wink
At me, who sat for years and thought
Of verbs that never fat or wrought.
- Richard Lederer
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Someone found the patterns of making the English nouns plural, and he wrote the following poem. We can imagine how good a noticer he/she has been as a learner.
Noticing the Past Forms
Verb tenses in English are crazy and puzzling. Some verbs form their past tense by adding -d, -ed, or –t - walk, walked; bend, bent. Others undergo an internal vowel change - begin, began; sing, sang. A third group adds -d or -t and undergoes an internal vowel change - lose, lost; buy, bought. Some others don’t change at all - set, set; put, put. When we have to form the past tense of verbs like dive, weave, shine, sneak, and baby-sit, we are not always sure how to do that. The past tenses of verbs in English cause so many confusions that Lederer has written a poem about them:
This poem is an example that the past forms of many English verbs are not predictable and ‘generalizable’. If we generalize the rule, we may go wrong. The verbs ‘take’ and ‘make’ are similar in the shape in the present tense form but they form the past tense differently, ‘took’ and ‘made’.
Noticing the Subject-Verb Agreement
Noticing the singulars and plurals is helpful when it comes to the formation of sentences in the simple present tense. In this tense the subject has to ‘agree’ with the verb and vice versa. If the number of the subject is obvious, i.e singular or plural, it is easy to add –s/es/ies to the verbs or not. But when the number is not obvious, we get confused.
Let's try an exercise on the subject-verb agreement and try to notice what the system is. Please circle the verb that you think agrees with the subject(s). Then we will discuss what is to be noticed.
How well did you do? Except with questions 9, 10 and 13, all subjects agree with the verb that has s/es. What we need to notice here is that one of, every one of, either of and neither are singular though we are talking with reference to a group that has countable members. As for 9, 10 and 13, there are two subjects and one or both are plural. If one of the subjects in such patterns is plural, the verb will have no s/es. They also inform that if both subjects are plural, again the verb will have no s/es.
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1. One of my good friends (own, owns) a fifty-foot yacht.
2. Neither of the flashlights (are, is) working.
3. Either of the trails (take, takes) you to my ranch home.
4. Neither of the girls (has, have) a sense of humor.
5. One of Prashant’s sisters (work, works) in a factory downtown.
6. One of the students (do, does) well in chemistry.
7. One of the clinics (has, have) exactly what you need.
8. Everyone of his clients (trust, trusts) him faithfully.
9. Neither Robin nor the tutors (remember, remembers) what the assignment was.
10. Either the ghosts or the goblins (haunt, haunts) Sriram during the night.
11. Neither Sumnima nor Rejina (know, knows) about the surprise party.
12. Either Krishna or Suman (plan, plans) to take a lunch break.
13. Neither the train nor the airplanes (take, takes) that route.
14. Either Ramji or Pallavi (have, has) the right answer.
15. Neither Bina nor Vina (understand, understands) the assignment.
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Conclusion
If we develop a habit of looking at the language items minutely and inculcate the same in our learners, it will be a lot easier to notice the patterns. This will also help the learners to be more autonomous because if they discover rules by themselves, they are likely not only to remember the rules for a long time but also to use them appropriately.
To learn more on noticing and language awareness, try to avail of these books, which are also available in the Nepal.
Bolitho, R. and Tomilson, B. (1995) Discover English. Oxford: Heinemann.
Cook, G. (1989) Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Swan, M. (1980) Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Thornbury, S.(1997) About Language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
This series of articles on teaching English is coordinated by the organization NELTA.
