|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Eccentric Iconoclast Vice Captain
|
 Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 4:10 pm
I think it does. It makes things more conscious so you're more able to get away from the grammatical structures that seem so natural to you but are really linguistic anomalies.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 5:51 pm
What sort of linguistic anomalies?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 5:58 pm
There are many linguistic anomalies in English...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 6:10 pm
One could say that every language is a linguistic anomaly, because there's so much variation. mrgreen
English, for instance, has an ABSURD number of prepositions.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Eccentric Iconoclast Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 6:16 pm
That is true.
Does it? I think Hindi has around as many. Except they are postpositions. But whatever, they do the same thing. Japanese only has 7 or so basic particles, but there are endless random combinations of them. I don't think English has that many, unless you know a bunch of random prepositions that I don't.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 6:25 pm
Believe me, English has a very high number of them (one of the highest in the world, I'm pretty sure); most people don't even realise how many we have. Look at the list. Most people will agree that we don't need the majority of those.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Eccentric Iconoclast Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 6:36 pm
I didn't even realise some of those were prepositions.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 6:43 pm
Dang, you're right. I barely use a fourth of those. Well, there may be a lot, but I think a lot of them aren't really used nowadays. I certainly don't hear them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 7:39 pm
I didn't know those were prepositions...I use them a lot.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 10:52 pm
To answer the original question, having the meta language makes learning a hell of a lot easier.. I know when I tech Jap, classing a word as an Adjective is pointless if the students dont know what ADJECTIVE means in English.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 20, 2007 6:10 pm
I'd agree with that, Ozumou. Half the kids in my class are asking easy questions, like, "What's an adverb?".
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 9:15 am
I'm in 10th grade, just about to get out, and I JUST NOW learned about the subjunctive mood. It's good to be homeschooled because otherwise I would never know what any of things mean and therefore wouldn't be able to even learn languages well. xd
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 10:26 am
A lot of people use functions (like adjectives, adverbs, such clauses, etc) automatically in their native languages, but learn how those things WORK when they learn another language. I didn't know what hte subjunctive WAS until ... 9th or tenth grade. However, I was apparently a lucky one because my elementary school taught spelling and grammar well, and so in 6th grade, when we did sentence diagramming, I actually got something out of the exercize because I had learned the grammar already, for the most part.
WERE. If I were a sailor, if your father were alive, if they weren't listening, etc. That's the English subjunctive. rofl
((Rich and I both freak out whenever anyone says "If I was you" and such nonsense.))
Admittedly, despite the fact that I tend to spaz over spelling to some extent, I never could spell things with lots of is and es (unless it's Spanish or German, these days wink ), and "excersize" eludes me to this day. Oh, and Alphabetical Order is the devil.
stressed
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 2:29 pm
Is "If I was you?" technically wrong then? I didn't know. Even though I study the grammar of other languages, I don't know crap about English. And I don't want to, I already speak it. And anyway, whats wrong with saying 'if I was you' if thats how people say it? Because that is how the majority of them do say it. Down with linguistic prescriptivism!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 2:45 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
