This course covers all aspects of high-level grammar, much of which is difficult even for native speakers. This should be the last grammar course you need to take.
Be careful when choosing which level of textbook you take. If you are still regularly making grammar errors, then it may be better to take the intermediate level of this textbook series. In this advanced book the topics are challenging, but if this level is correct for you then you will find them rewarding.
It has two parts.
Part 1 is a guide to word and sentence grammar consisting of 17 large sections. It starts with a review of the basics, then dives into tougher topics like modal verbs, determiners and relative clauses.
Part 2 is a shorter guide to grammar beyond the sentence, including politeness, emphasis and repetition. It is the bridge from textbook English to fluent, correct, everyday English.
Topics include:
-
In Part 1:
-
passives;
- infinitives and -ing forms;
- various structures with verbs;
-
adjectives, adverbs and comparison;
-
noun clauses; and
-
adverb clauses.
-
-
In Part 2:
-
information structure;
-
reading complicated sentences;
-
short answers, questions and question tags;
-
politeness: being indirect; and
-
news headlines.
-
Time to complete
This is the new grammar course as of October 2018.
This is an advanced course in grammar. It assumes that the student has a very high working knowledge of English. It does start simply, but gets very tough very quickly. Use this if your student has no 1s on their GBC grammar score, or if they can make a lot of error-free sentences. It is particularly good if a student is motivated to do homework but needs tasks to be set for them.
The Oxford grammar series
Books in the Oxford grammar series follow the same structure. They are divided into broad sections varying in length from 10-27 pages. Each section begins with foundational instruction and then builds more and more complex language on that foundation.
- Yellow boxes of structures and examples are the central part of this book and should have time spent on them.
- You can do all or some of the exercises, or assign them for homework.
- Homework can also include instructions for original sentences using the framework provided.
Teaching strategies
Remember the goal is to use this language to make original sentences about relevant topics. That means you should imagine how the student would use this language, and lead them to do so in the lesson.
-
For instance p136, nouns and pronouns: using --self for emphasis:
E.g. "I got a letter from the Minister himself."
"The restaurant itself is beautiful but the food isn't much good."
After reading the examples, you can do the following:- Tell the student to think of some times where they can emphasise or contrast.
- Give the student some examples:
- "The project itself wasn't so hard, but my boss was really strict and that made it pretty tough".
- "The ramen itself was amazing, but the shop was too dirty".
- Ask the student if they can think of any examples of using "itself, herself or himself".
- You can also try to think of GBC-style questions that lead to grammar points.
- Make sure, if you ask broad questions, that the student uses the grammar structures in the answer. You can call them out on that, "You forgot to use the grammar structure! Can you give me a sentene with this grammar in it?"
- You can push your student to guess answers and word meanings.
Notes
- You'll find answers to the exercises at the back of the book.
- There is also a teacher's book.