Why is grammar important in literature? English grammar. Does it give knowledge of the language? Hear what native speakers say and learn from them

English grammar in its entirety is not subject even to most native speakers. As the great linguist of our time has shown, the key to success in language learning is the continuous and massive study of interesting and meaningful content.

To speak English well, you need to learn how words are used and how they combine to form phrases and sentences. Only listening and reading a huge amount of material can help to understand this. While reading and listening, you should constantly try to notice how to use English words correctly. One must naturally perceive the natural phrases of the English language, which means: slowly, gradually, with a lot of trial and error.

English grammar is quite difficult. However, there are simple things that help us notice patterns in any language. The first is to feel the main components or parts of speech.

Parts of speech

Nouns

Nouns refer to people and things, such as, for example, table, flower or house . Most English nouns are not alone. Usually preceded by a noun ( an, a, the ), or other words like: some, any, both . Only if the noun is a general term such as beauty, love, money or honor, etc., can it stand alone.

Look for nouns. Note the different plural forms. Note that some of the nouns are never plural.

Fortunately, English grammar (unlike some others) does not separate nouns by gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter). In addition, nouns do not change form depending on their role in the sentence, that is, they do not change by case. English nouns are simple.

Pronouns

Pronouns are words like he, she, it, they, we, his, her or which and that that replace nouns. When you use a pronoun instead of a noun, you need to make sure it's obvious which noun you're referring to. If it's not clear, it's better to use a noun to avoid confusion.

adjectives

Adjectives describe nouns. They can describe the color, size, degree, or any other quality of the noun.

You will notice that many adjectives end in -ate, -able, -ive, -ing or -ed . Nouns are often turned into adjectives by adding a letter -y , For example: anger-angry, thirst-thirsty, fun-funny etc. Sometimes, on the contrary, an adjective can turn into a noun by adding -y how in difficult-difficulty .

You just need to watch the language and save the words and phrases you want to learn. Note that in English, adjectives come before nouns. There is also a natural, as in new, big, red expensive car (new, big, red expensive car). All this is learned from the large number of articles that you read and listen to.

Sometimes students are perplexed: why do I need to know what a noun is, what adverbs are, and what an auxiliary verb is? Do we learn language in order to get into the jungle of grammar, and not in order to communicate?

So it is, but you can speak fluently and fluently only if you devote some time to grammar. Believe me, the time spent is worth it! But you will once and for all learn the habit of correctly building sentences. Relearning is always harder than learning.

Of course, in order for the lesson not to be completely dull, it will not consist entirely of grammar. 10-20 minutes, no more.

How do I teach grammar?

• Video. On YouTube, you can find a lot of videos that will help you understand this or that difficult aspect of grammar: with diagrams, music, illustrations in the form of funny scenes, with exercises that you can do right as you watch.
• Schemes on the board and in programs. Yes, you can simply draw a diagram and explain on your fingers how the Present Simple Tense differs from the Present Perfect.
• Tutorial (For example, Murphy). Still a necessary element of education are books, namely specialized grammar books. Do not be afraid, we will not memorize their chapters, we will just sometimes do exercises from there.

Sometimes it seems to me that one of the main advantages of a grammar book is its table of contents. You look at these 4-5 pages and see the whole structure of English grammar - tenses in one chapter, adverbs in another, prepositions in the third, and so on.

• Examples from life, analogies with Russian. Now it is considered that it is better to speak only in English in the classroom. Both teacher and student. To train speech and listening comprehension throughout the lesson. In my opinion, when explaining grammar, it is not a sin to switch to your native language, as long as it is understandable.

What's next?

Once the rule has been sorted out, we do the exercises (insert missing words, rearrange words) - the most boring part, and only then try to make up our own sentences (the so-called free practice).

If we are going through adverbs of frequency (always, sometimes, never, etc.), I can ask you to say what you do often, sometimes, always on weekends. And your answer may sound like this: I SOMETIMES go shopping or I ALWAYS meet my friends. It would seem a simple proposal, but sometimes it is not easy to compose it yourself.

Learning a language is an intellectual activity that makes you remember long-forgotten knowledge, encourages your brain to work in an intensive mode. Grammar helps us in this, we should not neglect it.

Learning a foreign language means not only memorizing a lot of words. Indeed, in any language, words are combined into sentences not randomly, but according to certain rules and principles. These rules are not the same in different languages ​​and constitute the grammar of a given language. The study of grammar allows you to understand the internal structure of the language, and therefore, take a step towards your own speech activity, to the construction of competent sentences, the creation of oral and written texts. Which is the main purpose of learning a foreign language, right?

Therefore, when someone wants to master "colloquial speech" without learning grammar, this is impossible. There is, of course, a variant of a phrase book: you can memorize a hundred phrases without understanding the principle on which they are built. But this path has nothing to do with learning a foreign language and will lead you to nothing but disappointment: you will not be able to speak with native speakers. Meanwhile, memorizing sentences is not an easy job. Try to better focus your efforts on learning how to build phrases on your own based on knowledge of the grammar of the language. However, memorizing ready-made sentences is a good exercise in itself. It is widely used in the so-called intensive methods of language learning, but always in combination with the parallel study of grammar.

Knowing grammar means understanding how words are combined into sentences. In Russian and Italian, these principles are not at all the same. So, if in Russian we say “I want to eat” or “I'm hungry”, then the Italians use the verb in this sentence avere ("to have") and say: Ho fame(literally: "I have hunger"). Likewise they will say: "I'm cold" ( Ho freddo, literally: "I have a cold") or "I have a headache" ( Ho mal di testa Literally: "I have a headache"). Another example: in Italian, the linking verb is always preserved. essere(to be), while in Russian in the present tense the verb "to be" is usually omitted. So, we say "I'm a student" or "This is my friend" without using any verb. Meanwhile, in Italian, in such cases, the verb is necessarily used essere(whereas the personal pronoun, on the contrary, can be omitted): sono students(literally: (I) am a student); Questo e il mio amico(This is my friend).

When studying a foreign language, you should strive to ensure that the grammatical structure of the Russian language does not affect your Italian. Getting familiar with grammar will help you with this.

In conclusion, I would like to say a few words about scientific terminology from the field of grammar, which you will encounter when opening almost any foreign language textbook. The use of these terms is dictated by the desire of the authors to accurately and concisely describe the grammatical structure of the language. Sometimes the author simply cannot do without them. However, most of us forgot grammatical terminology shortly after leaving school. Sometimes this prevents the perception of the text of the textbook and the teacher's explanations.

In fact, many people find themselves in a similar situation, and not just you, so you should not be shy about asking questions at all. An attentive and experienced teacher will not abuse terminology, will try to get by with only the most necessary concepts and, in any case, will explain any term to you. Therefore, words such as “indirect object” or “transitive verb” will soon cease to confuse you.

Grammar is an element of language about which opinions differ radically. Many people believe that without knowledge of grammar rules and repeated exercises, it is impossible to learn a language well. But often English grammar for beginners becomes a real torture. They get confused in numerous tenses, misplace words in sentences, and as a result they come to the conclusion that learning grammar is not necessary, and it is quite possible to do without this boring lesson.

However, it depends on the knowledge of grammatical rules how correctly you can compose a phrase using your vocabulary. In other words, this knowledge determines how competently you can speak and write in English.

Why study grammar

What is meant by this term? Grammar is a set of specific rules that must be followed when using a particular language. These rules are important and necessary just like the rules of any sports game, such as football or basketball. If there are no such rules, it becomes simply impossible to play. The same applies to the language: if there were no rules of communication, people would not be able to understand each other. Therefore, teaching English grammar is one of the most important and significant stages in mastering a foreign speech.

Of course, learning the rules of a language is much more difficult than learning the rules of a game. There is no single approach to the study of the grammatical structure, because each specialist creates his own methodology, different from others. Some suggest memorizing the rules and doing a lot of exercises to reinforce them. Others believe that the easiest way to learn grammar is through various language games and situations. Whatever method you choose, remember some rules and recommendations that will help facilitate and speed up the learning process.

English Grammar (English Grammar)

I talked a little about this in the very first lesson. When he said that English is generally easy, for those who want it. And he explained why it was easy. Including explained due to this. What did I tell you about English grammar? One of the best in the world. It was? And the following was said. It is really much simpler than Russian, much. Moreover, it is even much more logical, and much lighter in form, because everything is written with formulas. And what is very important. One and the same grammatical law, which we will stake out in these small lessons. On the fifth today. And in the 40th lesson, we will remember the same law on the grammar of a super fancy, high-level grammar, but there this law works the same way as it works here. It is very important.

Well, now the main thing. Why do we need grammar at all? What for? Despite the fact that she is so smart, so fluffy, it’s just a pleasure to sit and stroke her. Well, stroked, stroked ... Even this bothers me. So why are we teaching it? Remember the main thing. There was not, and I doubt that there will ever be at least one person in the world who would speak English fluently without knowing grammar. This does not apply to those born there.

Listen carefully to what I am about to say. There are two ways to come to the English language, to perfect knowledge, mastery of the English language. The first path is instinctive, but for this you need to be born there. And from the first days, or rather, scientists have proved that even in the womb, the child already hears the language and begins to form it in himself. And therefore, by the age of three or four, he speaks excellent English / American.

I'm sorry. But he will look at me like I’m a complete idiot and say: “Uncle, I don’t know what presentperfect". Although he just used this phrase. He works on instinct. Remember. This has already been proven by scientists. And I have assumed this before, although I am not a scientist in this direction. The human brain has two hemispheres, as you know. Each works for itself and each works on its own laws. So, for the first seven years (some say six, some say nine) of a person's life, basically only the left hemisphere works for him. And he perceives everything in the surrounding world through this left hemisphere. And at the same time, this hemisphere works with him on instinct, on images. Up to that on intonations, on color. The child perceives language not analytically, but intuitively. And this, of course, is much easier for him. He unconsciously takes it, this tongue. But, I repeat, at about the age of seven, this hemisphere, or rather the center in it, which works on the tongue, physiology has proved that it closes, stops working. And everything switches in the same child to the right hemisphere. And for the rest of his life, he comprehends everything new in the world around him only with this half. And it works according to a completely different law, on an analytical level. That is, he must understand why this is so, and not otherwise. Then it becomes clear to him. In the left hemisphere, he did not ask "Why is that?". He said: "Yes, yes, yes." And in the right one he says: "No, I have to understand."

Why did I say this? There is not a single seven-year-old among you sitting here. No one. This means that that first path is closed for all of us. That's why our freaks are freaks, and that's why they can't teach the language, because they mechanically try to instill that level, that way in adults, but we reject it, the body doesn't take it. It's the same as breastfeeding you all day now. You will be carried away, I'm sorry, that's all. And you say, “Here you go. Give me sausages. Understand, this is the truth. We can all get used to, or rather come to a fluency in the language, but we will go the other way. We will go through the understanding of the language, through the laws of the language, which the child does not need, he took them on instinct. He doesn't know them, but he uses them.

Well, I ask you again. Here is a centipede running. Ask a centipede how she rearranges her legs, what will happen to her? She will fall when she starts thinking. Here is a child like a centipede. He runs, but he doesn't think why. We adults can't do that. That is why, by the way, there is a very difficult problem that our freaks do not understand and extol it. This is the principle of bilinguals. I'll tell you sometime if there's a reason.

So what is grammar for? To speak freely. And speak freely, understanding the language from the inside. How to get into the clockwork and say "here everything is spinning like this and I remember it." But then, when we learn it by heart, from the teeth, you will already speak English like a child says, without hesitation. You know what a tricky thing. In three or four years, you will not say to yourself, “Oh, what time to take there? Ah, probably Indefinite, maybe Continuous? You won't talk like that. You won't even tell yourself what it is. Continuous. You immediately say on it, as a child would say. In short, if you memorize, that's in a good way with malice, you can assume that your passport has a new stamp "born in New York" or "born in Boston" or "born in London." Therefore, you will be reborn. It's true. But, you need to take it with love, respect and with a great desire for grammar. There is no other option. Do not believe any bastard who says: “But why grammar? What kind of nonsense? Don't believe.