Korean Job Discussion Forums

[schwa]

I'm reviewing an exam paper by a grade 1 middle school teacher (a very capable teacher & I respect her).

Students are asked to choose the correct word in this sentence: "The windows are made (of/from) a special paper, Hanji."

I know the "correct" answer, the question is from the teacher's guide, & apparently the teacher has drilled the kids on the difference.

My questions:
Do you as a native speaker bother to make this distinction?
If another native speaker were to say "They're made from paper," would you even notice?
Is this a fair exam question?

It bugs me that the curriculum wastes time on these fine differences when the kids are hard-pressed enough to make a simple sentence about what they did on the weekend.

Not sure how to approach this on monday morning.

[T-J]

The distinction is whether the material changes form or not.

The chair is made of wood. It's still wood but it is also a chair.

Paper is made from wood. It's no longer wood it is paper.

[Old fat expat]

http://savingourprepositions.ca/Welcome.html

David Thatcher makes the (unremarkable) observation that native speakers do not indeed know how to use prepositions properly. It is actually a very good/funny read. I have it in pdf but perhaps you could search the html link to download it for future reference.

I fully agree with you regarding silly distinctions; especially so when the students (at the grade you mention) still trip over 3rd person singular. In fact I will say I would be happy to see a marginal preposition, anything close will do, being used at 1st grade level (I mean in production-not grammar quizzes).

On the scale of difficulty for Korean students, prepositions are harder than articles. But rush ahead we must to teach more grammar.

[edwardcatflap]

How about 'made with?'

To answer your questions

Do you as a native speaker bother to make this distinction? No
If another native speaker were to say "They're made from paper," would you even notice? No
Is this a fair exam question? No

My policy with this area of language is to teach the difference between 'made by' on the one hand and 'made of/with/from' on the other, as you don't want the students saying things like 'wine is made by grapes'. If students ask me the difference between the other prepositions, I'll tell them but won't teach it. I'd recommend the same with young learners.

[young_clinton]

Made from: it is most likely a uniform substance partially or completely containing something.

Made of: it is manufactured from something.

The fabric is made of Rayon. Rayon is made from wood.

[Threequalseven]

I am made from my parents' sexual union. I am made of blood, bone, organs, skin, and so forth.

[waynehead]

This is the kind of utter nonsense that has no place in a proper language classroom. Sorry for the mini rant, I know it's not your bag, carry on.

[atwood]

[schwa]

Thanks for the replies.

As I mentioned in my OP, I already knew the technical distinction. Its easy enough to give examples where one or the other is clearly preferable, but in many cases (& I'm usually quite fastidious in my grammar) I might use either interchangeably. As in the question I quoted.

I'm convinced it doesnt really matter in common discourse. A slip-up wouldnt identify someone as uneducated.

Like "fewer" vs "less" or "further" vs "farther."

I just think its stupid to test beginning learners on grammatical quibbles that wouldnt even register for most native speakers. I hope I can get the teacher to dump the question & reflect on classtime devoted to unimportant technicalities. Its exactly these arcane "rules" that discourage some students from seeing english as fun & useful.