Teacher Discussion Forums

... I always remind students that there always seem to be exceptions ... Oh-oh. Here comes another can of worms perhaps. I disagree, in the spirit, I hope, of a good discussion. Personally I hate it when people, especially English teachers, who, after all, are supposed to possess relative expertise...

Oh, why not. Cans of worms can be all gnarly and interesting. I believe your point about whether a native speaker would or would not utter something naturally is an excellent one. In this case, you are probably right, native English speakers wouldn't. But I also believe you are incorrect to call it ...

Is it possibly a choice to put more emphasis on the temporariness of the situation? An excellent analytical point, Heath. I wouldn't worry about the rest, though, because the writer doesn't seem to be making much of an argument for taking steps, but merely noting what he expects if nothing is done....

'Could' here is unlikely to be referring to the/a past... so it must be signalling some sort of "non-temporal remoteness", some sort of "less likelihood", or greater tentativeness in making the suggestion, or whatever. Good grief, Fluffy! Have you become some sort of closet Michael Lewis groupie? I...

Sally, when I read the list of places where you've been and taught, and considering the many wonderful posts you've put up here at Dave's, I would think the interesting autobiography would come from you. Why don't you put your granddaughter down for a nap now and then and work on your memoirs? Larry

Guess you'll have to spank Dave.

Hi Sally, Great to hear from you. Book? Well, I I kinda figured all three potential buyers could find other sources, probably. They might not do so badly right here on this forum. It just didn't look like a commercially viable project, Sally. WJSerson (remember him?), who was going to help me write ...

SJ, how great to see you again, and you're still as feisty as ever, I see. I'm so glad you stopped by to help me make my point. You're quite right that the differences in meaning are "marginal," as you put it. But you do concede that there are differences in meaning. Yes, both can and could are rela...

Hi Lorikeet. I know what you mean. The English Verb is definitely a teacher's book, and not to be used with students, as you know. But the ideas in it are so good that you feel you'd like to pass them along to students. He (Michael Lewis) did write at least two--there may be more now, but I'm out of...

Nice to hear from you again, Juan. We've had many pleasant exchanges. Glad to see you're "hanging in."

Larry

Hi folks, I don't hang around so much anymore, but every now and then it's fun to pop in just to see what everyone's talking about these days. Sometimes it serves to keep the old brain waves pumping. :) Hereinchina, your question is not really about grammar if you were expecting to find some sort of...

"I must admit, I am a big believer that the teacher's personality and teaching styles/attitudes play a big role in the language learning classroom (I even argue that they're, in some ways, more relevant than learning styles), so I guess I shouldn't be so against the idea of remoteness. Teachers who...

Heath, you sound like a reasonable and intelligent fellow (or lady, I'm not sure which) to me. And based on what you have said, I suspect you're pretty good in the classroom. Which is a roundabout way of saying that going with your own comfort level is probably the way to go for your own sake, and f...

Heath says: "I'm not convinced of the value of 'remoteness' and would much rather see words like 'would' and 'could' dealt with in context. We're happy to say that other words have multiple meanings/uses, why this fixation on finding a common ground between the various uses of 'would' and 'could'?" ...

...gerunds are the single most contentious thing in linguistics. Any theory of language structure or syntax will have to account for them. They are clearly verbs, and equally clearly nouns! There is as far as I know to date no generally accepted account of their properties and how they fit into any...