LANGUAGE ANALYSIS

Language Analysis

Name:Language Analysis Assignment

1. My mother hasn't been very well.

Anticipated Problems

Possible solutions

Meaning: Indicating some condition at past that happened for a particular time and was not good.

Students might use present perfect with an event/state that has finished (instead of past simple), or use past simple to talk about something that is continuing(instead of past continuous)

Make sure the distinction is clear between actions/states which continue until the present

Use timeline :

Present perfect Now

past future My mother hasn't been very well

Form: Present perfect

Affirmative : Subject + have/has + Past Participle

Negative: Subject + have/has not (haven't /hasn't) + Past Participle

Question : Have/Has + Subject + Past Participle?

Yes, Subj + have/has OR No, Subj + haven't/hasn't

Students may not understand it, because “hasn't been” is not clarifying the form of the sentence.

Students may also not clearly understand the time duration for which mother was not well.

Students may use the wrong tense thus changing the sentence completely.

Clear illustrative models should be utilized to clearly explain the present perfect tense.

I'll leave the model on the board and write more examples on WB.

1st (if clause) and 2nd (result)

The grammar structure of this sentence is that the word mother is noun and the word very is used as adjective in this sentence.

Pron: My mother hasn't been very well.

/'hæz?n b?n/ (weak form for been

As far as the pronunciation of this contraction is concerned the students may pronounce this word as 'hasn' as a separate word and't' separately.

Write the sentence on the board ( or use OHP to show it) ,I'll model and drill the sentence, and draw the diagram and put the stress and show the word with the weak form.

The solution to eliminate this problem is to write the contraction in some other form such as 'has not been'.

Reference books used and page number:

Scrivener, J (2005) Learning Teaching. Oxford; Macmillan Heinemann, p. 119-136

Eisenhart, C., & Johnstone, B. (2008). Discourse analysis and rhetorical studies. Rhetoric in detail: Discourse analyses of rhetorical talk and text, 3-21

2. If I hadn't got the job, I'd have gone to live with my brother

Meaning: Condition in the past that did not happen and or talking about a dream with no possibility of becoming true.

Students are unsure if it happened or not and also where to use 3rd conditional.

Students may believe that this event can be changed.

The contraction is directed towards the job. The sentence is conditional because the word 'if' is used in the start of the sentence.

Form: 3rd Conditional

(If clause) If + Past Perfect [Subject + had + Past Participle] , Subject + would + have + Past Participle (result)

Students may have problem with past perfect.

Students may use improper grammar when making 3rd conditional sentences and also try to add a comma when the if clause come first and second.

I'll prepare a timeline to reintroduce the past perfect.



I'll leave the model on the board and write more examples on WB.

1st (if clause) and 2nd (result)

If I hadn't got the job , I'd have gone to live with ...