Examples of teacher talk

(Taken from Dr. Wilsons Amazing linguistics class at Alliant University)

Your beginning students know how to use adjectives before nouns to describe them. You want
them to also know how to modify nouns by using prepositional phrases. Show them how to form
prepositional phrases, how to used them to modify nouns, and given examples of contexts in
which they would be used.
Okay class today we will learn how to form prepositional phrases (teacher writes it on board). First, we
need to know what are prepositions. Prepositions are words that show location or they can tell us a
time. For example, the word NEAR, there are many prepositions class, and many you already know.
Here is a list of some of the most common ones in English (hand out list). Now in English, we can use
prepositions to make small phrases in a sentence. You already know the word NEAR right? It means
to be close to someone or something. To make a prepositional phrase you need a preposition and a noun
(write P+N on board) Okay, so we need a preposition followed by a noun. Now I will make a
prepositional phrase with the preposition NEAR and the noun DOOR. See how the prepositional
phrase looks? NEAR the door, I had to add the infront of DOOR because it is a noun. And you
know nouns sometimes need articles infront of them. So class, our phrase is NEAR the DOOR.
The next thing I want to show you, is how you can modify a subject noun with a prepositional
phrase. We do this all the time in English. Look at this example (write it on board), Yukiko is sitting
NEAR THE DOOR. Now remember what I said earlier about prepositions? Prepositions show us
location. Now the subject noun in the sentence is Yukiko, right? Good...so the next question is where is
Yukiko? Remember a preposition tells us the location, so the prepositional will tell us where the subject
pronoun is located. So where is Yukiko? That's right, NEAR THE DOOR.
Let's practice with a few more prepositional phrases, then you will try on your own. Okay class,
here is another preposition, the word ON (write it on the board). Now class, this is my cellphone
(take out phone, show the class, and then place it on the table) Now I want you to use the preposition
ON in a sentence. Can anyone tell me where my cell phone is? Good work, my cell phone is ON
THE TABLE (writes on board), ON THE TABLE is the prepositional phrase, and it is telling you
where the cell phone is located.

Your intermediate students understand how adverbs can be used to modify verbs and use them in
their speech and writing. However, they are not sure how and why to use adverbs to modify
adjectives and other adverbs. Explain to them these two other functions of adverbs, where to
place them relative to the adjectives and adverbs that they modify, and give them examples.
Okay class, you already know how to use adverbs to modify verbs. But adverbs can also be used to
modify adjectives and other adverbs. So when do we use an adverb to modify an adjective or an
adverb. We use them when we want to show a greater degree of something. For example, in the
sentence, Namhee drives a fast car (write on board), fast is an adjective that is modifying car. But
what if you wanted to say that the car is not just fast, but faster than the average car? Now the trick is
that you cannot change or rearrange any word in the sentence. What word can you modify to show that
Namhee is driving a car that is faster than most cars? Well, yes, the answer is FAST, and the word

that can modify FAST is VERY, so the new sentence should read, Namhee drives a VERY fast car.
(Write it on board).
We can also modify adverbs in the same way. Remember you want to show an increase in
degree of something. So in the example, Namhee drove slowly down the street. The word slowly is an
adverb modifying the verb drove right? (Write example on board) Now we want to modify slowly
with an adverb that will show a change in the intensity. What word could we use here? The adverb
quite or very could modify slowly. These are good examples of how to modify another adverb.

Your advanced students are confused about why the word "awarded" in a sentence like "The
researchers awarded the grant money used it to test a new cure for cancer" is not the main verb
of the sentence and have asked you about it. Tell students about the function of words like
"awarded" in this sentence, why we use them, and give them more examples.
Okay class, you want to know why awarded is not the main verb in the sentence, The researchers
awarded the grant money used it to test a new cure for cancer? awarded in this sentence is a past
participle that is part of a verbal phrase. The verbal phrase awarded the grant money, has a verb
awarded and the noun grant money. You can tell that it is not the main verb in the sentence because
you can remove the entire verbal phrase, and the sentence will still be grammatically correct. The
researchers used it to test a new cure for cancer, is a grammatically correct sentence. However, if you
take out use in the same example, the sentence will no longer be grammatically sound, the
researchers awarded the grant money it to test a new cure for cancer. (write examples on board).
Past participles and present participles, when they are part of a verbal phrase or if even if they
are independent of a verbal phrase, and they can be removed from the sentence without grammatically
affecting it, then they are not the main verb. Let's look at some more examples. (writes on board) In the
sentence, Students drinking on campus will be expelled, drinking is part of the verbal phrase,
drinking on campus. That whole phrase is acting as an adjective for students. So let's remove the
verbal phrase and see if the sentence is still grammatically sound. Students will be expelled, is this a
good sentence? Yes it is, how about, Students drinking on campus expelled. That doesn't seem correct.
I want you to try to find some more examples where you can remove the verbal phrase to
discover the main verb of a sentence.