Hm, where is Helen? We need to get started. Well, I guess I should start without her. Anyways, hi everyone. Welcome to the commentary on adjectives, adverbs- >> I'm here, I'm here, I'm here! >> Woah. >> I'm here, sorry. >> Why did you come lately? >> Lately, don't you mean late? >> Yeah, well, you're late, but since I used it after come, which is a verb, I should add L-Y to make late an adverb, right? >> My, Emily, lately means something very different from late. Remember the video on adjectives and adverbs? Lately means recently, so it doesn't make any sense to say, why did you come lately. >> [LAUGH] I know, silly. I was just trying to make a point for today's commentary on different word forms. >> Okay, well then that's good. Then, let's begin. Hi everyone. Are you ready to talk about word forms? >> Yeah, today we're going to be talking about nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and pronouns. >> So, why are these included in this tricky grammar course? It seems like we're just teaching vocabulary. >> That may be true, except, in addition to teaching the definitions, these words involve knowing the parts of speech and syntax. What makes these words tricky is not the definitions, but rather, how they are used or where they are placed in a sentence, which involves understanding their syntactical features. >> Yes, for instance, students know what myself means, but they also need to know that it is never used in the subject position of a sentence. Students also need to know whether pronouns are singular, plural, or could be both, in order to use them correctly with verbs. >> So let's break down the issues that students have. >> With some words, the pronunciation is exactly the same, yet the spelling is different. For example, in my pronouns video, I discussed possessive pronouns that are often confused with contractions. These include its, your, and their. Their is often confused with there and they're. >> I don't know which there you're talking about. >> Don't worry, the learners know, right? >> Well, not just pronouns, but regular nouns can have the same pronunciation too. >> Yeah, like site and sight. >> Wow, I still don't know which one you're talking about. >> It's okay. The learners know, they can see it right here. >> Okay, then we also have words with similar pronunciation, spelling, and meaning, but different forms, like advice and advise. >> Also choice and choose, success and succeed, and breath and breathe. >> Actually, what I really liked about your video was that you highlighted the difference in pronunciation by explaining that verb forms are pronounced with long vowel sounds. Choose, succeed, breathe. >> Right, then there are words where the pronunciation is very similar, but the meaning is surprisingly different, like the example that we started this video with, late versus lately. >> [LAUGH] Have I told you lately that I love you? >> Aw, thanks Emily. >> You fill my heart with gladness, take away all my sadness. Ease my troubles, that's what you do. Focus! Okay, don't forget, hard, hard, hardly. Hard as an adjective, hard as an adverb, and hardly as an adverb. >> Well, not realizing that hard can be an adverb, some students might say, I worked hardly, instead of I worked hard, which have opposite meaning. >> Yes, we've shown that these forms are indeed confusing and need to be addressed to help learners. However, it's not as easy as just memorizing a few simple rules. For instance, we're used to telling students that a lot of adverbs end with L-Y. But there are a lot of adverbs that don't end with L-Y. The instructor of the adjectives and adverbs video listed different types of adverbs, like words of frequency, negative words, and transition words. >> Sometimes we need to be more creative to help students remember the things we teach them. For instance, to help students remember that I and me should go last when they're used with other nouns, I told students to remember that it's always more polite to put yourself after others. It's correct to say my mother, sister, and I built a tree house together. That tree house was built by my mother, sister, and me. >> And let's not forget that ATONIN pyramid, which helps students remember which prepositions to use with certain units of time. At the top, the instructor explained that at is used with smaller units, like hours. Whereas, in, at the bottom, is used with the largest units, like months and years. >> And my favorite is explaining the difference between desert and dessert. When I was a child, my teacher asked us what we wanted for more of, and of course, we said we wanted more dessert. She then told us to remember dessert has more Ss >> Cute trick. Okay, another thing teacher should remember is to provide clear example sentences side by side for the pair of words that are often confusing for students. For instance, borrow versus lend. I've heard students say, time and time again, something like, my cousin borrowed me his car. >> Yes, and I realize that it would be easier to use the words give and take to explain the difference between these words, give for lend and take for borrow. But, it's crucial that students pay attention to what the subject of the sentence is doing. Since my cousin is the subject, and the cousin is giving the car, the sentence should say my cousin lent me, instead of borrowed me, his car. >> So that's why it was great that you put two sentences with blanks together, and had students think about the subjects to help them decide whether lend or borrow were the correct words to use. >> Yeah, I tried to do this for lie and lay too. >> [SOUND] I think it's time for me to lay down for a nap. [LAUGH] Just kidding, it's time for me to lie down for a nap. >> Okay then, I guess I'm closing by myself. Thanks for watching the commentary. Enjoy the video lessons on confusing word forms. Until next time. >> Bye.
