Metalanguage is the style to talk about language, as about nouns, verbs, or tenses. Most of us know metalanguage from school or individual study; we only may not be used to the specialist term, “meta-language”. To get along at school, we need to be metalinguistic. ■More
Month: August 2013
3.3. The big chart for three persons and paths
It is good to make a big picture, to integrate own ability. We put together the Aspect — the Simple, Progressive, and Perfect — with all personal pronouns, and in all three fields of time, the Future, Present, and Past. This way we know all there is for us to gather, before we take to practice. ■More
3.2. The person ‘you’
The pronoun 'you" has evolved into the same shape for the singular and plural in English. The development needs not mean contestation. We people simply each are own self. We couldn't swap bodies, for example. Imagine Aristotle as he chats with Plato after parachuting. ■More
3.1. Field and river, the grammatical Aspect
There is no single landscape all people reasonably could be advised always to bear in mind. With life, grammar, and landscapes as well, we need to regard and decide the Aspect on our own. The Latin aspectus meant "a seeing, looking at". ■More
Chapter 3. Time is like a river: verb patterns
Everyday language has phrases as a flow of time, a course of events: we people happen to have such impressions about life. Grammatical patterns for words and time may look a lot to think about at first, and this is why we begin with a good glimpse. ■More
2.1. More words in the Fields
Verbs give us three fields and — three forms of the verb. Forms are not the same as fields. We begin with simple practice on forms first and second, consciously to choose focus on the shape of the verb or the field. We exercises in mind, to strengthen good habits for thought. ■More
Chapter 2. The future needs the present
We can predict the future only to an extent, because it all the time takes on form or becomes — in our Present, — and there is always more than one factor to human reality. We can use Present grammatical forms in English to talk about the future, and “will” is one of such words. ■More
1.2. Mind practice: thinking on purpose
Silent thought is a great friend of language skill. We do not know a language really, if it does not belong with that inner competence. It is with practice that the brain together with mind makes associations for work on language trace features solely. ■More
1.1. Fields of Time: basic practice
We may think about mountains, oceans, or the cosmos as well, because the exercise is to imagine language form in fields generally. Language learning does not need limitation. The simple exercises are to help flexible habits that can work in advanced language skill. ■More
Chapter 1. We can plan on time as in fields
The way we people use language can show some of that human and intellectual skill altogether, of the human inner logic generally — to organize own thought, speech, and writing Grammatical time can work as in fields we name the Past, Present, and Future. ■ More
Language form, as with cats and dogs
Different languages have different ways to name objects of thought. We can say a dog in English; in German ein Hund, in French un chien, in Greek σκυλος, and in Russian собака — whereas at the same time and in all languages, a picture of a cat is not a cat. ■More
Colors can help learn, read and write
The Travel begins with verbs, as in natural acquisition and learning. Verb auxiliary roles are marked in green, and head roles are mauve. Pronouns and nouns are ink blue. Highlights are forget-me-not, blue. We avoid color red, as it usually brings prescriptive opinion on language. ■More