BLOG TIME

In the lecture, what really caught my attention was the point that dictionaries represent how speakers use the language, not to show that it is correct to use these words. That it shows what is happening in society, not what is correct. That is something that I had never thought of before, that the dictionary is not a guide to correct English, but a guide to the English language being spoken. Also as I was looking at this lecture, I noticed that some of the examples with the subordinating relationship words and clauses were actually interesting. I think that is really important for our students to have examples involving grammar that are interesting, different, and engaging. Especially if the example is helped by a visual representation. I know that wasn’t one of the points in the powerpoint, but it made it more interesting for me when Ms. Spradlin used the Lucifer quotes as well as the love quote involving the bear and the young woman. And if it was interesting for me, it could be interesting and beneficial for educating future students on grammar as well.

In the “Subordinate Conjunctions” video, other than the song she has included, I love the idea of creating a video for students. I love how she can give this to her students for constant reference, a mini-lecture they can always go back to and review. I would really like to do this, or present.me, for lectures or information that may be more difficult/time-consuming or confusing, that would need extra time to be further explained in depth. I also love how she is so enthusiastic about grammar and teaching it. Even though she may secretly “hate and abhor” it, she still tries to make it fun and engaging for her students. When I was in middle school, I learned the “preposition word song” to the tune of “Yankee Doodle”, and I still remember it and can recite all the words to this day. Putting grammar into a song is a great way to help students remember important grammar rules.

In the “Teaching Grammar By Numbers” lecture by Professor Misty Ann Winzenried, I thought it was engaging with her visuals and even funny sound effects. It was interesting when she was talking about how she would link her student’s errors to the numbered grammar rules in the book, so that students can go and see their mistakes and correct the errors themselves, while also learning why they were wrong in the first place.

I chose the Grammar Girl Podcast of “Omitting ‘That’”. This article discusses how sometimes, it is actually incorrect to omit “that,” depending on if you use a non-bridge verb or a bridge verb. Now, I have never even heard of a bridge or a non-bridge word before, so this immediately caught my interest. Bridge words are categorized as, “the most common verbs of speech or thought, such as ‘say,’ ‘think,’ ‘know,’ ‘claim,’ ‘hear,’ or ‘believe’”. While non-bridge words are “verbs that carry extra meaning beyond simply the idea of saying or thinking something, and they don’t sound as good when you omit the word ‘that’”. For example, the text uses the example, “The department confirmed there were some victims”. It would sound better if it said, “The department confirmed that there were some victims”. In the end, sometimes, it is just a matter of choice and style, because even though it isn’t completely wrong, it still sounds a little “off”. They also say in the article that the main rule to follow is actually just to “go by your ear”. If it sounds off if you take out the “that”, then you might just want to put it back in.

 http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/omitting-that.aspx