Now let’s speak about grammar rules.

A complete rule covers all the aspects of the problem and, as a result, it is usually long and rather complicated. What you really need at a definite stage in teaching is a fragment of the rule, the part of it which is closely connected with the skill trained or the mistake made. If your pupils say “There were 5 thousands people there”, you may just mention the fact that in English such words as hundred, thousand, million are used without “s” (i.e. in the singular) after the exact number (after the numerals 2, 3, 4, etc).

C. laconic

Laconic speech is not only short, as you know, but in few words it renders the essence, that is, without saying much, the teacher must mention the main things. The skill of expressing your ideas briefly and precisely needs training. For example, you can say shortly, “Avoid split infinitives” or “Don’t separate “to” from the verb”.

D. comprehensible

This requirement is perhaps the most difficult to meet. Complicated things seem to require complicated explanations. But teachers know perfectly well that in the middle of a complicated explanation most pupils will “switch off”. The teacher’s effort will be wasted. Adapting the rule to the level of understanding is also an art. Sometimes you’ll have to give two variants of the rule so that everybody could understand you. Compare:

This requirement can hardly be treated as obligatory, but wouldn’t you like your pupils to remember the rule and to avoid mistakes? So teachers naturally try to make their explanations easy to remember. Something bright in it often helps to attract the pupils’ attention and the rule sticks in their memory, while a precise but dry statement is soon forgotten. Experience shows that pupils forget “an action that is taking place/happening at the moment/time of speaking” and remember “the action that you see between the beginning and the end” or “somebody is in the middle of doing it”. Sometimes in the same textbook (for example, Murphy R. English Grammar in Use) you can find different ways of expressing the same idea and some of them will be easier to remember than others.

1. Read the rule and say (giving proofs) whether it is:

Correct

Valid

Relevant

Laconic

Comprehensible

Bright.

1. There can’t be two negatives in an English sentence.

I neither ski nor skate. Never say “never”. She never says nothing.

2. Progressive forms describe an action that is taking place at the moment of speaking.

He’s working at a new film now. They’re leaving tomorrow.

3. Englishmen avoid split infinitives. I try to never tell lies.

4. In English such words as hundred, thousand, million are used without “s”. That costs 3 hundred.

Millions of people like travelling. I need a hundred dollars.

5. “Must” is often used to talk about an obligation that depends on the person speaking or listening. “Have to” is generally used to talk about obligations that come from “outside”.

I have to leave the flat early. I must get to the office on time.