th
29
June 2015
Standard English
The Perfect Pet and The Perfect
Present
What is Standard English and what do
you want to know about it?
What is Standard English?
• The English that you would be taught if you
were learning English in another country (as
we might learn French)
• Standard English is the form that is considered
to be ‘grammatically correct’
• Standard English covers grammar, vocabulary
and spelling (when we are writing)
What is Standard English?
• Often confused with accent. Standard English is
not about accent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyyT2jmVPA
k
• You can speak Standard English in any accent
• Most people speak with a dialect (a regional
variety of English – with its own grammar and
often vocabulary)
• Dialect, and regional words and phrases are often
Non-Standard English
• Standard English changes over time – despite
what some say!
But it can be quite hard…
• We are so used to
speaking the way we
speak we are not aware
we are not using Standard
English
• Everyone that lives in a
region of the country
speaks in a similar way
and so everyone ‘says it
the way we say it’
• Feeling like someone is
‘correcting’ me or I am
‘correcting’ them
Standard English is about using the
‘accepted’ words, grammatical
sentence construction and spelling
Some Bristolian expressions that are
considered to be non-standard English
“I was led on my bed.”
“I was sat on the chair.”
“It was a good ideal.”
“Where are your daps?”
“I were smoothin the cat.”
“I didn’t do nothing.”
“Where’s it to?”
“Are friends are great.”
Teach the cat ….
• Your cat isn’t sure about
what ‘Standard English’
means – can you explain
what it is (and perhaps
what it isn’t)
• Can you give your cat an
example of a sentence
that is Non-Standard
English and show your cat
what this would be in
Standard English?
Standard English in the curriculum
Spelling
Transcription
Handwriting
Writing
Grammar
Composition
Punctuation
Vocabulary
What does the new National
Curriculum have to say about Standard
English?
In the aims it states:
Pupils should be taught to control their speaking
and writing consciously and to use Standard
English.
In the Spoken Language Programmes of Study:
Pupils should be taught to: speak audibly and
fluently with an increasing command of
Standard English
In Year 1
Pupils should begin to use some of the distinctive features
of Standard English in their writing.
In Year 2
Reading and listening to whole books, not simply extracts,
helps pupils to increase their vocabulary and grammatical
knowledge, including their knowledge of the vocabulary
and grammar of Standard English. These activities also
help them to understand how different types of writing,
including narratives, are structured. All these can be
drawn on for their writing
Learn how to use the features of Standard English in their
writing.
In Year 3 and 4
At this stage, pupils should
start to learn about some
of the differences between
Standard English and nonStandard English and
begin to apply what they
have learnt [for example,
in writing dialogue for
characters].
By Year 5 and 6 – Standard English isn’t
mentioned
explicitly
Pupils should be taught to:
develop their understanding of the concepts set out in English Appendix 2 by:
recognising vocabulary and structures that are appropriate for formal speech and writing,
including subjunctive forms
using passive verbs to affect the presentation of information in a sentence
using the perfect form of verbs to mark relationships of time and cause
using expanded noun phrases to convey complicated information concisely
using modal verbs or adverbs to indicate degrees of possibility
using relative clauses beginning with who, which, where, when, whose, that or with an
implied (i.e. omitted) relative pronoun
learning the grammar for years 5 and 6 in English Appendix 2
indicate grammatical and other features by:
using commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity in writing
using hyphens to avoid ambiguity
using brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis
using semi-colons, colons or dashes to mark boundaries between independent clauses
using a colon to introduce a list
punctuating bullet points consistently
use and understand the grammatical terminology in English Appendix 2 accurately and
appropriately in discussing their writing and reading.
As a table – can you agree a definition
of grammar?
Much of Standard English is about
grammar
“Grammar is the study of how we make
sentences” David Crystal
“Grammar is the right choices of words in the
right places.”
“The system and structure of our language.”
“Grammar is like a car – it is for
exploring language”
The boy ran down
the road.
The boy run down
the road.
The boy ran down
road
Me boy ran down
the road.
Return to your definition of grammar –
do you want to add to it or change it?
Standard English
Subject and verb agreement
“I were smoothin the cat.”
The subject of the
sentence is ‘I’ and the
verb doesn’t match
It needs to be:
I was stroking the cat OR
They were stroking the
cat.
Subject verb agreements
Agreement
I works hard – I work hard
They is sad – They are sad
I were going – I was going
We was gutted – We were very
upset
She done it – She did it.
I seen you – I saw you.
It’s broke – It broke / it’s
broken
It come yesterday – It came
yesterday
Returning to our story
Remember the present in our story?
• What are in the box?
• Was we thinking it was
a dog in here?
• I is happy if it bes a
chocolate dog.
• He don’t care what it is.
• It could of been
another duck?
Plurals and agreement (still subject
verb agreement)
The puppy were lovely (puppy is
singular and the verb choice is for a
plural)
The puppies were lovely.
The puppy was lovely.
The children is playing in the
playground.
(Children is plural and the verb choice
is for the singular)
The children are playing in the
playground.
The child is playing in the playground.
Try these
The boxes is stacked in the
kitchen.
Cherries is half price at
Tesco.
The kitten were gorgeous.
The new Year 2 SPAG (from 2016) and
the new Year 6 SPAG have questions
that focus on subject verb agreement
Pause ….teach the cat
Your cat is a bit unsure of these
words and phrases.
Can you explain these words to
your cat?
Accent
Dialect
Subject
Verb
Agreement
Tenses
Verb tense is the form of the
verb that indicates time.
A verb tense not only indicates
past, present, and future action,
but also indicates whether the
action is ongoing or complete.
By the end of year 2 children
need to be able to identify past
and present tense and use
different tense forms
consistently
Is the sentence in the present, past or
future tense?
The boy ran down the
road.
Can you write this in the
present tense?
Can you write this in the
future tense?
For you – subject knowledge
The tense of a verb indicates the time at which
an action takes place – whether in the present
or past. With the help of auxiliaries it can tell
you when and whether something happens.
Spot the auxiliary and what it does
She was running ; she is running; she will be
running; she might run; she could run; she has
been running; she will be running
For your subject knowledge
•
•
•
•
•
I run – simple present
I ran – simple past
I am running – present progressive
I was running – past progressive
I have run – simple past perfect
“Grammar is like a car – it is for
exploring language”
The boy
ran down
the road.
The language of hypothesis and
speculation is all about the modal verb
(a type of auxiliary verb)!
Modal verbs are a type of
auxiliary verb (helper verbs
almost)
Auxiliary verbs – help
express the tense, mood or
voice.
Modal verbs: can, will, may,
shall, could, might, would,
should, ought to, must, shall
There are lots of ways of sorting modal verbs but have
a go at putting these in some sort of order – from the
most definite e.g. will to the least definite. Many
overlap!
can
shall
will
may
could
might
would should ought to
must
shall
Sing to the tune of an American roll
call
Can and could and will
and would
May, might, must and
shall and should
Modal verbs can make you
thrive
So you get a level 5!
Modal verbs have a big impact on
meaning
can
shall
will
may
could
might
would should ought to
must
Choose and modal verb and
discuss its impact:
shall
(and remember you can
make them negative as well
– can’t; won’t; couldn’t)
Cinderella ……..go
to the ball.
Michael Gove
……become
Minister of
Education again.
Tenses are also important when
considering Standard English
Spot would unwrap his present
and was very happy.
Spot will unwrapped his
present
Spot might unwrapping his
present
Inside the present there might
a fishing rod.
We was sat waiting for Henry.
And back to these examples …
Often the auxiliary choice
that is important…
“I was led on my bed.”
“I was sat on the chair.”
“I were smoothin the cat”
Henry rescues the Spot and the dog.
In your diary you are
writing about the events
of the day. You need to
use the past tense.
How would you write this
sentence?
Can you write it in the
past progressive?
Henry rescued Spot and the dog.
If this was happening now
and you are a news
reporter standing on the
banks of the river, try the
sentence by using the
simple present tense and
now try the progressive
present
In the SPAG
And in the SPAG
Looking back
• Have a quick look back
at what we have
covered so far?
• Are there any parts you
would like to go over
again?
• Do you have any
questions about what
we have covered so far?
The Double Negative
The Double Negative
That won’t do you no good.
I ain’t got no time for supper.
Nobody with any sense isn’t going.
I can’t find my keys nowhere.
She never goes with nobody.
There aren’t no presents left to open.
All the witnesses claimed they didn’t see
nothing.
The pilot can’t find no place to land.
There is no way you can do nothing
about this.
He doesn’t have nothing but the clothes
on his back.
It ain’t right to not paint the house.
You shouldn’t do nothing to the house.
The hospital won’t allow no more
visitors.
I don’t have nobody to mow my lawn.
That attitude won't get you nowhere.
“I never did it Miss.”
I never did it.
I didn’t do it.
I never heard the phone
ringing.
I didn’t hear the phone ring.
I never got it.
I didn’t get it.
She had never been to Spain in her
life.
He would never eat fish as he just
didn’t like it.
I’ve never thought about it before.
Prepositions
A preposition links a
following noun, pronoun or
noun phrase to some other
word in the sentence.
Prepositions often describe
locations or directions, but
can describe other things,
such as relations of time.
Tom waved goodbye to
Christy.
She’ll be back from
Australia in two weeks.
I haven’t seen my dog
since this morning.
The cat hid under the bed
Unnecessary prepositions
• She met up with the
new teacher in the
hallway.
• The book fell off of the
desk.
• He threw the book
out of the window.
• Where is your
school at?
Can you spot the unnecessary
prepositions?
• He got off of the bus
and walked down the
road.
• What time did they get
there from?
• She wouldn't let the cat
inside of the house.
• Where did they go to?
Determiners – where is the determiner
positioned and what is its function?
1.I saw his dog eat six sandwiches.
2.I saw your dog eat several sandwiches.
3.That dog ate those sandwiches.
4. Some dogs like eating a few sandwiches.
5.I like this dog better than that one.
Thanks to Julia Strong and Pie Corbett for this
slide
Determiners
A determiner specifies a noun as
known or unknown, and it goes
before any modifiers (e.g.
adjectives or other nouns).
Some examples of determiners
are:
articles (the, a or an)
demonstratives (e.g. this, those)
possessives (e.g. my, your)
quantifiers (e.g. some, every).
Examples
the home team [article, specifies
the team as known]
a good team [article, specifies the
team as unknown]
that pupil [demonstrative,
known]
Julia’s parents [possessive,
known]
some big boys [quantifier,
unknown]
Missing or unusual choice of
determiner
I saw dog eat all sandwiches.
This dog he ate those sandwiches.
I like cat.
SPAG example
Countables
How much chocolates could fit in
to the box?
Are there much campsites near
you?
How much eggs are in this cake?
"Much" is used for uncountable
nouns, "Many" is used for
countable nouns, whereas "a lot
of" and "lots of" are used in both
cases.
It was pouring with rain but there
wasn’t many wind.
Do you think much people will
come?
I haven’t got many change. I’ve
only got a ten pound note.
Fewer of less
• I ate fewer biscuits than
you did.
• There were fewer birds in
the garden today.
• People these days are
buying fewer newspapers.
• Fewer children are taking
exercise.
According to usage rules,
fewer is only to be used when
discussing countable things (so
plurals of things). If you can
count it, go for fewer. If you
can’t, opt for less.
Less is used for singular or
uncountable things e.g. There
is less pollution now.
There is less of a smell in the
kitchen today.
There is less light in this room.
The main exception
The main exception to this is
when talking about money,
time or measurement
Whilst money is countable
the word money is singular
Whilst we can count miles –
miles away is a singular
phrase
Whilst hours are countable,
an amount of hours is one
thing, so singular.
• We
had less than
£50 in the bank.
• We’re less than
50 miles away.
• I can fix the roof
in less than 12
hours
Have a go at these – are they correct
or do they need changing?
• There were less days below freezing last
winter.
• I drank less water than she did.
• I have less than an hour to do this work
• There should be less coats on the floor in the
corridor.
• You should spend less of your time
complaining
Where are we up to?
•
•
•
•
•
Double negatives
Use of the word ‘never’
Prepositions
Determiners
Countables - much and
many
• Fewer/less
EAL
• Typical errors of Polish speakers
Tense errors – perfect and progressive tenses are not
used in Polish
e.g. “I cleaned my house when my friend rang” instead
of “I was cleaning my house when my friend rang”
“I saw this film.” instead of “I have seen this film.”
Verb form errors – “I saw how she leaving.” instead of “I
saw her leaving.”
“You must stop run down the corridor.” instead of “You
must stop running down the corridor.”
Polish speakers
• Do not always use determiners
“Explain me” instead of “Explain it to me.”
So work needed on matching the determiner
with the noun especially quantifiers e.g. A few
children; some cats; most of the boys; a little
piece of cheese
Typical errors made by Bengali or
Sylheti speakers
• Putting verbs at the end of sentences e.g. He
crayons not giving.
• Leaving out determiners before a noun e.g. She
give me sweet
• Using prepositions after a noun or adding them
where they are not necessary e.g. I told to my
mum.
• Confusing plurals e.g. littles girls
• Incorrect use of third person pronouns and over
use e.g. he him didn’t let me play.
Typical errors made by Bengali or
Sylheti speakers
• Confusion between no and not e.g. He no play
with me. I not got my pencil.
• Omitting auxiliary verbs e.g. He reading
(should be he was/is reading)
• Placing adverbs or adverbial phrases
inappropriately e.g. He too much eating.
• Wrong use of lack of preposition e.g. He hit
me in my arm.
And so to finish….