GRAMMAR
I know – we are not meant to be teaching grammar. It was missed out of the education of a couple of generations, now making a come-back.
We as Dyslexic Facilitators are not supposed to teach it either. It could confuse our clients.
However, a language without any structure of grammar is like a body without a skeleton.
In this blog I don’t intend to go into details or become a ‘grammar nazi’. Instead it will be a very short, simple, step-by-step process, accompanied by the occasional video.
PART 1
Words are the building blocks of our language. To use them properly, we should know the ‘family’ they belong to, or the reasons they are used:
NOUNS – all people and things we perceive with our senses (e.g. stuff we see, hear, feel…) *Example: tree, bed, man, cat, air, frustration, mist, …
VERBS – action words (what we do, perform…)
*Example: play, sing, swim, wish, make – to show that they are verbs, they often have a ‘to’ in front. Some of these verbs can be nouns, too: I like to play in a play. to wish / the wish
ADJECTIVES – words that describe nouns (how does the thing look, or feel like)
*Example: beautiful, old, good, honest, modest, delicate – either in front of a noun (What a beautiful sunset) or after the noun (The book was interesting)
ADVERBS – words that describe verbs (how something is done or performed)
*Example: nicely, well, funnily, shortly, (either adjectives with -ly at the end – or an entirely new word, like ‘well’/not ‘goodly’). She writes beautifully. The mail will arrive shortly.
PRONOUNS – words that take the place of a noun
*Example: I, he, she, it, we, you, they, them… (Most pronouns need to be introduced by the noun first. E.g. “My mother went to the shops. She is buying a new dress.”)
PREPOSITIONS – words that tell you the where or when of something or someone
*Example: on, by, for, to, since…(The cat sat on the mat. He was on time.)
CONJUNCTIONS – joining words (they link two parts/clauses of a compound sentence)
*Example: but, and, therefore, however, since… (I like spaghetti, but not with seafood)
ARTICLES – are in front of a noun and tell, if the noun is specific or general: the, a/an
*Example: Please bring me the red book from the table over there (specific). I would like a book for Christmas (general)
These are some basic bricks to build the sentences, which we do next time.