[teaching grammar]

As I craft an exciting lesson to help my students cope with the three-hour session, I came across this funny ransom note generator. After discussing what comparatives, superlatives, direct objects, indirect objects and predicates are, I'm going to ask my students to create their own ransom note. I've asked them to bring in newspapers and magazines and I'll supply the scissors. In the end, they'll have used all of the grammatical elements we've learnt.

[2 English lessons in 1: parody and bad grammar]

So when students ask us why grammar is important, another reason to add to the list includes maturity.  As the singer says:  "I never changed my verbal habits since I was three."

The video url is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj6QqCH7g0Q&feature=player_embedded

This video might be useful with younger classes or maybe ESL or EFL learners?

[identity and punctuation]

What punctuation mark are you?

You Are An Exclamation Point

You are a bundle of... well, something. You're often a bundle of joy, passion, or drama. You're loud, brash, and outgoing. If you think it, you say it. Definitely not the quiet type, you really don't keep a lot to yourself. You're lively and inspiring. People love to be around your energy. (But they do secretly worry that you'll spill their secrets without even realizing it.) You excel in: Public speaking You get along best with: the Dash

Try the quiz for yourself here.

[grammar]

On the train to Leicester:

The apostrophe has three uses:

1) to form possessives of nouns
2) to show the omission of letters
3) to indicate certain plurals of lowercase letters.

"Knowing that the printed word is always edited, typeset and proof-read before it reaches us, we appreciate its literary authority."

Not always the case...so I must disagree with Lynn Truss who sets the printed word in opposition to online writing. According to Truss, our punctuation system "is all now threatened by instant messaging, email shortcuts, and do-it-yourself Web pages; all of which come at a juncture when "a period of abysmal undereducating in literacy has coincided with this unexpected explosion of global self-publishing. Thus people who don't know their apostrophe from their elbow are positively invited to disseminate their writings to anyone on the planet stupid enough to double-click and scroll."

Maybe punctuation is also threatened by print?


Funnily, google spots the error:

[tube grammar]

Waiting at Leicester Square tube station, bracing ourselves for the sardine-like journey, I spied an ad. on the tube wall that creates its own grammar (can you spot the typo?):