At Home Sweet Home, Trust is More! Judgment is Less! ❤️

Which is better? Hall Life? Or Life as a Day Scholar?

I BA English | Debating Hour

2nd February 2024

In the Battle Between Homes, which Team do you think, emerged victorious today?

Read on… to find out! 😊

The topic for today’s Friday Debate Hour was –

Which is better? Hall Life? Or Life as a Day Scholar?

Students who rooted for Day Scholar’s Life chorused, ‘Home Sweet Home’ 😊

while

Students who rooted for Hall Life, gave a shout-out for, ‘Home Away from Home’ 😊

Vasan won the toss for their side, ‘Home Away from Home’, and elected to open the spirited attack as part of the first grand debate for the I BA English class today.

Home Away from Home

We have more freedom in the Hall, compared to those of you who stay with your family members, said Xena, kicking off the debate in style.

Home Sweet Home

But we feel totally secure when we are with our parents, countered Gracelin.

Home Away from Home

In the Halls we learn how to be independent, said Jane.

Home Sweet Home

Well, Jane talks about independence, but you see, when our parents say ‘No’, they have a valid reason for it. It’s for our own good, countered Lekhaa.

Home Away from Home

You said that you’ve got security.. But guess what? that’s a false sense of security. When your parents are not around, how will you then make your decisions? Within the bounds imposed on us, we still make sure that we make our decisions for ourselves, early on in life, said Shauna.  

It’s not like we’re abandoned. It’s like a small bubble, through which we prepare ourselves for the real world, for the real life ahead of us, said Keerthana.

Home Sweet Home

I’d like to refute Xena when she said that, you’ve lot more freedom. My parents will still open the gate, if I’m late. But in the Halls, you guys don’t have that freedom. At home, with parents, I can still have my personal space / my own private space, said Megha.

Home Away from Home

I guess I need to oppose Andrea’s point of view. I stay in the Hall. We guys go out as a batch – say 30 of us! Sometimes even our seniors accompany us. We are not alone. Sometimes 30 of us will gather in a room. Only in the women’s Halls we have curfew time, but for that, each one’s privacy is maintained and respected even in the Hall, said Vasan.

Home Sweet Home

Living with your family members gives you that sweet sense of inter-dependence. As young adults I strongly feel that it is important to be interdependent. My parents are with me, and when the fight gets too hard, they support me, and give me guidance, something that you guys miss out on, said Kiruthika.

Home Away from Home

The concept of bubble is highly subjective. Family situations aren’t always the best for everyone all of the time. Even in houses, sometimes four or five of us live in the same room. In the Hall, you get varied perspectives to the same issue, from PG students, PhD Scholars, Wardens, etc. said Shauna.

Home Sweet Home

Shauna’s points are valid. However, I should make a point that, we also, as day scholars, meet with the same kind of people, right from PG Students, PhD Scholars, Wardens, etc.

I want to emphasise on the fact that, there’s something so beautiful about living with one’s family. We get imbibed with the values that are passed down from generation to generation. So you ensure that there’s a bond. You might not get the same sense of values, comfort, love and care in the Hall, said Catherine.

Home Away from Home

Almost 17 or 18 years of the early stages of your life you live with your immediate family members. Don’t you think this long period of time is enough to shape you with values? As a woman in the world, you have a variety of experiences. For that, you’ve got to cherish a strong sense of community – to foster bond more than a sense of security, said Ilfa.

Home Sweet Home

To add to what Catherine said, it’s at this age our family opens to us. Till then, they look upon us only as kids. So the sense of family is very important at this age in life. Even if I were to travel for three hours to study every day, still…. At the end of the day, I prefer to sleep in my own sweet bed at home, said Megha.

Home Away from Home

Based on my personal experience, I would like to say that, my daily shuttle tires me much. I literally don’t have the energy to travel this long on a daily basis. But don’t you think it’s high time we learnt to do things by ourselves. Probably once in a while, we can go and visit our parents, said Pearlina.

Home Sweet Home

Pearlina, if you go back home you’ve got parents to open up. But guess what? I share everything about my day with my parents, and parents teach me on the right things to do in a given situation. So at the end of the day, you see your mind becomes peaceful before going to bed, said Gracelin.

Home Away from Home

Yes, indeed. Our parents correct us when we make mistakes. But don’t you think most people today have smart phones, and even our parents can have facetime with us. It’s not necessarily the owning of bed at home, but after a tiring and a rewarding day, any bed is the best bed to sleep, said Ngainunmawi.

Home Sweet Home

I’m from the Hall. We’re always under the control of others, controlled by seniors, or wardens, etc. But at home, no one controls us, said Feba.

Home Away from Home

Well, Feba said that we are being controlled. It’s not like that. It’s been nearly eight months now since I joined the Hall, shortly going to turn 20. Back at home, no one used to tell me when to cut my hair, dress my nails, how to be properly groomed, etc. Even parents never used to tell us these things. However, our seniors in the Hall tell us that. They give us values - on how to maintain discipline while eating, on respecting elders, etc.

It's insisting, not controlling, said Vasan.

Home Sweet Home

Vasan said he’s turning 20 shortly! I don’t want to seem funny, but let me tell you that, at this age you should have known to do these things all by yourself. It’s self-care! Nothing can beat your mom’s cooking. Everyone in the Hall will agree to what I’m saying! You guys will really miss your mom’s food ain’t you?, asked Megha.

Home Away from Home

Well, as regards mom’s cooking, while I totally agree with what Megha has just said, let me also put across this simple dictum – Absence maketh the heart grow fonder! Ain’t it? It makes us appreciate mom’s cooking even more, ain’t it?

Moreover, those of you day scholars, who stay with your parents, lack a sense of individuality. How do you expect it to be when you go out into the world? You must know how to navigate the world – something that Hall life helps you to a great extent! You can know first-hand, how the system works. It makes you a better person, said Ilfa.

Home Sweet Home

Of course absence maketh the heart grow fonder, but it also makes you worried. You can bond with your family members. Pearlina says I wanted to stay in the Hall, but now I’m a Day Scholar. However, had I lived in the Hall, I’d long to be of support to my mom, to be able to share in the troubles they’re going through, and being with them builds stronger relationships and family bonds. Moreover, we also get to know how to handle them when they grow older, and to treat them with respect, said Catherine.

Home Away from Home

Megha said that, bed is one’s comfort zone! But wait! Isn’t it time we come out of our comfort zones? In school itself you get used to your comfort zones. But at what cost? Let’s remember that, experience is such a vast arena in life. The world is huge. All this experience of the wide world cannot be achieved if you stay put at home. As young adults, there’s a limit to what you can tell your parents. Somethings you share with your parents. However, there are some other things that you cannot share with your parents, which you are quite comfortable sharing with your friends. You explore yourself more when you’re in the Hall, said Keerthana.

Home Sweet Home

This is the point of time, when there’s so much out there in the world and we will be excited about them all, wanting to explore everything that we see! However we have our parents and our neighbours who observe and guard us all the time. They discover even a slight attitudinal change in us, and at some point they will even ask you, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ So yes! Let’s remember the fact that, there’s no rush to experience the world out there, said Kavin.

Home Away from Home

I would like to respond to Catherine’s point. I didn’t go anywhere because of the simple reason that I was worried about my family. Sometimes even I do regret not staying in the Hall. So it’s really a balance. Don’t sacrifice your life. Pursue your interests, said Pearlina.

Home Sweet Home

I live just 15 minutes away from College. I have learnt to be patient and independent. What better way than to be patient with parents? Values need to be fostered. Shauna said that, not all families are the same. Growing with them means understanding them.

When I was in my 10th grade, I wanted to run away from them. But now I feel they are indispensable to my life. I can’t live away from them. I can still be myself when I am around them.

Technology cannot transcend hearts.

At the end of a tiring day, when you get back home, when you have your Amma asking you, ‘Enna da’? (What happened dear?) with such love on her, it melts our hearts. This cannot be done over the phone. Added, I cook for myself, whenever I find the time. I try out a lot of recipes. But in the Hall you can’t! In the process I’ve learnt a lot of new recipes now.

On a closing note, in the Halls, when there’s a conflict it can tend to flare up or get aggravated. However, at home, Trust is more! Judgment is less, said Kirthika.

Moderator’s Remarks: The entire class was high on verve and energy today, contributing their might towards enlivening the debate. The students made sure that they were polite in their counters, dignified in their retorts, and sweet in their disagreements.

Well, that’s the spirit of a typical true blue MCC Debate! I said, signing off on the debate.

Is the law easier on celebrities? (Student Assignment)

It is not uncommon to find celebrity faces flashing on the TV screens. It is shocking only when they are flashed for some crime that they’ve committed. Be it Paris Hilton driving under influence or Sanjay Dutt’s illegal weapon or Salman Khan’s poaching, when they flash on the TV screens, there is really nothing else that matters in the NEWS. Live coverage of this is what in the main agenda.

I BA English - Grammar Notes - Reg:

Dear Students of I BA English Litt.,
Your Grammar notes have been uploaded HERE
Regards and all best wishes,
Rufus

I BA English - Grammar Assignments - Reg:

Dear Students of I BA English,

The following are the marks for your paper on "Grammar and Linguistics" for students who come under my purview.

Abipriya Juliet, M - 75
Anju Susan Philip - 75
Anu Ruby Jenifer, S - 75
Charutha Lal - 75
Diana Milcah, J - 77
Divya Gracy, R - 75
Gunasundari, S - 75
Jothy Sara Jose - 78
Kunga Lhamo - 75
Monika, M - 75
Narmada, D - 75
Phebi Priyanka, S - 77
Pranisha, R - 75
Rama Devi, R - 75
Ranjitha, V - 75
Rinchen Bhuti - 75
Santhiya, T.P.N - 75
Shirley Inba Vinothini,B - 75
Sharon Ruby,B - 77
Therasa Jancey Rani, X - 77
Abjy P. Kurian - 75
Amel P. Titus - 75
Esra Prasath, A - 75
Irwin Selvan - 75
Jenson Jacob - 55
Nijo A. Varghese - 75
Sasikumar, K - 75
Soundar Raj, M.J - 68
Timios Thangavijayan. K - 63
Vijay, S - 75

Clarifications/Corrections, if any, can be made to me personally/by email/ or by phone on or before Friday, 31 October 2009.

Regards and all best wishes,

Rufus

I BA English - Grammar Class - Reg:

Dear Students of I BA English Litt.,

There will be a special class for I BA English Literature students on Thursday, 29 October 2009 at 10 am in your class room.

Students who need any clarification regarding their marks and subject, can clarify the same, in this class.

Regards and all best wishes,

Rufus

I BA English - Grammar and Linguistics - I CIA Marks - Reg:

Dear students of I BA English Litt.,

Your I CIA Marks for the paper "Grammar and Linguistics" have been uploaded on our academic website HERE.

Clarifications and/or corrections, if any, can be made to me directly or via email, at rufusonline@gmail.com on or before Wednesday, 21 October 2009.

Regards,

Rufus

Topics for Assignment - Reg:

Dear Students,

Topics for your Assignments will be displayed on this, our academic blog shortly.

Regards and all best wishes,

Rufus

I BA English - Topics for Assignment..:

Points to note before you ink: All assignments must be original, handwritten, in A4 size, in about 12 to 15 pages (min) and must have a bibliography - All sources should be acknowledged at the end of the assignment. The last date for submission of assignments is 29 September 2008.

Angel, G – Parts of Speech - Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : Closed-system items - Open-class items - Stative and Dynamic - Pro-forms - Question and negation.

Deborah, H – Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : Verbal forms and the verb phrase - The Morphology of lexical verbs - Regular lexical verbs - The -ing and -s forms - The past and the -ed participle.

Haritha, B – Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : The auxiliaries 'do', 'have', 'be' - The modal auxiliaries - Marginal modal auxiliaries - Finite and non-finite verb phrases - Contrasts expressed in the verb phrase.

Kalaiselvi, M – Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : Time, aspect and mood - Tense and aspect - The Future - The Basic Sentence Patterns

Kezia Gnana Kumari, W – Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : The basic noun phrase - Noun Classes : Proper nouns, common nouns, non-count nouns, determiners

Meenu Mary Jain – Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : The basic Noun Phrase, determiners, closed-system premodifiers, predeterminers, post determiners, quantifiers, gender and case, pronouns.

Parline Maria, A – Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : Parts of Speech - Closed-system items - Open-class items - Stative and Dynamic - Pro-forms - Question and negation

Rintu Elsa Jacob – Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : Verbal forms and the verb phrase - The Morphology of lexical verbs - Regular lexical verbs - The -ing and -s forms - The past and the -ed participle.

Sharnya, M – Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : The auxiliaries 'do', 'have', 'be' - The modal auxiliaries - Marginal modal auxiliaries - Finite and non-finite verb phrases - Contrasts expressed in the verb phrase.

Anand, K.S – Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : Time, aspect and mood - Tense and aspect - The Future - The Basic Sentence Patterns.

Arun Kumar, J – Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : The basic noun phrase - Noun Classes : Proper nouns, common nouns, non-count nouns, determiners,

Cerin P.Simon – Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : Parts of Speech - Closed-system items - Open-class items - Stative and Dynamic - Pro-forms - Question and negation

George Infant Arockiaraj – Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : Verbal forms and the verb phrase - The Morphology of lexical verbs - Regular lexical verbs - The -ing and -s forms - The past and the -ed participle

Johny Raj, S – Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : The auxiliaries 'do', 'have', 'be' - The modal auxiliaries - Marginal modal auxiliaries - Finite and non-finite verb phrases - Contrasts expressed in the verb phrase

Midhun K. Varghese – Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : Time, aspect and mood - Tense and aspect - The Future - The Basic Sentence Patterns

Paul Israel, I – Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : The basic noun phrase - Noun Classes : Proper nouns, common nouns, non-count nouns, determiners,

Rajeshwaran, S – Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : Parts of Speech - Closed-system items - Open-class items - Stative and Dynamic - Pro-forms - Question and negation

Samuel Praise, P – Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : The auxiliaries 'do', 'have', 'be' - The modal auxiliaries - Marginal modal auxiliaries - Finite and non-finite verb phrases - Contrasts expressed in the verb phrase

Siju Philip Rajan – Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : The auxiliaries 'do', 'have', 'be' - The modal auxiliaries - Marginal modal auxiliaries - Finite and non-finite verb phrases - Contrasts expressed in the verb phrase

Wesley, P – Write an essay in about 250 words on why grammar is important to the study of language? Also, write short notes on : Verbal forms and the verb phrase - The Morphology of lexical verbs - Regular lexical verbs - The -ing and -s forms - The past and the -ed participle.

Portions for III CIA

I BSc Pbt/Zoo: Students who've not attempted the Speech, are asked to write their III CIAs. Questions will be from the entire text book.

II BA Tam/Phil: Questions will be from the entire text book.

I BA English: Dr.SSJ & myself are sharing the III CIA between us, and questions will be based on whatever that has been discussed in Grammar in class thus far.

II BA English: Prof.RS and myself will be sharing the III CIA between us, and questions will be based on 'The Old Man and the Sea' & 'Ransom of the Red Chief.'
Students who have spoken out in class need not necessarily sit for your III CIAs.

III BA English: Mahasweta Devi's Mother of 1084 - an artistic cum critical perspective.

I BA ENGLISH - WE AND WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO REVOLT AGAINST..!

It was the Social Ethics class, but with a difference. Dear Students, for once, you outshone the stars in the sky... given the chance to think on society oriented thoughts, each of you gave a logical, well structured response, and it's been crystallised in this post for further reference. Now that you have brought out the revolutionist within you, much depends on how you get the guts, to work towards achieving this Revolution, albeit in your own imaginative way, in pen and paper or speech and dais.

Arunan - A Revolution against GLOBAL WARMING

Georgy - A Revolution against increasing number of political parties.

Vivek - A Revolution against BEGGARY.

Madhavan - A Revolution against MIGRATION.

Prabhu Raj - A Revolution for the BETTERMENT OF SOCIETY.

Baskar - A Revolution for the IMPROVEMENT OF THE POOR.

Mainar - A Revolution in THE FIELD OF EDUCATION.

Charles - A Revolution against UNEMPLOYMENT.

Karthick - A Revolution against INDISCIPLINE.

Rajesh - A Revolution for SAFEGUARDING HUMAN RIGHTS.

Jaison - A Revolution for SOCIAL JUSTICE.

Tamilvanan - A Revolution AGAINST INCREASE IN POPULATION.

Martin - A Revolution AGAINST DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE.

Isha - A Revolution for BETTER AND CLEANER ROADS.

Navitha - A Revolution FOR COMPULSORY EDUCATION IN ENGLISH.

Thirumoorthy - A Revolution AGAINST CHILD LABOUR.

Nadia - A Revolution AGAINST EXPLOITATION OF ANIMALS IN LABS.

Nigel - A Revolution AGAINST ILL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS.

Dayanand - A Revolution AGAINST PRE MARITAL SEX.

Isaac - A Revolution AGAINST MALPRACTICES.

Vignesh - A Revolution AGAINST DOWRY.

Shloka - A Revolution AGAINST STAIRS.

Dolly - A Revolution AGAINST CORRUPTION.

Supraja - A Revolution AGAINST ILLITERACY.

Sylvia - A Revolution AGAINST LOVE MARRIAGE.

Kalpana - A Revolution AGAINST CASTE SYSTEM.

Sudha, M - A Revolution AGAINST INEQUALITY.

Sheela - A Revolution FOR ARRANGED MARRIAGE.

Sudha, S - A Revolution AGAINST DRUGS.

Stanley - A Revolution in THE FIELD OF MUSIC.

Ajit - A Revolution AGAINST THE PRESENT POLITICAL SYSTEM.

John - A Revolution AGAINST HOLLYWOOD, BOLLYWOOD AND KOLLYWOOD.

Priya - A Revolution FOR PEACE IN THE WORLD.

Shruti - A Revolution FOR CLEANLINESS.

Ashita - A Revolution AGAINST TERRORISM.

Ankita - A Revolution FOR THE PROTECTION OF NATURE.

Ebarish - A Revolution AGAINST CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.

Riyukta - A Revolution AGAINST RELIGIONS.

Arun - A Revolution FOR SUBTLE PDA (PUBLIC DISPLAY OF AFFECTION).

Sam - A Revolution TO MAKE EVERYONE HAPPY.

Deepak - A Revolution AGAINST FICKLEMINDEDNESS.

PS: Thanks to Riyukta for the neat minutes.

Grammar Marks Uploaded

Dear Students of I BA English, Marks of your I CIA in Grammar and Linguistics have been uploaded on our WEBSITE. The overall performance has been encouraging and quite satisfactory. Kudos..! Keep it up, and do much better, in the third CIAs. CLICK HERE for the Marks.
Regards,
Rufus

Portion for I BA English - I CA Test

GRAMMAR AND LINGUISTICS
I BA English students will be tested on the Sentence Patterns taught by Dr.V.R

Principles for my life - I BA English students come out with the principles they cherish in their life:

Supriya - Never gets angry and never hurts anybody.

Priya - Wants to lead a meaningful life.

Karthik - Never says lies.

Laxman - To live every second as it were my last.

Nancy - I pray to God daily.

Thirumurthy - Self motivated and think postively always.

Sylvia - I follow good behaviour.

John Jeba - Follow Christ.

Stanley - I want to be the best example in front of my friends.

Navitha - To live my life as it comes and never worry about anything.

Shloka - I practice Yoga daily in the evenings.

Dayanand - I use my potential to the maximum.

Riyuktha - ___

Ankitha - ___

Nigel - Follow God.

Arunan - Serve the society.

Isaac - Follow the Word of God.

Kalpana - To work hard in whatever I do.

Madhavan - To be happy. To live every moment of life happily.

Mezay Louis Ugbo - Every morning I sing for one and half hours and help people in whatever way I can.

Dolly - I forgive and forget.

Arun Prashanth - Never to judge people by faceworth.

Shruthi - I never interrupt when two people are in conversation.

Nadhiya - I never use offending words against anybody.

Thamilvaanan - I do the best I can.

Vivek - Share the feelings of others.

Mainar - Always be punctual.

Samuel Gnanaseelan - To be friendly with others.

Roshan Joseph John - I'll never take drugs, smoking or drinking.

Ebarish Rebe - I'll be good to others. Not hurting anybody.

Sudha, M - To respect elders.

Sheela, R - Daily I pray to God.

Baskar - I help other people, cos my aim is to become a social worker.

Prabhu Raj - Following rules and regulations.

Rajesh Kumar - I wont get addicted to any bad habits.

Ashitha Jacob - ___

Abner Charles - Make others happy as much as I can.

Martin - To become like Jesus Christ.

Nancy - Every morning I pray to God.

Sudha, S - Respect the feelings of others.

Jaison - I will not cheat my girlfriend.

Rajesh - I hate people using drugs.

George - I'll try my level best to be a gentleman.

The Social Ethics class was a bundle of dynamism, with students taking part with commitment and zeal, in telling their principles for life. All the best dear students...! May these principles that you stand for, sustain you and make you a beter person in Society. Good principles establish a strong Value base, and a strong value base establishes a strong society.

Corrections, if any, can be brought to my notice.

Thanks Laxman for the minutes. It was lovely.

Bestin Samuel I BA Litt @ His Poetic Best in a V.E Test in Class..! Kudos..!

Vanlalropuia - I BA Lit @ His Creative Best in a Value Edn Test..! Kudos..!

An Overview of Grammar and Linguistics - Phase - I

"II. Elements of Grammar"
Randolph Quirk & Sidney Greenbaum
[notes by Pat Conner]
FIVE ELEMENTS OF GRAMMAR
• PARTS OF A SENTENCE
• PARTS OF SPEECH
• STATIVE AND DYNAMIC
• PRO-FORMS
• QUESTION AND NEGATION

You should note first of all that we're primarily concerned here with the grammar of the structure we call a sentence. Most scholars of language agree that the sentence is the basic unit of human languages, although we sometimes argue about just what constitutes a sentence. There are rules for the way we choose and combine the sounds in our language (the study of this is called phonology); there rules for the way groups of sounds combine to make up meaningful units in words (we call this morphology); there are rules for how all of these must be mapped out into a sentence. (This we call syntax.) The five sections we're given to represent the elements of grammar in fact represent what might be called syntactic domains. Each of these is addressed under each element

• PARTS OF A SENTENCE

o This is the domain of the functional parts of a sentence: subject, predicate, complement, object, etc. If we were building a house, the parts of the sentence would be the walls, the doorways, the windows, the roof, and other integral parts.
 subject and predicate
 operator, auxiliary, and predication
 range of operators
 an "operator" is that part of the verb phrase which is handled in different ways, depending on whether you're asking a questions, making a statement, etc. If you have to supply one, you use "do."
 sentence elements
 subject
 verb
 complement
 object
 adverbial
 complements and objects
 objects fill out verbs. Ordinarily, you can't merely "hit"; you have to hit something. That something is the object. Complements, on the other hand, fill out (or complete) nouns.


• PARTS OF SPEECH

o The parts of speech are the minimal building blocks of the parts of the sentence. Subjects, predicates, complements, objects, all make use of these building blocks in prescribed ways. If we were building a house, the parts of speech would be bricks, two-by-fours, tar paper, 4 x 8 sheets of plywood, and other bits which can be fashioned into wall and doors and steps.
 A list parts of speech
 Open class items
 noun
 adjective
 adverb
 verb
 Closed system items
 article
 demonstrative
 pronoun
 preposition
 conjunction
 interjection (really a closed system?)

• STATIVE AND DYNAMIC

o This is the first domain of transformation in which we see a sentence shifting the way items are regarded. On the edge of a soccer field in Cambridge, England, there is a little square building which used to be a public toilets; now it is a bicycle shop. Just as buildings can shift greatly the context in which we consider them, so sentences can do the same things by moving between the stative and dynamic.

• PRO-FORMS

o This is the domain of substitution and compression. Once a speaker has acquainted the hearer with a clear concept, that concept can be signaled through the use of a small number of words. I cannot think of a good analogy to this in the non-linguistic world, but it may be like a computer program which "compresses" a file to make it smaller in such a way that another computer can guess what has been removed from what is present and thus reconstitute the program. It is part of the power of language that we have to stretch so far for an analogy.

• QUESTION AND NEGATION

o This is the domain known as displacement or the ability to consider subjects which are not present and which may not exist or to deny what someone else has asserted.
 Wh-questions
 Yes-no questions
 negation and non-assertion (be sure to understand the chart at 2.20.

Main verbs have meaning on their own (unlike helping verbs). There are thousands of main verbs, and we can classify them in several ways:

Transitive and intransitive verbs

A transitive verb takes a direct object: Somebody killed the President. An intransitive verb does not have a direct object: He died. Many verbs, like speak, can be transitive or intransitive. Look at these examples:
transitive:
• I saw an elephant.
• We are watching TV.
• He speaks English.
intransitive:
• He has arrived.
• John goes to school.
• She speaks fast.

Linking verbs

A linking verb does not have much meaning in itself. It "links" the subject to what is said about the subject. Usually, a linking verb shows equality (=) or a change to a different state or place (>). Linking verbs are always intransitive (but not all intransitive verbs are linking verbs).
• Mary is a teacher. (mary = teacher)
• Tara is beautiful. (tara = beautiful)
• That sounds interesting. (that = interesting)
• The sky became dark. (the sky > dark)
• The bread has gone bad. (bread > bad)

Dynamic and stative verbs

Some verbs describe action. They are called "dynamic", and can be used with continuous tenses. Other verbs describe state (non-action, a situation). They are called "stative", and cannot normally be used with continuous tenses (though some of them can be used with continuous tenses with a change in meaning).

dynamic verbs (examples):
• hit, explode, fight, run, go

stative verbs (examples):
• be
• like, love, prefer, wish
• impress, please, surprise
• hear, see, sound
• belong to, consist of, contain, include, need
• appear, resemble, seem

Regular and irregular verbs

This is more a question of vocabulary than of grammar. The only real difference between regular and irregular verbs is that they have different endings for their past tense and past participle forms. For regular verbs, the past tense ending and past participle ending is always the same: -ed. For irregular verbs, the past tense ending and the past participle ending is variable, so it is necessary to learn them by heart.

regular verbs: base, past tense, past participle
• look, looked, looked
• work, worked, worked

irregular verbs: base, past tense, past participle
• buy, bought, bought
• cut, cut, cut
• do, did, done

Here are lists of regular verbs and irregular verbs.

Often the above divisions can be mixed. For example, one verb could be irregular, transitive and dynamic; another verb could be regular, transitive and stative.

These meaning-based categories have grammatical implications for our students, too. Perhaps not as challenging for most students as the generic/specific use of nouns and articles, but important nevertheless.

Stative vs. Dynamic is a way of classifying different types of verbs--or at least different meanings that verbs can have. Stative refers to "state of being" rather than "action." For example, sentences with be are descriptions of states of being rather than of activities: She is a teacher. He is a sociologist. Dynamic refers to "actions" and "activity" in verb meanings: He walks to class. They eat lunch in the cafeteria. The contrast is often used in ESL/EFL to help students understand why they can or cannot use a progressive verb form. That is, progressive verbs refer to actions rather than states of being. That's why this sentence is wrong: *They are knowing English very well. The verb know generally is used for a "state of being" rather than an action, and so it can't be used in the progressive form (most of the time).

This meaning has been overgeneralized a bit in ESL/EFL materials where we have lists of verbs divided into groups of Stative Verbs and Dynamic Verbs. Here's the actual situation: some verbs are just about always used for stative meanings; some verbs are just about always used for dynamic meanings; but...verbs can be switched from one class to the other for special purposes. For example, verbs like taste or smell can be either actions or states of being: He was tasting the soup for salt when he dropped the box of salt in the pan. The soup tastes pretty salty now.

Assertive vs. Nonassertive is a way of talking about the difference between positive sentences and related negative sentences and questions. The idea is that positive sentences "assert" something while negative sentences and questions do not.

Assertive Examples

They have been to France already
They had some French bread for dinner
They saw somebody running out of the restaurant.

Nonassertive Examples

They haven't been to Egypt yet.
They haven't had any Egyptian bread yet.
Did they have any French wine?
Did they see anybody they recognized?

Pro-forms & Ellipsis

Here we just need to notice three things for now:
1. Pro-forms is a category that includes pronouns and pro-verbs. (I know, but it's true that in a question like What did he do? the word do is called a pro-verb that stands in the place of a verb with real meaning.)
2. Ellipsis is the leaving out of words. In the following sentence, the phrase "go to Egypt" is not repeated but is understood: They will go to Egypt, and I will, too.
3. Pro-forms and ellipsis are often talked about together because they have similar functions in context. They are both ways of repeating things without repeating them exactly. And they are both ways of tying sentences together in larger units.

He will study sociology next semester.
The first auxiliary is used to form the negative and the question. That first auxiliary is called the operator

Negative
He won't study sociology next semester

I BA English - Grammar Class - log:

Seminar Topics:
Shannon - Tense, subject/predicate
Bijoy - Nouns
Judith - Figures of Speech
Bernadette Florence - Active and Passive
Sajeev - Adjectives and Adverbs
Tinku - Verbs