Optional subject - English G21 (28.2.2011)

Hey everybody, let me shortly describe you how our lesson of english looked like.

Lesson sarted at 8:15 am with sentence analysis to word level. If I liked it? I gues so, it was fun. Let me bring in some examples:

´For a moment he  did    not   answer.´

       A t           S    V-   Am      -V

 explanation: For a moment = At(=adverbial of time) = prepositional phrase dividing into preposition and preposition complimment (=noun phrase) and so on.

As for signs see following:

S= subject

V- -V= split predicator

Am= adverbial of manner

At= adverbial time

VP= verb phrase

PreM= premodifier

SC= subject compliment
...

After analysing of several sentences we were reading poem called Chaos with focus on correct pronunciation which was not so easy. Language evolution followed immediatelly with foculś on development of languages form Proto Germanic branch.

Through this evolution we reached up to English and all its possibilities as Australian English, American English and so on.

Besides all the serious things we were also doing something really funny as the Quiz was. Firstly we tried the easyest one suprisingly called Easy Peasy. Then we got to the second level called  even funnyer Fair to middlin. There was for instance a question which I really have to mantion, who knows may be it will be usefull some day: "If a Liverpudlian wanted to buy ´a purra kecks´what would he be looking for?" Gues you do not know...the right answer is trousers. However the most funny thing about this question is in my opinion the name of people living in Liverpool - Liverpudlian. Pretty funny sounding name.¨

Our next field of study was Phonetics starting with speech organs because to know the names of speech organs as tip of the tongue, laryx, vocal cords, glottis, soft and hard palate, guns and upper and lower teeth is necessary for learning and in our case consequently teaching the correct English pronunciation.

Phonetics i.a. includes learning about stress, intonation and pitch of speech which we practised a bit, too.

At the end we played few games with number of syllables which we considered as really easy thing, however on really  unusuall problem appeared. Few of us was not sure about the number of syllables of the word ´somebody´. I am strongly absolutely persuaded that it has three syllables without any doubt, but few of us claimed that it has only two and suprisingly they foud so in some e-dictionary. So what? Where is the truth? No matter of what that dictionary says, it has three syllables in my opinion. :-D

Finally we were working with pronunciation symbols (phonemes) - phonetic alphabet.

At the end there are some tongue twisters or rather sentences for practising correct pronunciation of some difficult sounds:

"The Smiths wear thin clothes throughout the winter months."

"Mother and Father left Rotherdam last Thursday, wnadered hither and thither, then thumbed a lift to Thirsk."

"Larry rarely allows Lily and Rory a lift in the lorry, but Laura regularly lets Roland lie languidly on her lilo."

"One windy wednesday, wealthy widow Wendy Williams Went to visit Westminster vet Victoria Vince to view her lovely violets."

M