Lígua Inglesa VI

Semana 1 – apresentação do curso

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ementa

Analisar aspectos sintáticos e semânticos das preposições, locuções preposicionais e adverbiais da língua Inglesa sob a ótica das gramáticas normativa, descritiva e funcional. Desenvolver habilidades de compreensão e expressão orais e escritas em inglês com base nas convenções relativas a diferentes gêneros do discurso.

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Prepositional Phrases

I – to warm it up

take a look at the picture below and describe what you see using prepositions

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II – Prepositions again !!

To begin with, lets use our artistic skills. The sentences below can be understood in two ways. Please draw these possible meanings.

There is a party on Friday.

He is in love

That book is coming along

Observe the use of preposition in in the quotation below. what kind of experience is it making reference to, spatial, temporal, metaphorical?

the quotation above is from In Watermelon Sugar is an American postmodern post-apocalyptic novel by Richard Brautigan written in 1964 and published in 1968. Set in the aftermath of a fallen civilization, it focuses on a commune organized around a central gathering house which is named “iDEATH“. In this environment,

many things are made of watermelon sugar (though the inhabitants also use pine wood and stone for building material and fuel made from trout oil). The landscape of the novel is constantly in flux; each day of the week has a different colored sun which creates different colored watermelons, and the central building also changes frequently. The novel’s narrator, who is left unnamed, claims to be writing an investigative book on his experiences at iDEATH. Its first-person narrative is sparse and minimalist, granting the novel a detached and alien quality.

Now, time to work a bit before we advance

Advanced Language Practice – unidades grammar 20

And lets listen to a song!

Death is a place where the sun shines a different colour every day and where people travel to the length of their dreams. Rejecting the violence and hate of the old gang at the Forgotten Works, they lead gentle lives in watermelon sugar.

In Watermelon Sugar

Have fun at home!

Which day are you referring to? (To which day are you referring?)
Do you know who this book belongs to? (Do you know to who(m) this book belongs? )
Bill is the kind of guy you’d be happy to have a drink with (the kind of guy with whom you’d be happy to have a drink)

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Still Prepositions

a. To begin, a song

Listen carefully. the singer is talking about a word. Which word is it?

If you want to follow the lyrics, check here

b. The complement element

Observe the sentences and tell which ones are not acceptable

1a I was pleased about our team winning the prize

1b I was pleased about that our team won the prize.

2a We were disappointed at not getting any news from you.

2b We were disappointed at not to get any news from you.

3a Have you any problem apart from where to stay?

3b Have you any problem apart from that to stay?

4a I don’t sleep nights for thinking of my daughter.

4b I don’t sleep at nights for thinking of my daughter.

5a Jean and Bill will have no choice but to send their children to another school.

5b Jean and Bill will have no choice but to sending their children to another school.

c. Practice

Advanced Language Practice:

words an phrases 8 (p.295 – pdf) exercise 1;

grammar 22 (p.151 -pdf) exercise 4

quick challenge!

The sentence that best preserves the meaning of the following excerpt “The intention is not to reject English, but to reconstitute it.” is:
(A) Rather than rejecting English, the intention is to reconstitute it.
(B) Besides rejecting English, the intention is to reconstitute it.
(C) Despite rejecting English, the intention is to reconstitute it.
(D) The intention is to reject English in order to reconstitute it.

(COLÉGIO PEDRO II Concurso Público de Provas e Títulos para preenchimento de cargos vagos da Carreira de Magistério do Ensino Básico, Técnico e Tecnológico – Edital nº 23/2019 PROVA ESCRITA – INGLÊS)

Have fun!

For a debate on the lyrics, go here;

if you guessed the word, check its meaning and usage;

for a list of prepositions an usage, check it here;

If you wanto to go deeper, this and this are the places.

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take on me, take me on!

THE COMPLEMENT ELEMENT II

THE MODIFIER ELEMENT

Prepositional phrases can be pre-modified by other elements, in particular adverbs, and to a lesser extent nouns. they can also be graded: Can you guess the type of completation of the sentences below?

a bit out of touch with reality

absolutely on top of the world.

way back in history

streets ahead of her rivals

out on the other side of town

A day that seemed more like a dream than real life

Evaluation challenge

1. If your students produced the following sentences, what erros have they made? 1. How will you make them aware of the errors and what exercises will you plan to correct the errrors?

a. * We discussed about our plans.

b. * Stuart lives on 160 Western Avenue.

c. I live in London. *I like living in here.

d. * Bacause of the teacher gave us a lot of homework, I cant go.

2. ” Prepositions have a relating function: they establish relations between
nominal units, mainly nouns and nominal groups, and other units in the
surrounding discourse”.

write a paragraph explainig it to advanced EFL/ESL students with the help pf examples.

3. How would you explain the meaning and usage of the expressions “take on me” and “take me on” in the song Take on me by A-ha?

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Syntatic function of Prepositional phrases

Challenge. Spot the incorrect alternative.

a. your moustache is different from mine.

b. your moustache is different to mine.

c. your moustache is different than mine.

The answer is explained here

We have already learned a bit about the basic grammatical roles of prepositionss. Today we will go on observing their use by analising a bunch of examples. Here they are

1. Words which can function both as prepositions and adverbs, for example:
   • They came aboard 
     They aren’t aboard the boat 
   • She drove past 
     She drove past my house 
2. Words which can function as prepositions, adverbs or conjunctions:
   • They had met before 
     They spoke before the meeting 
     They spoke before the chairman opened the meeting 
   • I haven’t seen him since 
     She has waited since the summer 
     I’ll tell you, since you ask 
3. Words which can function as prepositions or conjunctions:
   • I bought it for $400 
     You can’t speak yet for questions are only allowed at the end 
   • She dressed as Cleopatra 
     She asked as she needed to know the answer 
   • She smiled like a cat 
     They did it like they were told 
4. A few words which span other word classes:
   • He walked through the park 
     I’m not through yet 
   • The opposite meaning 
     Leave it on the opposite side 
     I placed it opposite the mirror 
   • It was an inside job 
     I left it inside 
     The inside is painted red 
     It’s inside the house 
   • She came to a like conclusion 
     There was a fish-like smell in the house 
     We put like with like 
     It looked just like it did in the brochure 
     I had a house like the one over there
     I like that 
   • She walked out into the garden 
     That’s right out in the country 
     They walked out the door 
     There’s no answer so I guess she’s out 
     The truth came out later 
     The truth was out 
     We need an out 
     It’s snowing out 
     The candidate was outed as a liar 

Some words lie on the borderline between prepositions proper and conjunctions, adjectives or adverbs and in these cases, the distinctions can become blurred. Observe:

She has an advantage, in that she speaks both languages

in this case in that looks like a preposition phrase and, what’s more, like an exception because we have in followed by a that-clause. It is, in fact, a rather unusual conjunction meaning because or for the following reason. Analise the following items and describe their functions.

    but

   I called but you were out 

   He did nothing but work

  Everyone came but the Smith

Nobody wants to go but her

Nobody but her knew the truth

Nobody but she knew the truth

Nobody knew the truth but she did

than

    He spends more than he can afford
    It’s more expensive than I hoped

    She is taller than me
    It’s more than 5 miles from here

    It is better to call by than to ‘phone
    I’d prefer to stay than go

except

    I wanted to come except I had no money
    It doesn’t hurt except when I’m very tired

    Everyone one came except Julian
    She does little except sleep

as well (as)

    It snowed a little and rained as well
    He writes novels as well as contributing to the newspaper
    I’ll paint the door as well as the window frames

because

    He came home because it was raining

    He came home because of the rain

instead

    I don’t want to go swimming.  Instead, I’ll stay in and read.
    I’ll have the fish instead of the meat course

near

    The library is near the cinema

    The pub is nearer your house than mine
    The house nearest the cinema is hers

    You place is nearer
    The nearest pub is just over there

worth

    It is (well) worth visiting the museum
    It is not worth my time
    It’s not worth $400

    The shop is open Monday through Saturday
    The shop is open from Monday to Saturday
    The shop is open from Monday until Saturday

    I haven’t seen the movie in years
    I haven’t see the film for years

    They live on Washington Street
    They live in Nelson Street

    He threw it out the window
    It’s raining out

    He threw it out of the window
    It’s raining outside

to end…

Unit 58, exercise 2 in EGUC (pdf p 488)

to go further

On Adjunct PPs (with different language comparison) here

Medial adjunct PPs in English here

British vs USA preposition usage here

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I do it because I like it

take a look.

We walk because we like walking

to go further

because and the debate about it

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Meaning

and some review

the ideia today is to review a little bit of what we have seen up to now and also thong abou the meaning of prepositios in use. the mais aim is to think abou strategies of teaching prepositons and keep on developing tour understanding of their roles in the language.

To begin with, check if you know the diference of these two prepositional phrases (do not look up at dictionaries).

in the air – on the air

No matter the diference, we must carry a certain command of the language to be able to fully understand them or we just follow the beat, take a look:

Syntax is still a thing

What do prepositional phrases do in the sentence structure? let´s review it here by describing (using your English Undergraduate Powers, of course) what each prepositional phrase is doing in the examples below.   

She was walking through the park

She arrived after six o’clock

To her astonishment, the shop replaced the shoes immediately

In addition, I’d like to ask for a small pay rise

The man in the garden is his father-in-law

It all depends on the weather

I am angry at your suggestion

I cleaned under the car

Behind the garage needs clearing

Patterns of meaning

Take a look at the Advanced Language Grammar. How does it present prepositions? what is it focusing when presenting them? Is it similar to the books, grammars or coursebooks you read while learnig English?

How we see (and teach) prepositions

In general, functional grammar distinguishes four different meanings for lexical prepositions: location in space, time relations, metaphorical and abstract uses, and non-locative meanings which basically refer to other types of circumstance. Let us briefly take a look at them:

Location in Space

As it is the easy part, why not make it a little bit challenging with a fill in the blanks? Guess what type of words are missing!

Location has to do _____ a mental representation of the spatial relationship between two elements based on the principle ______ prominence in which a Figure, projecting or moving towards any direction, reaches _______ a Ground or supporting surface. This representation comprises three references:

• A point in space as in He is still at the post office rapping.
• In contact with a surface as in Powel sat on a bench at the edge of the crowded playground.
  (Davies, 2008)
• Containment as in He was in a classroom full of children at the time.

A point in space implies a vague reference of the location of the Figure He in relation to the Ground. He could actually be stationed somewhere at the post office ________ specification of the exact location; that is, inside the post office, outside the post office, ______ the corner of the post office, among other possible locations.

In contact with a surface refers _____ actual contact in which the Figure touches the Ground
whether horizontally or vertically.

Containment denotes enclosing where the Figure somehow is located partially or completely _______ an area that serves as the Ground.

Movement

When the Figure moves towards the Ground, a change of location is expressed. Such change implies any movement from a point A (source) to a point B (goal). Some of the most common prepositions serving this purpose are across, along, through, past as illustrated in :

They need to walk across the campus to put a nickel in the meter.

Some prepositions work correlatively to express movement. In this group we find: from…
to; off…onto; off…into, as shown by:

I swipe crumbs off my lap and onto the rug.

Other spatial relations

Location also includes other spatial prepositions whose meanings are different from reference, contact, containment and movement as shown here:

Time Relations

So easy that we can summarize it in a picture. Your challenge is to create a text to explain it.

Non-locative meanings or other types of circumstances

these are not so easy to be described, but why not try to name the circumstances picture below?

Metaphorical and Abstract Uses

Temporal and spatial location as described previously refer to circumstantial meanings, one of the syntactic functions of PPs as adjuncts. Metaphorical and abstract uses not only make reference to circumstantial meanings, but also add two other functions: interpersonal and conjunctive meanings as extra ingredients. As a result, a substantial complication in the comprehension and use of PPs is realized.

Another example of metaphorical and abstract use is described by Downing and Locke (2006) who include in this list the prepositions between, into, over, under, out of, on, off, up, down, through, and with. Obviously, this is not intended to be a complete list, but merely some examples of metaphorical and abstract uses. look at examples of some of these cases.

Let´s ponder:

1. As previously mentioned, the uses of metaphorical and abstract PPs can be complicated to understand and grasp. Do examples below pose difficulties to EFL or ESL learners? How?
2. look at the examples below. They suggest a usage situation in which students might have problems dealing with prepositions. How would you explain it?

a) —DAREN-BEAUMONT: The house is on fire.
—911 OPERATOR: Is everybody out of the house?
—DAREN-BEAUMONT: I don’t know. But it’s on fire really strongly.

b) What’s truly amazing is after 13 years on the air this show is still on fire.

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Ending on a High Note

Is it me that paints a picture, is it me that directs the day?
Am I one amongst the millions that see the world this way?
Is it part of the illusion, all the overwhelming scenes?
Is it love that found its way in here to lift my beating heart away?

from End On a High Note – Paradox Hotel – The Flower Kings

Challenge questions to end the course on a high note.

1.

“In cognitive linguistics, prepositions are considered to be highly polysemous lexical
items, having the potential to convey rich amounts of meaning content when embedded in
relatively fixed phrases. In other words, prepositions are highly context-sensitive, sparking a host of encyclopedic knowledge and inferences that differ among languages. From this perspective, they are considered to be highly metaphorical (e.g., Evans, 2010; Feist, 2010; Lakoff & Johnson,1980; Lindsrtomberg, 1996, 2001, 2010; Tyler & Evans, 2003)”.

Prepositions and Metaphorical Thinking in English as a Second Language by Intermediate and Advanced Learners with Spanish as their First Language – Natalia Verónica Sáez Sáez

Discuss, with the help of examples from English and Portuguese, the affirmation above.

2.

“To end on a high note or to go out on a high note means to finish things well, to end something successfully or in a positive manner, to end something with a pleasing climax. For instance, if a student receives a 100 percent grade on his final exam, he may be said to end on a high note or go out on a high note. This may be especially important if the student’s prior performance has been mediocre. The expression end on a high note or go out on a high note came into use in the 1920s-1930s and is related to music. A rousing musical performance often ends with the singer hitting a difficult high note that impresses the audience. Currently, the idiom end on a high note is nearly twice as popular as the idiom go out on a high note. Related phrases are ends on a high note, ended on a high note, ending on a high note, goes out on a high note, went out on a high note, going out on a high note”.

Taking into consideration the expression and its variations listed above comment on the morphosyntactic features of prepositions in the English language.

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Final taks

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