Although not often discussed, complementary ('mother tongue') classrooms comprise participants who differ substantially in a number of ways. Differences comprise, e.g. participants' orientations to and understandings of the indexicalities of linguistic registers, which may have been brought along from the presupposed country of origin. It has…

Four aspects of English pragmatics that are often puzzling to students of English as a Second Language (ESL) are discussed and exemplified: certain mechanics (ellipsis; blended words; a-grammaticality); vague superordinates (generic verbs such as "get,""let,""do,""be,""have"; preposition with metaphoric extension such as "up,""in,""off,""through";…