Briefly discusses previous accounts of the English tense system and proposes another system in which verbs are divided into the following subcategories: 1) timelessness; 2) present; 3) past; 4) future. Examples of each subcategory are cited for the English as a second language teacher. A reference list of 41 citations is included. (Author/LMO)

Defines the characteristics of a "teaching grammar" (a text that aims to provide teachers of English as a foreign language with the linguistic information that they require for effective teaching) and contrasts such grammars with purely theoretical or linguistic grammars. Uses the passive voice in English to illustrate the contrasts.…

Explores unformalized problems arising from different linguistic representations and non-representations of the categorical distinction between the real and unreal in French and in English. Because the different sensitivities to these oppositions are not acknowledged by manuals and not formalized by dictionary examples of usage, the differences…

Discusses the treatment of idioms in language learning, specifically questions that need to be addressed when decisions are made on the role of idioms in language-learning programs. Particular emphasis is on the extent to which idioms present a particular source of misunderstanding and confusion for learners. (Author/VWL)

Studies patterns of frequent mistakes in the use of articles in English by speakers of Hindi/Punjabi. The control over the definite and indefinite article is examined in relation to their forms and functions. The use of articles is also considered in complex noun phrases and different syntactic structures, and an attempt is made to establish a…

Focuses on the errors made in lexical verb choice in speech by a small group of advanced learners of English. Findings indicate that while these learners may have a broad outline of verb meaning, their knowledge is hazy concerning contextual and collocational restrictions. Advanced learners may require detailed classroom vocabulary work on simple…

Shows that intermediate learners of German whose first language is English experience more semantic difficulties when reading an English text and more syntactic difficulties when reading a German version of the same text. A stronger emphasis on syntactic features, such as word category, agreement relationships, tensing, and word placement in the…

The notion of code-switching among Arabic-English bilinguals is examined. Various syntactic constraints are delineated that govern this phenomenon, the susceptibility of particular sentence constituents to switching, and the determination of the matrix language in their linguistic performance. (Contains 10 references.) (Author/LB)