Contents
=> “Adverbial Sorting” - a grammar discovery activity
=> “About a Husband/Wife” - unfinished sentence creation
=> In the Next Issues

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“Adverbial Sorting” - a grammar discovery activity
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Learning theory suggests that those things we discover for ourselves are more firmly fixed in our minds than those which we are “told.” This means that in the classroom we should, like scientists, allow for experimentation and discovery.

The following sentences have to do with adverbials ( never, rarely, not until, barely, not only, hardly ever). Sort the following into two different groups of four. You will notice a difference in word order. Study the differences, and you will easily come up with a rule.

I had never seen so many nice places to eat as in Kyiv.
We rarely get to take long vacations.
Rarely does Mr. Poosheesty go on romantic holidays.
Not until I saw her did I know I was in love.
Never again will I tell the entire truth to that woman.
I barely had gotten home when the phone rang.
Not only was he good looking, but he rich.
She hardly ever wore her high heels after the accident.

Have you sorted? Great. Now come up with a rule to explain the differences in word order.

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“About a Husband/Wife - unfinished sentence creation
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Ah, ha. Now your students have discovered that when you begin a sentence with one of these adverbial constructions, you invert the word order, the verb coming before the subject.

Now for extra practice, complete the following sentences on the subject of husbands You don’t need to be married to give advice on the subject. Or if you’re more comfortable, change the sentences to be about a wife, a boyfriend, or a neighbor.

International Women’s Day is coming up, so let’s talk relationships. Let’s be witty with our inversions. Let’s play Oscar Wilde and Albert Einstein, and create some axioms or maxims. This is your chance to be acerbic, and cynical and funny, and to say what you don’t even really mean. (We won’t tell your hubby or wife. However, if you want to be very respectful, and write kind and supportive sentences, we won’t mind too much.

1. On no account should you… (example: . . . allow your husband to feel he can survive on his own.)
2. In no way is your hubby allowed…
3. Under no circumstances is he to…
4. Only by a wife’s constant nagging will the husband…
5. Only after weeks of rigorous training will he…
6. Rarely will a husband do what you want unless…
7. Hardly ever do you need to agree with your husband, unless
8. Only by marrying a man can you discover…
9. Seldom should you let your husband…
10. No way should his laundry be done for him unless . . .

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In the Next Issues
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March 2: The Weird World of International Women’s Day
March 12: A to Z wordbuilding

Copyright 2006 by Kevin McCaughey & I.M. Poosheesty