Points of similarity and contrast between English and Modern Standard Arabic in relativization are examined. It is concluded that while the relativization process is essentially the same in both languages, they differ with respect to the relative pronoun, the agreement of the relative pronoun with its antecedent, and the appearance of the…

A study of one of the most recurrent and persistent obstacles in learning English as a second language, the use of tense marking, is presented. The analysis is based on audio recordings from a Vietnamese community in Northern Virginia, representing four age ranges from 10 to 55 years, two lengths of U.S. residency (1-3 years and 4-7 years), and…

The uses of the present progressive tense in informal English spoken discourse are examined, focusing on the increasing frequency of the so-called stative or non-action verbs found in the progressive aspect. Generalizations are proposed to account for: (1) the discrepancy between grammar book explanations and actual usage, and (2) the meaning of…

A lexical comparison of four native speakers' spontaneous discourse in the Acadian French spoken in a southern Nova Scotia village with standard spoken French is described. This study is part of a larger study of four regional variations on Nova Scotia Acadian French and has as its objectives both linguistic analysis and improvement of standard…

A study of children's egocentrism in their use of person and case examined whether 7-year-olds would tend to cast themselves as subjects in sentences using the verbs "give, show, say, tell, and lend," and what role they might assign the hearer. In 85 utterances, the children (N=17), with an average age of 7.8 years, showed the expected…

The primary goal of the present study is an exposition of the structure of Mam, a Mayan language of the Mamean group. Mam is the most widely spoken of the four Mamean languages, and has been roughly estimated to have a quarter million speakers located in the departments of Huehuetenango and San Marcos in Guatemala and in the state of Chiapas in…

Five experiments are carried out to determine the comprehension of passives by children. Results obtained demonstrate that comprehension rests on knowledge of syntactic structure. V - NP were interpreted as verb-object. Passives lacking a preposition were interpreted as actives. Competence in passives may be at a high level before performance is…

As an introduction to Armenian refugees in the United States, this report discusses various aspects of Armenian life both in the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The general introduction includes a review of migration patterns, religion, arts, names, and social structure. Within the discussion of Armenian cultural background, Armenian history,…

The contents of this handbook are designed to help teachers clarify, in their own minds, many of the grammatical points that might be raised in the English as a second language classroom. Each chapter ends with exercises and a discussion of classroom implications of the topics raised. Chapter I covers parts of speech, including nouns, verbs,…

THESE FOUR TESTS--"THAT-NOUN CLAUSES (ABSTRACT NOUNS, ABSTRACT ADJECTIVES, AND TRANSITIVE ANIMATE VERBS),""REVIEW OF EMBEDDING AND CONJUNCTIVE TRANSFORMATIONS,""COMPLEMENT VERBS," AND "IMPERATIVE"--WERE DESIGNED BY THE OREGON CURRICULUM STUDY CENTER FOR A 10TH-GRADE LANGUAGE CURRICULUM. THEY ARE INTENDED TO…

Two aspects of the problem of native language grammar instruction, in this case English, are addressed. First, it is argued that a combination of linguistic and pedagogical factors contribute to the explanation for the apparent decline in English grammar instruction in the schools. Secondly, it is argued that effective grammar teaching should…

The purposes of this 11th-grade unit on language are to survey the most important grammatical elements of the English sentence and to synthesize grammatical principles previously learned in grades 7-10 of the curriculum. The unit moves from discussions of the simplest grammatical elements to the more complex: Bound and free morphemes are defined,…

This report describes how vocabulary and thesaurus techniques can be applied to a user-oriented computerized data handling system. An analysis is presented of the specialized problems associated with the development of vocabularies and rules for regulating their usage. The report consists of glossaries of action verbs and nouns accompanied by…

This study examines the use of the auxiliaries "avoir" and "etre" and of the prefix "re-" in the speech of Franco-Ontarian students. It is found that the tendency to use non-standard constructions such as "j'ai arrive en retard" and "je vais remettre la roue 'back'" has its origins in historical…