Understanding English Grammar Betty Azar Pdf

[Kerby Reynolds]

Todaywe have a special guest host. Betty Azar is the most successful writer of grammar textbooks in the world. Generations of English learners will recognize her best-selling book Understanding and Using English Grammar. The famous blue grammar book, now in its fourth edition, is in use at language schools across the world. Ms. Azar also supports research and professional development in the English language teaching field. Today Ms. Azar will offer some advice on how to hear the sounds of grammar.

Normal contracted speech, especially in everyday conversational usage, can speed by like a bullet train. It can leave learners feeling a little dazed as they try to catch the meaning.

For most adult learners, reading is, of course, much easier to understand. When understanding English is just between you and the written page, you can go as slowly as you want. You can go back and read words again, perhaps break down the grammar. You can even leisurely look up the meaning of a word.

Speakers squeeze sounds together, or drop sounds, or say them so softly and quickly that a listener can barely hear them. When you listen to my sentence again, notice that the t is almost completely dropped from it's, and going to becomes gonna.

Grammar students learn that am, is, are and helping verbs (for example, will, have, would) are often contracted with pronouns in both speaking and writing, as in I'm and I'll. But most students also find it helpful to know that in everyday spoken English these verbs are usually contracted with nouns and question words, too.

Did is a good example of a function word. A function word gives grammar information. In the sentence Did you eat yet?, did tells us that the speaker is talking about the past and is asking a question. In contrast, eat is a content word. So are words such as Tom, yesterday, lunch. Content words have specific meanings. Function words are the ones that are the hardest to hear in speech. Content words are usually said more clearly and loudly.

Native speakers can hear the softer sounds of function words, but it can be very difficult for second language learners to hear them. Knowing some grammar can help. For example, learners are more likely to hear and to say Bye. I'm leaving now. I'll see you later if they are familiar with the forms and meanings of verb tenses.

If learners don't know what grammar sounds they're supposed to hear, chances are they won't hear them. If they don't hear them, chances are they won't include them in their own speaking and writing. In other words, an awareness of grammar can prepare you to understand what you're hearing, and hearing the sounds of grammar can, in turn, help you use English more accurately.

Betty Schrampfer Azar is the author of the Azar Grammar Series for students of English as a second or foreign language. A staple in English language teaching for more than three decades, the series contains dozens of books and is widely used throughout the globe.[1]

In 2017, TESOL International Association named the Betty Azar Travel Grant for Practicing ESL ESL/EFL Teachers in her honor. This grant helps pay for participants to travel to the annual TESOL conference.[7]

Following the retirement of Betty S. Azar and her staff, www.azargrammar.com shut down on Tuesday, November 10, 2020. The Site was to officially shut down on Saturday, October 31, 2020, although it remained operational until Tuesday, November 10, 2020. Since then parts of the site are operational.[8]

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