Welcome to
ESL Printables, the website where English Language teachers exchange resources: worksheets, lesson plans,  activities, etc.
Our collection is growing every day with the help of many teachers. If you want to download you have to send your own contributions.

 


 

 

 

ESL Forum:

Techniques and methods in Language Teaching

Games, activities and teaching ideas

Grammar and Linguistics

Teaching material

Concerning worksheets

Concerning powerpoints

Concerning online exercises

Make suggestions, report errors

Ask for help

Message board

 

ESL forum > Grammar and Linguistics > need help- how do we say it?    

need help- how do we say it?



ironik
Australia

need help- how do we say it?
 
hello dear colleagues,
I �m writing an exam report to my department head and this word is on the tip of my tongue, but I can �t find it I �m stuck.

So the problem is, my students write meaningful sentences but they fail to use these words such as "auxiliary verbs- am, is, was, has or prepositions- to, with, the suffix -ing" or they overuse it. 

We use a linguistic term for that, like the words with no meaning. But what was it, please help me! 

Thanks a  lot.

23 Mar 2012      





almaz
United Kingdom

Perhaps you mean �ellipsis � for the first and �pleonasm � for the second (I don �t really think so...), but it �s difficult to say unless you give us a couple of examples.

23 Mar 2012     



ldthemagicman
United Kingdom

Dear Ironik,

I agree with the definitions of Almaz.

In �A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics�, 2008, page 203, Professor David Crystal gives the definition of �Function Word�.

�A term sometimes used in WORD classification for a word whose role is largely or wholly grammatical, e.g. ARTICLES, PRONOUNS, CONJUNCTIONS.  Several such terms exist for this notion (e.g. FORM WORD, GRAMMATICAL word, FUNCTOR, EMPTY word); all contrast with the LEXICAL words in a language, which carry the main SEMANTIC content�.

Les

23 Mar 2012     



ironik
Australia

Thank you very much both of you, you have been very helpful. I think function word for the first and pleonasm for the latter just serves my purposes. :)

24 Mar 2012