tailieunhanh - Grammar for everyone part 4

Neville Bonner went on to become the first Indigenous member of the Federal Parliament, from where he not only served his country, but helped break down barriers within it. If information is the currency of democracy, how can Austra¬lians participate unless they are able to read and write? | TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR THE CONTEMPORARY CLASSROOM 11 Most modern languages have systems that indicate number singular or plural and tense when something takes place . in the present past or future . Another important distinction denotes the purpose of a statement . is it just a simple statement asking a question or giving a command. Intonation It is important too to be aware of some of the principles or at least guidelines for the way we use our voices and thereby convey the purpose of our utterance. It is easy to overlook the fact that we cannot use intonation in written communication - neither can we be asked to repeat or clarify it our writing must convey all our intentions. Test the following passage by reading it in monotone. Hello Dad. Oh no Mick s just fallen in the fishpond. Get out. Help help. He can t. Get a rope. Quick Catch the rope. Good. How did you manage to fall in Now I m all wet. The same passage written without punctuation would be impossible to interpret accurately. Ambiguity As teachers we need to be highly conscious of the potential for ambiguity that exists in a language like English which depends heavily on word order for meaning. A typical kind of ambiguous sentence is that in which a clause is misplaced for example Sisters were united after 30 years in the check-out queue. Instructions and examples need to be carefully monitored to avoid confusion and students need to be made aware of this problem in their own writing and speaking. 12 GRAMMAR FOR EVERYONE Long-term memory We always aim for our students to retain our teaching in the long-term memory. The human brain actually encompasses infinite memory but the secret of retrieval lies in how we record information in the first place. We can use the analogy of a computer which is itself designed to imitate the operation of the human brain. We know that we have to install a computer program in a totally accurate way omitting even one dot may impede its function. Then once the program .