How to Learn English from Sentence Structure

How to Learn English from Sentence Structure

By C. Angulo.

Practicing sentence structure is a study strategy that may solve the language performance issues, mostly found on students who want to learn English and whose native language is Spanish.The strategy consists of two steps. The first one is to choose from a news article or other written works one sentence that one would not usually produce. Then, one continues by identifying its parts of speech. For example, in the sentence taken from a textbook: “The main goal is to show what the purpose of the sentence is.” The grammatical formula is:

(Subject + Verb to be + Infinitive verb + Wh question particle + Noun of a subordinate clause + Preposition “of” + Object of the preposition + Verb to be).

This analysis helps the student to understand the elements that form a sentence. The second step is to internalize sentence structures by making new “meaningful sentences” (John Lyons, 1995).

It is important to use other words from other fields of study in different contexts. For instance, if the infinitive verb is changed, the intention varies and the sentence would be: “The main goal is to explain what the process of Osmosis is.” Similarly, if the student changes the “Wh” question particle and the last verb in the sentence, the situation varies. The sentence would be: “The main goal is to demonstrate how the speed of a car engine increases.” As demonstrated above, varying the object of the preposition changes the topic of these sentences.

Applying this study strategy for learning English will improve the student’s speaking and writing abilities, especially because the more familiar one is with the structure patterns in English, the more confident one will feel using them.