Missing grammar: parallel structure
I've been researching learner language using the
Cambridge Learner Corpus for 20 years now and there are certain issues that
crop up again and again among learners at all levels. One that I pick up on
regularly is illustrated in the examples below (made up examples rather than
real corpus data, but they illustrate the point):
At the weekend, he goes to the park and play
football. (subject-verb agreement)
I like playing football and run. (verb + -ing form)
I'd love to visit Paris and seeing the Eiffel
Tower. (verb + to do)
We went to the park and play football. (past
simple verb form)
We can swim in the sea and playing volleyball on
the beach. (modal + verb form)
I've tided the kitchen and did the washing up. (present
perfect/past participle form)
I was sitting on the train, chatted to my friend
on the phone. (past continuous/-ing form)
Basically students attempt to use a second verb form
(usually) after a conjunction without repeating the subject, but they forget to
match the verb form to the start of the sentence. In each of the examples above, the
correct form would become clear(er) if we inserted the 'missing' subject
(+verb/auxiliary/modal):
At the weekend, he goes to the park and [he] plays
football.
I like playing football and [I like] running.
I'd love to visit Paris and [I'd love to] see the
Eiffel Tower.
We went to the park and [we] played football.
We can swim in the sea and [we can] play
volleyball on the beach.
I've tided the kitchen and [I've] done the washing
up.
I was sitting on the train [and I was] chatting to
my friend on the phone.
It's something I've noted in countless corpus reports,
but I've never been quite sure what to call it. Until last week when I came
across it for the first time in an ELT coursebook referred to as parallel
structure. It was in a B2 book in a section about academic writing style and
covered a wider range of structures than those above (not just verb phrases,
but nouns, adjectives and full clauses too), but it still made me cheer out
loud at my desk. It's long puzzled me why these incredibly common structures
aren't explicitly addressed in most ELT materials when they cause so many
issues for students.
I rarely get the chance to choose the grammar points I
cover in the materials I work on, because they're mostly supplementary
materials and the syllabus is already fixed by the time I get started. So I've
never had the opportunity to cover this explicitly myself. I have tried to
include examples in practice exercises, but they usually end up getting cut by
editors who want all the items to fit on a single line and don't like the longer
examples these structures often involve (grrr!).
So I'm making a case for this to be included explicitly
in more ELT materials. It's relevant at every level and with almost every kind
of verb structure we teach. It doesn't have to be a separate grammar point and
it doesn't even have to have the label parallel structure. I think it's a great
thing to bring up when you're revising a particular verb form as a slight
variation on the usual practice activities, just to raise students' awareness.
You could have a simple intro as above showing/eliciting the 'missed out' words
and the correct second verb forms. Then straight into some practice examples (as
gap-fills or freer practice). It works perfectly for any kind of list:
- daily routines (She leaves the house at 8 and catches the bus at 8.15)
- a dramatic narrative (He opened the box and looked inside)
- background to a narrative (People were sitting in the café, eating and drinking)
- things people like doing (I like watching TV and chatting to my friends online)
- things people would like to do in the future (I'd like to go to university and study drama)
- things ticked off on a list (We've booked a room for the party and set up a Facebook page)
- things on a to-do list (I still need to confirm the hotel booking and renew my travel insurance)
I'm happy to be proved wrong with a flurry of comments about ELT materials that practise exactly this already ...
Labels: Cambridge learner corpus, ELT materials, grammar patterns, learner errors, parallel structure
1 Comments:
Nice article - I've not really thought of 'parallel structures' before but what you describe is essentially ellipsis, which is something that some coursebooks do teach - Ready for Advanced has a long section on it. But yes, we should draw our students' attention to this point.
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