Directed Pronunciation - A New English Grammar

Dear Reader Inspired by the response for the page on "How the Present Perfect Works", which attracted so many visits, I have finally published a more complete review of the Perfect tenses from the perspective of Directed Pronunciation Hopefully it will make perfect sense Enjoy! click  here  to access  Amazon.com page

Infinitive or Gerund - ? The area of infinitive or gerund is as much of a headache for students as it is for teachers. On the other hand, the native speaker has a perfect control over the choice. Again, it all comes down to the instinctive use of language and to how our brains have programmed the information in terms of the positional dynamic of pronunciation.  Back in the classroom, however, many teachers still use the old tedious method of list learning which essentially achieves two purposes: 1. That the teacher, having the lists, is shown to be knowledgeable. 2. That certain students will excel at list-learning, gaining confidence at the expense of others. Assuming that the area needs to be learnt in such a fashion, native speakers would need to learn in the same way and if the area was actually difficult or confusing, many natural errors would, in fact, result. Of course, in reality, no errors are made by native speakers when choosing a gerund or infinitiv...

Time Frames Time can be divided into three broad areas:Past, Present and Future Past Time _________________________________________________ Past time is divided into straight past that fixes an event to a moment in time and previous past events which can occur either prior to another past fixed point in time or float more loosely in the past as an imperfect past - which describes something that used to happen during a period of previous time - perhaps something we did when we were young or simply something that we don't do anymore: I went to the bank yesterday. (straight past) Before that I had stopped at the office to see Jack.   (previous past in relation to the straight past) In the past, I banked at The First National Bank. ( I used to bank at...) Imperfect past - during a period (seen in the abstract) I smoked a cigarette. (straight past - one off event) I smoked Cuban cigars. ( I don't smoke them anymore - either too expensive or stopped the habit) Previo...

The Imperfect Past The idea that English has an imperfect past might seem strange at first but, in truth, all senses can and are reflected in any language. What this means is that if the idea exists in one language, Portuguese for example – our champion of verb tenses –  then the same expression must also be possible in other languages, even if the sense is not reflected in the spelling of the written transcription (visible tense marking). Unfortunately, for those who had become used to the absence of the imperfect, I must inform all that the imperfect has always been present in the language. Although there is no new written form to learn – no  different endings – there is, however, quite a different intention or inflection involved. Instead of reflecting back to a moment fixed in time past, the imperfect carries a sense of period, a closed but, nevertheless, extended time and, as such, moves from a previous time position to a later one. Thus our imperfect must move forward...

  A verb tense, in the strictest definition of the term, is the time frame in which the action is placed; thus we have the traditional idea of past, present and future tenses and within these three basic time frames, we can also differentiate certain other aspects such as the subjunctive or progressive tenses, plus other ideas such as the imperfect past, the conditional tense, and imperative. The tenses of the verbs, in reality, rely entirely on the directions we employ over them. Whereas conjugation is the movement in the pronunciation which indicates the relative position of the subject of the verb - personal vectors - the tense of the verb is a different relative positioning in our conception of time, thought and attitude. In English, it may at first seem difficult to perceive the difference in verb tenses due to the absence of easily identifiable verb endings; the tags that identify both the tense and person; thus discerning the different senses (or directions) is also, at fir...

The blog is currently undergoing certain changes to better organise the ideas, features and resources In this space, apart from self learning pages, exercises and ready made video transcripts to link to news, songs and video comedy, you will further find a totally new vision of grammar - which I have called Directed Pronunciation, which, in this case, has been applied to English. The approach is radical and not everyones cup of tea. Indeed, one leading publishing house, Cambridge, said their material would not be confortable next to mine on the same book shelf - so draw your own conclusions. Therefore, be prepared to be shocked but remain open minded in order to change every concept on grammar that you may have ever read. Presented here, grammar is nothing more than a sense (in Portuguese "sentido" sense / direction) a movement, direction, flux or flow. Grammar is the delivery, it carries the voicing and intonation but more than anything else, grammar...

Make or Do? With much of the other grammar difficulties falling like flies, how about an explanation for make and do ? The native speaker again has an innate sense of the usage, so once again, in distrust of perfection, without a safety mechanism of some sort, there must be a trick. And it is not as if the choice is deliberate. Only when we compare English to other languages do we see that this separate choice of verbs may be covered by one global solution, for example, Fazer in Portuguese or Hacer in Spanish, which presents one hell of a headache for the poor learner from such cultural comparisons. Now some teachers and teaching methods like to explain the essential difference with arguments like opposing poles of creative actions (make) against the routine ones or even boring ones (do) as the road to success; nevertheless, even with a certain truth to these arguments, I don’t find the argument a conclusive one because this still requires us to think which is right than to simp...

Introdução The modal auxiliary of the Past – DID The emphatic form: Pronoun + modal + action He did play Negative phrases are essentially emphatic: Pronoun + modal + negative + action He did not play The separation of the modal and negative elements produces a stronger hammered negative. When the two are contracted, the negative form becomes less marked, making the sound and our expression smoother: Pronoun + modal /negative + action He didn’t play The modal DID is thrown behind the verb to reduce the emphatic weight in the affirmative: Pronoun + action/ modal He play (did) The standard written form results in the -ed ending: He play -ed

Introdução The Grammar Mechanic of the PAST FACTUAL The modal of past pacts is DID 1 DID = fact in the past – a deed – meaning it happened! Placed before the verb, the modal is emphatic and strong sounding. When we wish to reduce the emphatic force, the auxiliary inverts with the verb, bringing more stress onto the verb word. The modal is contracted as an ending and is softer when spoken. The modal did converts into the -ed ending of the so-called regular past verbs. As we can see from the mechanics of the grammar, the modal of fact in the past did, just as we saw with do , can be manipulated, depending on the emphasis we require. With the modal placed behind the verb, we get the sensation that there is a conjugation of the verb; nevertheless, even though the leading sound of each of our so-called regular verbs does not change, there is an ending added to this pure sounding verb. Having said this, we mustn’t forget ...

THE PAST The typical vision which students learn about the Past Tense in English is that there are some regular verbs that form the past with the ending -ed, others with various irregular changes and yet others that strangely never change at all. Even without conjugational differences in the first, second and third person forms, whether singular or plural, the mere idea that there are regular verbs and irregular verbs casts uncertainty onto the issue and many students even embark on that terrible list-learning, in an attempt to memorize every last verb in the English language. And all this trouble and strife, without mentioning the pronunciation, even with just the so-called “regular” verbs! Nevertheless, if we perceive the past through our new vision of Directed Pronunciation, we can skip around this problem, without the slightest of difficulty. The idea is simple and the best part about it is that there are just two aspects to observe. 1.Shift the verb in the mouth by directing the p...

Timeline - How the Present Perfect Tense works Experiences The essence of the present perfect tense pulls the verbal expression down, inside us. This movement reflects our experience and even belief and true knowledge, which even in mediaeval times was placed in the heart. The sense we are aiming for is very similar in all of the following three examples: • I have visited the Louvre. • I believe in aliens. • I know it’s true. No Details The movement physically collapses our lungs. For this reason we do not go into detail, because in simple structures, we can not add extensive information. To add detail of past experiences, we typically use the simple and progressive past tense or use an adverb. • There has been a plane crash • A Transatlantic flight out of Paris crashed at 7.45 pm, twenty minutes after take off. Nobody was killed …etc. Recent Time In a similar movement - a slight variation on the theme - the expression is pulled back and released until the ...

Back on the subject of emphasis and we can see how we can make the negative more or less emphatic by the simple separation or contraction of the modal negative idea: She does not like chocolate - more emphatic She doesn’t like chocolate - less emphatic In our negative question, the separation of the negative will force the emphatic not to return to its preverbal emphatic position leaving the emphatic inversion of does and she intact: Doesn’t she like chocolate? Does she not like chocolate? Here we can see that the pre-verb position holds the true key emphatic position. When we look at this in illustrated form, we can see how the emphasis provokes a kind of dip or stop, in the sentence, before the release of the verb. Furthermore, the more marked our dip (or stop) is, the greater the emphasis we create. Conversely, the smoother our horizontal line of projection is, the less emphatic our sentence becomes. It also becomes easier to understand that the smoothe...

Emphasis is a fundamental aspect of language and plays a great part in determining the basic structure of the syntax. Unfortunately, most visions of grammar underestimate this importance; nevertheless, it is the important tool which is not only used to stress one part of an idea or another but also transfers the weight of importance of the phrase from one part of the structure to another through inversions, etc. To discuss the English verb system without an understanding of the importance of emphasis would be to miss several important and fundamental arguments about structure, logic and interpretation. Vocal and Structural Emphasis There are two basic forms of emphasis: vocal and structural emphasis. In the former, one word or another is simply given more force than the rest through emphasized speech, leaving it quite clear which word carries the greater importance: She doesn’t like chocolate - indicates who. She doesn’t like chocolate - emphasizes the negative. She doe...

With each movement and directional vector (or sense) of each modal, we can start to map out the areas of modal expression. The chart (illustrated above) shows how each aspect is directed;a skill we certainly need to emulate, if we are to give the correct language signals. As the chart shows , the high area is reserved for probability, the degree of which ranges from positive certainty through possibility to uncertainty at the back of the head. The forward area (ahead of the eye) carries the different notions of future modality, rising from the low downward driven decisive intention or acceptance (will) and determination (shall) through obligation(must), permission (may) and advice – or deferred obligation (should) to prediction (will) and desire (will, must, should). The past forms are set back or directed behind us, with past probability looped high in speculation but ending low - so as to combine with the auxiliary have and the past pa...

DO - Modal of Current Facts The auxiliary do has a slight conjugation when it is pushed into the low forward quarter of the mouth. The movement forces an S to appear but, the effect, in fact, has a rather more Z-like sound: When we compare the directions and the relative modulations in the conjugation with the conjugated directions of the subject pronouns, we can see how the auxiliary do has a visible and audible conjugation in the third person singular. The design is rather one of pure dynamics than choice; nevertheless, just this simple variation in the verb causes problems for learners. Any difficulty is removed when the correct pronunciation dynamic is applied. The movement becomes both part and parcel of the pronunciation, and the sound, which escapes naturally, will be the result of the natural flow. Conjugation of the Modal DO: I do You do He/she/it does We do You do They do When we...

As all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy - here is some light comic relief in the form of a clip from the British TV series Fawlty Towers (BBC). In this clip, Manuel is practicing his English- The Major (who drinks!!!) enters but doesn't see Manuel and therefore believes that it is the Moose's head that is speaking to him. Enjoy this clip on "you tube" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5035TY5RSpg Manuel: You see I speak English well. I learn(ed) it from a book. Hello, I am English. Hello. How are you, sir. I can speak English. Ah – hello Major – how are you today? The Major: Oh, WWWW I,I,I,I,I,I, am fine thank you! Manuel: It's a beautiful day today. The Major: Is it?! Oh well yes, yes I suppose it is. Manuel: Yes I can speak English, I learned it from a book. The Major: Did you! Did you...

Check out the TV comedy series: Fawlty Towers with John Cleese in the YouTube powered video bar

In English, the variable positions, heights and flows in the articles are not used to express gender as in Latin languages, for example, but rather to vary the level of emphasis applied to the articles the and a . The more emphatic of the two positions is the high falling article with the weak low article rising only slightly to meet the noun. When we study the flow of the pronunciation, it becomes clear how logical this is. To reach the high position, we need to abandon the soft linear projection of the phrase, causing a marking of the article with emphasis - a veritable dynamic exclamation mark. As shown in the illustration, the weak articles flow naturally to meet the nouns, which are themselves conveniently produced in a highish frontal area of the mouth. On the other hand, the emphasized article does not flow into the noun and we use so much emphasis on the article that the noun is produced as a much weaker released sound.

The naming of the parts of the body serves to demonstrate Directed Pronunciation in a simple and curious way. The body names are directed towards the parts of the body, from the axis point of the mouth. The word for "mouth", itself, is curiously forced to expand around this central pivot point. The rest of the parts of the body are then related in the direction you would expect to find them. By using the correct direction we achieve the correct pronunciation, the correct sense. The body, of course, has some movable parts that can go up and down and this can produce variations in the position and thus pronunciation... like, well, like arms, for example, etc. [use your imagination]. Where we expect to find things, then, helps to define the pronunciation of a whole range of obvious vocabulary like sky (high), floor(low), etc. etc. Language is very indicative. Language itself was developed as a tool and the words evolved to give exact information. Therefore, in any language ...

Above the eye line is where we think. Here, we also find the range of probabilty, and unreal events considered in the subjunctive forms (Past, present and future). Below the line, we find the factual and progressive forms of verbs - present and past, as well as future concepts such as, obligation and determination as well as forecasts and schedules.