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Graciela: The Case of a Lawyer’s Accent
Mayra Ron
Florida International University
Abstract
This case study will discuss seven phonological and grammatical errors of an English Language
Learner. It will include a detailed a linguistic analysis of the errors that were identified providing
intervention/remediation and the prompts used to elicit the data. Seven grammatical errors with
the battery of interventions needed to correct the problems will also be included with examples
of how a teacher may help a language learner detect these errors, understand the reason for the
mistakes based on the student’s native language and thus learn how to write English more
proficiently. The initial interview, the rubrics and the prompts used for eliciting data to develop
this case study will also be included. The conclusion will summarize this case study.
The Case
For clarity purposes this case study will be divided into three parts. The first section will
be the interview, the second will be devoted to the phonological aspect of the report and the third
will discuss the grammatical findings. Both linguistic sections will discuss the procedure used to
elicit data, a sample of the instrument employed for the assessment, the findings and
recommendations for intervention and remediation.
The Interview
The Learner in this report is, Graciela Benitez, a prominent lawyer from Colombia. Graciela
represented, Carlos Lehder, one of Colombia’s most renowned figures from this country’s
famous drug cartel. Needless to say, when her client was apprehended and deported to serve a
life sentence in the United States fearing for reprisals from her client’s organization, Graciela
solicited asylum in this country- a process that is still in progress. I first met Graciela as a real
estate agent when I purchased one of the properties she had listed. Although, at the time, her
English was rudimentary she managed to get her thoughts conveyed.
Initial interview
Graciela is an extremely well educated fifty-three year old woman from Bogota, Colombia.
As she is extremely intelligent and possesses a sharp tongue inherent in all lawyers, Graciela
excels in her Spanish communication skills and has mastery over many topics in her native
language; as such she is easily frustrated when trying to translate those same thoughts into
spoken English. In our initial interview she mentioned that in English her words were slower
than her brain.
When Graciela arrived in this country she decided to pursue a real estate career instead of
learning English to revalidate her lawyer degree. A decision she regrets but is willing to make-
up for by learning English. As motivation is by far the most important factor in learning a
language, I thought Graciela would be the best candidate for this case study
English Proficiency Level in Oral Assessment
According to the oral Assessment Graciela rated as an expanding learner. In this level ELLs
use language in both concrete and abstract situations and can apply languages to new
experiences. Graciela was more fluent in speaking than writing which is a normal occurrence
since the basic communicative language called BICS is most easily learned as it is most
commonly used in conversation.
Writing Proficiency level
Graciela was more fluent in speaking than in writing which is a normal occurrence since
the basic communicative language called BICS is easier to learn as it is most commonly used in
conversation. In the assessment Graciela rated as a developing ELL- Level 3. In this stage an
ELLs uses language to communicate familiar matters regularly encountered. They have more
developed vocabulary and start to understand more complex speech. Sentences are simple,
comprehensible and appropriate but they make many grammatical errors. Though I thought
Graciela would rate at level four, her abundant grammatical mistakes were the main reason she
ended in a lower category. She also has problems producing complex structures even though she
seems to understand them. Placing those difficult thoughts in written form is complicated for
any ELL and Graciela is no exception.
Phonological Assessment
Due to her vast knowledge I chose a very creative prompt for data elicitation that would prove
to be engaging as well as challenging to trigger her interest, and keep her focused. I began with
the phonological assessment. First I had Graciela watch a short film titled “Manifesto.” This is a
short inspirational piece from “Film English,” a website created by an English language teacher.
Film English won first place prize in the coveted MEDEA 2013 awards.
“Manifesto,” as the word conveys, is a proclamation about what it means to be alive. Set in a
background of people riding bicycles, it is an upbeat, fun experience to watch. The vocabulary is
complex as it has a lot of inferred language, plenty of English idioms, and is full of rich
expressive vocabulary; a wonderful array of life situations that I felt would prove rewarding to
such a lively, passionate, and exemplary vivacious woman.
After Graciela watched the film, I placed a folder in front of her containing strips of paper
with the sentences from “Manifesto” arranged in no specific discriminatorily order. The
directions were as follows: Please, open your folder. Inside you will find strips of papers. These
papers are sentences from the script of the film you just saw. Please read each sentence while
you arrange them in order and create the script of “Manifesto”. I am attaching the copy of the
script.
Since Graciela is an ELL with a Spanish background I will explain characteristics inherent on
these learners to better inform the reader of the phonological errors found in this report.
Similarities and Differences between Spanish and English
Before delving into the phonetic aspects of the Spanish and English language it is apt to
understand that these two languages have many differences but also have many similarities. It is
these similarities that should be emphasized whenever a native Spanish learner becomes
frustrated in his English learning. Capitalizing on the similarities between both languages can
prove a relief for many nervous ELLs.
In the case of similarities, both English and Spanish use the Roman alphabet. That
knowledge, in itself, helps build phonemic and phonological foundation. Secondly, thirty to
forty percent of all words in English have a related word in Spanish. These cognates that share
similar sound, appearance, and meaning, help students transfer that knowledge into English. A
third similarity between both languages is a couple of word order exceptions (adjective before
noun in English and noun before adjective in Spanish). Fourthly, English and Spanish use the
same basic processes to read and write such as phonemic awareness, decoding, fluency,
comprehension and writing mechanism.
As there are similarities there are also distinct differences that make it a challenge for native
speakers and may interfere with English pronunciation such as phonemic differences and
phonological differences. The biggest difference between the two languages is that Spanish has
only five vowel sounds while English has more than 14, depending on the dialect. This is the
reason why Spanish speakers have difficulty differentiating between phonemes such as {seat} or
{sit}.
Please note all the words in red signify a phonological mistake. All of the phonological
interventions were taken from the book “Clear Speech” 4th edition and “Clear Speech” Teacher’s
Resource and Assessment Book by Judy Gilbert. I have also added other resources. These will
be listed in each section.
Here are Graciela’s phonological errors:
1. If you don’t like something, change it.
In this phrase my case student pronounced the word “something” incorrectly. As I explained
previously the letters in red, in this case {th}, signify that the sound that was pronounced
incorrectly. Graciela said “somesing” instead. This is a normal mistake for native Spanish
learners because the [th] sound does not exist in Spanish. The closest sound is /s /. Graciela made
that obvious error.
The English [th] /ϴ/ is an interdental voiceless fricative. The closest sound in the Spanish
language is /s/ [s] but it is voiceless, fricative, alveolar, and a sibilant. The /ϴ/ sound is a fricative
(no hissing sound) because the tongue is flat and relaxed. Graciela, like most Spanish speakers,
therefore pronounced the [th] as a /s/.
Differences:
English- [th] fricative, interdental, voiceless
Spanish-[s] fricative, alveolar, voiceless and sibilant
I would tell my students that for the [th] sound they need to place their tongue between the upper
and lower teeth.
Intervention for phonetical mistake # 1- All the material was taken from the book “Clear
Speech” 4th edition page 123. and the corresponding “Clear Speech” Teacher’s Resource and
Assessment Book by Judy Gilbert. Explain to students the voiceless –th- sound /ϴ/ is not a
sibilant because the tongue is flat and relaxed, so there is no hissing sound. The /s/ makes a hiss
because the air is forced through a narrow valley.
Show students an illustration with pictures of the mouth looking from the side and the front as if
pronouncing the word /s/ as in the word sick and thick /ϴ/.
Practice- Students listen and repeat these pairs of words.
Voiceless beginning sounds: /ϴ/ think, thank, thick, thought. /s/ sink, sank, sick, thought.
Voiceless final sounds: /ϴ/ math, faith, myth, mouth. /s/ mass, faith, miss, mouse.
It is Important for teacher to work on minimal pairs so student can hear differences between the
two sounds.
2. If you don’t have enough time, stop…
As I explained before the letters in red are those that the case study student mispronounced. In
this phrase, Graciela made another common mistake for English learners she added an “es” to the
front of the word. When a sound is inserted into a word, the process is called epenthesis. In that
manner the word “stop” was changed into “estop.” In Spanish you don’t have consonant clusters
cc much less clusters that begin with /s/. /s/ clusters occur word medially in Spanish. Spanish
has no /s/ plus consonant (/sC/) word initially; hence they epenthesize a vowel at the beginning
of an English word-initial consonant cluster.
Therefore in a word like “stop” Spanish speakers would epenthesize a vowel in front of the
word –initial consonant cluster making the word sound like “estop.”
{s} is also voiceless which means that the vocal chords are apart and thus the airstream is not
obstructed at the glottis. The sound passes into the supraglottal cavities producing a voiceless
sound.
Intervention for phonetical mistake # 2- Explain to students that it is very common for Spanish
learners to insert a schwa sound or what is known as the “epenthetic vowel” in phonetics before
words beginning with /s/ plus another consonant. Read to them the following words and make
them repeat so they can become aware of this common mistake and try to avoid it. Review with
them the following words: Stop; Speak; Snow; Snake; Story; Smile.
Pair students and allow them to correct each other. Have them create sentences with these words
and practice with each other. As a classroom activity have each group write one of their
sentences on the board so the class can repeat.
3. Life is simple.
Again we have here another problematic sound for native Spanish speakers- the [s]. My case
study student pronounced “is” in the phrase above “Life is simple” as “life iz zimple.” The letter
[s] in the word “is” is pronounced as a [z]. What has happened with “life iz zimple’ is that the
voicing of [s] in “is” carries over to the “s” in “simple” This is what is called co-articulation. The
manner of articulation of a sound in one word carries over to the pronunciation of a similar
sound in the local environment.
Spanish does not have this same sound. Spanish has no differences between tense [i] or laxed
sound of [I]. So when it comes to saying [is]. They don’t say /Iz/, they will say /iz/.
Another thing I noticed from Graciela’s pronunciation in this sentence was how she
neutralized the contrast between /s/ and /z/. Spanish does not make voicing contrasts between its
fricatives (and its affricative) therefore; fricatives may assimilate the voicing of a consonant
sound.
The /s/ as in {is} is a voiceless fricative, alveolar meaning that the airflow is through the opening
created by the tongue tip, alveolar ridge and closely approximated teeth, producing a hissing
sound. The tongue tip is narrowly grooved and approximates the alveolar ridge just behind the
upper incisors.
Intervention for phonetical mistake # 3- pg. 142 of “Clear Speech” blue book.
Explain to student tongue in the /s/ does not touch the palate. The/z/ goes further to the palate.
Extra Practice with /t/and /s/ to differentiate and also work on [is].
Practice listening and saying to /ϴ/ and /t/ exercises taken from page 159 in Judy B. Gilbert book
“Clear Speech.” Students look at illustration 1 titled Part 6 /ϴ/ and /t/ and practice saying these
sounds. For example:
The sound /ϴ/ as in “bath” is a continuant, and the sound /t/ as in “bat” is a stop. Students will
notice how air flows out of the mouth for /ϴ/, but stops inside the mouth for /t/. Students will
look at illustration and practice how in /ϴ/ the tongue is flat and relaxed; the flat tipoff the
tongue briefly touches the upper front teeth. Student can make this sound by touching the tip of
the tongue to the lower front teeth. Have them notice how the air must continue to flow out of
the mouth. You may use the link http://www.rachelsenglish.com/videos/t-t-and-d-d-consonants
for an excellent video that provides extra visual support for students. For further practice free
downloadable charts, games and practice exercises, I recommend this link, as well:
http://www.edhelper.com/phonics/Consonants22.htm
Have students follow these directions in to differentiate between /ϴ/ and /t/ and dictate the
practice test that follows. All the material was taken from the book “Clear Speech” 4th edition
and “Clear Speech” Teacher’s Resource and Assessment Book by Judy Gilbert. It reads:
a. Practice the position for the /ϴ/ sound breathing out and feeling the air moving over the
tongue and teeth. Drawing the air back into the mouth brings a cold air sensation over the
flat tongue.
b. Raise the tongue and press it against the tooth ridge all around so that the air cannot flow
out. This makes the stop sound /t/.
c.
Silently change back and forth between the positions for the two sounds, then practice
saying the words “bath” and “bat” out loud.
Exercises: Which word is different? Listen. You will hear three words. Mark the column for the
word that is different.
(boat, both, boat), (bath, bath, bat), (mass, math, mass), (mouth, mouth, mouse), (fourth, fort,
fourth,)
4. Ask the next person you see what their passion is,
Graciela pronounced [you] as /yu/. This is another very common mistake for Spanish
speakers learning English since in Spanish there are only five vowel sounds while English has up
to twenty-four sounds, depending on the dialect. In Spanish there are no long vowels as in /ju/
for the word “you’.
In Spanish there is a one-to-one grapheme-phoneme correspondence. English vowel sounds
with their numerous spellings present a challenge to Spanish literate students learning to read
English because of the one-to-one correspondence between vowel letters and vowel sounds in
Spanish.
Native Spanish speakers will always pronounce this word with a short vowel as /yu/.
{you} is a voiced palatal glide. In a glide the tongue moves rapidly in a gliding fashion to or
from a vowel. Therefore /y/ will either follow or be preceded by a vowel.
Intervention for phonetical mistake #4- Explain to students Spanish learners find it difficult to
begin a word with a palatal glide as /j/ as in [yes] or [you]. Have the class produce the sounds
while telling them that the tongue needs to be held up close to the hard palate but without
touching it. Have students practice the following words: /y/: yes; yell; yet; you; university.
5. Appreciate every last bite.
Graciela made another common mistake among Spanish speakers and pronounced the letter
/b/ (voiced bilabial stop) like a /v/ (voiceless labiodental fricative) not differentiating between
these two sounds. The letter “v” is pronounced in most Spanish dialects just like the letter “b.”
So, like the word “votar” (to vote) sounds the same as “botar” (to throw away). In most cases,
this sound is not as explosive (as in English) but is an approximant. Meaning, it is pronounced
not quite with the lips together, but slightly apart, to where it sounds like an “approximate /b/,”
this may lend to an acoustic similarity to the English V sound; however, the articulation of the
two consonants is quite different (the English V is made by creating friction between the upper
teeth and the lower lip). However because the [v] is in a middle position
The /v/and /b/ have the same pronunciation in Spanish, and while the V/B sound is not
exactly the same as the /b/ sound in English, it is closer to “boat” than “vote.” The /v/ in English
is voiced labiodental fricative, and the /b/ is a voiced bilabial, stop. In Spanish there is no
difference between these two sounds: [vaca] /baca/ (misspelled).
Another interesting fact about /b/ is that its pronunciation depends on the sound which
surrounds it, as is always the case in phonetics. Also the Spanish /b/ (be de burro) and /v/ (be de
vaca) are pronounced exactly alike. These letters have two separated sounds, hard and soft. At
the beginning of a word and after “m” or “n,” the hard Spanish ‘b/v” closely resembles the /b/ in
the word ‘boy,” except that the lips are held tense, In other situation , the “b/v” is pronounced
like an English “b” in which the lips are not allowed to touch.
Intervention for phonetical mistake # 5According to “Clear Speech” by Judy Gilbert the sound /v/ is a continuant and /b/ is a stop. For
example when saying /v/, the upper teeth touch the back of the lower lip so the lips do not touch
each other. This allows air flow out of the mouth. When saying /b/, the lips close, stopping the
air inside the mouth.
Practice: Have students silently try the position of each sound with the words “rove” and “robe.”
For the /v/ they may use a pencil or their finger under their upper lip to remind them to keep their
lips apart.
Further practice: Read the following words beginning with [b] and [v] and tell students to circle
the word that begins with [b].
Beginning sound: vase, base; vat, bat; very, berry; van, ban; vest, best.
Final sound: rove, robe; curve, curb; carve, carb; dove, dub; jive, jibe.
6. Live your dream and share.
Graciela had a very difficult time producing the cluster {sh} in the word “share.” Even when I
pronounced the word several times and tried to have her mimic my mouth and the teeth position
it was still very difficult for her to pronounce the {sh} correctly. She kept using the voiceless,
alveolar affricate{ch} intead of the voiceless palatal fricative {sh} simply because she could not
identify any difference between the sounds.
This is by far one of the most difficult sound for native Spanish speakers. In Spanish there is
[ch] but not [sh] and the [ch] in the Spanish language is voiceless but fricative. So it is very
confusing for a Spanish speaker to pronounce [sh]. In English there is a difference between [ch]
and [sh].
[ch]= t͡ʃ alveolar, voiceless affricate, sibilant
[sh]= ʃ
palatal, voiceless, fricative, sibilant
An interesting note on this sound is that in Spanish cognates of English words where the {ch}
has a different pronunciation are typically not spelled with a {ch} in Spanish. For example, the
Spanish equivalent of “architect” is arquitecto. CH used to be considered a separate letter in the
Spanish alphabet but this is not the case anymore.
Intervention for phonetical mistake # 6- All the material was taken from the book “Clear
Speech” 4th edition page 121- introducing sibilants. and the corresponding “Clear Speech”
Teacher’s Resource and Assessment Book by Judy Gilbert.
I would tell my student’s to use the international “shhhh” (to be quiet) pronounce /ʃ/ correctly.
Practice: Have student listen to the following words. Each word ends in a different sibilant.
Tell them to notice how all the sibilants make a hissing sound. The voiceless sibilants have a
louder hiss.
voiced sibilants: his, beige, badge
voiceless sibilants: hiss, wash, batch
Show illustrations of the mouth for th and sh from the Gilbert book.
Explain: To say /s/ as in hiss, press the sides of your tongue against your side teeth to form a
valley down the center of your tongue. If you blow strongly, the air will rush through this narrow
valley and make a high-pitched noise as it goes past your front teeth.
The /ʃ/ sound as in wash is a little different. After whispering /s/ several times, move your
tongue back just a little. Now there is more room for air to get out. With this position, the
hissing sound will rush through the narrow valley with a lower pitch.
Make the /s/ and the /ʃ/ sounds several times, at first quietly, then out loud. If you blow out
strongly, the sound for /s/ will be a higher hiss, and the sound for /ʃ/ will be a lower hiss. If you
round your lips for /ʃ/, the difference between the two sounds will be more obvious.
Practice contrasting /s/ see and /ʃ/ she:
Tell student to listen and repeat these pairs of words.
Beginning sounds: /s/ Sue, see, name, so. /ʃ/ shoe, she, shame, show.
Final sounds: /s/ mass, gas, mess, lease. /ʃ/ mash, gash, mesh, leash.
Practice: Students with Spanish background have difficulty distinguishing between the [th] /ʃ/
and [ch]/ ͡tʃ/ sounds so it is wise a teacher practice these two sounds with students so their ear
may become accustomed to the difference between them. Explain to the students that the sibilant
/ ͡tʃ/, as in chip, is pronounced as a combination of the stop sound /t/, followed by the continuant
sound /ʃ/. See an illustration for these two sounds. Student will listen and repeat these pairs of
words.
Beginning sounds /ʃ/ share, shoe, sheep, shop. / ͡tʃ/ chair, chew, cheap, chop.
Final sounds /ʃ/ wish, dish, mush, cash. / ͡tʃ/ witch, ditch, much, catch
7. Live your dream, and share your passion.
Graciela pronounced the word “passion” exactly like in Spanish. In Spanish “pasion” is alveolar
so the tongue is tip up. The tongue tip is narrowly grooved and approximates the alveolar ridge
just behind the upper incisors. The airflow is through the opening created by the tongue tip,
alveolar ridge and closely approximated teeth, producing a hissing sound.
This word is not only written almost identically in Spanish (only one [s]) but it has the identical
meaning. It is no wonder native Spanish speakers have such a hard time with it. The fricatives
are difficult to distinguish because of the “hissing’ noise within English.
The [ss] /ʃ / in {passion} is palatal, fricative, voiceless and it is a consonant cluster (the way it is
written but not pronounced like one) that does not exist in Spanish. In Spanish the word
“passion” sounds like /pasion/ and is written “pasion”. Spanish is mostly a phonetic language so
words are spoken as they sound, an easy task compared to English which has up to 44 phonemes
depending on the dialect. Furthermore this word presents an extra added confusion to Spanish
speakers due to its spelling. The [ss] is confusing because students cannot see how it ends up
being pronounced like /ʃ/. For example the word “sheep” contains an [sh] so its pronunciation
seems more logical than [ss] which contains no [sh].
Passion= [ss] palatal, fricative, voiceless
Pasion= /s/ fricative, alveolar, voiceless
Intervention for phonetical mistake # 7- Practice same as exercises for [sh] and do minimal
pair work such as; same, shame; she and see; sell and shell.
English proficiency written Assessment
For the writing assessment I followed the same theme of the movie “Manifesto.” I told
Graciela to choose a phrase from the script that meant something to her and to write a paragraph
or two about why this phrase was important to her. Graciela chose the sentence, “life is Short.”
Graciela omitted verbs, wrote incorrect tenses, she had lots of issues with prepositions and
with the Copula and subject-verb agreement. Following are the grammatical errors found in my
student’s writing.
Grammatical Error #1 incorrect transfer of native language
“Life is very short and there a nice people to know.”
Sentence analysis: This is one of the sentences from my student’s writing prompts, Life Is Short.
The sentence can be grammatically described as follows:
Life is very short- A simple sentence composed of the subject life, the copular to be verb is, and
the adverb very, and the adjective short.
And- conjunction
There a nice people to know - There- an expletive serving as a surrogate subject. a nice people to
know is the subject. a– The copular “to be’ are represented by an a. By using a she was most
probably substituting the Spanish verb “hay” which means literally “there are.” “Hay” is
pronounced / aj/ which is phonologically very close to /ej/[a]. The sentence in Spanish reads as
follows:
“La vida es corta y hay gente buena.”
a nice people to know- This subject sounds grammatical but is awkward since the best suited
word for this analogy is actually not to know but to meet as you meet people but you get to know
a friend or a person.
Error # 1 analysis: The error in this sentence proves how often ELLs can transfer their native
language into the second language without realizing it. In this case Graciela translated the phrase
literally from Spanish to English as I show in the above sample. As can be seen in Spanish the
verb hay is the third person of haber which literally means there is. The correct form of the
sentence is then:
Life is very short and there are nice people to meet.
Other grammatical reasons for error: The omitted verb are could be attributed to the wrong
usage in the use of the copula in subject-verb agreement as Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman
propose in “The Grammar Book.” Another reason for Graciela’s grammatical mistake can be
what these same authors call the problematic nonreferential there and subject verb agreement.
Nonreferential It and There as Subjects is a very common challenge for ELLS especially those
learners with romance native languages. Since Spanish and Italian are languages that do not
require surface subject the way English does, ELLs with these language backgrounds, may
produce sentences that are ungrammatical in English.
The authors call attention to when there is followed by a verb it will most probably be is.
Graciela though did not place an is or an I to indicate she omitted this verb. Yet, in terms of
subject verb agreement nonreferential, the authors explain, there is much more problematic than
it which is always followed by a singular verb. In subjects with nonreferential there Subjects,
the verb can be singular or plural depending on the form of the noun phrase following the be. For
example:
There is a problem here.
There are problems here.
The contraction of the plural, in the case presented below is problematic even for native
speakers. Celce-Murcia and Hudson state there’s predominates in native speakers, so to expect
ELLs to not have this problem would be unrealistic.
There’s a problem here.
There’re problems here.
Graciela’s mistake is due to equivocal transfer from her native Spanish nevertheless,
strengthening the correct use of the Copula in subject-verb agreement would certainly her.
Teaching Suggestions: Practice nonreferential there and subject verb agreement: Pair students.
Give each student a different set of photographs to look at. Identical photographs are placed on a
desk. Student A describes the pictures to Student B, who has to find the picture in the stack on
the desk. Then roles are reversed. For example:
There are many people on bikes. There is a canal. There is a bridge. It is a sunny day. There
are many people walking, talking and eating. There is a hot dog stand. There are people eating
hotdogs.
Teaching Suggestion: Practice the use of Copula and Subject-Verb agreement with there
subjects. Give the student the same photographs previously used, tell him to describe using there
as a countable noun Subject. For example:
There is a man riding bike.
There are four men eating hot dogs.
Grammatical error #2: Omission of infinite marker to
“I would like have a long time to live.”
Sentence Analysis: This is the opening sentence of my student’s writing prompt. The
sentence can be grammatically described as follows:
I would like have: A non-imperative sentence with a modal auxiliary lacking the infinite
marker to making the copula verb to have.
A long time to live: This part of the predicate sentence includes a locative noun that expresses
a span of time which also includes the preposition to.
Error # 2 analysis: In the sentence Graciela omitted the infinite marker “to.” The sentence
should read:
I would like to have a long time to live.
According to “The Grammar Book,” the infinite complements permit the option of either the
subject or object of the main clause providing the infinitive with a logical subject. Because
there are many types of clausal complements and because the relation of verb to complement
type often seems arbitrary, the grammar of clausal complementation is complex to learn.
These errors, therefore, occur in advanced ELLs and merit a teacher’s attention.
Concerning infinitives some degree of correlation exists between the choice of infinitives with
the events that are “hypothetical, future, unfulfilled” as with this sentence. Graciela would like
to have indicates a hypothetical, unfulfilled event.
Another reason for Graciela’s mistake could also be the habit she has of literally translating
her sentences from Spanish to English. This translation could result in confusing the infinite
marker to for a preposition. This would reinforce the fact that in Spanish you do not need
preposition for this sentence as shown below:
Me gustaria vivir largo tiempo.
It is important to note that the Spanish proposition por could be added to this sentence and it
would still be grammatically correct. The sentence could read as follows:
Me gustaria vivir por largo tiempo.
Spanish speakers, though, would most probably refrain from using a preposition as did
Graciela.
The most probable cause though for Graciela’s mistake is though a lack of practice of infinitive
markers in English.
An arguable reason for Graciela’s mistake is the zero copula as it could be argued to serves as
a copula verb. Though the zero copula in English appears in casual questions such as “You
from out of town?” “Enough, already!” where the verb may be omitted due to syncope. Apart
from syncope, the zero copula is probably not used productively in Standard English.
Practice: A way to simplify the infinitive markers usage is to use a chart with the verbs that
take infinitive markers such as: begin, choose, continue, dare, expect fail, forget, hate, hope,
intend, like, love, prefer, proceed, promise, refuse, regret, remember, start, tend, try, want,
now. Giving each student one of these verbs and having them write a sentence to share with
the class is a way to familiarize students with them as repetition is not the best approach.
Making relevant association of verb with complement type helps resemble actual language.
Grammatical Error # 3: omitting the copular function of verb to be “is”
Personally, I feel satisfied and I feel my mission done.
Sentence Analysis: The sentence can be grammatically described as follows:
Personally, I feel satisfied- Subject phrase where the word feel used with the personal subject I
serves as a copular verb (I am feeling satisfied.) The word feel in this sentence is an intransitive
verb.
And- Conjunction linking two sentences.
I feel my mission done- Phrasal predicate lacking the copula that links the adverb my with
subject mission and serves as a carrier for tense and subject verb agreement.
Error # 3 Analysis: The error in this sentence is the omission of the copular function of the
verb to be is. Mulce-Murcia and Larsen-freeman state beginner ELL have the tendency of this
omission because the syntactic behavior of the copula be, behaves like an auxiliary verb and is
very different from that of other verbs like walk which only require the addition of a do
auxiliary as the operator if no other auxiliary verb is present. Though Graciela is not at the
beginning level this mistake demonstrates how an error can persist if it is not addressed
appropriately on its onset. Another addition that I failed to mention is the need of that in the
sentence. It is needed as and I feel my mission is done is the direct object of feel which means
believe. Graciela forgot to add the relative pronoun that but this intervention will not discuss
this omission.
Personally, I feel satisfied and I feel that my mission is done.
A noteworthy comment that merits attention is the heated argument in the field of linguistics
over the correct usage of done and finished. As a website title Motivated Grammar explains
“cakes are done. People are finished.” According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary of
English Usage “Done in the sense of finished has been subject to a certain criticism over the
years for reasons that are not readily apparent.” Graciela’s usage of people with the verb done,
then, is acceptable.
Intervention for grammatical error # 3: Practice the copular function of is-be. Create a cloze
exercise activity with verb mix and have students fill in corresponding verb phrases. After
exercise is completed, pair students and have them create their own verb mix cloze sentences
and present them to the class. A sample of a verb mix sentence game is attached. Please see
link to website at the bottom of exercises. Please see the attached copy has some sentences
already filled out as an idea. This activity needs to be done in the website first and then
reproduced in the classroom.
Grammatical error # 4- Incorrect use of possessive pronoun
“Also, I did many things helping people whatever was his situation.”
Sentence Analysis: The sentence can be grammatically described as follows:
Also, I did many things - A Subject noun phrasal with the past tense of verb have did. The
phrase includes an embedded clause with the quantifier many preceding the noun things.
Helping people- The verb help taking the gerund-form ing and the plural noun of the word
person. The preposition including has also been omitted which is needed for the following
relative clause whatever his situation to make sense. This part of the sentence should read
including helping people. The verb help in the gerund ing form, is the object of the preposition
including.
Whatever was his situation – A relative clause which should read whatever his situation was
with a possessive pronoun functioning as a determiner. The pronoun is erroneously used in the
singular. The relative clause modifies the word people. The correct form, if the sentence were
correct, would read whatever his situation was. In the case of this sentence the possessive
pronoun his replacing people is in the singular and people is the plural. The appropriate
possessive pronoun therefore should be their. The correct form of the sentence is then:
Also, I did many things including helping people whatever their situation was.
Error # 4 analysis: This sentence has many mistakes which are difficult to deal in only one
intervention. For the purposes of this report I will concentrate on practicing the possessive only.
Placing an incorrect possessive pronoun in a sentence is a very common mistake for ELLs
especially in the case of the third person singular inflection on the verb. If we examine the
sentence closely Graciela placed the verb help its gerund ing form gerund as would be used in
the third person. For example he was helping people. In the case of the above sentence,
though, it can be argued that the personal pronoun I fits in just as well: I was helping people.
The ing gerund form though is very awkward in this sentence. It would be a better read if the
preposition to would have been used as an auxiliary to the verb help as to help. If changed this
portion of the sentence would read then:
I did many things to help people
Graciela’s original sentence also exhibits a frame-elaboration pattern for specific past events,
what Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman discuss under some of the Tense-Aspect-Modality
System in Discourse.
Intervention for grammatical error #4: Practice the possessive forms. Students are each
given sentences with possessives and asked to memorize it. The sentences describe a child’s
face. The teacher then circulates the picture of a mother and a father missing the face of a
child. Students must tell each other their sentence to complete the child’s face.
Grammatical error # 5: Omission of the present participle ing in the verb live
“Life is not only live is pass to others love and good memories and be remembered
for the great deeds done and the love and happiness shared with all those who in one way or
another were with us.”
Sentence analysis: This is the last sentence in my student’s writing prompt. This may be the
reason why it is so extensive. The sentence can be grammatically described as follows:
Life is not only live to pass others love – Subject phrase, which includes Life as the subject and
noun with the verb is.
And- conjunction
Good memories- adjective with noun.
And- conjunction
Be remembered for the great deeds done- Copula to be in the infinitive form with the past tense
form remembered of the word remember with an embedded clause with the determiner for
followed by the adjective great, the noun deeds, and done, the past perfect of the verb to do.
And- conjunction
The love and happiness shared – A sentence with two subjects; the noun love, and the noun
happiness; with the past tense of the word share.
With all of those who in one way or another were with us- A prepositional phrase beginning
with the preposition with used as a function word to indicate accompanying detail of sentence
before.
Error # 5 analysis- The error in this sentence is not only the omission of the present participle
in the ing form working as a verbal participle but also the omission of the preposition to acting
as an agent to accompany the verb living. Celce-Murce and Larsen-Freeman state that the ing
participle refers to the cause (the subject of the active sentence with the emotive verb.) In the
case of this sentence, living to pass to refers to what life is about- living to pass to others love.
The use of certain words in the sentence could lend itself to discussion. The word pass in this
sentence most likely means hand down. In Spanish you leave a legacy and you pass on love
and memories. Yet even the choice of the word pass sounds incorrect in English, perhaps pass
it on or pass on, would be more appropriate. The correct form of the sentence is then:
Life is not only living to pass on to others love and good memories but it is also living to be
remembered for the great deeds done and the love and the happiness shared with all those who
in one way or another were with us.
The same authors in Chapter nine of their book “The Grammar Book” address The TenseAspect-Modality System in Discourse used in the ing form in its present perfect progressive
form commonly used in the Modality System in Discourse. Graciela’s error and “intended”
discourse makes a tense shift. For example living to pass to is in the present perfect progressive
and the rest of her sentence is in the past tense.
This is a very extensive run on sentence that could probably sound best separated into two
sentences. For example: Life is not only living to pass love to others and to pass good
memories. It is also living to be remembered for the great deeds done and the love and
happiness shared with all those who in one way or another were with us.
Whichever way as one long run on sentence or as two sentences, Graciela’s words are copious
and with many mistakes.
Intervention for grammatical error # 5- Graciela needs a lot of conversation where
colloquial phrases and vocabulary for her emerging level is used because, as I said at the
beginning of this report, she feels that in English her mind goes faster than her mouth. As a
classroom practice Graciela would benefit from exercising her storytelling by retelling an
incident in her past to the class while she is recorded. She would later transcribe the story and
with the help of the teacher re-write it.
Grammatical error number 6 # incorrect use of infinitive phrases
“Time pass fast to finish my dreams”
Sentence analysis: The sentence can be grammatically described as follows:
Time pass fast- Subject phrase which includes the determiner the and the noun time as the
subject with the verb pass which is erroneously used in the first person present tense. The
adjective fast follows the verb.
To finish my dreams- An Adverbial infinitive phrase modifying fast made up of the participle
to and the verb finish and followed by the pronoun my and the noun dreams.
Error # 6 analysis: Though this sentence is represented by an incorrect subject verb agreement
as the verb pass should be in the third person present tense passes (it is relating to the noun
time), the real mistake in this sentence is Graciela’s failure to understand that to finish my
dreams is an adverbial infinitive that is modifying the adjective fast. If we look at the sentence
in this context we understand then that what Graciela is really meaning in this sentence is that
time passes too fast to finish her dreams. Adding the adverb too, clearly makes sense. The
correct form of the sentence is then:
Time passes too fast to finish my dreams.
Since the third person singular form of the verb is the only one inflected for person and number
agreement in English it is a problematic area for ELLs but, in reference to the sentence above, I
will concentrate on understanding infinitive phrases functioning as nouns, adjectives and
adverbs. In this instance, I believe, explaining to ELLs this concept would be beneficial and
create an understanding of the functions of infinitives in English phrases.
Intervention for grammatical error # 6- First, I would explain that when you see the word to
and it is followed by a verb, you are looking at an infinitive: to write, to paint, to trip, to buy. An
infinitive phrase will begin with an infinitive and it can include any modifiers or complements
closely connected to it. I would also explain that an infinitive phrase can function as a noun, as
an adjective, and also as an adverb. I would then give some examples of infinite phrases
functioning as a noun, an adjective or an adverb. For example:
Christian surprised his instructor with his colorful creations (adverbial phrase modifying the
verb surprised).
Christian’s decision to get rid of his old car was a good one (infinitive phrase acting as an
adjective modifying the noun decision).
Christian is taking art classes to improve his skills (infinitive phrase acting as an adverb
modifying the verb phrase is taking and telling why Chloe is attending art classes).
I would then pair students. Each group would need to come up with three phrases like the ones
cited above.
Grammatical error # 7- lack of verb harmonization
“I help whatever was my relation with them, such a friends, clients or simple business.”
Sentence analysis: The sentence can be grammatically described as follows:
I help - I, the subject functioning as a pronoun with the verb help in the incorrect present tense
form a tense harmony with predicate whatever was my relation.
Whatever was my relation- Pronoun whatever in a nominal clause with the verb was, the past
tense form of is, and the possessive my. The noun relation is erroneously used. The correct
word is relationship.
With them- preposition with and the pronoun them which is also the objective case of they.
Such as friends, clients or simple business- The demonstrative pronoun such as with the nouns
friends, clients, business, the adjective simple and the coordinating conjunction or.
Error # 7 analysis: The error in this sentence is due to the lack of verb harmonization between
the subject present tense verb help and the nominal clause with the verb was. As the verb was
in the nominal clause is used in the past tense, the verb help in the subject should also be used
in the past tense in order to indicate the simultaneity of the two actions. Another clear reason is
because the pronoun I and the possessive my corresponds to the same person so the action must
be simultaneous. The correct form of the sentence is then:
I helped friends, clients or simple business whatever my relationship was with them.
The student also omitted the a of the preposition as though it may have been an incidental slip.
Intervention for grammatical error # 7- Murcia and Freeman refer to the Bull Framework in
verb harmonization. William Bull first proposed this framework to describe tense in Spanish
though it can be used in any language. His framework discusses four axes of orientation with
respect to time: future, present past and hypothetical. Each axis in Bull’s framework has a
neutral or basic time slot in the middle and two possible time slots indicating the time before
and the time after of the referred event. This framework is easiest explained and learned by a
visual chart. As a teacher I would place one of these charts in my classroom and have students
practice this framework with sentence the class creates (see page 164 “The Grammar Book”).
Extra Practice: Another very practical way to teach this concept to ELLs is to ask students to
write a brief story about an experience they had in the past. They need to in the past axis when
they write. For example:
In 1970, I spent my summer in India with my weird cousin Louise, who lived in a farm. I
learned to dye cotton sheets, sew clothes and do my hair. It was a wonderful experience.
The paper would be read to the class and after the feedback the students would rewrite their
story either in the present or the future axis, changing time markers appropriately.
Conclusions
An English Language Learner Graciela Vizcaya, a prominent lawyer from Colombia, South
America, ranked at an Expanding Level Four Proficiency for English Language Oral
comprehension and at a Developing level three at English language Writing Proficiency. Seven
phonetical and seven grammatical errors were recognized, explained and appropriate
intervention procedures were outlined in this report. Many of Graciela’s phonetical mistakes
were due to transfer of her native Spanish. For example she had difficulty pronouncing [sh]
and [th] since in Spanish these sounds do not exist, she epenthesized a vowel at the beginning
of the word “you” so that she said “estop,” and she pronounced the letter [b] like the letter [v].
among other mistakes common of native Spanish speakers.
Graciela had more difficulty in her writing. She made copious mistakes also due to the
Spanish transfer but also for her lack of proficiency in the English language such that she omitted
verbs, wrote incorrect tenses, had lots of issues with prepositions and with the Copula and
subject-verb agreement.
Learning English is a process that requires not only practicing reading and listening skills but
intervention in areas of phonology and grammar are also required. Every learner will benefit
from an assessment in these latter components and a plan where appropriate interventions are
implemented to successfully learn the English language and reach a mastery proficiency level.
Bibliography
Celce-Murcia, M. & Larsen-Freeman, D. (1999). The grammar book: an esl/efl teacher’s
course. Boston, Massachussets: Heinle, Cengage Learning.
Gilbert, Judy B. (2012). Clear speech from the start. New York, NY: Cambridge University
Press.
Gilbert, Judy B. (2012). Clear speech pronunciation and listening comprehension in north
American English. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Donaghy, Kieran. (2013). Manifesto. Retrieved from http://filmenglish.com/2011/12/11/manifesto/