| 1) This unit introduces the student to seven English | | | | ellipted because we know that the age of someone at |
| adjectives that are used to describe and question | | | | least two years old is always described in terms of |
| linear dimensions of physical objects in space, and to | | | | years.. |
| state and question the age of something physical or | | | | She's five years old |
| abstract. That is, they have to do with space and time. | | | | She's five |
| The adjectives are long, wide, deep, thick, high, tall, and | | | | But never |
| old ; they occur in a specification of such a dimension, | | | | She's five years or |
| an indirect or direct question about it, or - if ellipsis is | | | | She's five old. |
| inappropriate - a brief answer to the question. Thus | | | | If year(s) is used, so must old be; if old is used, it must |
| we can have: | | | | be preceded by year(s) [or, when appropriate, day(s) |
| A1) The table is two meters long. | | | | or month(s)]. |
| A2) Tell me [how long the table is]. The bracketed | | | | And the instructor will of course add that human |
| matter [....] is an indirect question. | | | | beings are tall or short, never high or low. |
| A3) How long is the table? | | | | 3) The instructor will also have noticed that the word |
| A4) (It's) two meters (long). | | | | used after how inquires about the position of |
| B1) The table is three feet wide. | | | | something on a scale, and that the word itself is also |
| B2) Tell me [how wide the table is]. | | | | the one used to indicate the position at the high, or |
| B3) How wide is the table? | | | | farther, end of that scale. We say, not How young is |
| B4) (It's) three feet (wide). | | | | the baby? but How old is the baby? ; How deep is the |
| C1) The pond is eight centimeters deep. | | | | lake? not How shallow is the lake?; How long is the |
| C2) Tell me [how deep the pond is]. | | | | pole? not How short is the pole? Bring this feature of |
| C3) How deep is the pond? | | | | English to the students' attention. |
| C4) (It's) eight centimeters (deep). | | | | 4) The questions in Par. 1) are complex, in that they |
| D1) The ice is two inches thick. | | | | require inversion of the subject and the (first) auxiliary |
| D2) Tell me [how thick the ice is]. | | | | and they also require the fronting of the sentence |
| D3) How thick is the ice? | | | | component that how constitutes or is part of. A lot of |
| D4) (It's) two inches (thick). | | | | ESL texts that touch on such areas delay teaching |
| E1) The mountain is two miles high. | | | | them until the students are fairly well advanced, but a |
| E2) Tell me [how high the mountain is]. | | | | mother talking to (i.e. teaching) her baby doesn't refrain |
| E3) How high is the mountain? | | | | from using advanced grammatical devices, and the |
| E4) (It's) two miles ( high). | | | | real world that our adult students are thrust into |
| F1) The woman is two meters tall. | | | | doesn't, either. The teacher might accordingly try |
| F2) Tell me [how tall the woman is]. | | | | introducing them early rather than late in the course. |
| F2) How tall is the woman? | | | | 5) The lesson(s) can be quite simple and |
| F3) (She's) two meters (tall). | | | | straightforward. All that's needed is a ruler or tape |
| G1) That guy is eighty-five years old. | | | | measure and a table or desk for length, width, and |
| G2) Tell me [how old that guy is]. | | | | thickness; a container (cup, can ) for depth; the ceiling |
| G2) How old is that guy? | | | | or a person for height (tall/high) ; and almost anything |
| G3) (He's) eighty-five (years old). | | | | (town, building, person) for age. (My experience |
| Other measure words are used in how questions, but | | | | suggests that nouns used in linear space |
| they don't occur in a description of, or answer about, | | | | measurement - length, width, depth, height, etc. - should |
| the item questioned: | | | | probably be saved, if possible, for another lesson, as |
| How often do you see her? | | | | should long and length as time- measure words) . |
| * Twice a week often. | | | | These measure questions are pretty hard for learners, |
| How many are still here? | | | | not because of the concept of dimension in space and |
| *Five bags many. | | | | time but because of the rather complex grammar of |
| How much did that cost? | | | | the English question system. |
| * Thirty euros much. | | | | Begin the lesson with an order, and then a question, |
| How big is your apartment? | | | | about the dimension you're interested in: |
| * It's five rooms big. | | | | Tell me how long that table is. |
| Long, wide, deep, thick tall, high, and old are the only | | | | How long is that table? |
| adjectives in the English language that are used as I've | | | | This provides practice with direct and indirect questions |
| indicated , and knowledge of them is essential to | | | | {some grammarians call the indirect question a nominal |
| anyone - be (s)he six-year-old or astrophysicist - who | | | | relative clause}. When you get an answer - any kind |
| has to function in the real physical world of an | | | | of answer - model the correct appropriate response, |
| Anglophone firm or country. | | | | both full and elliptical: |
| 2) The instructor will have noticed that when a how + | | | | The table is five feet long. |
| adjective question is answered, the answer often | | | | (It's) five feet. |
| consists of a noun phrase made up of a cardinal | | | | Make every student measure and express all seven |
| number and a noun (phrase) : | | | | of these dimensions in both the English and the metric |
| How old is she? | | | | system. (Almost all rulers and tapes now sold in North |
| Two (years old). | | | | America are marked for both systems.) I think you'll |
| If the class members are really advanced students of | | | | find that the students have fun doing this - there are |
| English grammar, it might be worthwhile at this juncture | | | | always lots of good-natured insults and deliberately |
| to point out that attributive nouns in English (especially in | | | | confusing suggestions. |
| North America) don't usually inflect for the plural: A | | | | 6) The instructor should always be aware of every |
| factory that produces automobiles is an automobile | | | | device he or she is presenting. In this unit, the student is |
| factory, not an automobiles factory; a person who | | | | exposed toa) The interesting syntax and semantics of |
| edits books is a book editor, not a books editor; a bed | | | | the seven unique measure adjectives.b) The inversion, |
| of flowers is a flower bed, not a flowers bed; a brush | | | | in questions, of the subject and operator. (The |
| for the teeth is a tooth brush, not a teeth brush. Even | | | | operator is the auxiliary verb, or the first auxiliary if |
| when a number greater than one modifies the | | | | there's more than one in the verb phrase.)c) The |
| attributive noun, the prohibition against plural inflection | | | | fronting of how and the rest of the clause component |
| for such a noun applies: a plan covering five years is a | | | | it's part of: How deep is the ocean? |
| five-year plan, not a five-years plan; a girl who is two | | | | 7) In their deservedly famous Side by Side series, |
| years old is a two-year-old girl, not a two-years-old girl. | | | | Steve Molinsky and Bill Bliss used a dialogue featuring |
| (Year is not the grammatical head of the modifying | | | | a wh- word questioning the identity of a subject |
| phrase, old is, but year is a noun that is part of a | | | | complement (What is your name?) and one |
| phrase modifying the noun girl, so non-inflection still | | | | questioning the identity of a prepositional complement |
| obtains.) | | | | (Where are you from?) in the very first lesson of the |
| The students should be told that age is specified either | | | | first volume of the series. It makes sense to start off |
| with a simple cardinal number or with such a number | | | | this way for the reason stated in Par. 4): It's the way |
| followed by the phrase year(s) old; years old is usually | | | | people really talk. |