Some odd things about English I was hopeing someone can explain.?

Question

While teaching English my students often use thier knowledge of grammar to come up with some interesting sentences, but are not natural at all and usually just sound odd. The problem is, I can't explain why they are wrong, I just never hear people say them.
Here are some examples I can think of off the top of my head,

How long have you liked tennis?
I've been likeing tennis for 2 years.

What sports can you play?
I can play swim, play bowl and play ski.

Here is a the/a question

Which train are you taking?
I'm taking the green line.

from what I remember with proper nouns, "the" is not normally used.

for example;

I'm going to McDonalds.
versus
I'm going to the McDonalds in Tarrytown.
and
I'm going to a McDonalds in Tarrytown.

Explaining these differences is a very difficult and even high level students often make mistakes such as these,
Does any one have an explanation or advice on how to explain these ideas?

Answer 1

You really need to learn some grammar yourself if you're going to go and 'teach' English young man (or young woman). Seriously!

1) How long have you liked tennis?
I've been likeing tennis for 2 years.

The question is asked in present perfect tense and not present perfect continuous, so you wouldn't expect to get a present perfect continuous answer.

The basic rule here is: ask a perfect question, get a perfect answer; ask a perfect continuous question, get a perfect continuous answer. Mixing them is unusual. The normal Q & A pattern therefore would be either one of the following:

A: How long have you liked tennis? (perfect)
B: I've liked tennis for 2 years. (perfect)

or

A: How long have you been liking tennis? (perfect continuous)
B: I've been liking tennis for 2 years. (perfect continuous)

There's nothing wrong with either of these. People can and do say "I've been liking...".


2) What sports can you play?
I can play swim, play bowl and play ski.

The word 'play' is generally associated with a game. So, usually we say 'play soccer', 'play tennis', 'play chess', 'play badminton', and so on, because these are all games. Skiing and swimming are not games, but of a different kind of activity and are normally associated with the word 'go' (hence go swimming, go canoeing, go running,...).

Bowling is a bit of a mystery however, since even though it's a game we don't say 'play bowling', but say 'go bowling' instead. I don't know why. There are often exceptions like these in probably most languages. Another interesting example might be 'archery'. Do we 'go archery', 'do archery', play archery',...? Again, who knows...

3) Here is a the/a question

Now come on, if you don't know this you really shouldn't be teaching English.

The words 'a' and 'the' are called articles (and 'an' as well). The 'a' article relates to a non-specific (unknown) noun, whereas the 'the' article relates to a specific (known) noun. For example:

'A dog' ---> a dog which cannot be identified specifically between the speakers; not this dog or that dog, but generally any old dog.
'The dog' ---> not just any dog, but THIS dog, or THAT dog; a dog which is specifically identified and recognised by both the speaker and the listener.

Look at the following, for example:

"A dog bit me. The dog was brown."

In the first sentence the speaker is talking about a dog of which the listener is completely unaware of. The speaker is aware of the dog, but the listener is not, and so the speaker needs to use 'a dog'. In the second sentence, due to the information in the first sentence, both the speaker and listener are now equally aware of a certain dog (ie., the dog in question is the dog that bit the speaker, no other dog, but that one); so they both share a certain amount of information about the dog they are talking about, and which identifies it as being a certain dog, and not just any old dog. So now the speaker uses 'the dog', because they both know which dog is being talked about.

So, 'a question' refers to any question; 'the question' refers to a certain question known specifically by both the speaker and listener(s).

4. Which train are you taking?
I'm taking the green line.

Can't see anything wrong with this. It's just a form of speech efficiency. The full answer is probably something like:

"I'm taking the green line train" or "I'm taking the train that travels on the green line", or whatever.


5) I'm going to McDonalds.
versus
I'm going to the McDonalds in Tarrytown.
and
I'm going to a McDonalds in Tarrytown.

Think about what the question form might be and you should be able to see how these differences arise.

A) Where are you going?
I'm going to McDonalds.

B) Which restaurant are you going to?
I'm going to the McDonalds (restaurant).

C) Which McDonalds (restaurant) are you going to?
I'm going to a McDonalds (restaurant) in Tarrytown.

Yes, it's correct that 'a' and 'the' are normally not used before a proper noun, but it depends again on whether the speaker and listener both share the same information.

Look at the following examples:

A) Where are you going?
I'm going to Kate's house.

B) Which Kate's house are you going to?
The Kate that lives in New York

(in this case both the speaker and listener know which Kate is being referred to).

C) Which Kate's house are you going to?
A Kate that lives in New York.

(here the listener doesn't know the Kate that's being talked about)

Why don't you study a little yourself, and brush up on your English grammar before your students elude you any further. It's pretty simple, and you'll feel a lot more confident with what you're meant to be doing!

Answer 2

OK, "I've been liking tennis": Verbs of emotion (there's a better word for it) are not normally in the progressive, because emotions aren't turned on and off quickly like actions may be. I suspect McDonalds' use of "I'm lovin' it" is both more interesting and more trademarkable than proper grammar would be.

Some sports are "played" and some are just "done". In American English I think that typically more competitive sports, especially team sports are "played". (But that's not an actual rule or anything.) Sports that are just "done" are usually expessed as verbs, "I can swim, bowl, and ski."

Not sure what your question is about the green line.

I'm going to "the McDonalds in Tarrytown" is correct if there's only one, "a McDonalds in Tarrytown" if there's more than one. Omit "the" if the point isn't so much WHICH McDonalds.

Answer 3

1.

How long have you liked tennis?
I've been liking tennis for 2 years.

"Been liking" isn't wrong, but it sounds like present-tense rather than past-tense.

2.

What sports can you play?
I can play swim, play bowl and play ski.

That's a tough one! "Swim" and "ski" are skills with practical uses, so they are not necessarily leisure activities.
"Bowl" could refer to the game of cricket, in which case it would read "I can bowl" but if it refers to
the game of bowls then it would read "I play bowls".

3.

Here is a the/a question

Which train are you taking?
I'm taking the green line.

from what I remember with proper nouns, "the" is not normally used.

for example;

I'm going to McDonalds.
versus
I'm going to the McDonalds in Tarrytown.
and
I'm going to a McDonalds in Tarrytown.

Any of these forms will be perfectly understood, but I would say "I'm going to the McDonalds in Tarrytown" or "I'm going to McDonalds in Tarrytown".

The use of the word "a" is commonly used to describe a place that has not been previously visited (either by the speaker or the listener) so if I wasn't sure that there was a McDonalds in Tarrytown, I would say "I'm going to a McDonalds in Tarrytown".

I might go to Tarrytown and ask for directions like this: "Excuse me, do you know where a McDonalds is?" and the person giving directions will either tell me where the McDonalds is or tell me that there is no McDonalds in Tarrytown.

But if I ask "Excuse me, do you know where the McDonalds is?" the person giving directions will assume that I am sure that there is a McDonalds and direct me to the nearest one, which may not be in Tarrytown but instead in a nearby town.

"The" sounds specific. "A" sounds unspecific.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

All of these answer are just my opinion.
1. Correct
2. Play is a verb. Bowl, Swim and Ski are also used as verbs.
I think it is inappropriate to have two verb in succession.
Others I think are correct.

Answer 6

Go with the flow of the answers and understanding will prevail to your advantage.

Answer 7

I'm wondering how you can teach someone, if you yourself do gross mistakes like "likeing" instead of "liking" and "hopeing" instead of "hoping"???