Last Monday, and with great sadness, my friend Pete texted me that our former bandmate, Lee Scott Revelle, had passed away the previous day, Sunday 1st August.
Lee had been hospitalised for a short time with an acute illness. His final Facebook update stated that the doctors were approaching the point when they were running out of options. The next posting was from his family, announcing Lee’s passing.
Lee and I met over our love of the 80s band Echo & the Bunnymen, and we formed a band together, bringing in my buddy Pete on bass. We only wrote a handful of songs, made one demo and played one gig, way out in Essex (east of London) in a sports pavillion. We earnt £1 … split four ways … minus mini cab fare and beers. Not a financial or artistic success, but an experience.
That band didn’t last long, but Lee continued to play, write and perform.
Pete, who’s also still making music, has an online radio show, and he’s dedicated this week’s one to Lee. Listen to it here:
Furthermore, she loves to wear Givenchy perfume but I prefer to spend my hard-earned* on Dior.
In the modern parlance, ‘Did you see what I did there ?’ I followed four auxiliary verbs (‘hate,’ ‘love,’ ‘like’ & ‘prefer’) with infinite verbs. I sense that I’ve already lost the interest of 90% of my readers with these grammar terms, but hold your horses and I’ll explain, I’ll ‘cut the crap‘, if you will.
OK, breaks down like this: an auxiliary verb is a ‘helping’ verb; we need more information to understand what the speaker means e.g.
I want … (what do you want ?) // He needs … (what does he need ?) // She loves … // We want … etc
An infinite verb simply means a verb in no tense (past, present or future). It is simply formed thus:
to + base verb
Examples: to eat / to go / to study / to procrastinate
Infinite has no tense, by which I mean it is incorrect to say,
“Last night I to see a film,” (past tense)
“She to go home,” (present) or
“Tomorrow he will to take a test.” (future tense).
We can combine an auxiliaryverb with an infiniteverb, as demonstrated in the heading and subsequent paragraph.
Occasionally, a student may question my use of grammar, or mention that they have been told a different rule, to wit, last night a student informed me that, according to a different teacher, auxiliary verbs such as ‘like,’ ‘love.’ ‘hate,’ HAVE TO BE followed by a continuous verb:
I hate shopping NOT I hate to shop
He loves watching films NOT He loves to watch films
We like drinking wine after work NOT We like to drink wine after work
To Quote Dr Johnson:
“I refute it thus,” :
I like to play guitar / I hate to hear karaoke / I love to listen to my friend Pete’s online radio show
We can use hate, like, love and prefer with an –ing form or with a to-infinitive:
I hate to see food being thrown away.
I love going to the cinema.
I prefer listening to the news on radio than watching it on TV.
He prefers not to wear a tie to work.
In American English, the forms with to-infinitive are much more common than the –ing form.
There is a very small difference in meaning between the two forms. The -ing form emphasises the action or experience. The to-infinitive gives more emphasis to the results of the action or event. We often use the –ing form to suggest enjoyment (or lack of it), and the to-infinitive form to express habits or preferences.
So there you have it, straight from the horse’s mouth.
What can we learn from this ? Well, teachers are only human (mostly) and can make mistakes. Non-native speaker teachers often teach from books that may simplify grammar and may therefore, inadvertently, be incorrect in their assertions. The books may be outdated; they may even be wrong.
Just because something is written in a book, doesn’t mean it’s true.
Check for yourself, be proactive in your learning; if you have internet access, check reputable websites.
Furthermore, even native-speakers can be wrong and I’ll be the first to admit this (even if I don’t have the wisdom of Socrates, not by a long chalk).
Hello everyone,I welcome you to my blog page, and may I take this opportunity to thank ALL OF YOU who have visited my site. Having nearly 100 visits for a teaching blog is extremely gratifying.
Now, without further ado, let’s jump straight in, “Time waits for no man.”
A famous quote from the English writer Geoffrey Chaucer
First off the bat, a little plug for my friend ‘Pete’ who has an online radio show on Mixcloud. If you’re interested, you can listen here: https://www.mixcloud.com/flatwoundssounds/
The playlist is a mix of Jazz, Blues, Soul, R ‘n’ B & Rock ‘n’ Roll. However, in terms of an English lesson, listen to his narrative between songs. Although Pete lives in Birmingham now (central England), his accent betrays his Kent, (south-England) origins. Listen to how his voice deviates from Standard English.
A Propos (speaking about) of music, my last lesson featured two songs, one Nubian, the other a 50s Rock ‘n’ Roll number:
Nubia is a region that encompasses south Egypt and north Sudan
One of my online students has chosen the English moniker ‘Ivy’; consequently, this song is for her.
Now, time to get down to work. I introduced the class to some expressions; therefore we need to revise and practice:
between you and me // let’s get it over and done with // my hands are tied // off the cuff
I would like to let you go home early but …..
……… I think students have too much homework
Jazz musicians are famous for their spontaneity; they often play ………..
Oh, man ! We have to clear up after the party. Oh, well, ……….
Collocations
collect / raise / undertake / boycott
Charities run campaigns to ……….. money
I’m going to ……….. shops that treat their staff poorly
Scientists need to ……. further research into the Corona Virus
There is little recycling, if any, in Vietnam. We need to ……… awareness of the importance to the planet.
ART
Giving opinions – remember, there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer; the exercise is to help you express what YOU feel when you see these works of art.
Expressions:
It’s not my cup of tea // it doesn’t appeal to me // I just don’t get // I see no artistic value // I have no time for it.
OR … positive:
It’s very uplifting // the picture speaks to me // I’m drawn to the image // it is ineffable (unable to be expressed in words) // it transcends language.
John Constable 1821Wyndham Lewis 1921Jean-Michel Basquet 1980sAncient Egyptian art
NOW – a curious point … how can a civilisation that can construct these:
only represent the human form like this:
How perfect are the Pyramids ?
“The builders of the Great Pyramid of Khufu aligned the great monument to the cardinal points with an accuracy of better than four minutes of arc, or one-fifteenth of one degree,” Glen Dash, an engineer who studies the Giza pyramids, wrote in a paper published recently in The Journal of Ancient Egyptian Architecture … ” https://www.livescience.com/61799-great-pyramid-near-perfect-alignment.html
Now, take a look at his ariel view, showing the layout:
At this juncture, let’s take a little diversion, from ancient Egypt to ancient Greece.
The night sky has 88 constellations, many named after characters or creatures from Greek mythology. I’d like to focus on one, the giant hunter Orion. This is his constellation, and is one of the more easier groups to see, especially at this time of year:
These random stars (which may in fact be many millions of light years apart) were seen by the Greeks thus:
You see the hunter with his bow and arrow, but I wish to draw your attention to the three stars arranged diagonally in the centre, the ‘belt’ of the hunter. Compare those with the arrangement of the Egyptian pyramids:
How would you account for this ? Coincidence or conspiracy ?
Let’s leave the last word to our National Poet, William Shakespeare, with this famous quote from Hamlet:
Thay Paul's Notes 