'Most' and 'Almost'

Below I'm trying out the coloring and centering features. They make the writing look like poetry, don't you think? The topic of this post is again one that was inspired by my private student who was confused about these words. His errors made me recall the many other students, especially Japanese and Korean, who often misused 'almost' and 'the most.' So, here's a little lesson on their usage.

Almost all (or Most) students have had problems understanding
when to use 'most'and 'the most (+ noun)' and how to use 'almost.'
Are you one of those students?
If so, I hope that these examples and a few sentences will help you
get the feel for how and when to use these expressions.

It is often said that

'Most people like pasta.'
If you mean that the majority of people (everywhere) like pasta,
then do not use 'the' in front of 'most'.

**The most people like pasta**
is a grammatically incorrect sentence.
However, if you are referring to
the largest number of people that you've ever seen
or the largest quantity of food you've ever eaten,
then you could say,
'The most people (that) I've ever seen in my life were at
President Obama's inauguration ceremony last year.'
Or, if you're talking about pasta, you could say,
'The most pasta I've ever eaten was in Italy.'

Some other ways to use 'most' follow:
"Most of the students at my school are from Switzerland", or
"Most students at my school are from Switzerland."

Now, when should you use almost?
What is the meaning of 'almost'?
What part of speech is it?
'Almost' is an adverb which can be used to
modify the meaning of adjectives (also verbs and adverbs).
Therefore, we wouldn't say,
**Almost people enjoy going to the beach in San Diego.**
Almost in this case is not the same as most.

Almost can precede a quantifier (a type of adjective), such
as 'all' or 'every' in 'everyone',
to create the meaning 'close to/nearly all'
or 'close to/nearly everyone.'
Then the following two sentences,
'Almost all people enjoy going to the beach in San Diego,' or
'Almost everyone likes going to the beach in San Diego'
have very similar meanings and are grammatically correct .

Putting More Color in 'Many Englishes'

For two years, I've been blogging away here at 'Many Englishes' and apparently never noticed that I could write using a rainbow of colors. Hmmm.... This is an exciting discovery! In addition, I see that I can justify or align my writing to the right or left, center it, or have bulletpoints automatically generated. How did I not notice these features earlier? I will definitely exploit them in the future. Oh boy!

Should We Teach Four-Letter Words?

I often tell students to stick their necks out, risk humiliation, and use their English as often as possible. Male students, however, often want to use those profane four-letter words, like 'fu_k!' and 'sh_t!' They seem to think it makes them 'sound' more 'native' or perhaps 'cool.' Some say they use these expressions even in their own languages. Great.

I haven't seen any statistics about non-native speakers who use profanity being better received or perceived by natives. But, at least, in my classes, I let students know that 'fu_k!' is not an appropriate word to yell out when their team doesn't get a word in Taboo or Hot Seat (vocabulary games). And it is totally inappropriate to yell 'Fu_k you!' at a female salesclerk who decides not to sell a student a package of cigarettes because she doesn't recognize a foreign passport as proof of age - no matter how absurd her decision might have appeared to this male student.

Another problem with non-native speakers getting in the habit of using some common expletives is that they might not be able to control their use in formal situations. For example, I had a cute blond female FCE (Cambridge First Certificate in English) student who used 'sh_t!' during her first practice test interview. In Part 2 of the interview, she was given a set of pictures that she found difficult to describe in English, and her initial reaction was to say, 'Oh, sh_t!' Although this student was tape-recorded and the entire class heard her inappropriately using the expression, she repeated the error during the second practice exam. ('Sh_t!') Unfortunately, this student did not pass the test. I hope it wasn't because she used that four-letter word when she wasn't supposed to.

Last week, a thoughtful, mild-mannered Korean student who teachers are very fond of and who has made great progress in learning English practiced a new expression from his host dad. What was the idiom? 'I don't give a sh_t!' Apparently, on the back of the host family's car, there was a bumper sticker with these words on it. When the student asked what the words meant, the dad explained that they mean, 'I don't care.'

Thinking that the expression was simply another way to say that, the student tried it out both in the classroom and in an essay. Of course, the outcome was quite embarrassing as his morning teacher was quite shocked to hear him using the expression in conversation practice in the classroom. The evening before, I was also startled to see the same expression appear in a description of his weekend in L.A. The student was trying to express the idea that although it was very hot in the city, he had enjoyed himself. 'Because I was with two beautiful girls and a guy friend, I didn't give a shit.' I could sort of understand what the student meant, but it was definitely unexpected in the context of the writing assignment.

Personally, I believe that ESL teachers should let students know what these four-letter words mean if the topic comes up in class but, in general, to advise students against using them in public or with strangers. This also includes other expressions, such as 'God damn it!', 'Holy shit!', 'asshole!' or 'bitch!' Know what they mean, but don't make a habit of using them. That's my rule.

Nevertheless, for those of you who disagree, here's a clip of a documentary film dedicated to the f-word, and some other expressions using the word 'shit' from an online dictionary.

Read Using Online Resources

Recently our school has put together a student library. However, funds are limited, so besides some new purchases and teachers' donations of used/recycled books for leisure reading or studying, I've also been looking for free online books. Happily, I've found at least one site that has quite a few 'classic' novels and short stories that can be either downloaded or read online.

The Cambridge Preparatory Courses will be starting up in a few weeks, and I plan to try using Read Print as a way to get my students to enjoy some great short stories, such as H.G. Well's 'The Country of the Blind,' or novels such as '1984' or 'Animal Farm.' 'Read Print' welcomes feedback, and you can also become a fan of the site on Facebook. Check it out, and see what you think.