I have an intermediate student who does not understand questions like:
"How was the class in Turkey?"
"How did they teach?"
I've been searching everywhere for a lesson on 'how': funnyly enough, I couldn't find anything usefull, especially since searching on 'how' gives results on 'how to teach' not on "teaching the word 'how' ".
I want to find:
1) an analysis of How: function, and typical structures
2) a possible exercise, preferably speaking, to apply using 'how'.
I very much like to refer to a good English usage source in researching this (I might need for the CELTA course which I am doing, but I can come up with my own analysis if it is not discussed really anywhere).
Of course, I wouldn't ask if I didn't try to find the answers myself: I have already thought of the following:
Form: How + 'to be' -> Function: asking for opinion or feeling about something, especially something changable (how was the class? = Did the class make you happy, or sad, or bored or was it interesting, informing, or good?) Function
Form: How + [to do] + verb + item? -> Function: asking for a method like "How do I make a cake?". "How do I go to the market by bus?" or "How can I learn/teach English?"
Form: How + quantifier + verb (ofen [to be]) + item -> Function: asking for size, amount, any measure (in physics for example), like: "How long is the rope?", "How tall is the Big Ben?" "How much money do you have?", "How often do you go to school?"
Any answers on point 1 and 2 appreciated.
Thank you!
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To begin a question with these words (who, what, when, where, why and how) use the following word order:
question
word------auxiliary--------------subject-------verb
Who did you see yesterday?
What is he doing now?
When do you go to bed?
Where does he live?
Why are you telling a lie?
How has she passed her exam?
Hi mvdberg112,
I'm sure you worked this out long ago, but lilitmv4's reply brought it back to the top of the forums, and your post does raise some interesting discussion points. So here are my thoughts:
(1) On function; and on resource books:
Any grammar reference book designed for teachers or students of EFL, etc, will have at the very least a description of the function and some example sentences. The following is from Eastwood's "Oxford Guide to English Grammar":
a How can express means or manner.
How do you open this bottle? (You open this bottle somehow.)
How did the children behave? (The children behaved well/badly.)
b When it expresses degree, how can come before an adjective or adverb.
How wide is the river? (20 metres/30 metres wide?)
How soon can you let me know? (very soon/quite soon?)
c We also use how as an adjective or adverb in friendly enquiries about someone's
well-being, enjoyment or progress.
How are you? ~ Fine, thanks.
How did you like the party?— Oh, it was great.
How are you getting on at college? ~ Fine, thanks. I'm enjoying it.
NOTE
What... like? asks about quality. Sometimes it has a very similar meaning to How...?
How was the film?/ What was the film like?
But What... like? does not refer to well-being.
How's your brother? ~ Oh, he's fine, thanks.
What's your brother like? ~ Well, he's much quieter than I am.
What does your brother look like? ~ He's taller than me, and he's got dark hair.
I personally find that the Oxford Guide is a great quick reference book and highly recommend it (to teachers).
(2) On structure:
Your own analysis, perhaps plus the minor notes in the Oxford Guide, should be enough, I'd think. Although, I don't recommend labelling auxiliaries verbs with a 'to'. It can be misleading and can lead to students either making a mistake with that exact structure (eg. "How to was the class in Turkey?"), or in the case that your example sentences save them from making that mistake, in other uses (eg. "What to do I do with this?", "Where to be the post office?"/"Where to is the post office?" etc).
For most students it is clearer and less misleading to provide something like: How + am/is/are/was/were + ... etc.
(3) On exercises and/or activities for in-class use:
For a language focus I'd recommend following a simple a matching task with an 'underline the helping verb' + CQs approach. Something like this:
* Match the questions to the responses.
(a) How did you fix it? i) It tastes great. Want some?
(b) How was the football match? ii) I just replaced the battery.
(c) How is the cake? iii) Hold 'start' down for about 3 seconds.
(d) How do you spell 'kangaroo'? iv) It was great. We easily won.
(e) How do I turn this on? v) K-A-N-G-A-R-O-O
* Underline the helping verbs in the questions.
* Use the first two tasks to answer these questions.
Which questions ask about "the way to do something"?
What helping verb do they use?
Which questions ask about "your feelings about something"?
What helping verb do they use?
For spoken practise, I'd suggest a controlled practise exercise using prompt cards. One example is a doing a mingle (or pairwork) activity using double-sided cards:
Prompts for a Q on one side and several choices for reply on the back, only one of which is correct. Examples:
Card A Side 2: (a) K-O-A-L-A (b) Not very nice. I don't know why Australian's eat them. (c) With a knife and fork. (d) It was great.
Card B Side 2: (a) F-I-R-S-T C-L-A-S-S (b) By studying very hard. (c) Outside. (d) It was great.
etc.
To be honest though, I expect people learn such distinctions better simply by seeing and using them in a variety of contexts. Explicit teaching of the two (or more) functions at once might actually embed them so closely in their mind that they mix them up ever after.
I know this is slightly off topic but it is written with the intention of helping, not simply being pedantic.
You wrote;
"How was the class in Turkey?"
"How did they teach?"
I've been searching everywhere for a lesson on 'how': funnyly enough, I couldn't find anything usefull, especially since searching on 'how' gives results on 'how to teach' not on "teaching the word 'how' ".
How was the class in Turkey implies it took place in the country of Turkey. I think you mean, Turkish, the language. (generally, the language and the people are the same, Turkish people, Turkish language etc.)
You could also ask, How was the Turkish class?
Funnily is spelt with an I and useful has only one L! There are no rules for the Y spelling. Shyly, slyly, pitily, funnily, sunnily, happily and so on.
I hope this helps.
Rubik
Hi Rubik,
I'm not sure if you were responding to my post, lilitmartirosyan1's post, or the original post from mvdberg112. Either way, I don't really agree with a couple of your points - so, I'll respond briefly to each:
1) Re: searching for a lesson on 'how'.
Yes, I imagine it would be hard to find lessons specifically on 'how'. I'd start looking in two places: in course books; and by searching for "wh questions" or "question words" in general.
2) Re: "I think you mean Turkish".
I don't agree. I guess it is possible, and only mvdberg112 could clarify, but my interpretation is that he really meant "in Turkey". I imagine person 'A' travelled to the country, Turkey, took some classes there, then travelled back. Person 'B' was asking about the class, which was in Turkey.
3) Re: -ly adverbs.
I couldn't find any mention of these in any of the three former posts, so I'm not sure how this is related to the topic - but an interesting topic anyway. So,... according to the examples you provided, I can see something of a pattern for the 'y' spelling. Shy and sly are single syllable words. Pity, funny, sunny and happy have two syllables. There could be exceptions, but it seems to me that all single-syllable words keep the -y when changing to adverbs, and all multi-syllable words change it to -i.
Best,
Heath