Author: gustavorernesto

PDF #138 – Martin Hewings – Advanced Grammar in Use 2nd Edition

A self-study reference and practice book for advanced learners of English (with answers)

PDF #137 – Raymond Murphy – English Grammar in Use 2019 5th Ed

A self-study reference and practice book for intermediate learners of English
(with answers) – 5 Edition.

About English Grammar in Use

Raymond Murphy’s classic reference and practice book for learners of English at intermediate (B1-B2) level. Perfect for self-study, but also ideal for supplementary grammar activities in the classroom. Used by millions of language learners and teachers around the world.

Arranged in a tried-and-trusted. Easy to use format, with explanations of grammar points on each left-hand page. And exercises to check understanding on the right.

The world’s best-selling grammar series for learners of English. English Grammar in Use Fifth edition is an updated version of the world’s best-selling grammar title.

It has a fresh, appealing new design and clear layout, with revised, and updated examples. It retains all the key features of clarity, and accessibility, that have made the book so popular around the world.

This edition includes an eBook which has the same grammar explanations, and exercises found in the printed book, plus other great features. You can listen to all of the example sentences from the book, and record your answers.

You can also record the exercises, highlight the texts, bookmark pages, and add your own personal notes.

On Learning

Learning a language of course requires a focus on many different skills, but research revealed that students tend to measure their progress through their confidence and ability to speak spontaneously in the ‘real world’. That can sometimes be the simplest of exchanges, from helping a tourist with directions on the street to greeting a colleague from overseas. However, speaking spontaneously in English can be very daunting for learners who often find they lack the confidence they need to take risks with the language.

After reading “English Grammar in Use”, you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs. And visit my channel by YouTube.

PDF #136 – Analyzing Language Learned by an Active Question Answering Agent

We analyze the language learned by an agent trained with reinforcement learning as a component of the ActiveQA system [Buck et al., 2017]. In ActiveQA, question answering is framed as a reinforcement learning task in which an agent sits between the user and a black box question-answering system.

After reading “Learning an L2 in a troubled world” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.

PDF #135 – Martin Hewings – Advanced Grammar in Use 3rd Edition

A self-study reference and practice book for advanced learners of English (with answers)

PDF #134 – Daniel Donoghue – Old English Literature, A Short Introduction

Old English Literature (OEL) – The Anglo-Saxons left us accounts of two defining moments in the formative years of their literature. The first is a famous story about an illiterate peasant who one night miraculously refashioned his native
poetic tradition.

How Old English Literature Began

OEL, or Anglo-Saxon literature, encompasses literature written in Old English, in Anglo-Saxon England from the 7th century to the decades after the Norman Conquest of 1066. “Cædmon’s Hymn”, composed in the 7th century, according to Bede, is often considered as the oldest surviving poem in English.

Poetry written in the mid-12th century represents some of the latest post-Norman examples of Old English; for example, The Soul’s Address to the Body (c. 1150–1175) found in Worcester Cathedral Library MS F. 174 contains only one word of possible Latinate origin, while also maintaining a corrupt alliterative meter and Old English grammar and syntax, albeit in a degenerative state (hence, early scholars of Old English termed this late form as “Semi-Saxon”).

The Peterborough Chronicle can also be considered a late-period text, continuing into the 12th century. The strict adherence to the grammatical rules of Old English is largely inconsistent in 12th century work – as is evident in the works cited above – and by the 13th century the grammar and syntax of Old English had almost completely deteriorated, giving way to the much larger Middle English corpus of literature.

Beowulf

The poem Beowulf, which often begins the traditional canon of English literature, is the most famous work of Old English literature. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has also proven significant for historical study, preserving a chronology of early English history.

In descending order of quantity, OEL consists of: sermons and saints’ lives; biblical translations; translated Latin works of the early Church Fathers; Anglo-Saxon chronicles and narrative history works; laws, wills and other legal works; practical works on grammar, medicine, geography; and poetry. In all there are over 400 surviving manuscripts from the period, of which about 189 are considered “major”.

Besides Old English literature, Anglo-Saxons wrote a number of Anglo-Latin works.

After reading “OEL”, you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs. And visit my channel by YouTube.