Because Americans seem to be losing their grasp of it. All the freakin’ time, I hear people starting sentences with “there’s” when they should be using “there are.”
A couple of days after I got back, I had to send my sister to the airport. Inside the aiport, there was this huge Saturn (car) advertisement which said, “There’s many Saturn locations to serve you.” I could not believe it.
It’s driving me insane. Many of the kids I tutor now also do not recognize that the words “is,” “are,” “was” and “were” are verbs. If I say something like, “Yeah, that’s the changed form of the verb ‘to be’,” they just stare at me blankly.
:fume:
EDIT: GASP! THis is my 200th!!! Can I have a sticker now, Maoman?
They can’t wrap their minds around the idea that “is”, “am”, and “are” are forms of the verb “to be”; so I end up with them writing things in past tense such as “I am sat.” Or “I am fell.” They do this even though I have written the conjugated forms of the verbs and examples of their usage on the board.
They would need to comprehend the passive to understand what is wrong with “I am sat.” May “be” a bit beyond them as may be a lot of the rules regarding the use of all of the auxiliaries. Give it some time but start by making sure that they really understand basic grammar terminology: subject, verb, object…
I am working towards being able to teach English Grammar in Mandarin and what I am discovering is that most people need and appreciate a clear explanation of the basics. After that, loads of drilling.
