Shadowing Practice: Michael Swan: What you can't say without grammar (Part 3/6) - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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What's interesting there is that we've actually made sentences without no grammar.
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What's interesting there is that we've actually made sentences without no grammar.
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That's to say, we've been able to combine words to express,
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to refer to events and situations.
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Baby falling down, for instance,
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is going to rain tomorrow.
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We're doing things that sentences do with no grammar.
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So, maybe that's all we need.
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Vocabulary combined with common sense and world knowledge.
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If not, why not?
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Are there any things that we would want to say,
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any things we'd want to express,
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any fundamental things we'd want to express that cannot be expressed just with vocabulary like we've been using?
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One is what goes with what.
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If you've got words like,
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if you've got two chiefs or if you've got...
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Suppose you've got bear, big and cave together.
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You've no way of showing which is big, have you?
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Either the bear or the cave.
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I mean, I chose my examples very carefully so that that kind of problem didn't come up.
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But of course it does come up in real language what goes with what
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and relationships of various kinds think of this
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if I said neck Sib Ross neck is kill Sib is sister Ross is bear
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if I said neck Sib Ross what would it mean You don't know who's dead.
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Or maybe it's an instruction.
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Yeah, yeah, okay.
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You don't know who's dead because there's no word order to say who does it,
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who gets it done to them.
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So that cause-effect relationship doesn't work.
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It might be an instruction that we've only been doing declarative sentences, nothing else.
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There are really three problems, I think.
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There's the what goes with what problem.
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Roles and relationships of different kinds can be cause and effect.
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It can also be spatial if you want to say that one thing is under another.
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If you put together the two different words and under,
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you'd have no way of knowing which was under which.
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Time, the same A before B,
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but without a rule for interpreting that.
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You've got no way of knowing what's before what.
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And modality, we just did sentences, simple declarative sentences.
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We hadn't got a way of showing that something is a question or negation or an instruction or a guess or whatever.
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So we have actually come up against some problems.
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We've discovered that there are some important things we can't express in our little language that's just got vocabulary.
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So we need to solve them, don't we?
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Could you please, while I shut up again,
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choose one or more of those problems and think of a way of solving it?
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I'm sure you've done that.
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What can we do then to solve these problems?
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Punctuate.
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Did you ever hear that wonderful sketch by Victor Borger called phonetic punctuation?
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Yeah, yeah.
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Yeah, well for commas you got quotation marks.
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The thing is we're 500,000 years ago and writing was invented about 6,000 years ago.
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So we're stuck for punctuation actually.
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But we could pause couldn't we?
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Yeah.
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How would that work?
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How would you solve this problem by any of these problems by pausing?
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Sorry?
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Bare big cave.
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Okay lovely.
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So you could effectively you could group things
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that go together by putting them together and then pausing them together and then pausing before anything else comes.
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Languages actually don't seem to do that much.
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So I think they use intonation instead of pausing to make it work.
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Yeah?
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What else can you do besides pausing?
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Yes?
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Sorry?
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Word order.
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Yeah.
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You can have word order rules that would make relationships of various kinds clear.
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So you can use word order.
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You can mess words about by putting endings on them or doing other things with them.
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Anything else you can do?
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Have a word for no. You could have a...
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Yeah, you can have words that then are not outside word vocabulary at all.
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They're grammatical words.
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They show what the other words are doing.

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About This Lesson

In this lesson, learners will explore the foundational role of grammar in English communication. You will practice constructing sentences that not only rely on vocabulary but also adhere to grammatical rules for effective expression. By analyzing examples from the video, you'll gain insights into how sentence structure impacts meaning, allowing you to communicate more clearly and accurately. This understanding is vital for enhancing your IELTS speaking practice and overall English proficiency.

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

  • Vocabulary: essential words used to convey meaning.
  • Grammar: the set of rules that govern the structure of sentences.
  • Cause and effect: a relationship where one event leads to another.
  • Spatial relationships: terms describing the position of objects relative to each other.
  • Punctuation: the use of symbols to clarify meaning in written language.
  • Modality: the grammatical and lexical means through which we express attitudes about necessity, possibility, or obligation.
  • Declarative sentences: statements that provide information.
  • Instruction: commands or directions given to someone.

Practice Tips

To effectively utilize this lesson, consider engaging in shadow speech exercises by repeating after the speaker in the video. Since the pacing of the dialogue is moderate, it allows for clear articulation of each word and phrase. Here are some tips to improve your English pronunciation:

  • Focus on the rhythm and intonation of the speaker. This will help you grasp the natural flow of English sentences.
  • Pause the video after each key point and attempt to reconstruct the sentences using your own examples.
  • Record yourself while shadowing. Listen to the playback to identify areas for improvement in your accent and clarity.
  • Practice with a friend or fellow learner. Discuss the concepts presented in the video to reinforce your understanding and application of grammar.
  • Utilize the vocabulary list provided to create new sentences, focusing on the grammatical relationships discussed.

Incorporating these techniques into your practice routine will not only boost your confidence but also prepare you for effective communication in scenarios such as your IELTS speaking practice. Remember, the more you engage with the material, the more fluent you will become. Explore our shadowing site for more resources and exercises tailored to help you improve English pronunciation!

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

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