跟读练习: 3 grammar rules that you don’t need to follow anymore - Arika Okrent - 通过YouTube学习英语口语
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In 1954, Winston Cigarettes launched an ad so controversial, broadcasters refused to say it on the air.
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In 1954, Winston Cigarettes launched an ad so controversial, broadcasters refused to say it on the air.
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But the uproar had nothing to do with the dangerous product being advertised.
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People were appalled by the ad's grammar, specifically using like as a conjunction instead of as.
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Grammatical incidents like this have caused outrage in various regions and languages for centuries.
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But while we know people take grammar seriously, what's less clear is why.
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Where do these seemingly random rules come from, and which, if any, actually matter?
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The answers to these questions vary from rule to rule.
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So let's look at three particularly famous English examples.
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First up, the idea that you should never end a sentence with a preposition.
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Prepositions are small, common words like with, on, for, or to that often come before nouns.
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So, for example, a grammar stickler would consider, where does this rule come from,
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incorrect, preferring instead, from where does this rule come?
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This rule comes from 18th century England, when etiquette was all the rage.
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And amidst countless guides on how to act properly, grammarians flooded the market with books on how to speak properly.
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Many of the rules in these guides were taken from Latin, a language that was commonly used for written scholarship.
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But no one had spoken Latin conversationally in 1,000 years, and imposing its rules on speech was awkward, to say the least.
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The rule to never strand a preposition without a noun was one such revived relic.
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And while the scholars who proposed it presented the idea as a stylistic choice, subsequent writers turned their suggestion into a hard rule.
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Other rules have origins that are perhaps less arbitrary, but significantly more petty.
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Consider the idea that you should use fewer when referring to countable nouns,
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like water models, and less when referring to nouns we don't count, like water.
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This rule comes from another 18th-century grammarian called Robert Baker,
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who, for reasons unknown, believed less was inelegant when used with countable nouns.
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This might seem strange, but people today wage similar wars on so-called lesser language, such as like or literally.
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Besides, Baker's preference was part of a larger craze for codifying English.
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For centuries after the Norman conquest in 1066, French was the language of nobility in England, while English was seen as the language of commoners.
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While the English had long reclaimed their kingdom by Baker's time, this insecurity lingered in the hearts of many English grammarians.
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In fact, Baker also wanted King George to establish an Academy of Letters, with 50 officials to protect the English language.
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That's 10 more officials than were employed in France's grammar guard, l'Académie Française.
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Many English grammar rules have similarly silly origins, such as efforts to distinguish over from more than,
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or our attachment to Latin plurals like fungi and formulae.
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The stakes of all these grammatical debates are mostly academic.
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But one frequently discussed rule does have some real-world consequences.
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For centuries, they has been used in classic literature and everyday speech as both a plural and a singular pronoun.
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And today, many non-binary and transgender individuals prefer to use they-them as singular pronouns to refer to themselves.
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Nineteenth-century grammarians, however, believed that they should be an exclusively plural pronoun.
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Furthermore, in cases where they could be used as a singular pronoun, they argued the word should be swapped for the generic he.
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This was an obviously patriarchal decision,
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and during the 1970s, activists eventually convinced some usage guides to begin using he or she.
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But today, this quibble continues to cause confusion.
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Even though most official grammar guides have accepted they as both a singular and plural pronoun.
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This isn't the first time we've had this kind of pronoun predicament.
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For centuries, you was also considered an exclusively plural pronoun.
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And yet today, it's completely accepted in singular situations.
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And that's because grammar isn't a hard science.
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something we all build together to reflect the people using it.
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So however strange a rule's origins may be, the usage we choose to respect today is far from arbitrary.
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If you love learning, subscribe to our channel.
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Every week, we publish new videos on everything from the history of the world according to cats to how to be a better listener.
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Stay tuned and stay curious.
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Bye.
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为什么通过这个视频练习口语？
在学习英语的过程中，口语表达是最重要的技能之一。本视频探讨了几个不再严格遵循的语法规则，帮助学习者了解现代英语的使用变化。通过观看并模仿视频内容，您可以提高英语发音技巧，感受如何在实际交流中灵活运用这些规则。使用shadow speech（影子说话）的方法来进行练习，可以让您在无意识中掌握语调和节奏，并增强自信。
语法与表达在语境中的运用
- 以介词结束句子: 视频提到，许多人认为不应该以介词结束句子。但是其实这种说法源于18世纪的传统，可以灵活对待。在实际交流中，像“Where does this rule come from?”这样的表达是完全可以接受的。
- 使用“fewer”和“less”: 根据视频，老旧的语法规则要求在谈论可数名词时使用“fewer”，而不可数名词时使用“less”。然而，现代英语使用中并不存在这样的严格限制，自信表达更为重要。
- 单复数代词的使用: 代词“they”可以同时作为单数和复数使用，这一变化反映了社会对语言的接受度。在练习时，您可以用“they/them”来指代任何性别，帮助自己适应多样化的交流方式。
常见发音陷阱
在该视频中，有一些可能会让学习者困惑的发音和口音。比如，句子中的连音（如“does this”变成“d’s this”）可能会影响理解。此外，提到的“grammatical incidents”中的“grammatical”和“incidents”发音可能对非母语者构成挑战。练习时，请注意这些句子的连贯性和流利度，将其作为您的shadow speak练习的一部分，帮助提高您的提高英语发音能力。
什么是跟读法？
跟读法 (Shadowing) 是一种有科学依据的语言学习技巧，最初开发用于专业口译员的培训，并由多语言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。这个方法简单而强大：您在听英语母语原声的同时立即大声重复——就像是一个延迟1-2秒紧跟说话者的影子。与被动听力或语法练习不同，跟读法强迫您的大脑和口腔肌肉同时处理并模仿真实的讲话模式。研究表明它能显着提高发音准确性，语调，节奏，连读，听力理解和口语流利度——使其成为雅思口语备考和真实英语交流最有效的方法之一。