105. What a small word

 This may not be the first post in which I take a look at “small words with big meanings”, but I think it is a conflicting aspect of use and, since I’m interested in my students’ healthy performance, I take the liberty to adapt a long article from BBC World Culture, written by Hélène Schumacher and published on January 1^st, 2021. The whole title: The most commonly-used word in English might only have three letters – but it packs a punch. You can find the full version here: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200109-is-this-the-most-powerful-word-in-the-english-language 

Now, why would I undertake such a task?

I think there’s a reason to it, and it has to do with the little time a teacher has at his or her disposal in class for such a complicated task (if I already “categorize it as “complicated”, this does mean that it’s not easy at all to take the rules of use for THE to class, is it?).

So this is an abbreviated version. Fortunately, there will be some reactions.

 

 ‘The’. It’s omnipresent; we can’t imagine English without it. But it’s not much to look at. It isn’t descriptive, evocative or inspiring. Technically, it’s meaningless. And yet this bland and innocuous-seeming word could be one of the most potent in the English language.

 ‘The’ tops the league tables of most frequently used words in English, accounting for 5% of every 100 words used. “‘The’ really is miles above everything else,” says Jonathan Culpeper, professor of linguistics at Lancaster University. But why is this? The answer is two-fold, according to the BBC Radio 4 programme Word of Mouth. George Zipf, a 20th-Century US linguist and philologist, expounded the principle of least effort. He predicted that short and simple words would be the most frequent – and he was right.

The second reason is that ‘the’ lies at the heart of English grammar, having a function rather than a meaning. Words are split into two categories: expressions with a semantic meaning and functional words like ‘the’, ‘to’, ‘for’, with a job to do. ‘The’ can function in multiple ways. This is typical, explains Gary Thoms, assistant professor in linguistics at New York University: “a super high-usage word will often develop a real flexibility”, with different subtle uses that make it hard to define. Helping us understand what is being referred to, ‘the’ makes sense of nouns as a subject or an object. So even someone with a rudimentary grasp of English can tell the difference between ‘I ate an apple’ and ‘I ate the apple’.

But although ‘the’ has no meaning in itself, “it seems to be able to do things in subtle and miraculous ways,” says Michael Rosen, poet and author. Consider the difference between ‘he scored a goal’ and ‘he scored the goal’. The inclusion of ‘the’ immediately signals something important about that goal. Perhaps it was the only one of the match? Or maybe it was the clincher that won the league? Context very often determines sense.

There are many exceptions regarding the use of the definite article, for example in relation to proper nouns. We wouldn’t expect someone to say ‘the Jonathan’ but it’s not incorrect to say ‘you’re not the Jonathan I thought you were’. 

 

This could lead to a belief that ‘the’ is a workhorse of English; functional but boring. Yet Rosen rejects that view. While primary school children are taught to use ‘wow’ words, choosing ‘exclaimed’ rather than ‘said’, he doesn’t think any word has more or less ‘wow’ factor than any other; it all depends on how it’s used. “Power in language comes from context... ‘the’ can be a wow word,” he says.

This simplest of words can be used for dramatic effect. At the start of Hamlet, a guard’s utterance of ‘Long live the King’ is soon followed by the apparition of the ghost: ‘Looks it not like the King?’ Who, the audience wonders, does ‘the’ refer to? The living King or a dead King? This kind of ambiguity is the kind of ‘hook’ that writers use to make us quizzical, a bit uneasy even. “‘The’ is doing a lot of work here,” says Rosen.

Deeper meaning

‘The’ can even have philosophical implications.

‘The’ adds substance to phrases like ‘the man in the Moon’, implying that he exists (Credit: Alamy)

The British philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote a paper in 1905 called On Denoting, all about the definite article. Russell put forward a theory of definite descriptions. He thought it intolerable that phrases like ‘the man in the Moon’ were used as though they actually existed. He wanted to revise the surface grammar of English, as it was misleading and “not a good guide to the logic of the language”, explains Smith. This topic has been argued about, in a philosophical context, ever since. “Despite the simplicity of the word,” observes Thoms, “it’s been evading definition in a very precise way for a long time.”

Atlantic divide

Even within the language, there are subtle differences in how ‘the’ is used in British and American English, such as when talking about playing a musical instrument. An American might be more likely to say ‘I play guitar’ whereas a British person might opt for ‘I play the guitar’. But there are some instruments where both nationalities might happily omit ‘the’, such as ‘I play drums’. Equally the same person might interchangeably refer to their playing of any given instrument with or without the definite article – because both are correct and both make sense.

Americans are more likely to say ‘I play piano’, whereas a Brit would probably say ‘I play the piano’ (Credit: Alamy)

And yet, keeping with the musical vibe, there’s a subtle difference in meaning of ‘the’ in the phrases ‘I play the piano’ and ‘I clean the piano’. We instinctively understand the former to mean the piano playing is general and not restricted to one instrument, and yet in the latter we know that it is one specific piano that is being rendered spick and span.

Culpeper says ‘the’ occurs about a third less in spoken language. Though of course whether it is used more frequently in text or speech depends on the subject in question. A more personal, emotional topic might have fewer instances of ‘the’ than something more formal. ‘The’ appears most frequently in academic prose, offering a useful word when imparting information – whether it’s scientific papers, legal contracts or the news. Novels use ‘the’ least, partly because they have conversation embedded in them.

 ‘Origins

We don’t know exactly where ‘the’ comes from – it doesn’t have a precise ancestor in Old English grammar. The Anglo Saxons didn’t say ‘the’, but had their own versions.

‘The’ deserves to be celebrated. The three-letter word punches well above its weight in terms of impact and breadth of contextual meaning. It can be political, it can be dramatic – it can even bring non-existent concepts into being.

You can hear more about ‘the’ on BBC Radio 4’s Word of Mouth: The Most Powerful Word.

104. Conceptual objects, mind maps, and cultural schemata

It is my firm belief that following the thread of June’s post on cognitive schemata will be useful insofar as it helps to outline oral- and written-text production. And that is because there is something left without clear insight: the linguistic elements we can hold in mind at any one time. Again, we’re moving within the range of knowledge and ability, which I’m going to comment on below.                                                                                                                     

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What has been accepted in late 20^th- and early 21^st- teaching/learning research is the inability of our brain to sustain short-term memory by pouring into human communication all the bulk of linguistic items we know related to a script - for example, buying. When it comes to performing, the ideal scenario considers “at most seven plus or minus two” conceptual objects (D'Andrade, 1987) that can be simultaneously and rapidly handled. But this may be misleading: a conceptual object is more often than not a package belonging to a cultural schema[1].

For just consider: as soon as we think, say, or write “buying”, the very semantic load of the verb activates brain paths which take for granted other, indispensable conceptual objects. There must be someone (a purchaser) who buys something from someone (else); the latter someone has the object (and is willing to sell it); buying infers transaction through money which, in turn, sends the mind to the (potential) purchaser, seller, merchandise, price, value /worth, interaction between the purchaser and the seller, communication of the offer to buy, the acceptance of sale, the transfer of ownership, plus as varied concepts as bargaining, lending, renting, leasing, gypping, salesmanship, bids, counter-offers, profit making, stores, ads, and a final agreement (see also Fillmore, 1977). 

Each and every linguistic element comes with its own package of semantic and syntactic rules. Without going any further, what happens when a Spanish speaker wants to express comprarle algo a alguien? Who is that alguien? – the person who owns the object or the one for whom you pay to get that particular thing? People buy something from someone else (i.e., the seller) for someone else (i.e., a third party; to their benefit, for them to enjoy). How easy is it to get it all wrong? For (much) more information, let me refer you back to blog post 59:

http://challengingmyths.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-bit-of-grammaring.html

Norwegian humour: This shop window sells well
by Daniel Duma

Things are by far more complex. At the other end of the spectrum, a native or a competent speaker of English will shake their head in disbelief by saying “I don’t buy that” when they are told something that, for them, is just an absurdity. Why buy? Well, buying and selling is commonplace in the English cultural schema (even more so, presumably, in AmE than in BrE), to such an extent that one can find semantic restructuring like, for instance the book sells well and this shop window sells well. That is why looking up information is indispensable when we customise the mind map that we need for production.  

D’Andrade’s (1987) article is as valuable today as it was more than thirty years ago – even more so, given that English is here to stay. What Verspoor’s (1996) schema[2] below suggests is that, all things considered, perception brings on interpretation of what we see, hear and/or sense, whereas knowledge and belief are created within the mind. What still remains problematic (or difficult to define) is the origin and the cause of feelings, emotions, and desires. Nevertheless, intentions and resolutions appear as directly caused only from within. 

How would you interpret the arrows drawn between the six concepts above? Could you come up with an example?

What seems to be undeniable is that a mental causation chain is always in place: a stimulus (mediated by cognition) triggers a mental state. A previous intention results in action. How does the expression change in each of the sentences below?

John moved the table. || John made the table move. || John wanted to move the table.

A directly perceived stimulus may be reported as follows:

The table moved. || I saw the table move. || I saw John move the table. || I believed the table to have moved.

The point I’m trying to make is this: whatever idea we want to express will emerge from our mind taking a material form, i.e., a linguistic shape made from words and phrases, all of which will be there – in our discourse – as a function of our knowledge and ability.

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[1] By now it is quite clear that the English and the Spanish cultural schemata are far from coinciding – perhaps only in what may be called “universals”.

[2] Reproduced from “The story of -ing: a subjective perspective” In The Construal of Space in Language and thought. In Pütz & Dirven (eds), pp. 417-454.

100. The 100-post Web Log

Have you ever stopped to think about how the so-called globalization affects you?

                                                                                                                Google images

I have. Proof of it is what I have tried to synthesize in my profile (see right on this page).

1. “We live in a bewilderingly complex world based on information.”

In the first place, globalization does affect us deeply through the enticing attempts at sharing information. Every 24 hours, amounts of data – which are far from being accessible to one individual as such – are poured onto the World Wide Web. From a collective standpoint, this should be intrinsically fruitful – provided that you get to know precisely the item of information you are looking for. What is left for every one of us to hope is that, in due time, a super-item of information will emerge which might help humankind take a leap towards progress. It will surely be a leap of faith. 

2.“There is so much of it that we’ve somehow come to think we know more because it – the information – is out there.”Google images

More often than not, it is exactly the huge amount of data which misleads us into thinking that we are by far more knowledgeable than, say, a person who lived in the 6^th century BC. Or 5,000 years ago, for that matter! It is not the quantity which enables the leap, it’s its quality: its quality of attaining the quintessence of universality by tackling The Core of Things. In so doing, we are more likely to catch a glimpse of the Simple Truths; but wait: can anyone strive to do that? Is this always an individual endeavour, or does it take a “mentor” to lay out simple truths for you?

3. “But everybody has a right to be wrong! Give yourself the benefit of the doubt. Question your answers.”Google images

I am no exception: I, too – so to speak – have a right to be wrong! I was, and I admit it. While giving myself the benefit of the doubt, I am questioning my answers – in this case, the maintenance of a blog which started as a place for Community Language Learning; it was the perfect opportunity for me to see in what way additional work at this conflicting /Advanced level as an extension of the English class  enables progress, at the same time granting a universal dimension to the teaching/learning process which I, as (I believe) hundreds of thousands of teachers of English worldwide, experience. But there are hundreds of thousands of such blogs, so Dare to know!

Virtual conversations stayed scarce, and this can hardly motivate a Blogger (in this case myself) to keep posting – unless the Blogger still believes it doesn't matter whether his or her visitors have a say. After switching to The Bare Necessities of the English Grammar there was even less feedback, which turns a blog like this into nothing else but the adventure of surfing solo across the World Wide Web (and finding fantastic images, like the one on the right). Google images As far as the possibilities of the English language per se,  a time will come when nothing will have been left for the global community to say without stepping into plagiarism. Perhaps it will coincide with the moment in which the Myths about English will have been challenged one by one.

I still believe that there were intentions of feedback, which make me refrain from signing out altogether; but the blog will virtually remain exactly what the header says: 

Everything you always wanted to know about the English grammar* (* but were afraid to ask). Ask a question – any question. It will not take long until you receive an answer.  

Sincerely yours,

EugeniaDG

99. Information in the Cloud

This blog is under maintenance due to Dropbox’s decision to eradicate its Public folder feature in 2017.

According to the announcement received from Dropbox, free accounts have until March 15 to update their links. Here’s what one of the users said in Dropbox Kills Public Folders:

"There are countless users who have been using the public folder to post images and files in blogs and forums. These aren't just worthless jokes and memes that nobody will miss if you flip the switch and break all of them. These are often valuable resources that users have created and entrusted to you to retain and keep online."

It will take some time until I manage to manually introduce the new links to the audios, videos, and pdfs I uploaded along the years. So, even if there are entries whose “static” information can be worked on, there are a great many posts that will be only partially useful without the attached media.

And time will tell!

98. The Point! (the end)

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The story (and the series of posts) is coming to an end.

The final task presents you with the summary of the last part of the film, from which ten snippets of text have been removed. There is one snippet too many in the key to the exercise; but do believe me, it’s a lot easier to watch the whole film and find out before checking!

The Point!

but tacitly accepted by all the villagers	instead of being pointless
everything he and Arrow ran into had a point	much to his surprise
for a fleeting moment	whether it shows or not
glad that Oblio was back	which was unfolding under his very eyes
he had just witnessed	while all the others lost theirs
he had met

“Oblio was too excited by the things he had learned in the Pointless Forest to pay

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attention to the huge bird which was hovering over his head (and Arrow’s, for that matter). The bird took them in its claws and, (1) ___, Oblio and Arrow were hanging on for dear life, thinking it would be natural for them to be scared; well, (2) ___, Oblio realized he wasn’t afraid. Rather, he was glad to enjoy a...bird’s eye view over the Pointless Forest, and feel even more excited at the things he could thus see.

“How weird it seemed to Oblio that, (3) ___, all the things and creatures in the Forest always brought some point to his experience.

“As soon as the Mammoth Egg got hatched, the just born chick started cooing in ways that sounded like questions to Oblio: What? – Where? – Who? – Why? He didn't have too much time to think about the miracle of life (4) ___: there came The Pointed Man again, assuring Oblio that there was no place for him in the Pointless Forest.

“It took Oblio a good deal of trouble to recover Arrow from Vanishing Point, and the incident finally convinced him that the only pointless thing (5) ___ in the Pointless Forest was the Pointed Man.

“It was time to rest after such a long, full day.

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“And back they went to the Pointed Village, where Oblio’s mother was struggling to come to terms with the decision – taken by the vile Count, (6) ___ – that ended in her dear Oblio’s banishment. She didn't seem to have any support, not even from Oblio’s father; she was sure they should have challenged the Law. At the end of the day, who makes the laws of a country? How good are those laws, after all, and who is supposed to obey them?

“Voices outside were hailing Oblio’s coming back. The cantankerous Count was infuriated by such daring act; it’s just that the King, (7) ___, had a different opinion: the Count may have misread the will of the people as far as Oblio was concerned, since the only person in the village who flew into a rage at Oblio’s presence was him – the prideful Count.

“Oblio explained to the King that what he learned in the Pointless Forest was very important: (8) ___; therefore he must have one too.

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“And indeed, a point grew on Oblio’s head, (9) ___.

“But that didn't matter so much any more; people just started assuming that every man has some kind of point, (10) ___”.

The boy who listened to the story understood the lesson.

How about you?  

97. The Point! (summary)

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Here is a summary of this story, famous in its genre because of the deep truth underlying Oblio’s experience.

After watching, choose the alternative (a or b) which best matches the storyline.

1. “And so the story goes that Oblio got to the Pointless Forest not only because the people in the Pointed Village had chosen to abide by the law and comply with the Count’s decision, but also because – despite shedding bitter tears – (a) he had a chance to discover something other than what he already knew / (b) he had the same inclination to obeying as his former fellow citizens did. As you have already found out, nobody had been to the Pointless Forest before, so why not explore it?

But wait, all the place was so thick that Oblio didn't quite figure out how they would get through. Out of the blue, a Pointed Man appeared, pointing in all directions, which actually meant that he was pointing in no direction at all.

The Point!

2. With the Pointed Man gone, an uneasy silence set in, which made Oblio

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feel scared. He vowed that (a) he would always follow Arrow / (b) he and Arrow will stick together at all times.

3. Arrow had already sensed something dangerous looming in the distance: a swarm of giant bees. When they finally managed to hide for safety, Oblio heard a voice coming from up above: it was the Rock Man, kin to the Stone Folk. Oblio was in awe while listening to the Rock Man, who was so kind as to encourage Oblio to open his mind as well as his eyes. He explained to Oblio that reality is different: (a) you don’t have to have a point to have a point / (b) you should play it cool and go nice and easy, just like jazz does.

There came the Pointed Man again. His presence is agreeable to Oblio, yet every time he pops up he only tries to convince Oblio of the pointlessness of it all. Indeed, every appearance makes Oblio reflect on his experience and on how much he has learned.

The Bottomless Hole they are about to fall into makes Oblio realize how afraid of darkness he is, and how lonely the place is whenever the Pointed Man vanishes.

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4. Oblio also learns from the giggling Three Graces – the very image of fertility and motherhood. The fat Ladies bring laughter and merriment, making each other happy. Yet he still doesn’t understand why they are behaving in that way because (a) he’s still too young / (b) they aren’t saying anything.

5. On the Fall Line, the Industrious Industrialist speaks to Oblio about the spirit of entrepreneurship. Timing and honesty – the two qualities he considers indispensable for doing business - fall short of meeting the Tree’s expectations, for Oblio (a) can’t plant roots in the soil of the Forest / (b) doesn’t show any interest in doing business.

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6. Eventually he leaves as he showers his golden leaves, which are supposed to turn into gold – but not before asking Oblio (a) why he didn’t look pointed / (b) where he came from, and what nationality he was. A tricky question indeed, which seems to be asked at exactly that point in the discussion in which the helpless “outlaw” – in this case, Oblio – is vulnerable. Interestingly enough, the Industrious Tree apparently does not care what a man’s face, creed, or colour is as long as he accepts to do business with him.    

94. The complex world we live in

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‘I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.’ Socrates

The Vocabulary Movement stated, among other fundamental ideas, the fact that knowing a word – we finally agreed in the previous post to call it a lexical unit (precisely because it may be represented by more than one stretch of letters) – makes it easier to recognize the structure the unit is used in. Again, what about the structure? Don’t we have to know that, too?

I’ll take an example, and if its combinatorial possibilities make it easier for me to get to the meanings it has developed, I will agree that knowing that lexical unit is enough for me to build fluency. Now, knowing the lexical unit with all its combinatorial possibilities should lead us to the next step: how many of them are necessary for a student to say he or she has a command of the whole field that the nucleus has developed?

I chose POINT (noun) – from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Online (LDOCE). You will find the full display with examples in the attached pdf: The Point

How many of the following uses do you know?

1. [countable] a single fact, idea, or opinion that is part of an argument or discussion:

point about

2. the point

3. [uncountable] the purpose or aim of something:

point of

4.  [countable] a particular place or position:

5. [countable] an exact moment, time, or stage in the development of something:

6.  [countable usually plural] a particular quality or feature that something or someone has

Google images:
Socrates drinking hemlock (condemned to commit suicide)

somebody's/something's good/bad points

point of

7.  [countable] one of the marks or numbers that shows your score in a game or sport:

8.  [countable] a sharp end of something:

9. boiling point/freezing point/melting point etc

10. the point of no return

11. point of departure

12. be on the point of (doing) something

13. up to a point

14. to the point

15. make a point of doing something

16. when/if it comes to the point

17. in point of fact

18. not to put too fine a point on it

19.  [countable] a sign (. ) used to separate a whole number from any decimals that follow it

20. [countable] a mark or measure on a scale:

21.  [countable] a very small spot of light or colour:

22.  [countable] one of the marks on a compass that shows direction:

23.  [countable] a long thin piece of land that stretches out into the sea:

24.  [countable] British English a piece of plastic with holes in it which is attached to a wall and to which electrical equipment can be connected:

25. points

[plural] British English a piece of railway track that can be moved to allow a train to cross over from one track to another.

Then again, you might like it in the shape of a 'semantic flower', like this (Visual Thesaurus):