How to resolve problems of pattern grammar

International students often come to the UK after years of studying English in their home country, and are surprised to be told that they are not using words properly, especially when this relates to “easy” words that they learned a long time ago.  I suspect that this is because they’ve learned words through translation or as items on vocabulary lists.  As a result, there’s never been any emphasis on how to use words correctly.  Given how common words like MAKE, MOST, and ALMOST are, I am sometimes shocked at how few of my students can actually use them in a sentence, despite the fact that they are just a month or two away from starting postgraduate courses. 

I use the term PATTERN GRAMMAR in my feedback to highlight exactly this phenomenon.  A student has probably chosen an appropriate vocabulary item, but hasn’t used it correctly.  I like the term PATTERN GRAMMAR because I think it encourages us to think of strings of words, and not just words as individual items.  If I want to use the word AFRAID, for example, I need to know that I can either write “I am afraid of heights”, “I am afraid of old men with big moustaches” (be + afraid + of + NOUN PHRASE) or “I am afraid to go there alone” (Be + afraid + to + verb).  I can even go with “I am afraid that I cannot come to class today” (be + afraid + that + Subject + Verb).

If you have an error highlighted as a problem of PATTERN GRAMMAR (which may just be highlighted in yellow, for you to work out by yourself), you can try to fix it by following this process:

1.       Go to a good dictionary, like The Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of English

2.       Look at the listed patterns of use for your key word.  Can you find the example that best reflects your meaning?

3.       Compare YOUR pattern with the dictionary example.

4.       Adapt your pattern so that it reflects what the dictionary tells you.

There are some complications that might get in your way, so it’s worth considering the following questions:

a)      Are you checking the right form of your key word? 

-      sometimes errors occur because the pattern for a noun, says, is not applicable to its corresponding verb.  We say HAVE AN INFLUENCE ON, and HAVE AN EFFECT ONN (both nouns, and both followed by noun phrases), but not *the USA influences on the UK, or *tiredness affects on exam performance (no preposition follows the verb: it should just be THE USE INFLUENCES THE UK, and TIREDNESS AFFECTS EXAM PERFORMANCE)

b)      If your key word is a verb, is it TRANSITIVE or INTRANSITIVE?

-          again, a good dictionary will tell you this (often with an I or T next to the entry for a verb).  A TRANSITIVE verb needs to be followed by an object; an INTRANSITIVE does not take an object (which will also mean that it can’t be used in the passive voice).  This should explain why *the researchers measured and *the crash was occurred