0805852212.pdf

It is important to note that the use oflikeas a subordinating conjunction has
become so ubiquitous that it appears in the speech of even the most fastidious
speakers. As a result, many people now apply the formal standard only when
writing or when participating in very formal speaking situations.

Teaching Tip

As noted on page 20, nearly all young people use the word “like” repeatedly

when speaking, and the expression “goes like” has in most instances re-

placed the word “said.” We observe them using the expression “goes like” in-

stead of “said,” as in:

• And then Macarena goes like, “I’m not going to dinner with you.”
  In addition, “like” is used as a filler, as in:


• And, like, I went to my room, like, and turned on some music, like, and then,
  like, the phone rang, and it was, like, Fritz, and he, like, ...
  These patterns of speech lead most educated people to judge the speakers
  as ignorant, which isn’t good. There are some effective ways to help students
  reduce their use of “like.” An in-class activity involves role playing:
  
  
  1. Dividetheclassintogroupsofthreetofive.Onepersonineach
     group role plays a professional employer while another person plays a job
     candidate whom the “employer” will interview. The groups should spend
     about 10 minutes choosing professions and jobs before they begin. Each
     person will rotate the roles; while the “employer” and the “job candidate”
     are talking, the other group members observe and record any inappropri-
     ate uses of “like.” After everyone has taken a turn, students should talk
     about what they learned.
  
  
  2. Divide the class into teams of three to five for a competition. Each team
     is to observe conversations on and around campus and record the inappro-
     priate uses of “like” that they hear over a 2-day period. They then give a pre-
     sentation of their findings. The team with the highest number of observations
     gets a free homework day.
  
  
  3. Hold an election for three to five class monitors whose responsibility is
     to record the number of times individual students use “like” inappropriately in
     class over the course of a week. The monitors report their results to the entire
     class, and the student with the lowest frequency receives an award.
  
  
  
  

Particles. Particles look like prepositions, and they resemble adverbials
because they are linked to verbs, as in sentences 80 and 81:

80. Fritz lookedupthe number.


81. Macarena putonher shoes.

However, they are different from prepositions and adverbials with respect to
how they can move in a sentence. Prepositions, for example, cannot move, but
particles can. Sentences 80 and 81 also could be written as:

92 CHAPTER 3