What Have I Learned So Far, and What Continues to Befuddle Me

So far, English 326 has been refreshing. I’ve learned that the only thing we need to learn is word classes. Adjectives, Nouns, Adverbs and Verbs. I really like this method, because I can usually only remember four things at a time, so this makes grammar easier to learn for me. I am not so intimidated by a plethora of grammar definitions I have to memorize any longer. All I need to know is that adjectives describe nouns, verbs tell nouns what to do, adverbs describe the nature of the verbs. And Nouns are the center of the grammar universe.

I’m not sure if any of this material is new, as far as the basics, but the idea that these are the only four concepts that matter is definitely original to me. It says to students, “you don’t have to spend every waking hour memorizing grammar rules. Learn these four concepts, and you’ll get it.” And I think, that makes grammar accessible, because it doesn’t automatically repel young learners, or old grammar-phobes who are intimidated by long lists of definitions to memorize. The four class concept is very practical, because these are really the building blocks of any sentence.

I guess the only thing this week that confused me a bit was something we talked about during week one as well. The concept of plurals possessing something. When the Jones family owns a condo, it’s the Jones family’s condo. But suppose you didn’t use the word family. It would become the Jones’ condo. However, suppose there’s more than one Jones family. And they all co-own the same condo. That would make it the Joneses’ condo. Or at least, that’s how I understood it after our lesson.

I’m still not sure about plurals. I used to be confident that if a noun ends in an s, you simply add an apostrophe to make it possessive. For example: Jesus owns a car. That’s Jesus’ car.

Then, if there’s two brothers named Jesus, and they both own the same car, the car would become Jesuses’ car. You add an “es” when there is more than one noun (to make it plural) and if it ends in an s, you still add the apostrophe.

I guess if the noun didn’t end in an S, for example, George, yet there were many georges, you would add an es to make it plural, and still follow the rule about adding an apostrophe to the s. Many fellows named George who own the same car, could have a car known as the Georges’ car. I might refer to it as the car of George, are the George Clan’s Car (mostly because I’m a fan of alliteration). But you get the idea. I guess, I’m not really too confident with plural possessives.