segunda-feira, 14 de fevereiro de 2011

Chunks of language

A “chunk of language” is any group of words that are regularly and often found together: take advantage of, school uniform, the epicentre of the earthquake, have a nice day...

Chunks of language have been given great attention lately. They are fashionable. And that is for a good reason: learning chunks of language aids memory. IT AIDS MEMORY!

Hands-on then: how many chunks of language do you think you can identify in this short text?

"A 20-year-old woman from Barcelos, in the North of Portugal, is expecting sextuplets at the beginning of 2011. The young shop assistant told us that she hadn't had fertility treatment. Her husband is a trainee teacher, but is thinking of taking up a second job to face the coming expenses."
(adapted from Inglês, CEF Cursos de Educação e Formação, Módulos 3/4, Porto Editora)

TIP: Note down the chunks of language you can identify in any text that you read. Think of other related chunks and add them to the list. For instance:

is expecting sextuplets/ is expecting twins
at the beginning of/ at the end of

In some weeks you'll feel you've done great progress with your vocabulary! And it will be much easier to remember!

By the way: have you found 7-9 chunks of Language in the text above? Then you've done a good job!

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