Memes Can Teach You English Grammar
2021-02-26
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1If you spend time on social media or the internet, chances are that you have come across memes.
2Memes are humorous words, pictures or videos shared widely around the internet.
3Memes can make us laugh.
4But they can also teach us a lot about English grammar.
5They can demonstrate such things as sentence structure.
6And they can show how meaning is affected by punctuation or spelling mistakes.
7On today's program, we look at three popular memes and discuss the grammar behind each one.
8The first meme is the most complex of the three.
9It is an example of just how strange the English language can be.
10The word "had" is unusual in English.
11It is probably the only word that can appear consecutively many times and still be grammatically correct.
12Listen to this meme, which is so popular that it has been used on coffee mugs and clothing:
13All the coffee she had had had had no effect.
14The simplest meaning of this sentence is: A woman drank some coffee but it had no effect on her.
15Notice that it uses the word "had" four times consecutively.
16How is that possible? Let's try to make sense of it.
17To do that, we need to first discuss the past perfect verb tense.
18The past perfect is formed by adding "had" to the past participle of the main verb.
19An easy way to think of this is had + past participle.
20Some examples include "had eaten," "had seen," "had helped" and, as in the meme, "had had."
21We use the past perfect to express that something happened before another action in the past.
22It can also express that something happened before a specific time in the past.
23So the sentence about the woman's coffee suggests that something happened after she drank it.
24But for the purpose of this lesson, that thing is not important.
25To make sense of the coffee meme, it also helps to understand adjective clauses.
26The meme contains an adjective clause - a part of a sentence that acts as an adjective and has its own subject and verb.
27Adjective clauses begin with relative pronouns, such as "that."
28But the word "that" was not used in the meme because its use is not required.
29Listen to the line again, this time with the word "that":
30All the coffee (that) she had had had had no effect.
31The adjective clause here is "(that) she had had."
32Again, adjective clauses act like adjectives, which describe or give more information about nouns.
33In this case, the adjective clause "(that) she had had" describes the noun "coffee."
34Now, let's take the adjective clause out of the sentence for a minute to see what is remains.
35Here is the sentence without the adjective clause:
36All the coffee had had no effect.
37Here, we have a fairly simple sentence with the verb "have" in past perfect form, which is "had had." We can call this sentence the main clause.
38So, to sum up what is happening in the meme:
39The verb "have" is used in past perfect form two times consecutively.
40Now let's move to our second meme.
41Listen carefully to it and see if you can catch the difference in meaning between two sentences:
42It goes like this:
43Let's eat, Grandma.
44Let's eat Grandma.
45Commas save lives.
46In the first sentence, "Let's eat, Grandma," notice the pause after the word "eat."
47The pause is meaningful here.
48When we are making a suggestion, such as "Let's eat," and we pause to say a person's name afterward, it shows that we are speaking directly to that person.
49In writing, we use a comma to signal that we are speaking to or addressing someone.
50However, the second sentence, "Let's eat Grandma" has no comma.
51This suggests we are speaking to someone else about Grandma.
52So the sentence means that we are suggesting to another person that we eat our grandmother.
53The ridiculousness of this suggestion expresses how important commas are to meaning.
54So, commas really do save lives!
55And finally, we move to a meme about homophones.
56A homophone is a word that sounds like another word but has a different meaning and spelling.
57English contains many homophones.
58Listen to this popular meme that can be found all over the English-speaking internet.
59Reading along as you listen is useful here since some words sound the same as others.
60Here is the meme:
61If I ever use "there" instead of "they're" and "your" instead of "you're," I've been kidnapped and am signaling for help.
62The writer of this meme is clearly someone who finds spelling mistakes problematic.
63One of the most common mistakes Americans and other English speakers make is confusing the word "there," spelled t-h-e-r-e, with the shortened version of "they are," spelled t-h-e-y-apostrophe-r-e.
64Many English speakers also mix up the word "your," spelled y-o-u-r, with the shortened version of "you are," spelled y-o-u-apostrophe-r-e.
65By saying only their kidnapping could cause such a mistake, the writer drives home that they would never mix up these homophones.
66Memes like these can help us learn more about English grammar.
67They can also help us to laugh at common mistakes even native English speakers make.
68I'm Alice Bryant. And I'm Jill Robbins.
1If you spend time on social media or the internet, chances are that you have come across memes. Memes are humorous words, pictures or videos shared widely around the internet. 2Memes can make us laugh. But they can also teach us a lot about English grammar. They can demonstrate such things as sentence structure. And they can show how meaning is affected by punctuation or spelling mistakes. 3On today's program, we look at three popular memes and discuss the grammar behind each one. 4The mystery of 'had had' 5The first meme is the most complex of the three. It is an example of just how strange the English language can be. 6The word "had" is unusual in English. It is probably the only word that can appear consecutively many times and still be grammatically correct. 7Listen to this meme, which is so popular that it has been used on coffee mugs and clothing: 8All the coffee she had had had had no effect. 9The simplest meaning of this sentence is: A woman drank some coffee but it had no effect on her. 10Notice that it uses the word "had" four times consecutively. How is that possible? Let's try to make sense of it. To do that, we need to first discuss the past perfect verb tense. 11The past perfect is formed by adding "had" to the past participle of the main verb. An easy way to think of this is had + past participle. Some examples include "had eaten," "had seen," "had helped" and, as in the meme, "had had." 12We use the past perfect to express that something happened before another action in the past. It can also express that something happened before a specific time in the past. 13So the sentence about the woman's coffee suggests that something happened after she drank it. But for the purpose of this lesson, that thing is not important. 14To make sense of the coffee meme, it also helps to understand adjective clauses. 15The meme contains an adjective clause - a part of a sentence that acts as an adjective and has its own subject and verb. 16Adjective clauses begin with relative pronouns, such as "that." But the word "that" was not used in the meme because its use is not required. Listen to the line again, this time with the word "that": 17All the coffee (that) she had had had had no effect. 18The adjective clause here is "(that) she had had." Again, adjective clauses act like adjectives, which describe or give more information about nouns. In this case, the adjective clause "(that) she had had" describes the noun "coffee." 19Now, let's take the adjective clause out of the sentence for a minute to see what is remains. Here is the sentence without the adjective clause: 20All the coffee had had no effect. 21Here, we have a fairly simple sentence with the verb "have" in past perfect form, which is "had had." We can call this sentence the main clause. 22So, to sum up what is happening in the meme: The verb "have" is used in past perfect form two times consecutively. 23Commas save lives 24Now let's move to our second meme. 25Listen carefully to it and see if you can catch the difference in meaning between two sentences: 26It goes like this: 27Let's eat, Grandma. 28Let's eat Grandma. 29Commas save lives. 30In the first sentence, "Let's eat, Grandma," notice the pause after the word "eat." The pause is meaningful here. 31When we are making a suggestion, such as "Let's eat," and we pause to say a person's name afterward, it shows that we are speaking directly to that person. In writing, we use a comma to signal that we are speaking to or addressing someone. 32However, the second sentence, "Let's eat Grandma" has no comma. This suggests we are speaking to someone else about Grandma. So the sentence means that we are suggesting to another person that we eat our grandmother. The ridiculousness of this suggestion expresses how important commas are to meaning. So, commas really do save lives! 33They're and you're 34And finally, we move to a meme about homophones. A homophone is a word that sounds like another word but has a different meaning and spelling. English contains many homophones. 35Listen to this popular meme that can be found all over the English-speaking internet. Reading along as you listen is useful here since some words sound the same as others. 36Here is the meme: 37If I ever use "there" instead of "they're" and "your" instead of "you're," I've been kidnapped and am signaling for help. 38The writer of this meme is clearly someone who finds spelling mistakes problematic. 39One of the most common mistakes Americans and other English speakers make is confusing the word "there," spelled t-h-e-r-e, with the shortened version of "they are," spelled t-h-e-y-apostrophe-r-e. Many English speakers also mix up the word "your," spelled y-o-u-r, with the shortened version of "you are," spelled y-o-u-apostrophe-r-e. 40By saying only their kidnapping could cause such a mistake, the writer drives home that they would never mix up these homophones. 41Memes like these can help us learn more about English grammar. They can also help us to laugh at common mistakes even native English speakers make. 42I'm Alice Bryant. And I'm Jill Robbins. 43Alice Bryant wrote this story for Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor. 44________________________________________________________________ 45Words in This Story 46punctuation -n. marks, such as periods and commas, that are used in writing to make meaning clear and to separate ideas 47spelling -n. the way to use letters correctly to form specific words 48consecutively -adv. following one after the other in a series 49mug -n. a large drinking cup with a handle 50sum -v. to tell information again in fewer words 51pause -n. a temporary stop; a period of time, usually short, in which something has stopped before restarting 52comma -n. a punctuation mark used to separate words or groups of words in a sentence 53ridiculous -adj. very silly or unreasonable; to be laughed at