- When writing the TextBook, it’s better to use the active voices.
Active voices makes it clear what the topic is supposed to do. In an active sentence, the topic of the page that we teach about is the subject of the sentence.
E.g. “We use the Present Perfect Continuous…” and NOT“Present Continuous is used…”.
(See the section USE in Present Perfect Continuous )For this reason we can use the verbs to appear. to occur, to come, to go, when we start to explain the Form section.
(See https://open.books4languages.com/english-b1-grammar/chapter/adjectives-used-only-in-attributive-position )
When writing the TextBook, the main goal is to facilitate the reader’s understanding of the topic.
For this reason, in the majority of cases it is preferable to choose to adopt the active voice, that is the grammatical form in which the subject performs the action of the verb.
E.g. “To be is a linking verb and an auxiliary verb that is essential in grammar”.
(See the section INTRODUCTION in To Be Negative).
Or
E.g. “The future continuous (or progressive) has three forms: affirmative, negative and interrogative.”
(See the section FORM in Future Continuous).
However, there are cases in which the active voice proves unable to satisfy the requirement of making it simple for the reader to understand the topic.
E.g. “Every compound noun is two or more words that come together to form a noun.”
In such cases it is possible to opt for the passive voice, but it’s fundamental that the keyword of the topic is placed at the very beginning of the sentence.
E.g. “A compound noun is a noun formed by two or more existing words which are combined to create a whole new noun.”
and NOT “A noun formed by two or more existing words which are combined to create a whole new noun is called compound nound.”.
(See the section FORM in Compound Nouns).
There are some fixed opening lines that the writer should preferably use at the beginning of certain sections. It is important to use them whenever possible because they provide a useful repetitive pattern which makes it easier for the student to approach a new topic.
Such fixed opening lines are:
FORM: “[Subject] is formed by…” ; “[Subject] has two/three/etc. forms: …” ; “[Subject] has this structure: …”.USE: “We use [subject] to…”, “[Subject] is used to…”.
- There are some fixed sentences that it’s better to copy-paste depending on the occasion. Those are:
– “[Subject] do not follow a general formation rule”; (https://open.books4languages.com/english-b1-grammar/chapter/ellipsis/)
– “To learn by heart” (https://open.books4languages.com/english-a1-grammar/chapter/irregular-comparatives-and-superlatives/)
– - Before tables it’s better to have the same introductory sentence for every kind of topic.
You can collect topics into “grammar categories” (Subtitles can help you) and use the same sentence for the same category.
For example, an introductory sentence for “Tenses” , should appear before every Tense.
E.g.
– The Present Perfect Continuous (or Progressive) has three forms. Its structure, in the affirmative form, is:
( See it in the section FORM of Present Perfect Continuous)
– The Future Continuous (or Progressive) has three forms. Its structure, in the affirmative form, is:
( See it in the section FORM of Future Continuous) - We create introductory sentences to Tables and Bullet/Number lists in different ways, depending on if we work on the KIDS´version or the ADULTS´one.KIDS
Form: We name the Topic in introductory sentences.
Use: We name the Topic in introductory sentences.
(See the tipoc “To Be”:
FORM: https://open.books4languages.com/english-a1-1-course/chapter/to-be-affirmative/
USE: https://open.books4languages.com/english-a1-1-course/chapter/to-be-use/ )ADULTS
Form: We name the Topic in introductory sentences.
Use: We name or do not name the Topic in introductory sentences, depending on the occasion.
( See the topic “Indirect Orders”:
Form and Use: https://open.books4languages.com/english-b1-grammar/chapter/indirect-orders/
NOTE: after “We use:” we do not name the topic.) - Do not forget to check if the Subtitles are correct.
(E.g. Present Perfect Continuous belongs to “Tense” and not “Verb” category.)
If a Subtitle is not correct, you can change it in your Edit panel, at the very bottom, under “Chapter Subtitle e (appears in the Web/ebook/PDF output)”. - Explanatory formula:
If you can (of the grammar rule allows it) you don´t write “Subject + Verb”, but you write “Clause”.
This way, the attention will be focused on the grammatical elements.
(See Form: https://open.books4languages.com/english-b1-grammar/chapter/temporal-clauses/) - Check if the section Examples matches with the Vocabulary of the corresponding section.
(For example: the topic in Grammar 1.2, has to match with the vocabulary in Vocabulary 1.2)
You will find the Vocabularies at:
https://open.books4languages.com/english-a1-vocabulary
https://open.books4languages.com/english-a2-vocabulary
https://open.books4languages.com/english-b1-vocabulary
https://open.books4languages.com/english-b2-vocabulary
INTRO
The introduction is used to let the students understand what the topic will be about, and it is made with simple words and in a summarized way (in active voice). It is about the content creation for the education of secondary languages, therefore students, in the case that this grammar rule is existing in their native languages, they know how to use it. In the introduction, we want to make students understand just what they are going to learn, so that they can relate it to their L1.
The content created here is complementary, it can have repeated information in some cases, but it never offer information to replace what it must be explained in other sections. This means that the introduction has to be expendable for the understanding of the topic. HERE
- We describe what we are going to explain (for dummies) in simple way and in one paragraph.
- What does it mean? (This includes the following questions)
- What is what we are going to study?
- What is it used for?
- What does it mean? (This includes the following questions)
FORM
The form explains particular rules of words formations, grammatical structures and the way in which they appear in a sequence with other language elements. It should be explained in the easiest possible way, using tables or other formulas (in active voice).
- If it is possible, we start the section with 1-2 lines of text to identify the grammatical element among all the similar grammatical rules.
- The section must be capable of answering the following question:
How is it formed? Which are they?
Where is it positioned?
The form/rule in the sentence.
If it is possible, we create an explanatory formula (always in bold and dark grey #808080). The new formula will be in a new line within the same paragraph (shift-enter).
For example: subject + verb + not + …- If the explanatory formula has just 2 elements, we do not write it by default. We write the information as a sentence, excluding tenses and auxiliary verbs.
For example: subject pronouns are used before verbs in the sentence (Subject Pronouns).
- If the explanatory formula has just 2 elements, we do not write it by default. We write the information as a sentence, excluding tenses and auxiliary verbs.
- The distribution of information will always follow the same pattern (Present Simple Affirmative):
- First the general information;
- Then the explanatory formula;
- We continue with information that complete the explanatory formula;
- We end with the explanation of how to create and combine the different elements of the formula (tables, terminations, words lists…) (Present Simple Affirmative).
USE
The Use section put the grammatical element in the context.
We use “when/why” in order to explain situations in which we have to use the specific rule, in a detailed way (in active voice).
- As a guide, we have a series of questions than can help us to develop the content of this section:
- When is it used?
- Why is it used? (What is it used for?)
- Example: subject pronouns are the pronouns used: as the subject of the verb; to replace the person and avoid repetitions (Subject Pronouns).
STANDARD PHRASES
so we need to learn them by heart.
don’t follow the general plural formation rule
{See Phrasal Verbs, A2 Level}