Collocation, selection restriction and the teaching of the English verb grammar

Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Grammar, Style, Working Technique, grade: 2,3, University of Paderborn, language: English, abstract: The following paper deals with collocation, selection restriction and the teaching of the English verb grammar. The two main parts of the paper will be collocation which describes the syntactic relation of words, and selection restriction which describes the relationship between verbs and animated or non-animated subjects. The place they occupy in school will be analysed. So they should be investigated with a didactic view, but also linguistic aspects should not be completely disregarded, because it is very important especially for teachers to know which word goes together with which term and how to explain these relationships to their pupils. Both, the collocational and the selection restrictional aspect, will have their meaning explained. Then a description of how to use them and at least a few suggestions are given on how to teach collocation and selection restriction in school and how to impart their rules. Therefore, some different suggestions for teaching are given to make allowances for the student’s age and advancement. To amplify what has been explained an exception will be given: poetry as an intentional violation of these rules. The paper ends with a short summary and a final reflection.