{"id":3811,"date":"2013-02-08T08:00:47","date_gmt":"2013-02-08T08:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eltweekly.com\/elt-newsletter\/?p=3811"},"modified":"2013-02-08T08:00:47","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T08:00:47","slug":"vol-5-issue-5-article-homophones-can-haunt-a-minor-mistake-in-miner-valley-by-eric-roth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/?p=3811","title":{"rendered":"Vol. 5 Issue 5 \u2013 Article: ‘Homophones Can Haunt: A Minor Mistake in Miner Valley’ by Eric Roth"},"content":{"rendered":"

ELTWeekly Vol. 5 Issue#5 | February 11, 2013 |\u00a0ISSN 0975-3036<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

We are happy to reprint one of\u00a0Eric Roth<\/a>‘s article on his book\u00a0Compelling American Conversations<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

English remains an often confusing and difficult language to learn (and teach!) for many reasons. The common \u201cgap\u201d between how a word is spelled and how it sounds is one challenge. Another source of confusion and many headaches remains the surprisingly large number of homonyms and homophones, different words with the same sound. Just as computer speech software programs like Siri on the iPhone find it difficult to distinguish the number 2 from the preposition \u201cto\u201d from the word \u201ctoo\u201d, so do many listeners.<\/p>\n

A \u201cgood mistake\u201d made while recently traveling with friends in Northern California emphasized this obvious point. We were looking for a wine tasting tour in Somoma and Napa Valley, a beautiful area that attracts many tourists. The driver wanted directions to a winery called \u201cMiner Valley\u201d so the passenger and navigator asked Siri for directions. Siri, the amazing iPhone personal assistant, provided detailed driving directions to \u201cMinor Valley\u201d winery nearby. This \u201cgood mistake\u201d cost us thirty minutes, but emphasizes the importance of context in understanding everyday conversations. Few native English speakers will misunderstand the noun \u201cminer\u201d , the hard working people who hunt for gold, silver, or coal for a living, with the important adjective \u201cminor\u201d meaning small or unimportant in most situations. Yet town and winery names can be confusing and colorful. Both \u201cminer Valley\u201d and \u201cMinor Valley\u201d are the names of two fine wineries in the area. (Do they whine about each other\u2019s wine? I don\u2019t know, but that pun came to mind.)<\/p>\n

Of course, English language learners<\/a> make these sort of good mistakes all the time. While we might seldom confuse \u201cby\u201d the bank for \u201cbuy\u201d the bank, it\u2019s easy to confuse \u201crealize\u201d for \u201creal lies\u201d. Sometimes our students complain, or whine, about our how confusing English is for them to master. And if they \u201ceat\u201d their final syllables like \u201cs\u201d or \u201cr\u201d, even attentive listeners can find themselves confused too. Did the ESL student mean \u201cmine\u201d, \u201cmines\u201d, \u201cmind\u201d, or \u201cminer\u201d? We must, therefore, continue to emphasize the importance of word endings \u2013 even in advanced ESL and EFL classes \u2013 so listeners can better understand what our students want to say. If the context is unclear or vague, we might not know if the speaker is referring to a miner or minor problem? Many comedians, of course, delight in these situations, but homophones can haunt English students. English teachers<\/a> and English tutors can turn these common good mistakes into teachable moments and practical lessons in speaking skills<\/a>. Yet we have to admit English is a crazy language.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re interested in learning more about homophones, you might enjoy reading Wikipedia\u2019s informative article on homophones<\/a> or reviewing an impressive list of many confusing homophones\/homonyms. I enjoyed reading both.<\/p>\n

Bottom line: English teachers<\/a> need to both sympathize with the struggles of English language learners<\/a> and teach homonyms in our ESL and EFL classes.<\/p>\n

See sample chapters from Compelling American Conversations here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Ask more. Know more. Share more.<\/p>\n

Create\u00a0Compelling Conversations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Visit\u00a0www.CompellingConversations.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

English remains an often confusing and difficult language to learn (and teach!) for many reasons. The common \u201cgap\u201d between how a word is spelled and how it sounds is one challenge. Another source of confusion and many headaches remains the surprisingly large number of homonyms and homophones, different words with the same sound. Just as computer speech software programs like Siri on the iPhone find it difficult to distinguish the number 2 from the preposition \u201cto\u201d from the word \u201ctoo\u201d, so do many listeners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","omw_enable_modal_window":"enable","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,39,45,218,255],"tags":[799,888],"class_list":["post-3811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elt-articles-and-research-papers","category-elt-newsletter","category-elt-research-articles","category-eltweekly-vol-5","category-eltweekly-vol-5-issue-5","tag-elt-articles-and-research-papers","tag-elt-tips","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3811\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}