By Mohammed Alfadhel
M.A. in English Literature
Alandalus University
mafnaz@yahoo.com

Being a teacher of literature and grammar, I often find myself thinking of creating innovative ways for my sophomore students to enhance them all the time, especially when teaching grammar. Basically, most students regard grammar as one of the most boring subjects, particularly when presenting lifeless and boring examples. To overcome this problem, teachers need to update their knowledge in order to find the most up-to-date methods to engage their students and stimulate them.

Using novels (Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea and Forester's A Passage to India) in teaching grammar has been an enjoyable experience and has given me another approach to teaching grammar. Since teaching is a developing art, which requires innovative and creative ideas, we must not hesitate to use such resources in our classrooms. They can assist our teaching of grammar while providing a relaxed atmosphere and motivated students. For active, appealing grammar to occur, teachers must create an atmosphere which enables their students to interact effectively by making use of the given texts and using them in their grammar sentences.

The reason for writing this introduction is that I have had an interesting experience recently in my class and would like to share it with you. On that day, I decided to take advantage of this opportunity and exploit this genre of literature to teach my students grammar. Believe me the outcome was stunning and the students were very motivated and had a desire to participate, As a result, I was able to teach novel and grammar at the same time. The following examples were given during subsequent classes.


Infinitives after certain adjectives and nouns

1- Mrs. Moore and Adela Quested were eager to see the real India.

2- Dr. Aziz was anxious to please his Anglo-Indian friends.

3- Adela Quested made a sacrifice and was sad to lose her social standing as she became an outcast.

4- It must have been difficult for Adela to be left alone.

5- Santiago was determined to change his luck.

6- Losing the marlin was a high price for Santiago to pay.


Infinitives with too and enough

1- Fielding and Professor Godbole were too late to catch the train.

2- Dr. Aziz arrived early enough to be on time.

3- Santiago was too exhausted to carry the mast on his shoulder.

4- Dr. Aziz was bitter enough to reject prejudice.


Conditional sentences

1- If the fishermen had not mocked Santiago, He would not have gone out so far to sea.

2- If Manolin were with Santiago, he would help him.

3- If Dr. Aziz had not gone to the Marabar Caves, he would not have been imprisoned.


Passive

1- The marlin was attacked by a number of fierce sharks.

2- Dr. Aziz was arrested and accused of assaulting Adela.

3- Adela was ostracized by her people.

4- Manolin was taught how to fish by Santiago.

5- Santiago is being helped by Manolin.

In my view, teachers should re-think the way they teach grammar and look critically at their own teaching process. It is now more apparent that the teaching of grammar can be supported effectively by using such resources.