皆さんこんにちは。
ILC国際語学センターです。

John先生のミニレッスン、第10回目になります。
今回のトピックは、プライベートレッスンの受講生さんから授業中にいただいた質問になります。
早速見てみましょう！

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Advancing in English with Nested “Mini-Sentences”

One of the biggest obstacles for students moving to the higher levels of English proficiency is recognizing how clauses, or “mini-sentences”, are nested within sentences. Basic-level instruction uses only short and relatively simple sentence structures in Q&A interchanges. Once these longer nested structures are introduced, comprehension difficulties emerge.

For example, when discussing company benefits in an interview situation, the following sentence can be confusing for a student:

“What interested the candidate was the training benefit.”

The first part of this sentence, “What interested the candidate”, is the nested “mini-sentence”. It has the same words in the same order as the direct question “What interested the candidate?”. How can you put a direct question inside a sentence? Shouldn`t there be a question mark? Is this correct? The “Wh” question word is so common in direct questions that seeing it used to introduce a nested “mini-sentence” like this is troublesome.

To deal with this learning point, the Q&A style of interaction can be used to introduce the concept of nested “mini-sentences”, which are big nouns. Make any simple sentence, and then substitute “Wh” words for words and phrases in that sentence.

For example, in the simple sentence “Jack bought a car.”, “Jack” is the SUBJECT and “car” is the OBJECT.

Use the appropriate “Wh” question word to replace “Jack”: “who”. The “mini-sentence” becomes “who bought a car”. Note that even though the wording is exactly the same as the direct question “Who bought a car?”, we are not making a question. We are making a big noun clause, or “mini-sentence”, that can be used in other sentences or questions as a SUBJECT or an OBJECT:

“Who bought a car is important.” Or “Could you tell me who bought a car?

Similarly, we can use the appropriate “Wh” question word to replace “a car”: “what”. We get “Jack bought what”. Move the “Wh” word to the front: “what Jack bought”. Note again that we are not making a question. In this case, the wording is slightly different from the direct question “What did Jack buy?”. We are making a big noun clause, or “mini-sentence”, that can be used in other sentences or questions as a SUBJECT or an OBJECT:

“What Jack bought doesn`t interest me.” Or “I don`t know what Jack bought.”
In our examples above, we focused only on nouns, but there are other adverbs, adjectives, and prepositional phrases that can be rearranged in similar ways using the appropriate “Wh” words to create big noun clauses, or “mini-sentences”, and be put in longer and more expressive sentences commonly seen in higher-level instruction.

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※John先生が開発したグローバルリーダー向け英語プログラムは、様々なビジネスシチュエーションに特化した英語スキルに焦点をあて、論理性と説得力のある英語力を養成します。
詳細はこちらからお問い合わせください。

担当教師

John　Mukts　（ILC企業研修主任）

日本での英語教授歴20年以上、数々の企業にてビジネスパーソンやグローバルリーダー向け英語研修を担当。ILCの主任教師としてプレゼンテーション・ミーティングなどのビジネスに焦点をおいたGLLT（Global Leadership Language Training)コース開発やオリジナルテキスト開発に従事。