Do 14 year olds in the USA know what "gerund" means?
I didn't know terms like that in England in the 2000s, though I picked them up from learning other foreign languages later.
I have heard university professors complain that they can say, simply, "rephrase the paper into the active voice" to a student from <anywhere else>, but many British students don't know what that means.
England now teaches more grammar, but it is not much use generalizing from individual experiences of a particular state/country in a particular decade.
Re:The Awful German Language (1880)
by brightly-salty on Monday May 17, 2021 @10:22AM
(#27183732)
No, I don’t think most 14-year-olds in the USA would know what a gerund is, but most of them would know active versus passive voice. Maybe the kids in advanced or hobbies classes, though. (Speaking as an American high school student)
Re:The Awful German Language (1880)
by Teknoman117 on Monday May 17, 2021 @12:01PM
(#27184965)
Yes, we were taught what a gerund _is_, but I never had a teacher who actually called it that.
You're pretty much expected to have the grammar down by high school, where the focus shifts to composition (essay courses, etc.)
This was my experience growing up here anyways. The last time I had a test question ask me to circle the past participle was middle school (and the SAT).