ChatGPT and Language Education

Correcting and explaining grammar

Attempts in December 2022 to get ChatGPT to correct and explain English grammar didn’t work well overall.

Omitted article

Most of the attempts were like the following, in which the correction was good but the explanation was completely wrong. The changed parts have been underlined.

Me: Please correct any grammatical mistakes in the following sentences:

I was born in 2004 in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. When I was a baby, my family lived in an apartment. When I was five years old, my parents bought house and we moved there.

ChatGPT: I was born in 2004 in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. When I was a baby, my family lived in an apartment. When I was five years old, my parents bought a house and we moved there.

Me: Why did you change “house” to “a house”?

ChatGPT: I changed "house" to "a house" because the sentence was originally written in the singular form, but the subject of the sentence is plural (my parents). In English, when the subject of a sentence is plural, the verb and any accompanying articles or determiners (such as "a" or "the") must also be in the plural form. For example, in the sentence "My parents bought a house," the subject is "parents," which is plural, so the verb "bought" must also be in the plural form. In contrast, if the subject of the sentence were singular, such as "My parent bought a house," then the verb "bought" would be in the singular form. (This doesn’t make sense. The plurality of the sentence subject would not affect the article usage before “house.” And the past tenses of verbs in English (except “be”) are not marked for plurality.)

Number agreement

This was a partially successful attempt. Some of the “corrections,” while not wrong, were unnecessary, but the explanation was correct.

Me: Please correct any grammatical mistakes in the following paragraph:

Schools and places of work teaches us discipline. Teachers, parents and elders also help us to learn and follow rules. We must try to be disciplined in our classroom, on the sports ground, in the school assembly and while visiting places with elders. Friends can also teach each other ways to follow rules and behave properly. Discipline help us to grow up and becomes happy and successful. (Adapted from this.)

ChatGPT: Schools and places of work teach us discipline. Teachers, parents, and elders also help us learn and follow rules. We must try to be disciplined in our classroom, on the sports ground, in the school assembly, and while visiting places with elders. Friends can also teach each other ways to follow rules and behave properly. Discipline helps us grow up and become happy and successful.

Me: Why did you change “teaches us” to “teach us”?

ChatGPT: I changed "teaches us" to "teach us" because "teaches" is in the third-person singular form, but the subject of the sentence, "schools and places of work," is plural. In English, the third-person singular form of a verb is used with singular subjects (e.g. "she teaches"), while the base form of the verb is used with plural subjects (e.g. "they teach"). Therefore, I changed "teaches" to the base form "teach" to make the subject and verb agreement correct.

GPT-4 in May 2023 did better.

Me: Please correct any grammatical mistakes in the following sentences:

I was born in 2004 in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. When I was a baby, my family lived in an apartment. When I was five years old, my parents bought house and we moved there.

GPT-4 I was born in 2004 in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. When I was a baby, my family lived in an apartment. When I was five years old, my parents bought a house and we moved there.

Me: Why did you change “house” to “a house”?

GPT-4 I changed "house" to "a house" because the original sentence was missing an article before the noun "house." In English, we typically use an article (a, an, or the) before a singular countable noun to provide context and make the sentence grammatically correct. In this case, "a house" is more appropriate because it specifies that your parents bought one house (as opposed to multiple houses or a specific house). (This explanation is correct.)