A substitution table is used while teaching structures of English.[1][2] Substitution tables were invented by Harold E. Palmer,[3] who defines substitution as "the process by which any authentic sentence may be multiplied indefinitely by substituting for any of its words or word-groups others of the same grammatical family and within certain semantic limits".[4]
Language components to be taught must be used in a grammatically correct model sentence. Simple structures or language components must be the ones taught in initial stages, with only one item covered at a time. A word, phrase, idiom, or vocabulary item may be used as a tool. The words of a model sentence are substituted for by other words. The substitution words are of the same grammatical family in which the model sentence is drawn. The components (structure/words) must be simple so that the pupil can easily understand them.
^Palmer, Harold E. (1916). Colloquial English: Part I. 100 Substitution Tables. Heffer. p. iii. Retrieved 3 November 2024. Substitution may be described as the process by which any authentic sentence may be multiplied indefinitely by substituting for any of its words or word-groups others of the same grammatical family and within certain semantic limits.
