GLOSSING MEANS: WRITING IN ASL
1. Glossing is always written in CAPITAL LETTERS. Every word
you want signed is written in Capital Letters (CAPS).
2. ASL gloss is always written in the PRESENT TENSE.
3. ASL does not use these! Make sure to cross these out of your
English sentence:
a. To be verbs: is, am, are, be, been, was, were
b. Endings: s, ing, es, ly, ed, er, en
c. Articles: a, an, the
d. Past tense of words: told, seen, saw, ate, ran, felt, went
4. English uses s to show plural : books, houses, dogs. These same
concepts/pictures are written in Gloss:
a. BOOK+, (Books)
b. HOUSE+, ( Houses)
c. DOG+ (dogs)
i. (notice the sign is in caps, the + sign means to sign
the word more than one time. HOUSE HOUSE=
houses. This makes more than one picture and creates a
picture of more than one, thus, plural.)
5. English uses ed to show something has taken place in the PAST:
Walked. Or, sometimes en is used to show the past: Spoken. Or,
the word may change form to show past tense: See=Saw, eat=Ate.
ASL uses the sign FINISH to show something happened in the
past or an action has already taken place or is in the past:
-fshFINISH+ WALK
or
-fshWALK+FINISH= walked or already walked
-fshFINISH SPEAK
or
-fshSPEAK FINISH= spoke or already spoken
-fshFINISH SEE
or
-fshSEE FINISH= saw
-fshFINISH GO-TO
or
-fshGO-TO FINISH= went
6. A TIME INDICATOR (time word) is ALWAYS signed First! Unless
you are talking about the NOW/PRESENT. Because it is written in
the present. Which meansnow! This tells the listener or reader
what tense the concept that is to be signed took place ( past tense) OR
will take place (future tense) OR is taking place (present tense).
EXAMPLES:
PRESENT TENSE:
NOW I READ= I am reading now. Now Im reading.
PAST TENSE-fshI FINISH+READ= I already read. I finished reading
FUTURE TENSEFUTURE READ I WILL= I will read in the future.
7. ASL does have various sentence structures, but this is one way
that will help you to change English to ASL is by following this
pattern.
8. Once you have the idea and see why Deaf need the picture setup
this way; you can go on to more complicated or varied sentence
structures.
Basic ASL sentence structure follows this pattern:
Gloss
Structur
e
TIME Place/topi
c
Who Who What
happene
d
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
ENGLISH: I will go to Grandmas house today.
? words,
commands
, negation,
feelings,
reemphasis,
ASL: _____ ______ ___,____ _______
TIME
place who , who what
or topic
happened
_____
? words,
feelings,
negagation,
command words
Note: Always remember that Deaf think Linear. Ask yourself what
needs to be in the picture BEFORE you can: move it, see it, describe
it, go to it, like it, want it, need it, borrow it, close it, open it
In pictures:
WILL
PRACTICE SENTENCE TYPE: COMMENT
ASL: _____
TIME
________
place/topic
____
who
_______
____________
what happen question words
commands, feelings,
negative words
English:
ASL: _____
________
____
_______
_________
TIME
place/topic
who
what happen
question words
commands, feelings,
negative words
English:
****Assignment on next page. This is your homework, complete
it and return it to class the next day. ****
Name
Date
Period
Title: Glossing Practice: Comment sentences.
Now write 5 comment sentences using this pattern.
1. ASL: _____
TIME
________ _____
place
who
_______
what happen
English:________________________________________________
2. ASL: _____
TIME
________ _____
place
who
_______
what happen
English:_________________________________________________
3. ASL: _____
TIME
________ _____
place
who
_______
what happen
English:_________________________________________________
4. ASL: _____
TIME
________ _____
place
who
_______
what happen
English:_________________________________________________
5. ASL: _____
TIME
________ _____
place
who
_______
what happen
English:_________________________________________________