Revised January 2010 by Dr.

GardnerTaylor

Lesson 1: Xwords
There is a group of very important words in English. They are called xwords. They are important in the language because they do so much work. What are they? Write 21 questions that cannot be answered with yes or no. Each question must begin with a different word. Did you find them all?

We can arrange the xwords any way we wish. I have put them this way because I think it is easier to remember them if I put them in groups. The first group I call the have group. I call the next group the do often invisible group because it contains the words do, does, and did. Then we have the be group (am, is, are, was, were). I remember the next six xwords by thinking of them as pairs. Last there is ought to and the three xwords that begin with the letter m You can remember the xwords by singing them to the tune of Jingle Bells. Try it.

DO, DOES, and DID are sometimes INVISIBLE

People have dropped these words for shortcuts in English I jump. ---------I do jump. (Dropped do)

Joe jumps. ----------- Joe does jump. (s replaces does) I jumped. -------- I did jump. (ed replaces did)

Lesson 1: Exercise
Directions: Read the sentences below. There is at least one xword in each sentence. Some sentences have two xwords. Find the xword and place an X over it. X 1. Most of the students in this class are from South America. 2. Community colleges have helped many students become successful. 3. Students at this college can take a variety of different courses. 4. He does not want to go to the movies with us. 5. Be sure to take your umbrella. It may rain later. 6. You should talk to the teacher if you are having trouble. 7. I have never met your parents. 8. If I had stayed in my country, I would probably be married now. 9. We were just leaving when you called. 10. Every student in the college must take English and mathematics. 11. She has finished all of her homework. 12. We do not plan to go to Europe this summer. 13. If you give me the money, I will buy the book for you. 14. When I was a child, I spoke Spanish, French, and German. 15. They did not want a child until they felt they could afford one. 16. I am afraid that he might not pass the course.

Practice: Find the xwords in a newspaper or magazine article.

Lesson 2 Yes/No questions

In lesson 1, we said that every sentence in the English Language must have an xword whether it is visible or invisible (do, does, did). In this lesson you will learn how to test if you have a fragmented sentence or a complete sentence by making a yes/no question. Do you remember how to find the subject of a sentence? Just find the X. Everything between the beginning of the sentence and the X is the subject. To make a yes/no question, actually move the xword to the beginning of the sentence. You may not add or delete any words except for the invisible do, does, or did when changing a statement to a yes/no question.

X Maria and John are getting married. X Are Maria and John getting married? If you cannot make a yes/no question with a sentence then it is not a complete sentence.

Maria and John want married. ?????? Cannot be changed into a yes/no question.

Lesson 2, Exercise 1 Find the xword in each of the following statements and place an X over it. Then, change each statement to a yes/no question by moving the xword to the front of the sentence. 1. He would like something to drink. ________________________________________________________ 2. She will be able to come to the party on Saturday. ________________________________________________________ 3. There is enough time to play one more game. ________________________________________________________ 4. All of the students in this class are from South America. ________________________________________________________ 5. All the questions started with an xword. ________________________________________________________ Lesson 2 Exercise 2 Directions: Here are five more sentences. They are already yes/no questions. Change them back to affirmative statements. 1 Will he be leaving for the West Coast in the morning? ________________________________________________________ 2 Did they finish eating their dinner? ________________________________________________________ 3 Should we rehearse the song one more time? ________________________________________________________ 4 Do Mary and Tom come with us to the beach? ________________________________________________________ 5 Is your brother going to graduate in June? ________________________________________________________

Lesson 2 Exercise 3 Below, there are six affirmative statements. On the line under each statement, change the statement to a yes/no question if it is a complete sentence. Mark as a fragmented sentence if it cannot be changed into a yes/no question. 1 The subway system in New York City over 100 years old. ________________________________________________________ 2 I am going to the dance with Tony. ________________________________________________________ 3 The store give me back my money. ________________________________________________________ 4 They help us to paint the apartment on Friday night. ________________________________________________________ 5 Body builders should lift weights every day. ________________________________________________________ 6 We can go to dinner after the movie. ________________________________________________________ Lesson 2 Exercise 4 Which xword should you use? Circle the xword that you need to change the sentence to a question. 1 do does did 2 do does did 3 do does did 4 do does did 5 do does did He eats too much red meat. I like living in New York. We heard about the death of your father. I took a taxi, because I was late for school. She works in a factory in Queens.

Lesson 2 Exercise 5 Change these sentences to yes/no questions. 1. My son sleeps in his own room. _________________________________________________________

2 They live in Paris. _________________________________________________________ 3 The Hudson River separates New York from New Jersey. _________________________________________________________ 4 She enjoyed the movie very much. _________________________________________________________ 5 Blanca went on vacation last week. _________________________________________________________ Lesson 2 Exercise 6 Write the sentences as a yes/no question if they are complete sentences or mark them as a fragmented sentence. 1. Her cat drinks chocolate milk. _________________________________________________________ 2 Joanna lives on 245th Street. _________________________________________________________ 3 She driving to New Jersey tomorrow. _________________________________________________________ 4 Kenneth to go to college. _________________________________________________________ 5 Her mother has opened a store. _________________________________________________________ 6 It is going to rain tomorrow. _________________________________________________________ 7 My husband picked up the kids after school. _________________________________________________________ 8 I can you with your homework tonight. _________________________________________________________ 9 Jack helped her make dinner. _________________________________________________________ 10 The picture on the wall is an original. _________________________________________________________

Lesson 4 SS,=SS
Introduction to the seven different sentences in the English Language In this lesson we will learn about Combining two equal simple sentences Simple Sentences When we put a subject and a predicate together, we get a simple sentence. If you are having problems writing in English, you should try writing more trunks. If you make your sentences simpler, you will make fewer errors. Writing Tip: When you write a sentence, try to make it a yes/no question. If you can make a yes/no question, you have a good trunk. Of course, if you only use simple sentences in your writing, your writing will sound boring. Thats because interesting writing requires variety. In this lesson, we are going to study about the different ways we can make simple sentences more interesting. There are many ways to do this. One way is to combine sentences with an equal word. Simple Sentence x2 When we join two Simple Sentences (SS) with an equal word (=) , I label the sentence SS,=SS. Notice the comma before the equal word and the period at the end. Lesson 3 Exercise 1 Combining simple sentences with equal words Directions: SS,=SS is a very common sentence pattern in English. In the exercise below there are five pairs of trunks. Combine each pair of trunks into a SS,=SS. Use the equal word provided. 1 I prepared the dinner. My sister made the dessert. (and) _________________________________________________________

2 We invited them to the party. They never showed up. (but) _________________________________________________________ 3 My wife had a bad cold. We decided not to go to the party. (so) _________________________________________________________ 4 Put the ice cream in the freezer right away. It will melt. (or) _________________________________________________________ 5 Please speak English in class. You wont make any progress. (or) _________________________________________________________

Lesson 4 Three types of clause sentences

What is a clause? Definition: A clause is a group of words that has a subject and a predicate, but which also has a clause word. In this example, When is the clause word. Example: When I was a young girl, I went dancing every Saturday night.

What is the purpose of a clause? The purpose of a clause is to add more information to a simple sentence. It can give additional information in three different ways. 1. Shifter clauses give more information about the entire trunk. Example: When I was a young girl, I went dancing every Saturday night. 2. Describer clauses give information about one word in the trunk. Example: The woman who is talking to my mother is a doctor. 3. Completer clauses complete the idea of the trunk. Example: I hope that youre feeling better soon.

Lesson 5 Shifter Clauses

In this exercise, Write CW over the clause word, and circle any commas. On the line, write SS+ SH +SS if the Simple Sentence comes first. Write SH+SS, SS if the shifter comes first. 1. ____________ I studied Portuguese when I was in Brazil. 2. ____________ If I knew her phone number, I would call her. 3. ____________ Even though I worked two jobs, I could not earn enough. 4. ____________ Whenever I think about my friends back home, I begin to cry. 5. ____________ New York is a difficult place to live unless you have a lot of money.

Exercise 2 Combine the Simple Sentences into one sentence that has a Simple Sentence and a shifter clause. Use the clause word that I have provided. 1. We left Korea. My youngest son was born. (after) _________________________________________________________ 2. I had to quit my job. My husband didnt want me to work. (because) _________________________________________________________ 3. They loved each other. They couldnt get married. (even though) _________________________________________________________ Exercise 3 Write 8 sentences with shifters. 1. _______________________________________________________ 2. _______________________________________________________ 3. _______________________________________________________ 4. _______________________________________________________

5. _______________________________________________________ 6. _______________________________________________________ 7. _______________________________________________________ 8. _______________________________________________________

Lesson 6 Describer clauses

As you recall from Lesson 24, there are three kinds of clauses: shifter clauses, describer clauses, and completer clauses. In the last lesson, we looked closely at shifter clauses. In this lesson, we will turn our attention to the describer clause, and in Lesson 27 (our final lesson), we will study completer clauses. Here are the clause words which introduce describer clauses