Sentence BuildingActivity One

Activity one uses the sentence structure Subject | Transitive Verb | Direct Object and the student adds to the sentence so the final sentence will also have adjectives, an adverb, and possibly a prepositional phrase. My objective for this activity is sentence building, and while doing so, add important skills in communicating, brainstorming, editing, and looking up words. Regarding the use of a thesaurus, your students might not need to use it at all. It's simply there in case they need it. Activity Two calls for specific use of a thesaurus. The daily exercises do not take long. Each student is to work on only one sentence at a time.

Day One
Writing the Sentence
Write this sentence on your board and read it aloud to your children. Have your children open their notebooks and write the sentence on the next blank page.

An animal caught prey.

Resources to have on hand: A book with pictures and names of animals such as an animal encyclopedia or the A book from your encyclopedia set. A thesaurus Explain to the children that they are to do the following: 1. Substitute the word "animal" with a specific kind of animal. [The child may add adjectives; adjectives are optional today.] 2. Substitute the word prey with the type of prey the animal caught. [The child may add adjectives; adjectives are optional today.] 3. Modify or substitute the verb -- For instance modify with an adverb: quietly, ferociously, loudly, etc. In the examples, child #1 modified the verb. OR choose a different verb that indicates a similar action or end result. In the examples, child #2 changed the verb. Examples 1. A lion caught the gazelle loudly. 2. A hideous snake jumped out of a tree upon and straggled a helpless deer.

Day Two
Revising
Today the children will improve their sentences. Resources to have on hand:

 A thesaurus A grammar reference book if step four is necessary There are some ifs to consider. Choose one or more depending on how well they did step one. 1. 2. 3. 4. If the student opted out of adjectives yesterday, have them add an adjective or two today. If they didn't substitute the words animal or prey, have them do that today. If they didn't modify or change the verb, do that today. If the sentence is descriptive enough, have them improve the grammar, usage, or rearrange the sentence. 5. An older student might opt to add a prepositional phrase. Student 1 used revision #1 and changed the verb. Student 2 used revisions #4 & #5. Revised Examples 1. A very smelly lion sprang on the goofy gazelle very loudly. 2. Out of a tree a hideous snake jumped upon a helpless deer and strangled it. Child #1 used very twice. About the use of very - it is better to use a strong word than to place "very" in front of it. It ended up that she substituted the first "very" on day four with "extremely." That was not necessarily a move in the right direction, but it was a move. Over time, her use of words improved. Activity two is helpful in the area of using specific words.

Day Three
When
Resources to have on hand: A thesaurus Today the children will imply when the animal caught its prey. They can be creative if they wish such as: One foggy morning, Last night under a bright full moon, Or it can be as simple as Yesterday, or Last night. Examples 1. 2. In the middle of the night, out of a tree a hideous snake jumped upon a helpless deer and strangled it.

Day Four
Revising
This step is necessary if the children want to improve what they added to their sentences yesterday or if you want them to improve their sentences.

Resources to have on hand: A thesaurus Things they could do depending on their skill level: 1. 2. 3. 4. Describe the "When" more vividly. Rearrange the sentence. Describe the animals better. Improve grammar

Revised Examples 1. An extremely fuzzy lion sprang on the decorous gazelle happily. 2. In the middle of the night, a hideous snake jumped out of a tree and strangled a helpless deer.

Extra Sentences
Activity One can be repeated as needed. Choose from the sentences below to repeat the lessons in activity one or make up sentences. If you wish to make sentences, the sentence structure is: | Determiner [optional] | Noun | Transitive Verb | [another limiting adjective may added be here] | Noun | Grammatical Structure is: Subject | Transitive Verb | Direct Object 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. A boy ate food. A child walked a dog. Someone read a periodical. The girl rode a bike. The animal frightened an animal. | examples below A child reads a book. Someone cooked food.

Examples From Sentence #5

1. Midnight frightened the superstitious dog by walking in its path. 2. The cat frightened the unusually large fly by jumping into the air and swiping at it with its paws.

About the Examples

In all of the examples, number one was work by my daughter and number two was work by my son. When we started this, # 1 was probably in grade 3, and if so, her brother, # 2, was in grade 6. We did the exercises off and on over the course of several years.

Voice and the Transitive Verb

The sentences in this exercise uses transitive verbs. The direct object requires a transitive verb. There is something interesting about the transitive verb and passive voice. Only transitive verbs can be made passive. Check it out: Active Voice: An animal caught prey.

Passive Voice: Prey was caught by an animal. Active Voice: Someone cooked food. Passive Voice: Food was cooked by someone. Children should learn to recognize the passive voice at some time during their years in school. They should know that the passive voice is undesirable in certain types of written work. Because of that, they will benefit from yearly exposure to the voice of a sentence, how to recognize it, how to use it, and how, why, or when to change it.

Verbs
A verb is a part of speech that expresses action or a state of being. Inflections indicates tense (and sometimes person and number) and the mood of a verb. The verb is essential to the complete sentence.

On This Page
Intransitive Verbs and assignments Transitive Verbs and assignments Barry runs. Runs is the verb. It is expressing the action of the subject Barry.

Intransitive Verbs
Runs is an intransitive verb. An intransitive verb does not require an object to complete its meaning. List of some intransitive verbs sit walk study go

There are many more intransitive verbs, much more than I care to write about. With an intransitive verb you can make short sentences: She sits. He walks. They study. Let's go.

NONE of these sentences have objects. What If the sentences are worded like this? She sits by herself. prepositional phrase He quickly walks past the door. adverb, prepositional phrase They study in a well lit room. prepositional phrase Let's go to the lake and fish. prepositional phrase

The verbs remain intransitive because the assorted added words and phases are not direct objects. They are an assortment of adverbs and prepositional phrases.

Assignments for Intransitive Verbs

Assignment 1

Find five intransitive verbs in your dictionary. Make a sentence with each of the five intransitive verbs.
Assignment 2

Go to Who Needs an Illustration, Sentence Building Activity Two and complete a series of exercises.

Some verbs can be either an intransitive verb or a transitive verb.

read is one... I read a newspaper. Newspaper is the object in this sentence. I read well. "Well" is an adverb. This sentence has no object.

Transitive Verbs
A transitive verb is a verb that requires a direct object to complete its meaning. We called Uncle Joe. (Uncle Joe is the direct object.) We gave him our number. (Number is the direct object.) The two example sentences above have transitive verbs. Try the sentences without the direct objects: We called. We gave him our. Read about direct objects at Objects in Sentences Only sentences with transitive verbs can be made passive. Mother chose a good recipe. active A good recipe was chosen by mother. passive James took three apples. active Three apples were taken by James. passive

Assignments for Transitive Verbs

Assignment 1

Open a dictionary and find five transitive verbs; they are sometimes marked with v.t..With the five transitive verbs, do the following: Make sentences with the five transitive verbs. Find the direct object in your sentences. Make the sentences passive.
Assignment 2

Look up the following words in a dictionary. State whether each verb is transitive or intransitive, and

illustrate the correct use of each verb: propose, purpose, sit, set, frighten, scare, learn, teach, isolate, derogate, desiccate, elicit, ricochet, synthesize, instigate, apprehend, envisage, deploy.
Assignment 3

Go to Who Needs an Illustration, Sentence Building Activity One and complete a series of exercises. *Inflection Change in the form of the word to show variation of meaning (as with inflections of number, comparison, and tense), or to show the relation of a word to another word (as with the inflections of case and person). The inflection of substantives is called declension, that of adjectives and adverbs comparison, and that of verbs conjugation. The various forms that a word receives in inflection are its inflectional forms e.g.: love, loved, and loving are inflectional forms of the verb to love man, man's, men, men's, are the inflectional forms of the noun man. *Definition of inflection from College Handbook of Composition by Wooley and Scott, 1928.

Objects
Direct Objects
In sentences, transitive verbs require a direct object to complete its meaning. Every sentence has a subject and a verb to make it complete. Most sentences have more words than just the subject and the verb. Dog ate is an example of the subject/verb sentence. There is a question to ask... What did the dog eat? The sentence, Dog ate cucumbers, has a direct object. Cucumbers received the action of the verb ate. Direct objects answer the questions, What? or Who?. Nouns or Pronouns in the objective case can be Objects

Indirect Objects
Sentences will sometimes also have indirect objects. Indirect objects answers the questions, To what? or To whom? Jim gave Sherry the rice. Sherry is the indirect object. Sherry received the rice from Jim. Rice is the direct object. The indirect object receives the direct object from the subject.

Object of the Preposition

If a noun is preceded by a preposition and [optionally] an adjective or a determiner then that noun is the object of the prepositional phrase. Examples of prepositional phrases: the objects of the preposition are in bold face. to the store beyond Riverside Inn with Debbie's dog along the dirt road To learn more about prepositions go to Prepositions

Prepositional Phrases
In a sentence prepositions show the relation of one word to another word. Prepositions require an object to complete them, typically a noun or a pronoun. A preposition and its object is called a prepositional phrase. The Prepositional Phrase: If any of the words in the table below do not have an object when used in a sentence, then the word is not functioning as a preposition. The words below can be used as a preposition in a prepositional phrase. about below in spite of regarding above beneath instead of since according to beside into through across between like throughout after beyond near to against but (meaning except) of toward along by off under amid concerning on underneath among down on account of until around during onto up at except out upon atop for out of with because of from outside within before in over without behind inside past Preposition List, A Text File a text file of words that can be used as a preposition

Prepositions in the Sentence

The words in the lists above can be used as prepositions. In order for one of these words to be considered a preposition, it must be part of a prepositional phrase. Here are some examples of a prepositional phrase: over the hill behind the door at Mary's house without your coat during lunch atop Mount Everest Notice that the prepositional phrase contains no verbs. Generally, they contain an adjective, a noun or pronoun and they can also contain a gerund. The noun or pronoun is the object of the preposition. Prepositional phrases can also contain conjunctions to join two nouns or pronouns as in this example: underneath sand and rock The advantage of being able to recognize prepositional phrases in sentences is that neither the subject

nor the verb will ever be a part of the prepositional phrase. Consider this sentence: "The coat on the chair is mine." If we eliminate the prepositional phrase, "on the chair" then we can easily see that coat is the subject and is is the verb. "The coat on the chair is mine." Note: Prepositions do not change form. Prepositions are not without evaluation challenges. For instance, a preposition paired with a verb is called a phrasal verb, a preposition can follow, rather than precede its object.

Noun
A noun is a part of speech that names a person [John], a place [home], a thing [dinner], or an idea or quality [justice]. When my children were young, and on noun review days, I had them point out and name items. Of course this was after a brief introduction to nouns. The introduction always included the topic "nouns" but did not always include the definition. I waited to see if they could define nounto see if they could remember. Abstract nouns were handled a little more creatively. Types of nouns: in bold common: a man, the rivers, some collies proper: Mr. Smith, in Tennessee, Mississippi River collective: a flock, my family, the team [groups] concrete: a table, my car, two shoes, white clouds abstract: love, jealously, honor, sorrow [ideas, qualities] compound: Some nouns have a name that is more than one word. My name for instance, Donna Young, is a proper noun with two words. "Buddy system" is a thing that is named with two words. Some things have two words put together to make their name such as walkway and basketball. In some compound nouns, the words are separated with hyphens: sister-in-law. A noun usually changes form to indicate the plural and the possessive case. Regular singular plural plural possessive Noun Functions: boy boys boys' fox fox's foxes foxes' singular possessive boy's Irregular goose goose's geese geese's child child's children children's

subject, object of the verb, object of the preposition, predicate noun, adverbial [a noun that is functioning as an adverb], adjectival [a noun that is functioning as an adjective] See also Objects

Pronouns
Pronouns are a part of speech that take the place of nouns and can function as nouns do.Unlike nouns, pronouns can change its form based on its function in a sentence. 1. John sold John's toys to John's friend. 2. John sold his toys to his friend. Which sentence do you like better? Probably #2. I did this to demonstrate what pronouns are for. :) Here is a table that lists pronouns, their case, number and person. [It goes without saying that the pronoun she is a feminine gender, he is male and it is neutral.] Subjective
means these usually serve as the subject

Objective
means these usually serve as objects

Possessive
determiner usually describes the noun it precedes independent usually is an object

Singular first person second person third person

this one has the genders

I you he she it we you they

me you him her it us you them

my your his her its our your their

mine yours his hers its ours yours theirs

Plural first person second person third person Sentences:

You sit by me. You is the subject [subjective pronoun] me is the object [objective pronoun]. We invited them. We is the subject [subjective pronoun] and them is the object [objective pronoun]. Try using the pronouns in the wrong places. Two of the functions that a noun will serve in a sentence is as the subject or as an object. In the sentences below the subject is highlighted with yellow and the object is highlighted with blue. Bob is going with Jane He is going with her. Him is going with she. Wrong Jane brought Betty. She brought her. Her brought she. Wrong Karen and Bill went with Jane and Betty. They went with them. Them went with they. Wrong Bob went with Jane and Betty.

He went with them. Him went with they. Wrong As you can see, the subject will use the subjective pronoun and an object will use the objective pronoun. Me Me and you are leaving now. --This is incorrect. Me is an objective pronoun so it will never be correctly used as a subject. If you drop the and you from the sentence it will read: "Me is leaving now." and you can see clearly just how incorrect that is! :-) Another point on this, if you use the correct subjective pronoun, I, always place yourself last ... Holly, John and I are leaving now. And one more little point: When used in a prepositional phrase, me is used rather than I: Example: The bake-off for best pie was between Jane and me. Although it may sound like it should be Jane and I, that can not be because in this sentence Jane and me are objects of the preposition.

Determiners
Adjectives modify nouns, pronouns, and groups of words functioning as nouns. Adjective answers the questions What kind?, Which ones?, or How many? Some grammar books will put all of the words in the list below under the Determiner heading while other books don't necessarily group them in such a definite way. Determiners precede descriptive adjectives if there are any and usually modify the same noun. "that blue house ..." Determiners indicate the a noun is going to follow such as "the cat" "this puppy." Try leaving off the noun from "the cat" and you have "the" [the what?]. Determiners not only indicate that a noun is approaching, but they limit the noun such as -- "This cat is MY cat." There is no doubt which cat is my cat thanks to determiners. Determiners are further categorized as follows. possessive: my cat, its paws, his, her, our, your, their book demonstrative: this shoe, that hat, these people, those pies interrogative: whose pie? which shoe? what book? relative: the boy whose pie is gone. restricters: just, almost, hardly, merely, not limiters: half, both, all numerical: one pie, two pies, first book, second road, several, many [ see degree ] article: a road, an apple, the car The definite article is the. The indefinite articles are a and an.

Degree
Degree - The form of an adjective or adverb that indicates relative quantity, quality, or manner. There are three degrees: 1. positive - shows quantity, quality, or manner of a single element 2. comparative - shows quantity, quality, or manner between two elements 3. superlative - shows quantity, quality, or manner among three or more elements Below are some examples of how words can "change" to show a relative quantity, quality, or manner. Positive (1) big round famous bad/badly good/well Comparative (2) bigger [note the "er"] more/less round more/less famous worse better Superlative (3) biggest [note the "est"] most/least round most/least famous worst best

far farther/further farthest/furthest Don't use a double degree: A double degree is adding more or most to the already existing degree word. Wrong- more better - leave off more and only use better Wrong- most happiest -leave off most and only use happiest

Sentence BuildingActivity Two

These exercises do not take long. You can either do them as I have them laid out, one day at a time, or do several in one day. This activity presumes some knowledge in the following parts of speech: adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions. A thesaurus is required for this activity. The starting sentence structure is: subject | verb As words are added to the sentence, the structure becomes something like: determiner | descriptive adjective | subject | verb | adverb (A prepositional phrase is added somewhere in the sentence.)

Day One
Adjectives
Write this sentence on your board and read it aloud to your children. Have your children open their notebooks and write the sentence on the next blank page.

Cat runs.
Tense: Be sure to mention to your students that this sentence is present tense, or ask them what tense it

is. Resources to have on hand: A thesaurus [might not be used today] Explain to the children that they are to: Use a determiner in front of the word cat. Next place a descriptive adjective between the determiner and the word cat. Examples 1. Your cute cat runs. 2. My weird cat runs.

Day Two
Adverbs
Today the children will describe how the cat runs. They will chose a synonym for either fast or slow. They will convert their word to an adverb and add it to their sentence. Resources to have on hand: A thesaurus [should be used today] Tell the children that the cat is either running fast or slow. Let them choose which word (fast or slow.) Have them look up the word in a thesaurus. If they chose fast they should find words like these: quick, rapid, swift, speedy, express, expeditious, accelerated (all of these words are adjectives.) If they chose slow they should find words like these: crawling, plodding, shuffling, dawdling, lagging, hesitant, faltering, pausing, unhurried, sluggish, slothful (all of these words are adjectives.) They should choose the synonym and then convert it to an adverb by adding -ly to their word. They should now rewrite their sentence with the adverb added. Revised Examples 1. Your cute cat runs swiftly. 2. My weird cat runs swiftly.

Day Three
Adding a Prepositional Phrase
Resources to have on hand: List of prepositions Today the children will create a prepositional phase for their sentence: Examples of prepositional phrases:

around the table over the wall behind the door between the chair legs

Once they are happy with the prepositional phrase that they have made up, have them rewrite their sentence, adding the prepositional phrase. Examples: 1. Your cute cat runs swiftly among the bushes. 2. My weird cat runs swiftly into the night.

Day Four
Revising
This step is necessary if the children want to improve their sentences. Resources to have on hand: A thesaurus Things they could do depending on their skill level: They can change their sentence in any way today. Revised Examples: 1. Swiftly, your cute cat runs among the bushes. 2. Into the night my weird cat runs swiftly.

Extra Sentences
Activity Two can be repeated as needed. Choose from the sentences on this page to repeat the lessons in activity two. You must also decide what descriptive words the children will choose from to look up in their thesaurus [as explained on day two]. These words do not always have to be opposites [antonyms]. If you wish to make sentences, the sentence structure is: | Subject | Action Verb [either past or present tense]|

Girl laughed. words for day two: loud, soft Boy yelled. words for day two: harsh, happy Man walked. words for day two: swift, slow, urgent Woman sings. words for day two: bad, excellent, soft Puppy jumps. words for day two: playful, happy Fire burns. words for day two: hot, cheerful Grass grows. words for day two: fast, slow, tall,

Floor creaked. words for day two: strange, loud, sudden About the Examples
In all of the examples, number one was work by my daughter and number two was work by my son. When we started this, # 1 was probably in grade 3, and if so, her brother, # 2, was in grade 6. We did the exercises off and on over the course of several years.

Adjectives & Adverbs, Can You Tell Them Apart?

Adjectives modify nouns, pronouns, and groups of words functioning as nouns. Adjective answers the questions What kind?, Which ones?, or How many? Adverbs modify verbs, other adverbs and adjectives. Adverbs answers the questions How?, When?, or Where? When analyzing a sentence, you must be able to discern exactly which word is being modified. Note: The and a are articles. Articles are classed as adjectives. EXAMPLE: The well trained dog became a pleasant companion. adj. adverb adj. noun verb adj. adj. noun The well trained dog became a pleasant companion.

Build Up
We will strip the sentence down to a basic sentence and then we will add the modifiers back into the sentence one at a time. In building the sentence back up, we can analyze which word is being modified. Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns. The dog became a companion. "A companion? What kind of dog is he? " The trained dog became a companion. Because trained modifies dog, which is a noun, trained is an adjective. Adverbs modify verbs, other adverbs and adjectives. "Trained? How so?" The well trained dog became a companion. Because well modifies trained, which is used as an adjective, well is an adverb. "What kind of companion is the dog? The well trained dog became a pleasant companion. In this sentence, companion is a predicate noun, and in being a noun, that makes pleasant an adjective.

*Modify
A word which, by being combined in discourse with another word or expression, is made to mean something different from what it would mean if it stood alone, is said to be modified by that other word

or expression. [read more about modify] Thus, the meaning of the sentence "I dislike oranges" is changed if we insert sour, so that the sentence reads "I dislike sour oranges" ; it is changed because "sour oranges" means something different from "oranges." LIkewise "many men" and "few men" mean something different from "men"; "many" and "few" modify "men." "Call softly" means something different from "call" ; "softly" modifies "call." *Definition from College Handbook of Composition, by Wolley and Scott, revised 1931

Adverbs
An adverb is a part of speech that is regularly used to modify (limit or describe) a verb, verbal, an adjective, and another adverb, or even the rest of the sentence. slowly stood: slowly modifies the verb stood too wide: too modifies the adjective wide very slowly: very modifies the adverb slowly Many times the adverb ends in ly. [an adjective can be changed into an adverb by adding ly: sly - slyly; slow - slowly; quick - quickly; and so on] Words commonly used as prepositions can also be used as adverbs. I walked off of the stage. Off is an adverb in this sentence. Of the stage is a prepositional phrase.

Descriptive Adjective
Adjectives modify nouns, pronouns, and groups of words functioning as nouns. Adjective answers the questions What kind?, Which ones?, or How many? For an example, let's say that you have a car and you want to tell a friend that it is red and that it is new. In a sentence that might look like: My new, red car is parked in the driveway. Each adjective tells your friend something more about the car. Or in grammar terms- the adjectives new and red are modifying the noun car: NEW car RED car What about MY? In the noun phrase my new red car, My is a determiner that tells whose car this is. My is in the "possessive" category. What if you said, "My new, red car is awesome!" Is awesome used as an adjective? Sort of, but no, awesome is used as a predicate adjective. Descriptive adjectives describe the noun. Examples of descriptive adjectives [in bold]: yellow banana, tall pole, wide door, deep ditch, flowing river, honest man, stormy sky

The suffixes below, when added to a word, will make that word into an adjective. A Few Suffixes and Their Meanings Suffixes Source Meaning Example -able -ible from -abilis (Latin) means-that can be portable, audible -al from -alis (Latin) means of, like, having the nature of ornamental -ate from atus (Latin) means of or having to do with colligate -ful from -ful (Old English) means full of playful -ive from -ivus (Latin) means of or having to do with massive -ous from osus (Latin) means full of joyous Here's a list of common adjective endings (suffixes) -able, -al, -ant, -ary, -ative, -ory, -ed, -en, -ent, -ful, -ic, -ish, -ive, -less, -ous, -some, -y

Linking Verbs - A List & is it Used as Action or Linking

Linking verbs are verbs that do not show action; instead, the linking verb renames or describes the subject. In this example sentence, "The kitten looked happy" the verb looked is used as a linking verb. Many times the verb looked is an action verb because someone is looking for something, but in the example sentence, looked describes the kitten in the predicate and that makes looked function as a linking verb. If the word happy is used in the subject, then happy would have been an ordinary adjective. Subject | Predicate The happy cat | looked for the ball. "Looked" functions as an action verb. The cat | looked happy. "Looked" functions as a linking verb. There are more examples below and suggestions about how to tell the difference between a linking verb and an action verb. The table below lists some verbs that are commonly used as linking verbs. Remember, the words in the list are not always used as linking verbs; it is the FUNCTION of the verb in the sentence that determines its kind.

Words that may be used as Linking Verbs

Verbs that are sometimes used as linking verbs [list may not be complete] feel taste look smell appear grow remain stay

turn seem sound become prove Forms of to be are sometimes used as linking verbs is am are was were be being been

Linking Verbs continued ...

Many important verbs do not express action; some verbs can link a noun or an adjective to the subject. This type of verb is called a linking verb. The linking verb connection between the subject to the noun or adjective is something like an equal sign. She is tall. -- She = tall. In grammar books the linked noun or linked adjective is sometimes called a predicate noun or a predicate adjective. Sometimes either one is called a subjective complement. A reminder of basic sentence structure __subject__|__predicate__ The two diagrams below are the basic sentence structure of linking verbs. _subject_|_linking verb_\_predicate noun_ _subject_|_linking verb_\_predicate adjective_ A predicate noun is located in the predicate and it renames the subject. A predicate adjective is located in the predicate and it describes the subject.

Examples
1. I am calm. The be verb am links I and calm. Calm describes my state of being. 2. George Washington became the first president. Became links George Washington and president. Check by saying, George = president, or President George Washington, or substitute the linking verb with a form of "to be" as in: George Washington was president.

Helping Verb Confusion

The forms of to be can also be used as helping verbs such as in the following sentence: Terry is looking. In the sentence above, "is" does not function as a linking verb. "Is looking" tells what Terry is doing

(the action), not what Terry is being.

Is the Verb used as Linking or Action

State of being verbs can be used as linking verbs or action verbs. We need to be able to determine the function of the verb to tell the difference. The following sentences contain verbs that are used as either linking or action verbs. I have included checking methods. 1. Linking: The monkey looked hungry. (Hungry monkey or monkey is hungry) In this sentence looked is a linking verb. 2. Action: The monkey looked for food. "For food" is a prepositional phrase and it must be omitted before checking. The sentence remaining after omitting the prepositional phrase is "The monkey looked". There is no noun or adjective to link monkey to. Looked is an action verb in this sentence. 3. Linking: The soup tasted good. Check: soup is good, good soup, soup = good 4. Action: I tasted the soup. Check: I am the soup (no), soup am I (no) I = soup (no) 5. Linking: He grew tired of walking. Of walking is a prepositional phrase and not included in the check. You should omit the prepositional phrase to check: "He grew tired". Check: He is tired, tired is he, he = tired. 6. Action: He grew into a tall man. Omit the prepositional phrase into a tall man before checking. That leaves the sentence, "He grew." There's no noun or adjective left to link to, so grew is used as an action verb in this sentence. 7. Linking: Mother appeared happy at her party. Omit the prepositional phrase, "at her party". Now the sentence reads, "Mother appeared happy." Check: mother is happy, happy mother, mother = happy. 8. Action: Mother appeared quietly in the room. Omit the prepositional phrase, "in the room". The sentence now reads: Mother appeared quietly. Quietly is an adverb, omit the adverb. "Mother appeared." There is no noun or adjective to link mother to, so appeared is used as an action verb. 9. Linking: The bugle sounds loud. Check: bugle is loud, loud bugle, bugle = loud (yes, yes, and yes) 10.Action: The bugle sounded loudly. Check: Bugle is loudly. (no) Loudly describes the verb. It answers the question How? Loudly is an adverb, omit the adverb. That leaves the sentence "The bugle sounded."

Parallelism in Writing
August 24, 2003: When I tested my son with an ACT practice test, I noticed that he had trouble detecting faulty parallelism in sentences. That meant he needed to review parallel structures.

Examples of Parallelism Instead of Lengthy Explanations

The Beatitudes are an example of parallelism in a group of sentences. Blessed are ....... for they ....... (Matthew 5)

Common Parallelism Errors

To sing, to laugh, and dancing will enrich your day.Wrong To sing, laugh, and to dance will enrich your day.Wrong To sing, to laugh, and to dance will enrich your day.Good (all infinitives) Singing, laughing, and dancing will enrich your day.Good (all gerunds) She wants health, wealth, and to be happy.Wrong She wants to be healthy, wealthy, and happy.Okay She wants health, wealth, and happiness.Better the books, papers, and the pencilsWrong the books, the papers, and the pencilsGood books, papers, and pencilsGood My friend is faithful and helps me.Wrong My friend is faithful and helpful.Corrected She is friendly, smart and a good neighbor.Wrong She is friendly, smart, and neighborly.Corrected

Shifting Tense
Below is something that your child has probably studied although it was not called parallelism; it was referred to as "Keeping the same tense throughout the sentence/paragraph." (shifting tense). Tense shifts: The dog chased squirrels while the cat stalks birds.Wrong The dog chased squirrels while the cat stalked birds.Corrected She had made pudding for breakfast and has made ice cream for lunch. Wrong, had made and has made are of different tense. She has made pudding for breakfast and has made ice cream for lunch. Corrected

Examples from College Handbook of Composition

by Edwin C. Wooley, PH.D. & Franklin W. Scott, PH.D. revised edition 1931

Parallelism
115. As a rule, two or more sentence-elements that have the same logical office should be made grammatically parallel; i.e., if one is an infinitive, the other should be; if one is a relative clause, the other should be; if one is an appositive, the other should be; and so on. Bad: The crowd began to wave handkerchiefs and shouting good-byes. ["To wave" and "shouting," both objects of "began," are awkwardly dissimilar in form.] Right: (a) The crowd began to wave handkerchiefs and to shout good-byes. [or] (b) The crowd began waving handkerchiefs and shouting good-byes. [The two objects of " began " are made parallel; in (a) they are both infinitives, in (b) they are both gerunds.] Bad: I met many people there whom I had seen before but did not know their names. ["Whom I had seen before" and "did not know their names," both qualifiers (logically) of "people," are awkwardly dissimilar in form.] Right: I met many people there whom I had seen before but whose names I did not know. [The two qualifiers of "people" are made parallel; both are relative clauses.] Bad: I delight in a good novelone which portrays strong characters and in reading the book you are thrilled. [The two qualifiers of "one" are awkwardly dissimilar; the first ("which portrays strong characters") is a relative clause, the second ("in reading the book you are thrilled") a sentence.] Right: I delight in a good novelone which portrays strong characters and which thrills the reader. [The two qualifiers are made parallel; both are relative clauses.] Bad: Two courses are open to us: first, to have the missionary society transfer to us a missionary now in the field; second, one of our own members has volunteered to go, and we may send him. [The two logical appositives to "two courses" are awkwardly dissimilar; the first ("to have . . . field") is a grammatical appositive, the second ("one of our own members . . . him") a sentence.] Right: Two courses are open to us: first, to have the missionary society transfer to us a missionary now in the field; second, to send one of our own members, who has volunteered to go. [The two logical appositives are made parallel; both are grammatical appositives to "courses."] [or] Two courses are open to us. First, we may have the missionary society transfer to us a missionary now in the field; second, we may send one of our members, who has volunteered to go. [The two logical appositives are made parallel; both are sentences. ] Bad: I have lived in many states, some for only a short time, while in others I have lived a year or more. [The two qualifiers of the main clause are awkwardly dissimilar; the first ("some for only a short time") is an incomplete modifier of "lived," the second ("while . . . more") a complete subordinate clause.] Right: I have lived in many states,in some for only a short time, in others for a year or more. [The two qualifiers of the main clause are made parallel; both are prepositional phrases modifying "lived."] Bad: I was asked to contribute to the church, Christian Association, and to the athletic fund. [The three modifiers of "contribute" are awkwardly dissimilar in form; the first is a complete phrase, the second a noun with both the preposition and the article lacking, the third a complete phrase.]

Right: I was asked to contribute to the church, to the Christian Association, and to the athletic fund. [The three modifiers of "contribute" are made parallel in form; each is a complete phrase. ] [or] I was asked to contribute to the church, the Christian Association, and the athletic fund. ["To" is made to govern three objects parallel in form,each consisting of "the" and a noun.]

Free Online Reference

Linked below is a web page that tells precisely what parallelism is: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/parallelism.htm The web page that is linked above defines parallelism and has examples as well as quizzes.

Phrase Builders
7-9 Grades The purpose of this activity is to allow your children to have fun while making well constructed noun phrases. Definition of noun phrase: A noun phrase consists of a noun or a pronoun and any modifiers that it may have. We are going to concentrate on making noun phrases by using the following formulas: Determiner | Noun Determiner | Adjective | Noun Determiner | Adjective | Adjective | Noun Question- Can you build a grammatically correct noun phrase that contains two determiners? Determiner | Determiner | Adjective | Noun

References at DY
Adjectives: Descriptive Adjective Determiners: Limiting Adjective see lists of the different kinds of determiners The second page has some blank cards. Your child can think of adjectives and modifying nouns and write them on the cards. The cards that have a small 1 in the bottom corner indicate that the determiner on the card is usually the only determiner that can be used in the noun phrase. They are not usually combined with other determiners but they can be combined with adjectives and modifying nouns. Either cut index cards in half, then in half again or print some cards from the Game Accessories page. Hand the children the cards and tell them to write a noun on several of the cards and lay them in a stack. Tell them to write some adjectives on several of the cards and place them in a stack. Finally tell them to write determiners on some of the cards and place them in a stack. Visit the Limiting Adjective to see lists of the different kinds of determiners. There is something that I should mention, some of the determiners can be used only once in the noun phrase. The articles, the, a, and an can be used only once... You can't say A an apple. However, an additional article can be inside of a prepositional phrase. It may be easy for you and your children to spot the determiners that can be used only once.

So it would be a good idea to have a separate determiner stack of those that can be used in combination with other determiners. [the restrictors and the limiters]. To Play: Write the formulas on a white board. Have your children construct noun phrases by using their cards. It is more fun if they choose a noun card to fill the noun slot without looking at the card and the same with the other cards. They can read their noun phrase. Have them scramble the cards in their noun phrase to demonstrate how important the structure is. additions: If you are studying or have studied prepositional phrases, then you can let the children add prepositional phrases to the end or the beginning of their noun phrases. example: During the summer my only brother Almost all of my paper Sometimes nouns act as adjectives too. If you want to teach this to your children you can at this time. If there is a noun modifying a noun , then it is acting as an adjective [sometimes called a modifying noun]. Examples: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. church building stone statue brick house dinner jacket wool sweater

The modifying nouns are in red. If you added modifying nouns to the activity above, insert the modifying noun directly in front of the noun... Determiner | Modifying Noun | Noun Determiner | Adjective | Modifying Noun | Noun

Guide Words
About This Page
This page explains a way to introduce to a child how to find words in the dictionary. It is a short lesson that should be repeated as often as necessary because this is an important skill. The child needs to master this skill.

Page Contents
One Way to Introduce the Dictionary Introducing Guide words. Printable Activity

Prerequisite to Using the Lessons on This Page

The child should have mastered arranging words in alphabetical order up to the second letter. Prior to that, make sure that you use a dictionary in front of your young children so that the dictionary is familiar to them.

Age Level - Skills

I have no solid age level recommendation. Instead, follow the trail of skills that your children have presently. Skills listed in order below: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Can recite the alphabet Can arrange letters in alphabetical order Can read Can place words in alphabetical order up to 2nd word Can use the lessons on this page

Lessons
Introducing The Dictionary
By the time your child has mastered alphabetizing to the second letter, you should bring the dictionary into some of your weekly lessons. It is not necessary to buy a children's dictionary for this, alternately, it does not hurt to use one either. You may already have a good dictionary at your home. If you do not have a good dictionary then get one. It can be a paperback or hardback, what ever your budget allows. If you have the means, try to get a paperback dictionary for each child. (Tip: When choosing a paperback dictionary, open it and look at the print to make sure that it is printed well instead of having smudgy letters.) You should go over the parts of the dictionary every time you use it for the first 5 or 6 times. At the start of each year, you may need to reintroduce the parts of the dictionary to young children. The parts vary by dictionary, however, the standard parts are the pronunciation guide, the word mark-up (where the word is separated into syllables and marked-up with pronunciation marks), and the grammar abbreviations for the words and what it all means.

One Way to Introduce the Dictionary

Start by having the child open the dictionary in the middle and be sure to say, "Open your dictionary in the middle." Ask him what letter the words begin with on the page that he opened. Have him close the book and open it several times in the middle of the book. This is just to show him that he does not start at the beginning of the dictionary to find a word that starts with T. Other times have him open the dictionary in the front or near the back and do the same "What letter does the words begin with" each time. Ask him to find the words that begin with k (or whichever letter is just before the ones in the middle of his dictionary). Watch how quickly he finds the section and if he has trouble, keep doing this lettersection-finding for several days until he understands how to find the section for any of the letters. For instance, if you ask him to find v words, he should start near the back of the dictionary instead of the front or the middle.

Introducing Guide Words

Once your child has opened his dictionary lots of times and can find words from any letter in the alphabet it is time to explain guide words. Have your child to open his dictionary on any page near the middle. Ask him if there are two words on the very top of the page. If your child can find these words, tell him what they are, if he can't show him the words and tell him that they are guide words. Tell him that guide words. tell the first word and the last word on that page (or two page spread, some dictionaries differ) and that the words on the page will be in between the guide words. in alphabetical order. The guide words. are there to help them locate the words quickly. *Guide words. can be very confusing to a child. Be patient and explain what they are during each lesson that you teach about guide words. Your child might need to be reminded what guide words. are after summer breaks for a few years. Sit down with your children and with a dictionary and show the children the guide words. Point out to them that they tell the first word and the last word on that page (or two page spread, some dictionaries differ). Tell them that the words on the page will be in between the guide words. in alphabetical order. The guide words. are there to help them locate the words more quickly. The guide words. are in red in the example below. The first and last words are highlighted in yellow Example of Two Dictionary Pages braid bread braid brain bramble bran branch
page 1

breadth bridge brand brass brave braze bread breadth breaker bream breath breech breed breeze brew briar bridge
page 2

Using a dictionary, have the children find any word, this does not have to be a specific word. Then have the children tell you what the guide words. are on that page. Ask them to take the two guide words. and the word they found and put them in alphabetical order. For example: (What you might say is in red) Find a word in your dictionary. The child finds the word brain. What are the guide words. on that page? Child says: braid and bread. Please put brain, braid and bread in alphabetical order. Child does. Tell me the words in alphabetical order Child says: braid, brain, and bread. You can continue this by explaining that all of the words on the braid/bread page will fall in between the two guide words., but I have always found that this is a confusing concept to the child at first.

Guide words. Activity

Use your word cards for this activity as well as the guide words. worksheet. The printable files are linked below. With the word cards make four small piles, each pile should have cards that start with the same letter but each of the piles can be different from each other, such as an a pile, a c pile and so forth. Print a Guide Words Worksheet. If you want to make the worksheet reusable then you can either cover it with contact paper or place it in a page protector and use wipe-off markers. --Give the piles to your child and ask him to put each pile in alphabetical order. --Tell him to lay each pile on a square on the worksheet. --Starting with the first pile ask him what the first card is. He should tell you. --Instruct him to write the word on the upper left blank on the worksheet. --Tell him that the word is the first guide word for that pile of cards. --Ask him what the last card in the stack is. He tells you. --Instruct him to write the word in the other blank on the right. --Tell him that this is the other guide word for that stack of cards. Do this with each stack. --Two Things to mention -1. The words in the piles of cards are in alphabetical order between the guide words. 2. Guide words. helps us to find words quickly in a dictionary or other reference books. At some point, you must make this exercise more complicated. Use the J-K, and C, and D words to make some piles that begin with one letter and end with a different letter. The guide words. for those will not start with the same letter. Once you have taught your child about guide words. and he understands their function, then you should start using the dictionary for guide words. practice. i.e. Looking up words by using the guide words. and applying this skill to other reference works such as an encyclopedia.

Guide words. Houses

The guide words. house is another version of the guide words. exercise. I made this set years ago for my children with hopes that they could relate to the idea of the houses containing the guide words. I suppose other items would work as well such as drawers, closets, buckets and anything that a child knows should hold something. A parent also hopes that the child will think that the items held in such containers are in some orderly fashion, such as socks arranged neatly in a drawer. Level one has the child alphabetizing each stack of cards with the same beginning letter for each house. Level two has the child alphabetizing each stack of cards with both the same and two beginning letters for each house. There is one house worksheet in level two pre-made for you.

Greek Prefixes
Prefix a,an Meaning lacking, not, without Examples atypical, anonymous, anarchy, apathy

ana anti arch, archi dia en, em epi eu hetero homo hyper hyp, hypo in, il, im, ir macr, macro meta, met micro neo orth para, par pro proto syn, sym, syl, sys tele thermo topo zoo

up, back, again against, opposing chief, first across, apart, through, between in, among, within on, outside, over, outer good, well other same excessive, over under, beneath

anachronism, anagram, analogy antithesis, antisocial, antiseptic architect, archetype, archbishop diagnose, dialogue, diameter

enliven, empathy epidermis, epitaph, epilogue euphony, euphemism, eulogy heterogeneous, heterodox homogeneous, homonym, homograph hyperactive, hyperbole, hypercritical hypodermic, hypotenuse, hypocrite inspire, imprint, irradiate, infamy, inefficient, in(to), within, not, opposing illegal long, large, prominent macrocosm, macrobiotic change of, over, beyond metaphor, metabolism, metaphysics small microfilm, microscope, microbe neon, neologism, neophyte, neocene, Neonew, latest of a period Hebraic straight, right orthodonture, orthopedics, orthodox beside, beyond, variation paradox, paraphrase, parenthesis before, forward program, produce, provision, progress first proton, protozoa, prototype together far, distant heat place living synthesize, symphony, synchronize telegraph, telepathy, telescope thermometer, thermonuclear topography zoology

Your and You're

Your is a pronoun in the possessive case. You're is the contraction of you are. One of the easiest ways to check your and you're is to change the you're into you are and see if it still fits the sentence's meaning. Fill in the blanks with either your or you're. 1. ___________ mistaken; it is ___________ fault.

2. ___________ position is assured. 3. ___________ to go tomorrow. 4. I hope that ___________ taking ___________ vacation in July. 5. ___________ dog is jumping on ___________ clean laundry. 6. ___________ my favorite clown, 7. I want to know if ___________ driving ___________ car. 8. I like ___________ shoes. 9. What is ___________ favorite dessert? 10. Will you call me when ___________ father arrives?

To, Too, and Two

To is part of an infinitive [to + a verb]. It can also function as a preposition in a prepositional phrase. to the park Too is an adverb and can many times be substituted with the words, also or very. Two is a number [2]. Fill in the blanks with either to, too, or two. 1. ___________ people rode the bus ___________ the museum. 2. It is ___________ hot ___________ play outside. 3. My cat is ___________ scared ___________ climb down the tree. 4. It will take ___________ people ___________ lift this. 5. It happened ___________ days ago. 6. You are running ___________ slow. 7. Shelly broke ___________ lamp shades. 8. I want ___________ go ___________ ! 9. My dog ran around the house ___________ times. 10. If it isn't ___________ cold, I will take my ___________ dogs ___________ the park.

There, Their, and They're

Their is a pronoun in the possessive case. They're is the contraction of they are. There is usually an adverb or an expletive. Fill in the blanks with either there, their, or they're.

1. It is ___________ turn. 2. ___________ ready to go. 3. ___________, that is over with. 4. ___________ car was stolen. 5. ___________ back from ___________ trip. 6. ___________ is no explanation for ___________ behavior. 7. The party is at ___________ house. 8. ___________ going to the woods behind ___________ house. 9. ___________ so loud. 10. Why don't you ask them ___________ name?

Lie or Lay
The words lie and lay can be very confusing. There are a few things to remember about these two words that will help. To lie means to rest. To lay means to place or to put [an object] The forms of lay require a direct object. That means when a form of to lay is used, something ... an object, must be in the sentence receiving the action of lay. The presence of the object is a big clue. NOTE: Do not confuse a direct object with an object of the preposition.

Past Tense Examples:

Emily laid the vase on the table. Emily placed the vase on a table. Vase is the direct object. Laid is the past tense of lay. On the table is a prepositional phrase. Emily lay on the couch. >> There is no direct object in this sentence. Emily is resting on the couch. (on the couch is a prepositional phrase, making couch the object of the preposition.) Lay is the past tense of lie.

Present Participle Example:

The truck was lying on its side. >> There is no direct object in this sentence. The truck is resting; it is not placing. You would not say the truck was laying on its side. Lying is the present participle tense of lie. Present lie(s) lay(s) Present Participle lying laying Past lay laid Past Participle (have) lain (have) laid

Its and It's

Its is a pronoun in the possessive case. It's is the contraction of it is or it has. Fill in the blanks with either its or it's. 1. ___________ your turn. 2. ___________ raining. 3. The bug fell off the leaf while trying to catch ___________ meal. 4. ___________ a sad story. 5. ___________ been a warm day. 6. I think that ___________ too late to go. 7. ___________ difficult to explain. 8. The chair is in ___________ old place again. 9. ___________ now five weeks since the accident. 10. ___________ cover is torn off.