Xword Grammar Exercises

for Students
of English as a Second Language
Part II

Jim Lydon

Revised April 1993 by Judith Coppock Gex

Revised 2004 by Bonny Hart

Xword Grammar for Students of English as a Second Language

Part II

Contents
Lesson 14: The main word of the subject ............................................................... page 41
Lesson 15: Equal words...............................................................................................page 53
Lesson 16: Describers and Numbers........................................................................page 45
Lesson 17: Determiners..............................................................................................page 47
Lesson 18: Prepositional phrases ..............................................................................page 49
Lesson 19: Gerunds: Introduction/Gerunds as Subjects .....................................page 53
Lesson 20: Gerunds in prepositional phrases..........................................................page 55
Lesson 21: Using gerunds after verbs .....................................................................page 57
Lesson 22: Infinitives ................................................................................................page 59
Lesson 23: Predicates ................................................................................................page 63
Lesson 24: Introduction to Clauses .........................................................................page 67
Lesson 25: Shifter Clauses ....................................................................................... page 71
Lesson 26: Describer Clauses ...................................................................................page 77
Lesson 27: The Completer Clause............................................................................. page 81

Quizzes on Lessons 14-27

Review: Lessons 14-27

To the teacher,

Xword Grammar Exercises for Students of ESL was written by the late Jim Lydon.
I never had the privilege of meeting him, but Ill always be grateful. Judith Gex
revised the book in 1993. While I was a student at the New School, I observed
Judys class, and she was kind enough to give me a copy. As I read it, English
grammar finally started to make sense to me. I realized that it is structurally very
simple and regular and not really an accumulation of disjointed rules and
exceptions, as many students (and teachers) perceive it.
Xword grammar is especially good for our students, who often have rich
vocabularies, but no idea of how to put a sentence together. I always tell them its a
skeleton that they can hang their vocabulary on. Xword grammar makes error
correction much easier. I usually only have to circle a mistake the students will
correct it themselves.
I retyped the book to make it visually friendlier, added a few lessons, and
separated it all into 27 lessons. I also added a short quiz for each lesson and a
review for lessons 1-13 and 1-27. My level 3 students can do the entire course in
two semesters.
The lessons are in the order of the original book. I find that this order works, but
some teachers have moved the lessons around a bit. Lesson 1 through Lesson 9
should be done in sequence. When questions come up, I often give a preview of a
future lesson and explain that well learn more about it later.

Sincerely,
Bonny Hart
bonnyrhart@gmail.com
December 2004

Thank you to all of the students who have kitchen tested this material.

Application and practice ideas:

Xword grammar can be applied immediately to any reading, writing, or

speaking. Students can mark the xwords in a reading passage, correct
xword/verb form agreement in writing, be prompted for the xword at the
beginning of a question, or be reminded of the never two N-words rule
(Lesson 6) when speaking.

Buy colored 4 X 6 index cards. Write the infinitive of the verb on the
front according to this scheme: Pink=regular verbs; Purple=ABB verbs (e.g.,
make) Yellow=ABC and ABA verbs (e.g., go and come); Green=AAA verbs (e.g.,
cut and put) On the back write each of the 6 forms of the verb. More
advanced students can do this for you. Let students write the meaning in
their own language(s) in one corner. In pairs or small groups, let one student
be the teacher and prompt for each of the six forms of the verb. More
advanced students can give an xword and the appropriate verb form, or a
short sentence.

Example:
(yellow)

to go

Vb
go

VnoS Vs
go
goes

Ving
Vp
going went

Vpp
gone

ir
aller

Write sentences on index cards (one word or phrase each), and hand them
out, one to a student. These students stand in a line, holding their cards. The
other students put the card-holders in the correct order. When the
sentence is correct, give someone a nt card or a ? card and ask them to
make a question or negative. Hand out do, does, or did cards if necessary.

Additional grammar work:

Xword grammar emphasizes overall structure. Short lessons on meaning and use
can be done separately in conjunction with reading or writing. For example, I did a
two page exercise on modals of ability with can, could, and be able to, in conjunction
with a short biography that contained eight occurrences of could for ability.

Additional resources:

Xword Grammar came out of sector analysis, the work of Dr. Robert L. Allen,
Teachers College, Columbia University. Used copies of his book are available
at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com

English Grammars and English Grammar, by Robert Allen, Scribner/Paideia

(1972)

Linda Kunz is publishing a series on xword grammar that employs grammar

discovery and a sentence-level orientation. Her drawings and writing slot
sheets are invaluable. Contact her for information: Xlakunz@aol.com

Level 1: Speaking and Writing for ESL Beginners, by Linda Ann Kunz
X-word Grammar Intermediate: a grammar discovery book, Linda Ann Kunz
and Laurie Gluck

X-word Grammar Advanced: a grammar editing book, by Linda Ann Kunz

Xword Users Group, an online forum for CUNY teachers who are interested
in xword grammar.
To join, go to:
www.nicenet.org
Click on: Join a class in the New Users box
Type in the class key: DZ09005X82
Click: Join the class; Then fill in your name, password, and email
address