Week 9: The class is a joy, and understanding is a delight.

Class Overview

Grammar Rule

We covered the rest of the comma rules (1b,c,d,  pp. 56-58).  These include some review of adding a comma before the coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence, the comma that comes after an introductory prepositional phrase or series of prepositional phrases, and the sentence interrupter that is set off by commas.

S/Vl/PN

This week, we continued to focus on compound, declarative sentences, but we introduced a new sentence pattern, S/Vl/PN.

We learned that a predicate nominative can replace or rename the subject, and a linking verb is never an action verb.  Those are the two key components to understanding the S/Vl/PN pattern.

The questions that you need to ask to identify an S/Vl/PN are...
1) Who or what is this sentence about?  Answer: subject
2) What is that subject doing? action? being?  Answer: verb
3) Now ask, verb + who/what?  Answer: direct object?
4) Is the verb a linking verb (memorize list or look for state of being instead of action), and can the direct object replace the subject?  If yes to both, it is not an S/Vt/DO.  It is an S/Vl/PN.

We looked at the example A bluejay is a bird, and talked about the fact that it can be turned around to say A bird is a bluejay and still makes sense.  God is love.  Love is God.  Sonya is a girl.  A girl is Sonya.  My favorite is chicken.  Chicken is my favorite.  New York is a city.  A city is New York.

For advanced students, we covered the fact that a pronoun used as a PN has to be in the nominative case (subjective, the form you use when it is used as a subject) because it must be able to take the place of the subject.

It is I. (correct)  It is me. (incorrect)
The captain is he. (correct) The captain is him. (incorrect)

You could turn around The captain is he. to make it He is the captain, but you wouldn't turn around The captain is him, to make it Him is the captain.

So, kids, next time you answer the phone, you won't say, "It's me, Dad."  You'll say, "It's I, Dad." : )

We also spent some time using the task sheet to work the sentence, Tom is the captain, but Jane is the coach.  This compound, S/Vl/PN was fun to diagram.  Remember to connect the compounds at the verb and put that coordinating conjunction on the "chair".  Also, remember that the line between the linking verb and predicate nominative is just like the direct object line except that it slants back toward the subject.

Grammar

First and foremost, drill memory work.
Also, engage early in memorizing the linking verbs.  There is a song to help on the sidebar of this blog. This will make identifying S/Vl/PNs easier.  Especially focus on the "to be" verbs (am, are, is, was, were, being, been).
Review charts.

Dialectic

Dust off those task sheets and work through at least one sentence per day.  Get adventurous and flip it to the back and see if you can tackle parts or all of task 5.

Moms, remember the trick of saying subject/verb linking/article...  If you add an a, an, or the after the linking verb, the student will have to supply a noun, making it a predicate noun.  Watch out for adjectives.  We will cover predicate adjectives next week.  Try to steer clear of them until I introduce them in class.

Sample sentences

The flowers are tulips, and the ribbons are satin.
The day is Halloween, and the costume is Darth Vader.
Greensboro is our town, but North Carolina is our state.
Voting is a privilege, yet it is also a duty.
It is he, and it is I.
The candy is Snickers, and the eater is Mom.
Under the spreading tree during the heat of the day, the sleeper is the tiger.

Week 8, Did we find prepositions, and did we party?

What a fun week!  So glad we got to celebrate filling the jar with balls!  Thank you, Mrs. Gaines, for doing all the hard work to put together such an enjoyable experience.

Class Overview

Grammar Rule
We highlighted grammar rule 2B (page 60) and talked about using semicolons between independent clauses when we employ the words, however, thus, accordingly, indeed, therefore, for example, that is, and namely.  The key to semicolons is to make sure that they are used to join two independent clauses that are closely related; therefore, don't use a semicolon when only joining words.

Compound Interrogative
By way of review, we used
1) inflection
2) introductory interrogative pronouns (who, whom, whose, which, what), or
3) introductory helping verbs, to change compound declarative sentences into compound interrogatives.

We also reviewed compound subjects and predicates as opposed to compound sentences.

Prepositions
We introduced prepositions by reciting as many as we know.  Thankfully, this is cycle 1, so everyone is pretty familiar with this from the morning memory work.  Next, we talked about the fact that a prepositional phrase is made up of a preposition, its object (always a noun or pronoun), and everything in between the two.  We asked the question preposition, who/what? to find the object.

Next, we looked at a short passage from the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis, and picked out all the prepositional phrases.  This is a great exercise for students who are getting used to the concept.  Use a newspaper or magazine article if your child needs more practice.  We used the passage where Reepicheep is introduced, right after Lucy, Edmond, and Eustace are fished out of the water and flopped onto the deck of the Dawn Treader.  We found thirteen or fourteen prepositional phrases.  Great job, guys!

We also touched briefly on the fact that prepositional phrases can be used as adverbs or adjectives in a sentence.

The boy hugged his mother in the morning.  In the morning tells WHEN he hugged.  WHEN? tells me that it is an adverb, because adverbs tell how, when, where, why, to what extent, and under what condition.

The boy in the morning hugged his mother.  If we were comparing a morning class to an afternoon class, and I was telling another mother about two boys, one from each class, I might differentiate WHICH boy, by calling him the boy in the morning.  In this case, the prepositional phrase is adjectival. We will cover adjectives soon!

Grammar (Drill)

Review charts.  Focus on any memory work associated with the basics of each chart (gray bars).  Really memorize the list of questions to ask to determine if a word is an adverb.

Dialectic (Understanding)

As you work through the task sheet, remember to first put parenthesis around your prepositional phrases.  This helps get them out of the way, clearing away some possible confusion when finding the bones of a sentence.

Use those task sheets and simple steps for solving sentences!

See you all next week, especially those who were out for sickness.  Seth, Jessica, Cara and Will, praying for you to be healthy!

Week 7: Students, study your adverb lists, and Moms, rejoice in the goodness of God.

Class Overview

Wow! Week seven already.  Yesterday we covered so many concepts: compound imperative sentences, nouns of direct address, appositives and adverbs.  Throughout our discussion, we also reviewed how to determine whether a verb is transitive or intransitive.

Compound Imperative

First, we changed the purpose of our compound declarative sentences, making them imperative.

Megan eats Cheerios, but Ryan devours tofu.  (became) Megan, eat Cheerios, but Ryan, devour tofu.

Nouns of Direct Address

We hammered away at the fact that the subject of an imperative sentence is ALWAYS you or implied you.  So if the subject is you in our example, then restated, it could say You eat Cheerios, but You devour tofu.  Stating it this way allowed us to see that the names, added for clarification, help determine who is being addressed.  Thus, they are nouns of direct address (NDA).

Appositives

An appositive is a noun that follows another noun and explains or identifies it.

Megan, the baby, eats Cheerios.
Ryan, the eleven year old, devours tofu.

The baby and the eleven year old are our appositives.  We came up with so many examples and each student contributed a different clarifier.  Megan was a trail-hiker, a dog, an aerobics instructor, and a grandmother at different points. In my first class, Henry was a girl.  We decided it was short for Henrietta.

We also covered a few rules for appositives.  They are always separated by commas, and the appositive always follows the preceding noun.  So if we turn around the example and make it,

The baby, Megan, eats Cheerios.

Megan would now be the appositive.

Adverbs

Finally, we made it to adverbs!  We took a look at Chart I (Adverbs).  If you are new to Essentials, I told you to memorize the gray boxes, the definition of an adverb and the questions to ask when determining if a word is an adverb.  If you do nothing else this week for EEL, work on memorizing this list!  There is really no way around it, and it clears up so much muck in the diagramming process if you can pull it from your memory instead of from a page.

If you are not new to Essentials and you already have the list nailed, please work on the rest of Chart I, identifying simple, flexion, negative, affirmative and multi-word (subordinating) adverbial phrases.  Also, take a look at the degrees that an adverb can be.

We introduced all the adverb types and focused on the tricky, negative adverbs.  We said that not is not a verb.  We repeated this over and over.  Please do this with your child at home this week.  Make a game of it.  At random moments, say, "Not..." and make them finish, "is not a verb."  You can even tie it off with a nice neat bow by having them add, "It's an adverb."

We tackled the example,

My cat, Bob, can't learn tricks.

First we had to separate the contraction.

My cat, Bob, can not learn tricks.

Then we identified our subject and verb.  Subject, cat, Verb, can learn.  We talked about how not is not part of the verb.  It is the adverb.  So when we diagrammed this sentence, it looked like this.

Here is the mega diagram that we did at the end of class, incorporating our compound, imperative, verb transitive, noun of direct address and adverb elements.

Grammar (Drill)

Memorize the list of questions to determine if a word is an adverb (Chart I, gray boxes)
Review the question that you ask when determining if a verb is transitive or intransitive (verb, who or what?).
Work on memory work through week 7.
Drill Not is not a verb, it's an adverb.

Dialectic (Understanding)

Work through all elements we covered this week, incorporating them into sentences to use with the task sheet.  Here are some sample sentences for you (more in back of lesson 7 in EEL guide).

Cats rub legs, but dogs lick faces.
Tom, the bus driver, happily sings.
Sharon, don't taste the snow!
Kelly, swim a lap slowly, but Henry, run a mile quickly.

And for those of you who are diagramming gurus,

Jake, my son, unless you clean your room thoroughly, you will be eating kidney pie and liver and onions for a month.

Week 6: Life hit; my blog entry is late.

Class Overview

This week we tackled a new structure and sentence pattern; we learned compound sentences and subject/verb transitive/direct object (S-Vt-DO).

S-Vt-DO
We talked about the fact that a transitive verb transfers action to an object.  We started with a subject/verb, then added an object.  For example,

Matthew threw...
and I would ask the question (verb, who or what?).  They would respond,
threw who or what?  threw ball.

So, we bantered back and forth, always asking the question, "Verb, who or what?"  The answer, of course, is...the object that receives the action, the direct object.

When I asked everyone to make up their own S-Vt-DO sentence it was a bit more challenging.  Many stumbled over the prepositional phrase ending instead of a noun acting as a direct object.  For example,

Mary swam in the lake.
If we are trying to find a direct object, the question that we ask is swam, who or what?.  In the lake answers the question where? and is adverbial. So, to make a direct object, we have to answer the right question, who or what?.  A possible answer would be,
Mary swam a mile.
swam, who or what? swam mile.  Mile is a noun, acting as a direct object.

Please remember to ask the question, verb, who or what? when finding the DO.  If it doesn't answer that question, it isn't a direct object.

Compound Sentences
First, I covered the definition of a compound sentence and reviewed the list of coordinating conjunctions.  I made it clear that a compound sentence has to have two independent clauses (sentences) joined by a coordinating conjunction, both elements or it isn't compound.

First, we made compound sentences by adding a coordinating conjunction to join some independent clauses.  I gave them many examples,

I take good care of my cat.     He loves me.
The British attacked.     Washington defended.
Carl became an intern.     He makes great coffee.
I spent all my money.     I am broke.

Next, we moved on to differentiating between coordinating conjunctions that are joining words only and those that are joining independent clauses.  For example,

Bob and Carl ate donuts and talked.  
(first and joins Bob, Carl = words (compound subject); second and joins donuts, talked=words (compound verb)) 

Claire sneezed, and milk came out her nose.
(and joins Claire sneezed, milk came out her nose=independent clauses)

Please note that a compound sentence requires a comma before the coordinating conjunction.  A compound subject or compound verb does not require a comma.  In fact, adding a comma is probably the biggest comma misuse out there.

Here is where it gets tricky.

Thomas hiked the mountain and reached the summit.  

No comma necessary because and is joining an independent clause with the phrase reached the summit.  This is a compound verb, not a compound sentence.  The temptation is to add that comma, but it doesn't belong.

When diagramming a compound sentence, use a dotted line with a "chair" between verbs.

Grammar Rule

Rule 2a: Semicolons (pp. 60)

Use a semicolon between related independent clauses not joined by a coordinating conjunction.

In other words, if you have a compound sentence, you can substitute a semicolon for the coordinating conjunction.  So,

Claire sneezed, and milk came out her nose.
Claire sneezed; milk came out her nose.

The semicolon goes on the "chair" when you diagram.

Grammar (Drill)

Memory work through week six and review charts A-F, and take a look at chart H (conjunctions) to see that there are many types of conjunctions.  Just memorize the grey area at the top (definition) and the coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so); forget the rest for right now.

Dialectic (Understanding)

Work through many compound sentences.  Create them, and "task" them on the task sheets.  Challenge yourself with S/Vt/DO compound sentences if you want.

Don't ignore the back of the task sheet.  On task 5, one exercise makes you write a sentence by structure.  Have fun making a simple sentence compound, or making a compound, simple.

English grammar is a puzzle! Have fun taking it apart and putting it back together and seeing the wonderful picture of language that God created so that we could relate to one another!

Personal Note

Moms, grace to you as school marches on in spite of life happening.  In order to keep it real and provide a bit of group therapy, I'll let you know that I have five, 5, V, that's FIVE! whopping loads of laundered, but not folded clothes in piles around my living room.  If you come over, please perch atop one of them, grab a cup of hot tea (or Starbucks), and chat with me awhile, or is it a while?  And when we chat, we'll ignore the fact that math and spelling isn't getting done right now, and we'll definitely not see that my children are running around barefoot in 55 degree weather.  Your friendship blesses me.  Please come to Mom's Night Out next Thursday.  I want to know you more.

Week 5, Did we introduce interrogative sentences?

Class Overview

In class we introduced the interrogative sentence.  Our crime scene, chalked out and roped off, on the sanctuary floor, drew lots of questions as students went by on the way to science and lunch.  I heard, "Who did this?" and "Did someone really die in here?" and "What's going on?"  And you found out the answers when you came to class.  Mrs. Varnell did this.  No, no one died here.  Mrs. Varnell was just trying to illustrate that when there is a crime scene, police ask questions and interrogate suspects to find answers.  Interrogate reminds us of interrogative, which is the name of the type of sentence whose purpose is to ask questions.

We talked about the three ways to change a declarative sentence into an interrogative:

1) Inflection, "Robert talks." vs "Robert talks?"

2) Interrogative pronoun
(who, whom, whose, which, what--9th song on sidebar in Cycle 2) replaces the subject,
"Robert talks." vs "Who talks?"
 This form is labeled (SP) when we are labeling sentences in task #2 on the task sheet.

3) Helping verb introduces the sentence, "Robert talks." vs "Did Robert talk?"
The helping verb is labeled (Vh) when we are labeling sentences in task #2 on the task sheet.
We will memorize the list of helping verbs in Foundations this year, after we finish prepositions.

We spent time working through the task sheet with each of these forms and focused on diagramming the helping verb sentence, which students have to switch around in their heads to the declarative form in order to diagram.  For example, "Did Robert talk?" becomes "Robert Did talk." (Did capitalized to remain the first word of the sentence).  This is much easier to work with when diagramming.  Remember to put both the helper and main verb together to the right of the bisecting line.

Robert (line) Did talk

Grammar (Drill Section)

Review memory work through week 5, and charts (A-F)

Grammar Rule (Rule 5, page 69)
This week we talked about the difference between its and it's.  Remember that its is a possessive pronoun, it's is a contraction.  Easy way to check--ask yourself, "Can I replace the two words it and is in the sentence?"  If you can, it's a contraction.  If you can't, it's not.

"It's not its problem," is the same as, "It is not its problem."

Dialectic (Understanding Section)

Work with your student to make up interrogative sentences using all three forms: inflection, interrogative pronoun, and introductory helping verb.  Then "task" a few sentences as far as your student can go.  Remember, new students, if you make it through task 2, you've accomplished big things.  If you can go all the way to task 4, you've arrived.

Moms, please remember that quantity is not king.  Quality is the focus of EEL.  We take one sentence and tell everything there is to know about that sentence before setting it aside.  We don't just identify all the nouns in 20 sentences, we go much deeper because we identify nouns in every sentence throughout the entire year.  There is a cumulative effect.

Special Note for those using the checklists
You will see the Quid et Quo introduced this week in Thursday's lesson.  This tool is a separate page from the task sheet, but is task six.  There is a basic and advanced form.  If you would like to do this, please have at it, but don't worry about it if you have never used this tool before.  Remember that the checklists were written with year two and three students in mind.  If you have no idea what the Quid et Quo is, just skip that part.  Year two students, it's time to try this.  Year three students, advanced form as far as you can.

One other thing about checklists.  This week and last you may have noticed that it just says "forum sentences" and then gives the numbers you are to cover.  All this means is that your student should parse these sentences with you.  This is meant to be an oral drill instead of the formality of the task sheet.  This is task sheet without it in front of you--very dialectic.  Just look at the sentence and tell everything you can about it:  part of speech, gender, number, person, tense, talk about what kind of verb it is, what kind of noun, what purpose, structure...  Talk about the sentences and identify.  This is like a mini Quid et Quo.

If you can not be there, Mom, have your child label the sentence with parts of speech/usage.