Week 15: Shall I give you rewards when you master verb tense?

Class Overview

Today we...
1. Reviewed S/Vt/IO/DO sentences, but made them interrogative
2. Reexamined verb anatomy, focusing on "form" (bottom of chart C)
3. Walked through tasks 1-6, including Quid et Quo.

Verb Anatomy

Verb tense is made up of time + form.  

Time = past, present, and future.
Form = simple, perfect, progressive, perfect progressive.

Determining time can be tricky when combined with form, so attack these two separately before studying them together.

Today we focused on form.

A couple of memory tricks

When thinking about the perfect tense, the verb anatomy includes a form of "to have" + past participle verb form.  So, play would be have played in perfect form.  To remember that perfect goes with a form of "to have", think, "I have to be perfect!"

This also applies to perfect progressive form because the verb anatomy includes a form of "to have" + been + present participle.  So, when you see perfect, think I have to be perfect.  But you can stretch this word imagery a bit further with perfect progressive and say, "Ben and I have to be perfect as we progress."

When you have practiced with time and form separately, put them together with chart N or O.
Start with the filled in chart and give example sentences.  Have your student identify the right forms and times (tenses) represented in the sentence.

Take it to the next level by using the blank form.

Then take it to the next level by giving the student a time and form and number (singular/plural) and person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and having them come up with a sentence that fits the description.

Quid et Quo

We finally made it to task six!  Please spend time this week exploring the Quid et Quo form.  It's strength is that it makes the student think through everything there is to identify about each word in a sentence.  I suggest using the detailed format even if your student isn't ready.  That way they will begin to see what they still need to master for each part of speech and will familiarize themselves with those terms.  Don't underestimate exposure to the vocabulary of English grammar.  Especially in the first year, just having been exposed to the terms makes digesting them a bit easier next time around.

Grammar

Keep plugging away at basic memory work.  They should know the questions they need to ask to find the direct object and indirect objects.  They should know the questions to identify an adjective, an adverb, etc.  Really work on the subordinating conjunctions and relative pronouns too.

Memory work is the foundation of this course.  If you do nothing else, do this.

Dialectic

Much of task five is easy to do orally.  This is great practice for practical application and can be tied to IEW sentences.

Examples:
If the paragraph is too choppy, make them combine two sentences by forming a compound sentence.
Have them use a word other than because to begin their subordinate (because) clause.
Add modifiers, like -ly adverbs, quality adjectives, or prepositional phrase openers.
Identify passive voice sentences and make them active voice.

Have a great week!  Yea! Mrs. Gaines and Meredith were back today!  Sigh! We were so sorry to see that several faces were missing today.  I hope that it wasn't sickness.  If so, take care and God bless!  If not, take care and God bless!