Week 19: LIE on the foundation that Essentials LAYS.

Class Overview

This week we took a closer look at verb anatomy, using the infinitives to lay and to lie.  We followed that up with a quick glance at two sentence patterns, S/Vt/IO/DO and S/Vt/DO/OCN.  Finally, we enjoyed a review game!

Verb Anatomy

Using the verbs lay and lie is difficult even in English.  We utilized these in class to get a taste of the difficulty of learning a foreign language.  Here are the sentences we used.  We filled in the blanks with the correct word and form.  Chart D is the verb anatomy chart that we used as a reference.

I ________ (past) down in my bed.  lay
The workman __________ (pa. part.) bricks. laid
She has __________ (pa. part.) on the floor for three nights. lain
_________ (present) down. Lie
_________ (present) down the book. Lay

Remember that lay means to put and will always have a direct object. 

Lie means to lower and the subject will always be doing the lowering to themselves.

Sentence Patterns IO and OCN

We took a look at two sentences and I asked the students to tell me the pattern of each.  The first sentence was a bit more difficult because we have not visited the IO pattern in a while.

If she could, would Jenny give her sister the flute?  S/Vt/IO/DO
If she could, would Jenny elect her sister team captain? S/Vt/DO/OCN

In order to even approach these sentences, the students had to identify the introductory subordinate clauses and set them aside.  Then, because the remaining sentences were interrogative, they had to change around word order to find the subjects and verbs.

I was really proud of the way they tackled these difficult complex sentences: so much success to celebrate!

Review Game

Congratulations to everyone who played the review game! Though some teams ended up with more points, everyone was a winner because all displayed mastery of so much material.  You can find the Jeopardy style game on C3 file sharing; author, Classical Conversations.

Have a great, healthy, happy week!

Just for Fun! Stuff Grammar Nazis Never Say

Week 18: We considered today's review games delicious and today's party fun! (S/Vt/DO/OCA)

Class Overview

What a fun time we had as a combined group today!  Thank you, moms, for all the extra helping hands.

What did we do in EEL? Review, review, review!  We have almost reached the end of fleshing out Chart A.  We only lack the compound-complex sentence structure.  There is still plenty more to learn during these last six weeks, but please consider it gravy.  We've already bitten into the meat of the curriculum.  Now we need to chew on it a bit.  That's what today was about: making sense of what we have covered to date.

How can I review at home?  Here are some ideas.

Write three or four sentences that have different purposes, structures and patterns.
1) Have your child parse and diagram each
2) Ask for a specific structure, purpose or pattern and have them choose the right one
3) Draw a diagram and ask them to identify which sentence fits
4) Have them rewrite a sentence, changing the purpose.

Name a pattern and have your child come up with a sentence that fits.


We used the following sentences in class to review structure, purpose and pattern.  Thank you, Erin Richardson, who wrote these and used them in her EEL class. What a treasure!  The sentences were listed down the left side.  The patterns were listed in a random order down the right side.  Students had to match the sentences and patterns.

Blue whales are mammals. (S-Vl-PN)
Unlike most mammals, they live in the ocean. (S-Vi)
These gentle creatures eat krill. (S-Vt-DO)
Their bodies are extremely long and leathery. (S-Vl-PA)
If I were to see one up close, it might give me a fright! (S-Vt-IO-DO)
Would you call these behemoths scary? (S-Vt-DO-OCA)
Or do you consider them one of God's most amazing creations? (S-Vt-DO-OCN)

In class we matched these sentences with their patterns, but you can go further and identify structure and purpose as well.

Grammar

Drill memory work and charts that need the student needs to master still.

Dialectic

Work through the sentences we went over in class, identifying structure and purpose.
Choose one sentence and work all the way through task #6 (the Quid et Quo).

Week 17: A sunny EEL day makes me sunny. (S/Vt/DO/OCA)

We are beginning to wind down for the year.  It may not feel that way as we tackle more difficult sentences, but really, we only have one more structure to introduce.  One great thing to recognize is that each of us is a student of our language our entire life.  The ultimate goal of language is to convey truth, beauty and virtue, and since these flow from God, the ultimate goal of language is to convey what we know of God.  And because God is infinite in his truth, beauty and virtue, we will always be students, forever learning, forever expanding, forever penning new understanding. So, with that perspective in mind, there will be no crying in Essentials; this is just one little stop on a much longer journey.  Save the tears for moments of being overwhelmed by the goodness of our Savior.

Class Overview

Yesterday, we introduced the last sentence pattern, S/Vt/DO/OCA.  We also identified all the adjectives in a very long complex sentence, (pp. 268--269 in EEL guide) diving deeper into understanding adjectives.  We referred to Chart L to determine if each adjective was descriptive, possessive or limiting.  In my second class we covered grammar rule #3 about colon use in lists and quotes.

S/Vt/DO/OCA

Determine the object complement adjective by asking the following questions:
1) (V) (DO) whom/what?
2) does it follow the direct object?
3) is it an adjective?
4) does it describe the direct object?

Some examples from class...
Jon painted the car green.
Hank calls her sister.
God called the ground good.

Here is a good one for a complex sentence with an OCA.
As long as he treats the horse badly, consider the horse wild!

Adjectives

Using Chart L (adjectives chart) we determined if adjectives in our example sentence were descriptive, possessive or limiting.  The sentence (pp. 268-269 in the EEL guide) was

Old farmer John painted some parts of his barn bright purple, although he was color blind and thought it was red.

From there, we determined that old was a descriptive, positive degree adjective, and farmer was a noun acting as a descriptive adjective, and some was a limiting, indefinite pronoun acting as an adjective...

Pegging adjective types was not the challenge as much as wrestling with identifying each part of the complex sentence.  We even found a noun clause acting as a direct object (Thank you, Patrice for steering me the right way). Here is a clickable link to the English Grammar Revolution page (always on the blog sidebar) where I find all kinds of diagramming answers.  Fun! Fun!

Grammar

Drill Chart L grammar, further than you went with your student last semester.
If you have memorized www.asia.wub, try adding to that list.  Many more subordinating conjunctions are on the conjunctions chart (Chart H).  More importantly, ask the right questions to determine if the clause is adverbial or adjectival.  Remember that adverbial are subordinating conjunctions, adjectival are relative pronouns.

Dialectic

Wrestle through some complex sentences that you find in a favorite book.  Identify adjectives and whether they are descriptive, possessive or limiting.

Compose some S/Vt/DO/OCA sentences of your own.  This is a much harder task than identifying.

Have a great week!

Week 16: Students call EEL rewarding work. (S/Vt/DO/OCN)

Class Overview

Yesterday we tackled a new sentence pattern, S/Vt/DO/OCN.  We also worked through the task sheet, #1-4 and 6 (Quid et Quo).  We used the detailed format of the Quid et Quo because I wanted students and parents to see that there is much to master yet on the nouns and pronouns charts.  Cycle 2 memory work from Foundations really helps with correctly classifying pronouns, so next year will be perfect for driving this in.

Finally, we ended class with a book called Merry-Go-Round, A Book About Nouns, by Ruth Heller.  The kids seemed to enjoy being able to follow terminology like collective, compound, and plural.  Her rhyming, light-hearted approach, combined with beautiful, colorful pictures really allows children to enjoy learning about parts of speech.

Object Complement Adjective

An OCN is a noun following a direct object that renames the direct object.  Some examples:

James called the treehouse Camelot.  DO=treehouse, OCN=Camelot.
To check whether a word is an OCN, remember to use the equals trick.
Treehouse=Camelot, Camelot=treehouse.

God named the man Adam.
They consider Jill a leader.
Sam painted the tree blue.
Students, who take my class, call me tutor. (S/Vt/DO/OCN, complex) Notice the backslash line to indicate the OCN.

With so many patterns to master and so many questions to ask in order to find the usage answers, I came up with a quick reference sheet.  I sent home a copy with each student, but if you would like it in digital form, follow this link to download it from my Dropbox account. https://www.dropbox.com/s/c2978yufglphc4j/Sent.%20Pattern%20questions.pdf

Grammar

Work on solidifying the basic grammar of the nouns and pronouns charts.  Keep up with the weekly memory work.

Dialectic

Talk about OCN sentences and try to compose some.  The guide provides a great list of transitive verbs that tend to work for OCNs.  They are: make, call, judy, choose, elect, nominate, name and paint.  Tackle the Quid et Quo just for fun.  See how far your child can fill it out on his/her own, then (if they are ready) go a little deeper by tackling the rest together.

I can tell the children really enjoyed the beautiful weather at lunch.  I had slumping kids all afternoon and had to continually rope in wandering minds.  It was a fitting price to pay, considering the temptation outside. I hope they were able to be outside the rest of the day.  Have a great week!  Everyone get healthy.  : )

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!

Week 14: Students, give your mothers attention if you desire mastery of the subordinate clause. (S/Vt/IO/DO + adv. sub. clause)

Class Overview

We reviewed imperative S/Vt/IO/DO, reviewed how to make complex sentences, and introduced an overview of active and passive voice.

Complex Sentence

Moms, if your child is not getting the subordinate (dependent) clause, please spend some time doing the exercise we did at the beginning of class.  I gave them an independent clause and they had to provide the subordinate to make the complex sentence.  A good way to do this is to split a whiteboard in half and put independent on one side and make them write the dependent on the other.  Or put dependent and make them write the independent.  This makes a good visual separation and hammers in the idea that an independent plus a dependent (subordinate) clause equals a complex sentence.

Remind students that a dependent clause always has a subject and a verb.  

This separates it from the phrase.

If your child already understands the dependent clause, move on to identifying whether it is adverbial or adjectival and have them diagram.

Active and Passive Voice

Active voice = the person or object is the subject of the sentence and performs the action.

Passive voice = the action is done to the person or object

Examples:

Active: I admire her voice.
Passive: Her voice was admired by me.

Active: The tornado ravaged the town.
Passive: The town was ravaged by the tornado.

Passive: As students read papers, a lot of passive voice was heard by me.  The writing of the students could be improved by themselves if passive sentences were changed to active.  The length of sentences could also greatly be reduced if the active voice would be used by the student.

Active: As students read papers, I heard a lot of passive voice.  Their writing could improve if they would make passive sentences active.  This could also greatly reduce sentence length.

Go through a past paper that your student turned in for IEW.  Find as many passive voice sentences as you can and practice changing them to active.  

If they focus on this skill it will transform their writing.

Grammar

Keep up with memory work.

Memorizing the list of relative pronouns (adjectival sub. clause openers), and subordinating conjunctions (www.asia.wub--adverbial sub. clause openers)  

I was supposed to have gone over a song that goes along with www.asia.wub, but I forgot.  I did hand out the paper however.  It is fairly self explanatory.  It follows "God Bless America".  This may be a big help for everyone who likes to memorize with songs.

Dialectic

Do the exercises suggested above at your child's level.  

If your student is a first year student and is just trying to grasp first semester still, feel free to camp out there.  Second semester information can just wash over them and they can absorb whatever they pick up here and there. Moms, this semester may just be for you to learn.  Next year will be the year to hammer away at second semester.  No crying in Essentials!  

An Extra Note

Meredith and Mrs. Gaines, we missed you in class and are looking forward to seeing you next week.  Praying for you both, for a quick and thorough recovery and that everyone else in the family would stay well.