Yesterday in class, there were Mischievous Monkeys and Marshmallow-Cat-Eating Dogs!

First, I would like to thank all of you who gave me such lovely gifts. It was so thoughtful. It felt like early Christmas. Hugs! Thanks!


Class Overview

Review, review, review!

Yesterday we reviewed verbs and dressed up sentences with modifiers, but I hope that today and tomorrow the only reviewing you do is the final checklist for Thanksgiving shopping and the only dressing up you do is looking presentable for well-loved relatives, well, that and dressing up a pile of mashed potatoes with gravy.

Wow! All that was one sentence.

Have a marvelous Thanksgiving and Christmas! God bless you as you travel and gather with family tomorrow.

Week 11: Review is productive. S/Vl/PA

Thank you for switching around the way we did class today so that I could get back to my sick kiddos. It really helped to be gone only for an hour.  Thanks, Tina and Cynthia, for being so flexible, and thanks, moms, for enduring a combined class two weeks in a row.  Hopefully the crud will move on and we will be able to get back to normal next week.

Class Overview

Review!  We began with a pop quiz of sorts.  I pulled out the memory work cards to find out how much memory work has been mastered.  The students, of course, are at different levels of mastery.  Second and third year students and Memory Masters have an advantage because they have been exposed to the information more, but all students should have been somewhat familiar with the terms.

Moms, if you do nothing else, drill memory work.  This is priority number one for making headway in EEL.

Next, we worked through a few Charlie Brown sentences from the beloved Pig Pen.  Click here to get the complete document (with answers, Moms).  It really is quite a bit harder to be given a sentence and told to identify the structure rather than working from a given structure and knowing that the sentence probably fits that pattern.

Fianally, we worked through Task 5 on the task sheet.  I was thrilled to be able to go this far in tasking; the review week lends to more time for this exercise.  Definitely begin integrating Task 5 in with your task sheets this week.  Our sentence this week was Sarah, my neighbor, became bold, and Macy remained shy. (SN, (appositive)/Vl/PA, cc, SN/Vl/PA)

Grammar

Drill memory work.
Review charts.

Dialectic

Use the task sheets, through task five, to work through sentences.
Identify sentence patterns using the Pig Pen worksheet. This resource only uses the first four sentence structures that we have already covered.  Click the link above, or copy the following web address in your browser to download the document.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/75809442/Week11%20Pig%20Pen%20and%20sentence%20structures.pdf

If you would rather, use some of these sample sentences:
My dad laughed loudly.
God's promise was a rainbow. (Well, I know that the actual promise wasn't the rainbow, but work with me for the sake of sentence structure).
My mother, Cindy, loves me and cares for me.
Seth felt happy.
The boy on the bike rode through town, but I stayed on the playground.
Tom tricked his friends, and they whitewashed the fence.
A peacock is a fancy bird.
The football team's mascot was not a tiger.
I eat hot dogs, but she likes tacos.
Jeremy and Nathan wrote the sentence.

Moms and students, if you get stuck please refer to the Simple Steps for Solving Sentences sheet in the student notebook (toward back of the EEL portion, blue/green sheet).  It will lead you through the right questions to determine things like DO, PA, and PN.

If you are still stuck on a sentence you can email me.  We will work through it together and ask the right questions to determine the answer.  This is all about the thinking and analyzing process that leads to truth (even if Macy remains shy).

In closing, I would like to share my favorite S/Vl/PN sentence.

God is love!
Can I switch them?
Love is God!
Yes, I can. He doesn't have love--He is love!  So, the only way we can love others is to have Him move in us.  What a glorious thought.  Everything good and pleasant comes from who He is.

Week 10: Class was lovely, and my students remain clever.

Class Overview

Grammar Rule

We really nailed the who/which clause (7a,b  pp. 74-75).  These clauses help add more detail to a sentence and can combine two short sentences into one.  They are set off by commas.  If the clause is removed, the remaining words should still be a complete sentence.  Also, we talked about the fact that an invisible who/which can sometimes be mistaken for an appositive and that, in those instances, an argument can be made for going either way.

Adjectives

We looked at Chart L, Adjectives.  On this chart, as on all charts, the gray boxes are the most important to master.  These provide the definition: adjectives modify a noun or pronoun by describing, qualifying or limiting.  And the gray boxes also tell us the most important thing to remember about adjectives, that they answer the questions, 

What kind? 

How many? 

Which? 

Whose?

Drill these questions! 

We answered these questions by modifying the word cat.  What kind? tabby cat, How many? all cats, Which? the sleepy cat, Whose? Jane's cat

S/Vl/PA

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

We learned that a predicate adjective can modify or describe the subject, and a linking verb is never an action verb.  Those are the two key components to understanding the S/Vl/PA pattern.

The questions that you need to ask to identify an S/Vl/PA are...
1) Who or what is this sentence about?  Answer: subject
2) What is that subject doing? action? being?  Answer: verb
3) Now ask, could the verb be linking? (from memorized list and used as state of being?)
4) Does an adjective that describes or modifies the subject follow the linking verb?
Answer: S/Vl/PA

We looked at the example The rose is red, and then substituted other linking verbs from the list to show how a predicate adjective describes or modifies the subject.  So, The rose is red, became, The rose...smells beautiful, became wilted, feels soft, grows limp.  Notice that all the verbs could be replaced with the word is. This demonstrates that the linking verb remains a state of being, not an action.

Next, we talked about the pitfall of mistaking action verbs for linking verbs (or vice versa).
The rose smells beautiful. (State of being, could be The rose is beautiful.) S/Vl/PA
She smells the rose. (Action verb, could not be She is the rose.) S/Vt/DO

We also spent some time using the task sheet to work the sentence, Nathan feels happy, and Jenny seems content.  This sentence is a compound, S/Vl/PA.  The line between the linking verb and predicate adjective is just like the predicate nominative line. It slants back toward the subject.

I neglected to diagram other adjectives in a sentence, but will do that next week.  They go on a slanted line just like adverbs, except they go under the word that they modify.

Grammar

Drill memory work.
Memorize the questions used to identify adjectives.
Memorizing the linking verbs.  There is a song to help on the sidebar of this blog. This will make identifying S/Vl/PN and S/Vl/PA easier.  Especially focus on the "to be" verbs (am, are, is, was, were, being, been).
Review charts.

Dialectic

Use the task sheets to work through sentences.

Sample sentences
The flowers smell lovely, and the bride looks beautiful.
The day remains sunny, though the forecast is dreary.
Greensboro is small, but North Carolina is large.
Voting is responsible, yet it can feel challenging.
Books are thrilling, and reading is fun.
The candy was yummy, and Mom remains happy.
The shiny apple looked tasty, yet it was rotten on the inside.

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.