Let the games resume

Status
Not open for further replies.

Frank Antonson

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Well, after a break, I will resume the teaching of morphology, syntax, and ultimately Reed-Kellogg. I am actually a little nervous. The students were SO excited before I took the break, and now the problem will be to restore that excitement without disappointing them.
The prize for them is diagramming, but I have to teach them grammar as well. I guess it will be transitional adverbs and then possibly subject complements -- all within half of a class period. Probably can't be done.
 

Nick Rummel

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
YAY!!! Time for more Syntax! Also, I have been writing some more of my book tonight and I think it is coming along pretty good!:-D I have revealed more of what could happen if something goes wrong and other things related to the plot! Can't wait to learn more tomorrow!
 

Frank Antonson

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Well, I taught all that I hoped to teach within that half hour. We'll see if the students got it. Nick Rummel's website <humanitynotes@webs.com> will soon have it all on, I am sure.

I am going almost impossibly fast. The only thing that saves it is that the students regard it as a game. With each part of a sentence that I teach them to diagram, it is like learning how a new chess piece moves. As long as their interest stays keen, the results could be amazing. Already, though, there is a certain degree of "fall out" where students who were not quite with me at the beginning, now have a poor foundation to build on.

A mercy will be that syntax really IS finite. There is only so much of it. Just as it gets more complicated, it is approaching its end.

It has all been an interesting experiment -- but, I will admit, one that has made my teaching year more demanding.
 

Nick Rummel

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Mr. Antonson,
You posted the link like an email address by accident I think. Here is the link: Home - Notes for Humanities/Language
By the way, what are you going to teach us the next couple days?
 

Frank Antonson

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Thanks, Nick,

"When the age is in, the wit is out" Much Ado...

I am in a hurry next to teach you prepositional phrases because they are so easy and so frequent. While I am on phrases, however, I want to see how quickly I can get you students to understand infinitive phrases and participial phrases.

I guess my hurry is partly because of the coming holidays and partly because I am afraid that the bubble of enthusiasm could burst.

(Glad to have you on this forum. I hope you stay for a VERY long time -- even after I am gone.)
 

Nick Rummel

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Ha Ha, Thanks Mr. A!:-D
I enjoy your class a lot.
 

Frank Antonson

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Here is an update on "the games".

It has surprised me that I can't get through syntax faster. Although I have taught prepositional phrases, I still have infinitive, participial, and gerund phrases to go -- also indirect objects and objective complements.

When I finally turn to the subordinate clauses, it should go fast to the finish -- which will be a mercy for some of my students, although most of them are staying with me.

Another surprise has been how exciting the students find sentence diagramming. I have had to work hard on finding a way of controlling the excitement. We are creating a whole list of "officials" to help keep order -- a clerk, a bailiff, a referee, a "buzzkill/talent scout", timer, eraser, commentator, judge, record keeper?, statistician?, etc. Then, of course, there are the contestants and their coaches.

A help with this process has been that one of my students has created a webpage devoted strictly to CSD. It can be found at
Home - Syntax 84: Guide to Diagramming Sentences
 

Nick Rummel

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Here is an update on "the games".

It has surprised me that I can't get through syntax faster. Although I have taught prepositional phrases, I still have infinitive, participial, and gerund phrases to go -- also indirect objects and objective complements.

When I finally turn to the subordinate clauses, it should go fast to the finish -- which will be a mercy for some of my students, although most of them are staying with me.

Another surprise has been how exciting the students find sentence diagramming. I have had to work hard on finding a way of controlling the excitement. We are creating a whole list of "officials" to help keep order -- a clerk, a bailiff, a referee, a "buzzkill/talent scout", timer, eraser, commentator, judge, record keeper?, statistician?, etc. Then, of course, there are the contestants and their coaches.

A help with this process has been that one of my students has created a webpage devoted strictly to CSD. It can be found at
Home - Syntax 84: Guide to Diagramming Sentences

I also have a link to the Syntax 84 site on the Websites page of our Humanities/Language Notes Website.
 

Frank Antonson

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Here is a twist to the "games", that I found interesting.

As part of a test, I asked for the students' opinions about "Jingle bells all the way." I gave them three choices: "Bells" as a noun of direct address; "bells" as a direct object; or "bells" as the subject in inverted order.

One of my students said, "No, the whole sentence is "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way." From which it became clear that "jingle bells" is a phrasal noun and that the second occurrence is an appositive of the subject.

Obvioiusly I complimented him heartily.
 

Frank Antonson

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
An update on "the games".

I find myself thinking of the following sentence: "You can lead a kid to syntax, but you can't him think."

We'll find out tomorrow. Today it's relative pronouns and adjective clauses, and tomorrow it's the "final". Objective complements are the only parts of sentences that I have not covered.

Wish me (and my students) luck!
 

Frank Antonson

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Well, the "final" is behind us. My students did okay on it, I think. I am wondering if I might be able to post that final on this site as evidence of how rapidly I took my students through syntax. (I, like others of my age, am not that good with computers).

Anyway, what was probably more interesting than the day of the "final" was the day after that test when several students chose to pass up the chance to go to a Christmas dance in order to stay with me to compete at diagramming sentences.

The competition was intense. There were no injuries, but some very frazzled nerves. The funniest moment for me was when, just before a bout was to begin, Santa appeared at the door (a fellow teacher dressed up as Santa). Of course that caused quite a stir, but then I had to tell Santa that he needed to move out of the field of play because he might get hurt. Then I blew the whistle and Santa made an exit, as gracefully as he could.
 

Abstract Idea

Key Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Portuguese
Home Country
Brazil
Current Location
United States
Congratulations for the good work done Frank Antonson.
We are looking forward to see the final here.
 

Frank Antonson

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Test on Morphology and Syntax​
1) For three points give an example of a noun that is phrasal, concrete, and proper – e.g. Bedford Middle School.
2) For two points write and spell correctly the noun “book” in the singular possessive form.
3) Some action verbs can take a direct object. What are the other action verbs called?
4) “Am, are, is, was, were, be, being, and been” are all forms of what verb? Name it by starting with the word “to”.
5) For six points, give the third person, singular, masculine pronoun with the past tense, progressive form of the verb “to think”.
6) Give an example of a helping verb.
7) Give the comparative degree of the adjective “good”.
8) What is the inflection (or suffix) that can be put on an adjective to produce a derivative adverb?
9) Give four interrogative adverbs.
10) In the sentence “He fell down the hole” is “down” a preposition or an adverb?
11) Give an example of a coordinating conjunction.
12) Give an example of a subordinating conjunction.
13) What do you call the noun or nouns that a pronoun replaces?
14) Give an example of a personal pronoun other than “I” or “them”.
15) Give an example of a reflexive pronoun other than “myself”.
16) In the sentence “I myself did the work” is the pronoun “myself” reflexive or intensive?
17) In the following sentence “I did these things” is the word “these” a demonstrative pronoun or a demonstrative adjective?
18) Give an example of an indefinite pronoun other than “all” or “them”.
19) If a group of words has a subject and a predicate, it is called a what?
20) Simple predicates are always and only what part of speech?
21) What part of a sentence receives the action from a transitive verb?
22) For two points, what two parts of sentences follow linking verbs? (They are both subject complements.)
23) What parts of sentences begin with prepositions and end with the object of a preposition?
24) What parts of sentences begin with the word “to” which is followed by a verb?
25) If a verb ends with an “-ing”, it might be a participle if it is modifying something; but it WILL be a what if it is NAMING an activity, as in “I like diagramming sentences.”
26) If a part of a sentence is DUPLICATING some part, as in “I, Mr. Antonson, am giving this test” where “Mr. Antonson” duplicates the subject, what is it called?
27) Adverb clauses are introduced with what kind of conjunctions?
28) What function word often introduces a noun clause and could be put into this sentence, “I know I am right”, without changing its meaning?
29) What kind of a pronoun connects an adjective clause to its antecedent in a main clause?
The following questions are about this sentence: “Santa Claus will arrive with many presents which are for little children”
30) What is the prepositional phrase in the main clause?
31) What is the relative pronoun in the adjective clause?
32) What sentence part is that relative pronoun within the adjective clause?
33) What is the antecedent of that relative pronoun?
 

Frank Antonson

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
In #18, "them" should read "else".
Many questions, this one included, are intended to lead the students to parts of a chart that I supplied to them.
I allowed the students to use their class notes. During the teaching of this material, I gave no homework and did not require the students to memorize anything. In most cases of the parts of sentences, they only saw one example.
A copy of one class's set of notes can be found in the linguistics and syntax chapters of a set of notes that two of my students put online.
That can be found at
Home - Notes for Humanities/Language

The story of the CSD (Competitive Sentence Diagramming) that occurred the day of the test will require another posting.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top