Download verbs. - Amy Benjamin

Grammar Instruction to Improve
Writing
• Why?
• What?
• How?
Presented by Amy Benjamin
Engaging Grammar: Practical Advice for
Real Classrooms (NCTE, 2007)
I
teaching grammar.
“I’m not sure I’m right.”
I never learned
this.
Takes away from
real writing instruction
“Not interesting. Not fun.”
“Doesn’t transfer.
Doesn’t stick.”
“Rigid.”
“Too negative.
It’s like math.
1. Grammar is a system of making sentences out of parts.
The parts have to match (agree):
Number (singular or plural)
Gender (masculine, feminine, neutral)
Case (subjective, objective, possessive)
Tense (past, present, future)
2. Writers and speakers place the parts in a certain order
and that order affects the impact of the message.
3. The two main parts of language are nouns and verbs.
Everything else either modifies nouns or verbs or joins words,
phrases, and clauses.
What should the study of grammar accomplish?
1. Better communication between teachers and students
about language
2. Understanding the rhetorical effects of grammatical choices:
What can a sentence do?
How can I be in control of my sentences?
The Basics I
Phrase Group of words, either noun + modifiers or
verb + modifiers; not both
Clause
Noun + verb (plus their modifiers)
Sentence Clause that can stand alone
The Basics II
Noun:
I can put “the” in front of it (and it makes sense)
It will answer this question: What?
Noun Phrase: A noun + its modifiers
•
the big bad wolf
•
the big bad wolf with the green hat
•
the big bad wolf with the green hat that we
saw jaywalking across 52nd Street
Adjective:
I can fit it into the frame “The _______ truck(s).”
It will answer any of these questions:
Which one? What kind? How many?
The Basics III
Verb:
I can put “he” in front of it. or
I can put “must” in front of it.
The word that changes when I say “yesterday”
or “right now” is the verb.
Verb Phrase: A verb + its auxiliaries
see
have seen
will be seeing, should have seen, etc.
Adverb:
It will answer any of these questions:
Where? When? Why? In what manner?
To what extent?
Declarative
Interrogative
Can you put
It is true that….
in front of it?
Exclamatory
Does the group of words tell you
Who or what? and
What about it?
Imperative
Complete
Sentence
Can you turn it into
a yes/no question?
Can you
add a “Stick-on” question?
The bicycle as a metaphor for what makes a complete sentence:
Subject Wheel tells:
Who or what?
From An Easy Guide to Writing by Pamela Dykstra (McGraw Hill)
You can find the complete PPT for this metaphor at:
http://www.ateg.org/grammar/tips/bike.ppt
Predicate Wheel tells:
What about it?
Prepositional Phrases
How can we teach them?
Why should we teach them?
Why learn to identify prepositional
phrases?
Vary sentence structure
Develop time and place dimension
Punctuate introductory elements
Eliminate redundancy
Achieve subject-verb agreement
Create parallel structure
lovely
the
princess
the lovelythe
princess
of princess
Romania
When
the frog
the lazy
frog
the laziest frog in the bayou
kissed
,
he turned into
a handsome
prince.
a charming,
handsome
prince
a charming, handsome prince who had no
outstanding debts.
Noun phrase expansion
standing over the
fish bowl
the
pink
adventurous
adventurous
pink
IT
in the kitchen
Use of Modifiers
• Why should we teach modifiers?
• How should we teach modifiers?
EXPANSION OPPORTUNITY
SUBJECT
VERB
Her mother seemed
SUBJECT COMPLEMENT
to know the truth.
EXPANSION OPPORTUNITY
SUBJECT
VERB
Her mother seemed
SUBJECT COMPLEMENT
to know the truth..
,although Hatsue didn’t know it,
Subordinate Clause
EXPANSION OPPORTUNITY
SUBJECT
VERB
SUBJECT COMPLEMENT
Her mother seemed
to know the truth..
,dark with rage,
Adjective + Prepositional Phrase
EXPANSION OPPORTUNITY
SUBJECT
VERB
SUBJECT COMPLEMENT
Her mother seemed
to know the truth..
,shrinking with age,
Adjective (Participle) + Prepositional Phrase
EXPANSION OPPORTUNITY
SUBJECT
VERB
Her mother seemed
SUBJECT COMPLEMENT
to know the truth..
,a traditional and stoic woman,
Appositive (additional noun information)
EXPANSION OPPORTUNITY
SUBJECT
Their marriage
VERB
SUBJECT COMPLEMENT
had <largely> been
,she understood after Carl was gone,
about sex.
Verbs
• Why should we teach them?
• How should we teach them?
Welcome to Verb Land, USA
Why Teach Verbs?
Strong verbs energize writing.
Writers must decide on a consistent
verb tense.
3. Writers must decide whether to use
active or passive voice.
4. Errors in verb usage are highly
stigmatized: Incorrect form of irregular verbs
(*I seen,
*brung, *have went, *have sang, etc.)
5. Whether we have an action verb or a BE verb
determines pronoun case use and adjective/adverb use.
Base form: walk, sing
Progressive form: walking, singing
Past form: walked, sang
Participial form: (have) walked, (have sung)
Verb Land, USA
Active Voice: I stole the cookie
from the cookie jar.
Passive Voice: The cookie was
stolen from the cookie jar by me.
(BE + Participial form= passive voice)
TO BE:
I am,was We are,were
You are
;were
He, she, it is They are,were
Sense Verbs:
Verbals:
feel, look, sound
smell, taste
1. Participle: (acts as adjective)
ACTION TOWN
ACTION verbs are modified by
adverbs:She sings happily.
the dancing bear;
the stolen cookie
2. Infinitive: (acts as noun, adj. or adv.)
Let us never fear to negotiate.
The law to reduce noise has passed.
We went to London to see the queen.
3. Gerund: (Acts as noun)
Teaching makes me happy.
ACTION verbs take objective case pronouns as objects:
We saw him steal the cookie from the cookie jar.
Auxiliaries:
Modal Auxiliaries:
Would Will
Have: creates
the perfect tenses Should Shall
Could
May
(has sung, etc.)
Can
Might
Be: creates the
Must
progressive tenses
(am singing, etc.)
Auxiliaries and
modal auxiliaries
combine with action
verbs to create various
tenses.
Also: seem,
become, appear
grow
BE TOWN
BE verbs are completed by
adjectives: He is happy.
BE verbs take subjective case
pronouns as complements:
It was I who stole the cookie from
the cookie jar.