Download Mentor Text for Sentence Fluency - Answer Key

Mentor Text for Sentence Fluency
Excerpt from The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey
Prepositional Phrase(s) Adjective(s)
Author’s Intentional Misuse of Language
Adverbs/Adv. Clause
Subordinate Clause
S = Subject, V=Verb, Verb Phrase, D.O. = Direct Object, P.A. = Predicate Adjective, P.N. = Predicate
Nominative, I.O. = Indirect Object, Conj. = Conjunction
1. Five little puppies dug a hole under the fence and went for a walk in the wide, wide world. (Simple)
Subject V
D.O.
Conj. V
2. Through the meadow they went, down the road, over the bridge, across the green grass, and up the
Subj. V
Conj.
hill, one right after the other. (Simple)
3. And when they got to the top of the hill, they counted themselves: one, two, three, four. (Complex)
Adverb S V (Adverb Clause)
S
V
Predicate Adj.
4. One little puppy wasn’t there. (Simple)
5. “Now where in the world is that poky little puppy?” they wondered. (Complex)
6. For he certainly wasn’t on top of the hill. (Simple) Technically this would be a fragment and not a
complete sentence because “for” creates a prepositional phrase that creates no subject, or “for” is
introducing a subordinate clause that cannot stand alone with no independent clause. I chose to think
this is another example of the author intentionally misusing the language, so as he did with “and” and
“but”, he does also with “for”.
7. He wasn’t going down the other side. (Simple)
8. The only thing they could see going down the other side was a fuzzy caterpillar. (Complex)
Rewritten: The only thing that they could see going down the hill was a fuzzy caterpillar.
S
Created by Mrs. Mallery
Subordinate Clause
Linking V
Predicate Adj.
9. He wasn’t coming up this side. (Simple)
10. The only thing they could see coming up was a quick green lizard. (Complex)
11. But when they looked down at the grassy place near the bottom of the hill, there he was, running
Adv. S
V
Adv.
Adv. S Verb Phrase
Adverb Clause
Independent Clause
round and round, [with] his nose to the ground. (Complex)
Adverbs
*In number 11, I inserted the understood preposition “with” to help make it easier to understand. In
the verb “was running”, the comma could be considered intentionally making the reader pause there for
style, or it could be that the sentence should read there “he was there, running round and round”.
Where “round” is meaning around. It would not change the type of sentence.
12. “What is he doing?” the four little puppies asked one another. (Complex)
13. And down they went to see, roly-poly, pell-mell, tumble-bumble, till they came to the green grass;
Adv.
S
V
Infinitive Phrase
until, Adv. S
V
and * there they stopped short. (Compound-Complex)
Adv.
S
V
Adv.
* ; = conjunction and a comma, so the “and” after is intentional by the author.
14. “What in the world are you doing?” they asked. (Complex)
15. “I smell something!” said the poky little puppy. (Complex)
16. Then the four little puppies began to sniff, and they smelled it, too. (Compound)
17. “Rice pudding!” they said. (Complex)
Created by Mrs. Mallery
18. And home they went, as fast as they could go, over the bridge, up the road, through the meadow,
and under the fence. (Complex)
19. And there, sure enough, was dinner waiting for them, with rice pudding for dessert. (Simple)
The author intentionally misuses the word “and” to start the sentence, and we have inverted
sentence structure. Inverted sentence structure means the sentence is not in traditional order of
subject, verb, and direct object, etc.. Sure enough is an idiom meaning sure or genuinely. It can be used
as an adjective or adverb. HV = Helping Verbs
Rewritten in correct order without intentional error:
Dinner was there sure enough waiting for them with rice pudding for dessert.
S
HV
Adv.
Adv.
V
20. But their mother was displeased. (Simple)
S
Verb Phrase
21. “So you’re the little puppies who dig holes under fences!” she said. “No rice pudding tonight!”
(Compound-Complex)
22. And she made them go straight to bed. (Simple)
23. But the poky little puppy came home after everyone was sound asleep. (Complex)
24. He ate all the rice pudding and crawled into bed as happy as a lark. (Simple)
Created by Mrs. Mallery
Created by Mrs. Mallery