1. Seeing Grammar with New Eyes
Amy Benjamin
Eastport-South Manor Central School District
January 13, 2011
Please feel free to access any of today’s visuals:

2. Seeing Grammar with New Eyes
Amy Benjamin
Eastport-South Manor Central School District
January 13, 2011
Please feel free to access any of today’s visuals:

3. Seeing Grammar with New Eyes
Session I :
Introduction: Shifting the paradigm
Alternatives to traditional instruction on the parts of sp
Alternatives to traditional instruction on sentence completeness
Understanding code-switching from informal to formal language
register
Quick fix on pronoun atrocities
AVEM (a very effective metaphor)
Session II Agenda:
How we can teach students to achieve a better
sentence style:
Compound and complex sentences
Adjective and adverb phrases and clauses
Parallel structure
Other grammatical embellishments, combinations, utilities

4. I teaching grammar. I never “really” learned it.
Shouldn’t they already
have had this in the
lower grades?
Do kids really have to learn
all these terms?
I loved it! I thought
diagramming sentences
was fun!
There’s no interesting
way to teach grammar.
It’s just drill and workbook. M 4

7. All languages leak! Some “leaks” of English:
Various irregularities, exceptions, puzzlements
The irregular verbs are the most common
The most common verb is the most irregular: BE
(is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been)
Although –s signifies a plural noun, -s (sounded –z) signifies third person
singular verb Ex: dances, bears, leads, hands, heads, arms, etc.
We use “they” as singular generic pronoun
We use “do” to make questions (for no logical reason)
Saw you the king, my lord?
Think you to be my master?
Have you any fours?

8. Descriptivists Prescriptivists

9. Students struggle with going from speech
to writing, and then from informal
to formal style.

10. Seeing Grammar With New Eyes
Visuals
Manipulatives
Role-Play
Problem-solving
Wordplay
Inquiry
Respect for Language Change and Variation
Inductive Reasoning
High Level of Student Engagement

11. Basic information about parts of
speech and what we can do with
this information

12. 8 Parts of Speech:
Noun : Person, place, or
thing
Verb: Expresses action or
state of being
Adjective: Modifies a noun
Adverb: Modifies a verb,
adjective, or other
adverb
Pronoun: replaces a noun
Preposition: Expresses the
relationship between
a noun or pronoun
and another part of
the sentence
Conjunction: joiner
Interjection: expresses strong
emotion

13. More Accurate, Accessible Description of the English Language
Form Class Words:
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Structure Class Words:
Preposition
Pronoun
Conjunction
Interjection
Intensifier:(Answering: To what extent?)
ex: too, very, really…
Determiner (Answering: Which one?)
ex: a, an, the; these, that…
Quantifiers: (Answering: How many?)
Etc.

14. Parts of Speech: Fast and Furious
Part of Sp.:
Examples:
Quick Definition:
Hint:
monkey, river,
America. prize
Person, place,
thing
Noun
The______
eat, wish, is,
find, cry
He______ or
He is______ing.
Verb
Action or state
The _______truck
dangerous, big,
green, curly
Describes a noun
Adjective
He joined the
team______.
usually, slowly,
clearly, eventually
sometimes, now.
Describes a verb
Adverb
Somewhere _____
the rainbow
Preposition
in, on, at, for, with
Shows position

15. Noun: Owner’s Manual
Congratulations on your wise purchase of a NOUN. Your NOUN may be used to fit into the following frame:
The____________.
Your NOUN is used to name people, places, things, ideas, qualities, states of mind, and all kinds of other things that need naming.
Your NOUN may be easily converted into an adjective. All you have to do is put another NOUN after it and have it make sense. (COW pasture, for example).
Your NOUN may be the kind of NOUN that can be made plural. Only NOUNS may be made plural.
Your NOUN may be able to be made possessive by adding ‘s. Only NOUNS may be made possessive. When you make your NOUN possessive, it becomes an adjective.
You may add all kinds of modifiers before and after your NOUN. You may replace your NOUN along with its modifiers with a pronoun.
Feel free to use your NOUN as a subject, direct object, indirect object, object complement, object of a preposition, appositive, or predicate noun
Your noun may be called a nominal when we consider it together with its modifiers.

16. My Noun Palette Proper Nouns: Concrete Nouns: Abstract Nouns:
-tion,-sion,-ism,-ence, -ance,
-ness, -ment, -itude

17. Adjective: Owner’s Manual
Congratulations on your wise purchase of an ADJECTIVE. Your ADJECTIVE may be used to fit into the following frame:
The______________truck. Or The truck was very_________.
Your ADJECTIVE likes to answer the question What kind?
If your ADJECTIVE doesn’t fit into either of these frames, maybe it is the kind of ADJECTIVE that answers the questions Which one? or How many?
Your ADJECTIVE may be capable of using the suffixes –er in the comparative form and –est in the superlative form. (If your ADJECTIVE doesn’t like these suffixes, just use more and most to accomplish comparison or superiority.)
Your ADJECTIVE reports to your NOUN, and your NOUN can easily become an ADJECTIVE to another NOUN.
Often, groups of words decide to get together and do ADJECTIVE-like work. We call such groups of words ADJECTIVALS, and they may be phrases or clauses that operate just like ADJECTIVES, answering those questions that ADJECTIVES answer.

18. Verb: Owner’s Manual
Congratulations on your wise purchase of a VERB. Your VERB may be used to fit into the following frame:
To______________.
Your VERB is the part of the sentence that is capable of turning the sentence into a negative. It is also the part of the sentence that changes when you add yesterday or right now. (If your sentence does not change when you add yesterday to it, then your sentence is in the past tense. If your sentence does not change when you add right now to it, then it is in the present tense.)
Your VERB may be an action verb or a linking verb. Action verbs may take direct objects and are modified by adverbs. Linking verbs take predicate nouns and predicate adjectives. You can easily find a list of linking verbs.
Your VERB may take auxiliaries (forms of have, be) and modal auxiliaries (could, should, would, can, will, shall, may, might, must).
Your VERB sometimes uses a form of the word do to create a sentence, to emphasize, to negate, or to stand in for itself, as in: Do you think so? Yes, I do.

19. Adverb: Owner’s Manual
Congratulations on your wise purchase of an ADVERB. Your adverb may be used to tell where, when, or how.
Adverbs that tell where may be replaced by the word there: We drove south for two miles. (We drove there for two miles.)
Adverbs that tell when may be replaced by the word then: We ate lunch late.
(We ate lunch then.)
Adverbs that tell how often end in –ly and may be replaced by the words like this: He joined the team eagerly. (He joined the team like this.)
You may move your adverbs around in the sentence. If you do, you’ll want to
set them off with commas.
Often, groups of words decide to get together to do ADVERB-like work, and when they do, we call these groups of words ADVERBIALS. ADVERBIALS may be phrases or clauses that do the work that adverbs do.

20. Morphology Chart NOUNS: VERBS: ADJECTIVES: ADVERBS:
They will fit into this frame: The_____.
VERBS:
They will fit into this frame: To____ or
Can____or
Is____
ADJECTIVES:
They will fit into this frame:
The ________truck
ADVERBS:
They will fit into this frame:
Do it ___________.
Nouns answer the question: What? or Who?
Verbs answer the question: What is it doing, having, feeling, or being?
Adjectives answer the question: What kind? (They may also answer the questions Which one? and
How many? but those kinds of adjectives do not fit into
the frame of The______truck.
Adverbs answer any of these questions: Where? When? Why? To what extent? How?

21. Morphology Kit -ment -ness -ation, sion -ity -ism -hood -itude -ence
This “Morphology Kit”
is a great way to
expand vocabulary
because most
of the words
created by
these suffixes
express abstract
ideas.
Morphology Kit
Noun-Making Suffixes
Verb-Making Suffixes
Adjective-making suffixes
-ment
-ness
-ation, sion
-ity
-ism
-hood
-itude
-ence
-ance
-ide
-ate
-ify
-ize
-acious,icious -y
-ous, ious
-ant
-able, ible
-er; est
Adverb-making suffix:
-ly 5

22. The Language Tree
Adjective Branches:
very___________
Noun Branches:
Verb Branches:
very___________
very___________
can___________
the______________
very___________
can___________
can___________
very___________
the______________
the______________
can___________
can___________
the______________
can___________
the______________
the______________
Prepositional Phrase Branches:
in________________
on________________
at_______________
for________________
with________________
Topic: ______________________________

23. Prepositions

24. Six Reasons for Teaching Prepositions:
1. Prepositions add time and place detail to sentences
2. Students can vary their sentence structure and set the stage for
a sentence by beginning some sentences with prepositions.
3. Students can add power to their writing by ending paragraphs with a
prepositional phrase. (Conversely: Students can avoid ending sentences
with prepositions so that their sentences are not weak or too informal.)
4. Students can avoid subject-verb agreement errors by recognizing
prepositional phrases that intervene between the subject and the verb, as in
“A box of matches (is, are) on the kitchen table.”
5. Students can create parallel structure by repeating prepositional phrases
deliberately.
6. Students can select the appropriate pronoun case as the object of
a preposition. (between you and me; for Joe and me)

25. Writing Complete Sentences!!!

26. Now Entering the Complete Sentence Zone: The “Guess What!” test
How it works: Say “Guess What!” in front of
a group of words. If the group of words
tells you “guess what!” then
you have a complete sentence!
Other tests:
They believed that….
Can you turn it into a yes/no question? 26

27. Phrase, Clause, Sentence
A phrase is two or more words that go
together (without being a sentence). There
are noun phrases and verb phrases. Once
we have both a noun and a verb, then
we have a clause.
A clause is a group of words that
may or may not be a complete
sentence. If a clause can stand alone as
a sentence, then we call it
an independent clause. (If a clause
cannot stand alone as a sentence,
then we call it a subordinate clause.

28. Use worthwhile literature to practice finding phrases and clauses:
from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Monday morning found Tom Sawyer miserable. Monday morning always
found him so, because it began another week’s slow suffering in school. He
generally began that day with wishing he had no intervening holiday; it made
the going into captivity and fetters again so much more odious.
Tom lay thinking. Presently it occurred to him that he wished he was sick;
then he could stay home from school. Here was a vague possibility. He
canvassed his system. No ailment was found, and he investigated again. This
time he thought he could detect colicky symptoms, and he began to encourage
them with considerable hope. But they soon grew feeble and presently died
wholly away. He reflected further. Suddenly he discovered something. One of
his upper front teeth was loose. This was lucky.

29. Using the appropriate
language register
Informal tone
Formal tone

30. Formal
Informal

31. Informal and Formal briefcase backpack dress shoes flip-flops
Handout: Page 11
Informal and Formal
briefcase
dress shoes
sit-down restaurant
football on the team
lunch
cooking, baking, roasting
backpack
flip-flops
McDonald’s
frisbee on the
lawn
snack
zapping/nuking

32. Informal and Formal English
Set your dial to the level of
formality that is appropriate
for your audience and purpose.

33. Using the right pronoun!!!

34. Objective Team Subjective Team I me us we you you you you he, she, it
1st Person:
you
you
you
you
2nd Person:
he, she, it
they
them
him,
her, it
3rd Person:
whom
who

35. As Mom and I walked homewardly, A puppy followed her and me.
A Pronoun Poem
As Mom and I walked homewardly,
A puppy followed her and me.
Both she and I were quick to see
He had adopted Mom and me.
At home we showed him where to pee
And where the doggy bed would be.
Then Mom and I made lunch for three,
A feast for him and Mom and me.
from Woe is I Jr: The Younger Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English. by Patricia T. O’Connor and Tom Stiglich.

36. A Pronoun Poem, Analyzed
subject
A Pronoun Poem, Analyzed
As Mom and I walked homewardly,
A puppy followed her and me.
Both she and I were quick to see
He had adopted Mom and me.
At home we showed him where to pee
And where the doggy bed would be.
Then Mom and I made lunch for three,
A feast for him and Mom and me.
Direct Object
subjects
Object of
adopted
subject
Objects of
The preposition
for

37. Binary concepts: formal/informal clause + clause
subject/predicate preposition + object
adjective + noun subjective case + objective case
adverb + verb

38. I.
II.
Cesar Chavez helped the farm workers.
He advocated for them. He did not
encourage violence. He led a boycott instead of violence. The boycott was an
effective method of resistance. (30)
Cesar Chavez helped the farm workers, and he advocated for them. He did not
encourage violence. He led a boycott instead of violence, and the boycott was an effective method of resistance. (32)
III.
Cesar Chavez, advocate for farm
workers, helped them not by
encouraging violence, but by leading
a boycott, an effective
method of resistance. (22)
Cesar Chavez, advocate for farm
workers, helped them not by
encouraging violence, but by leading
a boycott. The boycott was an effective
method of resistance. (25)
Grammar is the most significant
determiner of sophisticated style.

39. GRAMMAR IN THE HEART OF THE WRITING PROCESS:
Sharpen your nouns
Minimize your modifiers
Replace BE verbs and weak verbs with strong
action verbs
Achieve parallel structure
Combine sentences: create complex sentences
use appositives
use absolutes
Expand and shrink noun phrases. Turn clauses
into modifying phrases. Decide where
to place modifiers for desired effect.
Point of
intervention for
substantial language
improvement
Pre-writing
experience:
(non-sentence
form)
Drafting
Revising
Editing
Publication
Point of
intervention
for surface
error correction

40. An all-purpose sentence-making kit

41. The Sentence-Making Kit
Fold a 5 x 8 index card in half, width-wise:
They
believed
that…
Guess
What!
Yes/no
question 2. 1. 3.

42. The Sentence-Making Kit
On the inside of the card:
AAAWWUBBIS:
although, as, after
while, when
until
because, before
if, since
If a sentence begins
with any of these words,
it must have two parts.
Place a comma between
the two parts if one of
these words begins
the sentence.
These words, plus the comma, may join
two sentences. Writers sometimes begin
sentences with these words if they are
doing so for emphasis.
,and
,but
,so
Use as many
ACTION VERBS as possible.
Flip the switch into formal English:
a lot = a great many or a great deal
gonna= going to
wanna= want to
hafta= have to
get,got = become, became, receive
received, obtain, obtained
gotta: must
These words will help you
give detail in your sentences:
Try beginning some of your
sentences with these words:
Use words and groups of words that
answer the ADVERB QUESTIONS:
When? Where? Why? How?
To what extent? How often?
IN FOR
ON WITH AT

43. The Sentence-Making Kit
On the back of the card:
Substitutions for homophones and spelling problems:
their = his
there = here
they’re = they are
your = his
you’re = you are
its = his
it’s = it is; it has
woman = man
women = men
I before E except after C
Or when sounded as A
As in neighbor or sleigh

44. Joining ideas!!

45. Common Hitching Devices
Coordinating
Conjunctiions
Subordinating
Conjunctions
Conjunctive Adverbs
Relative Pronouns
As, although, after
While, when
Until
Because, before If
AAAWWUBBI
However
Moreover
Therefore
Furthermore
That
Which
Who, whom
What
Where
Why
How
Whichever
Whatever, etc.
And
But So
Or/nor
Can join clauses
Warning: Many
sentence fragments
begin with these
words. Usually, you
must hitch these
words and the clauses
that they introduce to
your previous sentence.
Can join two
independent
clauses to make
a compound
sentence.
Warning: You
must use a comma
with these when
they join
independent clauses.
Can hitch up to an
independent clause,
creating a subordinate
(dependent) clause,
forming
complex sentence.
Can appear after
main clause (no comma)
or before main clause
(needs a comma)
Can move within
own clause;
Requires commas
on both sides
Warning: If you
wish to use these
to join clauses, you
must use a semicolon.