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Tackling Syntax

Tackling Syntax. Developing Skills for READERS & WRITERS. Robby Davis Lee County High School Leesburg, Georgia rdavis65@bellsouth.net. SYNTAX. It’s a scary damn word! Yet we must gird our loins and sally forth to battle!. The difficulties we face:.

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Tackling Syntax

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  1. Tackling Syntax Developing Skills for READERS & WRITERS

  2. Robby Davis Lee County High School Leesburg, Georgia rdavis65@bellsouth.net

  3. SYNTAX It’s a scary damn word! Yet we must gird our loins and sally forth to battle!

  4. The difficulties we face: Close reading skills—Students don’t / won’t / can’t read closely. Limited reading experience—Students don’t know the texture of good writing. Vocabulary—Students lack vocabulary to describe what they see and hear in what they do read. Limited revision experience—Students don’t really know what their choices are. Lots of teachers don’t teach those choices.

  5. We are teaching . . . Readers & Writers

  6. We are teaching . . . Readers to analyze & Writers to utilize

  7. Good Readers ask: What choices did the writer make? What are the intended effects of those choices?

  8. Good Writers ask: What choices do I have? What are the probable effects of those choices?

  9. Reader Learns to recognize what he sees Choices & Effects Writer Learns to utilize what he sees

  10. Thankfully, there are ONLY 3 Considerations for both Reader and Writer: • Structure • Diction • Syntax "Simplify, simplify, simplify." "Simplify, simplify, simplify."

  11. “The best words in the best order.” Coleridge

  12. As teachers of college-bound students, we know that . . . Skilled readers must be able to contend with complex sentence structures.

  13. As teachers of college-bound students, we know that . . . Effective writers must be able to create complex sentence structures effectively.

  14. We’re going to explore . . . Instructional strategies and exercises that you can reshape to meet the ability level and needs of your students—as well as the requirements of your curriculum.

  15. Initial activities and discussions • to establish or remind students of the vocabulary of syntax • to draw students in to the close reading of sentences

  16. Begin with some sentences they know but have never read. The Pledge of Allegiance ? • How many sentences? • What does the sentence(s) consist of? • How is it (are they) punctuated?

  17. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

  18. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

  19. Give them sentences to play with . . .

  20. Play with sentences . . . • Take those DOL concept to the next level: revision. Play with sentences, as well as correct them. • Play with sentences from the texts they’re reading. • Play with sentences that students write. • Play with analysis & revision.

  21. The Shadow Exercise! Recalling what we know of the language of syntax.

  22. I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me and what can be the use of him is more than I can see.

  23. I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me and what can be the use of him is more than I can see. , Question 1 This sentence may be hard to read because one comma has been left out. Where would you put a comma to break up the sentence into two main parts?

  24. I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, and what can be the use of him is more than I can see. Question 2 What kind of sentence is this? a. simple b. compound c. complex d. compound complex

  25. I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, and what can be the use of him is more than I can see. Question 5 What is “and”? a coordinating conjunction a relative pronoun a subordinating conjunction d. a preposition modifying “what”

  26. I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, and what can be the use of him is more than I can see. Question 12 What is the subject of the first subordinate clause?

  27. I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, and what can be the use of him is more than I can see. Question 16 What is the verb of the second independent clause?

  28. I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, and what can be the use of him is more than I can see. Question 18 What are “in” and “out”? prepositions b. adverbs c. objects of goes d. adjectives modifying “with me”

  29. I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, and what can be the use of him is more than I can see. PART II, Item 4 Start with “Do you have”

  30. I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, and what can be the use of him is more than I can see. Do you have a little shadow that goes in and out with you, and is what can be the use of him more than you can see?

  31. Creating MC Items: • SENTENCE: Coming to the city as a young man, he found a job as a newspaper reporter. • DIRECTIONS: Change Coming to He came. a. and so he found b. and found c. and there he found d. and then finding e. and had found

  32. MC Items: He came to the city as a young man and found a job as a newspaper reporter. a. and so he found b. and found c. and there he found d. and then finding e. and had found

  33. Play with sentences . . . Don’t merely correct them!

  34. Now, let’s talk about . . . where English sentences come from! S-V-C

  35. S-V-C: It’s the framework for our ideas! the woman read a novel the cat slept the milk is in the refrigerator the road is long the thief seemed remorseful

  36. The SVC StructureRecognizing the 10 Patterns • I. NP “be” ADV The students are upstairs. • II. NP “be” ADJ (subject complement) The students are smart. • III. NP1 “be” NP1 The students are scholars. • IV. NP V-linking ADJ (subject complement) The students seem smart. • V. NP1 V-linking NP1 The students became scholars.

  37. The SVC StructureRecognizing the 10 Patterns • VI. NP V-intransitive The students slept. • VII. NP1 V-transitive NP2 (direct object) The students read their books. • VIII. NP1 V-transitive NP2 (i. o.) NP3 (d. o.) The students gave their teacher a gift. • IX. NP1 V-transitive NP2 (d. o.) ADJ (ob. comp.) The students consider the teacher mean. • X. NP1 V-transitive NP2 (d. o.) NP2 (ob. comp.) The students consider the teacher a monster.

  38. The SVC StructureRecognizing the 10 Patterns Exercise—Identify the Pattern • The teacher made the test hard. • The batter hit the ball hard. 1. IX. NP1 V-transitive NP2 (d. o.) ADJ (ob. comp.) 2. VII. NP1 V-transitive NP2 (direct object)

  39. The SVC StructureRecognizing the 10 Patterns Exercise—Identify the Pattern • The cook tasted the soup. • The soup tasted good. 1. VII. NP1 V-transitive NP2 (direct object) 2. IV. NP V-linking ADJ (sub. complement)

  40. The SVC StructureRecognizing the 10 Patterns Exercise—Identify the Pattern • My husband made me a chocolate cake. • My husband made me a happy woman. 1. VIII. NP1 V-transitive NP2 (i. o.) NP3 (d. o.) 2. X. NP1 V-transitive NP2 (d. o.) NP2 (ob. comp.)

  41. The SVC StructureRecognizing the 10 Patterns Exercise—Identify the Pattern • We set off through the woods at dawn. • We set off the fireworks at dawn. 1. VI. NP V-intransitive 2. VII. NP1 V-transitive NP2 (direct object)

  42. Every idea begins as a S-V-C structure! the woman read a novel the cat slept the milk is in the refrigerator the road is long the thief seemed remorseful

  43. But we can do magic!

  44. We can transform S-V-C!

  45. the woman read a novel While the woman read a novel . . . the cat slept The cat that slept. . . the milk is in the refrigerator The milk in the refrigerator . . . the road is long The long road . . . the thief seemed remorseful Seeming remorseful, the thief . . .

  46. Knowing about transformations allows the reader to recognize them when she see them.Knowing about transformationsallows the writer to build more mature and effective sentences.

  47. Let’s look at the handouts.

  48. For example—Participles Samples for PARTICIPLES in handout: • Introduction: A participle is a form of a verb that acts as an adjective. • Present Participles are constructed by adding ing to a base verb. shake becomes shaking • Past Participles are typically constructed by adding d or ed, but sometimes irregular verbs require endings such as n or en. Some verbs require individual forms. disturb becomes disturbed, throw becomes thrown, sing becomes sung

  49. Transforming w/ Participles • Models to Consider and Discuss: The old heavyweight proved an easy knockout victim. He was dazed. He was reeling. ▼ Dazed and reeling, the old heavyweight proved an easy knockout victim. or The old heavyweight, dazed by a series of hard punches to his body and reeling from a powerful jab to his head, proved an easy knockout victim.

  50. Transforming w/ Participles • Participial phrases can animate a sentence with movement: Possums employ a whole range of responses to defend themselves from an enemy, baring their teeth, hissing like and angry cat, clambering up a tall tree, or, as a last resort, falling into a comatose state, body limp and eyes open. • Participial Phrase can suggest relationships: Disillusioned by the American public’s negative perception of the war, some Vietnam vets suffered severe mental problems when they returned to civilian life.

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