Re: grammar tricks

[Latisha LaRue <kfischer@keller.clarke.edu>]

Stuart, I like this.  I also like what a student in a h.s. grammar class
responded with to a lesson on prepositions.  He sat in the back of the
room, head shaved in honor of the "big game" he'd play the upcoming
Friday.  He'd hardly said a word all semester.  After stringing the list
of prepositions out with students, he raised his hand and announced, "Hey,
Teach!  I get it!  'Above, beyond, over, under, through, -- all things a
squirrel can do!"  Call me nuts, but I think his "take" on this works with
students.
		Katie Fischer

On Wed, 20 Nov 1996, Stuart Blythe wrote:

> Hi Kate:
> 
> Here's a trick for teaching grammar that I have used for identifying 
> prepositions.  I give students the following sentences:
> 
> 	The plane flew ____ the clouds.
> 
> 	She set the box ____ the table.
> 
> 	She arrived ____ her roommate.
> 
> I'm not sure if it's fail safe, but I tell students that most any word 
> they can meaningfully insert into those sentences would be a 
> preposition.  (This ignores a preposition such as "of," but it helps 
> generate a long list for students.)  
> 
> I didn't think I'd use such a trick too often, but I found myself using 
> it today when my senior-level technical writing students were asking what 
> a preposition was.
> 
> Stuart Blythe
> blythes@cc.purdue.edu
> http://owl.english.purdue.edu/blythe.html
> 
> 
> On Wed, 20 Nov 1996, Kate Nicole Ranft wrote:
> 
> > 
> > 
> > Dear Friends:
> > 
> > Recently, I told a large group of teachers that I knew a lot of tricks 
> > for teaching grammar.  Now, for my punishment an instructor is stopping 
> > by hear about them.  Of course, there's just no good reason why anyone 
> > would want to help me out here, except perhaps, out of kindness and 
> > sympathy for someone who promises NEVER to speak foolishly again.  
> > 
> > Can anyone help me?  I can think of a trick for who/whom and a couple 
> > for commas.  I've also got a flow chart for direct/indirect objects and 
> > object complements.  I NEED MORE!!  Oh Please, oh please. . . ?
> > 
> > Thanks a million,
> > 
> > 
> > Kate Ranft
> > 
> > The Reading & Writing Center
> > University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
> > kater@csd.uwm.edu
> > 
> > 
> > 
>