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KISS Grammar
A Level One Workbook
Analysis Keys
Free, from the KISS Grammar Web Site
www.KISSGrammar.org
This is the “Teachers’ Book” for a KISS Level One workbook. There will be nine of these books, one each for students in grades three through eleven. (Students who have started KISS in one grade should not repeat Level One in the next grade. Eventually, they should be able to pick up with whatever KISS Level they were working on in one grade in the KISS book for the next grade. Although the instructional materials are the same, the texts of which most exercises are based change with the grade levels.)
This book contains some suggestions for teaching KISS Level One and the analysis keys for the exercises. The keys in this book have been numbered to match the students’ workbook. Note that in the printable books, instructional materials (and special notes for teachers) appear in green text in the table of contents. The red text in the ToC leads to the background materials that are in the “Master Books.”
© Ed Vavra
May 9, 2013
Contents
Exercises in brackets have no analysis keys.
Introduction for Teachers and Parents 4
Applying KISS to Students’ Own Reading and Writing 5
KISS Level 1.1. Identifying Subjects and Finite Verbs 6
Notes for Teachers 6
Additional Methods for Identifying Subjects and Finite Verbs 9
Ex. 1 - Is It a Sentence? 14
Ex. 2 - Identifying Simple Subjects and Verbs, from “Hansel and Grethel” 14
Ex. 3 - Identifying Subjects and Verbs From “Hansel and Grethel” 15
Ex. 4. a. - Modal Helping Verbs, From My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales 16
[Ex. 4. b. - Writing Sentences with Modal Helping Verbs] 17
Ex. 5 - Other Helping Verbs from At the Back of the North Wind 17
Ex. 6 - More Practice with Helping Verbs From Pinocchio 19
Ex. 7 - A Fill-in-the-Blanks Exercise:The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher 20
Ex. 8 - “The Boy in the Barn” (A Passage for Analysis) 22
Ex. 9- Just for Fun 23
KISS Level 1. 2. Adding Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, Adverbs and Phrases 23
Notes for Teachers 23
Ex. 1.a. From Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet, by C. Collodi 29
Ex. 1 b. From At the Back of the North Wind, by George Macdonald 31
[*Ex. 2 - Number - Creating Plurals] 32
[*Ex. 3. - Number - Irregular Plurals] 32
Ex. 4. Replacing Nouns with Pronouns 32
Ex. 5.a. From At the Back of the North Wind by George Macdonald 33
Ex. 5.b. From Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet 35
Ex. 6.a. Identifying Phrases, from Sandman's Goodnight Stories 36
Ex. 6.b. Identifying Phrases From “Morning-glory” 39
Ex. 7 Possessive Nouns and Pronouns - from Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet 41
Ex. 8 Fill in the Blanks with Adjectives: The Cat, the Monkey, and the Chestnuts 41
[Ex. 9 Adjectives (Synonyms)] 43
[Ex. 10 Adjectives (Antonyms)] 43
Ex. 11.a Adapted from The Mother Tongue, Book II 43
Ex. 11.b Adapted from “Wonderwings” 45
Ex. 12 “The Wolf and the Kid” from The ÆSOP for Children 46
KISS Level 1. 3. Adding Complements (PA, PN, IO, DO) 49
Notes for Teachers—The Grammarians’ Secret 49
Ex. 1. a. - Mixed Complements, based on The Story of Miss Moppet, by Beatrix Potter 56
Ex. 1. b. - Mixed Complements, based on The Story of Miss Moppet, by Beatrix Potter 57
Ex. 1. c. - The Crooked Sixpence 58
Ex. 1. d. - Humpty Dumpty 58
Ex. 2. - A Focus on Predicate Adjectives, based on The Pie and the Patty-Pan 59
Ex. 3. - A Focus on Predicate Nouns, from Pinocchio 59
Ex. 4. - A Focus on Direct Objects, from Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet 60
Ex 5. - A Focus on Indirect Objects, based on Child-Story Readers: Wonder Stories 3 61
Ex. 6. - A Focus on Zero Complements, based on The Pie and the Patty-Pan 62
Ex. 7. - From At the Back of the North Wind 62
Predicate Adjective or Part of the Verb Phrase? (Background for Teachers) 63
Ex. 8 - Based on The Tale of Samuel Whiskers by Beatrix Potter 64
[Ex. 9. - Writing Sentences with Complements] 65
Ex. 10. - A Passage for Analysis, from “Why Jimmy Skunk Wears Stripes” 65
Ex. 11. - Just for Fun: Tongue Twisters 65
KISS Level 1.4. - Coordinating Conjunctions and Compounds 66
Notes for Teachers 66
Ex. 1 - Based on The Tale of Tom Kitten, by Beatrix Potter 69
Ex. 2 - From “The Story of the First Woodpecker” by Florence Holbrook 70
Ex. 3 - Adapted from Voyages in English - Fifth Year 70
[Ex. 4 - Writing Sentences with Compounds] 71
Ex. 5 - From “The White Fawn,” by Edric Vredenburg 71
Ex. 6 - From My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales by Edric Vredenburg 73
Ex. 7 - “The Robin,” A Passage for Analysis 74
KISS Level 1. 5. Adding Simple Prepositional Phrases 75
Notes for Teachers 75
Ex. 1 - Fill in the Blanks - Adapted from Introductory Lessons in English Grammar 79
Ex. 2a - Based on Introductory Lessons in English Grammar 80
Ex. 2b - Based on Introductory Lessons in English Grammar 81
Ex. 3 - Mama Skunk 82
Ex. 4 - Based on Child-Story Readers: Wonder Stories 3 83
Ex. 5 - “He plays football on Saturdays” 83
Ex. 6 - Notes for Teachers on Separated Objects of Prepositions 84
Ex. 6 - From Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet, by C. Collodi 86
[Ex. 7 - Writing Sentences with Compound Objects of Prepositions] 87
Ex. 8 - From Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet (#1) by C. Collodi 87
Ex. 9 - Using Adjectives or Prepositional Phrases to Combine Sentences 89
Exercise 10 a & b - The Logic of Prepositional Phrases 89
Ex. 10. a. - Adapted from Voyages in English 90
Ex. 10. b. - Adapted from Voyages in English 91
[Ex. 11 - Adding Prepositional Phrases of Time and Space] 92
Ex. 12. Notes for Teachers: The Branching of Adverbial Prepositional Phrases 92
[Ex. 12. a - Style—Left-, Right-, and Mid-Branching Prepositional Phrases] 94
Ex. 12. b. My Porcelain Doll 94
Ex. 13 - Based on The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter 96
Ex. 14. a. - “The Sea,” by Richard Henry Stoddard 96
Ex. 14. b. - From “Mrs. Redwing's Speckled Eggs” 97
[Ex. 15 - Write, Revise, Edit, and Analyze (Describing an Event)] 98
KISS Level 1. 6. Case, Number, and Tense 98
Notes for Teachers 98
Ex. 1. From At the Back of the North Wind, by George Macdonald 101
Ex. 2. From At the Back of the North Wind, by George Macdonald 104
Ex. 3. From Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet, by C. Collodi 105
Ex. 4.a. Ten Sentences adapted from Wonderwings, by Edith Howes 107
Ex. 4.b. Grandfather Skeeter Hawk’s Story 108
Ex. 5 - Pronouns: The Gender Question 109
[Ex. 6.a. A Recipe Roster] 111
[Ex. 6.b. Personal Pronouns (Recipe Roster)] 111
[Ex. 7.a. Pronouns as Predicate Nouns--Adapted from Voyages in English] 111
Ex. 7.b. Pronouns as Predicate Nouns Adapted from The New College Grammar] 111
[Ex. 7.b. Pronouns as Predicate Nouns - * A Research Project] 113
[Ex. 8.a. Identifying Tenses] 113
Ex. 8.b. Changing Tenses—“The Clever Hen” 113
Ex. 9. From At the Back of the North Wind, by George Macdonald 114
KISS Level 1. 7. Punctuation and Capitalization 116
Notes for Teachers 116
Ex. 1 - Elizabeth, Eliza, Betsy, and Bess 118
Ex. 2 - Punctuating Sentences 119
Ex. 3 - Capitalization 120
Ex. 4 - Commas in a Series 121
Ex. 5 - Commas in Addresses and Dates 122
[Ex. 6 - Apostrophes to Show Possession, based on Jemima Puddle-Duck] 123
Ex. 7 - Apostrophes in Contractions, Based on The Pie and the Patty-Pan 123
Ex. 8 - Quotation Marks 123
Ex. 9 - Replacing Punctuation & Capitalization, “The First Woodpecker” 124
[Ex. 10 - Creating an Exercise] 125
KISS Level 1.8. - Vocabulary and Logic 125
Notes for Teachers 125
Abstract and Concrete Words 127
Ex. 1 - Adapted from Child-Story Readers: Wonder Stories 129
[Ex. 2 - Common and Proper Nouns] 130
[Ex. 3 - Synonyms] 130
[Ex. 4 - Antonyms] 130
Ex. 5 - Fill in the Blanks with Interesting Words 130
Ex. 6 - The Logic of Words and Phrases [Notes for Teachers] 131
[Ex. 7 - Suffixes] 132
[Ex. 8 - Prefixes] 132
[Ex. 9 - Roots] 132
Appendix 132
The KISS Grammar Toolbox 132
Using the KISS Analysis Keys 134
Creating Directions for Your Students 135
Conjugation of the Verb “To Discover” 137
Introduction for Teachers and Parents
The study of grammar is a science.
The teaching of grammar is an art.
Your primary objective in this level should be to enable your students to identify the most common constructions in English sentences. If, on the way to that objective, you and your students have time, you can have them explore some important points of punctuation, logic, and style. (I would suggest, however, that most of the most important aspects of punctuation, logic, and style in English sentences involve clauses, the subject of KISS Levels 3.1 and 3.2).
I strongly suggest you review the KISS Psycholinguistic Model with your students. (See the “Printable Books Page.”) The model changes the study of grammar into the study of how the human mind processes language, and it also validates (and sometimes challenges) the rules of punctuation.
General Reminders:
1. Although the ability to identify constructions is essential, once students have the ability, such exercises may become boring. You may therefore want to modify some of the directions. For example, punctuation exercises often ask students to identify constructions as well as fix the punctuation. You may want to change these to simply fixing and discussing the punctuation. The same is true for some of the exercises on logic.
2. Emphasize the systematic method. College instructors in math, electronics, and a number of other fields complain that students want the “answers” and ignore the methods by which they can find the answers. If you emphasize the method of systematic analysis (described in the students’ version), you will probably find that your students will do much better, much faster. And you will be helping them learn how to work systematically.
Applying KISS to Students’ Own Reading and Writing
The primary objective of KISS is to enable students to intelligently discuss the grammar of anything that they read and especially anything that they write. Those who understand KISS concepts could, theoretically, use the Master Books and then use only the students’ own writing for exercise materials. But particularly in classrooms, this would be impractical.Imagine the dilemma of a teacher with twenty students in classroom. The students have been given the instructional material on subjects and verbs, and then the students immediately all try to find the subjects and verbs in a short passage that they wrote. The teacher would go nuts trying to check all of this. In other words, it makes much more sense for the students to all do a few of the same exercise, an exercise that can then be reviewed in class. KISS primarily provides the latter type of exercises.
Teachers should regularly supplement these exercises by having students analyze short passages from their own writing. The students can simply apply the directions they have been using to the analysis of their own writing. (In other words, if they are working at KISS Level Three, they would analyze their own writing through clauses.) The students can then work in small groups to check and discuss each others’ work. How often teachers should do this is an aspect of the art of teaching. But the more you do this, the more that you will probably see interested, motivated students.
KISS Level 1.1. Identifying Subjects and Finite Verbs
Notes for Teachers
The key to enabling students to understand the structure of their own writing is to enable them to identify the subjects and finite verbs in it. Even if you have been fairly well-taught in grammar, the odds are that you have never heard of “finite” verbs. That’s because almost all instruction in grammar is really just an explanation of some grammatical terms. I am unaware of any grammar textbook that even claims to try to give students a practical understanding of grammar.
Consider the typical instructions about subjects and “verbs.” Students are given some basic definitions and are then asked to underline subjects once and “verbs” twice. But consider the sentence:
Swimming is good exercise.
“Swimming” fits the typical definition of a verb, and thus many students would underline it twice. But in this sentence, it is not a verb; it functions as a noun and is a subject. Or consider the sentence:
They went to the store to buy some bread.
Here again, “buy” fits the typical explanation of a verb, but in this case, it functions as an adverb. Or consider still another:
The way to win a man’s heart is through his stomach.
“Win” fits the typical definition of a verb, but in this case “to win” functions as an adjective to “way.”
As you will learn if you stay with KISS, verbs can function as nouns, adverbs, or adjectives. When they do so, they are called “verbals.” Those verbs that students are really expected to underline twice are called “finite.” Defining a “finite verb” for beginners is extremely difficult--the definitions require an understanding of other grammatical terms. But the ability to recognize finite verbs can be gained relatively easily by studying examples, or, in KISS practice, short exercises.