It sounds as if this thread is running out of steam, but I wanted to jump in 
here with some of the difficulties I have had with my students (inner-city 
high school) and their frustration (and mine) with the great "parts of 
speech hunts."  You all know the drill:  "Find the (FILL IN PART OF SPEECH 
HERE) in the following sentence (paragraph, etc)."

Here are examples I put on the board, asking students to determine the part 
of speech of
"run/running" in each sentence.  "I like to run."  "Running is fun."  "She 
is running."  "I bought a pair of running shoes."  "He tripped on his 
shoelaces while running after the dog."

Suffice it to say that the success rate is low.  However, regardless of 
their knowledge of "formaL grammar, every student can successfully create 
sentences using exactly the form shown, even though they may have no idea 
what part of speech they're using to do it.

Therefore, my question to myself, to them, and to this group is simply this 
- why try to teach them parts of speech (or any other grammar term for that 
matter) when learning them makes absolutely no difference in their ability 
to speak, write, or even take standardized tests (where there are no grammar 
questions, only usage and syntax).

Geoff Layton

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/