Even strong students may well lack the grammatical foundation to declare _what_ is wrong. A better starting point would simply be to try to get them to feel intuitively _that_ something is wrong. In such cases, I like to present them with simple version of the sentence, because in such cases, a large part of the issue may be that they get lost in the complexity of the sentence opener. I suspect if you showed them a sentence like "According to Wegman explains that people can be put behind bars" they might better be able to see the problem.

> On Mar 9, 2015, at 4:26 PM, Castilleja, Janet <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> I am pretty sure  they think the sentence is complete.  When I put the a sentence like this on the overhead, they can’t tell me what the problem is.  This is true of even the strong students.
>  
> Janet
>  
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Carlton, Rebecca
> Sent: Monday, March 09, 2015 4:17 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: New topic
>  
> Do you feel they aren’t making the change because they don’t a subject is required or because the grammar/mechanics portion of the grade isn’t a large portion of the grade?
>  
> Rebecca Carlton
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Castilleja, Janet
> Sent: Monday, March 9, 2015 7:04 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: New topic
>  
> Hello
>  
> I am teaching  a composition course in which we use sources.  Here is a common problem that I see constantly:
>  
> “According to the article ‘The Injustice of Marijuana Arrests’ by Jesse Wegman (2014) explains that people can be put behind bars for smoking marijuana.”
>  
> I have tried everything I can think of to persuade my students to include a subject in a sentence like this, but to no avail.  Any suggestions?
>  
> Thanks!
>  
> Janet Castilleja
>  
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Linda Di Desidero
> Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2015 10:43 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Passive Voice vs. Copular + Predicate Adjective
>  
> You can register at the website or you can register in person on the day of the conference, Linda.
> Keep in touch! 
>  
>  
> Linda
> 
> Linda Di Desidero, PhD
> Director, Leadership Communication Skills Center
> Marine Corps University
> Gray Research Center, Room 122
> Quantico, Virginia 22134
> 703-784-4401
>  
> On Tue, Feb 17, 2015 at 12:59 PM, Linda Comerford <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Thanks for the helpful information from both of you who replied to my about an Indy conference.
>  
> One more question:  I’m not a member of CTE.  May I still register for the conference?  The sessions/panels you described sound interesting, and I’d enjoy finally meeting some of you in person after years at ATEG-listserv-only interactions.
>  
> Linda Comerford
> Cell: 317.696.4444
> Office and Fax: 317.786.6404
> [log in to unmask]
> www.comerfordconsulting.com
>  
> From: Linda Di Desidero [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
> Sent: Monday, February 16, 2015 4:48 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Passive Voice vs. Copular + Predicate Adjective
>  
> Hi Linda.
>  
> The conference that is in Indianapolis at the end of March is that of the College English Association (26-28 March at the Hyatt Regency)
>  
> There will be four panels in Grammar/Linguistics at the conference; several of these speakers are members of ATEG. (This is a new interest group at CEA)
>  
> You can preview the program at this link http://www.cea-web.org/
>  
> Let me know when you can be there and we'll set up a grammar group for dinner (maybe Thursday eve?)
>  
> Look forward to meeting you! 
>  
> Linda Di Desidero
>  
>  
> 
> Linda Di Desidero, PhD
> Director, Leadership Communication Skills Center
> Marine Corps University
> Gray Research Center, Room 122
> Quantico, Virginia 22134
> 703-784-4401
>  
> On Mon, Feb 16, 2015 at 3:19 PM, Linda Comerford <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Changing subjects, am I writing to the correct people about what I believe is an upcoming grammar conference in Indianapolis at the end of March?  I’m interested in both attending it as well as providing some guidance about Indy as I live there.
> 
> 
> 
> If anyone knows anything about this and can provide some details, I’d appreciate it.
> 
> 
> 
> Linda Comerford
> Cell: 317.696.4444
> 
> Office and Fax: 317.786.6404
> [log in to unmask]
> www.comerfordconsulting.com <http://www.comerfordconsulting.com/>
> 
> 
> 
> From: Linda Di Desidero [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2015 8:32 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Passive Voice vs. Copular + Predicate Adjective
> 
> 
> 
> Just two more cents toward Herb's suggestion about stativity, as that clearly seems to be the key to this question:
> 
> 
> 
> We think of something being closed as an adjective that describes the current state or condition of the thing. We do not think of it as something that has happened or been done to the thing. Even when we talk of something as partially closed, we are referring to the state of the object, not to what has been done to the object. For that reason, viewing "X is closed" as passive seems odd. Better to view it as stative/descriptive.
> 
> 
> 
> On the other  hand, if you add an agent, the passive view emerges:
> 
> 
> 
> The window is closed by me every Wednesday at 2 pm.
> 
> 
> 
> In this case, I am not referring to the state of the window so much as the action that is carried out on it.
> 
> 
> 
> Linda
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Linda Di Desidero, PhD
> 
> Director, Leadership Communication Skills Center
> 
> Marine Corps University
> 
> Gray Research Center, Room 122
> 
> Quantico, Virginia 22134
> 
> 703-784-4401
> 
> 
> 
> On Sat, Feb 14, 2015 at 9:38 PM, Hancock, Craig G <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Herb,
> 
>     I think we can say that something is "partly" or "partially" closed. (window, door, bridge.) My university sometimes "partially closes" and is therefore "partially closed" as a result. (They cancel classes but keep the offices open.)  "I didn't see who actually fired the shot because the door was partially closed." We can use "very" before open in some contexts ("He had a very open personality"), but it seems awkward to me in others. ("The window was very open" *?) I think we would probably say "wide open."
> 
>     You could explain it also as a question of "construal." Someone closed the port, but for a boat approaching from sea, that may be irrelevant. The child who wants to know if he has a snow day doesn't care who closed the school. And, of course, the TV station will give a list of "school closings," which construes the whole action as a "thing." We also have "the close of the show" as an option.
> 
>     I vote for teaching about prototypes early and often. We do a terrible job with parts of speech in our schools. Students memorize definitions that are close to worthless in application. Certainly, we should teach that the boundaries are not rigid or fixed and that words shift category routinely. Students recognize prototypes for things like furniture or fruit. My experience has been that they enjoy looking at language that way, not least of all because it seems to fit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Craig
> 
>   _____
> 
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
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