One of the problems I've had with elementary readers is illustrated by the last sentence in Beth's list, "A man ran." While this sentence is not formally ungrammatical, English tends strongly to avoid sentences with indefinite subjects unless the subject contains significant new information or is used generically. Thus in the Ben Franklin proverb "A lie stands on one leg, the truth on two," the indefinite "a lie" works because it is generic, parallel to the equally generic "the truth." But a simple indefinite specific noun phrase like "a man" will usually come later in a sentence. That's why English has structures like the existential "There was a man running/who ran" and passive voice, another technique for putting an indefinite in focus position, the normal place for new information.
Perhaps this stretches the notion "grammatical sentence" a bit, but I would put at least a question mark before "A man ran."
Herb
Herbert F. W. Stahlke, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of English
Ball State University
Muncie, IN 47306
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________________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Beth Young [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: December 10, 2008 1:14 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: would these sentences bother you?
Hi everyone,
My kindergartner brought home a handwriting worksheet yesterday that contained the following example "sentences":
See my cat?
See my cat and dog?
*I see a rat ran.
*See my cat sat?
A man ran.
To me, the * sentences are ungrammatical. Someone else said that since you could put a "that" in those sentences, they are not truly ungrammatical, e.g., "I see that a rat ran" or "See that my cat sat?" I'm not convinced.
I am tempted to talk with the teacher, who didn't create the worksheet but who did choose to use it. However, if I'm overreacting to the sentences, I'll hold my tongue. I've had other reasons to talk with this teacher and I don't want to pile on.
What do you think?
thanks,
Beth
PS I can't tell whether the handout is representative because much of the work that comes home involves no writing whatsoever. e.g., cut out these pictures and arrange them in story sequence.
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