Pam, may I have permission to refer to this message in a paper I am writing
that discusses ATEG? I think it's a wonderful translation into pedagogy of
KAL.
Judy Diamondstone
P.S., Am I paranoid, or have I become persona non gratis here?
p.p.s., I couldn't care less about sentence-level grammar except as a
teacher educator, and I was not a successful teacher educator, so I "dropped
out" of the discussion. But I am still INTERESTED in the project of teaching
a language about language to native speakers and admire all the work you've
done with CC students. I'm also interested in discussion lists as mediators
of virtual community, and ATEG is a fine example of an evolving community.
Thus, I'm still "here."
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Pam Dykstra
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2001 9:22 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: teaching appositives to seventh graders
Hi Rex,
Here is how I explain appositives to students. I say: An appositive is a
definition of someone or something. You use definitions all the time. For
example, you might say, "George is the student in the back row. Friday is
the
best day of the week.” Those are definitions.
When you write, you can put this information into a sentence all by itself.
For
example, "Charlene needs a ride to school tomorrow. Charlene is my brother’
s best
friend.” But if all of your sentences are in this same short pattern, your
writing may sound choppy and boring. Writers solve this problem by using
additions. Watch. Take the essential information (the meat) in the second
sentence, and you’ll get "my brother’s best friend.” Now add that
information to
the first sentence.
Charlene, my brother’s best friend, needs a ride to school tomorrow.
Some background information. A sentence is like a bike. It has two wheels:
a
"who or what” and a "what about it.” These two parts, the subject and
predicate,
make up the core sentence. There is never a comma separating the subject
from the
predicate; they connect firmly to form a stable structure. Once you have a
bike,
you can add additional information to the front handlebars (a starter), the
middle
(interrupter), or the back fender (ender). You need to mark these additions
with
commas so readers can keep track of the core sentence. Readers are always
looking
for the "who or what” and the "what about it.” Thus, notice that we put
commas
on both sides of the definition addition. These commas are like handles
allowing
readers to lift out the addition and see the core sentence: Charlene needs a
ride
to school tomorrow.
The bike image helps students understand sentence structure. Whether they
are
working in small groups or on the blackboard, ask them to underline the core
sentence (bike) and circle the addition. This same process works for other
additions, such as -ing additions and -ed additions.
Hope ths helps. Please feel free to ask any of your teaching questions
here.
ATEG is a great group of people who enjoy grammar – Pam Dykstra
Pamela Dykstra
South Suburban College
South Holland, IL 60473
Rex Houston wrote:
> I know that this email doesn't have anything to do
> with what you guys are discussing, but I need some
> help. I would like to know if any of you have any
> suggestions on how to teach appositives to seventh
> graders so that they can understand them. Please help
> if you can.
> --- "William J. McCleary" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > Craig,
> >
> > I was truly startled by your latest message. Your
> > view of the world of
> > discourse, the thesis, and the connection between
> > text and grammar is one
> > that many of us have been working with since the
> > late sixties. The basis of
> > this work is James Kinneavy's book, A Theory of
> > Discourse.
> >
> > Of course, our view of the connection between text
> > and grammar is likely
> > not as sophisticated as yours, for we are attempting
> > to teach this material
> > to students, who are not able to do much with
> > grammar.
> >
> > For a textbook that makes the connection and uses
> > approximately the same
> > categories of text types as yours, see Writing in
> > the Liberal Arts
> > Tradition, by Kinneavy, McCleary, and Nakadate, 2nd
> > edition, Harper & Row,
> > 1990. It's old but still in print.
> >
> > Bill
> >
> >
> > Certainly that there is no decent text making the
> > >connections between grammar and whole text
> > discourse is a position worth
> > >taking seriously. My own approach borrows and
> > steals from SFG, but draws
> > >from many other sources as well. I am trying to
> > fill a need.
> >
> > >Craig
> > >
> >
> >
> > William J. McCleary
> > Livonia, NY
> >
> > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit
> > the list's web interface at:
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> > and select "Join or leave the list"
> >
> > Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>
> __________________________________________________
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