There is no reason why the concepts of form and function (morphology and
syntax) cannot be taught at the seventh-grade level.  My first teaching 
assignment included such items in the 1950's era grammar book and my
students, who were rural or small town in background and whose parents,
for the most part, were elementary school graduates.  It was not my
teaching skills that did the job; it was the clear presentation in the
grammar book and its exercises.  My students seemed to have no problem
whenseventh-grade a pronoun functioned as an adjective.  The concept of 
open and closed parts of speech was well accepted by the group.  When I 
said that any word in English could be used as a noun, I asked the class 
to challenge me using a complete sentence.  One student stated, "'Of' 
can't be a noun; I then had him diagram his sentence on the board: he and
his classmates caught on quickly.
Scott 

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