Thanks for the help.  I used your idea in my classes
this morning, they seemed to understand appositives
better.
--- Pam Dykstra <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 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
> > >
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> > >
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> >
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