Johanna,
Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.  But a good number make 
progress and when they get to 7th grade, they come back and tell me 
they remembered thus and such.  As you know, 6th is a big transition 
year.  But I always get a bunch of them up in my room before a 7th/8th 
grade grammar test to brush up with me.  I think that says something is 
working.

Marcia
On Sep 28, 2005, at 12:44 PM, Johanna Rubba wrote:

> I wasn't suggesting "-n't" as a test for linking verbs, but for FINITE 
> verbs (tense-marked).
>
> Yes, "now" and "then" won't always work, but not very many tests work 
> all the time. The teacher can control which sentences are used for 
> these tests in the beginning, to help students develop the "feel" for 
> the things they are looking for, so they eventually no longer need the 
> tests.
>
> And Marcia ... do the tests work?
>
> Dr. Johanna Rubba, Associate Professor, Linguistics
> Linguistics Minor Advisor
> English Department
> California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> Tel.: 805.756.2184
> Dept. Ofc. Tel.: 805.756.2596
> Dept. Fax: 805.756.6374
> URL: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
>
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>
>
Marcia Alessi
Language Arts & Social Studies
Sixth Grade
St. Paul the Apostle School
Los Angeles, California

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