I've had several requests for the handout I mentioned, and I've sent those off-list since the listserver doesn't allow attachments. I'll be happy to send it to whoever would like it, but I'm leaving for the cottage in about an hour and will be out of internet contact till Friday. Any requests that arrive this week I'll respond to then.
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 Claudia Kiburz [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: July 7, 2008 1:33 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Transitivity vs Intransitivity - The Linguists' Version of Hazing?
I would love to see it, too.
Please send to:
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Nancy Tuten <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Herb, I would like to see your handout, but it didn’t come through for me. Will you send it to me off list at [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>?
Everyone—I wish I were going to be with you at the ATEG conference. Every year the conference is held at a time that conflicts with two important family events. One day, however, I hope to have the chance to attend and finally put faces with the names of people I feel as if I know!
Thanks,
Nancy
Nancy L. Tuten, PhD
Professor of English
Director of the Writing-across-the-Curriculum Program
Columbia College
Columbia, South Carolina
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
803-786-3706
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of STAHLKE, HERBERT F
Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2008 11:42 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Transitivity vs Intransitivity - The Linguists' Version of Hazing?
Tabetha,
I love your subtitle, although we can be much more perverse than transitivity. Transitivity, as you’ve found, can be a real puzzle, and I think there are two approaches you could take. The first is the sense that the verb classes are not exclusive. “Remember,” for example, can be treated as fitting into more than class. But the other approach is to help your students distinguish between complements and modifiers. Complements are different from modifiers in several ways. They are located closer to the verb than modifiers, so modifiers will usually occur towards the end of a sentence, after all the complements. Complements can’t move around as much as modifiers can, so, for example, you won’t find a complement as an introductory phrase. However, in voice-changing constructions like the passive it’s complements, not modifiers, that are moved. You can test these properties with your students by having them switch, say, a direct object and a temporal modifier, e.g., “I ate lunch in the park” vs. “I ate in the park lunch.”
I’m attaching a handout I’ve used in teaching sentence patterns. Mine are basically the same as Martha’s with a few minor differences. It takes a story approach to sentence patterns, and I’ve found it to work reasonably well. You’re welcome to use it as is or modify it as you wish.
All the best!
Herb
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tabetha Bernstein-Danis
Sent: 2008-07-05 22:07
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Transitivity vs Intransitivity - The Linguists' Version of Hazing?
Hello everyone. I am somewhat new on the listerv but have been lurking for
awhile. I teach a graduate level class on teaching grammar and usage to
preservice secondary teachers. Tonight I had my students engage in an
activity that many found rather confusing. Their task was to pull
sentences from their own writing and to classify them according to Martha
Kolln's seven sentence patterns. We ran into some difficulty when trying
to classify transitive and intransitive verbs. It seems that many students
left the class more confused than enlightened, so I really want to revisit
this concept to deepen their understanding and to help them think about
how they might tackle transitivity with middle and high school students.
The greatest difficulty involved verbs that can be either transitive or
intransitve. "Remember" is an example of one of these words. In the
sentence, "I remember", the verb is intransitive because it can stand
alone. But if I say, "I remember my high school days", remember has become
transitive because "my high school days" would be the direct object. "I
remember fondly" on the other hand is intransitive because "remember" is
followed by an adverb. However, some verbs are always transitive, such as
"gave". So, at risk of further confusing my students, how might the
members of this listserv suggest I go about further exploring this issue
in class? This is a very short summer course, by the way, and will be over
in just 4 more weeks. I just don't want my students to be left confused
and to perhaps abandon teaching grammar altogether. After every class I
have my students provide feedback and I think this student's response sums
up the way many people feel about the ambiguity of grammar:
"I don't feel that this lesson made anything more lucid, but I certainly
understand why teaching grammar makes students hate grammar, but I realize
it's probably the linguists' version of hazing."
Any responses would be gladly appreciated.
Tabetha Bernstein-Danis
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