When the child clearly loves word function he will be interested in the following piece of apparatus which will bring out clearly the subject and the predicate.
He already associates black with nouns and red with verbs. He now places the parts of the sentence in the right place by asking himself questions.
This teaches him the questions he needs to ask himself to find a subject and object. Children usually gather their friends together and they get very excited changing the sentences and placing the words on the right symbols.
These are of course reading exercises but in reading these simple sentences, these added interests are given and the children absorb grammar rules without realizing. This is so very helpful for later learning of other languages.
GRAMMAR
Chart A
VERB
| VERB
(the verbal or nominative predicate) |
Who is it that?
What is it that? Subject |
|
Who? What? (direct object) |
To whom? To what? (indirect object) |
|
By whom? By what? (agent) |
Of whom? Of what?
(possessive, material) |
| When?
(time) |
Where? (place |
| Why?
(cause)
|
What for? (purpose) |
| By means of whom?
By means of what? (instrument)
|
With whom? With what? (accompaniment) |
| (atributive [phrases]) |
(vocative) |
Material
Rolls of paper on which are printed simple compound and complex sentences.
Exercise 1
This child finds the verb and then asks himself the question. e.g. ‘Who is that reads.’ Answer: ‘The child reads.’ He then tears off ‘the child’ and places it in the space marked Subject on the chart.
Exercise 2
The roll contains sentences with ‘modifiers‘ e.g. ‘The Mother loves her child dearly.’
Exercise 3
Sentences with 2 or more modifiers. e.g. ‘The woman was calm, patient and kind’.
Exercise 4
Understood predicates. e.g. Silence!, Honour the brave!
Exercise 5
Incomplete predicates. e.g. The child did not hear.
Exercise 6
Increased difficulty.