3
Book 5
of the
KISS Grammar Books
© Dr. Ed Vavra
Revised Nov. 11, 2014
KISS Instructional Materials are available for free at KISSGrammar.org.
Welcome and Introduction 3
Unit 1 – Review 4
Ex. 1 – Infrequent Helping Verbs 4
Ex. 2 – Palimpsest Patterns 4
Ex. 3 – Phrasal Verbs 4
Ex. 4 - The Meanings of “Too” --Based on The Velveteen Rabbit 5
Ex. 5 – Finite Verb or Verbal? 6
Ex. 6 -The Logic of Prep Phrases from My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales (#2) 7
Ex. 7 - Quotations as Direct Objects from My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales 8
Ex. 8 - Embedded Subordinate Clauses 9
Punctuation 9
Ex. 9 - Apostrophes for Possession 9
Unit 2 - Studies in Ellipsis 10
Ex. 1 - “As” and Ellipsis from “How Flax Was Given to Men” 10
Ex. 2 – “Than” and Ellipsis from “How Flax Was Given to Men” 11
Unit 4 - Intro to Post-Positioned Adjectives 12
Need IM 12
Ex. 1 – 12
Ex. 2 – 12
From Main Clause to Subordinate to PPA 13
Ex. 3 – From “The White Cat” 13
Unit 5 - “So” and “For” as Conjunctions 14
Need Instructional Material 14
Ex. 1 - “So” and “For” as Conjunctions from My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales 15
Ex. 2 - From “Little Thumbkins’ Good Deed” (#1) 16
Unit 6 - Vocabulary (1) 17
Abstract and Concrete Words (and Phrases) 17
Ex. 1 - Adapted from Child-Story Reader (5) 17
Synonyms and Antonyms 19
Ex. 2 – Synonyms - Adapted from Child-Story Readers (#3) 19
Ex. 3 - Antonyms from Voyages in English (4) 20
Missing Punctuation 21
Ex. 7 – From “How Johnny Cricket Saw Santa Claus” 21
Unit 7 - Statistical Stylistics (1) 22
Unit 8 - Studies in Punctuation and Logic 22
Ex. 1 - Colons and Dashes 22
Ex. 2 – Semicolons 22
Ex. 3. - 22
Restrictive and Non-Restrictive Modifiers 23
Ex. 4 - From “Little Snow-White” (1) 24
Bending and Breaking the Rules 25
Ex. 5 - Bending and Breaking the Rules From My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales 26
Ex. 6 - Bending and Breaking the Rules from My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales 27
Unit 10 - Sentence Combining and Style 28
Ex. 1 – 28
Ex. 2 - A Decombining Exercise from “Tufty Riquet” 29
Unit 11 - Vocabulary (2) 30
Abstract and Concrete Words (and Phrases) 30
Ex. 1 - Adapted from Child-Story Readers (6) 30
Synonyms and Antonyms 32
Ex. 2 - Synonyms - Adapted from Child-Story Readers (#5) 32
Ex. 3 – Antonyms 33
Ex. 4 - Synonyms and Antonyms from Child-Story Readers (1) 33
Unit 14 - Passages for Analysis 35
Ex. 1 - The Opening of “Snow-White and Rose-Red” 35
Ex. 2 - Embedded Subordinate Clauses from “Snow-White and Rose-Red” 36
Ex. 5 - A Passage from “Sally Migrundy” (1) 37
Welcome and Introduction
Unit 1 – Review
Ex. 1 – Infrequent Helping Verbs
Ex. 2 – Palimpsest Patterns
Ex. 3 – Phrasal Verbs
Ex. 4 - The Meanings of “Too” --Based on The Velveteen Rabbit
Many students have trouble with the difference between “to” and “too,” so consider the meanings of “too.” Merriam-Webster on-line gives the following definitions of “too”:
1 : besides, also <sell the house and furniture too>2 a : to an excessive degree : excessively <too large a house for us>
b : to such a degree as to be regrettable <this time he has gone too far>
c : very <didn't seem too interested>
3 : so 2d <“I didn't do it.” “You did too.”>
“Too” always functions as an adverb. “To,” by itself, never does. It functions as a preposition or as the sign of a following verb.
The major problem is that “to” always raises the question “what?” in a reader’s mind. “Too” does not. The wrong spelling confuses readers—who easily note the error.
Directions:
1. Place parentheses ( ) around each prepositional phrase.
2. Underline verbs twice, their subjects once, and label complements (“PA,” “PN,” “IO,” or “DO”).
3. Place brackets [ ] around each subordinate clause. If the clause functions as a noun, label its function. If it functions as an adjective or adverb, draw an arrow from the opening bracket to the word that the clause modifies.
4. Place a vertical line after each main clause.
5. In the blank after each of the following sentences, write “also” if that is what the “too” means, or write “how much” if that is what it means.
1. Wherever the Boy went the Rabbit went too. ______
2. Nana was in a hurry, and it was too much trouble to hunt for china dogs at bedtime. ______
3. And he missed, too, those long moonlight hours in the nursery. ______
4. That night he was almost too happy to sleep. ______
5. The Boy was too ill to play. ______
6. The gardener was too busy just then to attend to it. ______
7. The Boy was too excited to care very much about it. ______
Ex. 5 – Finite Verb or Verbal?
Ex. 6 -The Logic ofPrep Phrases from My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales (#2)
by Edric Vredenburg; Illustrated by Jennie HarbourDirections:
1. Place parentheses around each prepositional phrase. Draw an arrow from the beginning of each phrase to the word it modifies.
2. Above each phrase write the question that the phrase answers in relation to the word it modifies. (What kind of? Which? What? Whose? Where? When? How Long? Why? How? Under What Condition?)
3. Underline subjects once, finite verbs twice, and label complements (“PN,” “PA,” “IO,” “DO”).
1. The Fairies endowed the little Princess with beauty, and virtue, and health.
2. Then he fetched a sack of pearls that lay among the rushes, and hobbled off and disappeared behind a large stone.
3. So in a carriage like a large dark box, shut up with her Lady in Waiting and her two Maids of Honour, Giroflée and Longue Epine, Princess Desirée departed for Prince Guerrier's Court.
4. The Queen's attendants were in a serious state of anxiety at the prolonged absence of Her Majesty.
5. The beard was fixed in a gash in the tree trunk, and the tiny fellow was hopping to and fro, like a dog at the end of a string.
Ex. 7 - Quotations as Direct Objects from My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales
by Edric Vredenburg; Illustrated by Jennie HarbourDirections:
1. Place parentheses around each prepositional phrase.
2. Underline every subject once, every verb twice, and label complements (“PA,” “PN,” “IO,” “DO”).
3. Put brackets [ ] around every subordinate clause and use arrows or labels to indicate their function.
4. Put a vertical line at the end of every main clause.
1. Then the young prince said, “All this shall not frighten me; I will go and see Briar Rose.”
2. A little fish lifted its head out of the water, and said, “Your wish shall be fulfilled, and you shall soon have a daughter.”
3. Sister Anne replied, “I see a cloud of dust, but it is only a flock of sheep on the road.”
4. The King heaved a deep sigh, and turning to his children said, “Nothing pleases me, in my old age, so much as your deference to my desires, and I wish to prove you once more. Travel for a year, and he who at the end of the year brings home the most beautiful girl shall marry her, and be crowned king on his marriage. I promise you that I will not defer this reward any longer.”
Ex. 8 - Embedded Subordinate Clauses
Punctuation
Ex. 9 - Apostrophes for Possession
Unit 2 - Studies in Ellipsis
Ex. 1 - “As” and Ellipsisfrom “How Flax Was Given to Men”
fromThe Book of Nature Myths by Florence Holbrook
Directions:
1. Place parentheses ( ) around each prepositional phrase.
2. Underline verbs twice, their subjects once, and label complements (“PA,” “PN,” “IO,” or “DO”).
3. Place brackets [ ] around each subordinate clause. Above the opening bracket, label the function of noun clauses. From clauses that function as adjectives or adverbs, draw an arrow from the opening bracket to the word that the clause modifies.
4. Place a vertical line after each main clause.
5. Under each sentence, write the full form of the ellipsed “as” clause.
1. The hall was as bright with their beauty as it was with the stones.
2. One was playing on a harp, one was singing, and others were dancing as lightly and merrily as a sunbeam on a blossom.
3. Choose what you will to carry to your wife as a gift from Holda.
4. O goddess Holda, there is no gift in all your magic hall that I would so gladly bear away to my home as the little blue flower in your lily-white hand.
5. Soon the green leaves came up; then many little blue flowers, as blue as the sky, lifted up their heads in the warm sunshine of summer.
Ex. 2 – “Than” and Ellipsisfrom “How Flax Was Given to Men”
fromThe Book of Nature Myths by Florence Holbrook
Directions:
1. Place parentheses ( ) around each prepositional phrase.
2. Underline verbs twice, their subjects once, and label complements (“PA,” “PN,” “IO,” or “DO”).
3. Place brackets [ ] around each subordinate clause. Above the opening bracket, label the function of noun clauses. From clauses that function as adjectives or adverbs, draw an arrow from the opening bracket to the word that the clause modifies.
4. Place a vertical line after each main clause.
5. Under each sentence, write the full form of the ellipsed “than” clause.
1. When I looked at her, I could not think of precious stones, for her eyes were more sparkling than diamonds.
2. There were diamonds and pearls and emeralds, more than we could put into our little house, and among all the beautiful colors sat a woman who was fairer than they.
3. The woman was even more beautiful than the maidens.
4. Indeed, my hunter, the linen is fairer than the pearls, and I should rather have the beautiful white thing that is on the grass in the sunshine than all the diamonds in the hall of the goddess.
Unit 4 - Intro to Post-Positioned Adjectives
Need IM
Ex. 1 –
Ex. 2 –
From Main Clause to Subordinate to PPA
From Main Clause to Post-Positioned AdjectiveAn Exercise in Style
Ex. 3 – From “The White Cat”
in My Book of Favorite Fairy Talesby Edric Vredenburg; Illustrated by Jennie Harbour
Directions: Rewrite each of the following pairs of sentences twice. First, make one of the sentences a subordinate clause in the other. Then reduce the subordinate clause to a post-positioned adjective.
1. There was once a King who had three sons. They were all handsome and brave.
SC:
PPA:
2. The two elder sons had brought little dogs. The dogs were so delicate and small that one hardly dared to touch them.
SC:
PPA:
3. Then entered a little figure. It was not two feet high.
SC:
PPA:
4. Where shall I find the dog, and a horse? They must be swift enough for such a journey.
SC:
PPA:
5. Now he should like them to search, by land and sea, for a piece of linen. It must be so fine that it would pass through the eye of a very small needle.
SC:
PPA:
Unit 5 - “So” and “For” as Conjunctions
Need Instructional Material
Ex. 1 - “So” and “For” as Conjunctions from My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales
by Edric Vredenburg; Illustrated by Jennie HarbourDirections:
1. Put parentheses ( ) around each prepositional phrase.
2. Underline subjects once, finite verbs twice, and label complements (“PN,” “PA,” “IO,” or “DO”).
3. Place brackets around each subordinate clause. If the clause functions as a noun, label its function (“Subj,” “PN,” “IO,” “DO,” “OP”) above the opening bracket. If it functions as an adjective or adverb, draw an arrow from the opening bracket to the word that the clause modifies.
4. Put a vertical line at the end of every main clause.
1. The king could not cease looking on her for joy, and determined to hold a great feast. So he invited not only his relations, friends, and neighbours, but also all the fairies.
2. This they could never do; for the thorns and bushes laid hold of them as it were with hands, and there they stuck fast and died miserably.
3. “You know he would be unhappy, for it is only goodness which brings content.”
4. But the moment he kissed her she opened her eyes and awoke, and smiled upon him. For the spell was broken.
5. When he was quite a baby, he had a funny little tuft of hair on his head, so he was called Tufty Riquet.
6. She ran along the passages and stairs, nearly falling down them, so great was her haste, until she came to that door at the end of the corridor.
Ex. 2 - From “Little Thumbkins’ Good Deed” (#1)
From FRIENDLY FAIRIESWritten & Illustrated by Johnny Gruelle, 1919
Directions:
1. Place parentheses ( ) around each prepositional phrase.
2. Underline verbs twice, their subjects once, and label complements.
3. Label verbals “V” plus their function: “PA,” “PN,” “DO,” “Adj.” or “Adv.”
4. Place brackets [ ] around each subordinate clause. Above the opening bracket, label the function of noun clauses. From clauses that function as adjectives or adverbs, draw an arrow from the opening bracket to the word that the clause modifies.
5. Place a vertical line after each main clause.
6. Label each interjection (“Inj”), each noun used as an adverb (“NuA”), and each example of direct address (“DirA”).