2
The Ideal KISS Grammar Sequence
Book 3
Analysis Keys for Supplemental Exercises
© Dr. Ed Vavra
Revised June, 2016
KISS Instructional Materials are available for free at KISSGrammar.org.
Unit 1 – Review 5
Constructions 5
Nouns Used as Adverbs, Interjections, and Direct Address 5
Ex. 1 - Three Additional Constructions 5
Verbs 6
Ex. 2 - Helping Verbs - From Pinocchio [AK] 6
Ex. 3 - Modal Helping Verbs from My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales [AK] 7
Ex. 4 - Palimpsest Patterns from The Velveteen Rabbit [AK] 7
Ex. 5 - Varied Positions in S/V/C Patterns - My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales [AK] 8
Prepositions 9
Ex. 6 - Is It a Preposition? Based on “The Fairy Ring” [AK] 9
Ex. 7 - The “To” Problem based on “The Fairy Ring” [AK] 10
Ex. 8 - The Meanings of “Too” 11
Ex. 9 - Writing Sentences with “To” and “Too” [NA] 11
Ex. 10 - Embedded Prepositional Phrases from My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales [AK] 11
Mixed Complements 12
Ex. 11 – Mixed Complements from The Fairy Reader [AK] 12
Ex. 12 - Mixed Complements 13
Clauses 13
Ex. 13 - Compound Main Clauses from The Velveteen Rabbit (#2) [AK] 13
Punctuation 14
Ex. 14 - Apostrophes for Possession from My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales [AK] 14
Ex. 15 - Apostrophes in Contractions 15
Unit 2 - Studies in Branching, Ellipsis, and Style 16
Left, Right, and Mid-Branching 16
Ex. 1 (S) - From Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet [NA] 16
Ellipsis 16
Ex. 3 - Ellipsed Finite Verbs from My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales [AK] 16
Writing & Style 17
Style - Sentence Combining and De-Combining 17
Ex. 8 - Decombining from My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales [AK] 17
Ex. 9 - Sentence-Combining (Compounds) from “The White Fawn” [AK] 18
Unit 3 - Subordinate Clauses as Direct Objects 20
Ex. 1 - Subordinate Clauses as Direct Objects from The Velveteen Rabbit (#2) (AK) 20
Ex. 2 - Based on “The Old, Rough Stone and the Gnarled Tree” [AK] 20
Quotation Marks to indicate words that are spoken (Passages) 21
Ex. 1 – “The Party in the Garden” (Part 1) From Ben and Alice [AK] 21
Ex. 2 – “The Party in the Garden” (Part 2) From Ben and Alice [AK] 21
Ex. 3 – “The Party in the Garden” (Part 3) From Ben and Alice [AK] 22
Ex. 4 – “The Party in the Garden” (Part 4) From Ben and Alice [AK] 22
Ex. 5 – “The Party in the Garden” (Part 5) From Ben and Alice [AK] 23
Ex. 6 – “The Party in the Garden” (Part 6) From Ben and Alice [AK] 23
Ex. 7 – “The Party in the Garden” (Part 7) From Ben and Alice [AK] 24
Writing & Style 25
Ex. 11 - Decombining Compounds from My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales [AK] 25
Unit 4 – Introduction to Person, Number, and Case 27
Antecedents of Pronouns 27
The “Person” in Personal Pronouns: Person, Number, and Case 27
Ex. 3 - Person, Number, and Case “Wise Men of Gotham” 28
Ex. 4 – From “Grandfather Skeeter Hawk’s Story” [AK] 29
Person, Number, Case, and Tense 30
Ex. 8 - Person, Number, Case, and Tense from “Hansel and Grethel” (2) 30
Unit 5 - Finite Verb or Verbal 31
1. Common Verbals That Function as Direct Objects 31
Ex. 1 – 31
Ex. 2 - 31
2. The Noun Test 31
Ex. 3 - The Noun Test from Pinocchio [AK] 31
Ex. 4 – 32
3. The “To” Test 32
Ex. 6 – The “To” Test from Pinocchio (#2) [AK] 32
Ex. 7 - The “To” Test from My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales [AK] 33
4. The Sentence Test 34
5. The Three Tests (Summary) 34
Ex. 11 – The Three Tests from Pinocchio (#2) [AK] 34
Ex. 13 - Finite Verb or Verbal? (Mixed) based on “Crow Talk” [AK] 35
Writing 36
Unit 8 - The Logic of Modifiers 36
The Questions that Adjectives and Adverbs Answer 36
Ex. 1 - Adapted from The Mother Tongue, Book II (#2) [AK] 36
Ex. 2 - Adapted from The Mother Tongue, Book II (#3) [AK] 38
The Logic of Prepositional Phrases 39
Ex. 3 - From My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales [AK] 39
Unit 9 - Verbals (Modification and Chunking) 40
1. Verbals as Subjects and Complements 40
Ex. 1 – 40
Ex. 2 – 40
2. Verbals as Objects of Prepositions 41
Ex. 3 - From Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet [AK] 41
Ex. 4 - From Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet [AK] 41
3. Verbals as Adjectives or Adverbs 42
Ex. 5 – Verbals as Adjectives and Adverbs from Pinocchio (#2) [AK] 42
Unit 1 – Review
Constructions
Nouns Used as Adverbs, Interjections, and Direct Address
Ex. 1 - Three Additional Constructions
Verbs
Ex. 2 - Helping Verbs - From Pinocchio [AK]
1. Do you dare to make game (DO) {of me}? |
Although many books list “dare” among the modal helping verbs, an alternative explanation is to consider the verbal (infinitive) “to make” the direct object of “dare.” That makes “game” the direct object of the infinitive. The “of me” phrase may also be read as an adjective to “game.”
2. Pinocchio’s legs were stiff (PA) | and he could not move. |
3. I would make a beautiful wooden puppet (DO). |
Note how, out of context, “puppet” could be read as a predicate noun. In the text, however, Geppetto is the “I.”
4. We may reach the seashore (DO) {by dawn} tomorrow. |
“Tomorrow” might raise questions. It appears to be modifying “dawn,” but it is an adverb. KISS considers it as modifying the entire prepositional phrase, but one also could assume an ellipsed “of.” [There are numerous expressions like this, but we don’t want to spend too much time on them because how they connect to the sentence is usually obvious.]
5. You had better suck some liquorice lozenges (DO). |
6. The old Greeks, hundreds [NuA] {of years} back, used to make little jointed puppets (DO) {of wood or cardboard}. |
The “of” phrase may also be processed as an adjective to “puppets.”
7. Opinions ought to be respected (P). |
8. What (DO) are you going to do {with all that money}? |
9. They might have been modeled (P) {by an artist} {of genius}. |
10. I need not tell you (IO) that (DO). |
11. You must take that path (DO) {to your left} and follow your nose (DO). |
Ex. 3 - Modal Helping Verbs from My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales [AK]
1. I can get there {in good time}. | ["Little Red Riding Hood"]
2. He could not utter a word (DO). | ["Princess Goldenhair"]
3. She will not dare to show herself (DO). | ["Cinderella"]
4. {Without shelter} some harm may come {to you}. | ["The White Fawn"]
5. She must have sprung {into the pear tree}. | ["Cinderella"]
6. Grandmother might have a nice strengthening meal (DO). | ["Little Red Riding Hood"]
7. We need not go away {from here} {to the King's palace}. | ["Princess Goldenhair"]
8. You ought to be very much obliged (P) {to him}. | ["Princess Goldenhair"]
9. I shall marry the Princess Noire (DO). | ["The White Fawn"]
10. Now she should go {to the feast}. | ["Cinderella"]
11. I will throw this basinful (DO) {of peas} {into the ash heap}. | ["Cinderella"]
12. She would never wear anything (DO) {but the Red Riding Hood}. | ["Little Red Riding Hood"]
Ex. 4 - Palimpsest Patterns from The Velveteen Rabbit [AK]
The concept of “palimpsest patterns” is, to my knowledge, unique to KISS grammar. Every grammar book I have seen gives an incomplete list of “linking” verbs, a list that does not account for sentences such as “the gates groaned open” from Mary Renault’s The King Must Die. Once one understands the palimpsest concept, it makes the analysis of such sentences easy, and it provides an alternative explanation that can be applied to other sentences, such as the second in this exercise. For more on this see KISS Level 2.1.4 – Palimpsest Patterns.
1. The toy cupboard door stood open (PA). |
2. And {into his boot-button eyes}, there came a look (PN) {of wisdom and beauty}. |
3. {For a long time} he lay very still (PA). |
4. Weeks passed, | and the little Rabbit grew very old (PA) and shabby (PA). |
5. The pink lining {to his ears} turned grey (PA). |
6. The little Rabbit got quite dizzy (PA). |
7. It was a bright, sunny morning (PN), | and the windows stood wide open (PA). |
8. {On Christmas morning}, he sat wedged (PA) {in the top} {of the Boy's stocking}, {with a sprig} {of holly} {between his paws}. |
9. He felt very lonely (PA). |
10. {In the spring}, the days grew warm (PA) and sunny (PA). |
Ex. 5 - Varied Positions in S/V/C Patterns - My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales [AK]
1. Is she not truly a miracle (PN) {of beauty}? | [“The White Fawn”]
2. Great (PA) was their joy thus {at last meeting}. | [“The White Fawn”]
3. Up jumped the dwarf {in extremest terror}. | [“Snow-White and Rose-Red”]
4. The two rose-trees (DO) she took {with her}. | [“Snow-White and Rose-Red”]
5. This (DO) they could never do. | [“Sleeping Beauty”]
6. {After many years} came yet another king's son {into that land}. | [“Sleeping Beauty”]
7. And then was the wedding {of the prince and Briar Rose} celebrated (P) . | [“Sleeping Beauty”]
8. Great (PA) was his surprise, {on entering the apartment (DO) }. |
[“Prince Chéri”] “Apartment” is the direct object of the verbal (gerund) “entering.” The gerund phrase functions as the object of the preposition.
9. Presently {from a window} was thrown (P) a plateful {of tempting-looking food}. | [“Prince Chéri”]
Prepositions
Ex. 6 - Is It a Preposition? Based on “The Fairy Ring” [AK]
Note that this exercise focuses on “until,” “for,” and “before,” each of which function as a preposition in one sentence, and not a preposition in another. {Some of the sentences have been slightly modified from the original.)
The purpose of this exercise is to help students learn not to mark subordinate conjunctions as prepositions. Students should not yet be expected to recognize the subordinate clauses as such, but they should be able to identify the S/V/C patterns.
1. A little old man {with a violin} {under his arm} shuffled {down the attic steps and the many flights} {of stairs} [Adv. (to “shuffled”) until finally he reached the streets (DO)]. |
2. The little old man was quiet (PA) {for a long time} | and then he arose and again drew his bow (DO) {across the violin strings}. |
3. He stumbled {towards her chair}, fell {to his knees} {before her}, and buried his face (DO) {in her lap}. |
4. [Adv. (to “learned” and “dropped”) Before he had finished] the old woman leaned over and dropped something (DO) {into his little tin cup}. |
5. The old lady sat very still and dreamed, [Adv. (cause to “sat” and “dreamed” for her brother was playing one (DO) {of their childhood songs}]. |
Within KISS grammar, “for” can be either a subordinating or a coordinating conjunction. See “So” and “For” as Conjunctions.)
6. He had never looked {upon her} {until now}. |
Ex. 7 - The “To” Problem based on “The Fairy Ring” [AK]
1. Tears came {to the poor little old man’s eyes}; | everyone was too busy (PA) to stop to hear his music (DO). |
“Music” is the direct object of the verbal (infinitive) “to hear.” “To hear” functions as an adverb of the verbal (infinitive) “to stop.” “To stop” functions as an adverb to “too,” which functions as an adverb to “busy.”
2. {At the first street corner} he stopped and placed his violin (DO) {to his shoulder} to play. |
The verbal (infinitive) “to play” functions as an adverb (why?) to “placed.”
3. No one stopped to listen {to his music}, much less to drop anything (DO) {in the tiny tin cup}. |
The verbal (infinitive) “to listen” functions here as an adverb (of purpose) to “stopped.”
“Anything” is the direct object of the verbal (infinitive) “to drop,” which functions in the same way that “to listen” does. I was tempted to change “much less” to “or” in this exercise, but I decided that at this point in their work, students should see more words that they are not expected to be able to explain. “Much less” will, I am sure, evoke a number of different explanations from grammarians. A KISS explanation of “much less” considers “much” as an adverb to “less,” and “less” as an adverb to both “stopped” and “to drop” (thereby connecting them).
4. He had to stop and rest {at each flight} {of stairs} | and he fell {to his knees} just [as he reached the attic door (DO)]. |
At this point in their work, students are not expected to identify this adverbial “as” clause. It functions as an adverb to “fell.” “Just” functions as an adverb to the adverbial clause. (Adverbs that modify entire clauses are rarely, if ever, explained in grammar textbooks.)
5. Again he climbed the stairs (DO) {to the attic} | but he felt too weary (PA) to say a thing. |
“Thing” is the direct object of the verbal (infinitive) “to say.” The verbal functions as an adverb to “too,” which functions as an adverb to “weary.”
Note how “to the attic” can justifiably be explained as an adjective to “stairs” or as an adverb to “climbed.”
Ex. 8 - The Meanings of “Too”
Ex. 9 - Writing Sentences with “To” and “Too” [NA]
Ex. 10 - Embedded Prepositional Phrases from My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales [AK]
1. They came {to the middle} {of the forest}. | [“Hansel and Grethel”]
2. She would bring him (DO) {to one} {of the most beautiful Princesses} {in the world}. |