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KISS Grammar
A Level 3.1 Complete Workbook
Free, from the KISS Grammar Web Site
KISSGrammar.org
© Ed Vavra
November 21, 2012
Contents
Introduction—Welcome Back!
An Introduction to Clauses
KISS Level 3.1.1—Compound Main Clauses
1. Identifying Main Clauses
1.a. From “How Brave Walter Hunted Wolves”
1.b. From the Writing of Sixth Graders
1.c. Based on the Second Story in “The Snow Queen”
1.d. Based on the Second Story in “The Snow Queen”
2. The Logic and Punctuation of Compound Main Clauses
Explanation
2.a. From Lassie, Come Home by Eric Knight
2.b. The Logic of Semicolons, Colons, and Dashes –Famous Quotations
3. Syntax & Logic - Compounding Main Clauses
4. Treasure Hunt (and/or Recipe Roster)
5. Writing Compound Sentences with a Dash, Colon, or Semicolon
KISS Level 3.1.2—Subordinate Clauses
Mixed Subordinate Clauses
Identifying Clauses—The Procedure
The Types of Subordinate Clauses
1.a. From “How Brave Walter Hunted Wolves”
1.b. From The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
1.c. Tongue Twister—“She sells seashells”
1.d. Based on The Queen of the Pirate Isle by Bret Harte
1.e. From the Writing of Sixth Graders
1.f. From Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Rewriting Subordinate Clauses as Main or Main as Subordinate
2.a. From the Writing of Sixth Graders
2.b. Based on “Perseus” in The Heroes, or Greek Fairy Tales For My Children
The Logic of Subordinate Clauses
3. From The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
4. A Passage for Analysis from Chapter Nine of Blue Willow, by Doris Gates
Style - Parallel Constructions
* 5.a. From “The Butterfly That Stamped,” by Rudyard Kipling
* 5.b. Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address”
6. From “Endicott and the Red Cross,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Noun Clauses as Direct Objects
1.a. From Lassie, Come Home by Eric Knight
1.b. From the Writing of Sixth Graders
Noun Clauses as Direct Objects—Quotations
2. Based on “The Story of the First Hummingbird” by Florence Holbrook
3. Treasure Hunt (and/or Recipe Roster)
Adverbial Subordinate Clauses
1.a. From The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
1.b. Famous (or Interesting) Quotations
1.c. Based on The Queen of the Pirate Isle by Bret Harte
1.d. From the Writing of Sixth Graders
Sentence-Building: Adding Adverbial Clauses
2. Based on Lassie, Come Home by Eric Knight
Rewriting Adverbial Clauses as Main and Main as Adverbial
3.a. Based on Lassie, Come Home, by Eric Knight
3.b. From the Writing of Sixth Graders
The Logic of Adverbial Clauses
4. From Lassie, Come Home, by Eric Knight
The Logic of Adverbial Clauses (Combining Five Sentences)
A Passage for Analysis
6. From “How the Alphabet Was Made,” by Rudyard Kipling
7. Treasure Hunt (and/or Recipe Roster)
Adjectival Subordinate Clauses
1.a. From The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
1.b. Famous (or Interesting) Quotations
1.c. From the Writing of Sixth Graders
Mid-Branching Adjectival Clauses
2. Famous (or Interesting) Quotations
Sentence Building: Adding Adjectival Clauses
3. Based on Introductory Lessons in English Grammar by Wm. H. Maxwell, M.A.
Restrictive and Non-Restrictive Modifiers
4.a. Punctuating Adjectival Clauses, Based on “Perseus,”by Charles Kingsley
4.b. From Lassie, Come Home, by Eric Knight
Rewriting Adjectival Clauses as Main Clauses and Main as Adjectival
5.a. From Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
5.b. Based on “Perseus” by Charles Kingsley
A Passage for Analysis
6. The Opening of Chapter 15 from Heidi by Johanna Spyri
7. Treasure Hunt (and/or Recipe Roster)
Other Noun Clauses
1.a. Mixed Noun Clauses from Heidi by Johanna Spyri
1.b. Mixed Noun Clauses from Lassie, Come Home by Eric Knight
Noun Clauses as Objects of Prepositions
2. Based on Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell
Noun Clauses as Subjects
3. Famous (or Interesting) Quotations
Noun Clauses as Predicate Nouns
4. From Lassie, Come Home by Eric Knight
5. Treasure Hunts (and/or Recipe Rosters)
KISS Level 3.1.3 -- Embedded Subordinate Clauses
Clauses within Clauses (Embedding)
Reviewing the Procedure for Identifying Clauses
1. The Last Sentence of “The House That Jack Built”
2.a. From “How Brave Walter Hunted Wolves”
2.b. From the Writing of Sixth Graders
2.c. From Heidi by Johanna Spyri
2.d. Based on “Perseus” by Charles Kingsley
2.e. From The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Passages for Analysis
3.a. From Chapter One of Blue Willow, by Doris Gates
3.b. From
“The Beginning of the Armadilloes” by Rudyard Kipling
Introduction—Welcome Back!
If your instructor has given you these materials, you have probably worked through KISS Levels One and Two. Thus you are already able to identify many constructions in the sentences that you read and write.
If you are familiar with the movie The Karate Kid, you probably remember than Mr. Miyagi made Danielsan wash and wax his cars—“Wax on; Wax Off. Wax On; Wax Off.” In a sense, that is what you did in KISS Level One. Daniel also had to paint the fence, “Up. Down. Up Down.” You might compare that to KISS Level Two. KISS Level Three is comparable to many of Daniel’s karate matches –not the championship matches (those are in KISS Level Four). But before one can become a champion, one needs practical experience.
KISS Level Three—Clauses—is the most practical and important of the KISS Levels. That’s because clauses are the most important constructions in English sentences. Even as you begin to master main clauses, you’ll be discovering important aspects of correctness, style, and logic. And, if you have mastered KISS Levels One and Two, all that washing, waxing, and painting will make KISS Level Three relatively easy to master. As you work, keep the following in mind:
1. There are some things (such as simple prepositional phrases, and identifying basic S/V/C patterns) that you are expected to always get right.
2. But, because you will be analyzing sentences from real texts, there are other things that you will be expected to get wrong.
3. Always work systematically. In analyzing a sentence, find all the prepositional phrases first. Then identify the S/V/C patterns by first finding a finite verb, then its subject, then its complement. Do this in a sentence until you have found all the S/V/C patterns.
4. In this Level, you will be learning to identify basic clauses. A clause is an S/V/C pattern and all the words that chunk to it. Thus, if you have labeled all the S/V/C patterns in a sentence, identifying clauses will be easy. You will be told how to do that systematically using another simple, but very important sequence. Learn the sequence, and use it.
5. We humans have a tendency to worry about what we do not know or do not understand. Do not let that frustrate you. From time to time, stop and look at how much you can already explain.
6. Have fun!
An Introduction to Clauses
(KISS Level 3.1) / / Claude Monet's(1840-1926)
The Stroll
Camille Monet and Her Son Jean
(Woman with a Parasol)
1875
Thus far you have been working with sentences and have learned to identify the “subject / (finite) verb / complement patterns” in them. You have also learned that adjectives, adverbs, and most prepositional phrases modify (and thus chunk to) the words in the S/V/C slots. You have probably noticed that many sentences have more than one S/V/C pattern. To be able to discuss these multiple patterns in a sentence, we need to distinguish between “sentence” and “clause.”
What Is a Clause?
A “clause” is a subject, finite verb, complement pattern and all the words that chunk to it.Because you can already identify S/V/C patterns and distinguish finite verbs from verbals, you will probably find clauses easy to understand. There are two primary types of clauses, main and subordinate.
Main Clauses
Every main clause could be punctuated as a separate sentence, but just as we compound subjects, verbs, etc., we also compound main clauses. Thus you will often find more than one main clause in a sentence. Although short main clauses can be combined with commas (I came, I saw, I conquered.), most main clauses are joined together with the following punctuation:
, and / He went swimming, and she went fishing., or / Tom went to the lake, or he went home.
, but / Sarah arrived late, but she had her homework done.
[Note that some writers omit the comma, but you probably should not do so until you are an established writer. (Some teachers don't like the missing commas.)]
a semicolon / Gary loved football; Sam preferred golf.
a colon / It was early: the clock had not even struck six a.m.
a dash / Toni loves football -- she watches the Redskins' game every Sunday.
The differences in these punctuation marks will be discussed in more detail in the sections on style and logic. For now, all you need to remember is that when a clause begins with one of them, you are probably dealing with compound main clauses.
Subordinate clauses are the focus of KISS Level 3.1.2, but a brief overview may help you better understand main clauses.
Subordinate Clauses
With rare exceptions, every subordinate clause functions as a noun, adjective, or adverb within another clause. This means that a subordinate clause is embedded in, and thus a part of, a main clause. The easiest way to identify clauses is to first identify the S/V/C patterns. In KISS analysis, we put a vertical line at the end of every main clause, and brackets around subordinate clauses.
Noun Clauses: A subordinate clause can function in any way that a noun can.
Probably the most common function of noun clauses is as direct objects:
Shethought[DO thatwould bea good idea (PN)]. |
Noun clauses can also function as indirect objects:
Billsent[IO whoeverwantedone (DO)] acopy (DO){of his book}. |
Noun clauses can be objects of prepositions:
Theywere listening{to [OP whatthe teacherwas saying]}. |
They can function as predicate nouns:
His ideawas[PN thatweshould go fishing]. |
The last of the most common functions of noun clauses is a subject:
[Subj. That shewasright (PA)] wasdifficult (PA){for him} to accept. |
Adjectival Clauses: A subordinate clause can function as an adjective. Normally, adjectival clauses modify the word that immediately precedes them.
The man[Adj. whorobbedthe bank (DO)] is now {in jail}. |
Thosearetheflowers (PN)[Adj. thatTomgavehis wife (IO)]. |
Adverbial Clauses: A subordinate clause can function as an adverb.
Hecried[Adv. to "cried" becausehis teamlost]. |
[Adv. to "had" After theywonthegame (DO),]theyhada bigparty (DO). |
KISS Level 3.1.1—Compound Main Clauses
1. Identifying Main Clauses
/1.a. From “How Brave Walter Hunted Wolves”
From The Lilac Fairy Book, edited by Andrew LangDirections:
1. Place parentheses ( ) around each prepositional phrase.
2. Underline verbs twice, their subjects once, and label complements (“PA,” “PN,” “IO,” or “DO”).
3. Place a vertical line after each main clause.
1. But on the other side of the garden there is a lake, and beyond the lake is a village, and all around stretch meadows and fields, now yellow, now green.
2. Come with me, Jonas, and you shall have the skin, and I will be content with the ears and the tail.
3. It was a beautiful evening, and the birds were singing in all the branches.
4. Yes, it was not at all safe here, and there were no other people to be seen in the neighbourhood.
5. He certainly jumped on to Walter, but he only shook his coat and rubbed his nose against his face; and Walter shrieked.
The Maja and theMasked Men
1777
Francisco de Goya
(1746-1828)
Museo del Prado,
Madrid / / KISS Level 3.1.1 Compound Main Clauses
1.b. From the Writing of Sixth Graders
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 a vertical line after each main clause.
1. I screamed at him and he turned around.
2. We followed the trail, and we got home.
3. This would not only raise enough money for the show, but it would prove the show’s popularity.
4. To his surprise, the idea worked, and the bear went after the stick.
5. We started to look around, but we could not find a trace of the path.
6. My name is Tommy, and I love the Disney shows.
7. This is my first year in middle school, and I want a friend.
8. One day my mother came over to visit and I was swimming, and I hit my collar bone on a brick and broke it.
9. He tried to run, but his dad caught him by the sleeve of his shirt.
10. We gave the stray cat some food, and my mom called our neighbors.
/ Compound Main Clauses1.c. Based on the Second Story in “The Snow Queen”
From Stories from Hans Andersenwith illustrations by Edmund Dulac
Part One:
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 a vertical line after each main clause.
1. In the summer they could reach each other with one bound, but in the winter they had to go down all the stairs in one house and up all the stairs in the other, and outside there were snowdrifts.
2. She is biggest of them all, and she never remains on the ground.
3. Many a winter’s night she flies through the streets and peeps in at the windows, and then the ice freezes on the panes into wonderful patterns like flowers.
4. Still she was alive, her eyes shone like two bright stars, but there was no rest or peace in them.
5. The next day was bright and frosty, and then came the thaw — and after that the spring.
Part Two: Write a sentence with compound main clauses.
/ Compound Main Clauses1.d. Based on the Second Story in “The Snow Queen”
From Stories from Hans Andersenwith illustrations by Edmund Dulac
Part One:
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 a vertical line after each main clause.
1. The sun shone, green buds began to appear, the swallows built their nests, and people began to open their windows.
2. He did it very well and people laughed at him.
3. The sledge drove twice round the square, and Kay quickly tied his sledge on behind.
4. He shouted aloud, but nobody heard him, and the sledge tore on through the snow-drifts.
5. The Snow Queen kissed Kay again, and then he forgot all about little Gerda, Grandmother, and all the others at home.
Part Two: Write a sentence with compound main clauses.
/2. The Logic and Punctuation of Compound Main Clauses
Explanation
Although two or more main clauses can be combined into one sentence by using “, and,” “, or,” or “, but,” three punctuation marks can also be used not only to combine the clauses, but also to direct readers to see specific logical relationships between the ideas expressed in the clauses.
Colons and Dashes to Indicate Further Details
A colon or a dash can be used to indicate a “general/specific” relationship between the ideas in two main clauses:
The weather was nice -- it was sunny with a soft wind.
The payment is late: it was due two weeks ago.
In these examples, the first main clause makes a general statement, and the second provides more specific details.
Semicolons to Emphasize Contrasting Ideas
Consider the following two sentences:
He went swimming. She did the dishes.
In effect, they simply state two facts. We can combine them with “, and” and a small “s,” but they will still simply state two facts:
He went swimming, and she did the dishes.
There is, however, another way of combining the two, and it changes the meaning. When a semicolon is used between two main clauses, it suggests that the clauses embody contrasting ideas. Thus, we could write:
He went swimming; she did the dishes.
The semicolon invites the reader to think about the differences between the two main clauses, and, in this case, a little thought suggests that the underlying contrast here is that he is having fun, but she was stuck working in the kitchen.
/ Punctuation and Logicof Compound Main Clauses
2.a. From Lassie, Come Homeby Eric Knight
Directions:
1. Put parentheses ( ) around each prepositional phrase.
2. Underline subjects once, finite verbs twice, and label complements (“PN,” “PA,” “IO,” “DO”).
3. Put a vertical line at the end of every main clause.
4. Briefly explain the logic implied by the words and/or punctuation marks that join the compounded main clauses.
1. Their clothes were coated with muck, and in the men’s hands or on their heads were lanterns.
2. But this at last was her solution—she must walk among men.
3. She stared at him and then she clasped her hands together.
4. The rain streamed from her coat; the mud splashed up over her legs.
5. Lassie got up again and went back to the sun; but that was not the answer.
6. She tried to lift her head but it would not move.
7. The conclusion to draw is this: Never trust a dog!
8. And the heart was gallant and the instinct was true.
9. Freeth began to laugh, but McBane’s tone halted him.
10. “Well, I’ll tell you the truth—it escaped.”
KISS GrammarCompound Main Clauses
2.b. The Logic ofSemicolons, Colons, and Dashes –Famous Quotations
/Writers often use a semicolon to join contrasting ideas, or a colon or a dash to join clauses in which one clause gives more specific details about (amplifies) the other clause. [Another way of looking at this is to say that one clause makes a general statement, and the other clause states the same idea in more specific detail.] Colons suggest a formal style, and dashes reflect a casual style.