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KISS Grammar
A Level One Workbook
Analysis Keys
Free, from the KISS Grammar Web Site
This is the “Teachers’ Book” for a KISS Level One workbook. There will be nine of these books, one each for students in grades three through eleven. (Students who have started KISS in one grade should not repeat Level One in the next grade. Eventually, they should be able to pick up with whatever KISS Level they were working on in one grade in the KISS book for the next grade. Although the instructional materials are the same, the texts of which most exercises are based change with the grade levels.)
This book contains some suggestions for teaching KISS Level One and the analysis keys for the exercises. The keys in this book have been numbered to match the students’ workbook. Note that in the printable books, instructional materials (and special notes for teachers) appear in green text in the table of contents. The red text in the ToC leads to the background materials that are in the “Master Books.”
© Ed Vavra
May 9, 2013
Contents
Exercises in brackets have no analysis keys.
Introduction for Teachers and Parents
Applying KISS to Students’ Own Reading and Writing
KISS Level 1.1. Identifying Subjects and Finite Verbs
Notes for Teachers
Additional Methods for Identifying Subjects and Finite Verbs
Ex. 1 - Is It a Sentence?
Ex. 2 - Identifying Simple Subjects and Verbs, from “Hansel and Grethel”
Ex. 3 - Identifying Subjects and Verbs From “Hansel and Grethel”
Ex. 4. a. - Modal Helping Verbs, From My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales
[Ex. 4. b. - Writing Sentences with Modal Helping Verbs]
Ex. 5 - Other Helping Verbs from At the Back of the North Wind
Ex. 6 - More Practice with Helping Verbs From Pinocchio
Ex. 7 - A Fill-in-the-Blanks Exercise:The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher
Ex. 8 - “The Boy in the Barn” (A Passage for Analysis)
Ex. 9- Just for Fun
KISS Level 1. 2. Adding Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, Adverbs and Phrases
Notes for Teachers
Ex. 1.a. From Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet, by C. Collodi
Ex. 1 b. From At the Back of the North Wind, by George Macdonald
[*Ex. 2 - Number - Creating Plurals]
[*Ex. 3. - Number - Irregular Plurals]
Ex. 4. Replacing Nouns with Pronouns
Ex. 5.a. From At the Back of the North Wind by George Macdonald
Ex. 5.b. From Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet
Ex. 6.a. Identifying Phrases, from Sandman's Goodnight Stories
Ex. 6.b. Identifying Phrases From “Morning-glory”
Ex. 7 Possessive Nouns and Pronouns - from Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet
Ex. 8 Fill in the Blanks with Adjectives: The Cat, the Monkey, and the Chestnuts
[Ex. 9 Adjectives (Synonyms)]
[Ex. 10 Adjectives (Antonyms)]
Ex. 11.a Adapted from The Mother Tongue, Book II
Ex. 11.b Adapted from “Wonderwings”
Ex. 12 “The Wolf and the Kid” from The ÆSOP for Children
KISS Level 1. 3. Adding Complements (PA, PN, IO, DO)
Notes for Teachers—The Grammarians’ Secret
Ex. 1. a. - Mixed Complements, based on The Story of Miss Moppet, by Beatrix Potter
Ex. 1. b. - Mixed Complements, based on The Story of Miss Moppet, by Beatrix Potter
Ex. 1. c. - The Crooked Sixpence
Ex. 1. d. - Humpty Dumpty
Ex. 2. - A Focus on Predicate Adjectives, based on The Pie and the Patty-Pan
Ex. 3. - A Focus on Predicate Nouns, from Pinocchio
Ex. 4. - A Focus on Direct Objects, from Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet
Ex 5. - A Focus on Indirect Objects, based on Child-Story Readers: Wonder Stories 3
Ex. 6. - A Focus on Zero Complements, based on The Pie and the Patty-Pan
Ex. 7. - From At the Back of the North Wind
Predicate Adjective or Part of the Verb Phrase? (Background for Teachers)
Ex. 8 - Based on The Tale of Samuel Whiskers by Beatrix Potter
[Ex. 9. - Writing Sentences with Complements]
Ex. 10. - A Passage for Analysis, from “Why Jimmy Skunk Wears Stripes”
Ex. 11. - Just for Fun: Tongue Twisters
KISS Level 1.4. - Coordinating Conjunctions and Compounds
Notes for Teachers
Ex. 1 - Based on The Tale of Tom Kitten, by Beatrix Potter
Ex. 2 - From “The Story of the First Woodpecker” by Florence Holbrook
Ex. 3 - Adapted from Voyages in English - Fifth Year
[Ex. 4 - Writing Sentences with Compounds]
Ex. 5 - From “The White Fawn,” by Edric Vredenburg
Ex. 6 - From My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales by Edric Vredenburg
Ex. 7 - “The Robin,” A Passage for Analysis
KISS Level 1. 5. Adding Simple Prepositional Phrases
Notes for Teachers
Ex. 1 - Fill in the Blanks - Adapted from Introductory Lessons in English Grammar
Ex. 2a - Based on Introductory Lessons in English Grammar
Ex. 2b - Based on Introductory Lessons in English Grammar
Ex. 3 - Mama Skunk
Ex. 4 - Based on Child-Story Readers: Wonder Stories 3
Ex. 5 - “He plays football on Saturdays”
Ex. 6 - Notes for Teachers on Separated Objects of Prepositions
Ex. 6 - From Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet, by C. Collodi
[Ex. 7 - Writing Sentences with Compound Objects of Prepositions]
Ex. 8 - From Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet (#1) by C. Collodi
Ex. 9 - Using Adjectives or Prepositional Phrases to Combine Sentences
Exercise 10 a & b - The Logic of Prepositional Phrases
Ex. 10. a. - Adapted from Voyages in English
Ex. 10. b. - Adapted from Voyages in English
[Ex. 11 - Adding Prepositional Phrases of Time and Space]
Ex. 12. Notes for Teachers: The Branching of Adverbial Prepositional Phrases
[Ex. 12. a - Style—Left-, Right-, and Mid-Branching Prepositional Phrases]
Ex. 12. b. My Porcelain Doll
Ex. 13 - Based on The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter
Ex. 14. a. - “The Sea,” by Richard Henry Stoddard
Ex. 14. b. - From “Mrs. Redwing's Speckled Eggs”
[Ex. 15 - Write, Revise, Edit, and Analyze (Describing an Event)]
KISS Level 1. 6. Case, Number, and Tense
Notes for Teachers
Ex. 1. From At the Back of the North Wind, by George Macdonald
Ex. 2. From At the Back of the North Wind, by George Macdonald
Ex. 3. From Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet, by C. Collodi
Ex. 4.a. Ten Sentences adapted from Wonderwings, by Edith Howes
Ex. 4.b. Grandfather Skeeter Hawk’s Story
Ex. 5 - Pronouns: The Gender Question
[Ex. 6.a. A Recipe Roster]
[Ex. 6.b. Personal Pronouns (Recipe Roster)]
[Ex. 7.a. Pronouns as Predicate Nouns--Adapted from Voyages in English]
Ex. 7.b. Pronouns as Predicate Nouns Adapted from The New College Grammar]
[Ex. 7.b. Pronouns as Predicate Nouns - * A Research Project]
[Ex. 8.a. Identifying Tenses]
Ex. 8.b. Changing Tenses—“The Clever Hen”
Ex. 9. From At the Back of the North Wind, by George Macdonald
KISS Level 1. 7. Punctuation and Capitalization
Notes for Teachers
Ex. 1 - Elizabeth, Eliza, Betsy, and Bess
Ex. 2 - Punctuating Sentences
Ex. 3 - Capitalization
Ex. 4 - Commas in a Series
Ex. 5 - Commas in Addresses and Dates
[Ex. 6 - Apostrophes to Show Possession, based on Jemima Puddle-Duck]
Ex. 7 - Apostrophes in Contractions, Based on The Pie and the Patty-Pan
Ex. 8 - Quotation Marks
Ex. 9 - Replacing Punctuation & Capitalization, “The First Woodpecker”
[Ex. 10 - Creating an Exercise]
KISS Level 1.8. - Vocabulary and Logic
Notes for Teachers
Abstract and Concrete Words
Ex. 1 - Adapted from Child-Story Readers: Wonder Stories
[Ex. 2 - Common and Proper Nouns]
[Ex. 3 - Synonyms]
[Ex. 4 - Antonyms]
Ex. 5 - Fill in the Blanks with Interesting Words
Ex. 6 - The Logic of Words and Phrases [Notes for Teachers]
[Ex. 7 - Suffixes]
[Ex. 8 - Prefixes]
[Ex. 9 - Roots]
Appendix
The KISS Grammar Toolbox
Using the KISS Analysis Keys
Creating Directions for Your Students
Conjugation of the Verb “To Discover”
Introduction for Teachers and Parents
The study of grammar is a science.
The teaching of grammar is an art.
Your primary objective in this level should be to enable your students to identify the most common constructions in English sentences. If, on the way to that objective, you and your students have time, you can have them explore some important points of punctuation, logic, and style. (I would suggest, however, that most of the most important aspects of punctuation, logic, and style in English sentences involve clauses, the subject of KISS Levels 3.1 and 3.2).
I strongly suggest you review the KISS Psycholinguistic Model with your students. (See the “Printable Books Page.”) The model changes the study of grammar into the study of how the human mind processes language, and it also validates (and sometimes challenges) the rules of punctuation.
General Reminders:
1. Although the ability to identify constructions is essential, once students have the ability, such exercises may become boring. You may therefore want to modify some of the directions. For example, punctuation exercises often ask students to identify constructions as well as fix the punctuation. You may want to change these to simply fixing and discussing the punctuation. The same is true for some of the exercises on logic.
2. Emphasize the systematic method. College instructors in math, electronics, and a number of other fields complain that students want the “answers” and ignore the methods by which they can find the answers. If you emphasize the method of systematic analysis (described in the students’ version), you will probably find that your students will do much better, much faster. And you will be helping them learn how to work systematically.
Applying KISS to Students’ Own Reading and Writing
The primary objective of KISS is to enable students to intelligently discuss the grammar of anything that they read and especially anything that they write. Those who understand KISS concepts could, theoretically, use the Master Books and then use only the students’ own writing for exercise materials. But particularly in classrooms, this would be impractical.Imagine the dilemma of a teacher with twenty students in classroom. The students have been given the instructional material on subjects and verbs, and then the students immediately all try to find the subjects and verbs in a short passage that they wrote. The teacher would go nuts trying to check all of this. In other words, it makes much more sense for the students to all do a few of the same exercise, an exercise that can then be reviewed in class. KISS primarily provides the latter type of exercises.
Teachers should regularly supplement these exercises by having students analyze short passages from their own writing. The students can simply apply the directions they have been using to the analysis of their own writing. (In other words, if they are working at KISS Level Three, they would analyze their own writing through clauses.) The students can then work in small groups to check and discuss each others’ work. How often teachers should do this is an aspect of the art of teaching. But the more you do this, the more that you will probably see interested, motivated students.
KISS Level 1.1. Identifying Subjects and Finite Verbs
Notes for Teachers
The key to enabling students to understand the structure of their own writing is to enable them to identify the subjects and finite verbs in it. Even if you have been fairly well-taught in grammar, the odds are that you have never heard of “finite” verbs. That’s because almost all instruction in grammar is really just an explanation of some grammatical terms. I am unaware of any grammar textbook that even claims to try to give students a practical understanding of grammar.
Consider the typical instructions about subjects and “verbs.” Students are given some basic definitions and are then asked to underline subjects once and “verbs” twice. But consider the sentence:
Swimming is good exercise.
“Swimming” fits the typical definition of a verb, and thus many students would underline it twice. But in this sentence, it is not a verb; it functions as a noun and is a subject. Or consider the sentence:
They went to the store to buy some bread.
Here again, “buy” fits the typical explanation of a verb, but in this case, it functions as an adverb. Or consider still another:
The way to win a man’s heart is through his stomach.
“Win” fits the typical definition of a verb, but in this case “to win” functions as an adjective to “way.”
As you will learn if you stay with KISS, verbs can function as nouns, adverbs, or adjectives. When they do so, they are called “verbals.” Those verbs that students are really expected to underline twice are called “finite.” Defining a “finite verb” for beginners is extremely difficult--the definitions require an understanding of other grammatical terms. But the ability to recognize finite verbs can be gained relatively easily by studying examples, or, in KISS practice, short exercises.
The details of verbals are the focus of KISS Level Four, but some exercises (starting in KISS Level 1.2) do attempt to help students recognize verbals just so the students do not underline them twice. Here in KISS Level 1.1, our objective is to enable students to identify verbs in the first place. This is one of the most difficult parts of studying grammar, for two reasons. First, there are thousands of verbs in the language; and second, the same group of letters can be either a noun or a verb -- or something else. Just think of words like “look,” “feel,” “smile,” “xerox,” and even “like” itself.
Thus, in KISS Level 1.1 our objective is to help students develop a basic “sentence sense” by giving them relatively short sentences (in short exercises) until they can almost automatically underline finite verbs and their subjects. Remember, however, that students are expected to make certain types of mistakes--such as underlining a verbal. On the other hand, once they have been taught that “am,” “is,” “are,” “was,” and “were” are always finite verbs, students should NEVER fail to underline them twice.
Most textbooks provide a wide array of suggestions for identifying nouns and pronouns (for subjects) and for identifying verbs. There is, however, little if any evidence that any of these explanations are effective. See “Methods for Identifying Subjects and Finite Verbs,” below. If they help, use them. You may find, however, that the sheer number of suggestions (and exceptions within them) can be overwhelming. The objective of instruction (the “game,” so to speak) ought to be the analysis of sentences. In many cases, however, far too much time is spent on explanations of how to identify nouns, verbs, etc. There is a better way.
Start instruction, not with the parts of speech, but with the analysis of sentences. If you are beginning in primary grades, you and your students have lots of time, so you can begin with very simple sentences. You can limit instruction to just two or three of these exercises every week until all (or at least almost all) of the students can do them almost without thinking. In the process, you can teach students to identify nouns and verbs. The verbs, of course, they will be underlining twice. But, instead of all those gimmicks for identifying nouns, students need simply learn that nouns (and pronouns) are the words that function as subjects (or, when you get to them, as objects of prepositions, etc.).
As always in grammar, terminology causes problems. At this point in their work, students do not need to know terms such as “tense,” “helping verbs,” or “auxiliary” (another word for “helping”). They should, however, learn the term “phrase.” A “phrase” is simply a group of words that work together as a unit, but do not include a subject and (finite) verb pattern. At this KISS Level, for example, students should learn to underline all the words in a verb phrase (such as “would have been walking”). Exercises three through six focus on the various types of helping verbs. But the purpose of the category names is to make sure that students are at least exposed to the verbs that create various verb phrases. How often, for example, will students run across “ought”? On the other hand, young writers will use “was going to…” and “kept on…” fairly often. Thus, if we want students to be able to analyze their own writing, we need to pay some attention to these verbs.
One of the problems in the grammar books is that they do not all agree on what is (and what is not) a “helping” verb. Some books, for example, include “need” and “dare” among “helping” verbs--for reasons that are not given. But if “need” is a helping verb, why isn’t “want”? The KISS Approach to this is, of course, alternative explanations. In sentences such as
He needed to go to the store.
He wanted to go to the store.
KISS allows students to consider “needed to go” or “wanted to go” as the finite verb phrase, especially in this KISS Level 1.1. (Exercise five, “Other Helping Verbs,” focuses on this question. In it, you should probably accept either explanation as correct. If a student underlined “wanted” twice and does nothing with “to go,” that is fine. It is, of course, also fine if they underline “wanted to go” twice.)
You may or may not want to use the instructional material for Exercise # 5. It describes “start,” “continue,” “stop,” “like,” “love,” “hate,” “want,” and “try” as “helping verbs.” Instead, you might want to have them use the instructional material for exercise seven, “Verbs as Subjects or Complements,” in KISS Level 1.3 “Adding Complements.” The question here is, how much new information can you give your students without overwhelming them? You will almost certainly find that what students need here is practice. For justification for this approach, see the essay on Jerome Bruner’s “spiral curriculum” in the Background Essays.
Exercise seven (“Fill-in-the-blanks with Verbs”) is as much an exercise in vocabulary as it is an exercise in learning to identify verbs. It probably works best as an in-class activity. Give the students time to work alone to fill in the blanks, and then have them share their choices with the rest of the class. You might want to write the verbs on the board as the students give their suggestions. That way, you can have students discuss which words are most effective. Exercise eight is a short passage for analysis, and exercise nine is just for fun.