KISS Level 6.2: Style

KISS Grammar

—Focus, Logic, and Texture

Note: You probably do not want to print this entire book. Unlike the Grade-Level books, this book includes the exercise (sometimes in more than one format) followed by the analysis key. There are also more exercises in the on-line version of this section.

Free, from the KISS Grammar Web Site

KISSGrammar.org

July 5, 2012

Contents

Introduction 3

Parallel Constructions 4

From “A Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr. 4

Focus (MIMC) 11

Alicia 11

Logic 15

Tense, Number, Logic, and Prepositional Phrases 15

# 1 Based on Lessons in English 15

The Logic of Subordinate Clauses 17

From At the Back of the North Wind by George Macdonald 17

From The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett (#2) 21

Texture 25

Multiple Ways of Combining Sentences 25

Rose Valley Lake 25

From Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll 27

Comparing Two Versions of the Same Text 31

Aesop’s “The Ass in the Lion's Skin” 31

Two Translations of a Passage from Plutarch’s “Dion” 37

Comparing Two Students’ Papers 47

Two Sixth Grade Essays about Fires 47

Introduction

“Parallel construction” denotes parallel ideas expressed in parallel (identical) grammatical constructions. Perhaps the most famous example of parallel constructions is Lincoln’s “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” KISS introduces students to parallel constructions in Level 3.1.2 (Subordinate Clauses). But students should probably do at least one exercise on parallel constructions every year after they do KISS Level 3.1.

For now, the primary exercise on focus is the MIMC (Main Idea in Main Clause) on “Alicia.” In this exercise, students are given two topic sentences, one of which focuses on “Alicia won.” The other emphasizes that “Alicia had to overcome many difficulties.” Seven supporting sentences are constructed as compound main clauses. The students are to revise these to support one of the two topic sentences—by subordinating one clause in each of the seven sentences. Both arguments can be supported in this way, using the same “facts.” This exercise not only shows how subordinate clauses affect focus; it also shows how the same “facts” can be manipulated to support different arguments.

Most of the exercises on logic that were originally in this section have been moved to the levels on clauses, verbals, appositives, or post-positioned adjectives. The “Tense, Number, Logic, and Prep Phrases” exercises were made for a review section after KISS Level One. The exercies on “The Logic of Subordinate Clauses” are more important. Many students would be helped by doing one of these every year after they complete KISS Level 3.1, where they are introduced.

Texture includes focus, logic, general variety in sentence construction, vocabulary, etc. For now, KISS exercises on texture present students with two short translations of the same text. The students can analyze both, and the class can then discuss the differences between the two.

Parallel Constructions

From “A Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr.

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 adverbial clause and draw an arrow from the opening bracket to the word that the clause modifies.

4. Place a vertical line after each main clause.

5. Note King’s use of parallel subordinate clauses in this single main clause. Try to de-combine the main clause into two or more main clauses, and discuss the results with your classmates.

But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on the television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking, “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness”—then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.

From “A Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Analysis Key

But [Adv. to "will understand" when you have seen vicious mobs lynch [#1] your mothers and fathers {at will} and drown your sisters and brothers [#1] {at whim}]; [Adv. to "will understand" when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters [#2] ]; [Adv. to "will understand" when you see the vast majority {of your twenty million Negro brothers} smothering [#3] {in an airtight cage} {of poverty} {in the midst} {of an affluent society}]; [Adv. to "will understand" when you suddenly find your tongue twisted [#3] and your speech stammering [#3] [Adv. to "find" or to "twisted" and "stammering" as you seek to explain [#4] {to your six-year-old daughter} [DO of "to explain" why she can't go {to the public amusement park} [Adj. to "park" that has just been advertised (P) {on the television}]] [#5], and see tears welling [#3] up {in her eyes} [Adv. to "welling" when she is told (P) [ (R)DO [#6] of "is told" that Funtown is closed (P) {to colored children},]] and see ominous clouds {of inferiority} beginning [#3] to form [#7] {in her little mental sky}, and see her beginning [#3] to distort her personality [#8] {by developing an unconscious bitterness [#9]} {toward white people}]]; [Adv. to "will understand" when you have to concoct an answer (DO) {for a five-year-old son} [Adj. to "son" who is asking, [DO of "is asking" "Daddy [DirA], why do white people treat colored people (DO) so mean?"]]]; [Adv. to "will understand" when you take a cross-country drive (DO) and find it necessary to sleep [#10] night [NuA] {after night} {in the uncomfortable corners} {of your automobile} [Adv. to "necessary" because no motel will accept you (DO)]]; [Adv. to "will understand" when you are humiliated (P) day [NuA] in and day [NuA] out {by nagging signs} reading "white" and "colored" [#11] ]; [Adv. to "will understand" when your first name becomes "nigger," (PN) ][Adv. to "will understand" *when* your middle name becomes "boy" (PN) ([ [#12] however old (PA) you are ])] and [Adv. to "will understand" *when* your last name becomes "John," (PA) and [Adv. to "will understand" *when* your wife and mother are never given (P) the respected title (RDO) "Mrs." [#13] ]; [Adv. to "will understand" when you are harried (P) {by day} and haunted (P) {by night} {by the fact} [Adj. to "fact" that you are a Negro (PN), living [#14] constantly {at tiptoe stance}, never quite knowing [#14] what to expect [#15] next], and are plagued (P) {with inner fears and outer resentments}]; [Adv. to "will understand" when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense (DO) {of "nobodiness"}] -- then you will understand [DO of "will understand" why we find it difficult to wait [#16] ]. |

Notes

1. Some students will wonder why “mobs lynch” is not a subject and finite verb here. To explain, show them that, if we substitute a pronoun here, it would probably be an “object,” not a “subject” pronoun -- When you have seen them lynch, not When you have seen they lynch. Note that the tense (have seen) and the meaning are also relevant here. We could analyze this sentence (and the next one about policemen) as constituted with subordinate clauses -- When you have seen *that* they lynch . . . .” But doesn’t the infinitive construction imply that they literally saw this, whereas the clause construction implies that they have seen evidence of it, but not necessarily seen it first hand? Thus “mobs” is the subject of the infinitive “lynch,” and “mothers” and “fathers” are direct objects of that infinitive. The infinitive “drown” has the same subject, but its direct objects are “brothers” and “sisters.” The infinitive constructions function as direct objects of “have seen.”

2. This infinitive phrase functions just as the preceding one does.

3. When they get to KISS Level Five and Noun Absolutes, students have the option of explaining these constructions as noun absolute phrases that function as direct objects:

You see the majority smothering . . .
You find your tongue twisted . . .
You find your speech stammering . . .
You see tears welling . . .
You see clouds beginning to form . . .
You see her beginning to distort . . .

This is not a traditional, or even a widely accepted explanation, but no linguist or grammarian has been able to explain why they should not be considered noun absolutes other than to say that they are not noun absolutes. And that is not an explanation.

This is a particularly interesting passage for exploring noun absolutes that function as nouns because it includes a wide range of gerundives, some of which slide into absolutes and some of which do not. The primary question is one of meaning, and it involves nexus and modification. Gerundives are primarily modifiers, whereas, in a noun absolute, the relationship between the noun and participle is nexal. We can begin with one of the simple gerundives in the passage -- “reading.” There is almost no, if there is any, change in meaning or emphasis if we change “signs reading ‘white’ and ‘colored’” into a subordinate, adjectival clause -- “signs that read ‘white’ and “colored’.”

The next two gerundives (“living” and “knowing”) are set off from their noun (“Negro”) by a comma. If you are familiar with the concepts of restrictive and non-restrictive modifiers, the comma here suggests that these are non-restrictive, i.e., simple gerundives. Note, however, that Brock Haussamen has explained that “restrictive” and “non-restrictive” are “Polarities, not Categories.” (Revising, 90-97.) Our current examples (“living” and “knowing”) are at one end of the polarity. The emphasis in this sentence is on “you are a Negro.” The “living” and “knowing” can easily be reduced to subordinate clauses with little, if any, change in emphasis or meaning -- “a Negro, who is ... and who never knows . . . .”

We can now turn to the other end of the polarity, or, as I prefer to look at it, the continuum, and consider “tongue twisted.” Would anyone seriously suggest that this could be rewritten as “you find you tongue which is twisted”? The “twisted” is as much an answer to “You find what?” as is “tongue.” And the noun absolute gives us a way of explaining this. And close to the “tongue twisted” end of the continuum is “speech stammering.” Slightly more toward the center is “majority smothering.” We could replace the gerundive here with a subordinate clause, “you see the majority ... that is smothering...,” but I would suggest that if we look at it in that way, we de-emphasize “smothering” by reducing it to a modifier. And the “smothering,” in this phrase, is as important as “majority.” Note that this discussion is highly concerned with meaning, and meaning can be subjective, but, for most people (but not all grammarians) meaning is the primary purpose for studying grammar.

I noted the subjectivity involved because I still see “tears welling” and “clouds beginning” as noun absolutes that function as direct objects, but they are close to the middle of the continuum. “welling” and “beginning” are not as important to the meaning as are “smothering,” “twisted,” and “stammering.”

The final example, “You see her beginning to distort . . . ,” is even more interesting. Some grammar texts consider “her” (and “his,” “its,” etc.) as possessive adjectives, and other textbooks consider them to be possessive pronouns. Either explanation allows some grammarians to consider “beginning” as a gerund (not a gerundive) that functions as the direct object of “see.” Thus we have three possible explanations -- 1) “her” is the direct object and “beginning” is a gerundive that modifies “her,” 2) “beginning” is the direct object and “her” modifies (or is the subject of) “beginning,” and 3) “her beginning to distort” is the core of a noun absolute phrase that functions as the direct object of “see.” The choice is yours.

4. The infinitive “to explain” functions as the direct object of “seek.”