Harvey's Elementary Grammar and Composition · Lesson 26 · Part 1: Part I: The elementary course
25. The participial noun
Goal: Your child can tell a participle that describes from an ing-word used as a noun, and retells a short story from memory.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- Paper and a pencil (or a slate)
What's in the book
Page 39 gives models for parsing participles and sentences using them. Lesson 26 explains the participial noun ("I like skating"), with a model and two sets of sentences. Page 40 ends with "The Dog and the Partridge" to read and retell.
The lesson, step by step
Review
Ask for the three participles of "break."
A participle as a noun
SayI like skating.
Ask: What do I like? Skating names something, so it is a noun. The book calls it a participial noun because it comes from the verb skate.
Learn the model
Read the book's model aloud:
Writing is a noun; (why?): participial; it is derived from the verb "write,"
Your child repeats it.
Find the participial nouns
Use the model on these:
He was in danger of losing his life.
These strawberries are of my own raising.
They could not avoid being discovered.
Participle or noun?
In the second set, your child decides which ing-words describe and which name:
Looking over the wall, we saw a fox caught in a trap.
Seeing is believing.
The poor woman stood at the door, wringing her hands.
Retell a story
The book says:
Read the following three times, then reproduce it from memory.
Read "The Dog and the Partridge" together three times, close the book, and have your child write it in their own words.
Use it today
Find one ing-word in today's reading. Is it describing something, or naming an action?
Afterwards
If the retelling is long, finish it the next day.
Answers to the book's problems
Participial nouns: losing; running, jumping; raising; searching; being discovered. Second set: 1 meeting, being called: participial nouns. 2 Looking, caught: participles. 3 Seeing, believing: participial nouns. 4 wringing: participle. 5 being: participial noun. 6 pointing: participle. The retelling will vary; it should keep the main events in order.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.