The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Secs. 467–470 · Part 2: Part Second
130. Clauses: simple, complex and compound sentences
Goal: Your child finds the clauses in a sentence and tells simple, complex and compound sentences apart.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- Paper and pencil (a notebook kept just for this book works well)
What's in the book
Section 467 explains the clause, a part of a sentence with its own subject and predicate, with six sentences of two clauses each. Section 468 explains simple, complex and compound sentences with apple-blossom examples. Section 469 gives fifteen sentences to classify; Section 470 asks the child to separate their clauses.
The lesson, step by step
Two clauses (Section 467)
Read the three Lowell sentences and then the six two-clause sentences. In each, your child finds the two subjects and two predicates.
The winds roared and the lightning flashed.
Three kinds (Section 468)
Read the three apple-tree sentences and the book's explanation.
A sentence which contains a Dependent Clause is a Complex Sentence.
A sentence which contains two or more Independent Clauses is a Compound Sentence.
Test: read each clause alone. Does it make sense by itself? If not, it is dependent.
Classify (Section 469)
Go through the fifteen sentences aloud. For each, your child says simple, complex or compound, and why.
Separate the clauses (Section 470)
Your child writes four of the complex or compound sentences, drawing a line between the clauses.
Make your own
Your child writes two complex sentences and two compound sentences, like the book's examples.
Check it gently
Compare with the Answers. For any mistake, read each clause alone and ask: does it stand on its own?
What a good result looks like
Example (written for this guide, not from the book):
Compound: The sun set, and the stars came out.
Complex: When the sun set, the stars came out.
In the complex sentence, "When the sun set" cannot stand by itself.
Answers to the book's problems
Section 469: 1. simple. 2. complex (if you speak at all). 3. complex (whose shining roofs gleamed among the trees). 4. complex (that glitters). 5. simple. 6. complex (that touch pitch). 7. complex (As he approached the village). 8. compound. 9. complex (when I behold a rainbow in the sky). 10. compound (Laugh / and the world laughs with you). 11. complex (Whether we look or whether we listen). 12. simple. 13. compound. 14. complex (where the Forty Thieves hid their treasure). 15. compound.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.