The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Secs. 194–198 · Part 1: Part First
58. Four kinds of sentences
Goal: Your child names and writes declarative, interrogative, imperative and exclamatory sentences.
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 194 shows five sentences about peanuts that ask, state, beg, command and exclaim, and asks for many of each kind. Section 195 gives the four definitions to learn. Section 196 asks for facts about objects to change into questions. Section 197 is the poem "Beautiful Things", for dictation; Section 198 asks for more sentences.
The lesson, step by step
Five peanut sentences
Read the five sentences in Section 194.
Where do peanuts grow?
Peanuts grow in the ground.
Talk about what each one does: asks, tells, begs, commands, exclaims.
Learn the names (Section 195)
Read the four definitions together and learn them.
An Imperative Sentence expresses a command or an entreaty.
An entreaty is a polite begging: "Please tell me."
Make some aloud
Your child makes sentences aloud: two questions about geography or math, two commands, two that beg, two that exclaim in surprise. You guess what kind each is.
Write (Section 196)
Your child writes one fact each about five objects (rose, bell, desk, umbrella, apple ...), then changes each fact into a question.
Check it gently
Check end marks: periods for statements, interrogation points for questions. Fix any slips. If there are exclamations, they get the exclamation point (!).
Beautiful Things (Section 197)
Read the poem together.
Beautiful hands are they that do
Work that is noble, good, and true;
Study it for dictation another day.
What a good result looks like
Example (written for this guide, not from the book):
The bell rang at noon. / Did the bell ring at noon?
The apple is ripe. / Is the apple ripe?
What a heavy umbrella this is!
Afterwards
Section 195 says: after studying, write the four definitions from memory. Do this tomorrow.
Answers to the book's problems
Section 194: 1. asks a question (interrogative). 2. makes a statement (declarative). 3. begs or entreats (imperative). 4. commands (imperative). 5. exclaims in surprise (exclamatory).
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.