The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Secs. 305–307 · Part 2: Part Second
87. Description or definition?
Goal: Your child tells the difference between describing one thing and defining what a kind of thing is.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- Paper and pencil (a notebook kept just for this book works well)
- A dictionary
What's in the book
Section 305 asks the child to describe the teacher's desk and then to say what a desk is, and to compare a description with a definition. Section 306 asks for dictionary definitions of ten common objects; Section 307 for a description of one particular object.
The lesson, step by step
Two kinds of writing
Look at a real desk or table. Your child first describes this desk aloud. Then says what a desk is.
In the first exercise you make a description; in the second, a definition.
Compare
Ask the book's question: What must a definition tell? Let your child try, then compare with the Answers.
Dictionary definitions (Section 306)
Your child looks up five of the book's words (chair, table, street, house, knife, shell, cat, toy) and copies the definitions.
A description (Section 307)
Your child chooses one particular thing (our kitchen chair, my striped cat) and writes a description of 4 to 6 sentences.
Check it gently
Ask: Would your description fit every chair in the world, or only this one? If it fits every chair, add a detail that belongs only to this one.
What a good result looks like
Example (written for this guide, not from the book):
Definition: A chair is a seat with a back, made for one person.
Description: Our kitchen chair is painted blue, but the paint has worn off the top rail where we hold it. One leg is a little short, so it wobbles. My father mended the seat with a new cane bottom last spring.
Answers to the book's problems
A definition tells what kind of thing something is and how it differs from other things of that kind, so it fits every desk. A description tells what one particular desk is like.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.