The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Secs. 317–319 · Part 2: Part Second
91. Modifiers
Goal: Your child sees how added words and groups of words change, or modify, the meaning of a sentence.
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 317 gives seven pairs of sentences (The child fears the fire. / The burnt child fears the fire.) to show how added words change the meaning. Section 318 gives six more pairs. Section 319 names these words and groups of words modifiers.
The lesson, step by step
Compare pairs (Section 317)
Read the first pair aloud.
The burnt child fears the fire.
Ask: Which children does the first sentence talk about? Which does the second? What did "burnt" do?
More pairs
Go through the other pairs in Sections 317 and 318. For each, your child says how the thought changed.
A sentence that becomes true
Look at the watch example in Section 319: "A watch is useless" is not true, but "A watch without hands is useless" is. Ask: What did "without hands" do?
The name
Such parts of the sentence are called Modifiers.
Modifiers can be one word ("burnt") or a group of words ("in your yard").
Write
Your child writes three pairs of their own: a plain sentence, then the same sentence with a modifier that changes its meaning.
Check it gently
Read each pair aloud. Does the modifier really change who or what the sentence is about? If not, help your child choose a sharper one.
What a good result looks like
Example (written for this guide, not from the book):
Dogs bark at night. / Dogs on our street bark at night.
The pie is gone. / The cherry pie is gone.