The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Secs. 320–324 · Part 2: Part Second
92. Finding and adding modifiers
Goal: Your child finds the subject, predicate and modifiers in a sentence and adds modifiers to plain 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 320 shows how to describe a sentence ("Fragrant roses grow by the roadside") and gives twelve to do. Section 321 gives ten more. Section 322 compares one-word modifiers with groups of words. Section 323 asks the child to expand short sentences. Section 324 is a dictation about President Garfield.
The lesson, step by step
The model (Section 320)
Read the book's model about the fragrant roses together. Roses is the subject; fragrant modifies it. Grow is the predicate; by the roadside modifies it.
Do some aloud
Do five sentences from Section 320 aloud: subject, predicate, and what modifies each.
Word or group? (Section 322)
In the sentences you just did, your child says whether each modifier is one word or a group of words.
Expand (Section 323)
Your child expands six of the short sentences in Section 323 by adding modifiers to both subject and predicate, putting curved lines around each modifier.
Dictation (Section 324)
Your child studies the Garfield story, then writes it from dictation.
"I shall make a man first of all," he replied.
Check it gently
Your child checks the dictation against the book and fixes their own slips. For the expanded sentences, ask: what word does each modifier modify?
What a good result looks like
Example (written for this guide, not from the book):
Cows (in the meadow) graze (quietly).
The (little) bobolink sings (from the fence post).
The miner digs (deep) (under the mountain).
Answers to the book's problems
Section 320 (subject and its modifiers | predicate and its modifiers): 1. brook (babbling) | runs (through the meadow). 2. fields | are watered (by the April showers). 3. horse (old) | stumbled (over a stone). 4. child (merry-hearted) | went (happily, on her way). 5. bobolinks (careless) | sing (in the meadows). 6. bears (Three) | lived (in the woods). 7. floor (oaken) | was covered (with a rich carpet). 8. house (old) | stood (near a beautiful grove). 9. streams (little) | were swollen (by the rain). 10. stranger (stately) | came (to the tent). 11. river | was crossed (by a bridge). 12. Mississippi River | was discovered (by De Soto). "The" and "A" also modify the subject; the book names them later as articles. Section 321: 1. fire (bright) | burned (cheerily, in the fireplace). 2. squire (old) | sat (contentedly, in his armchair). 3. dog (great) | was stretched (by the fire). 4. Rip (unlucky) | was filled (with despair). 5. stagecoach (old) | was crowded (with passengers). 6. roll (huge, of colored handkerchief) | was knotted (about his neck). 7. throng (admiring, of boys) | hung (round the hand organ). 8. shouts (of children at play) | came (to us, through the window). 9. group (of village idlers) | sat (on the porch of the tavern). 10. fellows (little) | leaped (with joy, around the Christmas tree).
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.