The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Secs. 332–336 · Part 2: Part Second
95. Adverbs that modify adjectives and other adverbs
Goal: Your child knows that an adverb can modify a verb, an adjective or another adverb.
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 332 shows adverbs modifying adjectives (a very large dog). Section 333 shows adverbs modifying adverbs (Mary walked very slowly) and gives the full definition. Section 334 asks for sentences; Section 335 asks the child to expand sentences step by step; Section 336 sends the child back to "The Mad Tea Party" to find five of each kind of word.
The lesson, step by step
Very, too, not (Section 332)
Read the three examples.
Your apron is too long.
Ask: What does too modify? (long, an adjective.)
Adverb plus adverb (Section 333)
Read the five examples.
Mary walked very slowly.
An Adverb modifies a Verb, an Adjective, or another Adverb.
Grow a sentence (Section 335)
Look at the book's model, which grows "The boy ran" into "The older boy ran swiftly across the field." Your child grows three of the eight sentences step by step, one modifier at a time.
Write (Sections 332 and 334)
Your child writes three sentences where an adverb modifies an adjective and three where it modifies an adverb.
Check it gently
For each sentence, your child draws an arrow from the adverb to the word it modifies and names that word's kind. Fix one or two.
Word hunt (Section 336)
If time allows, find five nouns, adjectives, pronouns, adverbs and verbs in "The Mad Tea Party" (pages 201 and 202).
What a good result looks like
Example (written for this guide, not from the book):
The soup is very hot. (very modifies hot, an adjective)
She spoke too quickly. (too modifies quickly, an adverb)
The little boat sailed slowly across the quiet lake.