The Language of Grammar: Introduction

Grammar was an intimidating subject when I first started teaching. Much like my students, I worried about remembering all the rules, not to mention all the exceptions to the rules. Unlike my students, I had the teacher edition of the textbook. Lucky me!

Once I mastered the material, I was able to start really developing my teaching philosophy. This blog series is going to breakdown what that consists of and offer several sample lessons complete with instructions. I hope it will prove useful to anyone interested in learning the language of Grammar.

LANGUAGE-BASED GRAMMAR INSTRUCTION

I used to draw the majority of the material for my Grammar lessons from textbooks, my favorite being Shurley English. Now, I use the textbook more as a pacing guide to ensure I am teaching all the key concepts for my age group. It’s great for drills and quick reinforcement, which are absolutely essential for the learning process.

That said, I find a language-based Grammar class that focuses on sentence classification and diagramming most beneficial and rewarding for students. We work with well-written sentences to understand all sorts of concepts, from parts of speech to types of sentences and more. It not only shows the practical application of rules in a meaningful, interesting context, but it also draws on critical thinking skills in a highly logical fashion.

SENTENCE CLASSIFICATION

Sentence classification is a method of labeling all the words in a sentence according to their “jobs.” Let’s take a look at an example.

“I” is a subject pronoun, “love” is a verb, “the” is an article adjective, and “Renaissance” is a direct object. Don’t worry if that feels confusing at the moment. It will become clearer after the first lesson or so.

Notice that word “jobs” are not necessarily the same as parts of speech. For example, a noun is a part of speech, but its job in a sentence can be subject noun, object of the preposition, direct object, indirect object, and predicate noun. Likewise, “Renaissance” is a proper noun, which is here used as a direct object.

By figuring out the job a word plays, students gain a much deeper understanding of the English language than simply looking at parts of speech. Sure, every child should learn to tell the difference between nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. But it’s how those words are used together in a sentence that matters.

Word jobs look at those relationships in a formulaic way that tends to be easy to internalize. Better still, it can be scripted aloud with a question and answer flow that engages students and allows them to immediately self-correct.

Using the example above, I might say, “Who loves the Renaissance?” The class would respond, “I—subject pronoun.”

Next, I would ask, “What is being said about I?” The class would respond, “I love.”

“Love what?” I would continue. “Love the Renaissance,” the students would respond.

Finally, I would simply state, “The.” The class would say, “Article adjective.”

That’s pretty much it. As the teacher, I initially prompt the students for every sentence, but they soon learn how to do it themselves. The back and forth is extremely engaging in what might otherwise be somewhat boring and overwhelming. Instead, much like a math problem, students learn the “formula” for identifying word jobs. In the process, they gain a keen understanding of the internal logic of sentences.

To assist in this process, I frequently recite a set of memorization questions that drill students on the definitions of the various parts of speech and the types of jobs they can play. Here is a copy, which you may want to keep as a handy reference for the upcoming lessons.

Grammar Memorization Questions Download

SENTENCE DIAGRAMMING

Even if you never learned how to sentence diagram, you have probably seen them before. Diagrams are “drawings” that connect words according to their relationship to one another in a sentence. In contrast to classification, which is very auditory, diagramming is very visual.

Let’s take a look at the same sentence.

Each diagram line is “coded” with meaning. “I” and “love” and “Renaissance” are on the main horizontal line, thereby indicating they are the most important. The vertical line that separates “I” from “love” shows that everything in front of it is part of the complete subject and everything after it is part of the complete predicate. The other small vertical line shows that “Renaissance” is the direct object of “love.” “The” is on a diagonal line, showing that it modifies “Renaissance.”

Again, don’t worry if that sounds confusing. I will break it down more systematically in the coming lessons. For now, just consider it an example of what diagrams look like and how they communicate information.

“That looks hard!” parents often say when they visit during a Grammar class and see a row of students classifying and diagramming at the board while the rest do the same at their desks.

Well, it is, and it isn’t. With clear, well-paced instruction and plenty of interesting practice, students move through and master each lesson with relative ease.

What’s more, many tell me it’s fun. No, I’m not just talking about the high-flyers or kids trying to win brownie points. Nearly all of my students jump at the chance to classify and diagram at the board. They say it’s like putting together a puzzle. After they connect one of two pieces, they uncover the hidden “picture” or logic behind the individual parts.

As a teacher, there’s nothing like seeing a student complete a sentence classification and diagram. They begin with a quizzical look but that soon turns into one of focus and determination. By the end, their entire presence is one of triumph.

I hope you enjoy these lessons! Feel free to share and reproduce them with attribution.

A Classical Teacher's Journal

The Language of Grammar: Introduction

LANGUAGE-BASED GRAMMAR INSTRUCTION

SENTENCE CLASSIFICATION

SENTENCE DIAGRAMMING

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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LANGUAGE-BASED GRAMMAR INSTRUCTION

SENTENCE CLASSIFICATION

SENTENCE DIAGRAMMING

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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