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More Level 4 Exercises

Joke # 6
Answer Key for Level 4
     Verbals are in 18-point bold, usually blue, with their functions indicated after them. (I can't easily draw boxes, ovals, and arrows on web documents.)  Other words counted in relation to them (such as conjunctions, complements, etc.) are also in 18-point bold. The font size of words aleady analyzed has been decreased. Words which remain to be analyzed are still in 14-point black

Spaces Missing between Words? (Click here for an explanation.)

 
 
      Two men were traveling {on a motorcycle} {on a windy, 

winter day}. / [When it became too breezy {for one}], he stopped 

and put his overcoat {on} backwards to keep (Inf - Adverbial to 

"put"Note #1) the wind (DO of "to keep") {from ballooning 

(Gerund - Object of "from")  it  (DO of  "ballooning") away} {from 

him}. A few miles further {on}, the motorcycle hit a tree

killing (Gerundive to "motorcycle") the driver  (DO of  "killing") 

and stunning (Gerundive to "motorcycle") the fellow  (DO

of  "stunning") {with the reversedNote PPG coat}. Later, [when the

coroner visited the scene,] he asked a rookie policeman 

standing (Gerundive to "policeman") nearby: ["What

happened?"] /   "Well," [the officer replied,] "one {of them} was

dead [when I got here,] /   and {by the time} [I got the head {of the 

other one} straightened (Gerundive to "head"Note #2) around,

he was dead, too." /
 

Baude's Handbook of Humor for All Occasions.
Compiled by Jacob M. Braude. 
Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1958. p. 167.

Notes

1. If you prefer, you can take the infinitive as an adverb to "backwards," which then goes to "put."

2. We'll look at a better explanation in Level Five.
 
 

Progress
Total Words = 105 Words %
L1: In Prep Phrases  31  30
L1: + Adj & Adverbs 22 50
+ L2: S / V / C 35 84
+ L3: Clauses 4 88
+ L4: Verbals 10 97

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