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The 1986 Study

Record Number: W4N06

Level Three: Add Clauses

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      Subordinate clauses are in brackets [ ]. / represents the vertical line at the end of a main clause.  The font size of words aleady analyzed has been decreased. The color codes for adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases have been deleted because too many colors seemed distracting. Words which remain to be analyzed are still in 14-point black. 

     I have four people {in my family.} / My mom, my dad, 

my sister and me. / Note #1 My mom's name is Gracie. / She

cleans houses and sews / She is nice / and sometimes she's

funny. / She was born {in New York.} / I think [DO of 

"think" she is 34 years old.] / Next I'll tell you {about my dad.} /

He works {at Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx Corp.} /  His name is Jack. /

He was born {in Xxxxxxxxx Virginia.} / He is 36 years old. /

He is fun to play with. / Now I'll tell you {about my sister.} /

Her name is Sally. / She is strange.  / She's 4 years old. /

She was born {in Xxxxxxxxxx, Virginia.} / She's kind of cute. / 

Finally me, / Note #2 I was born {in Xxxxxxxxxx, Virginia.} /

I am 9 years old. / 

     We have a cat. / His name is Archie. / He is white and

orange. / He's very stupid / but, we still like him. / He is

about 1 year people years and 13 cat years. / He likes to catch

little animals and insects.  / Now I'll tell you {about my grandpa.}

/ He is 83 years old. / He was born {in Caledonia County, New 

York.} / He has a cat named Dinkey. / He is about 11 years

{in cat years} and almost 1 year {in people years.} / Dinkey's very 

strange and always playful. / He also chases insects. /

     My house is a brick house. / It is not very big, / but 

it's a pretty nice sized house. / I live {at 238 Xxxxxxx Avenue.} /

 My basement is nice and cool {in the summer.} / It is very

cold {in the winter.} / Next I'll tell you {about all} {of the rooms} 

{in my house.} / There are about 6 or 7 rooms upstairs and about 5

rooms {in the basement.} / We have two bathrooms one sewing 

room three bedrooms one living room one laundry room one food

room / that about takes care {of the rooms} {in my house.} /
 

Notes

1. The research suggests that appositives are beyond the "zone of proximal development" of fourth graders, so if I were working with these students, I would suggest fixing this fragment by adding "They are."

2. I would not expect fourth graders to be able to identify "Finally me" as a fragment of a clause. They will be looking for subject/verb patterns, and that is precisely what is missing here -- "Finally *I will tell you about* me." I have therefore left it as uncounted, and will count it at Level Five -- the level at which students will be looking to explain all the words which they have thus far been unable to. [Even if one is doing a statistical analysis, counting these two words as part of the following clause will not make any significant statistical difference.]
 
 

Progress:
Total Words = 306 Words %
L1: In Prep Phrases  66  22
L1A: + Adj. & Averbs 69 44
L2: + S / V / C 145 92
L3: + Clauses 3 92

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