Dr. Vavra's Main Menu
The KISS Grammar Homepage
Cobweb Corner
The 1986 Study
Record Number: W7N08A
Transcript of the Student's Text
Coded for Statistical Analysis
Statistics: Table of Contents

Back to Seventh Grade Writers' Menu

My Adventure

      \-\It was 1940 WWII.#App01 \-\Place was {in a prison camp.} \-\I was there {for a year.} \-\The Nazi leader Adolf Hiller#App02 odored his solders to exicute*INFDO06 me tomorrow. \-\I heard this {from a distence.} \F\Frag#06[LAVFSence I knew [RNDOI was going to get=PV killed.]] \-\I was going to try to escape*INFDO02 that night.#NuA02 \-\The night came \R\RO#15the lights were turnd=PV off  \C\and I brought out my knife and started=CV cuting*GerDO04 {throw the wire.} \-\[LAVFWhen I got done] I slipped out \C\and I took off running*GerNu01 \C\and a guard seen me. \-\I cleared a 5 foot fence {with ease} \R\RO#16they got out there tanks and dogs=CC to hunt*INFAV04 me down \R\RO#17I {to the german border} \C\but I forgot [RNDOgermany expanded there territory] \C\and I walked right {into there trap.} \-\They cault me. \-\They placed me up {aginst the wall} and pointed=CV there guns {at me} \C\and [LAVFas they were about to shoot*INFAV02] an american bomber plain droped a bomb and saved=CV me. \-\I took off {into the woods} [RAVFuntil the shots were over] \R\RO#18then I came out {into the open.} \-\The plains left {without even atempting*GerOP05 to resue*INFDO03 me.} \-\I guess [RNDOthey thought [RNDOI was killed=PV {in the bombing}]] [RAVFso I started walking*GerDO01\R\RO#19about 1/2 mile#NuA06 {down the road} I came up {to a consentation camp.} \-\[LAVFWhen I snuk {by that}] all [MAJFI could hear] was cries {for help.} \-\All that time#NuA03 I thought [RNDOhow crul Hitler was] and [RNDOwhy didn't the german citizens fight {aginst Hitler} {instead with him.}] \-\They didn't care even [RNDOif there own child gets killed.=PV] \-\[LAVFWhen I finly hit free territory] I was sent=PV home.#NuA01
 

 
Analysis of Fragments, Comma-Splices and Run-ons

Frag #06 -- Subordination, Complexity, and Length:  This writer averaged 8.9 words per main clause, and the fragment is nine words long. To this writer, therefore, it would have had the processing rhythm of a good sentence -- it would have felt just right as a sentence. It is, of course, a subordinate clause fragment, but when we attach it to the following main clause, to which it probably belongs, we have an 18-word main clause, twice the writer's average. But it would have a second-level embedded clause. Were it not for that second level embedding, this writer might well have handled it. [His longest main clause contains 21 words.]

RO #15 -- Other: The run-on is between the first two in a series of three main clauses, and the first two are more closely related to each other (It was getting dark.) than either is to the third. A comma here would be acceptable. Unfortunately, it would  ruin the close connection established by the run-on. If the student were analyzing this paper himself, he would find the run-on and probably ask what to do about it. Another option would be to subordinate the first two main clauses: "[When the night came], and [the lights were turnd off], I brought out my knife and started cuting throw the wire." Syntactically this option would keep the closer connection between "night came" and "lights were turned off." (Personally, I was more thrown off by the misspelling of "through" than I was by the run-on.)
RO #16 -- Contrast: I have the sense, with this run-on and the following one, that the writer is having a glorious time presenting his story and that the run-ons are his attempt to express the haste of the pursuit. Thus the omission of the verb in "I to the german border." The lack of the verb actually suggests, at least to me, that the means of getting there (ran, walked, crawled) wasn't important. Yes, I would praise the omission of the verb. I think, however, that the run-ons probably confuse the reader. Commas might work -- short main clauses in a series, but, had I the opportunity, I would suggest semicolons to emphasize the contrast between "I" and "they": "I cleared a 5 foot fence with ease; they got out there tanks and dogs to hunt me down;  I, to the german border." 
RO #17 -- Contrast: See RO #16.
RO #18 -- Contrast between hiding and coming out into the open: "I took off into the woods until the shots were over; then I came out into the open."
RO #19 -- Amplification: The second main clause provides details about the walking: "I guess they thought I was killed in the bombing} so I started walking -- about 1/2 mile down the road I came up to a consentation camp."

*****
     I would praise this piece of writing for its details, for its thoughts about the people and Hitler, and for its above-average use of subordinate clauses. Then I would simply note that it is a shame that it is so messed up with spelling errors.