Fifth Graders' Writing
(from State Standards)
Types and Length of Gerundives; 
Appositives, and Post-Positioned Adjectives		 Return to 5th Grade Statistics TOC
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Click on the Record Number to see the analyzed text.
Figures are per 100 main clauses. 
"W/" is the average number of words for the phrases in the preceding column

Rec 
No		 Give Tot W/ Give L W/ Give M W/ Give R W/ App W/ Post PA W/
Avg  2.0 1.8         2.0 1.8 0.7 0.3    
1 - -         - - - -    
2 8.1 7.3         8.1 7.3 2.7 1.0    
3 - -         - - - -    
4 - -         - - - -    

     Note that the gerundives and appositive all appear in Sample # 2. The three gerundives in Sample #2 all raise questions about whether or not this student, the only one to use what appear to be gerundives, has actually mastered the construction. The first construction that I have counted as a gerundive appears in the first sentence:

I saw the contest rules pasted all over the school bulletin board.
In terms of natural syntactic development, this may be a formula rather than a true gerundive. From the time they are very young, children hear the pattern S/V/ ___  _____-ing (or -ed):
We saw him sleeping on the couch.
I caught Bobby eating cookies.
They looked at the pictures pasted in the album.
Dad found a tree covered with snow.
Thus the first gerundive may not be a true gerundive.
     The second of the three gerundives appears in the sentence, "You know, sometimes they put things in the small print that you don't know about until you get your entry back in the mail done completely wrong." Although this appears to be a true gerundive, it is used ineffectively, some might say "incorrectly," since it makes it sound as if it was "done ... wrong" by those to whom it had been sent.
   The final example also raises questions because it is capitalized:
So, I was getting myself all hiped up for this Thinking
"Pigs aren't that bad are they?" and other things like that.
This could be an error in the transcription. [Click here to see a scan of the page from the Arizona Standards.] There does not appear to be a period before "Thinking," but the capital letter suggests that the writer was, at minimum, uncomfortable with this construction.
     Likewise, the single word that I have counted as an appositive is not a normal example. Instead, it reflects the casual style of reported speech: "The prize -- where's the prize-- "
     Although we need more samples, the point here is that some people believe that they see appositives and gerundives in the writing of fifth graders, and they therefore want to teach these constructions to all fifth graders. But the evidence does not support that conclusion. Fifth graders would be better served by having their attention focused on KISS Levels One (adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases) and Two (S/V/C patterns). Teachers and parents might find it helpful to work with fifth graders on clauses (KISS Level Three), but appositives and gerundives should be left for later grades.