KISS Level 2.2.1 - The "To" Problem
and Verbs as Objects of Prepositions
Little words cause the biggest problems. If
we wish to enable students to analyze and discuss real texts, students
need to distinguish "to" as a preposition from "to" as the sign of an infinitive.
Note that the instructional material tells students that they are not expected
to remember the term "infinitive." All they need to learn at this point
is that if whatever answers the question "What?" after "to" is a noun or
pronoun, they are dealing with a prepositional phrase and should put parentheses
around it. If whatever answers the question is a verb, they should not.
It takes some practice for most students to
both remember this rule and learn to identify verbs. In a few cases, the
distinction between verb and noun is ambiguous. Consider the sentence:
"They went to sleep." If "to sleep" denoted their purpose for going, "sleep"
is a verb; but if it means the state of being to which they went, it is
a noun. (Note the implications of this for using "state of being" to identify
verbs.) Fortunately, there are very few words that involve such ambiguities.
Overview of Exercises in KISS Level 2.2.1
Exercises One (a and b): "To" -- Is It a Preposition?
The primary reason for having students learn
to distinguish “to” prepositional phrases from infinitives at this level
is that prepositional phrases almost never function as subjects, predicate
nouns, or direct objects. Infinitives do:
To breathe fresh air is to enjoy life.
Sammy loves to swim.
Since, in teaching students to identify S/V/C patterns, KISS directs students
to ignore the words that they have identified as prepositional phrases,
the students need to be able to recognize infinitives as subjects, predicate
nouns, or direct objects. (Most students can do so without formally knowing
that they are “infinitives.”)
Exercise Two: Verbs as Objects of Prepositions
Originally, this exercise was to be about "to"
plus a gerund -- which does create a prepositional phrase. For example,
“She loves everything {from boating} {to fishing}.” In real texts,
however, these are few and far between. Thus a ten-sentence exercise based
on a real (long) text might include only four such sentences, the rest
being reinforcements of exercises one and two. On the other hand, KISS
Level 1.5 (on prepositional phrases) does not include an exercise on verbs
as objects of prepositions. This exercise could go there, but Level 1.5
presents students with many other things to learn.
Fortunately, “to” phrases with gerunds
as their objects are relatively rare. In collecting sentences for exercises
from Sewell's Black Beauty, I was surprised by the number of sentences
that included both "to" as a preposition and "to" as an infinitive. I had
collected around forty such sentences when I stopped copying them. On the
other hand, in the whole text I found only eight sentences in which "to"
functions as a preposition with a gerund ("-ing" verb) as its object. In
the Gutenberg edition of Spyri's Heidi, I found none.
Thus this exercise has been redesigned. Each
exercise includes at least one example of "to" plus a gerund, but the repetitions
from exercises one and two have been replaced with other sentences that
have gerunds as objects of prepositions:
{After swimming}, they took a nap.
(In making the table), they used a lot of wood.
If they have been working with randomly selected texts, students have probably
met this construction and had little trouble with it except for how to
mark the complements (like "table").
The exercise has been extended to include the
even more infrequent constructions in which infinitives function as objects
of prepositions:
They did nothing {but sleep}.
He will do any chores (except to wash the dishes}.
In Black Beauty I found only about six such sentences with "but"
and only two with "except." Thus in some exercises based on real texts,
sentences may have to be invented in order to include these constructions.
At this point in their work, students do not
need to remember the terms "gerund" and "infinitive." (They are the primary
focus of KISS Level Four.)
Exercise Three - "To" and "Too"
“To” presents students with an additional problem
in that they confuse it with “too.” As the instructional overhead explains,
this results in errors that are readily noted by most readers, not just
because they are “errors,” but because they lead the reader to expect something
that does not appear (“Samantha wanted to go to.”) or hit the reader with
a “what” when the reader does not expect it (“Samantha wanted to go too
the park.”)
Some teachers claim that this is not a serious
error, and that may be true. But the differences between “to” and “too”
are not that difficult to understand. Thus, people who regularly use these
words incorrectly give the impression of being either uneducated or lazy.
As I tell my college Freshmen, misspellings of “to” and “too” have, and
will continue to, make the difference between an A or a B (or a B and a
C) on papers, not just in my English class, but also in papers for any
other course. The errors are very noticeable, and they give the instructor
the impression that the writer is not very careful or concerned with the
paper.
Exercise Four - Treasure Hunt and/or Recipe
Roster
Like all KISS treasure hunts and/or recipe
rosters, this one invites students to see that what they are learning clearly
applies to randomly selected texts and/or to their own writing.
Suggested Directions for Analytical Exercises:
1. Place parentheses ( ) around each prepositional phrase.
2. Underline every finite verb twice, its subject(s) once, and label
any complements (“PA,” “PN,” “IO,” or “DO”). |
Probable Time Required:
This depends on how quickly your students
can master the distinction. Two or three initial exercises would probably
be a good idea, time permitting. Thereafter, you can expect some students
to make mistakes until they finally get it. |
Exercises
in KISS Level 2.2.1 |
For Level 3 +
These exercises include directions to identify clauses.
Ex
4 - Treasure Hunt and/or Recipe Roster |
Find and bring to class (or write) a sentence
in which "to" is used both as a preposition and not as a preposition. |
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