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Record Number: W4N08

Level Four: Add Verbals

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      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..

     My saddest day [I ever had] is [when My dog got hit {by a car.}

/ It happened [when I was playing ball.] / It was{at night} [when 

Fracles got hit.] / Fracles broke lose, and ran down to go (Inf., 

adverb to "ran") {to the apple trees.} /And he got hit [when he was 

crossing the road.] / And [whoevery hit Fracles] did not stop. /

And then a man saw him laying (Gerundive to "him" Note #1) 

{by the road.} / He saw my ("me") playing (Gerundive to 

"me") ball (D.O. of "playing") and yelled up {to my}and said [is 

this your dog.] / And I ran {down the driveway} / and I said Yes.

And I told dad. / And I was crying. /

     I feel good today. / But my arms don't feel too well. / You see I

fell {out of the tree} last night. / My foot sliped / and I fell. / It

didn't feel very good. / But  I didn't cry. / But [when I had the car 

wrick] I didn't cry ether. /

     I feel good today. / But my eye hurts. / I can't see very well. /

I was {at the brandi's} / and my eye was getting pinked. / And {in 

the morning} [when I woke up] it got stuck. / I had to pull it 

open Note #2. /

     My best friend is Stephany. / I don't [k]now why / but I just 

like to play (Inf., D.O. of "like") {with her.} / Will see I liked

[her - EV] every {sinse third grade.} / I just think [she is fun to 

play with (Inf., adverb to "fun" Note #3).] / [Like I said 

before!] /

     The goodest day [I every had] was [when I came {to Xxxxxxxx 

Xxxxxxx}] / I like this school very much. / It is a good school. / I

like my teacher the best  / she is very nice and pretty and slim very

pretty and SLIM! /
 

Notes

1. At Level Five, students may prefer to see "him laying" (and later "me playing") as a noun absolute functioning as the direct object of "saw." ["[L]aying," of course, should be "lying."]

2. KISS simplifies this construction by considering "it" as the subject and "open" as the predicate adjective of an ellipsed infinitive "to be." The infinitive phrase is the direct object of "had to pull."

3. Some grammarians would go into greatly detailed explanations of "with," but such explanations only confuse students who, in my experience, have no trouble accepting the idea that "with" here goes with "play."
 
 

Progress:
Total Words = 271 Words %
L1: In Prep Phrases  35  13
L1A: + Adj. & Averbs 43 29
L2: + S / V / C 152 85
L3: + Clauses 22 93
L4: + Verbals 12 97

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