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The 1986 Study

Record Number: W4N10

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.

     There are five people {in my family} my mom, my dad and my 

two brothers / their names are Ray and Paul. / I live {at 328 

Sandy Dr.} / First I think [DO of "think" I will start {with my 

dad.}] / My dad works {at Optimal Arts.} / He travels

pretty much. / He goes all {over the place} asking {for money} {for 

his company.} / My dad's name is Bill. / I will talk {about

my mom.} / Well she is pretty tall / and she is also pretty. / 

Everyday she stays home and watches my brother {except 

[OP of "except" when he goes {to preschool.}}] / My mom's 

name is Sarah. / I will talk {about my big brother.} / He likes 

to play golf a lot. / His best is an eighty-two {on eighteen holes}

{from the men's tee's.} / And that is good {from the men's tee's.} /

My brother is 13 / His name is Ray/ Now my little brother 

Note #1 Paul. / He can be a really pain sometimes. / Like Note #2 

[Adv to "starts" and "start" when I am talking {on the phone}and 

sitting {on the sofa}] he starts jumping {on the sofa} / and I 

start bouncing up and down. / But Note I like him a lot. / He

is three years old. / His name is Paul. /

     I will talk {about myself.} /  Well I like playing golf also. /

My best score {on eighteen holes} is an eighty-six {from the ladie's 

tee's.} / That is really good {for me.} / My best {from the men's 

tee's}{on nine holes} is a forty-six {on the hardest nine.} / I am nine

years old. /

     I will talk {about Dierdorf Pupper Walter.} / Well he is

four legged creature / He is a dog. / He has brown and black

fur. / I like him) a lot. / He is eleven years old. / Yesterday 

was his birthday. /

     My house is mosty made {of bricks} / and the other part

is made {out of something else} / I don't know [DO of "do know"

what (PN) it is] though. Note #3 / I live {at 423 Sandy Drive.} /

My house is pretty big. / We have a big back yard. / I have the

biggest bedroom {in the house} {out of five rooms.} / Our basement

is big. / We have a pinball machine and a big ping-pong table. /

Most {of the time} I stay downstairs. / [(Fragment) Adv to "go" 

Because it is cool {down there.}] / [Adv to "go" After I come in 

[Adv to "come in" when it is hot outside]] I go down {in the 

basement.} / Then I get cold [Adv to "get" so Note  I go upstairs.]

/ My brother's room is the second biggest {in the house.} / My 

parent's room is {down the hall} [Adv to "is" when you walk in.]

/ My little brothers room is {in the hall} also. / So is the bathroom.

/ We have a living room and a family room and a kitchen. / 

Well that is all {about my house.} /
 

Notes

1.  Since they will find no verb in it, students will recognize this as a fragment. Whether it is acceptable or not is something thar they can discuss. I'm considering "brother" as the object of a preposition by analogy with the previous "I will talk about my big brother."

2. I'm considering "Like" here as an interjection and thus leaving it uncounted. Although grammarians usually don't consider it as such, it is often so used in speech ("Like WOW") Note that it is probably used here in place of "For example"  -- The sentence presents an example of why the brother is a pain.

3. KISS, in order to keep it simple, treats this "though" as an interjection. Note that it is related to the subordinate clause -- "... although I don't know what  it is, the other part is made out of something else." This replacement of "although" with "though," and the accompanying restoration of a subordinate clause into a main clause, would be an interesting area of research, but it would require a far larger number of writing samples
 

Progress:
Total Words = 438 Words %
L1: In Prep Phrases 114  27
L1A: + Adj. & Averbs 94 47
L2: + S / V / C 189 91
L3: + Clauses 13 94

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