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Aesop's Fable # 3: The Buffoon and the Countryman
Level Two: Add Subjects, Verbs,
and Complements
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{At
a
country fair}there
was a
Buffoon (PN) who
made all
the people
laugh#1 {by
imitating the
cries} {of various
animals}. He finished
off {by squeaking}
so {like a pig} that
the spectators
thought that he
had a
porker (DO) concealed
(about him}. But a
Countryman who#2
stood
by said:
"Call that#3
a pig's
squeak! Nothing#4
(like it}. You give
me (IO) {till
tomorrow} and
I
will show
you (IO)#5
what it's
like#6." The
audience laughed,
but next day, sure enough,
the Countryman
appeared {on
the
stage},
and putting
his head down
squealed so
hideously that thes
pectators hissed
and threw
stones (DO)
{at him} to make him
stop. "You fools!" he cried,
"see#7
what (DO of "have
been hissing"#8) you
have been hissing,"
and
held up
a little pig
(DO) whose ear (DO of "had been
pinching") he
had been pinching to make him utter
the squeals.
Men
often applaud
an
imitation (DO) and
hiss the
real thing (DO).
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Notes
1. Because "people laugh" is an infinitive (Level 4),
the KISS Approach is to tell students that they are not expected to get
the direct object of "made" right until they learn about infinitives.
2. Expect students to have a little trouble when they
first meet a subject and verb between another subject and verb. (Some students
will want to know if that is possible.)
3. If a student working at this level wanted to consider
"that" as the direct object of "call," I would not object. (See Level 4.)
4. At this level, there are two ways of handling this.
One is to ignore it and go on to the next sentence. The other is to push
for the explanation through ellipsis -- "*It is* nothing like it." The
latter leads to "Nothing" being the predicate noun after rgw ellipsed "It
is."
5. Because they have not yet covered clauses, students
are not expected to get the direct object of "show."
6. Here, "like" is a preposition, with the preceding
"what" as its object. I would not expect students to get this until they
were well into their work with clauses. At that point, they will see that
the subordinate clause is "what it's like," which, rearranged, equals "it
is like what."
7. See note # 5
8. Don't expect students to get this at this level.
From The KISS Approach to Grammar http://www.pct.edu/courses/evavra/KISS.htm
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