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Statistical Analysis
The Opening of "The Little Match Girl," by E. Louise Smythe
Analysis Key

      Words that students would probably not be able to explain are struck out. I have combined some sentences into longer paragraphs, but the sentences themselves are exactly as they are in Smythe's text.

     It was very cold (PA). | The snow fell | and it was almost dark (PA). | 

It was the last day (PN) {of the year}. | A little match girl was running {in the

street}. | Her name was Gretchen (PN). | She had no hat (DO) on [#1]. |

     Her feet were bare (PA). | [Adv. to "had" When she left home [#2] ],

she had on some big slippers (DO) {of her mama's [#3] }. | But they were so

large (PA) [Adv. (result) to "so" that she lost them (DO) [Adv. (time) to "lost" 

when she ran {across the street}]]. |

     Gretchen had a lot (DO) {of matches} {in her old apron}. | She had a little 

bunch (DO) {in her hand}. | But she could not sell her matches (DO). | No 

one would buy them (DO). |

Notes for the Analysis
1. "On," the remnant of "on *her head*," here functions as an adverb (place) to "had."
2. The function o f "home" depends on which question a person sees it as answering. If the question is "Left where?," "home" is a Noun Used as an Adverb." If the question is "Left what?," "home" is a direct object.
3. "Slippers" is ellipsed after the possessive "mama's," but I would expect most students working that this KISS Level to see "of her mama's" as a prepositional phrase.
4. Here we have another coordinating conjunction that students will not be able to explain. (By the way, the rule about not starting a sentence with "But" is silly. There is an essay about this on the KISS site, but you can use your own eyes to see how often good writers begin sentences with "But."
Statistical Results
1. Total Words (TW) = 100
2. Total Sentences (TS) = 13
3. Total number of words that are in prepositional phrases (TWPP) = 21
4. Total number of words Unable to Explain (UtE) =  6 [Note that these are all conjunctions that join clauses, the focus of KISS Level 3.]
"and" Because students don't study clauses until KISS Level 3, I would not expect them to be able to explain the function of a conjunction that joins two clauses.
"When" As with "and," students are not expected to be able to explain conjunctions.
"But" is a coordinating conjunction
"that" is another subordinating conjunction.
"when" is another subordinating conjunction.
"But" again
5. Average number of words per sentence: TW / TS = 7.7
6. Average number of words in prepositional phrases: TWPP / TW = 21/100 = .21 (21 %)
7. How much should be able to be explained:  (TW - UtE) / TW =  (100-6) / 100 = .94 (94 %)