|
Excerpts
from the Hunter Writing System: Sentence Sense Texts
This chart
demonstrates my attempt to explain the verb's parts in simple
enough language that students can easily understand them.
It
is the only place in the text that I have veered from traditional
terminology (though I have added two or three terms for
functions that traditional teaching has omitted).
Since the
"basic" spelling of the verb has fifteen or so uses in
English, we mislead students when we identify it with only one of
them, the infinitive (besides, the concept "infinitive"
is complex and therefore excessively difficult to digest and keep
remembered). The concept "participle" is even more
abstract and is similarly difficult to digest and keep remembered
(besides, the present-participle form has at least three major
uses in English, and the past-participle form has two).
Excerpt
from the Text Proper
|
Components
of a Main Verb |
|
Traditional Name |
Descriptive
Name |
Definition |
| Infinitive |
Basic |
Spelling
to which you can add ing. |
Third
person singular,
present tense |
S/es |
Basic
component + s/es.
The verb be uses is. The verb have uses has. |
Present
participle |
Ing |
Basic
component + ing.
Every (main) verb in English has an ing component. |
| Past
tense |
Past
Tense |
The
component that "fits" when you say the verb with yesterday
and without helpers--it indicates time earlier than
now. |
| Past
participle |
After-Had |
This is the
component that "fits" when you say the verb after the helper
had. |
| Examples |
| Basic |
S/es |
Ing |
Past
Tense |
After-
Had |
break
want |
breaks
wants |
breaking
wanting |
broke
wanted |
broken
wanted |
Copyright © Anthony D. Hunter 1991 |
The next two excerpts belong together;
they illustrate how easy
the strategies of this text are to learn. The first excerpt
is a "test" that is practical and is based on students' spoken (and
written) knowledge of English. The second excerpt is a
practice exercise for it.
Excerpt
from the Text Proper
|
Nouns
Because
nouns are one of the chief building blocks of English, you
need a short-cut way of identifying one. There is
such a way. It has the name the The
Test
(for finding nouns).
The The
Test
works this way: You say the
before each word outside the sentence. If it
"fits"--that is, if the two words sound right
together--and
if the word's meaning does not change, the word is a noun.
A horse
is an animal that will obey its owner.
In this
sentence, the nouns are horse, animal, and owner
because--outside the sentence--you
can say the horse, the animal, and the owner.
This
is an incomplete version of this test. You
will find the complete test in Chapter 15.
The The Test
for nouns fails to identify nouns that require capital
letters. To find these other nouns, you simply look
for their capital letter(s). (See the Capital Letter
Test below.)
Noun:
A word you find by the
The
Test
and the Capital Letter Test and that serves as
chief word in a noun territory. |
Copyright
© Anthony D. Hunter 1991 |
Though this test works
beautifully, you must not use it until every verb has been
found. That is why it is not built into the working part of
the text until after instruction on the verb.
Excerpt
from the Skills Practice Book
|
Practice
A: Using
the The
Test--to Find
Nouns
[From text, page 16]
Directions:
Use the The Test
for Finding Nouns to find the nouns in this
paragraph. Place the letter N
over each noun
that you find. Imitate the example.
N
N
N
Example: The computers of our day have
magical qualities.
The office of the future will have a computer at its hub [center].
Beside the computer, it will have a device that prints.
Workers will sit at stations where they will use
typewriter-like keyboards and monitors. Some
machines will require the insertion of waferlike discs
before they perform certain functions. The repairman
of the computer will replace the repairman of the
typewriter.
Copyright ©
Anthony D. Hunter 1994 |
These next excerpts are from the Skills
Practice Book, too. The first illustrates the way
worthwhile values are woven into the exercises (some, as here, in
paragraph form). The second excerpt is taken from the
Paragraph-and-Essay Supplement.
Excerpt
from the Skills Practice Book
|
Practice
E: Rewriting
a Paragraph Using
Correct Agreement
[From text, page 43]
Directions:
Fill the blank spaces in this paragraph. Choose
either he or she
as subject for each sentence, and spell each verb
so that it agrees
with its
subject. The subjects are in darker letters;
the verbs are in parentheses. Also choose either his
or her throughout to be
consistent with the he or she
that you choose.
A sensible student (guard) __________ the
alertness of his/her mind. He/she
(calculate) ________________ how he/she can get the amount
of sleep he/she (need) __________. He/she
(refuse) _____________ to drink any alcoholic
beverage. He/she (eat) __________
three meals a day and (seek) __________ out those foods
that are needed for health, such as vegetables, fruits,
and protein-rich foods. He/she
(avoid) ___________ drugs as being the poison they
are. He/she frequently (choose)
_____________ a sport or exercise that forces fresh air
into his/her lungs to freshen his/her mind. He/she
(know) _________ that missing a class can be like having a
chapter missing from a book.
Copyright © Anthony
D. Hunter 1994 |
This next excerpt is one of the
four practice paragraphs that make up students' autobiographies.
Excerpt
from the Skills Practice Book
|
Practice
K: Planning
a Paragraph
on Something
Memorable or
Special
Directions:
Now pick out something in your life that is especially memorable
or special.
It could be something especially important or unusual; it
could be something joyful or sad; it could be something in
the present or in the past. (Alternatively, you can
speak about what was/is especially memorable or special with
respect to someone close to you.) First say
what happened (the "point to be
discussed"). Then list
the details--the circumstances, timing, place, and so
forth--that can help the reader better understand the event.
Imitate the example outline supplied below.
Example Outline
Caught
at far end of lake in canoe by self on windy day
Heavy canoe
Was paddling from
the stern
Sped to end of
lake
Couldn't turn the
canoe into the wind
Felt trapped
Need to paddle
from the front explained by rescuer
Practice
L: Writing
a Paragraph on
Something Memorable
or Special
Directions:
Write a paragraph based on the outline that you prepared in
Practice K. Imitate the example paragraph supplied
below.
Example Paragraph
I will never
forget the day I ended up in a canoe at the wrong end of a
lake. I had gone paddling by myself
and was good at steering a canoe from the back seat.
This day the wind was strong, and the canoe was one of the
heavier kinds. The ride to the end of the lake--the
far end--was smooth and fast because the wind was behind my
back. When I got to the end, though, the wind was so
strong that I could not make the boat face the wind so I
could paddle back up the lake. When help finally
arrived, after a tear or two as I recall, I learned that you
have to paddle from the front of a canoe in a heavy
wind.
Copyright
© Anthony D. Hunter 1994 |
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