lesson 1

Taken from : English Sentence Structure by Robert Krohn

A.      Be: am, are, is

Statements and questions: it is green. Is it green?

Contractions: It’s green. It isn’t green.

Short answers: Yes, it is.

B.      Singular and plural noun phrases

STATEMENT:      The book is green The book is green Question:           Is the book green? Statements: Noun Phrase          be         adjective The book Is Green The table Is Heavy john is happy         A.1.  Notice the position of its in statements and questions.

                                     

	Be    noun Phrase             Adjective Is The book Green? Is The table Heavy? is John Happy?

 

Note: Words like book, table, pencil, John, Mary, etc, are nouns. The book, the table, John, Mary, etc. are noun phrases

INSTRUCTIONS TO THE TEACHER: 

The student’s exercises begin below. The words in small letters are the teacher’s part. The words in small letters are the teacher’s part. The words in CAPITAL LETTERS are the student’s part. In the examples, the teacher says both parts, and the students repeat their part after teacher. The teacher then continues the exercise, saying only the teacher’s part. The students continue by producing the student’s part on the pattern of the examples.

Exercise  1.  Let’s practice some statements. Substitute adjectives (green, old, new, etc) in proper position. For example:

Green                                   THE BOOK IS GREEN

Old                                         THE BOOK IS OLD

New                                      THE BOOK IS NEW

(Continue the substitutions: )

1.       Small

2.       Large

3.       Open

4.       Closed

5.       Blue

6.       New

Exercise 2.  Substitute noun phrases in the proper position in statements. For example:

The pencil                           THE PENCIL IS NEW

The watch                           THE WATCH IS NEW

(Continue the substitutions: )

1.       The table

2.       The chair

3.       The book

4.       The comb

5.       The key

6.       The pen

Exercise 3. Substitute adjectives (green, old, new, etc) in proper position (at the end) in questions. For example:

Green                               IS THE BOOK GREEN?

Old                                     IS THE BOOK OLD?

New                                  IS THE BOOK NEW?

(Continue the substitutions: )

1.       Small

2.       Large

3.       Open

4.       Closed

5.       Blue

6.       New

Exercise 4.  Substitute noun phrases in the proper position in questions. For example:

The pencil                       IS THE pencil NEW?

The watch                       IS THE WATCH NEW?

(Continue the substitutions: )

1.       The table

2.       The chair

3.       The book

4.       The comb

5.       The key

6.       The pen

Exercise 5. Change the teacher’s statement into a question. For example:

The book is new.                          IS THE BOOK NEW?

The table is heavy                        IS THE BOOK THE TABLE HEAVY?

1.       The pencil is red

2.       The book is green

3.       The chair is new

4.       The book is open

5.       The door is closed

6.       The chair is heavy