Adverbial Phrases and Clauses

Last week I took a look at understanding adjectival phrases and clauses.  This week I thought I should look at adverbial phrases and clauses.  

http://examples.yourdictionary.com/adverb-phrase-examples.html

On this website I was able to look at several examples of adverb phrases. Adverb phrases tell how, where, why, or when.  Again, I found that I use these all the time when I am writing.  I just did not realize what they were called.  As a teacher, I am always asking these types of questions of my students to try and pull more out of them when they are writing.  I am thinking I might be able to make some sort of chart with these questions and it would help guide my students to write with more details.  Also, I think it will be very beneficial to mention this vocabulary of adverbial and adjectival phrases and clauses.  I think it is always good to expose student to vocabulary.  If I were told this is what I was doing when writing, I may have already felt confident with adverbial and adjectival phrases.

Adjectival Phrases and Clauses

http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/parts-of-speech/adjectives/adjective-phrase.html

This website helped me understand an adjectival phrase.  It states right on the website that most people know what an adjective is, but they are confused about an adjectival phrase.  I was certainly one of those people.  After reading through this page I have a better idea of an adjectival phrase.  These phrase can help you explain and give better descriptions.  Often, when I am teaching I am asking students to write more and give more details.  This will help me demonstrate what I mean by that.  

http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/adjective_clauses.htm

An adjectival clause was another thing I was unsure about.  I remember it being a choice in our grammar quiz during the first week of class.  I had no idea about adjectival clauses or phrases.  I only knew adjective.  An adjectival clause can come after the noun in a sentence. The website above gave some great examples and how to correctly place commas when using adjectival clauses.  I have been writing using these clauses, but have not placed commas correctly.

I restarted my grammar blog

Here is the link to my first grammar blog.  I was having difficulty getting my posts to come out right so I started over.  I am including the link in case anyone wanted to look back, but I moved all of the information into the new blog.

http://bsgb2017.blogspot.com/2017/08/what-is-modifier-in-english-grammar.html#comment-form

Videos about Adjectives

School House Rock video on adjectives.  I remember watching these videos as a kid.  Many of the little jingles and visuals still stick with me to this day.  I think anytime you can make something more visual and entertaining for kids the topic will stick with them better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkuuZEey_bs

Here is another video.  This one would be great for all students.  It has some higher level vocabulary.  It mentions vociferous  and putrid.  This will help push students thinking when using modifiers.  It will encourage them to be as descriptive as possible.  For example, students will learn to use words such as "gigantic" instead of saying just "big."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hIqdPrH--k


Here is another great introduction video for kids.  Starting by describing people I think is a great way to introduce adjectives.  Making sure to encourage students to focus on the way a person looks, act, and feels to describe them.  Be sure students are not describing people only by their profession which would be a noun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEDy0wGaXJY

Teaching Modifiers to English Language Learners

http://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-syntax/

I took a look at this website this week. I was thinking about English language learners this week since school has started. I thought about how in many languages the adjectives come after the noun. I remember learning to do this in Spanish and in French. There are some games put on this website where sentences are scrambled for students and where they must put the sentences in the correct order. I thought this would be a fun game for any student even a native speaker of English to correctly place order their sentence. As I teach grammar in my classroom this year I think I will create some sentence scramble for students to sort out. This will be helpful to all students and make learning syntax more fun in the classroom.

Common Mistakes With Modifiers

This week I thought I would look into common mistakes with modifiers. As a teacher, I see students make errors with modifiers in their speaking and writing. I am especially thinking about English language learners with modifiers. I found this website that I read some mistakes with examples. I really think I would like to use this as a tool when I am teaching modifiers to English language learners as well as my general education students. Take a read through and try the quiz out for yourself. I did not get a 100% the first time through.

https://www.englishgrammar101.com/module-5/modifiers-adjectives-and-adverbs/lesson-13/common-mistakes-and-dangling-modifiers

What is a Modifier in English Grammar?

A modifier is a type of word.  It is usually an adjective or adverb used in a way that restricts or adds meaning to a noun.

Here is a website that I read to build an understanding of what a modifier is.  This website also provided a few examples of modifiers in sentences.
http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/modifier.htm

Something it stated on this website was that sentences without modifiers would be no fun to read.  My husband and my mother-in-law love to write.  They love to write in creative ways that make everything more interesting or entertaining.  Therefore, I believe having a strong understanding of modifiers can be helpful when trying to write especially if you want others to read it.  It is a lot of fun to read when the writer has made something more interesting by appropriate use of modifiers