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Has Analytical Grammar (or JAG) ever been revised/updated?


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I picked up an inexpensive copy of JAG last year and had my 10 year old go through this spring. I felt it was useful a useful program, but the abundance of errors was aggravating. I'm considering having my oldest use AG over the next couple of years and I have the TM on hand already. I'm a bit hesitant, though, as to whether or not I should take the plunge and spend the sixty bucks for the student book. Is it also rife with errors? Or have perhaps these texts been updated and I've missed that?

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I don't know about JAG, but AG was updated at some point. When I purchased my set, they had just done the updating and the new books got mixed in with the old books. I ended up with a revised student book and the original version of the TM. Things were not matching up and there were errors. I asked about it on the yahoo group and found out that I was accidentally sent the old TM. They shipped out a new one and things were so much better. Anyway, long story short, yes they did revise AG. :001_smile:

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I don't know about JAG, but AG was updated at some point. When I purchased my set, they had just done the updating and the new books got mixed in with the old books. I ended up with a revised student book and the original version of the TM. Things were not matching up and there were errors. I asked about it on the yahoo group and found out that I was accidentally sent the old TM. They shipped out a new one and things were so much better. Anyway, long story short, yes they did revise AG. :001_smile:

 

Hmmm...My TM is copyright 1996 ~ probably the original edition. Which means I actually need a new TM and student text in order for them to match. Bother. Thanks for your reply, Deece.

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Well, I just looked at mine and the copyright is 1996, which seems funny because I wasn't hs'ing then and when I purchased mine (a couple years ago)they told me the books had just been revised. I was told that if the books have a laminated cover that it was the updated version.

 

There is a yahoo group for AG and they are very good about answering questions in a timely manner. You could maybe contact the author directly and see if you can figure out if you have an older version or not.

 

Sorry I can't be of more help.

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I went ahead and emailed Erin at Analytical Grammar to try and clear up my confusion. I'll share her response here in case it interests other potential AG users. Initially, Erin assured me:

 

All our books show the 1996 copyright. Besides fixing typos the books have not been revised. You'll be fine using the teacher book you have.

 

I replied and passed along what Deece mentioned ~ that she had trouble aligning the original version of the TM with a revised student book. Erin answered:

 

We did add page numbers and tabs at one point. Maybe she found that the pages didn't match up. That being said, as far as I know, we've never changed the sentences or worksheets. Basically, we've never changed anything "important" that the keys would match to. Our newest version has a laminated cover and three tabs that mark the seasons.

 

So from their perspective, the new and "revised" books are essentially the same and should work fine together. I'm still a bit hesitant, though, based on what Deece said...

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Did they put in page numbers this time?

 

Yes, the pages are numbered at the bottom for all the pages in the book. There are also page numbers at the top of the notes pages so that when you tear out the worksheets those numbers will line up with the table of contents so you have a reference guide.

 

The annoying things is that the page numbers (the ones at the bottom) don't line up between the student book and TM, so you can't tell your child to turn to a certain page based on the TM because they won't be the same.

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I went ahead and emailed Erin at Analytical Grammar to try and clear up my confusion. I'll share her response here in case it interests other potential AG users. Initially, Erin assured me:

 

 

 

I replied and passed along what Deece mentioned ~ that she had trouble aligning the original version of the TM with a revised student book. Erin answered:

 

 

 

So from their perspective, the new and "revised" books are essentially the same and should work fine together. I'm still a bit hesitant, though, based on what Deece said...

 

Colleen, I am glad you contacted them. It has been a couple years and my memory is truly getting bad. I knew they updated/revised/whatever they are calling it.

 

I pulled out my old TM and the changes I noticed (didn't read it thoroughly) were corrections of errors, formatting issues and layout changes in the diagramming answer key.

 

I know that a couple times that I would say something and my ds would say that his book didn't have that. It was something fairly minor and it was never anything we couldn't figure out (usually something like a word was parsed in the TM, but not the student book). I was just surprised at the # of errors. When I inquired about it was when we figured out that I did not have the updated version of the TM, but had the updated version of the student book.

 

Anyway, I apologize for making it sound like there were bigger discrepancies than there were. They didn't change the actual sentences or wording between the revisions. It just was frustrating sometimes because of the minor things. Now that both books are the updated ones, that is not so much an issue.

 

They will work together as far as the sentences being the same, but I felt I had to pay more attention. For example, when correcting the tests I was afraid of marking something wrong because of the possibility of an error in the TM. Because of this, I would parse and diagram the sentences mentally rather than just following the TM. I don't remember if I found errors of the like, but I didn't want to have to do that much work to make sure. It was the amount of errors that bothered me.

 

I guess if you are going to use an unrevised TM with a revised student book, just be aware that you may have to pay more attention because there are going to be uncorrected errors that you will have to deal with. Also, the page numbers not lining up between the TM and the student book bugs me (though they don't line up if both books are revised, either).

 

Anyway, sorry to cause worry. It is doable, just bothersome, imho.

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