Are these grammar diagrams correct?

[Mommy22alyns]

Yes, no, why/why not, and what curriculum do you use? This is under dispute elsewhere, so I'm curious.

 

[TracyP]

The second one is wrong. 'The' is modifying the noun in both sentences, so it should be diagrammed the same in the second sentence as the first. "Widow's" is a possessive noun adjective just like school is an adjective. An article (a, an, the) will never modify an adjective.

 

I used Treasured Conversations with 9yo and ELTL 5 with my 11yo, so I could potentially embarrass myself in front of the author's of both programs. :laugh: I think this is a pretty easy call, though.

[8filltheheart]

My answer is who is the audience and does it really matter. Yes, school is a noun and widow's is a possessive noun. But, yes, both give more info about the subject noun. If the audience is 2nd and 3rd graders and you want to help them write stronger sentences by providing more details,yes, the diagram is correct. If you are a linguist, probably no.

 

It all depends on your goals. If you are going to distinguish there, you cannot stop (and you will have a very, difficult time finding age appropriate resources..) For example, grammar books teach our kids that you don't have indirect objects without direct objects. So in the sentence

Mom served the children-- children is the DO.

Mom served the children dinner.--- dinner is the DO and children the IO.

 

If it is the exact same scenario, the children did not go from directly to indirectly receiving the action simply bc we didn't complete the sentence with one more word specifying what mom was serving the children. (Of course, if she is serving the children to something (like the wicked witch), then they would be directly being served. yikesters!)

 

And so goes English grammar. Are article adjs? The list goes on. You won't find a "single" consensus.

 

I have simply settled on the point of understanding grammar is to improve writing. (I also decided it is just easier to deal with what you find in most age appropriate grammar books.)

 

YMMV. :)

[8filltheheart]

The second one is wrong. 'The' is modifying the noun in both sentences, so it should be diagrammed the same in the second sentence as the first. "Widow's" is a possessive noun adjective just like school is an adjective. An article (a, an, the) will never modify an adjective.

 

I used Treasured Conversations with 9yo and ELTL 5 with my 11yo, so I could potentially embarrass myself in front of the author's of both programs. :laugh: I think this is a pretty easy call, though.

Lol! I didn't even pay attention to the articles. I figured the discussion was about widow's and school.

[SnMomof7]

It looks good to me? I'm not an expert though ;).

 

'The' is an adjective describing the widow. Articles are adjectives. Here it is answering the question 'which one'. We use CLE for LA.

[Mommy22alyns]

It looks good to me? I'm not an expert though ;).

 

'The' is an adjective describing the widow. Articles are adjectives. Here it is answering the question 'which one'. We use CLE for LA.

 

 

Hey Jennifer!  This is apparently the CLE answer key.  I use R&S and agreed with it.  I'm not an expert either. ;)

[Clear Creek]

The second one is incorrect. "The" is an article, and articles are used as adjectives. Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns. "Widow's" is an adjective, therefore "the" cannot modify it since an adjective can't modify another adjective.

 

This is why I like R&S. It teaches the students that articles are also called noun markers, because they indicate a noun coming up. They always modify the upcoming noun, and there are even exercises where the student has to find the noun that it is modifying...if the child chooses any of the noun's modifiers (like in the second one above), it is wrong.

[ssavings]

I'm certainly no expert, but I would have diagrammed the second one the same way the first one was done. I have been taught that "the" modifies the noun or a pronoun, not adjectives.