SYNTAX FOR SAILORS NAVIGATING THE ENGLISH CHANNEL

Many students spend their language arts periods in hot pursuit of a maniacal dervish spinning madly from one topic to the next. A few days are spent exploring the correct business letter format; then there’s another couple of days delving into the secrets of the noun clause; and then there’s a two-day investigation of the prepositional phrase; and before jumping wholeheartedly into the Diary of Anne Frank unit, there’s a light review of verbs. In this scenario, the language arts curriculum seems nothing more than a hodgepodge of unrelated information.

An effective curriculum builds upon itself. Present single words as single part of speech first; then groups of words without subjects and verbs used as single parts of speech (phrases); and then follow up with groups of words with subjects and verbs used as single parts of speech (clauses). A logical and sequential approach will totally eliminate dervish-created confusion.