Another Grammar Post

Yesterday my sister shared me with a paper she wrote for Van Gilst and one for Elgersma, both of which she had several grammar problems (although she used great images in her English paper!). So she gave me her papers to look over, and I had no problem picking out the main problems and then how to explain them until I came to . . . . COMMAS! Sure, the use of commas in joining two independent clauses was easy to explain, but what about all those commas that just feel right to me but that don't feel write to Bekah (that's my sister)? Where do those come from and why do we use them?

So I got out my Rhetorical Grammar book from Van Gilst's grammar class and had a little comma review; mostly, I wanted to know why we use commas in certain places so I could explain the concept behind them. As I reviewed this stuff, I began to realize the value of transformational grammar and of how understanding deep grammar really helps to explain why, for example, an adverbial clause at the beginning of the sentence needs a comma. Bekah caught on quickly and remembered stuff from her Honor's English class in high school, as well as examples from Van Gilst's class. I appreciated being able to go over stuff one-on-one with her. The challenge of the future: Make grammar relevant and understandable (and maybe even fun?!) for my future high school students.

I'm out.