SERIES D

—The glass saucer is a saucerofglass.The china saucer is a saucerofchina.

—A shoe-brush is a brushforshoes.A clothes-brush is a brushforclothes.

—George's hat is the hatofGeorge; George's hat belongstoGeorge.Mary's hat is the hatofMary; Mary's hat belongstoMary.

—A drinking-cup is a cupfordrinking.A copy-book is a bookforcopying.

(Direction and source of motion)

—Turnfromthe righttothe left. (da ... a, a ... da)Turnfromthe lefttothe right.—Draw a linefromthe bottom of the papertothe top.Draw a linefromthe top of the papertothe bottom.—Gofromyour seattothe cabinet.Gofromthe cabinettoyour seat.—Change the penfromyour right handtoyour left hand.Change the penfromyour left handtoyour right hand.

The child has built the first sentences on each of the slips with his cards, and he has reproduced the others by changing simply the preposition cards. In this way he has seen how the position of objects relative to each other is determined wholly and only by the use of the preposition. The preposition, therefore, determines therelation of words, the relation of anounto some other word, here to anothernounor to averb. In the phrase,

Set one chair opposite another chair,

if we take away the preposition, leaving,

Set one chair another chair,

the relation that formerly existed between the wordschairandanother chairis lost. The teacher must not forget the rules for the position of the preposition. The preposition must always precede its object and no other word can come between it and the word or words it controls.

Here are some examples of sentences in the above exercises from which the preposition has been taken away by the teacher:

Go from your seat the cabinet.Place a chair the door.Lay the counter the box.Place the prism the cylinder.The china saucer is made china.

To give the child an idea of the normal position of prepositions a series of permutations may be made leaving the preposition and its object in their normal positions. In this case some meaning is still left to the sentence:

Stretch a string from the door to the window.From the door to the window stretch a string.Stretch from the door a string to the window.From the door to the window a string stretch.From the door stretch to the window a string.

But the child will recognize that the right sentence is the simplest and the clearest:

Stretch a string from the door to the window.

On the other hand if we separate the preposition from its object or invert their normal position, the meaning is entirely lost:

Stretch a string the door from the window to.Stretch a string from the door window to the.String from the stretch door to the a window.

And likewise with these other sentences:

Run from the wash-stand to the table.Run wash-stand table (definition of motion lacking).Run wash-stand from the table to the.From the run wash-stand to the table.Wash-stand from the to the run table.

The teacher may also take groups of children and give them short lessons on the preposition to explain the meaning, selecting if possible two or three synonyms or antonyms each time. The lessons should always he practical and full of action. The child should come to understand in this case the relationship established by this or that preposition between the object (noun) and the action (verb) to be performed. As soon as this has been made clear by the teacher the commands are distributed to the children who put them into execution. Here is the material that we use:

Subject:

Of (di).

Command:—

—Go and get a boxfulofcounters. Go and get a glassofwater. Bring me a pieceofcloth.

Subject:

near (to), next (to), beside, far away from (vicino, accosto, lontano).

Command:—

—One of you boys stand in the middle of the room. Now you others go and standnearhim. One of you standnextto him on the right, anotherbesidehim on the left. Now all gofar away fromhim.

Subject:

in, into, inside, out of (in, dentro, fuori).

Command:—

—Rise from your chairs and gointothe next room. Stayinthat room a moment and then come backintothis one. Go back on tip-toe and lock yourselvesinsidethe next room. Comeout ofthe next roomintothis one.

Subject:

On this side of, on that side of, beyond (di là da, di qua da, oltre).

Command:—

—Leave your places and form a circleon that side ofthe door; form a circle thenon this side ofthe door. All of you go and stand somewherebeyondthe door.

Subject:

except, save (tranne, eccetto).

Command:—

—All the children,exceptGeorge and Mary, walk on tip-toe around the room.—All the children,saveGeorge and Mary, walk on tip-toe around the room.

—All the children,exceptGeorge and Mary, walk on tip-toe around the room.

—All the children,saveGeorge and Mary, walk on tip-toe around the room.

Subject:

side by side with, opposite, in front of, along (di fianco, di fronte, avanti).

Command:—

—Form a lineside by sidewith each other.—Form a linealongthe walloppositethe door.—Form two linesin front ofthe piano.

—Form a lineside by sidewith each other.

—Form a linealongthe walloppositethe door.

—Form two linesin front ofthe piano.

Subject:

before, behind (dirimpetto, dietro).

Command:—

—Two of you come and standbeforeme.—The rest of you go and standbehindme.

—Two of you come and standbeforeme.

—The rest of you go and standbehindme.

Subject:

on, about, along (su, secondo, lungo).

Command:—

—Each of you place one counter on the table. Now arrange the same countersalongthe far edge of the table. Now scatter the same countersaboutthe center of the table.

Subject:

between, among (fra, in mezzo a).

Command:—

—One of you go and standbetweenthe door and the piano.—Place ten white counters on the table. Now go and scatter two or three red countersamongthe white ones.

—One of you go and standbetweenthe door and the piano.

—Place ten white counters on the table. Now go and scatter two or three red countersamongthe white ones.

Subject:

from, to, as far as (da, a, fino a).

Command:—

—Rise and walkfromyour placestothe piano; wait a moment and then continueas far asthe door of the next room.

Subject:

around, about (attorno, intorno).

Command:—

—Walk in couples, arm in arm,aroundthe room twice; whenyou reach the piano on the second round, form a circleaboutthe piano.

Subject:

toward, against (verso, contro).

Command:—

—Take your chairs and move them three stepstowardthe wall in front of you. Next, arrange your chairs in a row with their backsagainstthe wall behind you.

Subject:

across, through (attraverso, per).

Command:—

—Roll your handkerchiefs into balls and throw themacrossthe room.—Pick them up as they lie and try to throw themthroughthe door into the hall.

—Roll your handkerchiefs into balls and throw themacrossthe room.

—Pick them up as they lie and try to throw themthroughthe door into the hall.

Subject:

With, without (con, senza).

Command:—

—Walk around the roomwithyour chairs in your hands.—Walk around the roomwithoutyour chairs.

—Walk around the roomwithyour chairs in your hands.

—Walk around the roomwithoutyour chairs.

Subject:

to, in order to, so as to (per).

Command:—

—Wash your handsin ordernottosoil the cloth. Then close your eyes and feel this clothso as torecognize it.

ADVERBS

Again the exercise consists of sentences analyzed by means of colored cards and commands. The grammar box contains six compartments having, like the others, the names of the different parts of speech on title cards of proper color. The card for the adverb is pink. In the rear compartment are six slips for each exercise, and in the sections the usual number of corresponding colored cards for the necessary words.

(Adverbs of Manner)

—Walkslowlyto the window.Walkrapidlyto the window.—Risesilentlyfrom your seat.Risenoisilyfrom your seat.—Speaksoftlyinto the ear of your nearest comrade.Speakloudlyinto the ear of your nearest comrade.—Take five steps toward the door; turnabruptlyto the left.Take five steps toward the door; turngraduallyto the left.—Take your nearest comradelightlyby the arm.Take your nearest comraderoughlyby the arm.—Looksmilinglyinto the mirror.Lookscowlinglyinto the mirror.

(Adverbs of place and time)

—Place your pencilthere.Place your pencilhere.—Lay your booksomewhereon the table.Lay your bookelsewhereon the table.—Walk to the windowconstantlyclapping your hands.Walk to the windowoccasionallyclapping your hands.—Drink the water in the glassnow.Drink the water in the glassby and by.—Carry the pink towerupstairs.Carry the pink towerdownstairs.—Write a word on the blackboardimmediately.Write a word on the blackboardsoon.

(Adverbs of quantity, comparison)

—Walk along the hall swinging your armssomewhat.Walk along the hall swinging your armsa great deal.—Bend your head alittle.Bend your headmuch.—Walkslowlyto the window.Walkless slowlyto the window.Walkmore slowlyto the window.—Place on the table yourmostbeautiful drawing.—Place on the table your beautiful drawing.—Make a broad mark on the blackboard.Make averybroad mark on the blackboard.

(Adverbs of comparison, correlative adverbs)

—Look for a piece of cloth softerthanvelvet.—Look for a piece of clothassoft as velvet.—Find among your colors a shadeasblackasthe blackboard.—Find a piece of clothnot soshinyassatin.—Find among the plane insets a rectangleasbroadashalf the square.—Bring a rod longerthanyour copy-book.—Bring a rodaslongasyour copy-book.—Bring a rodnot solongasyour copy-book.—Find a piece of clothlessroughthanthe canvas.

The sentences to be analyzed are reproduced as usual by building the first sentence on each slip; and then, by changing the adverb, the child gets the second or third sentence. One of the first permutations is to remove the adverb from those sentences where it performs the function of anadjective to the verb, thereby causing one action to be changed into another. For example take the two sentences:

Walk slowly to the window.Walk rapidly to the window.

Taking away the adverb we have:

Walk to the window.

The child can perform the action which, now, is a simple one. The adverb, however, changes,modifies, the action. If the teacher in play puts the two adverbs together in the same sentence the child has the problem of interpreting two contrary movements. That is, he is to go to the windowslowlyandrapidlyat the same time. Taking away the adverb cards the sentence left isGo to the window. This action the child can perform. But how shall he perform it, in what way? With the help of adverbs! Similarly in the following sentences:

Bend your heada little.Bend your headmuch.

Written without the adverb they indicate one action. What slight changes in the position of the head can be brought about by these adverbs! It is theadverbwhich really shows fine differentiations in movement!

In other sentences also where the adverb is, so to speak, anadjectiveto anadjectiveand therefore really affects the object (noun), similar permutations may be made.

Make a broad mark on the blackboard.Make averybroad mark on the blackboard.

Here by the use of an adverb two differentobjects(nouns) are distinguished which, though they have the same quality (breadth) differ in degree (broad, very broad). Take, for instance, two objects belonging to the same series:

Place on your table the prism which is most thick.Place on your table the prism which is least thick.

If the adverbs are taken away the factor determining the degree of quality (thickness) disappears and we have sentences which are far less precise in their meaning:

Place on your table the prism which is thick.

As the teacher proceeds to make permutations in the different sentences she should remember (for Italian) that the normal position of the adverb is after the verb (in the compound tenses it comes between the auxiliary and the participle).

(Note: In English the position of the adverb is much freer than in Italian; it often stands at the end of the sentence and even between subject and verb,—somethingquite foreign to normal Italian usage. We retain the text entire.)

In the sentences analyzed by the child it is sufficient to recall that the adverb modifies the verb and follows the verb it modifies. Take the sentence:

Bend your head a little as you write.

If the adverb is placed after the second verb the meaning changes:

Bend your head as you write a little.

The same is true in the following:

Walk along the hall swinging your arms somewhat.Walk somewhat along the hall swinging your arms.

General shifting of position would give results as follows:

Bend a little your head as you write.A little bend your head as you write, etc., etc.Somewhat walk along the hall swinging your arms.Walk along somewhat the hall swinging your arms, etc., etc.

The child is quick to recognize by ear the accurate, the normal position of the adverb.

On the other hand, adverbs of quantity and comparison precede the adjective:

Make a very broad mark on the blackboard.Place on your table the prism that is least thick.

Permutation gives the following results:

Make a broad very mark on the blackboard.Place on your table the prism which thick least is, etc., etc.

Adverbs of time and place often ring like trumpet calls to attention at the beginning of the sentence:

Drink the water in the glass now.Now drink the water in the glass.

(Note: In English the adverb of time, placed at the end of the sentence, gains quite as much emphasis. So for adverbs of place.)

Subject:

straight, zig-zag (diritto, a zig-zag).

Command:—

—Runstraightinto the other room; return to your place walkingzig-zag.

Subject:

lightly, heavily, sedately (leggermente, gravemente, pesantemente).

Command:—

—Walklightlyinto the other room; return to your place walkingsedatelyas though you were a very important person; walk across the room and back again restingheavilyon each step as though it were hurting you to walk.

Subject:

suddenly, gradually (ad un tratto, gradatamente).

Command:—

—Form in line and walk forward beginningsuddenlyto stamp with your left foot. Return to your places letting the stampinggraduallycease.

Subject:

meanwhile, frequently, occasionally (sempre, spesso, raramente).

Command:—

—Form in line and march slowly into the next room, stoppingfrequently. Return to your places stoppingoccasionally.—Walk into the next room and back again,meanwhilekeeping your eyes closed.

Subject:

back, forward, to and fro (avanti, indietro, su e giù).

Command:—

—Form in line and walkforwardto the other side of the room; then comebackto your places.—Walkto and froacross the room with your heads lowered and your hands behind your back.

Subject:

forwards, backwards.

Command:—

—Stand in the middle of the room; then walkbackwardsto the window, being careful to walk in a straight line. Return to your places walkingforwards.

Subject:

slowly, abruptly (lentamente, bruscamente).

Command:—

—Riseslowlyfrom your seats.—Riseabruptlyfrom your seats.

Subject:

politely, cordially (gentilmente, garbatamente).

Command:—

—Offer your chairpolitelyto your nearest neighbor.—Shake handscordiallywith your nearest neighbor.

Subject:

alternately, in succession, simultaneously (successivamente, alternativamente, simultaneamente).

Command:—

—Raise your two handsalternatelyabove your heads.—Raise your two handssimultaneouslyabove your heads.—One of you children walk around the room bowing to each pupilin succession.

Subject:

Well, badly, fairly, best, worst (bene, male, meglio, peggio, così così, benino, maluccio, benissimo, malissimo).

Command:—

—One of you call the children to the end of the room, carefully observing how they walk; judge their carriage without speaking and distribute the following cards where they belong:well,badly,fairly,best,worst.

Subject:

away, back (via).

Command:—

—One of you stand in the center of the room; the others gather round him. Suddenly all of you runawayfrom him. Then comebackto him again.

Subject:

here, there, somewhere, elsewhere (qui, qua, costì, costà, lì, là, altrove).

Command:—

—Form in line and the first four children come to mehere;the rest go and standthereby the window. Now go and standsomewherein the other room. Remain where you are a moment, then go and standelsewhere. Finally all come backhereto me.

Subject:

thus, likewise (così).

Command:—

—One of you walk around the room holding his arms in a certain position. The rest of you dolikewise.—All of you hold your handsthus, as I am doing.

Subject:

up, down, upward, downward.

Command:—

—Roll your handkerchiefs into balls and throw themupto the ceiling.—Pick them up and throw themdownagain to the floor.—Lookupwardto the ceiling. Now lookdownwardto the floor.

Subject:

crosswise, lengthwise.

Command:—

—Lay two rodscrosswiseon the table. Then lay themlengthwiseon the table.

Subject:

sharply, sullenly, gently, kindly.

Command:—

—Sharplyorder your nearest neighbor to rise from his seat.—Ask himgentlyto sit down again.—Sitsullenlyin your chair with your eyes lowered.—Smilekindlyat your nearest neighbor.

The Future of the Written Language In Popular Education

In our own private experiments when we reached the adverb there occurred among the children a veritable explosion into a new kind of activity. They insisted on making up commands themselves. They invented them and then read them aloud to their companions or had their companions interpret the slips which they had written. All were most enthusiastic in performing these commands and they were rigorously scrupulous in acting them out down to the minutest detail. The executions came to be a literal, intensely real dramatisation: if a word was inexact or incorrect, the interpretation of the command threw the error into noisy relief, and the child who has written it saw before him an action quite different from what he had in mind. Then he realized that he had expressed his thought wrongly or inadequately and immediately set to work to correct his mistake. The revelation seemed to redouble his energy. He would huntamong his numerous words for the one necessary to translate his idea into a living scene before his eyes. Suppose a child had written the following sentence involving the use of the adverbsempre"always":

Walk about the room (sempre)alwayson tip-toe.

meaning that the child shouldall the whilego on tip-toe; if the child began to walk on tip-toe and continued to do so for a long time, trying to expresssempre(always—forever) he would find himself facing a serious problem. Hence the spontaneous query: "What must I do to express myself correctly?"

A little girl once wrote "Walk around the tables," meaning that the children should form a line and walk in and out around each table. Instead she saw her companions form a line and walk round the entire group of tables. Red in the face and out of breath she kept calling: "Stop, stop. That isn't the way," just as if this difference between the thought she actually had in mind and the way it was being executed were hurting her intolerably.

This is only a passing suggestion of something which, I think, will merit much further development later on, after more thorough experiment. It will suffice, however, to bring to the teacher a notion of a most fertile field for the development of the written language in its most rigorous purity. It is evident that the experiment shows the possibility not only of having spontaneous compositions without grammatical errors (just as the mechanical writing was spontaneous and without errors), but of developing a love for clearness and purity of speech which will be a potent factor in improving the literary appreciation of the masses, and popular culture generally.

When the children are seized with this passion for accurate expression of their thoughts in writing, when, spontaneously, clearness becomes the goal of their efforts, they follow the hunt for words with the keenest enthusiasm. They feel that there are never too many words to build with exactness the delicate edifice of thought. Problems of language come to them as a revelation. "How many words are there?" they ask. "How many nouns, how many verbs, how many adjectives? Is there any way for us to learn them all?" They are no longer content with their little copy-books of words. They ask for a wealth of word material which they now enjoy with all the delight of attractive and orderly interpretation. They never get tired of it.

These developments in our work suggested to us the idea of giving the children a large vocabulary comprising a sufficient number of nouns, verbs, and adjectives and containingallthe words of the other parts of speech. The difference in bulk between the real content of language (substance and modification, that is, nouns with their adjectives, and verbs with their adverbs) and the other words which serve to establish relations and consolidate this content, is something very impressive to children of eight. It is for them that we tried to prepare our word charts and the dictionaries of synonyms for nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Here, meanwhile, are some of the commands which the children wrote themselves—things which they improvised all of a sudden, by an explosion of energy, as it were, developed as the result of inner maturity. Compare the aridity and uniformity of the commands we invented ourselves with the variety and richness of ideas appearing in the children's commands! We very evidently show the weariness the preparationof the material caused us. They, on the contrary, reveal an ardent, vivacious spirit, a life full of exuberance.

—Build the pink tower verybadly.

—Makeaccuratelya pose for each of the pictures in the room.

—Pretend you were two old men: speaksoftlyas if you were very sad; and one of you say this: "Too bad poor Pancrazio is dead!" And the other say: "Shall we have to wear our black clothes to-morrow?" Then walk alongsilently.

—Walk along limpingheavily;thensuddenlyfallprostrateon your faces as though you were exhausted. Return trippinglightlyto your places, without falling and without limping.

—Walkslowlywith lowered heads as though you were very sad; return thenjoyfullyand walkinglightly.

—Take a flower and runeagerlyand give it to the lady.

—Go half way round the room limping; the rest of the wayon all fours.

—Silenceimmediately;silentlyact out poses for the pictures in the room.

—Go from your seats to the dooron all fours;thenrise and limplightlyhalf way round the room; do the other half back to the dooron all fours;thererise and runlightly backto your seats.

—Walksilentlyinto the next room; walk three times around the big table andthenreturn to your places.

—Go into the next room runningquite fast;come backgraduallyreducing speed until you reach your places.

—Go to the cabinetimmediately;take a letter-chart, and walk twice around the room with the chart on your head, tryingneverto let it fall; go back to your placesin the same way.

—Walk around the large hall, walkingwearily;sit down, as though you were tired, and fall asleep; wake upshortly afterand go back to your places.

—Form in line and march forward till you reach a clearspace;thereform a circle;nexta rhombus;thena square;finallya trapezium. Go into the big hall conversingsoftly;suddenlyfall to the floorlightlyand go to sleep; then wake up and look around, saying, "Where are we?" Then go back to your seats.

PRONOUNS

Analyses

Material:—The box has seven compartments marked with the colored title slips; tan for the article, black for the noun, brown for the adjective, red for the verb, violet for the preposition, pink for the adverb, andgreenfor thepronoun. In the rear space are the slips for the sentences to be analyzed. There are, as usual, fewer cards than words. The exercise is to substitute the pronouns for nouns.

GROUP A(Personal Pronouns)

—George's sister was weeping. George soothed his sister with a kiss.George's sister was weeping.Hesoothedherwith a kiss.—The book fell to the floor. Emma replaced the book on the table. The book fell to the floor.Shereplacediton the table.—The children gave their mother a surprise. The children wrote a letter to their mother.The children gave their mother a surprise.Theywrotehera letter.—The teacher said: The drawing is beautiful! Willyougive the drawing to the teacher?The teacher said:Itis beautiful! Willyougiveittome?—Charles has gone into the other room. Can you find Charles?Charles has gone into the other room. Can you findhim?

GROUP B(Demonstratives (questo, cotesto, quello) "this, that, these, those, this one, that one)

(As already noted for the adjective English lacks the demonstrative of the second person: thatnear you.)

—Show a child the prisms of the brown stair;thisprism is thicker thanthatprism;thatprism is thinner thantheseprisms.Show a child the prisms of the brown stair;thisis thicker thanthat;thatis thinner thanthese.—Let us look at the children:thischild is taller thanthatchild;thatchild is shorter thanthischild.Let us look at the children:this oneis taller thanthat one;that oneis shorter thanthis one.—Here is a cone on top of a cylinder: try to put the cylinder on top of the cone.Here is a cone on top of a cylinder: try to putthison top ofthat.—Let us show the cubes of the pink tower to a little girl:thiscube is the largest;thosecubes are the smallest of the series.Let us show the cubes of the pink tower to a little girl:this oneis the largest;thoseare the smallest of the series.

GROUP C

(Relatives and Interrogatives: (che, il quale, cui, chi? quale?) who, whom, whose, which, that, who? whose? whom? what? which? where, when?)

Note: The situation with the relatives is different in English:whorefers to persons;whichto things;thatto either persons or things; whereascheandil qualeare interchangeable referring to bothpersons and things,il qualehaving special rhetorical advantages overche, in addition to showing gender and number.Cuiis used after prepositions; and, for the possessive Italian hasil cui,la cui, etc., "whose".

—Ask the children: Which child wants to see my drawing?Ask the children:Whowants to see my drawing?—Ask Charles for the pencil; Charles put the pencil into the drawer.Ask Charles for the pencilwhichCharles put into the drawer.Ask Charles for the pencilthathe put into the drawer.—Thank Charles. Charles gave you the pencil.Thank Charleswhogave you the pencil.—Look at the children. You hear the children in the next room.Look at the childrenwhomyou hear in the next room.—Yesterday you put the flowers into a vase: change the water in the vase.Change the water in the vase intowhichyou put the flowers yesterday.Change the water in the vasewhereyou put the flowers yesterday.Change the water in the vasethatyou put the flowers into yesterday.—Choose among the pieces of cloth the cloth most like your dress.Choose among the pieces of cloththe one whichis most like your dress.Choose among the pieces of cloththe one thatis most like your dress.—Here is the little girl. We found her pocketbook.Here is the little girlwhosepocketbook we found.—Here is the boy. We saw him yesterday.Here is the boywhomwe saw yesterday.—Select an inset from the insets used for drawing.Select an inset fromthose whichare used for drawing.Select an inset fromthose thatare used for drawing.

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