Offers exercises designed to teach college freshmen the characteristics of the participial modifier. The exercises are based on a form of programed teaching that involves a high degree of student involvement, repeatedly presenting students with a stimulus, and asking for a quick, patterned response. (FL)

Proposes "organizational trees" as a means of helping students understand that each sentence in an essay must have purpose and direction. (FL)

Offers a method of substituting new words for the words in a well-known phrase to demonstrate the power of syntax. (TJ)

This exercise is intended to teach the sense of sentences and their place in the larger fabric of paragraphs as they are woven into organized papers. Based on the five-paragraph theme (introduction, three body paragraphs, and conclusion), the exercise divides "What I Haved Lived For," the prologue to "The Autobiography of Bertrand…

Suggests using a sentence construction game to make basic writing students more aware of their linguistic ability and more comfortable dealing with grammar. Indicates that the experience helps students in revising their writing and introduces the experience of working creatively and playfully with language. (TJ)