I
Simple Sentences
The material for logical analysis consists of little rolls of fairly stiff paper, on which are printed simple, compound and complex sentences, in carefully prepared series.
There is also a chart, divided into two columns of rectangular spaces, with the name of one sentence element printed in each space. The sentence read on the roll can be torn off part by part, and each of these parts is placed in one of the rectangles, according to the name printed on it. This is another application of the compartment box method used to analyze first the alphabet, then the sounds which go to make up the word, finally the words as parts of speech. Here, the compartments are reduced to a simple design.
The charts for logical analysis are on colored paper and are artistically drawn and decorated. We have charts of four different kinds as regards ornament and color, for such details exert a considerable influence upon the work of the children. On the following page is a sample of the charts with its "sections."
Chart A
| VERB (The verbal or nominal predicate.) | Who is it that? What is it that? SUBJECT |
| Who? What? (Direct object.) | To whom? To what? (Indirect object.) |
| By Whom? By What (Agent.) | Of whom? Of what? (Possessive, material.) |
| When? (Time.) | Where? (Place.) |
| Whence? (Source.) | How? (Manner.) |
| Why? (Cause.) | What for? (Purpose.) |
| By means of whom? By means of what? (Instrument.) | With whom? With what? (Accompaniment.) |
| (Attributive (phrases).) | (Vocative.) |
The two spaces at the top, subject and predicate, are somewhat larger and are more conspicuously decorated than the other rectangles below. The words subject and verb are printed entirely in large capitals. The other spaces, however, are much more simply decorated and the words are in small letters. This helps to distinguish the principal from the secondary elements in the sentences. The names of the parts of speech, and the questions which bring out the meaning of these names, are in different colors: for instance, the names may be black and the questions red, or the names may be in red and the questions in green. And the letters of the questions are larger than the letters of the names, except in the two upper spaces, where the words subject and verb are in the largest type.
The child begins to see what a sentence is: that is, he begins to concentrate on this particular question. How many times he has read sentences, pronounced sentences, composed sentences! But now he is examining them in detail, studying them. The simple sentence is a short proposition, with completed meaning, which expresses an action or a situation, organizing its different parts around a verb.
The first exercise for the child must be to find the verb, a task not very difficult after the preceding exercises on the parts of speech have been performed. When he has found the verb, it becomes essential for him to find the subject. The subject may be found by asking the question: Who is it that—? For example:
The child reads.