(or) the further adventures of owl in the world of words.

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So Owl sat down at his favourite table, in his usual corner, and ordered his favourite beverage, tea! ( what Else?)

The barkeep was surprised, for, Owl never gave up his favourite corner unless something was afoot. And

something was!

After sipping contentedly for some time, he smacked his lips (actually beak) so loudly that the barkeep dropped the glass he was wiping (making him rather mad!)

. But, back to the story. Owl closed his eyes, not to sleep, but….to think.

His thoughts were full of the words he had heard the Parts of Speech speak the other day.

His thoughts were haphazard at first, as he set out to use the veritable treasure trove he had found.

But first he had,….. To have some more tea, what an excellent beverage, thought Owl. The beverage of kings, queens, empires and owls.

Owl looked around and decided that if he was going to get some work, any work done he needed a change of scenery.

He had the perfect place in mind, his tree bough in the Woodgreen forest. Peace, quiet and of course tea were to be found in that idyllic place, so without much

fuss Owl left for Woodgreen forest.

Let me tell you something about Woodgreen. It is a magical forest where

creatures of all sizes live together in harmony. A place where flowers sing, and waterfalls hum, all day and all night.

Magical creatures of all shape and size flit in and out of trees and

magical flowers which sing and dance to their

own tune, and sometimes, sometimes

move around.

No wonder Owl felt at home, here he could think, drink tea in all the peace of mind one could ever want. Everyone was welcome,

big or small, for Woodgreen was enchanted.

So our intrepid hero of ungainly gait stepped up

to his favourite place in all the world, and, made some

tea.(well what did you expect?) owl opened his

notes and started reading what he had written, what the Parts of Speech had

told him.

So he set about the monumental task he had set for himself! That was Owl, the bigger and more difficult the task the better he felt and

of course the more tea he drank.

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The first thing he thought about was what use would a sentence have………Hmmmm……….A very interesting thought, on thinking back, back when he and the Parts of Speech had met, he remembered their ‘sentences.’

Some had given ‘information.’Some had given ‘negative answers.’Some had required’ information.’Some had given ‘commands.’And some had given ‘expressions of emotions(exclamations.)’

I am an owl called Owl.(statement.)Where shall I write my notes?(question.)This is going to be difficult!(exclamation.)I won’t give up.(negative statement.)Be quiet, I’m thinking.(command.)

So Owl decided to start of with……….’With what shall I start?’ mused Owl,’Hmmm,it must be Simple at first, I don’t want those…….. To get confused, I know a Simple Sentence!’

‘So, a simple sentence should …….’,mused Owl between sips of tea…..’’It should…..have one finite verb and deal with one idea only!’This is a beautiful forest, or, The sky is blue., or Those are majestic waterfalls.

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‘And now for some serious writing.’, thought

Owl.’How about a sentence with two or more finite verbs?’’ It may be made

up of two or more simple sentences joined by a co-ordinating conjunction.’‘let’s see……’ said Owl as

he looked around for inspiration. Owl thinks about sentences in the forest and drinks tea in

his bough.

‘and if we find a discerning writer who, knows how to write(very clever!‘’He might make use of

a complex sentence.’A complex sentence can have one main clause

or thought and one or more subordinate clauses which provide additional information!

These are joined by subordinating conjunctions.

‘Owl had listened to the parts speaking while he was sitting at his table, after he had finished his tea.’

Owl mused for some time, he looked at the clouds as they floated by lazily. As only clouds do! He watched

the birds fly and compete with each other as they dived, rolled and climbed on the wind’s gentle wings, probably just showing off ,it was mating season, after

all !!!

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He looked at the threes and the beautiful flowers, all subject to……..subject, subject,

sub…..ject!!Owl stood up, quite suddenly, an idea had just hit him.(later he realised it was the low ceiling, when he stood up without paying

attention!)A sentence can be divided into two parts-a

subject and a predicate!

The subject reflects who or what we are talking about.It is the person or thing who/that/which is performing the action.The word that follows the linking verb (to be)is not the object: it is known as the complement.(the complement enlarges on the subject.)e.g. The race was exciting.

The author became famous.

The predicate is the rest of the sentence.It expands on the subject and always begins with the verb.

SUBJECT

Anne

The boys in grade 7 PREDICATE

built the sandcastle.

were happy to go to high school.

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‘Analysing the predicate’, ‘this was going to be difficult,’ thought owl between sips of tea.‘Let’s see!!!!’ ‘The verb can be divided into: verb, direct object and indirect object.

Direct Object-answers who or what after the verb.

Indirect Object- always indicates to whom/what or for whom/what after the direct

object.Owl stopped for a while, something was bothering him, he couldn’t quite understand what. So like any normal, scholarly and wise owl he made a pot of tea and stopped to think

Owl was rather happy with the progress he had made.It had been a long day, but, a worthwhile and fruitful one.So he walked out on his porch to observe the sunset and all the magical creatures romping around, the fairies, the winged horses, an alien or two –(this is an enchanted forest, after all!)

predicate

subject verb Direct object(what) Indirect object

Education opens doors for the future.

the winged horse brought the ball to owl’s bough.

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Now owl needed to separate the sentence into sensible parts, since a sentence was made from

words- he needed names for these parts, so……………

He called them, aptly so, Phrases and Clauses.‘So, let’s start with… the Phrase.’

‘a phrase should be a group of words without a finite verb.’ ‘ya di da and all that jazz!’

‡A phrase is sensibly arranged within the sentence and conveys a single idea.

‡A phrase can never stand alone, but is always part of a sentence.

A phrase is also referred to as a ‘fragment’ of a sentence.

The shop around the corner is open twenty-four hours a day.

The company specialising in travel, received four new winged horses.

Now Owl sat down, a huge frown on his brow as something at the back of his mind was nagging him! What was it? He got up and paced around his bough, nothing, he went up to the tree top, still nothing, so, he decided to go for a walk! (actually a short flight, most likely!)

As he was silently flying above the tree tops, he noticed that the trees were bunched separately, each group according to its type, as if they had been classified! Suddenly it hit him, he braked in mid air, that was it, he needed to classify the phrases. With that thought he did a 360 degree turn in mid-air, (an F-14A Tomcat would have been put to shame!) and returned, double time, to his bough.

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•Phrases may be classified as follows:•Adjectival phrases: these qualify (tell us more about) the noun.the winged horse with the dazzling feathers came from New Zealand.

Noun Phrases: These answer questions who or what in connection with the noun.Everyone in the forest nodded when Owl flew by.(who?) (Who nodded when Owl flew by?)

Adverbial Phrases: these modify the verb and answer the question as indicated.Adverbial Phrase of manner (How?)-Owl flew hastily and speedily to his bough.Adverbial Phrase of Time (When?)-Owl arrived at his bough in Woodgreen at nine

o’clock..Adverbial Phrase of place(Where)-Owl sat in his bough reading his notes.Adverbial Phrase of reason(why)-Owl, needing to think, left for Woodgreen..Adverbial Phrase of concession(Although, even though…. )-Owl, although tired, wanted

to start immediately.

The adverb and the adverbial phrase are related.

Adverb:AngrilyTomorrowhere

Adverbial Phrase:In an angry mannerThe following dayIn this place

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Having finished the work, Owl decided that he deserved some tea, to be followed by a good night’s sleep. So in his Owlish fashion he put the kettle on and prepared the tea-pot so he could brew some of his favourite tea. Owl walked out onto his bough and as he sipped his tea he looked around Greenwood forest and marvelled at the beauty of the place. The lush trees, the colourful flowers, the magical animals and the beautiful birds. But what struck him most was the peace and quiet and the purity of the air, the

crispy clean air, something which was not in evidence in cities today. With that thought Owl went in and went to bed.

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