Syntax and Mood “The First Day” Teacher Overview

Skill Focus

Remember Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate Create Close Reading Grammar Composition Reading Strategies Usage Structural Elements Determining Author’s Purpose Direct/indirect objects Body Inference Predicate Nominatives/Adjectives incorporation of quotes Literary Elements Parts of Speech topic sentence Character Phrases use of commentary motivation Appositive use of evidence Imagery Infinitive Mood Participial Point of view Prepositional perspective Clauses Dependent/Subordinate Independent Sentences Structure complex compound compound-complex simple Syntax Techniques Polysyndeton Reversal inverted order (inversion) Analysis of a Text Meaning and Effect related to parts of speech, phrases, clauses, sentences, and syntax

Materials and Resources Copies of “The First Day” by Edward P. Jones

Lesson Introduction/Overview Combining close reading with grammar study can be an ideal opportunity to familiarize students with the basic parts of speech and types of phrases, clauses, and sentences. In this lesson, based on the first and last paragraphs of “The First Day,” students will identify parts of speech, phrases, clauses, and different types of sentences. They will then perform the more important task of linking these grammatical elements to meaning, effect, and purpose.

Students may not be familiar enough with the grammatical terminology used in the analytical questions to do this exercise by themselves. Teachers may wish to do this lesson as a whole-class exercise, teaching briefly the different unfamiliar terms as the lesson proceeds. After studying this introductory lesson, students may use any densely textured passage to undertake a similar analysis individually.

Syntax and Mood “The First Day”

Activity One: Carefully read the first paragraph of the short story “The First Day” by Edward P. Jones. The sentences in the paragraph have been numbered. As you read the paragraph, place a slash mark (/) at the end of each sentence. Then answer the questions below.

(1)In an otherwise unremarkable September morning, long before I learned to be ashamed of my mother, she takes my hand and we set off down New Jersey Avenue to begin my very first day of school. (2)I am wearing a checkeredlike blue-and-green cotton dress, and scattered about these colors are bits of yellow and white and brown. (3)My mother has uncharacteristically spent nearly an hour on my hair that morning, plaiting and replaiting so that now my scalp tingles. (4)Whenever I turn my head quickly, my nose fills with the faint smell of Dixie Peach hair grease. (5)The smell is somehow a soothing one now and I will reach for it time and time again before the morning ends. (6)All the plaits, each with a blue barrette near the tip and each twisted into an uncommon sturdiness, will last until I go to bed that night, something that has never happened before. (7)My stomach is full of milk and oatmeal sweetened with brown sugar. (8)Like everything else I have on, my pale green slip and underwear are new, the underwear having come three to a plastic package with a little girl on the front who appears to be dancing. (9)Behind my ears, my mother, to stop my whining, has dabbed the stingiest bit of her gardenia perfume, the last present my father gave her before he disappeared into memory. (10)Because I cannot smell it, I have only her word that the perfume is there. (11)I am also wearing yellow socks trimmed with thin lines of black and white around the tops. (12)My shoes are my greatest joy, black patent-leather miracles, and when one is nicked at the toe later that morning in class, my heart will break.

1. What specific incident is the narrator describing in this paragraph?

2. Read the first sentence carefully:

In an otherwise unremarkable September morning, long before I learned to be ashamed of my mother, she takes my hand and we set off down New Jersey Avenue to begin my very first day of school.

There are three clauses in this sentence—a subordinate/dependent clause and two independent clauses. The verbs in these clauses have been underlined for you. Subordinate/dependent clause: long before I learned to be ashamed of my mother Independent clause: she takes my hand Independent clause: we set off down New Jersey Avenue to begin my very first day of school

Syntax and Mood: “The First Day”

3. What tense is the verb in the subordinate/dependent clause? What does this tell you about the incident the narrator is describing?

What tense are the verbs in the independent clauses? What effect does this have on the narrator’s story?

4. Circle all of the personal pronouns in this paragraph. Then fill in the chart below.

Number of pronouns that Number of pronouns that Number of pronouns that refer to the narrator refer to the narrator’s refer to both the narrator (“I,” “me,” “my”) mother (“she,” “her”) and her mother (“we,” “us”)

Based on the numbers of pronouns you just identified, who is the narrator primarily thinking about? Why?

5. Read the second sentence in the paragraph carefully: I am wearing a checkeredlike blue-and-green cotton dress, and scattered about these colors are bits of yellow and white and brown.

There are two independent clauses in this sentence. The verbs in these clauses have been underlined for you. I am wearing a checkerdlike blue-and-green cotton dress scattered about these colors are bits of yellow and white and brown

Underline the subject in each of these clauses. What is unusual about the placement of the subject in the second clause? This structure is called inversion. The clause could be rewritten like this: bits of yellow and white and brown are scattered about these colors

How does this rewording change the emphasis in the clause?

Why do you think the author chose the original wording?

Syntax and Mood: “The First Day”

6. Look again at the prepositional phrase at the end of the second clause in #4 (“of yellow and white and brown”). In this phrase, the author uses polysyndeton—the deliberate use of several conjunctions for special emphasis. Rewrite the clause, substituting a comma for the first “and.”

How does this more conventional structure change the emphasis in this description?

Which wording seems to fit better with the narrator’s description of the day? Why?

7. What two words could you use to describe the narrator’s mood in this paragraph?

8. In the space below, copy three phrases or clauses from sentences 3-12 that you think best reflect the narrator’s mood:

9. Complete the chart below with information about the sentences in this paragraph. The first two sentences have been done for you.

Structure (simple, Number compound, complex, Phrases (types and Additional syntactical Sentence of Words compound-complex) number of each) elements 1 36 compound/complex prepositional phrase (4) direct object infinitive phrases (2)

2 21 compound prepositional phrases (2) direct object inversion in second clause polysyndeton 3

Syntax and Mood: “The First Day”

Structure (simple, Number of compound, complex, Phrases (types and Additional syntactical Sentence Words compound-complex) number of each) elements 5

9. What is the average number of words in the sentences in this paragraph? What makes these sentences relatively long?

10. How does the length of the sentences in this paragraph reflect the mood of the narrator at the beginning of the day?

11. How many of the sentences in this paragraph are simple? compound? complex? compound/complex?

Syntax and Mood: “The First Day”

12. What relationship do you see between the sentence structure in this paragraph and the mood of the narrator at the beginning of the day?

Activity Two: Read the rest of the short story before completing Activities Three and Four.

Activity Three: Carefully read the last paragraph from the short story “The First Day” by Edward P. Jones. The sentences in the paragraph have been numbered. As you read the paragraph, place a slash mark (/) at the end of each sentence. Then answer the questions below.

(1)We go into the hall, where my mother kneels down to me. (2)Her lips are quivering. (3)“I’ll be back to pick you up at twelve o’clock. (4)I don’t want you to go nowhere. (5)You just wait right here. (6)And listen to every word she say.” (7)I touch her lips and press them together. (8)It is an old, old game between us. (9)She puts my hand down at my side, which is not part of the game. (10)She stands and looks at the teacher, then she turns and walks away. (11)I see where she has darned one of her socks the night before. (12)Her shoes make loud sounds in the hall. (13)She passes through the doors and I can still hear the loud sounds of her shoes. (14)And even when the teacher turns me toward the classrooms and I hear what must be the singing and talking of all the children in the world, I can still hear my mother’s footsteps above it all.

1. What specific incident is the narrator describing in this paragraph?

2. Notice that there are two more sentences in the final paragraph than in the first paragraph. Does the final paragraph appear to be longer or shorter?

What do you think might explain this difference?

3. Circle all of the personal pronouns in this paragraph. Then fill in the chart below.

Number of pronouns that Number of pronouns that Number of pronouns that refer to the narrator (“I,” refer to the narrator’s refer to both the narrator “me,” “my”) mother (“she,” “her”) and her mother (“we,” “us”)

Syntax and Mood: “The First Day”

Based on the numbers of pronouns you just identified, does the narrator seem to be thinking more or less about herself than she did earlier in the day? Why?

4. What two words could you use to describe the narrator’s mood in this paragraph?

5. In the space below, copy three phrases or clauses that you think best reflect the narrator’s mood:

6. How has the narrator’s mood changed since the beginning of the day?

7. What has happened during the day to cause this shift in mood?

8. Complete the chart below with information about the sentences in this paragraph. The first two sentences have been done for you.

Structure (simple, Number compound, complex, Phrases (types and Additional syntactical Sentence of Words compound-complex) number of each) elements 1 12 complex prepositional phrases (2)

2 4 simple

Syntax and Mood: “The First Day”

Structure (simple, Number compound, complex, Phrases (types and Additional syntactical Sentence of Words compound-complex) number of each) elements 4

Syntax and Mood: “The First Day”

9. What is the average number of words in the sentences in this paragraph? What makes these sentences relatively short?

10. How does the length of the sentences in this paragraph reflect the mood of the narrator at this point in the story?

11. How many of the sentences in this paragraph are simple? compound? complex? compound/complex?

12. What relationship do you see between the sentence structure in this paragraph and the mood of the narrator at the end of the story?

Activity Four: Look again at the first paragraph in the story. How would you describe the relationship between the narrator’s mood at the beginning of the day and her use of personal pronouns?

How would you describe the relationship between the narrator’s mood at the beginning of the day and the sentence structure in the first paragraph?

Now look again at the last paragraph in the story. How would you describe the relationship between the narrator’s mood at the end of the story and her use of personal pronouns?

How would you describe the relationship between the narrator’s mood at the end of the story and the sentence structure in the last paragraph?

Syntax and Mood: “The First Day”

In the space below, write a paragraph that describes how the author uses sentence structure to reflect how the narrator’s mood changes from the opening paragraph of the story to the final paragraph. In your paragraph, use specific evidence from these two paragraphs. Be sure to punctuate correctly any words or phrases from the story.