Sentence Creation is a subcategory of Language in Context in which students have to write complete sentences based on extended text.
ACTIVITIES:
1. In the following passage, Bruno Bettelheim attempts to explain what importance fairy tales may hold for children. Read the passage carefully.
When, like the great philosophers, children are searching for the solutions to the
first and last questions-"Who am I? How ought I to deal with life's problems? What must I
become?"-they do so on the basis of their animistic thinking. But since the child is so uncertain of
what his existence consists, first and foremost comes the question "Who am I?"
As soon as a child begins to move about and explore, he begins to ponder the
problem of his identity. When he spies his mirror image, he wonders whether what he sees is really
he, or a child just like him standing behind this glassy wall. He tries to find out by exploring
whether this other child is really, in all ways, like him. He makes faces, turns this way or that,
walks away from the mirror and jumps back in front of it to ascertain whether this other one has
moved away or is still there. Though only three years old, the child is already up against the difficult
problem of personal identity.
The child asks himself: "Who am I? Where did I come from? How did the world
come into being? Who created man and all the animals? What is the purpose of life?" True, he
ponders these vital questions not in the abstract, but mainly as they pertain to him. He worries not
whether there is justice for individual man, but whether he will be treated justly. He wonders
who or what projects him into adversity, and what can prevent this from happening to him. Are
there benevolent powers in addition to his parents? Are his parents benevolent powers? How
should he form himself, and why? Is there hope for him, though he may have done wrong? Why
has all this happened to him? What will it mean for his future? Fairy tales provide answers
to these pressing questions, many of which the child becomes aware of only as he follows the
stories.
Part A
On the basis of what you have read, write five sentences explaining what you believe Bettelheim's opinions to be. Use the following sentence as a model. In the main clause you may use such verbs as think, feel, be of the opinion, argue, contend, suggest, point out, mention, or imply.
SAMPLE ANSWER: Bettelheim feels that children, like the great philosophers, search for solutions to the basic questions of life.
Part B
In the passage by Bettelheim, there are seven examples of noun clauses. Find these clauses, and then convert each clause into a direct question that a child might ask.
Part C
In the third paragraph, there are eleven examples of direct questions to which children seek answers. Convert these questions into noun clauses. Begin your sentences in any of the following ways: Children wonder, ask themselves, worry about, ponder the question of, seek answers to....
Dunham, H. and Summers, C. (1986). English Integrated.
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