Trial Program Guide

GRAMMAR DEMONS
Skill levels 6 - 10

Trial version: Level 3 (Limited sample)

Complete program: 3 sets, 2 levels per set
Set A: (Levels 1 and 2) for the below-level to average student
Set B: (Levels 3 and 4) for the average to good student
Set C: (Levels 5 and 6) for the good to excellent student

Windows or MS-DOS (VGA display)

Designed for students in grades six and up at different levels of grammar 
proficiency. The program can be used as well by advanced intermediate ESL 
students.

Each level contains many Grammar Demons, or topics. The program helps students 
cope with troublesome points of grammar. Sentences contain up to four 
highlighted choices, one of which may be identified as a Grammar Demon, such 
as a common error in usage, diction, idiom, grammatical relationship or 
punctuation. The program provides explanations that teach the underlying 
grammatical concepts. Each lesson is self-directing.

NOTE: The program includes a game and an individual Demon drill. We recommend 
that students play the game first so that the teacher can identify those 
Demons that present problems to the student. The Record Management program 
will show the number of times the student has played each Demon. The drill may 
then be used for extra help for those students who need it. For the School 
version of the program there is a hide/show feature that permits teachers to 
activate or deactivate the Customized Drill.

OVERVIEW

The Grammar Demons program provides practice at different levels of difficulty.

The program consists of six levels with fifteen Grammar Demons, or topics, 
per level. Set A texts provide two highlighted words or phrases per sentence; 
Set B, three highlighted words or phrases; Set C, three or four highlighted 
words or phrases. All texts also include a `No Error' option.

MOUSE OPTION

You may use the mouse, or the keyboard, as soon as the first exercise
appears on the screen.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The student is asked to use the mouse or Tab key to select a highlighted, 
incorrect word or phrase in a sentence, or to choose the `No Error' option if 
the sentence is correct. After the student responds s/he is shown the correct 
sentence and is given the grammatical reason(s) for the correct answer. If the 
student answers correctly, s/he receives a congratulatory word or a graphic 
reward.

After logging in his/her name the student is offered two options: 
1. Play a round of Demons (game). 2. Work on a customized drill.

Demons Game: The Demons are presented to the student in the same order in which 
they are listed in the program guide. In each round, the student is given 
twelve sentences which cover the material for four Demons. There are three 
randomly selected sentences per Demon. To master a Demon, the student must 
choose the correct answer for all three sentences in the round. Until the 
student gets the three sentences correct, s/he will continue to receive 
sentences for that Demon in subsequent rounds.

For the final round, if fewer than four Demons remain unmastered in the game, 
the round will include only those Demons still unmastered.

PROGRAM HELP FEATURES

The program provides three help features. First, the sentence appears in its 
correct form, regardless of the student's answer. Second, the computer gives 
the grammatical reason(s) for the correct answer. The third feature, the 
individual Demon drill, gives the student the opportunity to focus on specific 
troublesome Demons. From the drill menu, the student may choose up to four 
Demons to work on per round. There are three sentences for each Demon. A star 
next to a Demon on the menu indicates that the student has mastered that Demon. 
Starred Demons may be chosen for additional drill.

SCORING

Scores for mastered Demons in the game and drill are recorded. When a Demon is 
mastered in the game it is starred on the customized drill menu and will not 
reappear in the game. Starred Demons may be chosen for additional drill. 
However, if the student does not remaster the Demon the star is removed and 
the Demon reappears in the game.

Students may choose to exit the program at any time during a round. Even if 
the round is not completed, a Demon is scored as `mastered' if the sudent's 
answers are correct for that Demon's three sentences.

If a student masters all Demons and chooses to play again, the record manager 
will add `M' for `mastered' after the student's last name. The student's name 
will then appear again for subsequent rounds.

RECORD MANAGEMENT

To see student records, run RECORD from the directory, or press [CONTROL]T 
while at the title screen.

The default directory for the windows trial version is:
     c:\MAVDEMO\GRM*-WTD\RECORD.EXE

This version saves records for only two students. A third name will 
automatically replace a previously entered name. (The single user School 
version saves records for as many students as disk space allows. The Network 
version saves records for 1,000 students.)

The records can go to the screen or the printer. You may see the records 
of the entire class, or choose an individual student's scores. If you choose 
to look at the scores of the entire class, you may have them displayed in 
alphabetical order or from highest to lowest.

Use the following keys to make your selections:

ALT: Allows you to choose items in the Top Menu: (1)Order (2)View (3)Select 
(4)Print (5)Delete (6)Exit. In each of the first three options, you 
will have the choice of selecting records from the Pull Down Menu 
by name, date, skills mastered, or class code.

TAB: Changes the category of information that is displayed in a fixed 
cycle, e.g., from students' names to last dates played, to highest 
mastered skill levels, to class codes, to a student's entire 
record and then back again to the students' names.

ENTER: Selects or deselects any piece of information on which the cursor 
is placed. Selected items can be viewed, printed, or deleted as a 
group. They appear on the screen highlighted in red.

Screen Layout:  Instructions are placed in color boxes at the bottom of the 
screen. The number appearing at the end of the last line of instructions on 
the screen indicates the position of the cursor in the total number of 
records. Just before this number is a description of what information is 
being displayed, e.g., name, date, etc.

Moving the Cursor: To move the cursor use the arrow keys. To see preceding 
screens, use the Page Up key. To go to following screens, use the Page Down 
key. To go to the beginning of a list, press the Home key. To get to the end 
of a list, press the End key.

To See Records: All information may be viewed on the screen or printed out. 
To clear previously selected records, choose Select from the Top Menu and 
Deselect from the Pull Down Menu. Note that your viewing selections are 
cleared each time the program is restarted or the computer is turned off. 

Examples

1. To print out the records of one class, follow these directions:

     Top Menu     Pull Down Menu    Other Keys     Remarks/Actions

ALT   Select          Class         Cursor keys    Find the beginning of 
						   the class
				    
				    ENTER          Mark the beginning of 
						   the class

				    Cursor keys    Find the end of the 
						   class
				    
				    ENTER          Mark the end of the 
						   class

ALT   View            Selected                     Now only that class is 
						   displayed. (Repeating 
						   this step would restore 
						   screen as it was.)

ALT   Order           Name                         Class now alphabetized

ALT   Print           Selected                     Printing is optional. 
						   Information can be 
						   viewed on the screen. 

2. To print the highest (or lowest) skill level, follow the steps 
above, replacing Class, from the Pull Down Menu, with Mastered.

3. To see the records of all students in a range on the screen, choose 
View from the Top Menu and choose Entire from the Pull Down Menu.

4.  To see the records of an individual student on the screen, place 
the cursor on the name of the student whose records you want to view, 
and press TAB to change the information displayed.


ERROR FIX

If the program runs but does not keep student records properly, or if 
some streaks appear in the Demons graphics, access the RECORD program 
and delete all records.

GRAMMAR DEMONS

LEVEL 1 ( Set A-1) for the below-level to average student

 1. Possessive pronoun, I (its, not it's) 
 2. All right, not alright 
 3. Comparative and superlative of adjectives 
 4. Making a singular noun possessive, using 's 
 5. Run-on sentences 
 6. Too, to, two 
 7. The comma, I (in dates and addresses) 
 8. Illiterate use of `of' instead of `have' 
 9. Contractions 
10. Learn, teach 
11. Irregular plurals 
12. The period, I (in abbreviations) 
13. Used to, not use to 
14. Wrong use of past participle for past tense 
15. Off, not off of 

LEVEL 2 (Set A-2) for the below-level to average student

 1. Incorrect use of stood for stayed 
 2. Possessive of pl. nouns not ending in -s 
 3. Run-on sentences because of comma fault 
 4. Than, not then 
 5. Common error in comparison of adjectives 
 6. Contraction of it is (it's, not its) 
 7. From, not off 
 8. Double negatives, I (not, no) 
 9. Agreement of subject and verb, I 
10. Loose, lose 
11. The comma, II (in a series) 
12. The question mark 
13. Because, not on account of 
14. Shifts in tense 
15. Way, not ways 

LEVEL 3 (Set B-1) for the average to good student

 1. Best, worst, not bestest, worstest 
 2. Agr. of subj. and verb, II (after `There') 
 3. Kind of, not kind of a 
 4. The period, II (after an indirect question) 
 5. Plan to, not plan on 
 6. Parallel structure, I 
 7. Adjective-adverb confusion, I 
 8. Those or these, not them 
 9. Possessive form of regular plural nouns 
10. Accept, except 
11. The comma, III (nouns in apposition) 
12. Possessive pronoun, II (your, not you're) 
13. Confusion of beside and besides 
14. Agreement of pronoun and antecedent, I 
15. Except or except for, not outside of 

LEVEL 4 (Set B-2) for the average to good student

 1. Bunch, group 
 2. Agr. of subj. & verb, III (collective nouns) 
 3. Contraction of you are (you're, not your) 
 4. Neither...nor, not or 
 5. Wrong use of past tense for past participle 
 6. Past, passed 
 7. Unnecessary prepositions 
 8. Case of pronouns 
 9. The comma, IV (to set off transitional words) 
10. Double negatives, II (not, nothing, nobody) 
11. Try to, not try and 
12. Lend, borrow 
13. Common error in superlative adjectives 
14. Possessive pronoun, III (theirs, not there's) 
15. Confusion of can and may 

LEVEL 5 (Set C-1) for the good to excellent student 

 1. Among, between 
 2. Agreement of pronoun and antecedent, II 
 3. Contraction of there is (there's, not theirs) 
 4. Fewer, less 
 5. Don't have, not hasn't got, etc. 
 6. Because or since, not being that 
 7. Whose, who's 
 8. Plural of hyphenated words 
 9. Agr. of subj. & verb, IV (indefin. pronouns) 
10. Almost, most 
11. Parallel structure, II 
12. As if, not like 
13. The comma, V (between coordinate modifiers) 
14. Good, well 
15. Incomplete comparisons 

LEVEL 6 (Set C-2) for the good to excellent student

 1. Adj.-adv. confusion, II (after linking verbs) 
 2. Affect, effect 
 3. Double negs., III (hardly, scarcely, barely) 
 4. Imply, infer 
 5. Agr. of subj. & verb, V (intervening phrases) 
 6. Who, whom 
 7. Possessive pronoun before gerund 
 8. Advise, advice 
 9. Misuse of `because' for `that' 
10. Disinterested, uninterested 
11. The comma, VI (with nouns in direct address) 
12. Different from, not different than 
13. Healthy, healthful 
14. Agr. of subj. & verb, VI (with `nor' or `or') 
15. No comparative for absolute adjectives 

Copyright 1994-1996 Merit Audio Visual
All rights reserved GTDR
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

We hope you enjoy previewing GRAMMAR DEMONS. The School version of 
the program contains the following: 

1. Six levels of exercises

2. Record management for as many students as disk space allows

3. A hide/show feature for the Customized Drill

4. A teacher's guide

Merit offers a full range of educational software for writing, reading, 
grammar, vocabulary, ESL, and math. Merit also offers networking for 
Novell and other LAN, and licensing. School or Institutional Purchase 
Orders accepted.

We will be happy to answer any questions you might have.

MERIT AUDIO VISUAL 

(800) 753-6488    (212) 675-8567    FAX: (212) 675-8607

Call us Monday through Friday between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM Eastern Time. 
Or write MERIT AUDIO VISUAL, 132 W. 21 Street, New York, NY 10011, for 
free software catalog.


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