Trial Program Guide

DIAGNOSTIC PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR
Skill levels 6 - 10

Trial version: NOUNS (Level 1)

Complete Program: NOUNS (Level 1), ADJECTIVES (Level 2), PRONOUNS 
(Level 3), VERBS (Level 4), ADVERBS (Level 5), PREPOSITIONS and 
CONJUNCTIONS (Level 6)

Windows or MS-DOS (VGA display)

Diagnostic Prescriptive Grammar reviews the parts of speech in context 
sentences. The goal is for students to be able to recognize a word as a 
specific part of speech within its context.

Designed for upper elementary and junior high school students, this 
program can be used as well for adult basic education studies. Each 
lesson is self-directing and self-correcting, and focuses on one topic. 
The computer gives a specific explanation for each incorrect answer.

Each topic contains short teaching frames that provide all the information 
that students must have in order to do the practice sentences that follow. 
A brief story at the end of each topic gives the student a chance to 
review all the skills that the program has developed.

The program evaluates performance within each topic. The student who does 
poorly is directed to a lower range for remediation. The student who does 
well is directed to a higher range for further skill development. 

MOUSE OPTION

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

OVERVIEW

The program covers the following topics: Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, 
Adverbs, and Pronouns. The final section covers Prepositions and 
Conjunctions as well as Mixed Practice Reviews and a Final Comprehensive 
Review. Each topic is divided into several ranges, each of which is 
introduced by a teaching screen. Every topic has a review section at the
end.

Ranges may not correlate to the same grades in all schools. Matching a 
range to a grade depends on the particular school's curriculum, that is, 
when students are taught the grammar skills reviewed here.

NOTE: The program includes a game and a drill for each level. We recommend 
that students play the game first so that the teacher can identify those 
areas that present problems to the student. The Record Management program 
will show the number of times the student has played each range. 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 drill.

DIAGNOSTIC TEST

The first time a student selects "Play a Round," s/he will be given a 
diagnostic test. The one-time diagnostic test for each topic determines 
the range at which the student enters the program. If the student returns 
to the program at another time, the computer will automatically give the 
starting range. Each diagnostic test consists of multiple-choice 
questions. The computer does not provide help messages or explanations 
during the diagnostic test.

The program is configured so that the student advances to the next skill 
range if s/he gets three out of three answers correct. This may be changed 
with the ASCII file, configda.t on each disk. The first line indicates the 
number of questions the student needs to answer correctly; the second line 
indicates the maximum number of questions per range the student will 
receive. 

MAIN PROGRAM

Each question involves two parts. The second reinforces the first. By 
pressing F1, a student may receive a help message before answering a 
question. Students have two tries to answer the question. Whenever a 
student answers part A incorrectly, s/he receives an error message that 
explains why the answer is incorrect. For part B, the student is given a 
correct answer message.

For the student who passes the first activity, the computer provides a new 
activity to reinforce what the student has learned. S/he fills in a blank 
in a sentence, choosing from a list of words provided. There are two 
possible correct answers. Students continue until they arrive at a correct 
answer, but they only receive credit if they choose correctly on the first 
or second try. If the student is only marginally passing, this activity 
can be a deciding factor. 

The number of questions in a round varies. The student who does well needs 
less help and gets fewer questions, to prevent boredom. The student who 
does poorly will, after two rounds, see some of the questions from the 
earlier rounds again. At the end of each round, the computer gives the 
percentage of correct answers. If the student gets 80 percent or more 
right, s/he has the option of continuing within the same range to do 
better or going on to the next range. If the student scores less than 80 
percent, s/he may choose to continue within the same range or go to a 
lower range. 

If the student gets a required number of answers correct, the computer 
advances him/her to the next range. If the student mathematically can no 
longer achieve a passing score of 80 percent because of the number of 
wrong answers already accumulated, his/her round will end. Students earn 
twice as many points for answering correctly on the first try as on the 
second try.

The review section on each level consists of 20 one-part questions. Help 
messages are not available in the review sections.

PROGRAM CONTENTS

The questions are multiple choice and fill-ins. In all but the review 
section at the end of each disk, students choose a topic and do a round 
of two-part questions. Part B of each question is designed to be a 
reinforcement of part A. Review sections contain only one activity, and 
each question has only one part. 

LEVEL 1, NOUNS: Recognizing nouns; Distinguishing between common and 
proper nouns; Compound nouns; Abstract nouns; Review 

Sample range 3 question, text A: "Duke University has a fine reputation 
for the education of undergraduates. Name the compound noun." 
Answers: "undergraduates," "has," "fine reputation," and "education."

Text B: "My ______ attended college there. Fill in the compound noun." 
Answers: "brother-in-law," "father," and "grandfather."

LEVEL 2, ADJECTIVES: Recognizing adjectives; Predicate adjectives; 
Articles; Nouns used as adjectives; Comparative and superlative 
adjectives; Review

Sample range 2 question, text A: "Frustrated, Andrew threw his 
book against the wall. What is the adjective in this sentence?" 
Answers: "Frustrated," "threw," "book," and "wall."

Text B: "Frustrated, Andrew flung away his book. "Frustrated" 
modifies the noun ______."

LEVEL 3, PRONOUNS: Personal pronouns; Antecedents of pronouns; Pronouns 
and case; Demonstrative, indefinite, and relative pronouns; Review

Sample range 1 question, text A: "Sandra liked going to the movies 
with them because they always bought the popcorn. Identify a personal 
pronoun in the sentence other than `they'." 
Answers: "Sandra," "the," "with," and "them."

Text B: "She began going with ______ when she discovered that we were 
more fun to be with. Fill in the personal pronoun." 
Answers: "delight," "us," and "Chuck."

LEVEL 4, VERBS: Action, linking, and helping verbs; Double duty verbs; 
Compound verbs; Verb phrases; Review

Sample range 5 question, text A: "She may ask you for advice. 
What is the main verb in this sentence?" 
Answers: "may," "ask," "advice," and "She." 

Text B: "Being independent, she may not follow it. Type the number 
of the helping verb." 
Answers: "Being," "may," and "follow."

LEVEL 5, ADVERBS: Adverbs of manner, of place, of time, and of degree; 
Adverb/adjective confusion; Review

Sample range 6 question, text A: "When Kate is WELL, we will 
go to the show. Tell what the word `well' is, and what it 
modifies." 
Answers: "ADJ/Kate," "ADV/Kate," and "ADJ/show."

Text B:  "I hope she improves fast. In this sentence `fast' 
is an _____. Fill in the blank." 
Answers: "adverb" and "adjective."

LEVEL 6, PREPOSITIONS AND CONJUNCTIONS: Mixed Practice; Final Review: 
Recognizing prepositions; Prepositional phrases and objects; Coordinating 
conjunctions; Subordinating conjunctions; Mixed practice review of nouns, 
adjectives, and pronouns; Mixed practice review of verbs, adverbs, 
prepositions, and conjunctions; Final comprehensive review 

Sample range 4 question, text A: "I asked the salesperson for the second 
time when I would receive the package. Which word begins the dependent, 
or subordinate, clause?" 
Answers: "for," "would," "when," and "I."

Text B: "She said two weeks, and that made me angry. Which word in this 
sentence is a coordinating conjunction?"

RECORD MANAGEMENT

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

The trial 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.

At any time, 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.

Record Management Error Fix:  If the program runs but does not keep 
student records properly, access the RECORD program and delete all 
records.

copyright 1994-1996 Merit Audio Visual
All rights reserved GTD
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We will be happy to answer any questions you might have.

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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, 
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Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle 
works for you.  If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem 
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