Boxi Learn › Chinese › Stage 1 · Observe and Say
Sentence blocks: find the skeleton
CN-2 A sentence has a skeletonX-3 Look from another side
What many people think
Every word in a sentence is equally important.
The idea
Remove the describing words and a sentence still stands on 'who + does what (+ what)'; add them back and it says more, not something else.
Explain it
Pick a long sentence from a storybook. Tell someone its skeleton — who does what — and say which words you took off and why the sentence still works.
Try at home
Write a three-word skeleton on a strip of paper (e.g. 小狗 / 追 / 球). Take turns with someone adding one describing word at a time on sticky notes. Who can make it longest while it still makes sense?