Positive Statement to Negative & Rhyme Scheme – JSS3 English Lesson Note (First Term)

A positive (affirmative) statement is changed to a negative by adding “do not”, “does not” or “did not” before the base form of the main verb.

A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming end words in the lines of a poem, shown with letters such as ABAB.

Behavioural objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. change affirmative sentences in the simple present and simple past tenses into negatives;
2. choose correctly between “do not”, “does not” and “did not”;
3. define rhyme scheme;
4. name some common types of rhyme scheme and give their patterns;
5. identify the rhyme scheme of a short poem using letters.

What is a positive statement and a negative statement?

A positive (affirmative) statement says that something is true or happens, while a negative statement says that it is not true or does not happen.

• Positive: My sister lives with my parents.
• Negative: My sister does not live with my parents.

How do we change a positive statement to a negative?

We put “do not”, “does not” or “did not” before the main verb, and the main verb returns to its base form.

Which helping verb do we use?

What are the steps?

1. Find the subject and the tense of the sentence.
2. Choose “do not”, “does not” or “did not” from the table.
3. Place it before the main verb.
4. Change the main verb to its base form: lives becomes live, killed becomes kill, threw becomes throw.

What mistakes should we avoid?

• Keeping the -s ending: write “She does not live”, not “She does not lives”.
• Keeping the past form: write “He did not go”, not “He did not went”.
• Using “does” with I: “I” takes “do”, so write “I do not know”.

What about sentences with be verbs and modal verbs?

• Be verbs (am, is, are, was, were): add “not” directly, as in “She is not tall.”
• Modal verbs (can, will, must, should): add “not” directly, as in “I will not go” and “They cannot swim.”
• “Have” as a main verb: use do or does, as in “She does not have a car.”

Practice: change these affirmative sentences into negatives

1. My sister lives with my parents.
2. I know the answer.
3. I want to leave now.
4. My mother works at a bank.
5. Supriya sings well.
6. Martin gets along with his brother-in-law.
7. The boy killed the spider with his shoe.
8. She recognised him at once.
9. He apologised for his conduct.
10. She threw a tantrum when she was told that she wouldn’t be able to go.

Answers

1. My sister does not live with my parents.
2. I do not know the answer.
3. I do not want to leave now.
4. My mother does not work at a bank.
5. Supriya does not sing well.
6. Martin does not get along with his brother-in-law.
7. The boy did not kill the spider with his shoe.
8. She did not recognise him at once.
9. He did not apologise for his conduct.
10. She did not throw a tantrum when she was told that she wouldn’t be able to go. (The “when” clause stays the same.)

What is rhyme?

Rhyme is the repetition of the same ending sound in two or more words, as in “star” and “are”.

• Sound, not spelling: words rhyme by how they sound, so “light” and “write” rhyme.
• End rhyme: the rhyming words come at the end of the lines.

What is a rhyme scheme?

A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyme at the end of each line or verse in a poem.

• Letters: each line is given a letter, and lines with the same end sound get the same letter.
• Free verse: many poems have no rhyme pattern at all.
• Syllable patterns: some forms, such as the Japanese haiku, follow syllable counts instead of rhyme.
• Rhyming poems: poets who use rhyme follow a set pattern called a rhyme scheme.

How do we find the rhyme scheme of a poem?

We label each line with a letter according to its end sound.

1. Read the poem aloud and listen to the last word of each line.
2. Give the first line the letter A.
3. Give every later line that rhymes with it the letter A.
4. Give the next new end sound the letter B, then C, and so on.
5. Write the letters in order, for example ABAB.

Worked example:

The sun is shining bright (A)
This is a lovely sight. (A)

What are the types of rhyme scheme?

There are ten common types of rhyme scheme: alternate rhyme, ballade, monorhyme, couplet, triplet, enclosed rhyme, terza rima, Keats’s ode rhyme, limerick and villanelle.

• Alternate rhyme: also known as the ABAB rhyme scheme. It rhymes as “ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH.”
• Ballade: three eight-line stanzas with the rhyme scheme “ABABBCBC,” followed by a closing four-line stanza rhyming “BCBC.”
• Monorhyme: a poem in which every line uses the same rhyme.
• Couplet: two-line stanzas with the “AA” rhyme scheme, which often appears as “AA BB CC DD…”
• Triplet: three-line stanzas that repeat like couplets and use a rhyme scheme of “AAA.”
• Enclosed rhyme: uses the rhyme scheme “ABBA.”
• Terza rima: uses tercets, which are three-line stanzas. Its interlocking pattern on end words follows ABA BCB CDC DED and so on.
• Keats’s ode rhyme scheme: the scheme used by Keats in his famous odes, “ABABCDECDE.”
• Limerick: a poem of five lines with a rhyme scheme of “AABBA.”
• Villanelle: a nineteen-line poem of five tercets and a final quatrain. Its scheme is “A1bA2, abA1, abA2, abA1, abA2, abA1A2.”

What are some short examples of rhyme scheme?

Each pair of lines below is a couplet with an AA rhyme scheme.

1. The sun is shining bright
   This is a lovely sight.
2. You are like a day of May
   And I am as worthless as hay.
3. This is poor Mr. Potter
   Walking a road with his daughter.
4. Sometimes, your unspoken word
   Is more important than that heard.
5. Little boy wants to eat cakes
   Whenever he from sleep awakes.
6. I saw a tree that to God doth say
   I want the Lord to accept my prayer today.
7. I think I can never see
   Something as free as a sea.
8. After so many days of drought down poured the rain
   It took so long to come from Spain.
9. The green garden lets its shade fall
   Over the red old school hall.
10. There flows the river
    That’s amongst the greatest giver.

What are examples of rhyme scheme in literature?

The poems below show the most widely used rhyme schemes, with the pattern marked beside each line.

Example 1: Neither Out Far nor in Deep (by Robert Frost)

The people along the sand (A)
All turn and look one way. (B)
They turn their back on the land. (A)
They look at the sea all day. (B)

As long as it takes to pass (C)
A ship keeps raising its hull; (D)
The wetter ground like glass (C)
Reflects a standing gull. (D)

• Pattern: ABAB in each stanza.
• First stanza: “sand” rhymes with “land”, and “way” rhymes with “day”.

Example 2: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (by Jane Taylor)

Twinkle, twinkle, little star, (A)
How I wonder what you are. (A)
Up above the world so high, (B)
Like a diamond in the sky. (B)

• Pattern: AABB.
• Rhymes: “star” and “are” share the letter A, and “high” and “sky” share the letter B.

Example 3: Divine Comedy (by Dante Alighieri)

As I drew nearer to the end of all desire, (A)
I brought my longing’s ardor to a final height, (B)
Just as I ought. My vision, becoming pure, (A)
Entered more and more the beam of that high light (B)
That shines on its truth. From then, my seeing (C)
Became too large for speech, which fails at a sight… (B)

• Pattern: terza rima, with tercets rhyming ABA, BCB, CDC and so on.
• Effect: the interlocking rhymes give an impression of steady forward movement.

Example 4: A monorhyme

The cat sat on the mat, (A)
It wore a small red hat, (A)
It met a fat black rat, (A)
And that was the end of that. (A)

• Pattern: AAAA, where every line ends in the same rhyme.
• Rhyming words: “mat”, “hat”, “rat” and “that”.

Example 5: Nature’s Way (by Heidi Campbell)

Upon a nice mid-spring day, (A)
Let’s take a look at Nature’s way. (A)
Breathe the scent of nice fresh air, (B)
Feel the breeze within your hair. (B)
The grass will poke between your toes, (C)
Smell the flowers with your nose. (C)
Clouds form shapes within the skies, (D)
And the light will glisten from your eyes (D)

• Pattern: AA, BB, CC and DD (rhyming couplets).

Example 6: A Poison Tree (by William Blake)

I was angry with my friend: (A)
I told my wrath, my wrath did end. (A)
I was angry with my foe: (B)
I told it not, my wrath did grow. (B)
And I watered it in fears (C)
Night and morning with my tears; (C)
And I sunned it with smiles, (D)
And with soft deceitful wiles. (D)

• Pattern: AA, BB, CC and DD.

Example 7: The One (by Crystal R. Adame)

The one who brought me down to earth, (A)
And held me every day. (B)
The one who gracefully gave me birth, (A)
And said, I love you in every way. (B)
The one who taught me everything, (C)
Like how to crawl and walk. (D)
The one who taught me how to sing (C)
After learning how to talk. (D)

• Pattern: ABAB and CDCD.

Example 8: To a Terrific Dad (by David L. Helm)

To a dad who is terrific, (A)
To a dad who’s really neat. (B)
To a dad who makes the best of things, (C)
Even when they’re not so sweet! (B)
To a dad who’s growing older, (D)
To a dad who’s going gray. (E)
To a dad who just gets smarter, (D)
It would seem from day to day! (E)

• Pattern: ABCBDEDE.
• Difference: it does not match any of the earlier examples.

What is the function of rhyme scheme?

Rhyme scheme forms units of sound and suggests units of sense in a poem.

• Part of the poem’s structure: it works together with metre, length of phrase and rhythm.
• Balance: it gives the poem an even shape.
• Tension: it relieves tension when the expected rhyme arrives.
• Flow: it helps manage how the lines move.
• Rhythm: it creates a musical beat.
• Emphasis: it highlights important ideas at the ends of lines.
• Meaning: it helps communicate the idea more effectively.

Evaluation

1. Change these sentences into negatives: (a) My brother plays football. (b) We know the answer. (c) The girl broke the cup.
2. When do we use “do” and when do we use “does” in a negative sentence in the simple present tense?
3. Define rhyme scheme.
4. State the rhyme scheme of a limerick and of a couplet.
5. Which rhyme scheme does Dante use in the extract from the Divine Comedy?

Assignment

1. Write five affirmative sentences of your own (three in the simple present and two in the simple past) and change each one into a negative. Then write a four-line poem with an AABB rhyme scheme and mark the letter beside each line.