That. sadly, is exactly the response I would expect from any
of the students I've taught. That being said, the reason I
would give for "very" being an adverb in that sentence is
that it is the word describing (in this instance telling to
what extent) the adjective (curious). If the sentence said
that Jefferson slowly became curious, then it is more
obviously modifying the verb. It's a tricky sentence because
become is not an action verb in the traditional sense. I have
taught English at the high school level, and cannot think of
a single student who could have sorted this through correctly
on their own. On 10/01/09, BethAnn wrote:
> Sorry, I know this is a high school chatboard, but I am
> hoping someone will be willing to help me on this.
>
> I teach 6th grade. For the last two weeks, we have been
> learning adjectives and adverbs. My kids did great on
> adjectives but not so much on adverbs.
>
> They are fine as long as the adverb ends in -ly. If there
> is not a word ending in -ly, they look lost.
>
> I have them find the subject first, then the verb. Then, I
> tell them to look for the word that answers how, when,
> where, or to what extent about the verb.
>
> This sentence threw them: Thomas Jefferson became very
> curious about the West after he took office as president.
>
> They said it was West because it answers where!
>
> At this stage of the game, I am quite certain they have had
> adverbs somewhere. There's something I am missing because
> they are not getting it!
>
> Thanks!
> BethAnn

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