This two-card French activity checks the supplied written negatives and gives separate feedback for the ne/pas frame, n’a elision, and du-to-de change. It preserves the fictional subject, verbs, and object words instead of grading unrestricted French prose.
Keep the two transformations in view
| Card | Supplied affirmative | Target written negative |
|---|---|---|
| F1 | Mina boit du jus. | Mina ne boit pas de jus. |
| F2 | Mina a du papier. | Mina n'a pas de papier. |
Use jus as juice and papier as paper in their supplied mass-quantity senses. Keep Mina, the conjugated verbs boit/a, and the object words jus/papier fixed. The task changes affirmation to ordinary quantity negation; it does not ask learners to replace the vocabulary or tell a new story.
UT Austin's grammar explains ne/pas around the conjugated verb and elision of ne before a vowel. Its partitive-article reference explains the ordinary change to de in negative quantity contexts and distinguishes contrasting uses. These original Mina examples apply that bounded pattern. Basic negation, partitive articles
Make three decisions rather than one guess
First, identify the conjugated verb. In F1 it is boit; in F2 it is a. Put the first negative element before that verb and pas after it.
Second, choose ne for boit, which begins with a consonant sound, and n' before the vowel in a. The F2 result joins as n'a, with an apostrophe and no intervening space. Do not insert an English do into either French sentence.
Third, use de before the supplied mass nouns for this ordinary zero-quantity exercise. The change du → de belongs in its own ledger field, so the article does not disappear from review just because the negative frame is correct.
| Check | F1 evidence | F2 evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Verb preserved | boit remains boit | a remains a |
| Negative frame | ne boit pas | n'a pas |
| Article change | du jus becomes de jus | du papier becomes de papier |
| Other content preserved | Mina and jus | Mina and papier |
These are teacher examples. Leave the learner's verb, frame, article, final sentence, and explanation fields blank before a turn.
Give each trial a specific revision reason
For Mina ne a pas de papier, the provided written pattern requires the elision n'a. The verb and article may be correctly identified while that particular choice still needs repair. Feedback should point to the vowel before asking the learner to rebuild the sentence.
For Mina ne boit pas du jus, the negative frame is in place, but the retained du does not meet this exercise's ordinary zero-quantity pattern. Ask the learner to revise that article and explain the declared meaning. Do not claim that a retained partitive article is impossible in every French negative context; the reference describes contrasting uses outside this task.
Do not call spoken French without ne universally wrong either. The UT reference notes omission in speech. This packet deliberately asks for the full standard written frame, so a spoken-register variant is outside the current contract. Written pattern and spoken usage note
Keep compound tenses, pronoun placement, être constructions, contrasting focus, and broader article exceptions outside these two-card checks. A teacher can introduce them later with their own context rather than having an example checker pretend to parse every French sentence.
Run a token-and-explanation turn
One partner identifies the verb and chooses the negative frame. The other checks the article and preserved words, then both explain the changes in the ledger. Swap responsibilities on the next card. Use written explanation or an optional oral exchange under teacher-confirmed supports; a speed contest is unnecessary.
The blank record should retain the original sentence, verb, ne-or-n' choice, pas position, original and revised article, final sentence, and reason. A fixed-bank check can examine the sequence and preserved words; the explanation needs human review. Choose any proficiency expectations separately with the teacher; these two cards do not establish a learner's level or a guaranteed gain.
Try the worked example
Start with Mina boit du jus. Enter “Mina ne boit pas de jus.” and check the target. Load the paper sentence and try “Mina ne a pas de papier.” Feedback asks for n’a before the vowel. Correct it to “Mina n’a pas de papier.” and compare the two full negative frames. Keep the article change in the explanation even when the verb frame already looks right.
This checks two declared standard-written zero-quantity patterns only. Spoken variants and other negative contexts need their own teaching discussion.
Recreate this example
Build one complete self-contained HTML page for this task: check two supplied standard written French negatives with specific frame, elision, and article feedback.
Use these exact original practice data and worked expectations: F1 Mina boit du jus. → Mina ne boit pas de jus. F2 Mina a du papier. → Mina n'a pas de papier. Context: ordinary zero quantity of juice/paper. Keep Mina, boit/a, jus/papier unchanged.
Implement the following useful local interactions: Offer F1/F2 buttons, a sentence response field, Check, and a blank explanation field. Changing cards clears the response. Accept straight or curly apostrophes, require the final period, and explain ne a and retained du trials without generalizing to all French grammar. Preserve the supplied source text and distinguish an uncomputed state, a successful local result, and an invalid or incomplete input. Update output only from the current input snapshot. An input edit must retire stale feedback until the reader runs the relevant action again. Do not silently invent missing values or replace a failing case with a success.
Design the page as a quiet sentence workshop with contrasting affirmative and target strips, clear teacher keys, and a learner response area. Put a compact task heading, actual sample data, the main result, and usable controls early enough to be useful on a narrow screen. Use readable text of at least 16px, generous paragraph spacing, strong contrast, native labels, accessible buttons, and visible keyboard focus. Stack long records at 360px and wrap code without page-level horizontal overflow.
Use type=button and explicit querySelector-based click handlers rather than relying on form submission. If Enter is useful, handle it only on the relevant input and ignore isComposing. Keep effects within this open page; no remote dependencies, network calls, persistence, fake downloads, or automated sending. This checks two declared standard-written zero-quantity patterns only. Spoken variants and other negative contexts need their own teaching discussion. Place worked explanations beside their data and identify teacher or synthetic examples clearly. Output only the complete HTML document, with inline styles and script and LF line endings.
Review the sentence pairs in NOS
After both turns, ask each partner to explain the article choice as well as the frame. An optional comparison copy in NOS can display the two teacher examples; revise eligible static instructions in visual editing mode as you prepare the next card set.