English 11 week of November 28

Monday and Tuesday: Presentations during core focus; 4th hour: presentations of sound track

Tuesday: Reflection on presentation - written in single subject notebook; Passage test 2 results

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: Assigned reading work (2nd hour: Alas, Babylon, 4th hour: Beowulf, 5th hour: Julius Caesar); Identifying main idea in passage.

1st and 7th hour will be working with the Elements of Literature book to improve Reading Strategies.

Reading passage practice part 2

Go to http://college.cengage.com/devenglish/resources/reading_ace/students/index.html

There are 20 practice tests just for you!!!

Affect vs. Effect

Posted: 22 Nov 2011 08:02 PM PST

Among the pairs of words writers often confuse, affect and effect might be the most perplexing, perhaps because their meanings are so similar. Affect, derived from affectus, from the Latin word afficere, “to do something to, act on,” is easily conflated with effect, borrowed from Anglo-French, ultimately stemming from the Latin word effectus, from efficere, “to bring about.”

Affect

The various senses of affect, each followed by a sentence demonstrating them, follow:

A noun meaning “mental state”: “In his report, the psychiatrist, noting his lack of expression or other signs of emotion, described his affect as flat.”

A verb meaning “to produce an effect, to influence”: “I knew that my opinion would affect her choice, so I deliberately withheld it.”

A verb meaning “to pretend” or “to put on”: “She tried to affect an air of nonchalance, though she was visibly agitated.”

Words with affect as the root, followed by their use in a sentence, include the following:

Affectation: A noun meaning “self-conscious behavior”: “The girl’s affectation of sophisticated maturity was undercut by the relentless snapping of her chewing gum.”

Affection: A noun meaning “kind or loving emotion”: “Her grandfather’s deep affection for her was obvious in his heartwarming smile.”

Disaffected: An adjective meaning “discontented, rebellious”: “Disaffected youth dismayed by the poor job market and the larger issue of a society that does not seem to value them have been joining the protest movement in ever greater numbers.” (This word is a case of an antonym that has outlived the original term from which it was derived in counterpoint; writers and speakers no longer express, in the sense of “favorably disposed,” that a person is affected.)

Unaffected: An adjective with two distinct senses: the literal meaning of “not influenced or altered” (“They seemed disturbingly unaffected by the tragic news”) and the surprisingly older, figurative meaning “genuine” (“The youth’s candid, unaffected demeanor appealed to her after the stilted arrogance of her many suitors”).

Effect

The various senses of effect, each followed by a sentence demonstrating them, follow:

A noun meaning “the result of a cause”: “The effect of the lopsided vote was a loss of confidence in the chairman.”

A noun meaning “an impression”: “The soft, gentle tone has a calming effect.”

A noun, usually in plural form, meaning “personal property, possession”: “Among the effects found in the deceased man’s pockets was a small book with his name self-inscribed.”

A verb meaning “to accomplish”: “His newfound sense of responsibility effected a positive change in her attitude toward him.”

Words with effect as the root, followed by their use in a sentence, include the following:

Aftereffect: A noun, usually in plural form, meaning “something that follows a cause”: “The aftereffects of the decision are still being felt years later.”

Effective: An adjective meaning “successful”: “The insect repellent was effective at keeping the mosquitoes at bay, which made for a pleasant outing.”

Effectual: An adjective meaning “able to produce a desired effect”: “Our conclusion is that mediation is an effectual strategy for obtaining a mutually satisfying outcome.”

The noun efficiency and the adjective efficient, though not based on the root effect, share its etymological origin and mean, respectively, “productivity” and “productive” in the sense of accomplishing something with a minimum of effort in relation to outcome. Efficacy (“the power to produce a desired effect”) and efficacious (“able to produce a desired effect”) are also related. Another, unexpected word of related origin is feckless (“weak, worthless”), which is rare and has lost its antonym, feckful, through long disuse. Feck is a shortened form of effect developed in Scottish English.

Speed reading exercises

Go to http://eslus.com/LESSONS/READING/READ.HTM for some speed reading exercises.

Reading passage practice

This is a must for you to complete!

Go to http://www.lavc.cc.ca.us/math/samples/english/reading/index.html.

Complete the quiz. If you get a 70% or less, read the article below on Closed Reading.

Good luck!

Close Reading of a Literary Passage

To do a close reading, you choose a specific passage and analyze it in fine detail, as if with a magnifying glass. You then comment on points of style and on your reactions as a reader. Close reading is important because it is the building block for larger analysis. Your thoughts evolve not from someone else's truth about the reading, but from your own observations. The more closely you can observe, the more original and exact your ideas will be. To begin your close reading, ask yourself several specific questions about the passage. The following questions are not a formula, but a starting point for your own thoughts. When you arrive at some answers, you are ready to organize and write. You should organize your close reading like any other kind of essay, paragraph by paragraph, but you can arrange it any way you like.

I. First Impressions:

• What is the first thing you notice about the passage?
• What is the second thing?
• Do the two things you noticed complement each other? Or contradict each other?
• What mood does the passage create in you? Why?

II. Vocabulary and Diction:

• Which words do you notice first? Why? What is noteworthy about this diction?
• How do the important words relate to one another?
• Do any words seem oddly used to you? Why?
• Do any words have double meanings? Do they have extra connotations?
• Look up any unfamiliar words. For a pre-20th century text, look in the Oxford English Dictionary for possible outdated meanings. (The OED can only be accessed by students with a subscription or from a library computer that has a subscription. Otherwise, you should find a copy in the local library.)

III. Discerning Patterns:

• Does an image here remind you of an image elsewhere in the book? Where? What's the connection?
• How might this image fit into the pattern of the book as a whole?
• Could this passage symbolize the entire work? Could this passage serve as a microcosm--a little picture--of what's taking place in the whole work?
• What is the sentence rhythm like? Short and choppy? Long and flowing? Does it build on itself or stay at an even pace? What is the style like?
• Look at the punctuation. Is there anything unusual about it?
• Is there any repetition within the passage? What is the effect of that repetition?
• How many types of writing are in the passage? (For example, narration, description, argument, dialogue, rhymed or alliterative poetry, etc.)
• Can you identify paradoxes in the author's thought or subject?
• What is left out or kept silent? What would you expect the author to talk about that the author avoided?

IV. Point of View and Characterization:

• How does the passage make us react or think about any characters or events within the narrative?
• Are there colors, sounds, physical description that appeals to the senses? Does this imagery form a pattern? Why might the author have chosen that color, sound or physical description?
• Who speaks in the passage? To whom does he or she speak? Does the narrator have a limited or partial point of view? Or does the narrator appear to be omniscient, and he knows things the characters couldn't possibly know? (For example, omniscient narrators might mention future historical events, events taking place "off stage," the thoughts and feelings of multiple characters, and so on).

V. Symbolism:

• Are there metaphors? What kinds?
• Is there one controlling metaphor? If not, how many different metaphors are there, and in what order do they occur? How might that be significant?
• How might objects represent something else?
• Do any of the objects, colors, animals, or plants appearing in the passage have traditional connotations or meaning? What about religious or biblical significance?
• If there are multiple symbols in the work, could we read the entire passage as having allegorical meaning beyond the literal level?

Sample video presentations

Take a look at these for examples of good presentations skills

http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_st_john_s_8_secrets_of_success.html

and

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

Grammar ninja!

Try this web site to improve your grammar

http://www.kwarp.com/portfolio/grammarninja.html

A Short Quiz About Emphasis

Posted: 15 Nov 2011 08:52 PM PST

In each of the following sentences, there is a deviation from one of the conventions about how to convey emphasis in writing. Identify the error, and then check below for corrected versions followed by explanations.

1. “So-called ‘notification laws’ require businesses to notify customers when certain unencrypted customer data is improperly accessed.”

2. “Thus the question is not one of quality, but of quantity.”

3. “I suppose this was the moment when I was supposed to experience a sensation of ‘being one with the universe,’ but I just wasn’t feeling it.”

4. “With a strident vigor that arrested the attention of all present, she shouted, ‘YOU JUST DON’T GET IT, DO YOU?’”

5. “After seeing this movie, I just have one thing to say: ‘I want those two hours of my life back!!!’”

Answers

1. “So-called notification laws require businesses to notify customers when certain unencrypted customer data is improperly accessed.”

Explanation: Quotation marks employed to highlight a word or phrase, known as scare quotes, are almost invariably unnecessary, and are redundant to the phrase so-called. (Note that in the previous sentence, I didn’t enclose the introduced slang term “scare quotes” — as I explained, these quotation marks are superfluous. However, I did use quotation marks around the phrase in this parenthesis, just as I italicized so-called above — and here — because that’s how open phrases and words or hyphenated phrases, respectively, are styled when used as names of concepts rather than as the concepts themselves.)

2. “Thus the question is not one of quality, but of quantity.”

Explanation: Italicization of key words can be appropriate but is often overused. Use your judgment to determine whether your point needs such emphasis or whether you can rely on readers to get it without special treatment of words. Usually, they will, and if you doubt it, perhaps your point needs to be expressed more clearly.

3. “I suppose this was the moment when I was supposed to experience a sensation of Being One with the Universe, but I just wasn’t feeling it.”

Explanation: Using quotation marks in this case isn’t necessarily the wrong approach, and it’s appropriate if someone — a guru, for instance — previously used these words, but if the intent is mockery, sarcasm, or irony, it may not be effective. Using headline-style initial capital letters is the conventional approach for conveying such a tone.

4. “With a strident vigor that arrested the attention of all present, she shouted, ‘You just don’t get it, do you!’”

Explanation: Except in display copy (headlines, headings, and the like), using all capital letters is an awkward distraction. Let the narrative carry the emphasis; note that in the sample sentence, thanks to the expressive description in the introductory phrase, the quotation could even get by with a question mark alone (though, because it’s a rhetorical question, the exclamation point is suitable).

5. “After seeing this movie, I just have one thing to say: ‘I want those two hours of my life back.’”

Explanation: Again, let the narrative do the work. Multiple exclamation points have no place in writing, except to mimic a hormone-addled adolescent. And avoid even single exclamation points; usually, they’re extraneous, and if they’re not, they’re probably a crutch for inexpressive writing. Isn’t the deadpan tone implied by the lack of an exclamation point in the sample sentence above more effective than the impotent peevishness that an exclamation point would suggest?

Reading Strategies applied practice

Try using different Reading Strategies when completing this reading test

at http://www.studyguidezone.com/act_reading.htm

English 11 week of November 14

Mon - Reading Strategies quiz, Intro to project, students' brainstorm
Tues - Rough sketches due by end of class
Wed - Sketches returned with feedback - writing proofreading important!
Thur - Working on project
Fri - Working on project

Most will be working on a visual project of the reading strategies; however,
some students will concentrate on speed reading skills

4th hour will be completing a Beowulf writing project

All projects are to be completed by November 22!

A Short Quiz About Parallel Construction

Posted: 09 Nov 2011 08:57 PM PST

What’s wrong with these sentences? They each have syntax that creates an obstacle to clear understanding of the relationships of words or phrases to others. Revise them, and then scroll down to see my annotated solutions.

1. “People do not go outside their homes after dark, saying they fear muggers and police looking for bribes.”

2. “Marc Antony was not to be depicted as a monster, but as a love-struck fool.”

3. “People no longer seem to care about owning movies, are decreasingly interested in going to the movie theater, and studios seem to be betting on the fact that the format, not the actual movie, is the selling point.”

4. “The company apparently wastes very little money on lobbying and political contributions—nor, obviously, on a public relations department.”

5. “He founded and ran the trade journal from 1987 to 1991.”

Answers

1. “People do not go outside their homes after dark, saying they fear muggers — and police looking for bribes.”

Explanation: The original sentence construction implies that residents fear being shaken down for bribes by muggers and police. A confusing sentence structure is sometimes clarified by reversing the order of the listed items, but “they fear police looking for bribes and muggers” only replicates the problem; now, the concern is identified as police on the lookout for both extortion opportunities and hoodlums. However, giving the police objectives equal weight muddles the sentence’s meaning. Introducing parallelism inspired by the previous phrase — “they fear both muggers and police looking for bribes” — is better but still somewhat awkward.

A superior solution is to use the correlative conjunction “not only” and its companion phrase “but also,” which not only provides logical syntax but also strengthens the sentence’s impact by introducing the mundane followed by the unexpected: “People do not go outside their homes after dark, saying they fear not only muggers but also police looking for bribes.” However, the original solution offered above does so most simply.

2. “Marc Antony was to be depicted not as a monster but as a love-struck fool.”

Explanation: This syntax resembles the correct form of the “not only . . . but also” construction alluded to above. However, the phrase “was not to be depicted as a monster” works only if it is juxtaposed with an independent clause: “Marc Antony was not to be depicted as a monster; the intent was to portray him as a love-struck fool.”

Otherwise, the solution is to poise not directly after the verb (depicted), rather than before it, so that the alternatives are represented in parallel, one preceded by “not as” and the other following as. (The as before “a monster,” sundered from not, does not logically convey the opposing idea of the as before “a love-struck fool.”)

3. “People no longer seem to care about owning movies and are decreasingly interested in going to the movie theater, and studios seem to be betting on the fact that the format, not the actual movie, is the selling point.”

Explanation: This sentence expresses three ideas: movie ownership, interest in viewing movies in theaters, and studio perception that format is more important than product. But structurally, it implies that all three ideas will pertain to what consumers want. The presence of the third, studio-centric idea, however, means that the subject “people” pertains only to the first two ideas, which need to be linked with a conjunction, not a comma. (The studio idea is expressed in an independent clause.) Therefore, this is not an “a, b, and c” sentence, but an “a and b, and c” sentence.

4. “The company apparently wastes very little money on lobbying and political contributions. (It also, obviously, spends nothing on a PR department.)”

Explanation: Nor is associated only with negative expressions: “Neither you nor I is responsible”; “I didn’t get to see the movie, nor did I want to.” This sentence, though it refers to a company policy of minimalization of funding for certain activities, does not include a negative expression, so nor is incorrect.

For it to be appropriate, the entire sentence would need to be cast in a negative sense, as in “The company apparently doesn’t spend very much money on lobbying and political contributions—nor, obviously, on a public relations department.” But perhaps the clearest revision is one that divides into separate sentences the comment about contributions from the one about public relations.

5. “He founded the trade journal in 1987 and ran it from its launch to 1991.”

Explanation: The sentence structure implies that the consultant founded the trade journal during the given span of years as well as running it during that time, but founding occurs at a point, not along a time continuum, so the two actions — founding and running — need to be separated into distinct syntactical elements.

But if you are editing this sentence, rather than writing it, and don’t know the facts firsthand, you need to confirm the founding date; the founder didn’t necessarily run the journal from the beginning. (They might have taken the operation over from someone else who was originally in charge.)

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Original Post: A Short Quiz About Parallel Construction
Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook.

7 More Fixes for Dangling Modifiers

Posted: 08 Nov 2011 07:17 PM PST

Some time ago, I pointed out the perils of dangling modifiers, presenting sample sentences and offering annotated revisions. Unfortunately, my stock of such specimens, discovered in the course of my editing work and in leisure reading alike, has grown rather than diminished. I therefore here inflict another set of them on you, one of as many rounds as are necessary to finally eradicate dangling modifiers from the face of the Earth.

As a guest columnist for DailyWritingTips explained quite well in her post on the topic, “The dangling modifier is usually a phrase or an elliptical clause (a dependent clause in which some words have intentionally been left out), often at the beginning of a sentence, that either doesn’t modify anything specific in the sentence or modifies the wrong word or part of the sentence.”

Here’s a dissection of sentences entangled by dangling modifiers:

1. “Drawn from a series of wildly popular cookbooks, international culinary celebrity, Australia-based Steve James, presents practical versions of the world’s greatest vegetarian cuisine.”

The sentence implies that the celebrity in question is drawn from the cookbooks. Whenever you’re confronted with such a contextual contortion, start with the subject. While you’re at it, level the adjectival stack by relaxing the person’s description: “Steve James, an international culinary celebrity based in Australia, presents practical versions of the world’s greatest vegetarian cuisine drawn from a series of wildly popular cookbooks.”

2. “Once used to store ice, food, and alcohol, guests can still explore the mine and enjoy its cool temperature all year round.”

Guests can consume ice, food, and alcohol, but they can’t store it. That’s the mine’s job, so recast the sentence to say as much by, as in the previous example, simply starting with the subject, followed by the reference to its earlier purpose: “The mine was once used to store ice, food, and alcohol, and guests can still explore the tunnels and enjoy their cool temperature all year round.”

3. “Originally founded as a purveyor of trinkets for Japanese festivals and carnivals, the company’s rise to prominence began in the early 1970s.”

The use of a possessive form of a noun immediately after an introductory modifier is a screaming sign of a syntactical screw-up. The subject of the sentence is not “the company,” but “the company’s rise to prominence,” so it is the company’s rocket to stardom, not the company itself, that is incorrectly being identified as having been founded.

Recast the sentence so that the company itself, not its ascendancy, is the subject: “The company, originally founded as a purveyor of trinkets for Japanese festivals and carnivals, rose to prominence beginning in the early 1970s.”

4. “As your mortgage loan originator, you will receive the benefit of my lending experience and ongoing education to help guide you throughout the entire loan process.”

I’ve heard of self-service, but this is ridiculous. This sentence seems to be confused about the identity of my mortgage loan originator, who (in this case, anyway), inappropriately puts the customer first. The writer is offering their expertise, so the subject must be a first-person pronoun: “As your mortgage loan originator, I offer you the benefit of my lending experience and ongoing education to help guide you throughout the entire loan process.”

5. “While going to the bar one last time, my ‘Mike Johnson’ campaign sign accidentally falls out of my jacket pocket.”

The writer’s “Mike Johnson” campaign sign has obviously gone to the bar too many times already if it can’t prevent itself from falling out of his jacket pocket. The writer must introduce themselves into the modifier to make it clear that they, not the sign, are frequenting the bar: “While I’m going to the bar one last time, my ‘Mike Johnson’ campaign sign accidentally falls out of my jacket pocket.” (Also, the quotation marks around the candidate’s name are optional, but because those words are presumably featured on the sign, the marks are appropriate.)

6. “Bordered by Libya, Sudan, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, and the Central African Republic, the CIA list for natural hazards includes ‘periodic droughts and locust plagues,’ which places Chad in a proper biblical context.”

Chad, not the CIA list, is bordered by the other named nations, so why is it relegated to the end of the sentence? Introduce it, appropriately, in the introductory phrase: “The list of natural hazards for Chad, bordered by Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Libya, Niger, Nigeria, and Sudan, includes ‘periodic droughts and locust plagues,’ which places the nation in a proper biblical context.” (Notice, also, that I reordered the heretofore randomly listed names of countries alphabetically; for geographical entities, a sequence corresponding to relative location is also appropriate. Avoid arbitrarily ordered lists.)

7. “Since releasing their 2002 debut, the biggest criticism directed at the band has been that they couldn’t replicate their raucous live energy in the studio.”

Is “the Biggest Criticism” the name of the band? No. The unnamed band released the debut, so the sentence must be heavily revised to shift “the band” to immediately follow the introductory modifier: “Since the release of their 2002 debut, the band has been the subject of criticism, primarily that it couldn’t replicate its raucous live energy in the studio.” (Also — in American English, at least — a band is a single entity and should be referred to by single pronouns.)

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Original Post: 7 More Fixes for Dangling Modifiers
Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook.

10 Intensifiers You Should Really, Absolutely Avoid

Posted: 07 Nov 2011 08:49 PM PST

You are not hereby forbidden to employ the following adjectives according to their casual connotations, but to strengthen your writing, try limiting usage to that which most closely reflects their literal meaning:

1. Absolute: The original sense of absolute is “ultimate,” but now it is weakly used as an intensifier (“It was an absolute riot!”). Minimize, too, usage in the connotations of “outright” and “unquestionable” and reserve it to mean “unrestrained” or “fundamental.”

2. Awesome: Originally, something awesome inspired awe. Now, the most mundane phenomena are exalted as such. Try devoting this word to truly spectacular sensations alone.

3. Fabulous: This adjective, derived from fable, once referred to sensory stimuli one might expect to encounter in a flight of fancy. It’s long since been appropriated to describe extravagant fashion sense or, more mundanely, notable accomplishments, but it is most potent when restricted to describing phantasmagorical phenomena.

4. Fantastic: Avoid using as a synonym for excellent; senses such as “unbelievable,” “enormous,” and “eccentric” are truer to the source.

5. Incredible: As with fantastic, usage of this word has strayed far from the original meaning of something that does not seem possible. Only if a story literally cannot be believed is it authentically incredible.

6. Magnificent: Something magnificent was originally grand or sumptuous, exalted or sublime, but the word has been diminished in impact by its exclamation in response to merely commendable achievements. Reserve usage to describe things of stunning impact.

7. Real: This term derives from the Latin term res, “thing, fact,” and should be used only to denote genuine, actual, extant, practical phenomena; minimize its use, and that of the adverb really, as a synonym for complete or completely.

8. Terrific: Terrific, originally referring to something terrifying, has long been rendered impotent by use as a synonym for great, but try to reserve it for such descriptions as “a terrific crash.”

9. Very: The most abused word on this list — and one of the most in the entire English language — comes from the Latin word for “true.” Consider restraining yourself from using it in writing except to convey verity, precision, and other adjectival connotations, rather than the adverbial sense of “exceedingly.”

10. Wonderful: Use when a sense of wonder is involved, or at least when there’s an element of surprise, not just to suggestion a reaction of delight.

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Original Post: 10 Intensifiers You Should Really, Absolutely Avoid
Your eBook: Click here to download the Basic English Grammar ebook.

English 11 week of November 7

Monday and Tuesday: Strategies for Reading packet
Wednesday: Foldable for types of reading questions
Thursday and Friday: Vocabulary work

4th hour: reading Beowulf

Writing a reflection

Use the link to read how to write a reflection: http://www.ehow.com/way_5184362_tips-writing-reflection-paper.html

Social Media

Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SuNx0UrnEo&feature=youtube_gdata_player and view an interesting video

Beowulf audio version free

I'm not sure if this is the poetry version, however, it will give you the same story if it's prose:

Go to http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19633 to download what format you need.

Happy reading!