5 Sentences in Need of Commas

Posted: 17 Dec 2012 09:07 PM PST

Commas signal delineation in sentences, sometimes showing the break point between two thoughts and sometimes marking the beginning and end of a phrase inserted in the midst of a sentence. Here are five sentences in which a single comma, or the second of an inseparable pair, is missing, with revisions and explanations.
1. “Even when he was caught, some say he was plotting.”
The phrase “some say” is an interjection in the midst of the statement “Even when he was caught, he was plotting.” It is not enough to merely insert the phrase; one must bracket it in commas (the first of which supersedes the original comma, the function of which is to separate the sentence’s two clauses): “Even when he was caught, some say, he was plotting.”
2. “Sorry guys, she’s married.”
When directing a comment at readers, the writer must set off with commas the word or words used to identify the audience: “Sorry, guys, she’s married.” (Otherwise, the writer appears to be addressing guys who are sorry — though they are sorry if they’re thinking they have a chance with the woman in question, so the erroneous version almost works.) The sentence is further improved by distinguishing the internal punctuation to enhance the impact of the statement: “Sorry, guys — she’s married.”
3. “Now there’s a formula for ethical quandary.”
Terms that are located at the beginning of a sentence and that refer to time (now, soon, before, afterward, and so on) may or may not, depending on their function, be followed by a comma, but in this case, in which now is used as a meaningless interjection and the emphasis is on the expletive there’s, it is essential: “Now, there’s a formula for ethical quandary.” Otherwise, the statement reads like a pitch from a television commercial for a shampoo formulated to eradicate ethical quandary. (Now, that would be a hot-selling product.)
4. “Residents decide driving, and shorter trips to places like Canada are safer options.”
The phrase referring to travel to Canada is an interjection inserted into “Residents decide driving is the safer option,” with a change in the verb is and conversion of the singular option to the plural options to accommodate the additional choice: “Residents decide driving, and shorter trips to places like Canada, are safer options.” (Note that if the conjunction and were replaced with or, the verb and the form of the noun would remain singular: “Residents decide driving, or shorter trips to places like Canada, is a safer option.”)
Alternatively, the sole comma in the original version could be omitted (“Residents decide driving and shorter trips to places like Canada are safer options”), but that revision changes the sense somewhat, turning a parenthetical aside into an integral part of the statement.
5. “This city knows how to create high-rise neighborhoods while San Francisco just talks about it.”
Without a comma between the two clauses in this sentence, it reads as if one city has the knowledge about how to create high-rise neighborhoods during the time San Francisco just talks about it. But the meaning is that while San Francisco dawdles, the other city does: “This city knows how to create high-rise neighborhoods, while San Francisco just talks about it.” While is not used here to mean “at the same time,” denoting a continuation of one thought; it is a synonym for whereas, and the comma signals a new thought.

English 11 week of December 17

Reading time will focus on main point and inference. Activities will include identify the focus of a paragraph; identify the main conflict of story; inference activity, “Reading Between the Lines”; identifying cause and effect relationships.

One simplified model for teaching inference includes the following assumptions:

• We need to find clues to get some answers.
• We need to add those clues to what we already know or have read.
• There can be more than one correct answer.
• We need to be able to support inferences.

Monday – Viewing Simon Birch for memoir unit. Homework: Memoir writing (150-250 words) Create a national holiday. What would be the date and what would it be about?

Tuesday – Viewing Simon Birch.

Wednesday – Viewing Simon Birch. Homework: Memoir writing 6 word memoir.

Thursday – Viewing Simon Birch.

Friday – Viewing Simon Birch.

Example for memoir: Someone who influenced you

Homework: Memoir writing (150-250 words) Write about someone who influenced your life in some important way. Show that person in action.


     Joseph, my grandfather, had a soft step for such a big man; especially, when we were in the woods. The woods were always the place we went to when I was young. Grandfather would show me the tracks of different animals. He pointed out which trees were sassafras and the delicious drinks that could be made from the leaves. He was the first to take me to see the sap run from the maple trees in the spring, and had me close my eyes when I first tasted maple candy.

     I admired his passion for the outdoors. I felt proud of Grandfather as he stood in front of a group of students teaching hunter safety. He would stress the importance of being aware of your firearm at all times, and he would display broken or discarded shotguns and rifles that were mismanaged by others in the past. So many students are better for their understanding of hunter safety. I am better for having such a grandfather in my life.

It's all in the details

Try your hand at this game at
http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=identify-supporting-details

The right word can make all the difference:

Quiz on lose or loose at http://www.chompchomp.com/hotpotatoes/wordchoice04.htm

Mysteries can be solved with details:
Try you hand at solving the mystery at http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz1971331692b20.html

3 Cases of Distracting Usage

Posted: 06 Dec 2012 08:38 PM PST

Word choice is problematic when the sense of a selected word, when read in association with another word, creates a diversion for the reader that distracts from the content. Here are three sentences with distracting words, along with solutions for revising them to avoid the distraction.
1. “He turned heads in scientific circles when he proposed that climate change is the driving force in human revolution.”
The association of the past tense of the idiom “turn heads,” which means “draw sudden attention,” with the phrase “scientific circles,” a figure of speech in which the plural form of circle refers to a broad community of people with a common interest, unfortunately suggests that the subject caused the heads of his colleagues to rotate in a scientific manner. Revise one expression or the other: “He turned heads in the scientific community when he proposed that climate change is the driving force in human revolution” or “He attracted attention in scientific circles when he proposed that climate change is the driving force in human revolution.”
2. “The redrawn logo has drawn criticism.”
The proximity of the adjective redrawn, which refers to the act of drawing an illustration over again, and the use of drawn as a verb to mean “attracted” creates an unintentionally humorous collision of ideas. Again, reword the adjective or the verb: “The revised logo has drawn criticism” or “The redrawn logo has attracted criticism.”
3. “An Ohio city will settle a lawsuit over 911 calls.”
Because over is often used in place of “more than” to mean “an excess of,” the reader may momentarily assume that the number 911 is an amount rather than a sequence of digits that constitute a phone number. Replace over with another word (“An Ohio city will settle a lawsuit regarding 911 calls”) or, better, provide unambiguous details: “An Ohio city will settle a lawsuit regarding emergency 911 calls” or “An Ohio city will settle a lawsuit regarding calls made to 911.”

English 11 week of December 10

Reading focus – Details and Main ideas. 

Activities will include “Who dun it?” 5 minute mysteries; identify details from student memoir writings; tying knots; and the book Rezoom.

Monday – Share your theme song from memoir writing.

Tuesday – Identify an idea from a memoir writing – complete a timed, in class writing about that idea. Homework: Memoir writing (150-250 words) Write about someone who influenced your life in some important way. Show that person in action.  

Wednesday – Editing a memoir for current sentence fluency focus area – submit notebook for review.

Thursday – Socratic question – What is truth? Work with a partner, then come together in a big group discussion. Homework: Memoir writing (150-250 words) Write about two people or places or things that pull you in different directions.

Friday – begin Simon Birch

English 11 week of December 3

Reading time this week will focus the week on details in text. Activities will include defining, activities, examples, and samples.

Monday – Movie clip from Freedom Writers. In class writing about the clip. Homework: Memoir writing: Write about something you collect - how and why do you collect it? How do you store it? What does it say about you?

Tuesday – Freedom Writers reading excerpt. “What is truth?” discuss with a partner and in group.

Wednesday – Freedom Writer’s writing from Monday – identify idea and write about it. Homework: Memoir writing: What would be the theme song for your life? Why?

Thursday – Through the lens of your focus area – revise the Freedom Writers writing from Wednesday.

 Friday – Freedom Writers movie or revising.

Reflection of Sentence Fluency focus area

Once you receive a + on your revisions; please reflect as follows:

Do you think that you're at the mastery level on your sentence fluency focus area?


If yes, give a specific example of your skill.
What is your recommendation for improvement for others who are working in your focus area?



If no, what is your next step to improvement.
What suggestions do you have for myself as a teacher?

English 11 week of November 26

Reading for 15 minutes in class. Our focus will be on our reading pretest and our learning goal each student generates.

Monday – Interpretation part of Unbroken. Students, using their analysis charts that they created, will answer the following in a paragraph:

What did you discover about Laura Hillenbrand’s writing – are there patterns, particular word choice, more action verbs than linking verbs, variety of punctuation usage?

What do you think Hillenbrand does well in her writing?

Looking at Hillenbrand’s writing, how will you work to improve your focus area through this memoir unit, be specific?

Homework: Memoir writing: Family heritage – how does it affect who you are and how you see the world?

Tuesday – Reading pretest. Students self check and identify focus areas.

Wednesday – What is truth? Students discuss and answer, large group discussion. Learning goal: Reading focus area.

Thursday – Learning goal shared with partner, discuss. Homework: Memoir writing – A place you visit every day – describe it with great detail. What makes this place important? What kind of importance is it?

Friday – Memoir excerpt Freedom Writers; semi colon challenge

English 11 week of November 19

Monday - wrap up NY Image grammar paragraph editing. Listen to Chapter 15 Sharks and Bullets from Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.

Tuesday - wrap up Chapter 15. Activity

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

If you sentence fluency focus areas are:

Sentence Beginnings OR

Sentence Length

Choose a paragraph with 5+ sentences and chart as follows:

First Word of each Sentence	Subject of each sentence	Verb of each sentence	Word count for each sentence

Flow OR

Transitions

Choose a paragraph with 15+ sentences and chart as follows:

Introductory phrases used in the sentence.	Transitional word or phrase used in the sentence.	Prepositional Phrases used in the sentence.

Adjectives OR

Word choice

Choose a paragraph with 7+ sentences and chart as follows:

First word	Adjectives	Adverbs	Prepositional phrases	Action verbs

Grammar OR

Punctuation

Choose a paragraph with 15+ sentences and chart as follows:

Type of Punctuation	Why is it needed:

3 Common Comma Errors

Posted: 12 Nov 2012 08:04 PM PST

The following sample sentences and the discussion that follows each point out three frequently found punctuation errors in which a comma is extraneously inserted or erroneously omitted.
1. “The giant, blue eyeball that washed up on a Florida beach likely came from a swordfish.”
The adjectives giant and blue are noncoordinate, which means they’re not parallel in function. You can say, of course, that an eyeball is giant and that it is blue, but the second test of adjectival coordination, whether the words can gracefully be transposed, does not work; “the blue giant eyeball” is awkward. Why?
A convention in English called the royal order of adjectives assigns specific starting positions to different types of descriptive words, and size precedes color. Therefore, “blue eyeball” becomes a temporary compound modified by giant, and therefore no intervening punctuation is required: “The giant blue eyeball that washed up on a Florida beach likely came from a swordfish.”
2. “Move over vampires, goblins and haunted houses, this kind of Halloween terror aims to shake up even the toughest warriors.”
The introductory phrase in this sentence, a form of address to the subject that is increasingly common in lead paragraphs in journalistic contexts (to the point of becoming a tired cliché), is just that — an introductory phrase. And though short introductory phrases are often inserted at the beginning of a sentence without following punctuation, in this case, “Move over vampires” is a miscue that readers might read to mean “proceed on top of bloodsucking beings.”
I prefer consistency over inconsistency and recommend always punctuating introductory phrases; whether you follow that advice or not, do it here: “Move over, vampires, goblins, and haunted houses, this kind of Halloween terror aims to shake up even the toughest warriors.”
3. “The convention will be delayed until Tuesday because of the threat of the tropical storm Isaac now bearing down on Florida.”
There are at least two effective solutions to the problem here, which is that “angry tropical storm” and Isaac are appositives, which means that one noun or noun phrase refers to the other. As written, without punctuation, the sentence implies that more than one angry tropical storm bearing down on Florida exists at this time, and one is called Isaac.
But because only one storm, named Isaac (“one storm” and “named Isaac” are in apposition), is bearing down on Florida, the interchangeable noun and noun phrase are set off with an appositive comma: “The convention will be delayed until Tuesday because of the threat of Isaac, the tropical storm now bearing down on Florida.”
Another option is to refer to Isaac with the modifying phrase “tropical storm” and follow the wording with a descriptive phrase, set off by a comma, that serves an appositive function: “The convention will be delayed until Tuesday because of the threat of the tropical storm Isaac, now bearing down on Florida.”

Things good readers do!

English 11 week of November 12

Reading 15 minutes in class; reading focus will be on reader’s inner voice.

Monday – Inner voice sheet explained – first inner voice sheet entry. Excerpt from James Earl Jones memoir. Identify voice. Define memoir. Memoir topic writing: Write about a time that you slept outside.

Tuesday – I will collect single subject notebooks to look at two memoir topics. Work on inner voice sheet. Quiz each other on commas – select a sentence during reading time and swap – identify what rule the comma follows. Class discussion on “Emotions take center stage as a memoirist”.

Wednesday – Work on inner voice sheet. Comma challenge – partners work on comma issues provided by me. 5 minute Group writing on Event – break out session with anti bullying speaker.

Thursday  - Inner voice sheet due. Reflect on Peter Elbow quote on Fears. What is your voice in writing? Memoir topic writing:  Possession you own that you would bequeath (will) to your child or grandchild. Why?

Friday – Video on word choice.

English 11 Memoir writing unit

Memoirs and the Writer’s Voice

Emphasis on college application and scholarship essays

Learning goal

 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

*Introduce a topic; organize complex ideas, concepts, and information so that each new element builds on that which precedes it to create a unified whole.

*Develop the topic thoroughly by selecting the most significant and relevant facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of the topic.

*Use precise language, domain-specific vocabulary, and techniques such as metaphor, simile, and analogy to manage the complexity of the topic.

*Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation presented (e.g., articulating implications or the significance of the topic

Memoir excerpts

James Earl Jones Voices and Silences                  Randy Pausch The Last Lecture

Jeanette Walls Glass Castles                                    Malcolm X The Autobiography

Mary Karr The Liar’s Club                                    Demetria Martinez Breathing Between the Lines Paisley Redkal The Night my Mother met Bruce Lee

Bill Bryson Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

Sara Grumwell Freedom Writers

Part One: Quantity

Journal writing about 14 entries about those experiences that shaped them as a person. Entries should be 150-250 words in length.

Topics include:

A place you visit every day – describe it with great detail. What makes this place important? What kind of importance is it?

Possession you own that you would bequeath (will) to your child or grandchild. Why?

                 

Create a national holiday. What would be the date and what would it be about?

                 

Family heritage – how does it affect who you are and how you see the world?

                 

Describe one bad habit you have. Why is it bad? Why do you do it?

                 

6 word memoir – write it and explain it.

Write about something you collect – how and why do you collect it? How do you store it? What does it say about you?

                 

Identify a time in your life of transition, change, times of ending or beginnings.

Write about someone who influenced your life in some important way. Show this person in action.

                 

What would be the theme song for your life? Why?

                 

Choose a color – list memories connected with that color.

                 

Write about two people or places or things that pull you in different directions.

                 

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

                 

Write about a time you slept outside.

                 

Write about a funny or odd thing that happened in or around your car.

                 

Part Two: Quality

Select an entry to develop and focus according to winning scholarship essays:

As you are explaining why you deserve to win, it is important that you also reveal something about yourself. . .This is why one of the most effective techniques is to share a "slice of your life." In other words, don't try to explain everything. . . if you focus on just one aspect of an experience, you could spend some time going below the surface and share something about who you are, which would be far more memorable. In other words, you would be sharing a slice of your life. (www.supercollege.com/guide)

English 11 week of November 5

Reading for 15 minutes daily

Reading focus on yourself as a reader – notes daily with a paragraph at the end of the week.

Monday – finish October Sky, Celebrate learning, discuss movie as a memoir.

Tuesday – Good writing tips, in class writing – Reading History.

Wednesday – Memoir Except Glass Castle. Memoir Writing topic: A place you visit every day – describe it with great detail. What makes this place important? What kind of importance is it?

Thursday/Friday – Paragraph on self as a reader. Memoir defined.

Image writing from the New York Times

The Return of the Dangling Modifiers

Posted: 28 Oct 2012 06:57 PM PDT

Like the compositional equivalent of lurching zombies, dangling modifiers insistently, incessantly assault the sensibilities of careful writers (and careful readers). I’ve posted several sets of examples of these misbegotten misconstructions in which an erroneously constructed sentence subject is at odds with the modifying phrase that precedes it, but they keep on coming. Here, in honor of Halloween, I execute another sordid sortie of such monstrous errors.
1. “A biostatistician by training, Smith’s initial study of alcohol as a disease was funded by Jones.”
Smith’s initial study is not a biostatistician by training; he is. Therefore, the modifier (in this case an appositive, a word or phrase that takes the place of another word or phrase: Smith and “a biostatistician by training” refer to the same entity) should follow the subject, so that the sentence reads, “Smith was a biostatistician by training, and his initial study of alcohol as a disease was funded by Jones.”
But this revision might alter the emphasis of the author’s intended meaning. “Smith, a biostatistician by training, received funding from Jones for his initial study of alcohol as a disease” might adhere more closely to the original intent.
2. “After nearly four years behind bars, an Italian jury overturned her conviction for the murder of her roommate.”

If I had been part of that incarcerated panel, I would have avoided the jail time by overturning the defendant’s conviction four years earlier. For this sentence to say what it’s trying to say — that the defendant, not the jury, was exonerated — the defendant needs to be introduced in the introductory modifier: “After she spent nearly four years behind bars, an Italian jury overturned her conviction for the murder of her roommate.”
3. “As a member of a political minority in this area, it’s interesting how people here just assume you think the way they do.”
It is not a minority, the writer is. Writers need not introduce themselves at the expense of the expletive it’s, but they do need to introduce themselves: “As a member of a political minority in this area, it’s interesting to me how people here just assume you think the way they do.”
4. “Born in Los Angeles, this isn’t the first time John Doe has sparked controversy with his artwork.”
This sentence suffers from a distracting diversion similar to the one in the previous example; it identifies LA as the birthplace of this, rather than the hometown of John Doe. The statement’s awkward insertion of a detail that is both unimportant and unrelated to the main part of the sentence is easily remedied; reinsert the biographical detail as a parenthetical following Smith’s name: “This isn’t the first time John Doe, born in Los Angeles, has sparked controversy with his artwork.”
5. “Never a fan nor a detractor, the sheer insanity of the band excited and frightened me enough to stay three hours longer than I intended to.”
The sheer insanity of the band is not its own fan or detractor — the writer is. Therefore, the writer must be the subject of the sentence; I also introduced the modifier nevertheless to signal the contrast between expectation and outcome: “Never a fan nor a detractor, I was nevertheless excited and frightened enough by the sheer insanity of the band to stay three hours longer than I intended to.”

English 11 week of October 29

This week’s focus is on your inner reading voice

We will read 15 minutes each day.

Monday – Wrap up NY Times Image writing assignment.

Tuesday – Post-test for English grammar. Chart growth. Homework: Write a reflective paragraph on what you learned and give a specific example.

Wednesday – Viewing October Sky – through the lens of a writer.

Thursday – Viewing October Sky – through the lens of a writer.

Friday – Celebrating success! Discussion about image grammar and October Sky.

November Is the Write Time

Posted: 25 Oct 2012 09:10 PM PDT

Writing is one of the loneliest pursuits (or professions), and as I know as well as anyone, enthusiasm for expressing oneself is tempered by the daunting challenge of actually doing it. For those of us for whom having written a novel is a more appealing prospect than, you know, actually writing it, National Novel Writing Month provides a quirky motivating nudge.
The annual event, which encourages writers to complete the first draft of a novel in thirty days with the knowledge that one can publicly celebrate one’s progress while embracing the morale-boosting benefit of knowing that one is part of a worldwide community of fellow scribes, is in its fourteenth year.

Last time around, more than a quarter million people participated from all over planet Earth. Only one out of seven hit the 50,000-word goal, but every one of them started — and as we all realize, the first step is the hardest. (More than a hundred NaNoWriMo participants have had the novels they worked on for the event published — again, not everyone, but enough to make it reasonable to imagine that someday you number among them.)
To help encourage participants, the NaNoWriMo website offers various features and tools, including Pep Talks, email messages from published authors ranging from Booker Prize winner Nick Hornby (whose books High Fidelity, About a Boy, and Fever Pitch have been adapted for film) to newcomer Melissa Mayer, whose young-adult novel Cinder started out as a NaNoWriMo draft.
You’ll also find NaNoWriMo badges you can download onto your website or blog, special offers for software products or self-publishing deals, and forums in which you can contact other participants in your area to give and receive advice and encouragement. (Forums include the Appellation Station, where participants can get help with naming people, places, and things — and books — and the Character Cafe, a resource for development of your dramatis personae.)
In addition, NaNoWriMo sponsors ancillary events, such as a fund-raising write-a-thon on site in San Francisco; Camp NaNoWriMo, an extension of the original event held during other months; and support materials for teachers and students involved in the event. And, as usual, the website lets you keep track of your word count and post excerpts of your work.
The beauty of this crazy conception is that the timed nature of the event encourages you to do what writers must do to succeed: Just write the damn thing already — no time to edit, no opportunity to agonize. Write a crappy first draft. (All first drafts, the site assures you in its inimitably perky-but-puckish style, are crappy.) Sign up, already. Operators are standing by.

English 11 Assignment October 23 and 24

   

              

Image Writing from the New York Times

          Click on the New York Times Photo Page at

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/multimedia/index.html

Each day the New York Times displays images from news events around the world. 

These images are always dramatic and high quality, providing an excellent resource for student writing.

          As you examine the photos, please select an image that you find fascinating and write a brief paragraph describing it, using the image grammar ideas. 

 Source the image using www.easybib.com; at 

Easy Bib - paste URL from image. 

Source Type: Photograph found online;
 Contributor: Author - name under photo; 
Publisher: NY Times: 
Electronic Published: Today's date.
include source at the top of the page. Write your paragraph on the same page as the source. 

We will print paragraphs and save them as "Image Writing from the NY Times" in your new English 11 digital portfolio

Create a new folder in your H: drive personal student folder
Name the folder English 11 digital portfolio

Practice ACT test October 25 and 26

Two days will be needed to test

all juniors

for the practice ACT

The practice ACT:

*Familiarizes students with the ACT testing content, format, and testing procedures.

*Used by students to realize their academic strengths and weaknesses.

*Used by educators to customize curriculum to meet individual needs of students.

Student will be tested based on their English 11 class

Testing will take two mornings to complete: Thursday, October 25 and Friday, October 26

Anti Violence and Bullying presentations October 22

On Monday, October 22  Mr. Jim Merrills will be presenting an all school assembly on Anti Violence and Bullying in schools.  The assembly will be from 8:45-9:30 am.  Afterwards, he will be conducting break out sessions in the library with smaller groups.  In order to try to reach as many students as possible, we are targeting the English classes.  The following is the schedule:

4th hour - Krassow/Knapp, Luttke, & Smith English classes to the library for break out session (approx 75 students).  Everyone else remains the same

5th hour - Class as usual (NO BREAK OUT SESSIONS DUE TO LUNCHES)

6th hour - Natzel, Luttke & Smith English classes to the library for break out session (approx 60 students).  Everyone else remains the same

7th hour - Luttke & Smith English classes to the library for break out session (approx 45 students).  Everyone else remains the same

8th hour - Krassow/Knapp, Luttke, & Smith English classes to the library for break out session (approx 82 students).  Everyone else remains the same

Please let your students know on Friday that these classes will report directly to the library during their scheduled times.  This is so Mr. Jim can get started right away and have more time for his presentation. 

How Long Should a Paragraph Be?

Posted: 17 Oct 2012 09:43 PM PDT

A paragraph should consist of six to seven sentences. No, it should be no longer than three sentences long. Actually, it should include a topic sentence, several supporting sentences, and possibly a concluding sentence. Sigh. Can I end this paragraph yet?
All three of the declarations in the previous paragraph (the first pair of which come, respectively, from sources within Purdue University and Stanford University, two of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in the United States), and any similarly quantitative statements, are wrong. The correct answer is that a paragraph has to be long enough to reach its end.
Like this one.
A paragraph can be as long or as short as you want it to be. It can unfold for countless pages or consist of one word — even one letter.
W-
(I meant to write, “Wait!” but was interrupted.)

The determination to make in composing a given paragraph is not the number of sentences or words or letters, but the number of ideas. The rule of thumb — in nonfiction, at least — is that each paragraph should focus on one idea or concept; when you shift to a new idea, shift to a new paragraph. (In fiction, its function is more nebulous: A paragraph is a unit of writing that further develops a story through exposition.)
However, ideas, as we all know, are slippery things, difficult to package and unlikely to remain in their allotted places. How big or small is an idea? What about an idea within an idea?
Ultimately, a paragraph is complete when you decide it is.
Where, then, did the various judgments of proper paragraph length come from? They result from well-intentioned but misguided efforts of educators to help students learn the fundamentals of writing.
The topic-support-conclusion model (one variation of which is named the Schaffer paragraph, after its developer, Jane Schaffer) is valid in that it helps developing writers discipline themselves to craft effective persuasive arguments. Opinions easily dissipate if they are not backed up by facts or reasoning. But the form is only that — a mold that can (and should) be broken once a writer learns how to use it.
And dictating that a paragraph consist of a given number of sentences is an understandable but lazy approach that ensures that student writers provide details before moving on to the next idea but does not teach them why they must hit the number — much like requiring a word count for an essay or report ensures that most students will focus on grasping for quantity rather than striving for quality.
There are, of course, practical considerations in determining paragraph length. Readers of newspapers and other publications with narrow columns of text are more likely to read paragraphs that don’t extend vertically more than a couple of inches. Similarly, websites are easier to read when paragraphs are brief. Care should be taken, likewise, in book manuscripts to avoid paragraphs that extend for more than half a page.
My rule of thumb in editing is, when working in a Microsoft Word file, to break up paragraphs of more than ten lines in 12-point type with a six-inch column width for print publications and to limit online copy to five lines (as I’ve done here), though results will of course vary depending on the point size and column width of the particular text.
Don’t hesitate to adhere to or promote specific models of paragraph construction, but be sure that the teaching or learning involved emphasizes the versatility of the paragraph form.
Please.

Plurals and Apostrophes (Mostly) Don’t Mix

Posted: 16 Oct 2012 09:11 PM PDT

The apostrophe has three functions: To help indicate possession (boy’s), to mark contraction (it’s), and to convert a singular letter, number, or initialism to a plural. However, the mark has all but been relieved of duty in its third task.
One of the few categories in which apostrophes are still retained for plural usage is when plurals of letters are concerned. In expressing how many times a letter appears in a word, for example, one would write “There are five e’s in beekeeper”; it would be distracting to write “There are five es in beekeeper.” This style also applies to the expressions “Mind your p’s and q’s” and “Dot the i’s and cross the t’s.” (Note, however, that in these idiomatic uses, contrary to the previous example, the letters are not italicized to indicate that they are being employed to refer to themselves.)
However, legibility is not a concern when uppercase letters are concerned: No apostrophes are necessary in “She received three As, two Bs, and one C on her report card.” (Note that names of letter grades are not italicized.) But to avoid confusion, don’t start a sentence with “As” or “Is” to refer to more than one uppercase letter; the resemblance to the words As and Is will distract readers.
If plurals of both uppercase and lowercase letters are listed in reference to the alphabet, though, be consistent: “The T’s and r’s in his first signature differ from those in the second one.”
Apostrophes are unnecessary when referring to plurals of numbers. For example, the treatment of the number in “I printed three 5s on a piece of paper” is correct, though when one is referring to any other use of the number than the numeral itself, it is better to spell out the word for the number: “She gave him change in the form of three fives.”
When pluralizing a year, omit the apostrophe: “They came of age in the 1990s.” Use the mark with numbers only to indicate the possessive case, as in “Check out this list of 1990’s biggest hits” — “Check out this list of the biggest hits of 1990” would be better — or to truncate a designation of a decade, as in “They came of age in the ’90s.”
Until relatively late in the twentieth century, inserting periods after each letter in an initialism was customary (“F.B.I.”). Because placing a plural s immediately after the final period would be awkward (“It was as if there were two F.B.I.s”), an apostrophe was customarily inserted before the s (“It was as if there were two F.B.I.’s”) — not an ideal solution, but better than the alternative.
However, now that these periods are almost universally considered obsolete (a few publications, most notably the New York Times, are holdouts), the apostrophe is superfluous and considered incorrect: “It was as if there were two FBIs.” (The Times, for the record, omits periods in acronyms, a series of letters that, unlike initialisms, are pronounced as words.)

Semi colons

Thank you Nathan Dennis and Nick Little for finding some wonderful websites to explain and practice semi colons!

How to use a semi colon at

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon

Semi colon wars at

http://mrnussbaum.com/semicolonwars-play/

English 11 week of October 15

This week’s focus is commas.

We will read 15 minutes per day.

Monday – Identify grammar elements from Jurassic Park excerpt.

Mid point self-assessment – pre test returned; students identify grammar issue
What do I know so far?
What still needs to be learned?
How do I learn that information?

Homework: Take self-assessment and work on independent learning. Two – three sentences on what was accomplished overnight. Identify with 1-3-5 scale how ready you are to take the post test.

Tuesday – Exit pass – Correct sentences with misplaced or dangling modifiers. To promote individual growth for next unit, which will be memoir writing, students will list the 4 topics on their Sentence Fluency foldable. Then rereading their Image Grammar paragraph – identify a strength and weakness in their writing as it aligns with their Sentence Fluency foldable. Teacher will use this to identify students’ strengths and weakness to see if they align. Derived poetry – brainstorming. Homework – Derived poem

Wednesday  - Share derived poetry. Human Commas! Exit pass – Correct sentences with misplaced or dangling modifiers.

Thursday – Semi colons – What are their purposes? How do I use them correctly? Partner work, large group sharing.

Friday – Analyze image grammar in Sue Grafton’s murder mystery.

Practice Quizzes for English Grammar

Complete the following quizzes:

 

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers:

http://www.chompchomp.com/modifiers03/modifiers03.htm

Still struggling with Subject/Verb Agreement?

http://www.chompchomp.com/hotpotatoes/sva03.htm

Still struggling with Irregular Verbs?

http://www.chompchomp.com/irregular04/irregular04.htm

Commas:

http://www.chompchomp.com/hotpotatoes/commas03a.htm

English 11 week of October 8

This week’s focus is Image Grammar and Commas

We will be reading 15 minutes per day.

Monday – Class time to work on Image Grammar list. A group discussion about dangling and misplaced modifiers. Homework: finish Image Grammar list.

Tuesday - Identify comma rules; Assignment part two of Image Grammar – review sentence fluency foldable. Homework:  Short, descriptive paragraph using grammar list words and own words.

Wednesday – Share paragraph with partner. What is a gerund and gerund phrase? Exit pass – Correct sentences with misplaced or dangling modifiers.

Thursday – Collect Reading Record.  Jurassic Park book, clip, discussion. Exit pass – Correct sentences with misplaced or dangling modifiers.

Friday – ACT prep online

Misplaced, dangling modifiers

Misplaced modifier:
A modifier placed too far away from the word it is trying to modify.

Ex:
I know a man with a wooden leg named Smith.
Really? And what is the name of his other leg?

Corrected
I know a man named Smith with a wooden leg.



Dangling modifier:
It occurs when the word that the modifier is trying to modify does not appear in the sentence.

Ex.
As a young girl, her father taught her to climb a tree.

Modifier: as a young girl, BUT who is she?

Corrected
As a young girl, Sally's father taught her to climb a tree.
OR
When Sally was a young girl, her father taught her to climb trees.


Lastly,
Split infinitive is a type of misplaced modifier. An infinitive is the word to followed by the verb. Don't put any words between the to and the verb!

Ex.
I try to always tell the truth.

Be sure to never break a promise.

Corrected
I always try to tell the truth.
Be sure never to break a promise.

Now you try...


1. He came in even first though he was behind at first.

2. Walking three days a week, the heart increases its muscle mass.
 

Loaded Language

by Mark Nichol

If your parents brought you up vigilantly, chances are that you were admonished to use your words carefully. As far as writing is concerned, that instruction is one of the most valuable lessons you learned.


Consider the power of connotation, the sense of a word apart from its denotation, or literal meaning. Unless you have your heart set on being a propagandist, be cautious about the synonym you choose in a particular context.
Look, for example, at thin and its associated words: Thin, itself, is an ambiguous term; depending on context, it might connote an healthful or unhealthful appearance. To say that one is lithe, slim, slender, svelte, or willowy, meanwhile, connotes an attractive body type maintained, perhaps, by engaging in physical fitness and/or eating sensibly.
However, anorexic, bony, and skinny suggest an excessive thinness. To say, for example, that a fashion model is lithe is complimentary; to describe her as bony is pejorative. (An anonymous wag went further in coining the phrase “bag of antlers” to suggest a woman whose bones protrude in such an unsightly fashion that she resembles such an object.)
This post does not advocate avoidance of loaded language; if you wish to express your opinion, you will likely make use of weighted words. But if your intention is to express impartiality, take care in the terms of art you choose.

Misplaced and dangling modifiers

Misplaced and dangling modifiers

Sentences:

Go to http://www.chompchomp.com/modifiers04/modifiers04.htm

Long passages:

Go to http://www.chompchomp.com/modifiers02/modifiers02.htm

The Fundamentals of Verbs

Posted: 02 Oct 2012 09:20 PM PDT

This post outlines the basic principles of the verb, the workhorse of language.
A verb describes an action (talk), an occurrence (become), or a state of being (live). Verbs are complicated by their many variable states, based on inflection depending on functions. For example, an action might, depending on the number of talkers, be described with the word talk or the word talks. (This quality is called agreement.)
Based on the tense of the sentence, the verb, accompanied by an auxiliary, or helper, could appear in the phrases “will talk,” “has talked,” or “was talking.” (Tense is one of several similar qualities; the others are aspect, how the action or state occurs through time, and modality, the expression of the speaker’s attitude toward the action or state.)
Other qualities of verbs are the voice (such as active voice, as in the form of the verb saw in “Many saw it as a turning point,” or passive voice, as exemplified by the syntax in “It was seen by many as a turning point”) and the valency — whether the verb is intransitive (accompanied by a subject alone, as in “It moves”), transitive (accompanied by a subject and a direct object, as in “We went to the store”), or ditransitive (accompanied by a subject, a direct object, and an indirect object (“I brought him the report”).

The six types of verb follow:
An intransitive verb is one that does not precede a noun or an adjective. If any part of speech follows an intransitive verb, it is usually an adverb (“I walked quickly”) or a preposition (“I walked in”).
A linking verb precedes a noun (“She remained home”) or an adjective (“He appeared tired”); an adverb may not follow a linking verb. In these sample sentences, home is an example of a predicate noun, and tired exemplifies predicate adjectives.
A transitive verb — sometimes, to distinguish it from two other types described below, called a one-place transitive — precedes a noun (“We watched the movie”) or a noun phrase (“They talked in the dark”). In this case, the noun or noun phrase is called a direct object because it is the thing being acted on in the manner indicated by the verb.
Two types of verbs are called two-place transitive verbs. The first, labeled the Vg type (the letters stand for verb and give), precedes two nouns or noun phrases (“I bought my wife a bouquet of flowers”) or a noun or noun phrase and a prepositional phrase (“I bought a bouquet of flowers for my wife”) in succession. The first word or phrase after the verb is an indirect object (a recipient) and the second is a direct object.
The second type of two-place transitive verb, the Vc type (c is for consider), precedes a noun or noun phrase and another one (“I consider the chairman an arrogant person”), or an adjective (“I believe that the chairman is arrogant”) or an infinitive phrase (“I found the chairman to be arrogant”). The first word or phrase after the verb is a direct object, and the second is a complement, so called because it teams up with the direct object to complete the thought.
A to-be verb is one that is a form of the phrase “to be,” such as is, were, or being. A to-be verb precedes a noun (“I am a fool”), an adjective (“I was foolish”), or an adverb of place, a class of adverb that describes where something occurs (“I am in the doghouse.”) These other parts of speech are sometimes referred to as predicate nouns, predicate adjectives, and predicate adverbs.
As is the case with nouns, a sentence need not include a verb (for example, “Right” spoken or written as an affirmation), but not much can happen in communication without reference to an action, an occurrence, or a state.

English 11 week of October 1

This weeks reading focus is prepositional phrases. We will be reading 15 minutes each day in class.

Monday – Celebrate success – Parts of Speech pre and post test. Exit pass – Irregular verbs and subject/verb agreement. Homework: Write directions to your house from the high school; include street names, landmarks or both. Please write them in a line by line format.

Tuesday –Pre test – Tragedy in the Factory 15 grammar based questions in ACT format. Highlight prepositional phrases on directions. Go over answers and types of questions.

Wednesday – Socratic question – What is an appositive? Image Grammar – definitions and handout. Exit pass – misplaced and dangling modifiers. Image Grammar  – part one due October 9, part two due October 10.

Thursday – In class time to work on Image Grammar. Writing – sentence starter… Use chart to identify your problem areas and any improvement.

Friday – Finish sentence fluency. Reading from Jurassic Park and watching film clip. Discussion of image grammar.

4 Punctuation Marks for Forming Appositive Phrases

Posted: 25 Sep 2012 08:59 PM PDT

An appositive phrase extends a sentence by adding more information in apposition (meaning “related to” or “juxtaposed with”) to a word or phrase preceding it. This post describes how to use each of four forms of punctuation to extend a sentence by adding an appositive phrase.

1. Colon

A colon signals to the reader that what follows is an expansion or explanation of what precedes it: The colon is equivalent to an equals sign in mathematics. (The preceding statement is an example of expansion.)
The traditional rule of capitalization after a colon is twofold: If the text that follows the colon as an expansion or explanation is a phrase or a single sentence, the first word of that passage should not have an initial capital letter. If the text is more extensive, the first word of each related sentence should be capitalized. (The preceding statement is an example of explanation.)
This rule is not universally accepted, and I’m among the heretics: I prefer to initial-cap what follows a colon if it is a complete statement of one or more sentences, because I think that the distinction between incomplete and complete statements is more logical than the standard criterion.
The colon also appositively signals that a quotation or a list follows, as in “This truth is universal: ‘Just because you can doesn’t mean you should’” and “I bought three tools: a hammer, a wrench, and a screwdriver.”
(Read more about colons.)

2. Dash

A dash can substitute for each of the other three punctuation marks described here; the choice is based on tone rather than sentence organization. A dash represents a sudden or abrupt shift — it’s a dramatic device to set the reader up for a change of syntactical form or for a revelation or a punch line.
A pair of dashes can be employed parenthetically, but that use does not apply to appositive phrases.
(Read more about dashes — and search the site for “em dashes” for more posts that discuss the topic.)

3. Ellipsis

An ellipsis, a series of three dots that separate one part of a sentence from another (also known collectively as ellipses), indicates an intentional or unintentional pause caused by person being at a loss for words or hesitating because of some emotion such as doubt or fear or for dramatic effect. (Ellipses are often interspersed with letter spaces — a more aesthetically pleasing style — though some publications omit the spaces or use a single-character ellipsis.)
When an ellipsis concludes a sentence, it represents faltering speech, and it marks omission of one or more words from quoted material, but these uses do not apply to appositive phrases.
(Read more about ellipsis.)

4. Semicolon

The semicolon is similar in name and appearance to the colon, but its function is unrelated; it serves as a weak period, as employed here, or as a strong comma, as shown in the next paragraph. In its weak-period guise, it marks the end of one statement and the beginning of another; however, it is appropriate in place of a period only if the second statement is closely related to or dependent on the first one. Note that when a semicolon appears in such a case, no coordinating conjunction (such as and or but) should follow it. (However, when the conjunctive adverb that begins this sentence, or others such as moreover or therefore, follows a semicolon, as occurs earlier in this paragraph, a comma should follow the word.)
A strong-comma semicolon is one used in place of two or more commas when the elements in a run-in list are themselves lists, as in this sentence: “The three most frequent color schemes in flags are red, white, and blue; red and white; and, tied for third place, red, yellow, and green and red, white, and green.” (Note that not all list items must include internal punctuation.)
Many writers are reluctant to use semicolons because they do not understand how to use the punctuation mark correctly or consider it overly formal, but its roles are simple and helpful.

Verb practice

Irregular verb practice at http://www.chompchomp.com/irregular01/irregular01.htm

Didn't do so well?
More irregular verb practice at http://www.chompchomp.com/irregular02/irregular02.htm


Subject verb agreement practice at http://www.chompchomp.com/hotpotatoes/sva03.htm

Didn't do so well?
More subject verb agreement practice at http://www.chompchomp.com/hotpotatoes/sva04.htm

The Whys and Hows of Paraphrasing

Posted: 23 Sep 2012 08:25 PM PDT

Paraphrasing, rewording of spoken or written content, is a necessary skill for every writer. This post discusses the purposes of process of paraphrasing.
Why Paraphrase?
Quoting directly without attribution is plagiarism, an offense against those responsible for crafting the original message. In a scholarly setting, it constitutes academic dishonesty, which when committed by students is punished with a failing grade, suspension, or expulsion; it also compromises their future in academia. In the case of faculty or academic researchers, it signals a lack of integrity and can ruin one’s career.
Even with attribution, however, extensive direct quotation in course assignments or in scholarly research is discouraged; some sources recommend that no more than 10 percent of an academic paper or article consist of exact wording from a research source. In both trade books and scholarly publishing, the same benchmarks seems appropriate; journalism is more accepting, but direct quotation consisting of more than 25 percent of an article (except in the case of a question-and-answer interview) is likely to be regarded as excessive.
Why should paraphrasing predominate? The purpose of academic writing is not to exactly reproduce the findings and interpretations of others; it is to report findings and interpretations and produce commentary on them, extrapolate and evaluate, and make new inferences, as well as to synthesize multiple sources. Therefore, academic writing should summarize the work of others, reproducing content verbatim only when a strikingly original conclusion, or a statement that should be clearly attributed as exact wording, merits inclusion in the secondary work.
In journalistic writing, quotations often add color and vibrancy to an article. Precise reproduction of some of a subject’s or source’s comments conveys the person’s character and personality or lends authority. However, just as with scholarly prose, direct quotation should be the exception, not the rule; the reporter’s task is to describe an event or issue or to create an impression for readers who were not present during an incident or an interview.
Paraphrasing also allows reorganization of sources’ or subjects’ statements — not in order to manipulate the comments with the intent to mislead, but to improve the narrative flow or place randomly uttered thoughts in coherent chronological order. This technique also enables writers to impart information that is valuable or integral but was not expressed well.
How to Paraphrase
Paraphrasing is simple: Read a passage from a source, or examine your notes from an interview, and imagine you’re sharing the information with others — which is exactly what you’re doing. Strive to find a simpler, more direct way to describe what you’ve read; it’s acceptable to use the same word now and then, and you may occasionally employ partial direct quotations to reproduce key phrases, but always remember that your goal is to report, not reproduce. And though you may consider the source content better stated than what you can produce, be confident that your paraphrase will be good enough.
How would you paraphrase a passage like the first sentence of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address? Here’s the source material: “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
Lincoln’s strategy for placing the event he refers to in chronological context is eloquently poetic, but a paraphrase need only provide the context: “Almost a hundred years ago” is sufficient.
The nouns identifying the actors, the locale, and the result are easily replaced with predecessors (or, more colorfully, forebears or “those who came before us”), land, and country, and “brought forth” can be rendered formed: “Those who came before in this land us formed a new country” says the same thing as the rest of the first phrase of the original.
“Conceived in liberty” can be rewritten “created while fighting for freedom.” The paraphrase of the final phrase, meanwhile, could consist of the words “inspired by the idea of human equality.”
The result, not as stirring, but serviceable, is reportage that says, “According to the speaker, almost a hundred years ago, those who came before us in this land formed a new country while fighting for freedom and inspired by the idea of human equality.” However, the restatement unnecessarily retains the syntax and is wordier than necessary (and wordier than the original text). Keep trying: “The speaker said that our forebears, believing in human equality, formed a new country here when they fought for freedom almost a hundred years ago.” If you wished to insert at least a few words of the original wording, you might delete the phrase about freedom and throw in “conceived in liberty,” set off by commas and framed in quotation marks, after here.
As you paraphrase, keep in mind that the key to the process is distillation of the source material to its essence — with or without commentary, depending on whether interpretative content is expected from the paraphrasing writer.