Friday, April 24, 2015

Grammar Equations

Equation for a Sentence
     Subject
     Verb
+  Complete Thought
    SENTENCE or
    Independent Clause


Equation for a Dependent Clause
     Subordinating Conjunctions
    Subject
     Verb
+  Unfinished Thought
    Dependent Clause or
    Subordinate Clause



Compound Sentence Formula
S+V , fanboys S+V 
OR 
Independent Clause, fanboys Independent Clause



Complex Sentence Formula
Dependent Clause , + independent clause
     (Note:  Use a comma when you begin a sentence with the dependent clause)
OR
Independent clause + dependent clause

     (Note:  Don’t use a comma when the dependent clause comes at the end of the sentence.)

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 13 (April 23)

Greetings!

We're nearing the end of our classes here at CHAT, and I can sense a change is the atmosphere.  While the students are doing their best to stay engaged, you can tell that the end of the school year is just around the corner.

This week on April 23 was the 10th anniversary of Youtube.  For the Quick Write, I gave the students two options.  They could write something about Youtube, or they could combine the following words (gathered randomly from the class) into a short story:  Ghana, wallaby, walking, and purple.

Our Latin Roots of the Day:
navis -- L. ship -- English derivatives:  navy, nautical, navigate, circumnavigate, navigable, nave
nihil -- L. nothing -- English derivatives:  nihilism, nihilist, annihilate, annihilation, nil
nocto -- L. night -- English derivatives:  nocturnal, nocturne
nova -- L. new -- English derivatives: innovation, novice, novel, renovate, supernova, novelty

Students handed in the Final Drafts of their Evaluation Essays, and in return were given their final writing assignment:  an Essay Re-Write. For these essays, they are to select one of the essays to edit and revise.  This can be what they would consider a "worst essay" or an essay they would like to spend more time on.  They should consider the previously written final draft as the rough draft for their Re-Write.


Next week is a big week for our class.  For me, it's better to have the important, end of the year assignments due the week before the final week.  During the final week, we celebrate the end of the year with some poetry presentations and treats.

To finish out our Grammar unit of commas, we will have a test next week.  Similar to the Comma Review of last week, the test will be 37 sentences that require commas.  In class, we discussed how to study for this test.  They can go over past worksheets and assignments, check out previous e-mails, and read through blog posts from this semester.  To help, I'm sending the answer key for last week's "Mastering the Comma" assignment.

Note:  If you will NOT be in class next week, let me know and I will send you the grammar test to take at home under the watchful eye of a parent.

Finally, the Poetry.  In class, we watched a couple video presentations of poems:  "Chicago" by Carl Sandburg read with period photos and an analysis of "The Red Wheel Barrow" by William Carlos Williams.  Next week we will start our "Poetry Jam."  The class will be divided into teams and as individual players will each present a poem for their teams.  


Assignments for Next Week:
-- Essay Re-Write
-- Study for the Spring Grammar test
-- Prepare at least 1 poem for the Poetry Jam

Links for this week:
Class Notes
Comma Usage Handout (from Week 1)

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Prichard

Essay Rewrite


Definition
The purpose of this essay is to improve editing skills by rewriting a previously written essay.  Effective editing is a step-by-step process.  One key is to re-read a paper multiple times, looking for only one kind of error at a time.


Editing Plan
As you re-read your paper, look for any errors in the following areas:
·       Complete sentences:  Each sentence should have a subject, verb, and a complete thought.  Look for incomplete and run-on/comma splice sentences.
·       Parallel Constructions:  Faulty parallel construction leads to unclear and awkward sentences.
·       There are/is/was/will be, etc.:  Any sentences with this type of construction must be changed.
·       Punctuation:  Pay close attention to commas and ending punctuation.
·       Agreement:  Make sure all subjects and verbs agree; also look for noun/pronoun agreement.
·       Spelling:  With the spell check function for most word processing software, this is not as much of a problem as it used to be.  However, your computer will not know if you’ve put the wrong word in, or it may autocorrect and change the word from the one you intended.
·       Paragraph construction:  Each paragraph must have a main idea.  Make sure that all of the thoughts expressed in the paragraph are part of that main idea.  Do any sentences need to be moved to another paragraph?  Does the paragraph need to be divided into smaller paragraphs?
·       Organization:  Is the overall organization of the paper logical?  Does each point lead to the next?  Should it be rearranged?
·       Content:  The essay should give sufficient information to support your thesis. Have you included enough background information?  Have you satisfactorily covered the material?  As you re-read, look for ways to expand your essay.  Also, note any information that seems unnecessary. 


Thesis Development
Your essay should have a clearly defined thesis that you explain and support.  Sometimes a thesis is simple and straightforward; sometimes they are more complex.  Your reader should never be confused as to your topic and your decided opinion or stand on that topic.    


Additional Assignment
Along with a revised and improved version of a previous essay, the following are also to be included:
  Thesis Statement
  One paragraph entitled “What I’ve Learned as a Writer this Year.”  (100 – 200 words) This paragraph can include thoughts about grammar and mechanics, organization, thesis development, sentence structures, etc.

Essay Guidelines
Due date:  April 30
Essay length:  500 – 700 words (between 2 and 4 pages)
Additional work:  Thesis statement and a paragraph about what you’re learned as a writer.
Final draft format:
Typed (if this is not possible, please let me know)
1 inch margins
Name and date on the upper right hand corner
Number the pages on the lower right hand corner

Title centered above the text of the essay

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Writing 1 Class Notes -- Week 12 (April 16)

Greetings!
My apologies for being so late with this e-mail.  The weather's been so nice that I high-tailed it out to my yard and garden for the past few days.
Nonetheless, I have a good update on last week's class.  We began the class with a Quick Write.  This week's writing prompt  was inspired by the anniversary of the 1860 Pony Express ride from St. Joseph to Sacramento.  I had the class list as many means of communication that they could think of.  We compiled the list on the white board.  Our list included smoke signals, Morse code, semaphore, cryptology, Face Time, etc.
Latin Roots of the Day:
magna -- L. great, big -- English derivatives:  magnify, magnum, magnitude, magnet, magnanimous, magnificent
male -- L. bad, evil -- English derivatives:  malcontent, malice, malicious, malign, dismal, malapropism
medi -- L. middle -- English derivatives:  middle, medium, median, mediocre, Medieval, Mediterranean 
migri -- L. wander, move -- English derivatives:  immigrant, migrate, emigrate, transmigration,  migraine
I handed back the Rough Drafts of their News Stories this week.  I took a large portion of the class time to go over common errors found in their papers.  Two very common problems found in their essays are not necessarily grammatical errors, but weak writing techniques.  The first is the use of the word "things," probably the most general and vague word that means both everything and nothing.  I usually underline or circle the word and direct the students to find a better word.
The other writing issue is with the sentence construction using "there is" or "there (and any other form of the verb to be)."  While not grammatically incorrect, this type of sentence usually end up overly wordy and passive.  This type of sentence postpones the subject of the sentences and the "there is" serves as a placeholder for the real subject of the sentence.  For this reason, this is called an "Expletive Construction" because the words are empty phrases that can be replaced with meatier, more concise words.  Some websites that further explain this:  Purdue OWL,  University of Houston,  and Grammar Girl's Tips.  

We also reviewed some of our comma rules in readiness of our end of the year grammar test.  We've looked at a few other bits of punctuation the past two weeks, but the bulk of the work this semester has been commas.  I gave the class a comma review worksheet to do as homework.

We did not take time to go over our literature for the week.  In a couple of weeks we will do a poetry presentation, so the students should read through their poetry books to choose a poem to read.

Assignments for Next Week:
-- No extra Poetry 
-- Look through the poetry book for a poem to present
-- Finish the Final Draft of the News Story
-- Finish the "Mastering the Comma Review" worksheet

This Week's Links
Class Notes

Enjoy the week!  
Mrs. Prichard

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 12 (April 16)

Greetings!
My apologies for being so late with this e-mail.  The weather's been so nice that I high-tailed it out to my yard and garden for the past few days.
Nonetheless, I have a good update on last week's class.  We began the class with a Quick Write.  This week's writing prompt was inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci's birthday.  DaVinci was an painter, sculptor, mathematician, musician, architect, writer, inventor, geologist, and map-maker.  I asked the students to think of their three top interests, talents, or skills.  Then, they were to imagine how they might combine those in some future occupation or hobby.
Latin Roots of the Day:
magna -- L. great, big -- English derivatives:  magnify, magnum, magnitude, magnet, magnanimous, magnificent
male -- L. bad, evil -- English derivatives:  malcontent, malice, malicious, malign, dismal, malapropism
medi -- L. middle -- English derivatives:  middle, medium, median, mediocre, Medieval, Mediterranean 
migri -- L. wander, move -- English derivatives:  immigrant, migrate, emigrate, transmigration,  migraine
I handed back the Rough Drafts of their Evaluation Essays this week.  I took a large portion of the class time to go over common errors found in their papers.  Two very common problems found in their essays are not necessarily grammatical errors, but weak writing techniques.  The first is the use of the word "things," probably the most general and vague word that means both everything and nothing.  I usually underline or circle the word and direct the students to find a better word.
The other writing issue is with the sentence construction using "there is" or "there (and any other form of the verb to be)."  While not grammatically incorrect, this type of sentence usually end up overly wordy and passive.  This type of sentence postpones the subject of the sentences and the "there is" serves as a placeholder for the real subject of the sentence.  For this reason, this is called an "Expletive Construction" because the words are empty phrases that can be replaced with meatier, more concise words.  Some websites that further explain this:  Purdue OWL,  University of Houston,  and Grammar Girl's Tips.  

We also reviewed some of our comma rules in readiness of our end of the year grammar test.  We've looked at a few other bits of punctuation the past two weeks, but the bulk of the work this semester has been commas.  I gave the class a comma review worksheet to do as homework.

We did not take time to go over our literature for the week.  In a couple of weeks we will do a poetry presentation, so the students should read through their poetry books to choose a poem to read.

Assignments for Next Week:
-- Poetry selections:  Wilcox (p. 33); Dunbar (p. 41 - 43); Frost (p. 44 - 50); Sandburg (p. 53 - 54); Williams (p. 60 - 61); Hughes (p. 75 - 78) 
-- Look through the poetry book for a poem to present
-- Finish the Final Draft of the Evaluation Essay
-- Finish the "Mastering the Comma Review" worksheet


This Week's Links
Class Notes

Enjoy the week!  
Mrs. Prichard

Mastering the Comma Review


Punctuate the following sentences.

1.     Throughout these four essays a theme of fitting into society is found.
2.     Jim hand forgotten to change his watch to daylight saving time so he missed the first meeting of the day.
3.     In the essay “Ring Leader” the writer does not try to hide her peculiarities but becomes more forceful in making them apparent.
4.     He was speaking to me his sister as if I were a child.
5.     Nick told me that Joan was an employee of the college the wife of a professor.
6.     When I looked the car over I saw that its tire seemed to be losing air so I drove to the station on the corner and filled it up.
7.     From the start to finish the defense insisted that the one and only issue in the case was whether the college had deprived Jane of her right to free speech.
8.     The professor thought of Janet the only mother in her classes who cooked in a diner all day and came to school at night worn out.
9.     She filed an official grievance which worked its way through the institutional process.
10.            Even though Matt was angry with Carrie he decided to call her anyway.
11.            I realized that I could gain another 15 minutes of sleep if I went to class in my pajamas but I noticed that my fellow classmates had made the same discovery.
12.            From changing our hairstyles to changing our physical appearances surgically some of us have strong desires to conform to society’s demands to fit in.
13.            Society is no help for it tells us again and again that we can most be ourselves by looking like someone else.
14.            From the moment I got out of bed and answered the phone today great things began to happen.
15.            She was not in the popular group and she wished that she could feel accepted by her peers.
16.            The paper which she finally decided to write on an aspect of the Civil War received an A.
17.            The newspaper that covered the story misspelled my name.
18.            My aunt Mary Ann said that her inn was filled over the Thanksgiving holiday.
19.            When we bought the new house Josie helped paint all the downstairs rooms.
20.            For the reunion my family came from England France Italy and South Dakota.
21.            While the children sang in the recital their parents watched with rapt attention.
22.            She cared so much about the way others looked at her that she forgot what really matters which is feeling comfortable with oneself.
23.            He rooted for his home baseball team and he wished it would win more often.
24.            As she grew older Anna found that her home and garden became more important to her.
25.            Leah and her suitemates Carla Heather Jessica and Samantha went skiing during winter break.




Saturday, April 11, 2015

Writing 2 Class Notes -- Week 11 (April 9)

Greetings!

We had a good class this Thursday.  It was good to be back after our break.  It's good to have a break from some classes so that we can return to our CHAT classes refreshed and ready to work hard for the next few weeks.

Our Quick Write this week was in recognition of World Health Day on April 7. I asked the students to write about a healthy life; it could be either serious or ironic.  One student suggested a Buddy the Elf diet consisting of maple syrup, chocolate syrup, and Pop Tarts.


Our Latin Roots of the Day were:
laborare -- Latin, to work -- English derivatives:  labor, laborious, collaborate, elaborate, laboratory
lingua -- Latin. tongue, language -- English derivatives:  linguist, linguistic, language, linguine (from L. tongue)
luc -- Latin (genitive) light, bright -- English derivatives:  lucid, elucidate, translucence, Lucifer
lumen -- Latin, light -- English derivatives:  illuminate, luminary, Illuminati, bioluminescence 
lux -- Latin (nominative) a light -- English derivatives:  luxurious, luxury

I usually take time while students are doing their Quick Writes to hand back their homework.  After discussing the Quick Writes, we discussed the assignments.  Some students had some old, missing assignments which they handed in.  They also handed in their rough drafts of their News Stories.  I look forward to reading them this weekend.

We read our final stories from our Short Stories book. We took time in class to discuss Nella Larsen's "Sanctuary" and Sherwod Anderson's "The Egg,"  In the Larsen story, we discussed race and prejudice and forgiveness.  The Anderson story dealt with themes of family, personal history, and chickens.

We are now heading into our Poetry unit.  Students were given their poetry books before break and a poetry worksheet for this week's poems.

We've also made a transition in our grammar.  Having finished with some commas work, we're focusing on other bits of punctuation.  The worksheets from last week dealt with quotation marks and italics.  This week we went over dashes, parentheses, and hyphens.  They were given a worksheet and a handout discussing specific hyphen use.


Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read the poems by the following poets:
     Bradstreet (p. 1); Wheately (p. 1); Emerson (p. 4, 5); Longfellow (p. 6 - 10); Whitman (p. 22 - 26); Dickinson (p. 29 - 32)
-- For 2 of the poems, fill out 2 poetry worksheets
-- No essay homework, unless you have not finished the Evaluation Essay rough draft.

This week's links:
Class Notes  


Have a beautiful weekend!  
Maybe, just maybe it won't snow!  
(I posted on the blog a picture of the flash snowstorm that happened Friday morning in Northfield.)
Mrs. Prichard



Hyphens between Words


Rule 1. Generally, hyphenate two or more words when they come before a noun they modify and act as a single idea. This is called a compound adjective.
Examples:
an off-campus apartment
state-of-the-art design

When a compound adjective follows a noun, a hyphen may or may not be necessary.
Example: The apartment is off campus.

However, some established compound adjectives are always hyphenated. Double-check with a dictionary or online.
Example: The design is state-of-the-art.

Rule 2a. A hyphen is frequently required when forming original compound verbs for vivid writing, humor, or special situations.
Examples:
The slacker video-gamed his way through life.
Queen Victoria throne-sat for six decades.

Rule 2b. When writing out new, original, or unusual compound nouns, writers should hyphenate whenever doing so avoids confusion.
Examples:
I changed my diet and became a no-meater.
No-meater is too confusing without the hyphen.

The slacker was a video gamer.
Video gamer is clear without a hyphen, although some writers might prefer to hyphenate it.
Writers using familiar compound verbs and nouns should consult a dictionary or look online to decide if these verbs and nouns should be hyphenated.

Rule 3. An often overlooked rule for hyphens: The adverb very and adverbs ending in -ly are not hyphenated.
Incorrect: the very-elegant watch
Incorrect: the finely-tuned watch

This rule applies only to adverbs. The following two sentences are correct because the -ly words are adjectives rather than adverbs:
Correct: the friendly-looking dog
Correct: a family-owned cafe

Rule 4. Hyphens are often used to tell the ages of people and things. A handy rule, whether writing about years, months, or any other period of time, is to use hyphens unless the period of time (years, months, weeks, days) is written in plural form:
With hyphens:
We have a two-year-old child.
We have a two-year-old.
No hyphens: The child is two years old. (Because years is plural.)
Exception: The child is one year old. (Or day, week, month, etc.)

Note that when hyphens are involved in expressing ages, two hyphens are required. Many writers forget the second hyphen:
Incorrect: We have a two-year old child.
Without the second hyphen, the sentence is about an "old child."

Rule 5. Never hesitate to add a hyphen if it solves a possible problem. Following are two examples of well-advised hyphens:
Confusing: I have a few more important things to do.
With hyphen: I have a few more-important things to do.

Without the hyphen, it's impossible to tell whether the sentence is about a few things that are more important or a few more things that are all equally important.
Confusing: He returned the stolen vehicle report.
With hyphen: He returned the stolen-vehicle report.

With no hyphen, we could only guess: Was the vehicle report stolen, or was it a report on stolen vehicles?

Rule 6. When using numbers, hyphenate spans or estimates of time, distance, or other quantities. Remember not to use spaces around hyphens.
Examples:
3:15-3:45 p.m.
1999-2016
300-325 people

Rule 7. Hyphenate all compound numbers from twenty-one through ninety-nine.
Examples:
thirty-two children
one thousand two hundred twenty-one dollars

Rule 8. Hyphenate all spelled-out fractions.
Example: more than two-thirds of registered voters

Rule 9. Hyphenate most double last names.
Example: Sir Winthrop Heinz-Eakins will attend.

Rule 10. As important as hyphens are to clear writing, they can become an annoyance if overused. Avoid adding hyphens when the meaning is clear. Many phrases are so familiar (e.g., high school, twentieth century, one hundred percent) that they can go before a noun without risk of confusing the reader.
Examples:
a high school senior
a twentieth century throwback
one hundred percent correct

Rule 11. When in doubt, look it up. Some familiar phrases may require hyphens. For instance, is a book up to date or up-to-date? Don't guess; have a dictionary close by, or look it up online.


Poetry Worksheet



Title of Poem:  ___________________________                    Author:  ____________________________

1.      What is the dramatic situation of the poem? (What is taking place literally?)



2.      Who is the speaker in the poem? (Or, at least, what do we know about him/her?)


3.      Where is the setting of the poem? Where is the speaker? When does it take place?


4.      What is a possible theme of the poem?



5.      How does the poet use language? Is it elevated or fancier language? Is it more vernacular, colloquial, or casual?



6.      What is the tone (mood) of the poem at the beginning, at the end, and overall?