Grammar Worksheets -- Commas (Week 1)

Week 1 Grammar Worksheets

1.1 – Compound Sentences

Insert the comma in the proper place.

1.       I am going to bed and I am planning on reading this book.

2.       She did not eat the cookies nor did she eat the candy.

3.       Paul is going to the movie and John is going but Sally is not going.

4.       Did Mom go to the concert or did Dad go alone?

5.       Debbie was upset for she wanted to go on that trip but her mother was sick.

6.       Melissa was sick so she left the party early.

7.       It was midnight but it did not seem so late so we went out for dinner.

8.       Cathy caught the heel of one of her shoes in a crack on the sidewalk and the heel broke off.

9.       Susan thought the lemonade was good yet it was a bit too sweet.

10.   Michael threw a fit for he was upset with the dog that had eaten his shoes.

11.   Did Paul go to the movie with Michael or did Michael ask John to go?

12.   Cathy had forgotten to set her alarm so she was late for work.

1.2 – Complex Sentences

Either remove the unnecessary comma or add one where it is needed.

1.       She did not eat the cookies, nor did she chew the gum that Jane made for her.

2.       I am going to bed to read the book, that Elizabeth wrote.

3.       Paul is going to the movie, and may not come home until late.

4.       Did Mary go along, with her parents to the game?

Put the complete sentence in parentheses and underline the fragment.

5.       George could not find his son’s bat or his glove.

6.       Julia ate half of her sandwich and left the other half on the plate.

7.       I was tired of doing homework and went to bed early.

8.       Did the students bring their books or leave them at home.

1.3 – Compound/Complex Sentences

Insert commas where needed.

1.       She wanted to go to bed and read her new book but she didn’t realize that it had fallen behind the sofa.

2.       Jack is going to the movie about World War II so he may be home late because it a three hour long movie.

3.       Denise was upset that she could not go to London but she chose to save her money in order to pay for college.

4.       I told her not to eat the fresh bread but she didn’t pay attention because she was so hungry.

Put the complete sentence in parentheses and underline the fragment.  Add the necessary commas.

5.       Chris had tried to find his puppy but it had run around the house and hid under a bush.

6.       My father told me that he was proud that I had improved my  grades and I celebrated with pizza.

7.       Peter found a part-time job around the corner so it was easy for him to get to work.

8.       I am planning to take the children to the park so that we can have a picnic because their father has the day off.

9.       We took warm clothes with us on the trip because it was supposed to be cold but we didn’t take them out of the suitcase.

Grammar Lesson -- Commas (1.1 - 1.3)

WEEK 1

1.1 – Compound Sentences

Two or more sentences held together with coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) form a compound sentence.  A comma must be used before the conjunction.

1.2 – Complex Sentences

Complex sentences contain on complete sentence and at least one fragment of a sentence.  Do not separate these parts with a comma.

1.3 – Compound/Complex Sentences

A compound/complex sentence contains two or more complete thoughts joined with coordinating conjunctions along with at least one sentence fragment.  Compound sentences require commas before the conjunctions.

Characterization in Sherlock Holmes stories

Characterization

            Even people who have never read the Sherlock Holmes stories often know something

about his character.  If nothing else, they will associate the line, “Elementary, my dear Watson,” with him, although the literary Holmes never actually put these words together – only his film counterparts say them.  Although Conan Doyle named Holmes for one of his favorite authors, Oliver Wendell Holmes, he imagined Dr. Joseph Bell’s appearance for his hero: around six feet tall, with a thin “razor-like” face, a large nose, like a hawk, and small, sharp eyes.  Interestingly, Conan Doyle said the pictures of Holmes usually depict him as handsomer than he imagined him himself.  Holmes wears dressing gowns inside and a cape with a deerstalker hat outside, and he usually appears with a pipe or a magnifying glass in his hand.  

            Entirely unemotional, Holmes remains aloof, coolly rational, and arrogant.  He is often irritable and he possesses several idiosyncrasies that try the patience of even his longsuffering best friend, Watson.  He clutters his rooms with paperwork from his cases and paraphernalia from his numerous scientific experiments.  Watson complains that he keeps his cigars in the coalscuttle, his tobacco in one of his slippers, and his unanswered letters transfixed to the mantle with a jackknife.  He can play the violin well when he wishes to, but Holmes more often scrapes annoyingly and tunelessly on the strings.  He uses the walls of his home for target practice.  Moody and plagued by boredom when no case demands his attention, he injects a 7% solution of cocaine, a habit that his concerned friend finally helps him break.   

            Holmes possesses exceptional gifts and an encyclopedic knowledge of some areas, but remains willingly ignorant of many others, declaring he would rather not clutter his mind with facts that cannot help him solve his cases, even whether or not the earth travels around the sun.  He is respectful and polite to women, but he insists he would never let himself fall in love and marry, as Watson does.  In some ways Holmes resembles a Romantic hero, standing apart from society and even breaking its laws on occasion to obtain the clues he desires.  He will even allow a proven criminal to go free, insisting that he is not, after all, a policeman.  Holmes also can give the impression that his motives for solving his cases have less to do with combating crime or doing good than with amusing himself or impressing others.   

            In “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” when he finds what he supposes is the dead body of

his client, he cries out in rage and grief – at the black mark now on his reputation: “In order to have my case well rounded and complete,” he exclaims to Watson, “ I have thrown away the life of my client.  It is the greatest blow which has befallen me in my career.”  Interestingly, when Joseph Bell learned of his former student’s claim that he was the great detective’s inspiration, he admitted to only a slight resemblance, writing back to Doyle, “You are yourself Sherlock Holmes.”   Conan Doyle confessed, “…A man cannot spin a character out of his own inner consciousness and make it really life-like unless he has some possibilities of that character within him – which is a dangerous admission for one who has drawn so many villains as I.”

            In appearance at least, Conan Doyle seemed to share more with Dr. John Watson, whom he named after a friend, Dr. James Elmwood Watson, than he did with Holmes.  Like Doyle, Watson is a large, athletic man, wearing a bushy mustache.  Like Doyle, Watson studied medicine at Edinburgh University, and he served his country during wartime also.  He loves sports and has an eye for an attractive lady, and like Doyle, he marries more than once.  Watson is as even-tempered and genial as Holmes is moody and aloof.  Their temperaments make them opposites, but the most striking contrast between Holmes and Watson comes when they work together on a case.  Watson consistently fails when he tries to use his friend’s methods of deduction, and he often complains about how foolish Holmes makes him feel.  In “The Hound of the Baskervilles” Holmes tells Watson, “It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light.  Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it.”  Yet Watson recognizes that for all his friend’s arrogance, Holmes needs him, and not just to record his history.  

            In “The Adventure of the Creeping Man” Watson notes, “He was a man of habits, narrow and concentrated habits, and I had become one of them.  As an institution I was like the violin, the shag tobacco, the old black pipe, the index books, and others perhaps less excusable.  When it was a case of active work and a comrade was needed upon whose nerve he could place some reliance, my role was obvious.  But apart from this I had uses.  I was a whetstone for his mind.  I stimulated him.  He liked to think aloud in my presence.  …If I irritated him by a certain methodical slowness in my mentality, that irritation served only to make his own flame-like intuitions and impressions flash up the more vividly and swiftly.  Such was my humble role in our alliance.”  Watson clearly foils Holmes; he is certainly less brilliant, less able, less confident.  But he might be more human, as Doyle himself suggested.

Characteristics of a Detective Story

Characteristics of a Detective Story

C. Hugh Holman’s A Handbook to Literature defines a detective story as “a novel or

short story in which a crime, usually a murder – the identity of the perpetrator unknown –

is solved by a detective through a logical assembling and interpretation of palpable

evidence, known as clues.”

            The first detective stories were written by Edgar Allan Poe, and Conan Doyle acknowledged their influence on his writing.  A good detective story generally follows six “unwritten rules.”  

First, the crime must be significant, worthy of the attention it receives.  Most stories involve murder, though Conan Doyle tied the majority of his crimes to greed and theft. 

Second, the detective must be in some way a memorable character.  He or she must be very intelligent, of course, unusually clever and observant, but also quirky, possessing perhaps some odd idiosyncrasies that distinguish him or her.  Kojak’s lollipop, Columbo’s crumpled raincoat, James Bond’s unruffled cool and high-tech gadgets, all of these things make the hero somehow distinct.  

Third, along with an exceptional detective, there must be an outstanding opponent, a criminal clever enough to be a match for the hero.  Solving the crime can’t be too easy. 

Fourth, because a large part of the attraction of a detective story is the opportunity for the reader to try to figure out the solution along with the detective, all suspects of the crime must be introduced early in the story, and

Fifth, all clues the detective discovers must be made available to the reader also. 

Finally, at the end of the story, the solution must seem obvious, logical, possible.  The crime must not have resulted from accident or supernatural intervention, and the detective must be able to explain all aspects of the case in a reasonable way.  A fine detective story should meet each one of these standards.

Spring Semester Syllabus

Writing 2 Spring Semester Syllabus

Week/Date	Literature	Assign. Due	Writing	Grammar
Week 1 (1/17)	Holmes:  “A Scandal in Bohemia” & “The Red-Headed League”			Mastering the Comma & Worksheet
Week 2 (1/23)	Holmes: “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” & “The Engineer’s Thumb”	Short Writing Assignment	Problem/ Solution Pre-Write & College Essay	Mastering the Comma & Worksheet
Week 3 (1/30)	Holmes:  “The Final Problem” & “The Adventure of the Empty House"		Problem/ Solution Rough Draft	Mastering the Comma & Worksheet
Week 4 (2/6)	Pushkin (p. 162); Tosltoy (p. 169); Chekhov (p. 26)	Short Story Worksheet for each story		Mastering the Comma & Worksheet
Week 5 (2/13)	Dickens (p. 45); Wilde (p. 189); Kipling (p.101); Munro (p. 140)	Short Story Worksheet for each story	Problem Solution Final Draft	Mastering the Comma & Worksheet
Week 6 (2/20)	Hawthorne (p. 73); Bierce (p. 10); Poe (p. 156)	Short Story Worksheet for each story	Cause/Effect Pre-Write & College Essay	Mastering the Comma & Worksheet
No CHAT (2/28)
Week 7 (3/6)	Harte (p. 64); Twain (p. 175) Jewett (p. 87); Crane (p. 34)	Short Story Worksheet for each story	Cause/Effect Rough Draft	The Period & Worksheet
Week 8 (3/13)	Chopin (p. 30); London (p. 122); Mansfield (p. 130); Gilman (p. 50)	Short Story Worksheet for each story		The Period & Worksheet
Week 9 (3/20)	Pirandello (p. 149); de Maupassant (p. 134); Henry  (extra handout)	Short Story Worksheet for each story	Cause/Effect Final Draft	The Period & Worksheet
No CHAT (3/28)
Week 10 (4/3)	Larsen (p. 110); Anderson (p. 1); Hardy (p. 56)	Short Story Worksheet for each story	Evaluation Pre-Write & College Essay	The Semicolon & Worksheet
Week 11 (4/10)	Bradstreet (p. 1); Wheatley (p. 1); Holmes (p. 21); Emerson (p. 4, 5); Longfellow (p. 6 – 10)	Poetry worksheet for 3 of the poets.	Evaluation Rough Draft	The Colon & Worksheet
Week 12 (4/17)	Whitman (p. 22 – 26); Dickinson (p. 29 – 32); Wilcox (p. 33); Thayer (p. 34; Dunbar (p. 41 – 43)	Poetry worksheet for 3 of the poets. Presentation of poetry recitations.		Quotation Marks & Worksheet
Week 13 (4/24)	Frost (p. 44 – 50); Sandburg (p.53 – 54); Williams (p. 60 – 61); Teasdale (p. 62); Hughes  (p. 75 – 78)	Poetry worksheet for 3 of the poets. Presentation of poetry recitations.	Evaluation Final Draft	Misc. Punctuation  & Worksheet
Week 14 (5/1)	Poetry Presentation		Re-Write
Week 15 (5/8)	Final Exam

Thoughs about Grades

Dear CHAT Writing Students & Parents,

I've just finished calculating the grades for this first semester, and you should find them in your inbox.  As tutors, these are suggested grades for you as homeschooling families to consider.

For those who are new to my classes, let me share my thoughts on grades.  As I homeschooled, I didn't give my children grades.  I felt that grades were far too subjective.  I taught my own children for mastery.  We didn't proceed with a topic until they were ready no matter how long that took. 

Letter grades are a funny thing.  For some students, it becomes the only motivation for doing well.  For some, it becomes a measure of their worth as a person or as an academic learner.  I personally don't like these "side effects" of the grading system.  On the other hand, grades can be a valid reward for working hard, being diligent, and understanding the materials.

When teaching students to be good writers, I give a lot of consideration for growth and improvement. Each student has a starting place; over time I look for him or her to learn the mechanics of grammar, good writing techniques, and analytical thinking skills.

For this class, I gave points for attendance, participation, short assignments and longer essays.  We did a few grammar exercises and a “quiz.”  I tend to be an "easy grader" and like to see my students encouraged to do their best.

Each student (and parents) has received an e-mail with percentages and suggested grades for this semester.   As I mentioned in the e-mail, the writing portion of the class is of primary importance.  I’ve seen each student improve with each paper.  Good Work!

Blessings,

Tammy Prichard

Writing 2 Class Notes -- December 12

Greetings!

We closed out our Fall semester in great fashion.  I had made brownies, and other students brought in treats.  Our class yesterday was an effort to have a party while finishing up our writing class for the semester.

Our Quick Write was a group effort. Dividing the class into 3 groups, they were each given a list of Christmas Jokes without their punchlines.  They were to either guess what the real answer was or come up with a better one.  Most of the answers were puns or mutations of Christmas related words. Do you know the answer to these?

        1.   What did Adam say on the day before Christmas?

        2.   Who is never hungry at Christmas?

        3.  How do you know when there is a snowman in your bed? 

Some of the jokes were clever, and some were real "groaners."

Following our activity with the Christmas jokes, students handed in their final drafts of their Extended Definition or Classification Essays.  They also handed in any out-standing/ missing assignments.  After I finish grading these papers, I'll send out grades along with my thoughts about points and grades.

The students were assigned to bring in Christmas poems and took turns sharing their poetry aloud.  I'll put some of these on the blog site.  We had a couple of original poems, a limerick, and an haiku.

To close out the class, we had some Christmas-themed improvisation.  Each student drew a card with a Christmas word on it.  (e.g.  Christmas tree, Mary, Baby Jesus, Scrooge, etc.)  Each had to portray that word as a "character" and interact with another character.  For example, one student was "Christmas Lights" and another was "Snowman," and they had a short conversation so that we could guess their identities.  They were all good sports.

I've enjoyed this semester with this group of students.  They are a fun crew and are growing as writers. I'm looking forward to our Spring semester.

Have a blessed holiday season!

Mrs. Prichard

PS.  The punch lines to the jokes above:

        1.  "It's Christmas, Eve."

        2.  The turkey -- it's stuffed.

        3.  It's all wet.

This week's blog

Christmas Poems, Part 1

Christmas Poems, Part 2

Christmas Poems, Part 3

Christmas Jokes (with punch lines!)