Title of Workshop

Day 2Rebecca McFarlan

mcfarlan@ih.k12.oh.us

Levels of Language

"Do you speak differently when talking with your teacher or doctor than when you are chatting with a friend on the telephone?"

1. Frozen (Ceremonial)-- Language that does not change

Examples: Lord's Prayer; Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag

2. Formal--Complete sentences and specific word usage.

3. Consultative--Formal register used in conversation

4. Casual--Language used in conversation with friends. Word choice is general, and conversation is dependent upon non-verbal assists.

5. Colloquial Language particular to a geographic location

6. Intimate--Language between lovers. This is also the language of sexual harassment.

7. Jargon Language associated with a trade or profession

8. Slang Language only understood among a select group of people often defined by age, sex, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status

Diction Ladder

Ceremonial or Elevated Formal or Standard

Neutral or ConversationalColloquial

Jargon

Slang

Diction

Your team will have five minutes to think of synonyms for the following words. These words produce a fairly neutral tone. At the end of the five minutes one member of your team should write your list on the board.

To laugh:

Self-confident:

House:

King:

Old:

Fat:

Beyond the Negative and Positive

Developing a refined and precise tone vocabulary will go a long way to improving the preciseness and eloquence of your writing. You need to have a bevy of words to describe the authors attitude beyond just negative and positive. Using the list of nouns that you just generated in the diction race, categorize them by the connotations and tones they convey.

Positive:

Hopeful

Joyful

Appealing

Compassionate

Lighthearted

Optimistic

Sympathetic

Elated

Amused

Proud

Negative:

Angry

Outraged

Accusatory

Irritated

Bitter

Wrathful

Gloomy

Fearful

Condemnatory

Inflammatory

Patronizing

Flippant

Taunting

Irreverent

Cynical

Apprehensive

Neutral (Can Remain Neutral or Move to the Negative or Positive)Clinical

Sentimental

Matter of Fact

Informative

Factual

Questioning

Authoritative

Urgent

Instructive

Reminiscent

Ceremonial

Shocked

Tone

To misinterpret tone is to misinterpret meaning. If a reader misses irony or sarcasm, he may find something serious in veiled humor. A Guide for Advanced Placement: English Vertical TeamsDIDLSDiction:

the connotation of the word choice

Images:

vivid appeals to understanding through the senses

Details:

facts that are included or those omitted

Language

the overall use of language, such as formal, clinical, jargon

Structure:

how structure (micro and macroscopically) affects the readers attitude

Tone Words:

angry

sad

sentimental

sharp

cold

fanciful

upset

urgent

complimentary

silly

joking

condescending

boring

poignant

sympathetic

afraid

detached

contemptuous

happy

confused

apologetic

hollow

childish

humorous

joyful

peaceful

horrific

allusive

mocking

sarcastic

sweet

objective

nostalgic

vexed

vibrant

zealous

tired

frivolous

irreverent

bitter

audacious

benevolent

dreamy

shocking

seductive

restrained

somber

candid

proud

giddy

pitiful

dramatic

provocative

didactic

formal

majestic

serious

highfalutin

pompous

despairing

helpless

lamenting

angry

warm

caring

enraged

concerned

syrupy

amused

comic

disapproving

disgusted

scandalized

anxious

frightened

terrified

horrified

shocked

ironic

satiric

surprised

pleading

begging

prayerful

sardonic

cynical

cryptic

You may combine words to encapsulate complex tones. Example: contentious harmonyTone Organization - Transitions

"If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?" by James Baldwin1

It goes without saying, then, that language is also a political instrument, means and proof of power. It is the most vivid and critical key to identity: It reveals the private identity and connects one with, or divorces one from, the larger, public, or communal identity. There have been, and are, times, and places, when to speak a certain language could be dangerous, even fatal. Or, one may speak the same language, but in such a way that one's antecedents are revealed, or (one hopes) hidden. This is true in France, and is absolutely true in England: The range (and reign) of accents on that damp little island make England coherent for the English and totally incomprehensible for everyone else. To open your mouth in England is (if I may use black English) to "put your business in the street": You have confessed your parents, your youth, your school, your salary, your self-esteem, and alas, your future.1. According to Baldwin, language has the power to do what? _______________________________________________________________________

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2. How does he control tone?

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3. What organizational patterns does Baldwin use?

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1. Baldwin, James. "If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?" The New York Times on the Web. Retrieved February 4, 2004, from http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/29/specials/baldwin-english.html. Mother Tongue

by Amy Tan2I am not a scholar of English or literature. I cannot give you much more than personal opinions on the English language and its variations in this country or others.

I am a writer. And by that definition, I am someone who has always loved language. I am fascinated by language in daily life. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of languagethe way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth. Language is the tool of my trade. And I use them all allall the Englishes I grew up with.

Recently, I was made keenly aware of the different Englishes I do use. I was giving a talk to a large group of people, the same talk I had already given to half a dozen other groups. The talk was about my writing, my life, and my book The Joy Luck Club, and it was going along well enough, until I remembered one major difference that made the whole talk sound wrong. My mother was in the room. And it was perhaps the first time she had heard me give a lengthy speech, using the kind of English I have never used with her. I was saying things like the intersection of memory and imagination and There is an aspect of my fiction that relates to thus-and-thusa speech filled with carefully wrought grammatical phrases, burdened, it suddenly seemed to me, with nominalized forms, past perfect tenses, conditional phrases, forms of standard English that I had learned in school and through books, the forms of English I did not use at home with my mother.

Just last week, as I was walking down the street with her, I again found myself conscious of the English I was using, the English I do use with her. We were talking about the price of new and used furniture, and I heard myself saying this: Not waste money that way. My husband was with us as well, and he didnt notice any switch in my English. And then I realized why. Its because over the twenty years weve been together Ive often used the same kind of English with him, and sometimes he even uses it with me. It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with.

So that youll have some idea of what this family talk sounds like, Ill quote what my mother said during a conversation that I videotaped and then transcribed. During this conversation, she was talking about a political gangster in Shanghai who had the same last name as her familys, Du, and how in his early years the gangster wanted to be adopted by her family, who were rich by comparison. Later, the gangster became more powerful, far richer than my mothers family, and he showed up at my mothers wedding to pay his respects. Heres what she said in part:

Du Yusong having business like fruit stand. Like off-the-street kind. He is Du like Du Zongbut not Tsung-ming Island people. The local people call putong. The river east side, he belong to that side local people. That man want to ask Du Zong father take him in like become own family. Du Zong father wasnt look down on him, but didnt take seriously, until that man big like become a mafia. Now important person, very hard to inviting him. Chinese way, came only to show respect, dont stay for dinner. Respect for making big celebration, he shows up. Mean gives lots of respect. Chinese custom. Chinese social life that way. If too important wont have to stay too long. He come to my wedding. I didnt see, I heard it. I gone to boys side, they have YMCA dinner. Chinese age, I was nineteen.

You should know that my mothers expressive command of English belies how much she actually understands. She reads the Forbes report, listens to Wall Street Week, converses daily with her stockbroker, reads Shirley MacLaines books with easeall kinds of things I cant begin to understand. Yet some of my friends tell me they understand fifty percent of what my mother says. Some say they understand eighty to ninety percent. Some say they understand none of it, as if she were speaking pure Chinese. But to me, my mothers English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. Its my mother tongue. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world.

Lately Ive been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Like others, I have described it to people as broken or fractured English. But I wince when I say that. It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than broken, as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness and soundness. Ive heard other terms used, limited English, for example. But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including peoples perceptions of the limited-English speaker.

I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mothers limited English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is, because she expressed them imperfectly, her thoughts were imperfect. And I had plenty of empirical evidence to support me: the fact that people in department stores, at banks, and in restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her very good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted like they did not hear her.

My mother has long realized the limitations of her English as well. When I was a teenager, she used to have me call people on the phone and pretend I was she. In this guise, I was forced to ask for information or even to complain and yell at people who had been rude to her. One time it was a call to her stockbroker in New York. She had cashed out her small portfolio, and it just so happened we were going to New York the next week, our first trip outside of California. I had to get on the phone and say in an adolescent voice that was not very convincing, This is Mrs. Tan.

My mother was standing in the back whispering loudly, Why he dont send me check, already two weeks late. So mad he lie to me, me losing money.

And then I said in perfect English on the phone, Yes, Im getting rather concerned. You had agreed to send the check two weeks ago, but it hasnt arrived.

Then she began to talk more loudly. What he want, I come to New York tell him front of his boss, you cheating me? And I was trying to calm her down, make her be quiet, while telling the stockbroker, I cant tolerate any more excuses. If I dont receive the check immediately, I am going to have to speak to your manager when Im in New York next week. And sure enough, the following week, there we were in front of this astonished stockbroker, and I was sitting there red-faced and quiet, and my mother, the real Mrs. Tan, was shouting at his boss is her impeccable broken English.

We used a similar routine more recently, for a situation that was far less humorous. My mother had gone to the hospital for an appointment to find out about a CAT scan she had had a month earlier. She said she had spoken very good English, her best English, no mistakes. Still, she said, the hospital staff did not apologize when they informed her they had lost the CAT scan and she had come for nothing. She said they did not seem to have any sympathy when she told them she was anxious to know the exact diagnosis, since both her husband and son had died of brain tumors. She said they would not give her any more information until the next time and she would have to make another appointment for that. So she said she would not leave until the doctor called her daughter. She wouldnt budge. And when the doctor finally called her daughter, me, who spoke in perfect Englishlo and beholdwe had assurances that the CAT scan would be found, promises that a conference call on Monday would be held, and apologies for any suffering my mother had gone through for a most regrettable mistake.

I think my mothers English almost had an effect on limiting my possibilities in life as well. Sociologists and linguists probably will tell you that a persons developing language skills are more influenced by peers than by family. But I do think that the language spoken in the family, especially in immigrant families which are more insular, plays a large role in shaping the language of the child. And I believe that it affected my results on achievement tests, IQ tests, and the SAT. While my English skills were never judged poor, compared with math, English could not be considered my strong suit. In grade school I did moderately well, getting perhaps Bs, sometimes B-pluses, in English and scoring perhaps in the sixtieth or seventieth percentile on achievement tests. But those scores were not good enough to override the opinion that my true abilities lay in math and science, because in those areas I achieved As and scored in the ninetieth percentile or higher.

This was understandable. Math is precise; there is only one correct answer. Whereas, for me at least, the answers on English tests were always a judgment call, a matter of opinion and personal experience. Those tests were constructed around items like fill-in-the-blank sentence completion, such as Even though Tom was _____ Mary thought he was _____. And the correct answer always seemed to be the most bland combinations, for example, Even though Tom was shy, Mary thought he was charming, with the grammatical structure even though limiting the correct answer to some sort of semantic opposites, so you wouldnt get answers like Even though Tom was foolish, Mary thought he was ridiculous. Well, according to my mother, there were very few limitations as to what Tom could have been and what Mary might have thought of him. So I never did well on tests like that.

The same was true with word analogies, pairs of words for which you were suppose to find some logical semantic relationship, for instance, Sunset is to nightfall as _____ is to _____. And here you would be presented with a list of four possible pairs, one of which showed the same kind of relationship: red is stoplight, bus is to arrival, chills is to fever, yawn is to boring. Well, I could never think that way. I knew what the tests were asking, but I could not block out of my mind the images already created by the first pair, sunset is to nightfalland I would see a burst of colors against a darkening sky, the moon rising, the lowering of a curtain of stars. And all the other pairs of wordsred, bus, stoplight, boringjust threw up a mass of confusing images, making it impossible for me to see that saying A sunset precedes nightfall was as logical as saying A chill precedes a fever. The only way I would have gotten that answer right was to imagine an associative situation, such as my being disobedient and staying out past sunset, catching a chill at night, which turned into a feverish pneumonia as punishmentwhich indeed did happen to me.

I have been thinking about all this lately, about my mothers English, about achievement tests. Because lately Ive been asked, as a writer, why there are not more Asian-Americans represented in American literature. Why are there few Asian Americans enrolled in creative writing programs? Why do so many Chinese students go into engineering? Well, these are broad sociological questions I cant begin to answer. But I have noticed in surveysin fact, just last weekthat Asian-American students, as a whole, do significantly better on math achievement tests than on other English tests. And this makes me think that there are other Asian-American students whose English spoken in the home might also be described as broken or limited. And perhaps they also have teachers who are steering them away from writing and into math and science, which is what happened to me.

Fortunately, I also happen to be rebellious and enjoy the challenge of disproving assumptions made about me. I became an English major my first year in college, after being enrolled as pre-med. I started writing nonfiction as a freelancer the week after I was told by my boss at the time that writing was my worst skill and I should hone my talents toward account management.

But it wasnt until 1985 that I began to write fiction. At first I wrote what I thought to be wittily crafted sentences, sentences that would finally prove I had mastery over the English language. Heres an example from the first draft of a story that later made its way into the Joy Luck Club, but without this line: That was my mental quandary in its nascent state. A terrible line, which I can barely pronounce.

Fortunately, for reasons I wont get into here, I later decided I should envision a reader for the stories I would write. And the reader I decided on was my mother, because these were stories about mothers. So with this reader in mindand in fact she did read my early draftsI began to write stories using all the Englishes I grew up with: the English I spoke to my mother, which for lack of a better term might be described as simple; the English she uses with me, which for lack of a better term might be described as broken; my translation of her Chinese, which could certainly be described as watered down; and what I imagined to be her translation of her Chinese if she could speak in perfect English, her internal language, and for that I sought to preserve the essence, but neither an English nor a Chinese structure. I wanted to capture what language ability tests could never reveal: her intent, her passion, her imagery, the rhythms of her speech, and the nature of her thoughts.

Apart from what any critic had to say about my writing, I knew I had succeeded where it counted when my mother finished reading my book and gave me her verdict: So easy to read.1. How do the tones of Baldwin and Tan differ?

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2. How does Tan control her tone?

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3. What organization patterns does Tan use?

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4. What are some of her more effective transitions?

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6. What is her focus?

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Sentence 1 Sentence 2 Sentence 3 Sentence 4 Sentence 5

Number of words

Number of independent clauses

Number of subordinate clauses

Use of dash, semicolon, or exclamation point

Repeated use of coordinating conjunctions (and, yet, but, for, nor, so, or)

Number of polysyllabic words

Use of inverted syntax or questions

Number of prepositional phrases

Use of repetition

Use of parallel structures

Other unusual or distinguishing characteristics of sentence structure (whole passage)

Use of comparisons

Types of figurative language (or none used)

Use of colloquial expressions or regionalisms

What conclusions can you draw about how the syntax helps create meaning in the passage?

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Verbs for Academic DiscourseWords to Give Is a BreakAccentuate

Accepts

Achieves

Adopts

Advocates

Affects

Alleviates

Allows

Alludes

Alters

Analyzes

Approaches

Argues

Ascertains

Asserts

Assesses

Assumes

Attacks

Attempts

Attributes

Avoids

Bases

Believes

Challenges

Changes

Characterizes

Chooses

Chronicles

Claims

Comments

Compares

Compels

Completes

Concerns

Concludes

Condescends

Conducts

Conforms

Confronts

Considers

Contends

Contests

Contrasts

Contributes

Conveys

Convinces

Defends

Defines

Defies

Demonstrates

Denigrates

Depicts

Describes

Despises

Details

Determines

Develops

Deviates

Differentiates

Differs

Directs

Disappoints

Discovers

Discusses

Displays

Disputes

Disrupts

Distorts

Downplays

Dramatizes

Elevates

Elicits

Empathizes

Encounters

Enhances

Enriches

Enumerates

Envisions

Evokes

Excludes

Expands

Experiences

Explains

Expresses

Extends

Extrapolates

Fantasizes

Focuses

Forces

Foreshadows

Functions

Generalizes

Guides

Heightens

Highlights

Hints

Holds

Honors

Identifies

Illustrates

Imagines

Impels

Implies

Incites

Includes

Indicates

Infers

Inspires

Intends

Interprets

Interrupts

Inundates

Justifies

Juxtaposes

Lampoons

Lists

Maintains

Makes

Manages

Manipulates

Minimizes

Moralizes

Muses

Notes

Observes

Opposes

Organizes

Overstates

Outlines

Patronizes

Performs

Permits

Personifies

Persuades

Ponders

Portrays

Postulates

Prepares

Presents

Presumes

Produces

Projects

Promotes

Proposes

Provides

Qualifies

Questions

Rationalizes

Reasons

Recalls

Recollects

Records

Recounts

Reflects

Refers

Regards

Regrets

Rejects

Represents

Results

Reveals

Ridicules

Satirizes

Seems

Sees

Selects

Serves

Shows

Specifies

Speculates

States

Strives

Suggests

Summarizes

Supplies

Supports

Suppresses

Symbolizes

Sympathizes

Traces

Understands

Understates

Uses

Vacillates

Values

Verifies

Views

Want

Wishes

LIST OF ACTIVE VERBSDegrade abase

Hand over; abandon

abdicate

Give aid

abet

Put up with abide

Hate

abhor

Refrain from use

abstain

To criticize for an offenseadmonish

To separate in parts for studyanalyze

Stop

apprehend

Exile

banish

Harass; pester

bedevil

Browbeat, bully

bludgeon

Divide into groups

categorize

To put in solitude

cloister

Come together as a wholecoalesce

Understand

comprehend

Reduce; make short

curtail

To ruin character or qualitydebauch

To change from solid to liquid deliquesce

Express disapproval

deprecate

To perceive; recognize

discern

Pretend; act false; misleaddissemble

Invalidate, remove; wipe cleanefface

To call forth or bring outelicit

To model or copy

emulate

Bewitch; charm; enchantenthrall

To destroy all traces of

eradicate

To cease to exist

expire

Cringe; flatter, grovel

fawn

To pass off; impose

foist

To make raw by friction; annoygall

Put a good face on; gloss overgild

To contort in pain;

grimace

Restrict activity or movementhamper

To visit regularly; hand aroundhaunt

To provide light

illuminate

To put into action

implement

Encumber; block; hinderimpede

To bring into existence; createinstitute

Abolish; cancel

invalidate

To subject to danger

jeopardize

To cause to burn

kindle

To pay tribute or homage tolaud

Take extravagant pleasureluxuriate

Defame; slander

malign

To use wrongly

misappropriate

To stir to action or feelingmotivate

To make or become differentmutate

Bewilder; confuse

mystify

To make ineffective; cancelnegate

To raise trivial objectionsnitpick

To confound; confuse

nonplus

To put an end to; abolishnullify

To destroy all traces of

obliterate

To prohibit from occurringobviate

Leave out; drop; eliminateomit

Make sad or gloomy; oppressoppress

To set forth; decree

ordain

Copy in manner or expressionparody

To walk at a leisurely paceperambulate

To destroy the composure ofperturb

Plunder; ransack; rape

pillage

Reproduce artistic work plagiarize

without permission

Take for granted without proofpresume

To raise trivial objectionsquibble

Make excuses for; explainrationalize

Criticize for a fault or offenserebuke

To separate or pull apart

rive

Triumph over; win a victoryrout

To set apart from a groupsegregate

To emit light in rays or sparksshimmer

To convey a particular ideasignify

To smile in a knowing waysmirk

To make dirty

soil

To make less severe or extremetemper

To do or fare well

thrive

To laugh in a stifled waytitter

Capsize; knock over

topple

Defame, malign; slandertraduce

Relax; rest; unwind

unbend

Imbue with city ways, citifyurbanize

To win a victory over

vanquish

Strive against for victoryvie

Bask; indulge; enjoy

wallow

To hold oneself back

withhold

To become lower in qualityworsen

To take by force

wrest

To give in; let something goyield

To cause the death of

zap

Nearly 200 Ways to Say Says from the Marion Campus Studies in English and Technologyaccusesacknowledgesacquiresaddsadmonishesaffirmsagrees alleges allowsalludesannouncesanswersapologizesappeasesapprovesarguesarticulatesasksassentsassertsassures

beginsbegsbelievesberatesbeseechesboastsbrags

cajolescallscautionschallengescharges

chidescites

claimscoaxescommandscommentscomplainsconcedesconcludes

concurs

confessesconfirmsconsentscontendscontestscontinuescontributescounterscriticizescross-examines

debatesdecidesdeclaimsdeclaresdefendsdemandsdeniesdescribesdeterminesdictatesdiscusses

echoeselaboratesemphasizesentreatsenumeratesexaggeratesexplainsexhortsexpostulatesextols

fears fumes

gloatsgoadsguesses

hastens -to say-hesitateshints

imitates impliesimploresinforms inquires insinuates insistsinterjectsinterposesinterpretsinterruptsinterrogatesintimatesintimidatesintones

jeersjestsjokes

laughslectureslies

makes knownmagnifiesmaintainsmanifestsmarvelsmimicsmocks mournsmuses

notes

objectsobserves

offersorders

perceivespersistspleadspoints outponderspraisespreachespredictsprevaricatesproceedsprodsprofanesprofessesprophesiespropoundspromisespromptsproposesprotestspursuesputs in

queriesquestionsquipsquotes

ratesrailsruns onrantsravesrecallsrecitesrecountsregretsreiteratesrejoinsremarks

remembers remindsremonstratesrenounces repeatsreplies

reports

reprimandsrequestsresolvesresumesretortsreveals

scoffsscornssermonizessneersspecifiesspells outspeaks starts statesstressessubmitssuggests

tauntstestifiesthinksthreatenstells

urges

vauntsventuresvoicesvolunteers

Delving Into Meaning Through Grammar

For our purposes this year grammar includes parts of speech, syntactical pattern, usage (mechanics), and the relationships among these parts.

Verbs Important Characteristics that Create Meaning

Create and control a sense of time and narrative pace

Create and control distance from the speaker and subject

Create tone and mood

Three Functions of Verbs:

Tense Controls time and narrative pace

Voice Controls distance from the speaker and subject. Also contributes to narrative pace

Mood Controls tone and point of view

Verb Tense

Verb tense controls a sense of time and narrative pace.

Voice: Active/Passive Verbs have two voices: active and passive. The verb's voice is determined by the relationship between the subject and the verb. If the subject completes the action indicated by the verb, the voice of the verb is active. If the sentence's subject is acted upon, the voice is passive. The passive voice is formed by joining the past participle of the verb to a form of "to be."

Why Is It Important to Understand Voice in Verbs?

Verbs have more personality than any other part of speech. They have voice, mood, and tense.

Passive voice can be a problem for writers who don't have a clear focus. The extra words give the writer time to think of his or her next point.

In modern prose, the active voice is usually preferred because it is clearer and creates a livelier narrative pace than does the passive voice.

Accomplished writers and orators, however, do consciously choose the passive voice for intended purposes, for example:

oPoliticians distance themselves from acts with the passive voice.

oIf the result is more important than the action, the passive voice emphasizes the effect rather than the cause. Scientists use the passive voice to detail their experiments because their findings are more important than their actions.

oPassive voice creates psychological distance.Examples:

Active- Voice The teacher prepared the exam.

Passive The exam was prepared by the teacher

Verb Mood

Indicative fact (at least assumed to be fact by the speaker0

Imperative command

Subjunctive doubt, possibility, potentialIndicative versus Subjunctive Mood OR Fact versus Possibility

Indicative He reads voraciously

Subjunctive The course requires that he read voraciously.

Indicative I am in high school now.

Subjunctive I wish I were in college now

Or

If I were in college, I would be happier.

Or

His mom insisted that he come home immediately.

Subjunctive Mood

Presnt Tense be

I be

We be

You be

You be

He, she, it be

They be

Past Tense - were (Used now for past and present)

I were

We were

You were

You were

He, she, it wereThey were

Present Tense Regular Verbs (Ex. To Read)

I read

We read

You read

You read

He, she, it read They read

Pre 1800s use of future tense

Indicative:I shall go

We shall go

You will go

You will go

He will go

They will go.

Imperative/Emphatic

I will go

We will go

(You) Thou shall go

(you) Thou shall go

he shall go

They shall go.

A Note on PronounsPrior to the 19th century English enjoyed a formal and informal second person pronoun. Use this knowledge to read between the lines in older literature. If the speaker uses thy, thou, or thine, s/he is familiar with the audience being addressed. If you your, or yours is used, the speaker has chosen a formal pronoun out of respect or unfamiliarity.

ActivePassive Lesson

Prerequisite Knowledge

The three principle parts of the verb

Conjugated forms of "to be"

Subjects and verbsDirect Instruction:

Verbs have two voices: active and passive. The verb's voice is determined by the relationship between the subject and the verb. If the subject completes the action indicated by the verb, the voice of the verb is active. If the sentence's subject is acted upon, the voice is passive. The passive voice is formed by joining the past participle of the verb to a form of "to be."

Example of active voice: Mary sang the National Anthem at the basketball game.

Example of passive voice: The National Anthem was sung by Mary at the basketball game.

Guided Practice

Have students brainstorm other examples to check their understanding.

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Why Is It Important to Understand Voice in Verbs?

Verbs have more personality than any other part of speech. They have voice, mood, and tense.

Passive voice can be a problem for writers who don't have a clear focus. The extra words give the writer time to think of his or her next point.

In modern prose, the active voice is usually preferred because it is clearer and creates a livelier narrative pace than does the passive voice.

Accomplished writers and orators, however, do consciously choose the passive voice for intended purposes, for example:

oPoliticians distance themselves from their actions with the passive voice.

oIf the result is more important than the action, the passive voice emphasizes the effect rather than the cause. Scientists use the passive voice to detail their experiments because their findings are more important than their actions.

oPassive voice creates psychological distance.Guided Practice: ActivePassive Voice

Underline the verbs in the following poem by Catullus:

Catullus 873

No woman is able to say that she has ever been loved as

much as my Lesbia has been loved by me.

No faith so great has ever existed in any pact as has

been found in your love from my part.

1. What verbs are active? _____________________________

2. What verbs are passive?_________________________

3. Why did the speaker use the passive voice? ____________________________________________

4. Rewrite the poem using only active voice:

5. What changes in the poem's meaning when you switch from active to passive?

3 Catullus. "Catullus 87," The Poems of Catullus, trans. Sherwin Little, ed. Phyllis Young Forsyth (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1986), 93.

Directions

Identify the underlined verbs as active (A) or passive (P). Hint: Only one verb is passive.

'Hope' is the thing with feathers by Emily Dickinson

"Hope" is the thing with feathers 1. _____That perches in the soul

2. _____

And sings the tune without the words 3. _____And never stops at all (4) 4. _____And sweetest in the Gale is heard 5. _____And sore must be the storm 6. _____That could abash the little Bird 7. _____That kept so many warm (8) 8. _____I've heard it in the chillest land 9. _____And on the strangest Sea 10. _____Yet, never, in Extremity,

11. _____

It asked a crumb of Me. (12) 12. _____Identification Question: In which stanza(s) does Dickenson switch between active and passive voice?

________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________Interpretive Question: Why does Dickenson switch between active and passive voice?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________4 Emily Dickenson, "Hope Is the Thing with Feathers," The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 4th ed., Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, and Jon Stallworthy, eds. (New York: W.W Norton, 1996), 1012.

Participles and Gerunds

Prerequisite Grammar Knowledge

Past participles

Progressive form of the verb

Function of adjectives and nouns

What Are Participles? The past or progressive form of a verb that serves as an adjective

What Are Gerunds? The progressive form of a verb that serves as a noun

Why Are Participles and Gerunds Important?

Too many adjectives can clutter writing.

Participles are often used as fillers when writers don't have a clear point to their writing.

Participles tend to be stronger than simple adjectives because they carry with them connotative meanings from the verb.

Sloppy use of participles result in misplaced modifiers and dangling participles that often produce unintended humor.

Sloppy use of gerunds can result in problems with subjectverb agreement.

Usage: Gerunds require the possessive not the objective case of pronouns.

Part A: Group Practice with Participles and Puns

Often verbs are naturally associated with certain nouns. If writers use a participle to describe a noun associated with it, their writing will not only carry a punch, but also will reveal the writer's cleverness. Poets often use this technique to create extended metaphors.

Your grammar squad will have five minutes to add nouns and appropriate participles to the list below. Members of the winning squad will receive one grammar homework pass.

NounPast ParticiplePresent Participle

ElectricianDelightedDelighting

MusicianNotedNoting

MusicianDecomposedDecomposing

ChefDerangedRanging

FishermanBaitedDebating

SecretaryDefiledDefiling

SecretaryDescribedDescribing

CosmeticianDefacedDefacing

Stock BrokerDevaluedDevaluing

Ditch DiggerDemotedDemoting

PodiatristDefeated Defeating

Part B: Creative Writing (Student Activity)

Using the list above, write a sentence that uses both gerunds and participles.

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Or: As a group, write a poem using at least three nouns and their corresponding participles from the list above. Begin by identifying three nouns that might have some relationship to each other.

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Part C: Gerunds and ParticiplesStyle and Meaning

Read the opening paragraphs of Sue Monk Kidd's A Secret Life of Bees.5 Identify the underlined verbals as participles (P) or gerunds (N).

At night I would lie in bed and watch the show, how bees squeezed through the cracks of my bedroom wall and flew circles around the room, making that propeller sound, a high-pitched zzzzzz that hummed along my skin. I watched their wings like bits of chrome in the dark and felt the longing build in my chest. The way those bees flew, not even looking for a flower, just flying for the feel of the wind, split my heart down its seam.

During the day I heard them tunneling through the walls of my bedroom, sounding like a radio tuned to static in the next room, and I imagined them in there turning the walls into honey-combs, with honey seeping out for me to taste.

Directions

For participles, list the nouns that each participle modifies. For gerunds, identify their function in the sentence (subject or direct object).

1. making ___________

2. pitched ____________

3. longing ___________

4. looking____________

5. flying_____________

6. tunneling __________

7. sounding __________

8. tuned ____________

9. turning ___________

10. seeping __________

Analysis of Style

1. What effect does the high number of verbals have on the passage's mood?

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2. What predictions might you make for the remainder of the book?

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5 Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees (New York: Penguin Group, 2002).

PHILOSOPHICAL CHAIRS

A Discussion/Debate Activity

DESCRIPTION:

Philosophical Chairs involves the entire class in a discussion activity that employs a controversial prompt with a pro-con response. Desks are arranged facing each other with a few seats in the back of the class for neutral ground and observers. A Controversial topic is introduced which is relevant to the curriculum or is suggested by a piece of literature or historical document.

Lit. Example: Little Red Riding Hood should be punished for talking to strangers. (Agree/Disagree)

Hist. Example: The settlers had a moral obligation not to take away the Indian lands.

Class/school process example: Girls should be able to invite boys to the dance.

Teacher workshop example: Tenure should be abolished.

If the class is unevenly split on the topic, then modify it to get a more even distribution. Its best if students can participate in this refinement.

Lit. Example: Little Red should lose TV privileges for one week.

Teacher workshop example: Tenure should be modified to a 5 year renewable tenure with an administrator/union member team working wit the teacher for 1 year before dismissal.

Alternative selection method: simply assign half the class to the pro side and half the class to the con side. (Tell students that lawyers often defend people and policies they may not agree with.)

SWITCHING:

If a student should change her mind during the course of the discussion, she is encouraged to move to the other side or to neutral ground. During a time-out, the teacher/moderator calls on those students who have changed their opinions to give their reasons for changing sides.

NEUTRAL GROUND:

Those few students who do not want to participate or who are undecided go to neutral ground (seats at the back of the room.) They have three tasks:

Keep a log of the speakers and which speakers were most effective and WHY.

Act as timers, check off who has spoken, and keep the rules

At the end of the discussion, those in neutral ground must pick a side and tell why.

DISCUSSION RULES:

After a student speaks, she must wait until two students on her side have spoken so the two severely gifted kids dont just have a dialogue.)

A student must briefly summarize the previous speakers points to the speakers satisfaction before he begins his own comments. (Teachers can invoke or revoke this rule as the process evolves.

The teacher can call time-out periodically to clarify, reflect on the process or content, or refocus.

Everyone needs to speak at least once during the discussion.

Attack the ideas, not the person.

Think before you speak. Organize your thoughts and sign post (I have three points, first)

One speaker at a time; others are listeners. (Participant note taking can reinforce this rule.)

BENEFITS:

Oral Communication Skills: speaking, listening, responding, organizing, collaborating

Higher Level Thinking Skills: understanding, utilization, analysis, synthesis, judgment

Name: ___________

Topic: ___________________

Philosophical Chair Evaluation12345

Delivery

Sources:

(facts, stats, anecdotes, hypothetical situations, precedent)

Balance among ethos, logos, and pathos

Acknowledgement of opposing viewpoint

Acknowledgement of points made by others

Ability to respond to questions

Comments:Textual Analysis

Determining Rhetorical Purpose: Whether you are analyzing anothers text or your own composition, you should be able to discern a purpose in each section as well as in the overall piece. Below is a list of possible purposes that writers might have. Please not multiple right answers exist and the list is not exhaustive. Please add to it as you think of other purposes. The important outcome is that you engage in critical thinking about purpose.

Describe

Persuade/Argue

State a proposition/State a thesis

Offer a hypothesis

Elaborate

List

Narrate

Exemplify

Categorize

Provide history

Deepen

Itemize

Illustrate

Develop

Provide an example/Support

Compare/Contrast

Predict

Explain

Evaluate

Trace

Cite Synthesize Reason Refute Qualify Develop ReflectDetermining How the Purpose is Achieved: The following list of literary devices and rhetorical strategies are common ways writers achieve their purposes. As the prior list in not exhaustive, neither is this one.

Alliteration

Metaphor

Allusion

Setting

Antithesis

Shift, turn

Apostrophe

Narration

Simile

Assonance

Onomatopoeia (Sound devices)

Consonance

Oxymoron

Structure

Details

Paradox

Style

Diction

Personification

Suspense

Figures of speech

Plot

Symbol

Flashback

Point of view

Synecdoche

metonymy)

Foreshadowing

Prosody

Syntax

Hyperbole

Pun Imagery

Repetition Anaphora

Polysyndeton

Asyndeton Irony Rhyme Understatement Litote

Elements of Argument

Claims the formal term for a thesis in formal argumentation.

Claim of Fact The thesis implies that a definitive answer can be reached based on data.

Example She is older than she looks.

Claim of Policy The thesis states a change in law, policy, or routine should occur.

Example Women should be allowed to join the Augusta Country Club.

Claim of Value The most difficult of the three claims to prove. The value claim argues morality and ethics.

Example Abortion is murder.

Logos Statements based on syllogistic logic or fact.

Example:

Major Premise If you remember the Viet Nam War, you must be at least forty years old.

Minor Premise Jane remembers the Viet Nam War.

Conclusion Jane is over forty.

Pathos Statements that elicit emotion.

Example: We will lose countless American lives if we go to war with Iraq.

Ethos Statements that appeal to ones sense of ethics or moral code.

Examples: Plagiarism in American universities is one of many indicators that this generation lacks the integrity of their parents and grandparents.

Types of Support: Facts, Opinions of Experts, Statistics/Surveys, Hypothetical Situations, and Anecdotes.

Organization Options: Cause/Effect, Least to Most Important, Spatially, Chronologically, Compare/Contrast.

Read the following excerpt of a speech given by President George W. Bush on September 20, 2001, nine days after the attack on the World Trade Centers. For each underlined verb, identify in the margins the following: tense, voice, and mood.

From: An Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People6 THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Speaker, Mr. President Pro Tempore, members of Congress, and fellow Americans:

In the normal course of events, Presidents come to this chamber to report on the state of the

Union. Tonight, no such report is needed. It has already been delivered by the American people

We have seen the state of our Union in the endurance of rescuers, working past exhaustion. We have seen the unfurling of flags, the lighting of candles, the giving of blood, the saying of prayersin English, Hebrew, and Arabic. We have seen the decency of a loving and giving people who have made the grief of strangers their own.

My fellow citizens, for the last nine days, the entire world has seen for itself the state of our Unionand it is strong.

Tonight we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom. Our grief has turned to anger, and anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice, or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.

I thank the Congress for its leadership at such an important time. All of America was touched on the evening of the tragedy to see Republicans and Democrats joined together on the steps of this Capitol, singing "God Bless America." And you did more than sing; you acted, by delivering $40 billion to rebuild our communities and meet the needs of our military.

6 George W. Bush, excerpted from: "An Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People," September 20, 2001; http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/print/20010920-8.html.

On September the 11th, enemies of freedom committed an act of war against our country. Americans have known wars but for the past 136 years, they have been wars on foreign soil, except for one Sunday in 1941. Americans have known the casualties of warbut not at the center of a great city on a peaceful morning. Americans have known surprise attacksbut never before on thousands of civilians. All of this was brought upon us in a single dayand night fell on a different world, a world where freedom itself is under attack.

Americans have many questions tonight. Americans are asking: Who attacked our country? The evidence we have gathered all points to a collection of loosely affiliated terrorist organizations known as al Qaeda. They are the same murderers indicted for bombing American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, and responsible for bombing the USS Cole.

Al Qaeda is to terror what the mafia is to crime. But its goal is not making money; its goal is remaking the worldand imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere.

The terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has been rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clericsa fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam. The terrorists' directive commands them to kill Christians and Jews, to kill all Americans, and make no distinction among military and civilians, including women and children.

This group and its leadera person named Osama bin Ladenare linked to many other organizations in different countries, including the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. There are thousands of these terrorists in more than 60 countries. They are recruited from their own nations and neighborhoods and brought to camps in places like Afghanistan, where they are trained in the tactics of terror. They are sent back to their homes or sent to hide in countries around the world to plot evil and destruction.

The leadership of al Qaeda has great influence in Afghanistan and supports the Taliban regime in controlling most of that country. In Afghanistan, we see al Qaeda's vision for the world. Afghanistan's people have been brutalizedmany are starving and many have fled. Women are not allowed to attend school. You can be jailed for owning a television. Religion can be practiced only as their leaders dictate.

A man can be jailed in Afghanistan if his beard is not long enough. The United States respects the people of Afghanistanafter all, we are currently its largest source of humanitarian aidbut we condemn the Taliban regime. It is not only repressing its own people, it is threatening people everywhere by sponsoring and sheltering and supplying terrorists. By aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban regime is committing murder.

And tonight, the United States of America makes the following demands on the Taliban: Deliver to United States authorities all the leaders of al Qaeda who hide in your land. Release all foreign nationals, including American citizens, you have unjustly imprisoned. Protect foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers in your country. Close immediately and permanently every terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, and hand over every terrorist, and every person in their support structure, to appropriate authorities. Give the United States full access to terrorist training camps, so we can make sure they are no longer operating.

These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion. The Taliban must act, and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in their fate.

I also want to speak tonight directly to Muslims throughout the world. We respect your faith. It's practiced freely by many millions of Americans, and by millions more in countries that America counts as friends. Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah. The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself. The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends; it is not our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists, and every government that supports them.

Great harm has been done to us. We have suffered great loss. And in our grief and anger we have found our mission and our moment. Freedom and fear are at war. The advance of human freedomthe great achievement of our time, and the great hope of every timenow depends on us. Our nationthis generationwill lift a dark threat of violence from our people and our future. We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail.

The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them.

Fellow citizens, we'll meet violence with patient justiceassured of the rightness of our cause, and confident of the victories to come. In all that lies before us, may God grant us wisdom, and may He watch over the United States of America.Rhetorical Purpose

Even though President Bush says he is speaking to Americans and Members of Congress, he also addresses Muslims, al Qaeda, the Taliban, and Afghanis. His speechwriter chose verbs carefully, depending on audience and purpose. Consider the verb tense, mood, and voice used in different sections. Analyze the implied message in these choices.

AudienceVerb VoiceVerb TenseVerb MoodOther Observations

Americans

Congress

Muslims

Al Qaeda

Taliban

Afghanis

Syntax Practice: Knowledge of syntax or sentence patterns can help students unlock meaning. After ensuring students can identify some basic sentence patterns, give them exercises similar to the one below. This type of rhetorical analysis will help develop their language skills and will prepare them for both the multiple choice and essays on the AP Language exam.

Foundational Concepts of Syntax The following categories of sentence patterns can help students analyze syntax which is one of the key skills to develop for the AP Language Exam. Chinese students will probably have a good understanding of most of these terms. The Pre-AP teacher should review them with students and them provide them with activities that ensure students use the concepts to unlock meaning in texts they read.

Sentence Structure (syntax)

Describe the sentence structure by considering the following:

1. Examine the sentence length. Are the sentences telegraphic (shorter than 5 words in length), short (approx. 5 words in length), medium (approx. 18 words in length), or long and involved

(30 words or more in length)? Does the sentence length fit the subject matter? What variety of lengths is present? Why is the sentence length effective?

2. Examine sentence beginnings. Is there a good variety of beginnings or does a pattern emerge?

3. Examine the arrangement of ideas in a sentence. Are they set out in a special way for a purpose?

4. Examine the arrangement of ideas in a paragraph. Is there evidence of any pattern or structure?

5. Examine sentence patterns. Some elements to consider are listed below:

A declarative (assertive) sentence makes a statement: e.g., The king is sick. An imperative sentence gives a command: e.g., Stand up.

A simple sentence contains one subject and one verb: e.g. The singer bowed to her adoring audience.

A compound sentence contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinate conjunction (and, but, nor, or, yet ) or by a semicolon: e.g., The singer bowed to the audience, but she sang no encores.

A compound-complex sentence contains two or more principal clauses and one or more subordinate clauses: e.g., The singer bowed while the audience applauded, but she sang no encore.

6. The following terms, loose and periodic sentences, can be applied to all sentences.

A loose sentence makes complete sense if brought to a close before the actual ending: e.g., We reached Edmonton/that morning/after a turbulent flight/ and some exciting experiences.

A periodic sentence makes sense only when the end of the sentence is reached: e.g., That morning, after a turbulent flight and some exciting experiences, we reached Edmonton.

7. Other patterns to consider:

Natural Order of a Sentence involves constructing a sentence so the subject comes before the predicate: e.g., Oranges grow in California.

Inverted order of a sentence (sentence inversion) involves constructing a sentence so the predicate comes before the subject: e.g., In California grow oranges. This is a device in which normal sentence patterns are reversed to create an emphatic or rhythmic effect.

Split order of a sentence divides the predicate into two parts with the subject coming in the middle: e.g., In California oranges grow.

8. Juxtaposition is a poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, crating an effect of surprise and wit: e.g., The apparition of these faces in the crowd:/Petals on a wet, black bough (in a Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound)

9. Parallel Structure (parallelism) refers to a grammatical or structural similarity between sentences or parts of a sentence. It involves an arrangement of words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs so that elements of equal importance are equally developed and similarly phrased: e.g., He was walking, running, and jumping for joy.

10. Repetition is a device in which words, sounds, and ideas are used more than once to enhance rhythm and create emphasis: e.g., ....government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. (Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln)

11. A rhetorical question is a question that expects no answer. If is used to draw attention to a point and is generally stronger than a direct statement: e.g. If Mr. Ferchoff is always fair, as you have said, why did he refuse to listen to Mrs. Baldwins arguments?

Syntax Practice: Student Writing and RevisionThe following passage contains wording that connotes speed, but the syntax does not enhance the effect of the diction. Think of some syntactical tools you could use--e.g., punctuation, repetition, or clauses and phrases linked together in different patterns and orders. Then experiment with syntax to create a fast pace so the reader feels the rush of the wind and the racing vehicle. Change any diction that you feel would add to the pacing. Share your ideas with your table group. Choose one sample to read aloud to the whole group. Revise as needed.Write it on the flip chart and/or read it aloud, and discuss how the syntax contributes to the kinetic sense/imagery of speed.Around the bend sped the yellow racecar. Sparks darted from the wheels. The car tilted slightly at the bend. Roaring was everywhere. The driver felt the whoosh of wind flatten the skin on her face. She navigated yet another hairpin turn and kept on zooming around the track. The wheels appeared to hover above the ground. The crowd soon became dizzy with motion.

In-Class Essay Rubric

High Level Essay:

9876

Interprets the question perceptively and makes a persuasive or comprehensive

application of the question to the work. Offers well-focused and persuasive

analysis.

Fully explores the thesis with a wealth of well-chosen, specific examples.

Explores the question in depth, showing significant insight and understanding.

Organizes the material in a consistently coherent manner.

Comes to a conclusion which not only restates the main points of

the essay, but also shows insight into the implications of the question.

Style- Sophisticated control of composition elements; Voice and fluidity

Correctness: No major errors in expression- good command of mechanics.

Middle Level Essay:

5

Interprets the question correctly and has an apparent understanding of the work, but may be

somewhat shallow in application or make a somewhat misguided application of the work.

Offers minimal analysis.

Explores the subject/thesis with some significant illustrations, but is underdeveloped. May

lapse into plot summary.

Organizes the material coherently, but may make an occasional slip in ordering development

Conclusion merely restates thesis

Style generally clear, but may lack polish or strength; diction my be unimaginative, but is

generally, correct. Adequate command of composition basics.

Good control of mechanics but my make an occasional slip.

Low Level Essay:

4 3 2 1

Shows serious misunderstanding of either the question or the work.

Development slender only a few significant examples; often a mixture of the significant and the trivial without apparent knowledge of the difference.

Organization lacks a coherent plan or fails to adhere to one.

Conclusion May make new points that should have been stated earlier or

may be lacking altogether.

Style May be marred by monotony of phrasing, triteness, or ambiguity.

Correctness May lack good control of language; work marred by errors of

various types.

Comments:

A Guide to Holistic Grading

By Mary Kay Harrington

With thanks to Marilyn Elkins

1. Internalize the scoring guide and then read quickly for a holistic impression of the paper; score immediately. Do not reread or analyze. Those who read and score quickly tend to be more accurate than the slow rereaders.

2. Read the entire paper; the writing sometimes improves dramatically (after some throat clearing) as the writer continues, and it sometimes falls apart after the first page or two.

3. Read supportively; try to reward what is done well, rather than search for small errors or omissions (remember students have 40 minutes)these are drafts.

4. Read with an open mind: students are young and they may have a very simple notion of a literary work that youve read many times and absolutely love!

5. Holistic reading means to take everything into account, to hold many things in your head: does the student answer all parts of the question, is the essay organized at the essay and paragraph level, is it well-developed, how well expressed (syntax, vocabulary, mechanics, etc.), is the tone and diction appropriate?

6. Remember that a good plot summary is not analysis, nor is repetition.

7. Try to ignore handwriting. Some handwriting doesnt look intelligent. Be careful of these judgments. If the handwriting is too illegible to permit a rapid, holistic reading, give the paper to your table leader who will, if necessary, give the paper to the question leader.

8. Do not judge a paper for its length alone; some short papers are excellent, and some long papers very poor.

9. Use the full scale. In the papers to be scored, there will be 1 and 9 papers.

10. Remember that each score category represents a range (a high 3 or 5 or 9, etc. We have thousands of essays to read and only 9 score points!

11. An unfinished (but developed) paper should not be penalized for lacking a conclusion (unless you were waiting breathlessly for the answer).

12. A 9 paper need not be absolutely perfect and polished.

13. Standards are set by consensus. Remember to remind readers that they should set aside their individual or local scoring standards (or in some cases, idiosyncratic).

14. Remember that the writer of the paper believes that his/her ideas are fresh and original. Unlike the readers, the writer has not read a hundred pages that begin just like the one currently scored.

15. The paper should be scored as fairly on the last day of the reading (or last moment) as on the first or third day.Writing Tips for In-Class Essays

Write two prompts and allow student choose which to grade.

Start with a command of topic; avoid flat, generic introductions. Students can leave a space at the top to go back and fill in after they find a focus.

Have peers write an introduction and conclusion.

Read a long short story and a short, short story. Have students retell the long short story in the style of the original shorter piece.

Have students slash and burn 1) to be verbs 2) adverbs 3) vague constructions such as The plot depends on Hamlets madness to develop.

Chicken Foot

FIG Facts, Interpretation, Global

Forego page introductions. They tend to be plot summary.

Avoid repeating the prompt.

ASR should be used in the service of generalities.

Thesis Statement Practice

Below you will find an essay prompt from the 2012 AP English Language and Composition exam. Three thesis statements follow the prompt. Read the prompt and then evaluate each of the thesis statements based on the following qualities. Rank them from one to three with three representing the strongest and one the weakest. Use the following criteria to rank the thesis statements: Goes beyond the obvious Is specific to the works being discussed Has a persuasive quality Contains a universal big idea (so what quality) Contains an arguable yes/but idea and is interesting

Responds clearly to the promptQuestions 3 - 2012 English Language and Composition Exam

Consider the distinct perspectives expressed in the following statements.If you develop the absolute sense of certainty that powerful beliefs provide, then you can get yourself to accomplish virtually anything, including those things that other people are certain are impossible.William Lyon Phelps, American educator, journalist, and professor (18651943)I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldnt wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine.Bertrand Russell, British author, mathematician, and philosopher (18721970)In a well-organized essay, take a position on the relationship between certainty and doubt. Support your argument with appropriate evidence and examples.Thesis Statements:

1. My position on a well-organized essay is that sometimes its good to have doubt about some things, because not all the time your going to be right on something its good to question your thinking, your though before you speak.2. Through medicine, it becomes apparent that statistical certainty, accompanied by doubt, is always nothing more than a statistic: what is probable to happen, but may not necessarily happen.3. Doubt is truly necessary for Real learning and growth to occur, while believing only in certainty can be a hindrance. There are many beliefs that some people hold to

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