Week 5

4/03/2010

Quiz 4

• Take quiz• Check together

• Announcement: Easter Party! Today: 4ish? • * Egg dyeing• * Easter presentation—what is Easter? What do

we do? Why do we celebrate?• * Egg salad sandwiches• * Easter candy

Misplaced modifiers

• What are the double meanings of these sentences?

– “Wanted: Young Man – To Open Oysters with References”

– Clyde and Charlotte decided to have two children on their wedding day.

– The students no longer like the math instructor who failed the test.

Word placement

• How could we clarify the following sentences?

– Tony bought an old bicycle from a crooked dealer with faulty breaks.

– I nearly earned two hundred RMB last week.

– Bill yelled at the howling dog in his underwear.

Misplaced Modifiers

I saw mountains of uncollected trash walking along the city

streets.

I almost had a dozen job interviews after I sent out my

resume.

Bill swatted the wasp that stung him with a newspaper.

Jill decided to live with her grandparents when she attended

college to save money.

Charlotte returned the hamburger to the supermarket that was

spoiled.

Roger visited the old house still weak with the flu.

The phone almost rang fifteen times last night.

My uncle saw a kangaroo at the window under the influence of

whiskey.

We decided to send our daughter to college on the day she was

born.

Fred always opens the bills that arrive in the mailbox with a sigh.

I noticed a crack in the window walking into the deli.

A well-worn track shoe was found on the locker bench with holes in

it.

I almost caught a hundred lightning bugs.

Dave found a television set in a secondhand store that had been

stolen from me last month.

There were four cars parked outside the café with Suzhou

license plates.

Longfellow wrote that rainbows are the flowers that have died

and gone to heaven in a poem.

I almost filled an entire notebook with biology lab drawings.

The apprentice watched the master carpenter expertly fit the

door with envious eyes.

The photographer pointed the camera at the shy deer equipped with a special night-vision scope.

The passengers on the bus stared at the ceiling or read newspapers with tired faces.

Dangling modifiers: Introduction (1)

What is the double meaning of this sentence?

While smoking a pipe, my dog sat with me by the crackling fire.

Dangling modifiers: Introduction (2)

What is the double meaning of this sentence?

Looking at the leather-skirted woman, his sports car went

through a red light.

Dangling modifiers: Introduction (3)

What is the double meaning of this sentence?

After baking for several hours, Grandmother removed the beef

pie from the oven.

Dangling modifiers: Definition (1)

• A modifier that opens a sentence must be followed immediately by the word it is meant to describe.

• Otherwise, the modifier is “dangling” and the sentence takes on an unintended meaning.

Dangling modifiers: Definition (2)

– While smoking a pipe, my dog sat with me by the crackling fire.

• Intended meaning: I was smoking a pipe• Unintended meaning: dog was smoking a

pipe

Dangling modifiers: Correction

• Two ways to correct:

1. Place the subject right after the opening word group.

While smoking a pipe, I sat with my dog by the crackling fire.

2. Place the subject within the opening word group.

While I was smoking my pipe, my dog sat with me by the crackling fire.

Dangling Modifiers Practice

Flunking out of school, my parents demanded that I get a

job.

When dieting, desserts are especially tempting for Cicely.

Sitting in the front row at the World Cup, a football hit Kathy on

the head.

Covered with food stains, Shirley decided to wash the tablecloth.

Joining several college clubs, Selena’s social life became more

active.

Braking the car suddenly, Sharon’s shopping bags tumbled

off the seat.

Advertising on BBS, Joyce’s old textbooks were quickly sold.

Frustrated by piles of homework, Cherry’s temptation was to watch

“Gossip Girls”.

After waiting in the bank line for an hour, the teller told Coco she

had filled out the wrong form.

In a sentimental frame of mind, the music brought tears to Kiki’s

eyes.

Elements of Style points 9-18

(http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk5.html)

Go over a few points

Comparison & Contrast Writing

• “American Space, Chinese Place”

• Group discussion: Questions on Content & Questions on Technique

• What do you think about Yi-Fi Tuan’s theory of “space” and “place”?

• Do you agree that Chinese are rooted in place? What about in modern Chinese culture?

Homework

• 1. Write: Compare/contrast essay based on your outline—I’ll send it back by Monday night

• 2. Read: Examining Cause and Effect

• 3. Review: today’s lesson (quiz 5)