Monthly Archives: January 2022

Write It Right: Commence for Begin

Posted on January 5, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Commence for Begin. This is not actually incorrect, but—well, it is a matter of taste.”

Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. Write it Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2010.

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A Learning Support on Using a Comma in Measurements

Posted on January 5, 2022 | Leave a comment

Moving right along, here is a learning support on using a comma in measurements. This is the twelfth of fifteen learning supports on commas posted in a series on Mark’s Text Terminal. (You can find an excursus on this choice of publishing practice here.)

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Book of Answers: The Death of Jack Kerouac

Posted on January 5, 2022 | Leave a comment

“How did Jack Kerouac die? The author of On the Road (1957) died at age 47 on October 21, 1969, of a massive gastric hemorrhage associated with alcoholism in St. Petersburg, Florida.”

Excerpted from: Corey, Melinda, and George Ochoa. Literature: The New York Public Library Book of Answers. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.

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Common Errors in English Usage: If Not

Posted on January 5, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on the use of “if not” as a means linking a weaker word with a stronger one, as in “He was smart, if not exactly brilliant.” This is a full-page reading with a five sentence reading, ten modified cloze exercises, and a word bank to assist students with word choice if they want or need that support.

To give credit where credit is due, I like to always mention, when posting these English usage documents, that they are based upon Paul Brians’ book (hence the header of each post) Common Errors in English Usage. If you’re interested, Professor Brians allows unfettered access at no charge to the book at the Washington State University website.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Manuscript

Posted on January 5, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Manuscript: (Latin codex manu scriptus “book written by hand”) Strictly a book or document of any kind written by hand rather than printed or typed. True, a typewritten document is often called a manuscript. It is, in fact, a typescript.”

Excerpted from: Cuddon, J.A. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. New York: Penguin, 1992.

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A Learning Support on Using a Comma with Age, City of Residence, and Political Party Affiliation

Posted on January 5, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a learning support on using a comma with age, city of residence, and political party affiliation. This is the eleventh in a series of fifteen posts in which a long passage from a leading punctuation manual is presented seriatim under their major headings from the book. (You can find an excursus on this choice of publishing practice here.)

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Term of Art: Visual Memory

Posted on January 5, 2022 | Leave a comment

“visual memory: The ability to take in, store, and retrieve information presented visually. Short-term visual memory is the ability to hold visual information in short-term memory in order to process it, either moving it into long-term memory or shifting focus.

Visual working memory (or nonverbal working memory) involves the ability to hold visual information in mind while considering it, reflecting on it, or in some other fashion processing it.

Long-term memory also involves visual forms, in which images are stored on a long-term basis and available for recall.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

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Word Root Exercise: Micro-

Posted on January 5, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on the Greek root micro-. This root is so productive in English that I imagine it would be hard to find anyone over the age of five who doesn’t understand that it means “small.” It also means, according to the book from which I drew the text at the base of all the word root exercises found on this blog, “millionth.”

This productive root can be found at the base of such high-frequency words in general discourse as microphone and microwave as well as scientific vocabulary like microbe and microclimate.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Anticlimax

Posted on January 4, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Anticlimax: 1. In rhetoric, a descent from the elevated and important to the low and trivial: ‘Here thou, Great Anna! whom three realms obey,/Dost sometimes counsel take—and sometimes tea’ (Pope, The Rape of the Lock, (1712). 2. In drama, the lowered state after a climax; in life, an outcome that fails to live up to expectations.”

Excerpted from: McArthur, Tom. The Oxford Concise Companion to the English Language. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

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A Learning Support on Using a Comma in a Location Address

Posted on January 4, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a learning support on using a comma in a location address. This is the tenth of a series of fifteen such documents, all from the same punctuation manual, therefore all intra-connected, posted here. (You can find an excursus on this choice of publishing practice here.)

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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