Monthly Archives: January 2022

The Devil’s Dictionary: Confidant, Confidante

Posted on January 3, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Confidant, Confidante, n. One entrusted by A with the secrets of B, confided by him to C.”

Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. David E. Schultz and S.J. Joshi, eds. The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2000. 

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Devious (adj)

Posted on January 3, 2022 | Leave a comment

Given the state of ethical life in the United States, I’d like to thing that this context clues worksheet on the adjective devious would bring the word into more frequent usage. It means, as the context clues in this document point toward, “not straightforward,” “cunning,” and “deceptive.” Since there is a lot of this going around, we should supply students a word to use to describe it.

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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32 Grains of an English Coin

Posted on January 3, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Thirty-two grains of English wheat, taken from the middle of an ear of corn (so as to confound cheats and counterfeiters) was the official weight of an English silver penny according to the reforms of old King Offa of Mercia (757-796), undertaken in parallel with those of the Emperor Charlemagne in mainland Europe. Twenty of these pennies should weigh in at an ounce (to give the equal of the old Latin solidus coin of the Romans and the English shilling) and twelve such ounces produced the royally approved standard of a Tower Pound, worth 240 silver pennies. All of which said, in 1284 King Edward I switched the currency off the wheat standard back to the barley grain.”

Excerpted from: Rogerson, Barnaby. Rogerson’s Book of Numbers: The Culture of Numbers–from 1,001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World. New York: Picador, 2013.

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Reproduction

Posted on January 3, 2022 | Leave a comment

OK, science and health teachers, here is a reading on reproduction along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. As is generally true of the readings from the Intellectual Devotional series, this one-page reading is a remarkably thorough introduction to reproduction in the plant and animal kingdoms.

If you find typos in these documents, 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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Lean Surface

Posted on January 3, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Lean Surface: The matte surface produced by painting with a minimum of oil; essential in underpainting.”

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

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A Learning Support on Using Semicolons

Posted on January 3, 2022 | Leave a comment

Hot off the press, here is a learning support on using semicolons. It is very thorough, and is excerpted from one of the best (in my opinion) punctuation manuals out there.

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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Elision

Posted on January 1, 2022 | Leave a comment

Elision: In speech and writing, the omission or slurring (eliding) of one or more vowels, consonants, or syllables, as in ol’ man old man, gonna going to, wannabe want to be, and the usual pronunciation of parliament (‘parlement’). Although in speech there is no direct indication of elision, in writing it is often marked by an apostrophe: didn’t did not, I’d’ve I would have. Elision is common in everyday speech and may specially marked in verse to ensure that readers keep the meter, and in th’empire. Foreign students often have trouble coming to terms with elisions created by the stress-time rhythm of English, which may make word sequences sound nonsensical, It is no good at all sounding like Snow good a tall.

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

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Common Errors in English Usage: If I Was/I Were

Posted on January 1, 2022 | Leave a comment

Once again, from the pages of Paul Brians’ usage manual Common Errors in English Usage (to which he allows access at no charge at the Washington State University website, here is a worksheet on if I was and if I were. In other words (as you have no doubt already deduced), this document aims to help students make sense of the subjunctive mood.

This is a full-page worksheet with Professor Brians’ five-sentence reading, then my own lengthy instructions on the sentence analysis work that I conceived of as the principle work of this exercise. In any case, this is a Microsoft Word document, so you may manipulate it for your needs.

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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Axiom

Posted on January 1, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Axiom (noun): A generally or universally accepted truth or incontestable principle; self-evident or fundamental proposition; verity. Adj. axiomatic; adv. axiomatically.

‘He recalled a slang axiom that never had any meaning in college days: ‘Don’t buck the system; you’re likely to gum the works.’ John  O’Hara, Appointment in Samarra”

Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.

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Word Root Exercise: Iso-

Posted on January 1, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on the Greek word root iso-. It means equal and same. It’s at the root of a number of frequently used words in mathematics and the sciences; the two words I recognize from the list on this document (which were chosen, as the book from which they were drawn emphasizes, because of the frequency with which they appear on college admissions tests like the SAT) are isosceles and isotope.

Otherwise, as you will quickly perceive, the words on this worksheet are not high-frequency words in everyday discourse.

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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