Category Archives: English Language Arts

This category contains domain-specific material–reading and writing expository prose, interpreting literature etc.–designed to meet the Common Core standards in English language arts while at the same time being flexible enough to meet the needs of diverse and idiosyncratic learners.

A Learning Support on Verbs and Objects

Here is a learning support on verbs and objects, or using direct objects with verbs. This is one-third page of text from what I consider the best grammar manual going, particularly for high-school students, Grant Barrett’s Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking (Berkeley: Zephyros Press, 2016).

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.

The Lost Weekend

The Lost Weekend: A film (1945) adapted by director Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett from a 1944 novel by Charles R. Jackson about a struggling writer who surrenders to alcoholism one weekend after he falls victim to writer’s block. Starring Ray Milland, the film caused a considerable stir: representatives of the liquor industry offered $5 million of the negative, so that it could be destroyed, fearing the effect it would have upon sales of alcohol, and members of the temperance movement also tried to have the films stopped, suspecting that it might actually encourage people to drink. The novel and film popularized the phrase ‘lost weekend’ for any period spend in dissolute living or drunkenness.”

Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.

A Learning Support on Infinitives and Whether or Not to Split Them

Here is a learning support on infinitives and whether or not to split them. This is a reading of about two-thirds of a page adapted from a current grammar manual.

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.

The Prophet Muhammad on Education

“Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave.”

Muhammad (571?-634?)

Excerpted from: Howe, Randy, ed. The Quotable Teacher. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.

A Learning Support on Using Pronouns with Gerunds

Here is a learning support on using pronouns with gerunds. This is a half-page reading from Paul Brians’ excellent book Common Errors in English Usage, which you’ll find available to you, at no cost, under that hyperlink.

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.

Term of Art: Threshold Hypothesis

“threshold hypothesis: The belief among advocates of bilingual education that individuals with high levels of proficiency in two languages experience cognitive advantages in language skills and intellectual growth over those with low levels of proficiency in two languages, who have significant cognitive deficits.”

Excerpted from: Ravitch, Diane. EdSpeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2007.

A Learning Support on Gerunds and Infinitives

Here is a learning support on gerunds and infinitives that accompanies a raft of new material I’ll be posting in the next several months on mastering the use of gerunds and infinitives in English prose. This thing, as it should be, I suppose, is self-explanatory.

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.

Limners

“Limners: Untutored American artists who executed naïve and literal portraits. Often itinerant, they worked mostly in the 18th and early 19th centuries.”

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

Word Root Exercise: Pyr-o

Moving right along this morning, here is a worksheet on the Greek word root pyr-o . It means, as you already know, fire; but it also means heat and fever. This root yields the high-frequency English word pyromaniac, which does not appear on this document. Lower frequency words in use by educated people, however abound here: you’ll find empyrean, as well as pyre, and the solid scientific adjective pyrophoric.

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.

Book of Answers: Closet Drama

“What is a closet drama?  It is a play, usually in verse, written for private reading rather than performance. Byron’s Manfred (1817) and Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound (1820) are examples.”

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