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.

The Pentagon

Here is a reading on The Pentagon with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. I don’t know how much utility these documents carry, but I suspect that they would be best used with a student who has a particular interest in the topic. The reading is an informative summary on the building and its history, and is sufficiently up to date to include the attack on The Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Somehow, the editors of the Intellectual Devotional series fit all of that into a one-page text.

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.

The Doubter’s Companion: University

“University: A place in which a civilization’s knowledge is divided up into exclusive territories.

The principal occupation of the academic community is to invent dialects sufficiently hermetic to prevent knowledge from passing between territories. By maintaining a constant flow of written material among the specialists of each group they are able to assert the acceptable technique of communication intended to prevent communications. This in turn establishes a standard which allows them to dismiss those who seek to communicate through generally accessible language as dilettantes, deformers, or popularizers.”

Excerpted from: Saul, John Ralston. The Doubter’s Companion. New York: The Free Press, 1994.

Farrago (n)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the noun farrago. It means “a confused mixture” and “hodgepodge.” I have to believe that this was a Word of the Day from Merriam-Webster during the pandemic lock-down, and, with little else to do, I wrote this. I guess I’ll add it to the growing, and therefore mildly embarrassing, list of words on this blog that students really don’t need to know.

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.

Demonstrative Pronoun

“Demonstrative Pronoun: A pronoun that shows where something is in relation to the speaker and listener. Standard English has four demonstratives, paired and with number contrast; this/these here, that/those there. Some dialects have three (this, that, yon/yonder) and Scots has this, that, yon/yonder and its variant thon/thonder. The set of three are comparable to Latin hic this near me, iste, that near you, ille that over there. For some grammarians, the term covers the demonstratives however used; for others, demonstrative pronouns (‘I like that,’ Give me some of these’) are distinguished from demonstrative determiners (‘I like that one,’ ‘Who are these people?’).”

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

Common Errors in English Usage: His and Her’s

To depart from the Latin/Roman emphasis in this morning’s posts, here is a worksheet on the possessive pronouns his and her’s. This is essentially a document to remind students that one never uses an apostrophe with possessive pronouns–just the s without punctuation. This is full-page worksheet that has no structured (i.e. cloze) exercises, but rather calls upon student to compose extemporaneously a series of five sentences using possessive pronouns without apostrophes. This, like almost everything else on this site, is a Microsoft Word document. Therefore, you may alter it to your needs.

And, because giving credit where credit is due is an essential operating principle at Mark’s Text Terminal, let me say once more that this material was adapted from Paul Brians’ book Common Errors in English Usage, to which Professor Brians offers access without charge 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.

Ex Voto

“Ex Voto: (Lat., out of thankfulness) A painted or sculptured image given to God or gods in thanksgiving for favors and blessings. Occasionally the donor is depicted in the work.”

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

Word Root Exercise: Intra, Intro

Here is a worksheet on the Latin word roots intra and intro. They mean within, inward, inside, and into. You’ll find these roots at the base of words used in the medical profession like intradermal, intramuscular, and intravenous, but also in higher frequency English words like intramural and introduce–all included on this worksheet.

These roots should not be confused with inter which means between and among; if you seek a word root worksheet on inter, you can find that 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.

Anno Domini

“Anno domini: Latin for ‘in the Year of Our Lord’; i.e., in the year since the nativity: generally abbreviated to AD. It was Dionysus Exiguus who fixed the date of the Nativity; he lived in the early 6th century, and his computation is probably late by some three to six years. The custom of determining dates on this basis is said to be the result of the work of the Venerable Bede.”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

Cultural Literacy: Colosseum

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Colosseum in Rome. This is a half-page worksheet with a five-sentence reading and three comprehension questions. It’s a solid and concise introduction to the Colosseum and the spectacles that were staged in it. Perhaps three comprehension questions are insufficient; if so, this is (like almost everything that can be downloaded from this site) a Microsoft Word document which you can alter to you or your students’ 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.

Ex Cathedra

“Ex Cathedra: Pronounced from the seat or authority or by the right of one’s office, as by a papal declaration; authoritatively judgmental, sometimes without explanation or justification; presumptuous. Adverb: ex cathedra.

‘Both stamped Irving’s ‘Hughes’ samples as authentic, and both spoke forth with the certainty of the Holy Father making a pronouncement ex cathedra.’ James Phelan, Scandals, Scamps and Scoundrels