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.

Mellifluous (adj)

Posted on July 14, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective mellifluous. It means “having a smooth rich flow <a mellifluous voice> and “filled with something (as honey) that sweetens.”

It’s not a word used with any real frequency in English. But when you need it–as when it’s time to express one’s feelings about, say, Nina Simone’s voice–well, nothing else will quite do, you 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.

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Rotten Reviews: Son of the Morning Star

Posted on July 14, 2021 | Leave a comment

“Unfortunately, the big story often seems to elude Connell, who is obsessed with digression, flashback, and flashforward.”

Commentary

 “This do-it-yourself kit will appeal to those who think confusion is a narrative strategy.”

J.O. Tate, National Review

Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.    

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A Learning Support on Using Quotation Marks

Posted on July 14, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a learning support on using quotation marks. This is quite a bit of text, some of which, especially the material on typography and word processing software, but that’s only a paragraph, so you’re still stuck with a two-page document.

In any case, this is, to flog this tiresome point again, a Microsoft Word document. In other words, you can do just about anything you want with it. I can see how it could be broken into several pieces and those pieces made into practice worksheets. It’s yours now.

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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Write It Right: By for Of

Posted on July 13, 2021 | Leave a comment

“By for Of. ‘A man by the name of Brown.’ Say, of the name. Better than either form is: a man named Brown.”

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

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Cultural Literacy: Cause Celebre

Posted on July 13, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the noun cause celebre. It means, as I am sure you know, “a legal case that excites widespread interest” and “a notorious person, thing, incident, or episode.”

This Gallicism isn’t exactly the most commonly used word in the the language, but educated people do use it. I’ll hazard a guess that one wouldn’t have far to look in major metropolitan newspapers or literary magazines like The Atlantic, Harpers, or The New Yorker to see this word in action. If nothing else, when children and adolescents make foolish choices, as the often do, this is the right word to describe them, especially in its latter sense.

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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4 Types of Caviar

Posted on July 12, 2021 | Leave a comment

“Beluga * Sterlet * Osetra * Sevruga

Caviar is the edible squishy eggs (roe) of the sturgeon, a slow-moving, bottom-grazing fish that can grow to twelve feet in length. It was originally associated with the Caspian Sea but is now bred in other regions of the world due to the fantastic price that caviar fetches and the decline in sturgeon numbers in the polluted inland sea. Beluga is the most expensive variety, composed of large, soft, pea-sized eggs (normally packed into a blue tin); Sterlet is small and golden coloured (golden tin); Osetra is medium-sized, from grey to brown (yellow or green tin); while Sevruga (red tin) are the small black and grey eggs.”

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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New York City Subways

Posted on July 12, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a reading on the New York City subways along with its vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

This is a rudimentary history of the system, though it does offer some room for analysis, particularly the paragraph that begins “Since their opening, New York’s subways have functioned as a sort of bellwether for the city’s overall condition.” In any event, if you happen to work as a teacher in New York City, and serve a special needs population, I can just about guarantee you that at some point you will encounter a student, if you haven’t already, whose all-consuming, even obsessive, interest in the subway system will make these documents stand as high-interest material. Ergo, I have tagged them as such.

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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Grand Style

Posted on July 12, 2021 | Leave a comment

“Grand Style: (grand manner) The representation of the human figure in elevated themes or noble settings. Tern used to describe the artistic ideal of the High Renaissance that was promoted in the academies.”

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

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Common Errors in English Usage: Envious and Jealous

Posted on July 12, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on distinguishing the adjectives envious and jealous. The distinction is thin, but as usual, Paul Brians does a nice job in making the distinction clear: you are envious of what others have, but you become jealous when you are trying to hold on to what you have.

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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Word Root Exercise: Voc, Vok

Posted on July 12, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on the Latin word roots voc and vok. They mean, as you might see or hear, “to call,” “voice.” This is a very productive root in English which you’ll find these roots at the base of words like vocal, advocate, invoke, and, of course, vocabulary. In other words, some high-frequency and relatively high-frequency words in English.

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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