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.

Write It Right: And So, And Yet.

Posted on July 28, 2020 | Leave a comment

“And So. And Yet. ‘And so they were married.’ ‘And yet a woman.’ Omit the conjunction.”

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

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Mesmerize (vt)

Posted on July 28, 2020 | Leave a comment

Because it’s the Word of the Day today at Merriam-Webster’s, here is context clues worksheet on the verb mesmerize. It’s used only transitively, so don’t forget your direct object.

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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Cato the Elder with a Pithy Statement for Our Time

Posted on July 27, 2020 | Leave a comment

“I would much rather have men ask why I have no statue, than why I have one.”

Cato the Elder, Quoted in Plutarch, Parallel Lives

Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

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Independent Practice: Plato

Posted on July 27, 2020 | Leave a comment

Alright, last but not least today, here is an independent practice worksheet on Plato if you can use 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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Term of Art: Hellenistic Grammar

Posted on July 27, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Hellenistic Grammar: The study of grammar in the West in the period called ‘Hellenistic,’ conventionally 323-31 BC: the period of the early Stoics and Alexandrians, including Dionysius Thrax.”

Excerpted from: Matthews, P.H., ed. The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.

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Word Root Exercise: Pod, -Pode

Posted on July 27, 2020 | Leave a comment

OK, esteemed colleagues, here is a worksheet on the Greek word roots pod and pode. They mean foot and feet. These are a couple of very productive roots in English, and sometimes morph into pede–e.g. centipede. Any student with an interest in the healthcare professions would probably benefit from a look at this document.

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: Compound Subject

Posted on July 27, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Compound Subject: Two or more simple subjects joined by a coordinating or correlative conjunction. Hemingway and Fitzgerald had little in common.”

Excerpted from: Strunk, William Jr., and E.B. White. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition. New York: Longman, 2000.

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Anomaly (n)

Posted on July 27, 2020 | Leave a comment

It’s the Word of the Day at Merriam-Webster today, so here is a context clues worksheet on the noun anomaly. This is surely a good word to know, with use in several domains of knowledge.

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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Sperm

Posted on July 27, 2020 | Leave a comment

After typing that header, I have to ask myself what I’m thinking. Well, health teachers and health sciences teachers, I’m thinking maybe you can use this reading on sperm and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. That is all.

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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Term of Art: Compound Sentence

Posted on July 26, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Compound Sentence: Two or more independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction, a correlative conjunction or a semicolon. Caesar conquered Gaul, but Alexander the Great conquered the world.”

Excerpted from: Strunk, William Jr., and E.B. White. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition. New York: Longman, 2000.

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